Hey, everyone! So this idea came to me as lines from the song "Burn" in the broadway show Hamilton. I could see it fitting perfecting into the season as a part of 2x22 where Rebekah in at the table with Klaus. She always seemed to know just want to say to get under his skin and this story is sort of what I wished I could have seen after their little talk. I hope you enjoy!
You and your words, obsessed with your legacy...
Your sentences border on senseless
And you are paranoid in every paragraph
How they perceive you
"Meanwhile, the rest of the family enjoys the fruits of my labor," Klaus proclaims as he begins to spiral into a list of how the family somehow benefited from his outrageous stunts. He speaks particularly highly of how Freya and Marcel have benefited, and this sparks interest in Rebekah.
Rebekah's blonde brow arches and she places the goblet of blood on the table, "You would hand over your crown, and do what?" she asks with a small shrug of her shoulders. Her brother had never been one to do things for others without expecting something in return.
"Raise my daughter," he says obviously, "with the help of my sisters," he adds gesturing towards herself. Rebekah was baffled that he could think life to be so simple. Klaus of all the Mikaelson children knew best that life was anything but easily done. How could he think this to be any different? "One big happy-" Klaus' eyes detour over to the empty chair across from Rebekah as his voice trails off at the final word, "-family."
"Now that does sound grand," Rebekah says cynically, "Minus the giant Elijah-sized hole in the room." She points out with a small glance towards the empty chair. "And while your sisters raise your child, what will the child's mother be doing?" she questions taking note that his cocky smile has yet to fade. Rebekah gives a pause after her question as she waits for an answer that never came. His smile becomes even smugger than before (if such a thing were really possible) and Rebekah stands from her seat leaning on the table lightly, "This -dear brother- is not what happiness looks like."
His smile stays in place, but his eyes tell a different emotion than before. His eyes show a rare glimpse of vulnerability in them that she believes only she every really gets to see. Rebekah pivots in place and begins to walk out of the 'family' dining room when his voice made her pause at the threshold, "Where do you think you are going?"
It was not his words that made her stop, but his voice behind the words. He sounded scared. Perhaps not outright afraid, but there was a touch of apprehension in his voice that was very out of character for the typically guarded brute. Rebekah turned and walked back to the table and placed her hands on the back of the matching seat across from Klaus. "Where am I going?" Rebekah responds and matches his eyes, "I am going to clean up the mess you left behind, because now that you got what you want, you neglect what else needs to be done."
"What else is there?" Klaus grunts. The hybrid stood abruptly causing his tall backed chair to fall backward on the floor with a thud. He begins to rattle off things as he strides towards Rebekah with a flux-confidence Rebekah has come to expect to see from him, "Freya is freed from Dahlia, Hope is safe at home with her family, Marcel will have the bloody city back, you -sister- are back in your natural body, Dahlia is gone-"
Rebekah met him face to face and began to speak against him as she deliberately cut him off from speaking, "Freya just lost a father she loved at the hands of a brother she newly gained, Hope is an infant in need of guidance by a mother whom you have neglected to tell me the whereabouts of, Elijah is mourning the loss of yet another woman thanks to you, Marcel lost innumerable friends in your 'end of days' battle, and as for me-" Rebekah takes a pause as she now stands face to face with Klaus, "I am confined in the form of your choosing. Because of your narrow-minded need to control me, I am in a form that can not begin to harness the power to bring our brother back, let alone actually perform the act."
Klaus held a strong face and remained silent as he prepared for anything else she was going to say to him. When Rebekah seemed to end her verbal counter attack Klaus muttered, "I did what had to be done."
Rebekah raised her hand quickly and slapped him across the face. The air in the room was abruptly dense with tension and Rebekah could only hope that no one dared to disrupt them. Klaus was somewhat surprised by the sharp slap but said nothing. The hybrid simply glared off to the side, his fixation at the oil painting on the wall. After a couple of moments passed he slowly looked back to Rebekah. "You are a paranoid narcissist," Rebekah says in a precariously calm voice. It was in moments such as this that Klaus almost wanted her to yell because it would show her inability to restrain her spontaneous emotions; however, when she was calm it was because she had thought through this before, "You are so neurotic and obsessed with our family's image shown to the world that you can justify your actions to yourself by saying it was all 'in the name of family' even though you blatantly harm the very same people you claim to be defending," Rebekah takes a step back from the narrow space between them only to realize her body so tense that her legs are nearly trembling, "Your actions border on senseless and psychopathic. You do what you do because it helps you to control the family, not because it is what is best for the family,"
"And if my control is what is best for this family?"
