Fic: Pack Codes and Tribal Laws (2/2)
Title: Pack Codes and Tribal Laws
Author: lit_chick08
Pairings: Klaus/Lexi, Klaus/Rebekah, Klaus/Rebekah/Stefan, Rebekah/Stefan, Elijah/Elena
Warning: incest, hints of dubcon/noncon
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Goes AU after 3x03 “The End of the Affair”
Word Count: 13,432
Disclaimer: These characters belong to LJ Smith, Kevin Williamson, and Julie Plec
Summary: For 1,000 years, they balanced on the fine line between love and hate. But no matter what happens, no matter who they become, brothers and sisters are forever. No one knows this better than Elijah, Lexi, Klaus, and Rebekah
A/N: A pseudo prequel/sequel to Ain't Misbehavin' but you don't necessarily need to read that to understand this
Elijah saw his father for the first time in 800 years the year Hitler came to power in Germany. Every year since leaving Niklaus, Elijah returned to the grounds which once held his childhood home; the building was different now, updated to keep with the times, but he still came, still laid four roses on the property's edge in remembrance of his mother, of his brothers.
“You'll need another,” a voice informed him, causing Elijah to stiffen in familiarity. He turned and saw his father, a single rose in his hand. “He killed Rebekah.”
Elijah closed his eyes, trying to push away the pain of the statement, failing miserably. When he trusted his voice, he asked, “How long ago?”
“A few years. Only a matter of time, I suppose, but...”
“But it was Rebekah,” Elijah finished.
“He's gone underground, trusting no one,” Michael volunteered. “I have not been able to find him since Chicago, since Rebekah's...disappearance.”
“And you want me to help you find him,” Elijah interpreted.
“They were our family, Elijah.”
Whirling on Michael, Elijah grasped him by his coat, filled with a rage so volatile Elijah did not recognize it. “You think I do not know that? You think it does not fill every waking moment of my life?” Pushing him away, Elijah accused, “None of this would have happened if you hadn't forced us to choose. Do not wrap yourself up in the sanctity of family when you pushed us away.”
“Niklaus is not my son.”
“And neither am I.” Shaking his head angrily, shoving his hands deep within the pockets of his coat, Elijah snapped, “When I kill Niklaus, I will not do it by your side. You do not deserve vengeance.”
Vengeance was all Elijah had to sustain him.
It is still all which sustains him.
* * *
Lexi saw her father for the first time in 400 years during the Summer of Love. She and Stefan were in Haight-Ashbury, dancing in the streets, LSD in their veins when she saw her father leaning against a car, a disapproving scowl on his face. Her body was so full of psychoactive drugs, she was certain she was hallucinating; the night before, she was certain she was making love to Niklaus only to wake up to a man who bore absolutely no resemblance to her brother but did have the most disgusting beard she had seen outside of the Middle Ages.
“What are you looking at?” Stefan asked as he draped a necklace of flowers around her neck, smiling into the thick braids she wove her hair into earlier.
Lexi didn't answer, her eyes still focused on what she was almost convinced was an apparition of the man who spent centuries hunting her. And then Stefan pointed to the man and said, “Do you know him?”
“You see him?”
Stefan looked at her strangely. “Of course I can see him. Lex, are you - “
Cupping his face, using the compulsion she seldom used, Lexi intoned, “You're tired. You're going to go back to the house, go to sleep, and, when you wake up tomorrow morning, you will have no memory of seeing that man. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Stefan automatically replied.
Lexi hugged him tightly, tears stinging her eyes at the idea that this could be goodbye. As soon as Stefan was out of sight, she took a deep breath and then approached her father, trying to will her hands to stop shaking. The last time she saw Michael, he was setting fire to a house they were staying in; with Niklaus's murder of their mother, Michael kicked into overdrive, and Lexi could still feel the sting of flames against her skin.
“You have always kept the poorest company,” Michael observed as she stepped in front of him. “And what are you wearing?”
Despite herself, Lexi self-consciously looked down at the tiny shorts and nearly sheer tank top at which he was sneering. When combined with her waist length braids and the flowers Stefan gave her, she looked like every other hippie in San Francisco dancing in the moonlight.
“You are of noble blood, Alexandra, and you are behaving like a rutting animal.”
She flinched at both the criticism and the sound of her given name. “That is not what I am called anymore.”
“No, you are Lexi now.” Face darkening, he asked, “How do you live your life hearing everyone call you by Niklaus's name for you?”
“It is my name,” she argued fiercely. “I am not Alexandra. I'm Alexia Branson; I've been Alexia since 1821, and that's who I want to stay. So if you're going to kill me - “
“I am not going to kill you.” He reached out, touching one of the flowers woven into her hair. “Your mother wore flowers in her hair when we wed. You look so much like her.”
Tears unexpectedly flooding her eyes, she murmured, “I had nothing to do with her death. I swear, if I had known what Nik planned, I would have stopped him.”
“Like you stopped him with Isaac? And Joshua? And Seth?”
She looked down, ashamed. There was no way she could argue it was a matter of survival; Isaac's murder was out of line, but Joshua and Seth came for revenge. If Niklaus hadn't killed them, they would have killed him, killed her and Rebekah for spite. It was kill or be killed then.
But Esther...There were many things she had never agreed with her mother upon, including her passive acceptance of Niklaus's treatment at Michael's hand, but the day Nik put the dagger in her heart was the day Lexi knew it was time to leave.
“He killed Rebekah, you know.”
She gasped. “What? When?”
“1921, shortly before you showed up in Chicago to reform your playmate.” Eyes narrowing, he stated, “He needs to be stopped.”
“Stopped from what? No one has seen hide nor hair of him since the twenties. He is a story vampires tell each other, the boogeyman.”
“Do you honestly think he won't try to kill Elijah, that he won't come for you?”
“He won't.”
“And how do you know that?” Michael challenged.
“Because he loves me as I love him.”
Michael scoffed. “Niklaus cannot love.”
This time Lexi scoffed, distaste written all over her face. “You do not know him. You never knew him. And if you came here to recruit me to help you kill him, you came to the wrong child. Find Elijah - “
“Elijah wants no part in this; he wants solitary vengeance. But you - “
Shoving her father into the parked car, startling herself with the violence of her reaction, she shouted, “I will never help you kill him! I do not kill the people I love, and I will not help you destroy him. No matter what he has done, Nik is not beyond hope.”
Hope was all Lexi had to sustain her.
It is still all which sustains her.
* * *
Niklaus saw Alexandra for the first time in 200 years on what would have been his 1000th birthday. He had spent the past 90 years in near solitude, surrounding himself only with witches, staying as far underground as he could possibly get; as Rebekah proved, there was no one on earth he could trust, no one who had his back absolutely.
But even the most feared vampire in the world became lonely, and all Nik wanted was to see his big sister.
Unlike Elijah, she never hid. His last, remaining brother kept a very low profile, taking almost as much care as Niklaus to keep himself protected; the last Niklaus heard of anyone even glimpsing Elijah, he was in New Zealand, literally a world away from Niklaus. But Alexandra...she changed her name, hid the fact she was a member of the Original family, but she didn't disguise her life. From the moment his Lexi left that plantation in Georgia, Niklaus had always known exactly where she was.
