Hello my loves!
Okay, so! There's gonna be something in this chapter that, well, I think it's totally normal but I also know it might ignite some level of reaction. I'm not gonna say much about it here, and I'm not gonna say much at the end either, but it's in the conversation Elijah's gonna have with Josephine. I really do hate to say this, but if anyone's – idk, vexed by it, I guess? – Feel free to stop reading. I know that this probably won't apply to the majority-and hopefully not anyone, but I seriously won't tolerate any hate about it. Everyone deserves love.
Side note – without trying to spoil anything, Aria is going to end up with Kol, this is definitely going to happen. But the way there might be rocky, because there is no way there aren't going to be relationships whenever they aren't, yk, together, together. I just wanna try more diversity with my characters. And it's not just gonna be there for the sake of it. Aria is going to have a few relationships at some point over this story and they're not all going to be Kol for rather obvious reasons,. The most obvious I suppose being that the more pain I can inflict on my characters means the more interesting this story will get. And for some reason, I just love making these things complicated for myself.
I own nothing, as always A/N is at the end of the chapter, now let's get on with it!
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
All of us live with a demon inside. Some days you control the demon. And other days it controls you.
"REBEKAH MIKAELSON!"
"YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME FOREVER!"
"THIS IS MY HOUSE!"
And it is always hungry. It feeds on lust, on longing. And while you may slumber, it tempts you into crossing every line you've ever drawn. All while it hunts you, haunts you, renders you incapable of telling friend from foe. But once it's turned your loved ones into enemies, the demon would have consumed you whole.
Aria was startled awake by an echo in her head.
Though, if that hadn't woken her, the door in front of her swinging open to reveal the single person she probably liked least in New Orleans probably would have.
She didn't have time to think before an inhuman shriek of fury left her and Klaus suddenly went flinging across the room he'd entered from, and banging into a wooden door, splintering it relatively quickly. A fond memory came back to her of one of the first meetings she'd had with the Hybrid – a meeting that had ended in this very way. She giggled, and then sobered as another figure came to stand in the door. Elijah stood in front of her, his hands in his pockets, and a sheepish look on his face, "My many apologies, Miss Gerard." He sighed, crossing the room to untie the rope she'd been unaware had kept her hands bound, "It would seem that Niklaus truly knows no bounds."
She didn't have enough composure to smile – it would've come out as a grimace, anyway; she had a feeling that may unnerve Elijah just a bit too much. She worked feeling back into her wrists when the ropes fell away, and sighed, "Do you reckon it'd be too much trouble if I asked you to chain him up? I'd be all too happy to enchant some chains for you to use, and if he likes wolfing out so much…" She let the sentence trail off, having one particular thought in mind but still thoroughly enjoying the realisation of whatever thought occurred to Elijah light up his expression. She truly had far too much fun teasing him.
"If he continues like this, then the entirety of New Orleans may back your case, Miss Gerard. And, unfortunately, I'd simply be all too compelled to agree to ensure Niklaus' safety in whatever… form." He didn't sound quite as solemn as he might've wanted to.
He held out a hand and pulled her up, before crossing a small hallway to where Klaus had made a rather sizeable dent in one of Elijah's doors. Faint remorse pecked at her, but she quickly squashed it back down. Elijah could have it repaired easily enough.
Elijah and Aria leant against the now-empty doorframe in identical regal postures that it must've had Klaus' head spinning. The Hybrid scowled, and rubbed his head in pain. The human action had Aria's own head spinning, and she tilted it to the side in curiosity, studying him closely as she had studied Elijah not too long ago when he'd broken into her apartment.
Klaus didn't share quite that many similarities with Kol as Elijah most certainly did, but there were subtle signs – and if not physical appearance, then his mannerisms were quite obviously Kol-derived. Mostly… the murderous look directed at her.
She barely had time to react when he lunged, and she was sure that – had the Original sensed she might be in any danger – Elijah would've intervened. No, he currently seemed to be more distracted by plucking an invisible piece of lint from his impeccable sleeve. She wouldn't be surprised if she just couldn't see it – or that Elijah was always so perfectly put-together that he could see far better than she could – or if he was just bored and looking for something to do. Though, he certainly knew the situation occurring before him if the slight tension in his cheek was any indication.
Or maybe he was just distracted with silently warning his brother not to break a very breakable mortal.
Aria should probably be thankful that he was still rather disoriented from his blast across his brother's apartment, and that his lunge was horribly off kilter, and he ended up bashing into a cabinet. Elijah winced the same time as Aria. Elijah had had plenty of time to amass a pretty penny and that hadn't exactly looked cheap.
Klaus didn't look like he cared, though.
He pointed a very menacing finger at the wall beside her and she had the juvenile feeling to just nudge his hand an inch or two to the right so that he could threaten her properly.
"You… are the most irritating witch… I have ever encountered." He got out after several attempts.
Aria smiled and shrugged, "It's one of my very many gifts, Nik." She said nonchalantly, grin widening when he scowled at her.
"Klaus."
"Nik."
"Klaus."
"NIK."
"KLAUS!"
She felt a gentle nudge and turned to Elijah. He didn't say anything, he didn't do anything actually, he just twitched his nose slightly in a silent counsel just to give in before things got ugly. Aria let her head flop to the side and gave him an adorable lopsided grin which he mirrored when he realised that she was just teasing the big bad Hybrid. She turned back to Klaus, and stared at him for a long moment, then rolled her eyes, "Fine. Klaus."
If it took a tiny victory to extinguish his anger – and therefore decrease the chance of her untimely death – she would take it. Besides, now that she had the name in her mouth, it sounded strange. Like it was… she didn't know exactly, but she didn't like it.
His name was Klaus.
And she could be an annoying little shit all she wanted – she did try after all – but disrespecting his name seemed a bit unfair of her in hindsight.
Then again, he'd just kidnapped her.
He brought these things onto himself, truly, he did.
"Why am I here, Klaus?" She demanded, mood changing in an instant, "What made you think that you could dare lay your hands on me?"
"Funny enough, dear Freya said the exact same thing." Klaus commented with a sly smile – though his hair was still thoroughly tousled and, of course, he still wasn't standing straight.
Anger out of the window, Aria's eyes narrowed, "What did you do to Freya?"
It was the flat tone that she'd learned from Josie a while ago, and it never ceased to get people to tell her what she wanted to know. Not even the Big Bad Hybrid. Although Klaus was full of surprises, so that meant that it didn't come as a surprise when he barely flinched.
