Chapter Nine

"Niklaus?"

His brother's voice drove through him like a stake through the heart causing an agonising pain to shiver through his body; he couldn't bring himself to look at the brother he had once silently admired, acknowledging their presence would mean he would have to acknowledge the pain that they brought him.
Klaus took big strides across the concrete floor reaching Cami first; his eyes ran over her body taking in every aspect of her. His mind was racing at a million miles, the thought that harm could have come to her or Davina disturbed him greatly, he needed to know that they were safe before he dealt with what was occurring.

"Are you alright, love?"

Cami nodded, a small smile gracing her lips as she leaned up and kissed him briefly, the small action to show that she was with him. "I am fine, Klaus. Kol…"

"I'll get to him" He promised capturing her lips in another quick brief kiss, he could hear the gasp of disbelief escape Rebekah's lips though he not give her the satisfaction of turning to speak with her. "Davina" He turned away from Cami and took hold of Davina's arm, gently but firmly tugging her towards him, giving her no option other than to release Rebekah. "Are you alright?"

"No" Davina stared at him stubbornly, her face filled with anger. "I will kill them all if they do not release him"

Klaus couldn't help the tiny smirk that crossed his lips, despite that fact that they were not related by blood they were similar in many aspects. The girl before him would do anything to defend and protect those she loves. "Let me deal with it" He told her sternly, this wasn't a fight that he wanted her mixed within, he already hated that he had not been in the vicinity when his family had arrive, he had left yet he knew that it wasn't a choice, he had been trying to find Kol. Klaus stepped forward and swiped the bullet from mid-air and into his hand, taking the moment to look briefly into Freya's eyes, the sister he barely knew. "Release him"

"Nik, no, he tried to kill Freya, he wants to kill all of us" Rebekah's voice was shaky, for the first time in ten years she was seeing her brother and didn't even want to look at her. She was nervous, she knew he was bound to rage at her and while he had before she knew this would be worse. Not only was this disappointment, this was betrayal.

"Release him" Klaus spoke calmly again, trying to swallow the rage that was slowly building within his stomach.

Freya shook her head, she was not aware of how Klaus had been freed and they would need to discuss it but she would not free Kol until they had decided what they would do with him. He was a danger to the family in this moment. "No"

"RELEASE HIM!" Klaus thundered yet Freya no made no move to allow Kol his freedom so he turned to her fully allowing her to see the fire alight within his eyes something they had not seen since they buried him and then he spoke in a tone that sounded deadly. "You release him, or Kol wanting to kill you will be the least of your worries" He non-directly threatened her.

Freya turned to Elijah who was staring at his younger half-brother, watching him watch their little brother with a look of concern. He had never seen Klaus look at Kol like that before which made him spark with curiosity. "Release him" Elijah confirmed, he knew that his older sister wouldn't hesitate and she didn't.

Kol stumbled forward as the immobilising magic wore off, blinking rapidly to refocus his vision and regain his balance. "What happened…Nik…" He blinked again, trying to focus on the face in front of him.

Klaus nodded, taking a step forward cautiously, he knew that Kol could be volatile at times. "It is me"

"No" Kol took two steps backwards, not allowing Klaus any closer. "This is some kind of mind trick, you are daggered. Freya, stop this, this instant"

"This is no mind trick Kol, I am here" Klaus tried to reassure his brother.

"No" Kol shook his head, refusing to believe what was in front of him, the gun quivering in his head. "A trick, it's a trick, you're buried, I will never find you" He mumbled to himself.

"It's no trick, Kol, I am right here"

Kol stared past him at Freya. "Stop it now. Stop it" He demanded loudly, his voice rumbling, a desperate look crowding his features.

"I am not doing anything" Freya tried to calm him down.

"Kol, Niklaus is here, right in front of you" Elijah tried to reassure his little brother, he had never seen Kol act as though he was in this moment.

