Klaus dragged his sister deep down in the woods. Without stop the running, Klaus turned over and smirked at Rebekah. She was all flushed and was panting heavily after their little marathon. Without letting Klaus see behind her façade, she toke a deep breath and tried for the thousand time today to convince herself that she's doing the right thing.
Without paying his sister attention anymore, Klaus stopped at the end of the forest and inhaled deeply. He loved the scent of the earth, of the woods. He loved how the wind was playing with his sandy hair, how the moon was providing him enough light to see, but not enough to be seen. He loved the forest's song, how the animals were too busy with their insignificant lives to pay attention to the surrounding area.
Little knew the poor creatures that exactly this kind of indifference was allowing Klaus to be their superior. The fixation on their routine, the belief that life is how they know it to be, this was the thing that Klaus take advantage of. He doesn't care about the animals, exactly how he doesn't care about other people. In his vision anybody who allowed himself to be dragged into an ordinary life, was weak. The mundane kill the greatness in every man and once you start to walk on that path, you never came back. Love was a weakness, because it allowed others to have control on you, mercy was a weakness, because it clouded your mind with unnecessary feelings and it is distracting you from getting what you want.
This is why Klaus doesn't allow himself to feel something as mundane as love or mercy. He was above the mundane, he conquered the ordinary and was starting to become extraordinary. And this was the exact reason why he asked for his little sister's help. She was a witch, just like their mother and Klaus founded a spell that was allowing him to get rid of all that annoying emotions.
"Rebekah, are you ready?" whispered Klaus gently. He knew that he was asking a lot from his little sister, but he was very confident in the strength of Rebekah's love and admiration for him.
"Yes, hm, let's start!" whispered Rebekah back. She was beginning to doubt herself and she knew that the ritual Klaus has asked her to perform was a very complicate one, not just because the spells and incantations were difficult, but because of the intentions she must put in the ritual. In order to the ritual to be successful, she must truly feel right about the results that the ritual would provide.
Throwing a glance at his trembling sister, Klaus sighed and started to draw the runes on the forest's muddy earth. Growling in annoyance at the barely visible runes, he thought that maybe starting a ritual that is based basically on runes on a rainy weather was a bad idea. But he was Klaus and Klaus always get what he wanted. Greeting his teeth, he starts to draw the runes all over again and after a half of an hour, he was ready and the inscriptions were looking perfect, just like the ones in his mother's book.
"Rebekah, do you remember the spells?" asked Klaus with an edge of uncertainty in his voice.
"Yes, I do, but…"
"But what?" nearly shrieked the older one. "You forgot something? Dam, Rebekah, I told you , I told you a hundred times to…"
"Klaus, are you sure you want to do this?" asked she with a trembling voice." I mean", said she with hurry before her brother could say something, "once we, I mean I, finish this ritual for you…. You would be emotionless! You will never feel love again! You'll become a monster!"
"Listen, sister, I am sure about this. Don't ever question my authority again, understood?" growled Klaus menacingly. He inhaled deeply.
"It's nothing wrong with me to want this", tried Klaus to argue with himself. "I am meant to do great things! I was born to rule, to fight and to win. And in order to be the perfect ruler, I must get rid of the useless emotions that are clouding my judgment."
"I am ready, Rebekah!" whispered Klaus. He knew that if he would wait only a day, he will lose his strength.
Stepping in the middle of the runic circle, Klaus looked expectant at his sister. She threw a last glance at the open book lying nearby and started do whisper the spells in a rough voice. Concentrating all her will power in the ritual, Rebekah let her magic flew free into the air. She heard Klaus' shocked gasp, but she was too engrossed in the ritual to care. This feeling of absolute power, this was something worth killing for. Enjoying her power, Rebekah opened her eyes and took great pleasure in the pained expression on her brother's face. A mean voice start whispering her all the bad things Klaus did to her and how he must pay for all of them. The witch, too young ant too innocent to be considered of age, wasn't taught the ways of magic and because she started her first magical experience with such a dark ritual, all the protective runes that were meant to protect the caster and the "victim" were unknown to Rebekah. She had no idea that the magic necessary to perform the spells was dark, little did she know that now that she released the destructive powers, it was very likely that the powers will destroy her and her brother.
Rebekah laughed with a high pitched tone that did not belong to her. Feeling that all her control was gone now, she begun to enjoy the destructive power the ritual was providing her with. She felt invincible, she felt strong, she felt lethal. And she enjoyed every minute of it.
"Rebekah!" screamed Klaus with panic in his voice. "Rebekah stop! Sister, sister, please, stop!" moaned her brother with a pained voice. "You're hurting me!" said he in a hoarse, trembling whisper.
"Something went terribly wrong! But what…? Everything was perfect: the runes, the circle, Rebekah's spells…"
The witch looks at her brother's unmoving figure and offered him a thin smirk. "Serve him right!" Stepping on the circle Rebekah broke the ritual and started to whisper in a foreign language. She was feeling light headed and she had no idea what was saying. But everything felt so right, so she will just continue doing that…
"Rebekah! Stopped that immediately!" yelled an angry voice.
"Mother, what's going on? Where's Niklaus…?"
"Esther something it's wrong, I can tell…"growled another male voice.
A strong hand shook Rebekah, but she was too engrossed in her daze to notice something else. The one who attacked Rebekah let a shrill scream and run to the unmoving figure on the ground.
"Rebekah! Rebekah, can you hear me?" whispered Elijah. Holding his sister in his arms, the eldest of the Mikaelson children looked how his mother begun to incant something under her breath, waving her trembling hands above his brother's deadly pale figure. His father stood several meters away, looking surprised and equally worried about his children's health.
