nine

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Nothing Human Left

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THE SKY WAS STARTING TO grow dim but she didn't mind. Athena adored the scent of the forest and the sounds of the wind blowing through the trees and the animals scurrying around. It brought back memories of the times when she and her siblings would run through the forest or play hide-n-seek. She felt something tickle her cheek and opened her eyes to see a butterfly atop her ear, its wings brushing against her cheek. Athena smiled and used her finger to get the little creature onto it. The beautiful blue and black butterfly flapped its wings and seemed unafraid of her. Then she put her hand out and the butterfly flew away.

Klaus and Stefan were just behind her, watching her child-like reactions. Stefan knew that it would take some time for the young girl to adjust to the 21st century. She was a 13-year-old hybrid who's family was the oldest vampires in the world. She still clung to the child part of her despite her being part of the supernatural. And Stefan hoped she didn't lose that part of herself.

Klaus was thinking the same thing, him not knowing Stefan was too. Not a day in his immortal life had he not thought about his youngest - and precious - sister. Neither did any of the other Mikaelson siblings. She was innocent and she was pure. He wanted to protect her from the evil in the world but knew that meant protecting her from himself.

Stefan grunted from carrying Ray and Klaus looked at him with a mocking smirk.

"You okay? Is Ray getting heavy?"

Stefan rolled his eyes as he continued walking. "I'm fine."

"You sure about that? You know, we've been walking for quite some time now. If you need some water or a little sit-down-"

"You know, I get that we're, uh...we're stuck together, but if we could maybe just skip the chitchat, it'd be great."

"So much brooding. Your self-loathing is suffocating you, my friend."

Athena turned to her brother with a glare.

"Maybe it's because he's tired Nik. We've been hunting werewolves all summer," Athena defended.

"Well thanks to our pal Ray, we found ourselves a pack," her brother reminded. He pointed forward. "There."

They all stop and the scent of werewolves fill their noses. Stefan forced a cringe away and Athena's nose wrinkled. Klaus was unaffected and his victorious smirk stayed in place. The three of them enter the camp and upon their entering, the pack looks up at them. Stefan threw Ray on the ground and a woman rushed over to him with concern. She bent beside Ray and shook him.

"Ray! Oh, my God." She looked up at the three and Athena tilted her head slightly, narrowing her eyes at the woman. "What's going on? Who are you?" the woman questioned.

"The important question is who am I. Please forgive the intrusion. My name is Klaus," Klaus introduced, the smirk obviously now wider.

The woman stood up and backed up. There was a series of surprised and shocked gasped.

"You're the hybrid," the woman realized.

"You've heard of me. Fantastic."

---

The wolf pack stood tensely and stared at Klaus, waiting for his next move. He and Stefan sat on a log while Athena perched herself on a tree branch above them. Her eyes stayed trained on the wolf pack as she expected one of them to pounce sooner or later.

"It's fascinating, actually...A werewolf who isn't beholden to the moon, a vampire who doesn't burn in the sun. A true hybrid," Klaus told the pack.

Right at that moment, Ray woke up with a gasp and Athena couldn't help but smile.

"Talk about great timing, Ray."

The werewolf looked around and breathed hard as he looked around.

"What's happening to me?" he asked.

No one replied and Klaus looked to Stefan.

"Stefan?"

Stefan got the cue and got up. "Are any of you human? Your friend here needs human blood to complete his transition to vampire. If he doesn't get it, he will die."

"Doesn't take much, just a sip. Anyone? A boyfriend, a girlfriend, along for the ride?" Klaus said.

Athena listened and then looked toward a man standing next to one of the girls.

"Nik!" Klaus looked up at her. Athena nodded her head toward the man and Klaus looked at him and smirked. He looked back to Athena.

"Thank you, sister."

He flashed over to the man and bite his forearm. Stefan then grabbed the man and threw him on the ground in front of Ray. The woman beside the man protested but Klaus strangled her.

"If you don't drink it, Ray, I will. Problem is I don't know how to stop," Stefan told Ray.

Klaus looked at the girl.

"It's the new order, sweetheart. You join us, or you die."

"I'd rather die than be a vampire," she hissed.

"Well, that was a wrong choice," Athena spoke up, making the girl turn to her.

