28: An Open Embrace Upon a Bleeding Tree.
"Who did this?!" Lethia shouted at Klaus. Both he and Daciana stared with wide eyes down at Nova's mangled body. Her limbs were spread and twisted, eyes fully open with the last horror she witnessed, and blood pouring from her into the street. Daciana had managed damage control of civilians. Rebekah remained in the French Quarter with Hope and Eira. Tears streaked Lethia's face. "Can she even recover from this?!"
"It will take her time," Daciana told her. "We need to move her body and put what bones we can back in place."
Klaus sighed as he bent down to the vampire on the ground. "Forever causing me grief, you Vasiles do." He carefully slid his hands beneath her and picked her up so they could go back to the French Quarter.
"What the bloody hell happened?!" Rebekah exclaimed when they walked in.
"Someone tossed Nova off her eleventh story balcony this morning," Daciana explained. "We need to keep her safe so she can heal and we can find who did it."
"Could it have been something to do with Remiel? Or enemies made with her humanity off?"
"Remiel would have done far worse," Lethia admitted as they all traveled upstairs. "And any enemy she makes with or without her humanity she can handle. This took her by surprise. She let her guard down to someone. This was personal."
"Who would she let her guard down to?" asked Daciana. "She just lost the love of her eternal life."
"So she's already vulnerable," Rebekah deduced. "Exactly why it's personal. They knew she was an easy target right now. She's low on reasons to live."
Lethia's eyes widened then. "Yeah… she only has two left - me and Eira."
Klaus looked to her with deathly seriousness once Nova was laid on a bed. "Then neither of you are to leave this compound until this person is caught. Do you understand me? Whoever is coming for Nova with these reasons will seek to give her no reasons to live before they end her life."
Daciana and Rebekah met eyes warily. "And who does that sound like, Nik?" the blonde asked.
They all knew the answer. The one person with the most amount of sick and twisted spite towards Nova. "But how?" Lethia pleaded. "He was on the Other Side when it collapsed!"
"There is one way to find out," offered Daciana. "Only Nova knows what she saw before she went over. Kol is counting on that because of how long it will take for her to heal."
Lethia immediately took off down the stairs with the other three in tow. Rebekah scooped Hope out of the playpen while Lethia grabbed Eira. She gave the girl a tighter hug, thankful that Kol hadn't gotten there. Yet. "Mama needs you to do us a favor, Eira," she told the infant. "Can you do it for me?"
With a smile, the child nodded.
Eira was brought back upstairs and sat on the bed beside Nova. With both hands the girl gently touched Nova's face. Kaleb's sadistic grin as Nova went over the railing came right to her. With the image in mind, she took her mother's hand. Tears welled in Lethia's eyes when she saw Kaleb's face with Kol's manic grin. She felt guilt for assuring Nova that Kaleb was harmless when Nova had a gut feeling that something was wrong. She wanted to wring Kol's neck herself.
"Not in the mood to roleplay anymore, Lethia?"
She cut her eyes at Kol coldly. "No, I'm not. I know Kaleb; he's a good kid. What the fuck did you do to him?"
"Not my choice, darling. I'm just enjoying the opportunity I was given. Narrowly escaped the Other Side but I heard Damon didn't. What a pity."
Lethia's eyes were becoming a dangerous hue of amber-gold with black veins creeping up in the whites. She snarled, her fangs extending slowly. "You took advantage of a broken woman just looking for peace to grieve. You hurt my best friend, and you threatened the safety of my daughter."
"What are you hoping to do about it, sweetheart? You've never had much of a part to play in anyone's lives or problems. You've been sheltered away for so long. I have magic again, which is something I've always enjoyed using." He smirked.
As Lethia's nails extended into long claws she grinned toothily. "Not a lot of witch magic works on Kross wolves once we shift. And hybrids shift a lot faster."
In the blink of an eye Lethia transformed into a full blown, giant, golden wolf. She landed on all fours with a loud growl in Kol's face that blew him back like a gust of wind. With just a knock from her massive head she sent him flying into a brick wall. As Kol scrambled to his feet she let out another growl. When he went running far out of sight with fear in his eyes she grinned wide and howled at the setting sun over New Orleans.
