18 Forever Is a Spell Away

Tell me, what do you desire most?

".."

"Come on girls, let's do it from the top!" Hayley raised her voice, rhythmically clapping her hands at the cheer squad. "And 5,6,7,8!"

Since the regionals were right around the corner, rehearsals had been quite intense these past few weeks. Luckily, today was the last day where the girls would be going this hard.

"Seems good to me," Caroline said beside Hayley as the pair watched the girls execute the routine. Their goal was to achieve top3 and the girls were doing their best.

"Everyone is working hard," the brunette nodded. One thing Hayley liked about the sport was that they were all in this together. The cheer squad didn't skimp on honing their talents, even if they were just a high school team. "We'll win this."

".."

"Are we still on for lunch?" Caroline asked when practice was over.

Ever since Hayley and Elena had become closer, the most excited of the bunch had been Bonnie and Caroline. And this lunch dated had been in the plans for forever.

"Of course," Hayley affirmed, the smile in her voice hiding the blank look in her eyes. If not for the fact that the end prize was so important, she wouldn't be caught dead willingly interacting with the doppelgänger.

The hate boner might seem excessive to some, but you truly had to be in the same vicinity as Elena Gilbert to realize just how self-centered the girl was. So why would Hayley turn the other cheek to be slapped like all the others did?

"I'll see you there, then!" Caroline waved at Hayley before she wandered off. Hayley shook her head at her friend's excited back. Caroline was always complaining about Hayley being busy but the blonde ran around even more than her.

Clad in her practice gear, Hayley climbed into her car, planning to shower at home before she joined the other girls. She was putting the car in drive when her phone went off. Glancing at the screen, the name made her frown.

"Slater?" Hayley answered, slightly bewildered as they didn't have a meeting anytime soon.

"Hi, beautiful," Slater called from the other side. "Do you want the good or bad news first?"

Arching a brow, Hayley stopped her car's ignition before she leaned back on the seat. "What are you talking about?"

"Good or bad news, honey, choose!"

"Slater, you know I can wring your neck from a distance, right?"

"Ugh, not fun." She could practically see a pout on the man's face. "Fine! You know that thing you told me to look into?"

"Hmm," Hayley hummed. It was so long ago that she'd nearly forgotten but she had asked Slater to found out more about what happened while the Mikaelson were still human. "Found something good?"

Based on Finn's stories, this reality of hers varied greatly from the show. The most disturbing discovery she'd made was that the siblings were far closer than in the show and they seemed to be up to something. Something she wasn't privy to.

"Depends," Slater replied. "I had to dig deep and call on several markers to find this kind of information for you, you know."

Hayley rolled her eyes. "How much do you want?"

"A lady after my own heart," Slater chuckled. "Let's talk money later. Don't you want the bad news now?"

"How could there be bad news?" Hayley inquired. "I've been low key so far."

Be it in dealing with Katherine, meeting up with the wolves or even digging into the Mikaelson history, Hayley had been nothing but careful.

"You might be low key but your feats aren't," Slater explained. "There's been talk of a witch siding with the older vampires so one thing led to another and you've attracted the attention of some big shots."

"And this interests me ... how?" Hayley huffed.

The hybrid wouldn't be careless but she had a reason to be overconfident. If someone wanted to hurt her, she'd end them. No questions asked.

"The person interested in you is the person you're looking for," Slater mysteriously conveyed.

"Slater, babe, do you practice in front of your mirror?" Hayley couldn't help but make fun of the vampire. "'How to be mysterious for dummies.' I bet you own a book like that."

" ... that is out of the question, missus, don't change the subject!" Slater cried. "It's Elijah, okay? His lackeys have been asking around about you."

... To say Hayley was stunned would be an understatement. Why would Elijah be interested in her?

Thinking back to when she was reborn, she was a hundred percent sure that she didn't do a single thing to attract the Original's attention. He was in no need of a daylight and neither was he interested in running after Katherine.

"Hayley? Still there?"

"Uhm, yeah," Hayley cleared her throat. "Why is he looking for me?"

"You're a witch, working with vampires and that's enough for most of us to be interested," Slater stated. "Add on to the fact that your past is not entirely clear, it all makes for the mystery of Hayley Marshall."

It was a fact that Hayley's past was blurry on records. And she'd made it that way so no one could find any weakness of hers. Even Slater, her closest ally, didn't know she was also a werewolf.

"That's cute," Hayley snorted. "If it comes to your ears, guide them away."

"Why? Scared?"

Hayley pursed her lips. "More like ... unprepared." It was one thing to see a Mikaelson in her dreams, but to meet them in person, she had to have all the cards close to her heart.

The Mikaelson might be her favorite but they were powerful, vengeful and did she mention powerful? They were also sneaky and used to have the world at their feet. If she was to be taken seriously, she had to aspire to be on the same level.

After a few minutes more of chit chat with her vampire friend, Hayley hung up and re-started her car. She drove home, her head slightly muddled.

".."

That night, Hayley went to sleep with a lot on her mind.

The lunch date with the girls went well, and Elena now thought she had a new best friend. Aside from an Original digging into her life, Hayley's plans were unfolding quite nicely.

After she closed her eyes, Hayley felt a light breeze on her face. She breathed in the lakeside air, the wind clearing her thoughts for a bit.

"You look pensive," Rebekah said, sitting down next to her.

This was a routine. Hayley would go to sleep and wake up either in Finn's clearing or at Rebekah's lake. Though not a hundred percent real, these two were her favorite places to be.

"What does it feel like?" Hayley asked. "To live forever."

"It's agony."

Hayley startled, not expecting that answer from the blonde. "Agony?"

Rebekah nodded, her eyes looking way beyond the lake. "But also the most beautiful thing that happened to me," she said. "Getting a forever with my brothers."

"That's nice," Hayley bowed her head to hide her glistening eyes. It was only with Rebekah that her tears could freely fall.

Hayley didn't want to sound bitter, but she wanted what the blonde had. She wanted someone to be there, always. After all, for a witch as powerful as Hayley, forever was just a spell away — she just didn't have anyone to spend it with.

"Don't look only to the bright side," Rebekah continued. "When we became the first vampires to walk this earth, practically immortals, it took something from us. Something important."

"Your humanity?" Hayley asked gently.

Rebekah shook her head. "That is just nonsense coming from the younger vampires who haven't lived past two hundred years. Our humanity is still there, still pressing at the back of our minds and still as annoying as ever since our emotions are magnified," Rebekah snorted. "No, no, what we lost is ... time."

"Time?" Hayley's brow was arched in disbelief.

"It sounds preposterous, I know," Rebekah sighed. "But when you've lived for so long, it's the little things that count. It has always been."

The pair looked at each other in silent understanding before they turned to admire the peaceful scenery, each one taken by their own thoughts.