ACT TWO; TARGET IN SIGHT
SCENE TWELVE; TEAR IT ALL APART
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THE DOOR SHUTS BEHIND KLAUS FIRMLY, AND SALEM LOOKS UP AT HIM FROM WHERE SHE SAT ON THE EDGE OF THE BED. Her gown was scrunched around her, spanning along the edge of the mattress as he approached her, a heavy look in his eyes that swam with lingering irritation from the events that had ultimately led to the night ending.

Salem took his hand in her own, dragging her thumb softly on the back of it. "That could've gone better,"

He raised a brow at her platitude. "That's an understatement."

She smiled, trying to keep him from exploding with the restrained anger simmering just beneath the surface of his other emotions. "Can I show you something?"

He quirks a brow at her abrupt subject change, but curiosity shines in his eyes. "As long as it won't ruin my night any further,"

She laughs, shaking her head as she reaches just past the edge of her skirt, grabbing the leather-bound pad. "I hope it doesn't. Otherwise my mother will have been right about me being cursed,"

She hands him the sketchpad, and he takes it hesitantly, eyes flicking to hers for reassurance that she gives him in an urging nod.

Klaus unties the string wrapped around it and sits beside her on the bed, eyes roaming over the vague drawings that span the first few pages. They're not lacking in talent by any means, the intricacy of the lines that make up a face, or the smudges that give it depth.

"I like painting more," She speaks, an almost nervous tremble in her voice as he turns the pages further into the book. "I always have. Easier to wield a brush and some paint than charcoal and lead."

He hums in faint agreement, fingers halting where they skim across pages as he comes across multiple sets of familiar figures. His eyes snap up, finding hers, and he watches as she nervously bites at her lip.

"The first time I saw you– actually saw you in your body and not Alaric's," She huffs a wry laugh, shaking her head as she leans over, tapping at some of the vague sketches of the curve of his nose, or the shape of his lips, eventually coming together the further he goes in the book. "I went home and tried to paint you. I went through half a dozen canvasses trying to get your eyes right. I still haven't,"

"Are you still trying?"

"Yes," She nods. "My art– it might not ever make an impact on the world, but it makes an impact on me. Just like you have. So I– I just want a way to immortalize it for myself. Just in case I forget one day."

He swallows roughly. "Forget what?"

"You," She shifts, dropping her hand to his thigh. "No matter what, I– I wouldn't want to forget you."

Klaus closes the sketchpad softly, depositing it on the cushioned bench at the end of their bed. "I won't ever let you forget me. If– if there is a day where we have been apart long enough for our memories to start fading, I will find you and remind you of us. Of what you mean to me. And I will tell you that I have lived a thousand years, and met millions of people, none of which compared to you."

"Nik,"

He looks down at her, genuine confusion in his eyes alongside the adoration. "How odd that there is a chance you may forget me one day, while I know with unwavering certainty that I will never forget you."

"Would you... would you do me a favor, Nik?"

His brow stays raised, interest keeping his face cool as she turns his hand and leans forward, making him cup her cheek gently. She turned, pressing a brief kiss into his palm that made his breath stutter imperceptibly. "A favor?"

She nodded, slowly standing to her feet. Her height had shortened since she last spoke to him downstairs, and he knows she's finally taken off the heels she'd been wearing all night. He peers down into her colored eyes. "What is it?"

"Help me out of my dress?"

Klaus watched with rapt attention as she took his hand, still in hers, and led it around her waist to the back of her dress, where a zipper sits, seamlessly sewn beneath the line of buttons that went all the way down the back of the dress.

"Are you sure, Salem?"

She smiles at the question but nods, her lips still stained red. "You said we could be whatever we wanted. This is what I want. Do you?"

"Of course," He answered quickly, unashamed in his fast response. "Always."

She shrugged, her eyes light, and free of burdens they usually carry. "Then what's stopping us?"

He mirrors her small smile, already tilting his head down towards her. "Nothing, my love," He drags the zipper down her back, his palm immediately moving to cover the exposed skin greedily. "Nothing at all."

He kisses her again, and she leans into it heavily, and he thinks of that death sentence, that promised eternity. That indescribable feeling she makes him feel. He hates her for making him feel like this, he truly does.

But he loves it much more.

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"Well, well, well, there's our girl," Kol steps in front of Rebekah, a teasing tone lilting his voice already.

