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

     There's a fire in Rhea's body that wants to rip Klaus apart for what he had just done to Elijah. After everything Elijah has ever done for him, Klaus had no issue with doing something as heinous as purposely biting him after he had his feelings hurt. She knows a werewolf bite will not kill an Original, but it's still not going to be the easiest forty-eight hours while the venom passes through his body—and as much as she wants to spill her sire's blood for doing this, her main priority is taking care of Elijah. They don't hesitate to go inside the second Klaus left; they were too exposed outside and needed to take cover in the abandoned shack—with Elijah hours away from being incapacitated and Hayley being pregnant, they would've only had Rhea to protect them if anything decided to attack, which was why she knew they couldn't be in any open spaces.

     Hayley didn't take any time before she started to look around the abandoned shack, shuffling through the stacks of old photos while Elijah did too. The werewolf looked over at him, "You don't have to help. I can dig through the werewolf antique show on my own." Hayley then looked at his neck wound, "Besides... shouldn't you put some kind of ointment or something on that?"

     "The bite won't kill him, but, that doesn't mean it won't be an absolute pain to deal with for him." Rhea informed, keeping calm, but on the inside she was worried. It's still going to affect him in some way, even though she isn't sure how.

     "It's more of a nuisance than anything." Elijah tried to assure her, "Like Niklaus himself." He joked and Rhea huffed a laugh.

     "Funny."

     "Good... because I'm eventually going to need a ride home." Hayley joked back, biting her lip awkwardly, feeling bad that she had accused Klaus for something they were wrong about and now they were stranded in the country.

     Elijah grew slightly weary and Rhea was by his side in an instant, "Are you okay?" She asked him as she helped lead him to the bed to sit down.

     Elijah only sighed and Rhea knew that his mind was on Klaus more than his own pain, "Perhaps I was too willing to condemn him. In the thousand years that we have been together, my brother has committed numerous unspeakable acts. But, then again, so has Rebekah. So have I."

     "We've all done bad things." Rhea reminded him emphatically, "It's just... most people die before the list gets embarrassing. Don't beat yourself up about it—once upon a time, he would've done something exactly like you said."

     "She's right, you know?" Hayley said, causing them to look up at her from the other side of the cabin, "You've all helped change him so much that's he's probably different to the Klaus you knew centuries ago. You could only have assumed the worst when he told you himself that he was just having this baby to have an heir."

     "Exactly, babe." Rhea half smiled as she played with Elijah's hair, "He'll forgive you, and you two will go back to being the weirdest two peas in a pod." She said and Elijah chuckled at her, leaning in to press a kiss to her lips while Hayley looked away awkwardly.

     "I'm gonna go get some air." She coughed awkwardly, "It's like a freaking hot-box in here."

     Hayley then left to walk out onto the porch, while Rhea continued to look after Elijah. When she got outside, she found a Bible laying on the corner of the porch. She picked it up and began to flip through it.

     After a few moments, she walked back inside, looking confused as she stared at the pages, "What's that?" Rhea asked, having not seen it outside when they came inside.

     "Someone left this here." Hayley informed them, "It's a Bible, with a family history that goes back generations."

     She showed them the pages and they could see the many names and birth dates documented, the last of which read: Andrea Labonair, 6 June 1991.

     "What are these names? Who is Andrea?" Elijah asked. He didn't recognise any of them.

     Hayley looked shocked, "I think I am..." She trailed, looking up at the couple with wide eyes, "That's the day that I was born."

     "Well, on that note," Rhea said as she stood up, "I'm going to go back and get some things."

     Hayley looked concerned for her, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

     Rhea looked around, "This shack looks abandoned and we have no idea how long we're going to be here for; we need some necessities to at least make this place comfortable, even though it's barely liveable."

     Hayley nodded in agreement and Elijah gulped as Rhea reached for the door, "Rhea—" He called out to her and Rhea turned to look at him, "Klaus, he—"

     "I know, Elijah." She interjected with a soft voice and he looked as if she had kicked his puppy. He wanted to tell her, and bless his heart that he did, but she unfortunately already knew.

     Rhea then left the shack and Hayley looked at Elijah, "She knows, what?"

     Elijah exhaled, "She knows that Klaus was the one that killed her mother."

     "Oh..."

Rhea didn't stop for any pleasantries when she got back to the plantation house, running up to Elijah's room to grab his travel bag since it was the biggest to stuff some clothes in there for him, Hayley and herself since she wasn't sure how long they would be stuck in the shack. It was hot and stuffy and she was sure a change of clothes would help, especially to get out of the blood stained clothes at least. She then ran downstairs to grab some snacks and long-life food that they could eat in the meantime. Hayley being pregnant and all, there was no way they could let her starve since she had been missing since the night before as well—and she doubted Tyler fed her at all.

