A/N: Kol is 17, Rebekah is 16, Klaus is 21, and Elijah is 24 and Henrik is 14

Kol had always felt a bit awkward in his family. Klaus and Elijah were always together, sword fighting or drinking. Rebekah and Henrik were also close, being the two youngest. They were always doing things together and leaving Kol out. This left Finn as his only sibling who he might have a chance of hanging out with, however, Finn would rather stay indoors with their mother than hang out with Kol. Which left Kol with no one but himself. Although Kol would never admit it, it hurt him.

"Can I join?" Kol asked innocently, sword in hand, as he looked at his two older brother's with begging eyes. Klaus and Elijah both gave him a more-than-slightly condescending looks before shaking their heads,

"You're too young to play against us. You'll get hurt." Elijah said calmly. Klaus, who was standing next to him gave him an infamous smirk.

"Wouldn't want little Kol to get hurt would we?"

"Niklaus." Elijah said with a demanding tone.

Klaus ignored his brother and looked down at Kol, "Go away, we're busy."

Kol's smile faded and his shoulders hunched slightly as he nodded sadly and walked away. Elijah watched his little brother sulk away and made a mental note in his mind to speak to him about it later but Kol was soon gone from his mind and he was fighting, and beating, Nik again.

Kol wandered around for a while before he saw Rebekah and Henrik sitting on the ground, talking quietly. Deciding he didn't want to be alone, he went and sat next to them. Their conversation immediately ceased. Rebekah turned to him and scowled,

"What do you want Kol?"

"Can I join?"

"No." Rebekah snapped, pointing in the direction of the woods. "Leave."

Kol thought he might cry at the aching feeling of rejection in his stomach. He stood slowly, sword still in hand and ran in the direction of the woods. He continued to run haphazardly, twigs and branches whipping him in the face.

No one cares about you. Your siblings hate you. Your parents hate you. You're nothing, Kol, nothing.

While stuck in his mind, Kol failed to notice the large root sticking out of the ground. His foot got caught on the root and he found himself tumbling down onto the ground, sword in his hand slicing the tender flesh of his stomach. He cried out loudly as he was hit with the pain and soon tears were cascading down his cheeks.

Maybe I'm better off this way. No one cares about me anyway.

Elijah had just finished his sword fight against Klaus when his (still human) ears picked up a familiar cry. It was soft, suggesting it was far away but worry was building up in his gut.

"Did you hear that?" Elijah asked his brother who looked equally as concerned as he did. Klaus just nodded and the two headed toward the edge of the woods. Along the way, the two saw Henrik and Rebekah running towards them tears streaming down Rebekah's cheeks.

"Kol's in trouble!" Rebekah sobbed.

"I know." Elijah replied, pulling his sister into a close embrace.

"He's hurt. I know it. And it's all my fault! I told him to go away!"

Elijah rubbed her back soothingly and shook his head, "Let's find him then we can talk about faults."

The four Mikaelson children set out into the woods, all of them calling their brother's name as they wondered about the trees.

It seemed like hours but was only a mere twenty minutes before Klaus stumbled upon his unconscious and bleeding brother, lying on the ground.

"Kol!?"

Klaus fell to his knees next to the brunette unsure of what exactly he should do. He lifted a shaky hand and brushed a few strands of hair out of Kol's face and rested a hand on his cheek gently,

"oh Kol..." Klaus whispered, remembering the events of earlier that day. "I'm so sorry."

Klaus didn't know when his other three siblings appeared around him, all he knows is that they did. He saw Rebekah hastily turning Henrik away from the bloody scene and Elijah bending down to gently lift Kol up, presumably to carry him back home. Klaus knew that though Elijah tried to hide it, he was beyond terrified. They all were.

The five siblings were almost half way back to their hut when Kol awoke. The seventeen year old pealed his eyes open slowly and gazed around confused until they rested on Elijah's worried face.

"'Lijah." He rasped, his throat raw and burning.

"Everything's going to be okay Kol..." Elijah promised, holding his brother closer as their hut came into view. "You're going to be okay."

Kol nodded lazily, eyes rolling back as he lost consciousness again. When he woke again he was lying on a bed, a warm fire blazing to his left. He groaned and tried to roll over and go back to sleep.

"Not so fast, brother." Klaus said, coming towards him quickly. "Don't move. You have quite the cut on your stomach."

Rebekah rolled her eyes, "What he means is, he was very worried and he's glad you're okay."

"We all are." Elijah added.

Kol looked down at the hem of the blanked over him, "I didn't think you guys cared."

"What do you mean 'we didn't care'? Kol, you're our brother. Of course we cared."

Kol chuckled before grunting in pain, earning a glare from Klaus.

"What's so funny?" Niklaus demanded.

"I just find humor in the fact that you think I'm stupid enough to accept your pity."

"What pity?"

"You don't care about me. You didn't want me earlier and you don't want me anymore than you did before. You just feel bad that I stabbed myself. You probably think I'm stupid too." Kol leaned back into the pillows, trying to sink away from his siblings.

Elijah, calm and collected Elijah, got close to his little brother's face, stressing his point,

"Look at me Kol, are you listening?"

Kol gave his brother a small nod, looking up at him to make a point of him listening.

"Kol Mikaelson. You are our brother. You are my brother. We may fight. We may have said hurtful things in the past and we will say hurtful things in the future but there will not be a moment, not a single second, that any of us will ever stop loving you. Not now, not this morning, not ever. This is because we, me, you, Rebekah, Niklaus, Henrik, are a family. Not father. Not mother. Sometimes not even Finn. But us five. All of us. We are a family. And we will care about you. Always and forever."