~ Rebekah Michealson ~

Urgh.

I was never a fan of nature and now I had to hide out in the woods! I'm starting to wonder why I still hang around, after all that has happened I would be better off alone with myself than be a part of this…

I am, however, slightly surprised that neither the Salvatore brothers or my brothers had noticed me yet, after all I am only sitting on a branch right outside the window not hiding at all. I have to say though, this dinner party is rather dull; besides the doppelganger business intertwined with Dis', nothing spectacular had happened until Nik started to burn Stefan's hand a few moments ago.

My mood changed from bored and annoyed to angry and sad in a switch. The memories of the golden twenties were still fresh in my mind as if it happened last week, my love for the younger Salvatore still very real. Watching him hurt, groaning and twitching made me want to rush in there and help him, save him from this pain my own brother was causing him.

What stopped me was the memories of the "sun and moon" curse, seeing him for the first time since the twenties and looking for that spark in his eyes and find it was lost. He may remember what we did during the twenties but Nik didn't give him back all of the memories and feelings we shared secretly, he couldn't, he didn't take them away. When I saw the way he looked at the latest doppelganger I couldn't do it either, how could I do that? I didn't want him to have to love me. I want him to love me for me, because he wants to; and if not, I'll suffer silently like my sister. She's had the better part of our thousand years to suffer, I think I can last a century.

I focused on the room again as Elijah came back, showing Nik the other two daggers that were supposed to be in Fin's and Kol's chests, not on a platter as they were. A figure walked in, stopping behind Elijah and Damon, Kol.

Quickly blurring inside to stand by Nik I wasn't able to stop Fin from daggering him in the palm, in a way I wish I'd done it myself. Fin went to stab Nik again, this time in the stomach but I caught his hand before he could.

He stared at me, in shock that I would stop him after all Nik has done to him, to all of us. I'm sure if the circumstance were different I would be on their side but they don't know everything that has transgressed over the past week.

"You're free to go, this is family business." Elijah said, staring at the two of us as Damon and Stefan saw themselves out, both unable to keep petty smiles of their faces.

Silence spread across the room. Fin moved away but didn't let go of the dagger. Kol walked around the room, examining each and every aspect of it.

"I like what you've done with the new place, brother." Kol commented, destroying a mahogany table with a vase on it in one kick.

"I wanted it for us, a place we could all call home; a place we could all be a family." Nik explained in a strained voice, leaning on the dinner table. "None of us would have to be alone again."

Elijah looked to the side before looking at Nik, "None of us will be. We're leaving. You're staying behind. Alone." He finished and move to stand on the steps with Kol and Fin.

I stood where I did when I came in, "Elijah, don't sound so rancorous, we have a lot to talk about so do, sit down."

Elijah couldn't look more startled at my involvement in the conversation. "Rebekah, what on earth are you thinking? After all that he has done to us?"

"Yes, I remember. But, Elijah, weren't you the one who always told me blood ran thicker than water?" I questioned and he looked uneasy. "I haven't forgiven Nik, not yet, but I'm tired of being alone when I'm surrounded by people. All we have is each other, and right now we need to stay together because the way I see it, we've already lost too many people. I've lost two sisters, a brother, a love and my parents; Elijah, don't make me lose my brothers as well."

"If you run, I will hunt all of you down." Nik threatened, knowing he was fighting a lost battle.

"Then you will become everything you hate, our father." Elijah pointed out absentmindedly, not answering or looking at me.

Too soon. It was too soon to be making comments like that, Nik is going to lose it and everything will play out like it always does. They will fight and then leave, not coming back until Nik decides to hunt them down, dragging me along with them. And lose it he did, shouting about immortality and power that is within his blood until he was stopped by the door opening.

I stood up as all my brother turned to look at the door gasping.

Mother.

Mot- Ester.

Ester walked into the hall way, standing and looking at each of us in turn before resting her eyes on Nik.

