A.N. - SHOUT OUT TO FANFICCHIKK FOR LEAVING THE 100TH REVIEW!
Another week, another chapter. Please review and enjoy :)
Song: Of Monsters And Men - Organs
Quickly, Belle snapped the box shut and reopened it just as quickly, hoping that what she saw was just in her imagination. It wasn't. The same leather cord. The same flat blue-gray stone. The cord was untied, curling in random directions on the bottom of the box.
She cautiously lifted it out of the box with nimble fingers, holding it up to the light. It was in fact the same necklace that had graced her daughter's neck, and her own before that, centuries before.
How did Claudia get ahold of it?
The only thing that came to Belle's mind was the possibility of Lilith being alive. Either that or Claudia had dug up her body and taken it for whatever reason, which was far beyond sickening, even for her.
She put the necklace back in the box and closed it. She wiped off the dust that had collected on its top and remembered the engraving on the lid.
Turning in it her hand and looking at it from every possible angle, she realized what was carved into the wood: the words "sleep well, my little angel".
Her eyes widened and her lips parted to release a scream, but no sound came out. These were the words Belle used to say to Lilith each night before they went to sleep. Belle would pull her close, kiss the top of her head, and whisper it in her ear. It was something she'd pictured her own mother doing to her, in a perfect world of course. In reality, sleep had been a way to escape her reality, something she still did to that day.
Slipping the box into her pocket, she walked quickly downstairs to the room where they were keeping Claudia. She hoped she was awake so she could get some answers - after beating her senseless.
When she walked in, it appeared that Claudia was just regaining consciousness. She blinked open her eyes, squinting a little and letting an involuntary groan pass through her parted lips.
"Oh good, you're awake." Klaus forced a smirk that looked more like a grimace and stood in front of Claudia, towering over her since she was tied to a chair, vervain soaked the ropes that bound her. Prominent red burns marked her wrists.
Belle approached them, standing by Klaus' side. She pulled the box from her pocket and shoved it in Claudia's face. "Care to give me an explanation before the torture begins?"
"You opened it," Claudia mused. Her tone was expectant. Her head remained hung, her eyes fixed on the floorboards.
She scoffed and opened the box. She clutched the necklace in her fist, putting the box back in her pocket. "Yes, and you have thirty seconds to explain where you found this before I beat the hell out of you." She shoved it in her face in an incriminating manner.
A crease formed between Klaus' eyebrows. "What is it?"
"A necklace I made when I was a child, the same one I gave to my daughter and the same one I buried her with." Belle inched closer. "Where. Did. You. Get. This?" She spat the words like venom, though they tasted like tears. Probably since she was choking them back, which didn't help with the stinging in her eyes.
She wouldn't let her see her cry. "Crying is for the weak," Claudia would say.
Claudia's eyes met hers. "Aren't you curious about your sister, Sabrina? And why she disappeared? Strange, isn't it?" Her voice held the same monotonous tone it had all night.
"Just answer the bloody question woman," Klaus snapped. Belle realized her was holding a small blade in his hand. Whether or not it had been there before she walked in she didn't know.
Claudia held her tongue, giving them both a lifeless stare, like someone had numbed her emotions.
Impatience overwhelmed her. Belle snatched the knife swiftly from Klaus' hand and held it to her throat, using her free hand to pin her head to the back of the chair while keeping the blade and necklace grasped in the other. The necklace was wrapped around her palm, dangling above the place where Claudia's heart - black or just stone cold - was.
"ANSWER ME OR I WILL SLIT YOUR FUCKING THROAT!"
Her expression remained blank. Not a hint of fear in her eyes - from the look Belle saw in them, Claudia was focused on something else entirely. Like there was a riddle in her head she couldn't solve.
Belle pressed the blade closer to her neck, creating a small cut, pressuring her.
Just as a drop of blood slipped down her neck, Belle felt a small prick on her neck and felt something warm running down it. She relinquished her grip on Claudia and felt her own throat, discovering a tiny cut, identical to the one which she had made on her mother. A single drop of crimson blood clung to her finger before slipping off and falling, creating a trail of brilliant red in its path.
"What did you do?" Her voice was low, but got considerably louder when she spoke again. "What did you do?!"
"I've done nothing. Blame the traitorous witch."
"What did Ester do?" Klaus demanded furiously.
"She linked us, apparently. Sabrina's doing, no doubt."
Belle narrowed her eyes. "Sabrina's? Why would you say that?"
Claudia's eyes met Belle's for a moment before they wandered off to stare at the wall. "She's conspiring with Ester. She hates me. She hates you too, you know?"
Belle flinched. "You're lying, avoiding my first question. Where did you find the necklace?" She wouldn't be manipulated or tricked. Claudia was, after all, a master of traitory.
"With her."
"With whom?"
"Your bastard of course." For the first time that night, there was a hint of life in Claudia's voice - anger and disdain.
Belle slapped her, not caring that both of them would feel it. "If we weren't linked, I'd do worse than that to you."
"What does it matter? She's dead." Claudia's voice maintained its edge. And it was effective, cutting Belle like a blade.
