A Twilight to the past
Part 2
THANK YOU! I was so happy to see so many people reviewed the first part of this story! I hope you'll like this part as well.
There will be at least 2 more parts. So far part 3's storyline grew, so it might be either a very long chapter or divided in two... Your numerous reviews have inspired me a bit more.
BACK TO THE PAST
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Bella didn't know how long she traveled through that portal but it felt fast and eternally long at the same time.
Forever in a blink.
The entire time, her father had kept his arms firmly wrapped around her, as though afraid she'd try to turn back to try and rescue the Klaus from the future.
"It's okay Bella, Niklaus isn't dead, he's alive and well where we're going." Charlie whispered in his daughter's ear, knowing what was making her sad, as he kept his arms around her shoulders.
"You're right." She nodded.
As soon as they stepped out of the portal, they realized that people where waiting for them. A tall black woman was standing there, along with a tall middle aged man who smiled as soon as he saw Charlie. Bella immediately felt like she could trust him and she knew it was Ansel, that he was her Alpha. Her father had been right, Niklaus looked like him. Even without her father to tell her who he was, she would have guessed.
"Charlie!"
"Ansel!" Both men exclaimed before rushing to hug each other like 2 brothers separated for too long.
"I don't see Renee, what happened, did she fall?" Ansel asked, worried.
"No, Renee seemed to like the future much better and we separated a few years ago. She not only wanted to stay but she tried to get Bella to stay behind as well. She... Well, let's not talk of things that would make me angry and ruin our reunion, shall we." Charlie explained and Charlie's anger toward Renee was obvious.
"I'm sorry, brother. And I'm guessing this beautiful young lady is your daughter?" Ansel asked, making Bella blush.
"It is. Bells, come and meet Ansel, our Alpha and my oldest and best friend. We met when we learned how to walk. Ansel, you should have seen Bella last night for her first transformation! She was truly magnificent and a completely white wolf!" Charlie exclaimed.
"Because she was meant for great things." Ayana added with a smile, handing Charlie and Bella a ring.
"Ayana, good to see you. Is that...?" Charlie asked curiously.
"The same ring that allows Ansel to control his shift, yes. I finally found out how Esther did it and copied it for the entire pack. It makes everyone much stronger and it makes the shift quicker." Ayana nodded.
Seeing that her father put the ring on one of his finger, Bella did the same. Not taking any risks, she placed it on the same finger as her father and Ansel had their own rings.
"Esther, she'll be after me still?" Bella asked curiously.
"She searched a long time for you, child, and when she didn't find you in this time and place, she stopped, thinking that you were either dead or very far away. We laid clues to make her think that you and your parents fled back to the old continent and wouldn't be back. I don't think she'll expect to see you back here anytime soon." Ayana reassured Bella.
"Come you two, a welcome home party is waiting for you back home. Charlie, we kept your house clean and furnished, you should have everything you need." Ansel declared.
"I can't wait to go hunting again." Charlie nodded.
"Why? You want me to believe that you can actually cook here?" Bella asked with an amused smile.
"Well, no, but I do like hunting." He smiled, making his daughter chuckle.
On the way, Ansel caught Charlie up with everything he had missed. Who died, who married who, who had children... Bella felt a bit out of place and she couldn't help but think back to what she had left behind, to Klaus being shot... He was alive here, now. He was alive and she wanted to jump in action, meet him, save him, get him away from Esther and Mickeal.
"By the way, I hope you're prepared. Bella is going to be popular with the young men of the pack, even if she's destined for my son, nothing has been done yet so... They're bound to try their luck." Ansel warned Charlie, making Bella blush again.
"They better be on their best behavior if they don't want me to take a bite out of them during the next full moon." Charlie growled.
"Don't worry, they know that you're still my beta, they'll be too scared of you to do anything. They've heard tales of our past adventures together." Ansel added.
"I can take care of myself dad. You trained me in self defense, remember?" Bella smiled.
"Yes, and this is exactly what I had in mind." He nodded, making Ansel chuckle.
Bella felt surprisingly comfortable walking through the dark woods and she was surprised not to trip even once. They finally arrived in a village light with torches, full of people waiting for them.
"You managed to make rings for everyone, all of our wolves?" Charlie asked Ayana, surprised.
"Yes, it took about a year but I did. It helps and everyone will be stronger in case Esther decides to fght us. I think the spirits that gave me the vision about your daughter helped me find out how to make them." Ayana nodded before wishing them a good night and going to bed.
"Are we going to talk about a plan, how we'll do things, or not?" Bella asked her father and Ansel after being introduced to a few people.
"Rest and party for now Bells, we'll talk strategy tomorrow." Charlie told his daughter.
"Ayana got some informations from the spirits, I have an idea, the beginning of a plan. Like your father said, we'll have all the time to talk about it tomorrow." Ansel told Bella with a smile.
"I just..." She started to say but stopped.
"What is it, Bells?" Charlie asked her, concerned.
"I don't want to stop, I don't want to have time to think, because I know that I'll only see what happened when we left..." She whispered.
"What happened when you left?" Ansel asked curiously.
"Esther had been warned and she came to stop us. Luckily Niklaus and his siblings came to help, plus a few friends Bella made in Cold one Vampires. In the end, Niklaus took a few bullets made of white oak and he died in front of us, right as we crossed the portal." Charlie explained.
"Well, this is in your past, and it's up to us to make sure this future doesn't happen. Niklaus is well and alive in this time, I can take you to see him from afar in the morning if you want. Right now he's probably in the caves with his family, protecting themselves from the wolves... We're not the only pack around and not everyone has our control." Ansel told Bella kindly, with a soft smile on his face.
"Now come, I'll introduce you to a few people and then we'll go and catch some sleep. It's goo to have a free full moon once in a while." Charlie added and Bella nodded, following her father.
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The next morning, it took Bella a few minutes to remember where she was and why. Then she got up to see breakfast ready and already waiting on the table.
