" shit is crazy, right? "
FROM what Rebekah had told her, everyone was one hundred percent certain that Niklaus Mikaelson was going to use his unborn child to sire more hybrids. From what else she had heard from her best friend, Rebekah and Marcel were going to work together with Marcel's little gang of vamps to take down Klaus.
But Lena, as much as she loved Rebekah and would do anything for her, was not ready to involve herself in a war. She was worried about Elijah and Hayley and she was beyond scared for both Rebekah and Klaus. If one of the two blonde siblings succeeded, the other would have to pay, and Lena wasn't sure she was ready to see either in agony. Plus, she didn't actually believe that Klaus would use his child to do such a thing.
So, she decided to spend the day with Davina, especially after Klaus pleaded with her to leave New Orleans. (Apparently in a war an innocent person always got hurt, and he didn't want her to be the one that got hurt, but she didn't listen.)
"It sucks, doesn't it?" Lena asked as sat on the end of Davina's bed, using the teenage witch's charcoals to draw the three Mikaelson siblings. Davina was at the top of her bed, pillows propped up on the headboard as she sketched Lena's lounged position at her feet.
"Yeah, like being allergic to nuts is bad enough but being allergic to chocolate too, ugh as if!" Lena giggled along with Davina, noticing the way that the witch had become so carefree and young again while they had been hanging out.
When she spent time alone with Davina, she noticed very many things about her. She wasn't at temperamental as she seemed and she only wanted to hurt the witches because she was so afraid of death. She liked classical music and played piano; her art rivalled Klaus'; she always like the Disney animal movies more than the Disney princess movies; she wore dresses because they were simple and freeing. Davina was not nearly as complex as she seemed. She was a very powerful witch with an extremely strong sense of vengeance, but she was also a teenage girl and she had feelings too.
"So, does Marcel buy your tampons?" asked Lena, using her finger to dust the charcoal of Klaus' impeccable jawline. She could not watch Rebekah betray her brother. She could not watch the hurt flash across his face as he realised that she did so. She could not watch Klaus get ripped apart by Marcel's minions.
"Yeah, he's so cool with it too. Like he'll just text me about the ones I want and honestly he could be there for hours getting me all the right stuff, he's such an awesome guy about it," Lena nodded, humming a little. She had never known what it was like to have to keep the secrets of periods from a man because there had never really been a male figure in her life. It had always been Rebekah and her, and even though Rebekah didn't get periods anymore and she had never had one when pads and tampons became a thing, she was still the most supportive person to have by her side.
"That's really cool, i've heard like some dads get really weird about it." Lena then realised the mistake she had made and her head shot up to give Davina a wide-eyed stare, but Davina was already staring at her with the exact look of embarrassment and slight fear. Marcel was clearly not Davina's dad. "I can't believe...I shouldn't have-I mean--"
"It's okay, it's cool, he's more like a dad to me than my actual dad was anyway," Davina waved away, going back to finishing the curve of Lena's leg in her sketch. Lena raised her eyebrow and asked Davina what her parents were like. "My dad left when I was a baby, I've never met him before and my mom was going to let me sacrifice myself for magic, so, I really think they're gonna win parents-of-the-year award this year!"
"I don't remember my parents," Lena told the witch, not looking up to meet her sympathetic gaze. "They were killed when I was one. I don't even know what they look like, I can't remember."
"I bet you look like your mom," Davina said in a hope to be somewhat of a comfort to the slightly older witch. But it didn't help it all. It just seemed to make it worse.
"I don't even know what I'm supposed to look like, this face could literally belong to anyone that's my problem, I can change everything about myself just by thinking about it. How am I supposed to know if this is the exact shade of brown my eyes are supposed to be, or if my nose is meant to curve like this? I feel so lost and there's no pictures, no nothing!" Lena let out a sigh, running her fingers through her aquamarine hair, leaving stains of charcoal on her temples.
Davina's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and she finally asked the question that had been on her mind since Marcel had forced her to try and figure out who Lena was. "Who actually are you?"
"I'm Lena," replied the witch, "I was born in Italy in 1990. My family, my coven were murdered in 1991. I've been raised by Rebekah ever since." Davina knew this though and she didn't look at all impressed. Lena let out another sigh. "I am the last living witch of the Ricci coven."
Davina's gasp seemed to last ages to Lena. She was too busy worrying if some random Luzzatto witch was going to knock down the church trying to get to her. For years, Lena had been watching over her shoulder for an elemental witch to find her and to rip her body apart limb by limb until she existed no more and the magic of the Ricci coven was lost to the air, eternally missing. But now it felt like a weight had been lifted off of her chest, finally someone got to know who she was who wasn't Rebekah Mikaelson. For once in her life, there was somebody else who knew her secret.
"You're famous! Well not famous, nobody knows you exist but there's an old wives tale of the last ever remaining Ricci, a prophecy of sorts." Lena, who had never heard of this story before, nodded at Davina to continue. "It was said that when all the members of the metamorphic coven died, then the last remaining witch left alive - of the coven, of course - would rule all the speciality witches in a coven of one to take down the threat. It did not say what the threat was or who, but like oh my god!"
Lena's mouth fell open. She was supposed to rule all the witches of the five speciality covens who called Italy their home. Was she ready to do such a thing? Was she ready to let the world know her name so that she could tackle this threat when it came? Was she ready to leave Rebekah after everything that the vampire had done for her?
"You have a throne to go claim!" squealed Davina in excitement, but Lena didn't look quite so happy.
"I can't, I can't do that, I can't- no, no, no, no!" Davina looked mildly worried for the witch who seemed so wholly confused and against the idea of ruling all the witches of the five (now four) special covens that she had completely disregarded her charcoal drawing. Davina watched it fall to the floor.
