*I do apologize for the late update. I have had to take some personal time away from writing to work on my mental health. Hope you enjoy.*
Images flitted through his mind as he stared into the dark abyss. Many of them from when he was but a child. In all of the memories that came to the forefront Klaus, his Dad, was a constant presence, until he wasn't. He had been there one second, and the next he was just gone like a wisp of smoke. Damon had been struggling since the revelation to make sense of how he felt on the matter. He wanted to accept everything and to have someone who actually cared about him in his corner again but, he wasn't so sure Klaus was the one who could give that to him. His Dad had already proven he would leave without him at a moment's notice, so what was stopping him from doing it again. The more Damon thought about it, the more he felt a churning feeling in his gut.
Why couldn't Klaus have come back for him sooner? Was he such a pain that even the one who had taken him in didn't want him either? The questions burned into Damon's mind as he started to regain clarity in the waking world. His skin tingled with pins and needles; the world before him was disorienting as he opened his eyes to the blinding light of the day. Damon gritted his teeth as he pushed himself into a sitting position, forcing himself to ignore the tingling that burned through his blood. He kept his breathing as even as he could, attempting to circumvent the panic he could feel building deep within him as he realized for the second time recently, that he did not recognize his surroundings in the slightest.
His hand flew up towards his neck, his fingers tangling in the warm metal chain of the pendant his father had gifted him so long ago. Damon found himself longing to detach the charm from his neck and toss it into the deepest pit on the face of the planet. Perhaps, he was blinded by rage but, if he was certain of one thing, it was that he wanted little if nothing to do with his father. After having spent so much time apart and having gone through so much pain without Klaus, Damon found himself just done with the man. Yes, he was angry and yes, he was upset with what he had learned.
Most of all though, Damon found himself torn between wanting to be a family with him again or just cleaning his hands of the situation and walking away to live his eternity without an Original in site.
Damon's gaze flew up from the pendant as a loud creak echoed from behind the door to his left. There were only two doors in the entirety of the room he had woken in and Damon found himself just knowing that that particular door would lead to Klau…his Dad. A lump formed in his throat, fire burned through his veins at the mere thought of seeing him, speaking to him after so many years of nothing.
He didn't want to confront him now, possibly he would never. If Damon had his way, he would never have to face this conversation with his Dad. While Damon longed for an explanation to the reasons behind everything, he also could not believe that Klaus would have a good enough reason for leaving. With a final glance at the door that led to the last bit of family he truly had, Damon flashed to the window. As quickly as he could manage Damon pulled the window open before with a final glance back, he jumped.
His feet hit the ground with a soft thud before he shot toward the forest that surrounded the house he had woken up in. Damon had only made it a mile into the woods when he was suddenly thrown off his feet. He flew backward, landing hard on his back as the wind was knocked clear out of him. A growl tore from his throat as he found himself staring at the bright blue sky above him, without a moments hesitation Damon shot to his feet.
Bringing his hand out in front of him, he slowly started to creep forward until he felt a hard surface underneath his palm where nothing but, empty air was meant to be. Where his palm touched glowed a soft yellow before disappearing as soon as he took his hand away. Damon cursed loudly as he realized that he was for all intents and purposes trapped behind a magical shield. He had seen one once before when his friend Liberty was at his side helping defend him against a group of witches who had been spouting nonsense at them.
Gritting his teeth, Damon forced his hand back up against the shield that had been erected. His eyes rolled back as he felt a surge of electricity shoot through him, forcing himself to breathe slowly Damon's eyes opened to glance at either side of him. The shield continued to zap him as his hand remained in contact. Despite this Damon forced himself to ignore the slight burns that were being created upon his flesh. He moved to the left, praying for a slight variation that would allow the shield to collapse upon itself.
His only hope would be to get away before his father found him and forced him back to the cabin he had been placed in. At the very least he would need to find a way to contact Liberty, she had always been able to find a way to save his ass when he needed her the most. Frustration began to sink in several minutes later as the further he traveled it became more obvious he would find no divets in the shield of his Dad's witches.
