chapter eleven,     will she or will she not?

           HE SAW HER DIE. And yet, she was sitting across the room from him with that look on her face – as if she knew something that he didn't. The bitterness overtook him and it almost made him feel weak. It was what he dreaded the most – to feel weak. And even if he knew that she was the only one who didn't know anything, she had that statement in her eyes:

           I am molded from a foreign stone and shaped by a wildfire. I am the shadows of the forests, the wails of the animals. I am a daughter of a strong mother. A man is my enemy. A man is my disease.

         Unlike him, she wasn't afraid of death and that, in his eyes, made her dangerous.

         And yet, he didn't understand how he saw her death. Centuries after centuries – he was an immortal being. The nature, the witches have turned away from him. And to see a vision—a vision that pierced right through his skull, making him gasp for air and feel so helpless. A vision, where she died in the bathtub, her eyes open at the back of her skull, her lips violet from the kiss of death.

         But there she was – across the room. Her burns were already healing in his sight. Almost see-through, her malnourished skin was as if marble in the warm lighting of the room. She was still as if death was between them.

         The journal from Ophelia's dream was already in the Salvatore's living room. The Bennett witch was already there to crack it open. All of them needed answers, but he was the desperate one.

    "How long will it take?" Klaus asked, impatient as always.

         "I do not even know what kind of magic is this," Bonnie scoffed. "All of you surrounding me is not helping me to focus." She raised her eyes to look at the variety of people in this living room. The Salvatore brothers and Elena were right beside Bonnie as well as Elijah was. Klaus was taking a stroll around the room over and over again. Jenna was at the back of the room, sitting. Ophelia was at the other side of the room, existing.

         Stefan nodded, considering her words: "We should give her the space. I'll take Ophelia to rest."

         "I think Ophelia and Klaus have to stay. If this holds anything related to them, they might be the key to opening it."

         Klaus stopped in his tracks, "You heard the witch. Move away," he nudged his head to the other room as if a sign for them to leave.

         "How about you don't order around in my house?" Damon took a step closer to the hybrid.

         The tension already snapped and it hadn't been even ten minutes since they were all in the living room. Ophelia closed her eyes, leaving her search for a momentary peace, and averted her eyes to her brother: "Let us avoid conflicts for just a while longer, dearest."

         Protective he was, Damon, especially ever since all of this mess had begun. He couldn't believe what was going on and how deep his sister was in all of this witch stuff. All he wanted was to have a peaceful moment with her, without any hybrids lurking in the shadows and suited Originals. He didn't realise how much, in all of the years he has been a vampire, he wanted to have just one family moment again. The three of them. But both of the Salvatore brothers took their paths of destruction.

         After the words of Ophelia, other people separated and went their ways. Her brothers still were in the living room as well as Elijah, but further away. Elena went with Jenna upstairs to inform her aunt what had been going on. Given the possibility, Klaus walked closer to Ophelia, sitting on the armrest of the armchair she had been sitting on.

         "I do not recall women of the 1800s being like statues," he noted.

     "Is that what I am? A statue?"

         Looking at Bonnie, working her magic around the journal, he answered: "You are observing. Trying to figure out upcoming threats."

         "I am doing horrific work on that if you are sitting beside me," her voice was calm, even.

         Klaus chuckled, he didn't know why, but it satisfied him to get just a little bit of emotion out of her even if it wasn't heard in her voice. She was getting braver each day. She was slowly unchaining herself from the shackles of her times.

         He stood up, sitting in front of her on an armchair, "I do forget that a woman of your times must feel uncomfortable with a man in such proximity."

         Ophelia's eyebrows gently rose. Finally, the statue broke. "I do not have any problems with men surrounding me." It was a lie. "Considering that you have almost choked me to death, I am just not comfortable around you, not all men."

         "What should then I say about you stabbing me in the throat? Oh, Ophelia," he whispered her name. "There is so much anger in you to unleash. All statues break. It's inevitable."

         Unmoving, still as a statue, posture as a string, she looked at him with those burning brown eyes of hers: "Is that what you wish for me? To unleash my anger?"

         "All beautiful things are far more interesting while angry."

     "You speak as if you are an artist," she noted and she agreed with him. Art is the most beautiful when there is raw emotion in it. Even a portrait of a crying woman has anger in it – resentment for the one who made her cry or the loathing of herself. There is so much anger in everything. She understood that deeply in her heart.