"An old friend made it for us. She knows I don't cook and that you're not used to doing things our way yet. Since Renee didn't make it back with us, she felt she needed to help." Charlie explained when he saw the confusion on her face.
"I guess I'll have to get up to date with that too." She smiled.
"Don't worry. Anyway, Ansel should be by soon, to tell us that beginning of a plan he has."
"Alright." Bella nodded, sitting down to eat and drink a bit of what had been prepared for them.
Later, when Ansel arrived, he explained to them what Ayana had found out about Esther's sister Dahlia and they decided that it would be a good idea to reach out to her and try to get her help. After all, if she got Esther to torture forever, maybe she'd release Freya, and having Freya freed would help them convince Niklaus' siblings to help them. Bella remembered what Elijah told her and she looked through the notebook he had given her to find all the information they had on Dahlia, telling Ansel everything that was written down.
"Well, in the mean time, I can take you to watch over Niklaus, as promised. Ayana has sent a message to Dahlia, saying that we want to speak with her and telling her why we do. She's confident that she'll be here soon enough. In a few days probably, depending on how far she was." Ansel told Bella.
"That's great! Are you coming with us dad?" Bella asked her father.
"No, I can't. I have duties to get back to. Training young wolves, hunting... You'll be fine and I'm dying to get back to normal." he replied with a smile, making her chuckle.
It was weird to see her father without his chief of police uniform, or without the clothes he susually wore when he went fishing but, somehow, this kind of clothes suited him. he was more himself and obviously much happier.
It struck her how much her father must love her to agree to leave this time and place he loved to protect her. But the second thought made her frown. Although her father loved her enough to make all of these sacrifices for her, her mother had obviously only gone along to see something new, to travel, and she definitely didn't love her enough to come with her.
With a smile, Bella shook these thoughts out of her head. Now wasn't the time to dweel on her mother's choices and action.
"You went fishing less than a week ago, you can't miss it that much." Bella told her father, rolling her eyes at his eagerness to go hunting.
"Not the same, Bells. Not the same at all." he shook his head with a smile, showing her a bow and arrows.
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Bella followed Ansel through the forest.
They didn't speak much, but the silence was comfortable and the few times he asked her questions, it was to get to know her better. Bella wasn't an overly talkative person and Ansel liked that about this girl. There were a few teenage girls in his village that could talk anyone's ears off and he couldn't stand them. Bella was different, he could see his good friend Charlie in her. He could tell that she was easy to be around.
Ansel couldn't help but be happy that there wasn't too much of Renee in her daughter. He could tell that it had hurt Charlie to eave her behind, that Renee had hurt him when she left him and even more when she decided to stay behind.
"It's not far now. He's usually around these part with his siblings. Unfortunately, sometimes Mickeal is with them." Ansel warned her.
It was obvious, in the tone he used, that he hated Mickeal. Given what she knew of the man, bella wasn't surprised and she was convinced that she'd hate him too, as soon as she knew him enough to make up her own mind.
"You said you can't cross to get closer to him, but will I be able to?" Bella asked him.
"I don't know. Nobody from the village can but you and your father weren't around when the spell was cast, so you might be able to get inside." Ansel replied.
"I'll try anyway." She offered.
"Not today, better wait until the last night of the full moon has passed and have a good story prepared when you do. Mickeal is bound to be suspicious of anyone new and his chidlren might be like him, we can't be sure. i'm not prepared to let you risk your life." he warned her.
"You're right." She nodded, already thinking of a story.
She was eager to meet him, eager to fall in love with him, to feel their bond unite them, to see him smile at her.
"Do you miss your friends from the future?" Ansel asked her quietly.
"Not really, not yet. It hasn't been long enough for me to miss them yet. It'll probably hit me in a few days." She replied.
"You'll see them again some day." He told her.
"Most of them, yes. I hope so. " She nodded, explaining to him that some of them had asked her to change their fate and that she had agreed.
"What about Rene?" Ansel asked Bella.
"My mother? You didn't speak to dad about her, did you?" Bella asked him with a knwoing smile.
"I was afraid of hurting his feelings by bringing her up." Ansel nodded with a small smile.
"I think you would have only brought out his anger. My mother left him when I was just a baby. I don't think she stayed with him for more than a year. I couldn't walk yet when she left him and moved on the other side of the country, taking me with her. After that, I only saw dad a month during the summer... Now that I know everything, I realize that she was trying to manipulate me into not liking him. Always talking negatively about where he lived, his job, his passions... Everything in me that was Charlie, she criticized, trying to make me believe that she loved me more, that I was happier with her and that I should want to be like her. She almost succeeded... Growing up, dad would tell me stories about this land, and our story, but mom kept on telling me that it was stupid and not to bring it up, not to listen to any of it..." Bella explained.
"I didn't like her much when Charlie brought her back with him one day and she ended up marrying her... She wanted a change of life, I think that's why she married him." Ansel shook his head, obviously angry at Rene's behavior.
"She wasn't the best mother, too light headed. I had to be the adult early on. If I wanted to eat something edible, I had to do the cooking, I had to make sure the bills were paid because she always spent our money on crazy things... She was so reluctant to let me move back in with dad that it actually made me nervous. When I called her to tell her that I knew everything, she told me that if I refused to stay here with her and if I went back with dad, then I could forget her... Behing here, I can see the sacrifice dad did for me. He left everything and everyone he loved behind to keep me safe, then he created another life he liked and he once again left it behind for me. My mother came along for the adventure and the change of scenery, and she refused to come back..." Bella explained.
"Does it hurt you?" Ansel asked her in a small voice.
"It did a bit when she told me, but then it also opened my eyes on who she was and on everything she said and did in the past few years. Charlie loves me and did everything he could to ensure I'd be happy in the long run. Rene did everything she could to ensure that she'd be happy." Bella replied, showing her Alpha that she was sincere.
