Rebekah, Love
by: WhiteGloves
"It's always been me! Not Finn, not Elijah, not Kol, me! I loved you through everything and you don't even care!"
That emotional line really broke me.
This is my tribute for you, Love.
It was pitch black and cold—too cold.
Too cold for her liking but well— not like it matters since that was how most of them like it anyways. It wasn't that of a big deal.
Or so she thought as she walked slowly down the steep toward the wooden pavement of Wickery Bridge to what seemed to be an eternal march. Her eyes were glistening as she continued walking without really any idea where to go. She had no more strength to keep back the tears her dead body was shedding…
That was right. She has no more places to go. She was alone.
Something painful gripped her chest as the idea heightened on her very senses. Midnight had already struck some time ago and here she was walking like a lost body and waiting for somebody to just rip out that body's heart so that the pain would end. Oh, she would give anything to be daggered right now and stop it all… all these ridiculous emotions and illusions…
No. It wasn't loneliness that was making her cry tonight. It wasn't even the betrayal of her brother.
No… it was much more painful than that… it was self pity… and the idea of living an immortal life with really no one beside her… she thought how unfortunate her other brother Finn was for dying… But then how lucky he was too, for even though he was on the other side he wasn't alone… he had Sage beside him while here she was walking in the dead of the night with nothing except the voice of Klaus ringing on her ears… Klaus… her brother who had gladly spat on her face the fruit of her loyalty…
"You are nothing!"
Nothing…
A stubborn sob escaped her trembling lips and the flow of tears was unstoppable.
She didn't know when it happened—but the next thing she knew she was kneeling down the ground and was clutching on her heart and to her mouth, with voice breaking into silent howls of pain and despair like she was about to throw up.
Just please… please let anyone make it stop… please make it stop…
It was no good… her emotions were really messed up. It took her moments to brace herself. Her breathing was shallow and uncontrolled, her tears all over her face. If someone would just make it stop…
Like a death wish, a pair of black shoes appeared in front of her. Someone had finally noticed her.
Swallowing her cry with little strength she had left, she looked up and found him looking down at her with no less than a look of ungratefulness and disgust. She opened her lips to say something but her power failed her.
"Taking a little stroll in the middle of the night?" he said crisply as he grabbed her throat and raised her up to her feet.
Rebekah's eyes reflected Damon Salvatore's face.
"What's this?" he said in that usual tone of mock sarcasm in his voice, "Blondie bitch bit more than she could chew?"
A tear slid down the side of Rebekah's eyes. Damon looked undaunted as he slowly but surely gripped her neck with one hand—ready to give her the final punishment she had been longing to receive.
Live… a voice whispered at the back of her mind.
Funny, she thought as she was slowly being rid of her breath, how her tears wouldn't stop sliding her eyes… just when she thought she was ready to give up… her hopes wouldn't stop wishing for life…
Just a little more, she wanted to say… just to prove that her life wasn't meaningless…
"You don't get to live another day," Damon whispered ominously, "You die on this bridge… where you killed her…"
Rebekah could feel the emitting anger seething out of Damon's eyes… he was doing this for her, that doppelganger… For a moment Rebekah suddenly wanted to burst out laughing. How sweet Elena Gilbert's life must've been… friends, family, love ones… all she ever wanted was with her already… that was probably why she was already willing to die on that night of the accident… because she already had a good life…
And me?
Damon's hand was crushing her throat… she knew it was all over… Damon was her last chance to escape this prisoned body… And she closed her eyes in surrender.
"Damon—Stop!"
Rebekah felt her feet touch down the ground again, followed by her own uncontrollable cough. A midst her cough she felt a struggle around her. Looking up despite her weakened body, she saw the familiar back of Stefan Salvatore standing in front of Damon who was looking angrily at his brother.
"What—you're gonna play the hero again? Stop it, Stefan!" he was raging as he tried to walk past the younger Salvatore. "There's no single motivation for you to save her! Now get out of my way!"
"No—you stop Damon! This is enough!" Stefan said back as he continued to stand on the way of his brother, "Leave her alone!"
Damon's eyes shone meaningfully.
"You know what?" he said looking rather vicious, "That's exactly what Elena told me when she saved the quarter back when I was killing him. What are you two with all the heroic attempts? Am I really the only one sane enough to think of 'who deserves to die' in this story?"
"Rebekah saved Elena," Stefan suddenly said rather heatedly, "she helped me give Elena the blood when we were stuck on that pastor's cage!"