Rebekah motions to the table abundant of food but lacking people, "This is what your control has done to this family!" Rebekah snaps pointedly. She had kept her voice relatively calm until now (minus the brief time she spoke louder to be heard over him) and it was not sitting well with Klaus. "Kol is trapped. Elijah will not speak to you. Freya can hardly look you in the eyes. Hope is motherless."
"And you, Rebekah," Klaus breathes harshly, "What of you?"
The blonde pauses and begins to think of her owe circumstances and how she could summarize herself. It was easy to do for others, but somehow difficult to do for herself. She was about to come back with a clever reply when she looks into his eyes and she sees it yet again. The vulnerability that is so faint and disguised with anger and jealousy it is often never seen. "I am disappointed that my brother is reveling in winning a battle as if it has ended the war."
Her words were certainly effective enough to hurt him as he took a step back and his eyes reveal his unmistakable pain. Rebekah always knew just what to say to inflict the maximum injury with the minimum effort. This was because Klaus and Rebekah had always been the closest of the Mikaelson siblings. Klaus stood now a foot away from Rebekah with his once perfectly squared and proud shoulders now slumped in regret and his cocky grin replaced with a hard line. But it was the torture and glossy look to his eyes that told Rebekah all she needed to know.
Though Rebekah could be the one to burn him the harshest, the original could also be the only one to heal even his deepest wounds. Gingerly, Rebekah took a step towards Klaus once again and stood before him in silence for a minute or two. She did not say anything to him in the moment; instead, she acted on her instinct. Her hand reached out and cupped the cheek she had previously slapped and ran her thumb over his cheekbone soothingly. They kept eye contact for what was realistically three maybe four minutes but seemed like years if not decades. When you are a 1000-year-old immortal being, time seems relatively arbitrary. A thought came to Rebekah and it seemed to slip past her lips before she could stop herself.
"When every battle on every front is settled, only then will the war be over and we will celebrate as one big happy family. No matter how long it takes."
Klaus does not verbally respond to her statement, if only because he has no more words to say to her that he has not already said. He places his hand on top of hers that lays on his cheek. The contact was intimate but not unusual for them. It was these small moments and kinships that were only shared between the two of them in private. Even though Elijah knew of the bond his brother and sister shared, they made it a point to keep their physical connections to a minimum in his view. Klaus sighed slowly and closed his eyes, presumably to take command of his emotions.
They remained quiet in their tight space, neither of them making any action to separate from the other just yet. Klaus' head falls forward and leans against her forehead and Rebekah easily accepts his contact. Another ten or fifteen minutes pass and Rebekah opens her eyes and looks to his closed lids. His face seems almost gratified and relaxed, "Niklaus," she breaths and his brilliant blue eyes meet hers, "You need to atone for your actions and repair your own mistakes. I can not keep doing it for you," she warns in a tender voice. "I can support you, but I can not do it for you any longer,"
Klaus nods slightly in understanding. Rebekah makes a slight shift in stance to move away from him, and Klaus' free hand grips her hip tightly and pulls her to him directly. There is no more space between them and Rebekah can not help the small gasp that releases from her at his sudden gasp. "Rebekah. I will not force you to stay in this city, but I will ask that if you leave you keep yourself protected. With everything that is happening I need to know you are safe," Klaus speaks in a low and gravelly voice that spark Rebekah's interest immediately. She nodded lightly but that did not seem to be good enough. "Say it, Rebekah,"
"I will. I will keep myself safe,"
"Good." Klaus breathed with relief, "If anything happened to you I-" Klaus stopped speaking and sighed heavily once again. He clears his throat and continues to speak on a different path, "You may not be satisfied with me now, but I intend to make us all a real family again. One that is mighty and formidable against anyone or anything,"
Rebekah smirks. It is not the designed idea she wished to leave him with, but it was better than the track he had been on previous to when she first walked in the room. Placing her other hand on his cheek -effectively taking his face in her hands- she smiles up at him softly, "To be united under one roof and smiling with each other-" Rebekah leans up and shortly places a chaste kiss to his lips, "That would be enough," she admits.
Klaus smirks and kisses her again allowing this kiss to be just a gentle, but last a significant amount of time. He did not know the next time they would be alone together and he was not going to let this opportunity go by. Savoring the small bit of time they had, he gently breaks the kiss and Rebekah hums with contentment and nods to him sweetly. Klaus understands her unspoken message and releases his grip on her and she steps back from him gradually. Rebekah smiles smoothly to him as she advances out of the room and leaves Klaus to his own thoughts. Klaus smirks to her as she leaves and turns to place his hands on the back of one of the many chairs of the table and began to ponder how to proceed from the point he is at with his battles on the fronts of both family and foes.
There it is! Thank you for reading and please comment below :)