"Not all that much actually. In fact, I had a lovely little chat with her. You know, did a little family bonding." He explained, heading into the main room – not even doubting that he'd be followed by the duo he'd left behind.
His brother and the witch took seats opposite him, beside each other, and watched him, waiting for him to continue. Elijah took the opportunity, instead.
"Do forgive me for saying, but now that it's being discussed, you seem awfully fond of her." Elijah murmured, a small crease between his eyebrows.
"Yes, the way you speak of her, sounds almost like she's been a tad more than a mentor to you. More so than, say, Thierry, Marcellus, Evanna. It just does make me wonder how such a thing came to be." Klaus continued. It obviously wasn't the road Elijah had wanted to take, given by his exasperated expression, but it was Klaus. It was in his nature to be an annoyance.
Although, the brothers did notice that it struck a cord somewhere in the witch.
"Josephine's never been my mother." Aria mumbled.
Klaus' smile was entirely too sharp and wicked, "Well now, love, that's not what I said, is it? You put those pieces together all on your own."
The way Aria was watching Niklaus worried Elijah, and for a moment, he worried that he'd have to interfere before his little brother was set on fire, or hauled across the room – again.
But instead, Aria let out a heavy sigh.
"I know." She said quietly.
Was that concern he saw in Niklaus' eyes? Well, he supposed, Niklaus may be concerned that his verbal sparring partner wasn't feeling quite up to speed today. That was reasonable of course. But then again, that would imply that Niklaus cared about their little sparring matches, which was entirely too frightening for Elijah to contemplate.
"So? Tell me, love, how did you come to such a conclusion as the witch being like a mother to you?"
The look Aria gave him could melt ice.
"That glare of yours won't change a thing. I can wait."
"You underestimate my particular level of pettiness, Klaus."
"I think I estimate it the right amount. But truly, I have no obligation to be anywhere for quite a while, so-"
A phone rang out, interrupting what Aria was quite sure would turn out to be a rather lengthy monologue.
He groaned, and reached across to the table beside him, glancing at the contact before answering, "What is it now, Hayley? I was in the middle of making a rather important point, and now it's all for nought! Someone had better be dead or dying, because-"
His face turned ashen.
There was a small beep a minute later when the call ended, and the phone slipped from his hand. He raised it, shaking slightly, and pointed toward them both, "This conversation is not over. I… I need your help. Back at the Compound. Now."
Aria could honestly say that she'd never seen him quite so scared before. She exchanged a glance with Elijah and nodded slightly.
The apartment was empty seconds later.
~*•°•*~
Vampires moved quickly, and it probably wasn't quite so daunting for them after a few centuries, but to a human who wasn't too fond of speed, it was a lot worse than imagined. So Aria found herself leaning against a wall in Klaus' study, terribly trying to regain her breath and sense of balance, whilst Elijah looked as impeccable as always, picking that invisible piece of lint off of his sleeve yet again.
"I should really stop packing these away. There's always one family member or another in need of a good shackling." Klaus mumbled, absentmindedly handing a set of familiar manacles to Aria, "Find Rebekah, or Eva, or whoever the bloody hell that was just trying to nab my daughter. Use these to stop her from doing magic. And don't hurt her. The non-psychopathic bits are still my sister."
Aria rolled her eyes, and it did nothing for her steadiness, "You do know that Rebekah is my favourite, right? Like by a long shot. She is literally my namesake; she carries my complete unearned trust on her shoulders. But come on, you should know that I won't be the only one looking for her. She killed witch-kids. And I'm sorry she almost got your kid, but the twenty-four-hour hold that Elijah got the covens to agree to? It ended at midnight. Every damn witch in the city is gonna be gunning for her."
Klaus sighed in irritation and his eyes flickered between empty spots on the floor, like he was debating something in his mind, "Fine. Do you have any witch contacts?"
She snorted, "Obviously."
Klaus smiled in amusement. For a man so adept at killing, his eyes were remarkably soft when he wasn't threatening her life, "Use them. Whatever you need to do, just try to find a way to stop the witch hunt before it can actually begin."
"So d'you want me to find Eva or not?"
"Decidedly not. That can be your father's job." Aria rolled her eyes in irritation, "Your job can be crowd control. You need to… dissuade the witches before any of them start losing their heads."
"Literally or figuratively?"
"I refuse to curb my homicidal tendencies while the lives of my sister and child are up in the air. Find your friends, make them soothe the witches, and then we'll be rid of one of our many problems." He turned to Hayley, as Aria left the room, muttering 'a please wouldn't kill you' under her breath. She wasn't one for farewells, was she? Scratch that, she wasn't one for politeness at all, "As for you, go with Elijah. Help him charm his elderly witch into calling off the hunt."
"And leave Hope? Don't you think I should stay here and protect our daughter?"
Klaus' voice began to raise steadily the more he spoke, the Hybrid was getting frustrated, "Jackson has been working night and day to secure this compound, surrounding it with his werewolf army. Not to mention the fact that I'm here, and I know the best way to protect our child is to get Rebekah out of that serial killer's body and back into the original model!"
Hayley hummed, "And, what will you be doing while we're out doing all the dirty work?"
"Why, tending to the even dirtier work, as usual."
Hayley eyed him sceptically, but seemed to believe him before she turned to Elijah, "I'll be but a moment." She didn't waste any time in questioning him and left the room, with as little as a single glance back. Klaus watched his brother closely, but found no sense of gloom as he had recently been prone to where the wolf was concerned. Something had changed.
And maybe Elijah had sensed eyes on him, because he turned back to face Klaus, "Dirtier work?"
An easy smile found its way onto Klaus' face, "I may have a trick or two up my sleeve involving a disgraced witch or two."
Elijah hummed under his breath and took his turn to leave the room, "Just try not to draw too much attention, brother."
"Strange, isn't it?" When Elijah paused, Klaus took the invitation to continue, "How you seem to be sharing your home with a walking power source these days, and yet she hasn't been targeted."
"Sharing my home?" Elijah echoed incredulously.
Klaus waved his hand in the air dismissively, "Details are irrelevant. But don't skirt around this. Don't tell me you haven't noticed."
"I can say that I haven't, because, Niklaus, there is nothing to notice. Now if you'll excuse me-"
"Just one small question, then; entertain me. How does Aria remain untouched?"
The room went silent, as did the street outside when he actually voiced his question. Almost like New Orleans itself knew that the Hybrid had a point.