"You're smart, and brave. I see so much of Charlie in you... I know this is all new to you, but I'm confident that you'll feel right at home soon enough. You'll fit in, even though it's a new land, a new way of life." Ansel reassured Bella.
"I know. In the future, I was always clumsy, tripping on thin air, hurting myself by accident on a daily basis. Here I never do, I feel at home already." She smiled back.
They finally arrived to their destination and Ansel showed Bella where to look and how to position herself not to be noticed.
"They're all here! Even their little brother." Bella whispered.
"And here is my son." Ansel added, pointing him out.
"Yes, he's fine. Alive. Happy." Bella said with a small smile, finding him even more handsome in this time, with long hair and some of his innocence.
"And there's Mickeal." Ansel frowned.
"He definitely doesn't look like an overly friendly father." Bella shook her head.
"Because he's not. Oh, look over there, Esther is coming. Be careful, if she notices us, she'll come after you again and she'll push the magical barrier further back." Ansel warned Bella who nodded.
They stayed about an hour, watching the family move together until Mickeal declared that it was time they went back home and they all left.
"Soon..." Bella whispered.
"Absolutely." Ansel nodded.
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When night fell, Bella joined her father and Ansel, along with the other wolves. Some of them would shift with her, to welcome her in the pack and run with her in the woods.
As a wolf, Bella stayed by her father's side and felt stronger and more free than ever. Everyone was impressed by how calm she managed to stay when she shifted and by how strong she was already.
Then it was all instinct. Running, racing with the other wolves, walking in her place, behind the Alpha, by her father's side... Because of who her father was, by birth, she was higher up in the pack hierachy than most of the other pack members. The fact that she was destined for Niklaus, the Heir and future Alpha, placed her even higher and so she was third. She had expected some people to protest but nobody did and she felt more welcome than ever, she was home.
When one of the younger male tried to approach her, she growled, putting him back in his place before Ansel or Charlie had the time to do anything, but by the look he got from Ansel, she knew that he'd pay for it the next day. He should have known that she was off limit, spoken for. Everyone else seemed to know it and to understand.
Bella couldn't wait to have a run like this with Niklaus and, at the same time, the very idea seemed extremely intimate to her. Running in werewolf form with the pack seemed normal but the same run with just her and Niklaus, she felt like it would be intimate, bonding, and she wanted it.
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When the sun finally rose in the morning, Bella felt motivated and so she told her father that she was ready to meet Niklaus for the first time, for real, that she wanted to go on her own. She was going to pretend that her family had just arrived in this village to help a sick family member and that she had gotten lost picking flowers to brighten their day. Ansel and Charlie figured it could work and they understood that she wouldn't be able to wait much longer, so they let her go while they waited for Dahlia to arrive. After all, they could expose the situation to the witch without Bella's presence and Bella's bond to Klaus might help her explain everything, get him to trust her, and them.
Bella walked in the direction of Niklaus's settlement and, on the way, picked some flowers so her story could be believable. Some of these flowers she had never seen before and she wondered if they had been extinct in the future, or they simply never grew where she used to live. She had also taken a basket and she was filling it with mushrooms and berries she found and that were edible.
Following her wolf instinct, and her heart, the young woman easily found her love in the woods near his house. She hadn't felt a magical barrier on the way and she knew that she should have crossed it by now. She was happy to know that she could cross it. To her, it meant that Esther wasn't suspicious, she wasn't expecting her anymore and her presence would take her by surprise.
Thinking of the moment her presence would be revealed to Esther, Bella couldn't help but be eager. After seeing Esther kill Niklaus, Bella wanted to hurt her, to see her suffer. She wanted to take everything from the woman.
Bella stopped walking. Niklaus and Elijah were just a little further and she smiled, happy. She bent down to pick a nearby flower and saw that the brothers had both noticed her movement. Niklaus lifted his head and saw her before she could say anything. The bright smile that suddenly illuminated his face sent wild butterflies flying in her stomach. A link, a strong bond was already between them. She, too, could feel it.
"Hello, I don't think I've ever seen you before, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered. Are you new?" Klaus asked her kindly, walking towards her and leaving his brother Elijah behind.
Of course the elder brother kept watch but smiled, seeing that his brother was interested in the stranger. Elijah had never seen his brother act this way and he hoped this would be the beginning of happier times for him. If he found love and got married, then he'd be away from Mickeal who wouldn't be able to hurt him anymore. His brother would finally be safe.
"Hi! I'm kind of new around here, and lost, I think. My family and I just arrived to help take care of my sick Aunt. I went to pick some flowers to brighten her day, I know she loves flowers and she misses them since she doesn't go outside anymore, but I got kind of lost... I don't think I'm too far away because I haven't been walking for that long, but I'm not sure which way to go to in order to get home. I'm Bella, by the way." She told him.
"Well, my brother and I will happily help you find your way back home Bella. I'm Niklaus and this is my big brother Elijah." He smiled and she could see that he, too, felt their bond grow by the second.
"I'm not sure you'll want to help me get home, I'm going to the village of the wolf pack. I've been told that it tends to scare some people in the nearby villages, even though it's the middle of the day and the full moon is over." Bella replied, unable to look away from Niklaus' eyes.
She had been right not to look him in the eyes before she crossed the portal because now, she could feel it. Their bond. And in his eyes, she felt like she could see the world, her world. In his eyes, she was home and she knew that he found his home in hers.
"I'm not afraid, don't worry, I'll happily escort you back." Niklaus nodded, unable to look anywhere but in her eyes.
"Niklaus, I'm not sure father would like that very much. You know how HE feels about the wolves..." Elijah warned his little brother.
"I wouldn't want you to get in trouble because of me... Maybe you could just point me in the right direction, that wouldn't anger your father, would it?" Bella asked kindly, making Elijah nod and smile.
"I could of course, but I was looking forward to spending more time with you." Niklaus told her honestly, unable to lie to her.
