Hello lovely readers!

I am so sorry for the long wait for this chapter, but since this chapter is the climax of the story, I really needed to take my time to try to get it as perfect as possible. Of course, since I'm only human, it will never be perfect, but I tried, so here you go. I hope this chapter is worth the wait!

Thank you for all of your reviews on the last chapter! I'm so thrilled to see readers so excited to see what happens next in the story! Your eagerness and excitement to read the next chapter really helps motivate me to write and share the next chapter with you as soon as I can!

As promised, this chapter is the long-awaited final confrontation between the Mikaelsons and Esther. Then we have one more chapter to wrap up the story, then an epilogue, then that's the end of Sanctuary in Their Hearts! Thank you all so much for reading; I've really loved writing this story and I hope you've enjoyed it as well!

This chapter is divided into more sections than most other chapters, but the individual sections are shorter, because I needed to switch perspectives more often. The point of view alternates between Klaus and Caroline, though hopefully that's clear enough as you read.

Also, I feel like I should warn you, there's some violence in this chapter. It isn't anything worse than what's on the show, but it's a little… macabre, I guess you could say. You'll know what I'm talking about when you get there, but as usual, I wouldn't include it if I didn't think it was necessary, and that particular scene is very much in character for Klaus.

One last thing, I promise: I apologize for the truly horrible pun I make in this chapter. I even have the poor character I force to say the horrible pun apologize for the pun. You all deserve trophies for tolerating my sense of humor this long/:

Chapter title comes from Harry Styles' song "Sign of the Times."

Caroline set Hope down on the ground, keeping a hold of her hand. When Hope looked up at her, Caroline put her finger to her lips, signaling that she needed to be quiet.

Hope nodded solemnly, her blue eyes wide. She was scared. Even though Klaus had arrived, Hope was still scared. To be honest, Caroline was scared too, but she had to put on a brave face for Hope, at least until Klaus found them.

Caroline pulled Hope in the direction that Klaus's voice had come from. Her plan was very simple: get the twins to siphon off the linking spell on Hope before Klaus killed Esther. The simplicity of the plan wouldn't make it any easier to accomplish, since she didn't know if the twins were even there, or where 'there' even was, or if it was close enough to be able to bring Hope home in time.

She felt horrible for plotting to use two of her children to save another, but the twins did have powers that no one else had, and Caroline knew that they would gladly use them to save their sister. Even after multiple occasions of watching Lizzie and Josie working with the Originals on magic that witches five times their age couldn't attempt, Caroline still couldn't imagine ever getting used to her three-year-old daughters being the ones to save the Original family.

As they moved along the wall, someone grabbed Caroline's free hand, and she had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming.

"Come on, Care," Katherine whispered in her ear. "Let's get you two out of here."

"Wait, Kat, are the twins here?" Caroline asked.

"No, they're at home," Katherine answered, looking uncertain as to why Caroline wanted to know. "That's why it took us so long to get here, we had to wait for Aiden and Eva to show up to babysit them. If it were up to Hayley, we would have abandoned the twins and run over here the second Bonnie finished the locator spell, but Klaus insisted on waiting until there was someone there to take care of them. Why do you ask?"

Caroline smiled at the thought of Klaus taking the time to guarantee the twins' safety, rather than risking their safety by bringing them here to help rescue her and Hope, or leaving them to fend for themselves at home. She knew that Klaus loved them, but he'd proven it when he'd refused to prioritize Hope over Lizzie and Josie, instead doing everything he could to keep all three of them safe.

"Esther did a linking spell between herself and Hope," Caroline explained. "I thought that the fastest way to get rid of it would be to have the twins siphon it off of her."

Katherine sighed and moved to run her hand through her hair, before realizing that her hair was in ponytail. Glancing at Katherine, Caroline saw that in addition to her uncharacteristically messy hairstyle, she was also wearing a decidedly un-Katherine-like outfit of a plain black long-sleeved shirt and black skinny jeans. The only hint of Katherine's typical dramatic style was the thigh-high, black leather stiletto boots she was wearing. Caroline knew that Katherine was more graceful in stilettos than most people were in sneakers, but the fact that she'd traded in her shiny blouses and skintight leather pants for the duration of this mission showed just how seriously all of the Mikaelsons were taking Esther's threats.

