The Red Herring Revives: A Mikaelson Love Story

Chapter 43: Disgrace

~Elijah POV~

"What happened to you?" Rebekah asked Klaus with hurt eyes. "I remember the sweet boy who made me laugh and gave me gifts, who loved art and music. I wanted to be just like you. I wanted to have a heart as big as yours, to be as brave and resilient as you were. How could you have fallen so far?"

"You say you despise Rebekah for her betrayal, and yet no one has stood by your side for so long, not even myself." Elijah remarked.

Mikael had caught Klaus whittling these chess pieces that he loved making, but he only had Mikael's hunting knife at his disposal. He had beaten him brutally and mercilessly; Elijah was certain that Mikael was going to kill him that day.

"Father, please!" Elijah pleaded, begging his father to leave Klaus alone. Klaus had crumpled up on the floor, agonising over the whip lashes being inflicted on him by his father.

"STAY BACK!" Mikael roared. He was going to return to beating him when Rebekah ran into the room, holding Mikael's sword in her hands, aiming it at her father.

"Stop!" She shrieked. "I will not let you hurt him anymore!"

"You would stand against me?" Mikael asked in disgust. "For him?" When Rebekah refused to back down, he angrily grabbed the sword from her hands and left him.

"I remember that day." Fiore said, startling the other three with her sudden appearance. "She searched the whole village to find me so I would heal you. As flawed as she is, through thick and thin Rebekah is the only one who has stood at your side. And you most certainly cannot say the same."

"Thank you." Rebekah murmured in surprise to Fiore who simply shrugged.

"So, you would paint her as a loyal sister, but she betrayed me out of lust for Marcel. Perhaps that was why you did it—for love. Perhaps I might temper my rage if Rebekah will admit she was a victim of her own idiocy. That her great love, Marcel, used her to oust this family and to take my city." Klaus said, looking expectantly at her.

"Say one more bad thing about Marcel again and I will end this right now." Fiore told Klaus, her eyes burning a bright purple.

"Of course, in your eyes, Marcel could do no wrong." Klaus said as he closed the distance between them. "You can pretend to be as strong as you are Fiore, but never forget that I know you. You let the supposed love of your life waste away in his coffin to keep Marcel, only for him to trick you multiple times. You were played just as easily as Rebekah was."

"I was not manipulated by Marcel, Niklaus!" Rebekah roared. "We loved each other; it was your refusal to respect our love that led to your ruin."

"You defend him, and yet you can't help but wonder, what if I'm right?" Klaus asked with a smirk. "If he loved you so much then why didn't he chase after you when you fled New Orleans? Oh, yes! That's right. He was here stealing what I built!"

"You want me to renounce Marcel and beg your forgiveness?" She said, starting to lose her temper. "I will not. I called Mikael, not Marcel."

"Rebekah—" Elijah tried to steer her in the right direction, but she refused. Their sister was going to finish what she had started.

"I was the one who brought him to New Orleans because of your wickedness! I wanted love and happiness, and you denied me the freedom to have either." She shrieked. "Yes, I hated feared of our father, but he was a lesser evil than you. My bastard brother who loomed over me, threatening me as you are now. I wanted rid of you, and given the choice, I'd do it again!"

Klaus lunged for Rebekah, the stake seconds away from her heart but Elijah tackled him and removed him from her. He grabbed the stake from him and was now in possession of both the blade and the stake. Klaus glared at her once more, but with a flick of her wrist, Fiore had snapped his neck.