Chapter One- A Twisted Fantasy
She was expecting something different from her hot tempered brother. Actually, she wasn't expecting much beyond death in this cursed graveyard, yet it seemed even after a thousand years Rebekah Mikaelson did not know her brother as well as she thought. It was these moments that had in the past inspired her to fight harder for the human brother who had been her rock, her comfort, her hero. The cracks that sometimes opened up in the monster's façade and her Nik shone through, now that was her brother. The white oak blade, embedded up to the hilt in her ribcage, stung like nothing the blonde Mikaelson had ever experienced in her lifetime, but in the moment, she didn't feel it. This was the closest that she had ever come to dying, since she had always been sheltered by her brothers and her many lovers from her father's relentless pursuit. The rush of adrenaline that came from being alive, from staring death in the face and living another minute made her feel vulnerable and alive, and oh, so very human. This was the feeling that she had looked and hoped for in her search for the cure, this appreciation for every breath of her immortal body. She had envied humans, with their numbered amounts of seconds, rushing to make every last one count. Maybe it was coming so close to death, or just the finality of it, but she was now thankful that the cure had not ended up in her hands. What a way to end a thousand years of messed up family drama, a cure and a slow decay into death like Katherine Pierce.
Her brother finally appeared as she turned the corner. The graveyard they had been trapped in by that cursed witch was appropriately eerie that her artistic brother probably felt it justice that here their fate as a family would be decided. Would it survive this latest betrayal, or would it decay just like the bones of witches past? As the lamplight chased away the shadows, she finally saw what held Klaus's attention. Elijah lay on the ground, softly whimpering as his face twisted in a gruesome grimace of pain. A long, jagged cut on his ribcage revealed the cause of his suffering: Papa Tunde's blade lay within him as a single act of revenge by Klaus. Always the noble brother, standing up for Rebekah at his own peril in this dark cemetery and this was his thanks. But, as Rebekah watched, a single tear rolled down Klaus's cheek as he bent down to remove the dagger. Their family was so broken that by now, an eye for an eye was their only code. But even her most ruthless brother seemed to regret it as he stood alone.
"Brother." She said, stepping out of the shadows. If even Klaus seemed to regret his actions, maybe there was hope for them as a family. Maybe Elijah was right, and there was hope even for her beloved brother. Or maybe she was just repeating the same mistake she had made for a thousand years, ignoring her brother's faults in hope of his redemption. This time, it seemed the stakes were higher than ever, with her brother's child on the way and over half her family gone. Maybe this was the time Rebekah would be proved right. Then again, maybe not. This was Klaus after all, and he had descended deeper into darkness than anyone. Always and forever they had sworn over a patch of freshly dug earth over a thousand years ago, and Rebekah may have broken many promises, but she had yet to break that particular one.
"Rebekah." Klaus replied with a growl, her name coming out in its own unique way with his rich accent. It had been soothing to her as a little girl to hear him call her, but now it was just a sign of how much things had changed since her betrayal.
"You missed my heart" she said, coming closer to him.
"Perhaps I did...or perhaps I never meant to kill you. Perhaps I just wanted you to feel a fraction of the fear I felt when father came for me." Klaus replied, clenching his show to not show weakness in front of his little sister. He had sworn to protect her the day she had been born, and had kept that promise for a thousand years. Her betrayal had been the unkindest one of all, the blow he had never seen coming. And now he was broken, a piece of his heart missing, perhaps forever. "I love my family. You, Elijah. I loved all of you. I know I can be difficult, but I did not make myself this way. It was Mikael who ruined me."
"He ruined me, too. That's what you forget.. Centuries later, each of us is broken. You with your anger and paranoia, me with my fear of abandonment, and poor Elijah- he dedicates himself to everyone but himself. We are the strongest creatures in the world and yet we are damaged beyond repair We live without hope. We are the definition of cursed. Always and forever" Rebekah replies, trying to gauge her brother's reactions and at the same time, finally saying what she had been waiting perhaps centuries for. "Whatever it is you're going to do, do it now." Her brother seemed to flinch at her harsh words, his already clenched jaw locking and a tear slowly falling down his cheek. His temper, mellowed by the time alone was once again rising, evidenced by the gold flecks in his normally clear blue eyes. Rebekah's eyes too were clouded by the shadow of tears, her vision blurry as she spoke a long held truth.
"You said our father ruined us, yet I can't help but wonder if his father ruined him. The barrier is down" Klaus said with a quiet voice.
"I know you hate me," Rebekah states just as softly. "But what's done is done. I can't undo what I did."
"What was done is never done. It remains within us. The story we tell ourselves. Vicious father. Bastard son. The sister who betrayed him. Perhaps it's time for a new story. We tell ourselves the story so we know who we are." Klaus said with a wry twist of his lips, his gaze held by the opening gates of the cemetery. "What is that you want, Rebekah?" he asked as he turned back around to face his sister.
"I want the same things I wanted as a child," Rebekah admits with a wistful look, recalling her life before becoming a member of the living dead. "A home. Someone who loves me. I want my own family. And I want to live."
Klaus moved his head in an almost subtle nod at her words. "Then go. Go far away and never come back. We are far too damaged to remain together. No more a family than a volatile mix of ingredients."
