Hello, my sweet and awesome readers! I hope you are all doing all right and keeping it safe. I bring to you guys the next chapter that will close the whole trip to the past of the Originals. While it does stay close to what happened in the episodes, there are a lot of details and changes that are important to my story, so stay alert.
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-xenocanaan: And here is what happens next! Now, you have mentioned valid points, but I can't promise anything, since I will be spoiling the mess that the next chapters are going to be and that have been quite a struggle to right, but I am working hard on making it awesome for you guys to enjoy! Thanks for the love and support!
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-anna: I am so happy that you loved it! In regards to my Akatsuki no Yona fic, it is under construction and will soon be posted once more, since I wanted to do better research and outline the story better with a few changes, so stay alert and thanks for the support for both stories, fighting to focus on both.
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of ancient memory
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"Anything interesting in there?" Gwen asked Rebekah as she stood up from Stefan's bed to stretch her limbs. "I mean, there aren't many vampires who keep stock of what they do over the centuries, right?"
"Same old Stefan," Rebekah whispered to herself with a sigh from where she still lied on the bed on her stomach, her legs that were bent at the knees swinging front and back.
The Original vampire was bored with the endless self-loathing her former lover kept writing about and how gloomy his descriptions became the more she read as he returned to what she referred to as the vegetarian diet for vampires. This was not the Stefan she was used to. The Stefan she knew thrived in his bloodlust without any remorse for whoever's life he took to satiate himself, enjoying how it made him feel so invigorating as he let himself be drunk with blood. Still, she was familiar with the other side of him when he let slip a few things, something she recognized as specks of his humanity shining through the creature of the night he was turned into.
"And no," Rebekah told Gwen, answering the halfling's question. "Vampires don't tend to write about their everyday lives on a little diary, not when we can simply recall a date and perfectly remember everything." She glanced up at Gwen. "Another perk of being a vampire is how our brains function better and we can better remember things, so this," she said as she closed the diary and presented it to the half-fae, "is not a common thing."
"Did you get your fill of snooping yet?" asked an annoyed Elena after she finished her call with Damon. She sat down on a chair that was next to a round table and leaned back against her seat, getting bothered with Rebekah for going through Stefan's things. Her question had drawn the attention of both girls in front of her. "Can we get on with the story?"
Gwen looked down at Rebekah with her arms crossed over her chest. "It is her turn."
"Still, no need for impatience. I don't feel like we're in any hurry," Rebekah huffed as she threw the diary on the bed before getting up on her feet that carried her over to Elena. She was about to ask the teenage brunette what her next question was, but then her eye caught something that irked her a bit that was lying among other things on the table Elena sat next to. Her hand reached out for a picture frame and frowned at the image of Stefan and Elena together, both smiling as they held one another. "Honestly, I don't get you two as a couple," she spoke her thoughts out loud, shifting her eyes from the picture to look down at Elena.
Gwen had to disagree with Rebekah on that, but only because she could see the love between Stefan and Elena that was quite palpable. She saw it in the way he wanted to protect the doppelgänger from Klaus at all costs, even if he had to give up his life for her. And yet, Gwen also had to admit that the doppelgänger was handling the situation with Stefan the wrong way. From what she could remember about the interactions between the former couple, their love was true, but the half-fae found that it barely scratched the surface of what she would describe as an epic love. Now that she thought about it, the young hybrid shouldn't judge too much when she had yet to experience any form of real romantic love and not just puppy love or crushes. Still, the halfling couldn't help but feel a bit envious of Elena for having someone who loved her at such lengths, making the halfling wonder if she would ever find a partner who'd be prepared to go to such lengths for her.
Of course, Gwen was going to keep these to herself, since Rebekah was the ex-girlfriend meeting the most recent girlfriend who also sported the face of someone the blonde despised and Gwen didn't want to be on the Original's bad side.
"Why would you?" Elena gave Rebekah an unimpressed glare, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. "You don't know anything about who he really is."
Gwen stared at the back of Rebekah's head, becoming nervous about the blonde's temper when Elena spoke to her in such a condescending way. "Bex," she warned, her voice tearing Elena from her raging emotions and reminding her that the Original towering over her had no qualms about ending her life. "Deep breaths."