"Hey, hey, it's okay, you don't need to, I was just telling you, who knows maybe another Ricci survived?" Lena looked over at Davina with wide eyes, but she could see the fear starting to leave the dark brown eyes (well they were dark brown ringed with a sort of golden hazel).
But even though Davina had tried to calm her down, Lena couldn't help the worry that clutched at her heart. Lena was not ready to lead four other covens of witches, she could hardly lead herself to the kitchen without getting lost. She would never be prepared for such an honour.
✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
EVERYONE was back in the plantation house, but the tension was thick in the air. Hayley and Elijah had only just returned home, but Lena, Klaus and Rebekah had been back for a few hours. In the end, neither of the two blondes had ended up dead or in agony, instead Marcel had given in and allowed Klaus to win, and now Klaus would be king of the Quarter, as he had always wanted.
"You betrayed me, my own sister," Lena heard as she tried to creep past Klaus' room to get to her own, a plate of croissants in hand. Her eyebrows furrowed and she stopped at the door, watching as Klaus held one of his infamous silver daggers to Rebekah's throat.
"You let go of her!" the words tumbled out of Lena's mouth before she could stop herself. Klaus whirled around, dagger pointed at the blue-haired witch in his moment of blind rage.
"Niklaus, don't you dare!" Elijah's steady voice whirled through the room, allowing Lena to let out a breath as Rebekah rushed to her side to keep her safe from her ill-tempered brother.
"Well, perhaps, it should be you brother!" Klaus shouted, dagger still raised. He only had one left, and he did not know which of his siblings to torment. Lena felt sick. This monster standing in front of her was actually trying to choose which one of his siblings he should lock away for an eternity. "Stealing my child away with every fawning moment of tenderness you show to Hayley!"
"This has nothing to do with Hayley."
"IT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH HER!" Lena flinched, edging behind Rebekah. Her croissants littered the floor from when she had dropped the plate when she first caught Klaus with a hold of Rebekah. "She's adored you since she arrived and now my child, my blood, will grow up to call you father!"
"Is that what this is?" Rebekah asked, coming to a very stark realisation. One hand gripped Lena's tightly, making sure that the witch she had raised was still safely behind her. "You are once again worried that you will be left behind? Has history taught you nothing? We don't abandon you, Nik! You drive us away!"
"Is that so?" Klaus' voice was so quiet that Lena hardly heard it. His hand fell to his side, his grip on the dagger loosening slightly. Lena let out an unsteady breath. Maybe Klaus was not as evil as he had tried to come off, he was just afraid of losing everything. "What have I done lately other than cooperate? I bowed down to you, brother, to make up for daggering you for the greater good of our plan to reclaim our home--!"
Lena had to press her hand to her mouth to stop herself from letting out a sob. Klaus stood there, crying. Evil Niklaus Mikaelson, sadistic monster, hotheaded hybrid, flirty immortal, was crying. He was crying because he thought he had done only good things for his family. He was crying because he felt abandoned and betrayed.
"--looked the other way, sister, while you repeat the same cycle with Marcel, falling again for a man you shouldn't be with while he controls the empire that we built that he took, getting your little witch involved in things that could get her hurt!"
Lena felt the own tears in her eyes as Klaus' voice broke. He was not evil. He was just a man who thought he had been doing right and everyone had thought the worst of him. He was a man whose sins had been branded onto his skin.
"Now, I make no excuses for past sins but in the one moment when you two could have chosen to stand by me, to believe in me and believe my intentions for my own child were pure, you chose to stand against me, to side with our enemies."
Lena watched as Klaus got closer to his siblings, each step felt so painstakingly slow as her heart thumped quicker and quicker. How much pain had his siblings brought to him? How much had he hurt in silence until finally he was unable to keep it in anymore?
"I wanted our home back," he admitted. "Now I have it, so I'm going to live there and the two of you, you can stay here together and rot."
"Two?" echoed Lena, eyebrows furrowing. There were three of them standing in front of him, so who was being forced to go with him and Hayley.
"You, little witch, have known me for only a couple of weeks and yet you did not stand against me. You did not believe that I would use my child as my siblings did, you did not involve yourself in the fight. For that, I am rewarding you."
"By taking me away from Rebekah?"
"That is my sister's punishment. You can fight me, but you will lose." Lena shared a look with Rebekah. The blonde vampire was barely managing to hold back tears as she turned to face the young witch. She allowed her hands to cup Lena's naturally warm cheeks, her thumb running across the sharp cheekbone before she brought the witch into a bone-crushing hug. Lena hugged back, equally as tight.
"I am still here, I am still in New Orleans, I am only a phone call away. I am always here, you don't have to worry. You go with Klaus, he will keep you safe, you will be safe," Rebekah's promises were whispered into Lena's ear as the two females clutched at one another. Klaus rolled his own teary eyes at the obvious display of affection.
"We will meet all the time, right?"
"All the time, my dear, all the time."
"I love you, Rebekah."
The whisper rang loud in the three sets of ears belonging to the vampires in the room. Not once had they heard the words spoken so honestly, so truthfully. It was almost like Lena was giving Rebekah her whole heart, allowing her the fragments of blood and muscle to keep until they would live under the same roof again.
And it was then, after all that time, that the two brothers realised that their sister had finally found true love. True love in its simplest, most purest form. As the Greeks called it - "Storge".
see I used to hate Davina but like watching the show again makes me sort of love her a little more and i really like her and Lena being friends. Also I really hate to split up Lena and Rebekah because like brotp but at least we'll get loads more Klena (which is what I have decided Klaus and Lena's ship name will be since it makes sense)