Warnings/Tags: Hurt and Comfort. Family drama. Mentions and depictions of violence and blood. Dumbledore bashing. Timey-wimey stuff. Mother!Hayley. Pro Hayley. Father!Klaus. Klaus being… Klaus. Fem!Harry being like her father. Dramatic and mostly a disaster. Fem!Harry is Hope. Fem!Harry as a Mikaelson. Tribrid Fem!Harry, but a different Tribrid to what we see in the later seasons of the Originals and Legacies. Good Uncle!Elijah. Good!Aunt Rebekah. Fun Uncle!Kol. Labonair family explored. Good!Labonairs. Good!Hermione. Good!Ron. Shitty!Wizarding World. More tags to be added later.
Chapter One:
Promise me
'Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.'
~Emily Dickinson - 1830-1886
I
"What kind of connection?"
Sophie Anne, washed amber by the crypt candlelight, flickered her gaze between the weary Elijah Mikaelson and the doorway behind him.
So, she was on edge then, which means, Elijah thought, her answer was not going to be... Pleasant.
"Apparently, they spent some time together. One thing led to another and now this special Werewolf girl – she's pregnant. And the father of the child she's carrying is your brother Klaus."
A glimmer on the wall, shadows moving in, closing in, and Elijah shook his head, blurring light and darkness into a murky grey.
"That's impossible."
The desperate witch took a lone step closer to the Original. Either that was foolish, or brave.
Elijah could not decide between which one.
"Nothing is impossible, especially not when it comes to your brother. Think about it – they call him the hybrid, right?"
She raised her voice and tilted her head towards the door.
"Bring her out!"
Through the door came three witches, cautious, vigilant, standing clustered around a girl that seemed less than pleased to be there that night.
Ah, yes.
Hayley Marshall, if Elijah was not mistaken.
The Werewolf girl from Mystic Falls.
Hayley regarded him with barely concealed irritation.
Now she had guts; Elijah would give her that. Not many people would look at him that way.
"Who the hell are you?"
Elijah waved the Witches away.
"Give us a moment, please."
II
"Your dad was a dick."
Elijah chuckled along with the cool breeze filtering in from the caged windows of the mausoleum.
"I'm Hayley, by the way. You should probably know my name if you're going tell me your whole life story. I mean, I know yours. Your family is legendary. Your brother is a notorious psycho... who I slept with. Classic me."
Reaching across the way, Elijah braced a soft hand on the Werewolves knee.
The limb trembled slightly beneath his open handed hold.
She did a good job at hiding her fear.
"I cannot excuse his behaviour, but you must understand, when our father hunted him – hunted us – for centuries, every time we found a moment of happiness we were forced to flee. Even here, in New Orleans, where we were happiest of all. Not long after Niklaus broke the spell which prevented him from becoming a hybrid, he defeated our father. I thought this would make him happy."
Forlornly, Elijah shook his head, stealing his hand back to his own lap.
"He was angrier than ever. I wonder if perhaps this baby might be a way for my brother to find happiness. A way to save him from himself."
Whatever reply Hayley was to give would be lost, as Sophie came veering around the door of the crypt, clearly listening to every word exchanged between the two.
"I'm glad you feel that way because we need your help."
Elijah stood, tugging on the hem of his jacket, back to cool, slick business.
"What, precisely, is it that you want and what does it have to do with this young woman?"
Sophie crossed her arms over her chest, meeting cold aloofness with fiery resolution.
"We want to run Marcel and his vampires out of town. Klaus is the key. Everything Marcel knows about being a vampire he learned from Klaus. Marcel trusts him, looks up to him, and he won't see the betrayal coming."
Elijah smiled.
How foolish.
How young.
"Yes, well, as I'm sure you're aware, my brother Niklaus doesn't like to be told what to do."
The Witch smirked back.
"That's why I brought you here. Marcel drove the werewolves out of town decades ago. Do you really think he's going to welcome a hybrid baby to the neighbourhood? Convince Klaus to help us, and no one has to know about the newest member of the Original family cooking in that womb over there."
The smile dropped from Elijah's face, shattering in the audacity.
"That sounds remarkably like blackmail."
Sophie shrugged.
"Like I said, I'm desperate."
A beat of silence.
Elijah straightened his shoulders, tall, broad, imposing.
"Well, then, I have my work cut out for me, don't I?"
III
"No. It's impossible."
At Niklaus's disbelief, Elijah tried to edge as close to his tumultuous brother as he dared.
"I said the same thing myself."
Niklaus merely moved further away, lost in his own paranoia, his own anger.
"This is a lie. You are all lying. Vampires cannot procreate."
Desperate to have her one gambit work, Sophie stiffened, frustrated.
