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Before.
Elijah had been a silent baby. He didn't speak until he was three-year-old. In the year between when he was two and three, a week didn't pass when Father didn't threaten to leave him to the wolves - he had no need for a mute son. Mother kept Elijah alive, but that was all she did. Finn would have nightmares where Freya yelled at him for not doing anything. Speak to him, she would demand, teach him how to talk, she would snap, you are his big brother she would plead.
Elijah is already dead he would tell her before waking up in a cold sweat as her screams pierced through his mind. Mother would hold him as he sobbed and confessed his nightmares. All the while, Elijah would lie beside them with an ever present frown on his face as he slept.
Then.
During a full moon when his father had been drinking too much, he'd grabbed Elijah and demanded that he say something. Mother was too busy staring at nothing to protect him. Finn had known, known in his bones, known from the magic that pulsed through him, that his brother was going to die. Freya was alive, somewhere. But Elijah was going be dead. And Finn was at fault, because Freya had told him to try and he didn't even bother.
Elijah ended up saving himself. He'd looked up at the man who was going to sentence him to death and asked, "What do you want me to say?"
Father had pulled him into his arms and sobbed in his arms. Mother held them both. Finn had a foolish thought: we'll be okay.
Elijah mostly stayed quiet for the next two years. He didn't seem to see the need to speak unless spoken to. Finn thought he was just the obedient and dutiful son Father had always craved. That changed when Niklaus was born. After that, he had a lot of things to say. He made his thoughts known. Politely, of course. It was the first time Finn realized he'd misread Elijah. Elijah wasn't waiting to be spoken to, he was waiting for a reason to speak.
Like Freya, Elijah was born to Thor. Freya was thunder, loud and beautiful, a promise for rain. But Elijah was lightening. A bolt of precision, with deadly accuracy. Finn belonged to Thor as well. But he was the calm before the storm. The three of them would have been a force to be reckoned with. But Freya was gone, Elijah had no magic, and Finn had lost his taste for legends.
Now.
-
Finn didn't realize something was wrong until Elijah collapsed. The sound of his body dropping to the ground took Finn back to the worst day of his life. Freya screaming for their mother was the only clear memory he still had of his older sister. He could remember Mother's arms around him and Elijah kicking in her womb. Everything after that horrifying moment where she was stolen was a blur of memories he couldn't touch. It was just this: he had Freya and then he didn't. There are times that Finn loathes he can't go a day without reliving that loss. He was terrified that a day might pass that he doesn't.
For a moment, he was frozen in place. He stared at his little brother's body and a thought creeps into his head I could let him die.
"Get Mother," Elijah's voice was surprisingly strong considering he looked like he was drowning in his own blood, "I'll be okay until then."
Elijah's stupidity got him moving. "No you won't," Finn said and knelt down next to Elijah. He took off his top and inspected the wound on his chest. "Why didn't you tell me you'd gotten hurt?" Elijah tried to sit up, Finn shoved him down. "Stay put. Don't waste any energy."
"It looks worse than it is," Elijah said.
"You would be dead if I didn't have these," Finn said, grabbing a handful of rare herbs from his bag and smashing them on the wound as he tried to recall the exact enunciation of the spell to close wounds. One syllable was the difference between life and death.
"I'm fine," Elijah said and as if his word alone could make it true. He sat up. "Go back to the village and get Mother. She'll heal me and - "
"Shut up," Finn snapped. He shoved Elijah back down. "For once in your life, can you just accept that you don't know everything?" He could feel Elijah's life fading back into the earth. His obstinate little brother, with all his careful words, too arrogant to ask for help.
"You know nothing of blood," Elijah said. There was venom in his voice and Finn wouldn't care, but Elijah's anger aimed in the wrong direction. As usual.
"I'm going to thrash you for keeping this from me," Finn said. The direction of his own anger was wrong, too. But at least it gave him clarity. His mother's lessons came back to him and he started to chant. Objectively, it didn't take long to stitch the skin back together but it felt like a century had passed as his magic worked into Elijah's wound.
Elijah actually shut up. Not because he was actually listening to Finn, though. As his wound healed, his head fell back and his eyes slid close. His limbs slumped into the dirt. His breathing became steady. His heartbeat returned to a steady pace. Finn's baby brother would live.
-
"Go cut a switch," Finn said. The sun was setting and they were making camp for the night. He wanted to get the punishment over with before light was gone for the day. Elijah's eyes flickered toward him, but he made no move to get up. "I don't make idle threats, Elijah. Now."