As more time passed his frustration and anger grew until while taking a small break, he reached his breaking point and launched a large boulder clear at the shield. Damon didn't know what he was expecting to happen but, it certainly wasn't for the rock to shoot back at him. Throwing himself out of the way, he found the boulder missing him by mere inches as he lay exhausted upon the hard ground.
"There you are." Damon startled out of his exhausted state as the voice caught him off guard. "I've had Maddox looking for you for hours. Since we realized you were attempting to leave anyway." Damon swallowed thickly around the fury burning in his throat, his eyes burned as he stared at the lean, muscled figure of his father. He found himself unable to speak as his father began to edge closer to where he stood. "Let's go. It's time to commence our journey back to the residence before I depart for the evening." Klaus's hand came up motioning for Damon to come closer to him as he stood motionless mere feet from him.
Damon ignored him as a laugh bubbled from his throat and tears began to form in his eyes. "You're leaving again? Of course, you are. Why should I even be surprised at this point? It's what you do best after all." He all but growled out, glaring heatedly at the man who had claimed him so many years before. "Yes, Damon I left." Klaus said firmly as he stared into the eyes of his boy. He could feel despair and anxiety waring through his veins as he tried to convey the message he wanted to his son. "However, I came back for you. I will al…"
"Why?" Damon growled angrily as he cut off Klaus. Confusion colored Klaus's expression as he stared at the raging form in front of him "Why what?" "WHY DID YOU COME BACK? AFTER ALL THIS TIME, WHY NOW?" Damon screamed at him as the tears in his eyes, began cascading down his face. Klaus paused as he took in the words of his son, he found himself yearning to hold him once again as he saw the tears on his child's face. "Damon, I came back because I had an obligation to…" Klaus found himself cut off once again as Damon laughed angrily.
"AN OBLIGATION!? Is that all I am to you?" Damon yelled wetly at him. "N-No, Of course not. I didn't mea-…" "NO, you never do mean it. You don't mean anything. You didn't mean it when you said you would be back when I was human. You didn't mean it when you told me repeatedly that you cared for me. And you definitely didn't mean it when you told me that we were family. Always and Forever." Damon laughed through his tears, shaking his head before turning to stare at his father. "What a joke." Damon mocked before storming past him and back towards the cabin.
Klaus swallowed thickly as he watched the retreating figure of his boy, sorrow hanging heavy in his chest. He had hoped he would be able to spare the truth from his son for a while longer but, it seemed as if it was not meant to be. Klaus knew that either he told Damon the truth and had a chance of repairing the crumbling bond that had once lay between them or he failed to and forced himself to watch their relationship dissolve into nothingness. The truth lay so complicated yet simple all at the same time.
He moved to follow Damon, the truth sitting on the edge of his lips as to what happened all those years ago. A loud repetitive ringing stopped him in his tracks, hesitating a growl tore from his throat as he ripped his cell phone clear from his pocket. "What?!" Greta's voice broke out from the speaker, "It's time. Everything is ready, all that's left is to gather the sacrifices." Klaus glanced back towards the path Damon had gone down. 'Soon,' Klaus thought as he started in the opposite direction of Damon, 'I'll tell him everything very soon.' "Klaus?" Greta called out over the line.
"I'm on my way. Triple-check everything, I want this ritual to go off with no issues." Klaus sternly informed her as he crossed the boundary line of the forest. Klaus slammed his phone shut and took one last glance at the forest that kept his son concealed from the rest of the world before disappearing to finish the sacrifice he had been waiting an eternity for.
"Let's get this over with." Klaus demanded as he strolled into the forest, his mind completely consumed with the fact he had left his son behind once again. "First, we start with the werewolf." Greta began apprehensibly staring at Klaus as she took the moonstone and began the ritual. Klaus flashed quickly to Jule's side, pinning the writhing werewolf to the ground and ripping into her throat viciously. Anger surged through him as the spell continued to move through the trees, surrounding Klaus as it removed the bindings on his wolf.
"I'd say thank you Elena," Klaus explained as he held her tightly in his grip, "but, after what you've done to my son, you deserve nothing less than a painful death." Klaus snarled before draining her of her blood as painfully as he possibly could. Liberty stood hidden in the trees, she forced herself to breathe as quietly as possible as she stared at the scene in front of her. She had lost contact with Damon days ago, worry had started eating away from her when her calls kept going to voicemail. With him missing she had immediately headed for Mystic Falls to search for him.
