Hello, lovely readers! I apologize profusely for the delay, but things are a bit hectic with work and studying, so it's taking me a bit of time to do a little proofreading before publishing. I assure you all that there are chapters that have already been written and completed, but need a little polishing, which is what takes more time out of me.

Nevertheless, I love the support and love you guys give to this story. I hope I am worthy of it.

Now, let's respond to those amazing reviews:

-ArtemisLuna85: Yes, I decided to add that little slip. I was a bit on the fence about it, but I found that the moment needed it, especially to mark the kind of relationship they have. Also, I don't want the main cast of the show to come out unscathed in every encounter with other supernatural beings stronger than them, so expect a bit more accuracy in terms of vampire strength and such than what the series showed. And sorry for keeping Rebekah daggered; it still happened. Also, thanks for the love!

-xenocanaan: I hated myself for doing that to Gwen, but I can't have her coming out free from harm and everything going her way, not when going up against beings much stronger than her (I am deathly afraid of making her too Mary-Sue-ish). Yeah, the group of Mystic Falls never do think about the consequences, so I am going to create the adequate consequences (I hope).

-Guest: Yes, I just had to add that little thing in there. I was so worried it didn't fit, but I am glad it was well received. Just to spoil a little bit, this won't be the last time she'll call him "dad". I also want to cement their relationship, since (as you mentioned) they are father and daughter. I made their circumstances much different than his with Marcel, looking to make it unique on its own. And do look forward to a doting Klaus in the future, be it in the present or in flashbacks.

-Lavender Queen: Yes, Klaus and Gwen are together, but things won't be smooth for a while (sorry for the spoiler), but you'll see what I mean in this chapter. Don't worry, Rebekah won't be getting off free from her stunt. Yes, Gwen is a very sweet girl, but she has her limits. Trust me, Klaus won't tolerate those stunts. I mean, Gwen can die and she can't be turned into a vampire. There are risks here that they can't overlook. Stay tuned for the Gwen and Kol meeting, you know it's coming up!

Disclaimer: I own nothing from The Vampire Diaries and claim no ownership over anything pertaining to it.

home sweet home

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It had been a dreadful twelve days for one Gwen Moone, having spent them inside a hospital room with a stab wound on her lower back that was still tender to the touch.

"I hate hospitals, and I especially hate their food," Gwen mumbled with her eyes closed as her fingers unconsciously toyed with her pearl necklace, her head resting against the passenger's cushioned seat. She was glad that she could finally leave the confines of her hospital room, having endured Klaus' strict monitoring and overprotective behavior with his hybrids standing guard outside her room.

Klaus smiled as he drove. "You're talking to me again, are you?"

Gwen opened her eyes and glanced at him with narrowed eyes. "I've been in the hospital for more than a week. I think that's long enough of a silent treatment for having lied about your mother's death and for testing my sanity." She hissed when she moved to lean her left side on the seat to get a better look at him, the movement aggravating the wound on her back that had been stitched closed. She had been so relieved when the itchy stitches were replaced by surgical tape closures before she was discharged. "Ow," she breathed out when her throat no longer felt like it was being stifled by the pain coming from her wound.

"You okay?" Klaus asked the young halfling, taking a quick look at her before turning his attention back to the road.

Nodding her head in reassurance, Gwen said, "I'm fine, I just find it a bit uncomfortable to sit with a stab wound in my back." She offered Klaus a reassuring smile.

While Mikael had failed to hit any vital organs and her wound was on the mend, it was still a struggle for Gwen not to put all her weight on her back when sitting or doing other activities that were a strain on her wound. It was an even bigger challenge to sleep on her left side without accidentally falling on her back, which had happened a few times and resulted in her rising to a sitting position with a yelp due to the pain that pulsed from her wound and spread throughout her body.

"Besides, whatever Bekah plans to do to you will be much worse, so you have enough on your plate already," she told the older hybrid, combing her fingers through her hair before braiding it to let it rest on her right shoulder with her short bangs swept to the side.

"Don't remind me," Klaus huffed, not at all ready to deal with an infuriated Rebekah.

"Not that I have any business meddling, but you shouldn't have lied about what really happened to your mother," Gwen mumbled, feeling a bit awkward talking about such a sensitive topic that she knew he never liked talking about. "I'm not going to judge you. It's just that it's all a bit hard to swallow," she quickly added as she dropped her gaze to her hand twiddling with the pearl on her necklace.

