Heart of Darkness

"She looked guilty, Stef! I'm telling you Lola's face was full of guilt after her psycho best friend had me chained up." Damon cockily explains to his brother as they both sit in the living room talking about what happened earlier today at the Mikaelson mansion.

Stefan sighs as he shakes his head, "That doesn't mean anything is going to change."

Damon finishes off his drink before narrowing his eyes at Stefan, "Mark my words, Stef, our sister will be coming back to us sooner or later."

"You can say you miss her, you know? Instead of all these conspiracy theories and trying to read her facial expressions." Stefan shrugs, "I miss her too."

Damon contemplates Stefan's words for a moment, admitting to himself that he does miss his sister but would never admit it out loud. He scoffs, "I never said that I miss her. I'm just saying it won't be much longer before she realises the mistake she made being with the freak show family than being with her actual family." Damon stands and walks over to the drinks table, "Besides, if anyone should miss anyone it should be Lola. She totally misses us, as a matter of fact, I bet she's breaking up with the hybrid freak as we speak and will be back here by the end of the night."

Meanwhile at the Mikaelson mansion, Lola is in the middle of her shower, letting the hot water fall against her face as she breathes in the steam.

She smiles to herself as she feels hands wrap around her waist, "Took you long enough to join me in here for a late night shower."

Klaus laughs slightly as he moves Lola's hair from one side of her neck then leaves kisses against the bare side of her neck, "I'll make it worth the wait I promise you."

After the long steamy shower the pair shared, Lola starts to get dressed. Klaus comes up behind her with just a towel wrapped around him, "Why are you getting dressed?" He wraps his arms around her, kissing her neck, "I was hoping we could continue this."

Lola laughs as she wiggles out of his hold, "I'll be back. I just need to go back to the boarding house and get a few more things."

Klaus frowns as he makes Lola turn to face him, "Why are you going there? At this time as well?"

Lola shrugs as she puts on some shoes, "They won't do anything."

"You don't know that, sweetheart."

Lola sighs as she walks over to Klaus, placing her hands against his chest as she looks up at him, "I may not know my brothers as well as I thought but I know they wouldn't do anything to me. I will be fine, I promise. I'll be back soon."

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Damon walks past the front door and hears someone walking on the other side of it. He furrows his brows as he opens the door but then smiles when he sees his younger sister standing there, "Hey."

Lola shares the same smile after being startled at Damon opening the door, "Hi." Lola has been pacing up and down the porch psyching herself up into actually going into the house.

Damon opens the door wider for Lola to step in, "What are you doing here?"

Lola looks around awkwardly, still standing on the porch, "I've been standing here for the past 10 minutes trying to figure out if I just walk in or if I should knock."

Stefan walks over and smiles over to his sister, "This is your home, Lo, you don't have to knock."

Lola laughs awkwardly, "Right. I was just, uh..."

"We've missed you, sis." Damon admits.

Lola smiles over to both of her brothers, wanting them to have said this to her for so long, "I've missed you guys too."

Damon takes hold of Lola's hand bringing her into the house fully and closes the door behind them, "You don't know how happy I am that you're back here with us."

Lola frowns, "Oh, no, I-" Lola gets interrupted by Damon pulling her into a bone crushing hug. She cringes at the fact her brothers think she's back here for good.

It's Stefan's turn to pull Lola in for a hug, "We mean it, the house hasn't been the same without you here."

"I have a something I need to do but come on, let's catch up first." Damon says as the guide Lola into the living room.

Lola stops walking, "I'm sorry but I'm not here to move back." Both brothers turn to face Lola confused, she sighs, "I was just going to get the rest of my things."

Damon looks at his sister, eyes full of hurt, "You're what?"

Lola stands awkward, fiddling her hands, "I'm sorry, I'm just, I'm not back for good." She then turns to walk upstairs and heads to her bedroom.

They both watch their sister leave the room. Stefan sighs as he turns to face Damon, "Do we tell her what we know?" Damon nods in agreement and they both follow her upstairs.

As both brothers approach Lola's bedroom, they watch her for a moment as she packs away the rest of her things that were here.

Damon leans against the doorframe and clears his throat, "Can you remember the night you were dying because Mikael injected you with werewolf venom?"

"Of course I remember, why?" Lola answers with her back to them as she continues to pack.

Damon steps into the room with his arms crossed, "You said something and it's been playing on my mind ever since."

Lola scoffs, "Well you of all people know what happens when you have the venom in your system, D. You start to hallucinate some weird stuff."

"You thought I was dad."

"Did I?" Lola plays dumb as she walks into her bathroom to grab the remaining things in there also.

