"Breath. You've got this, girl. You're good."

Celia couldn't sleep that night. Keith rushed them out of the abandoned warehouse and inside the safety comfort of their home, but Celia didn't seem to understand where she was. Her eyes, unfocused as they were, didn't even blink. To put the truth out there, Keith was quite troubled by it. All of it. Knowing about Celia's powers was one thing, but actually seeing them unfold was something else entirely.

And it seemed like the witch herself forgot what she can do as well.

"Did I hurt you?" Celia asked all of a sudden.

"What? No! Why on earth would you think that?" Keith snapped out of his musing to look at the young girl in his arms. Now Keith is not an old vampire by any means, but he still has some decades over his powerful friend. And no matter what she did that night, she was just a hurt, broken teenager at the end of the day.

"Hey, hey, hey, Cece. Breath. I've got you, alright? I've got you."

"Get away from me!" Celia pushed him in the chest. Not hard enough to make even a human move, but Keith flinched. The witch saw the brief horror in her friend's eyes and stumbled backwards in fear of her own. "Go away! You should leave. I'm dangerous and..."

"Stop! Celia, stop it! I- yes I got scared. I've never seen somethin' like that. But you didn't hurt me. And you did nothin' worse than what I did."

The witch furrowed her brows and lifted her head up from where she buried it in her knees. Still, she dared not look her friend in the eyes.

"Cece, those men did terrible things to L. We, both of us, avenged her. They paid the price for their own choices. They would have gotten to Hell anyway. You just sped up the process."

Keith took some trial steps towards the siphoner, but when she didn't move away, the vampire ran to her and pulled her in one of his famous tight hugs.

"It's gonna be ok, girl. Trust in Keith. He knows some about this world, yeah?"

Celia snored. Her silent crying turned into loud hiccups of laughter that soon dried out in shame. "See, you say this, but you don't know me. What I've done. What I'm capable of."

"Oh, I think I've got a pretty darn good idea about what you can do. Don't insult my intelligence. And no matter what you did, I know you, Cece. You're my friend."

Celia shook her head. "I killed people before, Keith. I'm not a good person."

"I think you are. I don't know what happened and you don't have to tell me if you're not ready, but I see who you are. Ever since you entered our lives, you changed it for the better. Lydia has a big sister to look up to, Cooper's confidence is rising through the roof, old mean Ruru is not so mean and lonely no more and me and Dylan finally have a friend like we thought we can only hope for "

Celia tossed and turned in her bed, unable to fall asleep. It was the third night in a row she's being kept awake by burning thoughts that refuse to live her alone. She's certain that by now, if she used those hours to write down everything that passed through her mind, she'd have a noticeable memoir to sell and make money to travel around the world with. Then she wouldn't need a certain hybrid no more.

"But's not just that, is it? There's more to him than a plane ticket." Keith, her vampire best friend from New York, mused through the speaker of the blue earbud she had on.

"I can't explain it, K. He's bad, he's rotten, he's killed Jerr's aunt for fuck's sake! But there's another side of him too. And I can't tell which is real and which is a show."

"Why would he put on a show? He's the most powerful vampire in the world, he doesn't need it."

Celia sighed. "You're right. But then why is he so... nice sometimes, promising me all the wonders of the world and spinning me in the dreamiest dances ever and some other times he's manipulating me with my bracelet and huffs and puffs at my friends?"

"At the end of the day, he's just a man, Cece. I don't know him, but from what you're telling me he's not big on people, you know. A hurt control freak who fell for ya."

Celia groaned. "Don't say that!"

"Sounds like you fell for him too, girl. Congrats! Evil bastard tops cheating little boy by far."

"I have not fallen for him, alright? I'm still with Jerremy and he actually apologized for that. Beside, we weren't really together when he got with Matt's sister anyway."

"Mhm and you were so sad when you broke up, I remember," Keith's voice dripped with sarcasm. He cleared his throat and, in his best imitation of his best friend's voice, he said " 'Maybe I am fine because I got in a relationship with the first boy who had a crush on me when I hated myself. He was the proof that I am enjoyable, that I am not all those boring, stupid stuff my mind made me believe I am. But now I don't depend on anyone to power me up, because I am super cool and sexy and I know it'. Admit it! You're only staying with him out of mercy and you're not at all happy, Klaus in the picture or not."

"Look, I can't just like him, alright? It's complicated. He didn't just hurt Elena and Stefan, he hurt me and my sister as well. He can act all nice and romantic, but he still only cares about himself."

"Do you really believe that, Cece? Why did you help him so much then? That whole family is only alive now because of you. It's the third time already when you play the devil's advocate for them and no one put you to it. Why?"

The silence that followed flew over the witch and rested heavily on her body like the blanket she held over her for comforting warmth. She took so long to answer that the light of her phone died out, casting the room in darkness so thick she could cut through it with a knife. Celia knew the answer, of course. It's been laying on her heart for so long now that the weight became familiar, like it has always been there.

"What if that's all it is to it, Keith," she whispered at last. "What if I feel so connected with him, them, because I feel their pain? I find my and my siblings story in the Originals and part of me is jealous they all managed to survive together and part of me is proud. It wants to be close to them and bask in their victory and family ties and feel that sense of belonging again. Of something dark and twisted and powerful that many won't understand, but it can be so beautiful."

Celia was crying now. Thinking of Aaron and Rey and Charlotte. Thinking of a powerful family that lead itself to ruin and destruction. Of siblings who roamed the earth together, hiding, running. Protecting each other. Only, they didn't make it in the end. The Mikaelsons had. And maybe she doesn't like Klaus at all, but feels a sense of duty towards him. Towards all of them. Just because they remind her so much of home it's almost painful to not be near them for long.

