"She's spelled the room." Elijah sighed as the pair waited outside Esther's study.
"Go and keep the guests entertained, your siblings will be wondering where you are soon." Rayna suggested.
He simply nodded and left, brushing her bare arm with his fingertips as he went, causing shivers to crawl up Rayna's skin.
When she knew he was gone, Rayna placed her hand on the door and closed her eyes.
In a moment, her hand glowed red and she began to siphon the magic from the sage, allowing her to hear what was being said in the room.
At the same time, she heard three heartbeats, not two.
After concentrating on the third, she found the pattern belonged to the oldest Mikaelson – Finn.
"How are you alive? Are you a ghost? Or..." Elena trailed off.
"Not exactly. When I died, the Witch Ayana preserved my body with a spell. She was a close friend of mine, an ancestor of your friend Bonnie." Esther explained.
"So that's why only Bonnie and her mother could open up the casket..." Elena realised.
"They complete the Bennett bloodline. I drew power from them and their ancestors who were with me on the other side."
Elena couldn't quite believe it.
"So you've been on the other side for a thousand years?" She raised an eyebrow.
Esther nodded. "Nature's way of punishing me for turning my family into Vampires. But, there is a way for me to undo the evil I created."
"You're gunna help us kill Klaus... Aren't you?" Elena asked.
"One thing at a time, Elena. For now, I simply need your help." Esther smiled. "I understand that Rebekah has shared the story of my family. How I upset the balance of nature by turning my children into Vampires?"
"She said you did it to protect them from the Werewolves." Elena frowned.
"It's true." Esther nodded. "But in no time at all, they began to feed on Human blood. They ravaged the town with no remorse. Eventually, Niklaus turned against me."
As Rayna listened on, she began to wonder why, after all this time, Elijah and Niklaus hadn't told her any of this. "How are you going to kill him? He's immortal." Elena pressed.
"It will take time, magic and your assistance."
Rayna's attention peaked even more than it already had, if possible. She didn't like Niklaus, but that, in no way, meant she wanted him dead.
"What do I have to do with it?" The Doppelganger asked.
"My children believe I'm holding this ball to celebrate our reunion. But in truth, I've gathered them together to perform a ritual. The first step requires blood from the Doppelganger - only a drop. It's essence will be in the champagne toast later on this evening." She paused to take a long, thin blade from Finn. "Will you do it or shall I?"
Elena was rather taken aback by all of this. She thought about it and then removed her long satin glove and offered Esther her finger.
The Original Witch pricked the Doppelganger's finger and squeezed the blood into a chalice, situated on the table between them that was already half filled with some sort of liquid.
"Elijah is more suspicious than the others, so he may need more persuasion. But they must all drink at the toast in order to be linked as one." Esther told her.
Elena raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'linked as one'?" She asked.
"You said yourself Klaus can't be killed. But tonight's spell links all my children together, so that if one goes, they all go." Esther explained.
Rayna's heart stopped.
"What?" Elena gasped.
"I love my family, Elena. But they are an abomination. I betrayed nature when I created them. It is my duty to kill them."
The Heretic had heard enough. She headed away from the door and took off to find Elijah.
"Where do you think you're going?" Finn asked, having intercepted her. "Do you make a habit of protruding on conversations in rooms you can't possibly listen in to?"
"Only when the conversations talk of murdering my friends." Rayna spat. "How can you be on board with this? You'll die, Finn."
"Oh, I know you. You're Elijah's girl. The Heretic, yes – I've heard a lot about you. If you must know. I agree with my mother. We were never supposed to exist. And neither were you." With that, he snapped Rayna's neck and carried her into Esther's study.
"I found her listening at the door. She's the Heretic Niklaus was speaking of – the Siphoner. She must have siphoned the magic from the sage to listen to you and the girl." Finn told his mother.
"Put her on the seat over there. She can't disrupt tonight's toast." Esther said, gesturing to an Ottoman next to her desk. 

Not long after, Elijah found Elena standing alone in the crowded foyer.
"So how was my mother?" He asked.
"Intense." Elena replied, simply.
"And for what reason did she need to speak with you in private?" The Original pressed, offering her a glass of champagne.
Elena glanced up to the top of the stairs, where she found Esther looking at her.
"Elena? Should I be concerned about my mother's intentions?" Elijah continued, snapping the Doppelganger's attention back onto him.
She took half a second to contemplate what she was going to say to him.
"She just wanted to apologise for trying to have me killed." She breathed through a smile.
Elijah seemed wary. "So it's true then? She's forgiven Klaus?"
"It's true." Elena nodded just as Esther, stood on the staircase, clinked her glass of red-tinted champagne for her audience's attention.
"Good Evening, Ladies and Gentleman. Waiters are coming around with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It provides me with no greater joy than to see my family back together as one. I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers!" She smiled and drank from her glass.
Elena and Elijah clinked their glasses. The Doppelganger couldn't help but watch as she drank from her glass, Elijah do the same. 

Rayna awoke with a start.
She heard people clapping.
"Oh no..." She breathed, getting up quickly.
She exited the room to see Damon headed out onto the balcony and the Mikaelsons nowhere to be seen, so she followed him.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Damon said quickly as a blonde Human boy bumped into him, his hand raised as though he were in pain.
Rayna jogged through the balcony door to find out what was going on, only to see Kol where she couldn't before.
"Easy on the hand. Guy's a Quarterback." Damon told the youngest Original brother.
"What the Hell is going on out here?" Rayna asked, noting the 'Quarterback' as Elena's friend Matt.
"Oh don't you worry your pretty little head, darling. Just a little fun and games, that's all." Kol smiled.
"Breaking my hand is fun and games to you?" Matt asked in disgust.
Kol simply shrugged.
"It's the little things." He said.
Damon rushed at Kol and shoved him off the balcony before jumping after him. He punched the Original several times before snapping his neck.
Rayna groaned, glancing over to Matt and reached under the ruffles of her dress to take off her heels before jumping over the railing after them.
Stefan exited the door below the balcony.
"Damon! Are you crazy?" He shouted just as Elena and the rest of the Mikaelson clan came to see what was going on.
"Maybe a little." Damon panted, glancing over at a distraught Elena. "Far be it from me to cause a problem."
With that, he simply walked away.
Stefan sighed impatiently and followed him just as Elena did, leaving Rayna with the Original family.
"What happened?" Elijah asked.
"Kol decided it'd be funny to break the Quarterback's hand." Rayna huffed.
Everyone looked to the unconscious Original; Rebekah looking rather expectant of the whole situation.