Davina stepped forward from behind Katherine. Davina was dressed similarly to Katherine, except her shirt was eggplant and her ankle boots were flat. Caroline couldn't remember seeing Davina wearing such a dark color, or even wearing her hair up.

"I can sever the link between them," Davina offered. "It will take me longer than it would take the twins, but I can do it. You need to go make sure that Klaus doesn't injure Esther until after I'm finished."

Katherine shot a questioning look at Caroline.

"Go," Caroline encouraged. "I need to stay here. The more time before Esther realizes that Hope and I were able to get ourselves free, the more time Davina has to work on undoing this spell without interruptions."

Katherine nodded and ran off.

Davina took Hope's hands, closed her eyes, and started chanting.

{ }

Katherine silently slipped in between Bonnie and Vincent.

"Esther linked her life to Hope's," she whispered so quietly that only the vampires could hear. "Davina is undoing the spell now, but we have to stall until she's finished working, or any way we hurt Esther will also hurt Hope."

Klaus showed no outward sign of hearing Katherine's statement, but inwardly he was already concocting a plan to get Esther talking long enough for Davina to finish severing the link between Esther and Hope.

He could only assume that if Caroline or Hope had been hurt, Katherine would have mentioned it. Which meant that he had been correct, and that Esther hadn't wanted to hurt them until he was there to suffer along with them.

As relieved as Klaus was that Caroline and Hope were, for now at least, unharmed, he still needed to find out for certain what Esther had done, and ensure that the linking spell on Hope was removed so that his mother couldn't hide behind his daughter for protection.

"I believe I asked you a question," Klaus said evenly. "What game are you playing here, Esther?"

Esther never could turn down an opportunity to gloat. It was an affliction that Klaus suffered from himself.

"No games, my son," Esther replied. "I am merely making you an offer you can't refuse."

Klaus rolled his eyes.

"I can and will refuse any offer that comes from you," Klaus declared.

Esther chuckled.

"You say that now, but you don't even know what I'm offering yet," she said.

"But I know that you would never offer me anything out of the goodness of your heart," Klaus responded. "There are always strings attached, and there is nothing you could offer me that would be worth getting tied up in whatever tangled web you're trying to weave."

"How harshly you judge me," Esther remarked. "When it is you who has killed his own parents, who has a thousand years' worth of blood on his hands. All I mean to do is make amends for the crimes against nature that I committed all those centuries ago when I turned my children into immortal monsters."

Klaus couldn't wait to be rid of Esther, to finally send her back into The Void where she belonged. Her hypocrisy truly knew no bounds: she had kidnapped two innocent people, one of them a child, yet still seemed to see herself as moral and righteous. She claimed to be offering him some sort of agreement, yet Klaus knew better than to take Esther at her word, since she had no qualms with breaking her word if it suited her.

"You were trying to save our lives!" Klaus exclaimed. "That was your decision, and you have to take responsibility for it! It wasn't an accident, and it wasn't a mistake, it was a choice that you made, and the last good choice you ever made in your children's interests. Now you're just a hypocrite who couldn't care less about violating the rules of nature when you made us vampires, and only started caring once we didn't meet your exact expectations of what we would be like as vampires."

"I don't call that hypocrisy, I call that seeing the error of my ways," Esther insisted.

"Is that how you justify wanting to kill your own children and only grandchild?" Klaus asked. "How is murder any more moral than drinking blood for survival?"

"Killing a villain doesn't make you a villain, it makes you a hero," Esther deflected with a smile.

"You are so twisted, you really do see yourself as a hero and all of us as villains, don't you?" Klaus questioned.

Someone coughed discretely from behind him. Klaus knew that he was supposed to be keeping Esther talking to buy Davina time to finish the spell she needed to perform, but he was growing increasingly angry with Esther's delusional excuses. Plus, she wasn't giving him much to work with in her answers. She just kept repeating her strange justifications for her actions.

"Morality may be a million shades of grey for vampires, but for witches, it's black and white," Esther said.

