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_{[... Right. The Mikaelsons are not the family to go to for cheery family bonding stories. The dreadful thing is, he can understand the position of a father loathing what he has helped to create--and likewise, the children for hating the father in turn.

Lily had said it once. Life, once created, must be left to live. Controlling it is a hopeless endeavor and ends like this: sadly.]}

Would that blood not have to be spilled to see your lives returned to you, but now that it has, I hope for your sake the future carries more promise with that shadow removed.

[No, there aren't a lot of cheery bonding stories, not in comparison to all the ones that end in bloodshed. The Mikaelsons have been the damned children and damning creators all at once, the resurfacing of the Trinity had been a stark reminder of that. Rebekah had been hesitant to turn anyone at first, Aurora tricked her into it, but over the years she had become more willing to do it. She has seen people she loves like Marcel choose immortality and their gifts over everything else and she has seen the cost of those choices. She had told Elijah once that everything the loved turned into ashes.

It feels true, now more than even.

Victor mentions the future and Rebekah hesitates. She has not spoken to anyone about what awaits her at home. Even with Klaus and Freya they skirt around the topic, as if it is too heavy of a burden to fully grasp. She was cursed with a madness that consumed her, Freya, Elijah and Kol were all poisoned from someone they had once considered family (Klaus' surrogate son) and Klaus was in constant agony to buy them time so Hayley can find ways to save them.

Assuming that's even possible.

Rebekah wants a happy ending more than anything else but she's not sure that's in the card. Maybe she's always been in a tragedy but she's never been content to simply accept that, easier as it might be on her heart if she did.]

Perhaps someday, it will, but he is not the only shadow to which my family has to face. We may not have asked for this story, but it is ours and the choices we have made as a result have had consequences that were still playing out when I was brought here.

_{[Does one of those shadows have to do with harvesting blood from doppelgangers?

The need to know how Rebekah's family ties into Elena's is a near-constant burn, but after the painful awkward of that event and the delicateness of their current conversation, he thinks it best not to get into that right now.]}

Being here does offer the advantage of time. Time to consider your next move.

_{[He, too, had returned to Wonderland to reflect on the consequences of his actions and what to do once he returned home. It's true they might not remember the conclusions they come to here, or the peace they may find, but they also might remember. One day. Should Wonderland ever give up its secrets.]}

[To be fair, they don't hunt the blood of doppelgangers anymore. And never would have done so in the first place if their mother hadn't placed a curse on Klaus for a crime he had no control over -- his birth. The Mikaelsons have drawn themselves away from Mystic Falls and the drama of the doppelgangers but those histories will always be entwined. Elena and Katherine's presence alike here remind Rebekah of that. She's never been on good terms with either one of them and yet Wonderland keeps throwing her in their paths during events.

She tries not to read too much into that.]

Given the predicament as they are back home, there isn't much I can personally do, it lies mostly in the hands of someone who isn't here. But I trust Hayley to do right by my family, there is that comfort if nothing else.

Still, if I found something useful here, and I managed to remember it back home, I wouldn't be adverse to it.

Having seen what Wonderland is capable of, I would posit that near anything is possible. There could very well be other ways to reach a positive outcome that have not presented themselves.

_{[He wants to believe that for Elena. If he can, he'd like to believe the Mikaelsons can also find some peace that will mean no one else has to get hurt--them, or others by their hand like Elena.]}

There must be some advantage to living here.

It's quite possible. If there's anything I have learned in my long life it is that things can surprise you, people can surprise you, if you let them.

[As impossible as it may seem Rebekah wants to believe there could be a happy ending for her and her siblings.]

There are a few. When the events aren't going on it can be almost peaceful here, which is a nice change. And there are people here I would never of gotten to meet otherwise. That's important too.

There is truth in that lesson. I have learned it well in recent years, myself.

_{[She'd surprised him, once. Her kind are a far cry from the creatures Van Helsing had dedicated his life to pursuing.]}

Indeed. In our case, it has been fortunate to have the chance to meet again. Thank you again for the gift.

It's a good lesson to learn. Life is hard enough, it is much more difficult if spent alone.

[Connections to people can be risky, Rebekah's tendency to run headfirst into her feelings has backfired on her more than once and yet she would rather love and lose a thousand times then never experience love again.

how lonely that would be.

she thinks briefly of the version of Victor she had met in the other version of Wonderland but she's not sure how to even begin to approach the subject without admitting how much she had indulged in the experience.]

It has been. I am glad to have met you.

Merry Christmas, Victor.

_{[Solitude is the tip of a larger iceberg. He's unsure the true size and shape of it beneath the surface, but what he does know for sure is that he's not terribly keen on finding out, especially after events at Christmas had added a confusing new shade to matters.

Ignore something long enough and you get used to adapting for it. Looking through it rather than at it. Loneliness is one of those things it takes practice to repress, but it can be done.]}

And an early new year.

_{[He's usually not a person who goes for gifts and holiday well wishes. He's trying, though. Just because things are a little awkward now doesn't mean he can't return politeness when it's shown him.]}

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