Broken Souls

30

As she explained in the beginning, they were doing each slip of paper in the jar. The next prominent slip was from Kol. She knew it in her gut. The phrasing also helped quite a bit. 'Your always and forever is stupid.'

She wanted to scold Kol for his word choices, but she couldn't bring herself to be mad at him for his feelings. He'd felt left out of his siblings' promise; Finn was left out, too, but he spent most of his immortal life in his coffin. Which we've moved past now. He may not have really known about the three's promise.

"Kol, it wasn't really stupid, was it?"

Childishly, he pouted, turning his head away from them. "No, but I wasn't apart of it, now was I? I was just boxed away when I was to troublesome or annoying."

"I didn't know you felt that way, Kol," Elijah looked to his baby brother. "I'm sorry I never realized."

Nik nodded in agreement, letting a beat of silence pass before he spoke. "I was trying to keep father from locating us. Your killing sprees were quite the beacon to our location, brother, but I never meant to make you feel as if you were troublesome. My intention was to protect us from father... I suppose I got overzealous and relied to heavily on the daggers."

"You suppose?" Rebekah snarked out of habit. The group turned to look at her, realization marking her features. Letting out a heavy breath, she met Nik's gaze. "I'm sorry for interrupting you and overreacting. It's a habit I'll have to break now," her eyes moved to Sol who was already nodding in agreement.

"Let's renew our promise, with all of us this time," Nik offered, holding up his glass of bourbon. "This family, right here, shall last forever and we will be with each other always."

Sol was most eager about this. It was a huge step forward for the new Mikaelson family. Even Kai, who had been boredly resting his chin in his palm, lifted his head to look at Niklaus. "Always and forever," Sol spoke first, the rest of the Mikaelsons echoing her shortly after. Then, they looked at Kai, waiting for his promise.

"Always and forever, I guess?" Ignoring the way it sounded like a question, the witch looked back to Kol. Holding out his piece of paper, she asked him if he was ready to move on.

An impish smirk pulled at his lips as he threw another of his papers into the fire.

Moving onto the next slip, the discussed Rebekah's betrayal when she informed Mikael of their location when they settled in New Orleans. The blond shed a few tears, expression her deep regret of giving away their location. The brothers briefly explained their hurt about the matter. Once an understanding was found, Rebekah burned the paper.

It took hours to get through the whole jar, Kai had even taken a nap halfway through since he wasn't allowed to go to his room before the jar was empty. Emptying the jar gave the Mikaelsons a sense of relief and accomplishment. They'd discussed everything thing had wanted to with one another as grew closer, as well as better at communicating their feelings. They hadn't been awful to start with; perhaps if they had someone to referee all their problems from the beginning, things wouldn't have gotten so bad.

Mentally exhausted from all the rehashing, the family said good night for the evening and separated into their own rooms. Sol went to bed, snuggling into her blanket thinking of all the work she'd have to do for Light Jewelers tomorrow. There was stock that need spelled and sent out. Then, she may need to go buy some more. Maybe she could make some kind of deal with a jewelry supplier directly. It'd be easier than going to a store each time. That was something to research for tomorrow.

Elijah, always efficient, had gone with her to meet a jewelry supplier's representative and got her a good deal on their supplies of lapis lazuli jewelry. It would be delivered straight to the mansion since her business would remain online. There wasn't a reason to have a store yet. Perhaps in the future, she could have a legitimate jewelry store in town to be a small front for her true business.

When she returned with Elijah, there were several tailors pinning up everyone's suits. Kai looked absolutely annoyed. Kol was only slightly bored, having grown used to this process. Nik was smiling at his soulmate. "Welcome home, love. Rebekah is upstairs waiting with your dress options and a tailor for you two. Once you're finished, I have something to show you." She perked up at the words. Had he finished that painting he was working on before?

"Do I have to?" She gestured up the steps, dressing up so grandiosely wasn't really her thing. Sol had barely dressed up for her dates with Carter in the past. Wearing a ball gown? Whole new ball park.

"Yes, my love. We must look the part we'll be playing. We're going to be hosting a grand ball, we must look the part as the hosts. Besides, who wouldn't want to look good as they cut down their enemies?"

His reasoning got her excited. Killing Esther while looking hot? Tormenting and most likely killing the Gemini coven while still looking hot? Solène was sold. Kissing each of the brother's on the cheek, teasing Kai to annoy him further, Sol was flying up the steps. After a deep breath, she was ready to play Rebekah's dress up doll.

Which couldn't have been anymore true. There was a whole rack of dresses the blond had her try on. Growing exhausted after the third dress, she asked for a break. She started at her phone, an update from Stefan came in before her meeting with the representative. Esther still wasn't awake. There were only a few days left until the ball. Would everything go okay?

"Beks, can I invite Caroline over? She might enjoy clothes just as much as you do. It'd be nice to have a third opinion, too, yes?"

"Isn't she friends with Elena?" Rebekah's face twisted in disgust.

"They've been friends since childhood," Sol waved her hand. "That doesn't mean we can't steal her from Elena." A wicked smirk took over her face. It wasn't truly her intention to do so. Caroline could pick her own friends, but that wouldn't stop her from trying to befriend the teen. If Caroline realized over time that Elena's more selfish than she appears... well, she wouldn't discourage those thoughts. "Caroline is much more fun than her. What d'you say?" Sol leaned forwards, seeing Rebekah's internal debate.

"Alright fine. Invite the girl over. I won't hesitate to kick her out if she says something I don't like." Rebekah laid her boundaries.

Sol smirked, "Deal."