After our wedding, Niklaus and I grew closer. We had not indulged in each other's company since our wedding night, and we planned to keep it that way for a while, until we were more sure of our feelings towards each other. At the moment, that sort of relationship with Niklaus just seemed nauseating to me. He was still too much like the brother I had grown up with for me to consider him in a romantic light.
We had been married for about three weeks when I began to suspect that a change was fast approaching. I had been feeling off, especially in the mornings when I wanted to expel all the contents of my stomach due to the nausea. My body was also experiencing changes, like most women did during the early stages of pregnancy. I decided to look through my mother's grimoire to find a spell to check for certain. I may not be a very strong witch, but I did have the ability to perform smaller spells like this one.
I followed the directions of the spell, muttering incantations and checking constantly to ensure that I was doing it correctly. In the end, I received the answer I had been looking for. I was with child.
Anxiety filled me at the thought. I was old enough to have children of course, but having a child with a husband whom I did not even love felt wrong to me. I know Niklaus would love the child, it was his own flesh and blood after all, but I could not help the feeling of apprehension building inside of me. I decided that for now, I would keep this secret to myself. After all, not all women were lucky enough to carry their child until its birth. It may pass away before it can even be born. A sense of sadness filled me at that thought and I placed a subconscious hand on my stomach. Even though I was afraid of the prospect of becoming a mother, I would not wish for this child's death. I would pray to the ancestors that it would survive until its birth and hopefully be the first of many children to come, if Niklaus and I ever worked up the courage to sleep together again.
I went about my day normally. When Niklaus got home and questioned the scent of herbs that still hung in the air from my earlier spell, I just told him I was using one of my mother's spells to ward off the infestation of vermin in our home. He did not question my lie, luckily.
A few days after I made my discovery, Rebekah and I were at Ayana's shop. She sold her magic concoctions, along with a few things made by other villagers who wanted to make some profit. I stood, watching Rebekah wander around the shop, before Ayana came up to me.
"What will you name him?" She asked, not looking at me.
"Pardon?" I questioned, turning to face her.
"You son, what will you name him?" She said, nodding towards my stomach. I stared at her in shock, but my attention was drawn away when Rebekah yelped in pain. I looked up to see her yanking her hand away from a gorgeous necklace that hung in the window.
"Ayana, you burned me!" She exclaimed incredulously.
"That is not yours to touch," Ayana chastised.
"FATHER!" A harsh cry cut through the air, drawing Rebekah's attention away from the witch.
"Is that Niklaus?" She asked. "Something is wrong!" She ran out of the shop with me close on her heels. A gasp tore from Rebekah's lips as she saw the limp body Niklaus carried. "Henrik!"
"FATHER!" Nik called again, before placing his youngest brother limply on the ground and kneeling distraughtly at his side, raking his fingers through his hair out of anxiety.
Rebekah and I stared in shock as Esther and Elijah came running. Esther hurried over to her son, placing his limp head in her lap, not caring that the blood from the claw marks across his face could stain her gown.
"No, NO!" She said in a panic. "What happened!?" Esther questioned, turning to Niklaus.
"The wolves," Niklaus responded, tears evident in voice. "Oh, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" His voice caught in his throat as he collapsed backwards on the ground, hugging his knees and muttering apologies to his dead brother. I hurried to his side and wrapped my arms tightly around him, his encasing my waist in a crushing vice as he clung to me. I stroked his hair softly as tears entered my eyes, not caring that his own were wetting the front of my dress.
Esther begged Ayana desperately to save Henrik, but the spirits would not listen. Esther let tears leak from her eyes, holding tightly to the body of her youngest son as she rocked his limp form from side to side, a stream of "no's" passing from her lips. Rebekah clung to Elijah tears streaming from both of their eyes as they looked at their lifeless brother clutched in the arms of their distraught mother.
"What is going on here?" Mikael's hard tone demanded as he approached our sorrow filled circle, a gasp being torn uncharacteristically from his lips when he saw his wife holding Henrik. Finn and Kol, who had been with him, stared in shock too before Kol sank to his knees, staring devestatedly at his brother.
"What happened!" Miakel demanded, glaring accusingly at our gathered assembly.
"Henrik and I wanted to watch the wolves change. We got separated in the dark and when I found him this morning he was dead," Niklaus stated in a weak voice. I saw fury light up in Mikael's eyes and he ripped Niklaus away from me, yanking my husband to his feet before he began punching him relentlessly. I gasped in horror, tears streaming down my face as I watched Mikael pummel his son, Niklaus refusing to even defend himself.
"Stop! Stop it! Mikael, stop it, you kill him!" I cried, running over and trying to grab the furious man's arm and stop him from beating Nik to death.
"Let go of me, girl!" He roared, swinging his hand free and backhanding me across the face, knocking me to the ground. He turned around, ready to punch Nik again but Esther's furious voice stopped him.
"MIKAEL, LET GO OF HIM AT ONCE! I'VE ALREADY LOST ONE SON TODAY AND I WILL NOT LOSE ANOTHER!" Mikael paused before letting Niklaus crumple into a heap on the ground. I stumbled to my feet, even though my ears were ringing and a painful pounding thumped against my brain. Tottering unsteadily, I hurried over to Niklaus, placing his bruised and bloodied head in my lap.
"Shh," I soothed as he groaned out in pain. I stroked his bloody hair out of his face, trying to avoid the numerous cuts that littered his skin from his father's rings. "Shh, Niklaus, you'll be alright," I soothed.
I heard footsteps approaching and I looked up in fear, clutching Niklaus closer to me in case Mikael had come back for more revenge. I relaxed when I saw Elijah walking up, holding his hands up to show me he was not a threat to us. That's what it felt like right now. Niklaus and I against his family. "Lisette, let me help you get him back to your home," he said softly. Together, he and I pulled Nik to his feet and helped him stumble back to our house while supporting his weight between us. My heart ached at every one of the pained groans that rose from his lips.