"Get out of my way, Kol,"

Kol smirks, unperturbed at Rebekah's animosity. "Out all night, what a scandal! I trust you did better than that commoner– Matt, was it?"

"If you don't shut your mouth, the next thing to come out of it will be your teeth,"

Klaus laughs from his place on the couch, earning a glare from his sister. "Don't start, Nik!"

Salem sighs, an apologetic smile on her face that she gives to Rebekah as she leans over the back of the couch. "Be nice to your sister, Klaus,"

He gasps, scandalized as he cranes his neck back to look up at her. "I didn't say anything!"

"I'm bored," Kol cuts them off, throwing himself down in a chair. "Our sister is a strumpet, but at least she's having fun. I need entertainment."

"What are you waiting for?" Klaus waves him off, pulling Salem around the side of the couch and down onto the cushioned surface beside him. "Go on, have at it."

He quickly yanks Salem into his lap, making her let out a shocked yelp as he settles her on his thighs.

"It's not fun to go alone," Kol pouts, giving them a brief disgusted look. "Join me, Nik! It's the least you can do after sticking a dagger in my heart."

"Okay, why not?" Klaus sits up, still holding onto Salem. "I didn't have nearly enough to drink last night, what with you trying to murder Rebekah's date."

Kol scoffs, eyeing Salem pointedly. "Your mouth was preoccupied with other things, I would say."

Klaus's eyes shine protectively and Salem pats his arm, pushing herself off of his lap. "Go have drinks with your brother. I have to run a few errands today anyway."

"Yes, please go," Rebekah waves her brothers off. "This house has enough men rolling around in it!"

"Just like you, Bekah!"

The blond gasps, throwing a high heel at his head that he narrowly ducks with a fleeting laugh that echoes down the hallway.

Klaus stops in the doorway, giving Salem a look over his shoulder. "Join us for lunch later?"

Salem smiles. "Maybe,"

Rebekah dismisses him, still irritated from Kol's remarks. "Good riddance, both of you!"

As soon as the Mikaelson brothers are gone, another one appears– Salem feels appreciative it's Elijah and not Finn. He seemed to be the quiet one of the bunch, and more often than not, quiet meant dangerous.

He's holding something in his hand, burnt sage, if her heightened sense of smell is anything to go by. She hides her suspicious expression from the Originals, having already expressed her inner turmoil to Rebekah and Klaus– both of whom had shot down her suggestions that Esther was up to something.

After her little show of familial support at the ball last night, she knew they would take more convincing.

"Rebekah," Elijah addresses his sister cautiously, already earning an eye roll from the blonde.

"Not you, too, Elijah,"

"I'm worried about mother. Have you not noticed her strange behavior?" He continues, unperturbed by her disdain for the conversation.

Rebekah scoffs. "She's been dead for a thousand years. What's strange for her?"

"Burnt sage," He hands Rebekah the half-burnt bundle of herbs, his eyes watching it cautiously. "She was doing a privacy spell."

"You know she fancies such things. Why don't you ask Finn? He's been doting on her."

Salem narrows her eyes at the mention of the eldest Mikaelson, another warning bell going off in her mind.

Elijah shakes his head, seemingly going off the same mental tangent Salem had been. "I don't trust Finn. He hates what we are, he always has."

"That's not true," Rebekah's tone has a light, scolding sound to it. "And as for mother, she returned for one reason, to make our family whole. She loves us. What trouble are you looking to find?"

Rebekah stalks off upstairs, ready to get out of her dress and wash away the sins of last night in a hot shower. Salem waits until she's audibly in her bedroom again before stopping Elijah in the dining room with a silent murmur to wait.

She hurries to him, grabbing the burnt sage out of his hand and examining it. "I don't mean to be a glass half empty girl, but I haven't trusted your mom this whole time,"

Elijah raises a brow at her, and she shrugs, looking somewhat apologetic. "I have parental issues, we all know this."

"Yes, well," Elijah continues, not stopping to acknowledge her self-deprecation. "I figured I might as well just go straight to the source of all our problems."

Salem narrows her eyes, contemplating his words before the connection clicks in her mind. "Elena?"

The Original nods once.

"What are you planning?"

Elijah shrugs, and Salem is reminded that she's not dealing with Stefan or Damon, she's dealing with a thousand year old vampire who has spent his life wreaking havoc on others, no matter how civilized he comes off. Elijah is just as dangerous as Klaus, and it's easy to forget that sometimes.

