Who else loved Klaroline in The Originals' season premiere?! I promise I won't write all of my thoughts here, but I will say that I loved their scenes together. I loved their husband and wife/king and queen dynamic, I love how well they still know each other and how much they still care for each other, I love how Caroline calls Klaus out on his flimsy excuses… I loved everything, and like Klaus, I turned into a heart eyes emoji the entire time they were together (:
Just a friendly reminder that this story is ignoring the events of season five just as it is ignoring the events of season four(:
Since I promised to let you know, I have (finally!) chosen the Klaroline baby's name.
Thank you so much for your reviews on the last chapter, and thank you very much to every who helped this story achieve the milestones of 50,000 views and 300 followers! I'm so grateful and excited that people actually seem to like my writing, so thank you all so much for reading!
I'm glad everyone understands and even seems to like the explanation for how the villains made it out of The Void, but we aren't quite finished with Void-related drama…
Since some of you have asked (and some of you more than once) we are less than five chapters away from Caroline's confession about Damon, and less than fifteen (seriously?!) away from the introduction of the Klaroline baby, which I'm already worried is not what you're expecting. It's more malicious than just 'a man and a woman fell in love and decided to start a family.' We're also less than ten chapters away from a major character death (which I will warn you about in that chapter's author's note). That's not too specific, is it?
Answers to other questions from reviews: Hope and her magical education is not going to become the focus of this story, and Hope and Caroline will bond, but it won't happen overnight.
Chapter title comes from a song I like, 'Symphony' by Charlotte OC, which was actually used in an episode of The Originals last season.
Happy reading!
No one had been able to convince Klaus not to go to the meeting.
He'd gotten it into his head that meeting with Genevieve as she requested was the best way to proceed. When Caroline and Elijah had tried to find out why Klaus was voluntarily playing by Genevieve's rules, he argued that spending an hour or less in the witch's company was a small price to pay for Caroline's safety and an opportunity to learn more about Esther and Genevieve's plan. Genevieve, Klaus insisted, was the weak link, especially when he was the one pulling on the chain.
Caroline wasn't exactly pleased that Klaus was going to spend time with an ex—well, sure wasn't sure exactly what Genevieve was to Klaus—but she knew that nothing would stop Klaus once he'd made up his mind.
Klaus met all of their worry with a roll of his eyes and insistence that he was the most powerful creature on Earth, so he could most certainly handle a meeting with a witch who he had previously been able to convince to do his bidding. Caroline argued that as the self-proclaimed most powerful creature on Earth, Klaus shouldn't be scared of Genevieve's threats, and therefore had no need to follow along with what she wanted. Klaus had simply replied that she wasn't the most powerful creature on Earth.
Caroline hadn't had the heart to argue with him about that.
Eventually, all of them had stopped arguing with him at all. Caroline and Elijah had been the last to surrender. Rebekah and Kol put up a valiant effort, but quickly realized that their big brother was at least as stubborn as they were and that trying to convince him to change his mind would be futile. Freya had adopted a similar strategy, but capitulated to Klaus's demands to stop challenging him sooner than her younger siblings. Katherine asked if he was sure he wanted to go, and when he said yes, she told him he was being stupid, and that was the end of her argument. Bonnie offered to try to find another way to find out what Genevieve knew, but Klaus refused. Davina and Finn didn't say anything, assuming that Klaus wouldn't consider their opinions at all and not seeing the point in offering them.
Klaus insisted that he would be fine and instructed them all not to worry.
But she did worry about Klaus. He was so busy trying to keep her safe, and keep Hope safe, and keep the twins safe, that she feared an enemy might be able to slip past his defenses because he was so preoccupied worrying about them.
And she worried that Klaus was trying too hard to change to prove himself to her somehow. Caroline loved how romantic Klaus was being, with his grand promises of doing everything he could to make sure she was always safe and happy with him, but she didn't want him to feel like he had to always be the perfect Prince Charming or she would leave. Just because Caroline could see the good in Klaus, the human part of him, didn't mean that she wanted him to strip away the huge part of his identity that was the all-powerful Original Hybrid.
Just because Caroline couldn't forget all of the horrible things Klaus had done, didn't mean that she didn't love him anyway.
{ }
"Do I make you weak?"
Klaus looked at Caroline in the mirror they were sharing, surprised by her question.
"Did Elijah put you up to this?" Klaus asked.
