Unfulfilled Always and Forever

by nefariterwnw

An only child of Silas and Amara, 2000 years old. A complicated relationship with the original family. What will happen when Esther tries to kill her children and Kol is the only one that remembers her? Will Haven Silason come? (Light language and violence) One shot

"You must be the famous Elena Gilbert." His voice was calm with a strong accent that Elena couldn't quite place.
"You found her. May I ask who you are?" She tried to keep her voice steady as she spoke. The nerves that ran through her body made her voice unsteady as she made her way through the halls of the Mikaelson house to try and find Esther for her meeting. She had not wanted to come to the ball, but she needed to know what the Original Witch wanted to do, and why she was in Mystic Falls.
"Kol Mikaelson." As he spoke, he reached for and kissed her hand. He seemed almost like another version of Elijah. He even looked like the older vampire, yet as she studied his face, he saw nothing of Rebekah or Klaus in his face. Before she could respond to his introduction he began to speak once more with a quiet voice, "I was hoping that I could talk to you for a moment before you meet my mother, that is of course if you are okay with coming away from the dancing." Kol was hoping that she would say yes, the information that he needed to give to her was beyond important. He had tried his best to make himself look like Elijah tonight, instead of as he normally looked.
"Why should I trust you?"
"For the sake of taking a leap of faith? Or because I never break my word and I swear to you that I will not lay a hand on you. Or maybe because I remind you of my brother, and you have no reason not to trust me." Kol listed multiple reasons hoping that one would convince her. He knew that his brother would start to look for the missing doppelganger soon, so he hoped that she would agree before he began.
"Fine, but you should remember that if you harm me, I am sure Klaus will have a dagger waiting." She tried her best to keep a firm face as she spoke but Kol could tell she knew that he had no care for how his brother would react to his actions.
"As he always does, love." Kol said before offering her his arm and leading her down the hall towards the room that he had made soundproof the night before. Once entering he shut the door and with a quick motion to the couch in the center of the room, he led Elena into the room. "Do you mind if I lock the door? I don't want visitors when I am telling you the information I need to pass on." He could tell she was hesitant, but after a moment she nodded. He locked the door before walking to the other side of the room. He tried his best to stay away from the couch she was on hoping it would make her more comfortable and help her to believe that he really would keep his work.
"Why did you need to talk to me?"
"One, you're the doppelganger. Two, you are about to meet with my mother. Three, you need to be informed of information only I know."
"Okay. What information?" Elena was curious as to what the youngest Original would want with her, but she hoped he would prove to be different from his siblings.
"My family has had their memory wiped. They do not know a very important piece of information about my mother. Because of this they have made the mistake of trusting her."
"What do they not know?"
"The answer to that comes in the form of a story, do you mind if I sit?"

"Go ahead." Elena was intrigued by the man before her. He seemed to be trying to prove himself to her. His siblings had just walked into her life expecting respect and fear, Kol seemed to be trying to earn her trust and respect. After he sat in the chair across from her, he took a deep breath. He hated telling the story. He even hated thinking about it. Yet, he had to save his family, so he had no choice.
"The year after we were first turned was a twenty-year marker for both the local witches and werewolves. While none of us knew what this meant, both groups seemed to become nervous as they prepared great meals and practiced their hardest spells. When I asked the woman, who had trained me in my magic before I turned, she simply replied to my question by telling me that the alpha was coming. It took three weeks before the person they all feared arrived. We could tell by how she looked that she had power. Yet, Klaus decided that it was only because she was a werewolf and a witch at the same time. He decided to challenge her so that he could become the Alpha. My father encouraged him, even though we all knew that he would be killed. The night before the New Moon Klaus announced that the following night, he would challenge her as the lack of the moon would weaken her. Elijah, Finn, Rebekah, and I all slipped out that night and went to the Alpha. We pleaded with her to not hurt him. We begged for mercy. We later found out that the fear the others had for her was not because of her actions but because of her name. Haven. Haven Silason. She was the bastard child of Silas and Amara, the only Tribrid to ever live. Witch, Vampire, and Werewolf. She is the most powerful person to ever walk the earth. She took us in, taught us how to control the blood lust. She basically raised us, as our father left soon after, for a reason that was not made known to us. Three years later Elijah married Haven. They had six kids. Three were killed by Esther because she felt threatened by their power. The other three were killed by Mikael. The death of their children broke them both and then broke their marriage as well. Centuries later Haven and I married, we had one daughter. Regina. She was powerful beyond what anyone knew. Esther used power from the otherside to control Mikael and kill her. I flipped my humanity for the first time, and the term ripper was born. Eventually, I was daggered by Klaus to be stopped. I was placed in a box for the next three centuries, until Haven undaggered me and compelled me to turn my humanity back on. It almost killed me to feel the flow of the emotions run through me again. After ten more years, we had another child, two months after Klaus daggered me for betraying him, I have no idea what I did, but that is another point. Haven placed a spell on our daughter to hide her magic, then gave her up for adoption to hide her from Mikael. Yet, she made the mistake of telling my siblings, and when Mikael captured them, she was forced to wipe her and our daughter from their memories. Because I was daggered at the time, I was not affected by the spell. My siblings have no idea that Esther killed them, yet their names constantly run through my head as a reminder not to trust her." Kol tried to steal his voice as he finished.
"Why are you telling me this?" Elena asked as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She could see the emotion written on his face.

"When I awoke, I called Haven. She can stop my mother and her plan to kill us, but she will have to go about it differently than my siblings will. Esther will be pulling on the power of the hundred witches, along with the moon. This will make her more powerful than Haven for the spell. To be able to stop her without anyone getting hurt, she needs to be able to pull off my siblings and me. The first step of Esther's spell is to connect us together, this is so that she can kill us all by only killing one. Haven will need us to be linked to be able to pull from us to stop Esther. My mother plans on using your help to link us tonight. I need you to let it happen, no matter what. I also need you not to utter a word of it to any of my siblings until tomorrow, after we have been linked. Then I need you to tell Elijah. He will most likely imprison you and that will pull Rebekah away from the situation. I need this to happen. I know that not all of this will make sense to you, but Haven can be trusted, as can I. Elena, I need your help, I cannot do this on my own, I must protect my daughter."
"I thought you said that Haven protected your daughter."
"She did. Yet, she has become a vampire recently." Kol explained with a sigh.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Elena was more clueless than Kol had thought she was, and he silently cursed his brothers for their arrogance.
"If an Original vampire is killed, its entire sire line will be killed with it. If we are killed, my daughter will die as well. While I could handle death myself, I cannot handle the thought of her dying."
"I will help you on two conditions."
"Very well, what do you require?"
"Protect my friends and family."
"Done. What else?"
"Tell me who your daughter is." Her voice was firm as she spoke. Kol almost denied the request, yet he knew it was her way of keeping him accountable. If she knew who his daughter was, she had leverage.
"Her name is Caroline Forbes, if I remember correctly, she is a friend of yours."
"Caroline is your daughter?"
"Yes, and I know what you are thinking, doesn't Klaus fancy her? Yes, he does. He is also in no way related to her. He is the bastard child of Esther. I am the bastard child of Mikael. No blood relation between the two of us."
"Does she know?"
"Afraid so. She was given a notebook with all the information on her thirteenth birthday, if I remember correctly."
"She has known about all this stuff since middle school?"
"According to when Haven told Elizabeth Forbes to give it to her, yes. Now, I hate to cut this short, and I am happy to answer any questions you have. But my mother is waiting, and I need you to hold up your end of the deal."
"How can I contact you?"
"Here's my phone number, you can call or text." Kol said as he handed her a card with a number on it.
"Well then, it seems I have a meeting with the devil."
"That's a harsh nickname for someone you've never met." Kol joked as he unlocked the door.

