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

World War III was well and truly on its way and Marcel and Elijah raced to the Sanitarium to prevent it. They were outside and they could hear Klaus screaming for Rebekah. He was so angry—furious with blind rage. He was being manipulated by the witches to kill his sister and he didn't care because all he could think about was getting revenge for Rebekah bringing Mikael upon them.

Elijah only hoped that Rhea was no where near them. He knows that Celeste is being vindictive; putting him in a situation where he would lose something no matter what he chose, and it's painful because he found someone that he felt he would choose over his family any day, but he doesn't want to have to, and she knows that. Rhea would never ask him to choose. That's what made her different to Celeste and any other woman he loved in his past. Rhea knew her position in his life, and how high it was compared to everything else, but she knows his family is important to him, too, and she still chose to love him regardless of it; even when she hated his siblings.

"We should divide the building. I'll start at one end, you at the other." Elijah decided and Marcel nodded before they ran inside.

Rebekah turned a corner and saw Klaus in the hallway, on the other side standing menacingly and glaring at her harshly, "Nik." She panics breathlessly from pain, "Nik, it isn't true."

"I want to believe you, sister." Klaus responded calmly, "But, your face tells a different story." Afraid, Rebekah sped away from him. He started to yell after her, even if he couldn't see her; he could smell her scent and the amount of blood she was seeping from infected wolf bites, "You cannot hide from me, Rebekah! Nor can you run. This ends now."

Outside, Celeste left the Sanitarium and started walking down the street toward the French Quarter. However, Hayley snuck up behind her and hit her hard over the head with a shovel, causing her to be knocked out as she fell to the ground, "Hey there, witch bitch. You and I are gonna have a little chat."

Suddenly, Hayley's eyes then caught something in the distance. Her hazel eyes squinted to see it better before they widened in realisation.

It was a wolf.

It looked as if it knew her too and she let out a gasp of horror, "Rhea?"

When Celeste wakes up, her hands were tied behind her back as she leaned back against a tree. She laughed, getting a sense of deja vu when she saw Hayley and Eve standing in front of her, their rifles aimed solely at her, while the rest of their pack—and Rhea—still stuck in wolf form, surrounded her, "So, what's this, payback?" She retorted and Rhea let out a warning growl, "Look. I'm sorry I tricked you. I wasn't after you." She said to Hayley and Eve.

Eve scoffed, "What, and we were just collateral damage? You almost burned her and Jackson alive in that plantation fire." She reminded her with a sneer, "And you cursed another one of our kind."

Celeste struggled against the ropes to free herself and Hayley fired a warning shot near Celeste, "Careful, Sabine—or Celeste, or whatever you like to call yourself. Sudden moves make me jumpy." She then cocked the gun again, "And homicidal."

"What, you're gonna kill me, honey?" The witch remarked sarcastically.

"No. I know better." The wolves growled behind her, "See, I know all about you. I know that you like to off yourself and then jump into other people's bodies. Well, that's not gonna happen here. I know I can't kill you, but, try hexing me, and my friend, Eve, here will kneecap you. Go for her, and then, well... then I'll really make it hurt." Hayley warned.

"So, what do you want?" Celeste asked them.

"Back in the nineties, you inhabited a witch named Brynne Deveraux, remember? Marcel had her—you—put a curse on a lot of werewolves so they'd only turn human on a full moon." Hayley brought up, "And now I can only assume that you put that same curse on Rhea—if not worse, out of jealousy."

Celeste smirked, "I see. Yes. That was me. Let me guess: you want revenge."

"I want you to undo the curse."

Celeste only smiled smugly.

Meanwhile, Monique Deveraux was lying on the ground in one of the tombs, surrounded by candles as she chanted in French Creole. When she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, she stopped chanting and sat up to find that Elijah had entered the tomb. Her eyes narrowed on him, "When order is restored, your kind won't be allowed in here."

"Well, fortunately, that day has not yet come." He responded, "I need to find Sabine. She's taken someone very important to me."

The young witch scoffed, "And you thought I'd help you?" She asked and then stood up to face him, "Sabine is one of us, committed to the rise of the witches."

"The only thing Sabine is committed to is the destruction of my family." Elijah told her.

Monique raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, "And that would be a bad thing, why?"

"Like your mother, my mother was also a witch, a very powerful witch. In fact, because of my family, her power now flows through your veins." Elijah started, "Now, once Sabine manipulates those around her, she will do what she has always done—she will jump into another body and disappear, leaving your witches powerless."

Monique shook her head in disbelief, "No. She has the faith. She will see our power restored."