She turns to walk back out of the bathroom but both Damon and Stefan are blocking the door. Damon narrows his eyes to his sister, "You kept saying you were sorry, you were so sorry. Sorry for something you didn't have any control over."

"Damon..."

"Then I started to think about it more and I remember one night you were saying the same sort of thing to him when we were kids." Damon begins to explain, "You were only about 6 or 7 and I remember something happened so I was sent upstairs but I could hear our father and mother arguing and Aunt Cora was there too."

Lola laughs awkwardly, "Seriously, D, you're thinking too much into this."

"He's not though, is he?" Stefan speaks up, "I can't remember much given I was only 2 but as I got older I remember our mother saying how brave I was when I was little after something happened that almost killed me."

Damon steps closer into the bathroom, "There was a bookcase we had in our study that was full of father's war books that you used to always love. Then after one night in particular the bookcase was never there again and we were never allowed back in the study. Before that night father was never as harsh on you as he was to me, but since then he was always more angry towards you."

Lola bows her head, "I'm going to go."

Lola attempts to leave but Damon takes hold of her wrist, the same wrist with the marking, "Then I notice this on your wrist and I know you, Lo. We know you. We know when something appears that wasn't there before."

"After Damon told me about what he seen we started to look into this ourselves because we knew you'd never tell us." Stefan admits.

"Guys, just listen..." Lola tried to reason with them both.

"We know about Aunt Cora having magic. We know all about that side of the family, how mom never got magic because it's only the first born daughter that gets the magic abilities." Damon explains, he glances over to Stefan who is holding a family archive, "We found this book all about the Whittaker witches, that's what Cora was."

Lola scoffs as she pushes past her brothers back into her bedroom, "You're being ridiculous. That's just a story Cora conjured up on her own."

"Are we?" Stefan quips, "Because your face is telling us something different. Despite everything we would still be here for you, Lola. You're always going to be our sister."

Lola looks over to them, sadness filling her eyes, "I'm only your sister when it's convenient for you both."

"Damon? Stefan?" Elena's voice comes into play downstairs.

Lola laughs to herself, "Well I guess the whole concerned brother act comes to an end now. That was fun while it lasted." She grabs the rest of her things and walks out of the room and down the stairs.

"No you're not leaving, we aren't done talking about this." Damon says as they follow Lola down the stairs.

"Yes we are." Lola snaps as she walks down the hallway when she spots Elena who looks over to her awkward.

"Oh, Lola, hi."

Lola flashes a cocky smile at the doppelgänger, "Don't worry you don't have to think about some small talk. I'm not staying."

"Lola, wait!" Stefan calls out for his sister but she's already slammed the front door behind her and sped off.

Elena looks at them both confused, "What's going on?"

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The next morning, Klaus and Lola are both in the kitchen. Lola is wearing an oversized shirt of Klaus' as she attempts to make eggs.

Klaus has his arms wrapped around her waist, "What's taking you so long with those eggs?"

Lola laughs as she tries to wriggle out of Klaus' hold, "It's hard to do anything when your hands are all over my body."

"Ah, there you are." Rebekah walks into the kitchen, she smiles over to Lola, "Do you fancy helping your best friend out with something?"

"That's my cue to leave." Klaus announces, he kisses Lola's cheek, "I'll be back soon." Klaus leaves the house after mentioning he was going to go to the boarding house to get the remaining white oak stakes.

Lola looks over to Rebekah, raising her brow, "I'm still mad at you remember?"

Rebekah huffs as she throws her hands up, "How can you forgive Nik but not me?"

"Maybe because it was your idea in the first place." Lola deadpans, bringing up yesterday's antics.

Rebekah shrugs, "The way Damon treated me I think he deserved it. Yet again he has proven that he doesn't take your feelings in to consideration and just plots against us all."

The pair both start off a staring contest with each other. Something they used to always do if they didn't agree on something, whoever caved first has to be the one to admit defeat and make up with the other.

This time it was Lola to cave first, mainly because Rebekah started to wiggle her eyes rows in a very strange manner making Lola laugh, "Okay, fine! I'm over it. Why did you need my help?"

"It's the school dance tomorrow." Rebekah points out.

"So?"

Rebekah flashes her puppy dog eyes to Lola, "So, do you fancy helping me set it up?"

Lola bursts out laughing, taking a while to calm herself down from the laugh attack. She glances over to Rebekah who isn't looking amused. Lola clears her throat, "Oh you're serious."

"Come on, Lola." Rebekah whines, "For me."

Lola hums as she pretends to think, "Yeah, no. Have fun!"