"A short trip, a nice talk. Give her a message to pass on to those idiot brothers that trail after her like little motherless ducklings."

Salem snorts a laugh at the mental image of Damon and Stefan imprinting on Elena– it would truly make a lot of sense for their behavior when it came to the doppelgänger. "I have to go into town for a few things, do you want me to keep an eye out for anything?"

"Finn," He says. "Keep an eye out for Finn, and call if you see him anywhere."

"Right, okay. Call if I see Finn." Salem commits the order to memory, determination flashing in her gaze as she dismisses herself from Elijah. "Have fun on your little kidnapping mission!"

─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────

Salem finds herself walking into the Grill despite having planned out most of her day with things she needed to get done for work. The sunshine from outside is depleted when the door shuts behind her and her sharp eyes adjust to the dim lighting of the bar and grill.

She hears Klaus and Kol before she sees them, but a small smile grows on her face when she finally does see the brothers sitting at the bar, laughing loudly at something.

Klaus seems to have spotted her at the same time she had him, because his smile grows impossibly larger when they lock gazes and he beckons her over to him with a short wave of his fingers. "Salem, sweetheart! I was wondering if you'd join."

Salem smiles, giving Kol an uneasy nod out of the corner of her eye. "I didn't want to crash your party, but I'm craving a burger and fries. I won't stay long."

"No need, Salem," Kol leans towards her, smirking. "A face as beautiful as yours could never be unwanted."

She gives him a flat look that doesn't deter him, and turns back to Klaus. "You two look like you've drank the bar dry,"

"It takes a lot to get an Original drunk," Klaus shrugs, gesturing to the two empty bottles of bourbon on the bar in between them. "We're just enjoying the sliver of simplicity in our lives."

Salem's smile twinges with guilt and she tears her gaze away from Klaus, scanning the Grill briefly, only to have her gaze land on Alaric and a woman she doesn't recognize. Her head tilts confusedly and she looks away from Ric, back to Klaus.

"I think I see Alaric. I'm gonna go say hi," Salem kisses his cheek, ignoring his objections to her abrupt departure.

She stops at their table, smiling at the woman who eyes her warily, eyes darting over her shoulder in the direction of Klaus and Kol. Salem tenses defensively, but attempts a peaceful expression when Ric stands up to greet her with a hug.

Salem kisses his cheek, smiling contentedly. "Hey, Ric. How have you been?"

He chuckles, hearing the double-entendre in her words. "I could always be better,"

Salem attempts to laugh, but her eyes shift back to the woman who has watched their encounter with guarded eyes the entire time. "Are you going to introduce me to your friend, Ric?"

Alaric snaps out of whatever daze he'd been in, returning his shameful gaze back to Meredith who smiles uneasily. "Right, Salem, this is Meredith. Meredith, this is my best friend, Salem."

Meredith's eyes glint with recognition and she shakes Salem's outstretched hand with a smile. "I've heard a lot about you, Ric really... admires you."

Salem smiles, clenching her hands together defensively at the glare that Meredith keeps giving Kol over her shoulder. "That's interesting. I've heard very little about you."

Alaric tenses, giving Salem a scolding look that she shrugs off as she faces the woman with a hard stare. "Is there a particular reason that you're looking at Kol like that, or do you just look at strangers like you want to bury them?"

Meredith looks startled and Alaric reaches for her arm, looking pleadingly at her. "No, I'm, uh– I'm sorry, I just thought I recognized him. Do you– do you know him?"

"He's my boyfriend's brother." Salem watches her eyes widen in realization before she schools her reaction into one of feigned kindness. Everything about the woman uneases her, but she forces her outward reaction to the woman and forces her gaze back to Alaric, who looks appalled at her behavior.

Alaric pulls Salem away from the table, giving Meredith an obviously forced smile as he excuses himself. Once they're out of earshot, Salem yanks her arm away from Alaric's grip and glares at him accusingly, a face he mirrors on his own.

"What the hell was that?"

She shrugs, rubbing the spot on her arm he'd pulled on. "Well, I didn't expect to meet your evil girlfriend today. It took me off guard."

Alaric glares at her, lips pushing into an angry pout. "She's not evil, and she's not my girlfriend– at least not yet. She's probably going to run for the hills when she realizes how crazy my best friend is."

