Notes: Found myself unhappy with the first attempt at this, so I did a complete overhaul. The story will keep the several similarities, but will be hopefully changed for the better.
986 A.D.
I was six when I discovered my abilities, it was also when everything became more of a reality, and less of the odd dream it had seemed to be until then. I had fairly easily deducted where I was already, but until then it had been so unbelievable that I had simply gone along with life as if nothing had truly changed. I was quite obviously in denial. While I hadn't been fully aware initially, whether due to some odd side effect of coming here or due to my child body's brain, at six I had already known where I was for some time. I had gone from being a twenty one year old soon to graduate college with a degree in accounting to a child, reborn in a fictional universe. I was now Erik Mikaelson.
It was mind-boggling in many ways. I wasn't as devastated as I knew I should have been, I had lost my previous life, family, all of it. Yet while I knew this should have affected me, it was as if there was a block on my emotions towards my previous life. I remembered all of it in an impossible clarity, as if I had a perfect memory, and yet I was not as attached as I should have been. I remembered my loving family, and even thought upon them with fondness, yet there was no sense of loss. It was disorienting to say the least.
Yet it wasn't until the age of six that it truly sank in. Logically, I knew that my family were the Mikaelsons, I knew of my siblings, of my mother who practiced magic, and my father who was a warrior, I knew we lived in a village with werewolves, I even knew what these facts meant. I knew that I was in a universe filled with supernatural elements. One that I had watched as a television show in my previous life, one that I knew quite well. Yet it all seemed somewhat detached, as if it was both real and not at the same time. As if I knew it was now my reality, and yet still felt as if I was that twenty one year old, dreaming it all. Yet when I siphoned magic from one of the villagers, one that must have been a werewolf… that was when it truly became real.
It was quite fortunate that I had siphoned the magic and ran into the werewolf at the same time. Otherwise my fainting would have been unexplainable and quite more embarrassing. Instead, it was explained by my mother as a combination of exhaustion and the actual collision. Thankfully, no one had noticed my siphoning or my acting odd, and everyone quickly left me to rest at my mother's behest. As soon as they left I started to seriously think about my situation for the first time. Until that point, I had thought of the future knowledge I possessed in the same manner I had my previous life, a sort of detached knowing. After the rush from siphoning however? I began to truly consider my options.
Henrik had not yet been born, and Rebekah was still quite young. According to what I knew however, Henrik would be born, and after a time come to die at the hands of the werewolves, leading to my family's eventual immortality. I had easily decided not to change these events, it was horrible of me. I knew that I was essentially condemning my own brother to a brutal death, and yet I would stand firm. I wanted to become an Original. If my knowledge of the show proved correct, Siphoners could become vampires, and I wanted to do just that. Sacrificing a brother that hadn't been born in exchange for the abilities of an Original combined with the abilities of a Siphoner? In the end, that was a sacrifice I could make. If I was going to take advantage of my future knowledge, I had to keep the timeline somewhat intact. Henrik would have to die, my family would have to become vampires. My choice was made, for better or worse.
This brought me to the next events however. If everything stayed mostly the same, after Henrik's death, we would become Originals. The events that came after had me torn however. Klaus would make his first kill, and reveal his nature as both a hybrid and a bastard. She would then curse Klaus, binding his werewolf powers. Klaus would feel betrayed and kill her, blaming Mikael. This would lead to what I knew would be a thousand years of running, a thousand years of Klaus daggering his siblings whenever he decided to. I was not particularly close to my family, while it hadn't truly seemed real until this point, I did have the memories of my previous life, even as detached as they were still there. In mind, I was essentially twenty seven years old at this point, it was hard to grow close to a family with the mindset of a man in his twenties, while in the body of a child. They were still my family, even with my maturity and memories, even if we weren't particularly close, they were family. Yet after a bit of mental debate, I decided to not interfere with these events either. The knowledge I had from my previous life showed what I could expect to come against. I could not truly count on my family to have my back, they simply were too unpredictable. My mother attempted to kill her children several times, my father seemed to care for little other than killing Klaus, and my siblings often fought amongst themselves quite a bit. The only person I could trust completely was myself. Which meant I would need my future knowledge as an advantage. The timeline had to be as close as possible. My presence would obviously change things, but that was inevitable. If I could keep things on course, I would have many opportunities to take advantage of. If I changed things? I did not want to take that risk. In the end I would take a page from Marcel's playbook. The timeline would stay the same. Consequences be damned.
-OM-
My plans for the years before I would eventually become an Original consisted of several goals. For one, after becoming an Original, I would be essentially time locked. I would be stuck with whatever form I had at the time. So my first goal was quite simple, I wanted to make sure I had the best possible body for when that time came. I didn't want to be stuck in a body I didn't like for a thousand years. This was quite easy to accomplish, Mikael would have no weak son, and he was quite the stereotypical Viking when it came to that respect. He was fairly quick to begin my training when I asked, though even he had lines he would not cross. Combining his brutal training with the exercises of the twenty first century whenever I felt I could get away with them, that goal was all too easy.
The next goal, was somewhat more challenging, but thanks to my improved memory, still fairly simple. My mother created several spells that were used in the future that I wanted to take advantage of. Unfortunately, due to my status as a Siphoner, I would be unable to ask for training in the use of magic. Firstly, I remembered how Siphoners were looked upon by Witches in the future, and I didn't want to see if my mother would react well. Then there was the actual being a Siphoner problem. I couldn't store magic, meaning it would be nearly impossible to find a source of magic to drain without exposing myself. Lastly, my being a Siphoner was an advantage. I wanted to keep it as a secret weapon, not have my family learn of it so soon, especially if it was the mother who might attempt to kill my siblings and I in the future.
So I took advantage of my newly improved memory which allowed me to remember my past life so well. It took some sneaking around, as I couldn't have my mother find out about my interest and try to teach me or do the opposite and hide it from me, so I ended up reading her grimoires in secret. It took less time than I expected, and after several months of reading whenever possible, I had finished them. Then I decided to go one step further. Ayana was a Witch I knew to be of the Bennett bloodline. The same bloodline was descended from Qetsiyah, the Witch who created the Other Side. She had to possess grimoires of her own. So I did the same as before. Due to living in different houses, this was substantially more difficult. Thankfully I was not in much of a rush, and after several years, finished reading hers as well.
So the years passed, Henrik was born, and I made sure not to grow attached to him, knowing his eventual death was part of my plans. My relationship with my family was odd to say the least. Mikael showed approval of my efforts when it came to training in a way. There were no kind words or even much affection at all from my new father, but after witnessing to his treatment of Niklaus, I considered myself fortunate. Due to my knowledge of her future actions, my relationship with my mother was only moderately better than that with Mikael. My relationship with my siblings was much the same as with my mother, we were still family, but it takes two to tango, and I was less than open to a relationship with the knowledge of how difficult that would make it to leave and stay away from them when the time came. If I grew attached I would leave with them, eventually being daggered. While I did not know if the daggers could work on me due to my abilities as a Siphoner, I was in no rush to find out, and I definitely didn't want to experience firsthand any of Klaus's actions. Nor did I particularly want to be on the run from Mikael. So when the time came, I would leave, and this knowledge kept a barrier between us.
Eventually, the Mikaelsons all looked quite close to how their immortal versions would. The timeline proved itself to be unchanged by my presence. Klaus and Henrik left to watch the werewolves changed. I waited with my family, and when morning came, Henrik was dead. For all my efforts to remain unattached, he had nevertheless been family, so I mourned with my family, before hardening my heart. Much worse was to come, and I was determined to be ready.
-OM-
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