Regret ▻ The Originals [2]

27

In the Bayou, Jackson was in the middle of digging a grave out near his grandfather's when Ophelia walked up to him to update him on what was happening. Jackson was in the middle of hammering a wooden gravestone, which had been carved and burnt with the initials "A. L." and a crescent moon.

Sitting next to Jackson was a homemade coffin with Aiden's body inside, causing a saddened look to grow on Ophelia's face, "Elijah called Hayley," She informed her husband, "Freya is doing a locator spell to find us. We need to leave. Now." She paused, finally noticing that Jackson was digging a grave for Aiden, "Wait-- you're burying Aiden here?"

Jackson let out a large sigh, "We can't keep carrying him around forever. Just give me a minute to get him in the ground and we'll get out of here." He explained to Ophelia.

"Jack, this is where wolves bury murderers and traitors. I know that Aiden was answering to Klaus, but he was loyal to the pack in the end!" Ophelia argued with Jackson defensively, "That's what got him killed."

Jackson looked frustrated as he turned to face Ophelia, "You don't think I know that? You think this is how I wanna..." He trailed off, gesturing to the grave, "put Aiden to rest?"

As he paused, Ophelia looked at him sympathetically, "I don't have a choice, Ophelia," he reminded her, "You said it yourself, we gotta go."

Ophelia shook her head sadly, "It's not right. If we expect the wolves to put their lives on the line for Hope and I, they deserve to know that those lives matter to us," Ophelia explained to Jackson, who nodded his head in agreement, and Ophelia sighed deeply as she thought hard for a long moment, "We can take Aiden down-river, give him a proper Crescent funeral," Ophelia paused and Jackson looked both impressed and thankful for her suggestion, "Too much has been taken from our pack. I won't let them lose this as well, alright?"

Ophelia walked closer to Jackson, pulling the grave marker her husband made for Aiden out of the ground. She tossed it to the ground before turning to Jackson, "I'll get Hayley and Hope."

_____

Meanwhile, Hayley, who was holding Hope in her arms, was walking with Ophelia, Jackson, and the rest of the Crescents through the forest on their way down the river.

Several of the men were carrying Aiden's coffin, and all of them were wielding melee weapons. Jackson and some of the others had a bow and a quiver full of arms, while others had axes, shortswords, or machetes. While they walked, Jackson and Ophelia talked quietly with each other, "So you used to run these woods when you were cursed to your wolf form?" She asked her husband curiously.

"And before it. I was an angry kid--I was pissed we were exiled, I was pissed at my parents, pissed that you were there to lead the pack..." Jackson explained before trailing off.

"Every kid with the wolf gene is angry, Jack. I was a nightmare. Triggering the curse actually made it worse for me since I was part witch," Ophelia began to tell Jackson, "The anger inside me made it uncontrollable. It was one of the reasons they made me immortal."

"I got worse, too," Jackson agreed with Ophelia, "Of course, it was different for me than it was for you. When I triggered my curse, the Crescent curse kicked in, so I was stuck as a wolf all month long. One full moon, our Alpha didn't show up. He was killed. So, I stepped up. Protected these people, kept them safe, and that calmed me down..." He trailed off, letting out a large sigh, "At least, for a little while."

Suddenly, Hope started crying loudly, clearly tired and unhappy, and Hayley looked stressed out. Ophelia sighed, turning to look over at Hayley and Hope, "Hey, we need to stop and feed her." She ordered and Jackson and the rest of the wolves immediately stopped walking before turning to her.