The halfling thought that no one could pass judgment on any of the Originals, not when they had lived more lifetimes than anyone else with so much history filled with too many ups and downs, so she couldn't even begin to imagine how that affected them psychologically. Yes, they had done many horrible things, but Gwen thought that so did every other vampire, no matter how hard they tried to be good. It jarred her to find out that Klaus killed his own mother, but not as much as she thought it would. She was still processing the information, struggling to come to terms with the truth. Still, she found that she wasn't angry at Klaus or anything of the sort, believing that it was his siblings who had every right to feel furious. As for herself, she didn't think she had any right to meddle in something that happened a thousand years ago and did not directly affect her in any way.

Gwen exhaled a deep sigh. "Your family has a lot of history with too many messy parts to even begin to truly understand you all, but you should have told your siblings the truth."

Taking a deep breath to calm an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, Klaus glanced at Gwen and said, "And risk losing the only allies I had back then?"

"They're your family," Gwen argued, understanding where he was coming from. She knew that Klaus would have done anything to not be alone, even if it meant lying to his family about the real reason that they had to run from place to place for a millennium. "You could have spent the last thousand years working through what you did with them, but now it's an even bigger mess. You and I both know that it's never good to try and block the sun with your thumb."

"Can we talk about this later?" Klaus was not at all interested in talking about the dysfunction that was his family, especially when he was more focused on finding them. "I'm not in the best mood to discuss my family."

"Fine," Gwen whispered, knowing better than to push him. "Have you found Bekah?" she asked Klaus, growing worried for her missing friend as more time passed. "I last saw her at the Salvatore's, so they have to know where she is."

"I know they know where she is, but I can't go killing all of the idiotic lot people of this town, not when I can use them to get to Stefan," Klaus told her as his hand that gripped onto the steering wheel tightened due to the frustration he felt.

"Do you think Stefan also has Rebekah?" asked the halfling.

"Probably. If my sister knows I killed our mother, she would have made sure I knew of her anger," said Klaus. "Which means that she's most likely been daggered."

Gwen hummed as her eyes fell to her hands that were fidgeting with the light pink maxi skirt that she wore that had high slits on the sides and a flowy silhouette, which she paired with a wide-ribbed, heather gray sweater that had a V-shaped neckline and dropped long sleeves. "And there's no sign of Stefan anywhere?" she asked, recalling how Klaus vented about losing his coffins in her hospital room the day after she had been admitted, but she vaguely remembered due to the strong painkillers she was on.

"He must've crawled into a very small and dark hole," Klaus almost growled, glaring at the road.

"And no one knows where he is?" she scoffed. "I find that kind of hard to believe."

"My thoughts exactly. Before picking you up at the hospital, I paid a visit to the doppelgänger and her boyfriend-to-be at the Grill, acquiring more eyes and ears in the search for the wayward Salvatore," the Original explained, smirking to himself. "When that didn't work, I gave them a little bit of motivation."

"Motivation, you say?" Gwen hummed while nodding before raising an eyebrow at him. "In other words, you either threatened or killed someone."

"Bit of both," Klaus said, grinning.

"Well, have you asked June to do a locator spell?" she suggested.

"I did, but she's having trouble trying to locate them. She said that it's probably because of a cloaking spell she can't get through, not from so far away. I told her not to bother and just focus on getting her things sorted," Klaus explained. He then raised his eyebrows as he glanced at Gwen. "By the way, she asked me to tell you to take it easy for the next few days or she's going to come down here and strap you to a bed. I assured her that wouldn't be necessary since I am going to be doing just that."

Gwen exhaled a tired groan as she leaned her head against her seat. After she had been stitched and the drugs that she was subjected to lost their groggy effect on her, the young halfling received threats of confinement or being sent to a nunnery by both Klaus and Juniper, a tag team that Gwen hadn't seen coming. Between Juniper's calls and Klaus' monitoring, the half-fae felt like she was going to lose her mind, even more so when being stuck in a hospital room with a stab wound on her back that kept her from trying to escape their overbearing worry. "You guys are being ridiculous," Gwen sighed with a shake of her head as she turned her gaze to the road and the afternoon sky.

"I beg to differ," huffed Klaus.

Turning back to stare at Klaus, Gwen knew that he was still unsettled by what happened the night he killed Mikael. She reached for his right hand that rested on the gear shift and pulled it onto the center console, holding it between both of her own hands. "I'm fine, Nik," she reassured him with a soft smile that he glanced at for a moment. He squeezed her hand in return and seemed to release some of the tension in his shoulders. "I'm alive if only a bit bruised."

"Stabbed," he corrected.

"Details," she said offhandedly, rubbing her thumb on the back of his hand to offer him some comfort after what they had gone through. "It's all behind us, so let's focus on that. You no longer have to run."