"I think the lines are getting a little blurry for you, what with the kidnapping and murder you're planning," Klaus remarked.

Esther laughed.

"You have no idea what I'm planning, and since you haven't even asked, I can tell that you're stalling, for whatever reason. Let's check in on my victims, shall we?"

{ }

"They're coming!" Caroline whispered urgently.

Davina started murmuring faster, speaking so quietly that even Caroline could barely make out what she was saying.

"Hurry!"

Seconds later, Davina stopped chanting, and Hope collapsed.

Caroline grabbed Hope and held her against her chest.

"What just happened to her? Is she okay?" Caroline asked.

"It worked," Davina sighed in relief. "She's fine. The spell didn't hurt her. She's just a little weak right now because the spell connected her to Esther's magic, and severing the link disconnected her from all of that power."

Caroline had clearly been around witches too long, because that explanation made perfect sense to her.

"How long will it take for her to regain her strength and be back to normal?" Caroline asked.

"I'm not sure," Davina answered. "She's so small that it might take a while, but she's so powerful that it could only take a few minutes. And her werewolf half is another variable that might impact her ability to defend against and recover from magic used against her, but I can't be certain how."

Of course Hope was the exception to the rule. She was the exception to every rule, the only one of her kind. Considering everything she knew about werewolves, Caroline recalled that werewolves had enhanced healing abilities that allowed them to recover from injury quickly, but only after they triggered their curse. Until they did, untriggered werewolves were just like ordinary, albeit angry, humans.

When she relayed the information to Davina, the witch shrugged.

"But it's Hope, so you never know," she said.

Caroline looked down at Hope, who was stirring in her arms. She'd only been out of it for a few minutes, but the sudden loss of power had still left her momentarily disabled.

Hope's reaction to the spell had given Caroline an idea, but they would have to act fast if they wanted to take advantage of it.

"Would the same thing happen to Esther?" Caroline asked.

Davina smiled, her eyes wide.

"I don't see why not."

{ }

"What just happened?" Esther demanded, stopping in her tracks.

"What are you talking about?" Klaus asked, but before Esther could explain, she stumbled, falling to her knees.

It was less than a minute before Esther recovered.

She quickly stood, taking a deep breath and smoothing her hair, then continued walking as if nothing had happened.

She stopped abruptly in front of two circles made of candles, each with a wooden chair placed in the middle. One of the chairs was still intact, but the other had had its arms pulled off. There were ropes thrown haphazardly on the ground in each circle, dangerously close to the flames of the lit candles of one of the circles.

"How could you allow this to happen?" Esther demanded of her accomplices, hovering behind the Mikaelsons. "How could you allow them to break free?"

Klaus sighed in relief. Caroline had found a way for herself and Hope to escape from Esther's clutches.

But he still didn't know where they were. He hadn't seen them, either outside the warehouse or in it. Esther's reaction told him that she didn't know where they were either.

Which meant only one thing: they had to find Caroline and Hope before Esther could.

Klaus turned to look at his siblings, ready to give the order to split up and find them as soon as possible.

Klaus strained his vampire hearing to try to find them. After a moment, he heard the door open and then Caroline let out a surprised gasp.

{ }

"Come on, you two have to get out of here now," Davina insisted.

She led them towards the door of the warehouse, being careful to stay close to the wall and out of Esther's sight.

Davina pushed open the door and stepped through it to hold the door open for Caroline and Hope.

Caroline frantically looked around, on the lookout for Esther and hoping the witch wouldn't be able to stop them from leaving in time. She didn't see her, but as she tried to make her way out of the warehouse, she collided with an invisible barrier covering the doorway.

She gasped in surprise.

"What just happened? How come you could get through the door but I couldn't?" Caroline asked.

"She must have put up a boundary spell," Davina replied. "The spell can be anchored with a person's blood, attaching the spell to that person so that it only applies to them."

Caroline set Hope down, and the little girl immediately followed after Davina.

And collided with the same invisible barrier than Caroline had.

Caroline wasn't surprised that Hope was affected by the spell, since she'd seen the bandage on her hand from where Esther had taken her blood, but she didn't remember Esther taking her blood. Esther must have taken her blood before she'd woken up after getting her neck snapped, and her vampire healing had already eliminated any evidence, so she couldn't have known.

