MOONS.
021. | ❛ she's a little worse. ❜

Hayley, who is still sobbing after Jackson's death, has been left alone in the room with his body, which is still sitting chained up in the chair next to her. She looks over at him and is overwhelmed with grief once again.

"Jack, I'm so sorry. I never should have brought any of this into your life. I was so selfish. I never met anyone who was always just there for me. You let me feel what it is to be loved." Hayley becomes choked up and begins to sob again before she continues.

"But I will make them suffer for this, I promise you. I will make all of them suffer."

Luna gasps awake and she looks wildly around the room. Hayley, shocked, gapes at her with wide eyes. Luna doubles over in pain and groans and whimpers in fear and exhaustion.

"Hayley, what's happening to me?" She feels hunger setting in.

It takes a while before Hayley pieces it together,"Luna, you're in transitioning."

Luna out of breath leans against the chair. Overwhelmed by her heightened senses, screams in pain.

She stops her cries when one of the Strix walks in and takes both Luna and Hayley away to an unknown destination.

___________________

Elijah and Klaus are waiting inside of the warehouse when a half-dozen Strix vampires vamp-speed into the room. The brothers start to walk toward them as another few dozen or so vampires join them.

"Here they come." Finally, Tristan, Aya, and Marcel stop several feet away from the Mikaelson brothers, looking displeased as they all stare at each other.

"Gentlemen. I wish I could say it was a pleasure." Klaus nods in acknowledgement and gives Marcel a knowing look.

"Marcellus. Made your bed with the enemy, I see."

"Membership has its privileges."

"Let's get on with this, shall we?"

Tristan turns back to a tall, blonde vampire woman and nods, so she and other male vampire bring the still-bloodied and shackled Hayley and Luna forward. Their so weak they can't even stand on her own, and when the vampires let go of them, they collapses onto the floor in between the two groups as Elijah and Klaus stare at them in horror.

"Hayley Marshall-Kenner, only slightly worse for wear. You'll have to forgive her if she seems a bit off. There's enough wolfsbane in her system to kill an entire pack. And darling Luna Davis, well let's just say she's a little more worse."

"What did you do to her Tristan!?" Klaus yells

"Don't fret, we only had a couple of witches revert her back to her transitioning stage. It was rather a hard spell but however, here she is, as requested. Now, where's my sister?"

"She lives. You can thank Elijah for that."Klaus walks toward Tristan so they're standing eye-to-eye.

"I wanted to flay her and hang her skin as a flag. Anyway, enough chit-chat. Let's conclude this tedious business, shall we?"

"My sister first. And, if you're tempted to argue, consider the numbers."

Klaus smirks in amusement and walks even closer to him so that their noses are nearly touching, indicating that he's not threatened by his army. Tristan looks slightly nervous, but stands his ground. After a moment, Klaus rolls his eyes and walks over to a rusty green shipping container, which he opens to reveal Aurora sitting inside with a black hood over her head and her wrists bound behind her back. Tristan, still suspicious, turns back to Aya.

"If they try anything, attack."

Aya nods in agreement, and Tristan vamp-speeds into the shipping container toward Aurora. He takes off her hood, and her head rolls on her shoulders, still sedated from the drugs earlier. When Tristan looks back at Aya, Aya nods at the vampires standing guard over Hayley and Luna, allowing Klaus and Elijah to take her. Aurora wakes up when Tristan starts to break her bonds and smiles at him weakly.

"Oh, brother, you came for me."

"Always." Tristan stands once he's finished and pulls Aurora to her feet, and she wraps her arms around him in a hug.

"Come on. Come on."

While they're hugging, Aurora reaches into Tristan's pants pocket and pulls out the Serratura. As soon as she has it, she yanks herself out of his embrace. He looks at her warily when he sees the medallion in her hand, and slowly reaches out to take it from her, not knowing what she's trying to do.

"Rory...? What are you doing?"

Before Tristan can react further, Aurora slams the Serratura against the wall of the shipping container, which activates its power and causes the warehouse to shake for a moment as though an earthquake has just hit. The medallion remains stuck to the wall, and Aurora looks at Tristan with crazed eyes as Tristan, realizing what has just happened, tries to run out of the shipping container and is blocked by an invisible barrier. Tristan looks at Aurora in horror.

"No... Aurora... What have you done to us?"

Aurora looks smug as she walks toward Tristan,"Not to us..."

Much to Tristan's horror, Aurora walks right past the barrier and joins Elijah, Klaus, and Hayley outside of it, triggering some kind of secondary barrier.

"To you."

Aurora turns so she can face Tristan, but suddenly, a magical haze covers her before it is revealed that it was actually Cami the whole time, and Vincent and Freya just used a glamouring spell to make her appear to be Aurora instead. Tristan stares at them with a look of cold fury from inside the shipping container.

"What is this?"

"You know what they say-- payback's a bitch."

"How is this possible?"

"The Serratura creates an impenetrable boundary. Nothing living or dead can pass through."

"And, thanks to your lunatic sister, I'm neither."

Tristan's eyes widen in alarm when he realizes that he is truly trapped inside of the shipping container forever.

"No. No. NO!"

Klaus rushes over to Luna and puts his arm around her before quietly murmuring in her ear.

"Stay close to me, okay?"

Tristan stares at the Strix vampires, who don't seem to know what they should do.

"What are you waiting for? Take them! Now!"

Just as the Strix are about to obey this command, Elijah steps forward to address them himself, putting his body protectively in front of Hayley, who is still barely standing on her feet.

"Before you rush headlong toward almost certain death... As your sire, I would like you to employ just a little bit of common sense."

"We are ancient vampires, Elijah-- each of us almost as strong as you."

"You might almost be successful in subduing us, but at what price? Most of you will die in the process, and for what? To avenge a fool marching you headlong toward your very extinction in the name of a witch's prophecy? You do realize he engineered absolutely all of this, purely to satisfy some petty grievance against my family? Tristan doesn't care for any of you."

"Stop listening to him!"

Elijah ignores Tristan and continues, "The only danger here is the choice that you must make. You see, I am not your enemy. It's true, I delivered you into this existence. I can just as easily pluck you out of it. The choice is yours to make."

Aya looks torn, and Marcel walks over to talk to her.

"It's done. The moment has passed. Be smart, Aya. Smarter than Tristan. Don't waste any more of our guys."

Aya doesn't seem pleased that Marcel is ordering her around, but after a moment, she turns back to the rest of the vampires.

"Stand down."

Tristan only becomes more furious to see that the Strix have been convinced not to avenge him.

"You will not abandon me!"

Aya walks toward where Tristan is trapped in the shipping container and gives him a regretful look.

"It's a shame it has to end like this."

"Aya, this isn't over!"

"May the ghosts of our fallen keep you company."

The Strix then begin to leave the warehouse, Aya included, though Elijah and Hayley stay behind. Tristan continues to shout after them.

"Aya. Aya! AYA!"