"There has been white oak in Mystic Falls all this time?!" Kol exclaims indignantly. His face was all astonishment and loathing as he glared at Niklaus.
"Nik, what the hell?!" Rebekah shouts simultaneously. She was close to banging Niklaus's head into the nearest wall to slam some sense into him. With all of Niklaus' money and minions, she'd thought he'd done at least some research before settling his whole family in a town with an entire bridge made out of the one thing that could kill them.
"I'm sorry am I supposed to have a white oak radar? A white oak detection system?!" Niklaus snaps, not liking the fact that his family blamed him for something that was beyond his control.
In response, Rebekah hurls one of her shoes at Niklaus' head.
"That was totally uncalled for!" Niklaus shouts.
Judging by the way Niklaus had dodged the shoe quite deftly, Luna was fairly certain Rebekah had thrown shoes at her brothers before.
"You could have gotten us killed, you moron!" Rebekah deadpans, tempted to throw her second shoe, hoping this one would hit the target.
"You are fighting, again... what a surprise." Luna deadpans, calmly sipping her coffee. She snuggles herself further up in Elijah's side. He contentedly curls around her nosing at her jugular, clearly not in the mood to interfere with his siblings' squabble.
"When you are finished abusing Nik, Rebekah, please do not forget to clean up the ashes from the sign." Luna offers, insistent on not paying any further attention to the arguing siblings.
• • •
"You do not need a bat, darling." Elijah mutters, shaking his head at his mate, who was merrily swinging the weapon around.
"You may never know when it comes in handy." Luna shrugs, flashing him an innocent smile.
Elijah sighs, taking the bat from her hand and holding it for her, she had accidentally hit his knee one too many times for his liking. With his free hand, he takes hold of hers, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles.
"Couldn't they hide the damn thing in a more easily accessible place? Perhaps in a safe? Like normal people?" Kol grumbles. He had successfully bullied Finn into letting him escort Luna instead.
Finn had rolled his eyes and wanted to chastise Kol but decided it wouldn't be worth it. After all, he would have Luna in his bed that night, he made sure to rub that fact into Kol's face before agreeing.
"It's pretty smart, the whole no vampires allowed thing." Luna admits. "It is however insane that you guys have actually been in the caverns in your human time, that you've left your mark." Luna adds, remembering the flashback where Rebekah had carved their names into one of the walls.
"Yes, back then Rebekah had already been a fan of vandalism." Elijah comments dryly.
• • •
"Should have brought marshmallows." Rebekah mutters, looking at the burning bridge.
She felt quite smug about her accomplishment, she had dug the sign out of the ground and thrown it into the fire. This way all the ashes would end up in the water, seeing as the last thing Rebekah wanted was to vacuum a patch of grass.
• • •
"I'm sorry." Niklaus suddenly speaks up. The brothers had been sitting at the bar in silence, both sipping their drinks, waiting docilely on their attackers. Niklaus turns his head, looking at Finn, who had been toying with one of the beer mats.
Finn turns to meet Niklaus's gaze. He hadn't spent time alone with Niklaus since waking and felt a bit uneasy. Finn inclines his head, motioning for Niklaus to continue.
"I know my words can't undo the suffering, but I say this with utmost sincerity, I had no right to leave you in that box, to decide over your life, and to shut you out as I did. I'm sorry and I'll spend the rest of my life looking for ways to make up for what I have done." Niklaus nods as if confirming his own apology, repentance visible on his face.
"Thank you, Niklaus, for your apology I appreciate it, but I don't want you to suffer for my forgiveness." Finn starts hesitantly, he had never been this open towards Niklaus. "I want you to know that every time that I close my eyes, I go back to that black horizon. That place where I was abandoned and forgotten by my own family. I never want to experience that pain and loneliness again." Finn confesses. Finn looks away from Niklaus, grabs his glass, and smiles sadly at the molten ice cubes.
"But things are getting better." Finn looks back up at Niklaus, giving him a small smile. "And I intend on spending the rest of my life alongside my siblings and our mate." Finn nods, patting Niklaus' shoulder.
"As do I... brother." Niklaus replies simply. This was the first time in a long time he had called Finn his brother without a sense of contempt or mockery, and it felt good.
• • •
"Fuck!" Kol curses, tripping over a random root, almost landing face first in the mud.
"Now you know what it's like to live with you." Elijah deadpans, smirking at Kol's trouble.
Luna sees how Kol silently repeats Elijah's remark, pulling an annoyed expression. Luna stifles a giggle.