"But werewolves can. Magic made you a vampire, but you were born a werewolf. You're the Original hybrid, the first of your kind… And this pregnancy is one of nature's loopholes."
Niklaus turned on the only other person in the crypt that could be to blame.
A silent and ashen faced Hayley.
"You've been with someone else, admit it!"
Hayley held her hands up in exasperated surrender.
"Hey, I've spent days held captive in a freaking alligator bayou because they think that I'm carrying some magical miracle baby. Don't you think I would've fessed up if it wasn't yours?"
Sophie stalked to the centre of the vaulted chamber, meeting Klaus eye to eye, despair to despair, resentment to resentment.
Hurt did that.
Made things explosive.
"My sister gave her life to perform the spell she needed to confirm this pregnancy. Because of Jane-Anne's sacrifice, the lives of this girl and her baby are now controlled by us. We can keep them safe... Or we can kill them. If you don't help us take down Marcel, so help me, Hayley won't live long enough to see her first maternity dress."
Hayley blinked and spluttered.
"Wait, what?"
Elijah, trying to get ahead of the disaster to surely come, placed himself between the witch and his brother.
"Enough of this. If you want Marcel dead, he's dead. I'll do it myself."
And Sophie said the worst thing she possibly could in that moment.
"No. We can't, not yet. We have a clear plan that we need to follow, and there are rules."
Elijah's eyes slipped closed in resignation, and he felt the jolt of his brother storming past his shoulder, knew he would be snarling in the witches face long before he opened them anew.
"How dare you command me, threaten me, with what you wrongfully perceive to be my weaknesses. This is a pathetic deception. I won't hear any more lies."
Elijah reached for his brother and-
"Niklaus!... Listen. Truly listen."
His brother does, and there, in the air, a thump, thump, thump, thump that outnumbered the live bodies in the crypt.
The baby's heartbeat echoing away, untouched by the scars they had, the dark places of the world, unknowing of monsters and madness and Mikaelsons.
Niklaus looked to Hayley, then to his brother, and then to the witches, and Elijah thought this was it, that he had done it, for once gotten through to his bull-headed brother, and-
Callous, cruel dismissal rinsed Niklaus's face void.
"Kill her and the baby. What do I care?"
And off he went, out the crypt.
Hayley scowled.
"Screw this. I'm out of here!"
The witches, however, blocked the entrance to her hasty escape.
Elijah stole a deep breath, and tried, as he always did, to clean up his brother's messes.
"No one touches the girl. I'll fix this."
Reluctantly, Sophie nodded.
IV
Klaus was storming down the open street of the French Quarter when Elijah caught up to him.
"Niklaus."
Klaus would not look his way, gaze dead ahead, thoughts even further away.
"It's a trick, Elijah."
No.
Elijah would not let him walk away from this.
"No, brother. It's a gift. It's your chance – it's our chance."
Klaus came to a sharp, lurching holt, suspicious.
"To what?"
Elijah crashed like glass on concrete.
Why could Niklaus not see what he so very clearly could?
"To start over. Take back everything we lost, everything that was taken from us. Niklaus, our own parents came to despise us. Our family was ruined – we were ruined. And since then, all that you have ever wanted – all that we have ever wanted, was a family."
Klaus snarled, the wolf in him flashing amber in his eye.
"I will not be manipulated."
Once more, his brother tried to turn from him, to walk away, but Elijah sped over and blocked his way.
Not this time.
"They're manipulating you. So what? With them, this girl and her child – your child – live."
Klaus closed in on himself, centuries old guards slamming down, refusing to move, to, for once, open up.
"I'm going kill every last one of them!"
A strong shove took Elijah by surprise, but, again, and again, and again, and again, if needs must, Elijah moved to block his brothers way out of this road, out of this mess, out of this plainly distressing revelation.
Elijah knew what this was, really.
Mikael's ghost and fear of becoming what one used to hate.
"And then what? Then you return to Mystic Falls to resume your life as the hated one, as the evil hybrid? Is it so important to you that people quake with fear at the sound of your name?"
Klaus barked back.
"People quake with fear because I have the power to make them afraid. What will this child offer me? Will it guarantee me power?"
It might have fooled a lesser vampire, it might have fooled someone who had not known Niklaus for as long as Elijah had, but it did not fool him.
This had nothing to do with power.
This had everything to do with Niklaus suddenly feeling a blow to his ego, questioning, for once, whether he was good enough, a man enough, to be a father.
And to suddenly not know the answer.
Elijah softened.
"Family is power, Niklaus. Love, loyalty – that's power. This is what we swore to one another a thousand years ago, before life tore away what little humanity you had left, before ego, before anger, before paranoia created in this person before me someone I can barely even recognize as my own brother. This is us, the Original family, and we remain together always and forever. I am asking you to stay here. I will help you and I will stand by you. I will be your brother. We will build a home here together. So save this girl. Save your child."
