Title: Always and Forever
Synopsis: Rebekah is rejected by her father, as well as Klaus and that makes the first one to become a shy and frightened girl and the second one began to turn a somewhat violent and tormented teenager... yet he's always there to Rebekah. Rebekah is a victim of bullying.
Disclaimer: The rights of the characters are not mine, they belong to the CW.
Author´s note: This fic was one of the fics that got the First Place in the contest in the challenge "The Originals" from forum "The Vampire Diaries: Dangerous Liaisons".
All human
Rated: K
August 2005, New Orleans, at the beginning of Hurricane Season.
Again a new city, and what did that mean? Well it meant, new house, new neighbors, new school, new classmates, the need to make new friends, but that wasn't all, here there were hurricanes and the storms frightened Rebekah a lot, and it wasn't that London or Mystic Falls (the first place where they lived when they came to America) didn't have hurricanes, but they weren't common.
Rebekah wasn't going very well. It had been three days since they arrived New Orleans, they didn't know anyone yet, but that wasn't the worst thing, the worst was that the next morning would be the first day of school and she couldn't sleep. Even though her mother had put her to bed and tucked her in, she had left her in her dark room, and it was cold and she couldn't sleep. With the body covered from head to toe, her blue eyes tried to see her tight clenched fingers, clinging to the sheet. She was scared to death, she hated storms. She heard the wood creaking, the wind humming like the howling of wolves outside her window and that the altered her; the wind not only howled it also hit the windows; the rain beat against the house. Absolutely every unusual sound, scared her. That night was turning out long enough for her. She lowered the covers slowly, watching the shadows of her room suddenly lit up with a lightning, when BANG! A loud sound, like a gunshot, came from heaven.
"Nik!" She screamed. Scared as she was, she only managed to call her older brother, well one of them because she had 4.
Surely, God or Mother Nature, were angry. The day had been sunny and quiet but suddenly at around seven in the evening water loaded clouds darkened everything in their path, covering the entire city, and strong winds began to blow. Businesses closed early because the rain started right away. Rebekah knew, she had always been scared of storms.
BANG! A huge roar made her think that the sky had split in two and AUUU! The howling wind made her think that at any moment the roof of the house will go flying through the skies.
She had a lot of imagination.
"Nik!"
The only thing she could think of was to call her older brother. This was for three reasons: First, she hadn't the courage to stand up and walk to another room she was scared to death! Second, if she can go out of her room and walk to another room, her parent's room was at the end of the hall and Nik's room was closer. And the third reason, quite simply, Niklaus always had had a solution to all her problems.
BANG! AUUU! Yeah! Right, at any time they will be homeless. The small Rebekah covered again with the sheets and began to mourn because of the terrifying sound of rain and thunders. Yes, it is. Rebekah didn't like storms because if there were thunders she knew she couldn't sleep. Many times, Elijah had told her that when it rained, she could sleep in Mon and Dad's bedroom; but her parents had forbidden her it three years ago, saying she was no longer a little girl. Elijah and Finn had told her that she was nearly nine years, so she shouldn't be afraid, nothing bad could happen, but the wind howled frightfully and she knew that hurricanes could be devastating, the roof could fly through the skies at any time or window panes could be broken into pieces, or perhaps the neighborhood could be flooded, anything could happen.
"Nik...!"
And like a knight in shining armor, Nik appeared in the doorway of her bedroom. Rebekah uncovered her face and watched her brother carrying a lamp on in the hands and a face of concern he could barely therewith. Niklaus headed to bed quickly after closing the door. He leave the lamp on, in table beside and knelt up next to Rebekah.
"Calm down, now... it's just a storm."
"...the wind howls and the roof may fly to the sky anytime..."
Klaus blinked a few times with that. He tried hard not to laugh and watch her sister fondly, stroking her blond hair.
"We won't be homeless Bekah... do not be afraid, I won't let anything hurt you...
Rebekah frowned, but Klaus hug her and slowly she began to relax.
"I do not wanna be alone, Nik..."
"I cannot stay long, Mom and Dad would get mad and we aren't little kids anymore. Wait for me."
"Nik. Do not go"
The child with curly blond hair had wonderful 12 years, ran towards his room... He didn't take more than a minute to return and find Rebekah covered from head to toe with the lamp under the covers.
"Move, made me some room" Nik said slipping into bed beside his sister.