"No, why?" Caroline replied.
"I told him once that love was a vampire's greatest weakness," Klaus answered. "I would not consider it unlike him to force me to eat my words."
"Oh," Caroline responded. "Well, Elijah didn't ask me to ask you that. I was just wondering, because, I mean, you're Klaus Mikaelson, Original Hybrid, but now you're jumping through hoops to try to keep me safe, and I worry that you're trying to change for me and I want you to know that you don't have to."
"Caroline," Klaus turned her so that she was facing him, her back to the mirror. "I was wrong. Love is not a vampire's greatest weakness. It isn't a weakness at all. Loving you has made me stronger than ever, because I have something to fight for. You, and our daughters, and my siblings. Perhaps I have changed, but it isn't because you forced me to. I want to be someone who is good enough to deserve you, someone who the girls can look up to. If that means less bloodshed and more diplomacy, then that's what I'll do."
Caroline felt a proud smile unfurl across her face.
"As long as you're sure that I haven't ruined you, and you wouldn't have bothered with this meeting and would have just killed Genevieve already if it weren't for me," Caroline said. "Now let me go, I have to finish my makeup."
Klaus reluctantly released Caroline, who took a pink blush from the bathroom counter and brushed it over her cheeks.
"You're beautiful without it. And I would have taken the meeting even if she hadn't threatened you," Klaus assured her. "War is a mental game, my love. Manipulating Genevieve into giving away the weaknesses in the plan is far easier than just attacking blindly, and it requires far less strength and resources."
"But what does it require?" Caroline asked, applying a little eyeshadow. "I mean, you wouldn't sleep with her to get information if that's what she wanted, right? Where are you drawing the line?"
"I would never do that to you," Klaus stated, even though her question had been rhetorical and they both already knew what his answer was. "I am not going to touch her. The only thing I am offering her is her life when we inevitably win, if she can prove to me that once again, Esther is the brains behind the operation and Genevieve is just an accomplice."
"Are you nervous?" Caroline asked.
Klaus smiled.
"If I were nervous, then you would be right about me getting soft," he said. "This is just a minor inconvenience compared to what I'm willing to do to keep you safe. Speaking of keeping you safe," Klaus pushed up his sleeve.
Caroline sighed.
"I still can't believe that you're making me do this," she lamented.
Klaus held his wrist up to Caroline's face. She grabbed his hand and placed a kiss on his palm.
"Caroline," Klaus chided.
"Fine, fine," Caroline relented.
She held Klaus's wrist as she sunk her fangs into his skin and drank his blood, just as she had every day since she had been abducted. Klaus's fear that she had been bitten by a werewolf or hybrid and he wouldn't be able to save her in time had clearly affected him more than he had been willing to admit out loud, because he insisted that she drank his blood every day so that she would always have the cure in her system. Caroline could understand where he was coming from: he couldn't preemptively protect her from a stake through the heart, or from her heart getting ripped out of her chest, or from getting kidnapped again, but he could shield her from this one thing. So she let him.
When she finished, Caroline dropped Klaus's wrist and laced her fingers through his, then doing the same with their other hands.
"I love you," Caroline said, leaning up to give him a quick kiss.
"I love you," Klaus replied, leaning in for another kiss.
Caroline let Klaus lead her out of their bathroom, through the bedroom, down the stairs, and into the dining room.
"Are you ready?" Elijah asked.
Klaus nodded.
"I had hoped that you might have reconsidered my idea of having someone observe your meeting, undercover, so to speak, so that you have an ally present if Genevieve decides to try anything," Elijah continued.
This idea of Elijah's was news to Caroline. Elijah had never brought it up when she was present, and Klaus had never mentioned that Elijah had suggested it.
"No," Klaus answered firmly. "We have to comply with her demands this time, just while she could prove useful to us. And the only options we have are Katerina, a newly-turned vampire, and Bonnie, both of whom Esther and Genevieve might have seen while they were sneaking up on Caroline. No, I'm doing this myself."
"Still, I would feel more comfortable if we were able to know what was happening," Elijah said.
"How about you just call us?" Caroline suggested. "When you get there, call one of us and put the phone on speaker so that we can hear what you're both saying. That doesn't break her rules. You have to come alone, but that doesn't mean you can't have reinforcements waiting on standby if something goes wrong."
"That is a very well thought out plan, love," Klaus praised.