Rebekah smiled at Elena too sickly sweet as she carelessly dropped the picture on the table. "No, little girl, it is you who can't seem to grasp who he really is," she said, a bit too calm for Elena's liking. "If you think humans have layers and sides to them, imagine what that would mean for a vampire. He has sides and parts of his life you don't even know exist." She huffed with a smile when Elena dropped her gaze. "You only know the man he wishes to be and only that man. I know the man he is terrified to embrace, the man he wishes he could control, the vulnerable man, and many more. So, don't get snippy with me because he didn't seem to trust you enough to share those other sides with you." She then grinned. "At least he didn't go after me because I was the spitting image of an ex-girlfriend."
Elena took a deep and calming breath to keep herself from lashing out by punching the smugness from Rebekah's face, needing to take control of the situation. "You're just looking for someone to push around," she said as she stood up from the chair to match Rebekah's unwavering stare. "Find someone else to play with, maybe you can compel yourself a friend." She went to leave, hoping her bluff would work.
Rebekah chuckled. "Already got one who is not whiny or bratty…much." She looked over her shoulder to catch Gwen's eyes. "I think I could do with a drink or a snack. What about you, Weny?"
"Whiny or bratty, huh?" Gwen gave Rebekah a halfhearted glare.
"I'm sorry?" Rebekah grinned with her eyes big and innocent.
"You're lucky I like you. Maybe you can tell me about the necklace," Gwen said as she left the room with Rebekah, leaving behind a confused Elena. "She needs a lesson or two from Regina George," she mumbled to the blonde as they went down the stairs, their destination being the kitchen.
"I can do a better Regina George," Rebekah scoffed, recalling the character she liked in the movie she watched the day before with Gwen.
"You think she'll follow?" asked the hybrid, looking over her shoulder to see if Elena would trail behind them.
"Of course." Rebekah turned to Gwen with a look on her face that portrayed how it was obvious that Elena would follow them. "She needs what we know more than we need what she knows. She thinks she's important and expects us to behave accordingly, so I have no problem proving how wrong she is."
Gwen couldn't argue with Rebekah on that. Elena had arrived at the house with an air of superiority that could not be ignored, which didn't sit well with either girl, especially with Rebekah. The halfling was now understanding why the blonde Original had a problem with Elena and her ancestry. Gwen found Elena to be manipulative and self-centered, carrying herself with the expectation that things will go her way. It just rubbed her the wrong way how the doppelgänger was trying to have Rebekah submit to her demands to kill Klaus, which was something she would not stand for.
The pair arrived at the kitchen with Rebekah going straight for the refrigerator and Gwen looking over the blonde's shoulder to inspect what they could eat. They ended up picking a few fruits that they piled into a bowl after peeling the few that had skin. Rebekah was more thirsty than hungry, but she wanted something stronger than a blood bag.
"What about the necklace?" came the voice of Elena as she appeared in the doorway of the kitchen.
Rebekah gave Gwen a knowing look before returning her gaze to Elena. "You mean the necklace that wasn't Stefan's to give?" She picked up a grape from the bowl Gwen held in her hands, popping it into her mouth. "It belonged to the Original witch."
Elena frowned at this. "The one who put the curse on Klaus?"
"That's another question," Rebekah reminded the doppelgänger. "It's our turn."
"Is Mikael still chained up in that cemetery?" asked Gwen.
Elena breathed, nodding, "Yes."
Rebekah didn't know if she should feel proud for catching the doppelgänger's lie or fear that Mikael's whereabouts were unknown. "Not just the hybrid curse," Rebekah opted to answer Elena's previous question. "She's the one who turned us into vampires." She could still remember that one night she heard her parents trying to convince Ayana to help them keep their family safe, how they resorted to doing the spell without the other witch's help and decided to rely on Linah. "Now move, you're in the way," she said as she walked around Elena with Gwen at her side and Elena following.
"Why do you want to know about the Originals?" Gwen asked Elena, looking at the latter over her shoulder as she ate a slice of orange.
"To know more about Mikael and if it's worth waking him up. The last thing I want is someone worse than Klaus in town," answered Elena.
Rebekah gave Gwen a pointed look that told the halfling that Elena was lying, which had the young hybrid trying to figure out why the brunette was so intent on wanting to learn more about the history of the Original family. It didn't add up and her head was beginning to throb as it also absorbed the information Rebekah was retelling.