"Finally," Klaus sighed, managing a lopsided smile. "Mikael is dead." His eyes darkened as his hand stiffened in between both of hers. "Of course, Stefan had to ruin the celebration before it even started." He had been looking forward to un-daggering his siblings without the fear of Mikael looming over them with the truth of what happened to the Original witch, but that was not happening anytime soon due to the youngest Salvatore's bold move of stealing the coffins where he stored his family. "This town is a bloody nightmare. If it's not one thing, then it's another," he grumbled.

Gwen chuckled in her throat. "Well, it seems to thrive in drama," she said before turning her attention to the road, frowning when she saw that they were entering the driveway of a rather luxurious mansion that the halfling couldn't help but find glamourous. "Where are we?" she asked Klaus, letting go of his hand to turn to her window and stare at the enormous home he parked in front of.

"Our new home," Klaus answered as he took the keys out of the ignition.

A surprised Gwen whipped her head and locked eyes with Klaus. "Seriously?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "In this town where we burned all the bridges with our neighbors?"

"Seriously." Klaus nodded with a grin. "Besides, things will be quite interesting with our good neighbors keeping us on our toes."

With nothing in mind but a comfortable bed to lie down on, Gwen opened the door of her side of the car, the action causing Klaus to leave the car and appear in front of the younger hybrid in a blink of an eye to help her. She gave him a grateful smile when he took her left hand with his own left and wrapping his right arm behind her back to grasp her right elbow to help her find her balance on unsteady feet that have not been used too much in the past week. She took a deep breath and fought through the slight pain on her back, nodding at Klaus when she was sure that she wasn't going to topple over.

"I had one of my hybrids get you some herbs so that you can speed up the healing process. I think he put them in the kitchen," Klaus told her, now only giving her his right elbow to hold onto before slowly making his way toward the mansion to not cause her any discomfort.

"That's good," Gwen sighed as they stepped up to the front doors. "I would very much like to start doing yoga again without opening my wound and bleeding all over the mat." She hadn't done any of her exercises that she tried to do daily and in a relaxed environment, something she did not have in the Salvatore Boarding House.

Klaus chuckled as he opened the door and had them step inside the mansion before closing the front door behind him. Gwen would have stared in awe of the spacious foyer, but she frowned when her ears met the noise of construction going on in a room to her right, which had her looking up at him with a questioning gaze.

"I bought the place a few days ago and thought it needed some remodeling. I had the men working double time, so it's almost finished," Klaus explained as he led them to a room that was barren of any furniture and only filled with tools on top of a table since it was still being worked on by compelled construction workers who filtered in and out of the room.

Gwen raised an eyebrow at Klaus, knowing that the workers were under his compulsion. "Tell me that you're at least paying them what they deserve."

"I may be a hybrid, but I am not a monster," he told her with mock hurt on his face, but he only received an unimpressed look. "Rest assured that they're getting more than double of their pay."

"Good," said Gwen.

"What do you think?" he asked her, glancing down at her before frowning at the room's windows. "I designed a bit of the renovation."

"Well, it sure is big," said Gwen, not at all surprised by the extravagance of the place, since all the other homes they've lived in have also been quite large. "I like it." She smiled up at him, receiving a proud smile from him in return. "It's beautiful."

Just then, Mindy appeared in the room and approached Klaus. "You're back," she greeted her sire before she turned to Gwen, her eyes softening. "I'm sorry for what happened. I had no control over my actions."

"It's okay. You were compelled, so don't worry about it," Gwen assured the werewolf-vampire with a soft smile of understanding. "I mean, we were both at the mercy of a homicidal vampire hunter with a lot of issues."

"Good. You both made nice and bonded over a shared near-death experience." Klaus grinned between both women. "Now, Mindy, compel the men to open up this wall," he paused as he gestured to the windows in the room with his left hand that Gwen wasn't using as support. He disliked how little light was filtering into the room. "We need sun. I want a fortress, not a dungeon."

With a blank stare, Mindy nodded and turned around to leave the room to do as Klaus asked of her, which had Gwen's brows furrowing, finding it odd how robotic the female hybrid sounded and acted when Klaus spoke. Still, the halfling was too tired to think too much of it and opted to leave it for another moment when she wasn't craving anything but a bed.

"Please tell me that my room is done," she groaned as she turned her hopeful eyes to Klaus who grinned down at her.

"Don't worry. Your room was one I made a priority," he told her, earning a sigh of relief from the half-fae. "I even picked up all of your things from that dreary place the Salvatore brothers call their home. Damon was kind enough to show me where your things were when I visited him earlier. I just need to get them out of the trunk of the car." He reached into one of the back pockets of his pants and pulled out her phone, handing it over to her. "I also found your phone."

Gwen raised her eyebrows and smiled, relieved that she didn't have to get a new one and that she didn't lose her data. "Thank you so much."