"It is a good idea," Elijah agreed.
An hour later, Caroline, Elijah, Rebekah, Freya, Kol, Katherine, and Bonnie were all in the courtyard seeing Klaus off.
"Stay vigilant in case this is just a distraction so that Esther can attack the house while I'm gone," Klaus instructed. "I'll call Caroline when I get there, and I should be back within an hour."
Then he sped away, disappearing around the corner.
{ }
Caroline's phone rang five minutes later.
They were all sitting at the dining room table, except for Davina, who had volunteered to supervise the girls, taking her turn to give them their magic lesson so that Freya could be available to help her brother if needed and Bonnie could find out what Esther and Genevieve knew about the dimension she had created. For the past few weeks, the three adult witches had taken turns helping the young witches with their magic, or they had all worked together so that the girls could have one-on-one assistance if they needed it.
As soon as Klaus's name and contact picture showed up on her screen, Caroline's hand shot out to put the call on speakerphone so that they could all hear.
"Is everyone ready?" Klaus asked quietly.
"Yes," eight different voices answered at slightly different times.
"Good," Klaus replied. "Because Genevieve just arrived."
There was quiet, distorted noise as Klaus pretended to hang up the phone and put it out of Genevieve's sight. Then they heard footsteps as she approached.
Genevieve got so close to Klaus that they could practically hear her breathing through the phone, then they heard a disgruntled sigh as Klaus stepped away from her.
"Genevieve," Klaus greeted tersely.
"You've missed me, haven't you, Nik?" she asked in a voice that was clearly meant to be seductive.
Caroline mimed gagging when she heard it, causing Freya, Kol, and Bonnie to have to cover their mouths to keep from bursting out laughing and giving them away.
"Not at all," Klaus answered. "And don't call me that."
"Straight to business, then?" Genevieve said.
"If you wouldn't mind," Klaus responded smoothly.
"Fine," Genevieve agreed. "We mean you no harm."
Again, various members of the Mikaelson family had to try to restrain themselves from laughing.
Caroline grabbed a notebook and a pen, quickly scribbling, 'Is she serious?' on the first line of a blank page and putting it in the middle of the table so that everyone could read it.
'She's delusional,' Rebekah wrote back.
"Really?" Klaus replied. "Because you and my mother have wreaked all sorts of havoc on my family, which makes it very difficult for me to believe that you truly mean us, or even just me, any harm."
"We needed to get your attention," Genevieve insisted, a pleading tone to her voice. "You wouldn't have taken us and our threats seriously if we hadn't shown you what we're capable of."
"You haven't even made any threats yet," Klaus pointed out. "You have played silly pranks, and you have sent foolishly bold messages that only served to make me angry. Did you really think I would be bothered by a painting changing color or the temperature of my courtyard rising? I wasn't even planning to retaliate against you for that, but then you hurt Caroline, and for that I will make you beg for death."
There was a pause, and Caroline worried that Genevieve had made a silent strike against Klaus. She was relieved when she heard the voice of a waiter taking their orders. If she really was the brilliant Mikaelson strategist that Klaus thought she was, Caroline might have been able to deduce something about how the meeting was going from the fact that Klaus ordered only coffee and pancakes, while Genevieve ordered a full breakfast platter, complete with eggs, hash browns, and bacon. Then again, she already knew that Klaus wasn't planning on staying long.
Once the waiter walked away, Klaus continued speaking.
"I don't know why you asked me to meet you here, and I don't know how you're even alive," Klaus said. "So start talking, now, and if I can tell that you're telling the truth, and you really are just a hapless servant of Esther's, I might just spare your life."
Caroline glanced over at Elijah, who looked slightly impressed and proud at how quickly Klaus had turned the tables on Genevieve and taken control of the meeting. Despite her threats and demands, Genevieve was now the one on defense.
"Fine," she snapped. "Not that it makes any difference if you know how we made it here."
"After the wolf girl you impregnated killed me, I ended up in this… wasteland. It was different than The Other Side. There was no connection to the real world anymore, there was no sense of time passing, there was just nothingness. When I was on The Other Side, I felt like I was a ghost, floating above the sky. I couldn't interact with anyone living, but I could still see what was happening, even if they couldn't see me."
Caroline grabbed the notebook and added everything Genevieve was telling Klaus to their list of everything they knew about The Void.
