I shouldn't expect an answer here so I'm not going to but I'm going to ask if you guys care. I kind of want to move this story to one of my other ones, 'What Happened in the Woods', in order to make the six lines something a bit better of a read. If you are for or against this let me know. If I don't get any responses, I'll have it moved by the 17th.
Elijah came in the witches' territory because he had heard there was a plan involving his brother. The details did not make sense, but he was determined to rip out the weeds at the root before his brother went on another killing spree.
Sophie had met him outside the gate, where he could see the tombstones of every witch buried in ancestral ground, their power added to the power of the present and living witches. The witch before him told him of her sister, and continued being cryptic until Elijah agreed to be led into their community and see for himself what they were offering to protect.
"My sister has a rare ability, for being able to tell when a woman is pregnant." Sophie said bluntly. Hayley Marshall, a woman Elijah Mikaelson had never seen before yet his brother had spent a few days with, was held guard by two other female witches. He stared at the young woman, both impressed by her beauty and trying to comprehend the fact that his brother was going to be a father. He could hear the heartbeat. Steady behind Marshall's shirt which she held against her skin protectively.
"You know my brother does not like being ordered about." Elijah reminded them. "Especially when he will not believe this is real."
"So make him believe it's possible. We help protect your brother's child, he protects our community from Marcel Gerard." Sophie countered. The girl was not used to leading this group of witches, being this bold and brave in the face of such undeniable danger. But it was for her sister that she was holding a mother and child's lives in her own two hands.
And so Elijah went to find his brother.
"No, it's impossible." Klaus decided, a quiver to his voice. He looked between Elijah and the Marshall girl, the latter looking a little nervous herself.
"I said the same thing myself-" Elijah protested
"This, is a lie." Klaus interrupted, pointing accusingly at Hayley. Why would she do this for God's sake, after what he did for her? "You're all lying" He finger scanning across the room. "Vampires cannot procreate!" Did he have to spell out the obvious that every supernatural being knew?
"But werewolves can!" Sophie countered from behind him, Klaus opening his mouth to snap in reply but failed. "You weren't born a vampire. But you were born a werewolf." She added, Klaus turning around as she spoke with an annoyance in his glaring eyes.
"You're the Original hybrid. The first of your kind, and this pregnancy is one of nature's loopholes." Sophie explained. Elijah could see the young witch was putting up a strong front before her fear of the infamous Klaus Mikaelson. She had leverage over him, and she would use it.
Klaus stared at the witch, spun around and pointed another accusing finger at the Marshall girl. "You've been with someone else, ADMIT IT!" He shouted
"Hey!" Hayley snapped back "I've been held captive in a freaking alligator bayou because they think I'm pregnant with some miracle baby, don't you think I would've 'fessed up if it wasn't yours?" She replied with a glare
"My sister gave her life to make sure this was true." Sophie cut in, becoming frustrated with how things were progressing. "Because Jane-Anne is dead, Hayley and her child's lives are in our hands. If you don't help us take down Marcel, so help me this girl won't live long enough to see her first maternity dress." She seethed.
"What?" Elijah asked in shock, Hayley looked around at the other witches, eyes wide. "If you want Marcel dead he's dead, I'll do it myself." He protested
"No, we have a plan. We need to follow the plan and there are rules." Sophie replied. At the last word, Elijah looked at his little brother, knowing what was coming. Klaus turned back around, his head bowed with hellfire in his eyes.
"How dare you command me." Klaus growled. "Threaten me, with what you supposedly perceive to be my weakness! I will not listen to anymore lies." He walked briskly past the witches before Elijah called his name in the commanding tone he only ever used when he had to. Klaus looked back at him.
"Just, listen." He said. Klaus sighed in annoyance and glanced at Hayley, then stared at her stomach. Suddenly he could hear it. A faster rhythm of a heartbeat as if the child knew it was being discussed. His eyes widened in shock. But how on earth could they possibly know for sure who the father was? He didn't trust Hayley any more than she would trust him.
Klaus turned around to look back at his big brother, Elijah smiling at him in awkward celebration. The hybrid glanced at the witches surrounding them and smirked.
"Kill her, and the baby." Elijah's little smile disappeared quickly, a flicker of worry flashed across his face. "What do I care?" Klaus whispered. He spun on his heel and walked from the crypt, leaving shocked faces and determined heartbeats.
"Screw this, I'm out of here." Hayley replied with a fluttering voice, trying to follow the hybrid out, but two witches stopped her. Elijah turned to Sophie and pointed at her.
"No one touches her or the child. I'll fix this." Elijah replied. Sophie nodded after a moment's consideration and then nodded to the witches barring Hayley's exit. They turned back to open the barricade, and Hayley walked from the crypt to sit nearby, blinking rapidly and breathing hard. Elijah caught her eye as he went past.
"I'll fix this." Elijah repeated to her. Hayley looked away and held her stomach tighter. He couldn't tell if it was in a protective manner or because this child had gotten her into such danger.
