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CHAPTER 52: ASSAILANT AND DEFENDER

❝ i know what the weapon is. ❞

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THERE IS A STORY ABOUT A QUEEN WHO GAVE UP HER KINGDOM FOR A CHANCE TO BREATHE. One day, she walked out of court with nothing but a broken spine and a fragmented mind. Somewhere far, the sky stirred and the ocean raised itself for just a glimpse. The war was not barbarous men in broken armor, not limping horses or battle cries. The war sounded like her torn and tattered wings trying to take flight. But one grows weary from being both assailant and defender.

They say her shattered dreams rattle inside of her lungs. In dreams, her belly is swollen. In dreams, she is her own. In dreams, she did not ruin herself for love. She is lost and youthful again. She denies the wounds in her flesh. Word has spread that her laugh is the sound of a thousand waterfalls, peaceful and calm. Now she is ablaze, running swiftly beside bears, running naked like a meteor. She is cracked porcelain leaking out guarded hope. She peels away the wet dress like a snake shedding its own skin. They look for the silver tongue, for the venom in her cheeks—they forget poison ivies grow vivaciously in her mouth.

They want to tame her and they think that they can. But she is fateless, without nature. She is the remnant of all the burned witches. When the world told her breaking would give her no place in history, she smiled because she had broken a million times before and it always ended the same. Now legend has it, her body is the safest place to fall apart.

Enola fell apart in a chair out on the balcony. She was focused on the steady beating heart in her stomach. She had heard it falter a few times and that was enough to make her anxiety rise. She hadn't been able to sleep for days because she was worried it would just . . . stop. And she wasn't the only one. On the balcony directly across from her sat Hayley.

This had become a routine for them. Every night they would sit out here, in complete silence, and watch the world fall apart and come back together until morning. Only this time it was different. This time they witnessed the great escape of Camille O'Connell who had been staying at the compound after turning into a full fledged vampire. Klaus had been really cagey about Enola and Cami leaving the compound after all the events that had unfolded these past few days.

"Klaus is going to be pissed," Hayley muttered so quietly Enola wouldn't have heard it if it weren't for vampire hearing.

"He is always pissed," Enola reminded, imagining the look on Klaus' face when he inevitably realizes that Cami is gone.

Hayley and Enola share a short laugh before falling back into silence. It seemed to be the only way they knew how to communicate. Through silence. It gave them the time to put things into perspective. Hayley realized how wrong it was to make a choice for someone else and Enola realized that sometimes you do bad things to protect the people you love. It sucks that it took them that long to come to that conclusion.

"Hey, Nola?" Hayley spoke up quietly.

"Yeah?" Enola hummed absentmindedly.

"I am really sorry," Hayley apologized sincerely.

"Do you really mean it or are you just saying what you think I want to hear?" Enola inquired.

"I mean it," Hayley reassured. "I just—I cannot lose you. You are my best friend. My sister. I guess that is why I did what I did. Because I love you and I didn't want you to get hurt."

"I know," Enola nodded. "But I can take care of myself. You just have to let me."

"Enola?" A groggy voice called out. Enola peered through the balcony doors only to spot Klaus sitting up in bed with a confused look. "Come back to bed."

"In a second," Enola promised before turning back to Hayley. "We will talk more tomorrow. Goodnight, Hales."

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"Where the bloody hell is she?"

Klaus stormed into the study where Enola and Elijah were hiding away. They had also gotten a lot closer these past few days. They basked in the silence as they dug through the contents of the desk in search of something that may be of use to them. Everyone else seemed to be walking on eggshells around her. But not him. Never him. She appreciated the silence that came with him. It made her feel as if her world wasn't currently falling apart.

"I assume we are talking about Camille," Elijah drawled. "Just refresh my memory, Niklaus—was I the one who impulsively handed her a daylight ring?" He paused as he finally looked up. "Oh, no. That's right. It was you."

"She left, didn't she?" Klaus scowled.

"Shocking turn of events. Yes." Elijah hummed nonchalantly. "So why don't you go and find her? I shall deal with the growing nightmare of our family's potential extinction."

"Yes, always the diligent defender despite the fact the threat has somewhat subsided." Klaus teased. "What, with Tristan De Martel now literally swimming with the fishes."

"A darker threat remains," Elijah reminded. "Now if something out there is capable of killing us, we should probably find it."

"I would love to," Klaus nodded. "However, I got Camille into this mess."

"She left around sunrise. My guess is that she needed some air." Enola muttered. Klaus frowned. He was worried about her. He wished there was something he could do to ease her pain, but knew all he could do was be there for her. She would talk about it when she was ready. "I couldn't sleep. I saw her leave from the balcony."

Klaus knew Enola had been having trouble with sleep. He had even asked Freya to make something so it would be easier for her. But she insisted that she was fine. He knew it was a lie. She had been anxious and afraid. She had every right to be. She was forced to listen to her unborn child's heartbeat grow weaker and weaker. She was grateful that nothing had happened to the fetus, but now she was extremely cautious.

"Um, hi." Hayley awkwardly peeked into the room. "I was wondering if I could stay her for a few days—"

"Of course," Enola interrupted.

Hayley gave Enola a shaky smile, eyes briefly flickering to Elijah when a phone suddenly buzzed. He gave her a quick nod before excusing himself to answer the phone. The silence that followed was more or less awkward.

"Hayley, this family comes with a lot of baggage." Klaus began sympathetically. "But there is at least one benefit; you will always have a home here."

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Enola sat in the art room with a paintbrush in hand. She was looking for inspiration in everything. She was unfortunately unable to pull that inspiration from the depths of her mind. She was too focused on the steady rhythmic heartbeat coming from her stomach. Freya reassured her that everything looked fine, but there were a few moments she had to be sure.