She never did leave Georgia. Niklaus found the condo she kept in Atlanta easily; the name on the lease was Alexia Branson, her pseudonym of choice, but Lee Quinn was also named on the mailbox. Whenever he asked around about Lexi, people almost always mentioned her boyfriend, a soldier she picked up during World War Two; it made him so much angrier than anything else. Lexi was supposed to be as lost without him as he was without her; she was not supposed to become the happy, carefree lover of another man.
He found scotch in her kitchen, pouring himself three fingers before stretching out on the couch, his feet propped up on the coffee table. There were dozens of photographs around the apartment, all depicting Lexi and her various adventures with multiple friends. Niklaus could not help but smile at a shot of Lexi with Stefan, both in the ridiculous rocker garb of the 80s, grinning madly. He missed Stefan; he was everything Niklaus ever wanted in a brother, never asked him to be anything other than what he was. He kept tabs on Stefan as well, knew Lexi was determined to keep him on a straight and narrow path; his hope is, when Lexi eventually returns to his side, Stefan will come as well.
They could rule the world, the three of them.
When Lexi came through the door with Lee, she immediately froze at the sight of him, pushing Lee behind her. Niklaus smiled at the gesture, at the fierce protectiveness in her stance; it was so purely Lexi and he missed that.
“Hello, sister.”
“Niklaus...”
He got to his feet, smirking as he approached them. “You must be Alexandra's lover. How delightfully...mediocre.” As indignation filled Lee's face, he compelled, “You're going to leave now. Come back tomorrow evening and forget you ever saw me.”
Lexi shoved at his shoulders before Lee was even out the door. “You have no right - “
Niklaus slammed her hard against front door, drawing a cry of pain as the doorknob dug into her lower back. “I suggest you choose your words carefully.”
Her boot in his solar plexus caught him off-guard, sending him stumbling backwards into the kitchen table, shattering a wooden chair. He grunted as Lexi landed hard on his chest, shoving a chair leg through his rib cage.
“I am not Bex,” she growled, twisting the chair leg. “If you want to kill me, you're going to work for it.”
He flipped her onto her back, jerking the chair leg from his body and using it to strike her so hard against her cheek, it split the skin, drawing blood. “If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead.”
Lexi grabbed his shirt front, tearing the material as she jerked him down, drawing her nails across his face, her nails ripping open the flesh. He hissed, rearing back to strike her, grasping a handful of her long hair to hold her in place. Lexi planted her feet, pitching her hips upward to unseat him, and she reversed their positions as easily as she had when they were children.
Anger and embarrassment flooded his body as Lexi caught his wrists, pinning him to the floor, her blood dripping down onto his battered body. Both of their breathing was fast from exertion, and Niklaus wasn't sure if he wanted to kiss her or kill her.
Finally he revealed, “I missed you.”
Her mouth tasted of iron and the past, and Niklaus was certain nothing in the world tasted better than Lexi.
Lexi ripped open his jeans, tightly fisting his cock; her grip was just rough enough to seem like a threat, and it made him throb in her palm. He slid his hands up her thighs, finding the flimsy scrap of fabric covering the hot, wet heat he needed to bury himself deep inside. As he easily snapped the strings of the thong, Lexi immediately impaled herself, crying out, and Niklaus felt his eyes roll back in his head; he had been dreaming of this for centuries.
“Fucking love thongs,” he groaned as Lexi began to ride him in earnest, paying no mind to the painful, gaping wound in his side. “Petticoats were such a bitch to get under.”
Lexi twisted his nipple brutally, her fangs sinking briefly into his full bottom lip before ordering, “You need to shut up right now.”
It was over in a matter of minutes. The moment he worried her nipple with blunt teeth, his thumb battering her clit with enough roughness to skirt the edge of pain, Lexi came, spasming so tightly around him, Niklaus could not stop himself from coming. He knew he was gasping her name like a schoolboy, but there was no way he could stop himself, not when he was certain his brain was coming out his dick.
As Lexi climbed off of him, collapsing on her back, she reached up, pulling a dish towel off of the oven door and pressing it against his ribs.
“Stop bleeding on my floor or I'll lose my deposit.”
Niklaus chuckled even as he obeyed. For a moment they lied in silence, the destroyed kitchen furniture around them, when Lexi softly sighed, “Happy birthday, Nik.”
“You remembered.”
“Of course I remembered. You never forget family.”
The quest for family was all which sustained Niklaus.
It is still all which sustains him.
* * *
Rebekah saw Niklaus for the first time in 90 years when she put Elijah's dagger in his heart. She knew it wouldn't kill him; his Hybrid bullshit made his death a little more complex than the rest of them. But it would hurt for his heart to be shredded the same way hers had been, and that was all which mattered to Rebekah right now.
She wasn't sure about her brothers, but death had not been restful for Rebekah. For ninety years she was haunted by dreams of all which could never be and plagued by nightmares of what had. For every sweet dream about spending time with Charlotte or dancing at a party, there was the memory of Niklaus slipping into her bed, whispering Lex's name as he took what Bex did not want to offer; for every pleasant memory of one brother, there was a recollection of Niklaus keeping her in line, Niklaus making her cry, Niklaus punishing her for not being Alexandra and then punishing her for being too much like her.
Being dead with Niklaus in her head was even worse than being alive with Niklaus beside her because death allowed no respite.
As Niklaus tried to rationalize with her, as he offered up Stefan as a gesture of good faith, as he demanded Charlotte's necklace, all Rebekah could think of was the five bodies in the nearby coffins. She did not know how long it would take for them to wake, but if they did so while they were still in the warehouse, Rebekah knew any element of surprise would be lost.
While Niklaus raged at the loss of her necklace, Rebekah studied Stefan, who did not look at all like the man she felt like she saw only moments earlier. There was a heavy sadness to him now, and she wondered what her brother did to take the carefree, beautiful Stefan she loved into the creature before her.
Niklaus always ruined everything.
The whole world was different now. As they walked to Niklaus's apartment, Rebekah could not get over how different the cars were, how many lights; she was used to progress, had seen entire civilizations rise and fall, but this was different because she had not been there to adapt. The men all looked like street urchins, the women like prostitutes; she looked down at her dress, once the height of fashion, and suddenly felt obsolete.
“What is that?” Rebekah asked Stefan as Niklaus removed one of the devices she found in the pocket of the man in the warehouse from his pocket and began to speak into it.
“It's a cell phone.”
“A phone? But where are the wires?”
Stefan smiled indulgently. “We don't need them anymore. Everything's wireless.” His face and voice softened as he offered, “You'll learn.”
She nodded crisply, glaring at Niklaus as he shouted into his phone. As they crossed the threshold of the apartment, Rebekah removed her heels, shimmying out of her ruined dress. She saw Stefan suppress a smile and, suddenly furious, she snapped, “What?!”
Stefan held up his hands in forfeit. “Nothing. I just...It's been a long time since I've seen women in undergarments like that. They're much smaller now.”
Rebekah glanced down at what, to her mind, was the most stylish lingerie the times had to offer. Except the times were not the times anymore, thanks to Niklaus.
“Do showers still work the same way?”
Stefan nodded.
“You should come with me anyway in case I have questions.”
Rebekah saw a flicker of some indefinable emotion in Stefan's eyes, but he hid it so quickly, she knew he must have learned to conceal what he was actually feeling from Niklaus. But Stefan came forward, offering a pale imitation of the suggestive smile she loved so much, and Rebekah was not going to push him away, not when he was the only good thing in her life.