"There's a way of guaranteeing this. I'll also secure the safety of yourself and your kind." He handed Monique a page that held a spell from Esther's grimoire, "Here. This is from my mother's grimoire. Celeste used a similar spell to body jump. If what Sabine says is true, when she sacrifices herself, all of her power will flow back into the earth. However, if she has lied and tries to take another body, this spell will deliver her to a very different destination. Now, please locate Sabine."

Celeste was sitting against a tree stump. Though her hands were still tied together, she managed to mix together some herbs into a mason jar, "Here." Hayley took the jaw from her, "It's herbs ground into paste. It'll act as a conduit for the spell. On the next full moon, your people become human. Feed it to them, the curse will be broken."

Hayley eyed her suspiciously, "Great way to poison us all at once."

Celeste only rolled her eyes, "Look. I know you have no reason to trust me, but, Hayley, I actually like you. I was you; caring for the Mikaelsons when they cared more about themselves, and I ended up dead. So did a lot of others. This—call it a chance for me to give you what I was too in love to give myself. It's a chance to free yourself from the Originals."

"You believe her?" Eve asked Hayley.

"Right, I'm just supposed to believe you're trying to help but you've cursed Rhea when she's technically suffering the same fate as you?" Hayley responded before cocking the gun, "Don't give me that pity story."

A wolf then growled behind her and Elijah suddenly appeared and joined them, "Whatever she's promised you, it's a lie." He told them all.

"Elijah, it's okay. We're okay." Hayley assured the Original.

"She cannot be trusted." Elijah responded in a more hushed tone.

"She's the only one that can help my pack." Hayley argued, "And she's the only one that can help Rhea." She pointed at the black wolf beside her and Elijah's eyes widened in horror also at his soulmate's fate, stumbling on his feet in shock. He wants to cry and scream out in pain, and he wants blood spilled for this crime. But, he needs to be strong for her.

"Do you have any idea what she has done to our family? She is deceiving you with a façade that she has the means to help. If she cursed Rhea, she won't help her." Elijah reminded her.

"Believe me, I can see what she's done and I know you want revenge, and come the next full moon, when I'm sure her cure works, she's all yours." Hayley said back firmly, "But, this could help her."

"Are you suggesting that we hold her—" He pointed at Celeste, "—her—captive for an entire month? It would take an army."

"And I've got one." Hayley responded and the wolves howl in agreement, "So, help me, or get out of my way."

Elijah paused for a moment to think. His instinct told him not to trust Celeste; that this was an attempt to hurt him and his relationship as revenge for what happened to her, but he wanted to have hope that the mason jar held the cure for the Crescent wolves and Rhea.

He then sped over to Celeste and grabbed her and the mason jar out of Hayley's hands before he disappeared with her.

He stopped far enough away from the werewolves that he and Celeste were all alone. He then threw her against the tree as he clutched the jar of herb paste in one hand, "You will not trick me." He said to her furiously.

Celeste smiled, "It's no trick. You're holding the cure for Hayley's clan in your hand. If her wolves take that elixir, the curse is no more. They're free." She assured him.

"You condemned her people to decades of agony, and now you just break the curse without so much as a whimper. Not to mention you cursed my soulmate. Why?" He demanded to know.

"Because it's the best thing I could do for her, and it's the worst possible thing I could do to you." She answered him.

He looked at her with confusion, "What are you saying?"

"That, no matter what happens now, you've lost her. You destroy that jar, you kill me, Hayley will hate you for snatching her family from her and Rhea will remain a werewolf forever. Now, if you give her the jar, we both know that you'll agonise whether I have tricked you and will go insane with the thought that you might've condemned your own soulmate to being a beast forever, until the full moon—not to mention she'll still hate you for not jumping at the thought of saving her initially both times, then I get my revenge." Celeste told him before she shrugged, "I was originally just going to kill her and blame the death on Niklaus, but, then I changed my mind. This plan revolves around you and her more, and I see that turmoil within you more than ever. You decide."

Elijah pauses for a moment. Celeste has always been a tricky and cunning woman, but he realises quickly that he had completely read Rhea incorrectly. Celeste thinks that Rhea would be equally as vindictive as her over a small wrongdoing. Rhea is tough on the outside; it's a protective mechanism she portrays from her past, but to the people who know her—who love her—know that she has the biggest heart.

Elijah lets out a growl to keep up the act that Celeste was getting what she wanted, so she couldn't try to change anything—if she even could, but Elijah refuses to take that risk. He grabs onto Celeste, dragging her back to the Bayou where Hayley waiting for them, seated on a log. She was alone with Eve, with the exception Jackson and Rhea, who had stayed behind, though still in their wolf-form.

She stood up to her feet immediately in anticipation, "You came back."