Elijah reached for his brother, in more ways than one, and placed a gentle hand upon his shoulder, beseeching the temperamental Hybrid to see the truth in his words, in his heart.
Klaus reached up and laid his hand upon his and-
"No."
Klaus shirked the hand off and walked away.
V
Elijah sighed into the phone pressed against his ear.
"He's willing to give up everything."
Rebekah chuckled from the other end of the line.
"Come on, Elijah, does that really surprise you?"
Elijah was pacing again, what he did most these days.
Walking in circles.
"I already see it. He's spiralling. He's lashing out in blind rage. You know, the last time I saw him like this it lasted 200 years."
Rebekah tutted.
"Then leave him to his temper tantrum and come home. With any luck this misadventure will allow us a reprieve from all of his insanity."
Her advice fell on deaf ears.
"He was so close. When he heard the baby's heartbeat, I could see it in his eyes. He... he wanted... he could almost taste happiness. And now his temper has destroyed it. Even if I were to return him to sanity, he just lost Marcel's trust. So, I'm almost out of time to get the girl."
A crackly bump from the other end, a phone being clenched tighter.
"Get her? Have you lost your mind? Are we running an orphanage now?"
He had hoped Rebekah would understand.
This, after all, like him, was her niece or nephew.
Perhaps he truly was too late in hoping for their humanity.
Maybe it was all pointless and-
No.
This was not futile.
Not to Elijah Mikaelson.
This was a life.
A brand new Mikaelson life.
"Say what you will about Niklaus, but on my life I'm not letting anything happen to that baby."
He hung up the phone.
Elijah had work to do.
VI
Outside the mausoleum, the church clock began to toll.
Agnes turned to Sophie.
"His time is up. What're you going do now, Sophie?"
Sophie locked her spine, stood straight, proud.
She would not let her coven sisters scorn chip away at her resolve.
"I'm going to do what I said I was going to do."
Sabine, the last Witch of the trio, cocked a brow, surprised and a little sceptical.
"What, kill the girl? Kill yourself? You're linked. You'll both die."
Agnes scoffed.
"Klaus does not care about the child. I told you all this was useless."
Elijah appeared with a gust of wind at the entrance door.
"But I care."
He walked in, the body of Jane-Anne, Sophie's sister, splayed across his arms. Sophie stared at her face, the face that used to smile, and laugh, and cry… Now blue and barren.
"And I bring proof of my intent to help you: the body of your fallen friend, which I procured from Marcel himself."
Sophie edged closer.
"Jane-Anne… Her name was Jane-Anne."
Elijah nodded, laying the corpse on the stone top of the nearest tomb.
"May she be granted peace. Klaus will agree to your terms. I just need a little more time."
Agnes sneered.
"You had your time. It's passed."
Sabine tugged her back to the wall with a sharp yank to her elbow.
"Shut up, Agnes."
The Vampire regarded them in the moonlight, and Sophie, idly, wandered what he saw below their flesh.
Desperate women doing desperate things to survive?
Shameful kidnappers holding a girl and her unborn baby to ransom?
A problem to solve?
All three?
In the end, what Elijah saw or what he did not see did not matter.
"For now, accept the deal. The girl and the child remain unharmed, or Klaus will kill you all."
Elijah made to leave, but not before leaving one last parting shot.
"And I will help him."
VII
Klaus cradled the bottle of whiskey in his hand, drinking deeply.
He heard the door of the warehouse click open, heard the soft scuffle of a sole on wood, and he spoke without turning to the approaching figure.
"Have I not made clear my desire to be left alone?"
Elijah settled in beside him.
"Oh, you demand to be left alone at least once a decade. Your words have ceased to have impact."
The bottle left his grip, soared through the air shattering against concrete of the opposite wall, splattering glass and liquor in a spray that, when Klaus squinted, looked like Mikael.
Everything looked like Mikael these days.
He could not escape.
He could not-
"Why must you keep harping on about the baby? That child will never be born. In fact, Hayley is probably dead already."
Elijah had his hand around Klaus's throat before the latter could move.
This was better.
This was good.
Fighting was something Niklaus Mikaelson knew how to do, and he did it well.
Being a father was not something he would-
"You will not walk away from this!"
What other option did he have?
What did Elijah expect from him?
What example did he have to copy?
No, it would be best for any child of his to be as far, far, far away from Niklaus as possible.
He would only hurt them in the end.
"Let. Me. Go."
Elijah did not, in fact, let him go.
"I will not!"
He pulled, and Klaus was sent crashing to the floor, heaved up before he could get his feet below him, thrown again.
