Episode Six: All That is Honest and All That is Brave

The breakfast table is heavy with stony silence, the weight of words unsaid so unwieldly under the wood it's a wonder the plates don't slide right off. There's a pile of waffles right in the middle—"Eggos, because no one is too good for frozen waffles," Hayley had said—towering between them all, providing an easy excuse not to make eye contact. Hope chews angrily, eager to be out of her father's presence as soon as possible.

Klaus, to his credit, has the self-awareness to be sheepish. Less than a day out of his fifteen-year prison and he's already managed to alienate his daughter. He opens his mouth a number of times to say something, but words keep failing him. At one point he looks to Hayley desperately for help, but she just gives him a shrug. You fucked this up, not me, her unsympathetic look tells him.

Finally, when the leaning tower of Eggos has diminished considerably, he clears his throat and asks, "So, er…how long have you and River…been…together?"

Hope glares. "Does it matter? Pretty sure she wants nothing to do with me anymore. Besides, I don't think knowing how long we've been dating is going to help you…what was it? Pry her venom out of her?"

"Look, Hope, please understand—"

"Oh I understand." She slams her fork down. "I understand that you do not get to just come in here and—and completely change our lives! Okay? I know you've been waiting just as long as I have to be a part of this family, and yeah that sucks, but like it or not we have built a life. Without you. You can't just—just shove yourself into it. And you certainly can't rip it to pieces."

Klaus looks down, ashamed. "I apologize for my behavior."

"Yeah well apologies aren't going to cut it." Before Klaus can answer, the doorbell rings. "I got it," Hope spits, pushing away from the table and stalking off. Klaus looks to Hayley again, who just gives another unhelpful shrug.

Hope stops right behind the door and takes a deep breath to calm herself down. Then she opens it and sees the last person she expected to be standing on her front porch. "River?"

River's smile is hesitant. "Hey."

Hope steps onto the porch, closing the door behind her. "What are you doing here? I thought…"

"That I'd never want to speak to you again?" Hope nods. "So did I." River wrings her hands nervously. "I didn't sleep last night. I was up, just thinking. I thought about something your mom told me."

"What's that?"

"That wolves belong to packs, and your pack is your family, the people who make you feel safe." River grabs Hope's hands. "The people you love." Hope's eyes start to water. "I love you, Hope Mikaelson, and if you love me enough to kick the shit out of the father you've waited your whole life to meet just to protect me…then I guess I love you enough to give you some of my venom."

Hope lets out a little gasp of disbelief and then throws her arms around River's neck. "Thank you," she breathes. "This means everything." Hope kisses her girlfriend.

Still holding onto Hope, River says, "I know. If I had the chance to bring back my family, I'd do anything. I'm certainly not going to stand in your way."

Hope wipes at her eyes with a little laugh. "I guess we should go tell—"

She's interrupted by the front door opening. Klaus looks at them both, a humbled expression on his face. He nods at River. "Thank you."

River juts her chin out. "I'm doing this for Hope. And Hayley."

"I know. I am…grateful nonetheless." He pauses. "I would also like to…offer my apologies for my actions last night."

River nods, and Hope squeezes her hand. "Come on. Let's save my family."

As they slide the last coffin into the familiar moving truck now parked in front of the rental home, Hayley says to Klaus, "Do you think returning to New Orleans so soon is going to piss off Marcel?"

"I think returning to New Orleans at any point will piss off Marcel." Klaus grins wickedly. "I imagine it will be fun."

Hayley is not amused. "You cannot pick a fight with him, Klaus. Not only will you lose, but you will put your entire family in jeopardy."

Klaus puts on an innocent face and raises his hands in surrender. "I will behave, I promise! Get in, save this lot—" He gestures to the row of coffins in the truck. "—and get out. I'll save waging a war for another day."

"I don't want to spend a lot of time there. I don't like leaving Hope for too long."

"You won't be leaving me." The parents turn to see their daughter striding up to them. "I'm coming."

"Absolutely not," Hayley says. "It's way too dangerous."

"You might need me!" Hope insists. "You have no idea what kind of magic might come in handy."

"Freya is the first one of them I'm going to cure, and then we'll have her to do any magic we need. You're going to stay here with River and not cause any trouble."

Hope stands her ground. "And what if Freya's too busy curing everyone else to fight someone off?"

"Hope—"

"Mom," she pleads. "They're my family."

Hayley glances over at Klaus, who, already on Hope's bad side, is looking to earn some good will. "She could be helpful," he says, heart leaping at the hopeful look on his daughter's face.

Hayley looks back and forth between them before throwing up her hands. "Fine." She reaches up and tugs down the rolling door of the truck, sealing the coffins away. "But you are to stay with one of us at all times, do you hear me?"

