Hello loves!
Quick warning, there's a mild PTSD/anxiety attack scene here, I will leave a set of XXX where you should stop reading if this troubles you, and another set of XXX when it is safe to continue. Please take care of yourselves and please don't read it if it'll dredge up a bad reaction. I own nothing, A/N is at the end of the chapter, now let's get on with it!
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Walking through the Asylum before sitting down next to Cassie on the bench in front of a piano, Rebekah sighed, the teenage witch looking up and side-eyeing her in exasperation.
"You look terrible." Cassie murmured.
Rebekah looked around the room anxiously, "I didn't sleep very well."
"I heard you got caught out past curfew... again."
Rebekah smiled, "A simple misunderstanding. Kindred witches like to be in charge. I don't much care for taking orders." Cassie rolled her eyes, "On that note..."
Rebekah pulled an apple out of her pocket and handed it to Cassie, the latter's eyes widening in shock, "Where did you get that?"
"I nicked it from the pantry!"
"But the Kindred-"
Rebekah interrupted her, "Did you miss the part where I said I don't care about rules? Take the apple."
Cassie shook her head, "You're out of your mind."
Standing up, the teenager walked through to another room before sitting on a chair, Rebekah following her, the apple not back in her pocket.
"I'm a free spirit. Which is why I don't intend to spend another bloody night trapped in this dungeon."
"What are you talking about?" Cassie whispered.
"You know that any spell can be broken with enough power. All we need is to channel something strong."
The teenager looked at Rebekah in confusion, "I went into the room with the locked door. There's something in there. Someone. I'm not sure who she is, or why she's here, and I don't care. The point is, she's strong. I mean, I didn't even know what witch power felt like, and still, I could sense it coming out of that room in waves. You and I can channel her and bust free of this loony bin."
Smiling at the girl, Rebekah pulled the apple back out and handed it to her, the teenager taking it this time. As they walked into another room, Rebekah's eyes landed on a girl watching the television curiously,
"Who's the new girl at the telly?"
Cassie shrugged before walking away, "One more bonkers witch. Got dumped here in the middle of the night."
Instead of following the teenager, Rebekah walked over to the girl and smiled, "Anything good on?"
The girl smiled in wonder, "These paintings can move! They depict a rodent breaking the bones of a rather tenacious feline."
Rebekah looked at the girl strangely, amusement held in her eyes, "Those are just cartoons."
The girl didn't say anything, simply laughing at the television every other moment. Rebekah knelt down next to her curiously, "…Do I know you from somewhere?"
A moment of silence passed.
"I guess not." Rebekah murmured. Pulling another apple out of her bag, she handed it to the girl with a small smile, "Keep up your strength, love, and enjoy your cartoons."
Walking away without turning around, the girl watched her with a small smile, snatching the apple up off of the floor.
"You were right, Aria. I do like her." Freya murmured; eyes still glued to Rebekah's back as she smiled happily.
~*•°•*~
Waking up to the sound of jazz music in Kol's playhouse, Davina looked around in confusion for a moment before her eyes landed on Kol and Aria sitting on a bench, talking quietly with their heads bent together.
"What-? How did you-? How long was I asleep?" She demanded groggily as Aria turned to her and smiled.
"All night."
Kol took over talking, "It was a rather fitful sleep, though. You were muttering about how you wanted to kill Klaus." He remarked as Aria laughed, Davina settling for rolling her eyes and hiding the amused smile on her face as Kol continued, "In fact, I'm glad that you're up, 'cause we've ready to get started."
He walked over to a small chest in the corner of the room before pulling one of his stashed silver daggers out. Holding it up for the girl to see as he walked back to the table, Aria eyed him slightly warily.
"You're sure you know how to do this?" She checked as Kol sat down at the bench, looking at the dagger. He scoffed and looked over to her, expression mildly wounded, "Have a little faith, Little witch. I have been planning this for over a century."
Aria rolled her eyes lightly before Kol looked over to Davina, eyes concerned, "Neither of you are having second thoughts, are you? You two were the one who wanted to get rid of the bastard without hurting your friends."
Davina shook her head, "We're past second thoughts so long as everything goes to plan. We make the dagger but only use it in self-defence?" Kol nodded as Davina's eyes flickered to Aria and hardened slightly, "That's good. But I don't think she should be doing magic anytime soon."
Aria sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in agitation. She loved Davina, she really did, but the girl was being far too needlessly worried about her since finding out about Dahlia's hex the previous week, "We've been through this a hundred times, D. I'm fine."
"No. You're not." Davina shot back, eyes narrowed, "Dahlia hexed you. You faced her, defeated her, and then played her at her own game. If she is alive, you are in danger. And doing magic is only gonna lead her closer to you."
"She already knows where I am, D. It's how she was able to target me in the first place." Aria said slowly, eyes flashing at her best friend, "Besides, if we're able to make this dagger, maybe we can make a similar one that'll work on Dahlia. So, I won't be breaking my truce with 'Lijah because we're not going to use it directly, but we'll also have it in case of worst scenario. And we might figure out a way to protect ourselves against Dahlia when she comes because she will." She shrugged and smiled, "It's a win win."
With a frown, Davina sighed and turned back to the table, keeping her thoughts to herself.