"So, Hope and I are both stuck in here," Caroline lamented. "Can you take down the boundary?"

"I can try," Davina offered. "Although, honestly, Klaus will have probably killed Esther before I could finish. Esther dying would definitely remove the spell, and my energies might be better spent helping him with that."

Caroline thought over what Davina had proposed. She would never leave the warehouse with everyone else still inside fighting Esther. Like Davina, she would rather fight with her family then abandon them to keep herself safe.

But it wasn't just her. Caroline didn't want Hope trapped there for another second, and she couldn't risk anything happening to the baby.

Who no one except her and Hope knew about.

While they were in the middle of a supernatural battle of epic proportions was not the ideal time for a pregnancy announcement. As protective as Klaus was over her, Caroline anticipated that she would essentially be on bed rest for her entire pregnancy. She couldn't be of any help to her family if Klaus was doing all he could to insist that she relax and keep herself and the baby out of harm's way.

So she had to keep quiet for now, and be very careful to make sure they didn't get hurt. From what Esther had told her, the witch was counting on Caroline and the baby making it out of the warehouse safe and alive, so she assumed that the worst thing Esther would do to her would be to snap her neck and leave her unconscious for the remainder of the fight.

Caroline heard almost two dozen sets of footsteps approaching, and pushed Hope behind her.

Davina shot Caroline a confused look.

"They're coming," Caroline explained.

{ }

Caroline and Davina were standing next to the door of the warehouse.

"I see you've found my insurance policy," Esther called out.

Caroline and Davina turned to see everyone approach them. When they did, Klaus was able to see Hope peeking out from behind Caroline's legs.

His eyes passed quickly over Davina, then examined Hope in search of any sign of injury.

But once he met Caroline's eyes, he saw no one else in the room.

"Caroline," Klaus breathed, rushing forward and gathering her into his arms.

She was trembling slightly, still wearing the pink dress and high-heeled shoes she'd worn to the party, with her hair messy and her makeup smudged, but she was still the most beautiful thing that Klaus had ever seen. She was alive and unharmed, and her hands were clutching his shirt like her life depended on it.

"Did she hurt you? Are you hurt?" Klaus asked, stroking her back with one hand and gently nudging her to lay her head on his shoulder with the other.

"I'm fine," Caroline replied. "We're fine," she corrected herself, reaching down to wrap her arm around Hope's shoulders.

Klaus let out a sigh of relief. He savored the feeling of her safe in his arms, her warm breath against his neck and the sweet scent of the perfume he'd gifted her earlier filling his senses. Nothing was more important than Caroline, and Hope, who Klaus could now see with his own eyes were not hurt.

Klaus looked down at Hope, hiding behind Caroline in her little purple and green dress, clearly still scared after the ordeal they had been through that night. He wouldn't have said anything, but Klaus was pleased that Hope had turned to Caroline for comfort, and that she trusted Caroline to keep her safe from Esther. Even after the rest of her family had arrived, including both of her parents, Hope still clung to Caroline rather than seeking out Klaus or Hayley.

"I love you, so much, and I'm so sorry that this happened to you, it's all my fault," Klaus whispered in Caroline's ear.

"What do you mean, 'insurance policy?'" Elijah asked.

Until Elijah had spoken, Klaus had scarcely even remembered that there were other people there other than Caroline and Hope. He had been so relieved that Esther hadn't hurt Caroline or Hope that he had almost lost sight of Esther's continued threat. He was just lucky that Esther hadn't tried anything while he'd been distracted.

"Caroline and Hope can't leave this place, there's a boundary spell," Davina explained.

"A little thing like a boundary spell isn't going to stop us," Kol taunted. "It's not as if we don't have four witches, and a baby witch."

Esther laughed.

"A baby witch?" she questioned. "She isn't even the baby of the family anymore, now is she?"

{ }

Caroline's eyes widened in horror.

Another reason to keep her pregnancy a secret from Klaus until after they defeated Esther was to keep Esther from using the baby to manipulate him. He couldn't be hurt by something he didn't know about. But if Esther told him, not only would he be upset with her for not telling him herself, but he would fall right into Esther's trap, sacrificing anything to protect Caroline and the baby and losing sight of his goal of eliminating Esther.

