"Oh god, oh god, oh god," Caroline kept saying in a kind of chant. Tears kept blinding her as she watched Stefan put Elena down onto the boarding house's coach. These were the kind of tears that were driven by fury at the hybrid and excessive worry for Elena. Oh god, the bite already looked so horrible, even though it was still barely new.

Elena wanted to groan in pain, but decided against it and kept her mouth shut. Even in silence, everyone in the room could see the pain she was in. Caroline, Stefan and Damon all knew the just how agonizing it was to have a werewolf—or in Elena's case, hybrid—bite. Bonnie could only imagine, but she felt a strong wave of sympathy for the girl she basically shared her life with.

Damon took one good look at Elena—not at the bite, but at Elena's sweat-clad face—and stalked out the door. Stefan immediately blurred to his side.

The brothers didn't even need to talk. With just one sideways glance at each other, they immediately know what to do and where to go.

Klaus.

Before they even had the chance to even so much as touch the doorknob, they front door flew open, revealing a dishevelled Mikaelson, eyes bloodshot and lips pulled back.

"The hell do you want, Barbie Klaus?" Damon asked, icy blue eyes narrowed to slits.

Rebekah, using her strength and speed, pinned Damon to the wall on the other side of the room. Her face had dark veins crawling and eyes were pooled with blood, looking exactly like her reputation of an Original vampire. "Where. Is. Elena?"

Damon struggled out of her vice grip, but the hold around his throat tightened, effectively crushing his windpipe. Before she could do any more damage, however, Stefan threw her off of his brother. She ended up crashing—and destroying—one of their tables and all its centerpieces.

"The hell do you care?" Stefan demanded.

"Rebekah..?"

It was faint. Very faint, in fact, it was barely a whisper from the floor above them. But thanks to enhanced senses, Rebekah was still able to pick up Elena's strained voice. Before Stefan or Damon had the chance to keep her in place or so much as move, Rebekah was already just a gust of wind up the stairs.

Caroline and Bonnie were blocking the door, the former on the defensive and the latter ready for attack.

"Let me through, you hags," Rebekah said through gritted teeth.

"Over our dead bodies," Caroline said, easily matching Rebekah's tone.

Rebekah's voice dropped considerably to barely a decibel above a whisper. "That could be easily arranged."

"No. Care," Elena groaned. Rebekah looked passed Caroline's shoulder and found Elena in bed. Her face was shiny with sweat and was contorted in pain. Half-lidded eyes met her panicked ones and she found herself gravitated to her.

If it wasn't for her stupid bodyguards.

"Guys," Elena tried again, louder this time. "Let... Le—let... her—come here... please."

Rebekah had lost it at that point. Elena needed her and she wasn't going to let newbie vampires stop her. Using all of her strength, she grabbed Caroline by the neck and tossed her right onto the Salvatore brothers, causing all three vampires to fall and become disoriented. Bonnie was too stunned to use her magic at that point, giving Rebekah more than enough time to speed towards Elena.

Not even a full second of holding each other's hand, Rebekah had let go of Elena because of the sudden wave of pain that rendered her crumpled on the floor.

"We said stay away," Bonnie threatened as her gaze hardened, focusing all the magic she had at her disposal on the Original. The three other vampires had already recovered and blurred their way to stand defensively around Elena, blocking Rebekah once again.

One thing Rebekah can say: this was nowhere near painful to the other kinds of torture she had been, but it is a close second.

The witch was indeed powerful.

Before any more damage could be done, a primal shriek sliced through the tension, effectively bringing Bonnie out of her voodoo. All occupants in the room turned and found Elena kneeling on the bed, her vampire visage fully out for everyone to see. She was angry, but it was the kind of angry that was coaxed from excessive worry. She looked weak—very weak—but in that moment of animalistic rage, she looked like a lioness, ready to spring into the defensive.

"No," Rebekah whispered, all traces of pain from the brain aneurysm wielded by the Bennett witch gone and now replaced by an immeasurable amount of worry. She blurred right to Elena's side, catching her before her body could hit the mattress. "Don't use your strength, love. Stay as still as you can."

Elena frowned, but the look in her eyes gave her fear away.

"Since when—" Damon started but one hard look from Rebekah shut him up. It wasn't the veiled threat in her eyes that kept him quiet, but rather, the confusion behind this all. So... Elena and the Mikaelson bitch were... a thing...?

That... couldn't be.

Elena was in this sick love triangle with him and his brother.

It was something he wasn't proud of (this goddamn sad story already happened once with them), but it was a story he wanted to write because dammit! Stefan always got the girl. Katherine, Elena...

But now it would seem Stefan lost his grip on Elena as he watched Rebekah tuck brown stray hair behind Elena's ear.

Rebekah knew. She could feel their eyes boring into her back. She sighed and turn around. Using her ability to compel vampires, she told the three to leave and not disturb them at all. Damon, Caroline and Stefan all nodded robotically before leaving the room.

Bonnie, however, was just there, arms across her chest, looking defiant.

"How..." Elena started before she had a coughing fit. "Why did they act like they don't know about us?"

"I compelled them to forget," Rebekah said simply.

"But—"

"You asked me to. Remember?"

"... no."

Bonnie may not have liked Rebekah, but she respected their relationship enough to leave the room.

"Why did I..." Elena began, talking more slowly now. "Why did I make you..."

Rebekah was silent for a moment. She knew that the toxin was coursing through her veins a lot faster because of the fact that she was still a newly-transformed vampire and the fact that it was hybrid toxin. She knew how the toxin was messing with her memory.