He adjusted the water for her as she stripped down to her skin; when her fingers popped the first button on his shirt, Stefan seemed to wince before quickly hurrying to help her. As she pushed his jeans over his narrow hips, Rebekah could not help but trail her fingers over the hard muscles of his stomach, following the defined line of his hip down to his cock, soft and unresponsive.
“Do you want this even a little?” she murmured almost inaudibly against his ear.
He shook his head minutely. “I'm sorry.”
She pulled him beneath the spray, closing the glass door, letting the hot water rush over her skin. Stefan nudged her out of the way, raising his face to the spray, and Rebekah instantly knew Stefan was not with Niklaus by choice, that he was as much a hostage as she was in her brother's twisted game.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, Rebekah pulled him down to her eye level; straining to hear Niklaus still shouting at whoever he was speaking to, she pressed her mouth directly against the shell of Stefan's ear and whispered, “I woke up my family. They'll come for us.”
Stefan pulled away in surprise, eyes wide with a peculiar mix of gratitude and terror; and then he kissed her desperately, his fingers tangling in her curls. As much as she loved Stefan, she understood ninety years had passed; she knew she was not the woman Stefan loved anymore. But this was not about love, and Rebekah understood needing a connection in the midst of chaos.
He pressed her against the marble, his hands slipping beneath her haunches to lift her off of her feet; this Rebekah remembered, this she dreamt about during her endless sleep.
“You're starting without me,” Niklaus announced as he entered the bathroom, causing the two of them to break apart. Rebekah recognized the look on her brother's face; she knew better than anyone the depths of Niklaus's jealousy and rage.
“Well, you were taking too long,” Rebekah snapped, subtly moving in front of Stefan, trying to spare him the brunt of Niklaus's anger. “I've been dead for ninety years, and you can't stop your temper tantrums for five minutes long enough to fuck me? Is it our fault you can't get the job done?”
Niklaus smirked as he shed his clothing, stepping into the shower stall. When he grasped her hips tightly, jerking her to him with enough force to nearly knock her over, Rebekah knew this was not going to be kind; there would be no apology in Niklaus's actions tonight. No, tonight would be a reminder of exactly who she belonged to and how she would never escape.
“What do you want?” Niklaus asked mockingly.
“Vengeance,” she retorted, wincing as he spun her around, pushing her face first into the shower wall, her breasts mashed against the marble.
It hurt when he entered her in one forceful stroke, pressing her so hard against the wall Rebekah felt her nose crunch beneath it. As the blood began to gush, Rebekah caught Stefan's horrified expression out of the corner of her eye and she minutely shook her head, silently ordering him to be strong.
The quest for vengeance was all which sustained Rebekah for ninety years of nothingness.
It is still all which sustains her.
* * *
When Elijah wakes up, it takes a moment for him to orient himself. He pushes open the coffin, stumbling as he climbs out; he does not know how long he has been dead, but he surmises it has not been long as hunger is not screaming in his gut. When he sees the other coffins, he immediately flips open the lids, stunned to find his mother and brothers, all with daggers resting on their chests, finally free of their hearts.
It took little effort to compel a half-dozen people to enter the warehouse, to wait to be drained. Once the blood was in his system, Elijah could feel his strength returning, and it is then he sees the engraving on the inside lid of his coffin.
Find Lexi. Save me. Kill Nik. Love, Bex.
Elijah laughs. If Rebekah is who Niklaus chose to awaken, he is even stupider than Elijah gave him credit for; anyone with half of a lick of sense knew Rebekah hated him more than anyone, forever their slighted little sister.
He has not seen Lexi in almost 500 years, not since the fight with Niklaus, not since she threw herself upon Niklaus in order to keep him from daggering Elijah then. A few times he had considered looking for her, but he always suspected she, of all of them, was most able to live a relatively normal life. Elijah had not wanted to disrupt whatever life Alexandra was able to build for herself.
To find Alexandra, he will need a witch.
* **
When Lexi enters her Brooklyn brownstone, the last thing she expects to find is her entire family in her living room. She drops the bags in her arms, literally stunned by the sight of her mother rising from her couch, looking just as beautiful and glamorous as she had always had; Lexi cannot help but gasp as Esther wraps her arms around her, squeezing her tightly.
“Oh, Alexandra...You look so grown-up.”
She has been twenty-five-years-old for a thousand years, but the compliment makes her eyes water nonetheless.
“How?” is all she can make her voice ask. She knows more languages than most people even know exist, speaks dialects linguists have thought were lost centuries ago, but suddenly Lexi can barely form her own name.
“Niklaus woke Rebekah,” Seth volunteers.
Lexi smirks despite herself. “Stupid.”
Elijah inclines his head in agreement. “She left me instructions, the first of which is to find you.”
Suddenly comprehending their presence, Lexi remembers how to speak enough to declare, “I won't help you kill him.”
“Alexandra - “
“No,” she cuts in, her glare silencing her mother. “I'm happy you're all alive, but I'm not helping you kill him. If that's why you're here, if that's what you want, you can leave.”
“He has gone mad with power,” Joshua states. “He is trying to make an army of creatures like himself.”
“Because he feels he has no one!” Running her fingers through her dyed bob, the faux-mahogany curls falling into her eyes, she stressed, “None of you still get it. He's like this because he knows he doesn't fit in anywhere else! Michael made sure of that, and all of you reinforced it! I won't help you kill him.”
“Alexandra,” Esther begins, sadness on her face, “I do not want to see Niklaus dead any more than you do. But he is beyond salvation.”
“I'll never believe that.”
“Then believe this,” Elijah challenges. “He has Stefan.” Stepping closer, he adds, “If you do not want to take part in killing Niklaus, I understand. But Stefan will die if Michael finds him first, and we both know that.”
To save Stefan, she will need to threaten the life of the only person in the world who loves her absolutely.
* * *
When Niklaus, Rebekah, and Stefan enter his home in Los Angeles to find Lexi making Romanian Stuffed Peppers, his very favorite dish, to say he is surprised is an understatement. He has not seen her since his birthday years earlier, and she has never once sought him out in over two hundred years. Instantly he suspects her rapid reintroduction to his life has little to do with him and everything to do with Stefan.
“Lexi?” Stefan gasps, cautious optimism painted all over his face.
Lexi smiles brilliantly from the kitchen, pouring three glasses of wine which she brings to them. “Hey, Stef. You hungry?”
“We just ate,” Niklaus frowns.
Lexi doesn't blink, smiling blandly at his tone, before handing a glass to Rebekah. “Good to see you, Bex.”
“What are you doing here?” he demands, furious. “Have you come to rescue young Stefan? I know it wasn't to just make me dinner.”
“I came to proposition you. I just figured dinner would make you a little nicer.” Returning to the stove, pulling plates out of the cupboard, she asks, “Who wants my specialty?”
“Lexi - “
“Romanian food is just so overrated - “
“Alexandra!” Lexi pauses at his shout, patiently waiting, and he sighs in irritation, feeling very much like the younger brother all over again. “Why are you here?”
“Because Katerina undaggered our entire family, and they want my help in killing you.”
Niklaus does not often allow himself to feel fear or grief, but it comes upon so quickly, he does not have time to stop it. He tries not to think of his mother, of his brothers; he keeps them safe for the day he planned to revive them, and he certainly hadn't wanted Katerina to make that decision for him.