         Having the opportunity to ask him questions, she dived in: "Why do you want this power to be unleashed?"

         "I want to create more hybrids," he answered, for once, without any sarcasm in his voice.

         Ophelia immediately heard how different his voice sounded underneath all of that facade. It was soothing even. It was one of those voices that you wanted to listen to over and over again. One of those voices that could rule. If used correctly – he could do anything he wanted.

         "What for?"

         The man looked at her, knowing she didn't pry into his heart to use it against him. Not yet at least. She was gathering all the information she could possibly find. She was learning about the world around her. She was studying him.

         "To have my own kind."

         Ophelia didn't realise that he was the only one of his kind. All of this obsession with the power of creation now was more than clear. Even if she knew he wouldn't let himself be vulnerable with her – he didn't want to be alone. Even underneath all of the loathing.

         "To rule the world?" She asked.

         Klaus slightly smiled, gently. Her questions were so straightforward and she wasn't holding back. There wasn't the slightest irony in her voice and that's what made her so interesting. Her questions were genuine. Her questions were the way to learn.

        Even if the answer to her question wasn't the only one, he still chose to stick to it: "To rule the world."

         "And then what? What happens when you rule the world?"

         Klaus has never thought of it that far – he has been searching for a solution to create another hybrid for far too long to think about what happens when he succeeds. There were many days when he thought that it was impossible. That nature will never allow him to unleash what can be unleashed.

         At this moment, his mind pleaded with him to put up the facade, put up the smirk, and tell her some sort of cheesy one-liner about ruling the whole universe. But he couldn't. Because at the end of the day, he was looking at the only hybrid that he knew apart from himself. Because if everything else fails – she might still be the other hybrid he has been looking for.

     "I haven't thought about it yet," he finally said. "The path, as we can see, has always been tricky."

         "All beautiful things have anger within their purpose," she repeated his line, only changing it up just a little bit, changing almost the whole meaning.

         Not letting him respond, Bonnie has called them both to come closer. As they obliged, she spoke of what she had found out: "No magic that I know will break this spell. It is bound by blood. There must be a blood of the original hybrid needed and—if there is anything about what Ophelia is – hers as well." Watching the way Ophelia sat in front of her, made her heart slowly shatter. She was looking better, but she had been through so much already. "I don't wish any pain upon you, not even a small one. But I need just a drop."

         Ophelia nodded, feeling thankful for her concern. "Of course. Anything you need."

         Hearing this, Stefan quickly got her a knife and extended it to her, holding the blade. Ophelia gently smiled at her brother, taking the knife's handle and holding it in her hand. "Where do you need it?"

         "On the journal," Bonnie pushed the journal closer to Ophelia and Klaus.

         Ophelia quickly slashed her palm with the knife, letting a good amount of blood stain the leather of the journal. Klaus did the same, watching the way their drops of blood intertwined on the cover of the book, spreading in an even manner.

         A flow of their blood appeared to combine into a line and it flowed to the top of the blood, before completely sinking into the leather. The once-empty pages were now filled with ink. Klaus opened the book to reveal pages of words and words – all of this was right beside them and they never knew it. They never had the opportunity to read it.

         The Salvatore brothers with Elijah got closer, all of them surrounding the journal.

         But there was one, a huge misunderstanding that Damon seemed to point out first: "Well, I didn't expect that it would be written... In runes."

         "Ancient Vikings runes, to be exact," Elijah informed.

         "Oh great," Damon moved away from the reading club, "of course, you two will be able to read it."

         It was one of those moments when they just had to trust the people that they had no trust in them. It killed the Salvatore brothers and they couldn't be of help. And they didn't know if they would be able to trust the Originals – since they are the ones who can read that journal, they can just make up stuff about what's written there.

         Ophelia stood up, walking closer to her brothers, giving the other brothers the space to read. She was feeling a bit anxious – she didn't know what to expect. Noticing that her brothers were feeling the same, she took both of their hands and squeezed them.

     "You two were always horribly impatient," she gently said.

          Growing up, the two of them had no patience whatsoever. They always wanted to go outside or play, or when they were waiting for guests it was pure torture to stand for them in front of the door and wait for the guests to arrive and greet them. Ophelia, on the other hand, could stand a whole day without moving just because she got that from her mother. Their mother was probably the Goddess of manners and waiting.

         "This is different," Damon pointed out.

