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Madness

"Are you insane?!" Marcel was demanding. Unfortunately, as Davina had been on her way to the house Marcel called to check in on her and she confessed where she was going. It was lucky at least that she didn't tell him where she was going because Scarlett knew that he would already be at the house actually confronting her.

"This is the only way right now," Scarlett started off.

"Is Elijah there?" Marcel asked.

"No," Scarlett lied as she was looking at her husband.

"Bull," Marcel called her out on it. "Elijah, I know you can hear me. Are you actually going to let her go through with this?!" He didn't wait for an answer. "Scar, I'm begging you not to do this. Please. Don't you think Esther already knows you're-" Savannah had come in and took Scarlett's phone, hanging up.

"I hate to ever agree with Marcel," Savannah started off, though she had spared her friend from listening to his rant.

"Then don't," Scarlett stopped her from saying anymore. "This is the only card we have to play, we have to go with it." She looked to Elijah who didn't seem too convinced, but he wasn't protesting. "Rebekah, Klaus, and Kol will be with your mother, the rest of you will be here with me, everything will be fine."

Rebekah was going with Kol to meet with Esther, to tell her that she wanted to take her up on her offer for mortality. While they were going, Scarlett and Davina were going to be working from the country home to try to block out the spell, not only keeping Rebekah in her body but Esther in hers while Klaus took the opportunity to kill her once and for all.

"Scar," Savannah continued to insist, though they heard Hope crying upstairs, waking from her nap.

"Go get Hope," Scarlett assured her. "By the time she's down again, hopefully Esther will be out of our lives for good."


Within the hour, Scarlett realized she had never been more wrong as she laid on the floor, writhing in pain. They suspected that Esther had caught on and was re-routing Scarlett's magic back against her. Klaus and Rebekah couldn't have any idea, continuing with the plan as they talked about rather than attacking Esther to make her stop; Davina continued on with the plan as well, since the only way to help Scarlett was to kill Esther. Elijah and Kol sat on either side of Scarlett, contemplating their next move, though they were hardly calm.

"Isn't there something you can do?!" Elijah was snapping at his younger brother while Scarlett gripped his hand painfully.

"Don't you think I've been trying?" Kol snapped back. "In case you haven't noticed, anytime I use magic my nose starts bleeding."

"All I've noticed," Elijah said coldly, though it wasn't Kol's fault Scarlett was in this situation right now. "Is my wife screaming." As he was saying this though, Scarlett stopped, though she was breathing heavily as the pain passed. "What did you-"

"Nothing," Kol shook his head as they both helped Scarlett sit up.

"What's going on, did it work?" Savannah asked quickly from the door way, balancing the baby on her hip. While she had wanted to help Scarlett before, she knew it was better to stay out of it, keeping the baby calm during the chaos.

"I think so," Davina nodded, Kol moving so Davina could kneel next to Scarlett. "Um...Scarlett?" Davina asked carefully.

"What's the matter?" Scarlett asked nervously, glancing around; Davina wasn't sure what to say, while the others had noticed it now too.

"Are you bigger than you were before the spell?" Kol asked now, Davina nudging him for being insensitive.

"What?" Scarlett asked in confusion, and a little annoyance, but she did glance down at her stomach; they were right. Though she was only pregnant for six months she looked as though she could give birth any day now.

"Do you know what your mom did?" Savannah was asking into the phone as Klaus had just called; every thing had gone to plan with Esther dead and Rebekah still in her own body.

"Other than take another step towards transitioning, I have no idea what you're talking about," Klaus told her. While they had killed Esther, they did manage to slip her some vampire blood, making sure she died with it in her system.

"Did she say anything about Scarlett, about knowing what she was up to?" Savannah insisted.

"If she had any idea what Scarlett was up to, I doubt we would have gotten away with killing her," Klaus reminded her. She supposed he was right; she wouldn't just go after the threat at the country home but also the threat in front of her face. "What's going on?"

"Scarlett looks like she's about to pop," Savannah said, getting a look from her best friend, though she just shrugged in response. "Someone's managed to speed up her magical pregnancy."

"It couldn't have been Esther," Klaus insisted. "She had all her concentration on Rebekah."

"He's right," Scarlett agreed, able to hear what they were saying easily. "You know how much concentration it took for that witch to help me get pregnant in the first place, it would take just as much to move it along," she continued, Elijah helping her to stand.

"Why would someone want to move along your pregnancy?" Kol asked seriously.