"Little witch…"
"Kol Mikaelson, I swear if you even finish that sentence, I will kill you myself." Aria threatened, voice deadly quiet as she glared at Kol who held his hands up in defeat, a small smirk gracing his features.
"That's my girl." He smirked. Aria rolled her eyes.
After another moment, Davina's phone buzzed seconds before Aria's, both witches sharing a confused glance. Kol pointed over to them, "You two might want to turn those off. They've been buzzing all morning." He muttered.
Aria rolled her eyes, standing up and walking over to her phone, intending on turning it off to cease the buzzing before her eyes locked onto the first text. Aiden. Strange, why would he be texting her?
Call me.
Josh and Marcel are missing.
Her blood ran cold. With new terror, she began scrolling through the countless other texts.
Call me ASAP.
Your father is missing, pick up!
Please pick up.
Goddamn it Aria, this is important, pick up the damn phone!
I'm sorry, but you and Davina aren't answering, please call me back.
She spun around to face Davina, "Josh and Marcel are missing." Aria mumbled. Her eyes flashed, "We have to go."
She ran from the tomb, uncaring if either Kol or Davina were following but, from the sound of a single set of footsteps behind her, she gathered only Davina had followed. She rolled her eyes. Damn him.
"MIKAELSON!"
Another set of steps were soon behind her.
~*•°•*~
Sitting across from each other in the main room of the Asylum, Rebekah looked around them before leaning closer to Cassie,
"Tonight's the night. Once everyone's asleep, I'll grab you." Rebekah murmured, placing down another card in their game so as to look inconspicuous.
Cassie nervously smiled at her but before she could speak, their attention turned to a loud bang across the room from them. A Kindred witch dragged Freya into the room and pushed her down onto the table viciously, hand on the back of the witch's neck practically choking her. She held out the apple that Rebekah had given Freya earlier and snarled.
"Where did you get this? Huh?" The Kindred witch demanded furiously, slamming Freya's head against the table again. Rebekah stood up before Cassie grabbed her wrist, "Don't. Just let it go."
Rebekah turned back to the Kindred witch when Freya was pushed down against the table again, and in what felt like a blur, ran over to the witch and punched her in the face, instantly swearing at the pain that erupted. Quickly restrained by two other Kindred witches as the one she'd hit pushed herself up off of the floor, the anger quickly left her expression.
"You bitch!"
The witch grabbed a fireplace poker and walked over to Rebekah. Someone screamed, and it took a moment for her to realise the scream came from own mouth. The poker raised in the air, and glinted in the light. Rebekah tried to forget the rest.
"Today's lesson: you take from us-" The Kindred witch turned to Freya and ripped the necklace off of her neck, "And we take twice as much from you."
The room was quickly abandoned, and Freya slowly approached her sister, "You helped me. Why?"
Rebekah cradled her injured hand gently to her chest, "Because I'm a bloody fool." She spat out, "And maybe I just like the idea of us girls sticking together."
Watching Rebekah walk back over to Cassie, Freya's lips slowly twitched up into a small smile.
~*•°•*~
Aria paced back and forth in the crypt, wringing her hands together in worry. They had barely reached Rousseau's before Davina had pointed out that someone had to stay in the crypt. Kol had only seemed too willing to go back, but he'd stopped dead in his tracks when he'd realised he would also be leaving her on her own.
Well, she wasn't on her own. She was with Davina.
It hadn't been good enough for him.
Eventually, Davina had simply yelled for both of them to go back whilst she found Aiden, drawing one too many glances from people around them for her comfort. Kol had looked rather surprised, and it had amused her to great ends.
Never the less, he had failed to comfort her since they'd been back.
"Am I a bad daughter?" She asked randomly, glancing up to Kol.
His head had previously been resting on the table, but it shot up entirely too quickly to turn and look at her, complete seriousness in his expression, "No." He said rather sharply, before changing his tone, "Why would you think that?"
"I-I didn't notice dad was gone. That my father was just… gone. What does that say about me?"
Again, Kol looked nothing but serious, "Little witch, you're not a bad daughter. And you're certainly not a bad person. This… this city has been in war for lack of a better term. Don't act like either of you have had much chance to talk let alone spend time together."
She didn't need to say anything to give him his answer.
"Aria, it's dangerous enough as it is to be a witch in New Orleans. Much less to be a witch helping a vampire. You've survived a very messy situation for seventeen years –God knows how what with how reckless you are." Aria smiled, "You're a lot of things, Aria Gerard, but a bad daughter is not one of them."
A small part of her was tempted to tease him over the sappy speech but the rest of her was simply too thankful to be sarcastic anymore, "Thank you, Mikaelson."
"You're very welcome, my little witch."
Aria glanced up as the doors to the crypt flew open and Davina walked in, Aiden in tow. A smile tugged her mouth as Kol groaned quietly, his head lolling forward to hit the table yet again. He turned to her as she scoffed and rolled his eyes, "You're not funny."
"Yes I am." Aria replied instantly.
"Is it possible for you to be serious for even one moment?"
"Define serious."
Kol thought for a moment, "Not sarcastic."
Aria was aghast, "Me? Sarcastic? Never!"
