THE Mikaelsons were still trapped in the cemetery due to Celeste's spell, and the three siblings were still in the middle of their standoff as Ingrid watched from her spot above them..

Klaus had the indestructible white oak stake while Elijah had Papa Tunde's blade. Klaus was still displaying his hybrid face and yelled at his sister. "Rebekah!"

"Walk away." Elijah said sternly as he walked toward him.

"Don't move!" Klaus sneered with a harsh glare.

"Leave us now." Elijah ordered his sister, not taking his eyes off of his brother.

"I can't. I'm stuck here. Elijah, he has the white oak stake." She replied both scared and angry.

Klaus pointed the stake in her direction while walking toward her. "I brought it for you, sister."

"Get out of his sight. Your presence here only serves to anger him. Leave him to me now." Elijah said to her and she didn't waste the time to sped away from his view. He then held up Papa Tunde's blade and narrowed his dark brown eyes. "I'm asking you, brother to brother-- we end this nonsense now."

"You would side with that traitor." Klaus sneered furiously and pointed a finger at him in accusations.

"I am not choosing sides, but I will not allow you to hurt our sister." Elijah replied sternly.

"Is that not choosing a side?" Ingrid questioned to herself.

Klaus took a step back and licked his lips. He then walked away, holding his hands out at his sides. "We cannot leave this cemetery, Elijah. How long do you think you can defend her?" He questioned before speeding away after her.

Elijah easily caught up with him and blocked his path. "As long as it takes, by whatever means necessary."

They began pacing around outside one of the tombs while Elijah tried to hold Klaus off from killing Rebekah. Hours had passed, the sun had started to rise, and they hadn't made a move. Rebekah was hiding somewhere in the cemetery and Ingrid was lying on her back on one of the visitor's benches.

"You've been at this for hours. To what end? Niklaus, I know you, and I grew up fighting you. I can't be beaten, nor can I be persuaded. You cannot get past me." Elijah arrogantly said while holding his hands out at his sides, challenging him.

Ingrid snorted to herself and closed her eyes. "The vanity..."

"I could get past you. Although, it might have to be over your dead body. You did stab me with that blade, forcing me to endure hours of unspeakable pain. Perhaps I should direct my rage toward you." Klaus replied and pointed the stake threateningly at Elijah.

"You should see yourself-- the murderous expression, the self-righteous posturing." Elijah observed and mocked his stance. "You look like Father."

Klaus gaped at him in surprise then allowed anger to fill his senses again. "I'm not him." He whispered softly in hurt. "Rebekah's betrayal justifies my anger. His was that of a madman. You were never the recipient of his cruelty. None of you were-- not Kol, not Finn, None of you! I think you've forgotten what he was truly like." He yelled at him, tears pooling in his eyes.

"No. I have not forgotten." Elijah answered in a gruff manner then remember the time when they were kids when Mikael beat Klaus in the woods after missing to shoot a deer with a bow and arrow while Elijah stood by and watched.

Klaus stared at Elijah for a moment then, all of a sudden, sped away. Elijah caught up with him quickly, blocking his path again. "Niklaus, I understand your anger, but I implore you, be better than him. Do what he could not-- demonstrate the grace of mercy, rather than this petty cruelty."

"You ask me to show mercy to one who has wronged me. You really don't know me at all, do you, brother?" Klaus questioned in offense.

Rebekah walked toward them with her hands clentched into fists. "Enough." She ordered sternly causing them to turn toward her. Ingrid sped toward them, standing a few feet away. "Whatever I have done wrong, my guilt is nothing compared to yours. You want revenge? Fine. But, before you have it, I will look you in the eye and tell you why it was your cruelty and your spite that led us to this."

"Go on, then." Klaus mocked and gestured for her to continue. "Speak your piece, and when you are finished, I will grant you the punishment you deserve, even if I have to go through Elijah to do so."

Klaus was perched on top of a tomb in order to pretend to be a judge while the three of them stood on the ground. "Let it begin. The trial of Rebekah Mikaelson."

"What a relief. His ego is in check." Rebekah muttered to Elijah, glaring up at Klaus.

"Were you expecting anything less?" Ingrid questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Elijah sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. "Just speak your truth. I'll make certain he behaves himself." He said while sitting down on one of the cement barriers.

Ingrid scoffed with a small laugh. "Good luck with that one, Elijah."

"You stand accused of betraying your own blood. How do you plead?" Klaus asked Rebekah in a formal tone as Ingrid laughed under her breath and flattened her lips to keep from laughing louder.

"This is ridiculous." She mumbled lowly with a smirk.

"Couldn't agree more." Elijah responded in exhaustion.

"I plead you to shut up and listen." Rebekah answered in a snarky tone, her hands stuffed into her jacket pockets.

"You summoned our father. You brought him to our home. What possible defense could you have?" He questioned her confusion and anger.