"No problem. I know how important your photos are," said a smiling Klaus as he turned them around to go back to the foyer.

"You know, I thought you'd be angrier after everything that's happened." Gwen found it odd that the town was still standing, what with the plot to kill him and the robbery of his family. "Nothing's on fire and there isn't a bonfire of corpses in the front yard."

Klaus couldn't help but chuckle at how well she knew him. "Yes, well, I thought that many working ants are better than none to look for Stefan."

"Of course," Gwen sighed as he directed her to the stairs that would take them to the second floor, but the front door opening had them turning their attention to the entrance to find a familiar face.

The Original hybrid smirked at the new arrival. "There he is," he greeted Tyler with a wide grin that showed his dimples. "It's the man of the hour."

"So, everything went okay?" Tyler asked Klaus, sporting a grim look on his face with tense shoulders and hands deep in his pants' pockets.

"Tony ran down Alaric instead of Jeremy, but…apples, oranges," Klaus exhaled with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. "Message lands the same."

"Wait." Gwen frowned at Klaus. "You had someone run over someone else?"

"It was that motivation we were talking about earlier," Klaus told her.

Tyler frowned at Klaus, his gut turning unpleasantly at the thought of having caused his friends any harm. "You said you were sending them a warning."

"And I did, an effective one," Klaus told Tyler with cold eyes that held no sympathy for the inner turmoil within his first hybrid. "Elena's family suffers, she is motivated to get me what I want."

"I didn't think that we actually have to kill anyone," Tyler said with a shake of his head.

Klaus stepped away from Gwen and approached Tyler while releasing a heavy sigh. "Tyler, mate," he began while placing his hands on the younger werewolf-vampire hybrid's shoulders. "What you are feeling is the remnant of a guilty conscience. I need you to get over it, okay?" His tone of voice was as if he was speaking to a toddler.

"Seriously?" Gwen scoffed, resenting Klaus's remark.

The Original rolled his eyes, an action only Tyler saw. "End of the day, human life is just a means to an end. Our means to our end," he told Tyler, ignoring Gwen. He then removed his hands from Tyler's shoulders and turned the Lockwood hybrid to direct him to the front door. "You do well to remember that." He motioned for Tyler to step out of the mansion, and so the hybrid did. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to look after sweet Gwen who is now in a foul mood. Good work today." He closed the door without waiting to hear anything else Tyler had to say before turning around to face a scowling Gwen.

"You are nothing but contradictions, you know," Gwen told Klaus with her arms crossed over her chest, scowling at the Original hybrid. She was a bit hurt by his words, even though there was no reason for her to believe that he perceived her as such. "Human life is nothing but a means to an end?" she huffed. "You do remember that I am mortal. Am I a means to an end?"

Klaus narrowed his eyes. "Now, don't go twisting my words, Tiny Temper." He walked toward Gwen and stood in front of her, meeting her stony eyes with his soft ones. "I raised you since you were practically born. You have filled my days with…purpose and I abhor the very thought of having to watch you fade from my life as the years go by, knowing that I can't do anything to stop it." When he saw the halfling's scowl changed into a grin, he huffed with a roll of his eyes. "You just wanted me to get all sentimental."

Gwen chuckled halfheartedly. "I just like hearing you get all mushy." While she was joking, it did pain her to know that she would age and die, leaving Klaus alone. And that was something that frightened her, but she always tried to focus on staying positive and enjoying the time she had with him.

"I was being honest, though," he reassured her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her up the staircase.

"I know," she told him, leaning her head against his shoulder.

Just then, Klaus's phone rang as the pair began to make their way up the stairs. "Now who could that be?" the older hybrid mumbled to himself as he took his phone out of the pocket inside his jacket. He frowned when at the caller ID.

Gwen noticed the intensity in Klaus' eyes as he stared down at his phone. "Who is it?" she asked, wondering who would be calling him that caused such a sour look to appear on his face.

"Rebekah," Klaus breathed.

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It was not a good day, not for one Damon Salvatore.

In one day, Damon had to deal with the fact that Klaus moved into town in a more permanent sense, which was already a damper in his existence, since he would have to live with constantly looking over his shoulder, even in his own home. He also found out that said Original hybrid was tormenting Elena and her brother, almost getting Jeremy killed and most certainly killing Alaric for a few hours. And to put a cherry on top of the icing, hybrids were crawling all over the town, ready to pounce on anyone with one word from Klaus.

All of this was thanks to one Stefan Salvatore.

