Helloooo! So, I was on a week long trip this summer, and one of the ladies who went with us was watching "The Originals." I saw Daniel Sharman and immediately decided to watch it. And naturally fell totally in love with Kol. Who's surprised?

Anyway. This happened.

I had to take this down to fix a few mistakes that I only noticed after I published it (of course) but I think I got all of them. If you see something that I missed, let me know!

SPOILERS: 2x14. HUGE SPOILERS!

WARNINGS: Character death.

DISCLAIMER: Not a single smol.

Enjoy!

Last Wishes (Aren't Fair)

Kol staggers back, panting hard. "We've almost got it," he gasps. "We just need something to—to push it over the top."

Klaus tries not to lose his temper, but every second they waste, Finn gets closer to his child. He clenches his jaw, wracking his brain for anything his mother has ever mentioned to him about magic. Something about draining—no, using—no, that wasn't it either—channeling!

"Channel me," he says firmly, stepping forwards.

"What?" Kol spins around, and Klaus sucks in a sharp breath when he sees the blood dripping from his little brother's nose. This is hurting him. And he clearly hasn't even noticed—or just doesn't care. Kol, the one who "only does what's best for Kol" is bleeding to save a child he's never met. Something in Klaus' chest twists, and if his mother hadn't made it stop beating long ago, he would've said it was his heart.

He shakes it off. "Channel me," he repeats. "I'm a hybrid. I've got more than ten centuries of blood on my hands. Use me."

Kol is shaking his head. "No, Nik."

"Finn is after my daughter," he stresses, holding out his arms.

Kol exchanges a long look with Rebekah.

"You wanted my trust, brother," Klaus says seriously. Kol's crystal blue eyes lock on Klaus', and the older brother can see the conflict in them. Odd. Kol is usually the best out of all of them at hiding his emotions. "Here it is."

Kol sets his jaw and nods firmly. He reaches out a hand and rests it on Klaus' forehead, hissing those strange words under his breath.

A moment later, everything goes dark.

Klaus wakes up to Rebekah screaming.

"Kol! No, no, no. Come on, Kol, you idiot!"

Klaus raises his head with a groan, only to see his little brother doubled up with Rebekah holding him upright. Great, painful, hacking coughs are wracking the youngest Mikaelson's body.

"Bekah?" Klaus rasps hoarsely. "What's going on?"

She opens her mouth to explain, but before she can, Kol lets out a strangled groan and crashes to his knees, bracing himself on his hands as his slender frame convulses. His coughs gain a wet, gurgling sound to them, and then he's vomiting blood. Lots of blood.

Klaus' eyes widen, and he immediately kneels by his brother's side. "Kol?!"

"I'm—I'm fine!" rasps the younger. "It's just a side effect—"he retches again. "—of doing magic…..while under the…hex." He jerks, then a hiss of pain forces its way out through his clenched teeth.

"You are vomiting blood!" Rebekah snaps. "Even by your standards, this is so far removed from fine that—"

"That's beside the point," Kol gasps. "The point is, I bought Nik enough time to save Hope." He locks blazing eyes on his brother. "Don't waste it."

Klaus nods grimly and rises to his feet.

"Where are you going?" Rebekah glares at him.

"To save my daughter," he answers frigidly, already halfway out the door.

"No!" Rebekah explodes. Her hand lashes out, and the door slams shut.

Klaus whips around, but by the look on his sister's face, she is just as surprised as he is. The difference is that she recovers faster.

"Look at him!" she seethes, gesturing to the younger man. "He is dying, Klaus, because he gave his loyalty to you! He knew full well what they would do to him if he turned on them, and he did it anyway. For Elijah. For you. For Hope. You will not walk away and leave him choking on his own blood. Not again."

Furious, Klaus strides back towards her. "I may have lost my child," he snarls. "What difference does it make if Kol dies now? At least he'll die knowing that he finally did something with his life. Besides, he's mortal now. He would have been dead soon enough anyway."

Rebekah's face twists with rage. "I love your daughter," she hisses. "I do. I have cared for her and doted on her for months. But Klaus? This is our brother. And you're just going to let him die? So much for always and forever. I guess that little girl comes along, and the rest of us are just cannon fodder, eh? Doesn't matter if Kol dies—at least that precious child is safe." Rebekah sneers at him. "No wonder Finn wants her dead so badly. If this is how you'll treat the rest of us to save her, I might just go and give him a hand."

Klaus roars in wordless rage and lunges at her, but before he can make contact, something thin and ridiculously light crashes into his side and forces him off course. He spins towards the new assailant with glowing amber eyes, fangs bared.

Kol lands with a sharp sound of pain, one arm wrapped tight around his ribs. He leans heavily against the wall to keep himself upright, and blood is still dripping from his mouth, but he plants himself between Klaus and Rebekah.

