I made my way to Lafayette Cemetery and wandered around until I heard the three Originals talking.
"Rebekah!" Nik called out and I quickly walked in the direction I heard him.
"Walk away." Elijah said.
"Don't move!" Nik ordered. I assumed they were talking to Bekah.
"Leave us now." Elijah said again.
"I can't. I'm stuck here. Elijah, he has the white oak stake." Bekah said fearfully and I walked right in the middle of them. Elijah and Bekah on one side and Nik with the white oak stake on the other.
"I brought it for you, sister." Nik told her as I made myself known. "Nicole what are you doing here?"
"I'm here to make sure you don't kill your siblings." I said plainly.
"Get out of his sight and take Nicole with you. Your presence here only serves to anger him. Leave him to me now." Elijah ordered Bekah. She used her vamp speed to get to me then leave for another part of the cemetery.
"Did you honestly think it was a good idea for you to be here?" she asked me.
"I wanted to be here. I need to make sure he doesn't do anything he'll regret." I told her.
"What can you do to stop him?" she asked me.
"Not much. Just keep him talking. Try to make him remember you in a good light." I said. We saw Nik appear close to us before Elijah got between him and us once more.
"As long as it takes, by whatever means necessary." Elijah told him. We stayed like this all night. Nik shouting abuse at Elijah and Bekah while ordering me to go to him. Bekah's phone rang after the sun rose and she updated Marcel on what was happening around us.
"I've never seen him like this before. He's out of his mind with rage, up all night howling one obscenity-laced tirade after the next. He's gonna kill me." Bekah said and I linked our arms together to try and comfort her. "That's a brilliant strategy. But, given that that dead bitch Celeste has trapped us in here 'til moonrise, my options are somewhat limited." She told him. "I lived for centuries looking over my shoulder, ready to run at a moment's notice. Am I to go back to that?" she sighed and I gave her arm a small squeeze while trying to offer her a comforting smile. She hung up shortly after and we turned back to Elijah and Nik, both of whom were still pacing outside where we were hiding.
"You've been at this for hours. To what end? Niklaus, I know you, and I grew up fighting you. I can't be beaten, nor can I be persuaded. You cannot get past me." Elijah told him.
"I could get past you. Although, it might have to be over your dead body. You did stab me with that blade, forcing me to endure hours of unspeakable pain. Perhaps I should direct my rage toward you." Nik said pointing the stake threateningly at Elijah.
"You should see yourself- the murderous expression, the self-righteous posturing. You look like Father." Elijah told him which only served to anger Nik.
"I'm not him. Rebekah's betrayal justifies my anger. His was that of a madman. You were never the recipient of his cruelty. None of you were- not Kol, not Finn, None of you! I think you've forgotten what he was truly like." Nik said.
"No. I have not forgotten." Elijah corrected him. "I remember when I was teaching you to use a bow. You missed the dear and while I encouraged your small triumph of aim, Father beat you for apologizing to him for missing your mark." They stared at each other for a moment after sharing the memory. Then, all of a sudden, Nik sped away with Elijah close behind him.
"Niklaus, I understand your anger, but I implore you, be better than him. Do what he could not- demonstrate the grace of mercy, rather than this petty cruelty." Elijah almost begged him.
"You ask me to show mercy to one who has wronged me. You really don't know me at all, do you, brother?" Nik asked him. Bekah sighed in annoyance before grabbing my hand and using her vampire speed to get us closer to her brothers.
"Enough. Whatever I have done wrong, my guilt is nothing compared to yours. You want revenge? Fine. But, before you have it, I will look you in the eye and tell you why it was your cruelty and your spite that led us to this." Bekah told Nik while standing between me and Elijah.
"Go on, then. Speak your piece, and when you are finished, I will grant you the punishment you deserve, even if I have to go through Elijah to do so." Nik warned her.
A short time later we were standing in front of another tomb. Well, Elijah and Bekah were standing Nik was sitting on top of it while I was sitting on a grave area on the ground.
"Let it begin. The trial of Rebekah Mikaelson." Nik called down to us.
"What a relief. His ego is in check." Bekah muttered.
"Did you ever doubt it would be?" I asked her.
"Just speak your truth. I'll make certain he behaves himself." Elijah told her while sitting next to me.
"You stand accused of betraying your own blood. How do you plead?" Nik asked her as a real judge would.
"I plead you to shut up and listen." Bekah called up to him.
"You summoned our father. You brought him to our home. What possible defense could you have?" Nik asked her.
"I knew he was the only thing that you feared, and I wanted you to run." Bekah told him.
"Because you hated me." Nik said.
"Because you were hateful." Bekah corrected. "You denied me the freedom to love."