Elijah felt a bit out of place. It was obvious that something was going on between his brother and this girl. He could see it. He knew enough to understand that it was serious, definite. Something that wouldn't waver or change. Something was going on and his brother's life was about to change, he just hoped he'd be able to see him as often as he used too.
"Maybe we could meet tomorrow, I too, would like to get to know you more. Maybe I could bring some lunch for us." Bella suggested, letting her love know, with this, that she was feeling the same way he did.
"I think it's a brillant idea." Niklaus nodded eagerly.
"Niklaus, we're not supposed to come back before a couple of hours, maybe you can escort her part of the way, I'll cover for you." Elijah offered, seeing the bond growing in front of his eyes.
"Thank you, brother!" Niklaus exclaimed, clapping his brother on the back before offering Bella his arm and escorting her in the right direction.
As they walked, they were silent at first but it was comfortable. Bella felt butterflies in her stomach, and she loved this feeling, a thousand times stronger than what Edward made her feel. She was eager to see more, to move forward.
"Do you have siblings?" He asked her.
"No, I'm an only child. And I know you do have siblings." She smiled.
"Well, Elijah is only one of 5 siblings I have." He smiled back.
"Listen Niklaus, I know you can feel the bond between us, and I don't want to start what we could have, what we're going to have, with a lie, so I'm going to tell you the complete truth, and it's going to be hard to believe because it'll make you see a side of your mother you've probably never seen, but you'll have to know that I'm only speaking the truth to you, alright?" She asked him, stopping their walk and facing him.
"Alright." He nodded, serious and curious.
Then Bella told him everything, who she really was, where she came from, why she was sent to the future and information about his siblings to prove that she knew more. She told him who his father truly was, that she did believe in their bond and that she was willing to stand by his side forever, to always be with him. She told him who was his birth father, what his mother was planning, what really happened to his sister Freya and that his aunt was on her way to discuss a possible treaty, that they'd be able to see Freya, maybe even get her back. Bella told him that she knew Mickeal hurt him and that she was willing to help him deal with him in any way he saw fit, even though Freya's presence could help soften him up and change him. She explained what happened to Henrik in the past version of the future and that she wanted to help him prevent his death... She truly told him everything, refusing to hide anything from him.
"So, the bond I feel is real? You feel it too? We're soul mates, meant to be forever together? This is why I trust this crazy story so easily?" He asked her, not angry, just curious.
"Yes. I... Two days ago, the older version of you died in front of me, fighting off your mother's army to allow me to get back to the past safely. I was very eager to meet you, an alive version of you." She smiled, happy that he believed her.
"Did you love him? Me, I mean? In the future." he asked her nervously, wondering if he should be jealous of his future self.
"No, I only met him a few minutes before the portal opened and he made sure I didn't look him in the eyes so that our bond wouldn't exist, he was afraid it would damage the bond you and I would create here and now." She explained.
"I... My... My father, the Alpha, he truly loves me? He wants me?" Niklaus asked her.
"He does, and I know he wants to meet you, Niklaus. He's been waiting for this moment since the instant you were born. Maybe tomorrow you could come with your siblings, bring them to Ansel's village and tell them everything on the way? It would be best not to tell Esther and Mickeal anything before we're ready to act though. In the future, neither of them were on your side and even if we think we might, possibly, have a way to bring Mickeal on our side, it's best not to tell him anything until we're sure." Bella suggested.
"Alright, I will try. I... Even if they don't want to come along, I'll be there. I'll find a way. Even if I have to run away to come to you, I will. I'll happily suffer through Mickeal's consequences if I have to." he promised.
"You wouldn't be running away, you would be running home. You wouldn't have to go back if you don't want to, and you'd still be able to see your siblings." Bella reminded him with a smile.
"Home... With my father, who loves me..." he whispered happily.
"You also have to hide from your mother that you fell in love, that you've found me. She was willing to kill me when I was a baby, who knows what she'll do if she finds out that I'm still alive here and now. It's best if she keeps on believing that I'm long gone for the moment. It's best if she finds out I'm here at the last moment." Bella warned her love who nodded.
"I promise." He swore before he kissed her cheek and, making sure she truly knew her way, ran back home to plan a way to get all of his siblings away from home the next day, knowing that his brother Elijah would help him.
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"Ha, Bella, here you are. This is Dahlia, Esther's sister, and her niece Freya. They've arrived about an hour ago and have both agreed to help us." Ansel declared as soon as he saw Bella.
"Well then, we've both had very fruitful days because I met Niklaus and Elijah, fell in love with Niklaus and he with me. I told him the complete truth and he's coming here tomorrow with all of his siblings for the day." Bella replied happily after greeting the two witches.
"My siblings are coming here? Really?" Freya asked and Bella smiled and nodded her way.
"But, how are you going to help us?" Bella asked Dahlia.
"I do want immortality, but what I want more is revenge on my sister for betraying me and our sacred bond. In doing so, it's our entire bloodline that she's betrayed, our heritage." The angry witch replied.
"I... There might be a third option, where you can get both. In the future, Elijah gave me a book filled with notes and on the last pages, Kol and Elijah made a suggestion for you. In the future, they've come accros a coven, called the Gemini Coven, that could create Prison worlds. I didn't understand much of what was written underneath but maybe you would, and maybe you'd be able to create such a world. This way, Esther would be punished, away from her children forever, and you'd be with her, living forever. And this world would be your own, to mold the way you want to. If you want us to add people to it, you'd be able to plan a way to do it." Bella suggested suddenly.
"Not a bad idea, I'd like to take a look at this spell." Dahlia nodded and Bella went to get it.
"It's not that complicated but it takes a lot of power..." Dahlia commented.
"According to what is written here, this coven is very powerful, or will be anyway. Maybe Ayana can help you do it? If Freya's siblings join us, they'll all be able to help you, right? They all have magic?" Bella asked curiously.