Kol laughed and shook his head fondly, turning back to Davina and Aiden before grimacing. They'd left the door open. He raised his hand and a gust of wind flew through the crypt, slamming the door shut. He then raised an eyebrow at the Harvest witch as she gave him a sheepish smile.
"So much for having a secret lair."
The brief moment of remorse was over and Davina rolled her eyes, turning to Aiden, "Don't mind him."
Aria sat forward and chimed into the conversation, "Did you bring the stuff that I asked for?"
Aiden nodded, "Yeah." He reached into a backpack and pulled out a hairbrush and toothbrush before placing them down on the table, "This is everything that Josh left at my place."
Kol raised his eyebrows, "Wow. Practically moved in, has he?"
The New Orleans witch smiled widely but Davina sighed in boredom, "Kol? Please shut up."
Aria's smile quickly slipped and she walked over to the table where Davina had laid down a map of New Orleans, the hairbrush and toothbrush on top of it. She wouldn't admit that she zoned out as soon as Davina started to channel Kol, thoughts automatically drifting to Freya and Dahlia until the sand sparked, drawing a noise of surprise from the people in the room, all eyes immediately moving to her.
"Aria?"
Davina's voice sounded far away, like she wasn't right beside Aria whose own eyes were still fixed on the map, lost in thought. Davina carefully reached out and shook her friend, "Aria, are you okay?"
Blinking suddenly, Aria frowned and looked up to Davina, "I'm sorry, did you say something?"
Nothing but concern shone in Davina's eyes, "Aria I think you should lie down for a bit."
Lie down? Why would I need to lie down?
Davina motioned toward the map on the table. The previously whole map. The map that was now nothing but ashes.
Aria's eyes widened almost comically if it wasn't for the gravity of the situation. She took a shaky breath and nodded slowly, "I-I need to go."
Whatever Aiden had been about to say to her was lost as she abandoned the crypt.
~*•°•*~
Pain.
A feeling she was becoming entirely too familiar with for comfort.
There was no question that she hadn't rid herself of Dahlia's hex, though it had been a blissful week without having to worry, that was obvious. But there was still one looming question, how had Dahlia been able to cast the spell?
She had been able to piece together enough to realise that when Dahlia and Freya woke, they were weak. So how had Dahlia been able to cast a hex so powerful just after waking?
The only thing was that with the witch now being asleep again, assuming she was right about Dahlia's initial spell being too powerful to stay awake, her spell should've either worn off with no more anchor or broken completely… Unless she hadn't cast a spell herself.
Aria groaned loudly at the realisation though this time it wasn't for the pain, it was for the pure stupidity she'd been acting with. Of course Dahlia would've wanted a failsafe, "God, how could I have been so stupid?" She asked herself before stifling another whimper as a bout of pain carried through her.
Esther. Esther was the key. If Dahlia had cast her spell knowing she would be exhausted and forced back to sleep, then she'd have to pass the spell onto someone else or channel it through someone else so, even if they had no clue, they would still be supporting the spell. A human was out of the question, same with a werewolf, but witches and vampires would work almost identically.
In terms of siphoning, humans were probably the weakest species to use, werewolves were only slightly more powerful, yet still relatively weak due to the mere fact that they couldn't live indefinitely like vampires – whose extended life meant an almost infinite power supply, and weren't servants of nature like witches – meaning they would be able to support the spell.
And there was only one witch in New Orleans that Dahlia knew was powerful enough to be the anchor for her spell.
Her darling sister.
Eyes opening in realisation she'd have to do something to stop this and the only way was to speak to Esther, Aria bit her lip in thought for what she'd need to do. Making her way back to the Cemetery on her own was risky and Davina was with Kol trying to rescue Josh – besides, she had a feeling Davina didn't want to be around her right now. She certainly didn't want to be around the witch. They needed some time to gather their thoughts. Time apart. Time that would grant them both a chance to escape the toxicity their friendship had.
God, she loved Davina, she did. But New Orleans was a dangerous city. They were dangerous people. And death was constantly looming over their heads. They needed a respite from each other.
But back to the situation of her impending doom.
She'd have to use a spell.
But what kind of spell could she use to get there? She'd never tried teleporting herself before like Dahlia used to do, and there were countless risks anyway. Perhaps another kind of teleportation considering she could barely wave her hand?
Astral projection.
Worrying her bottom lip between her teeth nervously, Aria thought over the pros and cons of the spell in her head. On one hand, Esther might be able to tell her what to do, not willingly of course but considering Aria wouldn't really be there and Esther was trapped because of her lack of daylight ring, she'd have no choice but to cooperate. Maybe she'd take a blood bag as a sign of good faith. Or maybe she'd bluff and tell Esther that she could make the newly turned vampire a daylight ring?
On the other hand, there was also the chance of Esther not helping her and letting her succumb to whatever she'd been cursed with. The thought send a wave of panic through her, as well as realising that there was a high chance Finn would be in the Lycée.
Shit.
She was screwed either way.
~*•°•*~
Walking, as it turned out, was Aria's ultimate choice. She wasn't so weak that she couldn't walk, she just found it difficult… moving. But despite the toll the walk would take on her, she needed to conserve her magic before anything else. It was her singular failsafe considering that even standing was a challenge.