"Oh, so that's your defense? You called Mikael- the Destroyer, the Hunter of Vampires- because I detained you from pursuing some dull suitors." Nik asked her and I remembered the memory of him allowing her and Marcel to be together in 1919. He had been protecting her from a broken heart of they had to run before then, or was that a lie?
"You were cruel, and controlling, and manipulative." She told him.
"I was trying to protect you! From imbeciles, and leeches. Not to mention your own poor judgment." Nik told her.
"And what about the one that you loved enough to call friend? Why did you forbid me to love Marcel?" Bekah asked him.
"Do not mention his name." Nik ordered while not answering the question.
"What has happened to you? I remember the sweet boy who made me laugh and gave me gifts, who loved art and music. I wanted to be just like you. How could you have fallen so far?" Bekah asked him and you could see the admiration she once held for her elder brother had all but been destroyed. Nik made to speak, but nothing was said.
"You say you despise Rebekah for her betrayal, and yet no one has stood by your side for so long, not even I myself. Perhaps it's you that's forgotten. I remember the day that Father caught you whittling little chess pieces with his hunting knife. He beat you so mercilessly and for so long, I actually feared for your life." Elijah said to Nik standing next to Bekah once more. "Rebekah took our father's sword and threatened him with it until he stopped beating you."
"So, you would paint her as a loyal sister, but she betrayed me out of lust for Marcel." Nik said with tears in his eyes. "Perhaps that was why you did it- for love. Perhaps I might temper my rage if Rebekah will admit she was a victim of her own idiocy. That her great love, Marcel, used her to oust this family and to take my city." Nik said coming up with the only conclusion he wanted to hear from her. I looked up at him and saw him almost beg her to say he was right.
"Marcel did not manipulate me." Marcel told him and I sighed before turning back to my vampire siblings. Nik didn't want to kill them, but he felt betrayed by Bekah and this was the only way, in his mind, to pay for that betrayal.
"You defend him, and yet you can't help but wonder, what if I'm right?" Nik told her.
"We loved each other. It was your refusal to respect that that led to your ruin." Bekah told him.
"Then why didn't he chase after you when you fled New Orleans? Oh, yes! That's right. He was here stealing what I built!" Nik called down her to angrily.
"You want me to renounce Marcel, to beg for your forgiveness? I won't. Marcel is not at fault. I called Mikael." Bekah told him and I closed my eyes sighing.
"Rebekah, you must—" Elijah tried, but Bekah kept going.
"I was the one who brought him to New Orleans because of your wickedness!" Elijah sighed as his sister spoke knowing as I did that nothing could be said to calm Nik down now. "I wanted love and happiness, and you denied me the freedom to have either. Yes, I hated and I was afraid of our father, but he was a lesser evil than you. My bastard brother who loomed over me, threatening me as you are now. I wanted rid of you, and given the choice, I'd do it again!" she shouted up at him furiously. Nik lunged for Bekah and pushed her against a tomb and was just about to stake her with Elijah tackled him. When both men rose Elijah had both weapons in his hand.
"Sister, leave us." Elijah ordered.
"I'm not going—" Bekah started saying but Elijah cut her off.
"-I said, leave us, please." I watched her leave before turning back to Nik and Elijah. "Uou wouldn't listen to her. So, now, you must deal with me."
"So what's it gonna be?" Nik asked him. "You hold both weapons. Tunde's blade would put me down, but the stake could finish me off for good."
"Well- unlike you, brother- I have no taste for fratricide." Elijah told him before holding up the stake. "I only hold this to keep it from you." He lowered the stake and held up Papa Tunde's blade. "This is just my insurance."
"Why must you defend her? Rebekah betrayed you, as well, when she brought Mikael here." Nik reminded him.
"Because she is our sister, and because I like to remember her the way that she was before we became what we became. She was an innocent girl, quick to laugh, full of life." Elijah reminded his younger brother.
"My memories serve to make her betrayal more painful." Nik told him.
"Can you not then accept some small part of the blame? After all, Niklaus, it was your cruelty that led her to do what she did." Elijah reminded Nik.
"Do you not see, Elijah? She didn't mean to chase me off. She wanted me dead." Nik corrected.
"You're wrong." Elijah told him.
"She has always hated me. You know that's true." Nik told him.
"You have no idea, do you? You have no idea what she was prepared to do for you. When our sister sees something that she perceives to be an injustice, she can be stubborn, impetuous, and, at times, downright dangerous. And never was this more apparent than the night she tried to kill our father." Elijah told him and even I looked at Elijah confused.
"What is this, some melodramatic fiction designed to garner my sympathy?" Nik asked Elijah.