If there was something Damon hated more than his plan to kill Klaus having ended up in an epic failure, it was the mystery that was his younger brother and everything he did ever since he turned off his humanity. But what took the cake for Damon was that Stefan saved Klaus to save his older brother, which made him question everything about his younger brother. One moment, Stefan was all for killing Klaus, no matter the consequences, which was thanks to his humanity being off. In the next moment, the youngest Salvatore saved Klaus, thus destroying any chance of getting rid of the Original hybrid. And then, Stefan steals Klaus' family with no regard as to what happens to anyone else. All of this had Damon questioning if his brother's humanity was either on or off.

It was safe to say that Damon was not in a good mood, having no patience at all to deal with Stefan and his antics, which was why he thought he could leave his younger brother with a branch embedded in his abdomen as payback and that would be that. Yet, something at the back of his head nagged at him to go back to the home of the dead witches instead of following Elena back into town, so he spent a lot of time debating with himself on what to do while walking around the forest that surrounded the old dilapidated house, weighing his options as to what to do with his younger brother, since he was the cause of the problems they were all having with Klaus.

Damon cursed himself when he found that his feet had decided for him by taking him to his younger brother's newest hideout just as it became nighttime overhead.

"You know what I can't figure out?" Damon asked as he walked toward the forsaken house he was not welcomed in, his eyes locked on Stefan's figure that leaned against a pillar near the front entrance of the old lodge. "Why save me?" he prodded his indifferent brother. "Brotherly love? Guilty conscience? Is the switch on, is the switch off?"

"Don't you have somewhere you need to be, Damon?" Stefan asked in return, exhaling heavily.

"Ah," Damon chuckled. "Deflection." He shrugged his shoulders as he came to a stop next to a thin tree some feet away from Stefan, leaning against it. "That's not gonna work on me. I invented that."

"We're done." Stefan pushed himself off the pillar with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jacket. He was getting annoyed with the number of visitors he was receiving in one day, which had him worrying if Klaus would be the next one to visit him. "Can't you just go away?"

Damon hummed and shook his head. "Not until you answer my questions. You owe me that."

Stefan scoffed while smirking as he took a few steps toward Damon. "I don't owe you anything."

"Fine," Damon sighed. "Next question. Why did you steal the coffins?"

"His greatest weakness is Gwen, so I thought that she would have been the better option to use to destroy Klaus," Stefan began to explain. "The problem was that there were too many hybrids guarding her, so that was a no-go. His family is also a weakness, so they are a good substitute to use against him."

"Use against him to do what?" Damon asked, frowning. "You're not going to kill him. You know how I know?" he mocked Stefan. "'Cause there was only one way to kill him, and you blew that to save me."

"You're wrong, Damon." Stefan shook his head at his brother as he approached him. "Klaus doesn't just get to live forever. There's another way. There has to be." If there wasn't, then Stefan would have nothing to help him walk forward and wake up day after day.

"Fair enough." Damon nodded, now being able to understand Stefan a bit better. This was all about revenge and focusing on the one thing that gave him meaning without the guilt and emotions weighing him down to the ground, something the older Salvatore was familiar with. "But whatever you're doing, I want in."

"I don't need your help," Stefan said and began to make his way back to the old house.

"Really?" Damon called out, getting Stefan to stop and look at him. "As it is, you're hiding out in a haunted house."

Stefan shrugged. "I'm in this alone, Damon."

"If you go after Klaus, you're going to have to be cutthroat and devious. Clearly, I'm so much better at that than you," Damon argued. He pushed away from his leaning position and stood in front of Stefan. "Come on, brother. What do you say?" A lopsided smirk appeared on his lips. "If you're gonna keep saving my life, at least make it for a good reason."

Looking at Damon in the eyes, Stefan had to admit that having his brother on his side would help him in his plan to destroy Klaus instead of toughing it out on his own without a clear plan. "You want in, huh?"

Damon nodded without hesitation, saying, "Yeah."

"Okay," Stefan agreed. "But it's just me and you. Elena stays out of it."

"Deal," Damon said without hesitation, preferring not to involve her in any more danger.

"Follow me," Stefan said before making his way into the abandoned house.

"Wait." Damon paused as he frowned at the house that wasn't very fond of him, and for good reason. Staring at the building in the dark of night had the oldest Salvatore feeling even more creeped out with the place, especially when he thought he could hear the whispering of the witches cursing his name. "I'm not so welcome in there."

"Don't you worry, Damon. We all want the same thing," Stefan threw at his brother over his shoulder as he stepped inside the dead witch's house.

Damon released a deep sigh and followed Stefan, relieved to find that there was no attack on his person. Stefan led them to the basement that had what appeared to be an empty space, which was where the youngest Salvatore found himself spending most of his time after the Homecoming Dance debacle.

"Have a look," Stefan told Damon as he nodded at the empty basement.