"You look frightened, dear," Esther commented with a smile. "Not to worry, you know I mean you no harm."

Caroline heard multiple people scoff in disbelief at Esther's claim.

She had heard their footsteps earlier, so she knew about how many of the Mikaelsons had shown up to rescue her and Hope, but she hadn't seen who had come. She'd seen Katherine and Davina, she'd heard Klaus, and she'd assumed that the rest of the Mikaelsons, and probably Marcel and Vincent, were there, but once Klaus had gathered her in his arms, he was all that she could see.

If she had wondered why it was Eva and Aiden who had been left behind to babysit the twins before, she didn't anymore. Everyone was standing in the warehouse: Klaus and his siblings; Katherine, Bonnie, and Davina; Marcel, Vincent, and Josh; Hayley and Jackson.

She also saw Esther and her six assistants, including the young woman who had lured her away from the party, who she hadn't seen earlier. Caroline hadn't known exactly how many accomplices Esther had helping her, but now she was certain that the Mikaelsons outnumbered them twofold.

"I'm going to keep you safe," Klaus murmured into Caroline's hair. "I won't let her hurt you."

Caroline wanted, with all her heart, to believe him. She knew that Klaus would do anything to keep her safe, but she also knew how powerful Esther was. As much as she appreciated Klaus's promise to keep her safe, she didn't know for certain that he would be able to keep it.

"Hope," Hayley called out softly. "Come here, baby girl. Mommy's here."

Hope timidly lifted her head out from behind Caroline's legs to look up at Hayley.

Esther laughed again, her cold eyes darting from Hope to Hayley, then to Caroline. Caroline knew that Esther was thinking of what she had said earlier, when she'd scolded Caroline for not willingly sacrificing Hope to save her own baby, just because Hayley was Hope's mother.

Contrary to what Esther thought, she had never deluded herself into thinking that Hope was her daughter. Her relationship with Klaus, her daughters' relationship with Hope, didn't change biology. She knew that Hope was Hayley's. But that didn't mean that she didn't love Hope, or that she wouldn't do whatever it took to protect her.

Caroline reluctantly let go of Hope. She would be safer with Hayley, who Esther seemed to have no animosity towards, than with Caroline, who Esther had threatened to kill if Klaus chose to save Hope instead.

Having both of Esther's targets standing right next to each other seemed like a recipe for disaster. They were lucky that Esther hadn't tried anything yet.

"Mom!" Hope cried, running towards Hayley.

And that was when all hell broke loose.

{ }

Hayley reached out her arms for Hope to run into.

When Hope moved, Marcel and Rebekah subtly shifted to try to shield her from Esther's sight.

Which Esther interpreted as them getting ready to launch an attack against her.

In response, Esther raised her hands and sent a spell flying towards them.

Nothing happened, because Marcel and Rebekah both had protective spells covering them, thanks to Freya.

"How is that…?" Esther trailed off.

Hayley picked up Hope and turned so that she was between Esther and Hope.

Esther started chanting again, performing what quickly became clear was a summoning spell, causing Caroline and Hope, the only two not protected against such spells, to go flying across the room, along with Esther's minions.

"No!" Hayley yelled as Hope was pulled out of her arms.

After doing the spell, Esther didn't move, so Klaus quickly concluded that she hadn't targeted Caroline and Hope, she'd done the spell on the entire group to see which of them were protected by protective spells. She must have already known that Caroline and Hope weren't, as well as her minions, but now she knew that Freya had performed protective spells on the rest of the family.

Freya took it upon herself to perform another summoning spell, pulling Caroline and Hope back towards them.

Klaus reached out for Caroline just as Hayley did for Hope. Caroline fell willingly into his arms, relaxing slightly when she saw Hope perched on Hayley's hip with her arms wrapped tightly around her mother's neck.

Klaus, too, felt a modicum of reassurance seeing Hope with Hayley. He felt guilty and personally responsible for both Caroline and Hope being present, but he knew that Hayley was tough and fiercely protective, and she would do anything to keep Hope safe.

