A/N: As an apology for the incredibly long wait, enjoy the long chapter
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"Are you insane?" Katherine questioned looking directly at Klaus incredulously. "You want me to actually find my way back to the cemetery, on my own, and somehow if I'm not killed by any number of Marcel's vampires still alive roaming the streets, you want me to miraculously convince Sophie Deveraux to track down your traitor of a sister in hopes that she'll magically know where her psycho boyfriend took Hayley?" She scoffed. "You know I thought saying that out loud would make you sound less deranged but it did not."
Klaus gave her a look. "I've swept the entire bayou. She's not here. No one is. Which means one of two things. Either Sophie somehow faked the locator spell, or Marcel moved her when he chose to ambush me with the eighty two currently dead vampires."
"Even if that was true, what makes you think Rebekah would know anything? She might've been in on the ambush because she wanted to stop you. But Marcel is also not an idiot. He's like you. He thinks like you, he acts like you. So start thinking. If you were Marcel, would you give up your only leverage to a person who has a huge track record for constantly siding with the enemy? He knows Rebekah's always been on your side even when everything gives her reason not to be...no offense. Look, my point is, I don't think she'd know where Hayley is. And I'd rather not risk my life for a maybe." She sighed heavily, running her hand through her messy brown curls. "I don't get you. Fifteen minutes ago you were all about my safety and how if I had told you about Rebekah, this could've been avoided cause your paranoid brain would've seen through it." She rolled her eyes. "And now you're demanding I willingly risk my life. What's the difference? That it's your call this time and not mine?"
"The difference is we are running out of time." He snapped, ultimately reacting to what she was accusing him of. He hated the way she was looking at him right now. As if the past day and a half hadn't happened. "How long do you think it will be before Marcel figures out his vampires failed, and instead resorts to dangling Hayley's safety as blackmail to get me to do whatever it is he's after?"
Her lips parted open, but she slowly closed them once she realized her pride and fear were getting in the way of her seeing he was right. "Fine." She grumbled. "But you owe me a new pair of shoes."
In any other situation he would've at least managed to smile just a little, but at the moment he couldn't. "If we get out of this alive I will buy you a whole new wardrobe." He grumbled.
Katherine snorted. "I'll hold you to that." She warned as she walked further and further away from him.
It wasn't until she was completely out of sight that Klaus sped through the bayou, in the direction of where he heard Hayley. He didn't care if Katerina hated him after this. But there was no chance in hell he was risking her life again. He knew Marcel wouldn't have his vampires attack her. It was leverage. The only one he had since thanks to the other voice he heard with Hayley, he knew he hadn't been the one to take her.
By the time Katherine arrived back to the cemetery, no one was there. "I am going to kill Klaus." She muttered turning around to leave.
"Make that two of us."
Instantly her body tensed at the sound of Marcel's smug tone of voice. Somehow he was far more annoying than Klaus. "Marcel." She returned his smirk with one of her own, refusing to show any fear in this moment.
"Tell me. Where is Klaus? And why are you out here all alone?" He took a step closer to her, brushing his index finger along her cheek.
She slowly raised an eyebrow, his mannerisms and the way he touched her cheek all too easily reminded her of Klaus. Except she wasn't actually scared of Marcel. Not like she had been of Klaus. She almost laughed. She hadn't realized it until now, but she wasn't afraid of Klaus Mikaelson either. Even if he decided to chase her around the world again
"First of all." She slapped his hand away and took a step back from him. "Don't touch me. Second of all, if you lost Klaus that's not my problem. Right now my only concern is finding Hayley. You know, the pregnant werewolf you decided to kidnap?"
Marcel chuckled. "You're feisty. I can see why Klaus likes you so much."
"If you think he likes me you're more delusional than I thought. That or you're stupid. Don't you know who I am? The elusive Katherine Pierce who outran the original hybrid and lived to tell the tale." A smirk made its way onto her lips as she took slow steps around the mausoleum she currently stood in. She was trying to find some type of weapon to use against him, without letting him know that was what she was doing.
