Here it is! Please read the note at the end - Special thanks to my beta: AryaTindomiel
HUGE Apologies for the long wait...but the drama/angst is about to hit!
Chapter Twelve
She struggled against the chains restraining her arms to the railing headboard of the bed. She scoffed at the idea of sleeping in a bed after having been captured for six months already. Hayley was exhausted from the screaming and pain she had experienced the last two days. The non-stop mental torture and determination to try and break Hayley was exhausting on both sides – Aurora and the Strix were not getting too physical, but they would try and get her to spill the Mikaelsons secrets and plans to destroy them. Davina was still very much trying to keep her alive, and no-one dared to interfere because of witch's powers.
"Good morning hybrid." Aurora sang as she entered the room, all dressed in a fancy dress with her makeup done to perfection and hair all done up.
"Is it ever?" Hayley responded sarcastically.
"Hush. I did not ask you to speak." Aurora walked closer and appeared to be hiding things behind her back.
"I don't give a shit what you say. Klaus will find me." Hayley snapped. Aurora cackled as she walked closer to Hayley. She immediately stopped once she was face to face with the hybrid queen. She pulled out something metal from her back and stabbed Hayley in the arm causing to howl in pain.
"I suggest you change your tone when you speak with me. I'm holding all the cards." Aurora warned pulling out the sharp metal stick, then spun around and gracefully walked to out of the room.
"It's been six months Hayley…. time to give up because they will never find you and besides I'm certainly going to enjoy continuing to watch you suffer." Once Aurora left, Aya and Davina walked into the room. Davina raised her hands, alerting Hayley of what was about to happen.
"No! Please, Davina. No more!" Hayley cried out in agony and pain as the blood poured out from her wounded arm. Davina looked at Aya who looked back at the little witch and flicked her head to proceed.
"Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Hayley screamed as Davina chanted a spell causing Hayley's pain threshold to go into overdrive, filling her thoughts with painful images and agony, causing Hayley to lose consciousness after five minutes.
This was the routine for the next six months of Hayley's captivity. Every day, she would mark on the wall of her cold cell, the days she had been held in Aurora and Ava's power. Davina would find her in the corner of her room in a foetal position the next day after her mental torture. Hayley was like a scared child when Davina tried to help her with some of her wounds that are inflicted on her, and try to clean and feed her. No words were ever spoken between the two during that time of day – Davina felt too guilty and Hayley was too emotionally distraught and traumatised.
One night, Hayley was sleeping when Aurora pulled Davina into the room and forced her to conduct another spell on Hayley that had forever embedded in her mind for the rest of her captivity. It was the worst collection of nightmares that she could imagine – it would never live up to the physical pain that she had suffered because these nightmares damaged her emotionally.
"No! Please…Klaus." Hayley sobbed, "I'm here. I love you and I love Hope. Please don't leave me for her. I can do better. Klaus!" Hayley screamed.
"Klaus!" Hayley howled tossing and tossing and turning in her bed. Klaus grabbed her shoulder to try and wake her up. She was having a nightmare – she hadn't howled in her sleep since she was found and brought home a month ago. Hayley was slowly getting better and reconnecting with her daughter and Klaus, not to mention the rest of the family, falling into a new routine. Occasionally, she would recoil back into her scared, quiet behaviour if she accidentally dropped things on the floor (such as plates and cups) or if she cleaned and someone jokingly said she missed a spot. It was noticeable by everyone and Rebekah and Kol tried to break her out of the habit of behaving like an abused servant (which she practically was).
Klaus shook her trying to call her out of her nightmare. Slowly, her eyes opened but the tears could not stop.
"Klaus…" Hayley panted. Klaus pulled Hayley into his body and rocked her, calming her down but she kept whimpering 'Klaus', 'no', and 'please'. He tried to ask her about her nightmares, but Hayley would remain tight-lipped. The only time anyone saw Hayley smiling and laughing, was when she was with Hope, she was the light of her life, and so was Klaus. Hayley was always touching him – after five years, their touch felt distant and almost unfamiliar; she had to remind herself that he was here and real, and he was affectionate and patient (not one of his innate traits) with her. He showered her with love and care that Hayley had been deprived of for the past five years, and it was how Hayley became more open to him.
"Where's Hope?" Hayley asked shakily.
"She's getting ready for school," Elijah responded walking into the room with Rebekah and Kol who were startled by Hayley's screams that almost shook the whole house.