"Don't," he chokes, doubling over momentarily and vomiting up another lungful of blood. "Don't hurt her."

"She dares threaten my—"

"She didn't," Kol gasps. "She didn't. She wouldn't. You know she wouldn't. She's just angry." He leans hard against the wall, and Klaus can feel his anger vanishing and concern quickly taking its place.

His brother's knees abruptly buckle with a harsh cry of agony and Klaus is beside him instantaneously, arms carefully supporting him to the floor.

"What can I do?" he asks, hands on his brother's shoulders.

Kol gives him a broken smile, bloodstained and bitter. "Nothing. I'm already broken."

"Not beyond repair," Klaus answers sharply.

Kol laughs, dead and hollow. "Klaus, even Esther didn't care about me beyond the strength of my magic. She loved you, and Father despised you, but they didn't even notice me long enough to form an opinion of me. Finn, you, Elijah, and Rebekah were loved by mother. You were hated by Father. I was just there."

Klaus stares at him. "That's not—"

Kol closes his eyes. "She treated me like I was nothing more than one of those little witches she had locked up in that shed. Whenever she saw Finn, she had a warm smile and a ready embrace. Whenever she saw me, there was nothing in her eyes. Not hate, not love, not even mild dislike. Absolutely nothing. Like I wasn't even there."

"Then why side with her?" Klaus demands. "What did she promise you that could convince you to support her?"

Kol gives him an exhausted, bitter smile, and his eyes glitter with age-old pain. "Oh, brother. Haven't you figured it out yet? Even after all this time?"

"She promised you love," Rebekah whispers hoarsely. "She promised to love you as much as she loved us. She promised that you would be noticed and loved and accepted, all the things we've denied you for so long."

"Got it in one, Bex," he murmurs, leaning his head back against the wall. "Go ahead, Nik. Tell me how weak I am. How pathetic. Willing to lick the woman's boots in exchange for meager scraps of affection, like some kind of dog." He gives a half hysterical laugh. "Even though I knew she was never going to give it anyway."

Klaus knows his mouth is opening and closing like a fish out of water, but he can't seem to stop. When they were children, Kol was bright, kind, innocent, and loyal, and he had the biggest heart Klaus has ever seen. What happened to that child? How badly have they hurt him, to drive him to such lengths for even the most minuscule chance of being loved? (And honestly, Klaus hadn't thought it was possible to hate Esther more than he already does. But what kind of mother uses her child as a soldier and a slave, keeping his loyalty with promises of love that she never intends to give?)

"No child should have to bargain with their mother to be loved," he finally manages. "And no child should have to bleed and hurt before their siblings realize just how much they're worth."

Kol sighs. "I'm not worth anything, Nik. But you are wasting time."

Klaus shakes his head. "Hope has Elijah," he murmurs. "But I'm beginning to realize that you don't have anyone."

Kol closes his eyes. "At the risk of sounding self-pitying," he whispers, "I'm quite used to that, Brother."

"All that mischief," Rebekah murmurs, kneeling down and stroking her brother's hair. "All that mayhem. You just wanted to be seen."

Klaus feels that twisting in his chest again. Something undefinable flashes through Kol's eyes, and Klaus can guess what it is now—pure, unadulterated longing. And so much pain that it hurts to look at, and Klaus is guiltily relieved when the emotion is carefully locked away behind Kol's impenetrable mask of sparkling eyes and mischievous smirk.

He sits up, wincing just a little bit as he wipes his mouth on his sleeve. "I think I'm good now."

Rebekah sighs but doesn't argue. She just helps him to his feet.

"I need to get back to the house," Klaus says, staring at the door and not really feeling like he wants to leave at all.

Kol grins at him. "You've got a baby to dote on and a wedding to plan," he teases, "and we, lovely Bekah, have a hex to poke." He slings an arm around her shoulders, and she rolls her eyes.

"Fine. But only because I don't want you to ruin anymore of my clothes by vomiting blood all over them." But the way she wraps her own arms around his waist and refuses to let go makes a different smile light Kol's face—warm, and gentle, and very much like the boy he was all those centuries ago, before all the pain, loss, and grief drove him mad.

Klaus nods to him once, then looks at Rebekah. He doesn't speak, but the intensity of his eyes conveys his message just fine—save him.

She nods, determination settling across her unfamiliar features.

I will.

Klaus leans on the crib, watching Hope sleep. She is so beautiful…

He hears footsteps behind him and closes his eyes in frustration. Curse you, Elijah...

"Must you intrude on every moment?" he asks shortly.

"I'm not here to quarrel, brother," Elijah says, softly enough that he won't wake the baby. But there's an underlying tension to his voice that isn't usually there.