He is going to kill Katerina anyway; this is just another in a long list of reasons why.
“And you've come to do it?”
Lexi looks at him as if he is mentally deficient. “Of course not. I've come to bargain.”
“The terms?”
“Rebekah leaves, you agree to stop your assault on our family, and everyone, including Michael, will agree to leave you to make your little Hybrid army. Oh, and Stefan gets to go home.”
Niklaus scowls. “Somehow I doubt our brothers give a flying fuck about Stefan.”
“No,” Lexi concedes, “that one is mine.”
He casts a look at Rebekah and Stefan, both of whom look as if they are unsure what is about to happen and what they will do if something does. Niklaus does not doubt Stefan will do whatever it takes to try to save Lexi, and Rebekah will do anything to keep Stefan safe; he knows he could kill them both if he truly wanted, but he has no intention of killing Lexi tonight.
“And in exchange?”
“I give you Charlotte's necklace, which you can use to break your curse, and I will be your right-hand man.” Smiling enticingly, she encourages, “Think about it, Nik: you, me, Michael off of our backs...We'd be a family again. And, let's be honest, we're the best part of the family anyway.”
“Thanks, Lex,” Rebekah grouses.
“How noble an offer. How about a counteroffer? You give me Charlotte's necklace, you and Rebekah both stay, and I re-dagger everyone or I'll kill Stefan.”
Lexi smirks, and Niklaus instantly recognizes it as his own expression. “I'm not afraid of you, Nik. And if you kill Stefan, the Bennett witch is going to destroy Charlotte's necklace, making sure you end up trapped like this forever.” Rounding the counter, her voice remarkably even, Lexi declares, “I don't want to see you dead, and we both know that's what's going to happen if you don't agree. I'm trying to save you, Niklaus.”
“Who asked you to save me?”
Niklaus watches as her entire posture changes, as her face folds in sadness. “No one had to ask; that's what family does.”
To get what he needs to feel complete, Niklaus will have to trust Lexi to protect him.
* * *
When Rebekah sees her family for the first time in centuries, she is stunned to realize they are not at all how she remembers them. Her brothers always seemed larger than life, her mother always appeared to be the most beautiful woman Rebekah had ever seen, but now...now they are just people.
As they cross the threshold of Stefan's home, as she glimpses the doppelganger Stefan loves, the collection of people whose lives have been torn apart by Niklaus, Rebekah forces herself not to charge into Elijah's arms, to squeeze him tightly and never let go. She has spent centuries cursing Elijah for his abandonment, for breaking his promise, but seeing his face again, seeing the cautious smile she always associated with safety, all Rebekah can do is cry into his shoulder.
She sees Stefan embracing Charlotte's doppelganger, and she hates the way her heart aches. Stefan catches her eye over the girl's shoulder, and she can see the conflict in his eyes. She knows better than anyone there is no going back once Niklaus has gotten his claws into you; the person you become under Niklaus's tutelage is not the sort of person who can easily slide back into a normal life.
Niklaus remains near the doorway, glaring at their brothers, deliberately keeping his gaze away from their mother; the Bennett witch does not allow her eyes to leave him, and Rebekah hates Alexandra for taking away their chances at vengeance, for making it so Niklaus will never suffer for what he has done.
“I'd like my necklace now,” Niklaus says, leaning against the doorway.
Rebekah watches as the doppelganger reaches up to the undo the clasp. The words come out of her mouth before she can stop them.
“Don't take it off.”
Elijah stiffens beside her as Niklaus's face darkens. “We had a deal. Now, if I don't get my necklace, there's no reason for me to agree to any of the terms.”
Alexandra sighs, “Don't listen to her, Elena. Just - “
“Charlotte said that necklace was for her daughter; it belongs to the Petrovas, not for you and your twisted crusade!”
“Rebekah - “
“Charlotte would not have wanted this.”
“Charlotte has been dead for a thousand years, and I am out of patience,” Niklaus growls, coming off the wall only for Alexandra to push him back against it with enough force to rattle the pictures on the wall.
“Elena,” her sister says, voice full of purpose, “I need you to give me the necklace now.”
Rebekah watches as the girl obeys, pressing it into Alexandra's palm with a shaking hand. Immediately she passes it to Niklaus, who spares one last glance for them all before strutting out of the boardinghouse as if he did not have a care in the world.
Alexandra stalks over to her, surprising Rebekah by the strength of her hug. She hugs them all, including Stefan whom she playfully orders to behave himself, before following Niklaus out the door. Rebekah knows all Niklaus has ever wanted is to have Alexandra all to himself, to have someone he trusts implicitly at his side, and Rebekah does not think it is really that much of a sacrifice for her sister to provide him with that. After all, if she does not, Rebekah knows Niklaus will return to finish what he started.
To have the life she wants to live, Rebekah must trust her sister to keep her brother satisfied.
* * *
It is 200 years before Elijah sees Niklaus again. He is literally standing on a street corner when he looks up and sees Niklaus on the opposite corner. They stare at each other for a moment before Elijah nods in greeting. Niklaus is still for a moment before doing the same, inclining his head slightly before heading in the opposite direction.
It is not an apology, and Elijah does not forgive him.
But it is a start.
* * *
It is 300 years before Lexi sees Rebekah again. She is at a party, flirting with a man she knows Niklaus will not mind sharing, when she senses someone familiar nearby. When she turns, there is Rebekah with Stefan, both dressed in their finery, Rebekah laughing at something Stefan is saying. Every instinct inside of Lexi tells her to go to them, to wrap her arms around Stefan and press a kiss to Rebekah's cheek. Both of them see Lexi at the same time, and for a long beat, all they do is stare at each other.
And then Stefan moves forward, and Lexi embraces him, and Rebekah cautiously accepts a hug.
It is not an apology, and Lexi knows Rebekah does not forgive her.
But it is a start.
* * *
It is 450 years before Niklaus sees Rebekah again. He is in wolf form, rushing through the woods in pursuit of game, when Rebekah suddenly pops into focus, downing the stag he had been pursuing. Niklaus watches as she drains the animal, confused as to her rationale, and, when she spots him, Rebekah freezes, knowing the dangers of crossing a werewolf. Niklaus transform back to himself easily, and Rebekah simply stares, her body still tense, her face distrusting. They stare at each other for a few moments before Niklaus shifts back into wolf form, padding towards her, nudging her knee with his head before continuing on.
It is not an apology, and Niklaus understands Rebekah will likely never forgive him.
But it is a start.
* * *
It is the 2000th anniversary of their turning before Rebekah sees her family fully reunited. She is not generally a nostalgic person, but her dreams have been full of Charlotte and her former life; she broaches the topic with Stefan, and he suggests they go home. When they reach the field which once held the Petrova farm, Rebekah is stunned to see Elijah and Elena already there. Within a few hours, her parents, Joshua, Isaac, and Seth all return. As the moon begins to crest, Niklaus and Alexandra enter the clearing, and Rebekah feels something ineffable twisting inside of her.
No one says anything as Niklaus sets flowers down upon the ground, his sole acknowledgment of the wife he lost; when he approaches Elena, Rebekah feels Elijah and Stefan both tense. When he presses Charlotte's necklace into Elena's hand, tears begin to roll down Rebekah's cheeks as she glimpses the shadow of the brother she once knew.