"You're in an exceptionally good mood, 'Lijah." Luna remarks, looking up at Elijah, who was looking surprisingly delighted while walking through the forest in his very expensive attire.
Elijah smiles down at his mate, squeezing her hand. "I am taking an evening stroll with my beautiful mate and vexatious little brother to retrieve one of the last weapons that can be used against us, of course, I am in a good mood." Elijah points out, pressing a kiss to Luna's hand.
Kol scoffs, aiming the flashlight directly at Elijah's face. Elijah gives him a disapproving look, squinting his eyes against the bright light.
"Man-child." Luna mutters, shaking her head slightly as she removes the flashlight from Kol's grasp.
• • •
"Yeah, they're here and they've drunk their way through half the Grill's liquor supply." Alaric whispers into his phone, carefully eyeing the Mikaelson men at the bar.
"Good. It'll be easier if they're wasted." Damon replies.
"Are you sure this will work?" Alaric asks while wondering briefly why he kept endangering his own life.
"Of course it will! You only need to stab one of them. Donovan is already in the alley, it will work." Damon assures.
• • •
"Please be careful, Elskan." Elijah mumbles, pressing a tender kiss to his mate's forehead.
Rolling his eyes, Kol leans in, pressing a kiss on Luna's cheek, before stepping back.
"Don't worry, it will only take a minute." Luna reassures, squeezing Elijah's hand one last time before entering the cavern.
Luna lets the light of the flashlight slide over the walls, looking around skittishly. She didn't like the dark and unknown and she started to regret her offer but knew Rebekah and her mates would be safer if they had the last dagger in their hands. A moment of discomfort was a small sacrifice if it meant that their enemies could not kill them anymore.
Luna enters the open space and sees Esther's casket. She shivers at the thought that the Original witch had been in there for a thousand years. 'That can't be too fresh.'
"Luna! Is it going well? Are you safe?" Kol's shouting can be heard as easily as though he had been standing next to her, his lung capacity was proven to be quite impressive.
Luna jumps slightly and then shakes her head in disbelief, how was this man over a thousand years old?
"I am fine, Kol." Luna shouts back, slowly creeping closer to the casket. She didn't know why but she wanted to have a closer look.
"Do you already have the dagger? This has been more than a minute!" Kol shouts again, voice somewhat whiny. Luna hears a vague thump and a groan. Which probably meant Elijah had done something to shut Kol up.
"I'm looking for it! Have some patience, will you?!" Luna shouts back, backing away from the casket to search for the rock where the dagger was supposed to be hidden.
After turning over almost every stone without a result, Luna realizes that the Scooby gang must have collected it to increase their chances of success tonight.
Luna gets back to her feet and sprints towards the exit. She is almost at the end of the tunnel when she crashes into Elijah.
Elijah catches Luna around the waist, steadying her. He stares at Luna's worried expression. "What's wrong, Elskan?" Elijah asks, concerned to see his mate getting paler by the second.
"We have to go to the Grill, now. They have two daggers!" Luna explains while pulling at Elijah's sleeve, urging him to move.
• • •
"Is that..." Finn asks, trailing off as he sees Niklaus' dark look.
Niklaus didn't need another one of his brothers scolding him for his previous crush on the blonde, Kol was more than sufficient in that department.
Niklaus eyes the blonde suspiciously as she heads in his direction. Judging by the way Caroline had rejected him in the past, he hardly believed she was suddenly interested in his company, not that it would matter to Niklaus, seeing as he only had eyes for his beloved mate.
"Klaus." Caroline greets stiffly, barely acknowledging Finn. She had to keep her focus on the hybrid, seeing as she was supposed to lure him away.
"Caroline, how nice to see you again. I do hope you enjoyed the ball." Niklaus greets politely.
"It was lovely." Caroline replies, forcing a polite smile. She glances briefly at Alaric, not sure how to continue this awkward conversation.
This action does not go past the hybrid and he narrows his eyes slightly.
He is about to comment on Caroline's shifty behavior when he sees Luna bursting through the door, followed by Elijah.
Niklaus frowns at the sight of his mate and brother, this wasn't part of the plan. The Grill was the last place where he wanted Luna to be. Luna's expression appeared calm, but Niklaus noticed the panicked look in her eyes.
With big strides, Luna makes her way towards Finn and Niklaus. She walks past Caroline, barely noticing the blonde, and throws herself into Niklaus' arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his ear.
Niklaus automatically wraps his arms around her waist.
At the same time, Elijah bumps strategically into a passing waiter, letting a trayful of glasses hit the floor so his mate wouldn't be overheard by the blonde vampire.