Lethia walked into the Quarter with a pep in her step and bright smile on her face. She scooped Eira into her arms with a kiss. Klaus and Rebekah eyed her curiously. "What have you done?" the younger Mikaelson questioned.
"Is Nova awake yet?" Lethia deflected.
Klaus' head tilted to the side. "No. What have you done, Let?"
Eira let out a fierce, child-like growl which made Lethia laugh. "Let's just say that Kol won't be a problem anymore. Well, at least for us. I imagine he's still gonna terrorize the rest of the city so, uh, you're probably gonna want to deal with that." She grinned up at him.
"Damon?" Nova's voice was hoarse and broken. It had to be a dream, or she was the luckiest creature in death.
His ice blue eyes were wide. The plate of pancakes he had made fell to the floor in a broken mess. Was she real? Everything looked real. "N-Nova…?" He took a step closer, slowly reaching out to her. "Is that really you?"
The second his fingers so much as brushed her cheek and she felt it, the Romanian vampire threw her arms around him and sobbed. Damon wrapped her up tight taking in every single detail. "What happened to you?" He asked her quickly, not knowing how much time they had. "How did you get here?"
"Kol somehow escaped the Other Side collapsing and made his way into a New Orleans witch," she told him while trying to contain her crying. "He tossed me off of my eleventh floor balcony."
He pulled her back enough to hold her face in his hands and look at her. "Nova, sweetheart, when you heal I'm sure you're gonna get ripped out of here." He looked past her out of the Boarding House's kitchen and called for Bonnie briefly. "So I really need you to focus and listen to me."
The second she opened her mouth she felt the sudden pull away. The tears that had begun to slow picked right back up. She froze in time, savoring every little detail of Damon that she could remember. Through the tears with a sorrowful smile she kissed him and whispered 'I love you' in Romanian against his lips before she vanished. Damon fell to his knees amongst the broken plate as Bonnie bolted down the stairs wondering what happened.
"Nova," he finally choked. "Nova made it here…"
Nova awoke screaming violently which sent everyone in the French Quarter running. Lethia got to her first, pulling her into a tight hug while she sobbed and screamed. "Damon," she finally got out in between. "I got to see Damon for a solid minute."
Lethia's heart ached for her companion. "Nova," she started gently as they parted some, "you've been… whatever you've been - dead, unconscious - for nearly two weeks…"
"He was real, Lethia," the ravenette stated firmly even through the tears. "I touched him. I could feel him. I could smell him. He is somewhere."
"Maybe we could help with that," came a new voice from the doorway. The blonde had Eira in her arms who smiled happily. Her golden waves had reached her shoulders.
"Nov, this is Freya… Freya Mikaelson."
The ravenette blinked a couple of times at the woman. She knew her vision was a little blurry from the tears, but her ears were just fine. "Another Mikaelson?" She finally spoke.
Lethia pulled her best friend close to speak low, even though literally everyone except Freya could hear. "She's a witch. It was this whole catastrophe with some freaky aunt and a fuck load of family bullshit you don't wanna care about. This family is fucking nuts. I'm not joking."
"So why the hell do you stay?" Nova whisper-hissed back.
The blonde grinned. "Like you and Damon were any less nuts? Besides, the food down here is literally to drool for." She shrugged.
The raven haired vampire rubbed her face. Zarya was right; everything was a fucking circus.
"Alina Vasile. I've heard a great deal about you."
The raven haired Romanian stood tall in her black gown as her emerald eyes met the ice blue ones speaking to her. A rather disgusted sneer pulled her pale lips into a tight lipped frown. "Lily Salvatore. To what do I owe the displeasure?"
The brunette stood from her chair she had been sitting in drinking tea. "Oh, believe me, the displeasure is all mine." She smiled with disgust of her own.
Two others entered the room near Lily then as if to threaten Alina. The Romanian's sneer turned into a smirk. "You do not frighten me, Lily. Nor do your little worker bees. I'm sure you must be nearly starved to death in this place." Two raven haired young women walked in behind Alina then; one with blue eyes, and one with black. "It feels much more realistic than the Other Side."
"That's the whole point, old hag," the blonde beside Lily spoke venomously. "You'll feel it soon enough."
