Present Day
My fingers sit poised above the piano keys as I sit frozen in the memory. My hands find the keys as I begin to play something soft and happy at first. I play in silence for a few moments longer before a set of footsteps disrupt me. Involuntarily my body tenses as a hand rests on my shoulder.
"I see you still go by Emerald Baxter." An all too familiar voice says from behind me. The tension in my body rises as I continue to play to try and drown out my fear. Very few things scare me, but Charles Laurent is among them. Always quick to anger and unpredictable.
After a few more bars, I stand from the piano and sweep into the kitchen. I try reaching out for my brothers but find our connection dead. With only mild hesitation, I reach out for Niklaus but find he has his all too familiar walls up.
"I suppose Niklaus Mikaelson wasn't the better choice after all." Charles says as he stands on the other side of the island. I can see the anger in his eyes, as stealthily as I can manage I try to remove one of the wooden spoons from the drawer in front of me. All the while, trying to find a crack in Niklaus' walls.
Before I have time to get the drawer open, I feel a hand around my neck and my feet leave the floor. I claw at Charles hand and he tsks at me almost sadly.
"Emerald if you had only done what you were supposed to, we wouldn't be in this situation." He says as I struggle against him. I press my hand to the bare skin of his wrist and send a jolt down his arm. He drops me suddenly and I land somewhat upright.
"Son of a bitch." He snarls as I tear from the kitchen and down to the basement. I slam the door and barricade it behind me before tearing down the steps. Once inside my circle, I try reaching out to Niklaus again.
"God dammit Niklaus, why do you have to be so guarded." I mutter mostly to myself as I scramble for the components to break down those walls.
"Out of fear, connect me with the one I hold dear." I repeat the sentence several times, trying to block out the banging from above me. As the wooden door begins to splinter, I finally make contact with Niklaus.
"Charles is here. He is probably going to kill me. Just know if you never find me again, I still love you." I say before the connection fizzles out and the flurry of footsteps fall down the stairs.
In a few seconds, Charles stands before me seething.
"Niklaus Mikaelson isn't going to swoop in and save you. It's not as if he even wants you anymore." Charles says as I take a few steps back.
"You know nothing of what Niklaus feels towards me." I respond in a barely stable voice.
"For someone so strong, you seem terrified of me." He says with a demonic smirk.
"It's not you I'm afraid of." I lie as I circle towards the stairs. Without really thinking, I try and tear up the basement stairs. Hoping that if I make it out of the house, Niklaus would be on his way to help me. But those hopes are dashed when I feel fingers wrap around my hair and yank me backwards.
"It's not going to be that easy for you to escape me this time. I had to bargain for the power to destroy you." He snarls.
"You let yourself become the weakest form of vampire?" I say with a choked laugh as he pulls my hair harder.
"Couldn't handle your emotions so you switched them off." I say trying to bide my time.
"How many people did you kill until you worked up the nerve to come after me?" I say as he tosses me forward. I stumble and fall to my knees with my back turned towards him.
"Not many. But I don't intend to kill you. It'd be too light for you Emerald." He says as he once again wraps his hands into my hair. But this time I can feel him pinning it up. Suddenly, I feel more complacent, more willing.
"Stand." Charles barks at me, and I can feel myself do it. He chuckles darkly to himself.
"Finally, you've become the woman you always should have." He says as he pulls me by the arm and out of the back door.
Third Person Point Of View
Fletcher watches Niklaus Mikaelson as his body tenses like he's being invaded. Without an explanation, Niklaus' face goes dark.
"What is it?" Elijah asks reading his brother's look. Fletcher looks between the pair confused.
"Is it Emerald?" Fletcher asks, jumping to his first conclusion.
"The man your father tried to marry her off to has kidnapped her." Niklaus practically snarls.
"Charles Laurent should be dead." Fletcher says and it finally dawns on him.
"I'll get August." Fletcher says and practically runs from the room.
"What man?" Elijah asks.
"Charles Laurent was the person that Emerald's father originally intended for her to marry. I also offered myself to her father. Emerald got angry in being left out of the decision. Her father let her choose and she chose me. Charles Laurent never quite got over that fact." Niklaus supplies as the Baxter boys re enter the room.
"He also had himself turned so that he could stalk our sister and potentially kill her." Fletcher says angrily.
"He wouldn't kill her. He's spent well over a hundred years building to this point. He has something worse in store for her." August supplies and everyone looks at him.
"Always the silver lining with you." Fletcher responds sarcastically.
"I'm being realistic. She might not die but he will do something to her, that in her mind would be worse than dying." August says.
"Which in her mind, having to marry him would be horrendous." Fletcher says and then his eyes go wide.
"We need to be checking chapels. That is the very first thing he'd do to her since she never married you Niklaus." Fletcher says as he pulls out his phone.
"You don't honestly think he'd force her into marriage?" Elijah asks and August looks at him.
"Judging by the anger he presented when their engagement was broken of, it's probably the first thing he'd do. Exert his power over her." August says.
"There are three different chapels near here. We probably shouldn't go alone. August you go with Elijah, if Elijah is willing to help us rescue our sister." Fletcher says and Elijah nods once.
"I'll go with Klaus, but we need a party for the third chapel." Fletcher says as Kol and Rebekah enter the room.
"Kol, I've heard your particularly fond of baseball?" Fletcher asks with a mildly sadistic grin.