(To Ooshaboosha: Yes, tell me. Is he worse than his kids or are they worse than him?)

Father was out of town for a week. Which was great. I could do as I pleased with my friends. We were right now leaning against trees in the village, bored out of our minds. I looked over to Carr.

"Oi. Carr."

"Yeah?"

"You know what I want to do?" I asked.

"Nope I don't know what you want to do."

"OOH! OOH! Pick me!" Kyle called.

"What Kyle? I pick you."

"We should play pranks on the warriors." He smirked. I smirked back.

"Carr? What do you think?" I asked, he smirked.

"Would I ever. You know how often they ruin our lives with 'go do that' or 'go do this'. I fucking hate orders." he said and laughed.

"Fuck warriors. We could be better than them any day." I replied.

"Show 'em what for!" Kyle laughed.

We got up and I got my bucket, Kyle and Carr got theirs. We collected water and headed back to the village. We climbed a tree, each to their own. I waited for a warrior to walk by and Jorack passed under Kyle's tree. He dumped his water and we climbed higher. We snickered from our hiding places. Jorack shouted in surprise when the bucket fell on his head and he got so soaking wet that he needed to go change clothes.

I covered my mouth and laughed. He looked up into the trees, looking for some reason why it might have fallen, then he stopped looking and prayed to the gods Odin and Thor. I snickered more as he turned and headed off back to his house. We climbed back down to find another victim.

"Best idea ever." I mouthed over to Carr, who was closer to me. He nodded and mouthed it to Kyle. He turned back to me. "I know right?" He mouthed back. We waited for another warrior to pass under us.

However the next person to pass under Carr's tree we knew better than to dump it on him. He would know it was us. Hehe. I suppose you could say we were the village troublemakers? I was proud of it but I couldn't say a thing to anyone else.

The next warrior was Zonopa. He passed under Kyle's tree, why isn't anyone passing under mine? He dumped the bucket on his head and we climbed back into our hiding places. He looked up to the trees and didn't see us. He prayed to the gods Odin and Thor and then went home to change clothes. We snickered again and climbed back down.

The next warrior was Torak, the adviser. He passed under my tree and I dumped my water on his head and we climbed up quickly. He looked up to the trees. Again, he couldn't see us but HE took the buckets. I cussed under my breath and we climbed down the trees and we gathered some buckets from Maria, with the catch that she could join us in our mischief. I immediately agreed.

"Just tell me one thing. Will you be able to get away with it?"

"Yes. I think so."

So we climbed back up the trees and I noticed Torak was acting weird. He seemed to be watching the village. He passed under the trees, expecting another bucket to land on him. I held my hand up for no one to do anything. He was obviously trying to catch us.

He passed by and the next person to pass under the trees was Ronaldo. I dumped my bucket on him and to my surprise, he looked up before the bucket fell on him, showing us. We climbed quickly into the trees and stayed there for a while.

"Niklaus! Are you up there?!" called Ronaldo. I was tempted to reply no but I kept quiet. He aimed his weapon up at the trees and I caught my breath. If his arrow went off, we were dead. Torak quickly stopped him and shook his head.

"I think the children are up there, we need them to show themselves."

"Why don't we just climb the trees?"

"We are too heavy to do so." He replied. Ronaldo nodded and headed off back home.

They walked off and I was beginning to feel like this was a bad idea, especially if we get caught. Mikael would kill me. After a while, we climbed back down and we saw the newest warrior, Girome. I snickered and motioned for Kyle to dump his water.

He did and Girome used his sword to cut the bucket in half. He looked up at us. We were already climbing back up. He pointed his sword at us, more so me.

"GET DOWN HERE NOW!" He called. "OR SHALL I GO GET THE WITCHES?" I froze and looked down at him and then at my friends. They had froze too. I gulped and began to climb down slowly. It was better to have Mother be told rather than have her drag me down from the tree.

When we reached the ground, Torak was here too. They stared at us. I walked up to face them, protecting my friends. They scowled at me.

"WHAT were you kids THINKING?!" Torak scolded. I wanted to shrink from the way his voice darkened. Instead I snorted at him.

"Who says we were thinking anything? Huh?"

"Exactly. Now the Raytons have one less bucket, and Carmen must replace it. What do you have to say for yourselves?" asked Torak, motioning for the others to come forward. I shoved him and he stiffened. Girome pushed me back before Torak could react. "Niklaus! I have no clue what the hell you think your doing but it better stop right now!"