This gave Klaus enough time to bite into his wrist and shove it into the girl's mouth, forcing her to drink the blood. Ray finally drank from the human and Klaus smirked, his eyes yellow and fangs out.

"She'll thank me for that later," he told Athena, who couldn't help but laugh slightly. He twisted the girl's head and a snap echoed through the camp. "Okay, who's next?"

---

Eventually, Klaus had killed every single one of the werewolves and the only one who had come back so far was Ray, who looked like he was having a panic attack. The human laid on the ground, blood covering his mouth.

Klaus bent down and compelled him. "There. Good as new. Now you relax, okay, mate? We're gonna need you when the rest of them wake up."

Athena watched Ray as he sat on a rock nearby, Stefan leaning against a tree next to him. She got down from her tree and swung over to another one, smiling in excitement. Klaus smiled at her antics before going over to Ray.

"They're dead. They're all dead," Ray shivered.

"Ah, he's through his transition. He should be feeling better soon," Klaus told them.

"So is this your master plan, Nik? Building an army of hybrid slaves?" Athena guessed, twirling around on a branch in the tree.

"No, not slaves, Athena. Soldiers, comrades."

"For what war, might I ask?" Stefan questioned.

"Oh, you don't arm yourself after war has been declared, Stefan. You build your army so big that no one ever dares pick a fight."

"What makes you so sure that they'll be loyal?"

"Well, it's not difficult to be loyal when you're on the winning team. That's something you'll learn once you shake that horribly depressive chip off your shoulder."

Athena hummed and then swung onto another tree, listening to their conversation.

Stefan laughed. "That's why you're, uh...you're keeping me around? To witness my attitude adjustment?"

The younger hybrid stopped when she saw blood coming out of Ray's eyes. She gasped and Klaus instantly looked at her and followed her line of sight to Ray. He saw what she was looking at and sat down beside Ray. The hybrid grabbed Ray's face and looked at him with confusion.

"You'll know why I'm keeping you around when I've decided that I want you to know," Klaus replied, referring to Stefan's comment. Then he moved onto the matter of Ray. "Something's wrong."

"That shouldn't be happening, should it?" Stefan guessed.

"Well, obviously." He turned to his sister who was still watching from the tree. "You stay there Ena and do not come down until I say so."

She nodded and didn't argue. Her instincts told her that something was going to happen. Something bad. Maybe it was the way that Ray continued to shake, his eyes bleeding at an even faster rate. Or maybe it was the fact that Klaus looked worried.

"You said it was gonna feel better. Why doesn't it feel better?" Ray asked as he shook.

Klaus stood and stared at him as he thought, his arms crossed over his chest. Stefan stood in the same spot with his arms crossed over his chest as well. And of course, Athena stayed up in the tree where none of the werewolves could reach her.

"Some master race," Stefan scoffed.

"Lose the attitude," Klaus snapped. The woman gasped awake and Athena tensed up. Klaus still thought as he told the compelled human to go and feed her his blood. The human got up and Ray snarled, flashing up and sprinting away. Klaus looked at Stefan. "Go get him."

Stefan flashed after him which left Athena and Klaus alone with the others. The younger hybrid was still tense and she did not want to be in the camp anymore. Klaus noticed his sister's fear.

"Come down, Athena, Stay near me."

She jumped down and the two flashed to where Stefan was. Stefan saw them and quickly went over to them.

"Where did he go?" Athena asked.

"He, uh...he got away. Forget him. Let's go," Stefan proclaimed, trying to walk away.

Klaus saw his arm and grabbed it. Athena saw that there were two puncture wounds on Stefan's arm and she realized what it was.

"A fatal werewolf bite. Ouch," Klaus commented.

"Yeah. I'm gonna need your blood to heal me," Stefan said.

"Well, I tell you what. You find Ray, and then I'll heal you."

Athena's eyes widened and Stefan scoffed.

"Nik you can't be serious," she said.

Klaus looked at her and then at Stefan who had the same reaction as her.

"You better hurry, 'cause that bite looks nasty," he said to Stefan, before taking his sister back to the campsite.

When they arrived, all of the wolfs were waking up. Klaus smirked but realized that all of their eyes were bleeding. But his victory didn't wipe off the smirk on his face as he continued walking through the camp. Athena followed with hesitation.