Hope nods eagerly. "Loud and clear." She jerks a thumb back toward the house. "River should be done getting comfy, so I'm going to go." She hugs her mom, and then stops in front of her dad. "Um. Thanks." She darts back to the house.

Klaus's face blooms with pride, while Hayley merely scowls. "This is going to be a nightmare."

"Why do you have to go back to New Orleans?" River is settled comfortably on Hope's bed, the venom mask lying ominous beside her.

Hope's hooking up tubes to vials. "The spell that's keeping all of my aunts and uncles alive is bound to my father's life force," Hope explains. "But at the time, Aunt Freya didn't know what sort of physical state he was going to be in while they were in the spell, so as an added source of power, she bound the spell to New Orleans soil. New Orleans is full of magic, just…thrumming with energy, and it was a good precaution to take, because my dad was significantly weakened by the mystical dagger he had in his chest for the last fifteen years. So, in order to break the spell, we have to do it on New Orleans soil."

River listens, slack-jawed. "That is the weirdest, coolest shit I have ever heard in my life."

Laughing, Hope slides onto the bed so she's facing her girlfriend. "Yeah, it's a lot to process. I know only a fraction of…magic, and the supernatural world, and my family's place in it." She reaches out to squeeze River's hand. "You'll get the hang of it."

River squeezes back. "How are you feeling?"

Hope shrugs. "I don't know. I'm pissed off at my dad for what he tried to do to you. I'm pissed off at myself for thinking he was going to be…I don't know, some white knight who would come in and save the day and be the father I always dreamed of. And I'm scared." She wrinkles her nose. "Is that stupid? Being scared of my own family?"

"I don't think so. I mean, I've only ever known my parents, but if all of a sudden my long-lost relatives came back to life, I think I'd be pretty freaked out."

Hope toys with the mask sitting on the comforter. "I wish you could come with me."

"Do you want me to?"

Hope looks up in surprise. "What?"

"I wouldn't mind coming with you."

Holy shit I love you, Hope doesn't say. Instead, "You…you've done way too much for this family already. And it's probably going to be pretty dangerous, especially for a wolf. My mom always told me that New Orleans wasn't the friendliest city to wolves. No, I think this—" She jiggles the mask. "—is more than enough." She snorts. "Besides, someone needs to keep covering for me at work. Though, now that I think about it, I should probably just quit. Chances are I'll have to take a lot of time off in the future, anyway."

"You can just quit?" River asks. "Don't you need the money?"

Hope flushes and looks away, embarrassed. "Um. No. I, um." She rolls her eyes up to the ceiling, searching for the best way to say it. "My family's actually…we have…money," she finishes lamely. River still looks confused, so she elaborates. "My dad, my aunts and uncles…they're over a thousand years old. They've had a long time to just…amass wealth. We're…kind of…stupid rich."

River laughs in shock. "But…this house…" She looks around. "No offense, but it's pretty small for a family of whatever-aires who have been around forever."

"My mom and I have always kept a low profile, since we're on the move a lot. People notice when a single mom can buy three-story homes in cash."

"True."

Hope sighs and picks up the mask. "So…are you ready?"

River nods nervously. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm ready."

Hope kneels over her girlfriend and, as gently as possible, straps the clunky mask to River's face. River's eyes are wide with fear, and as soon as the mask is clicked into place, they squeeze shut. River's yowl of pain echoes in the mask and Hope grips her hand tightly. "I'm sorry," she whispers, curling tight into her side for comfort. "I am so, so sorry."

The atmosphere in the cab of the moving truck is no better than that of breakfast. Hope is squeezed between her parents, with Hayley at the wheel. Klaus has wedged himself up against the door, not wanting to crowd his prickly daughter. As they cross over into Alabama, he coughs awkwardly and says, "So…River seems nice."

Hope's glare is icy. "Can we not?"

Klaus lowers his voice in apology. "Let me try to make amends, to…fix what I have broken."

With a huff, Hope says, "Yeah, she's great. That's why she's my girlfriend."

"How did you meet?"

Hope maintains her silence, staring stonily out the windshield. So Hayley offers, "They met at work." Hope turns her head slowly to give her mother a wide-eyed stare that reads, Traitor. Hayley merely shrugs.

Klaus is confused. "Work? Why on earth would you work?"

"I've had a job since I was fifteen," Hope says defensively.

Slack-jawed, Klaus says to Hayley, "Please do not tell me that you have managed to blow through our family's fortunes in the decade and a half you've had control of them."

Rolling her eyes, Hayley replies, "Hope's jobs weren't about money."

