Circles of Magic
(A Crossover between The Secret Circle & The Originals)
Written & Adapted by Kai Michaels.
Chapter Six:
"The Ties that Bind Us"
Previously on Circles of Magic: -.
Finn had finally reached his destination and was now standing outside the designated front door of the apartment and family friend in question. He took a moment and knocked on the door gently and patiently waited for the door to open.
The sound of the door unlocking was heard through its thick; wooden structure. The door slowly opened and revealed its tenant to be none other than Hayley Marshall; Hope's mother and the current guardian of the sleeping Mikaelson family, who patiently await the day to be awakened and free of the ailments that plague them.
"Finn…" smiled Hayley, happy to see him after so long and gave him a hug. "You made it." she mentioned further.
Finn hugged her back, a soft smile gracing his own lips now too. "Hi, Hayley…It's been a long time eh?" reminded the Mikaelson witch.
Hayley brought their hug to an end, "It has. Too long, I think. Come in, I have news and a little surprise too." smiled Hayley again, stepping to the side and letting Finn inside her apartment and then closing the door him.
"Oh yeah? Like what?" he asked, highly curious now.
"Patience…my dear sweet; Finn!" she joked in a playful yet teasing manner. "Wait here and close your eyes…" she insisted, he did so.
Finn chuckled a bit, "Why?" he asked.
"Just do it!" Hayley further requested.
He chuckled again, softer this time, not sure what to expect. "Okay, okay!" grinning a bit too himself, Finn did as Hayley requested and closed his eyes.
Hayley bit down on her lower lip before tip-toeing off into the next room. "Keep 'em closed, Finn! I swear!" the hybrid warned him.
Finn laughed, "They are closed. Jesus…just hurry up would you!?" Finn exclaimed, keeping his eyes closed still.
Hayley peered around the doorframe of the other room to make sure they were still closed and began re-entering the living room carrying a small male child in her arms with short dark brown hair; dark blue eyes and someone who couldn't be more than five years old. She was telling to stay quiet softly with her finger on her lips, smiling more.
"Hayley? Can I open them yet?" Finn asked.
Hayley stood in front of him; excited for Finn right now. "You can open them now." she said, giving him permission finally.
Finn slowly opened his eyes, he saw Hayley standing there with a small boy in her arms. In his confusion and surprise, his eyes widened slightly: "Who's this?" he asked.
"Finn…" she said, pausing for a moment and looking into his eyes. "…Look at him, very carefully and listen to what your heart tells you…" Hayley advised him.
Finn didn't understand, but followed Hayley's advice and studied the toddler very carefully and gazed into the young boy's innocent eyes; the boy looked up into Finn's eyes while gently sucking on the top of his tiny hand.
Suddenly, Finn's eyes began to water at the realization of the boy's identity, "It can't be…." his voice began to break down, as a tear left the corner of his eye and ran down the side of his cheek. "M-Matty…?!" he managed to piece together the name of his twin brother.
Hayley held back some of her own emotion, after seeing Finn's reaction first-hand to his brother's return: "It's really him, Finn…" she said taking a deep breath.
In that very moment, Finn reached over and took his brother from Hayley's arms and just held him against his body, hugging him tightly and stroking the back of his head gently. "Matty…" Finn just broke down, falling to his knees and crying into the side of his twin brother's neck.
"My brother…" he could barely get those words out, it was a truly heart-wrenching moment for the young Mikaelson witch and tugged at Hayley's heartstrings too and who couldn't help but shed a tear. It was a beautiful moment.
Finn had finally been reunited with his twin brother, Matthias Mikaelson; who was longer plagued by the ancient dark magic that had mystically aged him to that of an eighteen-year-old teenager like Finn Jr; five years ago that had turned him into a salvage; primal beast. His werewolf curse triggered unnaturally by that same dark magic that stripped him of everything that he held dear. It had stolen Matthias's innocence and corrupted the purest of all wolf forms; their infancy and the freedom of choice to whether they wish to trigger their curse by killing another or by sparing themselves such a fate.
Hayley kneeled down next to Finn and pulled him gently towards her, where she hugged him like a mother would her own child with the once again innocent Matthias in-between them. But Finn's emotional breakdown would not end there. Soon Hayley revealed to him that his cousin; Hope Mikaelson had also been freed of the same curse her cousins had been inflicted with and had reclaimed her lost innocence too in the form of an eight-year-old girl with beautiful, long dark hair and a button nose with enchanting brown eyes.
A few hours later, after Finn had regained his composure following the highly emotional and draining surprises that Hayley had presented him with, along with a short power nap. He awoke to Hayley entering his room with a bottle of booze and a couple of whiskey glasses.
"Hey…" greeted Hayley softly, as Finn sat up on the double bed that occupied the spare room.