"Anyone who will kill their own children and grandchildren for power deserves such a nickname."
"Very well. Call her what you want, but please refrain from calling her that within hearing distance of my family."
"Thank you for trusting me." Elena said with a small smile as she stepped from the door. Kol, hid for a moment before returning from the opposite direction back to the dancing. When Elena came back into the room, she gave him a slight nod before joining his brother. He watched as each of his siblings swallowed the champagne, he knew that the linking spell had worked, so he slipped from the crowd to find his daughter. He found her outside staring at a horse.
"It's an interesting horse, but I still find it lacking in a reason to stare at it for long periods of time." Kol spoke with a smile as she looked at his daughter. She was wearing the dress that Klaus had given her, she looked like her mother, graceful yet if you looked close enough you would see their unyielding power that ran beneath their skin.
"Dad." Her voice was a whisper as she ran to give him a hug. Kol had written her multiple letters in the notebook that had been left for her, he had written them throughout Haven's pregnancy.
"Hey, baby."
"I hoped you would know, but none of them did…"
"You're mother wiped their memories, I was daggered when she performed the spell, it had no effect on me."
"I'm glad."
"You okay?" Kol knew what had been happening in Mystic Falls the last few years, he hated that he hadn't been there to protect her.
"I have no idea. I am still trying to figure out what happened in the past few years that got me here."
"You knew this stuff existed, I'm not exactly surprised it found you."
"I just wanted them to recognize me. Mom told me I look like her. Like mom, Haven I mean. They looked right through me, they threatened my friends, they even threatened me. And while it was almost like deep down, they knew to protect me, I watched them terrorize my friends and I couldn't stop them." Caroline was holding back tears as she looked up at her father for the first time.
"None of that is your fault. You cannot undo a spell, Caroline. My family has a way of causing pain wherever they go. None of this was ever your fault." As he talked, he pulled his daughter into a hug. She was so much like her mother it hurt. She hurt when others were hurt even when she had nothing to do with it.
"She is coming isn't she?"
"Yeah, she will be here soon." With that they fell into silence as Kol continued to hold his daughter. Time passed too quickly as after a few minutes Kol heard Klaus begin to walk their way.
"Be nice." Kol whispered before flashing away, leaving his daughter once again looking at a horse. He watched from afar as she calmly had a conversation with his brother. He hated that his family did not know the truth. Yet, as he walked back inside, he reminded himself once more that it would all be over by tomorrow night.

Once back inside he stood at the edge of the crowd and watched the dancing for a while before heading up the stairs to go to his room. He had had enough of the acting for one night. He had started to believe that Esther had chosen this night on purpose, just to see if she could catch any of her kids faking. Tonight, was Regina's birthday, and at every moment Kol felt as if his heart was breaking.
"Running from the fun?" Esther's voice caught Kol by surprise as he rounded the corner of the second-floor hall headed for the back stairwell.
"Rebekah was becoming annoying. I thought I would turn in so as to keep from breaking your rules and snapping her neck." Kol replied, pulling off the perfect actions of a crazed humanity-less vampire that Esther thought him to be.
"Kol, I just want to be a family again. Won't you bury the hatchet? For me."
"I do not bury hatchets mother. I swing them. At human heads." Kol inwardly groaned at the performance. He knew it would be perfect from the outward perspective, he had enough experience, but he hated how different it was from the real him."
"Maybe turning in is not such a bad idea. The morning brings with it new beginnings." Esther tried her best to graze over the fact that he had become such a monster. This was why she was going to rid the world of her children. Especially her husband's bastard child. He took his time getting to his room before taking a hot shower. After about half an hour he was sitting and reading an old grimoire hoping to memorize the spell Haven would be casting the following night. He had just settled into a comfortable position when he heard a knock at his door. He had locked it when he first entered which meant the seal had been spelled into place, forcing him to get up to answer the door. Upon opening the door, he was surprised to see his oldest brother.
"Finn, how may I be of service?"
"Is your room spelled?"
"You're going to have to be more specific."
"Can they hear if we talk in here?"
"That would be a no, if the door is locked." Kol said before stepping aside to allow his brother entrance into his room
"Lock it." Finn spoke harshly as he did when he was anxious. He had done it to their father once when they were kids, Kol would never forget the beating Finn had received for it.
"It's locked. Care to share why you are so nervous?"
"What does it take to break a memory spell?"
"Typically, a counter spell, but if the witch that cast it is weak, then a name could work. Finn, it depends on the witch that cast the spell. If she is good, then only a counter spell can undo it."
"If Haven cast it?" Kol's head snapped up when his brother said the name.
"How?"
"Klaus daggered me an hour before she cast the spell. I have tried my best to hide the fact that I knew. I figured you knew and had planned a way out of this, so I stayed out of it. But I accidentally let the name slip to the Forbes girl when I was talking to her about Klaus. Rebekah was within hearing range."
"Calm down. Haven's spell would never break at a name. Yet, even if it did, I highly doubt Rebekah was paying you any attention. Plus, Caroline knows everything so there is literally no reason for you to be going crazy right now." Kol said, calming his brother. He was thankful that Finn trusted him enough to leave the planning to him. Kol and Finn had always been close, they were the ones who were different from their siblings. They were the outcasts.
"What do you mean Caroline knows everything?"
"Haven and I had a second child, remember."
"She's that Caroline?" Finn was shocked as he looked at his brother. He knew that Kol had been acting, but to be mere steps away from your own daughter and not able to say anything had to be torture.
"The one and only"
"I was right that you have a plan, right?"
"Of course I have a plan. Everything is ready, now we just wait for the correct moment."
"You know that mother wants me to sacrifice myself."
"Yes. I know exactly what mother is doing. You must play along, Finn. I promise I have a plan, but the spell must begin before anything can happen."
"I trust you Kol. If I had any doubts, they disappeared when I found out you spent the night of your first daughter's birthday not only pretending to love the woman that killed her, but also pretending you did not know your second daughter who was just steps away from you. I don't understand the whole spell thing, but I trust you." With that Finn left Kol alone. His room felt very empty as he sat once more to read.

"Daddy! Daddy! Read me a story." The little girl's voice rang out as she claimed into her father's lap.
"What do you want to hear my little queen?"
"The story of the alpha!" As Kol began to tell the story of the first time he met the love of his life, little Regina curled up into her daddy's side, and tugged at his cloak with her little chubby hand.

Kol drifted into his memories as he held the place on his shirt that Regina would grab so tight. Reading always reminded him of his little queen. She had always wanted to hear every story, wanted to read every book. Tears began to fall from Kol's eyes as he stared aimlessly at the book in his hand.