"I think Niklaus's wolf could prevent him from being a witch but the others should be, yes. And the spirits on the other side really want you and Niklaus to have that future together, so they might be willing to help. It's worth a try. If your friend Ayana joins us with another member of her family to link her to her own bloodline, then we'll have enough power. I'll gather the necessary ingredients in order to be ready." Dahlia nodded.
"Do you need my help, aunt?" Freya asked.
"No, I'll be gone a few days, you should stay here and make sure your siblings are all willing to help us get justice on your mother's actions." Dahlia replied before she nodded goodbye at Ansel and left.
"You can stay with us." Bella invited Freya who nodded thankfully while Ansel smiled their way and went to get back to his duties before his son finally met him the next day.
For the rest of the day, Bella told Freya what she knew of the future, not hiding Mickeal's actions. It hurt Freya who remembered her father as a kind man but she accepted it as the truth and understood that even now, he wasn't a good man anymore because of the way he treated Niklaus. In return, Freya taught Bella how to cook and bake in this time, without futures technologies.
.
The next day, Bella felt more nervous than ever. Being away from Niklaus made her grow restless. She needed to be near him, to see him, to be in his arms, and she didn't know how she'd handle it when he went back home at the end of the day.
What if Niklaus had changed his mind? What if his siblings had refused to come along? Worst, what if they had refused to believe him and turned around to warn Mickeal and Esther? She had a thousand WHAT IFs running around in her head and couldn't calm down.
"Don't worry so much Bella, he'll come, I can feel it. I can feel him coming closer." Ansel reassured her.
"How can you know?" She asked him worriedly.
"I can feel it, in here." He replied, pointing to his heart.
"I, I think I feel something too... The small hole that was created when we parted yesterday is slowly being filled, but I'm still worried." Bella confessed.
"Have faith young Bella. All will be well, finally." Ansel reassured her, giving her a one arm hug.
"I hope his siblings will have all come along and that they'll believe him." She whispered.
"You worry too much, Bella. Relax or you'll go grey before your time." He joked, kissing her on the forehead like an uncle would before he went to see Charlie, leaving Bella to occupy herself.
She waited a couple more hours, which she spent speaking and baking their lunch with Freya, when she felt a bigger pull to the side. She turned and saw Niklaus coming closer, with all of his siblings, even young Henrik. Niklaus had a large smile on his face which grew even larger when she turned to smile at him.
They were all with him, looking eager, peaceful.
"Freya, they're here!" Bella exclaimed before she added, louder: "ANSEL, HE'S HERE!".
Once she had warned the Alpha, Bella smiled widely and ran to Niklaus' open arms. He had obviously missed her as much as she had missed him. He quickly did the introductions and Bella introduced them all to Freya. They were done doing the introductions when Ansel arrived and Niklaus left his siblings with Freya while Bella guided him to his birth father, who already had more love in his eyes than Mickeal had ever shown them in his life.
Niklaus was nervous, he didn't know what to do, but Ansel was smiling. Knowing how his son was feeling, how insecure he probably was about this meeting, Ansel pulled him in his arms, embracing him and Niklaus returned the gesture, closing his arms around his father too.
"See Bells, I told you it would all be fine." Her father said from her right.
From the side, Bella could see Niklaus' siblings turned their way. They were all looking at the father-son reunion with smiles on their faces.
Eventually, Ansel and Niklaus pulled appart, smiling at each other. It felt like they had held an entire conversation through this hug.
"Maybe I should leave the two of you for a while, you need to talk, get to know each other..." Bella offered.
"Of course not Bella! Your destinies are tied. Yesterday you were my Beta and best friend's daughter, today, you're about to become my daughter in law!" Ansel declared, making Bella blush and Niklaus smile brightly.
"Absolutely." Niklaus nodded, not denying that the thought of marrying Bella made him extremely happy.
Niklaus turned to his siblings and waved them over, introducing them officially to his father, then, Charlie came back.
"They'll be ready in 10 minutes, Ansel." He whispered.
"Ready for what?" Bella asked.
"Being introduced to Niklaus of course. He's their future Alpha." Ansel replied, before turning to his son and asking:
"Are you ready for this, son?"
"I... I think I am." Niklaus nodded nervously before he added "But I'm not a werewolf, I haven't triggered my curse yet... Would they really accept me?" Niklaus frowned.
"Don't worry, you have time to do it. We can find someone, either a criminal or someone really sick or old who wants to die quicker. This is how most of us do it in this pack, though sometimes it comes as an accident." Ansel smiled.
"He won't be able to..." Finn intervened, looking guilty.
Everyone turned to look at him.
"What? Why?" Ansel asked while Klaus, unable to stay away from Bella, wrapped his arms around her.
"Our mother, she cursed his necklace. He needs to take it off. She was afraid he'd kill Mickeal and trigger his curse, so she spelled this necklace to make his weaker, telling him it had a spell so that she could locate him if he got lost." Finn explained before he turned to Niklaus and added "I'm sorry brother, I thought she had a good reason, I didn't know about any of this..."
Niklaus simply nodded, letting Finn know that he understood and that he wasn't angry. It was easier to control his anger with Bella in his arms.
"I can un-spell it, place a small charm on it to trick her into thinking that nothing has changed." Freya offered and Niklaus nodded, handing the necklace to her.
"Eric's brother arrived last night with a neighbour of his. Old, sick. They came here thinking that maybe one of the young ones would want to trigger their curse with him." Charlie informed Ansel.
"See? Everything works itself out when it's meant to be." Ansel smiled brightly.
"You're right." Niklaus nodded, not used to feeling so loved, accepted, welcome.
"Until then, come son, I'll introduce you to your pack, your town. He guided Niklaus a little bit through some path until they reached the center of town. There, everyone was assembled, waiting with open faces and smiles.
"People, it is with great pride and joy that I can finally introduce you to my son, Niklaus, your future Alpha! He's finally joined us, thanks to Bella. Niklaus, my son, welcome to your pack! Welcome HOME!" Ansel spoke and Niklaus was surprised by the smiles and welcoming faces, by the applause of the people in front of him.