The Cemetery wasn't particularly welcoming when she walked in, the Ancestors quickly began their screaming again and it stuck Aria in her tracks for a moment. They hadn't done that in a while. No matter, she didn't care for the dead witches either way. She shouldn't care if they hated her again. And she didn't.
Why does it always have to be a tomb or crypt? Honestly, it gives witches a bad image. Why not a well-lit Church? Or maybe anything other than a graveyard.
Considering she didn't have a clue what tomb Klaus had trapped his mother in, it took a moment or two to find the vampire but, considering that she was the only vampire in the graveyard, it wasn't too hard.
The tomb was rather large, she'd admit, but surely Klaus would want easy access to his mother in something other than a hovel. It's not like it's the largest tomb anyway.
The darkness obscured the vampire from Aria's view, but from what she could tell, the witch didn't look like what she'd imagined. She kicked herself. It's not even Esther's body, idiot.
Clearly, the Original witch was quickly getting used to her new skills because she seemed to hear Aria coming. Then again, the tomb was very echo-ey. Points to Klaus for dramatics.
"You're… Esther, I'll presume." Aria said in lieu of a greeting.
Esther's eyes squinted as she looked the teenager over, a particularly convenient ray of sun from a crack in the ceiling separating the duo. A grin curled Aria's lips as Esther's stomach visibly dropped, eyes widening in realisation.
"You."
Maybe it was because she'd grown slightly psychotic since knowing Dahlia, or maybe it was simply because she hated Esther that she felt an odd sense of satisfaction at the reaction.
Or maybe it's because you've been missing the fear people used to regard you with, a small traitorous voice whispered in the back of her mind.
Esther took no notice of Aria's internal battle, because she seemed to already know why she was there.
"I'm not going to talk." Esther swore.
A dangerous glint shone in Aria's eyes, "That's the thing about talking. There are other ways to get things out of that little head of yours. And they are so much more fun."
~*•°•*~
"You can't free yourself." Aria drawled as Esther woke and quickly began scraping at the binds surrounding her, "Those ropes have been soaked in vervain. But I did use a spell to lessen your hunger. I'd rather not become your dinner."
Esther ignored her, and continued fiddling with the ropes, quickly turning desperate and frantic. Aria's mouth twitched slightly before she relaxed her expression to indifferent. Maybe she shouldn't take so much pleasure in Esther's struggling. A moment went by, and the New Orleans witch concluded that either Esther was an idiot, or she'd been dropped on her head one too many times as a baby.
Though, thinking back to Dahlia and the lack of parental expertise she'd had when she should've been raising Freya, it might've been a bit bold of her to assume that Esther was held.
Quickly enough, Aria's little patience waned and she sighed, "Let's start with our mutual friend – Dahlia. Now, I'm gonna go out on a whim here and assume that you would rather she never find your location, so I'd be happy to cloak you from her. Well, maybe not happy, but I'll do it. Or if you'd rather something a little better, I could move you someplace else and then cloak you from your sister and children. From Klaus."
That clearly got the witch-bitch's attention.
Esther stared at her, "You would defy Niklaus?"
Aria scoffed, "Well, love, he's not exactly one of my favourite people, nor am I one of his. So long as I get what I want, Klaus can burn in hell for all I care. Now, are you going to talk, or are we going to have a problem?"
Esther stared at her and a slow grin spread across her face, "Right then, back to your sister. I've recently been experiencing some… problems – problems that I'd quite like to fix as soon as possible. Unfortunately, although I have a feeling that the spell was too powerful for your sister to do without falling back to sleep, I have no clue how she could have done it. So, I thought. For a long, long time. And I came to the conclusion that there is about one person Dahlia knows is powerful enough to keep the spell going, even if she's just the person that the spell is being channelled through. And that person is you.
"So tell me, I'm sure you have a secret about your sister. Whether that's one from your childhood or one that I might be able to use to fix this hex. I'm sure there's one somewhere. One that she is desperate to protect. And, that secret might just be a weakness, so... Tell me, Esther, what is it?"
Esther stared at her incredulously, "You really think that she would trust me with anything that could be used against her when she had to channel the spell through me without my own knowledge?"
"You're Dahlia's sister, and I think you know something."
"You can think whatever you want, as long as you don't mind knowing that you are wasting your time, girl."
Aria's eyes narrowed, not only at Esther's response, but at the sheer similarity to Dahlia.
For someone who claims to hate Dahlia so much, they sure are similar.
She quickly let out a small laugh, eyes darting down to the floor before looking back up at the Original witch through her lashes, eyes narrowing once again. Murmuring a quick spell under her breath, she watched as Esther arched her back in pain, crying out before Aria stopped.
"Tell. Me. What. You. Know. Or else I won't be so friendly."
Esther, in an all too satisfying movement, bared her fangs at Aria. Seems she'd taken to vampirism better than predicted. It was only too satisfying to see the bitch stuck in the body of the one thing she hated so much.
Aria gripped Esther's chin and pulled her into the light, turning her face to one side, and then the other, before simply sighing. Her eyes darted down to the ground and then back up to Esther's face.
She looks… irritated with me.
Aria smiled, "I'm convinced. You know nothing."
Esther jerked out of her grip and Aria scoffed, quickly turning bitter, "Which means, whatever Dahlia is keeping secret is so secret, she won't even share it with her own sister." Her voice dropped, "Not that I'm surprised." She paused and frowned slightly before turning back to the vampire, cocking her head to the side in thought, "Perhaps there are other ways you can be of use to me."