"Wait, vampirism was a form of protection?" Elena asked as she followed the two girls.
Rebekah raised an incredulous eyebrow at Elena. "What else would it be?"
Elena shrugged as she guessed, "A curse?"
"My parents only saw a way of keeping their children alive," Rebekah explained. "Now, it's our turn to ask a question," she said. "Where is the dashing Stefan? He's been rather absent the last few days."
"With Damon," said Elena. "Bonding, I think."
"Brotherly love, huh?" Rebekah wondered out loud, smiling.
"Still, why did your parents stay if they were so afraid of the werewolves?" Elena asked, wanting to stick close to the story and prevent anything from derailing her. "Why not leave?"
Rebekah paused in her steps, causing the other two girls to stop as she turned to face Elena. "Pride," she answered. "My father didn't want to run. He wanted to fight and be superior to the wolves. Where they could bite, we had to bite harder. Where they had speed, we had to be faster. Agility, strength, senses." She sighed heavily as the memories kept resurfacing in her mind. "Ayana wanted no part in the spell, so it all fell in the hands of my mother."
"In her hands?" asked Elena, frowning in confusion. "How could she do anything?"
Gwen faced Elena. "Because their mother was also a witch."
Elena's brows scrunched up. "What?"
"The witch of the Original family," Gwen clarified, becoming annoyed when Elena failed to catch on. "The Original witch."
"Our turn," Rebekah said as they entered the library, looking around the room in search of a good drink. "Where do they keep the best vintage?" She stared at Elena as the teenager gestured to the furniture placed against the back of the couch.
Elena was still shocked by Rebekah's revelation, so she asked, "But if your mother was a witch, then–"
"Am I?" Rebekah cut in and shook her head. "No, a witch is nature's servant; a vampire is an abomination of nature." She looked through the cabinets and pulled out an aged bottle, inspecting the label and deeming it a good one. "You can either be one or the other, never both." She turned to look at Gwen and Elena. "My mother did this for us, so she did not turn, but she was helped by her faerie friend, Linah."
"A faerie helped make you and your family vampires?" Gwen couldn't help but ask as she went to sit down on an armchair with the bowl of fruits on her lap, growing curious about the origin of the vampire species.
Rebekah nodded as she picked up a glass before going over to stand next to the armchair Gwen occupied. "Linah helped my mother with the binding of the ingredients but did not participate in the actual spell." She glanced down at Gwen. "She only did it to help my mother and my siblings, not my father. They used faerie blood for life and immortality, a human sacrifice to represent the life we wanted to leave behind and the ancient white oak tree, one of nature's eternal objects, to bind the essence of the spell." She placed her glass and the bottle on the coffee table before she approached the fireplace to turn it on, needing some sort of distraction to get through what came next. "That night, my father offered us wine laced with faerie blood. And then he drove his sword through our hearts."
Elena gasped and stated, "He killed you."
After getting the fire started, Rebekah turned to Elena. "And he wasn't delicate about it either." She reached for the bottle of wine she picked out, broke the neck off with ease, and threw it into the now-raging fireplace. She poured some wine into her glass as she recalled the coolness of her father's sword as it entered her chest and impaled her heart with the screams of her brothers still ringing in her ears. "We had to drink more blood to complete the ritual."
Gwen hummed, "Human blood."
"It was euphoric. The feeling of power was indescribable," Rebekah laughed. She could perfectly remember the first time she fed on human blood, how she was initially disgusted before that was overridden by the pleasure that engulfed her entire body, bringing to life what had died. "And yet, the witch Ayana was right about the consequences. Even with the help of fae magic–the purest thing in the world–the Spirits still turned on us and balanced out what had been created by giving a weakness to every strength. Everything that had been used on the spell could be used against us."
"The sun burned you," Gwen guessed a weakness.
Rebekah nodded as she placed the bottle on the coffee table and took a sip of her wine. "And though our mother found a solution for the sun, there were other problems," she paused as her lips twitched at the memories. "Neighbors who had opened their homes to us could now keep us out, flowers at the base of the white oak burned and prevented compulsion, and the spell decreed that the tree that helped give us life could also take it away, so we burned it to the ground." She could still remember the warmth she felt when her father and brothers took a torch to the white oak tree that had been near her home, making sure that it would be nothing but ashes.
