"So?" Rebekah asked anxiously.

"Father is out to hunt with some of the Villagers for the harvest festival, he took Finn with him and they wont be back until tomorrow."

"Good," she said with relief. "And Mother?"

Elijah only nodded and Rebekah widely smiled.

"I'll get everything ready then."

- THE MAGIC IN YOU -

"Surprise!" a choir of familiar voices startled Niklaus as soon as he got out of the bedroom and into the main room of the hut. He had just woken up from a nap, after eating the delicious food and enjoyed the bath that Rebekah had prepared for him he had gone to sleep, try to get some rest after the awful night he had.

He rubbed his eyes and took a closer look to all the expecting faces in front of him. Kol was sitting at one end of the table with Finn's love interest, Sage, next to him, lately the girl had been spending time with them even when Finn wasn't around, a way to warm up the family for the inevitable marriage, to his left Henrick and Patrick - a friend of them - sat still. Elijah was resting his elbows on the other end of the big long table with Rebekah sitting by his side looking shiny and beautiful, and on the center of the table, surprisingly, was his Mother.

"What did it mean?" for a second he wondered until the obvious answer dawned on him. "Right, it's my birthday," he said to himself. It certainly did not feel like it.

"Happy birthday Nik!" Rebekah called out and she was the first one to stand up, her long blonde hair was loose, part in the middle and falling on both sides of her face, he liked her hair like that, it was the perfect frame to her round deep blue eyes, no braid needed. He also noticed that she was wearing a long sleeve dark blue dress, also, one of his favorites. She came closer and gave him a gentle hug being careful, she had not forgotten how hurt he was. Niklaus only showed a half smile, and hugged her back. After her Elijah followed, giving him a firm handshake. "Happy Birthday, brother." Niklaus only nodded. Rebekah took him by the hand and led him to the table which was filled with drinks, food and even wine, it was also adorned with flowers and candles, lilies to be exact. Rebekah had to be behind it - he thought - Lilies were her favorite.

Right before he sat down her Mother stood up and walked towards him. He stayed up and waited for her to reach him. Esther didn't say a word, her eyes seemed to be filled with what it seemed to be sorrow, Niklaus wondered about the reason behind it but honestly he didn't not care much, lately he had found himself feeling disappointed of his mother, he did not expect much from his father, but he certainly expected more from her. Esther left a kiss on his cheek and Niklaus just looked down, he wondered why they had grown apart, he was very close to her when he was younger but anyway.. He dropped the thought as soon as he sat down.

"Congratulations Niklaus," Patrick spoke calmly as usual and in a very formal tone offering a handshake. Sage, congratulated him in a warmer way, she actually stood up and gave him a short but tight hug. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Rebekah crossing arms and Kol's smirk. Sage sat back, a bit embarrassed. Niklaus appreciated her gesture but the truth was that even when the girl obviously tried to please them she wasn't considered a part of the family by most of them. Mikael and Esther were civil enough to her though.

Henrick quickly stood up and ran towards Niklaus colliding with him, trying to turn the clumsy act into a hug. Niklaus took a deep breath and tried his best to hide the pain he was in after the beating, although the long sleep did him good it was not best idea to apply pressure around his ribs but he just smiled and ruffled Henrick's dark hair.

"What do you wish to have first brother?" Rebekah asked breaking the silence.

"I wasn't planning on it but since you insist I would like some wine Rebekah dear," replied Kol and everyone chuckled.

"I meant Niklaus," she said, annoyed.

"I feel hurt then," Kol spoke making saddened gestures.

"It's his birthday," she explained. "And since we are on the subject, I did not hear your congratulations."

Kol rolled eyes and gave Niklaus a cheeky smile. "Congrats!" he looked at Rebekah then, "Now can I have my wine?" Kol asked and Rebekah sighed in annoyance.

"Kol..." Esther warned him while Patrick and Sage were holding their laugh. To outsiders it all seemed very funny but Elijah, Finn and Esther were just tired of the endless bickering the youngest ones would engage in.

"Actually, sister, I would like some wine too. If you don't mind," Niklaus requested. Kol showed his sharp smile and laid himself back on the chair, pleased.

"Wine for two then," Rebekah answered and gathered the cups and started serving.

