𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙀𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏𝙀𝙀𝙉
ミ★ ( reign of wolves, act one ) ★彡

     Waking up after dying was never a fun time. After having your neck snapped, you can still feel the faint and dull ache of the neck from where it had been broken until you regain strength. Drinking blood often rectified that issue but it still doesn't take away the darkness felt while drifting in the void until you return to consciousness. Rhea hated the feeling. It made her sick to the stomach. But she couldn't complain considering how many times she had done it to other people—and she was sure people just wanted to return the favour lately with everything that was going on in the city.

     Elijah was infuriated about what had happened at the parade but she stayed nonchalant about it, flipping through a wedding magazine while Elijah continued to rant and rave about how he would destroy anyone that tried to harm her again. She's not sorry to hear about Thierry's death; if anything, it was a long time coming. He just chose the wrong day to snap her neck, had it been any other day, he might've been able to bargain for his life (maybe not considering Elijah's stance on keeping her protected and safe, but they will never know now). She was sitting in the study, taking notes of things that she liked to bring to Elijah for their wedding as Klaus rummaged around the shelves and the drawers for something Klaus-like.

     "Can I help you find something?" Elijah asked his brother innocently once he entered the study to see his brother furiously searching the bookshelf while Rhea read.

     Klaus stopped looking for a moment to respond, "Yes, in fact, I believe you can. I'm looking for a book, about yea big, filled with our mother's most powerful spells." He held up his hands to show the size of the grimoire he was looking for, "It appears to have been misplaced."

     "How very mysterious." Elijah hummed as he stood behind Rhea's chair, pressing a kiss to her head that made her smile. His eyes then landed on some table arrangements that had white roses and he murmured, "Those look nice."

     "They do." Rhea agreed as she pulled out her pen and circled it in red for later.

     Klaus rolled his eyes at them and continued to rant, "At first, I feared the witches had succeeded in their efforts to obtain it, but considering their last attempt ended with me relieving a rather large, tattooed gentleman of his hands, I began to wonder if the thief wasn't a bit closer to home." His eyes narrowed in on Elijah, "Don't make this harder than it needs to be, brother."

     Elijah looked up from the magazine and gave a look of disdain to Klaus, "Well, admittedly, I did have a theory that your sudden interest in mother's grimoire was in some way related to whatever foolishness you've been conducting with the Crescent wolves. Therefore, I took it upon myself to carefully place it where naughty little fingers could not pry."

     "Stop provoking each other." Rhea scolded as she flipped the page.

     Klaus threw his hands up in the air, "Here I thought you, of all people, would understand. I am simply trying to help those wolves! Play Samaritan to the abused. Champion to the underdog, so to speak."

     "How splendidly noble of you." Elijah muttered sarcastically.

"Have you ever considered that, like you two, I am trying to keep Hayley safe? Using our mother's magic to empower her people so they are capable of protecting her?" Klaus asked them.

Elijah walked over toward Klaus, "Yes, unless, of course, they decide to seek retribution for decades held in exile, and Hayley will find herself in the middle of an uprising. One that will only provoke further violence." He conspired, "You see, you risk turning New Orleans into a war zone, brother. I won't let that happen."

"The drums of war were beating long before we returned. I suggest you use a little less of this—" he made a talking gesture with his hand, "—and a little more of these." He pointed to his ears, and smiled fakely before sitting on the couch. He then looked at Rhea, "And if you even think about having anything but roses in your floral arrangement, I'm not coming."

Rhea only rolled her eyes.

Later that afternoon, Hayley and Eve were in the shack down at the Bayou, where Eve was helping Hayley prepare for when it was time for her to give birth... naturally. Hayley was practicing deep breaths as instructed by Eve, but it didn't really feel as if it was doing anything but making her internally panic more about the idea of this being so extremely painful she would have to breathe through it—and that's saying something considering she used to break every body in her body to turn into a werewolf every full moon, "That's it." Eve encouraged, "Inhale and release."

Hayley struggled to sit up, "I guess this means no epidural, huh?" She remarked and Eve sent her a look, "You sure I can't do this thing in, say... a hospital? The place with the doctors and the drugs?"

"Honey, the werewolves have been having babies out here since before you were born. Stop worrying." Eve assured her.

"Yikes, count me out of that." They heard Rhea say from the doorway with a disgusted sound, "Sounds like a nightmare." Elijah chuckled at her from beside her.

