The One You Once Were

An entire witch coven

I dried my eyes before going back into the house because I didn't want the children to see me cry. I had to appear somewhat strong after all. When I did finally step back in, I heard the younger ones steadily breathing in their rooms, which meant Kilian had tugged them in while I'd been gone. He himself was sleeping by Heather's side, her hand in his and that bond pressed tightly to his chest. I really wasn't sure about how much longer he could do this. It didn't seem like it would be a lot of time until he did finally break down too or even worse, get a similar disease. After I'd checked on my friends, I quietly closed the door behind me and almost ran into Elisabeth who shot me a venomous look for my lack of concentration.
"Watch where you're going!", she complained and I just nodded, too exhausted for another fight. Apparently surprised by my reaction, she tried to cover some appearing worry in her voice with ignorance.
"What? In a dream state or what's your damage?"
"Rejoice.", I answered bitter. "You were right about Klaus."
"Shit, really?", genuine guilt carved itself onto her face.
"Language.", I warned tired and wanted to pass her by but she grabbed me by the arm to have me stay.
"So, he's got another girl?"
I nodded and more curse words escaped the teen's mouth.
"I can't believe it! The dude was my hero, now I want to punch him!"
"Why are you upset?", I asked with a sigh. "You were the one who knew beforehand."
"I was just trying to get you off my back. I didn't think he'd actually be such a person.", she answered quietly.
"Well, he apparently is.", I sighed. I couldn't believe it either. This was so unlike him. Why would he do this to me? His future self could have never...
"Are you okay?", Ellie wanted to know and I shrugged my shoulders.
"Not really.", I then decided to answer truthfully and let myself slide to the ground with my back to the wall. "It's just too much right now. All the stuff with Heather and you kids... I have to be the one to handle things and I mean, I'm only a young adult too! It's not like I have experience with all of this. I should be in college or at home with my mother, instead I'm here, somewhere in the year 1000-something and am taking care of my dying friend and her kids while my boyfriend, whom I'm trying to save, is off with another chick. This is so nonsensical, it shouldn't be true but it is.", I shook my head and held back another round of tears. When I looked up to the still standing girl, I realized what I'd just said and covered my mouth with one hand while facepalming with the other.
"Oh my god.", I exhaled. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it to come off this way, that was so stupid of me."
Ellie kept quiet and sat down in front of me. Now we were both sitting on the floor in the hallway like forgotten dogs. Awesome.
"No, it's okay.", she calmly stated. "You're right, it's not easy. I haven't been all too fair on you either so I apologize for that."
"Oh, don't.", I sighed. "You're allowed to behave this way, you're a teenager."
"That's no excuse.", she scoffed. "I just- I don't know. I'm so frustrated all the time. Every other girl seems so normal and I have all these abilities and feelings and my mother isn't even here to help me deal with them."
Quietly, I listened to every word she said. It was her turn to speak her mind, I wasn't to interrupt her thought process.
"And Father keeps telling me about how important my powers are and how I have to be strong for the family and my siblings and I know he's right but sometimes, I just ask myself 'why', you know?"
I nodded but I wasn't sure if she even noticed. She was too deep into her words.
"And then, I snap and bitch at you and feel aweful afterwards but don't say anything because I would feel weak then. It's dumb, I know but I can't explain why I feel that way. When you bossed me around again before, I was so sick of it. Nothing against you, I still love you and you've given up years to stand by our side but thinking about how I should dedicate my life to get you back home? It messes with me."
"Wait, what?", I finally disturbed her. "What do you mean 'dedicate your life'? Who ever said anything about that?"
She raised her brows. "My mother. You know, the entire coven thing?"
"What coven?", I asked. "You're parents aren't part of any, they've never been!"
Her facial expression seemed to drop. "You don't know?"
"Know what?"
"My parents founded a new coven after I had been born. All of us kids are part of it.", she explained.
"But a coven for what?" This didn't make any sense.
"For you. For creating the spell to bring you home and fix things. It's so complicated that they wanted all of us to work on it."
What?!
"You're not serious, are you?", I was at a loss for words.
"I most certainly am.", she assured me. "You really didn't know?!"
I shook my head.
"I can't believe it. Why would they do this? They could've told me that the spell was too much to handle! I would have understood! I never wanted you kids to get dragged into this!"
Elisabeth offered a kind smile but her eyes sparkled in a sad, numb way. If it was because of my words or because she had been told to throw her life away for me, I had no idea.