It is not an apology, and Rebekah knows things will never be the way they once were.
But it is a start.
Author: lit_chick08
Pairings: Klaus/Lexi, Klaus/Rebekah, Klaus/Rebekah/Stefan, Rebekah/Stefan, Elijah/Elena
Warning: incest, hints of dubcon/noncon
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Goes AU after 3x03 “The End of the Affair”
Word Count: 13,432
Disclaimer: These characters belong to LJ Smith, Kevin Williamson, and Julie Plec
Summary: For 1,000 years, they balanced on the fine line between love and hate. But no matter what happens, no matter who they become, brothers and sisters are forever. No one knows this better than Elijah, Lexi, Klaus, and Rebekah
A/N: A pseudo prequel/sequel to Ain't Misbehavin' but you don't necessarily need to read that to understand this
Elijah saw his father for the first time in 800 years the year Hitler came to power in Germany. Every year since leaving Niklaus, Elijah returned to the grounds which once held his childhood home; the building was different now, updated to keep with the times, but he still came, still laid four roses on the property's edge in remembrance of his mother, of his brothers.
“You'll need another,” a voice informed him, causing Elijah to stiffen in familiarity. He turned and saw his father, a single rose in his hand. “He killed Rebekah.”
Elijah closed his eyes, trying to push away the pain of the statement, failing miserably. When he trusted his voice, he asked, “How long ago?”
“A few years. Only a matter of time, I suppose, but...”
“But it was Rebekah,” Elijah finished.
“He's gone underground, trusting no one,” Michael volunteered. “I have not been able to find him since Chicago, since Rebekah's...disappearance.”
“And you want me to help you find him,” Elijah interpreted.
“They were our family, Elijah.”
Whirling on Michael, Elijah grasped him by his coat, filled with a rage so volatile Elijah did not recognize it. “You think I do not know that? You think it does not fill every waking moment of my life?” Pushing him away, Elijah accused, “None of this would have happened if you hadn't forced us to choose. Do not wrap yourself up in the sanctity of family when you pushed us away.”
“Niklaus is not my son.”
“And neither am I.” Shaking his head angrily, shoving his hands deep within the pockets of his coat, Elijah snapped, “When I kill Niklaus, I will not do it by your side. You do not deserve vengeance.”
Vengeance was all Elijah had to sustain him.
It is still all which sustains him.
* * *
Lexi saw her father for the first time in 400 years during the Summer of Love. She and Stefan were in Haight-Ashbury, dancing in the streets, LSD in their veins when she saw her father leaning against a car, a disapproving scowl on his face. Her body was so full of psychoactive drugs, she was certain she was hallucinating; the night before, she was certain she was making love to Niklaus only to wake up to a man who bore absolutely no resemblance to her brother but did have the most disgusting beard she had seen outside of the Middle Ages.
“What are you looking at?” Stefan asked as he draped a necklace of flowers around her neck, smiling into the thick braids she wove her hair into earlier.
Lexi didn't answer, her eyes still focused on what she was almost convinced was an apparition of the man who spent centuries hunting her. And then Stefan pointed to the man and said, “Do you know him?”
“You see him?”
Stefan looked at her strangely. “Of course I can see him. Lex, are you - “
Cupping his face, using the compulsion she seldom used, Lexi intoned, “You're tired. You're going to go back to the house, go to sleep, and, when you wake up tomorrow morning, you will have no memory of seeing that man. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Stefan automatically replied.
Lexi hugged him tightly, tears stinging her eyes at the idea that this could be goodbye. As soon as Stefan was out of sight, she took a deep breath and then approached her father, trying to will her hands to stop shaking. The last time she saw Michael, he was setting fire to a house they were staying in; with Niklaus's murder of their mother, Michael kicked into overdrive, and Lexi could still feel the sting of flames against her skin.
“You have always kept the poorest company,” Michael observed as she stepped in front of him. “And what are you wearing?”
Despite herself, Lexi self-consciously looked down at the tiny shorts and nearly sheer tank top at which he was sneering. When combined with her waist length braids and the flowers Stefan gave her, she looked like every other hippie in San Francisco dancing in the moonlight.
“You are of noble blood, Alexandra, and you are behaving like a rutting animal.”
She flinched at both the criticism and the sound of her given name. “That is not what I am called anymore.”
“No, you are Lexi now.” Face darkening, he asked, “How do you live your life hearing everyone call you by Niklaus's name for you?”
“It is my name,” she argued fiercely. “I am not Alexandra. I'm Alexia Branson; I've been Alexia since 1821, and that's who I want to stay. So if you're going to kill me - “
“I am not going to kill you.” He reached out, touching one of the flowers woven into her hair. “Your mother wore flowers in her hair when we wed. You look so much like her.”
Tears unexpectedly flooding her eyes, she murmured, “I had nothing to do with her death. I swear, if I had known what Nik planned, I would have stopped him.”
“Like you stopped him with Isaac? And Joshua? And Seth?”
She looked down, ashamed. There was no way she could argue it was a matter of survival; Isaac's murder was out of line, but Joshua and Seth came for revenge. If Niklaus hadn't killed them, they would have killed him, killed her and Rebekah for spite. It was kill or be killed then.
But Esther...There were many things she had never agreed with her mother upon, including her passive acceptance of Niklaus's treatment at Michael's hand, but the day Nik put the dagger in her heart was the day Lexi knew it was time to leave.
“He killed Rebekah, you know.”
She gasped. “What? When?”
“1921, shortly before you showed up in Chicago to reform your playmate.” Eyes narrowing, he stated, “He needs to be stopped.”
“Stopped from what? No one has seen hide nor hair of him since the twenties. He is a story vampires tell each other, the boogeyman.”
“Do you honestly think he won't try to kill Elijah, that he won't come for you?”
“He won't.”
“And how do you know that?” Michael challenged.
“Because he loves me as I love him.”
Michael scoffed. “Niklaus cannot love.”
This time Lexi scoffed, distaste written all over her face. “You do not know him. You never knew him. And if you came here to recruit me to help you kill him, you came to the wrong child. Find Elijah - “
“Elijah wants no part in this; he wants solitary vengeance. But you - “
Shoving her father into the parked car, startling herself with the violence of her reaction, she shouted, “I will never help you kill him! I do not kill the people I love, and I will not help you destroy him. No matter what he has done, Nik is not beyond hope.”
Hope was all Lexi had to sustain her.
It is still all which sustains her.
* * *
Niklaus saw Alexandra for the first time in 200 years on what would have been his 1000th birthday. He had spent the past 90 years in near solitude, surrounding himself only with witches, staying as far underground as he could possibly get; as Rebekah proved, there was no one on earth he could trust, no one who had his back absolutely.
But even the most feared vampire in the world became lonely, and all Nik wanted was to see his big sister.
Unlike Elijah, she never hid. His last, remaining brother kept a very low profile, taking almost as much care as Niklaus to keep himself protected; the last Niklaus heard of anyone even glimpsing Elijah, he was in New Zealand, literally a world away from Niklaus. But Alexandra...she changed her name, hid the fact she was a member of the Original family, but she didn't disguise her life. From the moment his Lexi left that plantation in Georgia, Niklaus had always known exactly where she was.