Her first instinct was to hit her again - harder this time, but then it hit her. That miniscule spark of hope that her daughter may still be alive was crushed. Destroyed. Gone.
She believed her. She believed that she would never see Lilith again. She didn't know how exactly - mother's instinct perhaps - but she knew now that Lilith was gone.
It hurt just as badly then as it had when she put her body in the ground. With shaking hands, she lowered the blade and dropped both it and the necklace to the floor. Her lips were parted slightly, letting out quiet sobs that would soon turn into screams. Tears slipped from her eyes as she lost control of herself. She ran out of the room, not feeling the floor beneath her feet or the breeze on her face.
She started running faster once she got outside, not even remembering how she got there. She kept going, running through the dark streets of New Orleans until her limbs were filled with a dull ache and her breathing became labored.
Klaus was right behind her, as expected. He didn't say anything, just held her close as she sobbed uncontrollably into his chest, muttering apologies - she wasn't quite sure whether they were to him or Lilith. Did it really matter?
The next day came and they still knew nothing of Ester and Sabrina's whereabouts. Claudia had been moved to a spare room, which Davina had cast a spell to trap her in. Klaus wasn't taking any chances.
As the sun set that evening Belle sat alone on the roof, lost in thought. For the first time all day she was thinking clearly - rationally.
There were so many uncertainties: Sabrina, Claudia, the baby, Belle's condition, Hope's safety.
Current events had failed to eclipse the importance of Hope's well-being. No baby should have to spend their first few - and most vital - months of life in a warzone with danger lurking in ever direction.
Suddenly, an idea hit her like a train. She knew what needed to be done, how they could fix many of the problems at hand.
She rushed inside and found Hayley in Hope's room, putting her down for a nap.
"Hayley?" She turned to face Belle.
"Yeah?"
"I have an idea."
"No, absolutely not!" Klaus wasn't very enthused with the plan, to say the least. "You are not leaving with my daughter!" He stuck a finger in Belle's direction.
"Um, your daughter? She's ours, you know. I get a say too." Hayley sat next to Belle on a couch, arms crossed stubbornly over her chest.
He glared at her. "There is only one person I trust with her and that would be me!" He paced the floor in front of them.
Belle rolled her eyes. "You don't trust anyone with anything," she muttered. "If I took Hope out of the city, it would not only protect her, but also our unborn baby, unless of course you've forgotten about that. We'll go somewhere no one outside of this house knows about, out of the way so you can get things sorted out here. We'll be fine."
"You don't know that! You can't protect yourself."
Her eyes narrowed. "I can protect myself, first of all. Secondly, we wouldn't go alone. Hayley needs to stay here because she's an asset, being a hybrid and all, right? So Rebekah could go with us."
Rebekah walked in, hands on her hips and a skeptical look on her face. "Rebekah can go where, now?"
"Belle has the idea that she and you can go gallivanting out of town with my daughter until we catch our psychotic mother and her deranged sister," Klaus said.
Belle rolled her eyes. "I'm offering up a valid solution to some of our problems, actually."
Rebekah nodded. "I'm in."
Elijah trailed behind her. "I agree with her, brother. Who can protect Hope better than we?" He clasped a hand on Belle's shoulder for a moment or two, something that he had never done before. It was strange, Elijah considering her to be a part of the family. It was nice.
"Then it's settled." Belle smirked. "You're outnumbered."
Klaus frowned, eyeing each of them. "Fine." He stormed out.
She could hear the uncertainty in his voice, see the fear in his eyes. She knew it pained him not to have control of the situation, but she was trying to make the best of the situation. She wouldn't let another child die.
That night, they packed their bags and loaded everything into Max's silver SUV. It was decided that he would accompany them - partially because Belle physically cringed at the thought of spending potentially months alone with her biggest frenemy.
Klaus, of course, was still sulking.
He stood in their room, looking out the window with a glass of Bourbon in his hand. He took a sip from it. "When are you leaving?"
Belle, lingering in the doorway, stepped into the room, walking up behind him. "In a few hours. We're waiting until the streets aren't so full so we won't draw too much attention."
He nodded and took another drink.
"Are you mad at me?"
He didn't answer.
"Nik," she pleaded softly. "I can't leave if you're still mad at me. I won't. Please." Her voice was just above a whisper. "Just say something."
He sighed and put his drink down on the window sill. "No."
He turned to face her, his eyes locking with hers. He reached out and cupped her cheek with his hand, running his thumb along her jawline and then her bottom lip. He pulled her roughly - but not too roughly - to him and kissed her hard, desperately. Like his life depended on it. Like it was the last time he'd ever see her.
The streets were almost bare, aside from the occasionally car or tipsy tourist. After heartfelt goodbyes, they drove off into the inky night - Max driving, Rebekah riding shotgun and Belle and Hope in the back.
Hope's tiny hand reached out for Belle's and she wrapped her tiny fist around her thumb like she was trying to console her. Belle clutched her doll-like hand gently and resisted the urge to cry as their home got farther and farther away, becoming nothing more than a small collection of lights in the rearview mirror.