"Once upon a time, there was a family of lunatics who met the most beautiful girl in the world…"
"You know, she doesn't understand what you're saying."
"I know. I just wanted to tell my daughter a story." Kol's voice lifted as he shifted his eyes to his wife. He held a newborn in his hands.
"She holds your shirt just like Regina did." Haven noticed as she moved towards her husband.
"All my queens do."
"I have never held your shirt like that."
"You, my love, are not my queen. You are my world. You just happen to bear my queens."

Silence filled the room around him as he continued to get lost in his memories, tears falling swiftly down his cheeks. He heard the phone ringing and distracted he answered without looking.
"Hello." His voice was steadier than he had expected.
"Kol, where did you disappear to?"

"I retired to my room Elijah; mother told me that I couldn't kill Rebekah, so I figured there was no point in sticking around." Kol said as he silently cursed himself for not looking before answering and calmly began to act, lacing his words with a crazed calm.
"You couldn't enjoy one night without a spree?"
"What a way to put it. I am guessing there are guests near you."
"Yes, most of the guests are still here. Damon and Stephen Salvatore left, but Miss Forbes and Miss Gilbert are still here. So are most of the guests. I thought it would be better if I didn't say what you actually do." Elijah's voice was harsher than normal. Kol could tell he was trying to hide frustration.
"Sounds like a party. I assure you, though. I am fine where I am, without all the giggles and dancing."
"I thought you liked dancing."
"Everything in moderation my dear brother. That is except for blood." Kol could tell that his acting was starting to slip. He was glad that Elijah could not see his face. He hasn't been able to stop the tears yet.
"Very well, Kol. Know that you are missed, though." With that Elijah hung up and Kol returned to staring at his book locked in the memories of his daughters.

The following morning came faster than Kol wished as his phone began to ring before he wanted to get up. Yet, as he glanced at his phone, he forced himself to answer.
"Hello Love."
"Mystic Falls is a very interesting place, I am not surprised that so many vampires are drawn here, it seems to be locked in the past."
"Yes, I'm sure that has something to do with it. There is also the fact that it sits next to woods and forest making it a bit easier to hide your work."
"Did the spell work?"
"Everyone of us drank the champagne, Elena told me that is where mother put the spell, so unless mother messed up the spell, yes it worked."
"Perfect. I plan to lay low for the day. I'll keep an eye out, text me when the plan is made known."
"Will do." With that Kol heard her hang up. Both of them had kept from saying names that would be out of the ordinary. Which meant that until everything happened Haven Silason still no longer existed. As he stood to get ready, he heard a knock on his door. He was hoping that it would be Elijah, so he walked over to the door and opened it. He hid a smirk as he opened it to the very brother he wanted to see.
"Elijah, do come in."
"Good morning, Kol"
"Morning. What can I help you with?" Kol knew that he had to trick Elijah into not trusting Elena, he was hoping he still knew Elijah well enough to succeed.
"I just wanted to let you know that I asked the doppelganger what mother wanted from her, she insisted that mother really did only want to be a family."
"You trust her?"
"Yes, why would I not?" Elijah asked, glancing in confusion at his youngest brother.

"Well, if by chance mother didn't want to be a family that would mean that we would all be dead. I honestly do not see why Elena would tell you. Why would she want to protect us? Klaus has done nothing but terrorize her friends and hurt her family. You tried to kidnap her. Rebekah tortures her day in and day out. And while Finn and I have not done anything to her, we also have not done anything for her, and our reputations are not exactly recommending." Kol said it the best he could to get Elijah to realize that Elena could have lied to him.
"You really think she lied?"
"I have never known our mother to do something half-hearted. And while maybe you are right, she does want us to be a family she still is up to something. I highly doubt that the doppelganger told you the full truth my dear brother."
"You make a fair point. I shall make sure Elena was telling the truth. I will let you know what I find." Elijah said before walking back towards the door. He paused before walking out though turning back to Kol, "thank you for helping Kol. I knew that you wouldn't be the same as you were back then." With that Elijah walked out of Kol's room shutting the door behind him. Kol was once again alone.

Kol had been forced to get a drink with Klaus, while waiting for Elijah to inform him of the information he already knew. He hated that he had to pretend that Klaus was his brother, sometimes he thought it would be easier if he set himself apart from his family.
"Caroline, join us for a drink." Klaus' voice stating his daughter's name snapped him out of his thoughts. Looking up he saw his daughter holding a piece of paper only glancing at the man who had spoken to her.
"I would rather not. I actually came here to get a translator, I thought you two were old so maybe you could help." As she spoke, she handed the paper to her father instead of Klaus. As he looked at the paper, he heard Elijah enter the bar.
"Why exactly do you have a paper with our names on it?" Klaus asked after looking over his brother's shoulders.
"We got it from Esther."
"It's a linking spell." Kol spoke, breaking the slight tension between the two beside him.
"So that is how she plans to do it." Elijah spoke as he joined the group.
"Do what?" Klaus asked.
"Kill us all." Kol answered for his brother.
"It's a full moon. She is planning on pulling power from it and the ancestral power of the witch house." Elijah said announcing the information Kol had been waiting for, He silently sent the text that had been waiting in his phone to be sent. He heard a beep from the other side of the room, and he realized that she had heard everything.
"Well then, it seems we have a spell to stop. I was wondering when things would get interesting." Klaus said downing his last sip of bourbon before standing to walk out with Elijah. Kol paused for a second giving Caroline's hand a slight squeeze and slipping a paper in her hand before following his brothers. As Caroline looked at the paper, she realized that her mother had been sitting across the room since this morning. She glanced over at the table Kol had told her and smiled. He was right, her mother was sitting sideways in a booth staring at Caroline with a smirk. She smiled back before rejoining her friends, hoping that everything would be okay at the end of the night.

"My son's, come forward." Esther's voice lifted in the air as they climbed the hill to where she was standing. Kol could tell that Finn was trying his best to act the part as he stepped forward and spoke to his mother,
"Stay behind me."
"It's okay. They can't enter." Esther replied,
"That's lovely. We are stuck out here while the favorite son plays sacrificial lamb. How pathetic you are Finn." Kol said as he tested the boundaries of the spell his mother had cast in the salt.
"Be quiet, Kol. Your brother knows virtue you cannot even imagine." Esther spoke as if she also had that virtue.
"Whatever you think of us, killing your own children would be an atrocity." Elijah said. Kol knew that he would try to negotiate with their mother if he was given the chance, and it forced him to hide a smirk. Within the next few minutes Elijah would never negotiate with their mother again. He would want to kill her, with no mercy. It almost made Kol sad for Esther. Almost.
"My only regret is that I did not let you die a thousand years ago."
"Enough. All this talk is boring me. End this now, mother. Or I'll send you back to hell." Klaus said, as he began to prowl around the edge of the circle.
"For a thousand years, I've been forced to watch you. Felt the pain of every victim, suffered while you shed blood. Even you, Elijah, with your claim to nobility, you are no better. All of you… you are a curse on this earth stretched out over generations…"
"I suppose this means you should have realized that casting a curse on someone made them the curse." Kol smirked as he heard her voice and watched her mount the hill. He heard Finn's heart slow to a calm pace while his mothers escalated in fear.
"Haven." Esther's voice was barely above a whisper. A second later Kol had been sent back into his memories.

