The Originals Alternate Season Two

Episode 20: Help is on the Way

Part Five

The Mikaelson Compound...

Cami was currently in one of the smaller rooms of the Mikaelson compound, where about four caskets were being kept. Cami knew she had to act quickly, it would only be a matter of time before Rebekah realized what she was doing. She walked up to and approached one of the caskets, hoping that it would be the one containing Klaus' desiccated body. She pulled up the top half of the casket, and as she did, she saw Klaus laying inside out of the corner of her eye, to her relief. As soon as she had one half of the casket fully opened, confident that it wouldn't fall, she redirected her attention to the desiccated Klaus that was lying inside.

She looked at Klaus in horror, staring at his face first, noticing his now greyish skin, and his now visible, darkened veins. Cami's eyes then made their way down to Klaus' chest, half of a dagger sticking out, plunged into his heart. Putting both hands on the handle of the dagger, Cami lifted upwards and pulled the weapon out of Klaus' chest.

Dahlia's Mind Space / The Compound...

Dahlia and Klaus were still standing somewhere in the dark woods of Dahlia's mind space, when Klaus felt a tingling sensation in his chest. Both Dahlia and Klaus stared down at the open wound in his chest slowly beginning to close. "Looks like I was wrong. Someone did pull that dagger out after all. You still have yet to give me an answer though Niklaus. You know now that I am the only one capable of saving your daughter from herself. And whether you refuse me or not, I will get my hands on that child and I will take what is rightfully mine. But should you side with me, you will still get to play the role of father in Hope's life. The choice is yours."

Before Klaus could open his mouth to respond, he suddenly found himself laying in a half open casket, a nervous Camille standing a few feet away from him, holding the golden dagger that had been used to neutralize him in one hand. Klaus slowly sat up, the veins on his face becoming less prominent and colour gradually being restored to his cheeks.

Cami impulsively ran up to Klaus, still sitting upright in the casket, wrapping both of her arms around him and hugging him tightly, still clutching the dagger in one hand. After a moment, Klaus hugged her back, shedding a couple of tears while he did. He didn't think he had ever been so grateful for anyone in his life.

An Unknown Tomb...

Dahlia was standing in front of the same tall, wooden table she was standing in front of earlier, her fingers still coated in blood mixed with ash. There was one other person she still wanted inside her mind, one other person she wanted to have a word with. But this time, she wouldn't be looking to make a deal with them. Dahlia began to chant once more, rubbing her hands and fingers together while she did.

The Mikaelson Compound...

Cami and Klaus were still hugging when Rebekah entered into the room, a horrified look on her face as she stared at a very much awake Klaus. "Nik- Cami what the bloody hell did you do?!"

Cami turned around to face Rebekah, Klaus opening up the casket further and climbing out, standing next to Cami in a protective manner as he stared down Rebekah. "I pulled the dagger out because it became clear to me that no one else was going to unless I did. Especially not Elijah," Cami replied, in spite of being just a little bit afraid of Rebekah right now, knowing how powerful she was as an Original vampire.

"Don't be angry with Camille sister, she was only doing the right thing," Klaus pointed out bitterly, Rebekah eyeing him cautiously. "Something you know nothing about."

"Nik, we only did what we had to-"

"To keep my daughter safe?" Klaus interrupted, Rebekah nodding. "As if I wouldn't understand such a thing? By daggering me you put her in danger. If Dahlia had showed up-"

"How do you know that she didn't?"

"Because I was with her, the entire time I was daggered," Klaus revealed, to Cami and Rebekah's surprise. "She cast a spell that transported my consciousness into her mind. She wanted to make me an offer, but before she did, we took a trip down memory lane. Where I learned that the first born children on our mother's side of the family are gifted with devastating power. That would include Dahlia herself, Freya... and Hope."

"What?"

"It's the reason why Freya is more powerful than any witch we've ever known. But she can only control that power because Dahlia taught her how to. Meaning Dahlia is the only one who can teach Hope how to control her power. But I'll explain more on that later—right now, I would really like to see the older brother who held me down while Kol shoved a dagger into my heart. I have a bone to pick him," Klaus replied, Rebekah and Cami looking at Klaus nervously.

The Bayou, Mary's Cabin...

Aiden entered through the front door of Mary Dumas' cabin, an anxious look on his face. This was his first time seeing her since Jackson died, and he didn't know the protocal for handling a dead friend's grieving grandmother.

Mary greeted Aiden at the door, nodding at him, a sad look on her face. "Hello Aiden."

Aiden gave a small nod. He knew Mary wasn't really one for hugs and he couldn't imagine that would ever change, even given recent circumstances. "Hello Mrs. Dumas."

"How many times have I told you to call me Mary?" she asked, unimpressed.

"Too many times to remember."

"Come in. Grab a seat. Make yourself comfortable."

Aiden walked into the cabin and made his way to a table, pulling out a chair. Mary sat down at the opposite side of the table. "I'm glad you showed up. I wasn't sure you were going to make it. Seeing as you spend so much time these days with your vampire lover."

