No One's POV
"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" Zachary tumbles out happily, little legs racing towards his mother on the patio. "Come lwook, mommy!"
"What, baby?" Alexis asks.
Alexis had been sitting and chatting with Rebekah and Davina about fashion and an upcoming shopping trip in the Quarter, Elijah and Niklaus were in the barns with their children, Finn and Kol inside with the other children, while Zachary and Andrew trained with the Gemini leaders and coven.
"Come, lwook what I can do! Awuntie Liv showed me!" Zachary puffs his chest proudly, pulling his mother towards the training grounds where he and his brother had been practically all morning with the two Gemini twins, even in Lucas could no longer practice magic, and several other Gemini members.
"Okay, baby. Show mommy." Alexis mills around the borders of the ring.
"Otay!" Zachary happily races inside the sand pit.
"Okay, ready, Zach?" Olivia asks, focusing her sole attention onto the youngest Original Warlock hybrid.
"Yes!" Zachary nods, eager to show his mother.
Gemini members raise their hands, on guard if anything were to happen and ready to catch flying spells or objects; Olivia tosses what looks to be a plastic toy car, the riding ones for children, not the toy ones Alexis' children played with on their play mats.
Alexis nearly had a heart attack, immediately her instincts telling her to surge forward to stop the object flying at her son's face.
It wasn't needed, Zachary's hands fly out in front of him, the car halting mid-air, slamming to the ground on all four wheels, the shock absorbers (and yes, this thing had shock absorbers, because the Mikaelson men didn't do things half-ass for their kids), bouncing the car as it hit the sand.
"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Dwid you see that!? Dwid you see that!?" Zachary scrambles over to his mom, clinging to her leg, wanting recognition for his achievement.
"Uh- uh…" Alexis swallow, air gulping through her lungs at an alarming rate; yes, yes she did, and she knew the Gemini Coven would never put her children in harm's way, but she still kind of wanted to faint. "Yes, baby. I- mommy did. Good job, baby. Mommy is- is very proud of you. That must be very scary at first."
"It's nwot swcary any more, mommy!" Zachary shakes his head.
"Well, that's good." Alexis kneels down to hug her son tightly. "You did very good, buddy. I'm so very proud of you. Did you show daddy?"
Zachary shakes his head.
"Why don't you show daddy, then? I'm sure he'll be very impressed." Alexis smiles, gently pushing Zachary towards where Kol was inside the house.
"Alexis-" Olivia begins, biting her lip.
"I know you and your coven would never push my children or hurt them, Liv. I do trust you. I mean, it's terrifying to see them do this. I think I may have had a heart attack. But they have a power I could never begin to understand. Kol does, of course, but we can't train them. Not really. Particularly myself. They need someone to teach them to control this power they have, to guide them in ways Kol and I cannot." Alexis halts Olivia. "So, I do trust you. I know you understand them. Besides, you have the next Gemini heirs. So, Luke and Bekah will have their own little terrors running around soon enough. Consider this practice."
Olivia grins at Alexis, eyes showing relief, and smile showing a bond of friendship that shows the test of both trials and time being within the Quarter and New Orleans.
"So, my little monster tells me he has something to show me?" Kol walks over, carrying Zachary on his shoulders.
"Daddy!" Zachary giggles, wiggling like a puppy.
"Me first!" Andrew demands, jumping at his father.
"Now, Drew. Zach asked first. You can't just demand things." Kol corrects, placing Zachary on the ground, allowing Zachary to run into the training ring.
"Otay, fine." Andrew pouts briefly.
"Then you can, bud." Kol promises, gently ruffling Andrew's dirty blond hair.
"Oh, hello Joseph." Alexis notices one of the hybrids walking towards the training grounds. "Do you need anything? Or does Nik need me?"
The hybrid continues to walk almost stiffly towards the group, not replying.
"Joseph?" Alexis questions, tilting her head in a questioning manner.
"A promise made is a debt to be paid." Joseph replies instead, his voice hollow and eyes turning white.
"K- Kol." Alexis says shakily, turning to face the hybrid still steadily walking towards them.
"Show yourself, witch." Kol hisses, quickly reacting and pulling Alexis behind him as the Gemini Coven raises their hands defensively, all taking quick stances, Olivia pulling Andrew and Zachary towards her.
"I am here. I am everywhere. And I intend to take what is mine." Joseph continues, pausing a few feet away, staring vacantly at Kol and Alexis.
Alexis stares at Joseph, a feeling of foreboding in her veins; this wasn't like the Hollow, no blue flare within Joseph's eyes to signify the possession, this was different.
"Dahlia." Alexis finally understands.
The Gemini barrier suddenly shuddered, as if a force with the power the size of a monsoon or hurricane slammed with full force against it.
"Alexis." Kol states. "Take the kids to the house. Now."
Alexis didn't need to be told twice, bundling both Andrew and Zachary in her arms, and flashing off, while Kol followed behind, the Gemini Coven providing cover.
Another blur rammed into Alexis, forcing her to stop, Kol already on the hybrid before Alexis could blink.
"MOMMY!" Zachary screams, a black shape, burring and forming into the older, harsh, strict looking elder Mikaelson matriarch, Dahlia, appearing almost out of thin air, as if she had performed apparition like in the Harry Potter series.
"ZACHARY!" Alexis screams, flashing upright from the ground, desperate to get her child away from Dahlia, lurching forward, only to be thrown backwards onto the ground, harshly slamming against a tree and having the wind knocked out of her.
"Don't touch my nephew, you old hag!" Rebekah jumps into the fray, her veins immediately appearing as she lunges, breaking off a leg of a deck chair and sending it flying towards the dark witch.
Dahlia merely raises a hand, the one not gripped on Zachary's shoulder, and sends Rebekah careening backwards, stake lodging in the female Mikaelson's shoulder, pinning her to the ground, and neck snapped.
"REBEKAH!" Lucas shouts, having come from the training grounds with his coven.
The Gemini Coven was next to counter the Mikaelson witch, several witches throwing spells to attempt to subdue her; though it was somewhat challenging with the young Mikaelson heir in such close proximity.
"Don't." Elijah cautions Lucas, having come from the barns, barely catching the young vampire and Gemini leader by the shoulder from charging Dahlia, watching as Dahlia easily wipes out several of the Gemini members with a wave of her hand before disappearing with Zachary in one fell swoop.
"ZACHARY!" Alexis cries, her agonizing, wounded howl resounding through the trees and lands of the Mikaelson plantation.