Chapter 13

Hope walked down the stairs of the house, trying to hear if anyone was home. She had heard many of them coming and going all throughout the day, but she wasn't sure exactly who was left at the house. As she came down the stairs though, she saw Elijah sitting in a chair next to one of the front windows. He had a book in his hand, but his eyes were trained on something outside. Hope knew that something had changed in the man, he seemed different than she had ever seen him, yet she couldn't quite place what it was that was making him that way. She had seen him in so many lights, but never like this.

"Is everyone else gone?" Hope asked, breaking the silence and announcing her presence, even though she knew he had heard her come down the steps.

"I am afraid so. Klaus went for a walk, Hayley went into town on some business, Rebekah disappeared to do something of which I have no knowledge."

"So you're on guard duty, then."

"Actually, I am just spending my afternoon reading. I thought you could guard yourself and give me a break." Elijah slightly smirked up at his niece.

"Like you would ever get away with that."

"Surely you have noticed that I can do whatever I want at this moment, and your father will not stand in my way. He knows better than that."

"You've trained him well, then. Although, I am still unsure of why the unkillable hybrid is afraid of you. No offense." Hope responded, sitting next to him on the other chair in the room.

"None taken. He simply knows that I am more deadly than he is. Besides, I think we all have learned from you that unkillable is not a correct statement for him anymore. Seeing as you are here to try and save his life, if that is still your goal."

"It is."

"So you still insist on wiping yourself from existence, even though clearly you make this family better."

"I hurt this family. Surely that has been proven by how many times you all have been put in danger to save me."

"Surely, it has been proven to you that we are more than capable of making our own decisions, and protecting ourselves. This is what this family does. No single one of us is responsible for any of the pain or hurt the others go through. We protect each other, and if needed, we die for each other."

"None of you will die for me. Not if I can help it." Hope said, determined to stick her ground.

"That is where you are wrong, my dear niece. If you never exist, the Klaus that you and I know will die with you. He is already so close to losing everything he was, you save him from that. Without you, he will be no better than dead. I dare say, if we lose him, more of us will die than if you live."

"I don't think that is true, and I cannot ignore the fact that both of my parents die for me. To save me. I can't let that be the case." Hope answered her uncle.

"Very well. One day, though, Hope, you will discover that laying down your life for the ones you love, isn't really death at all. It's the greatest form of love anyone could offer, and in a way, it saves us from the monster within." As he spoke, Elijah stood, and moved to exit the room. Once he finished speaking, he left his niece alone to think over what he had said. He knew it all to be true, because he would give anything to be able to die in his brother's place. Yet he knew that he couldn't save any of them, not anymore. Not Henrik, not Finn, not even Kol, but if he could go back and change it, he would willingly take any of their places to save them from their fate.

Klaus was on his way back to the house after his conversation with Caroline when he ran into Hayley, she looked upset and angry.

"Headed back to the house?" Klaus asked, trying his best to not upset her.

"You're just going to let her do this, aren't you? You are going to let her wipe herself from existence." Hayley accused, snapping out in anger.

"I actually have yet to decide that. Yet, I think she is old enough to make a decision, and I see no reason to stop her."

"No reason?! Klaus, she is our daughter!"

"Who we don't know. She also clearly causes quite a lot of pain and hardship for this family, who I swore to protect!"

"She is this family! Besides, it's not like you actually protect them anyway!" Hayley yelled, the two finally letting out their frustrations on one another.

"You don't get to tell me how to protect my family. That girl breaks this family apart, we all saw it!"

"That girl is our daughter. She doesn't break anything. She makes this stupid family that can barely stop fighting long enough to talk to each other, let alone like each other become an actual family! She saves your family!"

"Believe what you wish about her, but I have not made my decision, and seeing as I get to make the decision, I would advise you not to anger me!"

"You are impossible. You claim you don't want to be alone, you try to create your own family of hybrids. You force your siblings to stay with you and when they don't you dagger them. Yet, the one time you can have an actual family, a family that loves and cares for one another and fights for one another, you are too afraid to take it." Hayley stated. Her voice like a knife. Once she finished she marched off towards the house, leaving Klaus, once again, alone to think. He hated this mess, it was all he could do to convince his family that he was actually trying to make the right decision in this situation. Yet, all they saw was his lack of want to just jump in and do it. It meant more, though. His daughter was begging him to help her every chance she got, his brother and sister begging him not to. Then there was Hayley. She wanted the kid, but did she really understand what that meant for her. She would not only die, but Klaus was sure she would be put in danger time and time again before she ever reached the day she was to die. She would be connected to the Mikaelson family, to him, forever. Surely, she couldn't understand that. It also didn't help that practically all of them had a good reason for what they were asking. Elijah and Rebekah kept ragging about family, power, and love. Hope kept insisting that she was saving people, which he was sure was correct. Hayley kept insisting that it was their job. They were her parents. They protected her. They gave her life. They died in her place. That was their job. Yet, he wasn't convinced. His parents surely would have chosen his death over their own, they had even tried to kill him. Hayley had no parents, so surely that meant something, but maybe they had done what she was saying he was to do. Maybe they had died in her place, to protect her. Klaus was unsure why he even considered what his parents would do, he knew that they were not good parents, and should not be copied, but he couldn't help himself. He knew without a doubt that if Mikael had been given the option of keeping Klaus from being born, he would have done so without hesitation. Surely, that wasn't what he should choose to be like, he hated Mikael, so why was Mikael's actions even an option in his book. Every time he thought he had made a decision, Hope would appear, and her pleading always made him want to rethink it. Elijah had told him that even with pain, family was worth fighting for, but was that true? Was that what he had to prove to Hope? For what seemed like the hundredth time that week, Klaus found himself wishing that it wasn't his decision to make.

Tyler was furious. Hayley had sided with the originals out of the blue and left him to finish their plan alone. She was going to pay. All he had heard recently was about how she was helping the originals, and how there was a new girl in town they were all protecting and siding with. Tyler didn't know much about the situation, but he knew enough to know that whoever the girl was, she was his way to revenge. If they were protecting her, that meant she was important. Klaus Mikaelson didn't just protect people for no reason. So, the girl was his way in. He would take her, punish her, maybe even kill her, and that would show Hayley and her little posse of vampires that he wasn't to be messed with. She would pay for betraying him. Besides, it wasn't like Klaus would kill him, he was one of his hybrids, he was too important to the man. Which meant he would get away with it. The girl was his way to revenge, and he was going to get it.