Part 11

Forgiveness

"Where are your manners, brother?" Elijah asked coldly. "We forgot dessert."

Klaus stared at his brother disbelievingly, what… Elijah yanked the cloth off the silver tray, revealing four daggers.

"What have you done?" Klaus gasped.

"No, what have you done?" Elijah replied icily. "I've learned not to trust your vulgar promises, Klaus. We're doing this on my terms now."

Damon Salvatore was smirking arrogantly next to Elijah, but Klaus didn't pay any attention to him. The first one of his siblings entering the room was very angry Kol.

"Long time, brother," Kol stated icily.

"Kol…" Klaus muttered and took a step back, but no more than a second later Finn was standing in front of him.

"Finn…"

His big brother's eyes were flaming in rage when he grabbed one of the daggers and stabbed Klaus in the arm. Klaus barely managed to turn around when Rebekah appeared in front of him, she stabbed him in the stomach.

"This is for our mother," she hissed and shoved Klaus backwards. Kol was standing behind him; he sank a dagger into Klaus' throat, making him to gasp.

"This is for Katla and me," he stated, his tone of voice held no emotion.

Klaus was still gasping when he pulled the dagger out, his siblings had formed a circle around him, they were all glaring at him.

"You're free to go," Elijah said, it took a moment before Klaus realized who he was talking to. "This is family business."

The Salvatore brothers didn't need to be told twice; they headed immediately towards the door and ran into Katla. She glanced at them briefly and walked past them. Her eyes scanned the room before she met Klaus' gaze.

"Katla…" he muttered.

Very slowly she approached him; Kol smirked and offered her a dagger. She didn't take it; she just stepped in front of Klaus. For a moment they simply looked at each other without saying a word. The look in her eyes was just as calm as usual, but Klaus could see how hurt she was. That made him to turn his eyes away.

"Go ahead, sister," he muttered. She probably wanted to break his neck again and he had no intention to stop her. This one he deserved. She shook her head and leaned closer.

"Shame on you, brother," she stated and took a step back.

That had been worse than having his neck broken. Klaus didn't say anything when she hugged Kol and kissed his cheek. Then Rebekah, Elijah and finally Finn.

"I've missed you, brother," she said warmly. Finn smiled too and touched her cheek.

"Little Katla… How long has it been?"

"900 years, brother."

Finn's eyes widened.

"What? I was daggered for 900 years?"

His eyes were flaming in rage again when he looked at Klaus.

"You…"

"I didn't dagger you," Klaus snorted. "The hunters did."

"You left me daggered," Finn snapped. "Why?"

"Because you couldn't be trusted," Klaus replied. "You and your constant self-loathing and judgmental attitude, you were worse than Elijah."

Finn gave Klaus a murderous glare.

"Did I deserve to be daggered for almost a millennium because I was not a sadistic monster like you?"

"Times have changed, brother," Elijah cut in. "We no longer need to take lives in order to feed."

Kol rolled his eyes and took Katla's hand, leading her to the table when Elijah zoomed towards the kitchen.

"Are you hungry, sister?" Kol murmured and tucked a stray hair behind her ear before sitting at the table.

She nodded and sat onto his lap, leaning her head against his shoulder. She looked pale and weak; Kol wrapped an arm around her. Elijah returned soon with few blood bags, he handed four of them to Finn and explained that blood could be stored these days. Finn didn't hesitate, clearly he was starving. Kol turned up his nose when Elijah offered him a blood bag.

"You are kidding, right?" he snorted contemptuously. "If you think for a second that I would…"

"You are hungry, brother," Katla stated and took the blood bag from Elijah. "I will do it for both of us."

She observed the bag curiously and carefully punctured holes in it. Kol's eyebrows furrowed when he looked at her feeding, she didn't waste any time.

"How is it?"

"Cold," she replied after she was finished. "I made it warm for you."

He smiled when she handed him her wrist.

"Drink, brother, you need your strength."

Gently he took her wrist and drank. Katla smiled at him and suddenly she started to giggle.

"You're tickling me."

He grinned and continued drinking. Rebekah had been very quiet; she walked carelessly around the room.

"I like what you've done with the place, Nik," she hummed and picked up a vase. Her eyes darkened when she threw it against the wall.

"I wanted this to be for all of us," Klaus muttered. "A place we could call home, a place we could be a family."

"We are a family," Rebekah replied icily and moved between Elijah and Finn who had just finished his forth blood bag. "The five of us."

She glanced at Kol and Katla. Neither of them said anything, Kol had finished feeding and he was glaring at Klaus while Katla observed all her siblings calmly.

"We're leaving you behind, Nik," Rebekah stated. "That's all you deserve. And before we leave, I'm going to kill that backstabbing doppelganger bitch of yours"

"I'll help you, Bekah," Kol said smirking. "I'm itching to kill something and a doppelganger sounds good."

"You made a mess, brother," Katla scolded and wiped the blood off his face with her thumb. She didn't pay any attention to the tension in the room.

Klaus clenched his fists and glared at his siblings.

"If you run, I'll hunt all of you down," he threatened.

"Then you'll become everything you hate," Elijah replied coolly. "Our father."

Being compared to Mikael was the last straw; Klaus had no intention to tolerate this. They were his family; they had no right to abandon him.

"I'm the hybrid!" he shouted. "I can't be killed!" He paused and snorted contemptuously. "I have nothing to fear from any of you."

"You will when we have that coffin," Elijah stated.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Klaus hissed through clenched teeth. "I'm warning you all…"

"Brother," Katla's calm voice said, she stood up and touched Kol's shoulder before turning to look at Klaus. He didn't say anything when she walked over to him; he flinched when she cupped his face.

"Forgiveness is a gift," she stated. "It can't be taken by force."

He swallowed and looked at her.

"Will you forgive me, sister?"

She nodded.

"I will forgive what you did to me, but I can't yet forgive what you did to Kol, Rebekah, Finn and Elijah. I heard your painful whispers in the dark and I wanted to carry your burden with you, but I wish you will learn to understand that you're not the only one carrying a burden."

Klaus stared at her disbelievingly, she couldn't mean what he thought she did. She couldn't have heard what he had spoken to her when she had been daggered. For some reason he had spoken to her quite often. Why, he really didn't know. Perhaps he had hoped for some kind of redemption, as ridiculous as that sounded.

"Katla…"

He didn't have time to continue when the door opened. Klaus gasped in shock when he saw the woman standing in the doorway. His siblings were just as shocked, except Katla, she simply observed the woman.

"Mother," Rebekah gasped.

There was no expression on Esther's face, she walked straight to Klaus. He was too shocked to speak; all he could do was bowing his head. His mother had come to kill him, he was sure of it. He had killed her all those years ago. She was standing right in front of him, but he couldn't move.

"Look at me," she ordered harshly.

No, he couldn't do that. Suddenly he felt Katla's hand touching his; he hadn't even realized that she was standing next to him. Instinctively he squished her hand and somehow managed to look up.

"Do you know why I'm here?" his mother asked.

"You're here to kill me," he muttered.

She looked at him for a brief moment before replying.

"Niklaus, you are my son and I am here to forgive you."

She looked at all her children and smiled.

"My handsome sons and my beautiful daughters… I want us to be a family again."