It was freezing outside, especially since neither of them were properly dressed. The wind ripped through the thin bits of clothing they wore, through the flesh and down through the bone. Pants, a thin white cotton shirt simply weren't cutting it, at least not normally. For some reason neither felt the full extent of how cold it really was, only a slight chill. Nik didn't anyway. Adrenaline rushed through him, flowing through him as deep, as thick as his blood, keeping him warm and without a care he forgot his coat. In fact, it was a rush. It always sort of was when he disobeyed his parents, honestly. He guessed that's why Henrik and Kol always got a thrill from all the pranks and angry stares, not to mention a good yelling at. There was more though, under the light of the moon, Niklaus felt... Well it felt like he was where he belonged, however strange that sounded.

The younger Mikaelson was practically jumping for joy, bare feet bouncing off the ground without a sound. He seemed as unfazed by everything just as Nik. A large grin spread across his face, words being mouthed instead of spoken vocally, thankfully, At least Nik thought considering he couldn't hear a sound over the wind which pounded against his ears, sending his hair flying in every direction and lashing at his face. Occasionally blurring one of his blue eyes in a bone chilling coolness. Henrik walking backwards, looked at his older brother in a 'I told you so' kind of way, his dark eyes gleaming in mischief still.

"You are such a child. It's a wonder anyone tolerates Kol, let alone you." Little brat. Technically, Henrik was still a child, only sixteen. Just the same, his parents expected all their children to act their age, if not older, and what his young brother was displaying now was far from how someone is age should be acting (according to their parents). It was all about survival. No games, no fun, tolerated. Sometimes even to smile felt like a crime, one they would surely be punished for, if they felt an ounce of happiness. Which was possibly the cause of his little bothers behavior. Nevertheless, talk about over reacting.

Henrik stuck out his tongue in response to Nik, clearly having heard his brothers shout above the wind.

What a nuisance.

Niklaus had to admit he was pretty excited too though. His heart pounding against his chest, he could barely contain himself from keeping the skip out of his step or running about in circles like his brother. He most certainly couldn't keep the wide grin that threatened to grow wider as they walked along slowly getting closer to their destination; A small clearing near the forest. It was well-known due to its crescent shape, created by dense, brooding trees and thick undergrowth. It was rather right how it was the place of the wolves decent. It was some distance from their home to begin with but with the force of the wind, it was taking longer to get there, a lot longer actually. His brother seemed to notice and went from walking with a skip in his step to running without apparent rest.

He began falling behind, so in fear of losing his brother, Niklaus bounded after Henrik in a flurry of dust and dirt, only to smack into him seconds later due to a sudden halt on his brother's part. It was just a bit of a push but that didn't stop them from digging into the ground. A small gasp escaped his lips as he began falling, he shut his eyes, bracing himself for the worst despite it being one of the most common of occurrences for anything living. Who didn't trip and fall now and then, really. Both brothers tumbled over leafs, roots and rocks alike, limbs flying. They strayed from their path greatly for a moment before finally crashing in dark ivy green by an old tree.

A kind of coldness and wet substance enveloped him. They had landed in some sort of weeds, unfortunately, not the soft leafy kind. The brothers became covered in slick thorns, thistles, twigs, and the like within seconds. They tingled at first, then began to sting creating a burning sensation. Then began to bleed from Niklaus' sudden, yet drowsy movements. It felt like the world was spinning. He could feel a sharp pounding in his head equal to the pounding of his heart against his chest. The cause became clear when the dizziness had eased slightly. He opened blurry blue eyes to find nothing but darkness except a large mass not more than a few inches away from his weary face, likely the old tree they were about to pass before Henrik so rudely froze. Niklaus barely touched his forehead before hissing at the sting he received from a growing bump. Yet it didn't hurt like it should have. The hissing noise he made had nothing to do with his injuries.

"Niklaus, are you alright, do you need help?" Henrik's shrinking voice asked from the unknown.

No, the blood that hadn't shed began to boil as Niklaus soon started to free himself from a tangle of roots and stems that managed to wrap themselves quite tightly around him. His hands received deep gashes from his carelessness in pulling away the thorns. He almost want sure he wanted freedom from entanglement because at the moment he was seeing nothing except red. He couldn't control the storm that grew in his darkening eyes, the clenching of his fists or the nearly unconceivable shaking he fought little against. He couldn't breath, he couldn't think, all there was was anger. Niklaus felt like if he'd found his brother dying or at deaths door, he wouldn't have cared. He would have ended him himself if it came to it. He'd received many gashes, cuts and bruises thanks to his brother, but these thoughts and feeling did not feel justified in any way, it made him sick. This only served in frustrating him more as he slowly stood.