Klaus searched through his mind, looking for something he could say to make Kol believe that it was him. He needed Kol to focus on him and no one else, he could see that it was tearing his younger brother up inside to think that he was still buried. "If I was a mind trick belonging to Freya would I know the promise we made when you were eight?"

Kol blinked staring at Klaus as if he was waiting for him to continue. "Well…?"

"I promised you always and forever, to protect, love and trust you baby brother, my life for yours if need be"

"Nik" The disbelief but relief flowing from Kol's mouth.

Klaus had to hold his ground ad Kol hugged him, the gun dropping from his hand onto the floor. "I'm here little brother, right here"

"I thought I would never see you again. They must pay for what they have done"

Klaus pulled away slightly, his hand on Kol's neck, their foreheads pushed together. "You never have to worry about me leaving. However Kol, we do not kill family"

Kol raised his eyebrow clearly not expecting that from Klaus. "They…"

"Never" Klaus leaned down to pick up the gun. "Cami, can you take this and place it upstairs, somewhere safe, love" He held the gun out to her and see took it along with the bullets that Klaus took from Kol.

Kol reached out to grab them; his mission was not complete until he made them pay for making Klaus suffer. "No, give them to me. I am going to kill them…"

Klaus grabbed Kol by the arm, restricting him from grabbing the bullets. "Take them" He reassured Cami who obliged. "Enough!" He spun Kol back towards him. "Enough. I would endure it all again to know that you are safe, that our family is safe. Remember what I told you are a boy, I protect you but it brings an inch of harm your way then you are not to try and protect me"

Davina had inched her way closer to them, unable to handle being able to see Kol yet not touch him. It was different seeing him in his original body instead of the body that she had met him in, however her love for him did not change, it still lingered within her along with the anger she felt toward him for not being around allowing her to believe that he was still dead. "Sorry I can't wait anymore" Davina mumbled when Klaus tilted his head in her direction acknowledging her presence.

Klaus chuckled. "Quiet alright, my little love. Have your reunion, I have family to deal with" He gave his brother a stern look, patting him on the back. "I believe you have some explaining to do brother"

Kol did not acknowledge Davina for a moment, his eyes were on Klaus. "I will not leave you alone with them"

Niklaus cocked his eyebrow, making Kol rethink the words he had spoken. "You do not have a choice. Go, take Davina upstairs. I believe you need to talk"

Davina reached out for Kol's hand but he pulled back. "I am not a child anymore, Nik; you cannot protect me from this. They wished you harm, I am older, stronger and able to help you"

"I do not understand this. You made a pact, the two of you, the two brothers who do not like one another"

Klaus turned to Rebekah out of all his siblings Rebekah and Kol were the youngest, they were the ones he vowed to protect knowing that Elijah could defend himself. After all these years together he had never thought that she would be the one to leave his side, to betray him in such a manner. "I have never disliked Kol, Rebekah. Family is family" He watched as Rebekah turned her head to the side, her face showed a surprised reaction that he had spoken to her but also one of jealously that he was standing by Kol not her.

"Brother, you must be angry, though I beg of you to understand why we…"

"I do not wish to hear your excuses Elijah, you stole my child from me, the greatest treachery this family has ever seen' Klaus rubbed his face with his hand. He wanted nothing more than to enact some kind of revenge but what was there left to do. He could not bring himself to dagger them as they had done to him, he could not take family from them as they were family, he could not kill them. He had nothing left to do.

"We wanted to give Hope her best chance"

"I AM HER FATHER!" He could not contain his shout, looking into Freya's eyes, the sister he barely knew anything of thought that she knew better. "Did it not occur to you that I…her father, might be able to give her that? After a thousand years, how could you doubt what I would tell you?" His words now directed at Elijah and Rebekah. "I have never been anything other than devoted to your safety. Did you assume that I would not feel the same way about Hope's?" the way his daughters name rolled off his tongue felt familiar but there was nothing familiar about it.