"They have two daggers. Alley" Luna whispers, making use of the momentary chaos. She hoped Nikalus would understand her vague message.
Niklaus responds by pressing a kiss to Luna's jaw, silently thanking her for her warning.
Caroline stares at the scene before her, ignoring the shards of glass at her feet. She didn't understand why Luna was in such a rush. Could she suspect something?
As on cue, Luna pulls herself free from Niklaus' arms. "Thank you so much for the new car! You shouldn't have! We're going to take a test drive!" Luna giggles, hopefully, loud enough for Caroline and Alaric to hear.
With that, she presses a kiss to Niklaus' cheek and walks off. Luna hoped her little performance was convincing enough so that Alaric and Caroline would continue their plan. The Mikaelsons needed those daggers, the sooner the better.
Elijah follows his mate after handing the waiter a generous amount of money, to compensate for the damage.
Elijah and Luna walk towards the side of the restaurant, joining Kol, who was pacing anxiously. "What now?" Kol asks, glancing briefly over luna's shoulder to look at the back door of the Grill.
"If Nik understood my message, they should lure them to the alley, where we can hopefully ambush them and grab the daggers."
"We? No. No way. You are staying here. Safe." Kol objects.
"Kol"
"Nope, you're puppy eyes are not going to work this time, Angel. They are armed and you're a human." Kol protests, putting a halt to Luna's pouting.
"Alright, leave me here." Luna grumbles, she didn't like that she couldn't help them, but she also understood that she couldn't compete with the hunter and a vampire. As it looked now, the brothers only had to take on Caroline and Alaric, which should be easy in itself.
"As soon as we're home you shall receive my undivided affections and devotion." Elijah comforts, caressing Luna's cheek, he too wasn't thrilled with the idea of leaving Luna alone.
Luna smiles softly, leaning into his touch. Their little moment gets interrupted by the sound of a door opening. Luna blinks and the two Originals have left her side. Luna huffs, leaning against the wall, waiting.
• • •
"Let's go!" Damon shouts, tossing a stake at Stefan, barely missing his face.
"What?" Stefan asks, looking startled at the piece of wood that had almost smacked him in his face.
"Apparently a certain noble Original is lurking near the Grill. Alaric has asked for some backup." Damon replies, already stepping outside.
Stefan gets up with a sigh. 'Could nothing ever go according to plan?'
• • •
"Kill me already." Alaric huffs, not in the mood for Niklaus' mind games.
"I don't think I will. See, you have a patron saint. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, that person wants to keep you alive and sane." Niklaus taunts, pushing Alaric through the back door. He has a tight hold on Alaric's arm, which was twisted behind his back.
Finn and Caroline walk behind the duo. One dark look from Finn was enough to tell the blonde not to try anything stupid. Meredith had been sent home by Niklaus with the promise of an agonizing death if she were to try anything stupid.
Alaric and Caroline had made small talk with the two brothers, hoping to lure them into a false sense of security. Losing his patience because neither were taking the bait, Alaric had shot forward, trying to stab Finn in his heart. Niklaus had intervened in tme. He had gripped Alaric's wrist, nearly crushing his bones and took the dagger from him, tucking it away safely.
Alaric snorts incredulously. He no longer believed in patron saints, also the thought of the big bad hybrid taking requests from anyone seemed far-fetched.
Once through the door, Finn breaks Caroline's neck and carefully places her body against the wall, sitting her upright. Although he had just killed her, there was no harm in being gentle with her unconscious form, she was still a lady after all.
Alaric looks on in surprise, not understanding Finn's motive for treating the enemy so nicely.
"Now, where is that last pesky dagger, hunter?" Niklaus asks, shoving Alaric to one of the walls, hand gripping his throat. He had waited long enough, no more small talk until the last dagger was safely in their possession.
"You said you wouldn't-" Alaric sputters, trying to ease Niklaus' iron grip on his throat.
"I said I wouldn't kill you. However, there was nothing said about severely mutilating." Niklaus interrupts, giving Alaric a devilish smile, baring his canines, eyes tinting gold.
All of a sudden, a stake is shot into Niklaus's side, provoking a loud growl from the hybrid. "Oh look, it's the quarterback." Niklaus grunts, removing the stake with his free hand.
Finn looks up, recognizing Rebekah's date from last night's party with some sort of rifle standing at the end of the alley.
Without a second thought, Matt fires another stake, aiming it at Finn's chest. Although this wouldn't kill him, it would give them enough time to dagger one of the Mikaelsons. Luckily, Matt's aim was a bit off.