"Some time later, Esther arrived. It wasn't long before she started working on a plan to escape. I offered her my help, expecting her to remind me that I'd tried to help her with her plan to prevent the abomination from living and failed, but she allowed me to assist her."
"It was a long time before we made any progress. Then all of a sudden there was some sort of disruption in the barrier between where we were and where we are now, almost like a door had opened up in the wall for a moment and then disappeared again, but that was enough to allow Esther and me to break through it when we hadn't been strong enough before."
Caroline smiled and raised her arms in a silent cheer, celebrating that her theory had been correct. Kol bowed mockingly, making everyone want to laugh.
"When we returned to this world, it was a new moon, which we must have unknowingly channeled power from. And the amount of magic we needed to use to get back caused a storm. That wasn't one of our warnings, but I'm sure you and your family found it quite ominous, especially once we did start sending you our messages."
Caroline quickly wrote, 'I remember that. All of the girls were affected. I thought they were just scared of storms and didn't think anything of it.'
'How were they affected?' Freya wrote back.
'Lizzie was terrified and couldn't sleep, Josie had a nightmare, and Hope couldn't stop staring out the window like she was in a trance,' Caroline responded.
"I remember that storm," Klaus replied evenly. "My daughter was quite upset over it."
"Oh, please. If you're going to lie to me, at least try to make it believable," Genevieve scoffed. "There's no way that any daughter of yours would be scared of a little thunder. We already know that you've turned your house into an orphanage, you don't have to hide those other two little girls that are living with you."
Caroline was halfway out of her seat by the time Genevieve finished speaking. The twins weren't safe. She had to get to them.
Rebekah put a reassuring hand on her arm. With the other, she scrawled in the notebook, 'They know about the twins, and they didn't hurt them. They aren't the targets, and even if they were, we can keep them safe.'
"What do you know about them?" Klaus asked evenly, but Caroline recognized his dangerously calm tone as the one he used when he was contemplating murder.
"Relax, Nik, we're not going to hurt them," Genevieve said. "They're just ordinary witches, and they're not hurting us, so we have no reason to hurt them."
"I'm sure that you don't," Klaus answered. "You've told me how you came back here, now tell me why. What is it that you want?"
"We want the same things we've always wanted," Genevieve replied, her voice getting louder, signaling that she was leaning closer to Klaus. "Esther wants the abomination dead, and I want you."
They heard Klaus slam his silverware down on the table. Caroline, Katherine, and Bonnie looked around, alarmed, but the Mikaelsons didn't look particularly surprised by Genevieve's revelation. Caroline remembered Klaus telling her that they had each plotted to kill Hope, whom they felt violated the laws of nature, but it was still startling to hear one of them admit it so plainly.
"What makes you think that you can complete your mission?" Klaus challenged. "Things have changed since you were last alive. There are more of us now, and we are stronger than before. The two of you won't win in a fight against us."
"What makes you think that there are only two of us?" Genevieve countered. "We were easily able to recruit an army of witches, who gladly agreed to help us eliminate a child whose very existence threatens the balance and the future of the entire supernatural world in exchange for a way to return to life."
'I need to find a way to seal off The Void again!' Bonnie wrote.
'We'll figure it out,' Freya returned.
"And I will have no problem sending them all right back where they came from," Klaus replied. "Your army will quickly disperse when threatened. My family will fight to the death for my little girl. I'm sure you saw how we reacted when you took Caroline. Should either of you try to do anything to Hope, you'll find that our response will be just as quick and effective in returning her home safely. And then we will kill you."
A steely resolve washed over them as they listened to Klaus's words. Everyone sitting at that table would fight to the death to protect Hope. They would willingly kill and die if that was what it took to keep her safe. And all of them were family, even those who weren't Mikaelsons by name.
"I don't think either of us believe that you would actually kill us," Genevieve said. "Your mother and your former lover? You couldn't kill me last time, you had to delegate that task to someone else. Someone who didn't love me."
Katherine rolled her eyes and began scribbling frantically in the notebook. After a moment, she showed them all her work: two circles that would have been a Venn diagram if they had overlapped. One circle was labelled, 'People Klaus loves,' and the other was labelled, 'People Klaus doesn't love.' In the first circle, Katherine had written Caroline's, Hope's, Elijah's, Rebekah's, Kol's, and Freya's names. In the other circle, she had written, 'Literally everyone else on the planet.' She'd written, 'Why does she still not understand this?' underneath her drawing, once again forcing everyone to cover their mouths to make sure they didn't start laughing out loud.