"You were never devoted to our safety Nik; it was always about your curse, your hybrid nature. You said it was stolen from you by our mother yet you always failed to clue us in on the how" Rebekah stared at her brothers, they stood side by side. "You were never close to Kol, it was always me and yet even I could not stand by and watch you corrupt your daughter"

Kol launched forward with purpose, slamming Rebekah into the stone pillar behind her with such intensity that a few pieces of stone chipped away, his hand squeezed around her throat. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA! WHEN OUR FATHER, OUR VAMPIRE HUNTING FATHER HAD ME PRESSED UP AGAINST THE WALL IT WAS NIK WHO PLACED HIMSELF BETWEEN US. DO NOT EVER QUESTION HIS DEVOTION TO OUR SAFETY"

"BROTHER!" Elijah blurred over to them, gripping Kol's arm to try and pull him off Rebekah, noticing the rage in Kol's eyes.

Freya raised her hand to immobilise him once again though it was Klaus who made her question herself, he glared at her with a silent warning not to use magic on their brother. "It won't harm him"

"We do not use magic to control our family" He blurred forward, placing a hand on Kol's shoulder, eyes connected to Elijah. "Don't touch him" He watched Elijah's confused expression as he retracted his hand. "Let go, little brother" Klaus spoke softly, he looked at Rebekah, his head tilted as he checked to make sure she was okay, a fleeting look of concern could be seen within his eyes before it disappeared. "Kol, let her go" This time he used his strength to push Kol from Rebekah's body; his sister leaned against the pillar coughing. "Go upstairs, have some blood, wind down" He shoved Kol towards the stairs, much like he had done over the years, his eyes finding Davina who looked stunned by the scene. "Little love, can you make sure he stays put"

Davina surprised the members of the original family when she moved towards Klaus, taking a moment she wrapped her arms around him in a quick hug. "Call if you need" She knew that he would understand that if he needed her to, she would use magic.

Klaus smirked at her protective nature. "Nothing will harm me. Go be with Kol, you make sure you call out if you need" He was a little worried about Kol's anger at the moment.

Davina smiled a little to let him know that she would be fine, and she pulled back. "Make them pay. Would you like me to get Cami to call Marcel?"

"No" Klaus shook his head, Marcel was busy and it was better that he didn't have anyone around to witness the showdown between him and his family. "Leave him, just concentrate on Kol" He gently pushed her towards his brother who was pacing at the bottom of the stairs glaring at his three siblings.

Klaus waited until Davina and Kol had walked upstairs before he turned to his family. He did not know how to approach his siblings, what was there left to say? They had taken his only biological child from him, raised her for over ten years. Anger did not cover the way he felt, he was absolutely furious with them. He would never have considered such a thought it the child had been Elijah or Rebekah's.

"Brother, let us talk rationally…"

Klaus chuckled dryly; Elijah had always been the peacemaker, the brother that claimed to be nobel. It was him that now tried to defuse the situation though he had daggered him without hesitation. "Rationally? You want us to speak rationally about the past TEN years?!"

Freya was the first of the three to take a step forward. "You must understand, Hope was our only concern. Your enemies, we thought they would cease if they thought you were dead"

"THAT WAS NOT WHY YOU DID IT" Klaus words thundered through the room. "A life without me meant freedom; apparently I prevented you from leading your own lives. Yet it was the three of us who vowed always and forever"

Rebekah who was still leaning against the pillar silently, looked towards her older brother that those words. "We seem to not be the only siblings your vowed that too" Rebekah raised her eyebrow at Klaus; he had made a pact with Kol that included more than they had ever told one another. She couldn't help the small spark of jealously that arose within her.

"And yet you daggered Kol as well" Freya spoke; she had been caught up slightly on the family history, in all the parts that Klaus played the evil brother. At one point or another he had daggered them all even Kol.