"I need to see her." Hayley tried to pull away from Klaus's hold to try and find her daughter and hold her so nobody could take her away, not even that woman.
Hope's bedroom door swung open as she gathered her books into her backpack. Her mother stormed in and pulled her deathly close, mumbling incoherent words in her daughter's ear.
"Hayley, you need to let Hope breath." Rebekah carefully loosened Hayley's arms around Hope and was surprised to see how miserable she looked – her eyes puffy and red. Klaus and Elijah whispered quietly at the door and agreed to let Hope to stay with her mother to ease Hayley's mind and worry.
"Hope, you get to stay home today. Your mother needs you, while your uncles and I won't be here, but your aunts will be." Klaus said walking over to his estranged wife and their sweet daughter.
"Please Klaus, don't take Hope away from me. I'll do anything." Hayley begged as she gripped onto his shirt, refusing to let him go. In that moment, everyone in that room realised that she was re-living her nightmare.
Klaus's hand went to her head and cradled her face. "Hope isn't going anywhere. She's staying here with us. I swear to you." His hands slid to hers and tried to loosen her grip on his shirt, but she wouldn't let go.
"You can't let her take my daughter away from me. You can have her, but Hope is the only thing I have left. I've already lost you," Hayley sobbed.
Hope watched as her mother broke down confused – why would she think someone would take her away? Who was her? She raised her hand and pressed it against her mother's forehead chanting some spell that her aunt Freya had taught her. After two minutes, Hayley slumped and was sleeping peacefully. Klaus picked Hayley up and beckoned Hope over to follow them to their bedroom where he laid his wife down so she could rest in the comfort. Hope laid beside her mother and snuggled against Hayley's side and slowly fell asleep – one of the rarities during the school year.
Klaus sighed and rubbed his hand along his face – what was he going to do with Hayley? This was the worst thing he had to witness since Hayley came home. He saw glimpses of her old self, but she was still so fragile and vulnerable. Touching each other and intimate kisses were as far as they went – sex was not on the table at all. He feared the worst for Hayley especially with how little he knew about her time in captivity. Klaus left his favourite girls asleep while he went off with Elijah and Kol to track a potential lead in finding Aurora, the Strix, Cami, and Davina.
Hope woke up and took a moment to look at her mother's face, noticing that she seemed to be regaining colour again. After softly kissing Hayley's cheek, she walked quietly downstairs, making sure not to disturb her mother. She padded into the kitchen where she saw Rebekah hovering over the stovetop. Niece and aunt shared a smile as the former took a seat on a stool. As Rebekah continued to cook, Hope twiddled her fingers a bit, trying to understand what she saw in her mother's head.
Hesitantly, she inquired, "Aunt Bekah, who is Caroline and why does Mum dream about her?"
Rebekah froze at the mention of that name. She turned down the stove and walked over to Hope as she saw Freya walking in holding a bag of groceries. Freya resumed Rebekah's cooking while listening to the conversation.
Rebekah paused before speaking. "Is that who your mom was talking about in your before?"
"Yeah. I saw it when I tried to calm her down and pull her out of her dream…so, who is she?"
"You remember your Uncle Stefan, right?" The seven-year-old nodded. "Well, she was his wife, they were married before Stefan died... and she's also the mother of Alaric's twins, you remember Alaric don't you, love?" Again, Hope nodded, but her face clearly wanted to her aunt to say what she was hiding. Rebekah then gave a heavy sigh, "Caroline was someone who your dad fancied when we were living in Mystic Falls. She was a blond cheerleader in high school when your father met her. I'm fairly certain his initial pursuit of her was to upset her boyfriend at the time Tyler, who was also your father's first successful hybrid. Nik banished Tyler from Mystic Falls and all the while showered Caroline with expensive gifts and pretty words but she always rejected him. Recently, however, your father sent Caroline a letter along with a check for 3 million dollars. So, he may have cared for her, she only used him for her own gains and was willing to go to lengths to protect the people she loved, even if it meant hurting Nik…" Rebekah slowly trailed off. Freya looked up at her sister, silently urging her to continue the story.
"What did Mum think of her?"
"Hayley initially didn't like Caroline because she fancied Tyler," Rebekah gave a humourless laugh, "Ironic, isn't it? Anyway, they were essentially rivals for Tyler, but at the time he was completely Caroline's and I suppose you parents got together because of this mutual dismissal of their infatuations. Anyway, they parted as enemies really with dislike if not hate on both parts. Caroline was extremely critical of Hayley."
