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Mystic Falls , present day

"LOVE, I hate to interrupt this, but we've got to get some things done," Nik said between kisses, before pulling away.

Grace raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? You're getting me done."

Nik laughed, a true, genuine laugh. He was so hopelessly in love with this girl.

Grace was so hopelessly in love with this man.

She did not want this moment to end, but she knew there were more pressing matters they had to get to.

Grace groaned, leaning forward and laying her head on his chest.

"Fine. Let's go."

.    .    .    .

ALL of the coffins had been brought together in one room, and Grace immediately knew that might be a problem. She looked to Nik, hesitating to tell him. Grace was not even sure if he knew this particular weakness of hers.

"We might have a small problem," she began, crossing her arms.

Nik raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue.

"I can't have all of them in here at once. It weakens me," Grace explained.

Nik frowned in confusion.

"I'm not following. This has never seemed to bother you before. What about the Siphoners back in the eighties or whenever? There was never a problem then-" "I'm not sure, if I'm being honest. I- It's sort of a recent thing that I've just found out, because supernatural entities can overpower me if there's enough of them. You'd love to know that just two nights ago, your sister participated in that."

Nik crossed his arms, thinking. He had a small suspicion that the reason behind Grace's newfound weakness could have been his very own mother.

But for now, he would wait to test that theory.

"Right. Well, we'll just do away with them all except, of course, dear mother's."

Minutes later, the two had cleared the coffins out of the room, leaving the one and only Esther, who Grace sort of wished could just rot away.

"Alright, this is going to take some concentration, so no distractions."

"I should just leave the room altogether, then," Nik responded with a wink.

Grace thought for a moment, then gave a curt nod. "Actually, yeah. It might help."

Nik's smile dropped, and Grace returned his expression with a wink.

He obliged, exiting the room at once.

Slowly, with some hesitation, Grace approached the coffin. Normally, an unsealing spell could be done with the flick of her wrist. But this, this would take more willpower than usual.

Closing her eyes, Grace thrust out her hands and began chanting.

"Phasmatos siprum, emnis abortum, fasila quisa exilum san. Phasmatos tribum, melan veras, et vasa quisa, exu quisa."

Something did not feel right, however. The coffin was moving, but Grace did not feel like she should be doing this. Of course she should not have been, more than one witch was required, for one thing. The other thing was that Esther clearly wanted a different witch for this. A Bennett witch.

But, Grace would have to do.

And finally, with one last push, the coffin was opened.

With wide eyes, Grace peered over, seeing a ugly, graying body inside.

"Nik!" she called, with a bit of an anxious tone to her voice. He was there in an instant, by her side, peering over into the coffin.

Sure enough, that was his mother, the very one he had killed some thousand years ago. A tragic story, really, not for him, but for Esther.

Grace did not know this story yet, however, and Niklaus feared she would know the truth very soon.

"Very well, then. I suppose she'll be awakening soon, along with the others. Once they have fed, of course."

Grace looked over to Nik, then suddenly remembered with a twist of guilt that she had just recently murdered a girl in cold blood.

"Are you alright, love? You look a bit pale-" "I'm fine. It's just- Esther. She's creeping me out." Grace dismissed the rest of the conversation and walked over to the couch to sit for a moment.

"I'm about to leave to fetch some bloodbags, would you like to come with?" Nik asked, looking over at her as if he were still concerned.

Grace could tell, painfully, how hard Niklaus was trying to make up for everything he had done to her. Maybe... it was working a little bit.

But Grace still did not feel well, and something did not sit right with her about leaving all of these coffins here, unattended.

"I-I'm gonna stay here and watch the coffins. Just to make sure no one interferes. Such as a Salvatore," Grace added, raising her brow a bit.

Nik paused for a moment, then gave a curt nod.

"Very well. I shall be back soon, love. Don't let Esther creep you out too much," he said, giving a wink and a smirk before exiting the room.

Grace's heart fluttered. God, she hated how her heart wrenched at the mere sight of Niklaus Mikaelson.

At that moment, someone else entered the room, but Grace was delighted and her face lit up instantly.

"'Lijah! I haven't seen you in a few days, what's been happening?"

Elijah Mikaelson returned Grace's eager grin, and approached her to take a seat. He did not question the coffin in the room or the ones from the room which he had just entered, so Grace assumed he knew what was happening.

"Grace, dear. It has been a few days, indeed. I couldn't help but to hear a few things about you, however. Something about you losing your humanity?" Elijah queried, frowning slightly.

Grace tensed up a bit, having flashes of her short-lived Ripper phase.

"Er, you should ask your brother, he knows a lot more of what happened."

Elijah's frown grew on his face, and he adjusted his position so he could meet Grace's eyes.

She was damaged.

By Niklaus.

Elijah let out a sigh of frustration, mixed with anger. Never had Grace asked for such things to be done to her. Yet, Nik always found a way to make it happen.

"He did it to you," Elijah said quietly, glaring into the ground.

Grace shifted uncomfortably, never having seen Elijah in this state of emotion.

"Uh- well... yeah. But on some ends, I'm just as guilty-" "Hardly. Nik had been infatuated with you since the eighteenth century, but he was always paranoid you would be a traitor, considering your best friend was Katerina, my dearest love. That was when the compulsion began. And I think, since then, he's had some version of you in his head that he created."

Elijah paused, glancing over at Grace. She understood it now. The bits of pieces of her bizarre life were coming together, and she realized that Niklaus really was a monster.

But she loved him. She felt like she had to, after causing him some pain on her end. They had to be even, equal. Once there was a balance, maybe they could love.

However, for that to happen... Grace would have to hurt Nik. And she did not want to at all, of course. It would be sickly of her to do that. She quickly pushed the thought away, disgusted with herself for even thinking that.

"Until now," Grace muttered, finally meeting Elijah's eyes.

"I know everything, now. Every time we have ever met, I remember. Some were good, some were bad. Sometimes I was too high or drunk to comprehend it. But I know all of the things I've done, and not all of it was caused by him. I'm at fault, too. Because I always thought I was so good at control, I didn't realize I was tearing him and myself apart."

"Grace, don't think like that. I've been with him at every encounter the two of you have ever had. You can't choose who you love, obviously, but I think you can do better than him."

Grace furrowed her eyebrows, confused.

"What-" "Will you promise me something, Grace? Whatever happens in the next little while, don't let Niklaus influence your choices. Do some good for yourself."

NOTES
who gave elijah the right to be so wise :') also a lot of y'all said the last chapter was toxic so... i'm fixing it because i don't want to romanticize toxic relationships even though tvd was nothing but that ok psa over and out <3