Klaus spun slightly to face Freya completely. 'You do not know me; do not pretend that you do. I only ever daggered my siblings for their protection. You wanted to live life away from me, Rebekah" He looked back at his little sister. "Yet how was I supposed to ensure your safety if you left. I could not very well spend every waking moment tracking your whereabouts"

"I did not need your protection around the clock; do not pretend that I was all you cared for when it was your curse that really mattered"

Klaus shot forward, standing mere inches from her body shocking her. "It was never all I cared for, little sister, I cared for you. Why do you think it is that I kept you close?"

"Niklaus" Elijah spoke his brother's name, trying to entice the attention away from Rebekah; he did not like the look on Klaus's face and was slightly unsure of what the rage within his brother would cause him to do.

"You never understood. A part of my identity was bound by our mother, I was only looking to make myself whole, I should never have been denied my birth right" All he had ever wanted was to be whole, to be the person his mother had prevented him being since the moment he was born, they had never understood that since they were already whole.

Elijah walked slowly across the floor towards his brother and sister. "You have never explained your hatred towards our parents, yet whatever they did to make you this way made you paranoid that in the end we would inevitably betray you"

Klaus smirked bitterly. "Yet is not paranoia when my fears come to light"

Rebekah stared at the brother that had once loved her dearly, cherished her from a child to the woman she became. "Where do we go from here? What punishment will you inflict upon us, Nik?"

Klaus stared at her, he wanted nothing more than to hurt them for all that they had put him through, he wanted them to feel the agonising pain that he felt knowing his daughter was ten years old and half way to be grown up without him by her side. "That is just it Rebekah, I have no punishment for you" He stepped back seeing the confusion across her face. "I will not dagger you as you did to me, killing you is not an option as that would only be a moment of pleasure which would then we crushed by Hope's shattering disappointment and my last option is to take a family member from you like you did to me, again another useless option" He gestured to three of them. "You see Rebekah, I have no punishment for you yet I cannot forgive you for what you have done"

"Klaus"

Klaus turned to look at Freya. "I say this once, a warning to you. If you ever use magic on Kol in any way other than to protect them, I will kill you. dagger me and I let you live, a rare form of kindness from a monster like myself, but lay a finger on Kol and I'll end your life, family or not"

"You protect them" The notion did not come easy to Freya, from what she understood Kol was not Klaus's favourite sibling.

"Of course, he is my little brother. Yet he is not the only one that applies to. Do not think of going after Camille, and if I hear of you hurting my children, may that be Hope, Marcel or Davina…death will be nothing but a kindness" He threatened them, his voice never raising which made them realise the seriousness of the threat.

"Brother, give us a chance to explain, to make this right"

"YOU CANNOT MAKE THIS RIGHT, ELIJAH. I LOST TEN YEARS WITH HOPE BECAUSE OF YOU. FROM WHAT I CAN GATHER YOU ARE THE FATHER MY DAUGHTER HAS COME TO KNOW. I CANNOT FORGIVE YOU, NOR FORGET" In a fit of rage he blurred across the floor, sinking his teeth into Elijah's neck, the older of the two brothers stunned by the turn of events.

"NIKLAUS!"

"NIK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Klaus pulled back, leaving Elijah holding his neck painfully. "She will always be my daughter, yet I have no doubt that she calls you father…I cannot forgive that Elijah. You believe in morals, you must understand that this kind of treachery cuts me deeper then you believe"

"What have you done?" Freya stepped up beside Elijah, taking a hold of his arm.

Elijah smiled weakly at her. "I'll be fine, I can withstand his bite, it will not kill me"

"What happened to always and forever, Nik?"

Klaus chuckled bitterly. "Always and forever ended the day you took Hope, Rebekah"

/~/~/

Kol paced back and forth across the floor of his bedroom, listening to the conversation that was occurring between his siblings. He wished to be with Nik, standing by his brother's side. Though through the years he had grown accustomed to this way of life, Nik always protecting him from situations. However that hadn't stopped him from trying to leave the room, if it hadn't been for Davina casting a spell to seal the door then he would have been back downstairs within a second.
His siblings knew nothing of what Nik had been through; if they did then they would understand why he was a certain way, why he protected them all so fiercely.