"Please." Marcel snorted. "Someone would have to be blind not to see the sexual tension between you two. I'm just surprised Elijah is still foolishly oblivious. I remember pointing it out to him, about how crazy he was to let his girlfriend go out of town with another man. A man she so clearly desired."
The smug facade seemed to fade at his words. They caught her by surprise and she could no longer focus on getting the upper hand against Marcel. Which she suspected, had been his goal. "Wait. You talked to Elijah when Klaus was out of town?"
This time it was Marcel who smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Poor thing. You didn't know did you?"
"Know what?" She was losing her patience. Not only that, but she had a sinking feeling in her heart that wouldn't go away, no matter how much she tried to reassure herself that everything was fine.
"That's enough Marcel."
Katherine spun around with near lightning speed at the sound of the familiar voice.
"Elijah?" Her voice was a mere whisper and her eyes were wide with shock and disbelief.
"It's alright Katerina. Everything is going to be alright."
Her lips parted open for a second as she struggled to speak. "No, everything is not alright. What the hell are you doing?" She snapped once she found her voice.
"This is what's best for everyone."
"This-" Realization slowly set in then, and her heart suddenly felt a thousand times heavier. "You were in on this too. Hayley. The vampires that attacked Klaus...how could you?"
"I had nothing to do with Hayley. Neither did Marcel. That was supposed to be a lie to lure Niklaus into the bayou. However, things did not go according to plan. Not to worry, thanks to Sophie's locator spell, I know exactly where she is. I've already sent Rebekah to get her."
She seemed to relax a little at the knowledge that Hayley was going to be okay. If there was one thing she still knew for sure in this moment, it was that Rebekah's bite was actually worse than her bark.
But the pain of Elijah's betrayal was still there.
"How could you do this? I was with him. I could've gotten killed." She snapped, a firm glare reflecting in her dark brown eyes.
"They had strict instructions not to touch you. You're fine are you not?"
"That's not the point!" She grabbed a small rock she spotted and threw it at him. She didn't even care that he easily avoided it. She just wanted to hurt him.
"I told you, you were wasting your time with that one." Marcel spoke up, leaning against the wall casually.
"Katerina. I did this for you. For us. For Hayley and her baby. I do not want my brother killed. I merely need him out of the way if this child is going to grow up free of the burden that is being a Mikaelson. If you and I are going to be happy."
"I never asked you to do that!" She grabbed another rock, once more hurling it at him. "He's your brother! He-" She exhaled slowly, trying to calm the deep rooted anger she was feeling. "He wants that baby. And as much as I hated the fact that out of all the vampires in the world, somehow he was able to conceive and have what others never could, it doesn't change the fact that he wants happiness. And you...you think you're so high and mighty that you actually have the right to take it from him." She scoffed.
"What is going on with you?" Elijah questioned, this time adding a bit more firmness to his voice. "A few months ago you were willing to shove the cure down my brother's throat and kill him. What happened to the woman who wanted him to pay for all he's done? Who wanted her freedom? I finally give it to you on a silver platter and here you are, yelling at me for it."
"What happened to me?" She repeated, raising her voice. "What happened to me is that I'm human and I'm dying because of you! Because you couldn't stop yourself from doubting me and chose to give the cure away after I gave it to you as a symbol of my trust for you. I chose to believe that we could have what we lost in 1492. I chose to believe in you. And you, you chose to believe in everyone but me."
"And now-" She scoffed. "You come here demanding I be grateful for your psychotic desire to chain up your own brother and take his child away from him?"
"You don't have to feel anything." Elijah's own expression hardened. "However. Surely you cannot blame me for my confusion to your sudden loyalty towards Niklaus."
"Actually I can. Because while you've been off plotting against him and doing the exact opposite of what I want, he's the one who's been making me feel better. The only one who's made me see the truth."
"And what truth is that? Is Marcel right for once in his life? Are you in love with him?"
