Dear Lord… I didn't expect quite this much feedback. I'm happy though… Really, really happy with what you've given me so far. Thank you to all of you Reviewers and Followers. I think we almost hit 100 Follows with the first chapter alone. I'm a bit overwhelmed right now.
To the Guest who left me all of these ideas. I'm so sorry but it doesn't fit in with this story in particular. I might use them for some of the other stuff I have shooting around in my brain. If you allow it, that is. Sorry again but you'll see why it's impossible to do.
Enjoy,
Nick
My short life changed completely when I started having these… dreams. I was three when Aunt Petunia forced me to cook their breakfast. Since I wasn't really sure what I had to do when and how it was no surprise that I burned the food.
Within seconds, Uncle Vernon had pulled me from the chair, fisting my hair in his meaty fist "You ungrateful freak. How dare you burn our food?"
Tears sprang into my eyes and I cowered as much as he allowed me to. Uncle Vernon was a big man who couldn't care less about me as long as I earned my keep. My chores – for the most part – started a few months ago when Aunt Petunia was 'too busy' to tend to her garden and sent me out to do it instead "I'm sowwy, Unca Vewnon."
"I am not your uncle," the huge man bellowed, shaking me roughly.
I sniffled quietly. That was another thing I learned. Never cry out loud. They'll either make fun of me for being weak or they'd punish me "Sowwy, siw."
Uncle Vernon's face twisted into an ugly grimace "I'll show you sorry, freak." He dragged me over to the hot stove and without a moment of hesitation, pressed my small hands to the burner "You burn out food, I burn you. Is that understood?"
"Yes, siw," I mumbled, shaking with silent sobs. My hands were on fire and I knew that they wouldn't care.
"Go to your cupboard," Vernon grunted, hitting me over the back of the head when I didn't move "And no meals for a week."
I ran as soon as he let go of my hair and shut the door to the cupboard under the stairs as quietly as I could. No need to make them even angrier. By now my hands were an angry red with huge blisters on the palm. It hurt so badly that I couldn't even move them a little bit. After what seemed like hours, I finally fell asleep, hoping to forget the pain for a little bit.
Dream
When little Selene opened her eyes, she wasn't in her cupboard in the Dursley's home anymore. Instead of the blackness surrounding her, there were woods, a clearing and houses – no, smaller than that… What were they called? It didn't matter. They looked like they were hand-made though, not like the houses on Privet Drive where everything looked the same. Selene froze behind a big tree trunk that hid her small form from view when she heard voices.
"What are we… How are we here?" a deep male voice demanded.
Another more mischievous voice replied "I have no idea. One moment I'm daggered in a box and now I'm here? And in the 10th century nevertheless."
"What year was it when you… when you were daggered, Kol?"
A sigh echoed through the clearing "Finn. I –"
"What year?"
"1914," Kol responded quietly. The three-year-old couldn't stop the gasp from escaping her mouth. They were talking about… How was this possible? They sounded young, not old enough to have been alive in 1914. That was long ago, right? She wasn't sure but Selene assumed that… it was 1983 when she fell asleep "Did you hear that, brother?"
"Eight hundred years," Finn mumbled. What had he ever done to his younger brother to make Niklaus keep him locked up for eight centuries? There was so much he missed.
A dull thud echoes through the clearing as Kol hissed "Finn, focus. There's someone here."
Silence was all that followed and before the little child could blink, she was thrown against one of the trees behind her, being held up by her thin neck. She whimpered in pain, not daring to look up at the person who was holding her "Brother. It's a child," Finn's voice murmured "Let her down." A second later, the girl was set down carefully.
"I apologize, little one," Kol apologized "What are you doing here?"
Selene tilted my head, still keeping her eyes on the floor. Uncle Vernon told her that freaks weren't allowed to look at normal people "What awe you doing in my dweam?"
"Dream?" Finn and Kol exchanged a long look. How was it possible that they had been daggered and in their coffins and now they were here?
"I fall sleep in my cupboawd and now I'm hewe."
One of the two silhouettes crouched down in front of the girl "What is your name, little one?" Finn questioned, carefully reaching for her small face. She flinched away from the Original and threw her arms up to cover her face "I don't want to hurt you. It's alright." He gently lifted her chin, causing the girl to lock eyes with him. As soon as green met brown, the tall man gasped in shock "How?" She was his mate? Now, after more than 800 years he finally found her. One thing he had been afraid of before Niklaus daggered him was that he would never meet his mate. That they would walk the Earth while he was rotting away in a box.
"Brother?" Selene blinked in confusion and turned to look at Kol when he spoke "What…? That's impossible. She's…"
Selene studied the men warily. The vampires both looked like brothers, although Finn's hair was way longer and his clothes were different as well. Aunt Petunia would probably sniff at him for his ragged appearance… Both men had brown hair and brown eyes. Kol's though, were alight with an inner fire, while there was something in Finn's eyes. Something that made me want to hug him "Fweak," she whispered, huddling against the tree. She might not know the two of them but they were only in her dream, right? They could hurt her but this was only a dream… Whether it was a nightmare or not, she didn't know.
"That's not a very nice thing to say," Kol snorted.
The little one shook her head, black hair flying around her head messily. She didn't mean it like that "My name is Fweak."
Kol fixed the girl with a disbelieving look, his eyes searching hers for any sort of lie. When he found none, he turned to Finn, both silently communicating with each other. The younger of the two might have been impulsive and homicidal at times but he knew when he had to leave someone else do the talking. Out of the two of them, Finn was more in touch with his emotions. Negative emotions at the moment but emotions nevertheless. The two Mikaelsons fixed their gaze back at the little girl, who had shrunk back during the silent exchange, curling into a tiny ball against the tree trunk.