A single scream echoed across the village. Kol immediately knew whose it was. His brother rarely screamed, yet Kol knew what it sounded like. He had heard it only once before, at the death of Henrik. When Kol arrived to see what had happened, so had the rest of his family. Haven was on the ground clutching a small body to her chest. Elijah kneeled on the other side of the body grasping its hand in desperation. When Rebekah ran up to the group, she fell to her knees, tears wheeling in her eyes.
"James." The whisper of the name came from Finn. Elijah and Haven clung to their son, tears falling from their eyes without end. Both looked as if they had lost their worlds.

Haven could hear the pain that each of the originals was going through as they relived each memory that she had taken from them. Esther watched in confusion. Haven forced herself to stand still as she watched both Kol and Elijah scream in pain at the memories.

The Mikaelson family wished that they would never have to witness such a thing again, yet in the next ten years they watched as each of Haven's and Elijah's kids were mercilessly killed, it took until the youngest, Benjamin, for them to realize that their mother had killed each of them, longing for the power they held. That was when Klaus ripped her heart out. They watched over the next years as the pain of losing their children destroyed both Elijah and Haven. They sat in silence as the pain broke the marriage that they all thought would last forever.

Esther did not know what was happening to her children, but she did not flinch at the pain they were experiencing. They would be dead soon anyway, and everything would be over for them.

"Father, what are you doing?" Kol asked as he walked towards his father. Regina had been receiving training from her grandfather in the way of the sword. She was supposed to have been home a half hour ago, so Kol had gone to check to see what was happening. Mikael was staring at the ground in front of him, shoulders shaking as he sobbed.
"She took over my mind. I could not stop it. Why would she do this? Hasn't she taken enough?" Kol did not register the last of his father's words as he saw Regina laying on the ground in a puddle of blood. A sword sticking out from her chest. His legs stopped working as he fell to the ground with a yell of pain. He watched as Haven ran out of the house to find a dead child once again. He only felt the pain for another few minutes before he felt nothing.

Elena stared at Rebekah as she yelled on the ground in front of her. It sounded as if her heart was being ripped from her. Elena tried to help, but deep down she knew that this meant she was receiving the memories she had lost, almost every single one of them heartbreaking.

"Kol, look at me. You have to turn it back on." Haven's voice almost failed her as she approached her husband. The other originals were behind her. They had been tracking his killing spree for three years. They had finally caught up.
"No."
"Kol. Turn it on." She forced compulsion through her voice as she grabbed his head forcing him to look at her. It only took a second before he collapsed feeling every bit of pain that he had not felt. Every bit of grief. Every kill. She watched as it almost killed him. Wishing at every moment that she could fix it.

They all stood from the ground after a few moments. Klaus glared at his mother, yet he did not utter a word. Finn, stood with his head hung down. Kol forcefully wiped the tears from his face, forcing himself to stand. Elijah still kneeled on the ground, tears falling from his eyes, his fists gripping the dirt as if it would save him. Kol forced his voice to work,
"James. Daniel. Mary. Lucy. Henry. Benjamin. Regina. I find it hard for me to think of myself as a monster, no matter what I have done, because every time I look up, I see you. The woman who claimed to love me. The woman who killed my nieces and nephews for power. The woman who magically controlled my father, the one man who I trusted, to kill my daughter, for power. I may have killed my way through America and every other continent on this planet. I may have been the first ripper, killing with no mercy. But I never killed my grandchildren for power. I never called my children monsters. And I never thought my actions were justified by the evil of others."
"Kol, those children were too dangerous, their power was more than anyone."
"They were human." Finn spoke, tears falling from his eyes.
"They were Tribrids."
"They were HUMAN!" Kol screamed.

"I took their power once they were born. I refused to let my children grow up as the creatures that I was forced to grow up as." Haven said, pausing to take a deep breath before continuing, "Monsters are not born. They are made. Each one of your children became a monster because of your actions. It is over Esther. You have broken nature's laws by coming back. I will restore balance to this earth by killing you myself."
"You don't have the power."
"Not alone. But I am not alone.'' With that Kol grabbed his wife's hand, letting her channel power through him, from all his siblings. Esther watched with fear as the wind picked up and whistled through the trees. The fire around her grew and blew with the wind in great gusts. Haven's eyes had turned a bright blue, shining in the dark as she pulled the ancient magic through her and directed it towards Esther. When she spoke the spell, her voice sounded as if a hundred people were speaking with her. Esther watched as each of her children's eyes started to glow as Haven's did. She was pulling power from them. She was using the linking spell. Esther watched with awe until suddenly everything stopped. The fire died back down; the wind ceased to blow. An eerie silence came over the area. Esther barely dared to breath as she waited for Haven's next move.
"I have set up a special location for you in my stepmothers' realm. I hope you enjoy your eternal suffering." Haven's voice held no sympathy or sorrow as she spoke. Before Esther could say anything, the wind blew the fire in a circle, and she watched her death come closer and closer. Kol watched as the fire collapsed in on Esther. He found it hard to find any regret inside. Deep down he almost wished he cared. Yet, he could not force himself to as Regina's face flashed across his mind. She was his constant reminder that Esther would never be his mother, she was just the woman who had killed his daughter. There was no sympathy within him for that woman. Finn looked on with slight sadness. He had loved his mother, once upon a time. He hated what she had become, what power had done to her. Yet as he looked at his brothers, he realized that the woman who had just died was not the mother he had known, it was the woman who had broken his family. Rebekah had arrived right as Haven had started the spell, she had watched with slight jealousy, wishing that she could have been the one to kill the woman who had taken so much. Esther had never been her mother. Haven had raised her, and Esther had destroyed her. Klaus watched in anger. He had hated his mother since she had cast the spell to make him live forever. Yet, the faces of his nieces and nephews flashed through his mind and for the first time in his life he wished he had been the bastard child of Mikael instead of Esther. Elijah looked on with mixed emotions. He had watched her rip his sons' heart from his chest. He would never forgive her for that. She had taken everything from him. His family. His marriage. Even his humanity for a time. She had taken everything from him, and he had never taken anything from her. Yet, her death did not bring them back. And as he stood, he realized that he was the only one of his siblings who had lost everything. He could never get any of it back. As he was thinking this Haven grabbed his hand,
"You haven't lost everything. You still have us." Her voice was broken, and tears were falling down her cheeks as he looked up at her. He realized she was right. He had his siblings. Always and forever. He even had a niece that he would protect at all costs.
"I know." Their conversation was broken off by a voice coming from the woods behind them.
"Mom? Dad?" As the group turned, they saw Caroline climbing the hill behind them, fear was written clearly on her face, and it only took a minute before she ran into Kol's arms, her voice muffled as she continued, "I saw the fire, then the wind picked up. I thought Esther had somehow won. I thought you were..." Her voice cut off as the tears began to fall.
"Us, lose? My little queen you must have lost your mind entirely." Kol said, his try at sarcasm failing as his voice caught because of his tears.
"We are all fine. I assure you." Elijah said, speaking for his brother, he knew that if the situation were reversed Kol would do the same for him. And while it somewhat surprised him, he found that there was no jealousy in his heart. He was just happy that they had been able to save one of them.
"Uncle Elijah." Caroline said as she ran to hug him as well. Elijah accepted it gratefully. They had all written letters to Caroline for the notebook that Haven would leave with her.
"Do all of us get hugs or just the favorite uncle?" Rebekah asked as she stepped towards Caroline.
"Everyone gets hugs." Caroline replied, wrapping her aunt in a hug. It took her a minute to get to everyone, and she ended up in her mother's arms.
"We are all fine, the fire was mine." Haven explained as she ran her fingers through her daughter's hair.
"Your mother performed a spell like no other. It was remarkable." Finn said as he listened to Caroline's heart slow back down after the anxiety.
"I sent Stephen and Damon to get Elena. Bonnie and her mom are still in the house. I tried to get them to trust you all, but they were so scared they would not listen. They thought they needed to help Esther." Caroline explained as she finally pulled away from her mom and stood facing her family all at once for the first time in her life.
"Yes, well, I will say that after all I have done, I am not exactly surprised that they wanted to kill me." Klaus replied with a sad smirk on his face.
"None of you knew?" Caroline asked.
"I knew." her father replied.
"I also knew, but Kol told me not to say anything..." Finn offered.
"I had no clue." Rebekah said.
"Neither did I," Elijah spoke with a still unsteady voice.
"I obviously had no idea, seeing as I tried to kill all of you." Klaus answered Caroline with a smirk.
"I took the memories from everyone who was awake. Kol and Finn had been recently daggered, so it didn't affect them." Haven explained, she paused before speaking again. "I think you all need to return to the mansion. I will make sure the doppelganger gets retrieved safely, and then I will meet you there. We all need rest, and we also need to make sure that nobody flips their humanity because of the memories that will continue to flash through your minds for the next 24 hours."
"I forgot about that part of this. Lovely, I love watching my daughter die repeatedly." Kol said sarcastically with a smirk before offering his arm to Caroline and beginning to walk off.
"I know right. It is the most fun I have had in years." Elijah offered as he followed his brother. The two continued with their sarcastic remarks as the others followed behind. Haven stood alone in the clearing after a moment before letting herself break. To give them their memories back they had to come from her, she would be seeing the same things they were for the rest of the night. It had almost broken her the first time, and now she was living it again. The words her father had told her when she was little echoed through her mind, Only the greatest warriors experience the pain of losing those they love. Because only the greatest warriors can handle it. Her father had been the one person who understood her. Deep down she knew that his time in the cave would have driven him mad, but in this moment, she wished she had her father.

