Remember how I said in chapter 1 that this is a Dark!Fix-It and how the Alexanders are just as bad as the Mikalesons? Hope you didn't think I lied and everything was sunshine and daisies. Starts here but the next chapter or two really goes there.
Overtime caught up with me so I haven't had much free time this week. This chapter is longer to make up for it.
TW: Violence/Gore. Acephobia. Referenced past rape (cohersion.)
-13-
Isolde
"I wanted to talk to you about the tunnels."
They were just a few miles from the house when Isolde brought it up. She'd almost brought it up when Klaus entered the kitchen that morning but decided against it when he'd taken an interest in her poetry. He'd been so genuine about it Isolde didn't want to poke the bear. Still, it needed to be mentioned so it wouldn't get repeated.
Isolde couldn't let it slide.
So she watched his body language as he stilled in the passenger seat.
"I'm not upset with you." Isolde began, glancing over at him. He was staring straight ahead, jaw clenching. "I was. But the daggers became a more pressing issue, especially because they were in the enemies hands, and I just… lost my anger after I got rid of those."
He was silent for a mile. Isolde thought she'd have to start talking again and just as she opened her mouth to try, Klaus began to speak.
"I have felt fear, and I have seen fear; caused it countless times without remorse. I thought I could help you face claustrophobia. But in all my years I don't think I've ever seen a fear response so severe..." He turned to look at her, she focused on the road. "I am sorry. I will find a way to make it up to you."
Isolde was shaking her head before he finished. "You don't have to make it up to me. As I said, I'm not angry anymore. You're forgiven. Just don't drag me down there again. Or anywhere that's remotely tomb-like. Please."
"I won't. You have my word."
The car was silent again for a few minutes.
"I don't understand why you don't despise your elder brother. Everything you've said about him in the short time I've known you leads me to suspect he's an enormous ass who treats you terribly."
Isolde hummed, coming to a stop sign and turning towards town. "He is an enormous ass, and sometimes he does treat me terribly. You'd probably have to meet him to understand. The reasons I have to love Emeric significantly outweigh the reasons I have to hate him. In fact I don't have many reasons to hate him at all."
"What has he done to earn such loyalty?" Klaus asked. Isolde had the distinct feeling that he wasn't just interested in knowing more just to know.
Klaus shared a lot of similarities to Emeric. Isolde wondered if he noticed that and was drawing parallels.
"Hundreds of reasons spanned across thousands of years." She smiled at his invested, curious look. "But I guess to narrow it down to a more defining moment I'd have to go with my first vivid memory. Vera and Theon don't know about it, they weren't born yet, so I'd appreciate it if you kept this between us."
At Klaus' nod, she continued. "I had a twin." Klaus' brow raised and Isolde smiled. "Bis was my best friend. Attached at the hip, much like Theon and Vera are today. Bis and I were around five, so Emeric would've been around eleven. Your mother told you all that Emeric and I share a father, the twins and I share a mother?"
Klaus nodded. "Something about power struggles within the Egyptian dynasty."
Isolde grimaced. "Something like that. Anyway, the twins' father hated me and Bis. He loved our mother on a toxic level, and he couldn't stand that she'd loved the previous Pharaoh, our father, first. He's the one who killed our father and usurped the throne. The day he became Pharaoh he called for Emeric's immediate execution but my mother was able to sequester Emeric away to keep him hidden and safe nearby."
"A year into his reign as Pharaoh our step father tried to kill Bis and me. We were sentenced to a public execution, dragged out into the streets of upper Egypt. He was trying to get a response from his pregnant wife, who'd fled the palace a few weeks prior to wherever Emeric was hiding. Yes," she nodded when Klaus' eyes widened a fraction, "our mother left us behind with our psychotic step-father to protect Emeric; the true Pharaoh, and her unborn children; Theon and Vera."
