thevulnerability | ic contact for entranceway;

Have to? No. But it is the way I am accustomed to doing things.

[Freya spent so much of her life alone, and while she knows she would have hr brother's sympathy should she seek it out, she also knows he's dealing with his own failings as a parent. She had only heard about what happened with Elijah, Klaus and Marcel. Witnessing it is another thing entirely.

Her role in things didn't help there either.]

I spent a lot of my life alone, and sometimes the only person you can truly rely on is yourself.

[The saddest part of that statement is probably how much she believes it.]

Yeah, I mean... I can't argue with that.

[ Chloe has certainly felt that way. More so at home, where even her own roommate didn't seem particularly interested in anything she was going through, and Lucifer was always wrapped up in his own personal drama of the week. Divorcing Dan had left her feeling adrift, and sometimes the only person she felt like she had was Trixie; and Chloe's life is never one she wants to dump on her own child.

Things are different here, though. She has her friends, and now she has Lucifer, even if he isn't the most understanding when it comes to her daughter, he helps in his own way. ]

But you're not alone anymore. At least, you don't have to be. I know I don't have strength or magic or immortality to offer in a fight but... I can listen. Even if that's the only thing I can do.

[ Freya is her friend, and she's helped Chloe through some of her most terrifying moments. She wants to do the same when she can. ]

[She isn't really sure where to start talking about this - that's really more where the problem lies. Talking about her feelings isn't really her modus operandi, and most of the time, people aren't really listening to her story to listen. She spends more of her time using her past trying to justify what she looks to achieve, rather than actually having a conversation about it.

Fortunately for Chloe, however, this event is also a truth event. But that doesn't mean she can't stall.]

That isn't something minimal, you know. Listening. A lot of people wouldn't take the time.

[So that does mean something to Freya, even if she isn't built for this.]

I didn't stay long in my room - how far did that memory go, exactly?

All I've got is time. [ Chloe brings the glass to her lips, offering Freya a small smile over the brim. ] Besides, what are friends for? [ She gulps down a few mouthfuls, knowing that she's definitely going to need this to keep going.

She's a parent, and Freya's memory is devastatingly personal. ]

It went... Pretty far. [ It's hard to find the words to explain, because Chloe doesn't want to upset her even more. ] Past the... Well, whatever you drank and when... You woke up. And, uh, that woman was there.

Poison.

[It's a simple world, but a cold one all the same.]

Dahlia's strongest, actually.

Dahlia. [ Chloe tests the name, logging it into her memory as another point of reference for her friend's impossibly complicated life. Between Freya, Klaus, and Lucifer, the players in their agonies seem almost endless, but Chloe imagines that's the cost of being alive for, well, ever. ]

Who is she?

My aunt.

[She pauses and knocks back what's left of her drink before turning to face Chloe more.]

After my mother married my father she was having trouble conceiving, so she went to her sister for help. Dahlia was the stronger witch, as she hadn't neglected her craft, because she craved power above all else. My mother pleaded with her for her help and in return they made a deal - she would provide the fertility magic my mother was looking for, and in return, Dahlia would claim the firstborn of that generation and every generation that followed for herself.

[She shakes her head.]

I'm not sure if my mother simply forgot, or she simply didn't see how committed her sister was to the cause, but she didn't seem to think that this would be a problem and she agreed. She had me, my brother Finn, and was pregnant with Elijah when Dahlia came to collect what was owed to her. I was five years old.

She must have been devastated.

[ Chloe can't even imagine making a deal like that, losing Trixie. She would have never been able to let it happen. ]

So, your child... Your aunt was going to take your baby, too? That's why you did it?

[The look on Freya's face says that she didn't believe that her mother cared all that much, considering she lied to her father about what happened to Freya, but that's a whole different can of worms that Chloe doesn't need right now.

So she focuses on Dahlia.]

After Dahlia took me she bound our magic so that she could use my power to supplement her own. Whatever she did to herself was done to me, and I had no say in any of it. After we received word that my mother had given my siblings immortality by turning them into vampires, she was so enraged that she crafted an immortality spell of her own. One where we would sleep for a hundred years, then awaken for one year of life.