"It's Kol," Rebekah cuts in (when did she get here?) and there's fear in her voice. "I couldn't help him."

No…

Klaus turns sharply.

"He's not going to last the night."

Klaus' eyes find Elijah's, half hoping, half praying that his older brother will come up with some incredible way to fix everything, like he always does.

But there is nothing but resignation in Elijah's dark eyes, along with some of the desperate denial that Klaus can feel welling up in his own chest.

He leads the way to the door.

It's a very good thing no one tries to stop them.

They arrive at the cemetery in record time.

And Kol is dancing with Davina. They're wrapped up tight around each other, Davina's face hidden in his shoulder, his buried in her long curly hair. And they're slow dancing under the stars.

Klaus feels like someone has taken a sledgehammer to his gut, and Rebekah lets out some tiny little noise of pain, and Elijah slumps against Davina's car, looking utterly lost.

Klaus watches Kol very carefully, and he looks terrible. There are dark shadows under his eyes, he's white as dea—white as a sheet, and there are fine tremors running through his entire body. His normally very graceful little brother is moving slowly, carefully, like every movement hurts him.

It probably does.

Davina is holding onto him desperately, and she's weeping into his shoulder as they sway back and forth. Kol is doing his best to hide the pain from her and smile for her, and Klaus knows he still has a heart now because it's breaking.

He's never liked Davina much, and at first he was positive that Kol was just playing with her, but now he can see just how much his brother loves this girl. And she very clearly loves him back. He will never say it out loud, but Niklaus Mikaelson whispers a wordless thank you to Davina Claire because his brother is dying, but at least he's not dying alone.

They're not trying to eavesdrop, but they're so close that they can't really help it.

"I know we're in a cemetery," Kol whispers, and there's so much pain in his voice that Klaus has to close his eyes for a moment, "and I happen to be terminal. You gotta admit, the stars are lovely."

Klaus hears Elijah snort, and Rebekah lets out a choked laugh because how very Kol like of him, to try and make Davina smile when he's in so much pain.

Davina pulls back and pins Kol with a look that makes his fake smile turn one hundred percent cheeky and genuine. "How can you joke right now?" she whispers.

"I'm not," he whispers. "Under the same stars is some guy and he's with his girl. He thinks he's got all the time in the world, and he's right. And I hate him." Kol presses his forehead to Davina's and closes his eyes and breathes out a desperate little laugh.

Klaus has to turn away. Rebekah hides in Elijah's arms.

Harsh, painful coughing echoes off the headstones, and all three of them turn back instantly. Kol is doubled over, arm wrapped around his stomach.

Davina helps him straighten back up. "Are you okay?" she whispers, gently stroking his face.

He looks back at her and smiles. "Yeah," he whispers back, clasping her hand in his.

She presses a kiss to their joined hands, and he stares at her like she hung the stars and the moon and the sun. Klaus has never seen his brother look at anyone like that, and he really wishes he could just go and kill someone and make all of this go away. But even Klaus can't fight a hex.

"I think I want to be alone for this bit," Kol whispers. He turns away from Davina after a long moment, and stumbles deeper into the cemetery with one hand over his mouth to stifle the wretched coughing that's ripping into his chest.

Klaus staggers briefly, and when Rebekah's hand lands on his shoulder, it's trembling. Rather than ruin this day of joy and victory for them, their baby brother was planning to die in absolute agony and utterly alone. Again.

Elijah strides forward with no hesitation. "I'm afraid that's not an option."

Kol whips around, shock clear in his crystal blue eyes.

Klaus moves to the front of their small group. "Always and forever is not something you can weasel out of, brother."

Kol stares at them for a long moment, then a look of utter gratitude fills his eyes and one corner of his mouth lifts in that blasted smirk, and Klaus smiles back, warm and real and reassuring that they're not going anywhere. Not this time.

Davina leads them to Kol's little hideaway, and by the time they get there, Elijah and Klaus are holding their brother up. He's going downhill terrifyingly fast.

They find a room big enough for all of them, and airy enough that Kol won't feel suffocated. Davina and Rebekah run around, collecting candles and whatnot, and Davina starts setting up spells. Klaus knows she's not giving up just yet. He also knows that she's fully aware that there's nothing she can do. He appreciates that she's going to try anyway.

Then all of his attention is captured by his little brother when a quickly stifled cry of pain jerks from his throat and his entire body goes rigid.

Klaus knows Kol. Kol has a ridiculously high pain threshold. That he's making any sound at all tells Klaus that a regular human would have already died from nothing more than the pain alone.

He's also coughing up blood again, and his lungs just aren't cooperating. At all.

Klaus and Elijah lower him to the floor and he grabs onto them desperately, fear blazing to life in his eyes. He was willing to die alone, but now they've said that he doesn't have to, and he's terrified that they're leaving him.

