Hey! I'm back with a one shot after forever, I know! But honestly, let's just be clear, this season is a Hot Mess and the only redeemable factor so far has been the Klayley and 5.08. So this is a fix it for 5.06 because yo! These badasses would not have gone down the way they did in that episode, no way. Hayley deserved better and after everything, I just need some success and happiness. Also, Klayley is a power couple who are perfect for each other. Everyone else can go home. So, this is my little attempt at a fixing this hot mess and I hope y'all like it. If you do, let me know in a review and, if enough of you like it, I might even continue it. Read, review and enjoy guys!
Since the moment Klaus had stepped into New Orleans with the purpose of returning Hayley to their daughter, a pit had lodged itself in his chest, dark and heavy, growing more so with every passing day. It was a slow burning rage, the kind that had him strategizing, that let him rip open throats and smile as he was called a psychopath. When Caroline told him Hope had disappeared with some boy and when he found out just who that boy was, that anger infected every part of his being, spurring him on in his search for the two most important women in his life. He had failed them both, so many countless times, especially over the past seven years, he refused to fail either again. Not this time, not like this.
Klaus had already seen Hayley be slaughtered once - on the day of Hope's birth, fifteen years ago. And during his lowest points, he couldn't help but replay that moment in his head, over and over again - the pure elation he felt at his daughter's birth and the sheer horror that followed at seeing a knife dragged through Hayley's soft skin, being utterly powerless to stop it. And perhaps that was the biggest insult of all, even more so than the helplessness upon upon him. How Hayley had been marked as expendable in the numerous quests to destroy his family.
Expendable, when she was anything but. Expendable, even though she never stopped fighting for them, when she was the only one holding them together. There were few Klaus respected as much as he did the mother of his child, no other whom he regarded as his equal - none, but her. And he refused to lose either Hope or Hayley to fascists of an era that should have long been left behind them. Ever since Hayley's life had been entangled with his fifteen years ago, they'd survived so much, it was impossible to even consider the possibility that this would be how he and Hope could lose her.
Reaching the wreck of a house that Freya had directed him and Caroline to, a single minded determination to rip into anyone who had touched his family filled him and he moved toward the decrepit building without as much as a backward glance towards the blonde vampire to see if she had followed. She might not have been whom he had hoped to have by his side, but by this point, Klaus was beyond caring. He had almost reached the building when he was stooped by Elijah of all people. Was stopped by Elijah snapping Caroline's neck and claiming those beasts inside as his family.
Now, Klaus could understand a lot. He had committed atrocities, destroyed dynasties upon a whim, slaughtered his way through a millennium of existence. He was soaked in the blood of the lives he had taken, dripping with it even. But never, not even in his worst moments, had he ever sided with bloody nazis - sided with those who considered anything apart from them aberrations. And he felt a rage rise up within him, white hot fury creeping up against his spine as he looked at the man that wore his brother's face. It was a rage that had been building ever since Hayley had gone missing and now, to be so close but held back by Elijah? Klaus didn't hesitate in attacking, cutting him off mid speech. He sent his brother flying across the ground, undeterred by the dull snap of bones upon impact as he turned and continued to the house. If he still cared for words, he'd be back in New Orleans working with Vincent.
He left Elijah lying in the dirt behind him and threw open the door to the sight of Greta with her hand buried deep inside Hayley's chest. Both women turned to look at him, Hayley gasping his name, a sliver of relief filling her eyes. But then the vampire was twisting and the hybrid's pain filled gasps filled the room, burst of pure agony filling her chest. Klaus stepped forward to rip the bint to pieces for daring to touch what was his when pain ripped through his torso, a makeshift stake puncturing his heart and emerging from his chest.
"Elijah?" Hayley gasped out, not understanding what the original was doing, her eyes following him as he made his way to the blond teenager, ignoring his own niece in the process. Her eyes widened as she tried to make sense of it all while Greta smirked and in that moment Klaus was transported to a different setting, a different time where he was on his knees and someone had their hand wrapped around Hayley's heart. Only this time he couldn't count on backup and while Lucien had been a worthless hound trying to rise above his station, he had still made for a more worthy opponent than the vampire standing in front of him.
And all that unadulterated rage hidden within him made its presence known again and Klaus found himself rising to his feet. He moved on pure instinct alone, eyes burning amber. One hand pierced the vampire's back, fingers curling around her heart and yanking. His other hand grabbed her wrist and wrenched it away from Hayley before dragging across Greta's throat, the monster buried inside him reveling in the violent spray of blood that followed. Pulling her husk away from Hayley, he cast her aside thoughtlessly, even as Elijah screamed in anguish, ignoring everything but the woman in front of him.