She never did leave Georgia. Niklaus found the condo she kept in Atlanta easily; the name on the lease was Alexia Branson, her pseudonym of choice, but Lee Quinn was also named on the mailbox. Whenever he asked around about Lexi, people almost always mentioned her boyfriend, a soldier she picked up during World War Two; it made him so much angrier than anything else. Lexi was supposed to be as lost without him as he was without her; she was not supposed to become the happy, carefree lover of another man.
He found scotch in her kitchen, pouring himself three fingers before stretching out on the couch, his feet propped up on the coffee table. There were dozens of photographs around the apartment, all depicting Lexi and her various adventures with multiple friends. Niklaus could not help but smile at a shot of Lexi with Stefan, both in the ridiculous rocker garb of the 80s, grinning madly. He missed Stefan; he was everything Niklaus ever wanted in a brother, never asked him to be anything other than what he was. He kept tabs on Stefan as well, knew Lexi was determined to keep him on a straight and narrow path; his hope is, when Lexi eventually returns to his side, Stefan will come as well.
They could rule the world, the three of them.
When Lexi came through the door with Lee, she immediately froze at the sight of him, pushing Lee behind her. Niklaus smiled at the gesture, at the fierce protectiveness in her stance; it was so purely Lexi and he missed that.
“Hello, sister.”
“Niklaus...”
He got to his feet, smirking as he approached them. “You must be Alexandra's lover. How delightfully...mediocre.” As indignation filled Lee's face, he compelled, “You're going to leave now. Come back tomorrow evening and forget you ever saw me.”
Lexi shoved at his shoulders before Lee was even out the door. “You have no right - “
Niklaus slammed her hard against front door, drawing a cry of pain as the doorknob dug into her lower back. “I suggest you choose your words carefully.”
Her boot in his solar plexus caught him off-guard, sending him stumbling backwards into the kitchen table, shattering a wooden chair. He grunted as Lexi landed hard on his chest, shoving a chair leg through his rib cage.
“I am not Bex,” she growled, twisting the chair leg. “If you want to kill me, you're going to work for it.”
He flipped her onto her back, jerking the chair leg from his body and using it to strike her so hard against her cheek, it split the skin, drawing blood. “If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead.”
Lexi grabbed his shirt front, tearing the material as she jerked him down, drawing her nails across his face, her nails ripping open the flesh. He hissed, rearing back to strike her, grasping a handful of her long hair to hold her in place. Lexi planted her feet, pitching her hips upward to unseat him, and she reversed their positions as easily as she had when they were children.
Anger and embarrassment flooded his body as Lexi caught his wrists, pinning him to the floor, her blood dripping down onto his battered body. Both of their breathing was fast from exertion, and Niklaus wasn't sure if he wanted to kiss her or kill her.
Finally he revealed, “I missed you.”
Her mouth tasted of iron and the past, and Niklaus was certain nothing in the world tasted better than Lexi.
Lexi ripped open his jeans, tightly fisting his cock; her grip was just rough enough to seem like a threat, and it made him throb in her palm. He slid his hands up her thighs, finding the flimsy scrap of fabric covering the hot, wet heat he needed to bury himself deep inside. As he easily snapped the strings of the thong, Lexi immediately impaled herself, crying out, and Niklaus felt his eyes roll back in his head; he had been dreaming of this for centuries.
“Fucking love thongs,” he groaned as Lexi began to ride him in earnest, paying no mind to the painful, gaping wound in his side. “Petticoats were such a bitch to get under.”
Lexi twisted his nipple brutally, her fangs sinking briefly into his full bottom lip before ordering, “You need to shut up right now.”
It was over in a matter of minutes. The moment he worried her nipple with blunt teeth, his thumb battering her clit with enough roughness to skirt the edge of pain, Lexi came, spasming so tightly around him, Niklaus could not stop himself from coming. He knew he was gasping her name like a schoolboy, but there was no way he could stop himself, not when he was certain his brain was coming out his dick.
As Lexi climbed off of him, collapsing on her back, she reached up, pulling a dish towel off of the oven door and pressing it against his ribs.
“Stop bleeding on my floor or I'll lose my deposit.”
Niklaus chuckled even as he obeyed. For a moment they lied in silence, the destroyed kitchen furniture around them, when Lexi softly sighed, “Happy birthday, Nik.”
“You remembered.”
“Of course I remembered. You never forget family.”
The quest for family was all which sustained Niklaus.
It is still all which sustains him.
* * *
Rebekah saw Niklaus for the first time in 90 years when she put Elijah's dagger in his heart. She knew it wouldn't kill him; his Hybrid bullshit made his death a little more complex than the rest of them. But it would hurt for his heart to be shredded the same way hers had been, and that was all which mattered to Rebekah right now.
She wasn't sure about her brothers, but death had not been restful for Rebekah. For ninety years she was haunted by dreams of all which could never be and plagued by nightmares of what had. For every sweet dream about spending time with Charlotte or dancing at a party, there was the memory of Niklaus slipping into her bed, whispering Lex's name as he took what Bex did not want to offer; for every pleasant memory of one brother, there was a recollection of Niklaus keeping her in line, Niklaus making her cry, Niklaus punishing her for not being Alexandra and then punishing her for being too much like her.
Being dead with Niklaus in her head was even worse than being alive with Niklaus beside her because death allowed no respite.
As Niklaus tried to rationalize with her, as he offered up Stefan as a gesture of good faith, as he demanded Charlotte's necklace, all Rebekah could think of was the five bodies in the nearby coffins. She did not know how long it would take for them to wake, but if they did so while they were still in the warehouse, Rebekah knew any element of surprise would be lost.
While Niklaus raged at the loss of her necklace, Rebekah studied Stefan, who did not look at all like the man she felt like she saw only moments earlier. There was a heavy sadness to him now, and she wondered what her brother did to take the carefree, beautiful Stefan she loved into the creature before her.
Niklaus always ruined everything.
The whole world was different now. As they walked to Niklaus's apartment, Rebekah could not get over how different the cars were, how many lights; she was used to progress, had seen entire civilizations rise and fall, but this was different because she had not been there to adapt. The men all looked like street urchins, the women like prostitutes; she looked down at her dress, once the height of fashion, and suddenly felt obsolete.
“What is that?” Rebekah asked Stefan as Niklaus removed one of the devices she found in the pocket of the man in the warehouse from his pocket and began to speak into it.
“It's a cell phone.”
“A phone? But where are the wires?”
Stefan smiled indulgently. “We don't need them anymore. Everything's wireless.” His face and voice softened as he offered, “You'll learn.”
She nodded crisply, glaring at Niklaus as he shouted into his phone. As they crossed the threshold of the apartment, Rebekah removed her heels, shimmying out of her ruined dress. She saw Stefan suppress a smile and, suddenly furious, she snapped, “What?!”
Stefan held up his hands in forfeit. “Nothing. I just...It's been a long time since I've seen women in undergarments like that. They're much smaller now.”
Rebekah glanced down at what, to her mind, was the most stylish lingerie the times had to offer. Except the times were not the times anymore, thanks to Niklaus.
“Do showers still work the same way?”
Stefan nodded.
“You should come with me anyway in case I have questions.”
Rebekah saw a flicker of some indefinable emotion in Stefan's eyes, but he hid it so quickly, she knew he must have learned to conceal what he was actually feeling from Niklaus. But Stefan came forward, offering a pale imitation of the suggestive smile she loved so much, and Rebekah was not going to push him away, not when he was the only good thing in her life.