"I will," Elijah said. His eyes were no longer on Finn, but on his task. "After I finish making this fire."
Finn could use a spell to create the fire but he left Elijah to his work. He wasn't interested in an argument. When he was done, Elijah did as he was told. The switch was sturdy and stripped to perfection, as expected. Finn cut welts into his bare skin until his stubborn little brother gave into his tears.
"No evening meal," Finn said, tossing the switch into the fire. Elijah straightened his clothes and wiped his eyes with his hands. Freya would have held Elijah and soothed his tears away. Finn was not Freya and Elijah would not accept Finn's comfort anyway. "I'll take first watch."
Elijah gave Finn his portions and laid on the ground. He kept his back to Finn and kept close to the fire. It was late spring and much too warm for that, but Elijah was sore and hungry so Finn allowed him that comfort as he watched his little brother sleep.
-
"Why didn't you wake me up for my watch?" Elijah asked.
They were cleaning up their camp before continuing their hike home. Finn was too focused on his tasks to answer right away. As practiced as he was at covering his tracks, one mistake could lead to their deaths. Attention to detail was key to survival. Elijah's ridiculous question could wait.
To his credit, Elijah was patient.
"I should have noticed you were hurt," Finn said when he was finished, "you lost a meal, I lost a night's rest."
"Does that mean I get to thrash you too?" Elijah asked. He was smiling. The one he reserved for their little siblings. It was crooked and small but seemed to soften his face.
Finn found himself smiling in return. "I'd like to see you try."
Their moment of peace didn't last. It never did.
"Don't do that again," Elijah had the same tone he used with their little siblings. Finn made a point of looking down at him. Elijah was not perturbed by the difference in size and strength. "I appreciate the sentiment, but at least one of us should be a full strength."
Elijah had a bad habit of being right, but Finn couldn't help but point out, "If you were in my place and Niklaus in yours, you would do the same as I."
"You are a fool," Elijah said. There was no bite in his words. "I would have known if Niklaus was hurt from the beginning."
"And you're the greater fool," there was bite in Finn's retort. "You should have told me -" Finn ran his hands through his hair and tried not to think I could let him die. "How did you even get hurt? How long did you hide it from me? How did you hide it from me?" Why did you hide it from me?
"You are only observant when it suits you," Elijah said.
His tone was final. Finn clenched his jaw and looked forward. He began to walk faster with his much longer legs. Elijah couldn’t keep up without pushing himself. He'd spent quite a bit of time on Elijah's legs with the switch the night before. He'd really feel his punishment on the hike home.
-
Elijah was able to keep up with him for roughly an hour before he collapsed onto the ground again. Finn didn't freeze and fratricidal thoughts didn't invade his mind. He grabbed more of his herbs and chanted the same spell as before. This time he wasn't waiting for the wound to heal. Instead, he focused on the magical feedback.
"How did you get this wound?" Finn asked.
Elijah didn't answer. He walked over to a nearby stream to clean up the blood. Finn watched and tried not think about why his brother was so adept at removing blood from his clothing. When Elijah was done, Finn dried his clothing with a flick of his hand.
"Thank you," Elijah said as he returned to their chosen path home.
Finn grabbed his arm. "You've been cursed. You need to tell me what happened so I can fix it."
"I'll talk to Mother when we get home," Elijah said.
"And you just expect me to keep healing you in the meanwhile?" Finn asked.
Elijah jerked away. "Keep your precious ingredients. I'll be fine."
There was no use arguing with him. He shadowed his brother as they continued home.
-
The next time Elijah collapsed, Finn caught him. He had the same wound. A cut across his chest, right under his heart. Finn thought there might be less blood this time, but he wasn't certain. The blood was sinking into his clothes and dripping in fine lines down his arms and legs.
Elijah was breathing heavily. He was pale and his hair was sticky with sweat. Finn could hear his heart slowing down, could feel his life fading into the earth. Finn held him close and tried to think. He had no idea what was going on, and even if he did, undoing the curse might be beyond his capacities.
"I'm fine," Elijah said.
Finn nearly laughed. He clenched his brother closer as Elijah tried to get away. "You need that blood to live," Finn said. Elijah was dying. Finn was trying not to giggle. "I can keep healing you, but I don't know how to restore blood."
"Just let me sleep," Elijah mumbled. His head fell against Finn's chest as he closed his eyes.