     "Patience is a virtue." She reminded them what their mother used to tell them.

         Damon averted his eyes to the reading pair, who were flipping the pages of the journal fast. "Well?" Patience was a virtue, but he didn't have it.

         "A ritual is needed," Elijah informed. "Our theory was true – the previous ritual would have destroyed the ability of him to be a true hybrid once and forever."

     "What about the new ritual?" Damon inched closer.

         Elijah's eyes were still focused on the journal, "It demands the—other half of him as it is written. The other half must embrace their true power."

         "So wait—wait... Ophelia must become a true hybrid?"

         There was a moment of silence before not Elijah, but Klaus spoke up, closing the journal: "She already is a hybrid. She just needs to be one without a link to her human side."

         "And how—how do we break the link?" Stefan asked, not liking where this was going.

         Ophelia released the hands of her brothers' and turned to Klaus, starting to realise where this was going. "You cannot take my power from me, can you?"

         As much as Klaus wanted this to be the case, he replied: "No. There was always you. It wasn't about the sacrifice of the werewolf and a vampire and the doppelgangers I was so obsessed with. It was always you."

         The woman gulped, anxiously. "That means that no matter what I still hold a piece of power—of your power in me? The one you actually need?" The realisation was hitting her emotionally, the statue was meant to break. She knew she was the key to creation – all of them knew that already. And if she is not meant to get rid of that part, it means—she will never be free of him.

         "It is not that simple," Elijah noticed the change in her voice. "As much you carry a piece of him, he carries a piece of you. The ritual does not break that, it only strengthens it."

         "This sounds like a really messed up sire bond ritual. Why the hell should we consider the fact of letting our sister be connected, with a bond beyond anyone's knowledge?"

     "It is not a sire bond," Klaus said.

     "How do you know?" Damon shook his head. "To me, it sounds like a freak hybrid wedding ritual where you kill the bride. How about you buy her some flowers first? Or—even better—how about you let her live the life she deserves without your hybrid bullshit?"

         Ophelia didn't let Klaus answer this as she didn't want the tension to explode. "Does this mean I'll be the one with the power to create a hybrid?"

         "Yes," he said.

         The woman closed her eyes for a second, letting out a shaky breath – this couldn't be happening. How could—how can she live with the knowledge that she is just going to be a slave that he will use to create what he always so desired? Where will be the lines drawn? Where will be the moment to stop?

         "Tell me there is a way to give this power to you," she opened her eyes, showing the fire that had been washed down, "please...I do not want it—I do not want to live my life as someone who is there to live to do whatever you say. Tell me that there is another way." It wasn't only sadness in her voice, it was anger. The anger that she tried to put down for so many years. The anger when you find out your purpose in this life is to be a puppet for men to control. All she wanted was a piece of freedom. Of doing what she wanted.

         And the hybrid heard her anger loudly. He wasn't the only one that was surprised, least to say, by the discovery. It would've been so easy to just grasp the power from her and finally do what he has dreamed of. And even if he didn't want to admit it, or that he could ever admit it loudly, he felt nothing but remorse for her. His purpose is to take her life away. And he was cruel and he will be cruel. It is his purpose. It was easy for him to use people. It should be easy to use her too. Finally when he was so close to the end—there she stood. A statue of a woman that was bound to him. His destiny. All he has been looking for.

     "There is no other way," he finally said, his voice firm. "If this proves to be the truth. You will have your freedom eventually."

         "We made a deal," she reminded him.

     "You still have your two weeks. I didn't forget it. The ritual has to be performed at a full moon."

     Damon was more than flabbergasted: "Oh, how sweet, look at you honouring the deal you two made before taking her away from us."

         "She made the deal herself," Klaus reminded them all. "I expect you'll hold the end of your bargain."

         She will. But deep down inside, she knew the ritual wasn't what they wanted it to be. She knew it wouldn't be as simple as they wanted it to be. She was ready to get her freedom. But something inside of her, just a little voice in her head, told her that the creation depended on her. And it was something that none of them understood yet. Yes, she held the creation of a hybrid. But it was a question of will. Will she or will she not want to create another hybrid?

a quick explanation: we know the previous ritual was fake and there is to be a new one. Ophelia needs to become a real hybrid (as we have seen the burns have been a part of her transformation). She carries the power to create a hybrid, BUT we do not know yet how it will happen, so stay tuned!

thank you for reading and please show some support! xx