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Part IV

Rebekah

Rome, Italy 1558

Rebekah stared at the reflection in the mirror, watching as her own blue eyes stared back. Her long blonde hair had been tied up in an elaborate style with intertwining braids. The dress she wore hung off her perfectly, the maroon material oddly appropriate for her. The gold trimming along with the gold necklace and earrings gave her a more regal look, just as she had hoped.

But, it didn't matter. It would never matter. Not really. For the face in the mirror always stayed the same. Same nose. Same mouth. Same eyes. No matter how much she changed her clothes or her hair, she would always just be her, same old Rebekah.

She was never going to change and it was in times like these that she wondered if she was enough. Maybe she was, maybe she wasn't. All Rebekah knew was that she had lived too long to tell the difference any more. Who was she to know what was important in life any more?

Did it matter who she was, what she looked like?

Would she be doomed to remain as she is forever? Rebekah did not think herself to be ugly or any such thing, but she would always be at a standstill. Never moving, never growing, always in the same place.

She was stuck. For an eternity.

Trapped.

Sometimes Rebekah dreamt of a life where she would live young, grow old, get married, have children. It wouldn't matter whether she was rich or not because her family would be all that mattered to her, just as she would be all that mattered to her family.

Sometimes she doubted that her brothers truly knew what family was.

As she continued to stare at the face in the mirror, Rebekah found herself beginning to hate it. To hate her.

You are not enough. If you were, wouldn't they want you to be with them? But no, you are just a burden. A burden that will last forever… The thoughts, the doubts, the insecurities, they swirled on and on in her head, filling it with darkness. None of it matters. You don't matter.

With a sudden burst of anger, Rebekah reached up and began ripping out the pins from her hair. None of it changed anything because she herself could not change. She would forever be useless and nothing she could do could alter that. She gasped as the tears began streaming down her face, hearing the thump thump of each pin as it clattered to the wooden floor.

Why? Why? Why? Why did she stay like this? Why?

Why…?

And then suddenly there was a familiar presence behind her and another face in the mirror as a second pair of hands covered hers and wrenched them away from her golden locks of hair. She knew with her superior strength that Richard would never have been able to overpower her like that, had she not been so shocked at his unexpected arrival.

For a moment everything was silent as they stared at each other in the mirror. Richard towered over her, his rough hands encased around her deceptively delicate wrists. Rebekah was pulled back into him, her back into his chest. She did not move to get away, only looking at him, utterly still, her tears and sobs suddenly leaving her.

"Stop." He whispered, voice gruff, almost begging. "Please stop." One hand moved from hers and reached across her chest to cup her cheek, thumbing away a stray tear. His other hand lifted her arms to her stomach, holding them against it, causing her to be pulled even more into his strong chest. His kind brown eyes met her blue ones as they stood in front of their reflections. She gazed at him, confused, heartbroken.

"Stop," He said again. "Stop. You are so beautiful, do you understand? You are so very beautiful." It was those words that broke through to her, that made her tears start up once again, made her crumple into him. And it was his strong arms that kept her upright, his kind, gentle thoughtfulness that kept her sane.

Richard turned his face and placed a kiss to her temple, trying his best to keep her grounded before she lost her way completely. He tightened his arms around her, feeling how she trembled, shivering, and her pain palpable. "You matter." He whispered in her ear, knowing exactly what she needed to hear. "You matter."

The next thing he knew, his Lady Rebekah had turned to face him, holding him in her own embrace, her face buried in the soft material of his doublet, fingers tangling into the back of it. She seemed to be holding for dear life, afraid that if she let go she would lose it all. She felt another kiss being placed into her hair and the whispers of 'you matter' allowing herself, even if only for a brief moment, to believe him.

Suddenly, Richard pulled back, and looked into her tear filled eyes, watching as they stared back up at him, desperate. He held her beautiful face in his hands, running his fingers through her mussed hair, and bent down to lean his forehead to hers.

"You matter, Rebekah." It was the first time he had ever referred to her on such intimate terms. "You matter to me."

And then Rebekah's fingers covered Richard's own and her only thoughts were that she mattered and that she wanted to stay like this forever.

Eternity did not seem so bad when you looked at it with Richard's eyes.

That's it for now! I am aware this one was rather short but I actually quite like it this way… I know that the last one was also Richard/Rebekah centric but I promise there will be more klaroline soon enough. I am doing these one-shots by (real) age order so…

Anyways, next up Kol and then Klaus ;)

Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts!

RW