A/N: Quarantine's got me with a lot of time on my hands! This story takes place entirely in TVD, but there's mention of content from The Originals pretty early on. Obviously, I don't own either TVD or TO, nor am I claiming to!
Niklaus' screams rang out through the night, piercing through the roar of the wind and creaking trees, spurred on by the Bennett witch's chanting. From a distance, perched lightly at the top of a pine tree-one that didn't seem quite thick enough to support her weight, yet did so admirably-a slight figure contemplated the scene below. Her tree swayed ominously, tipping her towards the altercation between witch and Original vampire (now hybrid, she supposed) and whispering into her delicate ear. "Yes, yes," she muttered to the wind. "Just a moment."
She hummed indecisively. While she hardly relished Niklaus' pain, she couldn't deny it was somewhat satisfying to see him knocked down a peg or two, and by a delightful little witch to boot! Of course, she would never allow any true harm to come to him-physical or otherwise-but if she took a little perverse pleasure in his suffering for a moment, no one could blame her except Niklaus himself (he was an expert at blaming people). Not after all he'd done. She curled her slim, bare toes harshly into the bark of the branch beneath her at the thought of it. Still, she should probably intervene sooner rather than later. He'd be awfully cross with her if he realized she had just sat there and watched him writhe in agony on what should have been his "night of triumph" (she was sure he would call it something like that, probably even out loud since he was always so dramatic), and despite his faults she never really was capable of holding a grudge against him. Plus, she would almost certainly feel guilty later for waiting even this long, and she hated feeling guilty.
As if summoned by her deliberation and punishing vs helping and forgiving Niklaus, Elijah appeared. He was always ready for a debate on that particular subject, though his stance changed nearly every time she spoke to him. He often seemed determined to have it both ways, oddly enough. This time around, he was clearly in a punishing mindset, as he loomed over Niklaus' pained form with a forbidding look upon his face before brutally plunging his hand into his brother's chest. Okay, enough was enough, she was stepping in now!
With a burst of wind, she propelled herself towards the two men, landing lightly despite the speed of her movement. She inserted herself in the middle of the altercation so quickly and closely that Elijah was pushed firmly out (ew) and away from Niklaus by about a foot-not much space, but definitely enough for a small person like her! She ended up sandwiched between them with her bare feet tangled with Niklaus' legs on the ground (she nimbly avoided stepping on him-he'd probably had enough abuse for the night) and nearly chest to chest with Elijah, his bloodied arm pressed harmlessly against her stomach. He stared at her in shock. From the ground, Niklaus groaned out a chuckle. Hmm, the night air was nice and warm over here by the fire! "Hi!" she greeted cheerfully. "I think that's enough of that, don't you?" She turned halfway around so that she could see both of them, carefully keeping herself in the middle and her peripheral vision trained on the witch and her young vampire friend.
"Who the hell are you?" the young man asked. She opened her mouth to answer, but the witch wasn't as communicative as her friend apparently, since her reaction to the figure's appearance was to fling out a hand and attempt to separate her from Niklaus and Elijah-presumably so Elijah could get back to trying to kill his brother.
Nothing happened.
While the witch gaped, the figure replied to the vampire's question. "I'm Sigrid! It's lovely to meet you, I'm sure." Elijah shifted in a specific manner Sigrid knew was meant to draw her attention, but she ignored it with the ease of long practice. Instead, refusing to acknowledge the insistent press from the girl's spell, Sigrid turned her attention back to the witch, who was beginning to look angry. "Bonnie Bennett, was it? I'm sorry, darling, but I'm afraid your magic won't work on me." Conveniently, Sigrid left out the part where that was only the case because she had fully anticipated Bonnie's attack. If the witch had caught her off guard, the magic would have been much more effective. Still, no need for her to know that. Sigrid continued, "I'd truly love to speak more on the subject with you some time-and can I just say that was some amazing spellwork you were using earlier, I'm very impressed! In the meantime, though, I think it would be best if you and your companion went to go be with your family and friends while I handle this. I understand it's been a very trying night." There, that sounded diplomatic enough.
Apparently not, because Bonnie seemed to swell with anger. "I don't know who the hell you are, but Klaus needs to die tonight, so get out of the way."
"That's strange, I thought I just introduced myself?" Sigrid was careful to inject just the right amount of innocence into her voice so that it sounded sincere, and also a little like she was questioning both Bonnie's hearing and her intelligence. It was a shame the girl seemed so rude, Sigrid really had been impressed by her magic. She loved witches! Well, the interesting ones anyway. "And I'm afraid that's not on this evening's schedule, darling."
Bonnie looked to Elijah for assistance, but Sigrid could feel his gaze burning into the side of her head. "You know what he did, Sigrid," he said severely.
Sigrid nearly rolled her eyes, but she knew that wouldn't win her any points. Especially not with Elijah, he was such a stickler for manners! Instead, she glanced at him out the corner of her eye and smiled. His face softened, and she immediately pounced. "I know what you think he did, but it isn't true. He didn't bury them at sea, Elijah, and if you kill him we'll never find them!" She widened her eyes strategically. "And plus, you know I hate it when you two fight. I don't want to see you hurt each other." Predictably, Elijah crumpled like a wet paper towel, and nodded his assent. Haha! Got him! Worked every time.
