December 2010
"What are you up to, little wolf?" Klaus breathes into Hayley's ear, plucking her away from the crowd, pulling her roughly to stand in front of him, to look into his eyes. She scowls venomously up at him, and Klaus scowls back in irritation. She doesn't have the good sense to be afraid of him, and it will be the death of her.
"What makes you think I'm up to something?" she answers, pulling herself out of his vice grip. She seems innocent enough, if a little rough around the edges. Someone who has had to look out for herself all her life, not afraid to do what she has to do to stay alive. Klaus might admire her, if he wasn't sure she's been up to something with his hybrids for the last month. "Maybe if you weren't so grabby," she snarls. "You wouldn't have to worry about random wolf-girls at a Christmas party."
"I know you're up to something, love," Klaus insists. "Why don't you just tell me what it is and then we can all be on our way?"
Hayley smirks a little and casts a sly look over her shoulder where he's sure the hybrids are lurking. Klaus' stomach drops.
"What have you done?" he growls, voice low, menacing. Even his siblings quake in fear at the sound of his voice. Not Hayley. Her smiles morphs into a snarl that matches Klaus' voice.
"I haven't done anything," she bites. "Why don't you ask your hybrids? And while you're at it, rot in hell," she huffs, and pushes past him, knocking his shoulder roughly.
Rattled, Klaus stares as Stefan approaches. It's clear he's overheard, or at least, has an idea. No trying to cover it up. "She doesn't like me much," he explains. Stefan huffs a laugh. "Where have you been?"
"Around," Stefan offers as an answer.
"I know that you're up to something," Klaus tells him. He's a thousand years old, he can't imagine why these children keep thinking that they can trick him into complacence, no matter how much he enjoys Caroline's company.
"I saw your letters," Stefan counters. Offering Klaus enough information to surmise that he and the others were snooping, in search of the sword, in search of the cure without him. Klaus chews on the inside of his cheek, disarmed by Stefan's admission, surprised by the hybrid who suddenly appears behind him. Hayley was right. The hybrids are planning something. "Have a few pen pals over the centuries?"
"Is it any different than writing the name of my victims on a wall, like you did?" Klaus goads. "Ripper." He smiles when Stefan looks away in shame.
Klaus stalks past Stefan, anger rolling in the pit of his stomach. Something else too. Fear, though not for his own life. In a matter of minutes, Klaus knows his hybrids will be dead, all his work for nothing. For Stefan and his friends to have betrayed him yet again, when he has shown himself to be a good ally.
Grinding his teeth, Klaus turns around to face Stefan before he leaves. He doesn't owe Stefan an explanation. He doesn't owe anyone anything. "Loneliness," he says anyway. "That's why you and I memorialize our dead." Maybe Stefan will understand, at least. "The brief moment where we literally hold their life in our hands, before we rip it all away and we're left with…nothing." His jaw is clenched so tight it hurts. Stefan is watching him incredulously, scared, as they always are, as everyone is when they see him. "So collecting their letters or writing their names on the wall, it's a reminder. That in the end, we are left utterly and infinitely alone."
His hybrid is waiting to lead him to their deaths behind him and turns away from Stefan with enough flourish to warn him if he tries anything more, he'll kill him and Elena. The cure is more trouble than it's worth, his hybrids a mere distraction from the vacuum left by his siblings' disappointment – abandonment – and betrayal. In the end, the hybrids, creatures who were supposed to be loyal to him always, supernaturally loyal to him, turned away from him too.
A/N: Hello! Welcome to this year's advent calendar. If you've seen me do these before, you might remember that there's usually four themes I like to follow for each week (in order - Hope, Love, Joy, Peace), but hmm, while all four of these stories certainly have to do with Hope, this one is mysteriously lacking, since it uhh clearly takes place during the Christmas episode of season four of The Vampire Diaries instead of The Originals. Hope? Who?
Listen, I have a LOT of thoughts about the finale of the originals, and a lot of thoughts about the originals as a whole, probably more than it warrants, but the way I see the originals is structured a lot like this; klaus moving towards a place where he can find peace. and so what's a better advent calendar during this time of year than showing klaus moving towards a place where he can find peace - with the aid of a miracle birth...an impossible baby. the key to his Salvation, if you will.
So thanks for reading, and uhh, Merry Christmas
A/N2: Also! For the next two I just had to guess when Christmas is made especially difficult bc of the fact that Hayley was pregnant for twelve months. Get it together.