DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Vampire Diaries or The Originals. No money is made of this. This was written for the purpose of entertainment only.

Huge thanks to LetMeWalkTheEarthWithYou who beta-read every single chapter!

Two Winters

Prologue – January 1951

People were shouting all around him; orders, prayers and cries for help mingling into a painful, deafening thunder disrupted only by the staccato of the bullets flying on either side. His mind was oddly blank, he was functioning, not thinking, not feeling. There only was a single thought echoing through his empty head – he was going to die…

His father lay motionlessly in his study, blood black as ink soaking the expensive carpet; Niklaus stood next to him. His skin was chalky white and his hands shook violently. There were fresh bruises forming on his jaw and his cheekbone; he had a bloody lip and from the way he stood Elijah guessed there were more injuries. "I had to stop him. He would have killed me, Elijah," his brother whispered, his voice hoarse…

He gripped his brother by the collar of his shirt, shaking him. "What do you have to do with all this?"
"It-", his brother stammered, staring at him with glassy eyes. "It was an accident. I didn't mean to, I swear I didn't, I didn't even know that woman-"

"Caroline-" He grabbed the girl by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "Listen to me. My brother is traumatised, he can't think straight when he's being provoked, it was an accident. Caroline. Promise me you won't say anything. It's not his fault. Promise me you'll help keep my brother save-"

His mother's voice, cold and quiet. "You shall accompany my son Elijah."

"The honour's all mine, Miss Petrova."

Tchaikovsky, the music reaching a crescendo, and even from afar he could see the way her brown eyes shimmered in the stage light, see the delicate blush glowing on her cheeks. She was so beautiful…

"I came to see you dance."
A small, radiant smile appeared on her lips. The next moment, he could feel himself being tugged forward by the collar of his shirt, felt her soft lips on his and forgot everything…

Piano chords echoing through their empty, haunted castle of a house, forming a familiar, comforting melody…

A searing pain shot through his hand when it hit his brother square in the face with an ugly smacking sound. He drew a shuddering breath and stared at the spot where Niklaus's skin was turning bright red, feeling like all air had been sucked from his lungs…

Soft brown curls between his fingers; he was sinking in those chocolate-coloured eyes, feeling warm and more awake, more alive than he had in years…

A young man, his face bloody, was squirming on the floor, begging in a wild mixture of Russian and English, sobbing, bargaining for his life…

He woke with a start. The bedroom was dark, only the crisp white sheets glowed slightly in the moonlight. He felt disorientated – there was nothing but clean linen underneath his fingers where he had expected warm liquid; white sheets and dark wooden floor where he had expected scarlet splattered all over his world. His limbs were hopelessly tangled in the blanket sticky with cold sweat. He felt ice-cold and shaky; some heavy weight seemed to be lying on his chest.

The curtains danced in a cool breeze and Elijah caught himself wondering whether he had really opened the window before he'd gone to bed.

He kicked off the sheets with some effort and stumbled out of bed. Shivering with cold and a diffuse panic he couldn't explain, he staggered across the hall, aiming vaguely for the kitchen when he noticed a small pool of light seeping from the study underneath the door. He entered, all but running into the door as he did, and found his brother sitting on the couch next to the fireplace with a glass of scotch.

"Seen a ghost, Elijah?"

His breath still not quite under control, he stopped in the middle of the room, willing his eyes to focus properly, but they didn't.

"I think I'm going insane," he whispered, feeling more lost and colder than ever, despite the fire crackling in the mantelpiece.

Niklaus did not even look remotely surprised by his brother's absurd behaviour.

"I know the feeling," he answered instead, offering him the bottle with that broken, disenchanted smile of his.

*Author's Note* Well, there I am now. I've been working at this fic for three months now and decided to upload it now that I've got two thirds of it done. I suppose I should be able to upload once a week, so keep posted ;)
Don't worry, it'll all become clearer. Just pay attention to the dates in the headline, that should help to keep up. Please take a moment to leave a review and tell me what you think of it so far!