"That was not fun," Caroline stated. "I don't recommend the flying thing that we just did. I thought that flying would be fun, but no, it wasn't."

"Sorry," Freya apologized.

"You don't need to apologize, desperate times call for desperate measures," Caroline replied.

By that time, Esther's assistants had made their way back across the warehouse and stood behind Esther.

They clearly didn't know what to do, since most of their opponents were untouchable, at least with magic, and without magic, the witches stood no chance against them. They were also clearly more afraid of the Mikaelsons than the Mikaelsons were of them. A quick glance told Klaus that no one recognized any of the six of them, except Caroline, who pointed out the witch who had lured her out of the party, and the witches who had brought Hope into the warehouse. Klaus fixed the ones Caroline identified with a particularly murderous glare, and while they looked threatened, they did nothing to retaliate.

So for several minutes, they all just stood still, unsure of what to do.

Then Klaus nodded.

Rebekah, Kol, and Marcel sped forward and rapidly snapped the necks of each of Esther's accomplices, then yanked out their hearts as well, for good measure.

"No!" Esther yelled, seeing the bodies lying on the ground.

"How can you not see why I call you abominations?" Esther continued. "You just killed six people who can't even hurt you."

Klaus sighed.

"Are we really having this argument again?" he asked sarcastically. "Those six people kidnapped Caroline and Hope, and would hurt them again on your orders. You are fighting to protect what's important to you, which is your hypocritical self-righteousness, and we're fighting to protect what's important to us, which is our family."

Esther gave him a wicked smile.

"I don't need their help to succeed," she insisted. "I can destroy you all by myself."

And then she aimed a spell directly at Hope.

{ }

It was complete and utter chaos.

Everything was a blur of light and sound, and Caroline couldn't see or hear anyone or anything clearly.

Hayley screamed and moved out of the way as Esther tried to attack Hope.

The spell didn't reach Hope, but the damage was already done. Once Esther cast the spell, the battle had begun.

All of the other witches sent their own spells directly towards Esther. She dodged and evaded as best she could, but defending herself against four powerful witches in an enclosed space was proving to be a challenge, even for Esther.

Caroline wasn't surprised to learn that, as usual, it seemed that the witches were the only noteworthy participants in this conflict, with the vampires and hybrids just trying to stay out of the witches' way.

Supernatural speed and strength wasn't very important when you were fighting against someone who could set you on fire with a flick of the wrist.

Esther kept throwing spells at all of them, trying to find one that was able to penetrate their magic shields.

Caroline didn't know what the plan was, but she could tell from the spells the witches were using that there was a plan.

The spells they were using were relatively harmless. They caused Esther to levitate for a moment, they set the ground in front of her on fire at random—though never close enough to her to do any harm, they sent her own spells back towards her, they even conjured a rain cloud to hover over Esther's head.

They weren't trying to kill Esther.

If they'd wanted to, any of them could have easily used their magic to snap Esther's neck or pull out her heart.

Which meant that someone had asked them not to kill Esther, because they wanted to do the honors themselves.

Caroline only needed one guess to figure out who that was.

She tried to find Klaus in the melee, but he'd led her into a corner and ordered her to stay hidden when the first spells started flying. From her vantage point, she could see all of the action, but she was far enough away that no one could see her in the midst of all of the commotion.

Which was good, Caroline admitted as she rested her hand on her stomach, for once accepting Klaus's overprotective tendencies without complaint. It kept her and the baby safe, without having to tell anyone about the baby yet.

As soon as they got home, she would tell everyone about the baby, starting with Klaus. She just wanted them all to be safe before she shared shocking news like that, and she wanted Esther to be defeated, so that Klaus would only ever see this baby as a miracle, not as a trap.

She couldn't see Hope, but she knew that Hayley had hidden her somewhere else in the warehouse, having seen her dodge enemy fire before Elijah and Marcel were able to distract Esther so that she could sneak away.

At the moment, the only vampires she could see were Rebekah, Josh, Marcel, and Kol. Everyone else was somewhere in the haze of smoke and sparks and everything else that they were using to try to distract, weaken, and tire Esther.