"It is the truth. I was there. And she would have done it, all to protect you, had I not stopped her. I often wished that I could revisit that moment, complete the task myself." Elijah said.
"Why are you telling me this now?" Nik asked him.
"Niklaus, sometimes our sister acts without thinking. She's short of temper, she's quick to fall in love, but she loves you. But, your malicious treatment has broken her heart. So, yes, she responded by summoning our father. Yes, that was a mistake. I'm not entirely sure that I can blame her." Elijah told him.
"I can." Nik said before using his vampire speed with Elijah right behind him. I followed as quickly as I could being eight months pregnant. Sometimes being human really sucked.
"Niklaus, so help me—" I heard Elijah say when I got closer and I could see him ready to use either weapon to protect his baby sister.
"Are you really going to stand against me? And not with that pathetic blade. You'd just have to pull it out someday, and then I'd hate you as I do her, now. If you want to protect Rebekah, you'll need to use the white oak stake." Nik told him.
"I don't have to listen to this nonsense." Elijah said getting out of his defensive position.
"Oh, don't pretend you haven't thought about it. You look at me, and you see everything you abhor in yourself. Sure, you dress it up with your fancy suits and your handkerchiefs. You, with your mask of civility and eloquence, you're every bit the abomination I am. Or worse. Go on, Elijah. Go on. Use the white oak stake." Nik said walking straight up to him and holding his arms out widely to the side. Elijah lifted the stake and threw it away, glaring at Nik.
"I'm not so cowardly that I have to kill you, Niklaus, but if I have to make you suffer to protect Rebekah, that is what I will do." Elijah told him.
"You see? I knew you couldn't do it. You still cling to the hope that I can be redeemed, and if the bastard can be saved, then maybe there's hope for you." Nik quickly grabbed the blade and stabbed it in Elijah's heart making me gasp out in shock my hands quickly covering my mouth. "There. Now you know how it feels." Elijah fell to the ground, gasping in agony and glaring at Nik before passing out from the pain. I moved closer to them and Nik held me back from helping his brother. Sure this was better than Elijah or Bekah dying, but still… "Do you still defend Rebekah as well?" Nik asked me and I looked up at him.
"Of course I do." I told him. "I may hate my siblings for lying to me and killing you, but I would never be able to do this to them." I said motioning to Elijah. "I would never be able to kill them, no matter what they'd done to me. And I don't think you will either." I said before Bekah appeared on the other side of us.
"That was supposed to be my line." She said referring to what Nik told Elijah. I looked down into her hand to see her holding the white oak stake. "Now, I have this. So I decide who lives and who dies. I'm taking out that blade."
"You'll have to kill me first, and now you hold the means to do so. Why not finish what you started a century ago?" Nik asked him.
"I did not want you dead. I wanted you to run." Bekah corrected him.
"Liar! You wanted revenge." Nik said.
"You drove me to betray you, and now you want to twist it and make it worse so you can justify killing me instead of accepting your own fault? All I did was love your friend! You could've been happy for us, but instead, in your paranoia, you feared losing us both. And, because of that, you did. There is no one else to blame, Nik. Only you." Bekah explained to him.
"Where is Marcel now, hmm? I thought he loved you, and yet he left you trapped in here with me." Nik pointed out to her. "You against me. It's hardly a fair fight, is it? I mean, perhaps, if Marcel were here, you'd stand a chance, but I expect he's already found another girl. No doubt younger and prettier." He said turning us both so he was still between Bekah and Elijah as she moved around him.
"You take joy in other people's pain, and then you wonder why I hate you." Bekah told him.
"Yes, and that hatred led you to do what you did. Admit the truth. Admit you wanted me dead." Nik said.
"I wanted you to run, that is all- despite your delusions." Bekah told him.
"Elijah lies suffering, and I will allow you to help him. All you have to do is admit it!" he shouted at her.
"You're insane." Bekah said.
"Yes! Yes! I am a vicious, heartless monster, and so you summoned Mikael to kill me. Admit it." Nik told her.
"It's not true." Bekah insisted.
"You know what you did. Admit it." Nik ordered.
"I didn't." she said once again.
"You wanted me dead! Admit it." He nearly shouted at her once more.
"Maybe I did." She admitted and I looked up at Nik at her confession to see him in shock. I felt my own eyes widen at the words I never thought I'd hear from her. Nik—" Nik quickly moved to her and stabbed her with the white oak stake.
"Bekah!" I shouted out. I watched her fall and ran to her side. Nik didn't stop me as I inspected her lying on the ground. I looked up at Nik. "You didn't kill her." I said happily with tears of my own. He held out his hand to me and I took it and his help to my feet. We moved to where the trial had been and we sat next to each other. "Are you okay?" I asked him quietly.