"I think I can guess who," Elijah finally spoke. He had been thinking it since he first noticed the change in Scarlett's body after the pain stopped. "Someone who's very eager for Aurora to be born." He shook his head. "Who was able to track us through the use of all that power."

"Dahlia," Scarlett whispered.


"Why are we even going back to New Orleans?" Savannah asked Klaus as they were making their way back to the compound, turning to look back at baby Hope in her car seat. "We should be getting Hope and Scarlett as far away as possible."

"If Dahlia could find us at the safe house, she could find them anywhere," Klaus insisted. Elijah had agreed, that the best move was to head back to New Orleans. "Better to be with our vampires, Hayley's wolves that will want to protect Hope, Davina's witches..."

"I get it," Savannah agreed; she glanced back again. "She's so small," she said softly; she felt Klaus taking her hand.

"We're going to keep both of them safe," Klaus assured her.

The rest of the trip back went smoothly, the family making their way into their home in the French Quarter. Hope went to sleep easily in her nursery, the room connected to Klaus and Savannah's. Davina and Kol remained up most of the night in the main room, looking for ways to fortify the home with magic to keep them all safe; Scarlett sat up in bed that night listening, Elijah sitting with her.

"You should sleep," Elijah told her gently, trying to soothe her.

"She managed to single me out and speed up my pregnancy," Scarlett insisted. "I'm about to have this baby any day thanks to her, don't tell me Davina and Kol are going to be able to stop her."

"It's better than our chances on the run, and you know that," Elijah reminded her and she let out a heavy sigh.

"I might have only a few more days left to use Aurora's magic," she started to reason.

"We've talked about this," Elijah said in exasperation.

"I'm stronger than the two of them," she argued.

"And your use of that magic is what drew Dahlia to us in the first place," he argued back and she gave up; he was right.

"How's Dahlia even alive?" Scarlett continued, still antsy. "She disappeared before you were born." She played with her hands nervously. "Do you think it has to do with Freya?" His silence was her answer yes. "Do you think she's still alive or..." She waved her hand, shaking her head as if to shake the thought away. "Forget it, I don't even know which would be worse anyway."

"If she's alive, then there's a chance for us to save her," Elijah said quietly; Scarlett was out of bed now. "What are you doing?"

"Someone's going to have to figure out how," Scarlett said, going for their closet; she emerged with what Elijah was afraid she was getting, Natalie's spell book.

"Scarlett," he said worriedly. He had hoped they were past her digging through her sister's things, with the pain that came with it.

"Your mother said Natalie probably got her ideas for some of her spells from Dahlia," Scarlett said. "If we can figure out how's she's still alive, we can figure out how to-"

"In the morning," Elijah told her, taking the book from her the moment she sat back down. "You both," he emphasized about their daughter. "Need to get some sleep."

Scarlett gave in, her body and mind both thoroughly exhausted from that day's events. She worked to let it all go, thinking about their victories over the last few days instead. Esther was no loner a threat to them, currently transitioning in a tomb somewhere thanks to Klaus and Rebekah. Finn might not be gone yet, but it was only a matter of time before the hex took over his body and he was gone for good. Hope and Rebekah were home; she only wished Hayley was here to see it. Thoughts of involving the wolves in Hope's life as much as possible ran through her mind as she eventually drifted off to sleep.


She awoke in the compound, though it looked much differently than it did now. It looked the way it did in the early 1900s, when she had first turned and was living with the Mikaelsons. Glancing in the mirror, she recognized what she was dreaming of; it was the last Christmas they all spent together before Mikael came to New Orleans.

She left the room, the rest of the house quiet and empty, much different from the party she remembered. As she made her way downstairs, she spotted another girl there. She felt as though she had met this girl before, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. The girl smiled, knowing she recognized her.

"You remember me," she said, her smile soft and warm.

"How do I know you?" Scarlett asked in confusion.

"We met here, at this party," she reminded her. "I had so many questions for you, about Elijah and the others." She smiled. "You happily obliged me until it was time for the toast."

"I remember," Scarlett nodded, finally recalling. "But...I never got your name." The girl stepped closer to whisper something to her.


Scarlett sat up in bed that night gasping, waking her husband with her stirring.

"What is it?" Elijah asked worriedly, looking her over.

"I had a dream," Scarlett said, taking a deep breath.

"Was it about your sister?" he asked and she shook her head quickly.

"It was yours," she told him and he looked at her in confusion. "Freya is alive, and she knows where to find us."

thanks for reading! again so sorry for the delay! hope it was worth it, please let me know what you thought! :)