She looked beautiful, the kind of beauty that is increasingly hard to strive for in this age. Her hair is long and naturally fell in big curls to her elbows. Her face was clean of any products, she didn't need any, her eyes were naturally lined in a mild brown, her lashes long and her complexion perfect.

None of my memories, human or not, added up to this, to seeing her in person again.

She walked past Elijah, Fin and Kol stopping in front of Nik. Where is Dis? She should've gotten my message by now, she's probably the only person to make heads and tails of this situation.

"Look at me." Ester said sternly.

A tear rolled down Niks cheek. Whether it was for the terror of death, knowing he'd have to face the other side forever alone to watch others have all he never did, love, or thoughts surrounding Dis and regretting the past thousand years of decisions, I don't know. I doubt I ever will. Though it made me want to cry for him, for the good choices he has yet to make, for my sister who may become a widow whether she is with her husband or not, for my brothers and myself who may lose a sibling at the hand of a parent.

Nik looked into Ester's eyes. "Do you know why I am here?" She asked sternly.

"You're here to kill me." He whispered.

"Niklaus, you are my son… and I am here to forgive you. I want us to be a family again." She declared and looked at each of us in turn before continuing. "I want to throw a ball tomorrow night, in honour of our reunion as a family in the town that has continued to be our home for centuries."

"Yes, mother. I will arrange it all."

"Thank you, Elijah. Now, Niklaus could you escort me to my quarters? Do believe that returning to this side was rather exhausting."

Nik held out his arm to her and walked her upstairs to the guest quarters, obviously not anticipating her return in order to build her, her own. The rest of us stood there, almost as if frozen, confused.

I blurred to my room without a word. After asking my witch about the message, I started to undress and a bath, it seemed like an exciting idea to soak in a heated bath after the turn of events.

As I absorbed the heat from the scented water different emotions run through my heart. I felt happy at the thought of having my mother back, finally being able to have her attention and love, unconditional love a mother has for a child. I felt sad that it has taken this long, that it has taken this many events and years for this to finally happen. I felt angry remembering that there must be another reason for her return, thinking of the circumstance, there may not be another point in time where my siblings and I will be in the same place and it all seemed too coincidental.

"Ah! Dis! How have I missed you!" I squealed, blurring to her and engulfing her in a hug.

It has definitely been too long, last I saw her was after we were turned. Last I saw her was when we went for a long walk after Nik asked me to distract her while he prepared a surprise gift for her… for a long while I wondered what had happened, why I haven't seen Dis after that, why we had to leave... Each time Nik answered, giving a distraught reply.

"Rebekah! I have missed you also dear sister!" She answered, hugging me back tightly.

"Where have you been? Nik has not been himself without you! How could you leave him? Us? I have to take you to Nik! He-"

"No, no, no! Rebekah, I am here to speak with you only, it is very important we do so. Alone." She answered desperately and blurred away.

I looked at the place where she had been confused, trying to think of the reasonable explanation for this. Deciding to trust my sister, I followed her, there was no reason to be alarmed. My sister would not harm me.

Dis stopped in a clearing and I walked up to her, dropping the fabrics of my dress and stopped a few meters away from her. She muttered a few words and all sounds of the forest disappeared.

"We will be save here and we will not be interrupted, we are non-existent for the next half an hour."

"Dis, what is wrong?" I asked cautiously, this was an extreme measure even compared to Nik's paranoia about people trying to hurt us.

She sighed and I became even more worried.

"I do not know how to say this Rebekah… You are going to loathe me for what I am about to share with you, but you need to know this."

"You are scaring me Dis." I said, looking from side to side discretely, I knew I couldn't outfight her but I couldn't help the survival instinct that was beginning to kick in.