"Don't blame yourself. It was their decision.", she told me. "Besides, you've been helping us ever since I was born. It would only be fair to repay that favour."
We both sat in silence for a bit until I shot a look out the window and noticed the moon, which was already high up in the sky.
"It's late, you should go to bed.", I suggested and she chuckled to herself.
"There you go again. A mother already even though you don't have kids yourself.", she grinned.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to-", I wanted to apologize but she cut me off with a laugh. "I was joking, don't worry."
She jumped to her feet and pulled me up with her hands.
"Love you, Auntie. Good night."
"Good night, Ellie."
She headed off while I made my way to my own bed. I was still startled by the news of the witch coven. Why would Heather do this? I asked her the next morning when she was half conscious and Kilian was looking after the kids. She kept quiet but squeezed my hand as if it was reason enough that I was here. But for me, it really wasn't. I never planned for the kids to be this involved in this, I never thought Heather would get so sick and that I would probably have to watch her life dripple away before my own eyes.
"Oh, Heather.", I sighed. "Why won't you let me help you? It's not right!"
My friend gave me a judgy look, then shook her head.
"Okay, I'll drop it. I know how much you hate talking about this.", I whispered.
Thankful, she nodded.
"The kids?", she forced herself to quietly ask afterwards. This was probably the worst for her. Not being able to see her kids grow up on a daily basis. Kilian wanted to prevent them from catching onto the sickness, he himself did not care about his own health though.
"They're okay. All of them are so strong and Dalia is so practiced in handicraft already.", I said, recalling her skills from yesterday.
Heather smiled brightly as I showed her the scene in her mind through my powers. It was like she was watching a television show with the sad twist of it being the life she was missing while being bound to her bed.
"You fought with Ellie?", she asked further. Kilian had to have told her about that again, of course he did.
"We made up afterwards.", I calmed her. Satisfied, she closed her eyes for a moment. It was easier than nodding for her so she did that sometimes.
"She also told me about the entire coven thing.", I continued carefully. It wasn't my intention to stress her out but I needed her to speak about this.
Her eyes shot open in an instant and her lips started trembling. There was a lot she wanted to say about that apparently but she coughed instead.
"My mind.", she said between coughs. "Powers."
I put my hand on hers and within the blink of an eye, we were inside her head.
To my surprise, her conscience chose the same room we were in on the outside as well, only here, it was littered with scenes of her kids on the walls. It looked like there were different screens all over and each was set to repeat a certain moment of the children. The other significant difference was Heather herself. Instead of laying on the bed, almost not able to move, she stood in front of me as healthy as before the sickness.
"So, she told you.", my friend repeated, her eyes worried.
"She did.", I nodded. "Why didn't you tell me? Why drag the kids into this?"
"Well, I can't help Kilian anymore and we're not even nearly done with the spell.", she started carefully. "You've put your trust in us and I didn't want to disappoint you."
"Disappoint me? Don't you worry about me! I never wanted it to be this complex or the kids to be dragged into my problems! If I wasn't even here, they would be able to grow up normally without this pressure! This is all my fault!", I held back tears. There was this feeling inside of me that I had taken away an important part of the kids' childhood just because I was so selfish to stick around and be persistent on the spell. Again, I was the cause for pain and it tore me apart.
"Stop right there, Caroline!", Heather angrily stepped in. "If you weren't here, they wouldn't have anyone to look up to and you provide them with care! I would be sick either way but without you, Kilian would have to do all of this alone! It breaks my heart to not be with my family and there was only one thing that made it better: your help! I can be sure they have someone to comfort them whenever they are im need of such a thing. And you know how I can be so calm when it comes to trusting you? Because that's just who you are! You care for people! You always try to make it perfect for everyone! So, just take a step back and let us do this spell for you! The coven was my decision, not yours, and there is no need for you to feel guilty about it then! Do you understand?"
Speechless, I nodded. I even had tears in my eyes. God, I loved her so much, how could I ever let this friend go?
"Thank you.", I brought out after a while.
"No, thank you, Caroline. I truly cherish you, I hope you know that."
In this moment, I was as happy as I had not been in a long time. Who even needed Klaus right now? I had Heather and Kilian and the kids. And for now, that was enough.

Guys! I finally did it and updated! Took me long enough.
Anyways, I'll do my best to update more regularly again and provide good content but I hope you did enjoy this chapter?
See you in the next chapter!