She could practically hear her heart breaking; she didn't want to remind Elena, but then again, this was Elena. She could not lie to the girl who captured her heart.

"You told me you didn't want Damon and Stefan knowing about it."

"Oh..." Elena said. "That... That sounds... like me."

"It does."

The tears; they stung Rebekah's eyes in a way that made her invite other kinds of pain because this was a pain she didn't like this.

Elena—her Elena, goddammit—was dying right in front of her eyes!

In her arms!

She pulled Elena a little bit closer to her, enveloping the girl as she curled into a ball.

She was the jagged piece to Elena's jigsaw puzzle that somehow fit perfectly and now, her Elena was dying and she couldn't do anything about it.

Nikalus was doing this to punish her. Punish her for allowing Elena into her life as something other than a rival or an enemy. Elijah had been more supportive, of course. Very supportive, in fact; always there to protect his little sister. Kol was an ass but nonetheless, was tolerant.

Niklaus had none of it; even tried to use the dagger on her again, which she thought was a last resort.

She was wrong. This was Niklaus' last resort: have Elena slowly dying, right in for her, leaving her helpless.

Just when she thought her brother could not possibly be any crueler, she was wrong.

"Bekah?" Elena said in a small voice.

Rebekah had to swallow. Elena only used that nickname when she was scared.

"Yeah?"

Elena turned around, her face so pale and a with a big smile on her face.

"Wait just a second."

"Oh god no, Elena," Rebekah said, smiling a little despite the tears. She attempted to pull back but Elena's hold around her neck tightened.

"Wait," Elena repeated, moving her arms down to hold Rebekah's, "as I hold your hands in mine."

"Elena, please, don't."

"Wait," Elena let go of Rebekah's hands and wrapped her arms around her waist, "as I pull you closer to me." She laid her head against Rebekah's chest. "Wait as I rest my head upon your chest and listen to the steady beat of your heart that I have now come to know as my lullaby."

Rebekah could not stop the crying now. She was openly letting the tears fall as she let herself get lost in the poem Elena wrote for her back when they thought they were going to die by a hunter's hand.

"Wait as I curl my hands into fists, as I rake my fingers into your hair and savor the taste of your lips." Elena pulled back and dropped a swift kiss upon Rebekah's lips. "Wait as I soak in the love you have for me as you breathe a silent prayer into my ear, 'We'll soon be the stars, love. We'll be all right.'"

"We're not hurt," Rebekah continues, "but, darling, we're dying." She brought her arms around Elena's neck and rested her forehead against Elena's. "Wait as we press our foreheads together, staring into each other's eyes before closing them shut."

They close their eyes. Elena could feel the wet tears on her face. She wasn't sure if it was hers or Rebekah's.

"Wait," Elena raised her hands to Rebekah's face, "as I memorize every detail of your smile."

"Oh God, have mercy. Let her face be my last thought as we wait for the world to cascade into castles of concrete misery."

"Our souls, intertwining, for one last waltz together."

"Wait."

"With love, yours truly."

"I signed, stabbing the air with my finger."

"Wai—"

Rebekah's eyes snapped open. Elena's eyes remained shut.

"No." Rebekah's voice was broken. "Elena?" She shook Elena slightly. "No, love, please. Don't do this, sweetheart." She didn't care; she wept. "Elena!"

She was so loud and lost in her grief that she hadn't notice someone else was in the room with her.

"You and Elena are definitely perfect together. Always so dramatic."

Rebekah didn't need to turn to know who it was. But she turned anyway, letting her vampire visage out as she roared at her brother.

"Get out and leave us be!" She screeched. "You win! I'd rather you wouldn't rub it in my face, you damn monster!"

"If you could contain your sniffling for a moment, you'd know her heart is still beating. This is not my fault, little sister," Niklaus said as he stalked closer. "Whoever the hybrid was did not do this at my bidding. It was either his personal vendetta or Silas is still after Elena." He blurred to the side of the bed. "I would never hurt you like this."

Rebekah gave out an exasperated laugh. "What of Alexander? And all the other men I've ever loved?"

Niklaus smirked a little. "And now you know you've never truly loved them. You were never truly hurt that they died. You were just rebellious because I took the things you liked. Elena is the only person you've ever truly loved."

Rebekah looked down and caressed Elena's cheek. "Save her."

Niklaus has had a thousand years to build his walls and reinforce his steel exterior, but the broken tone of his youngest sibling sent a wrecking ball straight to his heart. He bit his wrist and put it against Elena's mouth. It wasn't long for the young vampire to practically devour Klaus' hand.

When Elena's complexion returned to its healthy olive tone, she let go of Klaus' hand as Rebekah's wipes off the blood with the duvet (screw it, wasn't theirs anyway).

Rebekah and Niklaus had a silent conversation, with Rebekah's gratitude in her eyes and Niklaus acceptance written on his features. He leaves without another word, giving the girls their privacy.

Before Rebekah had the chance to say or even do anything, Elena wrapped her arms around Rebekah's neck and kisses her with a passion that could light a forest on fire. Fire. That was it. Their passion burned until they both needed to let go and breathe.

"Wait as I show you the world and bring you back with a single kiss before I go," Elena finished, a full grin on her face.

Rebekah couldn't help it. She laughed out loud, despite the tears, and pushed Elena off.

Elena fell off the bed. Rebekah, panicked for a second, scrambled to the edge, seeing as the girl was just dying a few moments ago. She found Elena still grinning, ear to ear, looking like a lovestruck fool.

Niklaus was right; they were dramatic. But hey, it was a life Rebekah wanted anyway.

Thank you for reading! Feel free to leave a review.