Rebekah took the notebook and pen from Katherine and wrote something. Caroline assumed it was a reaction, but when Rebekah passed the notebook back to her, she saw that the other vampire had added Lizzie's and Josie's names to the first circle.
"I have killed my mother several times over the centuries and I have no qualms about doing it again," Klaus corrected. "And you have been marked for death since you abducted Caroline and threatened to kill Hope. I'll kill you both and not lose a minute of sleep over it. You said you wanted me? I will never be yours. I never was. I never loved you and I never will."
'Wow. Harsh.' Katherine mouthed to Caroline as they exchanged surprised looks.
"We were just trying to teach you a lesson," Genevieve cried. "We tried to tell you that we'll take everyone you care about from you until you give us what we want, but you didn't listen."
"I'm here, aren't I?" Klaus shot back. "If I didn't listen to your threats on Caroline's life, I wouldn't have come."
They heard the waiter clear away their plates and leave the bill on the table, so they knew that this meeting would be ending shortly.
"So you take us seriously at least some of the time, that's good," Genevieve replied. "But some of the time won't be enough. I thought that you were a great strategist and a great king, but you can't possibly be if you're willing to sacrifice everything for a child you didn't even want and a newly-turned vampire who's nothing special."
"We're done here," Klaus announced. "Mark my words, the next time I see your face will be the day I kill you. And you can pass that message along to Esther as well. I've had countless enemies over the centuries, and the only thing they had in common was that I was victorious over all of them."
"I wouldn't be so hasty," Genevieve warned. "We could have shoved a stake through poor Caroline's heart just as easily as we snapped her neck, but we didn't, because we don't want to be heartless murderers like you vampires are. We are simply concerned about what we have heard might come to pass if this flagrant violation of the laws of nature continues uncorrected."
"Neither of you will harm Caroline or my daughter," Klaus growled out. "I promise you that you will be unsuccessful in your attempts to hurt Hope. I don't care how powerful you think you are, we are stronger, and this time we will make sure that you end up in Hell where you belong, even if I have to reopen it myself."
They heard Genevieve stand and let out a wistful sigh.
"It didn't have to be this way," she lamented. "We could have been happy together, you and I, without the little werewolf mutant and the baby vampire who's too stupid and too weak to defend herself. But you've made your bed, Niklaus Mikaelson, and now you have to lie in it."
And with that, Genevieve walked away.
{ }
Klaus returned less than five minutes later.
He walked into the dining room, Davina and the girls trailing after him. Klaus and Davina joined everyone already seated at the table, while the girls went over to their kids' table.
"I compiled a list of everything we learned from the meeting," Caroline announced.
"Good," Klaus replied.
"So, our first priority has to be—"
"Our first priority is keeping you and Hope safe," Klaus interrupted. "So you two are on lockdown, at least for the foreseeable future. Neither of you are going anywhere without me and at least one other Original."
Caroline and Hope whined in unison.
"What about Mom?" Hope asked.
"Your mother will understand," Klaus answered. Noticing the questioning looks in response, he amended his statement, "I will explain the situation to her, and she will have no choice but to accept it."
"I understand putting these safety measures in place for Hope, but don't you think it's excessive to have them for me, too?" Caroline asked.
"No, I don't. Why do you think that it is?" Klaus questioned.
"Because Genevieve told you what they want, and it isn't me," Caroline replied. "Yes, they will take me out if I get in their way, same as anyone else. But I'm not the target. Genevieve was just being petty, and Esther wanted to show you what they were capable of. Mission accomplished. You took them seriously enough to attend that meeting, didn't you? I doubt that they'll bother with me again, because compared to Original vampires and Bennett witches, I'm not that important. It's more important to protect Hope, and if you have me under lock and key with an Original bodyguard, that means that there are two vampires who could be guarding Hope, who aren't."
"They threatened your life," Klaus reminded her. "I don't care how important they think you are, I know how important you are to me, and therefore, you need to be protected. End of story."
"Fine, fine. I will submit to house arrest, are you happy?" Caroline sighed.
"Incredibly."
