Mikaelson Compound - New Orleans - December 2013

The theme of this holiday season was supposed to be: normal. No drama. No prophecies. No doom and gloom. No Heretics. Only Christmas joy! That was the agreement. But the compound was already radiating assorted sounds of sheer destruction. I sighed heavily, paid the cab driver, and berated myself for even considering any other alternative was even possible, then stepped inside to find Rebekah and Hayley in the middle of a smack down.

Rebekah growled ferociously, pulling herself up from the ground. Her eyes were stark black. Hayley's fangs were out, she flipped up to her feet into a defensive position, ready for round...who knows what. She roared back at her. Rebekah roundhouse-kicked Hayley square in the stomach, backhanded her across the face; the sheer force sent her spinning away, landing in a hard heap on the floor. Hayley tried her best to scramble back up after the hard hit. Rebekah lunged for her at vampire speed, but I slammed her back into the wall fast with magic.

"What the fuck is this?!" I scorned, looking between them both harshly.

I blinked and Klaus appeared from behind me. He slammed into Rebekah as she hurtled towards the new player in her twisted game. He held her back, roughly, and implored, "listen to me. Listen to me!"

Rebekah thrashed against his hold, growling menacingly back at me like a wild animal. I couldn't believe, let alone understand, what I was seeing. Klaus shook his sister, and snatched her attention. He insisted, "Rebekah, look at me! Rebekah! Control yourself."

Rebekah's breathing staggered and then calmed, her shoulders rose and fell less sharply. She breathed out long and slow, like she was breathing out the crazy, and she closed her eyes. Hayley slowly stood up and took her eyes off them only once to flash a 'stay back' gesture my way. Rebekah opened her eyes again; they were back to their usual white and sparkling blue. She whispered to Nik, dreamily, "dear brother...I have control."

Klaus released his hold, satisfied that he could, and he nodded back at her in relief.

"Hayley, take this to Freya. NOW," Klaus insisted, tossing a small briefcase to her, and she flashed out of the room.

The briefcase contained vials of antidote to an obscure poison; Freya was upstairs, slowly dying from said poison. I'd missed more than a few things. Klaus and I had both missed the millisecond in which Rebekah's eyes drained black once more. She smacked Klaus under the chin with the heel of her hand so hard that it nearly snapped his neck. He slumped down to the ground like a sack of potatoes, and Rebekah turn her sights back on me. She laughed maniacally, and flashed into me. The blows I delivered back, the bones I snapped, they only incensed her more; she couldn't be stopped. She grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt and slammed me back into the wall. Stars danced across my eyes, a cluster of black spots too, for good measure.

She said something, coolly; but it was all warbled and warped, and then she plunged her hand into my chest and squeezed my heart tightly. I stopped. Everything; moving, breathing, thinking. I watched her cold, dark eyes burrow into mine. The pain was indescribable. My shivering hands latched on to her arm and words fell out of my mouth; warbled, nonsensical, magical? Maybe.

"REBEKAH!" Elijah's voice bellowed. He clenched his hand fiercely around Rebekah's wrist, immobilizing her. He seethed, "not her. NOT HER!"

Elijah got his way. Rebekah released me, and I collapsed to the ground, splattering down into a puddle. I heard a guttural cry. Elijah hollered out Klaus' name. A wrist was forced into my mouth; a stronger hand slammed against the gaping wound in my chest. More sounds of sheer destruction.

"Don't cry, big brother. You're so afraid that you'll ruin her-" Rebekah spat in Elijah's face, and struggled against his crushing grip, "-you keep her behind glass like some breakable object," she chuckled, enjoying the face of thunder she'd brought forth, "she's not precious, Elijah! Every woman that you and Nik bring into our lives turns to poison. She'll grow toxic, too!"

Rebekah suddenly shoved Elijah away from her and laughed bitterly. Elijah wasn't thrown back very far; he and Klaus stood side-by-side and glared at their sister, angrily. Another set of hands were on me. Hayley? Another lifeline of blood. Rebekah lunged. Klaus and Elijah grabbed one of her arms and slammed her back through the dining table, smashing it to smithereens, and pinning her down to the concrete floor.

She struggled and screamed, "no! No! Aah!"

A weak and bloodied Freya rushed toward them as fast as she could with a glowing blade in hand, hollering out, "hold her!"

Klaus and Elijah pinned Rebekah down as hard as they could as Freya sliced a patch of their sister's skin clean off. Rebekah screamed out so loudly the incantation Freya chanted was unintelligible. Then, Rebekah went limp; the room was dead silent. Elijah and Klaus hesitantly let go of her and backed away. After a moment, Rebekah stirred again, and groaned as she came to and sat up.

"Well, that was annoying," she said, sarcastically.

Mikaelson Compound - Elijah's Bedroom - Three Days Later

I received a lot of those details from others. I remembered the pain, and confusion, and that was about it. So, to fill in the remainder of the blanks, Elijah had recovered Rebekah's daggered body from the bottom of the ocean. She'd been neutralized by Aya with an enchanted stake and drowned by Aurora - something about a sire line war and word spreading of the ominous prophecy and a bunch of other fun facts that definitely contradicted the aforementioned pause on everything doom and gloom related. Apparently, this enchanted stake created the painful weal on Rebekah's wrist that slowly dragged her into madness, and turned her into an out-of-control Ripper, and almost made her rip my heart right out of my chest, right in front of me, on Christmas. It wasn't her fault. She wasn't in her right mind. And...I was getting spruced up for a lovely festive family dinner, to pull crackers and toast glasses, and laugh away together, like none of it had ever happened. And...I stared at myself in the mirror for a long moment, and then another.

