For once in her long life, Rebekah Mikaelson can say she's having a real chance at happiness. It's been about a month since Kai Jun decided his cousin was safe enough despite her closeness with her family, and has finally given in and asked to court her — all very classy, true, but she's always been a sucker for romance and, well, she's a thousand years old, all right? Her own ego won't ever let her admit it, but she's on the old traditions boat when it comes to courting rituals.
It feels unreal, really. Her brothers not being constantly on her back, for every little thing she does? Unbelievable. Nik not trying to kill her current lover? First of all, none of the Eastern Sorcerers would stand by if that was the case, but surprisingly he got along with Kai —Rebekah knew her half-brother was, at times, a secret softie, but don't tell anyone she thinks so, he would dagger her without hesitation if only to keep up with his so hard-earned reputation.
Elijah too was chasing after his own happiness, it seemed. He had come to terms with the impossibility of getting back together with Katerina, and had instead gone after one of Kai's distant relatives. Really, what was with her family and having relationships with people from the same family?
Even her ever solemn eldest brother Finn was happy in his affair with the Hanarashi Heiress, for the gods' sake! It has taken a long time, and has been an arduous journey, but he no longer felt like he didn't deserve his continued existence.
Honestly, the only one she has her doubts about is Kol, her youngest older brother. He's never been one for love, and that's a fact ever since they were human. She knew he had literally gone crazy due to the loss of his magic —a part so integral to him that made, dare she say, most of his identity—, and it's sad to admit that she's never been able to show him as much sympathy as she had wanted. Mainly because contrary to him, she hadn't tapped into her witch heritage before turning.
Thinking about Kol makes Rebekah also think about the numerous times she's seen him take lovers to his bed —not that she knew the details, can you imagine? No, thanks, she has no interest in her brothers' sex lives. Kol Mikaelson has always been known to run with witches, them being the only kind of people he ever allowed himself to be with. However, she's never seen him in love. Not until Kai's charge came into the picture, that is.
At first, Rebekah concedes that she thought it would be but an ephemeral infatuation. She was a total novelty to him, Eastern Sorcerers were notably reclusive. She knew that he would be drawn to her, given that even when just a little lad, it's been in his nature to have an insatiable appetite for all things related to magic. Nevertheless, she would have never pegged Yaeko Inazuma to be more than the fixation of the decade to her wildest brother.
Clearly, that's not the case. She's proven wrong when one day, while they were in the middle of having some good fun from a vampire's standpoint as siblings, just like in the old times, he goes still for a second too short for any mortal to notice —but she does. He speeds out of the place so fast she would have thought he teleported, had she not known better. Because of the distance, not even with the vampire hearing can she discern what was being said — what with him apparently talking to himself. Not that it is necessary, because it turns out that after standing there for a couple of minutes, he merely turns to her, tells her he has to leave, and promptly vamps off, leaving her with the mess behind.
It is odd, she muses. Never before had he been the one to leave things unfinished, much less the vampire kind. What's so important he would bailed out without a second thought, she wonders?
Then it hits her, a realisation she's never considered before, not even once. Her brother genuinely cares for the sorceress. She supposed it could be some kind of feeling of debt for her having revived him, but Rebekah is sure there must be something else, something more. And when it comes to these matters, she has impeccable intuition.
•᯽•
Half an hour later she arrives at Inazuma's apartment in New Orleans, just a few streets away from the Abattoir, and carefully gets closer so as to keep an eye on things, but she's suddenly stopped on her tracks by a hand appearing out of thin air. She finds herself eavesdropping from outside the apartment, with Nik's hand on her mouth, Elijah's deeply thoughtful expression in front of her, and Finn's reserved but genuine, knowing smile on her other side. She's thoroughly confused. After all, all of her siblings are supposed to be on their respective outings or business meetings. But instead, they are here, just like her, trying to find out what exactly is going on with Kol.
Through the wall, she can hear her brother and his lover whisper softly to each other.
"Hey darling, you okay? Kaito came to me, told me you're not feeling good." It totally blind-sides her the clear, raw concern she can pick up from him. A small tremble to his voice is all that it takes to betray him. It's obvious his composure is falling apart, little by little. She hears a few bed sheets shuffle, and then Yaeko mutters a quick denial.
"Love, it's clear to me you've fallen sick or something—"
"It's nothing, Kol, really, don't worry about it."
"How can you ask that of me? Of course I would worry. Bloody hell, I care so much it almost gave me a heart attack to hear it from Kaito!"
"Oh, don't be dramatic!" Yaeko snaps, though there's some hidden amusement in her. There's no real heat behind her words.
Rebekah rolls her eyes, she can practically feel the mock hurt expression her brother must be making. "You hurt me, darling."
Rebekah and her brothers exchange a few looks. It is Kol, the teasing says it all, but they don't get whether he's genuinely uneasy about the sorceress' sudden bout of illness.
A few beats of silence pass, and they hear Kol let out an exasperated sigh.
"What would I do without you, love?" An unfathomable amount of tenderness laces his voice, and they have never heard Kol be so vulnerable before. He's always preached about feelings being a weakness, even more than Klaus ever did.
"Well, I don't know. Keep rotting on the Other Side, maybe?" Really, her snark is what endears her the most to Rebekah. Anyone who can keep up with their kind of humour is enough for her brothers, in Bekah's opinion.
"Yeah, probably…" her brother trails off. She hears the rustling of fabric, he must have taken something out of his jacket's pocket. "You know, Yaeko, I've been thinking about our situation regarding your mortality for a while now. I know you'd never consent to losing your magic, and neither would I, cross my heart. And there is no way I could ever go back to being mortal, not when taking into account the risks the Cure poses. So. I think we should go ahead with the ritual you mentioned."
Rebekah chances a glance at her brothers to see if they knew what Kol was on about, but equally bewildered expressions looked back at her.
"You mean the one about the back-up body—"
"Yes, that one. What I'm trying to say is, if you are sure about the whole thing, then there's one more thing I want you to know. Or more like, ask of you."
"What?" Yaeko can barely contain her curiosity. More rustling.
"Firstly, I must clarify I'm not the best at identifying feelings, which you already know. Well, I'm even worse at identifying those I've never felt before. After all we've gone through, and after so much time spent by your side, I've come to care for you deeply, and I can say for sure that I love you. It's already been a while since I first said those three words… You've become the centre of my world, darling, you know? Most of my immortal life I've spent it drowned in blood-lust, in violence and gore, and it wasn't until you gave me hope back that I've re-learnt how to live. Thus, I would very much like it if you spent your potential eternity by my side. We could go anywhere you want, keep learning magic. You know, our thing."
"Wait, you don't mean—" She's picked up on where it all is going. Clever thing. She is about to hazard a guess, but Kol cuts her off.
"Will you marry me?" One, two, three ticks of a clock. "Pretty please?"
They hear her sit up. "Yes."
It was then, that fateful day, when the Mikaelson siblings came by the confirmation and the very real realisation that their foxy brother, the wildest of them all, had fallen in love.