"I am going to kill you!"
Aria nodded along mockingly, "Of course, Esther. In fact, I-" She paused. She turned around. She smirked.
"You have some nerve coming here." Aria called out into the darkness. Nothing happened. No one moved, "What with believing I'm evil incarnate and all that. Tell me, did you form an opinion of me first, or did mummy have to do all the work, Finn?"
Finn emerged from the dark like a literal bat and Aria barely stopped herself from grinning like an idiot at the thought. She took a moment to assess his appearance, searching for any familiarity with the witch he'd chosen to inhabit but she found one.
Guess he's not a Quarter witch.
Well, that would be pretty stupid – Finn possessing a French Quarter Coven witch just like his mother. Someone would have noticed something eventually.
She clapped her hands together childishly and grinned, eyes darting between the mother and son duo who were staring at each other, momentarily forgetting about her watching their little reunion. Charming.
"Isn't this lovely? You know, Finn, when my father told me about you, I never imagined that you of all people would actually possess some poor guy's body. Honestly where's your sense of decency?"
"Decency?" Finn echoed, turning to stare at her incredulously, "Decency? I was a vampire. You really think I have a single ounce of that left in me?"
Aria shrugged, "I happen to know some pretty great vampires, actually. And to be honest, I wasn't just talking about decency. If you had let me finish." There was slight bitterness in her voice, "You would have heard me mention that the way Marcel described you was just so… boring and honestly a little bit dul-"
She choked on the air in her lungs. Her hands automatically went to claw at her throat and she glanced down to Finn's hand, now tightly fisted. His eyes were dark and her panic grew tenfold.
I'm going to die. He's going to choke me to death. He's actually going to do it.
"What?" She rasped, "You think you can take me? I'm not trying to brag, Finny, but I rather think that killing me is well out of your league. I have a few tricks up my sleeve, just like you do."
She didn't sound threatening. But it was better than nothing because Finn's confidence dipped, clear by the release of tension in his hand. For one reason or another, he didn't bother casting the spell again. And he didn't try knocking her out, either. He just stared at her.
Silently, for a moment, before he spoke.
"Tricks you learnt from Dahlia?"
Aria's confident smile faltered, "I have no damn clue what you're talking about."
Any objections were futile. He knew. He knew.
Too late now.
The smile vanished as Aria squared her jaw and tilted her head up arrogantly, "Well, they're not exactly parlour tricks, I'll give you that."
As soon as the words left her mouth, she wished she could take them back. Because the look in Finn's eyes was terrifying.
Now he knows. He knows that Dahlia took me. Granted, Esther had already told him but considering he left her here to rot after he found out about her new vampire status, he might've been questioning what she'd told him about me. But now I've just handed him undeniable proof. Shit.
But there was an odd spark sitting in his dark orbs, something that piqued her interest. Something that almost made her gravitate closer. The look in his eyes was exactly like Kol's.
"You're afraid." She breathed with sudden realisation.
Finn almost jerked back.
The reaction made her soften, "You know who I am, Finn. But you don't really know anything about me, do you?"
Finn's face darkened again, and before she knew it, he was yet again cutting off any access to her lungs. She smiled never the less. He wasn't the villain here, not really.
Again, she could tell that he was caught off guard by her reaction to him, and took advantage of that fact. With mild remorse, she flicked her wrist and watched as he crumpled to the ground. He'd wake soon enough.
Marcel didn't care much for this specific Original. Nor did the rest of the Mikaelsons. But Freya… Freya had talked of him with nothing but admiration.
Not like she talked of Mikael. She clearly loved papa Original, but the amount of admiration she felt toward Finn had been almost suffocating to Aria.
As an only child, she'd never understood the bond that came with having a sibling, nor had her father for obvious reasons, but from what she'd seen with the Mikaelsons, she wasn't missing out on all that much. But when Freya talked of Finn… it was almost like there was no one she'd rather trade her life for in the world than her little brother. It had been so sweet.
And looking at the crumpled form of the man in front of her… even if he wasn't in his own body, he didn't look like how his siblings had described him. Boring. Useless. Hopeless.
He looked like a scared little boy, who was one of the oldest and most powerful beings on the planet, but had had his life ripped away from him too soon.
Anger at Klaus pricked her yet again.
As did sudden, striking realisation.
It could've been Finn.
This whole time she'd known Kol, there was just a likely chance it could have been Finn that she'd met that night at Jane-Anne's execution. That it could have been Finn to be pestering her – though perhaps not for the same reasons as Kol had – for weeks on end. Maybe he'd have been curious as to how she could see him, or maybe he would have been so desperate for human contact that he didn't care how, just that she could.
Aria wasn't entirely sure what to do with that thought.
She cleared her mind, filing the thought away for later, and took a deep breath as her eyes fluttered closed; before they opened again, sparkling with clarity. She could deal with Finn later.
She spun back to Esther, who was staring at her with poorly hidden loathing. A smile played around her lips, "Your turn."
~*•°•*~
Freya stared out of the window in Rebekah's room, thinking.
