New Life

To say I was surprised when I opened my eyes again would've been an understatement no I was astonished. I was dead, I felt my neck snap upon impact with the truck and was fully expecting to open my eyes and embrace the hot flames of hell… but that didn't happen. I was reborn, all the fanfiction that I had read to pass the time seemed to hold at least some truth to them after all. Now I get a second chance at life, in a world where the creatures of the night will drain you of all your blood and not give you a second glance of pity. 

The first year of my new life was essentially one big haze probably because of my baby brain still developing but once it was developed and the haze lifted many things became clear. I was born into a ⁷family of snakes, a family that wouldn't hesitate to stick a dagger into your back and leave you in a coffin for nine hundred years because you were too boring, the family that will eventually become the original vampires, the Mikaelsons, as the fifth son around a year younger than Kol. Believe me when I say that I was ecstatic when I found out that I was born into the Vampire Diaries but then reality set in, I was born into possibly the most dangerous family in the world and if I landed on the wrong side of the table one of my own family members wouldn't hesitate to put a dagger in my back. I needed to plan, I needed to prepare for immortality because as I am now I am not anywhere near as powerful as I wanted to be. If I still had my old body I would've been more confident but if needing to relearn how to walk is anything to go by then all of my fighting experience would also have to be relearned. 

My new name is Eric, I learned it through my mother's cooing, apparently it means absolute ruler which is a fitting title for what I have planned. I spent the first three years of my life planning for the future, thinking about how I can become as strong as possible in preparation for immortality which is how I came to the conclusion that I'm going to say fuck the timeline, fuck my memory of the future, I'm doing this shit my way. Me even being born is going to send the timeline that I know into a complete spiral, just look at A Sound of Thunder the flower that my mother gave me could've possibly saved a whole village in the future and we just don't know it which is why I'm not going to keep my distance from my family in fear of messing up my oh so precious timeline, no I'm going to become so powerful that I don't have to worry about any future consequences. 

As soon as I was able I began walking and talking, I would not slack off when it came to getting in peak human fitness for my transformation. I was close to being fluent in Old Norse by three but I wasn't quite there yet much to my anger but I was able to walk perfectly fine so I began to learn everything I could. 

I would've started to train with a sword or even a dagger but unfortunately even Mikael had lines that he would not cross and one stern warning to stay away from the blades until he said otherwise and I wasn't about to get the same reputation with Mikael has with Klaus which means I need to find something else to occupy my time with. I mostly just learned the necessities for my survival because there really wasn't much you could do as a child during the 9th century. 

Eventually Mikael gave me permission to train so that's exactly what I did, I dedicated every waking breath to mastering the way of the sword and getting as fit as possible before my inevitable death. My family had mixed feelings about me, of course my mother loved me and Mikael had respect for me, but my siblings were a different story. Finn seemed slightly put off by my maturity, Elijah actually seems to enjoy the fact that I'm more mature than some of my other siblings while still having a fun side as little as it's seen, Klaus on the other hand seemed to have a sour opinion about me. Klaus and I's relationship is strained at it's best, I can't explain why it became like this because even I don't know what happened, it might be because I refuse to go with him on any of his adventures but one thing is certain for the future and that's that I will not be traveling with Klaus or Mikael. I already explained why for Klaus but I will be going my separate ways with daddy dearest because I refuse to hunt someone just because they are not blood related, which leads us to our next problem. 

I am not a hybrid, I already checked and I didn't turn at that full moon which means that I'm going to have to make sure that the hybrid curse is never lifted off my half brother because facing an army of hybrids is not at the top of my list. My relationship with Rebekah is neither strained or good, we are just siblings nothing more nothing less. I tried to keep my distance from Henrik because to me he's just a walking corpse, and I don't converse with zombies, I kill them. Kol is by far my favorite sibling because of how similar we are, we hunt together, we spar together, he even helped me kill someone. Of course I didn't give him the real reason why so I spun a lie saying that the boy disrespected our family and we had to show him that the Mikaelson name wasn't going to be disrespected. 