"Can you blame me? I mean, based off of what Damon said–"

"You choose now of all times to believe Damon?" Alaric scrunches his face up in disbelief, and she shrugs in defeat at his callout of her obvious lie. "What's the deal, Salem?"

She brushes her hair out of her face, eyes scanning the bar briefly and seeing Kol sliding in next to Meredith, who's got the same glare set on him from before. "I think that with everything going on, now's a bad time to bring someone new into the mix."

"It's not like I'm lying to her like I was–" He trails off, regret flashing in his eyes as guilt settles between them both at the unsaid name. "She knows about vampires, Salem. There's nothing to hide, and I just thought maybe it would be a good way to try and get over–"

Again, Alaric cuts himself off, and heaves a sigh, his fingers clenching briefly at his side. "Salem, you're my best friend and your opinion matters to me. If there's really a reason you don't think I should be with Meredith, tell me."

Salem furrows her brow, a pout forming on her lips for a moment before she sighs it away. "I guess I can ease up, just for you. But I'm not gonna trust her."

Alaric laughs, a dimming look of hopefulness fading from his eyes as resigned acceptance fills them. "I don't expect you to."

"And I think it's weird that she's been talking to Kol this entire time, but I can't say I'm surprised. He's a stubborn little shit."

Alaric's eyes narrow as he processes her words, and his gaze darts over to Meredith who seems to be warding Kol's presence off with a glare and some harshly muttered words. Abandoning the conversation, he rushes back over to Meredith, glaring at Kol.

"Can't take no for an answer?"

Kol's sharp eyes raise, flickering from Alaric to Salem, who's standing behind Ric and making an abortive gesture with her hand. "We were just having a nice conversation, no need to get hostile,"

Alaric smiles tersely, not backing down. "How about you just back off, and leave us alone?"

Kol narrows his eyes, that murderous glint shining in them. "Are you telling me what to–"

"Kol," Salem cuts him off sharply, giving him a warning look he feels tempted to ignore. The hybrid forces a smile onto her face, cutting through the tension like a sharp knife. "Let's just go back to the bar."

"But Salem," Kol grins, holding his hands out at his sides. "Your little friend here was threatening me. I can't just let it slide."

She nods, feigning agreement to dissuade him. "How about for me, just this once? I'm sure Ric means nothing by it–"

"I do."

Salem slaps Alaric's arm, eyes flashing cautiously as she turns back to Kol. "Let's go get a drink. I'll let you pour one out for me."

Kol heaves a sigh, looking in between Meredith and Alaric before settling his gaze back on Salem with a tauntingly sweet smile. "Only because you asked, sweetheart."

She mirrors his smile, the edges of it sharp as she grabs Kol's arm and turns him back towards the bar. "Could you go one day without terrorizing the human race?"

"I'm afraid not, darling. I'd get bored, and nobody likes me when I'm bored."

She rolls her eyes, pushing herself into the seat besides Klaus, who's just returned from the bathroom with a confused look on his face at the looks on their faces.

"What did I miss?"

"Your brother is terrorizing the locals, nothing new."

Klaus gives Kol a scolding look that the younger Original ignores as he slams back another shot of whiskey.

Kol grimaces at the bitterness of it and pushes his glass away from him, glaring at the couple beside him. "If I'm to act nicely, I'll need a much stronger drink. Something fresh."

Salem rolls her eyes again as Klaus dismisses his brother out of the back door of the bar.

Klaus turns to Salem, an understanding look on his face. "Now you see why I kept him daggered all this time."

She huffs a laugh, nodding in agreement. "Who would've thought a bunch of thousand-year old vampires would be so similar to children?"

The hybrids share a smile, unaware of the guilt-filled look that Alaric wears as he dials Damon on his cellphone to confirm the separation of the Original siblings.

─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────

Salem grows suspicious when Kol doesn't return after a few minutes. She knows from experience that Kol, while a bit on the psychopathic side, was the best at feeding. Though his past behavior would say otherwise, it's obvious that the Original just did that to get a rise out of his siblings– and it worked, of course.

But now he's been gone for nearly ten minutes and she knows that it wouldn't take much to lure an unsuspecting human into the alley for him to feed off of– at least not ten minutes of effort. She wasn't blind, Kol was attractive and it helped him and his murderous tendencies. She was pretty sure that's how most of the Mikaelsons got away with the things they did.