For all the information Aria had blessed her with, the little witch had failed to mention the severity of the… situation her siblings were in. Of course, she had alluded to it. As had Kol. But seeing it was strange, certainly. A small smile twitched her lips at the thought of her beloved brother before she frowned, glancing behind her.
She didn't doubt that Kol had something to do with Rebekah's apparent body jumping, and she dreaded to think of what had happened for Kol to do something so drastic. Then again, Kol was dramatic. Maybe he'd just felt like it.
That was a sad thought, she'd admit. But she couldn't deny that she felt happy for her brother. If he had been the one to do this to Rebekah, then he had probably figured out a way to get his magic back. Or at least some form of it. She knew how desperate he was to have it back; to be honest, she couldn't imagine what she'd do if she lost her own. And she imagined that Aria felt the same.
"Rebekah?"
The Original sat up quickly, panic seizing her before she supressed a groan of annoyance and rolled her eyes. The girl. Again.
"Are you trying to give me a bloody heart attack?" She demanded, looking down to her bandaged wrist with a slight hiss as she twisted it the wrong way. Freya ignored her and continued to stare out of the window longingly.
From one prison to another, she thought bitterly.
"Is it still beautiful?" Rebekah frowned in confusion and Freya amended her words, "New Orleans? I loved it so much the last time I saw it."
"New Orleans will remain a beauty long after you and I are bones beneath its clay. For now, you've got to go back to your room. I've got things to do."
Rebekah sat up in her bed and rested her feet on the floor as Freya turned back around to face her sister.
"Why are you here? In this place?"
Rebekah sighed, "I was… trying to help my brothers. My con-artist of a blood relation, Kol, betrayed me." A small, fond smile settled on Freya's face before she frowned as Rebekah continued, "He got me stuck in here. Oh, when I get a hold of him…" She muttered angrily.
Freya's eyebrows knitted together in confusion, "Why do you fight with your own family? You should stand beside them."
Rebekah chuckled dryly, "It's… complicated. A thousand years complicated." She stood up from the bed and moved across the room to leave. Hesitating at the threshold of the door, she sighed and turned back to the witch, "Listen, I think I found a way out of this hell-hole. If you want to come with, meet me at the door in twenty minutes. Either way, wish me luck."
~*•°•*~
Rebekah wandered around upstairs, looking for Cassie. The Harvest Witch hadn't been in her room, or the front room. She stopped in her tracks as she eyed the usually locked door that led into the room the coffin girl was in. The Mikaelson witch slowly walked into the room, avoiding the creaky floorboards, and glanced over to the one thing that didn't belong in the room. The dead Kindred witch on the floor, face streaked with blood. She tensed and spun to wipe the coffin lid of dust before pausing. No one was in there.
No, no not now. Not when I've found a way out of here.
Rebekah turned when she heard the door swing open behind her, and her eyes widened in confusion. Cassie stood in the doorway, two new cuts running diagonally down her face. Just like the Kindred had.
"Cassie!" Rebekah breathed in surprise.
"I'm sorry, Rebekah, but you didn't leave me much choice. I told you, there's no escape. I had to turn to the only people I knew I could trust." Cassie said, her voice monotone as a group of Kindred witches filed into the room and surrounded Rebekah who stared at Cassie, visibly betrayed as the witch continued, "And I told them that they had to deal with you. My only regret is that I didn't stop you before you killed one of our own!"
Killed one of our own? What does she mean? Our-oh. Oh.
"And now, you have to be punished."
Rebekah's attention quickly snapped back to the witch as countless others flooded the room, surrounding her threateningly
Cassie stepped back as the witches surrounding Rebekah held up their weapons threateningly, "No! What? No! I didn't kill her!" She backed herself up against a wall and narrowed her eyes towards Cassie, "But, to be fair, I'm not going to miss the ugly cow!"
At a surprising speed without her vampirism, Rebekah quickly incapacitated three witches, the forth slamming into the wall beside her. She froze in confusion and her eyebrows knitted together in confusion before turning to the door. The girl.
Freya frowned, visibly unimpressed, "You're all so mean. Like the mouse that tormented the cat in those cartoons. I think you're the ones who need to be punished."
Casually lifting her arms up, a group of the Kindred witches flying across the room and slamming into the walls before falling down onto the floor. Slowly, Freya turned around to face Cassie, raising her arm to slam the door shut before she walked over to the Harvest Girl.
"The others were just ignorant bullies. But you? You're a smart girl. Powerful. And yet, you still betrayed a friend."
She grabbed Cassie's face with both hands and narrowed her eyes in concentration before Cassie started shrieking in pain, blood pouring from her eyes and nose. After another moment, Freya relaxed her expression and carelessly dropped her body onto the floor before turning back to Rebekah,
"I despise traitors." Freya said simply, favouring a lack of explanation. Grabbing her necklace out of a blonde Kindred witch's dead hand, she helped Rebekah up onto her feet before her eyes strayed to her sister's bandaged hand. Taking it in her own, she closed her eyes and muttered a quick phrase before letting it go. Rebekah eyed her before hesitantly flexing her hand, eyes widening as she noticed it was healed.
"How did you do that?" Rebekah demanded, more shocked than scared.
Freya simply smiled and turned away, leading her sister out of the room.
XXX
It was dark.
