I stop about ten paces in front of Esther and she smirks at me. I manage to stare at her blankly until she begins speaking.
"How does it feel to not have the upper hand?" She asks and I shrug.
"I wouldn't know." I say and with a flick of my wrist Finn's heart sits in the palm of my left hand. Esther starts cackling thinking that I just helped her plan reach the end. Finn's heart beats two more times before going still and Esther finally notices the rest of her children still standing.
"You really shouldn't under estimate someone far more clever than you think you are." I say as Finn's heart goes up in flames in my palm. For the second time in as many days, Esther looks purely terrified.
"Release my brothers you wretched bitch." I snarl as the heart gets reduce to nothing more than ash.
"Holy shit." I can hear Kol mutter from behind me as I brush the ash from my palm. Esther releases whatever bind she has on my brothers and they move to safety.
"I-I'm sorry." She pleads and I step forward.
"There is no more time for groveling. No more time for apologies." I say as I cut off her breathing. She starts immediately clawing at her throat as I move closer.
"You are nothing but a fearful little worm. Afraid of no longer holding all of the power." I say as I put a hand on her neck.
"It's a shame that someone let you become so deluded. You could have done some pretty spectacular things under the right cause. Instead you became a dusty old bitch." I say as her skin begins to wrinkle.
"And I think you've used up enough of my time." I say as the wrinkles become crevices and her skin begins to actually crack. After about five minutes Esther is nothing but a husk and I feel very woozy. I drop Esther and her body falls apart upon impact.
I stumble back a few steps, world spinning around me before I collapse myself. I try to stand again but find that I'm too weak to even lift my head let alone speak. After a moment I see the head of August appear in my view.
"Are you okay?" He asks sounding worried.
"No." I manage to croak our, barely above a whisper. Before August can react I see Fletcher appear and he scoops me into his arms.
"What happened?" Rebekah asks as Fletcher moves towards the Mikaelson house.
"Whatever she did to Esther took too much out of her." Fletcher says in a very panicked voice.
"This is very bad. Even the smallest of curses could kill her right now. And actually kill her this time." He says as we cross back into the house.
"We can't take her home." August says panicked. "If mother were here she'd know what to do."
"The best we can do is put up protection wards." Fletcher says.
"You can stay here with her." Elijah offers.
"We wouldn't let anything happen while you figure out how to help her." He says.
"Can you protect her from magic?" Fletcher asks almost accusatory.
"It's fine." I say hoarsely. "I trust them. Put up the wards and try to reach out to mother." I say in between deep breaths.
"We'd need to get started now. This is a rather large house." Fletcher says and looks around for somewhere to lay me.
"If you had support could you walk?" August says.
"I can try." I respond and Fletcher sets me on my feet. I stand for a moment shakily and then reach out to Niklaus for support. He takes my shaking hand and pulls me to him.
"Go put up the wards." I say and look to my brothers with a feeble smile.
"Is not going to be that easy to get rid of me." I say and Fletcher gives me one more concerned glance.
"Have we forgiven Klaus?" He asks and I nod.
"Yes. Now the wards." I say and can feel Niklaus' arms tighten around me.
Suddenly my eyes begin feeling very heavy as the last of the energy is drained from my body.
"Klaus she's going to pass out." Rebekah says as my world suddenly goes black.
When I come to, I'm flat on my back. I can tell I'm in a bed but have no energy to lift my head.
"Happy to see you're living." Rebekah says.
"Your brothers went to find your mother. Apparently your parents are closer than they thought." She says and I just let out a long groan.
"I feel like death." I announce and she laughs.
"From the way that your brothers spoke, your mother should have all the answers."
"She also likes to mother anyone in sight. Be prepared. She can me smothering." I say calmly.
"And my father is something else. He's the quieter half, gentle and encouraging. Mother pushes but only because she wanted us to be our best." I say and pause for a minute. I sit up and physically feel normal, but magically I feel powerless.
"I don't like this feeling." I say mostly to myself as I look at my hands.
"Weak?" Rebekah asks and I nod.
"It's unusual for me." I say calmly.
"You gave Klaus quite the scare." She responds and I shrug.
"It's not as if I could have given a warning." I respond and get out of the bed.
"He's seemed happier. Well happier for Klaus." She says and I look at her quizzically.
"Just because I have forgiven him, it doesn't mean we will fall back into our old pattern. We still have work to do." I say and Rebekah looks at me for a moment.
"Well at least the two of you are trying." She says and walk from the room. Before I can really react I hear a flood of footsteps approaching and my mother appears in the door way. She makes a beeline for me and places her hands on either side of my face.
"What did you do Emerald?" She asks and I shrug.
"What I had to." I respond. "Esther Mikaelson threatened my family and the man that I might still love."
"I understand my darling, but you've entirely weakened yourself." She says and tsks at me.
"Your father is in an absolute panic. You're brothers are keeping him outside. I needed to make sure that you were beyond the physical aspects." She says and I nod.
"I suppose you can't leave this house either. The wards might be the only thing protecting you." She says and I nod. Over her should I see my father's head appear in the doorway. I watch as his worries seem to melt away and he walks into the room.
"You can't do things like that Emerald." He says as he crushes me in a hug.
"People should stop threatening my family." I say though my voice is muffled in his hug.
"You can't be responsible for protecting everyone you love. You'll spread yourself too thin, chickadee." He says using my nickname for me.
"We should be okay for at least a while longer." I say as my dad releases me and holds me at arms length away.
"Now, where is Niklaus? I understand that you've forgiven him but I still need to see where his heart lies." He says and I can't help but to roll my eyes.