She tapped Klaus's arm, uncaring of his shout of frustration at her interrupting his entirely unfair game of darts against a teenage boy that was in way over his head when it came to hustling the hybrid. "Klaus, where's your brother?"

The Original scoffs, shrugging carelessly. "I don't keep tabs on my siblings, Salem."

She raises an eyebrow at him, making him stop and correct himself with a sigh. "I don't know. Why does it matter?"

"Because he doesn't take this long to feed," She pulls him away from the teenage boy, who sulks back over to his buddies that just laugh at his pitiful attempts to play darts. "We're going to find him."

"Salem, you'll dislocate my arm if you pull it any harder,"

She drops his arm as they exit out of the door of the Mystic Grill, rolling her eyes at his childish yelps. "Your arm is fine, Klaus."

"You don't know that, you could've bruised–"

"Shut up," Salem stops abruptly from her brisk pace along the sidewalk, and she grunts as Klaus grasps her arm, mirroring her glare. "Found him."

His blue eyes follow her line of sight and in a split second, the happiness that had glinted in them all afternoon disappears and is covered by the familiar hardened look of defense.

He grunts a sigh, rolling his eyes exasperatedly as he walks past Salem into the alley housing the temporarily dead Original, Alaric, and the two Salvatores. "You just can't stay out of trouble, can you, brother?"

He rushes forward, yanking the dagger out of Kol's chest, and knocks Alaric away from him into the brick wall.

Salem's eyes widen when Alaric falls to the ground unconscious, and she nearly scolds Klaus out of pure instinct before she remembers their current position.

Stefan lunges for Klaus but Salem stops him, sending a taut string of her magic out that wraps around his neck and snaps it like a twig. Damon's icy eyes flicker to her and his lip curls in a snarl that she returns, eyes flashing yellow as Klaus pins him to the wall.

"I should've killed you months ago," Klaus growls, fury coursing through his veins.

"Do it," Damon dares the Original hybrid, smugness in his voice. "It's not going to stop Esther from killing you."

Klaus's eyes widen in shock, and Salem's stomach drops. "What did you say about my mother?"

"You didn't know I was friends with your mummy?" Damon mocks him, uncaring of his fate at the thought of the Originals finally getting what they deserved. "Yeah, we have a lot in common. She hates you as much as I do."

"Knock it off, Damon." Salem towards him, a warning in her voice that he latches onto.

Damon feigns a gasp, looking in between Klaus and Salem. "Did you know this whole time, Salem? And you kept it from your boyfriend? That's not very–"

Salem shoves Klaus out of the way, her hands wrapping around Damon's throat and cutting off his mocking words as Klaus's gaze burns holes into the side of her face.

"Leave him, Salem," Elijah's voice snaps her from her violent revelry and she shoots him a glare where he stands at the opening of the alley, barely letting up on her deathly grip around Damon's throat. "We still need them."

"What did mother do?" Klaus storms towards his brother with realizations of treachery shining in his eyes. "What did she do, Elijah?"

Elijah walks calmly past Klaus, setting a hand on Salem's shoulder, making her finally let go of Damon. He holds a phone up in the vampire's line of sight, quirking an eyebrow. "You tell me where the witches are, or I'll have my sister kill Elena right now."

Damon's eyes shoot to the clock tower behind Elijah's shoulder, panic flickering in his gaze that dwindles that infuriating smugness that was there previously. "You told me we had until after nine."

"I'm sure Rebekah will be more than happy to start her work early."

Klaus rolls his eyes violently, letting out a harsh breath as he pushes past Elijah and Salem, walking out of the alley.

Salem rushes after Klaus as he crosses the street, his shoulders tensed impossibly. "Klaus, just wait! Let me explain!"

"There's nothing to explain, Salem. You and Elijah had it all figured out, there's no need for further discussion."

She scoffs, not allowing his sarcasm to deter her. "Really? Because it sounds like there's quite a bit to discuss."

Klaus stops, the two of them standing in the town square near the bodega. "How long have you known, Salem?"

"I swear I was–"

"How long?" His eyes search her face and she stops her pointless promise, eyes softening in a way that gives him an answer without even speaking. Still, he urges her on, clenching his fists at his side.

"Elijah confirmed it all this morning, but I knew something was off the entire time." She finally admits it, face going lax with guilt. "I tried to tell you, Klaus, but even I didn't realize she was trying to kill you guys! You can't blame me for not telling you when you didn't believe me the first time!"