"Rhea—" She heard Klaus start and she instantly held a hand up. She didn't even want to look at him because she knew she was going to break down instantly.

"Not now, Klaus." She said to him sternly while continuing to pack necessities into Elijah's bag, refusing to look at him as she did so, "I'm not in the right headspace to have a conversation with you."

"We should to talk—"

"No, we don't." She interrupted him again, "Because if we have a discussion now, something is gonna happen that we'll both regret."

"If you're mad at me about biting Elijah, you have to understand—"

She dropped the bag onto the ground with a loud thump, "It's not just you biting Elijah, you dense asshole." She told him, finally looking at him with fury in her eyes, "How long were you planning on hiding the fact that you killed my mom?"

Klaus froze, "You know?"

"Yes, I know. No thanks to you." She snarled, "Tyler threw it in my face while I was fighting him off to protect your child." She then chuckled, "It's almost funny, I should've seen it but I guess I was being naive because I had hope in you that you wouldn't do something like this to get back at him, because it was my mom, too."

She felt so stupid believing that her mom really did just drown because of her own intoxication but now that she knew it was Klaus, she felt sick to her stomach. Rhea had been playing house with her mother's killer. She didn't even know if she was glad that no one had even told her until that point. She was so in the dark that it was almost embarrassing. She started to walk towards him, poking at his chest, "I understood that you wanted to get back at him for the hybrids—fine by me, he deserved it—but, my mom? She had nothing to do with this, and you quite literally took the last piece of my family away from me. Tyler hated me and all I had left was my mom until you decided to drown her in my fountain."

"Tyler needed to be taught a lesson!" Klaus exclaimed, "I did what I needed to do because he betrayed me and your mother was going to cover for him while he ran like a coward. In hindsight, she deserved it too."

     It was as if she saw red, blacking out she ran at Klaus punching him as hard as she could in the face, sending him backwards, "Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! FUCK YOU!" Rhea bellowed, shoving and hitting Klaus with anger, pushing him down the hallway before he reached the wall, "You ruined my fucking life, Klaus! You have drained every bit of happiness in my life and I fucking hate you for it with every fibre of my being!"

     She kept hitting him, in hopes that one of her hits would hurt him even just the tiniest bit. She wanted him to feel the pain she felt—the pain that he caused.

     Eventually, he started to block her hits and grab onto her hands while she fought against him, "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" She chanted, the fire in her voice dying down and growing weaker each time, tears welling up in her eyes before she collapsed into his arms in a puddle of tears, "I hate you so much." She sobbed as she let Klaus hold onto her.

     The two of them slid down to the ground, Klaus holding onto her while she sobbed uncontrollably, "I know you do." He responded softly, hating how his actions cause her pain but he needed to teach her brother a lesson for his actions.

     "I can't forgive you for this." She hiccuped and he frowned, "I can forgive you for biting Elijah when he does, but I can't forgive you for my mom or you lying to me about it." She told him. She's lost enough people in her life within the last few months—she lost her mom, she lost Tyler, she lost Tyler, and all of her friends besides Caroline pretty much hated her. She wants to hold on to whatever people she has left, no matter how shitty they are. She can't forgive him for this.

     "Even if I don't show it, I consider you one of my closest friends, little gremlin." Klaus told her while she sniffled, "I am sorry that me killing your mother hurt you, but I'm not sorry I did it. I had to make a point to your brother."

     Rhea only exhaled in disappointment, "I figured as much." She said, the apology not really feeling genuine as she got up off of the ground, grabbing the bag on the way out and disappearing from the house once more.

     When Rhea returned to the shack, Elijah was laying on the bed, tossing and turning restlessly while Hayley stood at his bedside, trying to feed him some water, "Here, drink this." She offered as Rhea dumped the stuff onto the ground before she was by Elijah's side, helping him with the cup. She softly thanked Hayley on the way and let Elijah know she was there.

     He frowned when he looked at her, "You've been crying." He noticed, touching her cheek with his thumb where he saw the stain the tears had left.

     Rhea shook her head, taking his hand away from her face to make sure his was settling the cup so it didn't spill, "Yeah, your brother's a dick and we had some words. But, don't worry about me." She said softly, "Just drink the water."

     Elijah took another sip from the cup, and almost immediately started to gag and cough, "Forgive me. Please."

     Rhea only smiled as she rubbed his back, "Don't be. It makes me feel human being able to take care of you like this." She said. Being vampires meant never getting sick, and it meant missing out on taking care of your significant other while they were unwell. At least like this, she could say she did take care of him.