The others came forward and blocked me from him. I smirked at him, feeling victorious. "If you want to touch him, you'll have to go through us." Kyle replied.

"I know you kids know better than to steal. Right?!" Girome demanded.

"Shush Girome. It is better to reply in soft words than angered words. The bible says be slow to anger. Besides this group reacts to aggression with more aggression."

"Yeah, so watch your mouth!" I snickered at his face when I said that and so did the rest, besides Maria. "Maria, worry not. Everything shall be fine."

"I'll stay right here with the kids, they obviously won't answer to us."

"We answer to NO ONE!" We high fived each other and Torak grabbed me by the ear and dragged me to his side.

"This one is unmistakably the ring leader, best keep him away from the rest."

"You can't do that!" Kyle growled and stepped up to defend me. Carr also stood up to defend me. I snickered at his apparent overruling.

"Take Maria home, she isn't making as much racket as the others are." Torak said and Girome moved to grab Maria by her arm. I tried to get over to him but Torak pulled on my ear. I growled at him and punched him but he caught my fist. "Niklaus if you wish to make things worse for yourself, keep going."

"I'm not afraid of you!" I sneered, trying to kick him. He blocked it with his own knee.

"So much aggression Niklaus." He tsked. "What do you think Mikael would do if he were here?" he asked. I snorted, it was a move to make me feel terrified or make me behave. "Why don't you listen to reason?"

"What? You mean your reasoning? I don't care what you think, in fact, I don't give a fuck." I glared at him. I hate authority. Or those who try to be authority anyway.

"No reason to talk to him Nik, he apparently doesn't know when to SHUT UP!" Carr replied, punching him, yet again, he caught his hit. My eyes flashed with intent and I looked at Carr and Kyle. I tilted my head and they sniggered.

However before we could try anything, Girome was back. "Now what sir?" he asked, glaring at me.

"Now take home Kyle. I'm sure his parents should know about the broken bucket." Girome moved to grab Kyle by his ear. I kicked him and he turned to me, ready to throttle me. I just laughed in his face, knowing if he did kill me that Mikael would in turn kill him. "TAKE KYLE HOME Girome." Torak scolded. He sighed and took Kyle home.

I was beginning to wonder what they were going to do with me. Torak still had hold of my ear and it was beginning to hurt. I was running out of supporters and tactics.

"Hey maybe we were trying to catch prey in the trees. You guys send us up there all the time." I pointed out. It WAS true… just not this time.

"Did we ask you to?"

"We aren't supposed to be have to asked. We should hunt for the goodness of our hearts." that stuck Torak in his steps.

"Then what were the buckets of water for?" Now I was stumped.

Girome came back. "Now do I take Carr or Niklaus home."

"Carr. We're both taking Niklaus home, seeing as he is the chieftains son, the one who started this, and the most misbehaved kid in the lot right now."

"You got that right, you know why? Because I know that no matter what, who is really in charge of me is me!"

"Yeah well we'll see what your parents have to say about that."

Girome came back again and I knew I was going home now. "I'll be going home now." I said and they laughed this time.

"Oh yeah, you will but we'll be your escorts."

"I don't fucking need escorts, I know where my fucking damn house is." I growled. Girome kicked me and I stumbled forward.

"Get moving kid." I snorted at him and tried to turn around and hit him but I was yanked forward and in front of Torak.

"Girome I told you not to be aggressive."

"Who cares? I can handle aggression." I snapped at them and found myself face to face with my front door. I could hear Mother working on cleaning house. I tried to step back but Girome kicked my leg again.

"But you can't handle the thought of your mommy?" Girome asked as Torak knocked on the door. I growled at him, stomped on his foot and snarked back at his dumb ass.

"I could handle more than you of all people could throw at me, that's for sure." I snarled.

"Niklaus! Watch your tongue. You should respect your elders." I turned to snap at them but met my mothers' gaze.

"I don't-" She shushed me and turned to Torak.

"What happened?"

"Don't you-" She grabbed me by my forearm and Torak let go of me.

"Niklaus be quiet." I tried to speak again but she smacked me. I blushed and tried to yank away from her. "What happened Torak?"

"There were four kids playing in the trees, dumping buckets of water that passed by the tree they sat in. I thought I might tell you that Niklaus was one of them." I snorted at him.

"Kids my-" Mother cleared her throat. I decided my best course of action would be to keep silent.

"Thank you. I shall deal with it accordingly. Thank you. I hope Niklaus wasn't too harsh with you." She apologized, and began to close the door.