His mother released a shaky breath and hugged his waking brother with love. Klaus stirred up and looked around him with a perplexed expression on his face. Elijah saw how fear found its place in his brother's eyes.
"I am so screwed!", cried Klaus internally. Throwing a quick glance at his mother, he looks desperately for the grimoire. Standing some meters away, the book stood innocently on the ground, being open at the page with the ritual.
Esther followed her son's glance and sighed when she saw the grimoire. She thought that maybe Rebekah was trying some spells, by all means, the girl was just starting to discover her powers and it was normally for her to be curious, but Esther never would have thought that her little girl will put her brother's and her own health and safety beyond her curiosity.
Thinking about it a bit, the older witch realized that maybe Rebekah wasn't the one who came with the idea. In the end, Klaus always founded a way to gain his goal and his mother wouldn't be surprised if her son would have tried to use Rebekah's powers to gain something. "But what is so important that Klaus would risk his life to obtain?"
"Mum?", asked Rebekah with an uncertain expression on her face. "What's going on?"
"The same thing I wanted to ask you. Please answer!"
"Um…"mumbled Rebekah trying to make some sense from the current situation.
Klaus rolled his eyes at his sister's incapability to lie and answered quickly: "My sister just wanted to try some spells, mother. I volunteer to come with her because I was worried for her safety."
"You were right, my son" growled Michael. Throwing his daughter a glare, his father returned his attention to a very pale looking Klaus. "You did the right thing, Niklaus. I am proud of you, but the next time, come to me or mother and we would be the ones who will look after your sister…" The Mikhaelson patriarch raised a hand to silence his son ant continued"… I know you want to grant your sister the possibility to study by herself and I know you were curious about magic yourself, but in the future try to respect the rules. They are installed in order to keep you safe…"
Klaus was already used to ignore his father's speeches, so he concentrated on the matter at hand. The blasted book was lying wide open on the forest's dirt, inviting everyone to look at what page it was opened. His mother was holding him tight, just like his life was depending on how much the witch was trying to suffocate him, so he tried to catch his brother attention.
"Fool!" screamed Klaus at his brother, who was very attentive to his father's speech. Trying to not catch the general attention, the young man whistled softly. Rebekah stirred and looked at her brother questioningly.
"I swear that I am the only one with a functional brain from this family." Fighting the urge to jump and strangle his siblings, Klaus looked pointed at the book. Rebekah stole a glance that way and then lifted a perfect shaped eyebrow at her brother. Klaus frowned at his sister and pointed the book with an intense glare.
"Close the damn book!", snaped Klaus internally. Rebekah looked like she finally got it, when Klaus' mother decided to cut in.
"What were you doing, Rebekah? You did not need the grimoire for basic spells", said the mother of the three.
Elijah frowned at his brother and a look of understanding finally crossed his face. Looking at his brother's scowl, Elijah put his sister gingerly on the ground and went to take the book to his mother. Hiding a smirk, he dropped the book and with an apologetic expression on his face he handed the book to his now scowling mother. "Must be a family trait", thought Elijah looking at his now very happy brother.
"I think we had had enough for a night. Home, now!" said the older witch with a glum attitude.
Rebekah took his father hand and begun to explain herself. Her mother quickly felt in step with the two, but she doesn't seem to be content with Rebekah's version of events. She knew that his son, Klaus, was planning something and that her only daughter was too devoted to her brother to turn him.
Elijah stayed behind, waiting for his still ill-looking brother.
"What were you trying to do?"
"Rebekah just wanted to try something new and I volunteered to come with her", lied Klaus smoothly.
"Drop the act, brother, I don't buy it!" said Elijah with humor in his voice.
Klaus looked at him with a blank expression, but in the end he sighed and started to explain his reasoning to Elijah. At first, his older brother was amused at Klaus' antics and then he felt proud that his brother considered him trustworthy, but when he heard what kind of a ritual Klaus had tried to perform on himself, he felt ill.
"Are you mad?", shouted Elijah at his now angry looking brother." You could've died, or Rebekah could've died, and for what? Just because you have an abnormal way of looking at things, it doesn't mean you should risk Rebekah's life!"
"This is all you care for right? Our sister's safety? I can take care of her and I care take care of me! Don't you see why I must do this ritual? Come on brother, don't you think that I am right? I am meant for achieving greatness and the stupid feelings do nothing more than just to put obstacles in my way!"
"If you are so keen on doing some things, your feelings should be in accord with you. Don't you see, Niklaus, that your conscience is the one who stop you in doing some things? This conscience is a part of you and if it gives you headaches about something you did, it means that you are not approving of your actions. The blasted feelings are not a different entity, Klaus! They are yours and they define you!"
"I don't need them", muttered Klaus miserably. "They make me weak", whispered he with an edge on desperation in his voice. "If I'm showing weakness others will take advantage of that and they'll hurt me! I can take that, Elijah!"
"People are not beasts, brother! You didn't must kill or be killed. This is the jungle's law, but we are humans, we love and this is our most powerful weapon", said Elijah while he hugged his brother. Sensing his brother discomfort, he took a step behind and saw the scowl on Klaus's face. Sighing, he said:
"You must not be afraid to be human, brother. If Rebekah's ritual should have worked, you would have become a monster. People may fear you, but in the end you're the one that is losing. You'll be miserable and alone all your life if you keep trying to become strong."
Klaus looked at his brother retreating back with bitterness. "You're wrong brother! But fear not, I'll protect both you and Rebekah! In the end, I love you and everything I do, is not just for my happiness, but for your safety and future happiness to."