"Then what the hell is the daughter of Klaus Mikaelson doing working in a…?" He looks at Hope to fill in the blank.

"I work in a pizza place," Hope provides begrudgingly.

"Oh bloody hell." Klaus tosses a hand out in disbelief. "My daughter. In a pizza place."

Squaring her jaw, Hope adds, "I've also worked in an IHOP and a thrift store."

If Klaus could have a heart attack, his heart would probably already have given out. "Hayley—"

"Jobs teach responsibility, Klaus. I wanted Hope to be something more than—than the heir to a thousand-year-old empire. I wanted her to learn that she has to work for things."

"She doesn't have to work for anything—she's a Mikaelson!"

"Jesus Christ," Hayley breathes. "You know what?" She slams the button that turns on the radio, and the local country station is blaring Garth Brooks. "I think maybe we should talk less."

"I couldn't agree more." Hope pulls her phone out of her pocket, slipping her earbuds into her ears. And just like that, Klaus is left to himself.

Annelise finds her in her family's crypt, knees on the cement floor as she meditates. "Theo."

Theo's eyes remain closed, but her tone conveys her annoyance. "What is it?"

"There's talk, in the Quarter."

"Of?"

"They're back."

Theo stands slowly, straightening her midnight blue dress. "That's impossible. Even Klaus Mikaelson doesn't have the stupidity—or the arrogance."

"Charlene saw them with her own eyes. Klaus, the Wolf Queen, and their child."

Theo turns on a dime to finally face Annelise. "They brought Hope?"

Annelise nods. "Char didn't stay long, didn't want to be spotted, but she said that she saw them outside their old compound and they…" She trails off.

"They?"

"They were bringing in coffins."

A small smile of realization dawns on Theo's face. "Of course. Klaus and the wolf are far too protective of their little witch to bring her here—unless they were reuniting the rest of their unnatural family." To Annelise she says, "Gather the others. Our people, from all nine covens. Everyone who can get here." She strides toward the exit of the tomb, Annelise following close behind. "We've got to stop that spell."

With a loud thump, the final coffin—Kol's—settles to the dusty, bloody floor of the Abattoir. "They're all here," Klaus announces to no one in particular, clapping his hands once. He looks about his home. "What a ruin."

Hope and Hayley are laying all of their supplies on what remains of a table. Hope steps away and says, "Here." She holds her hands out in front her as though warding off an enemy, and then screws her eyes shut in concentration. After a few seconds, the detritus and filth covering the compound begin to float upward, slowly amassing into a ball in the air. Hope gently guides it all into a corner, where it collapses to the ground with a small poof. "That should at least make this place easier to work in."

Klaus smiles, impressed. "Quite the talented witch, you are."

Hope shrugs, not smiling back. "I've taught myself what I can." She returns to the supplies. Her fingers toy with the parchment bearing the spell to remove the hex from her aunt Rebekah. "I wish I could read this." But she can't; the spell is diagrammed confusingly, covered in runes she couldn't possibly hope to understand.

"Don't worry," her mother says, aligning all the bottles of venom around a large stone bowl. "Freya will take care of everything."

"I want to help," Hope insists. "Freya's going to be waking up from a fifteen-year-long coma. There must be something I can do."

Klaus gestures around the compound. "Perhaps you could put a spell on this place. Prevent us from being…interrupted."

"Like a boundary spell?"

"Precisely."

"Yeah, I should be able to…yeah, okay." Hope finds a spot toward the center of the courtyard and sits, her back pressed against the dead fountain. She presses her palms against the floor as her eyes slide shut. After a few seconds, she begins to chant under her breath. "Apné sà mene grandis. Apné sà mene grandis. Apné sà mene grandis."

Klaus and Hayley exchange a look as their daughter casts an invisible net over the compound. "Is everything ready?" Klaus asks.

Nodding, Hayley opens the casket holding Freya. She lifts a long hypodermic needle to her teeth and rips off the cap. Spitting it elsewhere, she raises the syringe above Freya's body, takes a deep breath, and jams it down into her chest.

Nigh on fifty witches gather in the shadows around the Abattoir, the sun slung low in the sky. They hover in groups around every entrance, silent as death. In the very front, at the gates, stands Theo, leading the witches. She motions to the others, and on a signal, they charge the entrance.

And bounce right off an invisible wall. With a hissed curse, Theo recognizes the boundary spell. She lifts a hand to keep the others silent, and then presses her other against the boundary. It feels thick and strong, but not infallible.

She glances at her fellow witches, and one by one they join her, forming a ring of hands around the compound. Together, they bow their heads, and without a word, channel their magic into dissolving Hope's boundary spell.