Panic seized Finn before he could even comprehend another thought other than it was dark. His coffin. He was in his coffin again. He had to be. His breathing sped up in terror as he tried looking around to find any sort of lid that he could push open. Not his coffin. Not again. He couldn't be trapped again.
The blood pounded in his ears. His heart thudded in his chest. His hands shook. His feet tingled. His vision disfigured, and everything looked dark and made of wood. His chest constricted, there was a dagger in it. He couldn't feel it, but the dagger was there. He was in his coffin and he had a dagger in his chest. Again. Nine hundred years spent in a box and now he was back again. It would be enough to make a grown man cry. And he was. -Crying that was. He had just realised it. Tears were pouring down his new face. His coffin. He had to get out. Please, Niklaus. Let me out! He was screaming now. Please let me out! He was whispering now. Screaming. Whispering. Whimpering. Crying. It was all the same to him. Pain. Dark. It was all he could grasp. Dark. Wood. Dark. Pain. Dark. Dark. Dark.
And then, light.
XXX
For a brief moment, Finn forgot that the girl hovering above him was evil incarnate. Because currently, she looked like an angel. A golden glow – from the light above her but a glow none the less – surrounded her head like a halo and words were lost to him for a brief moment. Her hair was tumbling around her face, and her eyes were bright. She looked beautiful.
Then, his senses returned. She was calling out his name, a strange sound in her voice. Concern? No. Impossible. Mother had said-
Mother was a liar.
But the girl did seem concerned.
"Finn? Finn? Your eyes are open you idiot, you're awake. You might think I'm scum of the earth, but I'm not a moron. I literally see you staring at me right now."
It was strange.
The girl was strange.
The girl sat back and sighed, "You gonna move today? Or should I get a blanket?"
The sarcasm was overwhelming.
He sat up relatively quickly after that, and only then did he notice they weren't in the crypt anymore. Aria caught onto his gaze and smirked, "You didn't really think I wanted to be around mama Original any more than I had to, did you?"
Finn eyed her distrustfully, "Where am I?"
"A safe place."
"Let me go."
Aria scoffed and raised a single eyebrow, starting to busy herself around the small room. The girl's reaction was clear regardless of the fact she didn't use words, and yet her expression was so clear it was as if she had spoken. Really, Finn?
"You have no idea what will come to pass if I don't find Niklaus' child!"
The girl stilled and for a moment, Finn thought he saw real fear flash over her face, but it was gone as soon as it came.
"Wow you must really be desperate." Aria scoffed, going back to whatever she was doing. Finn tried sitting up to get a better look, but he found himself miserably unable. Just as he was to do magic. He just couldn't focus.
"I prefer determined."
She frowned and turned to him, "If you really think that you're not desperate, then you're more of a danger than I thought you were."
"Me? A danger?" Finn questioned. He sounded like her question had actually caught him off guard, "I may have my ideals, and I may dislike the mutts and yes, Vampires are both beneath me and scum on the earth. But I'm no danger."
The girl stared at him for a long moment.
"You really believe that, don't you?"
He was entirely confused.
"I have taken no pleasure in channelling my father. Nor have I taken pleasure in hunting Niklaus' child. But if she survives, Dahlia shall come for us all. I have died once, I don't feel like that happening again."
The girl levelled him with a stare, "You wanted to kill me. Why?"
Finn had the decency to look remorseful, though if it was an act or not, Aria couldn't quite tell.
"Mother never told us."
Her next words took him by surprise, "Your mother really messed you up, huh?"
He didn't know how to respond.
And Aria had no clue what to say next.
They drifted into a tense silence.
~*•°•*~
Freya waved her hands and watched as the doors slammed open before walking out of the Fauline Asylum,
"You're her!" Rebekah said breathlessly, following behind Freya as they walked down the porch stairs, "The powerful girl in the coffin. That's how you can do magic. But why didn't you just tell me?"
Freya stopped walking before she turned around to face her sister, "I had only just woken from a century of sleep. My memories were slowly coming back to me and I wanted to know you. For myself, not just what others have told me. I wanted to see what you were really like. And you didn't disappoint me." She smiled, "There's a spark in you, Rebekah. You're wilful also kind. You're not half as bad as I'm told our brothers can be."
Rebekah's smile fell and she stared at Freya, her eyes a mixture of confusion and shock, "What did you say?" She whispered.
Freya's smile widened in return, "You're right, you know. We met once before. At a Christmas party in 1914. I know it wasn't much to go on but I was so desperate to catch a glimpse of my family. Rebekah... You know who I am."
Rebekah slowly nodded, shock etched onto her face, "The little girl in my nightmare. It really is you." Tears slowly misted up in her eyes, "Freya."
Freya turned and walked to the gate, gesturing for Rebekah to follow her before she gripped the bars of the front gate and began muttering, "Destruccive glas enfala. Destruccive glas enfala." Turning to look at the doll's head that bound the spell, she watched as it spun around and the boundary broke before turning around to face Rebekah.
"I slept a hundred years, and now, finally, I'm free. Tell our brothers I'll be coming to see them soon." Her tone turned teasing, "And I expect nothing less than their best behaviour toward both myself and my dear Aria Gerard."
Rebekah's eyes widened and filled with confusion as Freya turned around, barely even flicking her wrist but watching as the gate went flying off its hinges anyway and walked away from her sister and into the night.