She took two steps closer to me. "I wish I did not have to tell you this and I wish I had more time to do it, but I do not. I am going to simplify the whole tale into three facts for now. One: Ester was murdered by Niklaus; not of the right reasons but it was a needed act, she was not an honest woman nor a good mother. Two: Niklaus is born of a werewolf father; he is cursed. Three: You must go on as if this conversation never took place; it will not be safe for you if you talk about this outside of this safe zone."

I didn't return to Nik and Elijah for the rest of the day, I was allegedly spending the night with a lover. I did spend the night in company of a man, but he didn't live to see dawn. I remember spending the night thinking about what Dis told me and the explanations she had time for afterward. I was shocked, angered and sad to hear all she had to say and the evidence she showed me to support it.

The person that gave me my human life, my immortal life and raised me wasn't who I had thought she was. I sat in silence for a few hours, thinking of the past trying to come up with signs that would prove what Dis said wrong. No scenarios or memories helped me make that point, in fact, they actually supported the theories. That's when I became angry, destroying everything in the little hut the man owned; unfortunately for him he became too worried and step in the way… Then I cried, I dropped on the floor and cried until the morning came. As the sun surfaced I cleaned myself up and made my way back to Nik, never thinking of that information again until now.

~ Dis Olor ~

Standing outside the house that I had once visited as a 'neighbour' in order to check how Rene was taking care of Charlie's child and my descendant, I has mixed emotions. In must have been about fifteen years ago, it felt strange standing here while everything looked the same as it once had. The bungalow house was situated in a spread out neighbourhood with a tree here or there, coloured in a mix of red and orange sands while everything drowned in tropical heat.

I could sense another supernatural being, must be Edward considering the coldness emitting from the inside even when the windows and curtains were drawn close. Knowing that he couldn't beat me in a fight and he hopefully wouldn't hurt Bella in order to get away, I decided to just knock on the door, maybe he would just answer the door and I could take him out without risking Bella's life.

The door opened after a few seconds, a brunette girl greeted me with a dazed look in her eyes. "Hello, how can I help you?" She asked in an airy voice.

This must be Isabella but she looked really bad. Her enflamed eyes supported dark grey bags and her skin looked sickly pale. She was dressed in a spotless outfit of pale pink trousers and cream blouse with her hair tied back in a tail. Her lips curved in a big smile that was far from bright.

"You can help, actually."

The next events happened quickly; as soon as I knocked her lights out, Edward came rushing out of the kitchen right at me. It didn't take a lot of hustle to beat him but he did land a good scratch or two and it would take a week or so before they healed; I could prevent the pain and scarring but even I wasn't good enough to be able to sow my skin together after their venom, it held too many magic properties. Soon enough I diced him, so to say, into pieces so he wouldn't escape before Sebastian arrived to collect him.

"You are lucky that I am allowing you a trial because I could be your judge, jury and executioner right here, right now." I spit at his head in my hands before locking him in the washing machine.

Walking to get Bella, I briefly considered switching a thirty minute program on just to make him suffer that slightly bit more but I dismissed the thought as I picked up the teenager. Without another thought I teleported us back to Charlie's house, laying Bella on the sofa and sitting on the floor by her out of exhaustion.

"Charlie?"

Rushing from the first floor down the stairs filled her ears before she saw Charlie run into the living room and drop on the other side of the sofa by Bella. His heart was racing, I could smell salty tears begging to drop from his eyes as he took her in.

I placed my hand on hers and pushed some of my energy into her, making sure I had enough to find a meal on the way to get Kat. Colour filled her cheeks quickly and the black circles under her eyes lessened, now looking like she had only missed a night of sleep rather than a week.

After a few minutes Charlie looked at me, hugging me tightly in gratefulness before looking to Bella again.

"Is anything wrong with her?" He asked concerned.

I considered what to say, wondering how'd he react to me knocking her out. "I had to make her unconscious to get her out, she will wake up soon." I explained and Charlie nodded. "You know, you can't tell her the truth."

"I know."

"The reason she went missing is because the boy convinced her to run away with her, but she was doubting her feelings for him and came back, no one knows where the boy went after she left him. Okay?"