"Out of all the young witches in the Quarter, wouldn't she be the prime target?" He continued, after confirming to himself that now he – finally – had the undivided attention of everyone in the room. Well, the undivided attention of Elijah. Aria and Hayley were long gone by this point, "After all, she is… well, she has power to spare and I'm going to assume that – in time, of course – she may be able to amount to all the witches that have been kidnapped currently. The power of masses of witches in one body seems like too good of an opportunity to pass up,
"So, it certainly begs the question, doesn't it? Who's protecting her?"
Elijah didn't find any words to reply with, so Klaus settled with a smirk, and then waved goodbye, "Time you went to charm your witch friend, isn't it? Maybe she can shed some light on this strange situation. And sooner, rather than later, brother. I want to know exactly what mischief our Miss Gerard's been getting up to."
~*•°•*~
Elijah and Gia drew a stark contrast against Hayley as they stood waiting for Josephine to arrive. And it wasn't just because two actually wanted to be there whilst the other decidedly did not. It created an awkward atmosphere, to say the least. So after another uncomfortable moment, Gia finally spoke
"I'm gonna see if I can find Josephine." She announced.
Hayley gave her a fake smile as the vampire left, before turning to Elijah, raising an eyebrow. The Original smiled bashfully.
"Well, now I see why you didn't answer my calls." She paused, "Did she have to come with us?"
Elijah sat down beside Hayley, looking strangely uncomfortable, "Josephine LaRue can be rather recalcitrant. She is, however, enamoured with Gia's musical prowess and cavalier spirit."
"Huh. So, the Baby-Vamp is now the Witch-Whisperer? I'm just glad that you found someone so... multi-talented to spend your time with..."
Elijah rolled his eyes, "What exactly do you want from me?" There was a quiet underlying tone to his voice, desperate for an answer, but unwilling to show it.
He'd found that he was quickly tiring of this on and off relationship he possessed with Hayley. Particularly considering he'd been spending more time with Gia and Aria, respectably – and the witch hadn't hidden her distaste for the Hybrid. Either, Hybrid, mind, she was still less than fond of his brother – especially after the little kidnapping stunt; but she seemed to have a particular distaste for the one before him. He didn't exactly know why, and he wouldn't manipulate himself into thinking that the witch felt a strange sensation from Hayley, but there was something there.
Hayley was still watching him, but she gave no indication that she'd answer him any time soon. Any possibility of it happening was then shut down when Gia entered the room with Josephine in tow. Elijah briefly closed his eyes, and then stood to his feet to greet her.
"Madame LaRue."
"Mr. Mikaelson."
Josephine nodded her head in acknowledgement, and then took a seat opposite the trio of vampires as Elijah did the same.
"Have you come to impress me once more with young Gia's rare talents?" Her eyes crossed to Hayley and then returned to Elijah, amusement shining deep in her expression, "What, pray tell, does this one do?"
Elijah smiled, "This one is family, Madame." His smile dropped, "But we've come to ask for a… personal favour. Regarding my dear sister."
Josephine nodded, "Ah. I'd expected a visit. Now, while I express my condolences, about your sister, Mr Mikaelson, if Eva Sinclair is back in control of her body, then you need to let the witches put that body down! Eva will use up your sister, just like she did the others."
"The others?"
"The first of the children went missing two years ago. Vincent at that time had been, for the most part, simply learning to balance his life as all witches must: college, work, and, of course, coven; I believe it was beginning to feel normal to him. And then Eva. They met at sixteen, when they did their first bit of magic together, it was so unreasonably intense. And Eva was a wild beauty practicing a wild magic. But, she and Vincent were so happy, we let them be."
Elijah sighed quietly, "And then the children began to disappear."
"The first to be taken was a little girl named Amelie Dupree from Algiers. Then, Lou-Anne Hughes from the 9th Coven, Nicholas Alseis from the Tremé Coven..." She closed her eyes, and kissed her fingertips as a sort of prayer to each child, "All young children, all witch prodigies simply vanished into thin air. Vincent put together a small party from each of the covens to try and trace these children, but the killer cloaked them so quickly that all locator spells were simply useless,
"But, because of Vincent's tenacity, she was caught. In trying to save one of the children that had been taken, he did manage to locate them using.." Here, Josephine's expression twisted slightly into something angry, "A certain magics that we typically don't allow. But his unorthodox methods were acknowledged because he saw a car, and then a face. The face your sister currently possesses. The love of his life,
"Mr Mikaelson, the face your sister wears belongs to a truly infamous witch, and there are many that would directly defy even my orders to keep their children safe. I do not hold that against any of them, I was quite the same. I myself was troubled by Eva's rampages; I had a son in this time, and I was hopelessly worried for his safety. When Vincent caught her, it relieved us all. He confronted her; he then saw the truth. She kept pleading with him, just three more little girls, just three."
"Why three?
"To complete the Rite of Nines."
"The Rite of Nines?" Gia questioned quietly.
"Eva believed that if she sacrificed a witch from each of the nine covens, it would create a new witch order in New Orleans. She would have been more powerful than any Elder, any Harvest girl, any child that had been blessed with power in some form-"
"Wait, wait; but why kids?"
"Because their magic is untapped, it's pure. And, they're a hell of a lot easier to subdue."
"That's why she went after my baby." Hayley said quietly, eyes fixated on the witch in front of her.
"My best guess is that it was merely a target of opportunity. But she would have killed your daughter, channelled her powers, as she did with those other poor children. Now they've never been found; they died, consecrated, yet unable to be with their ancestors. Used as a source for Eva's terrible magic."
"So, help me find her before she takes any more lives, including Rebekah's." Elijah stressed, "Help me stop her."
"We agree she must be stopped. No more of our youth will die." She stood to her feet, "That is why, Mr. Mikaelson, I will not extend your twenty-four hours." Elijah's eyes widened almost comically, "Eva Sinclair now has a bounty on her head."
"You would condemn my sister to her death?"
"I dislike the term 'collateral damage', but there it is. My son remains to be a witch of whom Eva's dark intentions would greatly benefit from channelling. If one or two must fall to take Eva down for good? So be it."
~*•°•*~
Klaus had been staring at a painting of Rebekah in the hallway for quite some time when Freya finally walked in on him. He didn't react, nor did he show any indication when she stood beside him – not until she actually spoke and broke him out of his musings.
"Our sister was quite the beauty." Freya said quietly.