The little blonde doll snuggled her brother and he embraced her. Until he suddenly felt wet his chest. He lowered the gaze carefully and looked at his sister. Rebekah had little tears coming out of her blue eyes. The sound and light of thunders, the lightning and wind had her very scared now. Niklaus sighed.
"Why did you leave?" Rebekah asked sobbing with her eyes filled with tears.
"I went to bring you this." He answered taking out from a pocket in his pajamas, a small wooden knight, riding a horse holding his sword and shield.
Rebekah looked at him puzzled, she took the toy with her hands.
"What is Nik?"
"I carve it for you are, it's a brave knight." He told her, shrugging his shoulders.
"Will you stay with me until the storm ends?"
"I'll always be with you, Bekah ... no matter what. I'll tell you a story. You know that knights have to take care of the princesses, right?
Rebekah nodded and began to listen carefully to her brother. Nik was an excellent storyteller and his voice sounded extremely relaxant. It gave her security and peace, she just wanted to hear him always.
"In a stone castle that laid on a cliff. In the highest tower beautiful flaxen hair maiden dwelt..."
Rebekah closed her eyes slowly and the water accumulated in her eyes' corners slipped down her cheeks.
"Flying over the tower, vigilant and attentive, a red dragon prevented the escape of the solitary inhabitant of the castle. On she had fallen a witch's curse and condemnation was not to be able to sleep..."
And she snuggled more her brother.
"The inability to sleep had formed large circles around her eyes that reached her cheekbones and being excessively tired was making her go crazy, slowly dragging her to death. Dawn was young when the knight arrived there and he devoted the whole day to defeat the fiery beast and then he nailed his heavy sword in the witch's heart..."
Klaus smiled a little, trying to remember the full story, cuddling with a little more force his younger sister.
"When moon and stars began raising up in the sky the knight kissed the prisoner, releasing her from the curse..."
Outside, the rain got worse. It rained harder and with more intensity, it really seems that the superior deity was angry. But Rebekah felt more and more relaxed. The voice of her brother was cooing her and she slowly began to fall asleep.
Nik observe calm in Rebekah's face and smiled to himself, stroking the blond hair of his sister. Just out of habit, he ended the story.
"The beautiful maiden fell into a deep sleep and woke up the next morning in the arms of her knight, sure he was going to look after and protect her always, so she was happy to sleep every night until the end of her life."
Klaus gave his sister a kiss on her forehead. And I try to accommodate her on her pillow and relieved sigh.
"Do not go..."
"I cannot stay, but I brought the knight to take care of you."
Rebekah hug wooden toy, and she snuggled in bed "Thanks" she said turning to fall asleep.
The older boy blinked a few times, but eventually he smiled.
"No need to thank me. Always and forever... You're my little sister..."
Rebekah nodded. And there, curled up on her bed hugging her knight, she slept.
The next morning.
"Hurry! You are going to be late!" Esther called her children.
All of them ran, Finn the oldest was in College, he went to school by himself, in his brand new car. Elijah was in twelfth grade, Niklaus was in seventh grade, Kol was fifth grade, Rebecca was fourth grade, and Henrik, the youngest, was in kindergarten, they got on Esther's SUV quickly. Esther left her children at school with the recommendation of taking care for Rebekah.
The school day went through without much hassle for the kids, but not to Rebekah, and when they met at the end of the day, as the boys left the school surrounded by new friends, Rebekah was alone and quiet sitting on a bench staring at the floor, not wanting anyone to notice her, the other girls from her classroom had mocked her accent, her pale skin (London doesn't have a lot of sunny days), her hair color, her well lined and organized notebooks... well to be true they hadn't l left anything on her person or school supplies out... after the brake, they even had hidden her backpack. And they didn't gave her it back until the teacher intervened.
"How did it go, sister?" Klaus wondered after he got rid of Genevieve who had escorted him to the exit of the school.
Rebekah lifted up her eyes as she watched her brother sat beside her on the bench. "Well, bad as always the other children didn't like me." She said sadly as she smoothed her uniform. "God, I miss Mystic Falls…"
"At first they didn't like you there either" Elijah said. Approaching them from the other side and sitting on the same bench.
"Well, yes, but at least the kids were nice to me. Stefan, Matt Damon and treated me very well, and they defended me from the girls who after all were nice to me too. No one in the classroom likes me here. A classmate named Marcel, hid my backpack." She sighed. "Watch there is Mom." She try to change her face and give them a smile as she raced to her mother.
And all of them ran to her mother.