He scoffs, stepping away from her. "Of course I didn't believe you, why would I believe your judgment over a woman I've known for a thousand years when I've barely known you for four months?"

Salem stops, startled at his words. She covers her hurt with a laugh, though, unwilling to let the hybrid's words of anger truly get to her. "Maybe I just thought you would believe me considering she's tried to kill you countless times before. She tried to keep you from becoming a hybrid, Klaus, would it be so far-fetched to think she came back to life simply to get rid of you for good this time?"

His eyes flash with the same hurt she feels, and she gets a sick sense of satisfaction from seeing him feel, if only momentarily, a fraction of what his words had made her feel. "Perhaps it would be more understandable if you had spent the morning informing me of your diabolical schemes with my brother instead of watching me get drunk and waste valuable time."

"What did you want me to do, Klaus? What would you have done if I'd come up and told you that Esther was trying to kill you all, and I needed your help right away? Would you even believe me, or would you just laugh at me like you did last time and say I was seeing things?"

Klaus says nothing, and Salem huffs a laugh out of her nose and takes another step back from him. "I guess I was just stupid for thinking you trusted me at all."

Klaus opens his mouth as if he wants to say something, perhaps apologize, but he stops himself and forces away the unfamiliar feeling of guilt and replaces it with trusty anger and defensiveness. "You can't turn this around on me, Salem. Maybe I could trust you if I didn't find out from Damon Salvatore that you've been sneaking behind my back with my brother to get rid of Esther."

Her glimmering eyes widen and she feels a concrete lump in her throat form, causing her to swallow harshly around it and bite her tongue to hold back a choked whimper at his words. "Is that what this is all about? Elijah?"

She shakes her head in disbelief, guilt and regret shining in her eyes alongside unshed tears. "Maybe I shouldn't have moved in with a man that doesn't even trust me to save his life. Maybe I shouldn't have put all of my faith and trust into a man that tried to kill me the first time I met him. And maybe I shouldn't have risked my life to be with someone who clearly wouldn't do the same for me."

Salem adjusts her purse on her shoulder, pushing it against her hip as she takes another stumbling step away from him. He takes a step towards her, reaching out, but she flinches away from him, missing the guilt that forces its way to the surface in his gaze at her reaction. "Don't. Just– don't. I'm done here. I'm done."

She turns away from him, just barely able to hide the sight of the first tear skittering down her cheek as she does so. Her footsteps are silent on the grass as she walks away from him, and when she looks back over her shoulder, her heart practically cracks in two when she realizes that he's gone.

Salem practically throws herself down on a park bench, burying her head in her hands as a few silent tears fall from her eyes, smearing her mascara beneath her eyes in a way she knows she probably resembles a raccoon at the moment.

"Salem!"

For a moment, her childish heart registers the disembodied voice as Klaus and she sits up with a hopeful feeling that perhaps he's come back to apologize, to do anything, but she realizes belatedly that it isn't Klaus, but instead Finn, and the eldest Original vampire is coming at her with a glare hard enough to make her flinch.

Salem stumbles off of the bench, dropping her purse in her wake as she turns and runs from the Original, but it's no use. The brown haired man appears in front of her and she lets out a surprised yelp, craning her neck to look at him with wide eyes.

"Finn, what– what are you doing?"

The Original smirks down at her. "You know, I actually kind of liked you. But I hate Niklaus far too much to let the opportunity pass me by."

Before Salem can question his cryptic threats, Finn punches an arm out and she feels the cold metal of the silver dagger pierce her stomach.

Salem cries out, jaw dropping as he drags the dagger up her stomach, barely an inch away from gutting her completely when he yanks it out with a sick grin on his twisted features. He shoves Salem away, sending her to the ground as she coughs and splutters around the blood rising in her throat.

Finn steps away, and Salem reaches for him with weak fingers, a plea on her tongue unable to form completely as she chokes on the copper in her mouth.

She blinks sluggishly and the Original is gone when she finds the energy to open her eyes again, and Salem thinks lazily, that of all things, this isn't how she pictured dying.

Her vision clogs with black spots, and she wonders if this is what her mother meant when she said she'd face the same fate as Inadu had.

It doesn't feel right, oddly enough. It just hurts.

─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────

author's note; lol

edited and published; 6.12.23.

- liz