And those same bloodied hands that had committed countless atrocities and would willingly commit countless more for his family, were oh so gentle as the hybrid caught Hayley before she fell. Gentle, as he held her tight against him. He rested his forehead against hers, eyes sliding shut of their own accord, Hayley's hands coming up to grip his forearms. And for a moment, they simply stood there, breathing each other in, neither afraid to admit to the few stray tears that leaked from their eyes.
It was only when Elijah brokenly whispered a soft "what did you do," horror written all over his face, that Klaus remembered they were not alone and he broke away from Hayley with an exasperated sigh. Pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, he turned to face the man he had once known to be his brother.
"I did exactly as I had to," he told the vampire. Holding Hayley in his embrace, knowing her to be safe had drained away most of his anger, but seeing Elijah display such emotion for a woman who had believed his daughter, believed Hayley to be a monstrosity because of what they were? It called up something very much akin to that anger.
It took less than a moment to brace Hayley against the wall behind her and then throw Elijah up against another, holding him there by his throat. "You may not be my brother," he snarled, all the resentment and contempt he felt for the man in front of him pouring out in his words and dripping from his voice. "But I'd have hoped you had retained some degree of sense, Elijah. At least enough to know not to side with fascists." With those parting words, he snapped the original's neck, letting him crumple to the floor.
Klaus then turned to the younger vampire who was still on the floor, looking absolutely terrified. Good, he should be. "Remove those infernal chains from my daughter at once please," he instructed, lips lifted in a chilling smile that promised further violence, his voice light and lilting before turning hard as steel. "That is, if you don't wish for me to start removing important organs. I'm very good at it, you know," he told Roman almost conspiratorially, enjoying the vampire's palpable fear.
Unfortunately, after he removed the chains from around Hope's wrists, Klaus was reminded of Caroline still lying outside. Dammit. The blonde would throw a fit if he killed the boy, no matter what he had been complicit in. The fact that Hope still had to go back to school meant Klaus would have to reign himself in. So, cursing silently, he restricted himself to just snapping the boy's neck. Moving immediately to his daughter, he gathered her in his arms, speeding the fifteen year old to the car and placing her gently in the backseat.
Returning to Hayley's side, he prepared to help her outside too when she stopped him, smiling sorrowfully. "Klaus, I'm not a - they performed the binding spell on me. I'm a vampire now," she admitted. "And I don't have a daylight ring."
"What are you saying, Little Wolf?" Klaus asked, his eyes meeting hers, confused, unwilling to understand what she was saying.
"I'm saying that… I'm not really your Little Wolf anymore," she told him hesitantly. "And if I go out into the sunlight, I'll burn." The utter devastation on his face had Hayley choking back sobs as the weight of what she had lost finally hit her in its entirety.
"You will always be my Little Wolf," he told her forcefully, raising his arms around her instinctively even as he processed her words. Hayley dropped her head onto his shoulder, sobs breaking free and wracking through her entire body as she grieved for the part of herself that had been taken from her. "We'll fix this, Hayley. I promise, I'll fix this." Klaus's voice was hoarse with emotion, cracking on the words that spilled from his lips, the beginnings of half a dozen plans already running through his mind.
"Thank you," the words slipping out between broken sobs. "Thank you for stopping Hope from doing this."
"Of course," Klaus told her, tears lining his own eyes. "I could never - I could never allow her to experience this. Never." They stayed there in silence for a few moments until Hayley pulled back, composing herself.
"You need to call someone, get Hope out of here to someplace she'll be safe," she told Klaus, the hybrid pulling out his phone before he remembered the blonde headmistress still lying outside.
"Caroline's outside," he mentioned to Hayley, casually throwing a glare towards his brother as he continued. "Her neck's been snapped, courtesy of Elijah, but I imagine she'll wake up soon enough. I can ask her to take Hope home - unless you'd rather she go back to school, that is?" It felt almost natural to slip into this role of co-parenting, taking the other's opinions into consideration before making a decision.
"New Orleans," Hayley breathed out. "Klaus, you're dumber than I thought if you think for one second that I would let her go without-"
"New Orleans, it is," Klaus cut in gently, smirking. "I'll stay here with you until it's safe for you to leave." he caught her eye, nodding once, Hayley's lips quirking up in some semblance of a smile in spite of everything that had happened, leaning back against the wall. The hybrid smiled back, moving away to call Freya and fill her in on what had occurred as well as check on Caroline who was finally waking up. Within ten minutes the blonde was leaving with Hope and Roman and Klaus was sitting on the floor across from her, musing about options they could try to undo the binding placed upon her.
And somehow, sitting there, giggling at his more outlandish ideas, Hayley figured they might be ok.