"Niklaus" Elijah called after him, hearing his hurrying footsteps across a plaza lit by the street lights.
"It's a trick, Elijah" Klaus replied impatiently.
"No it's a gift, brother" Elijah said. Klaus stopped a moment after considering the words. "It's your chance, its our chance."
"For what?" He demanded
"Starting over. To repossess everything we have lost, that was taken from us." Elijah said. Klaus tilted his head, thinking. "Niklaus, our own parents came to despise us. Our while family was ruined, we were ruined. And since then everything that you have ever wanted, everything we have ever wanted was a family." He waited for the reply. Klaus stepped towards Elijah and leaned into his face.
"I will not be manipulated." Klaus snapped.
"So what if they're manipulating you?" Elijah asked as he sped away again "With them, this girl and the child - your child. Will live." He said slowly, trying to make the words sink in.
"I'm going to kill every last one of them." Klaus called over his shoulder. He stopped short and Elijah shoved him back.
"And then what? You go back to being the feared hybrid in Mystic Falls? Is it so important to you that people quake at the mention of your name."
"People quake at my name because I have the power to make them fear me. What would this child possibly offer me, more of the same?" Klaus demanded
"No, but the power of love. Loyalty and family. Love, loyalty and family are power, brother." Elijah replied. He put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "Save the girl. Save your child. Save your family." He pleaded. Klaus put a hand up to Elijah's neck, cupping his ear and his nape. He'd finally gotten through to him.
"No." Klaus whispered, shoved his brother back and continued the way he was going. Elijah sighed in impatience. Hayley Marshall and the child would live, even if he had to protect them from his own brother.
Klaus took a long swing from the alcohol bottle left outside of a restaraunt, shuffling with some drunkenness towards discarded boxes and covered furniture in a gated courtyard. He heart Elijah behind him.
"Have I not made clear the desire to be left alone?" Klaus demanded
"You desire to be left alone at least once a decade, the phrase has ceased to have impact." Elijah replied
"Why must you keep harping on about the child?" Klaus growled, the alcohol lowering his emotional barrier and making his voice strain.
"Because it is the hope this family needs, brother. I will not have you abandon this."
"The girl and the baby are probably already dead by now." Klaus replied with a smirk. Elijah sped to him ad shoved him against a tall box, holding him up at the chin.
"You will not run from this."
"Let go."
"Never."
Klaus jerked free of him and threw Elijah against the metal gate surrounding their battlefield. Elijah plucked a bar from the gate s easy as plucking an apple from a tree, began swinging it left and right like a bowstaff.
"I will remind you of your humanity." He swung and it struck home against Klaus's side. "Even if I have to beat you as father beat you" He swung again and hit his chest. "Until you're bloody and bruised." Elijah swung once more but Klaus caught the bar, jerking it from his hand and hit him square in the face. Elijah fell back, his bottom lip now bloody.
"You are pathetic." Klaus growled.
"Who's more pathetic, the man who sees hope for his family, or the one who only sees the world through fear?"
"I haven't cared about anything for centuries." Klaus replied. He and Elijah both knew he was lying, but he wanted to go back to Mystic Falls, have more chance encounters with Caroline. If Elijah knew of his growing relationship with the blonde vampire he would also try to use it to his advantage. "Why do you?"
"Because I failed you a thousand years ago." Elijah said. Klaus blinked in confusion. "When father first laid a hand on you, I should've struck him dead. I shouldn't have kept allowing it, no matter what mother didn't say or didn't do." He looked back up at his little brother. "I made you and our sister a promise. Always and forever." He shifted onto his feet and stood. "I intend to keep that promise, to stand by you and be your brother, always and forever."
"You're a sentimental fool." Klaus observed with a knowing grin. Elijah was getting close, he nearly wanted to know that child was still alive.
"Perhaps." Elijah replied. He glanced at his brother "But I've lasted this long in spite of it." As the oldest Mikaelson walked away, Klaus was left speechless, his mind swimming in the words Elijah had forced him to listen to. He'd seen how Marcel ruled the Quarter, just the way Klaus himself wanted to have ruled, with some differences. He had loyalty of not just blood family, but vampires he'd rescued, coached or just pardoned. Everything that Marcellus Gerard had, he wanted.
Klaus wanted to be King again. Here, Mystic Falls, everywhere.
He sat on a park bench a few blocks from where an art walk would be if it were earlier in the day. Elijah joined him and Klaus informed him of his thoughts.
"And what of the child?" Elijah insisted, waiting with baited breath. Klaus smirked.
"Every king needs an heir." He said.
Yes, fine, the child would live and so would the Marshall girl. He would be a father and raise a child, whether it be a son or a daughter.
He had room in his heart for more than one immortal love, after all.
I shouldn't expect an answer here so I'm not going to but I'm going to ask if you guys care. I kind of want to move this story to one of my other ones, 'What Happened in the Woods', in order to make the six lines something a bit better of a read. If you are for or against this let me know. If I don't get any responses, I'll have it moved by the 17th.