This will be a 5-part ficlet series that will take place between 1919 and when Klebekah met Stefan. Hope you enjoy it!

Fire.

She had hated fire when she was a little girl.

Feared it above almost everything else, except maybe thunderstorms.

It had been the cause of entire villages disintegrating into nothing.

Screams and tears and mourning for the dead.

Her mother would often use her power as a witch to set things on fire.

This was a trick that both fascinated and frightened her at the same time.

As she grew older she had learned she too could manipulate it, just like her mother.

She was new to witchcraft, just coming into her own, when everything changed and her powers were robbed from her forever.

But tonight, on this night, fire was every bit as scary was it was to her when she was a little child.

New Orleans. 1919.

"It will be all right, Rebekah."

She could hear her brother's words but they meant nothing to her as she watched the city shrink from view. Her eyes clung to it until it was completely gone.

With it went everything.

Her Marcel.

Her Elijah.

Her home.

"Are you listening to me, sister?" he asked again, when she didn't respond.

She could tell by the tone in his voice that he was trying to convince himself just as much as he was her.

"Elijah, will find us. I am sure of it," he continued on, distracting himself as he drove into the darkness.

"Elijah always finds us," she managed to whisper, turning back around to face out the front of the car.

She reached up and slipped her earrings off, one at a time.

They had been a gift from Marcel. As she stared at them, she burst into a new round of tears. Then the sadness turned to rage and it felt as though the jewelry was burning a hole through her hands. She used all the strength she had to throw them out the window in frustration.

Klaus watched her out of the corner of his eye, trying his best to keep his focus on the road and her all at once. The guilt was weighing so heavy in his gut that he wasn't sure how long he could keep it up.

"Marcel was so happy," she sobbed "I shouldn't have...This is all my fault..."

Klaus scowled, reached over and gripped her shoulder.

"This is all my doing, Rebekah. Since the day I was born, this has been my destiny. To be hated. To be loathed...Mikael will not stop..."

"I hate him," she whispered "I hate him."

They rode in silence for a few minutes. The sky was sprinkled with a few stars and a full moon to light their way.

He glanced over at her again, the tears now drying on her cheeks, her expression so far away that he knew he might never be able to bring her back from this.

"I did not want this for you," he said at last, although he was not sure if she was listening to him "I did not want you to grow up this way. To be this...this thing that we are...It was not the person you were meant to be...That we all were meant to be."

"Well we are, aren't we brother?" she turned to him, stony faced and now somewhat resolved "We are hideous creatures and our father wants us dead. He wants us to burn in hell right along with him and he doesn't care if he has to take entire cities down with us."

Every word out of her mouth was laced with venom, albeit misdirected. He couldn't look into her eyes any longer and turned back to the road.

"If he hurts Elijah..." she began.

"He won't," he assured her.

"He won't hurt us either...I'm not afraid of him."

"That is precisely why Elijah insisted that I take you from the city," Klaus replied sternly "You have always been able to stand up to him Rebekah, but I assure you he would not hesitate to kill you right along with the rest of us."

"I'm a lot stronger than I used to be, Nik," she shot back "Nothing scares me anymore. Mikael won't stop until he kills you...I won't let him. He has taken all that he is going to take from me."

In the midst of all the pain, the loss of Marcel, the temporary loss of Elijah, the mere fact that his sister was resound to protect him comforted him. If only inwardly. This was his battle. His war. He would be damned if he allowed Rebekah to be a casualty of it.

Before long, Rebekah's exhaustion gave way and she fell asleep, wrapped up in Klaus' suit jacket.

Klaus drove on into the night.

Always and forever