As the years began to pass I continued to train with the sword eventually surpassing Elijah, but I could never beat Klaus and he made sure to show it through the countless beatings when we sparred. I continued to build bonds with my family as well mostly with Kol, Finn, and Elijah because I dislike Klaus which immediately puts me on bad terms with Rebekah and Henrik. To say I care you would have to assume that I cared in the first place, which I didn't. 

Slowly running my knife across a small wooden carving of a boat I gently push the boat onto a small stream of water smiling as the boat floats and begins to travel down the steam. 

"It's almost time." I mutter to myself while glancing up at Kol who looks to be around the same age he was in the show when he was turned walking towards me. 

"Brother, still playing with those wood carvings I see!" Kol calls out sarcastically.

Lightly scoffing I stand up and meet Kol halfway embracing him in a half hug while giving him a light punch on the shoulder. 

"I've told you before Kol they aren't toys, they're merely a miniature version of what I want to build." I say while giving Kol a side glare as we begin our walk back home. Normally I wouldn't let anyone talk to me like that but I truly see Kol as a brother, at first I didn't see any of the Mikaelson's as family and some of them I still don't recognize as family but I've truly bonded with Kol. 

"Yes! Your grand dream of sailing across the sea and exploring new land… you've already told me and I'll tell you what I told you last time. There isn't enough life in us to make an aimless trip across the ocean. Moving on from your fantasies, I've found suitable game for us to hunt…" Stopping dead in my tracks I look at Kol with narrowed eyes. 

"And what type of game are you talking about brother because as far as I can remember we've already cleared out the big game so if you are joking with me there will be consequences.." I say ignoring Kol's Sarcastic tone that I've grown used to over the years 

"Now why on earth would I lie to you? I had spotted one of the natives while on a hunt and followed him back towards his hunting party, if we act fast we can ambush them." Kol says while continuing his walk not stopping for me. Feeling a wide grin spread across my face I ran past Kol while slapping his back on the way. 

"This is why you're my favorite Kol. You know just the right things to say to lift my spirits now let's see who'll be the fastest home." Ignoring Kol's shouts of protests we both begin to run through the dense forest dodging branches and crushing leaves. Kol and I have been hunting the Native Americans here since I was 11 and he was 12, at first it was just to gain actual life or death experience with the sword because sparring with my siblings just wasn't cutting it anymore but at some point it became a game to us competing to see which one of us had the most kills or who could kill someone more brutally which is why Kol is my favorite, we think the same!

As Kol and I return back home both catching our breath from our run we're met with the scolding glares of our mother. 

"Boys! What have I told you about going out so early after a full moon, some of the beasts could still be out, it's unsafe."

"Well we've arrived safe so there's nothing to worry about is there mother." Kol quips back while walking inside to grab his things for hunting.

"He's not wrong mother, besides I could take a single beast if anything they should be the ones staying locked indoors while I'm out." I say jokingly while following after Kol earning a glare from my mother.

"Do not joke, this is a serious matter. I do not want you boys to be out the morning after or the night before a full moon. Now where are your other two brothers, you wouldn't have happened to see them out would you?" Pausing my packing I glance back and meet the gaze of my mother. 

"Are Klaus and Henrik gone as well?' I ask curiously. 

"Yes, I assume they left before the sun rose but mother worries too much Klaus and Henrik will be fine." Rebekah chimes in entering the room with a smile. 

Our conversation gets interrupted by a screaming Klaus shouting for our mother. Quickly following after my family we're met with a grim sight of a bloodied Henrik and a sobbing Niklaus whose clothes are stained with blood and is blubbering apologies. The scene I assume went similar to how I remembered it on screen but I'm unsure because I was forced to walk off so my family doesn't assume I'm crazy by breaking out in laughter at the sight of my youngest sibling. 

After a long walk around town I slowly begin to make my way back home putting a large amount of effort into suppressing a grin from splitting my face. "It's time." I mutter happily to myself