Finn grunts as the stake pierces his abdomen, he yanks the stake out of his stomach, glaring menacingly at the human. Finn speeds towards the human, ready to knock him down when Damon appears out of nowhere, lunging himself at the Original. Damon tackles Finn to the ground and lands a few punches in Finn's face before he is thrown off by the Original.
Simultaneously Niklaus gets ripped away from the hunter. Niklaus groans as he is being slammed against one of the walls. "Hello, old friend." Niklaus grits, blocking Stefan's attempt to stake him.
Further attack attempts from Stefan's side are halted when he is abruptly pulled away from the hybrid by Elijah.
Kol also runs into the alley, roughly pushing Matt aside to aid his brothers. Matt stumbles before finding his footing again. He aims his weapon and fires a stake at Kol's back.
Kol lets out a cry of pain and collapses. His skin turns grey and veins were appearing on his skin.
The Salvatores, Alaric, and Matt are baffled when they realize the other Mikaelsons don't fall to the floor, which means they weren't linked. Their whole plan was based on the fact that she only had to kill an Original, but to kill them all would be a daunting task.
Finn uses Damon's derivative state to snap his neck, unceremoniously dropping his body to the ground.
Niklaus quickly kicks Alaric in his knee, making the hunter drop to the ground. Niklaus has one hand on Alaric's jaw, the other around the back of his head, ready to break his neck if necessary.
"Kill him already!" Stefan shouts over his shoulder, referring to Finn, who was closest to Matt. Stefan had thrown Elijah against the wall, he was about to stake him when he suddenly sees Matt collapsing.
Stefan's grip on the Original loosens and Elijah seizes his chance to throw Stefan to the ground.
Elijah looks up to see what had distracted Stefan. Standing next to Matt's body was Luna. She wore a furious expression, her bat raised.
Luna glances at Kol's unconscious body, expression softening slightly.
She had looked on from the alley. Seeing Kol being shot in the back was enough motivation for her to get out of her hiding spot. She knew she couldn't compete with Alaric, much less Stefan, but she was confident she could handle Matt. At work, she'd handled plenty of assholes his size. Besides that, she thought the boy was getting a bit too cocky with his weapon.
"I'll hold on to that." Luna grins triumphantly, grabbing the silver dagger that fell from Matt's pocket. "Now... you were saying?" Luna asks, shooting Stefan a sarcastic smile.
"Why did you do that? Matt is a human!" Stefan shouts, still laying on the ground.
"Human or not, he killed Kol." Luna snaps. Glaring briefly at the boy at her feet. Knocking minors unconscious was a new experience for Luna. "Don't worry, he'll wake up. Now I suggest you stop this nonsense. You've had your fun, be grateful that all of your friends will wake." Luna continues, not taking her eyes of the vampire.
Stefan looks over his shoulder at Finn, Elijah, and Niklaus. All of them had backed off, giving both Stefan and Alaric some space.
Stefan narrows his eyes slightly, he hadn't expected the Originals to take directions from a human.
"Thank you." Alaric offers awkwardly, not sure what else to say in this situation. He wasn't sure who the girl was, but he was fairly certain this was the patron saint Niklaus had mentioned earlier.
Alaric glances at Damon's body, he would be sure to scold him later on for leaving out crucial information about the newcomer.
• • •
"What the hell happened?" Rebekah shouts, seeing Finn walk in with Kol draped over his shoulder. "Did-did you steal a car?!" Rebekah asks, looking at the unfamiliar vehicle that was parked haphazardly on their driveway.
"It wasn't my idea..." Luna mutters, looking pointedly at Niklaus.
"Sweetheart, for the last time, I wasn't going to let you walk home. Your little legs would give out." Niklaus retorts, giving his mate a pointed look. She had been quite fussy when Niklaus had broken the window of the random car.
"My little legs have nothing to with this." Luna grumbles, stomping over to the couch, dropping the bat she was still clutching on the carpet. "It's illegal." She huffs.
"So is murdering people." Niklaus replies, grinning at his mate. She seemed to occasionally forget that she was living with serial killers, which he found rather amusing. Niklaus makes a beeline for the fridge, grabbing a couple of blood bags.
Finn drops Kol's body in the spot next to Luna before taking a seat on her other side.
Luna fondly brushes her fingers through Kol's hair. She didn't like seeing him like this, so lifeless. The thought that he might die for real one day hurt her. Luna smiles when she sees the color returning to Kol's face.