In a couple of minutes the room filled with chatter and the small celebration started. Everyone started eating and drinking while they shared stories and sooner than later laughter filled the room.

"Come, please," whispered Esther a couple of minutes into the celebration and walked towards the door, Niklaus obediently followed his mother outside.

"I'm glad to see you're enjoying yourself," said Esther.

"Yes, it is very nice," Niklaus responded without showing any emotion on his face.

"After the awful night you must have had," Esther completed the sentence. "I'm sorry son," she finally said and he only looked down, a mask taking over his face.

For the first time Esther felt afraid. Afraid that Mikael's constant abuse was taking a toll on her son, destroying his innocence, his willingness to love. With a broken nose and a purple cheek she could barely recognize the man standing in front of her as the sweet blonde boy she loved and she knew that the outer damage was nothing compared to what her husband was doing to him, how he was emotionally changing. For the first time she couldn't read through him, she couldn't feel anything. It was like someone had disconnected him and standing in front of her was a man who was incapable of feeling empathy, who had no connection to her, no fear, no love, no hate, no forgiveness. Esther felt terrible afraid that what had happened the night before might have scarred his son forever, it made sense, Niklaus was just building up walls around him to protect himself and sadly it seemed like she couldn't get through them anymore. Whatever bond they shared once, it was broken.

"You should know that I convinced your father to forget about the events that occurred last night. When he comes back it shall be like nothing ever happened," she spoke, trying to at least give him some relief.

Niklaus only nodded.

"I believe you were trying to protect Rebekah.. from her fears. You were taking care of your sister and that is exactly how I want this family to be."

He kept looking to the floor.

"You and Rebekah will not face any further consequences."

She looked at him but nothing came out of him. Nothing.

"I believe it was the least I could do."

Nothing.

Esther looked down and finally walked away fearing that she had lost his son forever.

A couple of hours into the night and everyone was ready to call it off for the day. After the heavy eating and chatting Sage excused herself and so did Patrick.

"Let's walk the lady and our friend to their homes, Kol," asked Elijah. "I shall go home after them."

Kol immediately got up and walked out the door.

"Brother," Elijah called out referring to Niklaus and bowing his head to share his goodbye.

"This was a beautifully planned evening sister," he talked to Rebekah knowing that she appreciated the compliments and walked over the leave a kiss on her cheek.

"I'll see you tomorrow brother," she said and Elijah was out of the room.

Rebekah sighed and looked around. It was only her and Niklaus now, Henrick had been sent to bed early and after the chat that her Mother and Nik had outside she excused herself to the her bedroom leaving Elijah in charge who was now out with Kol, and after all, finally something good had happened: Her father was gone, at least for the day. She looked around and contemplated the post-celebration scene. The table was still set but with empty, dirty plates that she soon had to clean. Candles were still burning bright everywhere and next to her was Niklaus looking at her with tender eyes.

"Thank you," he whispered kindly barely smiling. "I know you planned all this."

"I would do anything for you," she said feeling nervous. It was time, every second counted, she couldn't be a coward now. She took a deep breath and looked at him.

"Nik, I need you to take off your tunic."

"What?" he automatically replied obviously surprised.

"We don't have time for this. Kol will be back soon. Please do what I am asking," she begged knowing that it would not be enough.

"Would you mind giving me an explanation first to why I should undress myself!?"

"I need to see your injuries, I know you're hurting and I can help."

Niklaus thought about it for a moment, it made sense that she wanted to help but there were no bandages or medicine around and if she were to cure him why was she being be so secret about it?

"What kind of help Bekah?" he asked knowing her too well. He knew there was something else.

"Regular medicine would take too long, you're suffering, I know!"

"And what else can you do?" he asked but she didn't answer.

"Magic!?" Niklaus assumed and shock spread across his face. Rebekah nodded.

"You told me that you did not want to be a witch. You promised to tell me before you started practicing!" he claimed.

"And I haven't break that promise Nik. I've never done magic but this is the time to…"

"No," he interrupted her. "I will not have you become a witch for my sake. You never wanted it Bekah."

"I didn't but I would much rather be a witch who can help those who she loves than being a little girl that has to step back and just watch you suffer."

"And how do you plan to do this? How do you know it'll work if you've never practiced?"