Isolde cracked her neck, making another turn. "Our step-father was mid swing, sword bearing down on my neck, when a loud clang sounded above my head. I looked up just in time to see Emeric push my step-father back. Blood cascaded down a gaping wound on my brother's arm. He'd deflected the hit, but since Pharaoh was much larger and stronger Emeric had still been hurt, badly. For the next few minutes I watched my eleven year old brother get the absolute shit beat out of him."
"Bis and I didn't talk about it when Em hit the floor, we just reacted. The guards didn't expect two five year olds to fight back but we somehow managed to take their swords away. Adrenaline, I suppose. We couldn't lift them, but we kicked them far enough away and that gave the insurgents, loyal to Emeric, time to swoop in and kill the guards. The loyalists tried to get Bis and I away, since Bis was next in line to the throne should Emeric die, but since we were so small we were also fast as hell. We out maneuvered them."
Isolde paused, glancing over at Klaus who had turned in his seat so he could mostly face her. He looked completely enraptured.
She took a deep breath and continued. "Our step-father almost killed Emeric. He was bleeding on the street half-dead when we converged on them. Bis jumped on Pharaoh's back, I rammed into his legs. In the end, the man landed badly and couldn't get back up, but he was able to grab my throat. It hurt so badly and I recall it so vividly that even today I hate the feeling of asphyxiation because of that one moment."
"I was dying." Isolde admitted. "I remember thinking that it was worth it as long as Bis and Em lived. I was fading, barely awake. It was like the whole world existed in a tunnel. Sound was hollow. Vision was blurry. But I saw when Bis helped Emeric stagger to his feet. I watched him cleave Pharaoh's arm off, saving me and effectively unseating our step-father, taking his rightful place as Pharaoh."
Isolde looked over at Klaus as she parked the car. "Like I said, the twins don't know about this. Emeric allowed him to live and the twins loved their father; he was good to them. He had to be, because the older Em, Bis, and I got the scarier we became." Isolde flashed Klaus a sadistic grin just as she parked the car.
Isolde turned the car engine off and made to get out of the car, Klaus followed, hands in his pockets. "So like I said, I love Emeric. No matter what, time and time again, he never let anything happen to any of us that we didn't bring upon ourselves. I was sentenced to the tomb for committing genocide against at least ten thousand men, women, and children, Klaus. In a single night. I deserved my punishment. I deserved to be in that tomb much longer than I was."
"I'd imagine you have several stories that end the same." Klaus said, falling into step beside her as they made their way into the store.
"Sometimes I'm the heroine. Sometimes it's one of the twins. The point is that we've all managed to save each other at one point or another. We've earned enough brownie points for easy forgiveness when one of us fucks up." Isolde laughed, smiling at him as they entered the automatic doors "... so, two immortals walk into a grocery store." Isolde said under her breath.
He scoffed and she could just feel his eye roll.
"One looks over at the checkout line and turns to the other. This is going to take forever, she says. The second responds…" Isolde looked at him.
Klaus stared at her. She stared at him. He raised his eyebrows. She raised her's back with an amused smile. They stood in the middle of the store entrance and people were glaring as they walked past, forced to go around the two or plow into them.
Then Klaus heaved a big sigh and rolled his eyes. "A veritable eternity."
Isolde giggled with abandon, grabbing a cart from the line up. "Oh, I like you Klaus Mikaelson." They turned a corner, narrowly missing another cart as they walked deeper into the store. "You're pretty fun."
"I'm beginning to doubt your age." Klaus said, watching her closely as she picked something off the shelf and tossed it in the cart absentmindedly.
Isolde noted that he said he was doubting her age but he was keeping pace with her as she sped up and jumped on the low bar of the cart, riding it down the aisle. Glancing around them and then staring at her like she was crazy.
Isolde laughed. "Don't tell me you've never tried it?"
"I've never been in a grocery store, truth be told."
She stared at him, stopping the cart dramatically mid aisle. "This is an outrage! Here," she stepped aside, "try it. Your chariot awaits."