And it seemed to be working. After some time, though Caroline wasn't sure how long, Esther did start to appear disoriented. Fighting so many people on her own had forced her to use a lot of power in a short period of time, while her opponents hadn't tired at all, since none of her spells had any effect on them.

"Now!" Klaus yelled, and they sprang into action.

Bonnie found salt among Esther's supplies and used it to form a barrier for a boundary spell.

Freya put a protection spell on the boundary, ensuring that no magic could penetrate it, from the inside or the outside.

Davina performed a spell that immobilized Esther.

Vincent's spell pushed Esther inside the boundary, leaving her unable to move and unable to escape.

{ }

This was it.

The end of Esther's master plan to rid the world of the abominations she had created and now hated.

The woman who had practically singlehandedly invented dark magic was now rendered powerless by the spells cast by witches almost as powerful as she was. Esther might have been powerful, but she was no match for Freya, Bonnie, Davina, and Vincent. Esther always worked alone, and it was to her detriment.

She had no remaining allies, and she was trapped, alone, inside a circle no wider in diameter than she was tall. But she didn't tremble or cry or plead for her life. She was too proud for that.

"Just out of curiosity, what was the offer you were talking about earlier?" Klaus asked.

"I was going to offer you a choice between my two hostages," Esther answered in a flat, emotionless voice. "I would have let you save one of them, and I would have killed the other."

Klaus couldn't even bring himself to act like he was stunned by his mother's capacity for cruelty.

"And you had really had no preference whatsoever? You would have just gone along with whatever I decided?"

Klaus found that hard to believe. Esther was controlling and manipulative. Even when you thought that she was offering you a choice, she was pulling the strings from behind the scenes, ensuring that you did whatever it was that she wanted you to do, and before you knew it, you'd been played.

"I gave you an incentive to make the right choice," Esther conceded.

The switch in verb tenses made Klaus suspicious. Whatever 'incentive' Esther claimed to have given him really did exist. He knew that at some point he would have to figure out what it was, but right now, his priority was defeating Esther once and for all.

"As you can see, I didn't have to make a choice. Everyone I love is safe. But you wouldn't know about that, since you don't love anyone, and no one loves you," Klaus retorted.

"You have no idea what I've done," Esther shot back. "If you were smart, you would know. I've already told you."

Klaus was losing his patience and was no longer willing to listen to a desperate, deranged woman's riddles.

"Now, Esther," Klaus said. "You are going to go back to Hell where you belong, and you are going to spend the rest of your miserable eternity knowing that you failed in your mission to rid the world of vampires. And you know what? Even if you'd managed to kill all of your children, you still wouldn't have succeeded. Davina separated me from my sireline years ago. In the event of my death, all of the vampires I created would continue to live, unaffected. Turns out you don't know everything."

With that, Klaus reached forward and pulled out Esther's heart.

Then he snapped her neck.

Then he decapitated her.

"I need a witch," Klaus stated gruffly.

Freya shook her head, wiping away tears she'd cried, in mourning for the dream of a loving mother she'd always wished she'd had.

Vincent stepped back, out of deference to the Mikaelsons.

Bonnie looked appalled by the mutilated remains on the ground in front of Klaus, unhappy at the sight of death, even the death of someone so evil.

Davina stepped forward.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked.

"Set it on fire," Klaus answered.

Bonnie let out a shocked gasp.

"Surely that isn't necessary," Bonnie insisted. "She's dead, Klaus. She's in The Void with no way to come back. Tearing out her heart, and snapping her neck, and decapitating her, and setting her on fire, is just overkill, if you'll please forgive the pun."

"This is necessary for me, Bonnie," Klaus replied stoically. "You are still unfamiliar with New Orleans witches. They're constantly coming back to life, and channeling their ancestors, and possessing other witches. We need to make absolutely certain that no one can use Esther in any way."

Bonnie took a small step backwards, giving her reluctant consent.

With a twist of her hand, Davina conjured a flame on Esther's body, her head, and her heart.

As Esther's body caught fire, none of them could look away.