It took Haven an hour before she was climbing the steps to the mansion, she could hear the laughter coming from the family inside. She was glad they had each other. In the last seventeen years she had travelled the world, she had not had a reason to or a want to, but she knew that if she had settled down it would have killed her. She had been alone. She walked into the room without them noticing. Caroline was sitting next to her father as he showed her an old book that he had read to Regina. Klaus was sitting in a chair to the left of them painting a landscape painting, but every now and then he would correct Kol when he changed the story. Elijah sat in the seat across from them, he also had a book, every now and then he would look between his siblings and laugh as Kol argued with Klaus over what had happened. Finn sat at the desk across the room talking with Rebekah, they were joking and laughing as they looked over an old photo album from the 1940s. After a moment, Kol saw her standing in the doorway.
"Haven, finally. Tell Klaus that you were wearing a black dress when we first met you. He keeps insisting that it was blue."
"Tatia was wearing blue that day," Finn offered, entering the conversation.
"Tatia was wearing green. Rebekah was wearing blue. Haven was wearing grey. She wore a black dress to the gathering that night, but when we were first introduced, she was wearing grey." Elijah said without looking up from his book.
"I am positive that she was wearing black the whole day." Kol insisted, glancing up at Haven.
"Elijah is right. I wore grey while travelling. I put black on for the events. Although Tatia was wearing brown, and Rebekah was in blue." Haven corrected.
"How do you all remember this?" Caroline asked, curiosity at the conversation getting the best of her.
"Your mother was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, it wasn't a moment that is easy to forget." Elijah explained to his niece.
"Then why don't you remember dad?"
"That might have been the day Elijah fell in love with her, but I didn't fall in love with her for another hundred years. The day I fell in love with her was in England. She was wearing a burgundy dress, her hair pulled up in a loose bun. She had just finished a shift at the local hospital before changing for the dance that Klaus was hosting. Her cheeks were pink from the walk. That is the moment I fell in love with her. Forgive me if I do not remember the moment that Elijah fell in love with her."
"What about you mom? When did you fall in love with Uncle Elijah and dad?"
"I fell in love with Elijah on a normal evening. He was in his working clothes. They were blue if I remember correctly. He had just been practicing dueling with Klaus. Mikael had gotten mad and tried to hit Klaus. Elijah took the punch for him. That is when I fell in love with him. When it comes to your dad, it was a night around a week after the night he just described. There had been a fire in the local church. We all had been out. When we came across the fire the others just stood there. Kol heard a mother yelling for her daughter, he ran into the fire. He came out holding the child and covered in soot, coughing up a storm. The edges of his suit had been burned, but the child was fine. That was when I fell in love with him."
"See, I'm not all ripper, sometimes I'm a hero." Kol said motioning to Klaus and then back to Haven as if she was proof that Kol wasn't a monster.
"Hero with humanity, monster without. You really are quite a bit like me for someone who has no blood relation to me." Klaus replied nodding to his brother.
"Since when were you a hero when you have your humanity?" Rebekah asked with a smirk.
"Yes, I would love to hear that story." Finn urged.
"I, as well, am curious." Elijah beckoned.
"I saved Caroline from her werewolf bite." Klaus offered.
"You ordered Tyler to bite her." Elijah responded.
"I killed Esther. The first time."
"I would have killed her if you hadn't, which means that you didn't really do anything." Kol spoke with slight anger in his voice.
"Fine. Maybe I don't have a hero story." Klaus said returning to his painting.
"Caroline, are you staying here tonight or are you going home? If you are staying have you let your mother know?" Haven asked, shifting the subject.
"Yes I am staying. Yes, I let mom know."
"Wonderful, I am going to try and get some sleep. Have a good night everyone." Haven said excusing herself. She heard Kol rise and follow her, but she did not stop until she was on the second floor. She waited for him to catch up and say something.
"You are leaving early."
"I just need a bit of time Kol, you know how the spell works, I am having trouble keeping grounded."
"It's a nasty spell, it almost reminds me of the spell you told me about that your father used that one time."
"The reverse life spell?"
"If I remember correctly it works the same way, it reverses a previous spell, yet it pulls your life force to do it?"
"It is a dangerous spell, but it is quite successful." Haven stated confirming that Kol had been correct about its uses.
"Reverse spells are a hard form of magic, yet you used that spell anyway, why?"
"It is the only spell that makes you relive the memories, every other spell offers them almost as photos. I knew the need for you all to actually receive the memories, so I did the reverse spell."
"You know, I had a memory come through before you got here, it wasn't one of the bad ones." Kol offered, trying to distract her from what he knew her mind was centered on.
"Which one was it?"
"It was the day Regina was born, you were sleeping, and she had woken up. I got up to sit with her so that you would not have to. I walked her through the house while I sang that song that you would sing to James when he was little. The one your father sang to you. It was the first time she used magic. She made the flower petals in the kitchen from the ointment float. She was giggling. It made me remember when Henrik was born and started to show magic, Esther had told us that the ancestors would reach out to new witches and warlocks and help them connect
to nature and the power of the earth. I thought that just maybe it was your dad, connecting with Regina, grounding her. I did not understand that I was right until later when you told me that the song was a spell to connect to the ancestors that your dad taught you. Haven, I know what you are reliving, I have been seeing it too, but I also see Regina tugging my arm through the woods to pick flowers, I see Carolines had clenching my shirt as she slept. I see Elijah playing with James and Daniel at the edge of the woods. I see you teaching Mary and Lucy how to weave. I remember Mikael teaching Henry and Benjamin how to fight, Rebekah teaching Mary how to cook. Finn chasing them through the woods, Klaus teaching them how to paint, I know that the end was tragic, I remember that too. Yet, I cannot allow myself to forget the fact that those kids saved my family, they fixed what Esther broke."
"They fixed the Mikaelson's, and they broke me."
"Those children never broke you. Esther did. You and I both know that."
"They were why I lived, Kol. They brought me back from the edge, they made me forget what I lived through, and now I don't have them." Haven responded, Kol could tell she was breaking, yet he refused to let her.
"Yes you do. The song, it connects you to those who passed before you. To your mother, to your father, to your children, to Regina. It grounds you to this world so that you will not lose your way. I know that I cannot fix this, but I know that they might be able to. Ground yourself Haven, return your connection to the world, reach out to them and they will come. They know the song just like he did when Regina was born. We can get through this together." With that he grabbed her hand and led her down the hall, they spent the night in meditation, the grounding spell swirling around them.