He wasn't used to being this welcome, this loved. Soon, he was surrounded by people who wanted to get to know him, offer their friendship, their personal welcome or simply a smile.
"Thank you, Bella." Ansel whispered in Bella's ear.
"I haven't done much yet... I... I get the feeling that this was too easy..." Bella replied.
"We'll be able to handle whatever comes our way. I have faith in our gods and, ost importantly, i have faith in us all." Ansel reassured her.
.
A few minutes later, Niklaus and Bella were with Ansel, Charlie, Freya and Niklaus' other siblings, around the large lunch Bella and Freya had prepared.
"So, what do we do until then?" Finnik asked after Freya explained Dahlia's plan to punish Esther.
They had all been surprisingly accepting of this punishment for their mother. The immediate bond they had felt with Freya and Bella's tale of what their Mother had tried to do to prevent her from meeting Niklaus had been enough to convince them all, unanimously.
"In the old version of the future, Esther created vampires because Henrik died and she wanted all of her children to be strong enough to survive, but obviously we can't let him die for this reason. Also, before, being vampires prevented you from being witches, but maybe we can change that, go around it so that Niklaus is a Vampire-werewolf hybrid and you guys can be vampire-witch hybrids." Bella explained.
"We could fake my death?" Henrik suggested, eager to help.
"No!" Finnik and Elijah exclaimed while the other shook their heads.
None of them wanted Henrik to be overly involved or in danger, he was still, in their eyes, the baby of the family.
"How about Nik?" Rebekah suggested.
"I was thinking about this too... I... I don't think it would be easy for us to be separated again, even for just half a day..." Bella replied in a small voice.
"Yes, last night was painful enough. You could all run back home, saying that I was killed by someone or a large bear or something. I'd stay here. Mother wouldn't be suspicious of Bella and she'll still create the vampire potion. You'll just have to bring a couple of doses here for Bella and I once it's finished, to make sure we're included in the spell." Niklaus suggested, his arm around Bella.
"I'll have to take your necklace off so that she doesn't feel you alive, but it could work." Freya nodded.
"You are aware, Niklaus, that even if you stay here tonight, you'll be sleeping in your father's home, and not with Bella, right? Not before you're married." Charlie warned, making Niklaus blush and Ansel laugh, along with his son's siblings.
"I'll try to survive it." Niklaus joked, thinking that they had better plan the wedding soon.
"We could trigger your curse tonight. It would give us about a month until the next full moon to either turn you into the hybrid you're meant to be or ask Ayana to make you a ring. I'm afraid you won't have a choice but to suffer the first full moon's pain either way, but I'm confident you'll be able to handle it." Ansel explained.
"It's not that bad and he did it in the past version of the future and survived. And he was all alone back then. He'll be fine now, with you by his side. It'll make him even stronger." Bella nodded confidently, making Niklaus blush.
"I hope so." Niklaus nodded.
"In the notebook, future Elijah wrote that it took Esther two months to make the vampire potion and spell once she made the decision. It could take even longer if Finnik and Freya want to make sure they'll be able to remain witches." Bella replied.
"The spell and potion recipe is in the notebook through, it could be much faster if we just change what we need to change. We could just tell her what we already know?" Freya frowned.
"But how would we explain that we already know how to do it?" Elijah frowned.
"A vision maybe? Kol is supposed to be some sort of prodigy, right? That's what he wrote in the notebook anyway. He could wait about a week after Esther started to look into it and tell her that he's had a vision, that it's not complete but almost." Bella replied, remembering everything she's read into the notebook.
"It could work... Or we could add that we all meditated, called the ancestor together to help her and got this suggestion." Elijah nodded.
"The most important is that she doesn't know I'm here. Or that Freya and Dahlia are with the wolves." Bella reminded them.
"What about father?" Rebekah asked in a small voice while looking at Ansel and Freya looked down.
"I don't like him, never have, but I don't have the most objective point of view. I only see him as the man who's hurt my son for years. I'll leave you to decide on how to handle him. These decisions need to be taken by all of you, with the majority agreeing." Ansel told them.
"I doubt Dahlia will want to take him with them in her prison world though. He's the reason Esther turned her back on magic in the first place, she wouldn't want him with them, or maybe in a special section, separated from them..." Charlie shook his head.
"Bella, what do you think, Love?" Niklaus asked her, making her blush with delight at his endearing nickname.
"I'm not sure. In the future, you all seemed pretty confident that he could change with Freya's presence, but I also know that he's hurt you a lot. In the future, Esther made him a stronger vampire, a hunter. He spent centuries hunting all of you, trying to kill you all. I think it should be up to all of you to decide." Bella shook her head.
"Niklaus, you're the one he's hurt the most, what do you want to do?" Finnik asked his younger brother.
"Maybe we should give him a chance to see Freya, to change. We could leave him finish his life as a human, without turning him into a vampire. Or if he's really changed I guess he could become one... As long as I don't have to see him too often... My first instinct would be to just kill him, get rid of him, but it wouldn't be fair to any of you. He's your father." Niklaus shrugged his shoulders, unsure.
"You're more forgiving than I would be in your position." Elijah commented.
"Spoken like a true leader." Ansel smiled pridefully.
"We'll be able to discuss this later. How do we fake Nik's death then?" Kol asked.
"You'll all run home, you'll have to injure yourselves to make it more believing. Rip your clothes, cut yourselves a bit to make it look like claws..." Charlie explained.
"Twigs and leaves in your hair, so that it looks like you ran through bushes and dirt all over to make it look like you fell a few times." Bella added.
"I know a spot, a couple of hours from here, where a group of large bears live. They don't come anywhere near here because they can feel that we're stronger but they could have come where you're pretending to be today. You could say that you accidentally disturbed them and they attacked." Ansel suggested and they all spent the next hour planning a believable death for Niklaus.
"How about... hum... When..." Niklaus started to ask, unsure of how to say it.
