3When Rebekah Gerard received the call one sunny, she had just finished getting off the phone with Hope. She thought it was her niece calling back Rebekah answered without thinking picking up the conversation where they had left off.
Instead, it was Nik's old flame Caroline Forbes with mixed news for the Original, Elena and Damon Salvatore had both passed away. If she still wanted it, the Cure was all hers.
Moving at hyper speed through the house that Marcel had built her, the blonde immediately started throwing things into her suitcase. By the time her husband had found her, Rebekah had moved on from clothes to find those perfect pair of freshly human shoes. Once Marcel had gotten Rebekah to calm down enough, it took a moment for Marcel himself to grab an identical suitcase and start packing alongside his anxious wife.
And that was how the two had started their journey back to Mystic Falls.
The couple arrived the day before the funeral, immediately seeking out the headmistress. Still, it was refused the Cure because, according to Caroline, 'Damon wanted to get the last word in with at least one Original and since Klaus and Elijah are dead …'
It took all of Rebekah's strength and willpower to not walk into the viewing room and strangle the dead Salvatore's corpse.
Caroline took Rebekah's foul mood with the same grace, and composure that the younger had always possessed when handling the Mikaelson's. The headmistress explained that once the funeral was over and Damon and Elena's children gave Rebekah what they needed to, then the Cure was all hers.
And that was how she and Marcel came to be standing in the Salvatore boarding house, closed temporarily for the funeral, waiting for the guests on honour to arrive.
"They're late," Rebekah said, looking at her watch again as she paced back and forth in the parlour, which had barely changed since she was last here. "Caroline did say four o'clock correct?"
Marcel watched his wife still having mixed feelings about what she was about to do. "Rebekah calm down, these kids just buried their parents I think you can forgive a few minutes."
"Oh, I should have known that any child of Damon's was going drive me crazy. It's a good thing Nik isn't here; he would have spirited them away by now just to make me play some twisted game of hide and seek." Rebekah groaned before realizing what she had said and coming to a complete stop in front of the fireplace.
Since their passing, the remaining Mikaelson family rarely said anything wrong about their departed members. Even Hope would barely speak an ill word against Elijah despite what had happened to Haley. Sometimes they would complain about how Niklaus and Elijah had acted in the past or would share stories about when their brothers did the strangest things. Thus far, Nik was still the clear winner for the time he compelled an entire estate to think they served a poor family. And just because their youngest daughter had complimented a painting of his.
"Trust me, Rebekah, Klaus would have given DJ back the moment he opened his mouth." A voice came from the entrance.
Following the voice, the couple found a small group of people had gathered without them knowing, and well, Marcel didn't recognize any of them Rebekah certainly did.
Giving a tight smile, the Original turned to the witch. "Bonnie Bennett, as I live and breathe."
"I thought vampires didn't need to breathe?" Bonnie said, giving a similar smile as she leaned slightly on a cane.
The air suddenly felt alive with energy, if Marcel looked closely enough, he would swear some sparks were flashing between the women. Deciding to defuse the situation with the same grace and charm he had used to keep his title of King of New Orleans for so long, he walked towards the group and offered his hand.
"Marcel Gerard," he smiled, pouring every ounce of charisma he had into it. "I'm Rebekah's husband."
Bonnie raised one eyebrow as she took the hand. "Bonnie Bennett, I teach magic at some of our sister schools."
Rebekah looked at Caroline in disbelief. "You franchised?"
"I did not," the headmistress denied. "I received a large donation from two wealthy individuals to keep the school going. It was so large that opening up another school in New Orleans and few other locations only seemed natural."
"And the fact that you have some of the highest success rates among the college and university graduates has nothing to do with the London branch you're opening up next year Care." The man behind Bonnie teased.
Looking at the older blonde, Rebekah gave him a broad smile. "Hello, Matthew."
"Long time no see Rebekah," Matthew Donovan grinned, looking at Marcel and taking his hand. "You must be the luckiest man alive to get Mikaelson's to let you marry their sister or the toughest to kill."
Marcel smiled, sensing some history between his wife and Mystic Falls Sheriff. "It's a little bit of both actually."
"Not that this isn't fun, but I have a bottle of dad's bourbon waiting for me at home. Can we hurry this up?" a dark-haired man complained only to be hit on the back of the head by who the Original assumed was Elena's younger brother Jeremy.
The male was definitely Damon's child Rebekah realized possessing the same handsome features and icy blue eyes that his father had. Along with his utter lack of manners. Still, if she looked closely enough, Rebekah could also see Elena in him and not because they shared the same colour hair. The woman next to him also shared Damon's eye colour. Still, she seemed to favour the deceased Elena in looks even though the angry expression made her look more like Katherine's daughter.
