Disclaimer: I don't own TVD or TO, I wouldn't want to because I'll probably have no idea what to do with the plot.

Thanks again for The Princess Andromeda for dumping suggestions on this chapter's Google Docs. Yeah.

And thank you to everyone who read, favourited, reviewed and followed the last chapter. I hope I didn't leave mistakes in this chapter, but if you guys spot any, feel free to tell me. FEEDBACK AND CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM GUYS! :)


Henrik dropped the pillows he had been carrying onto the cool cave ground with a muted "thump!".

"Hen! Be gentle!" Rebekah chastised him lightly, rolling her eyes.

"Why would they need to be handled with care, "Bekah? They're just pillows, after all," Kol called out from his left, and his and Henrik's share of bundled-up fur mattresses hit the floor soon after.

Rebekah huffed in annoyance and turned away to roll out the furs that they brought from home.

Once everything had been settled, they crawled over and sat on their respective sleeping areas. There was a moment of silence before Niklaus' voice broke through.

"Why don't we do something special for a change?"

"And what do you suggest that we do, Niklaus? Sit down and tell stories in in a circle?" Elijah questioned, his eyebrow raised.

Wordlessly, Niklaus held up a dagger and pointed to a wall of the cave. "We could carve our names in rock, brother. Something to be remembered all across the passage of time. What do you say?"

In response, Elijah held up a dagger of his own. "Why not?" He stood up and gave the dagger to Finn. "Eldest goes first."

Finn sighed as he took the dagger from Elijah's outstretched palm and strode to the wall, ruffling Henrik's hair as he passed. Said brother scrunched up his face but unconsciously leaned towards the touch nonetheless. At times like this, he could hardly decide which sibling was his favourite, but he guessed it didn't really matter, seeing as how he loved them all equally, same going for his parents. He remained seated, playing with small pebbles on the cave floor for a few minutes, just to occupy himself.

"Henrik." His head snapped up at the sound of his name, and was greeted by the sight of the extremely sharp dagger being held in close proximity to his face by his sister. "It's your turn. Come along with me."

He grasped his sister's other hand -obviously- and pulled himself up and walked with her to the wall.

He tilted his head up to see the work his siblings had done and almost gasped in surprise. Their names were carved into the rock, in order from oldest to youngest. There were spaces left in the rock face, one at the end - for himself, he supposed - and one above all the names. He deduced offhandedly that that one was left for their parents. Maybe one night they would bring them here to complete the family tree, but tonight was not that night. They were sleeping in a separate part of the cave after all, and would only stop by to drop off the rest of the necessities before going off.

He stood on his toes and started carving the first letter of his name. The blade made contact with the rock and as he dragged it down, and a sound that was a cross between scraping and screeching caused him to wince.

By the time he finished carving the first half of his name, his legs were already tired from tip-toeing and his arms were weak from reaching up and carving. Not to mention that he had gotten some dust in his eye and would not be able to relieve the itch with his dusty hands without making it even worse. Out of nowhere, a hand came into view and plucked the dagger from Henrik's, taking it into his own and continued carving from where he had stopped.

"Finn? What are you doing?"

Finn glanced at him and shot him a smile before returning to carving the stone. "I think it's time that you get to sleep, don't you? It's almost your bedtime."

Henrik obliged and crawled to his bed which was at the outermost part of the messy arrangement that they arranged in, but not before hugging Finn around the waist (which was the only part he could hug Finn without having to pull him down, really - compared to his brother, he was a midget, the top of his head barely reached the other's chest) followed by the rest of his siblings, leaving them to laugh at his antics.


At the dead of the night, while his siblings lay asleep, Henrik was still awake, all traces of fatigue in his body burned away by his barely contained combination of anticipation and excitement. He rolled over and prodded Niklaus' shoulder. "Nik," He whispered.

"Nik." There was no reaction.

"Nik." He prodded him harder.

"Nikky." He dragged second syllable out.

"Huh?" Niklaus mumbled incoherently and shifted. Finally. "What is it? Do you need to-"

"No, Nik. Not that," Henrik interrupted him quickly as he rolled his eyes. "Can you take me to see the men change? You know, into wolves?"

His brother blinked, some of his previous bleariness clearing up. "No," he said firmly, "Mother will not allow it. It is too dangerous, Henrik. Forget it and go back to sleep."

He looked from side to side, and surely enough, his other siblings were still fast asleep. "Please, Nik!" he whined quietly while giving him the puppy-dog eyes and pouting cutely.

"Just this once!" He could see his brother's resolve begin to break.