She was whimpering lightly, trying carefully not to move her hands too much. From their places in front of the girl, the vampires could see an angry red colour that was completely covering her small hands. They took in her appearance, her too big clothing and her far to thin frame along with all the other little telltale signs of abuse. They had seen something scarily similar in their own brother Niklaus before and while their brother never had to starve, their father had still abused the Hybrid. And this little girl who had somehow drawn both daggered Originals into her dream of all things showed all of the signs Nik had and more. For someone as young, she looked as if she had been mistreated for the better part of her life already.
"It's alright, little one," Finn murmured soothingly "We're not going to hurt you."
Kol crouched down next to his brother, deciding to at least try and talk to her. He would have to get used to it after all. She was his mate. Well, his and Finn's… "Can you tell us how old you are?"
"Fwee," she whispered, glancing up at them shyly "Who awe you?"
"Oh," Finn blinked. They had been saying their names earlier but it was still polite to introduce oneself to their mate… "My name is Finn Mikaelson and that is my younger brother Kol."
Selene nodded with a small smile "Nice to meet you."
"You too, little one." Kol returned her smile and held out his hand "How about the three of us go to our home? It's much more comfortable than the cold forest. What do you think?"
She bit her lip thoughtfully. The older Original's lips twitched into a grin at how adorable she looked "I don't know. Aunty Tunia always tell Dudley not to go with stwangers."
"She told this Dudley but not you?" Finn demanded, his voice relatively calm but you could see the anger boiling in his eyes. So it was her aunt and possible her uncle who treated her like this? If they were ever unlucky enough to run into the Mikaelsons then there would be hell to pay. Both brothers were already quite protective over their little one. Hm… Maybe they should give her a name? It would certainly beat the name 'Freak' and it was better than to call her 'little one' all the time.
"Aunty don't care about me," Selene told the two men "I a fweak. Mommy and daddy left me and now I a buwden to hawd-wowking people like them." She said the words matter-of-factly. As if she heard them often enough to know what they meant as if she believed them.
That was enough for the eldest Mikaelson. He quickly scooped the child into his arms, ignoring her flinch "You are not a burden and you certainly are not a freak. I may have only met you twenty minutes ago but I can already tell that you're a sweet little girl. Don't listen to them, alright?" Selene's eyes were wide and her arms were wrapped around Finn's neck. Being in the man's arms felt… right somehow. It was comforting. Like she pictured her parents to be… But also different. She didn't really know how to explain it but she hoped the feeling would never end.
Kol made a noise in the back of his throat "Your aunt and uncle are the freaks, little one. A child is supposed to be cherished, not beaten and abused."
"What means abused?" the girl tilted her head questioningly, her eyes growing heavy. Wasn't she dreaming? How was it possible to fall asleep in a dream? She didn't want to go. Didn't want to leave Finn and Kol. They were the only people she could remember who were nice to her. Although there were shadows. Echoes of voices at the back of her mind. The soothing song of a woman, the laughter of a man. A huge black dog. But she was probably only imagining those.
"It means that your relatives hurt you," the younger vampire explained.
Selene shook her head tiredly "They no huwt me," she mumbled, head coming to rest of Finn's shoulder "Sleepy." With those words, she was out like a light.
Finn and Kol traded amused looks before they got serious "They will pay," the younger of the two vowed darkly "Even if we have to go through our other siblings."
"Have you forgotten that we are still in boxes?" Finn questioned, walking in the direction of their home. Maybe he could take care of the child's hands before she woke up again. It would be more pleasant for her in any case "Even if they undaggered us for some reason, you don't really believe that they'll let us go. No. The only thing we can do is hope that we see her again and help her as much as possible."
Kol sighed and ran a hand through his unruly hair "You're right but I just feel so helpless. She's our mate, brother and we can do nothing."
"We can do a lot," Finn contradicted "Just not in the way you want to. We can be there for her, teach her things. Help her have fun. I'm not sure if this connection we have with her is temporary but I really doubt it. Something or someone wants us to help her as much as we're able to in the state we're in."
"When did you get so bloody wise," the younger brother groaned "You're almost as bad as Elijah."
Finn smirked "Comes with being an older brother to five siblings. Even if I mostly left everything to Elijah. Before Elijah was old enough, I was the one who looked after you."
"There was a 'before Elijah'," Kol blinked in mock confusion "I would have thought that he was born twenty and got more ancient the more time passed."
"Really?" Finn snorted, careful not to disturb the child in his arms "We really should think of a name. Calling her girl, child and little one isn't going to work forever."
Kol glanced at the face of the sleeping child "Maybe we should. But not now. Wait until we can be sure that this isn't a one-time thing."
The two Originals continued to converse quietly while tending to the injuries the little one had. They had just finished bandaging the burnt hands when she suddenly vanished and everything faded back to black for the vampires.
End Dream
"Up –" the shrill voice of Aunty Tunia ripped me out of my dreamless state "Get up, girl." I rubbed my eyes tiredly and startled when cloth touched my face. With a frown, I looked at the bandaging on my burnt hands and gasped. It wasn't a dream? No, it was. It was real though? How? Who were Finn and Kol? How were they in her dream and how were her hands bandaged when she only dreamed it? "Didn't you hear me, freak?" The door to the cupboard was thrown open, revealing Aunty Tunia staring down at me with a sour look on her face.
One more thing before I bugger off back into my hole in the ground… I planned on doing a few chapters of backstory if that's alright with you. Go through Selene's Hogwarts years and show how it was different from Canon before I do anything else.
Another idea would be that I do one chapter backstory and one chapter where the story goes on. I must confess that I'm not the biggest fan of that idea but what do you think?
I might still go against your wishes and do the upper idea but I do want to know what you think about it.
Nick