The next morning all hell broke loose at the breakfast table. The entirety of the group had suffered through the night from the nightmares. Haven could only do so much for the family, especially in the condition that the nightmares she was having put her in.
"It's good to have everyone together again, even if we all look like we are hungover." Rebekah began a conversation as the group tried to swallow the blood in front of them. Elijah, and Kol were in the worst shape, both looking as if they hadn't slept in years.
"Yes, well, that is the promise we made all those years ago. Always and forever and all that." Klaus mumbled from his seat at the end of the table.
"Always and forever is a bunch of bull." Kol stated, he was still holding his head, if his siblings looked, they could see the trail of tears that fell down his face. They had heard his screams throughout the night as he relived it all.
"Kol." Elijah muttered, trying to stop the inevitable fight that was about to break out. Haven watched each of the siblings trying to see how to stop it, but she felt like there was a knife in her heart so it was all she could do to try and read the siblings.
"No. Don't act like it isn't. Always and forever was you and Klaus and Rebekah. It never included Finn and I, or even Haven. It was your promise and it never extended to us."
"That is a lie, brother." Klaus' voice raised slightly in anger as he straightened his back trying to look like the hybrid he was.
"It's not. Always and forever, Finn, here's nine hundred years in a box. Always and forever, Kol, here is a lifetime of us hunting you to put you in a box right beside Finn, because you are not worth the time it takes to get you to turn on your humanity. You want to know why it was so damn hard to turn on my humanity? Because I was alone. I had nobody. My wife had to leave because of stupid balance. My daughter was stabbed through the heart by my father. Yet, after all I went through, none of you stood by me. You all had better places to be, right. I was alone, so I let go. I could not hurt anyone when nobody was around. Always and forever is a piece of shit, and I am beyond done with every part of it." Kol stated, his voice fluctuated from anger to sadness as he spoke. Haven knew that what he was saying was true. It had taken her coming back for his siblings to be willing to try and help him. She had found him surrounded by bodies, tears in his eyes.
"Always and forever was always about all of us." Elijah tried to reason with the group, but his voice was strained. Haven could see that he wasn't much better off than Kol.
"It was never about me. I was the outcast. The one who stole Elijah's girl. The one who turned off his humanity. The one who failed to be a Mikaelson. I died when Regina was killed, I jumped off the edge and none of you pulled me back! I lost myself. And while all of you have always been willing to pull Klaus back or pull Elijah back, none of you caught me, none of you pulled me back. I was alone. Dying inside with every kill. Ripping my own heart into pieces with every meal. Having flashbacks of Regina with every single body that littered my path. I was dying, slowly, in the most painful way I ever could have experienced, and none of you cared. You left me to die alone in a field of blood!"
"Kol. Now is not the time for this." Haven said as she finally forced herself to speak. As she did, she grabbed Kol's arm holding him back from the table.
"Now is the perfect time. I hope you all rot in your memories for the next millennium, like I had to. I hope Daniel flashed through your head Elijah, every time you kill someone. I hope Lucy haunts your dreams, Rebekah. I hope James follows your every step, Klaus. I hope you all live what you forced me to live. I hope you get to the point where you want to rip your own heart out. Let me know when you do, then I'll talk about "Always and forever"!" With that Kol rose and exited the room. Haven listened as he climbed the stairs and then slammed the door to their room. She hated that this was when this happened, yet she knew that Kol had a point. They had spent one night lost in their memories; he had spent a millennium. The room fell silent at Kol's exit. Elijah's head was in his hands. Haven knew that he was fighting the tears that had been waiting for a moment of weakness all morning. She knew they were falling now. Rebekah was crying, yet she stayed silent. Klaus looked angry, yet Haven knew he just did not know how to react. Finn sat in silence, he had spent nine hundred years in his own living hell, he knew exactly what Kol meant when he said that he had wanted to rip his own heart out. If he had not been paralyzed, he probably would have tried.
"Now seems like it might not be the best time, but it's been an hour, the dreams are done." Finn offered.
"Great. Well then, have a great rest of your morning everyone, I have a spell to clean up from." Klaus started rising from his seat.
"Wait." Haven's voice was harsh yet broken. She looked no better than Elijah or Kol, yet she seemed to be trying her best to hold it together.
"What now?" Klaus snapped back, barely turning back towards the table.
"Kol wasn't lying. For some reason, his humanity switch works differently than all of yours. It locks him in a prison that does not care, his outward actions are normal for a vampire without humanity, but inside he can still feel everything. The dreams you all experienced for the past 12 hours Kol experienced for a millennium, yet, unlike you, he only saw the bad things. You all need to realize what you did to him. You also need to realize that even after that he still saved all of you, even if it possibly meant harming his daughter, he risked it all for you. He wants Always and forever, and I think it is time you give it to him." With that Haven left, making Klaus' exit less dramatic and by far lessened the purpose of it. Rebekah, Elijah, and Finn sat in silence accepting in their hearts the fact that this pain they felt was nothing like what Kol had just been through that same night.
"Why didn't we continue to look for him and help him?" Rebekah's voice broke the silence with a quiet question. Both Elijah and Klaus had been around at that time, but Rebekah only looked at Klaus.
"Mikael began to look for Kol, I thought if we were not trying to find Kol then we would be that much farther from him." Klaus explained.
"You chose safety over family?" Rebekah asked, her head snapping between looking at her brothers.
"Do not look at Elijah. I told him that I had sent people to find Kol and they would let me know when they found him."
"You believed him?" Disbelief filled their sister's voice as she turned back to Elijah.
"It was Daniel's birthday when he told me, I wasn't paying attention and I didn't think about it afterwards."
"I can't believe either of you. We all knew that Kol was different when it came to the humanity switch. Mother told us that. Why was I not told about this decision?"
"Rebekah, enough. It already happened, there is no undoing this, all you can do now is try to make up for it. I think we all need to start with a funeral, we all ignored Regina's death, I think it's time we fix that." Finn spoke up, standing as he spoke. He had been in a box for a long time, but he was still the oldest and they all knew that he was the leader of the family.
"I will retrieve her body. Haven put a spell to protect it from decomposing." Elijah volunteered.
"I will get a proper Mikaelson coffin, and I will get Caroline to help me with flowers." Klaus offered.
"I will dig through our stuff and find the paintings of her and the book of letters." Rebekah added.
"I will inform Haven and then I will retrieve the Mikaelson blessing from Fathers books." Finn paused before starting again, "We will host it tonight at sunset, make sure Caroline is there, she can bring a friend but not a crowd. Pull clothing from back then and wear what you would have worn if we had done this when we should have. Make sure the flowers are roses and make sure we have quiet music in the background. Make sure you are all ready, I will handle getting Kol there."
"Finn, let me handle getting Kol there. I know you mean well, but it was hard to even look at any of you when I lost the kids. It helps to have someone who actually knows at least a little bit of what it is like." Elijah said, he still looked like he had been hit by a truck, but once he spoke Finn nodded and let Elijah take on the responsibility of handling Kol.