"What is it, son?" Ansel asked him.
Then, still nervous, Niklaus looked at Bella.
"I think your son wants to know how soon he can marry my daughter." Charlie chuckled.
"A little eager, aren't you brother?" Kol teased him while they all chuckled.
"The bond between the two of you is strong, it's understandable that you'd have a hard time waiting." Ansel nodded before he looked at Charlie.
"Don't look at me, you're the Alpha my friend. If I didn't approve of your son, I would have stayed in the future with Bella. It's up to you, and them." Charlie replied before he looked at his daughter, silently asking her a question.
"I don't think I want to wait too long either..." She smiled with a little blush that made her future siblings in law chuckle.
"Ayana did say that it would be better if their ceremony took place on one of the afternoons of the full moon. That lasts three days so we can chose any of those." Ansel reminded Charlie.
"When did she say that?" Bella asked.
"Shortly before the portal opened. I told Charlie your first night back but you had already gone to bed." Ansel replied.
"I was just reading the notebook Future Elijah gave me to be prepared. I wasn't feeling like partying much." She whispered.
"So in a few weeks then, on the third night because the first night will be Niklaus' first night as a wolf and it'll be important enough. The second night will be a pack run, to welcome him fully into the pack, like we did for Bella. On the afternoon of the third day they get married, then we party a bit and when the moon rises, they'll be able to have their first run together. Then they'll be able to... Well, as Bella's father I refuse to think about what comes after the wedding between them." Charlie suggested, making Bella and Niklaus blush and everyone else chuckle at the couple's embarrassment.
"Will we be able to be there for the ceremony?" Henrik asked shyly.
"Of course you will. You're his family too." Ansel nodded.
"We'll find a way to explain our absence to mother." Finnik promised.
"If not, I'll just send you all the vision of it. If she believes Niklaus died while you ventured away from her, she might be reluctant to let you go away from her." Freya promised.
"Unless you manage to get Mickeal on your side before then. She'll let you come if he's with you." Niklaus added.
"So, about Aunt Dahlia, will we get to meet her before she goes in the prison world or not?" Henrik asked, curious.
"It will be a while before she can be here, at least a month, but I'm sure you'll get to meet her before that. She wants to meet all of you too." Freya replied with a smile.
"We have to go... Especially if we have to pretend you died, we should go home a bit early to make it believable." Finnik declared, making Niklaus nod as he looked at the sun.
"You're right." He agreed.
"Just know that you'll always be welcome here, all of you. Niklaus' family is our family." Ansel assured his son's siblings who smiled thankfully.
"Even if we can't visit, I'll be able to communicate with Freya without Mother finding out." The eldest sibling assured.
"I have missed you so much, brother... I can't wait to have forever with all of you." Freya smiled, hugging each of her siblings close to her heart.
"It's going to be a nice to change to have not one but two sisters by my side forever! I was growing tired of these boys!" Rebekah joked as she hugged Freya and Bella.
"Be careful, all of you." Bella reminded them.
.
Esther was in her garden, picking an herb she wanted to put in that night's soup, when she heart a big commotion from the side. Mickeal wasn't far, fixing a fence and they both lifted their heads to see Finnik carrying Henrik, Elijah and Kol by his side, holding Rebekah under the arms, as though helping her walk faster.
They were all covered in dirt, twigs and leaves, their clothes were dirty and thorn and some of them were bleeding.
"Mother! Father! help!" They were crying out as they arrived, all of them dropping on the ground in front of their parents, looking exhausted.
Henrik didn't seem to be more injured than the others.
"What's going on? Where's Niklaus?" Esther asked, immediately using her powers to locate him with the necklace she had given him but not sensing him anywhere.
"He's..." Elijah tried to say but couldn't.
Mickeal noticed that they were all crying.
"Where's Niklaus?" Mickeal asked in a harder voice.
"He's dead." Finnik replied, breathing out the word in a small voice, making it sound like it took all he had in him to manage to say it.
"No!" Esther cried out as Mickeal looked horrified.
He had always been hard on the boy, but he did care.
Esther dropped on the ground too, knowing her children were saying the truth because if he was still alive, she knew that she'd feel him through his necklace. If she couldn't sense the necklace, then the carrier was dead. She had lost one of her son. She had lost a second child.
How would she tell Ansel? How would he react? Would the wolves declare war on them? How would she protect the rest of her family?
"Are any of you injured?" Mickeal asked in a tight voice, holding his pain inside.
Of course he was feeling guilty. He should have shown that boy the same amount of caring as the others, but he was born so soon after Freya died, he couldn't help but blame him for it, even though he was innocent.
"We'll be fine, just scratches..." Elijah shook his head.
"What... What happened?" Esther asked.
Everyone was still on the ground and before they answered, Mickeal made them all stand up and go inside the house. They followed him. Rebekah pretended to have troubles walking and so he helped her in. Henrik was able to walk pretty well on his own, so Mickeal guessed that Finnik had carried him only to go faster.
"How did Niklaus die?" Mickeal asked.
Knowing their part well, after having rehearsed it, the siblings, united, started their rehearsed tale.
"It was my fault..." Henrik declared immediately.
"No, Henrik, it wasn't. It was an honest mistake. You couldn't have known, brother." Elijah shook his head, going to hug his crying little brother.
They had to hand it to Henrik, he was great at fake crying.
"What happened?" Esther asked in a small voice.
"I wanted to go further away, there was a stream and what looked like a small cave." Henrik bowed his head.
"We all agreed to go check it out with you." Kol added.
"But then there was this huge beehive at the entrance of the cave. Niklaus said it was a bad idea, that we should move back. I didn't listen and ran past the bees because I thought I saw something shiny in the cave. It was just a reflection of the sun on some stones..." Henrik added.
"I was looking at some flowers, I thought they were flowers you used to do magic but I wasn't sure. They don't grow around here so I asked Finnik to help me, to be sure. I mean, you would have been happy with the surprise. Kol came too." Rebekah declared.