"Does that apply for every white oak?" Gwen asked since she knew that white oak trees still existed.
"No, it had to be the one that was used for the spell," said Rebekah, calming Gwen's worries about a tree that could be used to kill an Original. "But the darkest consequence was something my parents never anticipated," she further explained, being swept up by her past. "The hunger. Faerie blood made us immortal and human blood had made us reborn and it was blood that we craved above all else to maintain our immortality, which we couldn't control and led to another weakness. Niklaus' second kill had been a faerie, which had been fueled by the incapability of managing the craving we all had for the fae blood that gave us life, and so Nature gave the wolves the ability to protect the faeries with their bite." Her eyes locked on Elena's. "And with that, the predatory species was born."
After eating another grape, Gwen turned to look up at Elena who stood behind the couch with no intention of sitting down. "So, how did you find Mikael?" she asked, wanting to know how it was so easy for the residents of this town to find the patriarch of the Original family.
Elena glanced at Gwen. The half-fae could tell that the doppelgänger didn't want to answer that question. Elena fidgeted as she looked at anything else that wasn't Gwen or Rebekah, thinking about what she could say that would be a satisfying answer that wouldn't garner any suspicion, not that her silence was doing her any favors.
"Answer the question," Rebekah pushed, eyes narrowed on the brunette.
"My brother found him," Elena said, thinking that it was best to answer with the truth.
Rebekah scoffed. "She asked 'how', not 'who'."
"He can speak to the dead, so he asked a dead girlfriend where Mikael was," Elena sighed in defeat, knowing there was no way around mentioning her brother's talent.
"He can speak to the dead?" asked Gwen, eyebrows raised.
"He probably had a near-death experience or something of that ilk," Rebekah explained. "I've met his kind before."
Gwen nodded as she hummed, now remembering something she read in a book. "Like a medium?"
"Exactly, but real ones," Rebekah said with a nod, taking another sip of her wine.
"Why did Mikael start hunting Klaus?" Elena spoke up, now wanting to understand why Klaus was so afraid of the man who raised him.
"When Nik made his first human kill, it triggered his werewolf gene. Not to mention that he also blamed my brother for Henrik's death." Rebekah shrugged and poured more wine into her glass. "With that, he became my father's greatest shame."
Gwen was familiar with this part of the story, and the parts Rebekah skimmed over. Klaus wasn't just Mikael's greatest shame, he was also his greatest disappointment, which was how Klaus told her it felt like. It always pained her to hear how Klaus was so brutally mistreated by his own father, sometimes to the point of death. The nights the Original hybrid reminisced about his past were so painful, but Gwen always listened and comforted him, wanting to show him that he was not alone like he thought he was. She couldn't help but smile to herself as she remembered how she used to climb onto his lap when she was small, and he would tell her such fascinating stories of his immortal life in many different places to get her to sleep.
"Yeah. Elijah told me this part of the story," said Elena, breaking Gwen away from her memories. "Your mother had had an affair with one of the werewolf villagers. Klaus wasn't Mikael's son."
"She tried to make it right," said Rebekah.
"By putting a curse on him," Gwen huffed. "That doesn't erase the affair."
"It did, in her mind," argued Rebekah, wholly agreeing with Gwen, but her family was just too dysfunctional and damaged to see reason, especially after they transitioned into vampires. "And then she turned her back on him, but Mikael's greatest weakness as a human was his pride." A humorless laugh escaped her. "As a vampire, that was magnified. He went on a rampage and killed half the village, which included humans, werewolves, and faeries. Among the slain were Linah and her daughters, the very same ones who always helped us and aided my mother in her spell to turn us into vampires." She turned to face the fireplace and closed her eyes to compose herself as she recalled how she had found the bodies of her childhood friends. "Then he came home and killed her."
Elena didn't bother to hide the stunned look on her face. "Mikael killed your mother?"
Rebekah turned back around to face Elena. "He said she broke his heart so he would break hers. He tore it from her chest as Nik watched." She could easily remember the amount of pain she felt when she had to bury her mother. "Afterwards, my father took off in a rage. Nik stayed, so he could help me bury her. He knew I had to say goodbye to my mother before we moved on." A small smile then worked its way onto her lips. "And then we stuck together as one, always and forever."
Gwen smiled at the last few words. "He always said that to me."
