Broken Souls

24

CW: Panic Attack,  vague descriptors, but it's still there.

Leaning back in her spot, Sol found herself in a stand off of sorts. To her annoyance, Damon was winning. "You have nothing more to offer us. You showed off all your cards during your game last time." With this information pointed out to her, she realized that he was right. She couldn't think of anything else to wager with to save her soulmates.

Desperately, she looked to Alaric, "Letting Esther do as she pleases would be knowingly, although indirectly, harming my family. That goes against your promise."

The teacher sigh, but nodded his head. "I agree, but there is only so much I can do on my own." His gaze moved over to Damon, the biggest anti-Sol advocate. He didn't trust her as much as she had thrown him the first time they met, and now she'd brought a stranger into his home.

"Can we pause your clear desperation for our help and discuss the man you brought into my home?" Damon pointed a finger at Kai, who narrowed his eyes in response. Why was he talking about him as if he wasn't there?

"This is Kai, Rebekah's soulmate. Therefore, he's family. Would you have preferred I bring along one of the Mikaelsons?"

"I still don't see why we need to help you," Elena's face twisted into light disgust.

"Do you not listen to what other people say? All vampires will die if the Mikaelsons do. I assume you want to save your precious Salvatore Brothers, correct? I'm merely trying to do the same with my soulmates. Not that you'd know anything about that, considering you're not anybody's soulmate." Sol spat at the young girl. She was only a few years younger than her, but she felt much older in terms of maturity.

"How do you know that?" Stefan laced his fingers together, grip tightening.

"Firstly, it's obvious." Sol's eyes rolled as if Elena not having a soulmate was not surprising news to anyone. "Secondly, you two would know best, yes? Have you felt it? Your soul pulling you to her? Telling you to keep her close? Or is it just her familiar face that is?" Damon's grip on his bourbon glass tightened exponentially. Sol was actually amazed it didn't shatter. "Thirdly, neither of you act anything like my soulmates, and you've been around her much longer than I've been with the Mikaelsons."

"Thank God, I don't act like that," Kai added offhandedly.

"You just haven't spent enough time with Rebekah. We'll soften you up. Maybe make you less of an ass." She smirked over to her friend.

"So you say. Only time can tell us if you'll be right or wrong." Kai tilted his head at her, smirk remaining on his lips. "Back to the main problem. Are you gonna help or not? I'd like to not be here any longer."

"The feeling is very mutual," Damon gave a faux smile to the man. "We'll get back to you in five to seven business days." The older Salvatore gestured towards the door with his empty hand.

Sol's heart twisted. They didn't have time for this. She needed an answer now. Esther had to be taken care of for the safety of her soulmates. If Esther succeeds, if her Mikaelsons died... The witch's breath grew shallow. What would she do without them? She's barely known them a week, but she can't imagine her life without them anymore.

"Woah, hey, what're you doing?" Kai noticed her eyes filling with tears. "Stop that, hey, I'm the one that's going to in trouble if you cry. Why're you doing that?" As if it was reflex, Kai leaned away from the crying witch, wanting to plead his innocence if the brothers started destroying things.

Sol just looked at him, wanting to be angry at him right now, but she couldn't focus. Thoughts of her family disappearing, leaving her, flooded her mind endlessly. A hand moved her cover her heart, the other wrapping around her stomach. Vaguely, she wondered why she couldn't breath, but couldn't focus long enough for an answer.

Since Kai wasn't sure what to do, he looked the people surrounding them. "Don't just watch her, do something!" He shouted at them, standing from his spot on the couch. Kai had never seen someone else have a panic attack before, and no one had ever helped him through his own as a child. He didn't know how to help Sol, he could only rely on the others to help her now.

Stefan was the one to step forward, kneeling in front of her. "Hey, look, it's okay. You need to breathe, okay? Breathe with me... in... out... in..." Stefan repeated the words to coordinate with his actions, counting the seconds in his head. Five in, seven hold, out five.

When it was back to normal, his eyes met her still watery ones. "We'll help you, okay? Just tell us what to do." His voice was soft, a hand reaching out to touch her arm.

"Stefan," Damon warned, not liking that he decided for everyone. Although, he did feel bad for causing a panic attack in the woman.

"Don't touch her," Kai spoke harshly, moving next to Solène again. "They'll kill me if you do." Only Kai knew he didn't mean his words. A part of his mind was nagging at him to be there for Sol, the woman who gave him his freedom; to help her when she needed it. A small part of him was becoming protective of the little witch, not that he'd ever admit it. Gods be damned if he ended up like one of the Mikaelsons.

Awkwardly, he patted Sol on the back, unsure of what else he could do for her in the moment. She looked at him in return, a weak smile on her lips. "Your face is all twisted. Definitely not a good look for you." A chuckle escaped the girls' lips, bring about a smirk on her companions.

"Good to know you're still you. I was prepared to throw everyone to the Mikaelsons to save myself." He laughed, removing his hand from her back.

Her eyes widened with realization. "They can't know about my panic attack." Sol's head shook. "It'll just cause unnecessary problems, so don't say anything."

"What would I say anyway? They'd certainly find a way to blame it on me."

Sol was given a glass of water and everyone gave her sometime to settle down before they continued their discussion, seeing as Stefan signed them up for cooperating.

"So, to start, you need to steal her coffin. It's in the witch house, deep in the woods." Solène set the glass down on the table. "It's got a bunch of chains on it, probably spelled with magic as well, but I'll leave that to you. Once she's awake, no contact outside of texts. Hopefully, she doesn't know shit about our current plans." She thought about Esther mentioning that she'd seen all of her children's victims. It wasn't quite clear to Sol how all of that worked. "So to be safe, let's only use text to avoid being caught. After she's dealt with, we'll go back to ignoring each other, okay?"

"And where will this be taking place. You must have that thought out, the all knowledgable witch," Damon mocked.

"A ball, we'll be hosting it in about a week. I expect you'll all be there. It'll be quite the event. Perhaps one for the history books."