Aiden tried to force a polite smile on his face. "His name is Josh. Joshua Rosza. And if I'm going to be alpha of this pack, even for a little while... it would be good for you to learn his name."

"That's actually what I brought you here to talk about. How long do you plan on being an Alpha to this pack? A few months? A year? Two years?"

"Just until a new, better alpha is found. And Jackson's killer is found and brought to justice. Then I'll be hitting the road with Josh so we can finally start our lives together, like we planned before... well, before-"

"Before Jackson died," Mary finished for him, Aiden looking deeply uncomfortable. "He would've wanted you to be alpha to this pack you know, in the event of his death. He told me so."

"That was before he knew I betrayed him by allying myself with Klaus."

"But you came clean to him before he died, did you not?" Mary asked, Aiden nodding. "And if I knew my grandson as well as I think I did, he forgave you for this shortcoming."

"...He did."

"Jackson forgave you Aiden. Don't you think you should do the right thing, and honor his wishes by being the alpha of this pack for as long as you can?"

Aiden sighed. "I would love to. If I thought I would make a good one, which I use to, but I don't anymore... in light of recent circumstances. I know what Jackson would've wanted, but, I have to think about what's best for this pack and its future. I have to put the living over the dead."

Mary smirked bitterly. "Sounds like something an alpha would say."

"Mrs. Dumas, I am so sorry-"

"Don't give me your sympathies Aiden. I wasn't the only one who lost him," Mary interrupted, looking at Aiden expectantly, Aiden nodding at her, not knowing what he could possibly say to that. "I don't need any apologies either. In spite of what you may think Aiden Lanier, Jackson's death wasn't your fault. You can go ahead and tell me you're not thinking that, but I already know you are. It's written all over your face. Stop. Stop blaming yourself right now because you're not doing him any favours, and you're not doing yourself any favours. You know whose fault my grandson's death is? The bitch that murdered him."

The Living Area of the Mikaelson Compound...

Klaus and Rebekah entered into the living area of the Mikaelson compound, Elijah, Kol and Freya startled at the mere sight of Klaus. "How—who—Cami?" Elijah asked, looking over to Rebekah, Rebekah confirming it with a nod. "Well, this is... unexpected."

"Is that all you have to say Elijah?" Klaus replied, glaring at his older brother. "If you all don't mind, I'd like a moment along with the self proclaimed head of our family. Unless you want to attempt to dagger me again, or even worse put me down for good with the white oak stake that I know Elijah has on him right now."

"Nik-" Kol started, sounding a little apologetic, only for Klaus to cut him off.

"I'll deal with you later Kol."

Rebekah, Freya and Kol left the room, giving Klaus and Elijah the room to themselves. Kol was the last one to leave, closing the door behind him. Klaus had his hands behind his back, still maintaining the glare he was throwing at Elijah, waiting for Elijah to start explaining himself.

"Well, I'm waiting."

"What are you expecting me to say Niklaus? Sorry?"

Klaus smirked. "It'd be a good place to start."

"I won't, because I'm not," Elijah said, Klaus staring at him, appalled. "Niklaus, I was only doing what I believed was best for Hope given the knowledge I had. I only helped dagger you because you were plotting to turn our sister Freya, one of our most powerful allies, into a newborn vampire-"

"So we could weaken Dahlia-"

"Then what, would we have tried to kill her while trying to protect your daughter and a now vulnerable Freya?"

"I don't care about Freya!"

"She is your sister! Your blood!"

"She is nothing to me Elijah! Frankly, I don't understand why she means anything to you. We've gone our whole lives believing that she died, and now we learn she hasn't. We didn't grow up with her. We didn't become vampires along side her. She is a perfect stranger to us!"

"A stranger who happens to be part of our family."

Becoming more frustrated than he could handle, Klaus used his enhanced vampire speed to run over to Elijah and grab him by the throat with one hand, choking him. "I would expect something like this, a betrayal of this magnitude, from Kol, or- Rebekah! But not you, Elijah! Especially not in a time like this! When my daughter's life, is in danger!"

"I did it for Hope!"

"Lies. You did it out of pettiness—you were presented with the opportunity to dagger me just as I have daggered you in the past, and it was too tempting to resist! Tell me, how long were you planning to leave the immortal bastard on ice?! Hmm? A decade or two? A century? AN ETERNITY?!"

Elijah forced Klaus' hand off his throat, Elijah putting his hand on Klaus throat and using his vampire speed to pin Klaus up to the closed door that led into the room. "As long as I had to, as long as Dahlia was still alive—I would have left you in that box," Elijah admitted.

"And what if... what if you hadn't killed Dahlia? What then?"

"I would have left you daggered until we did!"

Klaus stared at Elijah, looking furious with his older brother. "I can't believe I ever trusted you—even for a minute, Elijah."

"You never trusted me. You've never truly trusted anyone! Because you are too paranoid for that! ...You've only ever trusted yourself and even then, you've never trusted yourself for long periods of time."

Klaus grinned wickedly for a moment, to Elijah's confusion. "Really? I've never truly trusted anyone? I sure trusted Rebekah enough, a while back, with a secret that could have forever changed the dynamic of our brotherly relationship."