Taking a quick look around, Damon found nothing special or out of the ordinary, which had him questioning his allegiance to his brother. "What?" he asked as he looked at Stefan. "Klaus is allergic to dust?"

Stefan grinned at Damon before looking forward at the space in front of him. "Look again."

With a roll of his eyes, Damon looked back at what had been nothing but an empty basement with old furniture lying around a mere few seconds ago. His eyes widened when he saw that four coffins occupied the space in front of him. Indistinct and disembodied whispering reached Damon's ears, which told him that the coffins appearing out of thin air was the dead witches' doing.

"Witch spirits hate Klaus as much as we do," Stefan explained, repeating what Bonnie had told him earlier in the day when she procured for him a way to hide Klaus' family by asking the spirits of the dead witches for help. "They're using their powers to hide the coffins."

Damon hummed with pursed lips, impressed. "So even if he comes in the house…"

"He won't be able to find them," Stefan finished for his brother.

Damon found that his day had just gotten better.

.

Frustration was all that one Klaus Mikaelson felt.

Having parked his car at the driveway of the Salvatore Boarding House, Klaus took a deep breath as he tried to calm the headache that was beginning to form in the back of his head, which was caused by his current situation. "I can't believe I agreed to this," the Original hybrid sighed heavily as he fell against his seat with closed eyes.

Gwen looked at him from her spot on the passenger's seat, rolling her eyes at Klaus' complaining. "I wasn't going to just sit back when Bekah could be in trouble."

After Klaus found out that the call he received from his sister's phone was made by Elena to contact him with the intention to make a deal with him, he entered into an argument with Gwen when he told her to stay behind while he went to meet with the doppelgänger. The halfling was determined to accompany him since she was very worried about Rebekah. She had fallen unconscious before she could see what happened to the only female Original. The last time she saw Rebekah, the Original vampire was when they got into a struggle with the doppelgänger and the oldest Salvatore brother. Gwen was angry and worried, which was why she could not stand to sit still when Rebekah could be in trouble, no matter that she had been drugged by said Original.

"Didn't you say that she drugged you?" Klaus asked with a raised eyebrow after he opened his eyes to stare at Gwen. "I'll need to address that with her."

"She drugged me, so I'll be the one addressing her," Gwen countered. "Come on." She opened her door and stepped out of the car, being careful of her tender wound. "You wasted enough time back at the mansion trying to get me to stay behind." She closed the door just when he opened his mouth to respond.

"I knew Rebekah would be a bad influence," Klaus mumbled to himself as he stepped out of the car, closing the door before joining Gwen as she walked to the front door of the boarding house. "It's as if she's transitioning into a mini version of Rebekah," he continued to speak to himself under his breath.

Frowning when her ears caught Klaus grumbling, Gwen looked up at him when he stood beside her. "Did you say something?"

"No, no," Klaus quickly replied with a shake of his head. "Just talking to myself."

Gwen raised an eyebrow at Klaus but opted to ignore him for the time being, wanting to focus on finding Rebekah. She reached up to grab the door knocker and slammed it on the door a few times, hearing the sound echo within the house. They didn't have to wait long, since the door was opened within a minute after Gwen knocked on it by Elena, whose eyes slightly widened in surprise at seeing the halfling standing right in front of her.

"Thank you for coming," the doppelgänger greeted the two hybrids who walked past her to step inside the home.

"You said you had no news of Stefan but know of my sister's whereabouts," Klaus stated, recalling his earlier conversation with Elena.

"Where is she?" Gwen asked the doppelgänger with narrowed eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.

Elena cleared her throat as she closed the front door before turning to face the Original and half-fae staring at her with frowning eyes. "Follow me," she sighed before leading the way to the cellar of the boarding house with Klaus and Gwen trailing behind her, both keeping their guard up. "She's in here," Elena said when she stopped in front of one of the doors of a cell before pushing it open.

Both Klaus and Gwen frowned at Rebekah's gray body clad in a red dress lying face down on the dirty floor with a dagger in her back and only a thin blanket to cover her body from the waist down. The sight of his sister being daggered in such conditions by someone who wasn't him angered Klaus, a sentiment that Gwen also felt as she shifted her furious gaze from Rebekah's prone body to Elena who stood next to the incapacitated Original.

"My poor sister," Klaus sighed from where he stood at the doorway, staring down at his youngest sibling. "I can't turn my back on her for a moment."

"Did you dagger her?" Gwen spat at Elena, her hands clenching at her sides as she focused on keeping her anger in check.