"Hey…" Finn replied with a sniff and wiped away any dry tears that remained.
"How you feeling?" she asked, concerned about him naturally and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Here…get this down your neck." Hayley said, pouring each of them a glass of bourbon and gave Finn, one of those glasses to drink from.
Finn half-smiled a bit too himself, taking the glass and drank from it a little bit. "Overwhelmed, happy, confused…the list is endless." Finn admitted.
Hayley stared at him for a moment, taking a sip of her bourbon. "How?" inquired Finn, looking at the crescent pack queen, ready to listen.
"Your great-uncle: Solaris." she confessed truthfully.
"Seriously..?" Finn reiterated.
"Yep…I was just as surprised as you." she said, taking another sip of her drink.
"What was the catch?" quizzed the 23-year-old.
"No catch. Just that…he never intended for you; Hope or Matt to stay as teenagers for the rest of your days. He originally changed you to be able to protect yourselves against Marcel and the coming danger among other things." Hayley explained.
"Yet…I'm now five years older and have not returned to my former self." Finn stated quite accurately too.
"True, but you know how important you are. Sol told me to give you this…" the mother of one replied, pulling out a letter addressed to Finn Jr.
Finn looked down at the envelope then back up at Hayley, who nodded as Finn took it from her hand; reluctant to read it.
"Do you know it says?" he asked her.
"Nope…just that he wants you to read it upon your return to Chance Harbor." she answered. "…and he also has a theory on how we can save our family." Hayley reported.
Finn instantly looked up from the envelope and back at her, "What theory?" wanting to know more now.
"Your grandmother, Esther, and the original spell that created the vampires. The same spell that turned your uncles and aunt into original vampires, a thousand years ago." Hayley stated with slight disdain.
"What?! How he is that going to help them!? My grandmother was crazy; my mother told me, but just happened to be an extremely powerful witch." Finn replied. "I studied all her grimoires…she really was gifted. I won't lie." He added.
"Yeah, she was a psycho. But…Sol is Esther's younger brother, so if he thinks that's the key to all this, since everything else we've done to find these cures has not been very bountiful. I'm willing to take his word for it." Hayley said.
"But mother told me the spell was lost, centuries ago…" he reminded her.
"True. That's where Vincent Griffith comes in, the Regent of the New Orleans witches. The ancestors reconstructed the spell with a few minor adjustments to help bring the Beast into existence through Marcel and fulfilling the prophecy by using Vincent to perform the spell for them to create the serum needed to make it so. Sol believes; Vincent still has the spell locked away somewhere, and he's going to find it for you." Hayley explained.
"Me? Why?!" he demanded.
"The spell can only be performed by a Mikaelson witch and since your mother's asleep indefinitely; Hope back to normal who by the way wouldn't even use magic during her teen phase as you know and Matt's a baby wolf again. You're the only one, who can perform the spell." she informed the warlock.
Finn put the glass down and moved off the bed quite quickly turning around to face Hayley right away. "Are you nuts?! Do you know the sheer volume of power it would take to perform a spell of that magnitude? The Ancestors were full of centuries' old witches and warlocks; it was easy for them. My grandmother was in a class of her own. And my mother well…she was already powerful in her own right!" Finn did acknowledge these truths believe it or not. "How am I supposed to follow in their footsteps? I'm quite powerful myself, Hayley; don't get me wrong, but I'm not that powerful yet." Finn Jr expressed with great honesty.
Hayley stood up and placed her hands on his shoulders, "You'll find a way. Plus you're not alone. If your great uncle is right and this is really the only way, then I need to finish collecting the rest of the werewolf venom from the seven North Atlantic wolf packs, they're vital to curing your uncle Kol and Elijah of their wolf bites." Hayley knew this and had already procured half of what she needed from them.
"Everything else you'll need is explained in that letter, Finn at least that's what Sol told me. So read it, when your return to Chance Harbor like he requested and let's save our family already, okay? They've waited long enough…" Hayley urged the young adult witch.
Finn just remained silent and positioned his hands on hips, as Hayley left the room to attend to Hope; who was calling for her. Finn just stared down at the floor and shook his head a little from side to side and kept asking himself internally, if he could actually pull this off or not? It was a tall order even for him.
Soon Finn's concerns and worries were put to one side when little Matthias walked into the room carrying his favorite bear by the arm in his hand and dressed in his pajamas; since he would be going to bed soon. Finn felt Matt's short arms hug his brother's leg, despite returning to his true self, Matthias still knew who his brother was, and their twin connection remained intact.
"Hey, Matty…" Finn bending over slightly to pick his brother up and held him in his arms. "You don't have to worry about me, okay? We're all be together again soon, I promise you this, 'little' brother." He vowed as Matt's small arms wrapped themselves around the back of Finn's neck to the best of their extensive abilities and let the side of his head rest on top of his 'older' brother's shoulder.