"That's how much he cares for you, Weny," Rebekah told the halfling with a grin. "Those words are not taken lightly in my family."
"Always and forever," Elena echoed before she gave Rebekah a pointed look. "Even though he locked you in a coffin for ninety years?"
"You do know that we're vampires, right? You get used to many things that wouldn't be tolerated as a human." Rebekah shrugged as she placed her glass on the coffee table, having had her fill with wine before she grabbed a slice of apple from the bowl on Gwen's lap that she ate in one bite. "Our emotions are heightened. I'm stubborn, Elijah moral, and Nik," she paused as she sighed, "Nik has no tolerance for those who disappoint him. Over a thousand years as a family we've all made that mistake more than once."
"But you still love him?" Elena asked.
Rebekah raised an eyebrow at Elena. "He's my brother," she said matter-of-factly. "And that is something that will never change." She then stopped and frowned at the brunette, realizing that she had said more than she needed to. "I think we've played this little game long enough."
"One last question," Gwen said as she placed her empty bowl on the coffee table before she stood to face Elena. "You wanted to learn about Mikael, but only because you wanted to know if there was some way for you to kill Klaus without him, correct?"
"Yes," Elena sighed. "Still, I do want to know one good reason for us not to use Mikael."
Rebekah scowled at Elena. "And I've given you a thousand!" she almost snarled. "But you will anyway. I know you want him to help you kill my brother, I'm not stupid."
"It's no secret that I want Klaus dead," Elena said, nodding.
"Do you have any idea what it means to work with Mikael?" Gwen took a step closer to Elena, glaring at the doppelgänger with such intensity that her eyes glowed. "Do you think he'll help you out of the goodness of his heart?" She could feel how her heart thundered in her chest when Elena mentioned she wanted Klaus dead. "I know enough about him to assure you that he will kill you and everyone in this town if things don't go his way. He's not as dramatic as Nik, so the deaths will be quick. And you have nothing on him that will keep him in line or something that you can use to put him down."
"It's not Mikael who has a hold over Stefan's life, and over mine," Elena argued, now becoming cautious due to the anger she saw reflected in Gwen's eyes.
Gwen shook her head. "No, only yours, but you're too stupid to actually think of a better way that won't put everyone you care about in danger. You can stop pretending that you're doing this for the greater good or because Nik has made your life hell." At the small sign of discomfort that Elena showed, Gwen continued. "You're just angry and want to get back at him, no matter the cost, and you should own up to it because no one would fault you for it."
"Doesn't matter. They can wake Mikael or call him or whatever at their own peril," Rebekah said as she approached Elena, leaning her face close to the doppelgänger's apprehensive one. "Make no mistake, if you come after my brother, I will rip you apart," she hissed, her eyes filled with an untamed fire born out of protectiveness. "And I get my temper from my father."
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This was not the way Stefan would have expected his day to go about, wishing he had stayed chained to a chair in the cell below the city jail.
The day had started the same way it had for the last few days where Stefan was a prisoner to the torment that Lexi had started, which was why he found it was a nice change of pace to have been released by his older brother, something that had taken him by surprise. He knew Damon had only released him of the torture of having to be dried up day after day with the hope that they could bond and bring out the emotions Klaus had forced him to turn off, but he would deal with anything that would get him out of his imprisonment. His mood had been lifted after getting his fill of waitresses and booze without a care in the world, but it quickly soured when he found himself in the presence of the man who Klaus claimed was a monster strolling into the establishment just as evening arrived before approaching him and his older brother at the bar.
On the other hand, Damon had no idea what to do with himself as he sat on a barstool, unmoving as he stared at Mikael from top to bottom. From all the chatter there was about the immortal vampire hunter, he expected…more in terms of appearance. It was like when he encountered werewolves for the first time, having expected some humanoid beast of immeasurable strength, only to find himself disappointed with how vulnerable they were. Still, he was no idiot. He could recognize that there was an air around Mikael that had him frozen in place, his very being screaming at him that this was not someone to take lightly.
Everything and everyone in the bar faded for the Salvatore brothers, their undivided attention focused on Mikael.
"Is Klaus still in the country?" Mikael questioned Stefan, surprised that the young vampire squared up to him and managed to keep himself in check with no difficulty whatsoever, which told him that the youngest Salvatore had switched off his humanity.