Klaus didn't waste any time on small talk, "You said that you could put Rebekah back in her original body. Do it."
Freya scoffed, "So, you've come to your senses?"
"My senses have not faltered; they still demand that you are not to be trusted. However, circumstance dictates otherwise... for now."
Freya sobered slightly and stood straighter, "What's changed?"
"Eva Sinclair has resumed control of her body, leaving Rebekah trapped and powerless. So, make with your spells and enchantments and put my sister back in her true body!"
Freya's eyes closed, her eyebrows knitting together in frustration, "I'm afraid it's not that simple."
Klaus smirked – it was weak, "More stalling. Very well. I know I can't kill you, but I shall have a fine time trying. Tell me, have you ever been skinned alive?"
"The problem is Rebekah's condition has worsened." Klaus' smile fell, "When I offered to help, she was in control of Eva's body. She's lost inside Eva. I don't have a spell that could breech Eva's mind and find her."
"Fortunately for you, I know someone well-versed in such spells."
Klaus slapped the debilitating shackles onto her wrists, only widening his eyes slightly at her unsurprised expression, before rattling the chains in emphasis as he spoke.
This time the grin was genuine, and dark, "Let's go meet her, shall we?"
~*•°•*~
"I fail to see the need for these shackles. We both know by now that I am not your enemy." Freya drawled.
Klaus grinned in response, "Oh, they're not to protect me, love!" He pulled the chains, and by extension her, into one of the tombs in the Cemetery and gestured ahead of them, "They're to protect her! The one who knows more about mind-invasion and body-jumping than all of us put together."
Klaus pulled two blood bags from his jacket and tossed them across the room into a dark corner, as Freya stepped forward curiously. After a second or two, a hand reached out to snatch away one of the bags, and then it grabbed the other. Another second passed, and between the look on Klaus' face and his… general lack of compassion, she recognised why she was there easily enough.
"No! No!"
A figure approached them, and Klaus' grip on his sister increased gradually every time she tried to shy away from the situation he was all too amused by.
"Mother? Freya. Freya? Mother."
Klaus looked all too smug, Freya looked all too scared, and Esther Mikaelson simply watched between them in confusion. The vampire – the very, very desiccated vampire – stared.
"It can't be."
Freya spun to her brother, "You won't trust me, but you'll trust her?"
Klaus rolled his eyes, "I assure you, I trust my mother about as much as I would a stuck snake. Fortunately, she is now a vampire, and as such, she's vulnerable to my compulsion." He practically skipped over to his mother, and gripped her chin in his hand, "You will answer me truthfully." He hauled her up, and pulled her over to Freya, who stepped back on instinct. Klaus felt a brief flash of sympathy, but crushed it back down, "There! Now, at least everything that comes out of her wretched mouth will be honest. Let's raid Mummy Dearest's mind for spells, shall we?"
~*•°•*~
"I assure you, Madame LaRue, we will defend your witches with a fearsome vengeance."
Josephine smiled coolly, "You have a wonderful way with words. Really. Your cadence is pleasant. Normally, I could listen to it all day long, but I grow tired of this. My mind remains unchanged."
"Are you serious?" Hayley hissed. Josephine's eyebrow raised in offence. Hayley gestured to Gia, and then Elijah as she spoke, "She puts on a talent show, he has every vampire in the Quarter kissing your ass, and your final answer is Screw you?"
"Hayley-" Gia tried, jumping to her feet. Hayley held up her hand, and Gia's eyes widened in indignation.
"Back off."
Elijah looked horribly panicked, "We came here to honour the alliance between us. If this is something you wish to rescind, so be it."
Elijah turned to leave, Hayley and Gia following him, when Josephine spoke again.
"Don't you dare walk into my house and threaten me!" Josephine hissed, "I am not the one that needs you, Elijah Mikaelson, it is you who needs us. Or, you will soon enough."
Elijah turned back, intent on salvaging the conversation as best he could, "Miss LaRue-"
"I believe this is where you leave, Mr. Mikaelson." Josephine turned her back, but Elijah didn't stop talking, he simply changed subject.
"There is a witch I know, Miss LaRue, one that had assured me you are an ally, not a foe-"
"Then I'm afraid this witch does not understand the gravity of the situation at hand."
"The day Aria Gerard actually understands the gravity of a situation, is a day I do not wish to see. But she has assured me rather boldly that you are to be trusted. If there is a reason for her clear unending faith in you, Miss LaRue, I do not know, but she certainly believes in you a great deal for someone as paranoid as she. So are you trying to tell me that Miss Gerard is wrong, that she is interfering in this situation wrongly?"
Josephine studied Elijah, for a long, long time. She merely raised her hand and the doors closed – not with a slam, but not silently either, shutting the two girls out.
"This seems to have transcended into a new conversation, Mr Mikaelson, and I'm afraid it is one we must have in the utmost privacy."
Elijah studied her, and then nodded. He murmured something under his breath – probably telling Hayley and Gia that he would be remaining there – and then retook his seat opposite Josephine. Elijah heard them let out small huffs before they began to leave.
"How much do you know?" The witch asked.
"Particularly little, I'm afraid."
"Do you wish to know of the consequences Aria has wrought, of the power she possesses – the true power? It will take a while, and I will tell you now that I am not going to continue entertaining the absurdity of your request."
It was tempting – it was so very tempting – but he had made a promise, and though he had broken many before, it seemed that this may bring much more karma down on him than he'd yet experienced. No, this was important. He'd missed something in New Orleans, and from Josephine's choice of words, Aria had wrought it. His mind cleared, and only one question remained. Not a worry of his sister, not of Eva, but of Aria.
What had his witch done?
He nodded.
Josephine took a deep breath. Like every thought of this hurt her, "I want to say that it began with my son, that was how I came to have the knowledge, but from what I do know, it started with a girl." The witch stopped immediately, she must've caught something in his expression, because she paused, a faint smile on her face, "I feel I should say now that this won't be a story, Mr Mikaelson, this is more likely to be a eulogy. You see, the girl that started this whole mess, was one that our dearest witch cared about in the same way as your late brother, I believe."
Elijah stood straight, every part of his body tensing.
"Kol?"
A small smile graced Josephine's face, "Now you're getting there."
~*•°•*~
"My beautiful girl. My firstborn!" Esther laughed, walking toward Freya with her arms held wide.
Freya violently pulled on the shackles in an effort to break away from Klaus. It didn't work, "Touch me, and I will use these chains to strangle you!"
