Black Star I am glad that you like the last chapter! I was extremely satisfied with the chapter after I had written it, and it's nice to hear from someone else that they liked it as well. As far as who is the master it is Elijah. I had thought to keep the explosion in the scene because it was such an awesome scene, but I had too much fun writing Keira's fight scene. I am glad that it was fun for you.

Sunrise, Sunset

The drive seemed to be endless for her, at least with Klaus and Camille they managed to hold conversations most of the way, no matter how irritating it was. Elijah was mostly silent and only giving percice clipped responses, and Camille was a lttile shaken at the sight of blood on Elijah, the mess that was now the lawn, and the tense atmosphere in the vehicle. She could certainly sense that Elijah was tense, even if his clipped tones weren't a clue, and it seemed that Hope was sensing his tension too. She seemed a little more tense herself, and she was more fussy than what she normally was. Still it was hours into the drive when she really started crying, and in an enclosed area and hightened senses it really hurt. The Cursed One couldn't take the crying anymore so she unbuckled Hope and held her, despite Elijah's lingering glance in the rearview mirror. She ignored his glance, instead choosing to bounce Hope lightly in her arms. She did offer the baby to Camille, but she refrained, so it looked like She was stuck with the little monster.

It seemed to settle Hope down, and she was quite content to remain in The Cursed One's arms. When She thought the baby had enough of being in her arms she tried to put the baby back in, but that would start Hope back up again. She figured she might as well as get used to holding the baby for a while.

Finally Hope fell asleep, and She was able to put her into the car seat. Which She found her arms strangely empty feeling with Hope gone. She tried to get rid of the feeling of missing Hope in her arms, and She was succesful, mostly.

They arrived back in the midst of wedding preperations, and if it was one thing The Cursed One hated it was weddings. It always reminded her of what she had never had, someone to share a lifetime with. Needless to say She tried to ignore them as much as possible, which it didn't look like this would be one of those times, pity.

When it came to the reunion between mother and daughter She hung back a few feet, thinking that it wasn't wise to come between a wolf and her cub. Not that She was worried about Hayley beating her, but Hope might be hurt in the fight. And She was honest enough with herself to know that She cared enough about the child to not want that to happen.

Despite her hanging back Hayley had spotted her and she did not look too happy to see The Cursed One that close to her baby. Nevermind the fact that She had been around the baby this whole time, but She guessed there were supposed limits to how close She was allowed to the child. Apparently seeing her just within a few feet of the child was too close for comfort. Hayley seemed to relax though surrounded by The Original siblings and the werewolves around. The Cursed One knew that with Hayley and her werewolves, and even Elijah, around there would be few opportunities to be around Hope, and that hurt in a way that She had never experienced before.

Casting one last look at the happy baby surrounded by her mother and another man She left with Elijah to talk with his brother. She noticed a hum of magic when she came close to Klaus, and if the ring was alive She would almost say it was like a dog happy to meet its master, which was odd seeing as Elijah was her master. She lost focus on the conversation around her, aware enough to know the general idea, but otherwise her thoughts were centered on that new bit of magic that She had never experienced before. For once there was something new in her long existance of experience with the magic and control of the ring, and She was afraid of what that might mean. However her worry eased as Klaus issued her an order during that day which She was not compelled to obey. She then thought that maybe She was just imaginaing things, so She brushed it out of her mind and tried to forget that odd feeling.

One piece of information that helped to distract her was to learn of the body that Rebekah was now currently living in. One thing for sure, it didn't change the Original's attitude at all. Rebekah was still the stuck up fashion girl that She had known before.

While Elijah spoke to Hayley she tried everything in her power to not notice the child on the floor. She found her gaze kept trying to check in on the little monster, just to see if she was doing alright, but each time She got close she wrenched her eyes away. Hope was having none of it though, she babbled something and tried to reach out towards The Cursed One. It took everything in her power not to acknowledge the little baby, but not willing to get into a fight in front of the child She refrained. Only giving in to her want to check on the child just before they left the room.

With the wedding ceremony comencing She knew that her master was not in any danger, not surrounded by werewolves, vampires, and apparently even Davina. She asked if there was anything else her master required of her, and being the case that there was not, She slipped away to sneak in some time with Hope. She did not feel comfortable with all of these new hybrids all around, if what the talk She was hearing was true. Too much heightened strength and senses that they were just eager to test out, and She knew that being an unknown to them might make them eager to test her. She was not eager for that type of confrontation from so many amped up werewolves just yet, so She figured that Hope's room would be one of the few safe places that even the wolves would be afraid to enter, lest Klaus have an issue with it.

She entered the room and found to her surprise that Camille was already in there taking care of Hope, which left her without an excuse to be near the child.

"Oh don't worry." Camille said, holding the baby with one hand and gesturing to her with the other. "Come on in, it would be nice to see a familiar face."

"Alright." She said crossing the threshold into the room. She found that it was very peaceful in the room, unlike the tense atmosphere out in the courtyard. In this room it was almost sarene, and She found she rather liked the peace after the last few days She had.

Hope seemed happy to see her, she babbled and reached for her, and The Cursed One found herself unable to refuse her. She gently took the baby from Camille and held her close, then decided to meander throughout the room just so the baby could explore the room some all while in the safety of her arms.