"Was my dad ever with Caroline?" Hope asked innocently.
Rebekah gave a half-scoff, half-sigh, "A short fling that didn't even last a day." Only Freya noticed as Katherine slinked into the alcove entrance of the kitchen and hovered, while silently laughing at that last statement. "As I said, Caroline had a habit of rejecting and he never seemed to understand that or he was simply highly aware that despite the rejection, Caroline was attracted to him. So, all in all, no they never had a true relationship."
Hope was quiet for a time, then suddenly started panicking, "But since Uncle Stefan is gone now, there's still a chance for Caroline to be with Dad. That's why mom has been having nightmares about her taking me away!"
Katherine then made her entrance and held her little niece close as her blue eyes glazed over. "Don't be ridiculous. Klaus is not about to leave Hayley for that blonde bimbo." She looked to the other aunts in the room to back up her statement.
"Of course, he won't," Freya said resolutely, "He's worked too hard to win her just to trade her for a former obsession that barely gave him the time of day."
Rebekah's felt that she had said enough for the day, so she stayed quiet and softly smoothed Hope's hair.
Klaus, Elijah, and Kol then walked in and were startled by their youngest family member's tears. Hope was a happy child; rarely did she ever get upset or sad.
Klaus hurriedly kneeled in front of Hope and tilted up her chin and looked at her daughter's suddenly angry eyes. "What's wrong, Littlest Wolf?"
Hope pushed her dad's hand away and stood up. "Do you really plan on leaving Mum and taking me away from her?" Hope shouted.
"What nonsense is this?"
Hope didn't answer directly, only looking to Rebekah which made Klaus turn to her.
"What did you tell her!?" He barked.
Rebekah barely got a word out before Hope spoke again. "Mum has been gone for five years and you were off sending love letters and money to some old almost girlfriend of yours."
"They were no love letters. It was a single letter of gratitude and a donation for the school." Klaus snapped.
"A big donation."
"For a good cause, one that we can relate to." Klaus shook his head, "And besides, money is no object to our family Hope, we're immortal and we've lived for over 1000 years, the Mikaelson family wealth is endless."
"But what about Mum!? If you never found her were you just going to leave so you could be with Caroline?"
"Absolutely not! I would have gone to the ends of Earth for the love that I have for your mother, I did and would again, doesn't that tell you that I wouldn't leave her?"
"I asked what would have happened if you never found Mum," Hope said angrily, "I know you have a right to move on Dad, but to her, that's just a betrayal to Mum!"
"Hope." Everyone turned to the top staircase where the voice was coming from – it was Hayley showered and dressed in a simple white dress as she slowly came down the stairs. "What is going on?" She asked.
"Nothing is going on, my love," Klaus said coolly shooting his daughter a warning look to stop her from saying anything.
"Don't lie to me. Hope never yells at you or at anyone without a reason. Somebody, please explain." Hayley walked closer towards them.
Rebekah took a deep breath and turned to face Hayley standing behind her. "Hope told us about your nightmares…about – "
"Caroline." Hayley in shock, identifying the blonde figure that had caught her eye at the entrance of the Abbatoir Everyone turned around following Hayley's gaze – Klaus only spared a glance towards the newcomer then quickly looked at his wife. Her eyes showed fear, shock and hurt. Klaus put his hand out toward her but Hayley took a step back from him with her hands across her chest. She recoiled into her submissive position holding her fist against her heart and head bowed, feeling the cold wind caressing her skin.
Her worst nightmare was true…it wasn't a vision, it wasn't a dream, it wasn't a nightmare...this was reality, this was her reality.
Thank you so much to everyone who have been patient - both myself and my beta have been super busy (especially my beta) with school and life and have not found time to do any writing at all. There will be a wait for new chapters because we both have so much school to get through and I'll be working a lot to save up for my student exchange program next year, but I will try and write when I find the chance.
Chapter 13 is currently being reconstructed and edited as what I wrote kind of made no sense but it did make some sense, but I was writing while on holidays, and I just wrote a bunch of fluff that made no sense. We are going to get an insight in what Hayley suffered over the past five years, focusing on her mental health and insecurities. Don't worry, Klayley will have a happy ending though - still 20 chapters are planned for this fic + epilogue.
Thank you once again lovelies,
xoxo Caz