Days after Klaus told Rebekah that Marcel had had an "accident" on the steps of the school. She didn't have to worry about him anymore. But the weeks went by and things didn't got better, Rebekah was constant victim of jokes from her classmates. Classmates who were always having "accidents".
November 2005
Rebekah finished getting her things ready to go to a sleepover, which she didn't want to go, but her mother had insisted, saying that if she didn't go there she never was going to make friends, but her mother didn't understand her only friends, April and Hayley, weren't going to go. She had met them in ballet class, their mom was the teacher, and they didn't go with her to school. April and Hayley were in a public school, she wanted to go with them to school, she didn't liked that awful private school where everyone spoke about their money and whether their parents were of colonizing families of the city.
"Don't worry, you'll have fun" Elijah told her with a hug as she climbed into her mother's SUV. "Maybe you can make some friends."
All the way to the party she did it quietly and she was terrified, she knew for sure any of those girls liked her.
"Welcome, cute" Monique's mother said as welcoming her, Monique was the birthday girl. "Give your things to Eve and she'll put them in the room. Come the party is right here."
Rebekah timidly went into the room and sat on the farthest side of the same, lonely in a corner while the other girls were having fun in the children's SPA other sections. Monique's mother had set it for the party. In Monique's mother careless moment, she and her friends Davina, Cassie and Abigail cornered Rebekah against a wall and gave her two snips the hair. When Monique's mother realized that, Rebekah was crying in a corner holding her cut hair in one hand. She immediately called Esther.
Esther hurried out of her house when she bumped into Klaus and Elijah coming out of the kitchen with popcorn and soft drinks, to watch a movie with friends.
"What's happening mother?" Elijah asked Esther.
"I must go" She said taking her keys and ran. And the truth was that she didn't want to worry their children. She didn't know how bad things were or if Rebekah was hurt.
When she returned with Rebekah half an hour later, Rebekah was asleep after crying all the way back, and Finn was carrying her. He had found his mother in the driveway.
"What have they done her?" Klaus asked, his eyes red and his jaw filled with anger.
"They say she did it herself." Esther answered. With sadness in her eyes. She loved all her children equally, and she felt terribly guilty when she saw Rebekah, Kol and even Henrik were rejected by their father, after he discovered that Niklaus wasn't his son. Rebekah was getting the worst part and that was turning her into a shy and introverted girl.
"Mother, I doubt she did that to herself" Elijah said with his usual education and formality.
Finn had taken his sister to her room and Klaus had followed him, he lay with his sister and he stroked her wrongly cut blonde hair.
"Nik..." Rebekah said with a sob. "Tell me a story…"
Klaus began telling the story "Long time ago, back then in the days when the earth was ruled by gods and goddesses, with great powers and magic the story I'll tell happened. Uranus, God of the sky, and Gaia, the mother earth goddess, brought the world to a beautiful girl with beautiful jet-black locks and blue eyes as deep as the sea, Mnemosyne, had the power of memory and her life was meant to work and guard the memories of humans, very carefully she was entering the minds, chose the negative memories, away and after that got rid of them so they couldn't stick to the memory of men, and they hadn't to drag them the rest of their lives. This gift of governing the memories and beauty over the other goddesses was what led the lord of Olympus, Zeus, to fall madly in love with the girl. He followed her and used his best seductive weapons to get through with her nine nights. After these nine nights were born nine precious girls. Each girl reminded her more of Zeus and although she tried to forget him, she didn't get it because every day she had him more on her mind.
Forgetting Zeus became an impossible task, and the force that joined her with him was more powerful than any force she had ever met before. Mnemosyne was plunged into grief and memories, abandoning part of her work and leaving the men alone with bad memories who settled in the minds of them harder. Day after day the pleasant memories of her love with Zeus filled her mind as humans were suffering remorse for their misdeeds and mistakes.
Terrified without knowing what to do decided to talk to his wise parents, Uranus and Gaia.
Inspiration that was the response from her parents, "teach your daughters the powers of the gods and send them to inspire the minds of men." Mnemosyne sat and pondered... and after much… much thought, she looked at her nine daughters eyes.
In the eyes of Calliope, she saw nice words, and decided to teach eloquence and epic poetry, the majestic girl became the first muse.
She approached her daughter Clio and felt an aroma of past, and thought about that smell for a moment, opened her eyes and knew her daughter Clio would be the muse of history and heroic poetry, humans write and could and control their memories and their exploits, in front of her was the muse of history.