Something still wasn't right.

---

Athena had gone back up in the tree. It made her feel safer from all of the zombie-like creatures. It was night and Klaus and made a campfire to illuminate the area. He had fed all of the wolves and now the human had no purpose.

"Bad news, my friend. End of the road for you," Klaus announced. He then drank from him, killing him. The human fell to the floor and the woman from earlier walked to him, staggering. "Careful, love. There's only one Alpha here."

But then once he looked around he saw that they were all doing the same thing: their eyes bleeding and staggering around the camp. Athena noticed the same thing and held onto the tree.

"Bloody hell," he cursed. His eyes glowed and his fangs appeared as he attacked the woman in front of him. "Athena, stay up there!" The girl listened as her brother ripped the women's heart out.

All of a sudden, one of the wolves came toward the tree she was in, he looked up at her and then snarled, trying to get up in the tree. Athena screamed when he jumped up to the branch with her.

Klaus noticed and was about to intervene when the younger girl flashed and snapped the wolves neck, causing him to fall to the ground. She gasped in fear as all of the wolves surrounded her tree. Klaus flashed and ripped out the guy's heart.

Athena jumped down from her tree and flashed to another one of the wolves, ripping her heart out. She tried not to let it faze her as she and Klaus continued to fight off all of the wolves.

---

Never did Stefan expect to walk back into the camp, carrying Ray's lifeless body, and see all of the wolves dead. Klaus sat on a log with Athena near him. They were both covered in blood and Stefan dropped Ray to the ground. He looked shocked at the fact that Athena's hands were coated in blood, indicating that she had killed some of them.

"They went rabid. Some of them, I killed. Some of them, my sister killed. The others just...Bled out," Klaus explained. He stood up. "In the end...They're all dead."

Athena brought her knees to her chest and looked at Stefan as tears filled her eyes. She couldn't believe what she had done. She couldn't believe that she had killed. Again. The first time was bad enough. But there was a feeling in her chest that told her that she had no choice, she had to do what she did to survive.

Klaus yelled and threw the bottle of beer in his hand at a nearby tree, which made Athena start to cry. He screamed at the sky. "I did everything I was told!" He regained his composure once he saw his sister's sad face as she tried to cover her sobs. "I should be able to turn them. I broke the curse. I killed a werewolf. I killed a vampire. I killed the doppelgänger."

The Hybrid calmed down and Stefan looked uncomfortable.

"You look like hell," Klaus commented.

"Last I checked, I'm dying...and you don't want to heal me," Stefan pointed out. Klaus looked at Ray's body and Stefan noticed. "I had to take him out. I didn't have a choice. I failed you. I'm sorry. Do what you have to do."

Athena looked up at them and Klaus knew it was best not to make her even more upset than she already was.

"It should have worked," Klaus said out loud. He turned around and took an empty bottle of beer. He bit his hand, made a fist, put the blood draining from it in the bottle and held the bottle out to Stefan. "Bottoms up. We're leaving." Stefan took the bottle and Klaus sighed. "It appears you're the only comrade I have left." Stefan watched as Klaus turned and went over to Athena, picking her up bridal style as she cried.

"It's ok Ena," he whispered, rubbing her back. "You're alright."

Stefan drank the bottle and threw it aside, following Klaus as they exited the camp.

---

Klaus set his sister in the back of the car and moved a piece of hair out of her face. She had fallen asleep on the way back from all of the crying she did.

He got into the driver's seat and Stefan got into the passenger's seat. Klaus started the car and then drove off.

"She killed some of them didn't she?" Stefan guessed as they drove.

Klaus didn't turn to him as he replied, "Yes. She knew that she had no choice. My sister was never weak. But that coffin made her timid, scared of what the world had become. And her human part of her refused to let go. I'm afraid when the wolves went rabid, it let go. Now, she's a hybrid. The human part of her is gone."

Stefan noticed the concern in the hybrid's voice but didn't say anything as they drove off. And it seemed, just like that...

Athena Mikaelson had become the monster she was turned into over a thousand years ago.

---

I figured it would be kinda tedious to make Athena feel everything her pack is feeling so I changed that so now it doesn't happen at all.

So what do you think about Athena becoming a true hybrid?

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