"So what? And I'm supposed to forgive her?"
"No, but I owe her," Stefan insisted, still looking determined, "And if you still want to kill her you'll have to come by me before you do it!"
It was apparent that Damon was incensed at this as he grinded his teeth. Stefan wouldn't budge no matter how he looked so enraged though.
"Damon!"
Rebekah looked up and saw that Stefan was alone this time. Damon had left. She was saved.
Stefan knelt down in front of her and touched her shoulder.
"You all right?" he asked gently that made Rebekah want to cry.
Don't be nice to me… she thought as another tear warned to slid down her eyes.
"Do you realize how many people hate you already for saving their lives?" she said unkindly as she looked at him and still unwilling to leave her position down the ground. She looked straight into his eyes… to his penetrating, serene eyes… so very unlike his brother… Really… how can two brothers be so unlike? (Well, to hell with her own brothers!) But here was Stefan giving her a concerned look above everything she and her family has done to him… Stefan Salvatore…
But then, she shouldn't mistake his actions towards her… he was doing it because of Elena after all…
That was when her own eyes started to be tearful again.
"Oh, quit that, will you?" she sniffed as she wiped the tears spilling down her cheeks, "The last thing I need is one of you pitying me!"
Stefan merely pressed his lips together for a moment, and then said, "I don't pity you… I'm just here to help… and to say thank you…"
"I don't need your show of gratitude!" she said with a flicker on her eyes, and then it all came up—everything on her. She burst it all out to this person—this person who seemed to be emitting an aura of gentleness she had never seen to anyone…
"I don't need anyone! Not you—no one! Why would you care about me? My very own brother exchanged me for the lust of his life—his hybrids and his woman! Calling me 'nothing' after everything I did for him! After all the time I stayed by his side, defending him and only him even to my own family! Sticking out my neck and my very life for him! Crying only for him when I thought he was killed! Taking revenge to that doppelganger because of him! Turning my back to Elijah because of him! And for what? For nothing!"
She knew she didn't have to say all that, but Stefan's eyes were making her… it was his fault that she can continue with her outburst…all her pain…
"My own mother wanted to be rid of us… you two brothers wanting to be rid of us too! Nobody really cares for me and you know what? I don't care either! I had enough! I'm so sick of this kind of life—for running! For killing… I had enough of it all, Stefan…"
She closed her eyes and howled with her voice croaking and her body shaking. Stefan's expression of sympathy could be seen on his face as he watched her cry her heart out like a lost kid in the middle of nowhere.
"Rebekah…" he started,
"It just doesn't seem fair…" she whispered as she looked up at him and clinging to those serene eyes that seemed to be willing to listen, "My whole life I've been longing to be loved, and cruelly it always seemed to be too out of reach…"
She gulped and lowered her eyes on the ground.
"Leave me alone…" she whispered that made him surprise, "leave me alone like everyone does…"
Stefan hesitated for awhile, and then leaned to take a peek on her face.
"Hey…listen to me," he whispered gently, "you'll be okay…"
Rebekah stubbornly shook her head and tried to pry her shoulders away from his touch but Stefan didn't budge.
"Rebekah," he continued quietly, "I know what you're going through… but sometimes you just have to be strong enough to deal with it… even if you're alone…no—listen to me! You are a strong lady, Rebekah, I know you are."
Rebekah shot Stefan a look who continued looking at her. There was this sudden warmth that enveloped her empty heart…
"You are strong," he said in a voice so convincing he didn't have to compel anyone, "You wouldn't last this long if you aren't strong… you became strong for your brother and now you have to be strong for yourself. You have to give importance to yourself, Rebekah… because that's the only thing you can hold on to…"
Rebekah continued gazing up to him hopefully and Stefan didn't shrink back away. Moments after that, he stood up and nodded at her. And then he started walking away. The warmth was extinguished from her heart and all that was left was a hole.
"Stefan…" she called in a bare whisper. She was so overwhelmed by his presence that the idea of being alone in this middle of the night struck her again. "H-help me…"
Stefan stopped. Rebekah looked at him, her expression tearful and begging.
Asking for help, asking for another chance was all that was left to her.
And Stefan looked back.
"We are still investigating the death of the rest of the Council members," said Sheriff Forbes late that morning as she stood on the Salvatore living room together with Stefan who was standing by the pedestal and Damon who was drinking. She was talking to Damon specifically who ignored her and continued drinking on his glass.