"What was that." Each word came out colder than ice. " You could have alerted the village." Niklaus growled lowly, hardly a whisper. These little words contained the absolute fury he felt. His voice was like thunder, it seemed to roar throughout the whole village and ring through the night above the winds and sound of the otherwise silence.

He didn't dare say more. He feared he would say or do something both would regret. Nik didn't even dare look at his brother and in doing so, failed to notice his brothers fearful gaze. Instead, he began pulling out a few left over thorns from his hands and a few from his face. They tingled and stung as he did so, but his anger overpowered any of the bits of pain he might have felt from any of his injuries.

Then he scanned the area to see if anyone really had noticed. But everything was quiet, purely silent as a loved ones passing. The houses were dark for the most part. Candles lit a few but nothing more and even they could hardly be noticed. Not even the moon seemed to penetrate the darkness that lied within, nor the stars vibrant colors that trickled down from above. The wind seemed to stir nothing, like everything froze in place. Its shrieking seemed to fall on depth whole scene was kind of eerie now that he thought about it, kind of like something you would see right before the worst happened. The beauty sort of just vanished...

"Relax, brother. No one noticed. Including you, who has not yet noticed there is no one to notice." He mumbled the last part. "You didn't hear that?"

The brother in question let out a long shaking breath in response, finally gaining some composure after hearing traces of fear in his brothers voice. His curiosity slowly began overcoming his anger, Niklaus replied, "No, what was I suppose to have heard." He held up a rather thick thorn for the other to see. "Must have been important since you caused such a mess. You almost lost part of your vision. Another centimeter and this would have pierced your eye."

"Listen..."

"I-"

Then he heard it.

Blue eyes glazed over in a frosty fear and breath hitched in a dry throat. It had nothing to the wind that his blood ran cold as ice, as if he fell in a frozen lake. The sound of death rang through the air and pounded in Niklaus ears unceasingly. His heart all but stopped at the sound. It felt like he was falling into nothingness with no chance of escape. Niklaus could feel the absolute hopelessness of their situation sleek and thick like water beginning to seep through every fiber of his being. The creatures cries rose above the wind without warning, ringing in his ears sharper than the winds shrieks and far more could see it, a dark orange moon bright against the sky well past its apex, yet not nearly enough. He could see himself beneath ice now, soon to drown in crimson. Their own fear would envelop them, eat them away until there was nothing left.

"You didn't think to check what bloody time it was before you woke me!"

"Obviously it didn't occur to you either!" Henrik yelled back, fear evident in his hesitant voice.

The truth hit Niklaus faster, harder than a whip, and plunged deeper than a sword ever could. His brother was right. He should have made sure, he should have checked. Well, now it was too late. Their death was imminent. Their bones would litter the grounds on which their family laid their home. And it was his fault.

"Come on."

Niklaus grabbed Henrik's hand and without a second thought began running faster than he'd ever run in his entire life. They ran on the path towards home, knowing in all likelihood they wouldn't make it. It was just as useless as if they were trying to run through thick, deep water; They could fight against the current until their lungs gave out. Each limb burning, crying for them to stop or slow down. Yet they would hardly move at all. They would stay exactly where they stood. And that's exactly how Niklaus felt..

The sound of paws thudding against the earth could be heard a just a few feet behind the two brothers. Niklaus' heart pounded against his chest with each passing second the wolf was catching up. A cold sweat poured down his face and down his back. He could hardly breathe, yet he kept pushing himself to go faster, dragging an almost reluctant brother behind. To say exhaustion weighed on them, as well as the pain they both felt, was an understatement. But the hot breath of the wolf sweeping across their necks was enough to keep them going. However, Nik was unsure on how much longer they could last. Though at the rate things were going, it wouldn't matter much anyway. Dying of exhaustion wouldn't be a problem. No, they would likely be torn to shreds first.

They hadn't been running long when Niklaus felt his little brothers hand slip away from his. And heard a blood curdling scream erupt through the bitter night. "Niklaus, help!"

Niklaus skidded, almost falling due to the abrupt stop. He turned in horror to find his little brother slowly being torn to pieces. His blue eyes gaped at a large black wolf digging its fangs into Henrik's neck. Its claws tore at his cloths, blood splattering from the gashes. All the while, his brother cried for help and there was nothing he could do but watch the terrible events unfold.

Surely this was not the beautiful creatures he first imagined. Certainly, this couldn't be the majestic wolves he dreamed of seeing on nights of the full moon. But it was. This was the creature Niklaus had admired while his parents feared, and rightfully so it appeared. This wolf was savage, so bloodthirsty. Foam glistened off of its red tainted, pearl-like fangs. It eyes burned gold, burned with hell fires. Its fur was dark like soot, like the ashes of the tortured deceased. It wasn't beautiful or graceful or admirable. The creature before him was just...evil...

