-•-•-

Remi's head bobbled around as her unconscious frame lay propped up against the car seats. Twenty-four hours had passed the fight with her father, and they had since abandoned the motel and continued on their road trip. Of course she wasn't truly mad at her father for lashing out at her. People snap, right? It wouldn't be Remi if she had held a grudge - it wasn't in her nature. Instead, she played it off as him simply having an off-day. But was it? 

It seemed as though adventure was brewing in the air, as young Sawyer Liondale was finally in New Orleans after his weeks-long absence. In these twenty four hours, Remi Moore welcomed sleep with open arms, a fete that she had been doing a lot recently. She dreamed of a moment that occurred merely a four days prior, a moment where she couldn't have possibly been any happier. 

It is unfathomable that four days have the ability to pass within the blink of an eye. 

-•-•-

The quiet blond boy, who had been beckoned back to the city of the undead, strolled throughout the bustling streets, just as he had done months prior. The air that he breathed was once the air that he shared with Remi - though it seemed like eons had passed since then. He could barely remember her voice, what her laugh sounded like, the way her nose crinkled when she smiled. 

He so intensely wanted to go back - back to when everything was easy. The decision to stay with his parents in Georgia was anything but simple, but regretted it every day since. There was a permanent hole in his heart that only one person could fill. After Elizabeth managed to capture the adult Liondales (and so many other wolves) for the second time, Sawyer had acquired a terrible fear, even simply thinking about being away from them. Like Remi, he had a very small family. It was one of the first things they had bonded about at the tender age of eight years old, meeting for the first time in school. Family meant everything to the kids, and it still did.

But somehow, he forgot about everything else in his life that mattered other than them. He forgot about his love of music, his fascination of the intricacies of art, his drive to do well in school, and he forgot about Remi.

'Why am I so stupid?'  he inwardly cursed at himself. How could he forget about the girl who had done so much for him?

As if on cue, the boy managed to walk directly into the cement wall he had seen so many times before, which was followed by a spectral whoosh.

"Sawyer, you're earlier than expected," the gruff hybrid spoke, quirking an eyebrow at the werewolf boy had just showed up at the entrance of the abattoir looking absolutely dazed.

Sawyer shook his head, restarting his thoughts. "I bought the first plane ticket I could get. You all sounded really urgent over the phone yesterday, and said something about Remi being on a road trip with her father now? Writing a bunch of letters? What the hell is going on?"

Klaus nodded, an unreadable expression on his face. Remi was still a sore topic. "Come in."

Sawyer walked briskly behind the hybrid, anxiously rubbing his hands together every now and again. They approached the courtyard, and soon several more bodies appeared in front of them. Marcel was there, eyes focused intently on the tiled ground, as was Elijah, Rebekah, Freya, Kol and Davina. Everyone had flocked to greet the boy Remi had been best friends with.

"Kol, Davina, this is Sawyer, a good friend of Remi's," Elijah mused, gesturing toward the teen. "What a pleasant surprise. We didn't think you'd show so soon."

"Yeah, it's nice to see you guys again," he replied, offering a quick smile to the intimidating clan. "But, can someone please tell me what's going on?"

"Of course. You're welcome to have a seat," Rebekah stated.

"Thanks, but I really don't think I can sit still," he replied. His stomach was churning.

"Listen, Sawyer, I know how close you and Remi are, and know you're probably really confused as to whats going on." Freya said. "So, how much do you know, exactly?"

"Nothing! I know absolutely nothing. The last time Remi and I spoke was around four or five days ago," the boy replied frustratedly. "After I left New Orleans to stay with my parents in Georgia, everything just became really blurry and out of proportion," he said, his eyes now focused on the ground, too. "We texted a few times and FaceTimed - stuff we always did. But it wasn't the same."

Rebekah sighed. "Ah, teenage love in the twenty-first century. So complicated."

"We-we're not - I'm not - it's not like that," Sawyer suddenly choked, profusely shaking his head. His cheeks were glazed with a soft tint of red.

"If you say so," the blonde vampire chortled.

"Alright, moving on," Klaus rolled his eyes, taking a sip of the blood cocktail in his hand.

Freya shook her head at Klaus. "To summarize, Remi's father showed up, and she decided against Klaus's 'help,' so to speak. She wanted so strongly to find out where she came from, that it was impossible to say no to that," Freya explained. "So, we supported her. They left a few days ago."

Sawyer's eyes slightly widened, a subtle breath of air leaving his lungs. "What the fuck," he said, running a hand down his chin. "She didn't tell me any of that. None of it!"

"Perhaps it was just too much for her to bare," Elijah offered. He knew Remi's quiet mind like the back of his hand - all of the Mikaelsons did. "Leaving everything behind was hard enough as it is, but having to say goodbye to you yet again, I presume, would've made it that much worse"

The teenager's heart was beating loudly in his chest, the incessant thump sounding like stomping footsteps to the vampires' ears. Whether out of anger or concern, he didn't know. What he did know, however, was that his best friend was gone, and he had no idea what to do.

"But how could she just go off with her father - who she'd never even met before - and not say anything . . ." his exasperated voice heaved. It was like he was in shock, and the outside world wasn't registering with him.