Charlie nodded, not taking his eyes off his daughter.

"Good, we all need to have the same story." I finished, I sighed and pulled myself up from the floor, I needed to feed soon or I'd be as vulnerable as a new born.

We exchanged our goodbyes and I made my way to the door, stopping for a moment just to say one more thing, "Charlie, don't let her spend so much time with the kids from the reserve, she needs to marry a human and have human children. You know and understand why." I reminded him and closed the door behind me.

I heard her heart pick up meaning she was waking before blurring away to the scent of two men walking along the road. The sky was now a dark grey, the two men walked side by side chatting absentmindedly about fishing when I stopped in front of them. Within seconds I had them both compelled and waiting for my turn on them, I took just enough for me to be able to blur back to the alphas house and teleport Kat and I to Seattle, spelling their wounds close and helping them forget me.

"Where is Bella?" An annoying voice shouted at me as I came out of the woods, I continued walking, now at a human pace, towards the house. "I said, where is she?" He repeated, following me inside the little hut.

"The human girl is safe, she's with her father." I said to the alpha who nodded in agreement just as the boy who shouted at me made a move to go out the door, only to find he couldn't get past a non-existent barrier. "You won't be going to see her." I said without looking at him and going to sit next to Kat with whom I shared a look.

A growl made its way from him to my ears, "I need to see her tonight." He snarled.

"She's not well. And no, you don't need to see her, she isn't your imprint. You won't see her tonight, or any other day for that matter."

"You wanna bet?" He asked cockily.

I smiled in the matter of belittling him before answering, "Okay. Your life for the chance of seeing her again."

"What?" He asked surprised, staring at me confused.

"That is my bet; I bet that you will take your last breath if you purposely see her."

His eyes hardened but it was clear he didn't believe me, "I accept, and if you lose, you will never come here again."

I chuckled again, the boy was willing to give his life to see her again, how pathetic. "I decline. It wouldn't be fair to you, I already have an Ace up my sleeve, so to speak."

He huffed and smirked at me, "You'll be out of here soon enough."

"Don't make the mistake of underestimating me."

"Oh yeah-" He started but a new voice broke in, one I haven't heard yet, just as a new scent made it to my nose. I looked to the source and found myself staring at a human man.

"Ardis Michealson?" He asked.

I nodded unconsciously before scolding myself mentally, remind myself that that is not my name, I am not a married woman.

The man walked over, passing me an envelope with a red seal on it, a circle with a sword and an M. I stared at the envelope and at the seal, the only time I ever received anything with a seal on it was from either Volturi or the Royals, neither uses that name or that symbol. Most don't even know of that name.

"Are you going to open it?" The youngest shifter asked impatiently, I'm sure all shifters were now very curious as to what the man has brought for me.

Looking to Kat, I kept the letter in my hands, I don't know what I was looking for in her eyes but she nodded and I looked back to the letter. With a sigh I broke the seal and opened the letter slowly, almost cautiously.

About one third of the page was filled with writing, style so familiar to me, I stopped breathing for a moment. Why would he write me? Is this another way to make me suffer? Maybe he had figured out that I'd be back and this is him telling me to stay away from him…

I looked up from the writing that I have yet to read when Kat spoke, telling the man he is free to leave now. The man hastily took a knife from his pocket and lifted it at first in what seemed like attack, the shifters all moved toward him only to be stopped by an invisible barrier but by now the man was on his knees with blood steadily flowing down his body and pooling on the floor. The knife handle was sticking out of his throat where he had ripped it open himself, it fell to the floor with a cling after a second.

"Sorry boys, you're going to have to clean that up yourself. Dis?" Kat asked, squeezing my hand.

AN: Sorry this chapter had a little less drama because he next one has some major revelations and complications so brace yourself! In the meantime, what do you think? Thank you so much for all the favourites/comments/follows lovelies!

Love E Xoxo