"You have no right!" The familiar voice of Camille growled angrily. "Those dark objects are my family's legacy!"

"Well, that is funny," Klaus argued. "Cause I seem to remember my brother Kol making them, so perhaps they've been my family's legacy all along."

"Give them back!" Cami demanded angrily. "Or I will take them back and I swear you will regret this moment."

"The only thing I regret is failing to realize how far you've spun out of control," Klaus spat. "And you can forget about leaving!"

Enola groaned in annoyance. She set the paintbrush down before rising from the stool she had called home for the past three hours. She made her way across the room before stepping out on the balcony that overlooked the courtyard. Below she could spot Cami and Klaus in the middle of a heated argument that was taking its toll on all of them.

"She was right, wasn't she? Aurora. She did this to turn you against me. To rob me of the one advantage I have over her, my humanity. And me like this, it's a problem for you, isn't it? Not the darkness—that, you find intriguing—but the fact that I am out of control. I'm out of your control and you hate it, don't you? You have spent ten centuries getting the entire world to tremble at your name when really you're the one who's terrified, Klaus. You are a scared little kid convinced he'll be tossed aside the second he isn't needed." Cami ranted before turning to leave only for Klaus to grab a hold of her arm. "Let go of me."

"You can't just force her to stay here, Klaus." Hayley huffed, storming into the courtyard with an annoyed scowl.

"Finally someone who is on my side," Cami sighed.

"Don't get me wrong. I remember when I turned and you for sure shouldn't have a box of witch crap right now." Hayley scoffed, shooting Cami a pointed look before turning back to Klaus. "But you can't hold her hostage either. Let me talk to her."

"I hardly think now is the time for a women's empowerment meeting," Klaus rolled his eyes.

"She died, Klaus." Hayley reminded. "Because she got caught up in the Mikaelson world, just like Enola. So maybe you should spend your time worrying about your pregnant wife rather than your therapist who could quite frankly use a break from you."

Elijah finally stepped out onto the balcony beside Enola. It was about time he made his presence known. He had been out and about all day. She was starting to grow concerned. Who else would break this fight up? Because it certainly wouldn't be her.

"Niklaus," Elijah called out. "A word." Enola went to leave. "You too, Enola."

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Elijah had spent the entirety of the day with the Strix coven. Enola was unaware that the Strix had their very own coven, but it wasn't exactly a surprise. What was a surprise is that they basically told Elijah what this secret weapon was; a pale horse. Of course none of them knew what the hell this had meant. But it was a start. As confusing as it was.

"I thought the pale horse could be something biblical—or even tied to one of the equestrian constellations." Elijah said in thought. "There is Pegasus. Perhaps even Equuleus."

"Neither of those sound like a weapon. Unless they plan to bore us to death." Klaus muttered. "You know, it would be nice if, just once, the witches said what they bloody well mean."

"Cami has just turned, Nik." Enola sighed. "Leave her alone."

"You think I should abandon her then?" Klaus questioned.

"Listen—the Cami that you knew is gone." Enola said softly. "And whoever she is going to be is something that she has to figure out by herself."

"I just wanted to keep her safe," Klaus confessed.

"I know," Enola smiled sadly. "But sometimes the people you think you're keeping safe—Elijah, Rebekah, even Hope—sometimes you do them more harm than good."

Elijah couldn't help but smile at the interaction between Enola and Klaus. She was his voice of reason in the dark. She was the only one he would listen to when all else went to hell. She reeled him back in from the brink of insanity. Their love—it was written in the stars. Their love—it would never die. No matter what this stupid prophecy said. Their love—it would live forever.

"Oh," Klaus blinked.

"What?" Enola sat up.

"What you just said," Klaus began slowly. "About keeping Rebekah safe."

"What about it?" Enola tilted her head to the side in genuine confusion.

"It reminded me of something," Klaus confessed. "I know what the weapon is."

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Enola and Klaus searched the nursery from top to bottom with the help of Elijah and Hayley. Camille left in a rush not too long ago as Freya watched over Hope in the next room. They had been searching the room for a whole hour before realizing they had no clue what they were looking for.

"All of my efforts to protect and provide comfort for my family . . . " Klaus grumbled.

"Klaus, you are not making any sense." Hayley shook her head.

"And you still haven't told us what the weapon is," Enola reminded.

"The pale horse—it isn't a constellation nor is it a biblical verse." Klaus informed. "It is a trinket I made when we were children. A toy carved from kindling, which I gave to Rebekah in the hopes of easing her fears."

"I collected the firewood myself. It was fallen branches from everywhere and . . . " Elijah trailed off in realization. "The horse was made of the white oak."

Enola immediately stood at the realization that the pale horse just so happened to be Hope's favorite toy. She hurried over to the toy bin and began her search only to come up empty handed. The toy wasn't there. And she knew Hope didn't have it seeing as it was snack time with Aunty Freya. So where the hell was it.

"This doesn't make any sense," Enola shook her head in disbelief. "It was here. I saw it."

"When?" Klaus questioned immediately, the cogs in his head turning as he thought of possibilities.

"This afternoon," Enola informed. "I swear."

"Oh, I believe you." Klaus nodded. "We are just here a little too late."

"Explain," Elijah demanded.

"There is only one other person capable of deciphering the witch's riddle. The very person whom I shared my memories of that night with besides my dotting wife." Klaus informed. "My trusted therapist."

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AUTHORS NOTE.
i loved cami. but she was a whole nuisance when she became a vampire. you also might be wondering whether or not enola has forgiven hayley. the short answer is yes. but the trust between them is definitely broken and it is going to take years to rebuild that. until next time, my loves!!!