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A couple hours after Rebekah left to go to the school, Lola hears movement downstairs. For the last couple of hours Lola has enjoyed the peace of a quiet house with Klaus still out. She heads downstairs to see who's came back home, "Rebekah?" She calls out but no response, she walks into the study and pauses in shock at the woman standing by the fireplace she wasn't expecting to see, Esther, "What the hell are you doing here?!"

Esther smiles over to her, "I think it was about time we properly introduced ourselves, Lola."

Lola scoffs as she walks further into the study, "Well forgive me for not wanting to do the whole in-law introduction at your ball. You know I had this gut feeling your intentions with your family weren't genuine so that's why I never came to find you that night."

"Regardless of what's going on with my family, that was not the reason I wished to speak to you that night."

"Okay, well, sorry but I'm not doing it now either."

Lola turns to walk out when Esther speaks up once more, "I know your Aunt." Lola stops walking, staying with her back to Esther, "We got to know each other on the other side when she told me a story about your family. The Whittaker witches aren't just any type of coven. Your family dates all the way back to my time."

Lola narrows her eyes at the original witch, "I don't really have time to learn about my family tree."

Esther grabs hold of Lola's wrist, observing the mark, "The rebirthing symbol, interesting. Rebirth after death, transformed into a pure soul once more."

Lola snatches her hand out of Esther's grip, "Get off of me."

"I'm here to help." Esther attempts to assure Lola, "Witches need to stick together, Lola."

Esther takes hold of Lola's wrist once more, closes her eyes and starts to chant causing a burning sensation to overpower Lola, "Ow, let me go!"

Esther eyes shoot open, "One dark soul must die for a pure soul to be reborn."

Lola screams out in pain, Esther stops chanting and steps back taking a breath from the spell she has just cast. The power was too much, making Lola pass out. She falls onto the couch unconscious.

Rebekah walks back into the house with a smile on her face after Matt driving her home, "Lola!" Rebekah calls out for her best friend, "Considering you wouldn't help me set up the dance you could at least help me decide on what to wear?!" She walks into the room where she sees Esther standing by the fireplace, "Mother." She then sees Lola laid on the couch unconscious, she rushes over to her, "Oh my god, Lola."

Rebekah glares over to her mother and rushes over to her, grabs her by the throat and pushes her against the wall, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now."

"Because I'm dying."

Rebekah removes her hand from her mother's neck and steps away, "How are you dying? I thought Ayana preserved your body with a spell."

"She did." Esther admits, "I'm drawing my power from the Bennett witch line. When Abby died the connection was severed. So my body has weakened."

Rebekah crouches down beside Lola, checking to make sure she's okay, "What have you done to Lola?"

"I've helped her." Esther says, "It's one of the last things I wanted to do, she will wake don't worry."

"Well, if you've come to spend your last moments with your loving daughter, prepare to be disappointed." Rebekah snaps as she comes to stand, "You should have spent less time plotting my death."

"Is that what you think I've been doing on the other side?" Esther asks softly as she steps towards Rebekah, "I've been looking over you for a thousand years. Of joy and heartbreak. Your fights with Klaus, the nights you cried yourself to sleep calling out my name. Not a day has gone by that I wasn't right there with you."

Rebekah looks at her mother with tears in her eyes, "And yet you still tried to kill me."

"Because it shouldn't have been a thousand years, Rebekah." Esther says sternly, "No one should live that long."

The tears threatening to escape are now running down Rebekah's cheeks, "But I haven't lived at all."

"I'm sorry, Rebekah. I'm so, so sorry." Esther takes Rebekah's hands and starts to shake. She falls to the ground, dead. Rebekah kneels down next to her.

Klaus enters the room and notices his mother on the floor, "What's going on?" It's then he sees Lola passed out on the couch, he rushes over to her, "What happened?"

"Mother's dead."

Klaus kneels beside Lola, removing the hair covering her face, "Lola, sweetheart, can you hear me? I need you to wake up for me, love."

Lola begins to stir awake, she looks around the room confused, "What the hell happened?"

"Our mother is dead." Klaus informs as he sits on the edge of the couch as Lola begins to sit up, "What did she do to you?"

Lola frowns as she tries to remember, "She-she..." That's when it hits her, she lifts up her sleeve and looks down at her wrist in shock, once covered with the rebirthing mark that has now vanished, "She finished the spell."

Klaus narrows his eyes as he takes hold of Lola's wrist, looking down at it, "It worked?"

"I think so."

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A/N: Double update, yay!! This was a short chapter but we've got three more to go after this one to finish off season 3! Who's excited?! I am! The next three chapters will be much longer, don't worry😏!!

Eeeeek Esther has completed the spell!! But what happens next?!🤫🤔

Love you all!! Thank you so much for 26K reads!!! Xxxx