"You look...beautiful." Elijah determined, appearing in the doorway.

I turned around to show him the stunning dress that Rebekah had left for me before she spirited away - I suppose as a desperate gesture of apology for almost murdering me - and I rasped, "oh, this old thing."

"Are you okay?" he asked, and caressed the healed over scar on my chest.

"You never quite get used to the feeling of a fist around your heart, eh. But yeah, still hurts," I muttered, and stepped back from him to whisper, "we agreed to spend a normal holiday together, you do remember that conversation?"

"I do. I remember," he said, quietly.

I looked up at him, and I wanted to forget about the pressure in my chest. I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck, and finally crack up and tell him the funny story about what had happened to me on the way down here. I wanted to ignore the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and eat way too much of whatever smelt so amazing, it was wafting through the entire house. But...I couldn't do it; right down to my bones I knew that I couldn't do any of that.

"I can't do this," I told him, honestly, "I can't be mad at Rebekah; she didn't know what she was doing. I can't be mad at you; I love you; you didn't see this coming. I'm always mad at Klaus; but he actually saved my life today. And this...is not what I want."

"I gave you my word. Rosanna, I will always protect you," Elijah said, "I will never let anything happen to you. I love you."

"I know. I believe you believe that. Just...give me a minute," I whispered and left.

Kenner Apartment - Living Room

Hayley passed me over a large glass of red wine and quipped that it's supposedly good for the heart. I snorted into my glass and told her it was way too soon. We'd scoffed takeout pizza, danced with Hope to Christmas bops, played with her new toys, and we were all settling down to a Christmas movie. It was the perfect December 28th.

Jackson brought Hope up into his lap as she bumbled about before him and he settled back on the couch with her. He gave Hayley a look. Her shoulders bunched up and a light bulb flickered above her head. She nipped over to a bag, and rummaged around inside.

"It's technically not Christmas anymore, since you...slept through it, but who cares. Today was our Christmas, and this is for you," Hayley said, and handed a red envelope over to me.

"Oh. Thank you," I said and opened up a little card, "aw, that's going on the fridge, for sure-"

The card had Hope's fantastic scribbled artwork on the inside, and a more coherent message that read: Merry Christmas, to my godmother. Lots of love, Hope. I stared back at Hayley.

"If you want to, that is," Hayley rasped.

I nodded, for that was all I could do in that moment, with the happiest of tears lining my eyes, and I shot up and embraced her, tightly. I took Jackson's hand, and emotionally huffed out, "yeah!" I bent down and kissed Hope on the head and thanked her for the beautiful card and the pretty picture. She took it into her tiny hands and she chowed down on it; Jackson attempted to wrestle it away from her.

"Just don't tell Rebekah," Hayley scoffed, lightly, and then checked herself, "shit. Not that you would...uh, okay, she actually left something for you with me, before she left town. I can just toss it, if you want me to, I thought about doing that anyway-"

"No, it's fine, what is it?" I asked her, and she went back to the bag and pulled out a second envelope.

A letter was inside:

Dear Rosanna,

I will keep my note as brief as possible, and return you to enjoying your delayed Christmas. I daresay that you and I are quite alike in some respects. We yearn for a normal, quiet family life, but the universe continually shoots us down. It always has other plans.

I forced my family to partake in one of my favourite traditions last night, my last night in New Orleans for some time: we write our wishes for each other, for the coming year on a small piece of paper, and then we throw them into a bonfire. I wished Freya would take good care of our brothers. God knows they need it. I wished Hope would stay safe, and loved, and surrounded by family. I struggled with Cami's, I barely know the girl, but alas, I digress from brevity. I am sorry, Rosanna. I didn't want to leave New Orleans without apologizing to you, face to face, but I cannot get my wish. I have held off leaving too long already. I have no choice. My miraculous rise from the depths of the ocean floor must not get around.

It seems as though I am always leaving. But I always come back. The same could be said about you, Rosanna. And my wish for you is that the universe be damned. Your capacity for kindness is immeasurable, and commendable in certain instances, but I don't want you to ever forgive me. I don't want you to consign what I did to you, as just another thing that happened to you. I want you to use that fire, that feeling, and I want one of us to finally get what we want. That is what I want for you, this year. Even the mere act of knowing and accepting what we want out of life can be a tremendous power. Wield it. Unerringly.

I will keep you in my thoughts. Keep me in yours.

Rebekah

Before I even realised I was doing it, I bubbled and then burst into tears again, ugly-cry tears this time around. I covered my face with my hands as I wept. Hayley leapt up from the arm of the couch, and pulled me into an embrace. I blubbered into her, "I'm sorry!"

"Don't you dare apologize," she insisted and rubbed my back, "I should have tossed it. I'm sorry! I shouldn't have left the room. I thought that you'd be fine with Klaus there."

I told her it was fine. I couldn't possibly blame her, Freya was dying upstairs, she needed to get her the antidote. But me? I wasn't fine. In the absence of the cool-headed, assured, fearless Phoenix mindset, in the face of my fragile mortality...I was not fine.