"Yes, now that we have the pleasantries out the way, let's begin, shall we?" Esther scowled darkly, "It appears that your delightful sister Dahlia is on her way to New Orleans, hell-bent on stealing my child. I need Rebekah back in her original body so she can help me destroy her."
"Your child?"
Klaus rolled his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, "Ah, yes, I suppose it is difficult keeping up on current events whilst rotting inside a tomb." He exhaled, "Very well. The short version? My child is alive. Dahlia is on her way. Now, the previous tenant of Rebekah's body has seized control and isn't keen on giving it up. Young Freya here, although powerful, lacks the spell to put Rebekah back in her true body. And that's where you come in." Klaus lunged, and grabbed her by the shoulders, maintaining eye contact with the Original Witch, "I need you to be a dear and dig deep into that ex-witch mind of yours."
He stepped back, and pulled a folded stack of paper from his jacket before unceremoniously dumping it in her hands, "Give me the spell that puts Rebekah back."
Esther did write the spell Klaus had requested onto a sheet of paper, the only issue was that whenever he looked, the diagrams and almost theatrical shapes and triangles seemed to be even more complicated. His jaw was clenching and unclenching, and he'd even began tapping his foot to create a steady ticking effect in the otherwise silent tomb.
"What is taking so long? You didn't tarry when you attempted to kill my child!" Klaus snapped.
The Original Witch scoffed, "I took no joy in that! I knew if your daughter lived, Dahlia would come, not only for her, but for all of you! And however you may despise me, I would not wish that upon you."
"How touching."
"Isn't it?" Freya scoffed bitterly, "I always wondered what maternal compassion sounded like. Of course, I wouldn't know, since you sold me into slavery at the age of five!"
"When I made that bargain with my sister, I had no idea what it meant to be a mother! I thought if I had a dozen children, I would not miss the one. And then, you were born. You were beautiful. You had a light about you that put a smile on the face of the hardest man I had ever known." Klaus' interest piqued slightly in surprise, "And when Dahlia took you, I thought that same light might warm her embittered heart."
Freya's eyes turned to slits.
"That you might lead a good life." She continued.
"A good life?" Freya practically jumped toward Esther, "You were my mother! You should have come for me!"
"Yes. I should have." Her tone changed, "But, it would have been a mistake." She turned to Klaus, "The same mistake you will be making if you let this girl help you."
Klaus was getting dizzy.
"For God's sake, speak plainly!"
"The light I saw in Freya as a child, it's gone. While she was mine for five years, Dahlia was her mentor for a thousand. And, like her mentor, she will offer to solve your problem, but for a price."
"There is no price! I love them-" Freya began, lunging for Esther. She was immediately being pulled back by Klaus, his grip tight with the back of her shirt wound up in his hand almost like he'd been waiting for her to do something.
"No violence until she's finished writing the spell, please!" He glanced at his mother, "Honestly, it's all temper and no timing with this one." He laughed, "I, for one, am glad you gave her away so that I could be born. You should think of me as an upgrade!"
Freya's head whipped around so quickly that Klaus was surprised she didn't get whiplash, all to glare into his skull.
This would take a while.
But in reality, only one other moment passed before Esther stopped writing, though she kept a tense grip on the paper. Klaus ripped it from her hands quickly enough to hand to Freya. The witch fiddled with her necklace, eyes glued on the spell Esther had scribed, "I can't do this. This spell requires an enormous amount of power."
"Which you have." Esther replied instantly.
"And that power needs to be anchored, or I'll be lost inside Eva's mind along with Rebekah. Unlike your magic, mine isn't anchored to any one place. Because of you, I have no home."
"Perhaps." Esther turned to her son, "But, there is no other spell."
To put it very simply, Klaus didn't want to trust either of them.
But he was saved from making a choice when a lightbulb went off above Freya's head. Whatever idea she'd had was clearly a good one. "You." She slowly approached Klaus, her mind whirring a mile a minute, "I can use you as my anchor. I'll channel your power while I breach Eva's mind."
Esther eyed Freya, "And there it is. The price. If she channels you, she will have access to your mind, past and present. She will know everything about you."
Klaus considered the two conflicting statements as he began to pace, mumbling to himself, and occasionally tugging on his hair, "All of my strategies and all of my secrets laid bare to give to Dahlia…" He turned to Freya, a sarcastic smile on his face, "You must think I'm a fool."
"Unless it's not a trick."
Elijah stood behind them – although he was unsure exactly how long his brother had been silently waiting – and stared at Freya, his head tilted to the side as he thought, "I'll be the anchor."
Klaus snorted, "Brother, I think not."
"Brother, whatever this is, nothing must prevent us from saving our sister. I will not lose Rebekah."
"Oh yes, by all means, let's give Dahlia's whelp access to all the information she needs to destroy us!"
Freya's grip tightened on the chain linked to her shackles the more Klaus spoke, as her infuriation grew, and Elijah – in complete exasperation – pointed to Esther and scoffed, "And since when do we heed the words of this serpent?"
"ENOUGH!" Freya screeched, her voice shrill against the relative quiet of the tomb.
She held out her arms, and the shackles dropped completely off of her body – exactly how, she didn't quite know, but she wouldn't question it if Dahlia had had some sort of fail-safe to protect her… investment. She wasted no time in dawdling on it, and twisted her wrist – causing Klaus' neck to snap to the side before he fell to the floor, unconscious. Elijah looked at Freya, though he was masking surprise, and Freya looked down to Klaus.
"For an upgraded model, you're not very sharp." She muttered, turning and walking to Elijah, "Let's go."
~*•°•*~
Marcel entered the warehouse Freya and Elijah had ended up in alongside Vincent, cradling Rebekah, well, Eva in his arms as he walked toward the triangle Freya had copied from Esther's instructions. It had very clearly instructed her to make it out of salt and herbs – many of which she'd had quite a bit of trouble finding, and at each point was a lit white candle.
"Lay her inside the salt, and lie on either side of her. Each of you take her hand." She instructed, turning to Elijah, "I will act as a bridge into her mind, but I'm trusting you to anchor me, brother."
"Do what you need to do." He responded.
Marcel lay Eva down in the middle of the triangle, and then looked back to Freya for the next instruction, "Rebekah is buried deep. Eva will not give her up without a fight."
"Then she gets a fight." Marcel shot back instantly. Freya was impressed.