"I knew he was the only thing that you feared, and I wanted you to run." Rebekah answered honestly.

"Because you hated me." Klaus assumed, hurt written in his blue eyes.

"Because you were hateful. You denied me the freedom to love." Rebekah explained emotionally.

"Oh, so that's your defense?" Klaus asked with a condescendingly smile. "You called Mikael-- the Destroyer, the Hunter of Vampires-- because I detained you from pursuing some dull suitors."

'You were cruel, and controlling, and manipulative." She argued strongly. "You wouldn't allow anyone to love because you couldn't have yours." She snarled, pointing at the pregnant hybrid.

"I was trying to protect you!" Klaus argued back with a snarl and threw his hands up in the air. "From imbeciles, and leeches. Not to mention your own poor judgment." He threw in her face all her mistakes.

"And what about the one that you loved enough to call friend? Why did you forbid me to love Marcel?" The blonde asked, curious of the truth.

Klaus stiffened and sneered immediately, rising to his feet and jabbing a finger in her direction. "Do not mention his name."

"What has happened to you? I remember the sweet boy who made me laugh and gave me gifts, who loved art and music." Rebekah said in a nostalgic tone. "I wanted to be just like you. How could you have fallen so far?"

Elijah stood to his feet and took his place next to his sister again. "You say you despise Rebekah for her betrayal, and yet no one has stood by your side for so long, not even I myself. Not Ingrid."

"Did not have that choice." Ingrid snarled furiously then glanced at her brother-in-law with a genuine smile. "But I think we all know I would have."

"Perhaps it's you that's forgotten. I remember the day that Father caught you whittling little chess pieces with his hunting knife. He beat you so mercilessly and for so long, I actually feared for your life." Elijah remarked, triggering another memory for Klaus.

Klaus paused for a moment to swallow his pain to look at him in disbelief. "So, you would paint her as a loyal sister, but she betrayed me out of lust for Marcel. Perhaps that was why you did it-- for love. Perhaps I might temper my rage if Rebekah will admit she was a victim of her own idiocy. That her great love, Marcel, used her to oust this family and to take my city." He yelled through gritted teeth, tears once again in his eyes.

Rebekah shook her head and looked up at him. "Marcel did not manipulate me."

"You defend him, and yet you can't help but wonder, what if I'm right?" Klaus teased with a smile and crouched down to be within eye level of her.

Rebekah glared at him, tears in her own eyes. "We loved each other. It was your refusal to respect that that led to your ruin."

"Then why didn't he chase after you when you fled New Orleans?" Klaus asked then pretended the think about it before standing to his feet again. "Oh, yes! That's right. He was here stealing what I built!"

"You want me to renounce Marcel, to beg for your forgiveness? I won't. Marcel is not at fault. I called Mikael." She tearfully admitted.

"Rebekah, you must--" Elijah began to talk her out of it but was cut off.

Tears fell from her eyes as she angrily screamed at Klaus. "I was the one who brought him to New Orleans because of your wickedness! I wanted love and happiness, and you denied me the freedom to have either. Yes, I hated and I was afraid of our father, but he was a lesser evil than you. My bastard brother who loomed over me, threatening me as you are now. I wanted rid of you, and given the choice, I'd do it again!"

Klaus, furious, lunged at Rebekah and pushed her against a tomb. He was just about to stake her in the heart when Elijah tackled him. When they got back up to their feet, Elijah had both Papa Tunde's blade and the white oak stake.

Elijah glared at Klaus and refused to turn his back. "Sister, leave us."

"I'm not going--" she began to argue but was cut off.

"--I said, leave us, please." He demanded again in dark tone of voice then watched her leave before he turned to face Klaus. "You wouldn't listen to her. So, now, you must deal with me." He held his hands at his sides again, displaying both weapons.

Ingrid rolled her eyes before speeding away to perch on a nearby crypt.

"So what's it gonna be? You hold both weapons. Tunde's blade would put me down, but the stake could finish me off for good." Klaus patronized him, tilting his head to the side.

"Well-- unlike you, brother-- I have no taste for fratricide." Elijah responded, holding up the stake. "I only hold this to keep it from you." He said then held up Papa Tunde's blade. "This is just my insurance."

Klaus walked toward him with a shake of his head. "Why must you defend her? Rebekah betrayed you, as well, when she brought Mikael here."

"Because she is our sister, and because I like to remember her the way that she was before we became what we became." He sneered in disgust. "She was an innocent girl, quick to laugh, full of life." He added, turning up to look at Ingrid. "Like Ingrid. She was the kindest, most selfless person in our village."

"Well, thousand years pass and we became different people." She replied to him in a hollow tone of voice. "You can easily lose yourself after all that time... We are all not the same as when we were humans. That standard is dead."