We laid Nik down gently on the bed when we got inside before I rushed around our house, gathering herbs to help patch him up. Elijah stripped off Nik's shirt while I muttered a spell over a bucket of water, cleansing it so that it would not contaminate the cuts when Elijah washed them. While he sponged the blood off of his younger brother, I began crushing herbs together to make a special poultice to put on the cuts that would prevent infection and heal them much faster than normal. I hurried over to Elijah, who had just finished and began spreading the mixture on Niklaus' injuries before binding them with clean linen. Nik was asleep by now, and I quickly set to work on another batch of ointment that would help heal up bruises once they started to show.
"You should stop and take care of yourself, Lisette," Elijah's voice cut through my concentration as I tried to mash the proper herbs together.
"I am a bit busy at the moment," I said rushedly.
"Lisette, you are hurt," Elijah said, gently brushing his finger over the side of my head, making me wince in pain as his finger touched the tender surface.
"I had not even noticed," I said softly, feeling the drying blood caked on the side of my face. I sat in silence as Elijah cleaned and dressed my wound, being careful not to put too much pressure on the sore area.
I returned to the poultice as soon as he had tightened the bandage on my head, working in a frenzy until I suddenly froze and felt tears well up in my eyes.
"I almost lost him," I said softly, putting my hand over my mouth. "Oh, Elijah, I almost lost him!" I felt sobs start to wrack through my body.
"It will be alright, Lisette," Elijah said comfortingly as he pulled me into a hug. "We will survive this hardship. Father will not be angry forever."
"Elijah, if Niklaus were to die. We would be alone. The baby and I, we would be alone!"
"Baby? Lisette, are you carrying Niklaus' child?"
I nodded in conformation. "I used one of my mother's spells to test. Then Ayana told me today that it will be a boy. But my child almost lost his father before he was even born!" I said, collapsing in tears again.
Elijah took a firm hold of my shoulder and looked into my eyes. "Listen to me, Lisette, and listen well. You will never be alone. If anything were to happen to Niklaus, ever, you would still have a family who would take care of you. I would not leave you alone, Lisette. I promise."
I took a few deep breaths, calming down from my panic before meeting Elijah's eyes. "Thank you, Elijah. I promise that if anything should ever happen to you, Niklaus and I will care for Tatia and her child if she needs us to." Elijah smiled gratefully before letting out a sigh.
"I should go help Mother and Father prepare for the funeral ceremony. We will need to burn his body before nightfall." He placed a kiss on my forehead, before turning to the door. "Oh and Lisette, before I go, I also promise that I will not tell anyone of your surprise until you want it known." I smiled at him in thanks before he left our home.
I returned to my ointment, grinding the leaves into a paste and muttering the incantations from the grimoire before transferring it into a small jar for later use. I sat, staring into the fire for a while before soft groans of pain alerted me that Nik had woken up. I picked up a glass and filled it with water before making my way over to him and holding his head up as he drank.
He coughed, sputtering a little water out before sinking back onto the pillows. I examined his torso and saw the bruises beginning to show on his flesh, so I fetched my ointment and made my back over to him. Dipping my fingers in the cold paste, I began to spread it on the bruises across his stomach and chest. He hissed a bit at the shock of the cold touching his slightly feverish skin, but I ignored his protests.
"Why did you stop him," he asked after a moment. My hand stilled on his chest as I looked up to meet his eyes.
"What?" I asked, shocked.
"Why did you stop my father from killing me. You should have let him finish. It is my fault that Henrik is dead and I should have to pay for my sins."
I scowled at him angrily, before spreading the poultice again, putting a bit more pressure in certain places on purpose because I was irritated with him. "I did not let him kill you because you did not kill your brother. The wolves did. Yes, it was stupid of the two of you to sneak out, but this is not the first time you two have gone out. It was the wolves that killed Henrik though, not you Niklaus!"
"It should have been me then! Henrik wasn't even sixteen yet!"
"Do not say that to me, Niklaus Mikaelson," I snapped. "Look at me!" I demanded, taking hold of his face. "It was not you that they took, and I am glad of it. I mourn Henrik for he was my brother, but I would mourn for you even more, because you are my husband. We may not love each other like a proper husband and wife should yet, but if you left me, I would be all alone! So do not talk of dying or I will do something that you will regret."
"And what would that be?" He asked in serious tone.
"I do not know yet, but rest assured you would regret crossing me," I said sternly. "Now, close your eyes, unless you want me to accidentally blind you while I put this on your bruises."
*Time Skip*
We attended Henrik's funeral that night. I stood underneath Niklaus' arm the whole time, helping him stay upright as he was still recovering from the beating he had received only a few hours before, although without my ointments, he would not be healed enough to stand right now. Mikael had a very aggressive air around him whenever Niklaus was near him though, so I made sure that we stood as far away from the older viking as possible for fear of another altercation between the two.
Our family stared in silence as Ayana recited the funeral chants and prayed to the ancestors for Henrik's spirit. Mikael stepped forward before we lit the funeral pyre, placing the sword Henrik had just been learning to use in the lifeless boy's clasped hands. Henrik's spirit would take it with him to Valhalla or the land of our ancestors, whichever claimed his spirit first, and it would help him in his after life. His head rested on a small wooden shield so he would be able to defend himself. Esther placed one last kiss on her son's forehead before she nodded to Mikael, who carried the torch to the pyre and lit it, sending tendrils of fire licking up the mound of wood until Henrik's body was engulfed in an inferno. We stayed until it had died down, ashes and a lump of melted metal the only remnants of what had once been the youngest Mikaelson child.