"We're not going anywhere," Elijah says as firmly as he can when his voice is shaking as hard as Kol is. He crouches on Kol's left side and puts one hand on his back and the other on his chest, offering what support he can as the witch's body seizes.

Klaus follows his lead on the right side, and Kol grips his arm with a strength that belies his mortal frame. His short sounds of agony are tearing holes in Klaus's heart, and Rebekah has tears glittering in her eyes. Elijah's jaw is clenched so tight it's a wonder it hasn't broken yet.

Finally—finally—the fit ends, and Kol goes slack so suddenly that his head almost hits the floor. Elijah catches it, gently cradles it in his hand like he used to when Kol was a child. The little mischief maker would always sit in front of the fire, slowly tilting to one side until he tipped over completely, sound asleep. Elijah always kept an eye on him so he could leap forward and keep Kol from knocking his little head against the stone floor. Then the older boy would lift the tiny child in his strong arms and carry him to bed.

Elijah's dark eyes lock on Niklaus's, and there is barely controlled panic there now. Kol is dying. Davina's still muttering what is probably every spell ever invented and then some that aren't, but nothing's working. Rebekah's keeping her distance for right now, but she'll be over in a minute, Klaus knows.

Kol's exhausted eyes meet Klaus'.

"All my life," he murmurs, and the older brother's heart clenches. He sounds so tired, so—defeated. "All I ever wanted was…..you lot….." a wry smile twists his mouth, "…to care about me….."

Klaus knows there are tears in his eyes, and he doesn't ever show weakness like that. Hasn't in a thousand year—oh, alright, fine. Since the last time Kol died.

But that look on his little brother's bloody, exhausted features is fragile and precious: it's hope. Pure and simple. It's hope that he can still earn the love of his family. It's his last wish, and it's not fair.

And this is Kol. Klaus couldn't have stopped his tears if he'd tried. The bright, loving smile he gets in return is worth more than all the power in creation.

Then Kol convulses again, hacking hard and tearing and agonizing. His face twists with absolute agony and Klaus hauls him into his arms. Kol clings to him desperately, shaking with pain, sobbing with every lung-tearing heave. Klaus wraps him in his arms around him and clings, resting his chin on his little brother's back.

Kol is dying.

He will not die believing that he is unloved.

Because Klaus may be an idiot, and he may be paranoid and untrusting but there is nothing he will not do for his family. They have wasted over a thousand years' worth of opportunities to love Kol, to help him, to heal him. They left him alone, and there isn't enough time left to mend what they've broken, but they've got him now.

So Klaus holds onto Kol every bit as tight as Kol holds on to him.

Rebekah kneels behind him, and Elijah shifts closer, resting a hand on his shoulder to give what little comfort they can as Finn's curse tears him apart.

When the fit passes, Elijah carefully lays Kol back onto Rebekah's leg.

Klaus pulls away and stands up, and Elijah follows suit. They look at each other, and Klaus can see a mirror image of the soul-burning agony that's slowly consuming him in his brother's eyes.

"Kol," Rebekah whispers. He aims a bloody grin at her, but there are tears in his eyes, too.

I don't deserve to die! He'd shouted, half desperate just two days ago.

There had been so much fear in his eyes. There was no fear now. A simple acceptance, and so. Much. Love.

Rebekah is promising that they'll find a way to bring him back, but Klaus can't look away from Kol's face. He's trying hard to keep a smile up for his sister, but his expression keeps contorting with pain. It hurts to watch, but Klaus will not turn away.

Davina moves forwards, saying something about a spell but it doesn't matter now. Kol's heartbeat is slowing down, and his breathing is going, too.

His blue eyes lock on Davina's green ones, and he gives her a smile.

"It's ok," he whispers, "It's ok. I'm not scared."

And then those beautiful, loving, brilliant blue eyes go blank, and Klaus's knees give out. For the first time in almost a thousand years, Elijah does not catch him—if for no other reason than he's falling apart himself, collapsed against the opposite wall, head in his hands. Rebekah and Davina are sobbing over the empty body on the floor, and all Klaus can think is maybe it is possible for the undead to die of broken hearts.

*holds out box of tissues* Sorry?

I finished this episode at three o'clock in the bloody morning and spent the next forty five minutes sobbing into my pillow. The way Klaus actually cried over him and the absolute love that Kol showed all three of them, even after all that they've done to him just broke my heart. And when he said to Davina "I believe I owe you a dance"-gah.

This was actually one of my favorite episodes ever. And I know I didn't get the dialogue exactly right, but oh well. it's close enough.

I had a blast writing this-you know, when I wasn't inconsolably weeping-and I hope you enjoyed reading it!

Liked it, hated it, let me know!

Till next time!