When she had not been able to find him, she had started to search for the Original family. She had never felt such relief to find out where Niklaus Mikaelson was having his ritual performed. Still standing here watching as the ritual commenced, she couldn't stop herself from feeling relieved that Damon wasn't part of it. Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, she watched with muted horror as the last Bennett witch in town attacked Klaus. Liberty moved as if on pure instinct as he shifted into his wolf form. She threw her magic at the Bennett witch forcing her to abandon her attack on the original hybrid in an effort to protect herself.
Liberty shot spell after spell at the witch as she forced herself in between her and Niklaus, a smirk eased itself onto her face as she saw the hybrid escape into the forest. Shooting one last spell at the last standing Bennett, Liberty dove into the forest after the half-shifted original hybrid. He was her only hope of finding Damon and she would be damned if she let the hybrid get away from her without finding out why he wanted Damon so badly.
She would find Damon one way or another but finding him and finding out the Original's intentions for him were two different things entirely. Scanning the dark forest, Liberty forced herself to pick out the wolf form of the original amongst the multicolored leaves coloring the forest floor. Her eyes quickly skipped over the broken leaves strewn in her path as she ran through the trees searching for Niklaus.
Anxiety began to thrum through her veins as she kept searching with no sign of the hybrid to be found. A lump formed in her throat at the realization that she may have failed to protect the one person she had been charged with guarding. What had started as a simple assignment, had quickly become more as she and Damon had grown closer. Once he had just been an assignment that her coven had given to her out of the blue but, now she couldn't help but consider him one of her best friends.
Relief flooded her as she spied a golden-blonde wolf laying on the forest floor mere feet in front of her. As she approached the wolf who was clearly Niklaus bolted to his feet, spinning toward her, he bared his teeth as he stared her down. "I wouldn't," Liberty whispered as she stood stock still in her place, "Damon would be awfully angry if he found out I died at your…paws. Something tells me you wouldn't want that."
The wolf in front of her paused mid-growl, eyeing her up before with a roll of his eyes taking off in the opposite direction in which she stood. Liberty released a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. Huffing several curses under her breath, Liberty moved to follow him. Finding Damon and the reason that the Originals wanted him would have to wait until the only Original she could find was able to speak again.
Damon huffed out a sigh as he stared up at the full moon peaking over the forest's trees. He knew the moon was in perfect position for the ritual and found himself conflicted at the very thought of it. Damon was angry, hurt, and tired of his father and his excuses but, he didn't want his ritual to fail just because of it. At the same time, he didn't want Elena to die, no matter what she had done to him. He still cared for her to a certain degree and no matter how angry he was at her and his brother he still found himself hoping for their safety.
Stefan was his younger brother, after all, it was Damon's job to make sure he was safe, right? Just because he had been abandoned by Stefan for a human girl, didn't mean Damon was allowed to abandon him. Was he? Damon found himself questioning his role with Stefan and whether he could even call him family at this point. He was confused beyond anything else as to what to do when it came to the relationships that lay before him.
Closing his eyes, Damon threw his head back against the wall hoping to fall asleep even if only to make time pass till morning when he could find another way to escape from his father. He didn't want to be around the man who had abandoned him, who merely saw him as an obligation to take care of until he got bored again. Damon jolted as he felt a feeling of electricity shoot through him. Swallowing thickly he moved carefully before swallowing a cry of pain as he felt pain shoot through his entire body.
Damon hit the ground as pain started coursing through him, heat poured off of him, coating him in a sheen of sweat. He didn't understand why this had to keep happening, first with Elijah and now after his father left him to go do his stupid ritual. A scream tore from his throat as he felt his arm rearrange itself completely splintering in the process. Quick footsteps pounded up the stairs as a scream tore from Damon's lips.
"Damon? Damon, open the door!" Maddox called out as the handle moved minutely while he was trying to get in. Damon smothered a groan as he felt another spike of pain shoot through him. Suddenly, he felt the pain pause for a second as something deep within him seemed to click into place. His vision blurred as with a slight shift, his limbs changing completely as his hands and feet were replaced with heavily furred paws. He found himself standing as a pure black wolf with eyes that held a cold blue ferocity only emphasized by a golden streak that gleamed throughout them.
