Leta rushed into the village, having Esther left in the forest. Her head turned from side to side, searching for her friends, for Niklaus. But she saw no one, it was as if Mystic Falls had suddenly been deserted. A horrible thought occurred to Leta, but there was no blood, no screams, no dead bodies, so surely the villagers were all still alive.

"Nik?" she shouted, no longer afraid of hurting him or anyone she cared about. If they were like her then Esther was the one who had done the damage, Leta could not add to that in any way.

"Niklaus?" she yelled, frantically turning in a circle, her feet instinctively carrying her through the village and towards the white oak tree.

There was a gentle crunching sound, soft footfalls in the thin layer of snow. "Leta?" a quivering voice asked, fragile and broken.

Leta spun round on her heel and saw Niklaus stepping out from behind the white oak tree. He looked ill and tired, his eyes nothing close to the happiness she could feel in hers. His hair looked straggly, like it were in good need of a wash and maybe a brush. But all Leta could do was smiled. She zipped forwards and flung her arms around him, let out a strangled sob as she berried her head in his shoulder. Niklaus wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly to him like she might disappear if he let go.

"I am so so sorry..." he whispered. "I am sorry for all of this, Leta. If I had not gone to see the wolves transform you would not have been forced to become one of them. It is all my fault."

Leta drew back, looking up at him in puzzlement. She laughed and wiped her eyes. "I am no werewolf, though I wish I were. Did Esther not tell you what she did for me?" she asked.

Nik frowned down at her, taking her all in, thinking hard. It came to him suddenly, like a fire flaring to life in the dark, and he took a shocked step away from her. "She made you like she made us," he breathed, his eyes travelling over her face. He looked as though he might cry.

Leta managed another smile, though this one felt forced. "Yes. She did."

"What? How?" he gasped. "Why would she do this to you?"

Leta smiled again and stepped forward, taking both his hands in hers and squeezing them. "I came to her asking for a way out of becoming a werewolf. And she did, but I fear it went horribly wrong."

"How?"

Leta didn't feel quite ready to tell him about everything that had taken place yet, so she cast her eyes down and then looked back up, beaming as convincingly as she could. "It does not matter. What matters is that everything will go back to normal." No one will know what I did. Not even Niklaus. No one will know I am a monster. I will keep myself clean and I will be accepted. But as for my friends, I do not know how I can help them.

Niklaus opened his mouth to ask another question, but before he could speak, someone else had whisked Leta into their arms, turning her so her face was pressed into their chest. He smelled like pine trees and earth. His arms were strong around her, comforting. Elijah held her at arms length, giving a low chuckle.

"Leta. I thought I would never see you again," he told her, his eyes sparkling. A small smile turned up the corners of his mouth.

"Elijah!" Leta cried, throwing her arms around him. Elijah pulled away and kissed her on the forehead.

"You look..." He looked at her and sighed, shaking his head slightly. "Terrible. I'm sorry, but where have you been?"

Leta stepped away so she could see the two brothers, her family. Not having any brothers or sisters, Leta had always considered the Mikaelson's as family, with the obvious exception of Mikael and possibly Kol, though by no means for the same reason.

"Thank you, Elijah, I feel so much better now. You really know how to charm a lady, don't you?" Elijah and she both laughed before she continued. "I... I have been living in the forest... Since your mother cast the spell on me... I am like you now."

Elijah frowned and his eyes darkened. "What?"

"Oh, brother, come now, you know exactly what she said. Don't get angry, you should be celebrating. She's one of us, now we cannot lose her."

Leta turned around to look at the young man who had spoken. The one with the dark hair, the dark eyes, and the cocky smile. His teeth flashed as he stepped closer, so she had to tilt her head upwards to meet his eyes. He unfolded his arms.

Kol smirked at her, his almost black eyes shining. "Hello, darling," he murmured.

Leta rolled her eyes. "Kol," she started, sounding resigned. "Shut up." And she hugged him closely to her. She could hear his heart thumping in his chest like a tiny drum, the pace picking up as he put his arms round her waist.

Niklaus and Elijah shared a satisfied look, both trying to conceal smiles. And as Rebekah and Finn joined the group, they grinned.

And they were all thinking the same thing...

Just be together.