He looked apprehensive. "I don't think-"
"Oh come on, try it." Isolde wiggled the cart. "Live your life, even if it's embarrassing. All these people will be dead in about fifty years or less. I'm not here to judge. Actually, I'll go get another cart and we can do it together."
Isolde goes to walk away and he grabs her arm, pulling her back. "Fine."
"You just need a little running start and it's easy, just make sure you're distributing your weight enough so the cart doesn't tip. Here." She picked up a big pack of budweiser from the shelf beside them.. "Some bloodweiser should be heavy enough."
Klaus groaned, glaring at her. "I am never coming back here with you again. Kol can do this with you next time."
"What? Bloodweiser not enough? I can grab some blue moon…"
Klaus sped up and jumped on the cart, riding it away from Isolde. She laughed and ran to keep up.
He rolled to a stop at the end of the isle and Isolde pushed her shoulder against his. "Fun?"
He glared menacingly at her but she could see his smile when he turned his head. She was still watching when his smile faltered. Glancing in the same direction he was looking, Isolde noticed the young blonde from the ball. The one with the blue dress who'd had told Klaus off and then fled the ball before things really got started.
Klaus' eye tracked the blonde as she walked right past them both. Isolde nudged him.
"Go talk to her." She started encouragingly.
Isolde pretended not to feel the pang of hurt when Klaus sped after the blonde. Examining that, she wondered what exactly she was hurt over. Isolde had no claim to any of her bonds yet, it had only been a few days. None of them had talked about what they wanted from the relationship.
Until they'd all put their cards and intentions on the table she couldn't know for certain what any of them really felt.
Isolde knew she'd take all four romantically if they agreed to it. So far Kol and Elijah were the only ones to show that level of interest.
Klaus was confusing her, she wasn't entirely certain what he wanted. In fact she was pretty sure he didn't even know what he wanted from her. A powerful ally, certainly. Other than that… a friend? She could do that, too. She just wanted him to make it clear like Finn.
Well, honestly Finn hadn't made it clear either. He just seemed to have put her in the tentative friend category. He was far more cautious than his brothers. Probably a by-product of being the eldest.
Isolde was so caught up considering her soul bonds she barely noticed Damon Salvatore saddling up beside her.
"Hey, psycho-bitch, good to see you. Quick question; where's Bonnie?" He asked, eyes widening and narrowing strangely as he grasped her arm and forced her to stop moving.
"I suggest you remove that." Isolde looked down at his hand on her arm, then back up at his face.
"Why, so you can run off with your super weird witchy fast magic and interrupt Klaus' bonding time with his crush? I think not." He gripped her tighter and in a flash he was throwing her against a dumpster behind the grocery store.
Bold of Damon to assume she needed Klaus' help.
This is not how Isolde intended for today day to go, but fuck it. If Damon wanted to play ball, she was game.
"Ouch, that looked painful." Damon gloated, grabbing her head and smashing it against the edge of the dumpster. Blood started to seep out of a fresh wound on her forehead. "Mind if I do it again?"
"You'd be wise to avoid angering me." She shoved him off with a well timed thrust of her arm that concealed the shadows movement from the ground. Unlike her brother's, Isolde didn't have enhanced physical strength without drawing on her abilities. "You've already crossed the line into minor annoyance. Be careful, Mr. Salvatore."
She brushed herself off as Damon laughed, shoving her against the dumpster again and gripping her throat.
"Where is Bonnie, Isolde?"
Isolde sighed heavily. "Why do your eyes keep doing that weird widening and narrowing thing? Do you think it's endearing? Do women really like it? I can't imagine why."
Isolde felt the hand around her throat tighten and the muscles in her neck begin to tear as Damon lifted her head from her body.
Niklaus
Klaus wasn't having as much fun speaking to Caroline as he had been spending time with Isolde, he realized.
While Caroline was still beautiful and full of light, all of the things he'd said she was when he told her he fancied her the other night, she also hated him. Every time he spoke to Caroline she wanted something. Tyler's release from his sire bond, mostly. A few accusations into the conversation he was beginning to regret following the blonde outside.