"They're everything we wanted to be and failed. I can't just let them die now. They fought fate and won and deserve to be happy with their victory." Because if they don't, it'd be like losing her own all over again.

Through bitter tears a small laugh escaped the witch's lips. On the other end, Keith was silent. The vampire closed his eyes, letting the cool wind of the night brush his loose curls. Celia didn't know it yet - and it wasn't the time to tell her - but Old Ruru was sick. She fell ill a couple of weeks after the syphoner left New York in such a rush. And him Dylan and Lydia moved in with her. Keith sneaked in her roof garden to check on Celia, who was in no state to be delivered the news of the old witch's worsening condition.

The vampire stood in silence, patiently. Waiting for his friend to let it all out and wishing he could be there, hugging her close. Or better yet, wishing Celia could be there, tucked between himself and Lydia while Dylan makes her a huge cup of hot chocolate with Old Ruru yelling at him about which plants he should use to alienate a grieving heart and Cooper telling all sort of funny stories of travelers of old who sought his advice when he still used his sphinx powers in the ancient world.

It pained Keith to not be able to help her. He could tell Celia was a hurt little thing even before she told him - and only him - the whole story of her life. To this day, the vampire is the only one to know it. And in turn, the witch is the only one to know the details of his own. There are things in his past he didn't tell anyone but her - not even to Dylan, as much as he loves him. It bonded them. So strongly it was like the very essence of their souls snapped in harmony with one another. Nothing romantic, of course, but something just as pure and full of life.

"You must think I'm a horrible person after this." Celia finally said, when her chest slowed down and she could speak hoarsely through dried tears.

"I told you once before, when I saw you kill in cold blood, that I could never think of you as horrible, Cece. And I stand by it every day since, and every that is to come."

"I can't chose his side, Keith!" Celia shrieked. Her eyes bulged and she covered her mouth with her both her hands, standing up in the bed and dropping the phone in the process. "I have to pick a side," she started anew, this time whispering again. "I have to pick a side and I can't. This should be so easy. It's my sister, boyfriend, friends on one side and a murderous family of the most powerful beings on the other."

"But those powerful murderous beings are also your friends, no? Or, at least, they seem to be becoming."

And Celia couldn't argue with that. As much as it scared her, she enjoyed Kol's witty company. His knowledge, even though dangerous for her, was electric. He knew what she was and she discovered - with a pang of guilt towards Bonnie - that she missed talking about witchy stuff with someone. Someone who wouldn't judge or see her as an abomination. She got along well with Rebekah, pairing against her brothers in girls solidarity. If one removed her sharp fangs dipped in so much innocent blood it was a wander they still shined white and bright, that was all Rebekah was: a girl robbed of her girlhood that wanted to make up for it and experience all the modern world had to offer. They've only spent a couple of hours together, really, but Celia found herself wanting to be that guide for her and witness Rebekah falling in love with humanity again, in a new era.

Elijah was a more complicated story. Stoic and expensive with his words, Elijah was more a caretaker supervising everyone else. But the sense of safety couldn't escape Celia, who found herself longing to be part of those he has under his careful watch. And Klaus was the most complicated of them all. With his messy hair under which hid piercing blue eyes, eyes that saw so much and absorbed it all like giant pits under the ocean, unexplored, calling to be known by someone. By her. With his accents and poetic words, with his dark allure that stood like a shield before a creator's vulnerable soul. With his promises and gifts and pleading lacing his tone when he asked her to stay have a drink more at the bar, or walk together, or whatnot.

"I can't be friends with all of them. And I can't be friends with someone Care is fighting against. Just the other day Elijah kidnapped Elena. Now Bonnie and her mother try to kill the Originals again, because apparently they upset the spirits of nature by just existing. Elijah threatens that Rebekah will kill Elena if Stefan and Damon don't kill one of the Bennets before they do their spell. And everyone is worried and no one knows what to do and I'm over here more riled up over the fact that I might care a little too much about these people instead of comforting my sister - or boyfriend!"

Keith sighed. "Yeah, that sounds pretty complicated. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know! This is all this is about: I don't know what to do or what am I supposed to feel."

"And here's where you're wrong. You don't have to anything. Let me ask it in a different way: what would you like to happen?"

"For them to stop trying to kill each other. At least for a day."

Keith chuckled. His witchy friend has always been a pessimist. He still couldn't believe that cheery side of her she allowed to exist in the short period of time she lived in New York was actually real and still lived inside of her, somewhere.

"And how would go about making it happen? If it were a play, what would your character, the heroine, do?"

"Take matters into her own hands, I guess. Maybe I could try siphoning the magic of the Bennet spell. Of they think their last resort didn't work, then they might stop and talk a truce with the Mikaelsons. I could reach out to Elijah too, plant the idea in his mind, he can be pretty reasonable when his familly isn't in immediate danger."

"There you go, this is more like the Cece I know!" A distant cough caught Keith's sensible hearing and his happy demeanor dropped quicker than it took to build up. "Well, if you're feeling better," he tried to sound normal, just a friend saying goodbye for no other reason than leaving her to sleep, as she much needed to do, "I'll leave you to it. Rest. We'll talk again soon and maybe then we'll have a face call. The gang is dying to see you."

Celia laughed, a bubble escape of feelings that bottled up inside her for so long. "Love ya, all of you, so much! Tell the others, please."

"Will do, girl. Good night!"

"Good night!"