Summary: Niklaus Mikaelson is protected. He is protected from people who might judge him or offend him. He is protected by Elijah, his older brother, his best friend, his guardian since he was seven, and his teacher.

Klaus went blind when he was seven, because of Mikael. He was already deaf. After Mikael was arrested, Elijah received custody of his younger brother and Esther left. Klaus and Elijah lived happy, safe, protected. But could a knock on the door of a person they thought went missing ten years ago ruin everything? AU/AH, All Human, The Originals, The Vampire Diaries fanfiction

A: I don't own TVDU or any character. Sorry, my english isn't good.

The house was quiet. It was always quiet. All that could be heard was the cook testing new recipes in the kitchen or Elijah softly playing the piano. But the blond boy nestled on the red velvet couch with a painting board in his arms heard neither of this. Klaus had been born profoundly deaf, but had become blind after a particularly savage beating from Mikael. He didn't even remember why his stepfather got angry. But it didn't matter, Mikael was far away now and would stay that way, Elijah had assured him of that. But the fact that Mikael would be in prison for the rest of his life didn't make up for what he took from Klaus, it couldn't. His vision, being able to look at his paintings after they were finished, to see the blue of the sky.

"You'll get used to it, it'll be fine, because I'm holding the hand of the next Leonardo da Vinci, the next Picasso." Elijah had relayed these words to him in braille so many times. Niklaus wasn't quite blind, but he was close, and they were taking the possible forms of communication one at a time to see which one he was most comfortable with. It was braille at the moment, and Klaus was responding in sign language.

A hand lightly touched his palm, then a kiss was placed on his forehead. It was Elijah. A kiss on the forehead meant "I'm Elijah", a short kiss on the cheek "It's Finn", on the hands Stefan, the neighbors' son, and so on. Actually not really, they were the only people Klaus interacted with, except for his doctors and Ayana, his psychologist. He felt comfortable around them and they know how to approach him so as not to scare him. Elijah handed him a note in braille.

"Come, little Picasso, it's time for your classes."

Elijah had been homeschooling him since Klaus had had a panic attack at his new school shortly after he got out of the hospital.

Klaus stood up, Elijah by his side, and walked into the library, knowing the way there by heart. On the table were countless braille books, as well as several kinds of braille writing machines. Elijah helped Klaus sit down and opened a book. Nik moves his hand over the book.

~ Math ~

The manual was big, white, as Elijah had told him when he asked a few days ago.

Niklaus noticed when it's brighter outside and when it's darker, see shadows, speak fluent ASL, these things made the adjustment easier...but not happier.

"Niklaus. What are you thinking? You're out of your mind." Elijah communicates with Klaus in tactile sign language after an half an hour. It was easier and seemed faster, but Klaus preferred Elijah to give him a note in braille and he would respond in sign language.

"I hate math. It's boring."

"It's just algebra, my dear brother."

Suddenly, tears began to run down Klaus' cheeks. Elijah wiped a tear from the corner of his eye, which made Niklaus jump in surprise and his older brother said "Sorry" out loud without realizing it, forgetting for a moment that Niklaus couldn't hear him. Elijah took his brother's hand, carefully pulling him into a hug. Niklaus was breathing heavily, or rather struggling to breathe, as a new set of tears fell from his eyes.

Niklaus was alone, scared, in his panic the only reassurance that Elijah was still there was the hug in that Elijah was holding him at the moment. Niklaus was still affected, shocked by the severe injury he was still recovering from, momentarily stuck emotionally just like babies in his situation, shedding silent tears as they lose the hug, the touch of their parent, the reassurance that they are not stuck in silent darkness alone. He was strong, smart, brave, Elijah kept telling him, he would breathe and move on, he would learn to live in his new world, paint the future world's most famous paintings in the dark, it would get better, he would get used to time, soon, it will get better, it will be better. Elijah start breathing with Niklaus, holding his hands on either side of Niklaus's face and trying to get him to calm down.