The terrified older brother shook. He had to think of something, he had to do something. But what could he do when he could barely stand. His breathing hastened as he racked his brain for any answer, anything that could save his brother. But Niklaus couldn't until he finally fell in defeat. He could distract the wolf, only for a moment. The terrible beast would likely kill him, but he was as good as dead anyway. His father should surely kill him if the wolf didn't. An eye for an eye as the expression goes.

A rock. A rock was all he had. He picked it up with a shaking hand after several failed attempts. He could hardly see through the tears that flooded his eyes. As quickly as they formed he wiped them away before anything could notice. Nik took one last breath, closed his eyes, then threw the thing that would hopefully save his brother. He silently prayed this would work, pleaded until his mind went blank. Though there was little chance, he hoped beyond all probability that his dear little brother would not die because of him, that he would be well enough to escape the terrible fate which would likely befall him.

The screams stopped. Niklaus didn't dare open his eyes, but he could feel the wolf's gaze on him, hear the tread of claws scrape against the tainted earth. Then he heard nothing. Except a low growl coming from behind him. He squeezed his eyes harder till he thought they would burst under the pressure. There was another wolf behind him. He could feel a hot breath on his neck and soft fur against his back.

It was when he felt a whoosh of air go over him and a wolf's cry that he opened his blue eyes through a small slit. Then his eyes widened to the most bizarre thing he ever saw. It was unimaginable. The black wolf was now the one fighting for its life. It was yelping, panting, being hit blow for blow by a truly majestic creature. Its fur shined brilliantly in the moons red glow, yet it remained an untainted gray; Pure and beautiful beyond all reason. A beautiful gray wolf. This newcomer tore its claws into the formerly black wolf's back, then for good measure bit into its neck. Blood poured, but this time not his brothers, not Henrik's. Niklaus felt he could finally breathe again.

The black wolf soon took off, whimpering in self-pity. Rightfully so too. Nik wasn't sure it would even live after the damaged caused by... The other wolf. He still had something to fear he realized. This wolf may have helped them, but it could just as well tear him apart, as well as what was left of Henrik. With the other wolf gone, all attention was unwillingly given to Niklaus. He wanted to shrink away, take his brother and run like he obviously should. But he was held back. He wasn't sure by what, but he felt he had to stay, that it was alright to stay though every fiber of his being told him to run.

His savior turned on him, head lowered. The wolf's eyes glistened blue with speckles of green and gold, like the ocean after a storm;Calm, serene, almost mystical. The gold in its eyes danced like fire, yet mingled with the calm, cool water, and burned with something he couldn't quite guess. The gray wolf appeared a specter as it seemed to walk on moonlight towards him. More like an angel, he realized as the wolf tilted its head slightly. Most wolf's eyes were plainly gold, his parents had told him so. But that was just an idiotic thought. It was probably just protecting its territory or something. Even werewolves have territorial boundaries, right? Well, it didn't matter much now anyway, because without warning the majestic creature that once stood not a foot away, was gone. It had been so close Niklaus could see his own wide blue eyes in blue of the wolf's. He'd shut his eyes for only a moment but it was just gone, vanished.

Perhaps, he had been right before in his assumptions. Werewolves weren't as bad as they seemed;They were majestic and beautiful. At least this one was, the gray wolf that faded in a haze of gold and blue, blue as the ocean and clear like the sky.

He didn't hesitate in running over to his brother seeing the wolves were gone. Henrik was barely breathing, but he had a pulse, he was still alive. He was icy cold, pale and lightly shook but alive. His brown eyes barely had an ounce of light in them. Blood poured mainly from a large bite on his shoulder. His injuries wouldn't have been fatal except he also had scratches down his chest, that were bleeding almost as badly. Honestly, it was rather sickening, it looked almost like the wolf had dug to the bone. But Niklaus took his young injured brother in arms and ran for home, and hopefully a way to save him. Their mother was a witch- a powerful one at that- So if they had any chance at all, they had to get home as soon as possible. Yet the hope was fleeting.

Dawn had begun to break when not soon enough, they were home.

"Mother! Father!" Niklaus called in a desperate plea.

Said people came rushing out of a dimly lit house, along with four others. Each of their eyes having the darkest review.

The young Mikaelson fell to his knees, brother in arms and tears starting to fall.

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, it was a bit longer than the last. The story is probably going to be slow at first but I hope you'll stick around because it gets a lot more interesting, I think. I'm hoping I'll be able to update at least every other week but we'll see. I'm thinking on a Monday ;). School sucks though, so, I will try my best.

Please, feel free to review and ask any questions on the chapter. Thanks to those who have. And guest, sorry but all I can say is its complicated, you'll just have to see and thanks for reviewing.