While Caroline was pleased that Klaus took her safety so seriously, she certainly wasn't happy that she would be forbidden to leave the house without guards. And though she knew that Klaus suffered from a thousand years' worth of paranoia, his worry often fed hers. If Klaus Mikaelson, fearless and all-powerful Original Hybrid, was worried about what Esther and Genevieve might do, then she was even more worried.
"Then, now that that's settled, our next priority has to be preventing Esther from helping any other witch accomplices from crossing over from The Void," Elijah said.
"We might also want to try to figure out who those accomplices might be," Kol suggested. "Our battle strategy would need to be considerably different if she brings back, say, the rest of the twins' coven, then if she brings back witches from New Orleans."
"That won't be necessary if we can seal off The Void," Bonnie insisted.
"And I have every confidence that if there is a way to do that, you'll find it," Kol retorted. "But we aren't even sure yet if it is possible. We don't know if we can block certain individuals from returning. We don't know if we'll find a way in time. We don't know if we'll be able to do whatever it is that we need to do, in time. I'm not trying to undermine you, I'm just trying to come up with a backup plan. The Mikaelson way is to have a Plan A, and a Plan B, and all the way through the alphabet."
Kol and Bonnie's rapport over the last few days had made Caroline curious, and even a little suspicious. She knew that they had interacted briefly in Mystic Falls, and that there had been a period of time when they had been on The Other Side together, but they had seemed especially friendly in recent weeks. Since they'd started their research on The Void and how Esther had returned, it seemed as though Kol was always the first one to offer reassurance or praise whenever Bonnie voiced a concern or proposed an idea. She would have to ask her friend what was going on between them, since she also knew from Klaus that Kol was practically obsessed with Davina since they'd met and fallen in love while Kol was possessing a witch named Kaleb. She wondered if Kol had ever had feelings for Bonnie, and if any of those feelings had lingered.
"Okay," Caroline rallied. "We need two teams: one to work on finding a way to remove the connection or pathway or whatever we're calling it between the real world and The Void; and one team to try to figure out who Esther might want to bring back, assess who strong and powerful they are, and start brainstorming strategies to defeat them. Divide yourselves however you want, but Bonnie should be in charge of The Void team."
"And what will you be doing, sweetheart?" Klaus asked.
"My fellow prisoner, Hope, and I will be coming up with ways we can be helpful while we're stuck in the house," Caroline replied. "Come on, ladybug," Caroline invited, holding her arms out to Hope.
Hope crawled into Caroline's lap as Caroline reached for her notebook that they had used earlier.
They had an odd number of people so five of them—Bonnie, Freya, Elijah, Katherine, and Finn—worked on finding a way to seal off The Void, while the other four—Kol, Davina, Rebekah, and Klaus—identified potential enemies that Esther might consider reviving.
The twins played quietly on their own for a few minutes, but soon gravitated towards the adults working at the table. Josie approached Bonnie's group, and was quickly asked for her input based on her own experience with The Void. Lizzie wandered over to the other group, and wanting to give her a task that would make her feel important, Rebekah kindly asked her to arrange the cards for them as they ordered potential enemies according to the threat they posed.
After a while, Josie hopped down from her chair and walked into the kitchen, helping herself to juice box from the refrigerator. The Mikaelsons' kitchen was almost surprisingly child-friendly, thanks to Caroline's influence. The blood bags and alcoholic beverages were stored out of the children's reach, and the cupboards were stocked with healthy foods to suit the limited palettes and nutritional needs of three growing children.
When she sat back down, she managed to pull the straw from the box, but couldn't get it out of its plastic packaging.
"Uncle Finn," she held out the straw and the juice box to him, for no other reason than she needed help and he happened to be sitting next to her.
Finn looked rather surprised at being addressed that way. It had been Rebekah who had first started the trend by instructing the twins to call her Auntie Bex, as she referred to herself, just as Hope did. Other members of the family quickly followed suit, and soon Freya and Kol were known as Aunt Freya and Uncle Kol, who both referred to their younger sister as 'your Aunt Rebekah' when talking to any of the three girls. Elijah had been slower to warm to the idea, though to his credit, he had always answered whenever the twins called him Uncle Elijah. Conversely, though Bonnie had never explicitly instructed her to do so, Hope had started calling her Aunt Bonnie like the twins did almost immediately after the older witch's arrival in New Orleans. And though Katherine had introduced herself to all three girls as Auntie Kat, they had warily called her Katherine at first, until she'd proven that she was staying in New Orleans for good, and Caroline had reassured them of her permanence in their lives.