He adjusted the water for her as she stripped down to her skin; when her fingers popped the first button on his shirt, Stefan seemed to wince before quickly hurrying to help her. As she pushed his jeans over his narrow hips, Rebekah could not help but trail her fingers over the hard muscles of his stomach, following the defined line of his hip down to his cock, soft and unresponsive.
“Do you want this even a little?” she murmured almost inaudibly against his ear.
He shook his head minutely. “I'm sorry.”
She pulled him beneath the spray, closing the glass door, letting the hot water rush over her skin. Stefan nudged her out of the way, raising his face to the spray, and Rebekah instantly knew Stefan was not with Niklaus by choice, that he was as much a hostage as she was in her brother's twisted game.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, Rebekah pulled him down to her eye level; straining to hear Niklaus still shouting at whoever he was speaking to, she pressed her mouth directly against the shell of Stefan's ear and whispered, “I woke up my family. They'll come for us.”
Stefan pulled away in surprise, eyes wide with a peculiar mix of gratitude and terror; and then he kissed her desperately, his fingers tangling in her curls. As much as she loved Stefan, she understood ninety years had passed; she knew she was not the woman Stefan loved anymore. But this was not about love, and Rebekah understood needing a connection in the midst of chaos.
He pressed her against the marble, his hands slipping beneath her haunches to lift her off of her feet; this Rebekah remembered, this she dreamt about during her endless sleep.
“You're starting without me,” Niklaus announced as he entered the bathroom, causing the two of them to break apart. Rebekah recognized the look on her brother's face; she knew better than anyone the depths of Niklaus's jealousy and rage.
“Well, you were taking too long,” Rebekah snapped, subtly moving in front of Stefan, trying to spare him the brunt of Niklaus's anger. “I've been dead for ninety years, and you can't stop your temper tantrums for five minutes long enough to fuck me? Is it our fault you can't get the job done?”
Niklaus smirked as he shed his clothing, stepping into the shower stall. When he grasped her hips tightly, jerking her to him with enough force to nearly knock her over, Rebekah knew this was not going to be kind; there would be no apology in Niklaus's actions tonight. No, tonight would be a reminder of exactly who she belonged to and how she would never escape.
“What do you want?” Niklaus asked mockingly.
“Vengeance,” she retorted, wincing as he spun her around, pushing her face first into the shower wall, her breasts mashed against the marble.
It hurt when he entered her in one forceful stroke, pressing her so hard against the wall Rebekah felt her nose crunch beneath it. As the blood began to gush, Rebekah caught Stefan's horrified expression out of the corner of her eye and she minutely shook her head, silently ordering him to be strong.
The quest for vengeance was all which sustained Rebekah for ninety years of nothingness.
It is still all which sustains her.
* * *
When Elijah wakes up, it takes a moment for him to orient himself. He pushes open the coffin, stumbling as he climbs out; he does not know how long he has been dead, but he surmises it has not been long as hunger is not screaming in his gut. When he sees the other coffins, he immediately flips open the lids, stunned to find his mother and brothers, all with daggers resting on their chests, finally free of their hearts.
It took little effort to compel a half-dozen people to enter the warehouse, to wait to be drained. Once the blood was in his system, Elijah could feel his strength returning, and it is then he sees the engraving on the inside lid of his coffin.
Find Lexi. Save me. Kill Nik. Love, Bex.
Elijah laughs. If Rebekah is who Niklaus chose to awaken, he is even stupider than Elijah gave him credit for; anyone with half of a lick of sense knew Rebekah hated him more than anyone, forever their slighted little sister.
He has not seen Lexi in almost 500 years, not since the fight with Niklaus, not since she threw herself upon Niklaus in order to keep him from daggering Elijah then. A few times he had considered looking for her, but he always suspected she, of all of them, was most able to live a relatively normal life. Elijah had not wanted to disrupt whatever life Alexandra was able to build for herself.
To find Alexandra, he will need a witch.
* **
When Lexi enters her Brooklyn brownstone, the last thing she expects to find is her entire family in her living room. She drops the bags in her arms, literally stunned by the sight of her mother rising from her couch, looking just as beautiful and glamorous as she had always had; Lexi cannot help but gasp as Esther wraps her arms around her, squeezing her tightly.
“Oh, Alexandra...You look so grown-up.”
She has been twenty-five-years-old for a thousand years, but the compliment makes her eyes water nonetheless.
“How?” is all she can make her voice ask. She knows more languages than most people even know exist, speaks dialects linguists have thought were lost centuries ago, but suddenly Lexi can barely form her own name.
“Niklaus woke Rebekah,” Seth volunteers.
Lexi smirks despite herself. “Stupid.”
Elijah inclines his head in agreement. “She left me instructions, the first of which is to find you.”
Suddenly comprehending their presence, Lexi remembers how to speak enough to declare, “I won't help you kill him.”
“Alexandra - “
“No,” she cuts in, her glare silencing her mother. “I'm happy you're all alive, but I'm not helping you kill him. If that's why you're here, if that's what you want, you can leave.”
“He has gone mad with power,” Joshua states. “He is trying to make an army of creatures like himself.”
“Because he feels he has no one!” Running her fingers through her dyed bob, the faux-mahogany curls falling into her eyes, she stressed, “None of you still get it. He's like this because he knows he doesn't fit in anywhere else! Michael made sure of that, and all of you reinforced it! I won't help you kill him.”
“Alexandra,” Esther begins, sadness on her face, “I do not want to see Niklaus dead any more than you do. But he is beyond salvation.”
“I'll never believe that.”
“Then believe this,” Elijah challenges. “He has Stefan.” Stepping closer, he adds, “If you do not want to take part in killing Niklaus, I understand. But Stefan will die if Michael finds him first, and we both know that.”
To save Stefan, she will need to threaten the life of the only person in the world who loves her absolutely.
* * *
When Niklaus, Rebekah, and Stefan enter his home in Los Angeles to find Lexi making Romanian Stuffed Peppers, his very favorite dish, to say he is surprised is an understatement. He has not seen her since his birthday years earlier, and she has never once sought him out in over two hundred years. Instantly he suspects her rapid reintroduction to his life has little to do with him and everything to do with Stefan.
“Lexi?” Stefan gasps, cautious optimism painted all over his face.
Lexi smiles brilliantly from the kitchen, pouring three glasses of wine which she brings to them. “Hey, Stef. You hungry?”
“We just ate,” Niklaus frowns.
Lexi doesn't blink, smiling blandly at his tone, before handing a glass to Rebekah. “Good to see you, Bex.”
“What are you doing here?” he demands, furious. “Have you come to rescue young Stefan? I know it wasn't to just make me dinner.”
“I came to proposition you. I just figured dinner would make you a little nicer.” Returning to the stove, pulling plates out of the cupboard, she asks, “Who wants my specialty?”
“Lexi - “
“Romanian food is just so overrated - “
“Alexandra!” Lexi pauses at his shout, patiently waiting, and he sighs in irritation, feeling very much like the younger brother all over again. “Why are you here?”
“Because Katerina undaggered our entire family, and they want my help in killing you.”
Niklaus does not often allow himself to feel fear or grief, but it comes upon so quickly, he does not have time to stop it. He tries not to think of his mother, of his brothers; he keeps them safe for the day he planned to revive them, and he certainly hadn't wanted Katerina to make that decision for him.