"New Orleans will be mine and I will raise my child here, in the city you took from me. No doubt Elijah will choose to stay. But you, sister, you're free." He continued almost as an afterthought. His words were harsh, yet his eyes told a different story. They were grey with sorrow at their imminent parting, and Rebekah could read within them the gift that she had been granted. Her controlling brother had finally set her free of the promise she had sworn a millennium ago, finally realized what it meant to love someone.
Rebekah took a step forward, past the brother that despite all she still loved best, and felt his gaze burning into her back. The gates of the cemetery beckoned with a sense of pure freedom, and yet something held her back. Just a day before she was telling Marcel how there was no hope left for Klaus, how the brother who had comforted her as a little girl was no more, and yet here he was, letting her go. Despite her betrayal, despite her promise, despite everything that they had been through together, Klaus was willing to put his own nature aside, his own promise in order to give her a chance at the life she'd craved for so very long. And that made Rebekah stop, one step away from the gate, one step away from a life away from her family.
Over the last two centuries, she had often mocked Elijah for wanting to see the best in Klaus, for thinking there was still a part of their brother that wished to be redeemed. She had seen glimpses of that side with Marcel, with her brother's unborn baby, heck, even with that blonde cheerleader in Mystic Falls. Yet, it was one step away from complete and utter freedom that she realized that they were all wrong. Klaus did not need to be redeemed, because underneath a thousand years' worth of armor, of bravado, of anger and hurt, the brother they had known still waited for someone to coax him out. The hybrid needed love and support from those he loved most, and Rebekah realized her own fault in that department. Each fight, each disagreement had led to an endless cycle of lashing out and running away from both of them, and here she was, repeating yet another mistake.
"No." She said, turning around and shaking her head. "No, you don't get to do that. You don't get to boss me and bully me around for a thousand years, driving away any chance at happiness I might have had just to keep me close only to let me go. We swore around a grave, and I might have failed at being a good sister, might have betrayed you, but I will stand by your side until fire or ice overtake this Earth."
"Rebekah" Klaus warned, a low growl in his voice. "Don't test me. I've finally granted your wish, let you leave alive from this cemetery after your betrayal."
"You don't let me do anything. I'm a thousand year old Original vampire, have seen kingdoms and empires rise and fall, and I survived them all. I chose my own future, and I chose to spend it with my family- you, Elijah, my unborn baby niece- here in New Orleans. I might have to wait centuries to regain your trust, brother, but I will not be forced away from my family and the only home I've ever known."
"What about all your hopes and dreams of building yourself a life, a family of your own? What about that great love that you've been chasing for the past millennium?" Klaus asked, his voice showing no sign of an inner softening.
"That will come on its own time. Family is all I've searched for, and it took believing my death was imminent to realize that I've had it all along and thrown it away. I want it, Nik, want to mend the broken cracks that this family has been trying to hide for too long." Rebekah said, almost pleading, trying to remind her brother of all the good times with her pet name. "Always and forever, remember?" She said, throwing back her words from earlier in the night.
"Always and forever, brother" Elijah echoed, brushing off his now dirtied suit with a grimace as the dagger wound healed. He joined them, assuming a similar position to the ones they'd held a thousand years before, and he extended a hand to each of them. Rebekah took it with no hesitation, and extended her other one towards Klaus. He looked at the proffered hands, his jaw locking and unlocking, as his eyes showed a little bit of his inner struggle. Finally, he grasped both hands firmly if reluctantly.
"Always and forever" he said almost mockingly. "The dysfunctional family lives on for another thousand years. The bastard brother, the traitor sister, and the brother who denies his nature." He mocked them, his caustic words hiding the real hurt that had festered for so long.
"No, brother, another thousand years spent healing the wounds of the last." Elijah said.
"Always and forever as a family this time, Nik" Rebekah echoed.
"It's a fool's dream and you both know it, but always and forever." Klaus finally promised.
Unseen by any living in the cemetery, two shadows silently promised the same as they joined the small circle.
Katherine woke up in a dark and almost dank place. It reminded her of the several unsavory prisons she had visited during her tenure as the world's most wanted vampire, but a thousand times worse, since this place gave her an acute sense of claustrophobia. She hadn't realized that dead people slept and woke up again. As the fog from her head cleared, she realized that she wasn't on the Other Side, and yet she was very much dead. It seemed as if the universe was denying Katerina Petrova her happy ending even in death. Shadows cloaked her and an evil sound followed her, driving her insane. She covered her ears, trying to block it out, but it just got louder and louder. With a flash of vampiric speed, she ran in any direction to get away from the noise, but it seemed to follow her everywhere she went. Faster and faster she went, into a tunnel of never-ending shadow, shifting and mocking her at every twist and turn. It was truly hell that she had been consigned to. Glancing back, Katherine realized that she had not moved a single meter away from her destination, but rather had run in place due to the shifting shadows. With a growl of anger, she kicked at the air, and was surprised when her fist connected with a rather solid object. Her eyes traveled up from a muscular chest to a familiar face and she gasped in surprise.
"Now, is that anyway to greet a fellow inmate?" a familiar yet not voice said, mocking her. "Welcome to hell!"
AN: You didn't actually think that Katherine would stay dead right? Or Rebekah left her family high and dry in NOLA? This fic should be canon compliant up to 5x15 of TVD and 1x16 of TO, but as you saw, I'll recap TO for those that don't watch. After that, it will all get crazy, so let me know what you think in the comments!