"Kol, sit down"

Kol turned to Davina, he had barely spoken to her since his return but he did not know where to begin, how to apologise for not being with her. He knew it would all be a shock, not only was he alive and standing before her, he was in his original body. She would have questions, she would demand answers but he didn't know what to say to her. "I cannot, if Nik, if he needs me…"

"Then we will hear and we will both go" Davina promised, standing and walking so that she was in front of him. "Why did you hide from me? Why not let me know that you were alive? I thought I failed Kol, I honestly thought that you were dead forever, that my magic as not enough to bring you back"

Kol stared down into her eyes, seeing the hurt floating through them. His head ached at the sight of it; he hated to know that he had hurt her. "All my life Nik has been by my side protecting me from things I did not know I needed protection from. When I was resurrected I immediately searched to find you, not only him but you as well" He reached out to touch the side of her face gently, his fingers running across her skin smoothly. "Yet I heard you, when I heard that Nik was daggered and missing, that they had run off with his daughter it was as though the uncontrollable monster within me took over. He had done nothing but protect me, avenge me and now it was my turn to do the same" He begged for her to understand why he had taken off on the revenge plot against his family.

"Kol…" Davina struggled to find the words.

"I do not expect you to understand, darling, I hoped you would but I understand that you can't after all even I struggle to comprehend my relationship with Nik at times, just know I only speak the truth when I say I never meant to hurt you"

Davina smiled softly, though the pain was still clear in her eyes. "I love him too you know, I suppose I would be dead if not for him"

"Then you'll help me to protect him?"

"Always" Davina leaned up and placed a chase his on his lips. "You have no idea how much I have missed you"

Kol chuckled, his arms wrapping around her waist. "I suppose it would be as much as I have missed you" He kissed her once more. "I am sorry, darling"

"Never be sorry for protecting family, just next time don't run from me, confide in me. I will help wherever I can" Davina placed her head against his chest. "We still need to have an in-depth conversation about this. I am angry Kol, I can't push that aside"

He leaned his cheek against the top of her head. "I know. I know you are"

/~/~/

"Klaus" Cami called out his name softly, watching him storm into their room swiping all the belongings from his desk, her heart reached out to him when she saw the silent tears running down his cheeks. "Oh, Nik" The name rolled off her tongue smoothly as she stood up and blurred over to him.

"Where did it all go wrong? When did I lose everything?"

Cami grabbed him, holding him close as they sunk down to the floor. This was a position she never thought she would be in, to see the original hybrid look so broken. "It is going to be alright"

"It's never been alright" Klaus held her close, not willing to risk the thought of losing anyone else. Normally the thought of being vulnerable in front of people bothered him but Cami was different, she had been the first person he had loved in many years, she was allowed to see his true nature beneath the wall of the protection he had built around himself. "I lost her"

Cami knew exactly whom he was talking about; she pressed her lips against his cheek softly. "You will see her again, together we will bring Hope home" It was a promise, no doubt within her voice. Hope was his daughter and she would come home to New Orleans where she belonged.

"I love you"

The words were spoken in nothing more than a whisper and she took the time to savour them, knowing that he didn't always say them made the words more special when he did. "I love you too" She knew it was the reassurance he had been looking for when he relaxed into her body, the tears that had been rolling down his cheeks when he entered the room were soaking through her shirt and she realised then, in the moment with them both sitting on the floor, him in tears and her trying to fight them that there was more going on in his mind then he wanted to admit.

Thoughts?
Thank-you for the review last chapter, I will get around to replying but I have a busy day ahead and I just wanted to get this posted for you all. I hope you enjoyed it.

Much Love. x