A little short, but I hope you still enjoy it.
Chapter 50
Night Has a Thousand Eyes
K was sitting in Klaus' room staring at her hands. She was waiting for the hungers to return. She was waiting for the pain to begin again, but it had been nearly a half an hour and it hadn't happened yet.
"Have there been any side-effects?" Klaus asked as he stepped into the room.
"None that I've been able to see so far." She mumbled under her breath. She noticed Klaus continue closer until he was just in front of her. K looked up to meet his gaze. "Is that really Freya?"
"So she claims."
"Which mean's Dahlia is alive."
"Yes," he sighed heavily.
"Perhaps it's time you fill me in on exactly what happened since I was asleep?"
Her eyes turned stern and he understood. He couldn't take it as the insult he would from others. He knew why she was irritated and would have been himself in her shoes. Though, admittedly, he likely would have caused more damage than she had.
"Nothing of consequence." He told her heavily. Klaus slipped into a chair beside her so he wasn't still standing overhead. "But Finn is gone. Freya is here. And Dahlia is on her way for Hope."
"So, nothing more than the usual family squabbles I see." K sighed. She fell deeper into her chair while Klaus mused to himself over her statement. "No wonder you're insane."
The comment was uttered without any real purpose, but Klaus took an immediate offense. She noticed his face twist and his body turn rigid. It was then she realized she'd said it out loud.
"Oh come on," K said. "All of you are at least a little crazy."
"You think I'm mad?"
"I know it." She countered. "Look at your family. None of you get a moment's peace. You're always worried, or on guard, or hunting down some other member of your family because they want to kill you. No one is sane when they've dealt with that for a thousand years."
Klaus mulled over her statement and realized it was truer than he wanted to admit, so he simply ignored it. He didn't fight it, or comment on it again either. He just let it go.
"So," K said after a moment. "Now what?"
"I'm off to make a deal with a demon in order to kill the devil." He told her simply.
"And me? What am I supposed to do today?"
Klaus turned to look at her. She knew what he was about to say because his eyes darkened briefly with remorse. K grumbled and looked again to the distance.
"Fine," she said under her breath. "I'll stay here."
"Only until I'm certain whatever Freya's done won't affect you."
"Mhm."
She wasn't happy about it and he didn't expect her to be. Klaus only expected her to understand. After the intense hunger spells and his distrust of Freya, Klaus didn't know whether or not he could have faith in what she did to K.
Reluctantly, Klaus pushed himself out of his seat. He took the half-step closer to K to kiss the top of her head and disappeared. He pitied her slightly, though he wasn't entirely sure why. He just knew he didn't want to be in her shoes. It must have been far too confusing for her. Not only was she just resurrected, but there were clear side-effects afterwards.
Without a word from either of them, Klaus left K sitting in one of his chairs. She felt him close the door behind him and knew he'd be gone the majority of the day.
Fine…
K's fingers came to her necklace. She began to twist it around her digits, lazily playing with it as she thought about nothing and everything all at once.
~!~
An hour or more had passed before K had her final bit of staying locked away. She couldn't handle it anymore. It felt like she was locked away in a cell despite having the free will to leave.
She heard Jackson screaming. The sound of his voice echoed easily through the compound. Still, it didn't draw her near. K didn't really want to be in the same room as the others. She didn't care what they were doing despite having overheard everything, but with him screaming she did her best to ignore whatever was happening in the other room. Taking a seat on the steps that led to the bottom floor, K simply waited. She didn't know what she was waiting for, but sitting on the stairs was better than being in Klaus' room.
The blond from before came rushing out of the dining room. K glanced up and noticed her. It was Freya, or at least the woman claiming to be the long-dead Mikaelson. She noticed K briefly, but didn't look as though she was willing to speak.
"Thank you." K said before Freya disappeared. The young woman paused and gave the vampire her attention. "For waking me up. Thank you."
"Of course." Freya said softly. She took a few more steps towards the door, but K stopped her again.
"Why did you do it?" she asked quickly before Freya had the chance to leave. "Why would you wake me up? We've never met."
"Because," she said softly. "Finn shouldn't have done what he did."
Freya waited for a moment to see if K had anything else to say. When the vampire remained silent, Freya left. K let her go.
~!~
Night had fallen. Klaus and Mikael were somewhere outside the grounds. Hayley and Jackson were getting Hope ready for her trek to the safe-house. Elijah, Freya and Rebekah were trying to find Dahlia to make sure she didn't kill everyone they cared about. And again, K was left at home with nothing to do and no one to save her from her own insanity.