Finn saw Luna's sad expression. He carefully pulls her onto his lap. Holding her tightly, he whispers reassuring words in her ear.
Luna turns her head, smiling gratefully at Finn. Leaning in she presses a kiss to his lips.
Finn looks taken back at this sudden display of affection. He knew she had kissed Niklaus before, but didn't expect her to kiss him anytime soon. He had resolved to be patient with Luna. It had been over 900 years since his last kiss and this peck didn't compare to any other he had received. This kiss, however small, made his heart flutter.
Luna's giggles took him out of his dream state. Greedily he pushes his head closer to hers and pressed his lips to hers. Although the kiss was soft and tender there was an underlying hunger coming to the surface. Finn rumbles happily, grip tightening around Luna's waist. One of Luna's hands run through the short strands of his hair, the other cupping his cheek.
"Get a room!" Rebekah shouts as she reenters the living room. The last thing she wanted to see was her brother getting it on with her best friend, gross. She hoped Kol would wake soon, she was dying to hear about this night's events.
Luna gives Finn one more peck before turning around to face the blonde.
"Don't worry, we will." Luna assures her, smirking as she sees Rebekah gagging.
"We will?" Finn asks, giving Luna a roguish smirk, looking expectantly at his mate.
"We will." Luna repeats, winking at Finn. Luna giggles as she sees Niklaus's annoyed expression.
"You will what?" Kol groans as he sits upright. He frowns as he tries to reach the sore spot on his back where he had been staked.
• • •
"They are definitely not linked." Stefan announces as soon as both Damon and Caroline had regained consciousness. "And they have our only weapon against them." Stefan deadpans, glaring annoyedly at his brother.
Stefan and Alaric had dragged Caroline, Matt, and Damon to Elena's house. Bonnie was with Elena that night to keep her busy. She knew nothing about the plan, only that she had to distract her friend. Bonnie had been surprised when the three unconscious bodies were dragged inside, wondering what kind of trouble they had caused this time.
"How are they not linked? They drank all drank the champagne. Esther assured me that would link them." Elena wonders, glancing between Stefan and Damon, hoping they would know the answer. She was relieved to learn that Elijah wouldn't die if they killed Niklaus, but was angry that she wasn't involved in this plan.
"I don't know Elena! If I knew I wouldn't have attempted to ambush four freaking Originals!" Damon shouts, still grouchy from his neck-snap-nap.
"Don't be an ass, Damon." Caroline snaps.
"Shut it, blondie. You were of no use." Damon retaliates, glaring at the blonde, who had spent the totality of the fight on her ass.
"How come they didn't just kill you guys?" Bonnie interjects, looking quite unimpressed with the entirety of their plan. She was glad she wasn't involved in this, she had risked her own life often enough going against Niklaus.
"Good question Bon Bon, but what I want to know is where those other two Originals came from? We could have handled two of them for sure. How the hell did they know what we were up to?" Damon asks, arms flailing around in frustration.
"Maybe they've acquired themselves a little good luck charm..." Stefan comments, raking his brain for possible answers.
"Are you talking about Luna?" Damon asks, vividly remembering the new girl from the dance that was paraded extensively by the Originals.
"The girl with the bat?" Alaric asks while stomping Damon for leaving him in the dark about this newcomer.
"Ow." Damon groans, rubbing his arm and shooting Alaric an annoyed look.
He gets up to rummage through Elena's cabinets, clearly searching for something to soothe his bruised ego.
"Wait, she was there?" Elena asks, looking from Caroline to Stefan.
"She was in the Grill earlier, she could have warned them?" Caroline offers, glancing at Alaric for confirmation.
Alaric, however, only frowns trying to make sense of the events of this evening.
"How could she have possibly known of our plan?" Damon sighs exasperatedly, close to smashing the glass he was holding. He didn't know what was going on with the Mikaelsons and Luna, but one way or another he would unravel this mystery.
A/N:
Yay Finn and Nikkie had some bro time.
I'm not sure anymore if the weapon in the Lockwood caverns was a white oak stake or a dagger, but for the sake of the story, I changed it to daggers. I think Niklaus had three silver daggers, one for Kol, Finn, and Rebekah. Damon has one, and I assigned the last one to Alaric. The Mystic Falls gang doesn't know of the white oak bridge yet and seeing as there is no white oak left for them to fashion stakes out of, the daggers are their only weapons against the Mikaelsons.
One thing I do wonder is how do they make the white oak ash stick to the dagger? Do they just lick it and dip it like one of those candy things?
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Lots of love,