The silence in the air is almost palpable as we stand there looking at each other.
"Is that really the only option?" Rebekah asks, always the voice of reason. Fletcher shrugs and I watch as Rebekah rolls her eyes.
"It's our best option." Fletcher says and Rebekah rolls her eyes again.
"What if it's something as simple as taking those ridiculous pins out of her hair?" Rebekah asks and something clicks with Niklaus. He walks to me, closer than he's been in a few years and pulls the pins from my hair. It tumbles around my shoulders and in an instant, I can feel my control return back to me. I spin to Fletcher, anger flaring up inside of my chest.
"Your solution was that I needed to get married?" I ask and he flinches.
"Charles Laurent was not the brightest person, it was the simplest solution I could come up with." He says and I stare at him for a long moment hoping that it finally clicks with him.
"Why the hell would he want me to return to myself after marriage if he inteded to marry me?!" I practically screech and I turn to August.
"And you went with it!" I say and then Niklaus butts in.
"You act as if marrying me would be the end of the world." He says and I shush him.
"That's not what I meant and you know it." I say and wave him off.
"What I'm focusing on is the fact that between the two of my brothers they still don't have a whole brain." I say and I can hear Kol make a choking noise.
"I was panicking." Fletcher attempts to defend himself and I find myself rolling my eyes.
"And to think the two of you are older than me." I mutter and sweep past everyone and to the doorway.
"Can I trust one of you to burn the hairpins, or is fire too advanced for you?" I ask sarcastically annd August flicks up his middle finger. I stop dead in my tracks.
"You did NOT just use that vulgar sign on me." I say in a deadly serious tone.
"While we might be living the twenty-first century, our mother raised us better than that August." I say and cross my arms, actually somewhat hurt.
"I'm sorry." He says sounding genuine and I scoff at him.
"It seems that you've forgotten that at the end of the day I am still a lady. You can use your vulgarity all that you want with Fletcher and the Mikaelson boys, but I thought you'd have enough respect for me as your sister to refrain from it." I say and Fletcher chuckles.
"You're hardly a lady." He responds and I gasps.
"Says the one who has bedded more people than the population of this town. I'll have you know that I'm still mostly pure." I say and Fletcher attempts to backpeddle.
"I assumed..." He says glancing between me and Niklaus.
"You shouldn't assume things when you do not have all of the information. Especially with a mother like ours. But thank you for showing me that you think of me as little more than a prostitute." I say and actually leave the room.
I barely make to the doors before a hand is grabbing my upper arm. I spin to find Niklaus inches from me.
"We really shouldn't be seen alone together or my brothers might soon assume that I'm with child." I respond bitterly.
"That's not what I stopped you for. I was hoping that you'd be willing to start over. To give us another chance." He says and my heart begins pounding. I never truly stopped loving Niklaus, even all of these years later. Even when I hadn't seen him in years, he still manages to get my heart racing. I stare at him for a long moment.
"Niklaus, I was willing to give us another chance the moment I first saw you in this tiny little town." I respond calmly.
"But we cannot fall into our old ways, it's what was our downfall." I say and place a hand on his cheek.
"Do you think you could do that? Not fall into old and familiar patterns?" I asks quietly as he moves closer to me. After a second, I feel his lips on mine and happiness blooming in my chest.
But in the back of my mind, I can't seem to shake this nagging feeling that something is going to happen to one of them. I can't pinpoint who it is, but the anxiety is beginning to eat me alive.
I was sitting in the living room of my house, cup of tea on the table in front of me, a book in my lap when August bursts through the door. He doesn't look me in the eyes for a moment before looking up at my almost excitedly.
"What is it?" I ask, now beyond curious.
"Our familiars came home." He says and I spring from my seat and dart out the door after him. In our front yard is a rather large black horse butted up against Fletcher. Slithering through the grace, and around August's legs is a deep green snake. Joy bubbles up inside of me, and is quickly squashed.
"Something big and bad is coming." I whisper to myself as Arden, the red fox that became my familiar, trots up to me.
"What am I missing?" I ask him as he sniffs my hand. He looks up at me with sorrow filled eyes as the ball in my stomach tightens.
"I should tell Niklaus about my premonition." I say and Arden nods his small head. I pad down the front porch steps and walk in the direction of the Mikaelson house.
I stand on their stoop and knock rapidly. Niklaus swings open the door, a look of confusion on his face.
"I need you." I say and he lets me in. In a few minutes, we find privacy in the form of his room and I begin pacing.
"What's wrong Emerald?"
"Someone is going to try to kill either you or one of your siblings." I say still pacing and now chewing on my nails.
"I don't have anymore information than that, and I hate it. I don't know who it is so I don't know who I need to be watching. I don't know why they're trying to kill one of you. I just don't know." I say, choking up. Niklaus stops me and pulls me to him and wraps his arms around me.
"Nothing is going to happen. You aren't responsible for protecting the whole world." He tells me and I look at him with tears in my eyes.
"I am when my whole world begins and ends with a few people."