A light shine across the room, some songs sounded in her mind, and movements that symbolized acts, Polyhymnia was in the same place from which light came, chants and movements, Mnemosyne accepted at that time a new responsibility, turn her daughter Polyhymnia in the muse of mimics and sacred songs. Her voice was so majestic that the greatest warriors left their weapons and fell down at her feet.
But she wasn't the only one who had to learn the art of music as Mnemosyne taught her daughter Euterpe the art of flute and to her daughter Terpsichore the art of dance, creating two more muses.
The muse of choral poetry, especially love poetry would be Erato. To Talia she taught the art of comedy and to Melpomene the art of tragedy.
And Urania, of course, the art of astronomy. She did a very hard work with the Nine Muses forming them and educating them to adulthood.
When they finally grew up, she sent them to earth and they illuminated the minds of mortals, managed to humans express the beauty in music, in poems full of noble sentiments and millions of uncontrollable emotions, recount great epics to remember their exploits, managed to untie laughter with comedy and bring forth tears outside the tragedies also that they read in the sky, the stars from recognizing and admired its beauty.
They filled human minds with light, harmony and creativity fulfilling the words Uranus long ago had told his daughter Mnemosyne. "Just them, they can bring back the joy to the hearts of men"
And Rebekah fell asleep.
Kol came and saw his mother crying in anguish. Elijah I talk to him and told him what had happened.
"Give me the order and I'll steal their bikes" Kol said to his mother trying to cheer her up.
Later, they took Rebekah to the beauty parlor so they fix her hair. The next day Klaus accompanied his sister to the classroom.
He leave Rebekah's backpack on the floor, and help her with her notebooks and other school supplies, "Are you okay?"
"Yes" Rebekah replied shyly.
"I like your hair... you did something new with it?" Monique said, sarcastically.
"It's beautiful" Abigail said in mocking tone.
Davina and Cassie laughed. Rebekah, just lowered her eyes and keep them fixed on her desk...
The teacher tried to calm fumes…
"Enough. Enough!"
Klaus couldn't stand it anymore, he grabbed Monique's desk and even with little girl sitting on and he pulled it hard... and he was furious. The other children in the room, looked at him in horror. He loosened his tie and ran to the wall grabbing the extinguisher.
"Ahhhh!" He shouted throwing the extinguisher through the glass window in the door. He turned around and yelled at Monique "I will make you pay of you if you ever hurt my sister again!"
Rebekah outlined a shy smile. At least she had her brother to defend her.
He ran out of the classroom, into the hallway; where the teacher reached him and took him to the principal's office. Principal Kieran O'Connell was tired, he had heard rumors that Klaus was responsible for the "accidents" of several students during school hours. He called the police and file charges against the minor, intimidation, threats, vandalism and damage to school property.
While Elijah was Mikael's office, his classes started later that day.
"Father, Rebekah is your daughter and you have her practically forgotten, did you hear that happened yesterday?"
"Yes, your mother called me and told me the whole thing when I got home at night" Mikael said going back to what he was doing.
Elijah couldn't hide his displeasure but still maintaining his usual rational and calm position "She needed you to comfort her and you even weren't there." And that was all he couldn't be calm any more "She is your daughter!" he yelled at his father.
Mikael looked at him askance and Elijah continued "and she misses you. She need you..."
"I'll see that those girls don't return to school anymore..." He said dryly.
"Mr. Mikaelson" interrupted, his assistant Felicia coming through the door. "Your wife, on the phone"
"O.k. I'll take the call," Mikael said.
"They file had charges?... in the police station?... I should let him stay there... okay… anyway I was going to go talk with the school board, I'll see they drop the charges" He stand up and made Elijah a sign, they were on their way to school.
After talking to the school board. He went to the police station to pick up Klaus.
"Destruction of private property, vandalism, intimidation, threat..."
"I didn't call you" Klaus said very proud.
"I know," Mikael said, even though he wasn't his son, he tolerated him. "I have unleashed a raging shitstorm of epic proportions on the board of trustees of that pissant school that will not abate until those girls seek enrollment elsewhere… ah and I managed they drop the charges. I give them a week. If not, me and my very generous contribution on tuitions and donations will go elsewhere... I know you think I'm a prick, but I have my uses... Try not to vandalize any more schools…
"Thanks for getting me out..." Klaus said resigned...
At the moment everyone realized that for Rebekah's sake all of them had to stay together...
ALWAYS AND FOREVER THEY WOULD BE FAMILY…