Freya rockets upward with a deep gasp, clutching a hand to her chest. Hayley grabs her shoulders and says loudly, "Freya! Freya! It's okay."

After a few long breaths, Freya looks up at Hayley, Klaus hovering just over her shoulder. "It's about damn time." She swings herself out of her coffin easily, spying the table full of spells. "What have we got?"

Hayley points. "All the venoms are over there, with the other ingredients for the cure. And here is the spell to cure Rebekah."

"Okay. Let me work." Freya's hands make nimble work of the seven vials, pouring them into the stone basin as she chants her spell. Her eyes flicker momentarily to the girl on the floor, but she doesn't pause to ask questions. Once the basin is filled with the entirety of the spell, she holds her hands above the liquid and chants, "La candidat au somme la toxique cantus. La candidat au somme la toxique cantus." The liquid bubbles as the spell starts to work.

Klaus and Hayley watch with bated breath, but their attention is diverted when Hope's own incantation falters. Hayley speeds to her side, kneeling down. "Hope?"

Hope's eyes fly open. "They're trying to get in."

Confused, Hayley looks up at Klaus, who stalks over to the entryway to the courtyard. His eyes widen as he takes in the small army just outside the gate. Returning to the others, he says, "It seems the witches of New Orleans are aware of our plans."

To her daughter, Hayley asks, "Can you keep them out?"

Hope's breath is coming ragged with the strain of the spell, but she nods. "Apné sà mene grandis," she chants. "Apné sà mene grandis."

Hayley's heart quickens with worry, but she doesn't know how to help. Before she can figure it out, Freya calls, "I need you two, now!"

The parents appear at her side. She gathers some of the abandoned vials. "The cure is complete." Scooping the cure into the vials, she says, "Each of you take some and go to our injured brothers. Apply this to their wounds. Hopefully they will be cured before they wake. I must begin to siphon the hex from Rebekah."

Klaus and Hayley do as she says, each grabbing a vial or two and rushing to their respective coffins. Hayley lifts Elijah's lid with a sort of reverence, gently pushing the fabric of his torn shirt away from his wound frozen in time. From a short ways away, she can hear Freya beginning to cure Rebekah, but she can't take her eyes off of Elijah's peaceful face as she pours the anti-venom onto his arm.

Marcel's been in somewhat of a mood since Hope Mikaelson drove off into the sunset with her father in her backseat. Tonight he sits at the bar of Rousseau's, a half-empty bottle of bourbon inches from his hand. The bar murmurs with quiet conversation, the ideal backing soundtrack to a low-key evening.

He's just about to pour himself yet another thick-bottomed glass when he senses a presence behind him. "Kinda hoping for a quiet night. Alone."

"Yeah, well, think you're going to want to hear this."

With a sigh, Marcel turns his head to assess Josh. "This better be good."

Josh nods sarcastically. "Yeah, it's great, as long as you consider the entire Mikaelson family just chillin' in their old home a good thing."

Marcel's glass hits the bar so hard a tiny fissure appears.

"Apné sà mene grandis. Apné sà mene grandis. Apné sà mene grandis." Hope's eyes are screwed shut so tightly they hurt, but she throws all of her energy into keeping the boundary spell around the home. She can feel the magic of dozens of witches hammering against it, and the force of their attack is starting to take its toll. She knows how strong she is, knows that the magic within her can easily defeat them, but she is unpracticed, unused to expending so much of her power at once. A headache is sprouting between her eyes, threatening to crack her skull in two, and she starts to stutter in her spell. "Apné...sà mene grandis...Apné sà mene...grandis."

Suddenly, a hand is resting on her shoulder, and Hope starts. She looks up in surprise to see a tall man in a dark suit. The sight of him, awake and upright, is like a sucker punch to her gut. With a small smile, he offers his hand to her, and without question she takes it. Channeling his power, she redoubles her efforts to maintain the boundary spell. "Apné sà mene grandis. Apné sà mene grandis. Apné sà mene grandis." It doesn't take long before Hope stops, shoulders sagging and breath finally coming easy. "It's done," she says quietly. "They're gone. We're safe."

The hand she's still holding gently tugs her to her feet. "I'm impressed with your ability to keep so many of New Orleans's witches at bay."

"Well, I couldn't have done it without your help, Uncle Elijah." Hope's smile is mischievous. She looks past him to the fuller group now standing in the courtyard. Her smile fades a bit as the reality of the situation washes over her.

Sensing her daughter's distress, Hayley walks over, puts an arm around her, and says, "Hope, this is your family. Everyone…this is Hope."

The seventh episode, "The Fine Idea You Crave," is already available on the Tumblr blog peopleandrhythm at this time.