Slowly, Niklaus's breathing returned to normal, and the tears had stopped falling, the traces of those already being wiped away by Elijah. Elijah... Klaus held on to his brother's jacket as if he was afraid that if he let go he would disappear. It was just the two of them, just the two of them against the world. Elijah wasn't the only person he interacted with, but he was the only one he could be 100% himself with. Elijah was his best friend, his teacher, his guardian, his protector...his dad.

Elijah continued to kiss the top of his head as he carried him to his room, tucked him into bed and wrapped him up.

"Enough math for today, we'll continue tomorrow. Rest, you're fine, I'm here." Elijah handed him a braille note after a few moments, putting the slate and the stylus back on the nightstand in Niklaus' room.

Klaus fell asleep in no time, but Elijah stayed by his bed reading. He got up from his chair and left the room just as the doorbell began to ring, but when he opened the door he was frozen, blank-faced.

"Mother."

Esther had left right after Mikael had been arrested, so they hadn't seen her in a few years. A few years in which Niklaus suffered, fell and got up as he had many times before, without her, without Esther, because she didn't care.

"Can I come in?" she asked, trying to enter the house. Elijah blocked her path.

"No"

"Elijah, oh, my sweet son, I..."

Esther looked...different. Instead of the elegant dresses and the diamond necklaces she usually wore, she was now dressed in a sleeveless summer dress, inappropriate for this time of year, and her hair was tousled.

"What are you doing here, Esther? After all this time."

Elijah closed the door and stood in front of it. Protective, cautious. He knew he shouldn't be talking to her, but he wanted an explanation, why hadn't she even looked back? Why had she left? Why was she here right now? He wasn't going to let her in the house, he wasn't going to let her pretend to be a loving mother and then leave, he wasn't going to let her break his baby brother's heart again, he wasn't going to let her manipulations hurt Niklaus again. He was just a child, a child who had gone through something that only exists in other children's nightmares. But Niklaus' nightmares were real, Mikael had been his nightmare. And it was Elijah's job to make sure Niklaus' nightmares didn't return. But Esther could bring back those nightmares.

"I was in town and I just wanted to see what you were doing. Please don't start whining about why I left. You are a good son Elijah, you can take care of your brother, you didn't need me, it would have been useless if I had stayed. You are a good son, a good brother, you don't need me."

Before Elijah could answer, a loud crash came from the house, as if a vase had fallen to the floor and broken. And there he was, Niklaus was on the living room floor surrounded by shards. Elijah ran to his brother, with Esther behind him, and lifted Niklaus up making sure he wasn't hurt. Niklaus kept making the "sorry" sign, shaking his head wildly at the same time. Elijah leaded him away from the shards, trying to reassure him that he wasn't mad, that it wasn't Niklaus' fault. Esther was standing behind them, having entered uninvited through the door left wide open by Elijah in his haste to see what had happened.

After Elijah made sure Niklaus was okay and cleaned up the shards, he turned to Esther and began communicating with Niklaus in tactile sign language. Esther couldn't catch what they were saying, but after Niklaus' surprised and confused look, she caught on. Elijah had told him she was here. Tears could be seen at the corners of Niklaus's eyes, but he refused to let them fall. Niklaus made the sign for "Why" to Esther, who remained silent, slightly annoyed by the situation...after all, she herself left because she felt too stressed about the situation...

"Get out." Elijah had said, positioning himself between Niklaus and Esther.

"What? Elijah, I'm your mother!"

"Get out of my house. Get out of our lives."

And she had. Again. Esther had left again and never looked back for a second, and they had survived, carried on, recovered, because their mother had been right about one thing: they were better off without her. Maybe Niklaus was injured for life, maybe the emotional trauma Mikael caused him would never heal, but 10 years later Niklaus is declared the most talented painter of those times, and Elijah couldn't be prouder.