Elijah hesitated for a moment. "What are you talking about Niklaus?"

"Katerina Petrova," Klaus replied, Elijah's eyes widening at the mention of her name.

Elijah slowly took his hand off Klaus' neck. "What about her?" he asked in a worried tone, as if he knew what was coming next.

"She's dead," Klaus confirmed, Elijah taking a few steps back, stunned.

"No—no she can't be."

"She croaked sometime after she ingested that potion that renders a vampire mortal again. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but what I was told is that after she became mortal again, she began to rapidly age, the five centuries of death she cheated finally catching up to her—all at once. As soon as I heard what had happened, I left for Mystic Falls with Rebekah, just to make sure she was dead. I made Rebekah swear to me that we would never tell poor Elijah what became of his beloved Katerina, partly out of spite for her, but also because we wanted to spare your feelings. But right now... well I could care less about your feelings Elijah."

Impulsively, Elijah reached out and punched Klaus in the face, Klaus banging the back of his head off the door behind him. Klaus growled, pouncing on Elijah, and knocking him down to the ground. He then put his hands around Elijah's head while he had him in such a vulnerable position and swiftly snapped Elijah's neck.

Elsewhere in the Compound...

Kol was now standing in a hallway of the compound, his arms folded, back against the wall. The ringtone of his cellphone suddenly went off, his phone vibrating in his pant pocket. Kol took his phone out, answering the call once he saw it was from Davina and moving it up to his ear to talk. "Hey, how are you?" Davina started, Kol smiling a little.

"I'm good, all things considered. Nik's shrink decided it would be a great idea to pull the dagger out of his heart and he is currently having it out with Elijah as we speak."

"Oh... well that's not good."

"It isn't. Don't know what we're going to do about that quite just yet. Though if we plan to leave Klaus undaggered, I'm going to recommend you stay as far away from him as you can, seeing as Nik likes to punish people by harming those closest to them."

Kol could tell Davina was hesitating on the other end. "Speaking of Klaus, I met up with Marcel earlier. He wants me to finish what I started, by severing Klaus' connection with him, Josh and Gia, so they won't be part of his bloodline anymore. That way if Dahlia does kill Klaus, they won't go down with him."

"Are you going to do it?"

"...Josh and Marcel mean the world to me, Kol. If they ask me for my help, I'll give it to them."

"Alright, that's fair. You need any help doing so, I'm just a text message away. Though I won't be able to help you in person seeing as I'm going to be staying with my siblings for the forseeable future. Just until Dahlia's dead. Or... until Dahlia kill us. One or the other."

"Kol, before you go—I, I have a question to ask you?"

"Ask away darling."

"Is there something you haven't told me—about you and Marcel, something that might make me understand better why you guys hate each other so much?"

Kol paused. "There is more to the story that you don't know Davina. But believe me when I say you don't want to know the full story."

Dahlia's Mind Space...

Mikael awoke with a gasp, finding himself now laying on the floor of the hovel where Dahlia preformed dark magic spells for her viking captors, instead of lying in the casket that Freya and Elijah had placed him in after desiccating him. Slowly and cautiously, Mikael sat up, turning his head to see his long dead father open the door of the hovel, and bringing in a much younger Dahlia, her face covered in cuts and bruises. Mikael was completely baffled as to what was going on. It was as if he had travelled back in time, but nobody could see him.

"Do you recognize this place, Mikael?" the present day Dahlia asked.

Mikael turned to look behind him, finding the present day Dahlia standing there, a menancing look on her face. "What have you done to me, witch?"

Dahlia sneered. "You caused me so much pain, Viking, so much grief. You... your brothers... your father. Before today I thought you had suffered enough, what with me taking your first born child and all. But now I realize, you didn't suffer nearly enough. You suffered but a fraction of what I have suffered."

"You suffered? Why does this surprise me, you always were one to exaggerate Dahlia."

Dahlia glared at him and twisted her hand, Mikael's head being forced back to watch as a younger Esther entered into the hovel, greeting the younger Dahlia. Mikael's jaw almost dropped at the sight of the young Esther. He was suddenly reminded of the early days of their relationship, back before all the lies, the betrayal, the illegitimate son. "No," he said to himself quietly.

"It's painful, revisiting the past, isn't it? This is back when you treated my sister with decency. Before you became a cold, uncaring husband and father."

"I only became that way because you took my Freya-"

"Don't worry. That memory is next. You'll finally get to see what happened that day I came for your daughter, and how little your precious wife did to save her. Poor Finn was forced to watch as I carried his sister away to an uncertain fate."

Mikael had a look of horror on his face as he was forced to watch Esther gush about him to a young Dahlia, knowing what was to come next.

Author's Note: First things first, The idea to have Klaus and Rebekah keep the knowledge of Katherine's death a secret from Elijah came from Dante 101. I hope for those of you who wanted Klaus to punish Elijah in this chapter for his betrayal were not disappointed, or if you were, hopefully not too disappointed. Lastly, this chapter marks the end of 2x20 AU, so the next chapter will be the start of 2x21 AU - Point of No Return.