WAR OF HEARTS • hayley marshall

12 | GOODBYE, HAYLEY

Pushing all that to the back of her mind, Khalia thought for a second before she found something to tell the werewolf. "Okay, sweetheart, I'm going to tell you a story. And I need you to listen to my voice, concentrate on it and nothing else, Okay? Nod if you understand."

When she received a weak nod from Hayley, she began her story. Both her siblings did a double take when they heard the first sentence. "When I was little and human, Kol, Henrik and I used to sneak out to the waterfalls. We loved swimming together there. We'd swim for hours on end and made mud castles, chase each other around the forest. One day, we came across a deer. It was hurt and-"

She didn't get to go further with her story as Hayley begins hyperventilating. "I can't breathe!" If the fear was bad before, it was unimaginable now. Khalia didn't know this type of emotion, this raw, bad, hurting, paralyzing, powerful emotion. Not even Kol's death woke this emotions in his twin.

"Okay, long deep breaths, Hayley! Look at me, sweetheart. Long deep breaths, just focus on the sound of my voice." She lowers her voice to a whisper. "You'll be okay. You'll be okay. You have to be okay." The last sentence was so soft that even Rebekah and Elijah had to strain their ears to hear it.

Hayley screams in pain and thrashes in Khalia's hold, making the Mikaelson tighten her grip on the werewolf as her eyes started to burn, "AHHHH! AHHHH!" Each scream felt like a stake to the heart for the vampire that was holding the pregnant girl. Sophie starts to gasp as the linking spell begins to lift. Hayley continues to groan in pain and Khalia's eyes got blurry for a reason she couldn't understand.

In the pool, Sophie looks up at the sky, looking almost disappointed. "I just felt it lift." Sophie informed the group and Rebekah sighs in relief. It was only when Hayley starts to calm down, that Khalia lets out a breath of relief and a laugh of relief leaves her lips. When Hayley wiggles her legs, the vampire lets go of them and wipes at her blurry eyes. She frowned as her hands felt wet as she wiped her eyes, her elbows and half of her upper arms was submerged in water, but not her hands. A thought hit her but she shook her head, no she couldn't have been. Was she about to cry?

Hayley stands up on her own, but still leans against Khalia, still weak from the spell. Pushing the thoughts to the back of her mind, the Mikaelson girl wrapped her arms around the werewolf's waist and pulled Hayley flush against her - not caring about their audience. Hayley was surprised, but certainly didn't waste any time in wrapping her arms around the usually cold and distant vampire's neck.

Sophie, Rebekah and Elijah watched the two hugging woman with soft smiles on their faces. When they broke apart, their hands linked underwater, the witch removes one of her earrings and pokes her palm with it. Hayley looks at her palm, the one that wasn't holding the immortal girl's under water. She and Khalia both look relieved when she's not injured. Khalia takes that hand in her free one as well, and she and Hayley stare at each other for a long moment, absorbed in their own word. The trio around them notices their shared glances, so the Mikaelson girl quickly takes back her one hand and leads Hayley out of the pool.

"Come on, sweetheart, let's go and get you dried up." Her words were soft, warm and gentle, something that surprised everyone, even herself.

"Elijah..." Sophie called out, her voice had a pleading tone to it. "...as soon as your brother finds out that the link is broken, he'll kill Agnes. I know you don't owe me anything, but please, don't let him kill her." She was begging the Original and she knew it.

At her words, Khalia let go of Hayley's hand and sped in front of Sophie with a wicked and crazy grin on her face. "On second thought, looks like I have other plans." She turned back to Hayley, "Sorry, sweetheart." The werewolf didn't even bother to hide her disappointment.