"If you make one more smart ass remark DJ, I swear I will make your next hangover look like something out of dad's revenge stories," the woman hissed carefully, shifting the box in her hand. "I'm sorry about him; we're just … well, you know."
"No, I'm the one who should apologize," Rebekah said, taking the handshake. "I was so focused on finally getting the Cure that I forgot what that meant for you."
"Don't worry about it. Dad made sure we knew who we would be dealing with before Aunt Bonnie extracted it from him. I'm Stefanie, Stefanie Salvatore" The woman smiled, giving her brother quick kick to the shin.
"Damon." He grunted.
Rebekah raised an eyebrow. "As in Damon Junior?"
Jeremey smiled and placed his hand on the younger male's head. "Actually, it's Damon Jeremey, but we call him DJ for short."
Shaking his uncle's hand off, DJ grabbed the box from his sisters' arms and held it out to Rebekah. "Here package delivered, I'm off to get a drink."
With that, the man turned and walked away.
Stefanie gave an apologetic smile saying it was nice to meet one of her dad's weird frenemies finally before she hurried after her brother. Rebekah didn't need to have supernatural senses to know the face of a young woman plotting vengeance. She listened as Stefanie mumble threats under her breath as she chased after DJ.
It made Rebekah realize once they were gone that Klaus would have absolutely adored Stefanie for nothing else than her creativity. Elijah probably would have stuck close to DJ because of how similar he was to his father. No matter how much he tried to hide it, Elijah had always secretly liked Damon despite how different they were.
"We should probably head after them before Stef sedates him," Matt said, looking at Jeremy before his attention turned back to Rebekah. "You should both come to see me before you leave, my wife makes the most amazing doughnuts."
Rebekah laughed. "What's the old saying about cops and doughnuts?"
"That when they are as good as my wife's, you and the other officers pool your money together so she can keep your supply fresh." Matt joked back.
After giving one last handshake, the pair left in search of the newest Salvatore sibling leaving just Caroline and Bonnie. Turning her attention towards the box she had been handed, Rebekah opened it expecting to find a red vile within. Instead, she got a little Dracula figure staring up at her with cartoon eyes.
"What is this?" the Original hissed dangerously.
"Damon's last words," Bonnie stated, grabbing the cartoon vampire and pulling off its head, showing that it was actually a USB. "You know, Damon always loved the sound of his own voice."
Seeing that Mt. Rebekah was going to erupt, Caroline put her hand on her fellow vampire's arm. "I know it might seem stupid, but Damon knew how much you wanted to be human, he wouldn't do this unless it was important."
Throwing her hands up dramatically, Rebekah relented and went to sit down on one of the couches with Marcel well Bonnie and Caroline took the other.
As soon as the video was loaded onto the laptop, Damon appeared on the screen. Though older with a bit of silver starting to show in his hair, Damon was still as handsome as always. Elena sat next to him, looking aged also but equally as beautiful as her husband.
"Greetings from the other side, Damon Salvatore, here with a few short messages for Rebekah Mikaelson," the man grinned, waving at the screen. "Hi Bekah, did you miss me?"
Rebekah gave an unladylike snort well Marcel looked at the man carefully. "Wait, so your Damon is also my Damon."
"You knew the arrogant prat?" Rebekah asked why she had never connected the Damon from Marcel's stories to the older Salvatore brother.
"He and I partied back in the day with this girl he sired," Marcel smiled before dropping it as he noticed the unhappy looks he was getting from Bonnie and Caroline. "Sorry."
Looking back towards the video, they noticed the couple arguing.
"- dead at this point, I can tease her to my blackened heart's content."
"Because you not the one having to sit there with her well, she waits for you to give up the location to the Cure," Elena argued.
Rebekah raised an eyebrow towards the two women who just shrugged before looking back at the screen.
"Hey Rebekah Elena here, obviously," the doctor spoke, getting the Original's attention again. "Look, I know this is late but about Elijah and Klaus. I'm sorry for your loss; they might not have always been my favourite people, but they were your brothers, and I know how much you loved them."
Damon rolled his eyes dramatically. "I honestly raised a glass with Ric when I heard the news, you know toasting to the death of a worthy foe and all."
"And then four bottles more rehashing stories." Elena retorted before she got up saying something to Damon as she gave him one last smack on the arm.
Damon smirked at the camera as soon as his wife was gone. "I knew bribing DJ would work, so let's get down to business."
"Right now, the Cure has been hidden until you hear some words yours truly," Damon said, looking serious now as. "And don't even think of hurting BonBon or Blondie to find out where it is Barbie Klaus. Now first things first, before you take the Cure, you're going to need to make sure that you have everything set up so that you can start a new human life. I'm talking birth certificate, social security, money to survive on. You know, the works."