"I can't tell you," was Stefan's blank response as he stood in front of Mikael.
Mikael opted to try another question. "Has he spoken to you since he left?"
"I can't tell you," Stefan repeated his previous response.
"All right," Mikael sighed, slowly losing his patience. His hand twitched restlessly, wanting nothing more than to tear the blonde vampire's heart out. "Can you tell me the last time you spoke to Niklaus?"
Stefan glanced at Damon before he crossed his arms over his chest, annoyed with the many questions he figured Mikael knew he couldn't answer. "I am compelled to do what Klaus says, and he says to keep my damn mouth shut."
"I really hope this game of twenty questions isn't your secret weapon," Damon piped in as he stood from his seat to stand beside his brother, gaining Mikael's attention.
"You see, Damon," Mikael began as he placed a hand on the raven-haired Salvatore's left shoulder, an action that had Damon feeling like a good amount of weight was placed on his chest, filling him with nothing but dread. "I've been a vampire hunter longer than you've been alive. It's why I found you here." The corner of his lips twitched upward. "It's why I'm gonna find Niklaus. I just need a good lead and a good opportunity, which I believe you or your brother can provide."
Damon cleared his throat, trying to hide how nervous he felt while in the Original's grasp. "Well, Klaus has been running for about a thousand years, so if you think you can get a workaround here–"
Whatever Damon was about to say turned into a pained grunt when Mikael slammed his left hand into the elder Salvatore's chest, his fingers coiling around the one organ vampires couldn't live without. The sudden action had Stefan taking a step closer to Damon, feeling familiar emotions begin to claw through to the surface at the prospect of seeing his brother die right in front of him. Right then, there was only him, his older brother, and Mikael in their own bubble, as if time had stopped and they were the only ones inside the bar.
"Careful, Stefan. One move," Mikael warned, having seen how Stefan wanted to rush him in defense of his brother, "and his heart's gone." He squeezed Damon's heart, eliciting a sharp gasp out of his hostage before turning his attention to the younger vampire. "Now, where is Klaus?" He saw how the youngest Salvatore's eyes shifted between Damon, the hand in his brother's chest, and the owner of said hand. "Come on," the Original urged. "What's the trick question, Stefan?" he pressed. "One twist and he's dead. Unless you don't care of course."
To get his point across, Mikael moved his hand, which had Damon wincing and grunting with the pain bubbling up in his throat in choked pants.
"His emotions have been shut off," Damon gasped. "He can't care."
"Really?" Mikael hummed, not at all surprised since he already concluded that Stefan's humanity was turned off. "His link to Klaus is so strong that he will let his own brother die?"
Stefan wanted nothing more than to turn around and walk out of the bar, but his body wouldn't move. His emotions weren't driving him, but his body and mind did whatever they wanted without his consent, which was to find a way to keep Damon alive. It was more instinct than anything else as he tried to think of a way to give Mikael something, anything to appease him. And as he locked eyes with Damon, he felt panic.
"No ideas?" Mikael asked Stefan. "Think, Stefan!" he almost growled before he sighed. "I guess you're right," he said to Damon. "He's a dead end. And so are you, Damon." He went to jerk his hand out of Damon's chest with the vampire's heart in his hand, but a hand on his wrist stilled him.
"Wait!" Stefan hissed, spouting the first thing that came to mind. "I can bring him back. I can lure Klaus back to Mystic Falls. He has more than one reason to."
Mikael nodded and carelessly tore his hand out of oldest Salvatore's chest, leaving the heart inside a panting Damon who leaned against the bar for support. The Original reached for a napkin on the counter and began to clean the blood from his hand, his eyes focused on Stefan. "And there is our loophole," he chuckled. "Just had to rile you up a bit. Now, what reason is there that assures me that Niklaus will come back to Mystic Falls?"
Stefan closed his eyes for a moment before he gave Damon a pointed look, telling his brother that he couldn't say more.
Damon realized what his brother wanted to say, so he did it for him. "A girl," he panted as he waited for his chest to stitch itself back together.
"Ah, a lover," sighed Mikael, not at all interested. He couldn't rely on a woman his supposed son claimed to be infatuated with, not when Klaus could easily discard her to save his own skin.
"No," argued Stefan.
"More like a stray he took in or something," Damon elaborated for his brother. "He cares about her, but your darling daughter keeps her close."