He is going to kill Katerina anyway; this is just another in a long list of reasons why.
“And you've come to do it?”
Lexi looks at him as if he is mentally deficient. “Of course not. I've come to bargain.”
“The terms?”
“Rebekah leaves, you agree to stop your assault on our family, and everyone, including Michael, will agree to leave you to make your little Hybrid army. Oh, and Stefan gets to go home.”
Niklaus scowls. “Somehow I doubt our brothers give a flying fuck about Stefan.”
“No,” Lexi concedes, “that one is mine.”
He casts a look at Rebekah and Stefan, both of whom look as if they are unsure what is about to happen and what they will do if something does. Niklaus does not doubt Stefan will do whatever it takes to try to save Lexi, and Rebekah will do anything to keep Stefan safe; he knows he could kill them both if he truly wanted, but he has no intention of killing Lexi tonight.
“And in exchange?”
“I give you Charlotte's necklace, which you can use to break your curse, and I will be your right-hand man.” Smiling enticingly, she encourages, “Think about it, Nik: you, me, Michael off of our backs...We'd be a family again. And, let's be honest, we're the best part of the family anyway.”
“Thanks, Lex,” Rebekah grouses.
“How noble an offer. How about a counteroffer? You give me Charlotte's necklace, you and Rebekah both stay, and I re-dagger everyone or I'll kill Stefan.”
Lexi smirks, and Niklaus instantly recognizes it as his own expression. “I'm not afraid of you, Nik. And if you kill Stefan, the Bennett witch is going to destroy Charlotte's necklace, making sure you end up trapped like this forever.” Rounding the counter, her voice remarkably even, Lexi declares, “I don't want to see you dead, and we both know that's what's going to happen if you don't agree. I'm trying to save you, Niklaus.”
“Who asked you to save me?”
Niklaus watches as her entire posture changes, as her face folds in sadness. “No one had to ask; that's what family does.”
To get what he needs to feel complete, Niklaus will have to trust Lexi to protect him.
* * *
When Rebekah sees her family for the first time in centuries, she is stunned to realize they are not at all how she remembers them. Her brothers always seemed larger than life, her mother always appeared to be the most beautiful woman Rebekah had ever seen, but now...now they are just people.
As they cross the threshold of Stefan's home, as she glimpses the doppelganger Stefan loves, the collection of people whose lives have been torn apart by Niklaus, Rebekah forces herself not to charge into Elijah's arms, to squeeze him tightly and never let go. She has spent centuries cursing Elijah for his abandonment, for breaking his promise, but seeing his face again, seeing the cautious smile she always associated with safety, all Rebekah can do is cry into his shoulder.
She sees Stefan embracing Charlotte's doppelganger, and she hates the way her heart aches. Stefan catches her eye over the girl's shoulder, and she can see the conflict in his eyes. She knows better than anyone there is no going back once Niklaus has gotten his claws into you; the person you become under Niklaus's tutelage is not the sort of person who can easily slide back into a normal life.
Niklaus remains near the doorway, glaring at their brothers, deliberately keeping his gaze away from their mother; the Bennett witch does not allow her eyes to leave him, and Rebekah hates Alexandra for taking away their chances at vengeance, for making it so Niklaus will never suffer for what he has done.
“I'd like my necklace now,” Niklaus says, leaning against the doorway.
Rebekah watches as the doppelganger reaches up to the undo the clasp. The words come out of her mouth before she can stop them.
“Don't take it off.”
Elijah stiffens beside her as Niklaus's face darkens. “We had a deal. Now, if I don't get my necklace, there's no reason for me to agree to any of the terms.”
Alexandra sighs, “Don't listen to her, Elena. Just - “
“Charlotte said that necklace was for her daughter; it belongs to the Petrovas, not for you and your twisted crusade!”
“Rebekah - “
“Charlotte would not have wanted this.”
“Charlotte has been dead for a thousand years, and I am out of patience,” Niklaus growls, coming off the wall only for Alexandra to push him back against it with enough force to rattle the pictures on the wall.
“Elena,” her sister says, voice full of purpose, “I need you to give me the necklace now.”
Rebekah watches as the girl obeys, pressing it into Alexandra's palm with a shaking hand. Immediately she passes it to Niklaus, who spares one last glance for them all before strutting out of the boardinghouse as if he did not have a care in the world.
Alexandra stalks over to her, surprising Rebekah by the strength of her hug. She hugs them all, including Stefan whom she playfully orders to behave himself, before following Niklaus out the door. Rebekah knows all Niklaus has ever wanted is to have Alexandra all to himself, to have someone he trusts implicitly at his side, and Rebekah does not think it is really that much of a sacrifice for her sister to provide him with that. After all, if she does not, Rebekah knows Niklaus will return to finish what he started.
To have the life she wants to live, Rebekah must trust her sister to keep her brother satisfied.
* * *
It is 200 years before Elijah sees Niklaus again. He is literally standing on a street corner when he looks up and sees Niklaus on the opposite corner. They stare at each other for a moment before Elijah nods in greeting. Niklaus is still for a moment before doing the same, inclining his head slightly before heading in the opposite direction.
It is not an apology, and Elijah does not forgive him.
But it is a start.
* * *
It is 300 years before Lexi sees Rebekah again. She is at a party, flirting with a man she knows Niklaus will not mind sharing, when she senses someone familiar nearby. When she turns, there is Rebekah with Stefan, both dressed in their finery, Rebekah laughing at something Stefan is saying. Every instinct inside of Lexi tells her to go to them, to wrap her arms around Stefan and press a kiss to Rebekah's cheek. Both of them see Lexi at the same time, and for a long beat, all they do is stare at each other.
And then Stefan moves forward, and Lexi embraces him, and Rebekah cautiously accepts a hug.
It is not an apology, and Lexi knows Rebekah does not forgive her.
But it is a start.
* * *
It is 450 years before Niklaus sees Rebekah again. He is in wolf form, rushing through the woods in pursuit of game, when Rebekah suddenly pops into focus, downing the stag he had been pursuing. Niklaus watches as she drains the animal, confused as to her rationale, and, when she spots him, Rebekah freezes, knowing the dangers of crossing a werewolf. Niklaus transform back to himself easily, and Rebekah simply stares, her body still tense, her face distrusting. They stare at each other for a few moments before Niklaus shifts back into wolf form, padding towards her, nudging her knee with his head before continuing on.
It is not an apology, and Niklaus understands Rebekah will likely never forgive him.
But it is a start.
* * *
It is the 2000th anniversary of their turning before Rebekah sees her family fully reunited. She is not generally a nostalgic person, but her dreams have been full of Charlotte and her former life; she broaches the topic with Stefan, and he suggests they go home. When they reach the field which once held the Petrova farm, Rebekah is stunned to see Elijah and Elena already there. Within a few hours, her parents, Joshua, Isaac, and Seth all return. As the moon begins to crest, Niklaus and Alexandra enter the clearing, and Rebekah feels something ineffable twisting inside of her.
No one says anything as Niklaus sets flowers down upon the ground, his sole acknowledgment of the wife he lost; when he approaches Elena, Rebekah feels Elijah and Stefan both tense. When he presses Charlotte's necklace into Elena's hand, tears begin to roll down Rebekah's cheeks as she glimpses the shadow of the brother she once knew.
It is not an apology, and Rebekah knows things will never be the way they once were.
But it is a start.