Location: Mikaelson Household — Date: 12th of September 981 A.D

"Ragnar, Elijah, come to say hi to your brother," Esther said in her bed, clear happiness in her voice, as she held the bundle that held the new member of the Mikaelson household. Elijah was the first to move towards his mother, looking at the sleeping baby, Elijah was surprised. "He is so small" He exclaimed, his shock causing Esther to chuckle.

"Both you and your brother were also this small once"

Elijah gave out a sound of shock at the (to him) utterly surprising news, which caused Esther to nearly throwing her head back in laughter, much to Elijah's anger. But their loud noises caused the newborn to wake up and start crying. Through he was thankfully back to sleep soon after thanks to Esther. And it seemed that was his cue.

"Mother does he have a name?"

"He does, but I am only going to say it when your father arrives"

Right on cue, Mikael entered the room, and both Elijah and he went out of his way as he marched towards his wife. He knelt before them and started looking at the sleeping baby, he never said a single word. "Mikael I want to name him," Esther said and Ragnar knew that this was a very pivotal moment, especially because he knew who the bundle was. Mikael sighed before agreeing, "Have you decided on a name?" He asked.

"Yes" She answered "His name shall be Niklaus"

"Niklaus Mikaelson" Mikael nodded seemingly satisfied "I can tell that he will be a great warrior"

'Oh, he will be, alright' Ragnar thought thanks to his knowledge of the future, briefly he saw Esther flinch. Mikael seemed to have noticed it as well "Are you alright?" He asked with clear worry. "I am the birth was just straining" He frowned not believing her answer but deciding to drop the matter. Ragnar knew why she had flinched, after all, Niklaus was not Mikael's son but the result of an affair with the Werewolf Chief Ansal, if he killed the curse would activate and Mikael would both know that Niklaus was not his son and that Esther gave him horns.

To circumvent this she would give him a Magical Necklace that would weaken him, this would lead to Mikael's dislike of him, which would shape the man that he would become. Niklaus would only learn the truth millennia later during the 21st century. But that was only the future, and he could reveal that particular fact to the future Hybrid to further gain his trust.

The time of the Vampires was still decades away but he could wait, he was very patient after all.

Location: Mystic Falls Forest – Date: 12th of February 985 A.D

"That's it hold it just like that" Mikael instructed as Ragnar prepared to fire arrow the small bow he had gave him "Steady your hands, calm your breath, relax your heart, and then... loose!" The arrow flies across the air and hits the target, hitting the center of it. Mikael did not give out words of praise, as that goes against his philosophy of how to raise his children. Not that Ragnar particularly cared. He wasn't starved for fatherly love as canonical Klaus had been.

"Elijah!" He barked out, which caused the aforementioned Mikaelson to come running, towards his brother and father's position. "Grab a bow and arrow" He ordered.

"Yes father"

Elijah quickly took both the bow and arrow and started aiming at the same target Ragnar had fired before. "Steady your breath, calm your breath, relax your heart, and then... loose!"

Elijah fired his arrow and while it did not reach the center like Ragnar had it was still very good as Mikael nodded. "You two will be going with me, it is time for you to hunt as well"

"Yes Father" Both Ragnar and Elijah, but while Ragnar looked resolute and calm at his father's decision Elijah looked unsure and looked like he wanted to say something but wasn't sure if he should say. Mikael of course immediately noticed. "What is it, Elijah?" He questioned as he grabbed his bow alongside his quiver, while both Ragnar and Elijah grabbed theirs. "Well... isn't Finn coming along as well?" He asked, his question causing Mikael to frown, his eldest was a sore spot for him. Mikael wanted him to learn how to hunt and fight but Finn never put any effort into it preferring reading his mother Magical Tomes, and after years of trying to teach Mikael eventually gave up, it was clear as day he was never going to become the warrior he hoped he would.

At least there was Ragnar, who showed the most potential, and his two younger brothers Elijah and Niklaus.

"He won't, he made his choice and I have grown tired of giving him chances"

No more words were exchanged between the trio as they made their way deep into the forest. The hunt would have been fruitful. With Elijah killing two foxes and an Elk, while Ragnar had killed three bunnies, four foxes, two Elks, and finally a wolf. Who he was pretty sure was just a normal wolf since it was too small. But Mikael had outshined them by killing two bears, they sure would eat tonight.

Location: Mystic Falls Forest – Date: 31st of October 989 A.D

"Father beat you again didn't he?" Ragnar asked Niklaus, who wordlessly nodded, Ragnar started to comfort his youngest brother, and it didn't take long for tears to appear. Outside there was only the older brother trying to comfort his abused younger brother, inside however it was much more different. Inside his mind, Ragnar smirked as he sensed an opportunity to have Klaus become more dependent on him. "Niklaus" He called out, bringing his brother out of his thoughts, "Elijah said to me that you paint, can you show me?" Niklaus blinked before showing a bright smile his dark thoughts seemingly forgotten.

"This way brother!" Niklaus motioned for Ragnar to follow, which he gladly did, smiling all the way. They then reached a hidden place in the Forest that Niklaus went to every day to cool off after a hard day. In that place, there were many different flowers and a primitive (by modern-day stands) painting kit which Niklaus had hidden in a wooden log. He then started preparing it by crushing the colored flowers into a paste in a bowl, he then started to paint on the trees while Ragnar calmly observed.

After a few hours of observing and commenting, even participating a little after a bit of encouragement from Niklaus, Ragnar finally decided it was time to head home, much to the young Mikaelson annoyance. While walking through the pathway that led to their home Niklaus spoke the question that would have haunted him across the centuries of his life. "Brother, why does father hate me?" Ragnar paused at the sudden question, before looking at his younger brother. "I don't know" And he doesn't, in the show, not even Mikael himself knew why he hated Niklaus so much, he had a few theories on the why but he isn't sure. His answer caused Niklaus to lower his head and he could see tears starting to spill out of his eyes.

"Hey, hey" He hugged him "Everything is going to be okay alright" They stayed like that for a few minutes before he pulled away and held out like his hand "Let's go home Niklaus" His younger brother seeing his kindness furiously wiped the tears in his sleeve and took his hand with a bright smile.

Ragnar wanted to give out a sinister smile and maybe a classical evil laugh but that would destroy the mood he had built so he had decided to reserve that for later when he was alone.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, and Van Helsing (Movie), the only thing I own is my OCs.

And the third chapter is done, had a bit of a writer's block on Dark Imperium so I decided to finish this chapter instead, the next updates will probably come next week but wouldn't be sure.

Also, we are moving up the timeline, and I can't wait to finish these kinds of chapters and move up to the more interesting parts of the Mikaelson's and the World history.