Good Intentions

23: Full Moon

DAMON'S POV

"Azalea." I held her shoulders trying to snap her out of the mental spiral I was sure she was having. I loved how much she cared but I hated the guilt that came with it all. She'd be so badass without it but I doubt she'd be herself... I could picture her being a lot more like her father, or even her aunt and not the nice witch one, Rebekah and I loved Azalea the way she was. 

"Azalea, look at me. Look away." "I killed them. I killed them. I'm going to hell." She was panicking at the point her breathing was rapid and her heart was beating three times as fast as it normally did. "I mean you were going to hell anyway. You're Klaus' kid," I say which probably wasn't helpful. "I'm never going to see him again." She sobbed. I knew who he was, Alex. "It's okay." "No! No! No!" She pushed me away and bent down to the Alpha of the pack. "Wake up!" She shook his body. "Wake up I'm sorry. I'm sorry." 

I called Hayley, Hayley knew how to talk to Azalea get her out of her head. She was going to bring Freya. 

--------

By the time the two women got to the clearing I managed to coax Z into sitting by a tree away from the bodies, she held her knees to her chest and wouldn't let me hold her but she wasn't looking at the dead bodies anymore. 

"What happened?" Hayley said looking around. "they were planning on killing Hope and her, so she killed them." I told her. "You did this?" "Lethal pain infliction spell," Freya says after examining one of the dead wolves. "I killed them. I killed them all. I didn't even know them"

"You protected your family." "They were, wolves... They're like me and I killed them, I killed them and I didn't care and now they're dead and I can't wake them up, I can't wake them up." She was crying again. "They're not like you. You have a good heart. And you're kind and you're smart. You're not like them and they're not like you." Freya tried. "Where is she?" Klaus came running through the clearing over to us. "I'm sorry dad." "It's going to be okay..." "How? I triggered my curse. I killed over 100 people. And I'm a mass murder." "But your protected Hope." "You should protect Hope from me! What if I kill her too?" "No, you wouldn't do that. You did this for Hope." "What if I lose my mind. What if I forget I'm meant to protect her and I kill her. If she's dead she's safe. What If I believe that?" "You're a good person Azalea. You're special." "I'm a murder." She pulled at her hair. 

Hayley took her hands off her hair holding them in hers. "Look at me." She said firmly. "You're a good person. Despite the bad things that happened to you, you chose to be good!" She said to Z. "You chose to fight everything that's innate in you to be a good person. You did this because you had to." She did. "You did it to survive. You did it so Hope didn't have to." Hayley didn't break eye contact with her once.  Azalea was distraught about her actions, she reminded me of Stefan when he did come out of his ripper phase. It hurt to watch her beat herself up. "We should have been here to help you, my sweet girl." Hayley brushed her hair off her face tucking it behind her ears. "But we're here now... And we're all going to help you through this okay." She nodded.

"Come on, let's get you inside." Hayley helped her stand her legs were shaky and she looked sickening but she walked slowly to the car. The rest of her family was waiting there. "Are you okay?" Bex pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry we left." She apologised, I see Azalea hold onto Bex's coat fisting the fabric. She'd never admit she needed her family but the little things she does indicates she's not as strong as everyone thinks she is. 

--------------

HAYLEY'S POV

Azalea's not been herself since the night in the woods. She's beating herself up about killing that pack. An accident pack that had been around for 1000 years or more at this point. She would go through stages of crying, from being angry at herself to just looking empty and not taking almost like she was frozen in time. When Hope would call she'd try to act okay and when she visited her at school she's put on her best smile but Knowing Azalea I knew it wasn't her real smile. It didn't quite meet her eyes and instead of making me want to smile with her, it made me want to wrap her in a tight hug and tell her to just let it all out because even though she's smiling somehow it brings the pain in her oceanic eyes out more.