The Originals – Ne Me Quitte Pas

By: Stacy Miller

Seven Years Ago. Elijah Mikaelson (Daniel Gillies) gets off a bus. He doesn’t remember who he is (This is right after Marcel compelled him to forget The Mikaelsons and the family’s vow of always and forever) but does know that he needs food. The bus driver suggests a place down the street that serves chicken and waffles but he goes to a vending machine at a rest stop instead. Elijah looks at the snack foods inside the vending machine and punches his fist through the glass. He pulls out a bag of chips. The owner of the store notices that Elijah’s fist is bloody. Elijah hears the man’s heartbeat and asks what it is.  As the man makes a telephone call for assistance, Elijah gives into his vampire nature and bites the man! Later, Elijah is in an abandoned building feeding on others. “I’m not big on audiences so unless you want to die I’d suggest you run,” says an attractive brunette feeding on her own victim. “I thought I was the only one. Is there more of us? What are we?” Elijah asks begging the woman for her help.  She takes him to a diner and over coffee tells Elijah that they are vampires. Her name is Antoinette (Jaime Murray). Elijah asks Antoinette whether there is a cure for their affliction. “Why would you want one?” Antoinette asks. Elijah tells Antoinette that he doesn’t remember his family; the only thing he remembers is waking up six days ago and starving.  He also remembers a man calling his name but doesn’t remember who the man was or what that name was.  He did find a cufflink in his pocket with the initial E. Antoinette tells Elijah how he has a daylight ring that allows him to be out in the sun, whereas she prefers the night.

Antoinette takes Elijah back to her room and continues with the Vampire 101. She tells Elijah about the art of compelling people to get them to do what you want and how it makes it easy to feed to avoid the struggles of your victim. Elijah brings Antoinette to a club where while on the dance floor, vampires begin feeding on people. “Surprise, I found more of us,” Elijah tells Antoinette. She appreciates the gesture but tells Elijah that she doesn’t do group feeds because the vampires like the ones at the club don’t trust a vampire like her and have threatened on more than one occasion to burn her in the sun. She explains about the family that turned her and how she took her daylight ring off because it chained her to the memories of her past and being human.  “If you want peace of mind, accept who you are now,” Antoinette says.  She tells Elijah how her death was brutal as she was tied to a stake and stoned. Antoinette tells Elijah how when he scares his victims prior to drinking them, he drinks their fear.  They go out hunting and Antoinette shows Elijah the fine art of drinking fear blood.

Antoinette takes Elijah to a piano bar and asks whether he plays. He gets a strange sensation. “We’re being watched,” Elijah says. Suddenly, he’s whisked outside by a vampire.  It is Marcel (Charles Michael Davis). “Elijah, what the Hell are you doing here?” Marcel demands. “Who are you?” Elijah asks. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is someone is coming back to town and you can’t be anywhere near here when he does, you need to leave this city,” Marcel tells Elijah. When Antoinette approaches, Marcel warns that if Elijah doesn’t go now he’ll kill them both.  Then, Marcel takes off. Elijah tells Antoinette that the man/vampire was the face he couldn’t remember.  But at least he knows that his name is Elijah. Elijah wants to go after the man. “He threatened to kill us,” Antoinette reminds. “This man knows who I am,” says Elijah determined to find out anything he can about his past.  “It’s a suicide mission,” Antoinette says urging Elijah against following Marcel. She doesn’t want Elijah to dive into whatever drama he left behind in the past that he can’t remember. “Don’t let me do this on my own,” Elijah pleads. “This road you’re on its dangerous and who knows where it ends,” Antoinette tells Elijah, she wishes him luck but tells him that she can’t go with him.

Elijah returns to his apartment, then back to the club where he feeds on people. Marcel enters. “Elijah, even without memories you’re still a pain in my ass,” Marcel says, “Did you forget how to read too?”  Marcel tells Elijah that he wrote the note that is in Elijah’s pocket because Elijah asked him to. He explains that Elijah did all of this for a girl (Hope) that he cared about but if he changes his mind, she will be in danger. “Trust yourself Elijah and make a life somewhere else,” Marcel urges.

Elijah goes to find Antoinette and tells her that obsessing about his past brings him nothing but misery and torment.  He adds that he misses her and asks Antoinette to forgive him. He has decided to leave his past in the past and make a life there in New York instead.

In the Present Day in France, Elijah and Antoinette are playing a duet on the piano. They are very much in love and very happy. Elijah has kept his word to himself to rid himself of his tortured past. Elijah remembers how he felt when he walked into the bar seven years ago and first saw her. Knowing Antoinette has changed his life so he wants her to be a part of his life permanently. Then, he asks Antoinette to marry him. Antoinette is thrilled but there little celebration calls for a toast.  She goes to the kitchen to get some champagne. In the kitchen, Antoinette runs into Klaus (Joseph Morgan).  He comments that he should be thankful for the number of years she spent with his brother and how well she’s taken care of Elijah. But now, her services are no longer required because he’s taking her home. Klaus compels Antoinette to walk away from Elijah. Antoinette returns to Elijah and while they play the piano together, she tells him that there was a man in the kitchen who tried to compel her to leave him. When Antoinette walks away, Klaus appears. “Your name is Elijah Mikaelson.  You may not remember yourself or your family.  But we need you. Our family is in crisis. I’ve come to take you back to New Orleans.” Klaus tells Elijah that his family needs him. “We made a vow, always and forever,” Klaus tells Elijah. “You’re talking about someone,” Elijah says.  Klaus says that he only came to get him because the situation is dire. “You once convinced me that Hayley’s life was worth saving,” Klaus says, he knows that even without his memories, Hayley’s name must mean something to him. Elijah tells Klaus about how he ran into Marcel Gerard a few years ago in New Year City and know all he needs about himself. He knows all about the Mikaelsons but doesn’t care about any of them. Elijah may have the facts of his past, but none of the feeling associated with it. The Elijah of the past spent his entire life pulling Klaus out of fires, it’s a shock that he ever had a moment of happiness. Everyone he cares about is here right in front of him (Antoinette) and he has no intention of giving up the life he worked so hard to build. Klaus reminds that both he and Elijah were kings among men and can be that way again. Antoinette stakes Klaus so they can escape. But because Klaus is an Original, the staking doesn’t keep him down for long. Antoinette urges Elijah to come to the catacombs with her until they can flee Paris and get away from Klaus.

Returning back to their place, Elijah realizes that Antoinette knew that Klaus was an Original and a stake wouldn’t kill him.  “How long have you been taking vervain?” Elijah asks. Antoinette admits that she knew who he was from the first moment she met him; the Mikaelsons are legendary. Elijah says that the Mikaelson family is built or chaos and blood.

Klaus calls Freya and lies that he couldn’t find Elijah in France. “He’s gone,” Klaus says sadly. Elijah assures Antoinette that Klaus is leaving and he’s not coming back.  He also says that Hayley was someone that Elijah Mikaelson love once upon a time in another lifetime. “I can’t imagine loving anyone the way I love you.” Elijah proposes to Antoinette. But then he does something entirely unexpected. Elijah takes off his daylight ring. Antoinette backs to the door as Elijah draws open the curtains. “What are you doing?” Antoinette asks.  “I’m leaving my past in the ashes,” Elijah says as he starts to burn, “Goodbye Elijah Mikaelson.”