Elijah's grip never let go.
Klaus would give his brother one last warning.
"Don't make me say it again."
"I will not let go. I will never let go."
Klaus lashed out, got a grasp on Elijah's shoulder, and hurled him against the iron rod fence across the way.
The metal creaked and broke beneath the bent form of his brother.
Elijah stood once again, crooked iron pole in his hand, ready to pierce.
That was his brother's problem.
Elijah never knew when to back down, when to just… Stop.
"Even if I have to spend eternity saving you from your own stubborn, petulant, vile self..."
Elijah fainted right, dipped and ran left, leaving Klaus open to be struck in the ribs.
Klaus howled as the hit landed, incensed by pain and the conflict whirling about in his head.
Anger was easier.
"If I have to beat you as father used to beat you, to remind you of your own humanity-"
Another blow came down on his arm, cracking bone.
"to care about anything-"
He went for the third, but Klaus was ready.
His hand shot out and grabbed the shaft before it could bear down upon his head.
A flick of his wrist and a twisted wrench, and the iron pole was in his hand.
Klaus returned the blows before he kicked out, sending Elijah sailing across the room, falling to the ground where, finally, he stayed down. Niklaus's heavy breath was bellied by the clank of the pole hitting concrete as he dropped it at his feet.
Prowling closer, he glared down at his brother.
"You're beyond pathetic, Elijah."
Elijah smiled, something sad and small, something-
Uncomfortable if Klaus looked too closely.
"Well who is more pathetic? The one who sees hope to make his family whole, or the coward who only see the world through his own fear?"
Klaus shook his head.
"I haven't cared about anything for centuries. Why on earth do you?"
With a groan of bones recently healed, Elijah sat up, gaze moving to keep locked on Klaus.
"Because I failed you. Because the first time our father laid a hand on you, I should have struck him dead. I made a promise to you: always, forever, family above all."
Klaus could not help it.
He laughed. Loud, hot, wild, he laughed.
Klaus held his hand out for his brother to take.
"You are a sentimental fool."
Elijah took it.
"Perhaps. But I've lasted this long in spite of it, haven't I?"
And that was the last thing Elijah said before he walked away, leaving Klaus to his worst enemy.
His own thoughts.
And no more drink to numb the memories.
VIII
The bond of family blesses us with an immeasurable power. But we also must accept what comes with it. It gives us a responsibility to love without condition, without apology. We can never waver from the power of that bond, even if it's tested. The bond nourishes us, gives us strength. Without that power, we are nothing.
Elijah found his brother sitting on a bench, watching dawn rising purple, pink and blue in the sky above.
Silently, he took the seat beside him.
"This town was my home once, and in my absence Marcel has gotten everything that I ever wanted. Power, loyalty, family. I made him in my image, and he has bettered me. I want what he has. I want it back. I want to be king."
Elijah sagged into the bench at his back.
"So is that all this child means to you? A grab for power?"
Klaus glanced over his shoulder to his brother.
"What does it mean to you?"
Elijah turned to the skies above, watched a thumb sized shadow move from treetop to the blue, a bird in flight.
"Hope is a thing with feathers… That's what it means to me, Niklaus. I think this child could offer you the one thing that you've never believed you had."
Klaus scoffed.
"And what's that?"
The bird in flight disappeared from view.
"The unconditional love of family."
Finally, the two brothers looked to one another.
"Promise me one thing, Elijah. Just one."
Elijah tilted his head in question.
"If I ever become like Mikael… If I ever lay a hand on my chil-… If you one day look at me and see father, promise me you'll take my child, and never look back, and if you have to-"
Klaus bowed to the sky; profile struck by rising sunlight.
"You'll find a way to kill me."
Elijah does not hesitate.
It's what Niklaus needed right then.
"I promise."
Klaus stood from the bench.
"Tell Sophie Deveraux we have a deal."
And he disappeared into the dawn, leaving Elijah to see in the day by himself.
It was most beautiful sunrise Elijah had ever seen.
A.N: The first five/six chapters of this are going to be steamrolling through a majority of season 1 of the Originals. Just to add some context for those who have not watched the Originals, to set the stage, and to add little tweaks and changes I have coming up from the beginning instead of tacking them on later. Good news is, I have all those six chapters nearly ready, they just need a little bit of polishing, so it should not be too long between updates.
This fic will also focus on family, both found and by birth, on nature Vs nurture, and all that good stuff. This is, also, the first time I have done a fic that does not have romance at the core of the story, so if you need romance to enjoy your fiction, I would say this one isn't for you.
As always, thank you so much for taking the time out to read my mad scrawling's. I hope you all liked it, and if you can, don't forget to drop a review, and I will hopefully see you all soon! ~AlwaysEatTheRude21