     Hayley smiled at the couple, finding it sweet how they took care of each other, "Remind me to annihilate Klaus once you're healthy." Hayley mentioned as she went back to the other side of the shack to read her book. Rhea probably wouldn't let her near Elijah while she was around so she thought it was best to keep a safe distance.

     Elijah coughed, "Yes, remind me to remind you to get in line." He said, coughing harder just from speaking.

     Rhea hushed him, "Don't speak to much. It'll irritate your throat." She said as she walked over to wet a washcloth with some cool water when she noticed he was burning up.

     "Rhea, please. This fever will make me unstable. And once the hallucinations begin, I'll start to see things. You must leave me here." Elijah begged her, trying to swat her helping hand.

     Rhea shook her head, "I'm not leaving you like this." She refused, "You're my soulmate and I love you. You're sick and you need me right now, I'm not leaving you."

Elijah smiled at her and entwined their hands before he pressed a kiss to the back of hers. He then sensed something outside and looked out the window, "We're being watched."

Hayley immediately walked outside to find Eve standing several yards away. When she sees Hayley, she ran in the opposite direction away from her, "Hey. Hey!" She called out to the blonde woman.

     When she returned back inside, Rhea has Elijah's head in her lap, raking her fingers through his hair to soothe him while he continued to relentlessly writhe in pain while he hallucinates more memories, some of which were random whenever she and him made contact. Rhea didn't mind looking into his past; whatever happened back then was the past and she knew couldn't change that. Elijah knew everything about her, and he wanted her to know more about him—although he didn't want her to find out this way.

     He shivered and groaned in pain, "Rhea, please. This fever. My mind is flooded with these torturous memories. You have to leave, make sure the Hayley and the baby are okay."

     Rhea only scoffed, "Elijah, I love you, but quit being a big baby. I'm taking care of you."

     "You've seen in my memories that there are consequences for those that care. You've paid that price, I don't want that to happen anymore—or for Hayley to pay that price either just for being around me."

     "Well, get over it. I'm staying. Maybe you should've thought about all of that before you asked me to marry you." Rhea scoffed at him, "Nothing will ever mean more to me than you, and right now, you need me. What kind of soulmate would I be if I left you in your time of need?"

     Elijah smiled at her stubbornness and she pressed a kiss against his forehead before he looked over at Hayley, "What about our visitor? What does she want?"

     The werewolf shrugged, "I'm guessing she's the one that left the mystery Bible on the doorstep before. Would be nice if she'd stick around long enough to tell me why."

     "Hayley, you came here to gather an information about your family. You might as well try and learn what you can while we're here." Rhea pointed out, "Who knows when you'll be able to get the chance again." Hayley nodded in agreement, looking at her one last time before Rhea nodded at her back, "Go."

     It was dark out and Elijah had fallen asleep shortly after Hayley left the shack. It was most likely because he was on high alert and didn't want to hurt her that he refused to relax, but once she was out of harms way from him, he fell asleep. Rhea kept an eye out on Hayley outside with the mysterious blonde woman that she spoke to near a campfire, only taking her eyes off of her whenever Elijah moved around or his breathing picked up.

     Her phone quietly vibrated, having put it on silent mode so she wouldn't disturb his sleep if anyone called her or texted her. She answered it seeing it was Rebekah calling, "I heard what happened." She said to the hybrid as soon as she picked up, "Is Elijah okay?"

     "He's asleep." Rhea said quietly, in a whisper tone, "I don't know what else to do besides let him sleep."

     "The werewolf toxin should expel itself out of his system in a few hours. Just be careful that his hallucinations aren't violent—if they are, get yourself and Hayley as far away from him as possible." Rebekah warned, "But, in the meantime, Marcel and I have cooked up a plan to take Nik down. Are you in?"

     Rhea looked intrigued, "Believe me, on any other given day, I would've said yes after what I just found out—but, I can't leave Elijah." She answered. She wanted to take him down as punishment for what he did to her mom, but Elijah took precedent over her want for revenge. She couldn't leave him when he needed her. He had been there for her through so much, it would be unfair for her to just ditch on the rare occasion he needed her.

     Rebekah sighed, "I get it. Soulmate duties." She responded, "Take care of yourself. I refuse to lose you in result of my brother's temper tantrum." She said.

     Rhea smiled, "You know... you could just say that you care about me. You don't have to hide it..." She teased.

     Rebekah laughed, "Goodbye, Rhea." She said before hanging up the phone.

     Rhea gently put down the phone on the beside table and went back to playing with Elijah's hair for a few moments, looking out the window and listening in to Hayley's conversation with the woman. She was explaining to Hayley how she was following her because she had brought an original with her to werewolf country, which was why everybody else ran away. She then explained that it was Marcel who drove the werewolves away and killed everyone in the family tree that Hayley was looking at earlier, and anyone else that escaped death had a curse put on them that made it so that their wolf was their natural state and they turned human on the full moon. They were hunted by the marks on their shoulders.