"You know Mother is a very powerful witch and you know I have the gift too so…"

"And when did you start calling it a gift?" he interrupted her but she just ignored him.

"I stole Ayanna's grimoire this afternoon and I learned the spell. Now all I have to do is call in the spirits and the will help me."

"And once you call in the spirits there's no way back Rebekah. You might want to use magic only this time but they will chase you until you become the witch that nature demands out of you. Mother has also told you this."

"I am afraid Nik!" she finally explained. "I know you won't admit to it and you try to act like nothing happened but you are in terrible pain," she spoke and her eyes started filling with tears. "What if time doesn't heal you? What if there's something wrong inside of you? What if you get sicker? What if you die?" her voice finally broke on that last word and tears started falling from her eyes.

Niklaus just looked down. She was right. He was in terrible pain and although he had spent the entire night pretending he was fine even standing on his own two feet was hard. He felt like something was puncturing his lungs. He knew that all that Rebekah mentioned were completely plausible possibilities.

Rebekah's hands on him were what pulled him out of thought. Her cool fingers took his tunic away. He only noticed her horrified gesture when she ran her fingers across the awful bruises, scratches and injuries around his torso. She wiped her tears and took a deep breath.

"Wait," he whispered and took her faced between his two hands forcing her to look him in the eye. "Promise you'll stop if it's too much. Promise, Rebekah."

She only nodded.

At first Rebekah only whispered a few words that Niklaus was unable to understand. He kept looking around the room for signs of anything but the night was still. Rebekah seemed focused and her hands were resting on his chest. Suddenly she spoke something he fully understood.

"Nik, please close your eyes. Don't be so skeptic."

He did not want to, but after everything she was doing, complying with whatever she needed was the least he could do so he closed his eyes.

Rebekah took a deep breath and continued enchanting. Niklaus gave up on decoding her words so he just focused on breathing. Unexpectedly a gush of wind hit him followed by a sensation of heat. Even with his eyes closed the room seemed to be brighter.

He dared to open his eyes and saw that all the candles around the room, including the fire had increased its flame. Everything was burning bright and Rebekah's chanting became louder and more confident. He could tell that not only was the fire selfishly consuming itself but whatever it was, it was consuming Rebekah too. She held strongly onto him and just like the flames, her small body started vibrating.

Niklaus felt scared. She had promised to stop if it was too much but her body only quivered more with each second that passed, all of the sudden the room became brighter and his heart seemed to stop when Rebekah started gasping for air.

"Bekah! Bekah!" he panicked as he shook her but he couldn't bring her to stop or to even open her eyes.

"Rebekah, stop! Open your eyes!" he almost shouted. He did not care if that awakened their mother and if they were to be found. He didn't care if he had to take another beating all over again. He wanted his sister back.

"Open your eyes," Niklaus yelled at her with tears almost falling from his eyes and he aggressively shook her one more time. Suddenly the flames reached their highest peak and the room was so bright and hot that it almost seemed like it was daytime. Rebekah started shaking violently and when her lips started turning purple Niklaus felt a cold hand grabing his heart. If she died so would his heart.

"Bekah, please!" he cried and her eyes became wide open as she fought for one last breath of air before she collapsed falling to the ground and with her, all the flames died.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart BeautifulDisaster123, FullMoonPhoenixShadow and clabla for your sweet, constant and encouraging reviews and thank you Emily and guests. I'm so sorry that it took me a long time to update. I've been very busy but regardless, this chapter has been the hardest to write. I changed it like a dozen times.

When I started I had no intentions of Rebekah becoming a witch to help Niklaus, I was almost finished with the chapter when this idea came to my mind and I had to re do it all over again and after that I lost my pen drive where I had stored my work so I had to re write the chapter, AGAIN! ugh! Anyway, I'm back and thank you for your support, you reviews kept me motivated to do all that re writing. I've done a general outline of the story and how I want each chapter to go and I have storyline for about 30 more chapters so don't give up on me! :) And since you are loyal readers, feel free to ask any questions about the storyline to come and I'll give you some spoilers.

I'm already halfway the next chapter so a quick update should be in order. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

P.D: What do you think happened to Rebekah? :( Did the magic work? Niklaus must be terrified.

xx