Elena glanced at Rebekah for a moment, feeling only a small amount of guilt that she pushed away. "I had no choice," she began to explain as she met Gwen's steely gaze. "I couldn't trust that she wouldn't betray us, so I did what I had to–"

"It still gives you no right to use people like that," the halfling hissed, glaring at the taller brunette. Gwen was so angry. She cared about Rebekah very much, so it infuriated her that she was hurt and betrayed by people she tried to help. "You used her and then disposed of her like she was nothing," she scoffed at Elena, shaking her head. She raised her hand with her open palm facing up. "Give me her phone."

Elena reached into her pants' back pocket with her right hand and took out Rebekah's phone before handing it over to Gwen. "I did what I had to do to keep the people I care about safe," she said to the scowling halfling.

"No, you did a horrible thing," Gwen argued. "Don't try to apologize and justify what you did when you don't care."

"Come now, Lyn," Klaus exhaled while crouching beside his sister's body, his mind going over what his next move should be since he had to take into account that his sister knew he was the one who killed their mother. He grasped the dagger embedded in Rebekah's back and pulled it out since it was in an uncomfortable spot. "I believe she's learned her lesson."

"Look, you have Rebekah," Elena said, turning her attention to Klaus. "A deal is a deal."

"Yes, my sister in exchange for your brother's life," Klaus muttered, remembering what she had asked of him should she give him Rebekah. "I'd say that's a bargain, so consider him spared."

"I daggered her, so she'll come after me when she wakes up," Elena told the Original hybrid.

"I'll handle Rebekah," Klaus said before he heaved himself to his feet, handing over the dagger to Gwen.

While it appeared to be a small knife that wasn't too sharp, Gwen could feel the darkness that surrounded the dagger as she stared at it, which sent an unpleasant chill down her spine that shook her body. The silver dagger was simple in its design and appeared to be delicate, so she handled it with care. Still, it frightened her for a reason she couldn't understand. It was as if her mind, body, and soul were being burned by her touching it. She could tell that it had caused a great amount of pain. How could it not when its purpose was to subdue someone to make them experience something close to death by being embedded in their heart. It truly was a dark and cruel instrument, which reminded the halfling that there were other people with similar daggers in their hearts, and that was something she thought she'd need to talk to Klaus about.

"I do still need your help finding Stefan," Klaus told Elena, his voice bringing Gwen out of her mind and back to reality.

"I told you," Elena began with a huff as she folded her arms over her chest, looking away from Klaus' penetrating gaze. "I don't know where he is."

Klaus smirked as he approached Elena with a knowing look. "You're lying. Fortunately, you have no shortage of loved ones." He glanced at Rebekah before giving the doppelgänger a stony look. "if I don't find my family, the question you should be asking yourself is who's gonna die next. Bonnie? Caroline?" He grinned for a moment and added, "Maybe Damon?" He shrugged. "It's only a matter of time before Stefan gives me what I want."

Elena scoffed. "He doesn't care about me anymore. You made sure of that."

"All evidence to the contrary, love," Klaus countered, causing Elena to frown. "You don't think he saved me because he wanted to rekindle our friendship, do you?" When he was met with silence, he chuckled. "You see, Stefan may be playing like he doesn't care, but he does. When push comes to shove, he'll do whatever he must to protect the ones he loves. It's something he and I have in common, something I actually admire." He then added, almost growling at Elena's face, "Do pass on the message that I will burn this town to the ground if my family continues to be used as hostages. I am exercising a lot of patience, so tell Stefan not to take advantage of it just because I am entertaining his dramatics in favor of looking after Gwen."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Elena scoffed at Klaus, "Well, I fail to see how he still cares about anyone. Getting into a conflict with you endangers everyone I love and care about who were also his friends, and he's aware of that."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Klaus said, staring down at his sister's body.

Finding that there wasn't anything else that she could say to get Klaus to understand that Stefan was acting on his own without caring about the consequences of his actions, Elena left the cell.

Gwen looked at Klaus. "Do you really think she knows where Stefan is?"

"She does," Klaus sighed as he knelt beside Rebekah and proceeded to carefully turn her body to face upward. "One of the perks of having enhanced senses is that it allows me to hear her heartbeat." He gives Gwen a smirk. "She's worse than you when it comes to lying, and that's saying much, considering that you can't lie."

"Funny," Gwen deadpanned. "Aren't you going to try and get Stefan's location out of her?"

Klaus took Rebekah in his arms and stood up, adjusting his sister's body so that her head rested against his shoulder. "In the spirit of a bargain well struck where my sister has been returned to me, I will stave off any violent actions against them." He began to lead them out of the cellar and added while grinning, "Until tomorrow. While this little game of Stefan's has been quite intriguing, I don't plan on letting him keep the rest of my family for much longer."

"Says the guy who can't find him," mumbled Gwen.