Finn lightly kissed the top of his brother's head and closed his eyes hugging him gently, "I love you, Matthias; always and forever." he told him, meaning every word of it and quoting his family's promise with the fiercest of honesty, love, and compassion for his own blood. He was going to save them all even if it means sacrificing himself to do so if it ever came down to it.
The next morning; Finn said his goodbyes to Hayley, Matthias and Hope with a few emotional hugs and more. He had to return to Chance Harbor now if he ever hoped to read his great-uncle's letter and deal with the problems he had forming there.
"Finn, be careful, alright?" Hayley warned him.
"I always am, Hales." Finn replied with a soft yet confident smile.
"Bye Hope, you be good for mummy, okay, cousin?" a wider smile appearing across his lips now, he kissed his cousin lightly on the side of her cheek after a loving hug.
"I will. Come back soon, Cousin Finn, yes?" Hope requested with an adorable smile.
"Definitely." Finn promised and gave his cousin a playful wink, as she giggled a little to herself.
Matthias already had a sad expression on his cute face; he didn't want his brother to go. A few tears began forming in his eyes, as Finn moved down onto one knee to reach Matt's height level.
"Little brother…no tears remember." Finn said, using his thumb-tip to very tenderly wipe Matt's tears away from the corner of his eye since Finn would only cry himself if he saw his brother become any sadder. It was in the young wolf's eyes.
But Matt couldn't help it, he began to cry, and Finn gently pulled into a loving hug. "Hey, hey…come here." Finn said, taking a deep breath trying to maintain some self-control still. He kissed the top of Matt's head softly.
"Matty…I'll be back, I promise." Finn said, bringing their hug to a close for the moment. "I brought you a little something…" he revealed, pulling over a gift bag with a present inside. Matt watched Finn open the bag, as he wiped his own eyes a bit.
Finn pulled out a soft; stuffed wolf toy and handed to Matt, who took it in his hands. "Just remember, I'm always with you little brother and this wolf here…binds us, both together forever. It represents how strong our bond is and the strength of your heart." Finn told his brother, full of heartfelt words.
Matthias hugged the stuffed wolf closely against his chest, looking up at his brother. "I love you, Finn…don't forget me, please?" Matthias voiced with the gift of innocence and the promise of one day, seeing his brother again. It was too much, a tear streamed down the side of Finn's face and saw the warlock just cry a little silently to himself, after Matthias just hugged him, which only made saying goodbye so much harder for him to bear.
Finn took his leave, he needed leave now and not look back, if he did, he might never leave at all. His brother needed him now, but he had to save the rest of their family first even if it meant sacrificing their time together for now; a truly noble cause, indeed.
By nightfall, Finn was back in Chance Harbor as he slowly pulled up in Chance Marina. He turned everything off and exited his classic black impala and closed the driver's side door behind him. He walked to the boot of his car to open it and retrieve his overnight bag when he was ambushed by a vicious array of dark magic that forced him slowly down onto his knees trying to subdue him, he grunted and groaned.
"You lot again!" he growled, gritting his teeth slightly as he was, of course, referring to that of the trio of Scarlett, Lucifer, and Salazar Balcoin. Who began to surround him with their hands being held out in claw-like gestures; showcasing their flesh engraved dark magic symbol that occupied the very palms of their hands.
Finn grunted more, refusing to give into their combined magic and outdated yet still effective chants. "Who in the HELL are you people?" he growled angrily and in his rage chanted, "ESPIRIMUS PARATIS!" and pushed out both his hands out to the sides in slow yet wilful defiance against their unified attack on him.
The presence of magic was strongly felt among them with the hazy narrative as unforgiving as ever, which saw Finn successfully subdue his attackers by knocking them out simultaneously.
Finn fell forward on all fours now and took a moment to really catch his breath they actually did a bit of a number on him, believe it or not, surprising the Mikaelson warlock a little. Small drops of blood hit the concrete floor underneath Finn, who was bleeding from his nose slightly, thanks to the Balcoin trio, no doubt as they tried to weaken him enough to fully subdue him, unaware of just who exactly they were dealing with here.
Footsteps were heard, as Finn began to get back on his feet though still quite groggy. But only to be taken down again by a baseball bat to the back of his head this time; knocking him unconscious instantly as Finn laid there motionless on the cold ground on his front. A set of shoes were seen walking around to the other side of Finn's body and stopped just above his head.
"Welcome home, Finn. I've been waiting for you…" said the culprit responsible for the latest attack on Finn. It was Frederic, who had a sinister yet complacent look on his face. "Let's talk!" he smirked to himself, as the scene faded to black.
...To Be Continued.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Originals, the Vampire Diaries or the Secret Circle.