Finn laid him on ground as slowly and carefully as he could. He grabbed a handful of flowers next to where they were lying and yanked them from the ground. He made made a circle with a stick in the dirt around his brother's fallen form. He covered the circle with the flowers. He then coated a hand with Elijah's blood and channeled the wind for extra power. He grabbed a knife from his bag and stabbed his wrist and blood gushed - he needed a lot of blood and he needed it now. He eyes felt heavy as he mixed their blood together. When that was done, he let the mixture of their blood drip down from his hand into the flower just next to his foot until he was no longer wearing Elijah’s blood. He focused. The blood than began to move from one flower to the next until they were all connected by lines of red.
"You were right," Finn said when he brother woke up. Elijah examined his chest and Finn smiled when it became clear the wound was fixed. He started to laugh because it was absurd that even when he was wrong, Elijah was right. "I should have slept last night." Elijah head jerked up, alarmed.
It was Finn's turn to collapse.
-
Finn woke up to Elijah doing something with the what was left of his shirt. He was glad he chose not to thrash his back. Niklaus would be furious with him and Kol would follow his lead, making him the bad guy yet again. No one would care what Elijah did to Finn. Little Rebekah would poke at the welts and Elijah would let her. I can keep myself from infection he could so easily imagine Elijah patiently explaining when Finn tried without success to intervene.
"Mother will be impressed with you," Elijah said after he handed Finn the makeshift basket that was once his shirt. It was filled with berries.
Finn was so surprised his lecture about Elijah ruining his clothes died in his throat. "What?"
"Eat," Elijah ordered as he grabbed Finn's injured wrist and checked on the bandage he'd made with the other portion of his shirt. "I think you lost more blood than me. You need your strength."
Finn grabbed a handful of berries and made a show of eating them. Elijah bit down a smile. It was almost like they were really brothers. "What do you mean about Mother?"
"She's always on you about rigid thinking," Elijah said as he fell back to sit on his calves. He was looking up at Finn and sounded exactly like Niklaus did when he answered Elijah's trick questions correctly. "Magic requires creativity and experimentation, but you only know how to follow instructions. This might be the first time you've ever improvised a spell."
"How do you even know that?" Finn asked.
"The same way that Niklaus knows that I think too much while hunting and lose our dinner," Elijah put another handful of berries in Finn's hand and urged him to eat like he did with Rebekah. "I've spent a lot of time watching you."
"Niklaus worships the ground you walk on," Finn said, "you can barely stand my presence most of the time."
Elijah's next words hit him like memory of Freya's voice. "Not when I was five." He stood up and wiped the berry juice away from one hand and then the other with the last bit of his shirt he hadn't used as a tool. "I'm really grateful that you saved me, Finn."
Talk to him, Freya's voice said. Finn ignored her. He finished the berries and regained his strength. He watched his brother work. Elijah had gathered what was left of the rare herbs they'd been sent to pick and was trying to salvage them. It was a little unnerving how good he was at removing blood and repairing damage. Finn could almost fool himself into thinking it was an expression of his magic.
-
It would be like pulling teeth, but Finn knew he needed to figure out what happened to Elijah. Mother would already be furious that he'd let Elijah get hurt. She'd be even more furious if he didn't at least try and find out what happened. "What do I have to do to convince you to disclose how you were cursed?"
Elijah didn't even bother to look at him. "Nothing."
Finn grabbed his wrist and turned him around. "You almost died! I'm not even certain if you're free from whatever was trying to kill you. I don't care if you hate me - "
"Finn," Elijah's voice was surprisingly low and Finn wondered where his childish tone went, "I can't disclose anything because I don't know."
Something cold climbed up Finn's spine. I could let him die. How could Elijah not know this? "That's impossible. You notice everything. You had to have seen something, you just don't know what you saw. I can - "
Elijah didn't let Finn offer to help him try and figure out what happened. "Kol and Rebekah's nightmares kept waking each other up." Not surprising. What Father did to Niklaus even gave Finn nightmares. "I didn't get any sleep at all." Elijah jerked away from him. "Mother told you to watch out for me. I thought you'd obey her even if you don't care what happens to me."
"I didn't - " Finn's voice died in his throat. He stared down at his brother. You have to let me teach Elijah how to climb trees, Freya! First you have to get better than me, little brother. He chest was bare and Finn could only see it covered in blood. "Elijah - "
"Don't bother pretending to care," Elijah said. He turned his back to Finn and continued walking home. "It's not a mistake I'll be foolish enough to repeat."