After being a quiet observer, Marcel spoke up. "Like Elijah said, I doubt it was an easy choice for her to make. Remi wouldn't do something if she thought it would hurt someone else. She knows that feeling too damn well," the vampire said - and it was true. Remi would never want to see Sawyer hurt, especially not by her own actions. It would crush her.

Sawyer sighed in defeat, knowing that what had been said was entirely true. He could barley breathe. "I - I thought you guys were supposed to protect her. I wouldn't have left if I thought this was going to happen. I would've stayed!" the boy yelped out of desperation.

"Of course we protected her!" Klaus snarled back, and Elijah moved to place a reassuring hand on his brother's shoulder. "I know what it's like to crave a father's acceptance - to know where and what you come from. If I - if we had stopped her from doing this, it wouldn't have been protection. It would've been torture." 

And with that, the infuriated hybrid sped away, Remi's letter clutched in his hand.

-•-•-

"I can't believe you guys have never made waffles before," Remi drawled, eyebrows raised in astonishment. How could 1,000-year-old vampires live without trying waffles?

"We eat people, love. Waffles don't really fit into the diet," Klaus replied, situated at the kitchen table of the abattoir.

"Thats not a good enough excuse, Klausy. I can't you guys live another thousand years without waffles - that's unacceptable."

"Do try not to burn the kitchen down," Elijah spoke from behind a newspaper, a cup of freshly brewed coffee beside him.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm a great chef," the girl stated matter-of-factly as she twirled a half-charred wooden spoon.

"Oh, please, the last time you tried to cook was when Marcel had the brilliant idea of teaching you how to flambé," Rebekah butted in as she took a seat next to Elijah.

Remi shuddered at the memory. "Okay, but that was different. I actually know how to make waffles, for your information. Plus, this time Marcel won't be here to annoy me."

"I feel like this conversation won't end until we agree," the hybrid groaned, to which the teenager nodded with a grin. "Fine, just don't die in the process, please."

"You won't regret it, I promise. I'm practically Gordon Ramsay."

"Are you, now?" Freya questioned with a chuckle.

"Gordon Ramsay with the motor skills of a toddler, sounds slightly more accurate," Elijah remarked as he snickered into his coffee.

"Shut up, mister Shakespeare. Here, watch this," Remi replied, motioning to grab a fresh egg from the carton. With a swift flick of her wrist, she connected the shell to the counter and cleanly separated the yolk from the egg white -- almost. 

"Close enough!" she yelped, a proud grin on her face,

Klaus laughed and walked over to ruffle the girl's hair. Slyly, his hand snaked around to grab the splattered egg yolk that had fallen onto the counter, before pelting it at Remi's forehead.

Her mouth parted and her eyes narrowed at the hybrid. "You're so dead, Klaus!"  

Before anyone could speak another word, the teen grabbed another egg and threw it directly at Klaus' head.

He laughed for a second, before sharing a look with his siblings, and soon war had begun.

-•-•-

Sawyer softly sighed, sinking deeper into the leather chair. It had been twenty minutes since Klaus darted out of the abattoir, and no one knew when he would show up again.

"I'm sorry - about what I said. I just cant believe she's gone," he defeatedly spoke. "She's always just been there. Even when I left, she was still here, she still texted me every night, she was still the same her. But now that she's not here, I don't know what to do with myself. Everything feels wrong."

"I know the feeling, kid," Marcel nodded. "I've known her since she was born, and I've seen her every day since then - except for these past few days. It's been hell."

Rebekah was quietly sifting through the letters that had been left on the coffee table. "Here, this is for you, Sawyer," she said, handing the boy his envelope. "Kol and Davina found them before we did. None of us have opened them. It just didn't feel right."

"Listen, Sawyer, I might not have personally known Remi, but I know love when I see it," Kol butted in, catching everyone off guard by speaking the words they had all been thinking. Sawyer bit his top lip, his cheeks flushed. "I think you should read the letters. There's no point in waiting."

The boy nodded. With a quiet expression, he tightly held his letter and stood up from the comforting chair, walking out of the abattoir and into the streets. He needed to be alone.

"That was actually good advice. Who knew Kol had it in him," Rebekah said in an attempt to lighten the mood. She then picked up the letter addressed to 'Bex' and softly smiled, before speeding away.

Elijah stoically did the same, then Marcel, and then Freya, until no one was left except for Kol and Davina.

-•-•-

"Okay, okay! I surrender!" Remi shouted from behind a toppled kitchen table as she wiped her face with her arm.

"Brother, sisters, do you hear something? It sounds so familiar, yet I don't know what it is," Klaus responded, to which Remi stifled a laugh.

"I think you've finally lost it, Nik, I don't hear a bloody thing," Rebekah said, a smile across her lips.

"Ohhh, I take back my surrender. It's so on!" the teen yelled, arming herself with ten eggs and leaping away from her barricade. Muttering an incantation, the eggs levitated for a split second, before flying toward the Mikaelsons.

By the end of the night, the kitchen was completely covered in what was supposed to be ingredients for waffles. As they all sat across the courtyard laughing with one another, Remi found herself genuinely loving her life in that very moment. She never could've envisioned what would soon be happening in a weeks time.

-•-•-