Hayley snorted at her before she turned to her pack mate, "Okay. Then what, Eve? I don't even know what it's like to have a mother, let alone be one."

Eve gave her a warm smile, "Trust me, when the time comes, you'll know exactly what to do."

"I hope so. As fun as it is to image Klaus changing dirty diapers, I'm pretty sure that I'll be doing this alone." Hayley frowned as she looked down at her large bump. The baby was going to be coming any day now.

Rhea made a buzzing sound, "Wrongo, pongo." She stated, "You have the most amazing uncle and aunt pair beside you." She said and Hayley smiled happily. Rhea was right—she did and her baby would have the best aunty and uncle that would always take care of her.

"What are you guys doing here?" Hayley then asked them with a laugh, "Unfortunately I didn't have you guys involved in the birth plan."

"We didn't mean to intrude." Elijah apologised, "We just wanted to ask if we might have a quick word with the conspirators of a supposed uprising."

Eve and Hayley shared a look before the blonde girl helped the Hayley up onto her feet. The two of them leading the engaged couple to Jackson and Oliver.

"What are you guys doing here?" Oliver asked in an accusative tone.

"We're here to discuss the alliance your pack has made with my brother." Elijah stated and their eyes widened like they had been caught out, "You're making a grave mistake."

"So, you're just worried about us. Is that it?" Oliver asked sarcastically.

"Look, Elijah." Jackson sighed, "We know all about your brother's reputation, but if there is even a chance that these rings can help us take control of our curse—"

"—Our gift—" Oliver interrupted him with a correction.

"—Then, honestly, we don't care what he's really after. Won't have to." Jackson finished.

"I see. There are those in the Quarter who will consider this a great provocation." Elijah reminded them, hoping they knew what they'd be in for if they continued down the path they were planning on taking.

"Apparently, most of them see us breathing the same way." Oliver scoffed.

"Yeah, I'd see why they would think that about you," Rhea glared at Oliver before looking at Hayley and sighing, "Look, Hayley, you signed a pledge and you begged me for a part of the Quarter—this is going against everything we're working for, for you and that baby. You should've come to us instead of going behind our backs with Klaus."

"We don't want a fight. We just want a better life." Hayley argued softly.

"And we're trying to get you that but you're cutting us off at the knees at every turn!" Rhea snapped.

They hear the sound of a motorbike approaching, and it cut their argument short so they could go to see who it is, "What the hell?" Jackson muttered as the motorbike finally rode into the encampment and stopped.

He got off the bike and approached them, "Which one of you is in charge?" He asked no one in particular.

"Who's asking?" Jackson asked back.

Elijah eyed the man, noticing that something was off about him, as did Rhea. The Original reflexively tackled him, just as the motorbike exploded, sending everyone backward from the blast.

     Everyone let out a yell and Elijah picked himself up off the ground. His clothes and skin were all singed and covered in ash, and it was taking a moment before his ears healed enough to hear anything. He didn't care about him as he was immediately by Rhea's side who was picking herself up off of the ground, holding her ears to relieve herself of the loud ringing sound in them before it healed, "Are you okay?" Elijah worried over her.

"I'm okay. I'll heal." She assured him before looking around and seeing all of the injured people all around then stumbling around, including Jackson, Oliver, and Hayley.

Oliver went by Hayley's side, "Hayley, are you okay?" He asked her.

Hayley was up on her feet almost instantly and she ran over to where everyone else was. She then saw a little boy standing next to a severely injured man, and immediately ran over to help. She picked up the child and held him in her arms as she hushed him, "It's okay. Here. Come here." She said and looked for Jackson, who was already on his way to her, "Oh, God. Jackson? Here. Get him away from here."

Jackson took the child out of her hands and walked away, covering his eyes so he would no longer be exposed to the horror of seeing his pack injured or dead. Hayley knelt down next to the injured werewolf and both Rhea and Elijah were by her side. Elijah lifted the man's shirt to find chemical and heat burns that made Rhea grimace in realisation, "Wolfsbane." She said and Hayley gasped in horror, "It must've been in the gas tank."

     Hayley looked up at Elijah, "You're the fastest. Take him, anyone else who can't walk on their own." She realised that he was looking at her in concern, "It's okay, Elijah. I'm fine. They need your help."

     He nodded and picked him up before Rhea walked over to see Oliver helping treat Eve who had been impaled with a tree branch, "Just hang in there, okay?" He said to her.