The day had gone by quickly as they all prepared for the evening. Finn had told Haven of their plan that morning and she had ended up helping Klaus with the flowers and the coffin. Caroline had anxiously helped knowing that tonight she would get a glimpse of what her sister had been like. From what Klaus had told her, Regina had been twelve when Mikael killed her, she had been a hybrid of a witch and a werewolf, Haven had made sure she had not had to be a vampire. Klaus had told her a little bit about Regina, but whenever Haven entered the room to continue to help, he had stopped talking. Elijah had finished his job of retrieving Regina that morning and had turned her over to Klaus and Rebekah to prepare with the coffin. Then he had gotten ready before heading to Kol's room and knocking slightly on the door.
"Come in." The voice was muffled but Elijah entered anyway. Kol was sitting on the ground inside the open balcony door. He was staring out over the property tears were still falling down his face.
"Come to tell me I was in the wrong?" Elijah could tell that Kol had tried to use his voice as a weapon with those words, yet his voice had not cooperated, and it had instead broken from the tears.
"No. I came to make sure you were okay. You have not left this room all day, and I know you do not need to be alone."
"I honestly didn't mean to snap at breakfast…"
"I know. Always and forever falls a little short when the only thing running through your mind is the moments that forever ended."
"I remembered everything, but it was like her death was on replay. I could not get it out of my head. Her scream is still echoing, Mikael's yell for help, the smell of blood, the sound of the broken vase that Haven dropped. I have relived that day for five hundred years."
"You never got closure. Kol, I lived like that for at most three years after my children's deaths. But whenever I saw the visions, I would visit their graves. I chose to believe that they had found peace."
"There is no such thing as closure, not after five hundred years."
"I might have a solution. Put on the suit that is on the bed and meet me in the hall." With that Elijah stood to leave. He waited for about ten minutes before the door of Kol's room opened. Kol had put on the suit but it was clear that he had not tried to do anything further than that. His hair was still a mess from where he had been running his hands through it. There were tear stains all over his face, his eyes red and puffy.
"Care to explain why I am wearing a five-hundred-year-old suit?" Kol had steeled his voice but Elijah knew it was an act. It only took them both a moment to make it to the bottom of the steps. It was there that Haven met them, Elijah left the two of them behind as he went to join the others in the yard.
"What are they doing, Haven?"
"They are giving you Always and Forever." Haven said, before linking her arm in his and leading him out the door.
"You look like you are trying to pretend that you are not slowly dying." Kol whispered as they made their way through the halls towards the door.
"You don't look any better."
"What is this?" Kol asked as he came into view of his siblings and daughter standing around a coffin with candles surrounding them. Nobody answered and instead Elijah beckoned Kol forward. It only took him a few steps to reach the coffin, and he did not notice when Haven stopped following him. He froze when he saw who was in the coffin. Haven watched Kol closely, she knew what they had both been through when Regina had died, and she did not want Kol to turn off his humanity.
"What… why… how…" Kol tried to form words to ask why he was staring at his daughter in a coffin, but he could not force himself to speak. She looked like she had the day she died, young and beautiful. Brown curls framed her face, her skin tan like her mothers, her fingers holding a black rose to her chest.
"Today, we gather to celebrate a life that we should have celebrated generations ago. Regina Mikaelson." Finn's voice broke the night. It was powerful and steady. He paused to glance at his niece before continuing, "Regina was joyful and full of life, she was powerful and kind. Regina reflected her parents in the best ways. Growing up Kol was wild, but he always did what was right, there was a time when he got in trouble because he came home late, he was quick to inform our parents that there was a dead bird on the path and he had to bury it, Kol put flowers on that bird's grave for the next year. On the other hand, Regina's mother was powerful and just, she always made sure everyone paid for their actions. Somehow Regina got both of those things. She cared and loved deeper than anyone I have ever met, and she was just and fought for peace and balance. Regina changed the Mikaelson's in ways that we would never have been able to prepare for. Today we choose to celebrate her life like the Vikings of old rather than focus on the fact that she has moved on to the peace of the other world." after speaking Rebekah stepped forward,
"Regina was a light. Her smile lit up the darkest rooms and softened the hardest hearts. None of us were ready for her and yet all of us would have willingly died in her place. I once asked Regina what her favorite thing was, she told me that it was her father. She then went into a long explanation about how her dad was the best person she had ever met. She told me that her mother had told her that when she was little her father was her favorite thing as well, Regina said that it felt good to be like her mom but that more than anything she wanted to be like her dad. Strong, caring, loving, fun, and supportive. I never got to know the version of my brother that she did, not until last night. I learned last night that I too want to be like Kol, he stood up when we sat down, he planned to save us even though it meant that he would be risking everything. He never gave up on us, even though we gave up on him. Regina chose an amazing person to have as her hero, and I know that somehow, somewhere she knows that her dad is still the man she loved so much." Next was Klaus, he held a rose in his hand, a forced smile on his face as he stepped up and laid it on the coffin. He paused for a moment before starting to speak,
"When Elijah's kids were killed, I swore to never love again. Yet, I had no idea that Regina would come around. She slowly pulled me back. She turned on my humanity, she softened my heart. She was a lot like her sister is now, controlled and calculating, yet bubbly and joyful. I always wondered how someone so calculating could be Kol's daughter, but I quickly realized that it was because of her mother that she was calculating and because of her father that she was so joyful. I can still hear her laugh as it would carry through the clearing while she chased butterflies, her giggle when Kol would chase her and her smile whenever someone handed her a flower. My greatest memory though is when she asked me how to make red paint. At that point I had been using a deep red paint made of blood and cherries, but I remembered how Finn had taught me to make red paint when we were children. So, I took her to the garden and helped her pick roses, we then turned them into paint. Her smile was contagious as we mixed the petals in the water. By the end she was covered in red, her father almost killed me for staining her dress that her mother had made me, but as Kol led Regina away she turned and with a smile waved at me with her rose covered hand. She reminded me that the simple things were not powerless, and that sometimes they were more important than anything else the world could offer. Thank you, Regina, for being my anchor." It took a moment for anyone to move after that but after a little while Elijah moved forward. He had tears in his eyes, but he steeled his voice and spoke,
"A thousand years ago my mother took my children from me. It tore me apart, yet my family brought me back from the edge and reminded me that family was forever. Five hundred years ago, I watched the same thing happen to my brother, and I watched as nobody pulled him back. I saw what happened, I saw him fall. Years later my brother's wife would remind us of our responsibility as his family, and we would pull him back. As I watched Haven pull Kol back, as I saw him reground himself, I remembered a song that Haven sang to our children years before. One that her father sang to her. The song connects this world to the next. It connects those who have gone before to those who have yet to go.
Nature in its fullness reminds you of the growth.
The ground comes up to meet, the clouds that float above.
The greatness of the oak tree that stays throughout the wind,
The peace of the flower that stays throughout the storms
May the family that is growing be as flowers in the field,
Growing in the storm, content to never yield
May the seasons be reminders of those who went before
The ones who pave the way for us to stand for more
May we never lose connection to the family that is lost
For they are our oaks, our shields,
Our reminder of the ground that makes us prosper." Elijah ended with the song, as he sang the wind grew and the forests grew silent. In that moment they all realized that they were there, those who had gone before had heard the song. Kol was trying his best to fight the tears that poured down his face, Elijah wiped at those that had fallen onto his cheeks. Klaus held Rebekah in his arms as she cried, tears fell down his face as well, but he stood strong for those around him. Finn stood next to Caroline, his face showing the pain he was feeling. Caroline was the only one without tears as she watched her family mourn the loss of her older sister, the sister she never met. After a moment Haven stepped forward.
"Regina Eleanor Mikaelson, your name fit you, you were a queen, and you were the sun rays of the Mikaelson family. You saved me, even though I know you did not know it. You renewed my strength. You made me okay again. I never wanted to know a world without you, but the brightest stars burn out the fastest. You saved this family. You made us alive again. I do not know why I got to be your mother, I do not think I deserved you, but you chose me. I wish I could have protected you, but I know that you did more in your twelve years of life than any of us could in a thousand. You told me on your tenth birthday that you wanted a sister that would play with you, I told you that we would have to see what daddy said. To your dismay and sadness, your father said you would have to wait. You never got to meet your sister, but she is exactly like you. She shines just as bright, and she stands just as strong. I remembered what you told me that night, I still remember it now,