"Be careful. You're entering Eva's mind. If she kills you in there, you will be lost. And, if you kill her before you free Rebekah, then Rebekah will be gone forever. Once you have Rebekah, then, and only then, can Eva be dealt with."
Vincent took a deep breath, "We got it."
The duo lay down beside each other, either side of Eva, and grabbed onto their hands. Freya knelt beside Vincent.
"You'll need a weapon." She pulled Eva's knife from her boot and held it out to him.
"How am I supposed to take that with me?"
Freya clutched the knife and murmured a chant under her breath, before looking up through her eyelashes and grimacing, "This is going to hurt." She remarked. Wasting no time, she stabbed the witch in the arm with the knife, ignoring the scream of pain before it stopped as both he and Marcel fell unconscious. Freya stood from her crouch, and walked toward Elijah; she took his outstretched arm and gripped his elbow. He nodded tersely, and Freya took a long breath, before she began chanting.
~*•°•*~
"You recover fast, but they're gone." When Esther's drawl reached his ears, Klaus had an itch to strangle someone.
"I compelled you to tell the truth, not state the bloody obvious." He mocked.
Esther took a few uneasy steps toward him, and he shot to his feet immediately, eyes searching the room just to be aware of his surroundings. He doubted anything had changed in probably one or two hours since his siblings left, but he wanted to make sure. Manacles were strewn on the floor a few feet away from him, but that seemed like the singular difference, "She will poison them all against you. You know that."
"And you suddenly care, do you?"
"Lying here, starving in the darkness, I have thought of nothing except what could have been if I had left you to live a single, mortal life."
"We would have burned bright for a while, and then burnt out. You see, you think of turning us as your greatest sin, but the truth is, it's the only one of your many faults I've come to forgive." He smiled, and she frowned, "I prefer us as we are."
"No, my son. We are a macabre echo of a family, and I take all the blame for that." Her voice trembled. It was a calculated ruse, and it wouldn't be much of a loss, "I only wanted to undo my evil, that you might love me again."
For a moment, the words got past the boarders around Klaus' heart, but he quickly stamped down on the feeling. He had seen this look before, rehearsed reactions meant nothing, "My mother, the comedian." He whispered cruelly. Hurt flashed across his mother's face for a moment, but he knew that if he only waited a moment, the mask would slip and she would become uncaring once again. He was right, "Enjoy the darkness."
He wasted no time in leaving the cemetery and heading toward a certain apartment in the Quarter. He walked into the building easily enough, but he had a bit of trouble actually entering the apartment he needed to. He hadn't before – there was something just a bit strange about snooping through a teenager's apartment; not to mention that he had promised Marcel – but he knew Elijah had. And the one time he needed entry, Aria had figured out that having the deed in a vampire's name meant automatic access.
Honestly, you'd think that the witch had more sense than that.
He held his hand up to the door, hesitating slightly and even shaking his head to himself, letting out a sigh of exasperation, before he rapped his fingers against the door, once, twice, and then three times.
Three knocks.
If she hadn't heard it, he'd just go alone.
This was already a bad idea.
"It's open!" A voice called from inside.
He tried to scowl, he did, but he grudgingly grinned.
"Afraid I can't, love, or else I'd already be inside."
There was complete silence for a moment, and he vaguely worried that she'd passed out, but then the door opened. She didn't look well. For the most part, she looked as she had mere hours ago, but there were dark circles under her eyes – it seemed like it had been longer than it actually had been since he'd seen her last.
But none the less, the eyes themselves still held her spark, and it glimmered as she leant against the doorframe, right in front of him but completely, and utterly out of reach. She knew it. And she was enjoying it.
"Well, well." She murmured, a Cheshire grin on her face, "This is a very interesting turn of events, isn't it?"
"Let me in, love."
She hummed under her breath, looking like she was actually thinking it over, and then grinned again, "Don't feel like it."
"This is serious."
"As are my catnaps. Which you rudely interrupted, thank you very much."
"There are more important things than your catnaps, Aria. Now." Klaus spoke, clicking his fingers toward her and then pointing to the end of the hallway as he began to move, "Let's go."
Curiosity killed the cat, Aria supposed, as she followed the Hybrid – against all better sense.
But satisfaction brought it back.
Aria was tired enough that she didn't even bother to argue.
~*•°•*~
The first thing Aria noticed when they arrived – other than Freya's chanting – was Marcel twitching, blood slowly dripping from his nose and eyes. She visibly startled and stepped forward, but a hand closing around her wrist stopped her. She turned back to Klaus, eyes livid and entirely ready to argue, but he looked worried too; whether it was about Rebekah, or Elijah, Marcel, or maybe even Freya – though she particularly doubted it – he couldn't worry until they salvaged what they could of the situation. She didn't like it, she hated it, but she had to.
She pouted at Klaus, and she saw a brief glimmer of a smile. His eyes darted over to Freya and then to Rebekah's body, and then back over to her.
She nodded, filing the realisation that she could completely understand what he meant away to think back to later, and crossed over to Rebekah's body as Klaus crossed to Freya. He grabbed Freya's arm and Elijah's hand to link them all together, watching Freya's eyes widen in shock.
"We're not finished, you and I. But, for right now? Save my sister. Save our sister." Aria heard him murmur.
Well, that was a start, wasn't it?
Freya began her chants again, and Aria turned to Rebekah. She smiled.
She knelt beside the Original and held out her hand to let it hover over Rebekah's forehead. She closed her eyes and began mumbling, they were old chants, older than her father's time, and if she was being honest, probably older than the Mikaelsons' time, but there were a lot of witches in the Quarter; while some of them were good, the others had questionable morals. But that was what allowed her to know more about spirits.
It was what had allowed her to know about Kol.
But back to the point, the majority of times, spirits inhabited bodies for one reason. Because they had unfinished business to sort out. Those spirits were typically a lot easier to subdue, because regardless of power, they were already dead, and probably barely hanging onto the physical world – the tangible world – by little more than a thread. Unless of course it was ancient, but if an ancient power had inhabited a body there was scarcely little that she could do about it.
The issue with Rebekah, was that she had inhabited a body while it was still alive. It worked of course, most of the time it was entirely safe. But in some cases when the spell was botched or indeed when the power of the original host body was, well, powerful, then their consciousness would start to seep through. At that point, the original consciousness needed to die or, she supposed that forming a friendly attachment with whoever else was sharing their body might work.
Yeah, she didn't see that happening.