Caroline felt guilty and ashamed, almost, for watching, when this pyre seemed more like a punishment than a verification of Esther's death. Hayley covered Hope's eyes, even as she wore a look of triumph that matched the ones on Klaus's, Elijah's, Kol's, Marcel's, Katherine's, and Jackson's faces. Freya and Rebekah cried. Finn and Vincent looked conflicted, while Davina and Josh looked stunned, and Bonnie looked disgusted.

No one moved, and no one said a word.

They all watched as the flames consumed her.

{ }

"So it's all over," Freya broke the silence.

"Yes," Klaus agreed. "She's dead, The Void is sealed, and her body is in such a state that no one could attempt to revive her, or possess her, or channel her power."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence again, until the fires were reduced to little piles of ashes where Esther's heart, head, and body used to be.

Klaus divided the largest pile, from Esther's body, between four small boxes. He gave each of the boxes to Freya, Finn, Kol, and Rebekah. The ashes that had once been Esther's head went to Elijah, and Klaus kept Esther's heart for himself.

"Take your portion of Esther's ashes, and get rid of them," Klaus instructed. "Bury them, scatter them in the ocean, hide them, throw them in a garbage can. Anywhere in the world, the further from here, the better. But whatever you do, keep them separate, and don't tell anyone where your share is."

The Mikaelson siblings nodded.

"Should we do that now?" Finn asked.

"Let's go home," Klaus suggested instead. "We can do that tomorrow. We've all had a long day, it's long past Hope's bedtime, and I'm sure that Caroline wants to see the twins."

"You should know that—" Hayley interjected.

"I know," Klaus cut her off. "You and your husband are, of course, more than welcome to spend the night."

"Thanks," Hayley replied.

Hayley carried Hope over to the door of the warehouse, and even though they knew that the boundary spell was no longer in place, they all held their breath as Hayley and Hope approached the door. Once she disappeared through it, they all started moving in the same direction.

Jackson was right on Hayley's heels, with Elijah and Katherine following at a far enough distance to give them a little privacy. Elijah summoned everyone who'd come to the warehouse in his car, causing Finn to rush after them.

Rebekah opted to meet up with everyone she'd driven inside so that they could all walk out to her car together. After gathering Kol, Davina, Bonnie, and Josh, Rebekah paused to make sure that Klaus had enough room for Caroline in his car. After Klaus assured her that he did, Rebekah led her group outside with a cheerful promise to see them at home.

Freya, Vincent, and Marcel must have snuck out while Caroline wasn't paying attention, because the next thing she knew, she and Klaus were alone in the warehouse.

She wasn't sure why she was lingering, because she wanted to get out of there more than anyone else.

Casting one last look at the scorched ground where Esther's body used to be, Caroline hurried towards the exit, towards freedom, towards home.

Caroline slowed her pace uncertainly as she approached the door of the warehouse.

"There's no need to you to worry, my love," Klaus assured her, taking her hand in both of his own, placing a gentle kiss on her palm. "Esther is dead and her magic died along with her. Any she spell she cast on you tonight no longer has any effect on you."

But as Caroline reflexively placed her free hand over her stomach, she knew that Klaus's promise was a vow he couldn't keep.

"Klaus," Caroline started, clutching Klaus's fingers in her own. "Esther performed a spell on me that isn't going to go away now that she's dead."

"What spell?" Klaus asked. "Nothing she could have done could make me love you any less, or make me see you as anything other than the perfect angel you are."

He kissed her forehead, her cheekbones, the tip of her nose.

Caroline sighed, keeping her eyes on their joined hands as she spoke.

"It was a fertility spell," Caroline confessed in a whisper. "In a stunning violation of our privacy, Esther was somehow figure out that we'd been… intimate, earlier today, and so she performed a spell that was able to revive my reproductive system long enough for an egg to be fertilized and for a child to be conceived."

Caroline finally looked up at Klaus, whose eyes were wide and reflecting a chaotic cornucopia of emotions.

"I'm pregnant," Caroline told him. "We're having a baby."

That ending should come with a mic drop…

See you next time for the last (!) chapter!

As always, I would love to know what you thought of this chapter and/or the story as a whole, so please leave me a review; I love reading them!

Thank you very much for reading!

love,

charlotte