"Mommy?"
"Yes, Regina?"
"I know daddy said no, but grandpa said that you would have my sister one day."
"Papa said that?"
"Not papa, grandpa."
"You mean my father?"
"Yeah. He said you would have another daughter. I told him that you should name her strong and loyal. That is what I want sissy to be, strong and loyal, like daddy!"

"Strong and Loyal. Caroline Faye. You chose her name all those years ago, and I remembered. You were right, she is a lot like your dad, just like you were. You talked a lot about your grandfather Silas. I know that you are not yet with him, but I do know you are with your grandmother, and I hope she is telling you stories of the grandfather that you knew. May your light shine like the sun in the peace that I know you have found. May you never lose your shine, and may you never lose your grace. As we did to the ancestors before you, we bless you, may you go on to find peace, may you never be forgotten, and may you continue to live on in the power of the earth, you power sent as a flower seed in the wind to grow again with your descendants and live on in them as they remember the road you paved in your life. You are loved, smár dróttning, may you reign forever in the land beyond the sun." With that Haven placed a flower in her daughter's hand and stepped back. Kol just watched in silence, and after a moment Haven motioned for the brothers to lower the casket into the grave. Haven held onto Kol's arm as they watched their daughter being lowered into the grave, Caroline stood to the side with tears in her eyes as she watched her parents. She had not known anything but her sisters name and now she knew so much.

After the casket had been covered and the stone placed, the group slowly dispersed, Klaus headed with Rebekah and Finn towards the house, and Elijah headed to walk Caroline home. Kol and Haven stayed by the grave, until the others left and then Haven led Kol back towards the house. Elijah and Caroline walked most of the way in silence, not caring to use their speed to make the journey quicker. When they were about halfway there Caroline spoke up,
"If you watched what happened to dad, why didn't you do anything to help him?"
"It was a challenging time, and while I know that no excuse is good enough, the day that Klaus decided to stop chasing Kol was my son Daniel's birthday. I have always had trouble on their birthdays and on that day, Klaus informed me that while we would stop looking, he would still send people to find him. I was too distracted on that day to realize that he was lying, and I never paid enough attention later to learn the truth until Haven showed up. I know that I should have cared more, but I messed up, and I cannot undo it."
"Did you know?"
"Know what?" Elijah asked, glancing at his niece.
"That Regina was the one to pick my name?"
"No, I didn't, your mother never told anyone, I don't think. After your sister's death Kol and Haven retreated quite a bit, they never really healed. When you were born, I remember your father almost having a panic attack thinking that you would have the same fate. It was hard for them to face the fact that they had to figure out how to protect you, I don't think they even healed from the fact that even from the other side Esther had gotten to your sister."
"Is that why mom gave me away?" Caroline asked, she hadn't ever really had a conversation like this with her uncle but she knew that in the last two days they had become her family, and while her friends wouldn't understand, she wanted them to be her family.
"By the time you were born Esther had driven Mikael crazy, he was chasing us to kill us under her order, when he found us she knew that she needed to remove you from the Mikaelson family. She gave you up because there was no other way to keep you safe, not because of the past." He finished speaking as they walked up to her door.
"Thank you?"
"For what, my dear niece?"
"For being my family, even though you never actually knew me."
"This family is always and forever, Caroline, that doesn't change just because you just returned to us. It never will." With that Elijah kissed his niece's forehead and watched as she walked into her house.

The next few years were full of struggle, battles, and confusion as the people of Mystic Falls became used to the presence of the Mikaelson family. Enemies from all over came to threaten the family and Caroline's friends, but the family stood strong. Always and Forever became Caroline, Kol, Finn, and Havens new reality and the family was brought back together. Eventually, Silas joined them as Katherine raised him for the cure. The greatest struggle though came from Cade when he tried his best to cleanse the world of the "evil" family. The power of Haven and her father matched him, but they paid the price. After just a few years of being a family, they buried the one who had saved them from the blood lust a thousand years ago. Kol continued for his daughter, but he was never the same, none of them were. Yet after all the years the family had more to protect, Caroline, Hope, Josie, and Lizzie became the focus of the Mikaelson family, and as they protected each other they grew like the flowers in the field outside the family home. If they listened carefully, sometimes the residents of Mystic Falls could hear a song floating through the wind from the house. Even rarer they could see the man that would sing it walking his granddaughters through a field of flowers as he sang to them. The locals did not know why there were three stones in the middle of the field that the group would stop at once they had picked more flowers than the little girls could carry, but they knew there was a reason, and every time they saw it, they would stop for a moment and stand in silence. More was to come for the mysterious family in the mansion on the outskirts of town, but no matter what they were together, Always and Forever.