Damon huffed through his new snout, attempting to catch his breath as the pain that had been surging through him faded away to nothing. The door to his room flew open as Maddox bolted inside, his figure frenzied as he searched for Damon. Maddox froze at the sight of the pure black wolf huffing in front of him. He was paralyzed in fear as the wolf slowly turned to face him.
Anger was clear as day in the wolf's eyes as it glared straight at Maddox and bared its teeth growling as it slowly stalked closer to him. "Damon?'' Maddox breathed anxiously his voice barely above a whisper as the wolf moved closer. A glint appeared in the wolf's eyes as the words permeated the air. Swallowing thickly, Maddox fished his cell phone from his jeans as he carefully backed away from the room. Klaus might be doing his ritual but Maddox knew he would want to be informed about what had happened.
No sooner had Maddox dialed Klaus's number did Damon launch himself at the warlock, his teeth bared as if ready to rip out his throat. Instinctively, Maddox's hands flew up, his magic exploding outwards throwing Damon clear across the room. Moving quickly Maddox bolted to the phone that had flown from his grip, frustration coursed through him as the call sent him straight to voicemail. "Klaus…we have a small problem. Damon…he Fuck." Maddox whispered into the phone as Damon launched himself out of a window near where he had landed.
Maddox bolted out of the house, throwing his phone on a chair as he tried to follow Damon through the dense forest. His breath left him in small sharp gasps as he tore through the trees, tripping over his own feet in desperation to follow the vampire he had been tasked with guarding. After what felt like hours, Maddox leaned up against the side of a tree cursing under his breath. He hadn't seen Damon in a long time and even now he couldn't hear a thing in the surrounding area that indicated Damon was nearby.
Maddox knew his only hope was to get back to the cabin and attempt a tracking spell until he could get ahold of Klaus. Dread pooled in his gut as he envisioned the hybrid's reaction to the status of his missing son. Hopefully, he would be able to find him before the hybrid returned to the cabin. Otherwise, Maddox didn't hold to much hope of living through the experience.
A lone figure stood staring at a collection of 5 coffins that lay in a shipping container, a look of consideration coloring his features. Slowly a smile worked it's way onto his face as he moved silently up to every coffin, opening each one as he went. "It seems my grandson will need more help than I realized. Perhaps, you all will be the perfect assistance for him." The man crooned as he pulled a dagger out of the chest of 4 of the coffin's occupants. Standing beside the 5th coffin, a look of revulsion gleamed in his eyes as he stared at the contents. "You on the other hand, will cause him nothing but trouble. We can't have that now can we." The man's voice dripped with disdain as with a wave of his hand the coffin burst into blue flames.
Within minutes the only evidence of a 5th coffin having existed was a small pile of ash and a few charred pieces of the wood that had made it. As he left the container, he allowed a small smirk to grace his lips as he laid the silver daggers onto a small table before pulling out a small paper. His eyes softened as he stared at the paper in his hands, a warmth that had been missing before suddenly seemed to envelope the mans figure. "Don't you worry nepos meus, I'm sending some help until I can reach you. They'll keep you safe." He whispered before laying the paper down on the table with the daggers.
With one last glance at the container holding the coffins, the man disappeared in a whisp of smoke. The only way to know he had truly been there were the silver daggers that lay on the table and a single piece of paper. A paper that held an image of a young proud Damon Salvatore who held a look of anger, sadness and pain within his icy blue eyes.
Hunger burned through him like a fire as his eyes snapped open. His thoughts were scattered as he shot up from where he lay in his coffin. Elijah's eyes narrowed as he scanned the dark room that the coffins were placed in. He knew that Niklaus would have never awoken him in such a manner, unless he needed something. If that were true however, then where pray tell was his younger brother.
A blur shot through the room as Elijah got himself standing in the shipping container by his coffin. Elijah's breath caught in his throat as he recognized the blur that had sped past him. "Rebekah." The words pierced the air at just above a whisper, capturing his younger sister's attention in a steel trap.