"My memories serve to make her betrayal more painful." Klaus replied in a pained voice.

"Can you not then accept some small part of the blame?" Elijah asked with narrowed eyes causing Klaus to scoff. "After all, Niklaus, it was your cruelty that led her to do what she did."

"Do you not see, Elijah? She didn't mean to chase me off. She wanted me dead." Klaus argued, his voice getting louder.

"You're wrong." Elijah rejected in a soft voice.

"She has always hated me. You know that's true." Klaus accused, walking toward him again and pointing a finger at him.

"You have no idea, do you?" Elijah questioned with a small amused smile. "You have no idea what she was prepared to do for you. When our sister sees something that she perceives to be an injustice, she can be stubborn, impetuous, and, at times, downright dangerous. And never was this more apparent than the night she tried to kill our father."

"What is this, some melodramatic fiction designed to garner my sympathy?" Klaus questioned, refusing it to be true

"It is the truth. I was there." Elijah admitted strongly. "And she would have done it, all to protect you, had I not stopped her. I often wished that I could revisit that moment, complete the task myself." He jeered in regret and guilt.

"Why are you telling me this now?" Klaus asked in a pained whisper, upset that his brother had kept such an important secret from him for so long.

"Niklaus, sometimes our sister acts without thinking. She's short of temper, she's quick to fall in love, but she loves you. But, your malicious treatment has broken her heart. So, yes, she responded by summoning our father. Yes, that was a mistake. I'm not entirely sure that I can blame her." Elijah said in a way to stand up for his sister.

"I can." Klaus replied in a dark tone then sped toward the tomb where Rebekah was hiding.

However, Elijah beat him there, defensively holding a weapon in each of his hands. "Niklaus, so help me--"

"Are you really going to stand against me? And not with that pathetic blade. You'd just have to pull it out someday, and then I'd hate you as I do her, now. If you want to protect Rebekah, you'll need to use the white oak stake." Klaus antagonized, walking toward him slowly.

Elijah walked toward him, meeting him half way, and narrowed his eyes. "I don't have to listen to this nonsense."

"Oh, don't pretend you haven't thought about it." Klaus remarked with a scoff. "You look at me, and you see everything you abhor in yourself. Sure, you dress it up with your fancy suits and your handkerchiefs. You, with your mask of civility and eloquence, you're every bit the abomination I am." He insulted harshly, getting in his face. "Or worse. Go on, Elijah. Go on. Use the white oak stake." He coaxed in a small whisper, holding his hands up at his sides.

Elijah threw the white oak stake up at far away from them and glared at Klaus. "I'm not so cowardly that I have to kill you, Niklaus, but if I have to make you suffer to protect Rebekah, that is what I will do."

Klaus smirked with a chuckle and pointed at him. "You see?" He rhetorically questioned then turned around, his face falling to a stern expression. "I knew you couldn't do it. You still cling to the hope that I can be redeemed, and if the bastard can be saved, then maybe there's hope for you." He mused, pausing for a second before speeding over to Elijah, grabbing Papa Tunde's blade, and stabbing it into Elijah's heart. "There. Now you know how it feels."

Elijah fell to the ground, gasping in agony and glaring at Klaus. Klaus then turned to Ingrid and pointed a finger at her. "Do not remove it."

"I am not in this. I'm merely stuck here like the rest of you." Ingrid remarked while holding her hands up in surrender. "You won't do anything to me either way." She said smugly and laughed.

Suddenly, Rebekah appeared behind him with a scared facial expression. "That was supposed to be my line." She whispered causing Klaus to face her. She held up the white oak stake that she had picked up from where Elijah threw it. "Now, I have this. So I decide who lives and who dies. I'm taking out that blade."

"You'll have to kill me first, and now you hold the means to do so. Why not finish what you started a century ago?" Klaus questioned her, fear pumping through him at the sight of her holding the very weapon that could kill them all.

"I did not want you dead. I wanted you to run." Rebekah denied and walked toward Elijah, holding the stake out in front of her.

"Liar! You wanted revenge." He bellowed furiously and pointed a finger at her.

"You drove me to betray you, and now you want to twist it and make it worse so you can justify killing me instead of accepting your own fault?" Rebekah questioned incredulously. "All I did was love your friend! You could've been happy for us, but instead, in your paranoia, you feared losing us both. And, because of that, you did. There is no one else to blame, Nik. Only you."

"Where is Marcel now, hmm?" Klaus challenged, shaking his head. "I thought he loved you, and yet he left you trapped in here with me."

Klaus moved to stand next to Elijah, preventing Rebekah from removing Tunde's blade from his chest. "You against me. It's hardly a fair fight, is it? I mean, perhaps, if Marcel were here, you'd stand a chance, but I expect he's already found another girl. No doubt younger and prettier."