"Does that signify anything to me?" he asked indifferently with raised eyebrows. Sheriff Forbes gave him a knowing look to which he replied, "What? Your daughter is safe now because of me. You're back to your position like how it was supposed to be. God, don't I get to get any thank you from anyone of you who's supposed to be providing us the back up plans? How else do you suppose can we be saved?"
Sheriff Forbes gave Damon a sharp look. Stefan closed his eyes.
"That, itself, is a confession, Damon…" she said.
Damon was about to retort back when the door opened and in came Elena.
"What's going on?" she asked the moment she saw Damon and the sheriff under the heated conversation.
"Oh good, you're here," Damon said in a mocking tone as he stared at Elena who raised her eyebrows back at him, "you should busy yourself talking to your oh-so-believer-of-second-chances-and –hero-to-all-vampires and-quarter backs alike boyfriend before anything else, Elena."
"What?" Elena shot Stefan a confused look who pressed his lips closed and crossed his arms, "Stefan, what's—?"
Rebekah appeared suddenly beside Stefan's shoulder. Elena blinked as she stared at the Original, and then turned to Stefan.
"What's she doing here?"
The next moment, Elena and Stefan were alone in his room and talking about the matter at hand.
"I don't think it's good for her to roam around in her state," Stefan was saying to her as she paced around the room, "Klaus has left her, and we don't know where Elijah is. She's alone Elena, and she asked for my help…"
Elena turned to Stefan with an undecided look on her eyes. Stefan saw it and immediately came to her side to touch her cheek.
"Hey…" he whispered gently as they stared at each other, "I know she's the reason you had the accident… but she's also the reason why you're here with me… I owe her…"
"She owes me my life," Elena suddenly insisted, surprising both of them at her tone, "I-I'm sorry," she continued with a little breath, "It's the emotion thing…"
Stefan continued looking at her.
"Elena, if you're uncomfortable with this…" he started to mutter. Elena stared at him and then licked her lips.
"I know you, Stefan," she said after a few moments, "I know you just want to help… and if I'm in her condition I think I'd really break down too… but I can't help feeling worried…"
"Worried?"
Elena stared at Stefan's face and couldn't help wondering how deep his kindness was… and even extending a hand to a known enemy… can she be as selfless as he was?
"Okay," she whispered all of a sudden, "I'm okay with it…"
Stefan smiled at her and they shared a kiss.
Rebekah was sitting on a window pain and watching the sun stream across the room with nothing but a bottle of wine beside her. She then heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Looking past her shoulder, she saw Elena and Stefan come down the stairs.
"Where's Damon?" he asked inquiringly while the ex-doppelganger-now-vampire gave her a fixed look.
"Basement," she said as she stood up and face them, "something about preparing the cellar for me."
Elena pressed a smile that made Rebekah raise her eyebrows. Stefan looked at Elena and then back at Rebekah before shaking his head, turning his body all of a sudden and saying, "I'll see about that."
That left Rebekah and Elena alone.
The girls continued looking at each other. It was such an awkward moment.
"Rebekah," Elena said quite uncertainly, "I heard about Klaus…"
"Oh, don't bother," Rebekah snatched a glass of wine from the side table, "I know better than to talk about him to you. And sorry about the bridge, if that is still a big deal."
Elena looked like she was about to frown, but then decided against it.
"Well, I was just saying," she continued, "do you plan to stay here?"
"Do you mean here in Mystic Falls or here in the Salvatores?"
"Here," Elena said firmly and nodded at the house they were in. Rebekah's eyes flickered.
"Stefan promised he'd help me," she said and drank a bourbon, "I think staying here beside him is my best option."
Elena frowned this time. This made Rebekah smile.
"What is it? Jealous, are you? Don't worry, I do not think he's that easy to sway."
"Then does that mean you plan to sway him?"
The two girls locked gazes again. Then it was Rebekah who lowered her gaze, and then looked up again.
"I do not know." She admitted quite frankly, "but he's the only person I can trust right now and I believe in him…"
Elena's face couldn't be described—anxiety, fear, and confusion all mixed together—
"He wouldn't." she managed to say as she gave him an extreme unpleasant look.
"Of course," Rebekah admitted again as she turned around and faced the window, "I know that."
Elena continued frowning and then finally decided to go down the cellar too, leaving Rebekah staring at her reflection on the window glass.
Illusion or not, Rebekah knew, Stefan was her best option too…
*To BeContinued*
Thanks for Reading!