The blue eyed girl beside Alina smirked. "Actually, I don't think they will. Instead, we will be starting our conquering and freedom here apparently."
She stepped forward with her hands out at her sides and suddenly her eyes were consumed in black. The windows all exploded, sending glass flying. Alina poured herself a cup of tea through the wind and things flying and breaking. With a smile, she asked loud enough, "Forgive me, Lily; have you met Claudia and Valora Vasile?"
Lethia bounded down the stairs with great speed and worry in her eyes. "Has anyone seen Nova?" She asked repeatedly to each of the Mikaelson siblings she could find. "I can't find her and she's not answering her phone."
"She could be off getting drunk in a pub, wallowing her sorrows away," Kol offered sarcastically.
"She would answer her phone, dick," the blonde spat back at him. "It's going straight to voicemail and was fully charged an hour ago when she was still laying upstairs."
"Why would she take her phone but shut it off then?" questioned Rebekah.
"Are you sure she took it, luv?" came Klaus from the stairs. He waved his hand holding Nova's phone. "She hid it beneath her pillows to throw you off her trail. She's gone to do something awfully stupid, hasn't she?"
"He was real, Lethia. He is somewhere."
Her amber eyes widened and glossed over with tears. "She's trying to find Damon."
"Well that's not bloody possible," muttered Kol.
A strange look contorted on Freya's face. "What if it was…? When Eira and I got a look at what she saw, it was real. It was almost like… a different dimension, or realm. And if she made it there then there must be a door somewhere."
"Well currently the only door Nova Vasile sees is through excruciating death that isn't a stake through the heart," Klaus quipped. "So whatever she's doing, I imagine she's seeking for it to be worse than being tossed from an eleventh story balcony." He shot a quick glare to his baby brother.
Lethia let out a soft groan. "Time to get creatively thinking then because her mind is pretty fucked up."
A loud groan and thud on the other side of the store caught the trio's attention suddenly. Bonnie and Damon were no longer focused on Kai, nor was he them. They dashed off in different directions in an attempt to reach the sound quicker than the others. As soon as Damon and Bonnie laid eyes on the raven haired Romanian picking herself up off the floor they kicked it up a notch and ran even faster. They both ran to her and hauled her off running as well, yelling at her to do so.
"What the hell did you do?!" Damon scolded her. He could hear Kai shouting behind them.
Nova shrugged. "I jumped off of a much higher building. Really pretty hotel in NOLA. Kind of feel bad if anyone finds the scene. I knew I was right though! I knew this place was real and I could make it back!"
"It's a prison world for the psychopath behind us," Bonnie told her. They ran into the Boarding House and slammed the door shut. "Created with magic and able to be broken with magic."
"So I'll get Sofia and whoever the fuck else I possibly can. Apparently the Mikaelsons have a witch sister; I don't fucking know. Why does this place look like it's a grungey flashback though?"
"Because it is," Damon admitted. "It's a prison world of 1994."
"Oh for the love of the gods."
"Nova, focus." Damon took hold of her shoulders while Kai shouted from outside. "We need to get out of here, but that pork-rind munching freak needs to not."
"Kai Parker," Bonnie told her quickly. "His name is Kai Parker. It's May 10, 1994."
Nova nodded. She was feeling the prickling pull back to her body again. "Kai Parker. May 10, 1994. Prison world created with magic."
She threw herself onto Damon one last time while repeating her mantra over and over again. She longed to stay, but knew she had to go and remember what she needed.
Nova shot back up in the same bed in the Mikaelsons' home with a loud groan. She forced herself out of bed too quickly and fell face first to the floor. Ignoring the frantic feet headed towards her, the ravenette scrambled for a piece of paper and a pen. Lethia rushed in first shouting her head off while Nova continued to scribble. Finally she yanked Nova away. The ravenette grinned at her while holding up the paper.
Prison world. May 10, 1994. Kai Parker. Damon and Bonnie.
Lethia's eyes widened. "I don't care that you were right, what you did was still incredibly stupid!"
Nova rolled her eyes. "Yeah, no shit. But now we know where to look and what to look for. We can find them and bring them home, Thea."