Furious, Bonnie released a wordless cry of rage and tried once more to banish her with magic. When Sigrid was once more unaffected, Bonnie snarled, turned and began attacking Niklaus again instead. Now that Sigrid was paying closer attention, she could tell that not all of this power was actually Bonnie's. She seemed to be channeling about 100 dead witches, who had-hmmm they had died on this very spot! That was a very interesting bit of magic, though it would prove quite suicidal if Bonnie didn't stop soon. "Klaus needs to die!" Bonnie shouted over the renewed wind and the groaning trees, Niklaus's own yells adding to the din. "I'll kill him myself if you won't get out of the way!"
"You'll die," Elijah objected. Wow, he must actually like these people.
"I don't care!" Bonnie yelled recklessly, continuing to hurl magic at Niklaus.
Her loyalty was certainly admirable, Sigrid had no qualms admitting that. As was her power. But still. . . she narrowed her eyes and allowed her own power to infuse the air around them. The wind stopped immediately, the trees and grass ceased their swaying and for a moment the earth itself seemed to stand still-immeasurably, unnaturally still. A heavy, oppressive feeling filled the clearing, weighing down upon Bonnie until she must have felt she was almost carrying the sky. Gasping, she released her magic. Niklaus stopped screaming, and the only noise in the circle was the sound of his heavy breathing. Ignoring the pressure in her own body from using her power in this unnatural way (she was much better at releasing the force of the elements, not suppressing it), Sigrid announced clearly, "I said that's not on the schedule, Bonnie. Go home. Now."
The witch glared up at Sigrid, then looked to Klaus and seemed to prepare herself to argue. Losing patience completely, Sigrid released her hold on the air and directed it at Bonnie, blasting her backward and knocking her unconscious from the sudden force and movement. The vampire rushed to catch his friend before she could hit the ground, and Sigrid raised a challenging eyebrow at him. He clenched his fists and audibly grit his teeth (Sigrid winced, that could not be healthy), but gathered Bonnie in his arms and-after one more angry look towards Sigrid and Niklaus-sprinted away faster than Sigrid's eye could follow.
Finally alone with the two men she'd come to seek, Sigrid turned to face them fully and grinned widely, dimples matching with Niklaus' as he smiled at her in turn (even though he still seemed to be in some amount of pain). Her dark brown eyes twinkled merrily as she met Elijah's, which were identical in shape and color, though not exactly in emotion at the moment. "Oh lighten up, Elijah!" Sigrid cried joyfully as she leapt up to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss his cheek. As she did so, the wind rustled beneath her, and her lower body stayed airborne far longer than it should have. "Our siblings are as fine as they ever are when Nik daggers us, and really I don't understand how you believed even for a second that he would dump any of them into the ocean, let alone all of them! I know he's bad at showing it, but you should know Nik loves us far too much to do something like that," she finished somewhat scoldingly. Really, Elijah never should have believed it, even if Nik did tell him himself.
"Yes, thank you for your support, sister," Niklaus moaned from the ground, somehow managing to still sound arrogant. That wouldn't do.
"Plus, Nik is too scared of being lonely to ever get rid of us for good," Sigrid tacked on for good measure, earning a glower and a growl from her hybrid brother. She grinned.
Elijah didn't seem so amused. He glared at Niklaus. "Is it true? They're safe?" he interrogated.
Nik sighed. "Of course they are, Elijah, what do you take me for, some kind of monster?" He bared his teeth, grinning somewhat maniacally and flashing his brand new golden hybrid eyes. Sigrid was appropriately impressed. However, this action seemed to remind his body that it had been in the middle of transforming when it was so rudely interrupted by Elijah and the Bennett witch. His arm immediately snapped in half as he began to shift once more. Niklaus howled, almost literally, as his voice began to take on a different, deeper and more guttural tone.
Sigrid immediately dropped to the ground beside her brother and laid a calming hand upon his forehead as he thrashed and whimpered. She allowed soothing energy to flow from her into him, and he relaxed enough for her to safely lean in and whisper to him, "It's alright, Nik. I know it hurts, I know. But you're whole again! This is who you are and I know you don't need me to tell you that you're strong enough to do this, but you are. Just let it happen, and then you can be free. Free and wild, the way you were always supposed to be." As she spoke she pushed her natural energy through Niklaus' body, helping to ease the pain of his transformation and speed it along a little. "And, hey, you know what they say," she added jokingly, winking at her brother when he cracked his eyes open to gaze blearily at her. "Your first time might hurt a little at first, but if you're doing it right it'll feel great by the end!"
With that, she sprang backwards into Elijah's grip as he picked her up and zoomed them away from Niklaus whilst he finished his transformation. And as they watched safely from a distance while their brother fulfilled his birthright, bones snapping and rearranging horrifically as he shifted into an immense black wolf, Sigrid tucked into Elijah's warmth and muttered to herself, "Or maybe they only really say that to girls. . . Oh well!"