She had taken to pacing along the courtyard ground. The wolves that lingered watched the woman who was dead only a day ago walking amongst them as though they didn't exist, and in many ways –to her- they didn't. She couldn't care less about the dogs surrounding her. The only thing on her mind was the sense of dread. There was something wrong and she didn't know what it was.
Without warning, she was given her answer. Pain wracked through her body and she seized. K screamed and collapsed to the ground. The wolves watching her jumped and took wide steps back as though whatever was happening to her was contagious. But it wasn't because it wasn't happening to her.
She could feel Dahlia's power wrapping around Klaus and sucking the life from him. She could feel everything and it hurt worse than the hunger. She screamed again and clamped her hands down on her head. Rebekah heard the bellows and rushed from K to do her best to console her, but there was nothing she could do until they stopped.
They went on for what felt like an eternity before finally ebbing. K was left lying on her back, breathing heavily and staring at the sky. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes and slid gently down the sides of her face. Her connection to the hybrid was going to be the death of her.
~!~
It didn't take long for the arguing to begin once every Mikaelson sibling was in the same place, especially after their defeat. But Klaus refused to see it as that.
As was their way, Mikael and Klaus were soon at one another's throats as well. It surprised no one, nor did Klaus jamming the stake into Mikael's chest. The only one that seemed to be shocked was Freya. She cried for her father as he burned on the ground. Even Rebekah teared just a bit at the loss of Mikael. But Elijah remained stoic and the tears in Klaus' eyes had nothing to do with losing his father.
He stormed passed his siblings. Freya struggled against Elijah to get her hands on him, but she was unsuccessful.
From her perch on the third floor, K watched the scene below play out from beginning to its inevitable end. Even her brows came together sadly. While she held no love for Mikael –or even an inkling of 'like'- there was something profoundly heartbreaking when a child cried for their parent. And Freya's cries were indeed heartbreaking. So she wept a single tear for the blond-haired witch who still had a delusional idea of who her father was. She never knew him as the tyrant he became or the evil, sadistic bastard he was. She only ever knew him as a loving father. Truly sad.
As she watched Mikael burn on the ground floor, K felt Klaus standing behind her. She felt him pause as though he either wanted her to say something or follow him.
"You can't keep doing this." She said softly while her eyes remained fixed below.
"Doing what?" he dared. He almost wanted her to say Mikael should live. "Are you truly sympathizing for that monster who –not two months ago- tried to kill you?"
"Enough, Niklaus," she chastised softly. "I am not attacking you for killing Mikael."
"Then what?" he snapped through a tight jaw. "What have I done now to win your disapproval?"
"You're alienating those around you, again." She said. While he was frustrated and angry, her voice remained calm and collected. "You're in a war, Klaus, and you are looking for any reason to fight it on your own." K shifted to look up at the man beside her. "No one ever wins by themselves."
"Oh I don't know." He said sarcastically. "I've always been a fan of David and Goliath."
"A biblical fable, nothing more." She said.
"We needed the ash, or did that shopping list escape your attention? This way, I've killed two birds with one stake." He smiled curtly.
"There are other ways to find Viking Ash. You didn't have to kill Mikael and you know it."
His face darkened angrily.
"You are siding with him."
K took a deep breath and sighed. She rolled her eyes in the process of standing and once again gave him her brief attention.
"All you did, was let Mikael win." She said before turning and walking away.
It took Klaus a moment to realize what she said, but when he had he charged after her and soon stood in her path. He was seething, but she remained calm.
"He's burning, again." He explained. "I won."
"No," she shook her head gently. "He did. He got to you, again. He pressed on your weaknesses, again. He won, again."
"Explain how this is his victory." He growled.
"It's simple. You never let anything go." Her voice slowly began to turn tense the longer she had to explain to him his faults. "You hold onto things for centuries, let them fester inside you until they become this all-consuming hatred. You act on every impulse for revenge without ever simply deciding whether or not it's worth the effort."
"After everything that man has done-"
"Don't act like its just him." She interrupted sternly. "You want to know why Mikael won? Why he'll always win?" Klaus nodded curtly. "Because you're physically incapable of letting things go. You don't walk away from anything. Instead, you hold onto it. Once someone gets their hooks inside you, instead of yanking them out and walking on, you just push them in deeper until there's no way to remove them."
"You would rather me spend my life running from those who harm me or my family?" he asked with a tight jaw.
"I would have you live!" she snapped back. "Because this-" she motioned around at everything. "Is not a life."
And with that she stormed by him. Klaus didn't bother taking chase again. He was too angry to bother and knew whatever he would say would end up becoming a larger fight than he had the energy for.