"That's interesting, though it wouldn't be the first time," said Mikael, remembering the last time he was in New Orleans and destroyed whatever life his children had there.
"She's half-faerie and half-human," Damon supplied.
Mikael's eyebrows rose. "Now that makes it even more interesting." He could use that. He then turned to Stefan. "Get Klaus back to Mystic Falls, and I will drive a stake through his heart." His face morphed into a glare. "Fail, and I'll drive it through yours."
.
Staring at her reflection in the mirror in her room's bathroom after wiping a good amount of fog from the reflective surface, Gwen felt as refreshed as she appeared as steam filled the room, having just gotten out of the bath. Her long and lightened tresses of cinnamon-brown hair were wet and smelled like vanilla, sticking to her fair skin with water dropping to the floor or cascading down her bare shoulders that were not covered by the towel she had wrapped around her body. She picked up a smaller towel that she used to ruffle her hair to dry it as best she could before she picked up a brush to comb back her hair. She then proceeded to do her nightly routine of brushing her teeth, cleaning her face, and applying her night cream, taking her time to take advantage of the warmth in the bathroom.
In Gwen's opinion, it had been a rather long day for her. She imagined Rebekah felt the same after digging up her past, recounting what were the last days she spent as a human before being forced into immortal life, a life she had no choice but to accept. The halfling couldn't even begin to understand what that must've felt like, to have your father standing over you with a sword he used to still your heart with your mother supporting him, not bothering to offer an explanation or any form of comfort.
While she complained about the way Klaus sometimes handled things, Gwen still cared about him and saw a side of him that she selfishly took advantage of because he always kept it hidden while with others, except with her. She could and would never think that Klaus would be capable of laying a hand on her. Yes, he was cruel and controlling and many other things, but she recognized that it all came from the young boy he once was who didn't have a parent to protect him or give him the love he wanted. So, he tried to give her everything he never had, wanting to fill her days with happiness. And that was how she knew he wasn't his father.
Shaking her head to allow her mind some rest, Gwen decided that she had spent enough time in the comforting confines of the bathroom, so she opened the door and shivered when the cool air of the bedroom ghosted over her exposed skin, feeling goosebumps all over her body. She went over to the drawers of the dresser in her room and took out some underwear and her short-sleeved, pink nightdress that reached above her knees and had an allover print of T-rex dinosaurs, which she proceeded to put on and matched with light gray socks.
After having made herself comfortable, Gwen left her room to make herself some tea before going to bed, needing something warm to help her fall to sleep. The hallways were dark and silent as she made her way to the stairs before descending to the first floor that no longer echoed with songs from Bon Jovi. As she walked to the kitchen, she took care to be vigilant with how quiet the house was. Just as she was about to reach her destination, a distinct sound caught her attention, making her pause at the doorway of the kitchen. She frowned as she turned her attention in the direction of the library. She could have sworn she heard sobs coming from her favorite room in the house, prompting her to investigate.
Once she reached the library, Gwen peeked inside. What–or better yet, who–she found had her eyes widening with worry. Her heart broke when she saw Rebekah crumpled on the floor in front of the fireplace with a hand over her mouth to try and stifle her sobs as tears left a wet trail on her pale and freckled cheeks. Every whimper that escaped the Original jabbed Gwen's heart with sadness.
"Bekah?" Gwen breathed as she made her way to the blonde vampire, kneeling beside the crying girl. "What's wrong? What happened?"
The only response Gwen got was another sob, which left her feeling helpless as she watched Rebekah experience a pain that was not visible for the halfling to soothe. The halfling lifted a hand and slowly placed it on Rebekah's sleeveless shoulder, eliciting a flinch from the vampire. It appeared that the contact from skin to skin was enough to clear Rebekah's mind from the many thoughts running through her head, so she lifted her head to focus her eyes on the dainty hand on her shoulder, following the arm that had her red and puffy eyes land on Gwen's worry-filled face.
The next thing Gwen knew was that a gasp escaped her when a hand wrapped itself around her neck and shoved her against a wall, hissing when her back and head throbbed with pain. She opened her eyes to meet Rebekah's vampiric features, staring into blue eyes surrounded by blood red. The halfling was speechless and frightened as she tried to understand what was happening. "Bekah?" she wheezed when the hand on her neck slightly tightened, prompting her hands to grab Rebekah's wrist to somehow get the vampire to stop squeezing her neck. She could use her magic, but she couldn't focus when there much air reaching her lungs.