"Elijah." No sooner had the words left his younger sister's mouth did he have his arms around her. His breath felt as if it had been stolen from his lungs as he held her tightly in his arms, inhaling her natural scent of pine and orchids. Elijah had never been accredited to being of the sentimental sort but in that moment, he found himself desperate to memorize the feeling of her in his arms. After so long of thinking his siblings were dead and gone forever, Elijah was struggling to keep together the emotions cascading throughout him. "I have missed you so dearly, Rebekah." Elijah whispered into her hair as they both clung to one another.
"Please tell me, you do not expect such a display from me as well." A male voice called out from their backs. Elijah's head shot up at the words, Rebekah freezing in his arms, slowly the siblings released one another turning toward where the voice had emanated from. "Kol!" Finn!" Rebekah yelled, shooting forward to hug each of her brothers in turn. Elijah felt himself falter back at the sight of his brothers. Confusion and Joy wared inside of him at the sight of his brothers. Elijah knew Niklaus would have never woken up his siblings unless he had some ulterior motives.
Out of the corner of his eye, Elijah saw light leaking into the storage container from the doorway. His back stiffened at the thought of Niklaus lying in wait for Elijah and their siblings to meander from the enclosed space they had been stored in. "Not happy to see us, brother?" Despite the joking tone, Elijah could see the hurt carefully concealed within his younger brother's eyes as he turned back around to face them. "There will never be a day where I am not elated that you all continue to exist before my eyes." Elijah told them slowly after a brief pause to contemplate his words.
A grimace etched its way onto Kol's face at Elijah's words before he spoke hesitantly, "The sentiment is…mutual." Elijah had to bite back a smirk as the words hung in the air, Kol had an expression covering his face that made it seem as if speaking the words had physically pained him. A snort from beside Kol tore Elijah's gaze towards his older brother, Finn. The usually expressionless and somber Original was fighting a smirk as he looked on at the antics of his younger siblings.
Finn's eyes flickered to Elijah's as if feeling the weight of his gaze on his face. With a subtle incline of his head toward the door, Finn came to join Elijah closer to the entrance. His gaze hard as both he and his brother regarded the door with unapologetic weariness. The sounds of Rebekah and Kol bickering childishly filled the background as Elijah and Finn moved as if in sinc. Walking out of the container, Elijah walked towards the left while Finn scanned the right-hand side of the room.
Elijah's breath caught in his throat as while he failed to spot his younger hybrid brother, he had discovered something else. Standing before him was a long silver table that held every single one of his and his sibling's daggers and the white oak ash needed to use it. They lay symmetrically along the tabletop, separated only by one single sheet of paper with a message written across it clear as day. "Elijah, brother! Have you found anything?" Finn called out from behind him.
Elijah found his words lost to him as he couldn't seem to tear his eyes from the paper that lay before him. Warmth, anger, sadness and so much more surged through him as he moved towards where the paper sat. He could distantly hear his siblings talking in the background as he finally grabbed the one thing that changed any plans he had recently made.
"So Klaus isn't here…" Kol trailed off as he spun in a circle gesturing wildly around him, "We can go anywhere and leave no trace for him to find us." He finished as a wide grin broke out on his face at the possibilities that lay before them in his mind. "Not quite yet, Kol. There is one thing we must do first." Elijah called out as he walked over to where the three siblings stood talking. "And what could we possibly have to do after so much time in those bloody boxes?" Kol growled in frustration at the elder Mikaelson.
Elijah merely smiled sadly as he held up the sheet of paper in one hand, all of their daggers clasped in his other. "A retrieval." He stated simply as his siblings peered at what he held before him as if they could not grasp what lay on the paper. For what lay on the paper was a single image with two words written in large dark coloring. An image of Damon Salvatore standing tall and proud was shown to them but, where his stance was proud, his eyes portrayed more than what one could ever hope to understand.
His eyes held anger, pain, loneliness, fear, and sadness yet despite this it seemed as if he was trying to keep his expression guarded. If the Mikaelson's had not felt all those emotions before in the same way Damon had, they would have never recognized them in his eyes. Written below the image of Damon, the words lay bold and clear as day, HELP HIM!
(*Nepos Meus- My grandson)