A/N: So this is my first story. Since the finale of The Originals sucked, I decided to have the audacity to rewrite history!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Originals or any of its characters ... if only I did ...

English is not my mother tongue, so feel free to correct me.

Chapter one - Clean Slate

Elijah was dead.

The entire time that Klaus had thought he was going to be the one to sacrifice himself, Elijah had been thinking of another ending to their story all along.

What would describe Klaus's feelings best would be the word guilt.

Elijah had compelled Caroline's daughters into putting the hollow in him instead of Klaus, which no one had found out due to a loophole in the enchantment that had made everything that had happened possible and that he had found out about with the help of the twins. Neither of them could remember having even interacted with the original vampire at all, thanks to his compulsion.

When Klaus had shown Caroline New Orleans, had said his goodbyes to his family, had planned both of their deaths with Elijah, he had never been meant to be the one to die in the first place. His brother had tricked him, and Klaus couldn't help but feel beaten, and in a way, it also made him feel proud of Elijah.

After Elijah's death and one deadly walk through New Orleans, in which he had chosen to let all of his anger out and had tried not to spare too many lives, he had come back to the place where his brother's ashes had been spread across the street. He had collected as much of it as he could and had gone back to his remaining family.

None of them had known that Elijah was going to pull off this kind of stunt, but that had made everyone even happier to be a witness of the moment when Klaus had reentered his home.

But the happiness hadn't lasted long. Soon after, the realization of the loss of another loved one had crept into their minds and the happy mood had been washed away by pure sadness and its tears. No one had talked, no one had dared to speak that night and no one had slept either.

On the following day, the whole family had come together to bury Elijah's ashes. The more hearts had been broken during the funeral the more beautiful would remain the memories and the legacy of Elijah Mikaelson, whose gravestone said:

It's been a glorious ride.

It had taken some time to rebuild New Orleans and erase the remains of a war that had thundered through the city only a short while ago.

Hope had been granted some time off school and had used it to do as much with her family as possible. She had decided to go back to school a month after the day that she had personally chosen to call the Clean Slate, but she still came home every weekend.

Although the weight of Elijah's death had still been lingering heavy upon all of their shoulders, - some had a harder time trying to go on with their lives than others - Klaus had tried to be a good father to Hope and had certainly been that in every way possible, but whenever she hadn't been around, the wolf inside of him took off, and he had spent most of his nights in the woods.

It wasn't until half a year after Elijah's death that Rebekah had told him something that had made everything more bearable, less painful. It had eased his pain only a little, but Klaus had been grateful for everything that could help him.

„I lost him too. You're not alone in this, Nik." That's what Rebekah had said. „You didn't want to die when you decided to sacrifice yourself but Elijah wanted to. You chose to kill yourself because you needed to get your daughter out of harm's way. Elijah didn't want to live any longer. He felt responsible for Hayley's death. The worst part is that no one could have told him that it wasn't his fault and be honest at the same time. Memories or not, he could have prevented it all and he knew that. For him, his life was miserable. He's happy now. He's reunited with Hayley, and he wouldn't want for you to torture yourself with guilt; he wouldn't want for you to be filled with so much pain and anger"

That's when Klaus had started to handle Elijah's death better. He had spent fewer nights in the woods, and New Orleans's population had finally stopped decreasing so drastically.

Somewhere in the back of his head, he had been well aware of the fact that there was still a certain blonde he'd promised to chase after but ever since the Clean Slate, Klaus had never been in the right mood for that.

At least not until Hope had approached him one day with something in her hands that he'd long forgotten.

She had been looking for some new colors in the studio of her father when she'd found a couple of paintings that showed Headmistress Caroline Forbes. The pieces of paper had been held together by a silvery bracelet. The time for Klaus to move on had come.

When she'd shown him what she'd found, he had put the bracelet in his pocket, packed a couple of things without saying anything and told Hope they'd be driving back to Mystic Falls that evening.

And now here they were, standing in front of a clouded Salvatore Boarding School. Students were walking in and out.

„What are you gonna do?", asked Hope, knowing his answer already.

„There is someone who enjoys the chase; someone I've kept waiting long enough." Klaus winked at his daughter and returned her question.

„It's still the weekend so I am gonna live my teenager life." She grinned devilishly and laughed as she saw her dad's dissatisfied look with her answer. „I wish you luck with her.", she said before she hugged him goodbye, knowing this goodbye was meant for a longer period of time.

„Take care, Hope."

„Always." There was a silent and for ever hovering in the air, too painful to be outspoken.