"Did you know?" Rebekah snarled as her face inched closer to the halfling.
"What?" Gwen gasped, unable to comprehend what Rebekah was referring to.
"Did you know that my bastard of a brother killed our mother?" Rebekah yelled at Gwen with her fangs bared, her hand tightening just a bit more against the hybrid's windpipe.
Even though her life was being threatened and could be snuffed out with a flick of Rebekah's wrist, Gwen's mouth hung open and her eyes grew wide in shock. Her mind was trying to process what Rebekah had just said, which was why she could only muster to ask, "What are you talking about?"
"Do not take me for someone stupid!" Rebekah growled, seeking for some truth to tumble out of Gwen's mouth to match what Elena had told her. "You must've known. You had to know."
Gwen managed to shake her head with difficulty, her eyes locked on Rebekah's. "I don't know, I swear." These were the only words she could come up with, and she hoped that they would be enough. "Bekah," she wheezed, losing strength.
The Original vampire's anger was then forgotten when sadness grabbed onto her heart once more, tears gathering in her blue orbs as she is once more plagued by Elena's revelation about her mother's death. For her, it felt like one of her brother's silver daggers had been run through her heart, desiccating her slowly as the pain was pumped into every corner of her body. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice when she had released Gwen, deaf to the coughs coming from the half-fae who had crumpled on the floor on her knees while clutching at her throat as if to help her lungs fill up with oxygen.
Taking large gulps of air, Gwen lifted her head to stare up at Rebekah's tearstained face. She winced when she cleared her throat before she managed to climb to her feet, standing in front of the sobbing blonde but staying cautious for any sudden movements. "Bekah?" she tried once more, wary. "What happened?"
Rebekah released a choked sob with a hand over her mouth, her eyes staring at nothing on the floor. "He killed her," she mumbled as she cried, fighting to hold back her sobs and the tears that plugged up her throat. "Nik," she paused as her eyes hardened, the nickname tasting like poison on her tongue and spat with venom, "Klaus killed her."
Gwen's eyebrows furrowed, a hand still over her sore throat. "Killed who?" She had been afraid to ask, but she had to know what had reduced such a strong person like Rebekah to tears.
The blonde vampire's teary gaze met the hybrid's soft eyes, her mouth opening without a sound leaving it. The pain on Rebekah's face was so evident and raw that Gwen could almost feel it in her very being. The young halfling just wanted to know what had caused the blonde such incredible pain, if only so that she can find a way to take away what was causing her friend such turmoil.
Before Gwen could ask Rebekah the question again, the latter finally choked out, "Nik…killed my mother."
The words reached Gwen's ears, but it took a while for her to process the meaning of what Rebekah was saying, thinking that the blonde was talking about some other person. The young hybrid wanted to believe that it had to be another person called 'Nik', but she knew better. It was like her mind purposely went blank to keep her from connecting every word in Rebekah's sentence, trying to push away the words that were now echoing in her mind on repeat that had stunned her heart as she tried to come up with an argument or something to refute what Rebekah accused Klaus of doing, but her mouth simply hung open as words failed her.
Wordlessly and with an impassive face, Gwen approached Rebekah and simply wrapped her arms around the vampire, hoping that she could offer comfort to alleviate even an inch of the pain the blonde was experiencing. The action appeared to have broken through the Original's reverie because the blonde's whimpers turned into loud sobs and wheezes and chokes as she held onto the back of Gwen's nightgown with a strong grip, crushing the halfling to her front in search of some relief for her pain. The girl stayed quiet with her arms around the vampire's shoulders. Rebekah's tears soaked the half-fae's shoulder as her own began to fall down her cheeks without making a sound as her face remained expressionless.
Gwen's heart broke for the hurting girl.
End of chapter!
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It was a bit of a hassle to write as I tried to make sense of it all for you all to make sense of it. I know that I've stuck close to canon, but the changes here and there are important for when we start to diverge from the show. I hope you guys will like the changes that I have planned.
Now, remember to update and review your thoughts and love and likes and dislikes, they help me write better and keep everything from falling apart.
See you in the next chapter!