Just days ago he wouldn't have minded the insults but now he could hardly stand it.
Isolde didn't talk to him the way Caroline did. She didn't treat him as though he were a mere menace she'd like to get rid of, and she didn't act as though she wished him dead. Granted, Klaus had never done to Isolde what he'd done to Caroline and her friends.
But how Isolde had handled the last few days told Klaus that she would have likely aided him in releasing his wolf side, rather than attempt to hinder him like literally every one else had.
That realization alone had him about to abruptly depart from this farcical conversation with Caroline.
His phone rang flashing Elijah's name and he turned away from the blonde, utilizing the excuse. He felt Caroline shift beside him but she didn't leave.
"What is it Elijah, I'm-"
"Stefan and Elena just tried to dagger me with illusionary daggers that Theon left behind for them when Isolde stole the real ones. Kol just texted to tell me Alaric and Matt tried to dagger him, too. Rebekah is safe at home with Theon. Finn is out at The Grill with Sage. Please tell me you have Isolde with you, Niklaus."
Klaus turned to look at Caroline, a sick sinking feeling settled in his gut as he realized exactly why Caroline had baited him out of the store and away from Isolde's side. With a final scathing look toward the woman who used to hold his affections he sped back into the store where he'd left Isolde. He located her shopping cart but she wasn't with it.
"You've left her, haven't you?" Elijah's disappointed voice came through the phone. "I'd surmise Damon has her, then."
Klaus was becoming angrier by the second, the rage bubbling within him. His wolf began to pace and snarl. "When I find him, he will pay."
"Where are you? Kol just made it home." Elijah's voice was clipped, deepening slightly as his anger rose. Klaus could hear Kol inquiring about Isolde in the background.
Klaus was about to answer when he felt abrupt pain across his neck as though his throat had been slit. He whirled around, hoping to catch the culprit but found no one. Clutching his neck, he realized it hadn't happened to him.
"Did you just feel that?" Kol shouted, evidently having taken Elijah's phone. "Because we did. Damon Salvatore just harmed Isolde. Where the bloody hell are you, Nik?
"The grocery store," Klaus growled as he picked up Isolde's scent, "they're behind the building."
"We're on our way." The line died.
Finn
"You've never had tequila before? Seriously. That's embarrassing. I'm embarrassed for you."
The words stung and he tried not to let it show. Finn wished he'd had the opportunity to experience the world as it evolved. It was the only redemptive quality of this half-life he now suffered, the only part of immortality he'd looked forward to.
Finn looked at Sage. Nine hundred years and she hadn't aged a day since he'd turned her. She said she'd taken care of herself in his time daggered but she'd never stopped loving him. Finn wondered at that.
For Sage, their time together was centuries ago. For him, it was simultaneously centuries ago and mere weeks. He remembered every moment, and the memories that her presence was dredging up in him weren't pleasant.
He'd loved Sage when she was human, she was kind to him and fun, she gave him a bright spot of bliss in his life where his family and their lives together were an ever festering wound.
Everything had changed when he turned her.
"I'm truly awed by the evolution of mankind." Finn mused, watching her face light up with laughter. The same laughter that had Finn working hard to impress her for- centuries ago.
A man walked up to them, greeting Sage and nodding respectfully to Finn.
"You know him?" Finn asked.
"I turned him." Sage admitted, looking unperturbed.
Finn felt sick. "You turned him. Why?" Sage had been the only vampire he'd ever turned, and even that had been a mistake born of his affections. How many vampires had Sage gone on to create?
"Because I'm in enemy territory. When your brother and sister called, I thought I might need a little back-up. We can't trust anyone here."
Finn might've agreed just days ago. But… Elijah had apologized. He'd stepped in between Finn and his mother, and then he'd apologized for Finn's imprisonment.
Rebekah had spent time teaching him how to use modern technology without a single scathing retort or making him feel inept. Niklaus and Kol hadn't disturbed him.