"Also, important safety tip, you can't use compulsion for this. Once you take the Cure, no matter how long ago the compulsion was will end, and people will get their memories back. Donovan can tell you first hand that it's a nightmare when people start remembering all the nasty things you've done to them."
This was news to Rebekah. Honestly, the Original was expecting Damon to call her and her family out on all the things nasty things they had done in Mystic Falls. Instead, Damon gave her sound advice; obviously, Elena had clearly been a better influence on Damon than she had initially thought.
"Next, you need to go someplace where no one knows you," Damon continued. "Find a nice small town like the Falls or a big city like New York, but make sure that no old enemies can track you down and interrupt your new human bliss. Hell, I bet if you even asked nicely, Care Bear could set you up in one of the Salvatore sister schools."
Rebekah could see Caroline nodding out of the corner of her eye. "I know you probably want to stay as far away from the supernatural as possible, Bekha, but take it from someone who knows. Once you know there is no unknowing, it's best to act in the shadows as support."
Now Damon was grinning again. "By the way, I've met your niece Hope. She might go by Marshall, but I can tell she's a Mikaelson from her eyes; they're all Klaus. And this leads me to my final condition, you have to live a long life and do all the things you haven't been able to before."
"Have an actual hangover, make yourself sick from overeating chocolate. Have one of those lazy days where you and the person you love to talk on the porch swing about how you can shock your nosey neighbours next," Damon smiled at the Original. And it was a real one, a sincere smile like the ones she had seen him give Elena and Stefan in the past. "Have some kids yourself and maybe a few grandkids to, and become this old woman who can look back on her millennium's old life and finally say 'I have no regrets.'"
"I want you to be happy, Rebekah Mikaelson, to live a long and messy human life like I'm doing. And when you finally find peace, come look Stefan and me up in the next world, I'll have hunted your annoying ass brothers down by then, and we can all share a bottle of my best bourbon."
Damon said, finally giving the camera one last wave. "Good-bye, Rebekah, be happy."
The room was silent aside from the occasional crack of the fire, but Rebekah was shivering despite its heat. Noticing the tears streaming down his wife's face, Marcel took her hands in his own.
Once she was calm enough to form words, Rebekah looked at the other women. She gave a watery smile noticing that they were also crying. "Who knew Damon had such a way with words?"
Caroline laughed and dabbed her eyes. "Where do you think Stefan learned it from."
"Under all that snark and sarcasm, he actually did know what to say ... sometimes." Bonnie spoke, wiping her own tears away with her thumb.
Everyone laughed a little before Rebekah looked at Caroline. "Is it .. I mean I know I came for it but now,"
"You need to get your life in order?" Caroline finished.
Rebekah nodded, thinking about all the things she would have to do before taking the Cure. Luckily, she was immortal, so a little while longer as an Original vampire wasn't the worst trade-off she supposed.
"If you're willing to take them, I have some positions that I put off hiring for at any of our schools for the both of you," Caroline offered to take both Gerard's by surprise. "You'd have to get the appropriate degrees or diplomas, and obviously with compulsion out it'll time, but you'd have your pick of any of the American or European locations."
"You'd really hire me?" Rebekah said genuinely, stunned by the offer. "After everything I've done to you."
"I know how much being human means to you, Rebekah and how hard adjusting to it again can be," Caroline said as Bonnie nodded next to her. "So, this is me extending the olive branch."
Rebekah took the offered hand of friendship and gave it a firm shake. Even though the pair had been on relatively good terms for decades, it was still nice to make it official.
"And well, Caroline takes the role of carrot I'm taking the stick," Bonnie said, banging her cane once on the ground soundly. "I see you doing something stupid and tell you."
"Glad to see that age hasn't dulled your fire, Bonnie," Rebekah said.
"So, you're really going to do this?" Marcel asked his wife.
"As soon as everything is set, I'll take the Cure," Rebekah nodded, looking at Marcel, squeezing her loves hand firmly, knowing that this is just as hard for him as it was for her. Once he returned the gesture, the Original looked back at the headmistress with a sly look. "Now then why don't we get started and you can tell me what it takes to run a school. Obviously, if you can do it, it can't be that difficult."
~*~*~*~*Notes*~*~*~*~
After watching the ending of The Originals, where my heart was once again broken into a million little pieces, by the way, I had wanted to write something for Rebekah.
This mostly comes from when Klaus mentions the Cure himself in their good-bye. I also tried to use some of the things from both series to give it a realistic feel, like how Rebekah asked what it takes to run a school. It comes from her having this rivalry with Caroline when they were both in high school.
Stefanie is the older of the Salvatore siblings well; DJ is the younger if anyone was wondering, and they're my first attempts at OC's, so please, let me know what you thought of them.