And apparently, neither did Klaus.
Freya could get Vincent and Marcel into Rebekah's head, but that would be the easy part. She got the wonderful task of actually keeping the four consciousnesses separate. She didn't really feel like frying too many brains today so Klaus needed to make sure Freya kept her chants as quiet as she could. By all means, she'd gladly fry the Hybrid's brain – even so much as a glimpse inside would be curious, but that would need to wait.
~*•°•*~
Marcel and Vincent both opened their eyes, and let out identical gasps for air at the same time – as though they'd been drowning for hours and finally got the air their lungs so desperately needed. Was that what it was like? Being in someone's head, did it feel like drowning? Aria had never thought about it before, really, but it would make sense.
Vincent's reaction seemed rather severe, and he turned onto his side, coughing and clutching his throat like he'd been strangled – for all she knew, he had been – while Marcel just remained lying on the floor, still as a dead man, before he pushed himself up, quite literally brushed himself off, and then stretched like he'd just awoken from a long sleep.
"Did it work?" Klaus asked quietly.
Aria heard a rush of air, and then felt a hand enclose around her wrist, and then found herself pulled into an embrace with a person significantly taller than she was. She smiled, and shrank back into Marcel, her hand tightening around his arm as he rested his chin on her head.
"You okay?" He murmured in her ear.
She nodded.
"You?"
He sighed behind her, but nodded – apart from apparent exhaustion, he seemed to be alright –and then the weight on her head receded. "They're waking up." Marcel said, a bit louder now. She could only assume he was talking about the witches Eva had stashed somewhere. She watched as Vincent started tending to his arm – he'd been stabbed at some point? – and then as Elijah crossed to Eva's body, kneeling beside it silently. Klaus was just standing completely still, watching them all.
"Why isn't she waking?"
Aria startled slightly at the animalistic growl that wrapped around Klaus' words. There was a difference between hearing him growl when he was, well, a wolf, and then when he was entirely human. Well, vampire. Same thing, she supposed.
But she put that thought out of her mind, and focused back on his sister. She did like Rebekah, truly, and she didn't know what she'd do if something had gone wrong. She reached out, not quite moving away from Marcel, and not missing the way his grip tightened slightly, and her hand closed around Freya's – the witch looked grief-stricken and Aria was torn between worrying about her, and removing her own emotions from the equation to better help the situation.
She was already trying to ignore the way Elijah's eyes had been glued on her from the moment he'd seen her arrive with Klaus. She knew that he had taken a visit with Josephine earlier, and the Elder had told him something, that much she was sure of. The only question was just how much the older witch would betray her.
Her trail of thought snapped, and the body – Rebekah's body, hopefully – sat up straight. A sort of strangled gasp left her namesake, and out of the corner of her eye, Aria saw the Mikaelsons edge away from her warily, unsure who exactly the girl was. She also felt her father tense behind her, before something must've caught his attention. With a brief ghost of a kiss on the crown of her head, he was gone – presumably to find the other witches. After another moment, Rebekah searched their faces, and a surprising grin stretched across her own face when she met Aria's gaze, not Marcel's, Aria's.
The witch's eyebrow quirked and she Rebekah an answering smile.
"Bloody hell, you're a sight for sore eyes!"
~*•°•*~
Vincent ended up sort of cast aside, not particularly fitting in with the Mikaelson crowd, but also not caring much for Marcel either. Aria found herself gravitating towards him; he seemed lost in thought, and it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. She waited until she was just behind him, and almost leaning over his shoulder to speak, "Hi!"
Vincent flinched – rather violently, Aria noted absentmindedly – until he saw her at which point his face broke into a reluctant grin. He laughed.
"Damn, you have not changed, have you?" He got out eventually.
She grinned, unabashedly, "Where's the fun in that?"
"I shouldn't be surprised that you got caught up with the Mikaelsons, should I? You don't really pick the best crowds to hang around with."
"I have a decent track record." Aria defended, deflating when he gave her a doubtful glance in response. She held her head up, trying to gather a bit of her pride back together, "You didn't know me that well, anyways."
"I knew you enough."
Aria smiled, and the mood changed, "How you been, Vince?"
He sighed, "Well, earlier I was sitting in a bar day-drinking in the Quarter all by my lonesome, so…" Aria's interest practically forced him to continue, "I guess I figured that I was just pretty much done and through with the vamps, wolves, and witches of this town. And, from some of the looks I've been getting, they were through with me, too. So, I assumed that since I was sitting there and they didn't seem to see me, if I drank… After a while, I wouldn't see them, either."
"And how many did it take before she disappeared?
Vincent snorted, and pursed his lips, "Not one for subtlety are you?"
"It's one of my few faults."
It took a moment for him to reply, and when he did, she could tell that it hurt him to say them, "She didn't. Look, I-I knew that she was back and on the loose, 'cause the kids started disappearing again. So obviously, I needed to find her before the witches did so I could save your friend who is trapped inside of her. They came to me because apparently, I am the only person in this city who knows her inside-out."
"Klaus has little time to care about people's feelings."
"Klaus wasn't the one who scouted me out."
Aria looked at him questioningly, before her eyes widened, "Dad? Why would… I mean, I know that he and Rebekah-"
"Yeah, I don't… I don't think he did this for Rebekah." She still looked confused, "He hasn't got a heard of vamps at his disposal anymore, Aria." He said slowly, trying to convey what he meant without saying it, "He's been banned from the Quarter for months. He can't get to you. Keep you safe."
"I don't need protecting-"
"Yeah? Try telling him that."
That part stumped her.
"It was good seeing you, Aria." He said, effectively ending the conversation and turning to leave.
"You're a pretty good witch." She called out to him, the compliment grating on her nerves, "It'd be a pity if you stopped… witch-ing. You know what I mean." She defended when his expression morphed from confusion into amusement, "Seriously, Vince."
He didn't reply, but at least she'd planted a seed of doubt in his mind.
~*•°•*~
Klaus walked in on Rebekah staring at the portrait on the wall of herself – her actual self – and slowed his steps for just a moment. He hadn't exactly meant to walk in on her, but then again, he'd been meaning to talk to her since Freya had performed that spell of hers. Now was as good a time as ever, he supposed.
"You're not fishing for a thank you, I hope." Rebekah commented, foiling any plan he may or may not have had to put off the conversation until a later date.
Klaus smiled fondly, and approached her, "I'd find myself freezing in hell before I got one from you."