"I was thinking of catching fish from the stream for our dinner and Niklaus followed Henrik, to make sure he was alright." Elijah commented.
"Then we heard... The sound was so loud..." Kol shook his head.
"The cave amplified it and it was terrifying." Rebekah added with a fearful cry.
"It was dark inside, deeper than it looked too... I didn't see it before... Niklaus told me to get out, he must have seen it before I did... There was a huge black bear lying there. Probably resting... I stepped on his paw!" Henrik admitted, tears and guilt all over his face.
"As soon as we heard the sound, we dropped what we were doing to rush to the cave." Elijah added.
"Nik told us to stay where we were, not to come closer. He was standing between the bear and Henrik." Rebekah explained.
"Nik told me to run but I didn't want to. He was... I was against the wall and could leave through the side, Niklaus was a bit further back in the cave. The bear wouldn't let him leave, I knew that and I didn't want to leave him behind..." Henrik shook his head.
As her children spoke, Esther could almost see the scene in her head.
"Niklaus took out the knife he had on his belt... his knife is all he had." Elijah added, shaking his head in defeat.
"Henrik wasn't moving and the bear was attacking. He almost got Henrik but Nik got in the way and got cut in the legs with its claws. Nik screamed at us to get Henrik out of there and to run." Kol explained.
"Elijah and I didn't have any weapons... We had left them where we were before the roar... We rushed in and quickly grabbed Henrik's arm, bringing him out." Finnik told his parents.
"The bear didn't even pay attention to them... Nik... He was distracting him, making sure the bear wouldn't notice us and that he would have his whole attention..." Kol whispered.
"We couldn't see Nik anymore but he screamed in pain, told us to leave, to run..." Rebekah shook her head.
"Even with our weapons, we wouldn't have been able to do much but we wanted to try so we got them and came back. Nik was... He was on the ground and there was so much blood..." Elijah stated.
"He wasn't moving, his eyes were open, staring into emptiness... We wanted to fight the bear but he was coming toward us and he was so big... We had to protect Rebekah and Henrik, so we hit the beehive to throw it at the bear, hoping it would distract him and we started running..." Finnik added.
"The bees seemed to only have angered him more. He was right behind us... I twisted my ankle and fell... We all fell down in a ravin at some point... I... I don't know when he stopped following us... I..." Rebekah added, crying.
"Are you sure he's dead?" Mickeal asked, planning on going there to check things out.
"I think so but there might be hope, we didn't take the time to check, we had to run..." Finnik replied, knowing Mickeal would want to check and that Ansel and his men would have had the time to stage the place with blood and Nik's clothes.
"Mickeal... Bring me my son, please..." Esther begged her husband, her tears and despair showing her children that they had played their part well.
"I'll go and check it out." Mickeal nodded.
"I'll come with you." Elijah, Finnik and Kol said at the same time.
"Are you well enough?" He asked them.
"We're fine. We want to help Niklaus, he save us." Finnik replied, the three of them nodding.
"Grab your swords and some torches then, we're going now." Mickeal declared in a hard voice.
He swore to himself at that moment that if Niklaus was alive, he'd apologize and treat him better. Losing Freya was no excuse for him to treat him so badly. Now that he was gone, he could see the truth of his actions.
They walked a long time until they arrived at the designated place. Of course to make it believable, they had left some of their things behind, like Rebekah's basket.
"Here." Elijah pointed to the cave and they all light up their torches.
True to his word, Ansel had had his men spread blood all over the cave. A large pool of blood, vaguely shaped like a man with pieces of Nik's clothing was on the floor. The beehive had been thrown on the ground too.
"Maybe he survived and got away." Kol suggested, as they had planned.
"No, look!" Finnik shook his head pointing to the drag marks with blood, leading into the forest.
Mickeal ran, following the trail and they followed him. They ran until they reached a larger river where the trail ended. There, they found more blood and more clothes.
"It's over... We'll never find him now..." Finnik shook his head.
"Can't we try to look upstream?" Kol asked his father.
"No, it flows too fast... It would be dangerous. Come, let's go home... Deliever the news to your mother." Mickeal shook his head, trying to hide from his sons the tears that were forming in his eyes.
.
Everyone mourned Niklaus in their village, and they witnessed as Esther started working on ways to make her children stronger. She needed to find a way to make sure they would all survive anything, especially a werewolf attack. She hadn't told Ansel, but she knew that he'd find out eventually and she expected him to send out his wolves to attack her in retaliation as soon as the next full moon arrived. She needed to be stronger, her children needed to be stronger.
"How's Nik?" Kol asked Finnik in a whispered about a week after they had faked his death.
"Happy, getting closer to his father and to Bella." Finnik replied.
"Should we do the mediation thing to help her make the potion faster?" Kol asked.
"Yes, we should. Warn the others discreetly, we'll do it this afternoon, tell mother what we know tonight." Finnik nodded.
"What about Mickeal?" Kol asked him again.
"Freya and Nik have spoken about it, since he seems sorry about Nik's death, Nik's agreed that we could tell him the truth, and Freya is happy about this, but they both agree that we should wait until the potion is ready and we're all ready to act before we tell him because he'll be angry at Mother and he could blow our cover story." Finnik explained.
"Alright. I'll warn Elijah and Henrik." Kol declared.
"i'll take care of Rebekah." Finnik agreed and they parted ways.
So, yes, Redemption for Mickeal.
What did you think of their plan?
At first, there was supposed to be only 2 parts but with the number of greats reviews I got for the first chapter, I divided it and made it longer. There will be at least 2 more parts.
Initially, Mickeal was supposed to stay super evil and die, and Henrik was supposed to be killed, for real. But I decided to change things...
I hope you're happy that this one is even longer than the first part.
If I get lots of reviews, I might get inspired to make it even longer, who knows.
Anyway, Review please. It makes me happy and helps me write more.
Lorelei Candice Black