His tone of voice held no anger or pain. But it didn't need to. The look in his eyes was enough. There was fear, pain, loss. And anger.
However, Katherine didn't care about any of it. Not right now. "If that's really all you care about then I'm glad this happened. I'm glad I finally got to see the true side of you I've heard so much about." She shook her head. "Klaus showed me the truth. That I'm not broken. That there's nothing wrong with me. That despite all I've done, all I want to do and will continue to do, there is someone who can accept me for all of it. Who can love me, not despite those things, but because of them. You were never that person. No, you were the guy who wanted me to change. Who wanted his sweet Katerina back. But I'm not that girl anymore."
Her expression didn't waver as she continued to speak, ironically finally feeling truly free for the first time in her entire life. "Klaus and I, we are the same. We manipulate, we thirst for power, we control, we punish. And when I'm around him...I don't feel like that's such a bad thing. I don't feel like I have to hide that side of me or change it. I don't feel disappointed each time I think selfishly. I don't feel the need to desperately push back all the alleged bad parts about me. Klaus accepts me, just the way I am. Darkness and all. You have no idea how freeing it is to not have to pretend anymore. To just be myself without feeling like I'm going to destroy everything with a single touch. I've never had that with anyone. And now I've found it. With Klaus."
Elijah's eyes narrowed the more she spoke to him. When Marcel planted the idea in his head, he was quick to dismiss it. But once the two came back from their trip, he noticed something was different from the moment he saw them.
What he couldn't understand was how it could happen in the first place. How after everything his brother had done to her, how she could even say those words let alone think them. "I have never tried to change you Katerina." He muttered clenching his fists tightly.
"No. You're right. You haven't. Because to you I haven't changed. To you I'm still your innocent Katerina underneath the harsh exterior you think I'm just using as a mask. But I'm not Elijah. I may not be as heartless as I lead others to believe most times. But I'm also not that girl anymore. I'm Katherine Pierce. Cold. Vindictive. Manipulative. And definitely not innocent."
"I know that. I know you've changed. After everything you have been through, it is only natural for you to have changed. But I also do not believe you to be this person you claim. You told me yourself, you wanted to remember who you used to be. Is it truly that awful for me to want to see good in you?"
"You see, that. That right there is what I'm talking about. You try so hard to find something inside me that's worthy of redemption. Worthy of you. You look every day for some small shred of hope that I'm not completely evil. And you do the same thing to Klaus. But the thing is. Klaus already sees that tiny speck of good you look for. He knows what's in my heart. He knows I'm capable of love. Just like I know his own heart. He doesn't have to try and see the good in me, because he already knows it's there. But he understands that it's up to me whether I choose to show it or not. Just like I understand the same thing about him." She was eerily calm now as she spoke. Her anger and vulnerability over his betrayal had transformed into strength and confidence. "And for the record, I said that for you. When I gave you the cure. I said that because I was desperate. Because I wanted you to love me. I wanted anyone to love me. But it wasn't enough."
"How can you even say that?" This time it was Elijah who couldn't control his anger. He was glaring at her intently. "Our own relationship aside, my brother destroyed your life. He murdered your family and ever since then has kept you on the run. He is the reason you are the person you claim to be today. He destroyed you and now you want to defend him?! To blame me for the damage he caused?!"
Her fists were clenched so tight she could feel the blood gathering underneath her perfectly manicured nails. She hated remembering her past. It didn't do her any good. Her or Klaus. Not yet. Perhaps one day she would be able to if she didn't die of old age first.
"I happen to like who I became. And I'm not ashamed to be this person. I'm not you. I love who I am, even if you don't." She pushed past him and made her way to the mausoleum entrance. She stopped then and looked at him. "And by the way, he didn't destroy me, Elijah. You did."
"Where are you going?" He couldn't allow himself to let her words settle in his heart. Not yet. He couldn't allow himself to focus on anything except his plan.
"To find Klaus." Katherine snapped, continuing to take steps further from the mausoleum. She didn't plan on stopping until she found him.