Things in his family were changing. And even if he couldn't trust his siblings, Finn thought at very least he could trust Isolde and Theon.
Isolde told him she wouldn't let him be daggered again, then she destroyed the means to do so a handful of hours later.
Some of the tension Finn had held in since she'd been awake had been released when she dumped that ash into Kol's glass and his emotions were so severe that when Isolde left Finn had gone to the meadow and wept.
So perhaps he was in enemy territory, but Sage was wrong when she said he couldn't trust anyone.
The more pressing issue was finding out how many more vampires were aired by Sage. He asked.
"I don't know, a lot. Don't judge me, Finn, you turned me."
"Exactly Sage, I turned you. My passions overtook my morals."
"My passions overtake my morals everyday. It's called living life to the fullest. Speaking of…"
Finn felt Sage's foot brush against his leg.
"Sage." He admonished, moving his leg away as best he could.
Her eyebrows rose then she frowned. "Seriously, Finn. Nine hundred years in a box and you're still like this?"
"The box didn't change me on a fundamental level, Sage. I am still me." Now Finn was frowning, a bit hurt.
Sage removed her foot and leaned forward against the table. "I'd think after nine hundred years you'd come out more excited for my touch at least."
It wasn't the touch he was adverse to, it was the placement and the intent behind it that made him uncomfortable. He opened his mouth to tell her this but she continued on.
"I guess we'll just have to have the same arrangement as before, then? I'll go elsewhere when I need what you won't fulfil but a few times a year. Damon was more than willing last night."
Finn's stomach dropped and his chest squeezed. He looked down at his hands folded on the table and swallowed.
He didn't want the same arrangement as before. He wanted to be enough for her. Like he had been when Sage was human, before the change accelerated her labido to the point where she wanted so much more than he was capable of giving.
And Finn had tried to be intimate more often but when he forced himself for her sake he always ended up feeling tired and used… dirty, even.
He wanted Sage to accept him, and when she didn't he said nothing as she stepped outside their relationship for her own pleasure. He said nothing and it left room for resentment to fester.
Bringing up her apparent tryst with Damon rekindled that resentment.
Finn felt he deserved more than that.
Words, unbidden, came to mind. Welcome back to the world, Finn Mikaelson. I'm so glad you're here.
He deserved more.
And Sage deserved to find happiness with someone who could see to her needs.
"I don't want the same arrangement, Sage."
She straightened. "Then what do you want?"
"I want to reacquaint myself with the world. I want to improve my relationship with my family. I…" he cleared his throat and squirmed under her narrow eyed scrutiny, "I want to try living, instead of surviving."
'I want to get to know my soul bond.' Went unsaid.
"And where do I fit?"
You don't. He wanted to say, instead he looked her in the eyes. It had been a long time since he'd compelled anyone but he mustered every bit of his resentment toward Sage and their relationship to pull it off.
"Sage, Finn Mikaelson was your sire and that was all. We never had any other kind of relationship. You came to Mystic Falls to offer your aide to me and I declined, you'll pack up and leave. You'll do your best not to cross paths with the Original family or anyone close to them again and you won't sire another vampire unless you truly fall in love with them and can't survive their death."
Finn felt melancholy when Sage got up to leave. He stayed for another shot of tequila, downing the horrendous liquid just in time to feel like his throat had been slit. His hand grasped his neck in pure astonishment.
It took only a moment for him to realize that whatever had been done, it hadn't happened to him. On pure instinct, Finn fled the bar. His senses told him to go east and east he went until he found himself behind a building, standing right beside Isolde's head, her body a few feet away.
Up next: Isolde shows everyone just why she's the Mikaelson's mate.
Some of Finn's parts you'll recognize from the show. I think in canon Sage would've gotten him to leave his family and just run off with her but I didn't see it working out long term. I'm kind of changing Finn to fit how I see his character. I don't know what he was like in TO (besides understandably angry) I've had to work around what we see for the few episodes of TVD he's in.