     Rhea noticed he was about to pull it out and she ran over, screaming, "No!"

     It was fruitless as Oliver pulled it out anyway and Eve let out a scream of pain, "Oh, God." Rhea gasped as she grabbed Eve's hands and told her to press down on the wound. "Give me your shirt." She ordered Oliver and he took his shirt off and handed it to her. Rhea then used the shirt to make a tourniquet, "There. That should slow the bleeding, at least until the healing kicks in."

     "How did you learn how to do that?" Eve asked her, impressed.

     "I wanted to be a nurse when I was older—before I found out I was a werewolf." Rhea chuckled to herself bitterly, shaking her head at herself considering how different her life had turned out—and she definitely didn't see herself going to nursing school anytime soon, "You kind of figure out how to take care of wounds considering how much me and my twin used to fight each other." She explained, smiling sadly as she thought about Tyler, "But anyway, the healing could take a while. I could give you some blood to help?"

     "She'd rather die than have vampire blood." Oliver answered for her.

     Rhea scowled, "But, I'm both. This just means she won't bleed to death. As long as she doesn't die in the meantime it'll be fine." She reminded him.

     "Whatever." Oliver scowled before walking away.

     Rhea then looked around to find anyone else that needed help before she noticed the absence of someone, "Where the hell is Hayley?"

     Rhea had immediately called the pregnant werewolf, it seemed dozens of times until she answered the phone, "Hayley, where are you?" She asked as soon as she picked up.

     "I have to take care of something. I'll be back as soon as I can." Hayley told her, and it was clear that she was in the car from the background noise.

     "That doesn't answer my question." Rhea huffed, "Where are you?"

     "I'm fine." Hayley insisted, "Just take care of the pack while I'm gone, please?"

     She didn't wait for Rhea to answer her back before she hung up the phone and Jackson immediately approached her right after, "Is she okay?"

     "Apparently, yes." Rhea told him sarcastically, "But, I'm not going to be if anything happens to her on my watch. Klaus will literally kill me."

     "I doubt it. He adores you." Jackson laughed before he looked around at the carnage, "It's a good thing that bomb went off where it did. Could've been a lot worse. We all could've got killed."

     The two walked where the entirety of the Bayou wolves had congregated after the explosion, tending to the wounded and dead and Elijah was in the middle of it also helping. She considered Jackson's words for a minute, and her eyes grow wide in panic as she muttered, "Unless..." She trailed before she spotted a bomb planted under an RV nearby, "Get everyone out of here! Now!" Rhea tackled Jackson to the ground right as eight different explosions go off from various points in the encampments, damaging numerous people. Just as Elijah began tending to the newly injured, another explosion; this one much larger, went off right behind him, and he dove over a man to protect him, "Are you okay?" Rhea worried over Jackson as she got off of him and helped him up.

     "Yeah, thanks." He said breathlessly because he knows he wouldn't have been able to move out of the way as quick as her, "You saved me."

     "Well, I kind of owed you one." She winced as she reached over and pulled out a shard of glass from her shoulder, feeling it heal almost instantly. She looked over at the encampment and sighed, "Shit."

     The walking wounded were already treating the more seriously wounded werewolves, as well as helping dig them out of collapsed shelters and shacks.

     Jackson walked over to a woman and examined him. Elijah noticed he wasn't breathing and solemnly placed a hand on his shoulder as he told him, "Jackson, she's gone."

"Help!" Oliver then shouted, "Somebody help!" He shouted again from next to an overturned RV that had Eve pinned under it. The werewolf turned to her and said, "Okay. Hold on. Hold on, Eve."

Elijah saw Oliver struggling to lift the RV, and ran over to help him, same with Rhea, the two of them lifting it with ease so Oliver could reach and pull Eve out from underneath, "Come on, Eve. Come on. It's okay. You're gonna be okay."

Oliver took her into the shack and laid her on the bed, the girl letting out a whimper of pain as Jackson, Elijah and Rhea follow after them to check on her. Elijah examined her injuries and remarked, "That wound should be healing by now."

Oliver shook his head as he knelt beside her, "She never killed anyone; never activated the werewolf gene. So, she can't heal, not like us."

"Our blood, it could heal her." Elijah said, pointing in between himself and Rhea.

Oliver scoffed again at the idea, "Vampire blood? Trust me, she'd rather die."