"I'll always come back when it comes to Rhea." Elijah said sadly as he looked at her wolf form, recognising her curious eyes that have stayed the same. He then handed Hayley the mason jar, "Take it. It will work."

Hayley turned to Eve, "Eve and I will round up as many of our people as we can. Come full moon, I can finally free my family, and hopefully Rhea, too." She hugged Elijah and she kissed him chastely on the cheek with excitement and Rhea held back the urge to growl because she had to remember that it was a platonic one.

"They really are lucky to have you, Hayley. I hope that they know that." Elijah told her and she smiled before walking to the encampments with Jackson, leaving Elijah and Celeste alone again with Rhea.

"Mmm. That was touching." Celeste commented with a small smirk on her face like she knew something that they didn't, "Such a chaste, little kiss. I wonder why she didn't kiss you properly—the Elijah that I knew didn't like it so meek."

Rhea finally let out a deep growl for Celeste trying to turn something platonic like Hayley kissing Elijah's cheek as something more than it was, "Well, she is not the woman I love. The woman I love is currently beside me cursed to be a wolf until the next full moon." Elijah responded before pointing at her, "And you—I never knew you to be so cruel. What is it exactly that you want? What's your end game?"

"Oh, this game never ends, Elijah. We're both immortal, you know." She reminded him.

"Then what's the point if you can't possibly win?" He asked her again.

Celeste smirked deepened, "But, I have. You've possibly lost the girl you love to be a beast, without any real confirmation that my concoction will work on her come the full moon because you were so desperate to save your family. And now, your family lies in ruins."

Rhea looked up at Elijah in confusion wondering what had happened while she was being tortured by Celeste, "My family, despite all that you have done, will heal in time." Elijah responded stiffly. They've come back from worse than this.

"If you had the time, maybe. But, do you really think Rebekah ran far and fast from here? I bet she didn't." Celeste shrugged.

"She's long gone." Elijah told her.

"Is she?" Celeste mocked, "She's with Marcel. Now, Marcel loves Davina. Davina is dead, but she could come back under the right circumstances."

Elijah only shook his head, "They wouldn't dare." Rebekah knew what danger lied in New Orleans, she wouldn't return.

"If you hadn't been so worried about Hayley and Rhea, you might have figured it out sooner. But, you know who did have the time to think about it?" She asked, a smirk on her face as she answered her own question, "Your brother. I wonder what he'll do."

Elijah only grabbed Sabine by the neck, his vampire features gracing his face before he bit into her neck.

Celeste awakened to find herself sitting against a grave in the cemetery, where Elijah was standing guard over her. She smirked groggily, "Now, you didn't have to bite me to get me here. I wanted front-row seats to this show."

"And what show would that be?" Elijah asked her.

Celeste stood up, "The one where you see your 'always and forever' pact come crashing down around you. It's a myth, Elijah. A myth I died for."

"So you keep reminding us." Elijah responded as she backed away toward the entrance. She crossed the threshold, and when Elijah tried to run after her, he's stopped by an invisible barrier.

Celeste laughed as he fell to the ground, "I'm afraid you're trapped. Boundary spell. The Originals can enter, but they can't leave." She told him.

Elijah's eyes widened, "You wouldn't."

"I would, and I did." Celeste responded, while on the other side of the cemetery, Marcel and Rebekah had just found Davina's body, wrapped in white cloth, in her family's tomb. He lowered the cloth to look at her face then covered it back up again, "Don't worry. It's a lunar spell. You'll be free by the next moonrise. My guess is... your sister won't last that long." She continues to smirk, "Ah, while this body has been a hell of a lot of fun, I do think it's time I find someone else to play in, don't you?"

Celeste bent down and picked up a candle in a glass jar on the ground. She smashed it against a tree and picked up a shard of glass. She then stabbed it into her neck. She coughed as she fell dead to the ground.

Suddenly, Monique came out of the shadows, looking disappointed that she was wrong about Celeste. She sighed, "You were right."

Monique pointed toward the tunnels, revealing to Elijah that she had performed the spell he gave her.

Celeste awakened with a gasp in her original body, which is also covered in a white sheet. She is shocked and confused when she realised she's in her own body. Elijah entered as she got to her feet and she backed away from him, "Hello, Celeste."

She was shocked and horrified as she asked, "How is this possible?"

"Monique Deveraux and I had a little wager regarding your ability to keep a promise. It appears I won. You were so consumed with my downfall, that you lost the trust of one of your own." Elijah explained.

She shook her head, "Non. Mon cheri, non. Tout est possible. Ce n'est pas fini. Aah!" She pleaded.

"Désolé." He responded before stepping to the side to let Rhea pounce and tear her to pieces.