"Niklaus." Ingrid drew out his name in a warning tone of voice. "This family..." she mumbled to herself in exhaustion and sighed heavily, punching the bridge of her nose.

"You take joy in other people's pain, and then you wonder why I hate you." Rebekah spat at him venomously.

"Yes, and that hatred led you to do what you did. Admit the truth. Admit you wanted me dead." Klaus pushed, hoping to get the answer he had desired.

"I wanted you to run, that is all-- despite your delusions." Rebekah argued again, not giving up her stance, and pointed the stake at him.

"Elijah lies suffering, and I will allow you to help him. All you have to do is admit it." Klaus begged desperately.

Rebekah gaped at him in fear and shook his head. "You're insane."

"Yes! Yes!" He snarled through gritted teeth and japped a finger at her aggressively. "I am a vicious, heartless monster, and so you summoned Mikael to kill me. Admit it."

"It's not true." Rebekah cried honestly as he began to back her into a corner.

"You know what you did. Admit it." Klaus pushed on, getting more aggressive.

"I didn't." She yelled, her hands shaking in fear.

"You wanted me dead!" He screamed at her, enraged. "Admit it."

"Maybe I did." She finally gave in the realized what she had said and attempted to fix it. "Nik--"

Ingrid froze in her spot and slowly turned to them, waiting for Klaus' reaction.

Klaus, shocked that she actually admitted it, backed away slightly with tears in his eyes. He then took the stake from Rebekah and angrily stabbed her in the abdomen with it causing her to fall to the ground, lifeless. Klaus realized what he had done and gulped in fear.

Hours had passed and the two Mikaelson sibling were still neutralized. Klaus sat on one of the crypts with Ingrid, who held him while he sobbed. She rubbed his back soothingly but otherwise didn't say anything. She knew that wasn't what he needed. He didn't need her to say that it would be alright, he needed her to comfort him the best way she could.

Rebekah awoke to find Klaus sitting on a nearby tomb, holding the white oak stake. "You missed my heart."

"Perhaps I did. Or, perhaps I never meant to kill you. Perhaps I just wanted you to feel a fraction the fear I felt when Father came for me." He whispered emotionally, not looking her in the eyes.

"Do you yourself know the truth?" She questioned him with tears in her eyes.

"I know this. You accuse me of being evil, and yet you are the one who conspired to kill your own blood." He replied in a dull tone of voice.

"You made our lives a living hell. You tormented us." She informed him in a watery voice, tears involuntarily running down her cheeks.

"I love my family--" He strongly expressed, finally meeting her face with his own tears. "You, Elijah, Ingrid. I loved all of you." He walked toward Rebekah and looked her in the eyes. "I know I can be difficult, but I did not make myself this way. It was Mikael who ruined me."

Rebekah whispered quietly, her heart breaking. "He ruined me, too. That's what you forget. Centuries later, each of us is broken. You with your anger and paranoia, me with my fear of abandonment. Ingrid with her need to be powerful. And poor Elijah." She looked over at where he was lying with Papa Tunde's blade still stuck in his chest. "He dedicates himself to everyone but himself. We are the strongest creatures in the world, and yet, we are damaged beyond repair. We live without hope, but we will never die. We are the definition of "cursed." Always and forever."

Klaus removed Papa Tunde's blade from Elijah's chest and whispered down to him. "Now, we're even."

"We're still trapped in here. Whatever you're going to do to me, do it now." Rebekah said, anticipating the worst.

"You said our father ruined us. And I can't help but wonder, what if his father ruined him?" Klaus questioned, hoping to find an explanation as a strong gust of wind blew the gate to the cemetery open, indicating the spell had been broken. "The barrier is down."

"I know you hate me, but what's done is done." Rebekah commented, looking up at the night sky.

"What's done is never done. It remains within us, a story we tell ourselves so we know who we are. Vicious father, a bastard son, and the sister who betrayed him." Klaus spoke with a hurt expression. "Perhaps it's time for a new story. What is it you want, Rebekah?" He asked, licking his lips and turning to face her.

"Same things that I've wanted since I was a child. I want a home. I want a family. I want someone to love me, and I want to live." Rebekah admitted emotionally.

"Then go." Klaus urged her, causing her to look at him in confusion. "Go far away and never come back. We are far too damaged to remain together, less a family now than a volatile mix of ingredients. New Orleans will be mine." He declared sternly. "I will raise my child here in the city you took from me. No doubt, Elijah will choose to stay, but you? Sister, you are free."

Shocked, Rebekah took one last look at her brother and left the cemetery as Klaus watched her walk away. Klaus stood by the gate, staring out into the night sky while silently crying. He felt a pair of arms wrap around him and looked down to see Ingrid. Barely smiling, he wrapped his arms around her and buried his head in her hair.

---
Comment
Vote
Share
Xoxo
-the1andonlytifftiff