"I always hated that question." He told me avoiding the answer. "Always asked when the answer is no."
"Bekah's answer shocked us both." I told him moving closer to him, forcing his arm around my waist. "Maybe we can do something for you both." I suggested.
"Like what?" he asked me.
"You know her better than I do." I reminded him. "You'll know the right answer when the time is right." I said leaning my head against his chest. As night fell we still sat on the concrete tomb in silence. That was how Bekah found us.
"You missed my heart." She told him.
"Perhaps I did." Nik said to her. "Or, perhaps I never meant to kill you. Perhaps I just wanted you to feel a fraction the fear I felt when Father came for me."
"Do you yourself know the truth?" Bekah asked him.
"I know this. You accuse me of being evil, and yet you are the one who conspired to kill your own blood." Nik reminded her.
"You made our lives a living hell. You tormented us." She reminded him.
"I love my family—" he said tears filling his eyes once more. "You, Elijah. I loved all of you." He stood and walked up to her. "I know I can be difficult, but I did not make myself this way. It was Mikael who ruined me."
"He ruined me, too." She reminded him." That's what you forget. Centuries later, each of us is broken. You with your anger and paranoia, me with my fear of abandonment. And poor Elijah. He dedicates himself to everyone but himself. We are the strongest creatures in the world, and yet, we are damaged beyond repair. We live without hope, but we will never die. We are the definition of "cursed." Always and forever." Nik moved to Elijah to remove the blade while Bekah and I moved to a gate.
"You'll be safe now." I told her.
"But for how long?" she asked me and I couldn't give her an answer. "When I'm gone you'll look after them? All of them?"
"I won't have to." I insisted. "You will live a long and beautiful life full of love and heartbreak. A human existence. Many of them." She smiled lightly at me. "If you wish, I will promise to look after our boys." I told her as Nik joined us. He wrapped his arms around me and we all stared out of the gate.
"We're still trapped in here. Whatever you're going to do to me, do it now." Bekah told him.
"You said our father ruined us. And I can't help but wonder, what if his father ruined him?" Nik told her. A strong gust of wind blew the gate to the cemetery open, indicating the spell was broken. "The barrier is down."
"I know you hate me, but what's done is done." Bekah reminded him.
"What's done is never done. It remains within us, a story we tell ourselves so we know who we are. Vicious father, a bastard son, and the sister who betrayed him. Perhaps it's time for a new story." He told her before removing his arms from me and taking my hand in his. We moved away towards the gate when he stopped and looked back at his sister. "What is it you want, Rebekah?"
"Same things that I've wanted since I was a child. I want a home. I want a family. I want someone to love me, and I want to live." She told him.
"Then go. Go far away and never come back. We are far too damaged to remain together, less a family now than a volatile mix of ingredients. New Orleans will be mine. Nicole and I will raise our children here in the city you took from me. No doubt, Elijah will choose to stay, but you? Sister, you are free." Bekah took one look at the gate then to her brother and myself. She walked up to us and hugged me tightly in goodbye before doing the same with her brother.
"Thank you." She whispered in his ear before leaving the cemetery as we watched her go.
"I'm going out to the Bayou to help Hayley with some things for her family." I told Nik smiling up at him. "I'll be home soon. I love you." I hugged him as tightly as I could before leaving for the Bayou.
Hours later I was sitting in front of a bonfire resting after helping Hayley get things ready for the next full moon when Bekah walked up to me.
"Bekah, what are you doing here?" I asked her.
"I came to say goodbye." She told me.
"I thought we said our goodbyes at the cemetery." I said.
"Well, you've been a dear friend to me since I woke up." She told me with a smile.
"You're an easy person to befriend." I told her smiling widely.
"Listen. About Nik, he is a monster. Do not ever cross him." She warned me. "But, he does want more from life than to just be feared. He's too broken to find it himself, but I do believe there is hope for him in the children you share and in his love for you. And speaking of your children- our family has no shortage of enemies. They will inherit all of them. Please, be careful." She told me and I nodded.
"You know, you can always come back and visit. What happens in the Bayou stays in the Bayou." I told her which made her smile at me.
"Well, if I can't, you make sure to tell my niece and nephew stories of their crazy Auntie Beks. And let them know, despite my absence, I do love them very much." She told me and I nodded before giving her one last hug.
"I love you Rebekah. I'll see you again." I said. "You and I will have to meet outside of the city often." I said moving back from her and we shared a smile.
Later that night I was sitting in a silk robe on the couch in Nik's study when he joined me holding a wooden box. I sat closer to him as he opened it and moved things around to reveal a little wooden knight. He picked it up and I wrapped my arms around him as he played with the small knight, tearing up at memories past.