"Pretty please?" And that did it.

"Oh, alright," Niklaus relented, sighing. That look really had the ability to break even the hardest resolves, including their father's, at times. Although he suspected that his brother did not even know the full effect he had on people, much less that he was doing it. "But always stay behind me. Don't wander off and end up getting lost."

Henrik nodded obediently and started trudging through the rocky path that led to the entrance, always following his brother.

They walked along the path that they knew would lead them to the clearing where the werewolves retreated to on full moons. Upon arrival, they hid behind a thick tree trunk watching men and a few women shed their outermost clothing and store them at the edges of the clearing, leaving them mostly in their undergarments.

Henrik whispered in anticipation, "I think they're going to start changing now... Maybe in a few more minutes?"

Klaus frowned. "How can you tell?"

Henrik shrugged nonchalantly and said, "Maybe it's because I'm a witch? I don't really know, Mother never fully explained it to me yet. She says-" Screams pierced the air and the sounds of bones breaking followed soon after. Whimpers and pain-filled moans echoed eerily through the night. Henrik covered his ears and ducked his head.

Niklaus rushed to gather his brother into his arms, soothing him quietly but always making sure that they were not noticed. "Are you scared? Do you want to go back now? It's alright if you want to."

The child shook his head. "No, no, it's alright. I still want to see them change, just for a little bit. Then we can go."

Soon enough, exclamations of pain were called out every few seconds, and Henrik winced involuntarily, as though he was hurt by the fact that others were hurting.


The two of them sat hunched behind the tree for the past three hours waiting for the werewolves to complete their transformation from human to wolf.

"How long is this going to take?" muttered Niklaus irritatedly. Henrik shushed him and peeked out from behind the tree at the men (he did not dare to peek at the women. It would be indecent behaviour.) Suddenly, he grabbed his brother's hand and whispered, "Look!" in awe and excitement.

Niklaus peered at the men from the other side of the tree and was stunned at what he saw. Fur was sprouting out from various parts of their bodies at rapid rates. Not long after, human bodies had vanished and were replaced with those of wolves'. Many pairs of bright, amber eyes seemed to glow in the dark, the only source of light in the dark other than the bright glow from the full moon.

A wolf tilted its head upwards and sniffed suddenly before howling to the moon. Not long after, the crowd parted to let a wolf, larger than the rest, pass through and walk to the other wolf. They seemed to have a conversation of their own, staring into each other's eyes for a while before the larger one broke the gaze and a low rumble erupted from its chest. It stood there for a moment, unmoving.

And then it whipped its head around and stared at the exact tree they were hiding behind.

Henrik pressed his trembling body closer to his brother's and Nik grasped his hand tightly. Slowly, the giant wolf approached them. As it walked, other members of its pack followed, some flanking its sides and some trailing at the rear. That's the leader, Nik thought anxiously, the rest of his mind and body as tense as a coiled spring, ready to take flight with his brother.

Without warning, the leader pounced and landed on the grass beside the brothers. It snapped its head towards them and growled, low and deep. Henrik shrieked in fear before being dragged away by Niklaus.

"Run!" Nik shouted and his legs followed the order blindly, for his mind was still numb with shock and fear.

They retraced the path they had taken, Henrik stumbling and tripping on twigs and pebbles all the while. He panted heavily as he ran and with every step he took, his legs burned from the bruises and multiple lacerations on his skin. His wrist was becoming numb quickly from the vice-grip his brother held it in to make sure that they would not be separated when running.

Out of nowhere, a wolf came from the side and tackled Henrik away from Niklaus and to the ground. Just as Nik wanted to run to his brother and pry the wolf off him, two other wolves with grey fur appeared from the shadows of the trees and pounced on him, pinning him to the ground. Strangely enough, they made no move to attack him, seeming to want nothing but to restrain him. Whenever he tried to raise his head to peer past them and see his brother, they would snap their teeth dangerously close to his ear. So he resorted to a different method.

"Let me go!" Niklaus yelled, trashing and struggling futilely. He did so until he was frozen into place by his brother's piercing screams followed by the sound of flesh tearing.

"Henrik!"

His eyes blazed with a renewed fire and his vision turned red for a matter of seconds. Once it cleared, he found that he had somehow managed to throw the wolves off his body. All confusion that he might have felt was overpowered by his rage towards his brother's torturer.

Niklaus charged towards the wolf with fists held out, but before he managed to throw himself against it, it eyed him before dashing back into the forest, swallowed up by darkness and shadows.

Which allowed Niklaus to see the its handiwork clearly for the first time.