Rebekah tilted her head in acknowledgement and he laughed, "Well, come on, then, let's get you back in your proper body! Though, I'll likely have to torture Freya and Esther to do so." His voice trailed off, "Which, actually, might be quite fun."
There was a slight change in Rebekah's posture – something akin to nervousness – but Klaus chalked it up to imagination. Rebekah was many things, but nervous wasn't one. But then she voiced her thoughts, "No, Nik. I'm staying put." His confusion must've bled through his expression, "Eva's gone for good, but her body – this body – is still linked to those children, and something else – just like Aria said. I can feel it. Now, if I leave this body, then it dies, the others die with it, along with whatever else is linked to this damnable body."
"So bloody what?" He scoffed – far too quickly.
"So I happen to trust Aria! And I'm not about to throw away the trust she has in me on a bleeding whim!" Klaus couldn't fight back an impressed – although surprised – smile, "Besides, do you really want the wrath of every New Orleans witch just as Dahlia arrives? We need them on our side or, at the very least, not siding against us." She hesitated, "And, there's also the matter of Kol. I vowed I'd bring him back, I can't even attempt to do that if I'm not a witch."
"Freya's been inside my head. She knows my secrets." He replied instantly, his face a cool mask.
"So, she knows you go very far for very few! So-bloody-what? Niklaus, just for one second, can we just be what we need to be? A family united?"
Klaus sighed, and reached to cup Rebekah's cheek, a small smile resting on his face.
"For now. For you." He murmured. He bumped his forehead against hers, and then placed a lingering kiss on the crown of her head before turning to leave.
"Nik?" Klaus slowed, but he didn't stop walking, and he didn't turn around. She couldn't ask for more, could she? "Thank you."
~*•°•*~
Aria Gerard was late.
No, he wasn't stalking her, Klaus Mikaelson had better things to do with his infinite existence. Annoy his brother, guard and watch over Hope, forever fascinated by the way she slept without a care in the world about what was going on around her, convince Hayley to secure Jackson as an ally along with her backwater band of pups – though he had to admit, it was starting to become a tad easier to keep her down there so that he may have more time with Hope and he wasn't quite happy about the readiness she had to go and play fetch with her fellow wolves.
Yes, he had plenty of things to do.
But his thoughts were quickly becoming consumed by dark hair and deep eyes. And, though he would certainly never admit it, the power he could scarcely comprehend, was quickly starting to become a secondary focus.
The moment he realised he was still scanning the crowd for her, he stopped immediately, and turned away from the party, almost giving himself whiplash in the process. It wouldn't do any good to become fixated on her at all.
Though, in turning away he found exactly who he was looking for.
She was leaning on the banister slightly above his perch on the top of the staircase, just like he was – though he was admittedly blending into the shadows far more than she, after all, he didn't particularly like most of the company in his house at the moment, but she seemed to be at even more unease than he was.
Her hands were gripping the railing with far too much force, her knuckles were turning white, and there was a small breeze in the upper corridor that definitely hadn't been there a moment ago. She seemed to be searching the crowd for something – perhaps someone – though she didn't seem like she found them. She seemed to deflate just a little and Klaus had the overwhelming urge to find whoever it was she wanted to be standing with and drag them beside her. He was the only one who could piss her off like that.
His attention was drawn back down to the various New Orleans covens gathered below, along with his siblings, Hayley, and… Gia, he believed her name was, Elijah's newest project. Josephine LaRue presented Freya with a – in his opinion – rather gaudy necklace with a turquoise pendant, though perhaps that was just his immortal irritation speaking. She fastened the necklace around Freya's neck, and then rested her hands on her shoulders as she smiled.
Klaus scoffed, and rolled his eyes, supressing his scowl and turning away from the sickening show. When the applause started, his eyes were drawn back to the crowd, he watched as Freya embraced the witch before her, and he watched as Rebekah and Elijah smiled proudly at her side.
"You're one of us, now." Josephine's voice drifted up to him, "New Orleans is your home."
His supposed sister smiled happily as she continued, "Your friends are our friends; your enemies, ours."
At that point, he decided that he had heard enough and turned away again, this time meeting Aria's eyes across the banisters. He narrowed his eyes as she simply took a deep breath and turned away from him, focusing once more on the ridiculous festivities going on below them. He focused on the small twitch to her eye, the tightness in her jaw, the flowerbeds beside her that were slowly wilting the more she twitched, the more her jaw tensed – and he briefly wondered if she'd end up breaking it – until they were lifeless, husks.
Interesting.
Aria's hold on the railing tightened and her fingers went another shade of white as she watched the party downstairs intently. The wind picked up outside, no one downstairs could hear it – and if they could, surely, they would just blame the time of year and New Orleans weather before going on with the party – but he did.
The consuming eyes of hers darkened, and even though he was entirely sure it was just a trick of the light, they seemed to fill with water. Though no tear fell down her cheek, so perhaps he had just imagined it. He ignored the persistent nagging feeling to get rid of those tears, and watched her with just as much resolve as she was watching the party.
Aria Gerard was very unhappy with this new development.
Klaus Mikaelson was curious as to why.
It wasn't as though he had better things to do, now was it?
~*•°•*~
You see, there's a saying in my family – 'Kill a demon today, face the devil tomorrow.' Yet, even if you dance on that demon's grave, you can't help but wonder – was that demon alone? Or do you have other, deadlier ones to fight? And though you celebrate having won the battle… Have you really prepared for the war?
~*•°•*~
Wow, it is so, so easy to write the Mikaelsons and their complete fascination with little Miss Gerard. Honestly, for a couple of scenes in this chapter, I had to take a moment and remind myself that Aria and Kol are what I've planned since the beginning – although in all honesty, Klaus is a very dangerous character to get in the mindset of, and I'm not sure yet whether his infatuation is healthy or not.
I'm the writer here, I have the infinite power of these characters, but at this point they're all fighting against me. So, if my schedule is interrupted, it's probably because they've all taken over my free will and are only letting me write what they want :)
Also, little Mr LaRue is gonna be coming soon! Gods, I am so excited to start writing him even more. He is so much fun, and will seriously be great friends with some of our witches. Not to mention him and Aria are some of the most adorable duos I've ever seen - written? - either way, I'm way too excited, so now I'm blabbering. On another note, I think I might also use a face claim for him, but that's still up in the air. If I do, I'll probably say in one or two chapters. All right, now I'm done.
As Always, SecretMidnightRose