Later that night, they were all sitting together at the Mikaelson's. Esther was serving the dinner she had cooked, her face placid in her content. She hadn't asked Leta about what she had meant when she had told Esther she had made her into a monster. Leta was glad of this.

It almost felt like Leta was part of one happy family, with them all sitting on the floor, bowls of soup in their laps and freshly sliced breath on their knees. She was seated next to Niklaus and Rebekah. Mikael sat across the room from everyone, appearing to enjoy his own company more than others. Leta couldn't say she blamed him when she were sure that there was not one person in that room that truly loved him. Maybe Esther was an exception to that, but Leta found it hard to believe. Kol and Finn and Elijah at facing Leta, all eating hungrily, like they were starving.

Know what she knew, Leta was sure she knew the reason, but she couldn't bring herself to burden them with such knowledge just yet. She would wait for the morning, and then maybe she would visit her mother. Leta felt she deserved to know what her daughter was, what she had done. Maybe then she would regret hiding things from Leta all her life.

She found it funny that her friends accepted their being immortal so easily, after all, she had not taken it as a gift.

The past few weeks felt like they had been a miserable eternity, stretching out into a string of horrible events that had culminated it this somehow unsettling dinner. It felt wrong to sit there and act normal, as if no one had died or been murdered, as if no one had become immortal, as if this was just another day in their lives. It wasn't, so why were they treating it like it was. They were talking and laughing and it was all too much for her. She hated it.

"Leta, are you alright?" Niklaus asked, snapping her out of her thoughts. He was looking at her in concern, and she watched as his eyes travelled down to her right hand. She followed his gaze and saw she had crushed the piece of bread into a shapeless mass.

"Oh." She slowly opened her fist and wiped the crumbs on her trouser leg. "I'm fine..." she mumbled. "Just thinking, Nik."

Niklaus didn't look like he believed her, but he let it go and went back to his food. Better to ask her about it later than provoke her, he reasoned.

When the meal was over and Esther had stacked the dirty wooden bowls in a corner, she turned to her family and Leta.

"I have something to tell you all and I would appreciate it if you let me finish without any questions." Her ice blue eyes stared almost blankly at each of them in turn, lingering on Leta just a second longer than the others. "When I cast the immortal spell on you all, there was a price, just one thing that can kill you. Now, of course we know that should someone get a hold of this then they would most likely want to kill us. But not if we destroy it first."

Leta raised her hand. "Please stop playing the bloody pronoun game and just tell us what it is," she said in a bored voice, rolling her eyes. It felt good to roll her eyes again.

Esther's mouth tightened at the corners. "We need to burn the white oak tree to the ground."

Leta shrugged, suddenly not caring at all. She stood up. "Alright, let's burn down a tree."

The darkness was lit by the roaring flames as they leaped higher and higher into the sky, sparks flaring. They looked like tiny orange stars to Leta, who was smiling just a little as she watched the white oak tree burn to the ground.

Several of the village folk had come outside, though none but the witch Ayana had dared approach them and ask what they were doing. Ayana had not been happy, but there had been nothing she could do about it so she had retreated to the safety of her home. The people who were still out, were busily working, throwing hasty glances at the immortals.

The full moon hadn't quite risen yet.

Leta stood beside Kol, who appeared to be enjoying the sight of the burning tree. They were alone for the first time since the night Henrik had died. It was nice, Leta decided, slipping her hand into his. He looked at her and his eyes softened.

Elijah and Niklaus and Mikael had gone to hunt, and Esther was inside the house. Leta wasn't sure where Rebekah had got to, she had been standing near her a minute ago.

In that moment, everything seemed so perfect, but, as always when it came to Leta, that perfect moment was shattered by a scream.

It was the worst deja vu she had ever experienced as Leta once again ran towards the noise of someone dying. Only this time when she reached the one making it, she found a sight she should have anticipated.

In the shadows behind a hut, Rebekah knelt, her hands covered in blood. And as she looked up at them, Leta saw fangs disappearing and transforming into regular teeth and black veins vanishing into the fair skin of her cheeks.

"I did not mean to," Rebekah sobbed. "I was just so hungry."

Leta would have comforted her then, but yet another surprise intervened.

A sharp cracking of bone sounded, and she dropped to the floor as her spin arched and broke, reforming only to break in a different place. It was worse than hitting the bottom of the ravine as she felt herself begin to transform into a werewolf.