But Finn avoided them all so thoroughly that this was probably the first time any of the three girls had addressed him since he'd been revived—maybe ever, since Caroline didn't know if Hope had been talking yet when Finn had died.
Finn tentatively took the juice box and straw from Josie, tearing the plastic wrapper off of the straw and pushing it into the juice box for her.
"Thank you!" Josie beamed at him.
"You're welcome," Finn smiled back hesitantly.
{ }
Two hours later, progress had been made, but not much.
Caroline and Hope were fully committed to their plans to operate the phone tree and turn a spare room into a nursing station in case any of the skirmishes between the Mikaelsons and Esther turned violent, but the other groups were less successful.
Lizzie was very proud of her work ordering the cards, but without knowing who Esther would consider her strongest allies, all of their predictions were subjective. They still didn't have any concrete information to go on.
"We know who we would bring back if we were Esther," Rebekah explained. "But we can't say for certain that those are the people that Esther would bring back. She's been known to be unpredictable."
Bonnie's group had been even less productive. They'd brainstormed several possible ideas, but none that they were confident enough in to try.
"I'll need to consult with the spirits," Bonnie said. "They were the ones who told me about The Void in the first place, and helped me create the spell that allows me to access it. I'm sure that sealing off The Void will require their intervention as well."
"I'm sure that once you get an answer from them, you will let us know, and we can all help to do whatever it is that they tell us to do," Elijah replied.
"There's something else that's occurred to me," Bonnie started. "I know that you all know that once I seal off The Void, I can't bring anyone else back. Even after Esther and Genevieve are defeated, if I open up that passageway again later, they can come back again, and we'll have to start the whole vicious cycle all over again."
"Right," Klaus agreed. "We've already brought back everyone we wanted to, so that shouldn't be a problem."
Bonnie shot Klaus a look that hinted at her previous feelings of disdain towards him.
"That means that if Esther manages to kill one of you, or if one of you sacrifices yourself for the others, that person can never come back. And before I do this, you all have be okay with that, or else we just have to try to fight whoever Esther can revive."
Everyone looked around the room at each other. Caroline knew that she personally would be heartbroken and devastated at the prospect of living without any of the people she now thought of as family. Bonnie, Rebekah, Freya, and Katherine were her best friends, practically her sisters; and the twins' beloved aunts. Kol was a great friend and loving uncle to the girls. Though it had taken him a while to warm up to her, Elijah now treated her like a little sister. She didn't know Finn and Davina as well, but she couldn't imagine their family unit without either of them present, plus she knew Josie adored and admired them both. And Klaus was the love of her life. She couldn't—wouldn't—live without him.
"We can't risk it," Caroline insisted immediately. Freya nodded emphatically. Elijah looked thoughtful. After a moment, Rebekah nodded as well. Katherine looked concerned and uncertain. Klaus's face remained impassive. Finn looked confused, and Davina looked threatened. Kol shook his head. Bonnie wore an expectant look on her face, waiting for everyone else to come to a consensus.
"If we allow Esther to bring back more accomplices, there's a greater chance that one of us will end up getting killed," Kol countered.
"But that way, if you died, it would only be until Bonnie could do the spell to send someone to bring you back," Caroline argued. "If The Void is sealed off, you would be dead permanently."
"There's a very simple solution to the problem you're imagining," Kol retorted. "We just won't get killed. We're Originals; we're fairly difficult to kill. Of everyone here, you and Hope are the weakest, and you two are forbidden from leaving the house. You're worried over something that will never happen."
"Kol, stop arguing with Caroline," Klaus ordered. "Your recklessness will get you killed. Caroline is just trying to keep this family intact. I agree with Kol that it would be very difficult for Esther to kill any of us, but we don't know if she has a white oak stake in her possession. We don't know if she's come up with some other way in which we can be killed. I think that Caroline is right to worry. There are too many variables to make as permanent a decision as sealing off The Void without having more information."
"That reminds me," Bonnie cut in. "This might not just affect any future hypothetical deaths."
"How do you mean?" Elijah asked.
"I'm not sure exactly how everyone we brought back from The Void remains anchored to this dimension," Bonnie explained, looking around at Katherine, Finn, and Davina. "The connection between this world and The Void may be what's keeping them here, and closing off The Void may force them all back there."
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Thank you very much for reading!
love,
charlotte