[She gives a small shrug.]

I didn't want it, but my wants were not considered in her quest for power. If I had given birth to my son, we would have been together, that was true. But I didn't want him to be shackled to my aunt's relentless quest for power. Matthias and I had hoped that she wouldn't catch up to us before the end of that year, and that I would be able to give birth, and he would take our son when I went to sleep, and by the time I woke, he would have had been able to live free of Dahlia's clutches, but we were naieve and stupid.

Dahlia killed Matthias, and ... I had no other way out. I didn't realize that the poison wouldn't kill me permanently thanks to the immortality spell.

[ Chloe remains silent through the story, reaching for her drink once Freya is done. She downs a few mouthfuls, trying to process all of this. Even though Chloe has been exposed to far more than she could have ever believed since her arrival in Wonderland, she never quite gets to the point where she isn't somewhat blindsided by what she is told.

Over the months, she's learned more than she could even imagine about Elena, Klaus, and Lucifer. She's heard things she can't entirely wrap her mind around, things that confuse and scare her. She has also learned what she shouldn't ask, the questions she can't bear to hear the answers to. She knows in her heart the things Klaus has done, the things Lucifer is capable of. She's not afraid of them, even though she knows she should be.

Wonderland isn't going to care about what she doesn't want to know, however; and in a way, right now, neither does Chloe. She grips the glass, trying to hold back the anger that burns through her on Freya's behalf. ]

When you go home, are you still under her control?

[She shakes her head, because it is at least that much of a relief. She doesn't have to go home to a world where Dahlia is still in control.]

It took a few hundred years, but eventually I found Klaus and the rest of my siblings, and together we were able to stop her, once and for all.

[Hope provided quite the motivation for her brother, and in many ways it brought them together. The way they trust each other is something that was forged in fire, rather than longevity and time, and she wouldn't trade any of it for the world.]

A few hundred years. Obviously.

[ She's still getting used to the whole, most of her friends are immortal (or might as well be) kind of thing.

Still, Chloe is relieved, because it means Freya is going back to something better than her horrible memory. ]

How did you stop her? [ She already suspects she knows the answer. ]

I created a magical killing ground out of a few incredibly specific ingredients.

[The soil of her home, the ashes of her oppressors, the blood of witch who broke her heart, etc. etc.]

We had to resurrect my mother to do it, but in the process we got to kill her again, so I suppose it all worked out for the best.

[Freya Mikaelson: still bitter about her mother letting her be stolen.]

Well, there have definitely been times I've wanted to kill my mom. I guess not just, totally literally.

[ And how can she blame Freya? What kind of mother abandons her child like that and doesn't do everything in her power to get her back? ]

When Lucifer told me about everything that happened with his family, I thought the drama was completely off the charts. But I think yours might have his beat. [ Lucifer would probably disagree. ] But Freya, I... I'm sorry, about what happened. And I can't say I blame you for killing her.

[ Not an easy sentiment from Chloe Decker, but not one she can deny, either. She can't say what kind of different choices she would have made if she had a life like Freya's, and Chloe has killed before to protect herself and Trixie. This really isn't any different. ]

[It is an odd sentiment, but in all reality, it is the only way Dahlia would be stopped. She wouldn't let what happened to her happen to Hope.]

It was the only way to save Hope. We were all united on that front, at least. But it's what brought me and my siblings together.

I've killed to protect Trixie. That was my memory.

[ She sucks in a breath, shaking her head. ] I always want there to be a better way, you know? But sometimes there isn't.

[Freya nods a bit at that before reaching over to take her hand.]

No, there isn't. But protecting family - that's the important thing.

[ Chloe squeezed Freya's hand in response. ]

The choices we have to make to do that aren't always easy. [ But Chloe knows what Freya did was to protect her child, for as screwed up and horrible as it was. ] I'm here, though. If you ever want to talk about it.

I'll keep that in mind.

[A beat as she pulls up another glass.]

But for now, I'd just like to drink.

That I can definitely help with.

[ Chloe grabs the bottle and tops of both of their glasses, happy to just leave it at that and be there for her friend - however she needs her to be. ]

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