She had just given Hope back to Camille, focused so much on the baby, that she was startled when Klaus' voice broke the serene silance.

"Now this is a sight that I did not expect when I came to check on my daughter." He said as he entered into the room, clearly being there long enough to catch her giving Camille back his daughter.

Even though he had already caught her close to his daughter She still stepped back a few feet, just to be sure, not sure how he would take her so close to Hope.

He spoke while still watching her walk step back. "The little She-Devil taking care of my daughter. Are you going to tell me that you somehow care for her. Hmm?" He had a slight smile on his face and he raised his eyebrows in question. She couldn't tell if he was genuinly happy per se, or if it was a facade to hide the anger until he could strike unaware. She was not afraid of him, but she was wary of the danger he presented. He was powerful, and with his love for his daughter driving him She wasn't too sure on the outcome of that battle. She decided to take a further step back just in case if She wasn't far enough away from his daughter for his liking. She had beaten him once, but that was because he had underestimated her. She knew that he would not make that mistake again, and there was baby Hope that might be hurt in the process to consider. No, She felt that it was unwise to anger him at this present time.

"Not at all." She said trying to imply that she didn't care at all for the little monster. "Camille has been taking care of her, I just thought with nothing to do I'd give her a break from holding her. That way I don't have to listen to her screams peircing my ears.

"Hmm-mmm." He said, and She couldn't tell if he bought her excuse or not. "Well in that case it seems my thanks are in order." He said turning to Camille.

With his attention off of her She took the opportunity and slipped out of the room as fast as She could, though She noticed that his attention wasn't completely off of her because he gave her a calculating look just before she disapeared around the corner. That look unsettled her, and She would have been even more unsettled had she seen his look of surprise and then an even deeper calculation upon hearing about The Cursed One's care of his daughter during their stay at the safe house.

She found her master on the balcony overlooking the reception area. He seemed distracted by his thoughts and by Hayley who seemed to be having a good time with her new husband. She didn't want to interupt his thoughts so She remained quiet and off to the side where she could look but not be seen, unless if you knew where to look.

The introduction of Hope to the werewolves and the vampires suprised her, as did the interaction between the two brothers. It seemed that they could communicate just by looks alone, forget words. She wondered if that came from centuries of living as siblings. Whatever was being said Elijah did not look happy about it.

When he abrubtly walked away She followed, happy to be leaving the wedding behind. They didn't get too far before they were stopped by Hayley, and She had no interest at all with interacting with that woman so She went ahead a little to give them some privacy. Although not too far ahead that she couldn't hear them. She was a little bit disapointed to learn that Elijah would be moving out of it, and that meant that She would follow, which meant She wouldn't get to see Hope even less then she had originally hoped. Although She was happy to be away from Hayley and the wolves of her new pack.

Rebekah interupted The Cursed One's train of thoughts when she marched past, like a woman on a mission. She could tell that it was something extremely serious by the look on Rebekah's face. The news of Kol's imenant death saddened her. He was annoying enough, but he also felt like the younger brother that She had never had.

She followed Elijah and his siblings to the cemetary, which She wondered why anyone would choose to die there, but to each his own. When She finally caught sight of the man she was taken back by the frailty that had overtaken him, but a few days ago he was brimming with life and energy. Now he seemed like someone had sucked all of the energy right out of him.

She was not a part of his family so she stayed back to give them some room, keeping watch over his body's desperate fight for one more breath of air. She knew that it was not long now, mere minutes if that.

Elijah it seemed wasn't able to just stand by and watch his little brother die. He turned to her and asked. "The ring?"

She stepped forward and shook her head "I am sorry master, the ring might have been able to if it was the first stages, but it is too advanced. The ring was meant to protect, I doubt it was made to heal."

"We can still try, can't we?" Asked Rebekah.

"And risk Finn getting his hand on the ring once Kol died?" Klaus said. "I am sorry brother, I wish their was something more we could do."

"It's ok Nic. I only wanted you lot to care 'bout me." Kol assured his family.

The Cursed One stepped back once more, realizing that it was his last moments, and that his family were the ones he really needed. Of course She new that Davina was also there but She really just ignored her and her frantic attempts to save Kol. The Cursed One had seen death many times and knew the look of it. There was nothing Davina or anyone else could do for the him.

With his final breath She bowed her head in honor of the life passing. There were very few people in her lifetime that She truly liked, and he had come the closest in a long time. The Cursed One watched the grieving siblings in silence, respectful of their loss, although She knew that they were far from defeated. They may have lost a family member, but this only gave them more of a drive to see their vengeance through. She pitied anyone who got in there way.

I had struggled with whether or not to save this version of Kol, but after thinking about it I had decided that it would not go with the story. If Kol had been wearing the ring then the curse could never had affected him, but as he wasn't the curse was already in him. It was one of the hardest decisions I had to make with this story. I also didn't want the ring to be used as a magic cure all, it still has its limits.

This is my last chapter until after the Labor Day weekend, so I hope this can tide you over until then. Will update soon after the break. Everyone have a safe and happy weekend!

Title taken from 'Sunrise, Sunset' Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack

Please Review and let me know what you think