"What?" Klaus asked as he looked at her over his shoulder, eyebrow raised in question.

"Nothing," Gwen replied before an idea popped in her mind. "You know, I can try finding him. My magic may be elemental, but June's taught me how to manipulate it in a way that can lead us to where the rest of your family is."

Klaus pursed his lips as he thought over her suggestion, going up the stairs that led out of the cellar. "We can try it, but only after your wound has healed."

After everything was settled and Rebekah was placed in the back of Klaus' car, the two hybrids then made their way back to the mansion. Gwen had given Klaus the silver dagger that he put away in a pocket inside his jacket, preferring not to have it in her possession longer than necessary, not when it caused her to feel such foreboding. She spent the car ride keeping an eye on Rebekah the whole way back to her new home, eager to see her friend wake up so that they could talk…probably after the blonde either talks or tries to kill Klaus.

Once they arrived at the mansion, Gwen left Klaus to carry Rebekah into the house while she hurried to get the empty bedroom next to her own ready for the unconscious Original to occupy it, wanting the blonde to be in a comfortable place for when she woke up from her death-like slumber. After she finished setting up the bed in the bare room, the halfling left to find out where Klaus was and where he had placed Rebekah's body.

Gwen frowned when she found that Klaus was in one of the last rooms that have yet to be finished being renovated, disliking the melancholy she saw reflected in his eyes as she stared at him from her spot at the doorway. He stood next to a table where Rebekah's immobile body was lying on top of, leaning over his sister's body with a hand stroking her blonde locks.

"I'm so sorry, sister," Klaus whispered to Rebekah as he stroked her dry and gray cheek.

Although he was always the one who daggered her, Klaus loathed seeing Rebekah in such a state, but he had no other option but to keep her as she was or risk losing her. His eyes watered at the thought of his sister hating him and leaving his side, something he couldn't fault her for, given that it was all his doing. And yet, a tight grip of fear surrounded his heart as he imagined Rebekah waking up and turning his nightmare of being left alone into a reality by revealing the truth to the rest of his family.

These thoughts motivated him for what he had to do next.

Klaus grasped his sister's neck with his left hand as he reached into his jacket with his right. "We'll meet again one day," he sighed as he pulled out the silver dagger he had bathed in the ash of white oak a few moments ago before plunging it into Rebekah's heart once more, causing more protruded veins that had previously receded to return and decorate her gray skin.

"What are you doing?" Gwen almost screeched as she raced over to Klaus' side, staring down at the dagger in Rebekah's chest before scowling up at him while ignoring how misty his eyes looked. "Nik!" she pressed him when he failed to answer her. She scoffed and reached for the dagger, ready to pull it out, but she was stopped when Klaus' larger hand grasped her wrist and pulled it back. "Let go!" She snatched her hand back as she glared up at the older hybrid who stared at her with empty eyes.

"Rebekah stays as she is," Klaus told Gwen, the coldness in his voice causing her to take a step back.

"Why?" Gwen exhaled. "Hasn't she been like this enough?"

"The last thing I need to deal with right now is an angry sister throwing a tantrum, which can very well thwart any plan I come up with to acquire my brothers," Klaus argued, not at all in the mood to argue with Gwen.

"What about after you get the coffins back?" she asked in return. "Will you wake her then?" At the silence she received as a response, Gwen stared at Klaus in disbelief when she realized he already had a reason to keep Rebekah daggered. "You can't seriously be thinking of keeping her like that just because she knows about you killing your mother. It's not right, Nik," she shot at him, wishing he would deny her claims. "And that also goes for the rest of your family. You can't just decide when it's fitting to wake them."

The Original hybrid's lips quirked up into a mocking grin. "I have been doing just that for the past thousand years without much problem. I fail to see why now it's any different."

Gwen's eyes filled with water, wanting nothing more than to scream or hit something. The stress swirling within her almost took over her body, but she managed to calm her racing heart and mind. "I hate this side of yours," she whispered as she shook her head.

Klaus said nothing as Gwen gave him her back before she stalked out of the room, leaving him alone. Suddenly, he found himself terrified as he watched the young halfling disappear from his line of sight with only silence for company.

End of chapter!

I hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter. It was a bit difficult to write, since I am eager to get to when the other Originals are undaggered, but I remind myself to keep it cool and not rush things. There are a few things to address and reveal in the next few chapters, especially in the next one, so stay tuned.

Also, leave a review and tell me how it's going. Have no fear of your thoughts, each and every single opinion is welcomed and I'll take whatever you guys can give me. It helps me to write and provide a satisfactory story foor you all to enjoy.

I thank you all for the Faves and Follows. It amazes me how many people are hooked on this story, so thank you all so very much!

See you in the next chapter!