Part 34

Gone

"Oh Kol," Rebekah huffed while carefully brushing Katla's hair. They were both sitting on Kol's bed, Katla's back was leaning on pillows and she was holding the pig Nik had given to her. "You said that he brushed your hair?"

Katla nodded.

"He did."

"Well, no offence, but it seems that he didn't do very good job."

"He tried his best," Katla replied.

"Yes, I'm sure he did."

They were both quiet for a moment, Katla seemed absentminded, she was hugging the pig.

"Is everything alright?" Rebekah finally asked.

Katla nodded, but Rebekah could tell that something was wrong. She was determined to help her sister; she wasn't going to waste the second chance she had got to fix her relationship with Katla. Now when they were finally alone, she had the perfect opportunity to get started. Kol had been very reluctant to leave Katla, but she had insisted that he needed a break. Not that he was very far, in the living room with Nik, Elijah and Finn.

"Katla?" Rebekah started gently. "I can see that something is wrong, please talk to me. I know I haven't always been a very good sister, but I want to fix that."

Katla looked at her, she seemed confused.

"You are a good sister, Bekah, you always have been."

Rebekah bit her bottom lip and bowed her head.

"No, I haven't. I…"

What was she supposed to say, that she had been embarrassed by Katla? It was the truth, but she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.

"It's alright, Bekah," Katla hummed and placed her shaky hand on Rebekah's shoulder.

Slowly she looked up and touched Katla's hand.

"You can hold Mr. Piggy if you want?" Katla offered. "He will make you feel better."

Rebekah couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you, maybe a little later."

She concentrated on Katla's hair again, wanting to give herself a moment to pull herself together. This wasn't going well at all…

"I'm afraid, Bekah," Katla suddenly said in a small voice.

Rebekah looked up and saw the distress in her sister's eyes.

"What? Why are you afraid?"

Katla wasn't looking at her; she hugged the pig even tighter.

"I'm not getting better."

"I'm sure you will, it'll just take some time…"

Katla shook her head.

"No. My body is broken, I can't dance."

Rebekah startled when Katla's eyes were filling with tears.

"I lost my safe place, it's tainted now, there are no pretty flowers anymore," she sobbed.

"Hey…" Rebekah muttered and wrapped her arms gently around Katla. "It's going to be okay, sister."

Katla shivered and leaned her head on Rebekah's shoulder.

"I can't… Kol deserves better."

"What?"

"I can't look after my Kol anymore. He deserves better than this."

"Hey, listen to me," Rebekah said firmly and rubbed Katla's back. "Kol loves you, he would never leave you."

Katla sighed and shook her head.

"He deserves better. I want him to be blessed; he needs to find someone special, someone who's not damaged. Someone who will make him happy."

Rebekah really didn't know what to say, she had never seen Katla like this.

"You…want him to leave you behind?"

"I want him to be happy. I can't look after him; I can't look after myself and Mr. Piggy. Broken mind in a broken body."

Fresh tears were coursing down her cheeks; Rebekah tried her best to comfort her. She could understand her sister's despair; poor Katla felt that she was a burden to Kol. Rebekah didn't think for a second that Kol felt like that, Katla was the most important person in the world to him.

"Now listen Katla, we'll get through this together, we're family." Rebekah paused and pulled away, she wanted to make sure that Katla was listening to her. "You have me, Nik, Elijah and Finn; we'll all help you and Kol. You know that he would never leave you, you're everything to him."

Maybe Rebekah had never truly understood the bond between Kol and Katla, but she knew how strong it was. She picked up a handkerchief and carefully wiped Katla's tears away.

"There, that's better."

Katla smiled when Rebekah touched her cheek.

"Thank you, sister."

"No problem."

Rebekah rubbed Katla's shoulder and patted the toy in her arms.

"Good pig."

Katla laughed and leaned her head on her sister's shoulder. The moment was very peaceful; Rebekah had never felt so close with her sister. Neither of them noticed when the door opened, but suddenly Rebekah started to feel dizzy.

"Bekah…" Katla's voice said from somewhere far away.

Rebekah blinked her eyes, her vision was blurring. The next thing she realized was that she was lying on the bed.

"Bekah!"

"Katla…"

Rebekah couldn't see what was happening, but suddenly Katla was gone. All that was left was the pig; it was lying on the bed next to Rebekah. She struggled to get up, but it was useless. No more than two seconds later she had lost consciousness.

"How is she?" Elijah asked after Kol had poured himself a drink and marched in front of the fireplace. He was very tense; he would have wanted to be with Katla. For some reason she had insisted that he needed "a break". The whole thought was absurd, he certainly didn't mind looking after her, but he didn't want to deny anything from her, especially now. He had sensed her growing distress for being completely dependent on him and he wanted to do anything he could to assure her that she certainly wasn't any kind of burden to him. He would happily look after her for the rest of the eternity if that was necessary, it made no difference as long as she was with him.

"She's weak," Kol replied.

"But she is getting better, is she not?" Finn asked.

Kol hesitated for a moment before replying.

"Not really."

"Surely she will," Nik stated. "The boy can examine her as soon as he's strong enough…"

"No," Kol snapped.

"Come on," Nik huffed. "Think about Katla's best interest."

Kol gritted his teeth; he didn't want the boy anywhere near Katla.

"Get some other witch here; I'm sure you know many of them."

Nik rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but I honestly can't understand why you dislike the boy so much; he did save Katla's life."

Kol didn't say anything; he wasn't going to let his brothers to know how jealous he was. What bothered him the most was that the boy had shared something so intimate with Katla; he had actually been inside her head and seen the most private part of her. Of course he knew how ridiculous and childish that was, but he couldn't help it, he hated the idea of someone else being so close to Katla.

"I don't want her to experience any unnecessary stress, she already went through enough with father and…"

"What?" his brothers cut in almost simultaneously.

"She met father. Have I not mentioned that?"

"No, you haven't," Nik replied tensely.

Kol explained to his brothers briefly what Katla had told him about her encounter with Mikael. None of them had much to say to that, Nik was squishing his glass.

"Fortunately she made it back," Elijah muttered.

"Yes," Kol replied tensely. "But as I said, she doesn't need any unnecessary stress; she's mentally and physically exhausted."

"Is there anything we can do for her?" Elijah asked.

"I don't think so, just arrange her that witch. A female witch."

"I'll take care of that," Nik said.

"Thank you. And she really likes your gift by the way."

Nik grinned.

"Of course she does, it's from me, her favorite brother."

"Sure," Kol snorted, he regretted for saying anything, although Katla loved the damn pig.

"What, you don't think I'm her favorite?"

"Sure you are, right after me, Elijah and Finn."

"We'll just see about that," Nik replied teasingly.

Kol rolled his eyes and emptied his glass.

"I think I'll go and ask if she wants a blood bag."

He headed straight to his room; hopefully his "break" had been long enough. All he wanted was to wrap his arms around Katla and made her to understand that he would never… Something was wrong. The first thing he saw was Rebekah lying on the bed, she was unconscious. Katla was gone.