     Suddenly, Elijah sat up with a startled scream. Rhea looked at him with concern, seeing that he was still in a hallucinogenic state; he was looking at her but it didn't seem like he quite recognised what he was looking at.

     "Elijah?" She called out to him softly.

     Elijah rushed at her suddenly, and Rhea quickly dodged the attack, turning around to see him lund he at her again, "Niklaus! I'll kill you, you bastard!" He shouted.

     "Damn it, wake up, Elijah!" Rhea shouted back as she continued to dodge his attacks, eventually tackling him to the ground instead and wrapping her legs around him to pin him to the ground as she reached for a pair of scissors on top of the table. Elijah only continued to struggle against her, thrashing in her grip, "I am so sorry, babe." She says before stabbing the scissors into his side.

     Elijah let out a loud scream of pain and Hayley immediately ran inside to see the pair of soulmates on the ground, wrestling. Her eyes widened as the woman ran in after her, "Don't be alarmed, but, I need him weakened." Rhea explained calmly as she continued to hold Elijah down. She then looked at Hayley, "Hayley, there's a cup on the table near the door. It's got blood in it, I need you to get it for me, okay?"

     Hayley looked terrified and nervous at the same time, "Isn't that just going to make him stronger?" She asked.

     "It's got my blood in it. It should help him snap out of this." She gritted as Elijah thrashed in her grip, screaming out how he was going to kill her and she was slowly starting to lose her hold on him, "We need to do this quickly, I can't hold him down for much longer. Hurry!"

     Hayley quickly ran to the table by the door and grabbed the cup, bringing it over to Rhea and Elijah. Using the last bit of strength, Rhea held back Elijah's arms for Hayley to pour the hybrid's blood into his mouth.

     Before they could stop to see if anything else worked, Rhea snapped his neck.

     It didn't take long for Elijah to wake up, but when he did, Rhea, Hayley and Eve—Hayley's mysterious werewolf friend—were outside of the shack.

     "Good evening. Think I might have something which belongs to you, darling." Elijah greeted them and holds up the pair of scissors that Rhea used to stab him earlier.

     Rhea let out a sigh of relief knowing he was back to normal while Eve stood in front of Hayley protectively, "Thank God you're okay." She said breathlessly as she ran into his arms. She nestled into him tightly before she pulled away from him to check over him, "You are okay, right?" She asked cautiously, looking over him intently.

     Elijah nodded, "Your blood helped. The wound is healed, the fever is broken," He then smirked in amusement as he tilted his head, "But, for some strange reason I have this sharp and lingering sensation in my back."

     Rhea smiled wryly, "That's just Klaus being a lingering pain in the ass." She teased as she leaned in to kiss him, "I'm sorry I had to hurt you."

     "Don't be. You did it to protect yourself and Hayley. I understand." He told her, kissing her once more, "I'm sorry I tried to hurt you. I would never want that."

     "It's not important. You weren't you." Rhea shook her head before sighing and looking back at Hayley, "We should get going."

     Hayley nodded sadly and looked back at Eve who only told her to keep her mark covered that she had on her shoulder before she left. "What happened?"

     "I just met part of my family." Hayley told him and Elijah only looked shocked.

"Can we talk?" Hayley asked when they returned to the plantation house, trying to ignore the sounds of the Mikaelson siblings arguing in the other room from them. Rhea only looked at her with confusion, "I wanted to thank you for today. You helped me from Tyler and you urged me to go speak to Eve, without you I probably wouldn't of found the guts and find my family."

Rhea half smiled, "Yeah, well, you had a chance to do the thing you were waiting your entire life for, I would've been mad at you if you didn't take that chance." She said, "Family is important when you don't exactly have much left of it these days."

"Thank you, again." Hayley said, "And I wanted to let you know that when Tyler had me kidnapped, I told him the truth. I told him it was me that set up the hybrids to Klaus and not you. It was why he was so angry and ready to kill me."

Rhea huffed a laugh, "I appreciate that, Hayley, I really do, but... telling a vengeful kidnapper it was you that got his friends killed probably wasn't your brightest idea." She joked and Hayley winced in agreement, "But, thank you. That must've taken a lot of guts."

Hayley placed a hand over her stomach, "Well, we're going to be family because of this baby; and like you said, family is important when you don't exactly have much of it left." She said, "I don't want us to have any bad blood because of my past mistakes."

Rhea nodded, "You're right." She exhaled, feeling a little lighter that she wasn't holding onto her hatred as much, "We're family."