Previously on Pure Happiness
Beth looked down at her chest as she felt the warm blood oozing out. Before she could do or say anything, she fell onto the floor.
~~~
Klaus stood in a classroom with Bonnie Bennett and Damon Salvatore. There, he stood impatiently, waiting for Bonnie to track the location of his mother.
"You're still mad at me for what happened to Abby. Let me apologize. I'm sorry Elijah forced us to turn your mother into a vampire to save Elena's life. Didn't exactly have a choice," Damon huffed at the witch.
"There's always a choice. Whenever you make one, someone else suffers."
"Let's cut the dramatics and begin, shall we?" Klaus interrupted. The hybrid was doing his best to stay calm. Something wasn't right, and he needed to know what it was.
Bonnie chanted in Latin after she poured Jeremy's blood on a map in an attempt to locate Elena. The blood did not move despite the spell. Bonnie grimaced, "Esther's fighting me."
"Esther couldn't possibly have this much power. Unless she's channeling something," Klaus said in deep thought.
"Beth most likely. She did it last time."
"No, there has to be more to it! She has enough power to cloak herself, keep us all locked in here, control Beth, and who knows what else!" He yelled.
"A hotspot?" The witch chimed.
With that, it all clicked in the hybrid's head, and he stated, "Get the humans ready. I know where she is."
~~~
Elena had been staring at the bodies of her friend and her surrogate father for what felt like an hour. How could this happen?
Her eyes were swollen and red from tears as she pulled the stake out of Alaric's chest. She had checked their pulse more than once already, but there was no doubt they were dead.
"He'll wake soon. When he does, he may for a time be his old self. If so, you can say your goodbyes before his transition is complete," Esther stated, looking down at the young girl.
"And Beth?" She breathed out, "She was innocent. She didn't deserve this! You said you wanted to undo the evil that you created, but this... This is just as evil!"
"Alaric will never be what my children became. I have granted him enough power to complete his task. Then, when the time is right, he will die."
"How if he's immortal?"
"All you need to know is that when this is over, we will have rid the earth of vampires once and for all."
Alaric woke inside an unknown crypt. He looked to his chest and saw blood and turned to see more from the body next to his. There lay Beth Midnight lifeless. He hurried to her, checking if anything could be done, but it was far too late.
He had no opportunity to process the death of the young girl as he heard screaming from outside. He grabbed a weapon and ran outside.
"Matt! Matt, drop your gun!"
"I can't! I'm not controlling it!"
"Esther, stop it!" Elena yelled before the witch could do anything in retaliation, Alaric plunged the now indestructible white oak stake into the original witch.
"Oh god," he huffed, "Where's my ring?" He asked as he looked at his hand. The doppelganger stayed silent, so he continued, "What happened to Beth?"
"What?" The boys questioned.
"Where is she?"
"She's dead. She tried to save you. I'm so sorry. I couldn't do anything," she cried as her brother ran to hug her, and Matt's eyes watered as his gun fell from his hands.
~~~
As soon as Klaus had been informed of the barrier spell falling, he sped over to the Mystic Falls old cemetery. There, he found Jeremy Gilbert and his mother's body dead on the floor.
"Where's Beth?" He questioned.
Jeremy's lips opened to say something, but they quickly closed as if the words couldn't leave his mouth.
"I'll ask again. Where is she?!" He yelled.
"She... she's gone. She died. She's inside," the Gilbert boy motioned towards the crypt. As he said the words, Damon arrived at the scene in complete shock at the words he had just heard.
"What?" The Salvatore asked.
"She can't be dead. That's not possible," the hybrid stated as his eyes grew glassy.
"You're mother killed her, Klaus," Jeremy stated.
"This would have never happened if you just stayed away from her!" Damon yelled as he lunged at the original with all the speed and strength he could muster.
He managed to pin him against a tree and threw a punch that would have broken the jaw of anyone else, but not Klaus Mikaelson. Klaus pushed him away and, with one swift move, threw him into the floor by his neck.
"The only reason you're not dead right now is her," Klaus stated with his foot on Damon's chest before he sped inside the crypt.
There, he found the girl he had grown to love. She wasn't breathing, and her heart was not beating. He kneeled down and lifted her body effortlessly and made his way outside where Damon still stood.
"You can't take her."
"I can, and I will."
"We have to tell her, Dad. She wouldn't want him to be left in the dark."
"I'll take care of it," he said before moving past the younger vampire.
Damon turned towards the hybrid and, with grief in his eyes, said, "Let me say goodbye, Klaus. I cared about her, too. We all did."
The Original sighed as he pondered his words. He knew what Beth would want, and he knew he couldn't be selfish. Not now. Not with this. So he kissed her forehead that was now cold and handed her body to the Salvatore.
"I will speak with her father, bury her, and let her friends say their goodbyes," he said with his eyes glossy as tears threatened to spill out.
~~~
Beth woke alone in what looked like the normal world she had once walked on, but she could see her body and that she wasn't in it. She saw her friends cry as they heard the news. She saw Klaus hand her body over to her friend.
He had done what she had wanted all along. He had put her needs above his. She only wished it had happened before. Before Damon Salvatore had dug her grave and buried her in it.
She stood against a tree as her friends all stood by her grave, saying goodbye to her and Alaric, who had decided not to complete the transition and let himself die.
A single tear slipped from her eye that she quickly wiped away. She was dead and on the other side. She stood still watching her friends until something behind them caught her eye.
There was a woman with long brown hair and pale skin that she had never seen before. She was right by Elena, but nobody seemed to notice her. Her eyes narrowed as she thought, "Could it be someone on the other side?"
No, that can't be possible. The whole point of the other side is that supernatural creatures would be alone. They could have no contact with each other.
In spite of that, the woman smiled at her and walked away from the scene. Once again, no one saw her, so Beth did the only thing she could think of and followed.
She ran to catch up to her, only to be led to a clearing in the forest. She was gone. Or at least she thought before she turned back and found her again. "Who are you?" She asked.
"I'm Claire."
"How can I see you? I thought I was supposed to be alone?" She questioned.
"Because I'm like you, and I'm here to give you a choice," she smiled.
"What do you mean? Like me?"
"A banshee. I, too, lived and felt death before my own. When we die in between, the one before us must come and give us a choice."
"What choice? In between what?" Beth questioned.
"In between stages, before our immortality takes effect."
"Okay, what choice?"
"To live. You can decide to wake up in your body unharmed or stay dead."
"But? What aren't you saying?"
"If you decide to wake, your body will become immortal. My power and the power of every single banshee before me will enter you. You will be stronger than ever, and nothing other than silver to your heart could kill you. But you will have to live with the burden of our power for an eternity destined to outlive the majority and unable to create life in your womb."
Beth stood silent and in shock. She knew it would happen eventually, but if she decided to live, it would happen right then.
"I need a decision," Claire stated, interrupting the strawberry blonde's thoughts.
"What do I have to do?"
"Just say, yes."
"Yes," she said before the brunette grabbed her hand, and a white light consumed her.
~~~
Next time on Pure Happiness
"Beth, you're alive!"