Henrik lay bloody and bruised on the ground, three bloody gashes on his front where the wolf had torn open his shirt as well as a good deal of flesh. Whatever had remained of his shirt was soaked through with dark crimson blood, and his limbs were littered with bruises that were already starting to colour.

Looking at it just made bile rise up his throat, and soon enough, Niklaus was leaning his head against a nearby tree trunk, retching his guts out.

"Nik? Where... you? I can't see you..."

The soft, gasping whisper broke him out of his shock-induced stupor. He stumbled unsteadily but quickly to Henrik's side, dropping down onto his knees and scooping him up, trying not jostle his body. Unfortunately, it seemed that his efforts were in vain and Henrik cried out in pain nonetheless, tears coming to his fluttering eyes.

"I'm sorry, Hen... I'm so sorry... This is all my fault!" Nik choked out desperately while running back to their village. The forest was getting lighter by the minute, the sun having already risen a good half hour ago.

As Niklaus ran, Henrik started mumbling incoherently - perhaps the wordings of spells, his breath getting shallower by the minute.

Hang in there, Henrik, he thought determinedly.

"Nik…" Henrik gasped out breathlessly. "I-"

Niklaus shushed him quickly, expression and sound laced thoroughly with worry and urgency. "Speak no more, brother. I will get you to Mother. I promise!" With that, he resumed running, with greater vigour and speed.

Suddenly, he tripped - on a branch or pebble, it didn't really matter - and tumbled onto the ground, groaning, his arms suddenly feeling strange. He lay on the ground with his eyes closed trying to feel less disorientated. His mind was hazy, and his entire head was throbbing so hard that he felt like it was going to explode. All in all, that made it very hard for him to not succumb to the temptation of sleep. All thoughts that resided in his mind was along the lines of painsleeppainsorepainpaintiredpainwolvesachingachinghenrikhurtspain-

Henrik! He bolted up quickly, not caring that the world tilted dizzily around him as a result, along with a multitude of colourful dots of all shades and sizes swimming across his field of vision.

He looked around himself frantically. Henrik was nowhere in sight.

Niklaus' eyes were wide and teary as he got up and searched for his brother in pile after pile of dirt and leaves. When Niklaus had fallen, no sound had escaped from his brother, not a single indication that he was feeling pain and that was not good.

At last, he saw him, lying on his stomach next to a tree that had a significantly thicker trunk than the rest. Niklaus rushed towards his brother's body and knelt down beside him, taking a shaky breath before turning him to lie on his back.

Nik patted Henrik's cheek, whispering frantically, "Hen, can you hear me? Henrik? Henrik!" Once it was clear that he wasn't going to receive a response, he prayed desperately in his mind, Please... Let him be fine...

He lifted a hand to press two fingers to Henrik's neck, which he noticed was cold and clammy, and wave after wave of dread washed over him, each more intense by the second. Finally, Niklaus managed to find the pulse point, and when he did, he finally broke down sobbing and yelling.

There was no pulse. Not even a single one.

"No! No! This can't be happening! This is all my fault, Henrik... I shouldn't have let you go..." he sobbed remorsefully. After a moment of silence, he spoke, "Let's get back to the village, alright? Ayana will know how to help you."

Nik cradled Henrik's head to his chest before hefting the rest of his body up, dashing determinedly towards the village with all the speed his worn body could muster.


Word count: 2487/2489/2528 (don't know if I should follow Microsoft Word, Google Docs or ffnet )

Yeah, okay... 5 months. You all probably hate me by now right?

Honestly, I had completed this chapter in March, but I wanted to write Chapter 3 first, y'know, but being me, my mental Image-to-Word translator decided that it should break down and go on strike. And so began my writer's block and reluctance for doing any writing. That coupled with mini-exams, homework and projects and my usual procrastinating self, resulted in this thing being posted 6 bloody months late. Oh, and anime and fanfiction and such.

I feel so damn guilty... Please don't hate me...

Uh, if it makes you guys feel any better, you can always guilt-trip me by PMing me to remind me that people actually reading this story. Yes, you can yell , "CRAZYCUZ IS THE NEXT CHAPTER DONE YET?" or any random question. Seriously, I'm not kidding, but I'm getting lonely from lack of communication.

1st chapter was crap, this ending is crap, and I'm crap. Pessimistic, I know.

On another note, TOKYO GHOUL ANYONE?

Please leave some feedback behind, dear readers! And I need to know if I'm gonna do Season 2 of TO, and what the pairings should be. (P.S. I have no idea how to start Chapter 3. *sighs*)