"So you keep saying." Rhea grumbled as she put her hands on her hips, "But, this time, she might actually die."

Oliver took a beat of silence before he said, "Look, we can't just let them get away with this."

Jackson stood to his feet, "We don't even know who's to blame." He said to him.

"The hell we don't!" Oliver snapped, "And if we don't fight back, they'll just do it again." Jackson stands defiantly against him for his refusal to bow down against his alpha, and Oliver ran out of the shack, frustrated.

They followed after him and stood outside the shack, staring at a lake that was near the encampments. They walked past several dead bodies that made Rhea clench her jaw angrily before entering the shack they're using as a makeshift hospital.

"Is this the peace you promised?" Jackson remarked angrily, hating to see his people hurt.

"This is not what we wanted, Jackson." Rhea shook her head, "And I am so sorry that this did happen." She said to him sympathetically. She paused before she then asked, "Does Klaus really think that he can remove the curse?"

"Klaus was offering us freedom, not just from the pain that comes with turning, but from the contempt we've faced our whole lives." Jackson told her, "I just want to make this place right for Hayley and the baby. I want to keep them safe."

"Then do whatever it is that you need to." Rhea decided without hesitation, "Even if it means siding with Klaus. Do whatever it is that you need to do to—just stay alive."

It was night time when Hayley returned to the Bayou. Everyone was outside, a bonfire burning in the middle as Oliver is passionately tried to convince everyone to fight back against the vampires, using the bombings as fuel to his fire. Rhea was leaning against Elijah who was holding her securely as they watched him speak when Hayley joined them. Rhea's face was as blank as she just felt numb from the day. She watched people who took care of her as one of their own be slaughtered like pests. Her heart felt heavy as she watched a war brew faster and faster with every waking day and no matter what she did, she couldn't stop it—she just felt so... powerless, "They are counting on our doubts. That's right!" Oliver shouted from nearby and they all roared and cheered at him like he was a king for saying the things they were all thinking, "Yeah! They are counting on our fears! That's right!"

"You guys stayed." Hayley said.

"You asked us to." Rhea said in a soft voice, keeping her eyes on Oliver and just enjoying being by Elijah's side throughout such a tough time.

     "Come morning, they will know that we are not cowards." Oliver continued, "We are not afraid!"

     Hayley was confused, "What's going on? What is he doing?"

     "He's making a move for power in the wake of tragedy. He's not alone." Elijah explained and her eyes widened when Elijah said, "There was another attack after you left."

     "What?" She gasped in horror, her hand going to her heart as it filled with guilt. She should've been there to stop it.

     "Your friend Jackson will need your help. They want vengeance. Blood for blood." Elijah told her sadly, "And, unfortunately, in troubled times, people do not look for the best; but rather the loudest."

    "I—I have to go." The werewolf stammered and rushed into the shack, where Jackson was sitting with Eve's dead body, devastated.

     Hayley began to cry and kissed Eve's hand before leaving the shack. Outside, she found Oliver continuing to rile up the rest of the wolves, her control over them slipping through her fingers as he continues to talk. Her eyes narrowed as he said, "Look, I know where I'm going. If any of you want to follow, hey, that's up to you. That's up to you!"

     The werewolves only cheered in response.

      Later that night, Klaus joined Elijah in the study, where his older brother was sat, staring into space, deep in thought, "How's Rhea?" He asked him after he remembered how she looked when she and Elijah returned back to the compound—both of them covered in ash and their clothes were ruined. But, there was something on her expression that her wounds weren't just external.

     "She's exhausted." Elijah told him, "She'd grown attached to those wolves after they took care of her when she was a wolf; and today, she watched her kind get slaughtered."

     Klaus sighed in disdain, "First Marcel's massacre, now bombs in the Bayou. Both attacks where Rhea's been harmed in some way. I'll assume you're ready to give up this doomed treaty." He thought out loud.

     "This alliance with the wolves, well... if it is to succeed, I believe you'll want this." Elijah said as he handed Klaus, Esther's grimoire.

     Klaus looked at his brother in surprise, "Seems I have Rhea to thank for your change of heart."

     Elijah went to pour them both a drink, "The rifts in this city run far deeper than I even imagined, Niklaus. These tribes, these factions—they're families; families who choose to fight. Mayhem has descended upon our home, and if I'm to choose a side that'll keep my soulmate and our family safe..." He handed Klaus a drink, and held his out to toast them, "To our victory, brother."