~*•°•*~
Kol wouldn't admit that as soon as he, Davina and the wolf couple escaped from Lenore's old shop along with the vampire they needed to rescue, he had made his way straight to his playhouse just to collapse out of exhaustion.
And yet, as soon as sleep claimed him, the rest which he had been so dearly been hoping for, was denied.
He was somewhere dark, and cramped. He felt strange, tired… desiccated. His coffin. He was in his coffin. No, no he wasn't. He wasn't a vampire anymore, for God's sake. It was a dream. He was in the Lafayette Cemetery. Not his coffin. But salvation seemed near, because the lid swung open. As soon as his eyes adjusted, he realised that he would have stayed in the coffin for another year if he had to.
The woman in front of him radiated darkness. Just as Freya had said. As Aria had said. As he'd found out when Davina had resurrected the little witch. But she was dead, wasn't she?
Well, Dahlia looked entirely too happy for a dead witch.
"Now, are you through with this little ruse, nephew?"
Ruse? What ruse?
Kol stared at her anxiously, "Look, I'm not asking for a fight."
He didn't want to do anything other than rip her head off, but he'd also like to keep himself alive now that he had a second chance to live, thank you very much.
Dahlia scoffed
"Yet it was you who helped your dear witches escape from me."
If this witch was anything like his family, then she was angry. And when his family was angry, they didn't think straight. Dahlia had entirely too much power to be out of touch with her emotions – just like Aria, actually.
"Well what can I say? They can be quite convincing when they want to be." The rest was left unsaid, but they both knew that it hadn't taken much convincing.
Dahlia, or at least whoever this witch was, slowly started circling him
"That aside, you most certainly went out of your way. Tell me darling, what did you expect? My sister to resurrect you, you break free from her flimsy control and then find Freya before killing me, the wicked witch? Surely you weren't so naïve as to think it would be that easy." Neither spoke, "Never mind that." She stopped circling, "You have been an… unexpected thorn in my side as of late. Although I will commend you for coming as far as you have. Unfortunately, you won't live to tell the tale."
Kol tensed and his eyes widened.
"Pity I don't have a use for you. You have no inkling of your sister's power yet… there is something. Something's there." She paused briefly, and he frowned in confusion before she spoke again, "So, nephew, I'm going to give you the one thing I know you lot fear the very most. Death."
Dahlia grabbed him by his shirt, pressed her palm against his chest and Kol's eyes widened in complete terror, "No!"
He didn't recognise the words Dahlia was muttering which led him to realise she was only making sure there was less of a possibility of reversing this hex. His terror grew again.
Dahlia's grip tightened further as her chanting ceased, and Kol shuddered as a bout of pain ripped through him.
"I've cursed you to this body, unable to jump to another. Over the next few days, I want you to contemplate what's to come. A meaningless, lonely death, and the darkness to follow. The clock starts now. Be sure to say your goodbyes. Wake, now. Know I will be coming for your beloved witches. And know that there is not a thing you can do to stop me."
She weakened her grip on his clothes and he tugged himself away weakly, heaving in desperate breaths before looking back up.
The witch was gone.
And then he woke.
*Peeks out from behind a corner*
Uh... well... h-hey guys.
I was meaning to update this last weekend but apparently it took a hell of a lot more time than I thought it would. In my defence though, I have been writing for this chapter almost every other day for the past three or so weeks. Hopefully the wait was worth it xx. But back to the point, had I meant for this chapter to be so late? No, I definitely didn't. Secondly, had I meant for this chapter to be so long? No. Should I split it in two? I truly can't be bothered, not to mention it would only completely screw up my one chapter per episode thing I've had going on for the past however long I've been writing this. And yes, I am aware I've broken this rule once or twice.
Also, Freya's back! Boy, have I missed her. Now, she will be getting a far bigger role than she's had in previous chapters soon enough, and from what I've written so far, I think she's gonna be perhaps slightly more protective over friends than family - especially where Aria's involved. I'm not entirely sure how well she would work with the teenage witch if they were both obsessed over family. Hell, my thoughts are running wild for this pair. And it's the same with Kol and Davina. Even though they may not be endgame for obvious reasons, they are still going to have maybe... irritating relationship once Davina opens up to him. I feel bad for Aria and Klaus in future. They have no idea what's coming. Likewise with Elijah-the fluff ideas are piling up by the second. Suit and Tie... leave New Orleans whilst you can.
Another thing, school's out! Finally! In my clearly expert opinion, *take no notice of the sarcasm* no school should have enough self-righteousness to be giving us four tests a week the final week before it ends. Thankfully though, it means more writing time for me, so there will probably be more updates depending on my revised schedule that still hasn't exactly been figured out.
I would like to say thank you if you skipped the anxiety attack scene and tend to have trouble with those sorts of things, if you don't find things like that even slightly troubling then you're lucky, if you do however, and you skipped it thank you for taking care of yourself. I realise it might not have been the most severe, but I did want to put a warning just in case it triggered any sort of vague response xx.
Finally, I just wanna say thank you to everyone that's been favouriting and following and reviewing, it does mean the world. Thoughts on the chapters are always appreciated.
As Always, SecretMidnightRose