"No ma'am. Nothing we couldn't handle. Thank you ma'am. I would advise you keep a tighter eye on your son."

"I'm always trying to." she closed the door and turned to me. "Niklaus what was the meaning of that?" she asked, taking my hand and going to her silverware drawer. She pulled out her wooden spoon and I whimpered and tried to yank my hand from her. But of course she used her magic.

"Mother I… I just… I just wanted to have some fun. I didn't mean any harm." I replied as she pulled out her dining chair and sat down. I kept my hands in front of me but she just used her magic, yet again, to make my pants and boxers drop.

"You thought that it would be fun to soak a warrior in water? Niklaus it takes a lot of time to clean clothes, you do not exactly want to have to keep going home to change clothes when there is tons of work to be done around the village. Nor should you be wasting resources." She picked me up and laid me across her lap. I whimpered and twitched my foot in response.

"Mother I… I… I'm sorry Mom. Please don't. I promise I'll behave." She put her hands on the middle of my back and I knew exactly what she was doing. I felt my breathing irregulate at the thought that my own mother was going to spank me. "Mommy please." I begged, trying once more.

"I'm sorry Niklaus but such foolish behavior deserves repercussions. Now tell me why you thought it would be fun." She said bringing her hand down on my bottom with a firm SMACK!

"YIPE!" How was I supposed to tell her I was doing it to show the warriors their place? She would only scold me more. SMACK! "AH! Mom! Stop it. Please." she sped up the tempo instead of stopping.

"Niklaus I want an answer. The truth."

"I can't give you the truth!" I demanded and covered my mouth immediately.

"You mean it's something terrible? Like what? Keep in mind this will only stop when you decide to come clean. Then you are getting five with the spoon for every man that was made wet by the prank." I kicked, or tried to.

"Noooo." I whined and struggled to get off her lap. It didn't work. She'd used a Sticking spell. As she always did. That would be… 15! I felt tears already begin to fall down my face. "I did it because I thought it would teach them that I don't bow to authority. It was me and Maria." She should have also given me away, Esther and Ayanna were practically sisters. They told each other everything so…

"Niklaus that is the worst reason I have ever heard from your mouth. You do and you should. It is not called bowing. It is called survival. Do you wish to survive? You should. Listening to orders is the key between life and death. We are, thankfully, not always in such a dire position but it is still important. Do I make my point clear?" she asked smacking me extra hard on the center of my bottom. I jumped, or tried to.

"Yes mommy! Your point is clear!" I cried. I knew I had tons more than that coming. I could not break now. I whimpered and felt her move me so that my bottom was more in the air and she could reach below to my thighs and sit spots. Tears began to roll down my face at a normal pace as she picked up the spoon. "Mommy! NO!" I cried. I was only glad it was her and not Mikael.

"Shush, precious child. Only a few more and we're done. How many people were pranked with the buckets? Be truthful or I shall add on two more for every man." I mewled at that statement and just told her the truth.

"It's three." she smacked me with the spoon which created a sharp THWAP! sound. "AH! Mom please! I'm sorry! Please stop!" I cried out. She began a slow but steady pace, drawing this out long enough to finish scolding me.

"What were their names? Girome, Torak and who else?"

"I didn't actually hit Girome, he cut the bucket with his sword." I replied, honestly.

"Well then he shall not count but you will still apologize to him like the good boy you are." THWAP!

"AH! Jorack and Ronaldo and Zonopa."

"That is four Niklaus."

"I'm sorry. I miscounted."

"Very well then. Let us finish this." she quickened the pace and by no time the twenty were spooned out across my thighs and sit spots. I wouldn't be comfortable for a week. I was bawling now and she sat me on her lap. I laid my head against her chest and cried.

"Shh Niklaus. It's okay. Shh. Mommy has you. You're a precious child." She said cooing at me.

My eyes caught a shining on her hand. I took her hand and studied it. It was a ring. It was somewhat spirally. Two circles held itself to her finger while there was a slight slit between the two circles. I had never seen it before so I looked up at her. "Where did this come from Mother?" I asked, too distracted to cry.

"From a very close friend. Go play Niklaus. This time try to stay out of trouble. If not then I will see what I can do about finding one of his belts." I gulped at the thought.

"I will." I said, smiling. I got up and left the house. I rubbed my bottom to get out some of the sting.

(R&R please. Also vote for Klaroline? ./thevampirediaries/ I will not be able to concentrate until they win! Since Klenevieve is not on there. :) Thank you so much for reading.)