Elena could only stare at Freya in shock for a minute at her proclamation. Freya had just claimed to be their sister. Elena could remember making the correlation between Freya and her older sister when she learned her name, but she had been sure it had been a coincidence. Her sister had died more than a thousand years ago. Then again, so had Elena.

Freya waited patiently for her siblings' reactions. She knew there would be a strong one, and it would probably start with denial. It was a natural reaction, especially since she knew they had thought she was dead.

Elijah was the first one to recover slightly. "Our sister?"

Freya nodded. "Your older sister."

"No, that's a lie! Our sister died of the plague," Rebekah said.

Freya shook her head. "That's what Esther told people to conceal what she did."

Klaus scoffed. He didn't believe this woman for a minute. "You lie! I do not know what you hope to gain from this, but you will not live to regret it."

"Nik, stop," Elena said.

"To be fair, is it really that farfetched? Mother lied about the death of another child. Is anybody really shocked?" Kol asked his siblings. "Keep in mind, if any of you say you are, I will be worried about your sanity."

"Even if Mother lied, it was a thousand years ago. She would be dead by now," Rebekah said.

"That could be said about any one of us," Elena said.

"Why are you so quick to believe her, Elena? You trust too easily," Klaus said.

Elena rolled her eyes at her brother. "Well, that works in our favor since you're a bit more paranoid than you should be. I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt because I've spent a lot of time with her, and because I've lived through impossible revelations before. It was a little over a year ago when you found out I wasn't dead. You had no problem believing that."

"That's different," Klaus said.

"Why? Because you heard it from Esther. That's even more of a reason to be skeptical. I'd trust Freya more than Esther any day," Elena said.

"Thank you, Elena. Although, I know it's a low bar," Freya said.

"If you're our sister, tell us how," Elijah said.

"I'd love to. It's a long story. Shall we make ourselves comfortable?" Freya asked as she pointed to the table.

Elijah nodded curtly before gesturing for everyone to sit down.

Once they were all seated, Freya began her story. "First of all, let me say that I understand you're all skeptical. I know it's hard for you to trust, especially given the fact that you're on the run."

"How much did Elena tell you?" Elijah asked.

"That you were running from a controlling, evil mother. That probably should've been my first inkling. Did any of you know that our mother had a sister?"

They all shook their heads.

"I'm not surprised. Her name is Dahlia, and she's a hundred times worse than Esther," Freya said.

Kol snorted. "That's quite the achievement.

"When I was five, Dahlia came for me. Apparently, our mother had made a deal with her. Dahlia would help her have children, and in exchange, she would hand her firstborn over to Dahlia, as well as the firstborn of every other generation of our family," Freya explained.

"Why? Why would she want you? Couldn't she have her own kids?" Elena asked.

"It wasn't about that. Dahlia didn't want kids. She wanted power. The firstborn children in our family are extremely powerful. That is what Dahlia wanted. Now, why she didn't choose to have a child of her own, I don't know. All that I know is that when I was little, she came and took me away. I was essentially a slave to her. She used me for my magic," Freya told them.

Elena was disgusted. She thought Esther treated the rest of them badly. What she did to Freya was ten times worse. "She just let her take you?"

"If this is true, how are you still alive?" Elijah asked.

"A spell. Dahlia found a way to keep us from dying. She's always been obsessed with immortality. The two of us were linked together and placed into a hundred-year slumber. We lived exactly one year each century and slept the rest of the time while gaining more magic. Our bodies remained preserved as they were, and we were impervious to harm," Freya explained.

"Oh, this is a lovely story," Klaus said sarcastically.

"Shut up, Nik," Elena said. She understood that it was in his nature to be suspicious, but she wouldn't let him make a mockery of what Freya had suffered.

"No. We have no reason to believe her, and even if she is telling the truth, how do we know she's not here on Mother's behalf?" Klaus asked.

"I would not help that woman with anything," Freya said in a dark tone.

"Where is Dahlia now?" Elijah asked. Assuming this was true, he wanted as much information as he could get.

"I don't know. I escaped from her several months after I woke up a hundred years ago. Once I did, I came looking for all of you. I wanted to know you," Freya said.

"Then why didn't you say anything? You found us," Kol reasoned.

"I wasn't exactly impressed with what I saw that night," Freya said as she looked between Klaus and Elijah. That was the night she'd watched them dagger Kol. "Plus, it was only a matter of days before I would go back to sleep. There wasn't time for a reunion."

"So, how long do you have before you sleep again?" Elena asked.

"Oh, I won't. I unlinked myself from Dahlia with the help of the other witches here," Freya said.

"Is that the real reason you took control of the witches?" Elena asked.

"I won't deny that it was part of the appeal, but I did it for the reasons I told you as well. Your turn now. You weren't here when I found the others. I know of every child Esther gave birth to. She had two other children before her death, both died. I imagine you were the youngest, the baby that died," Freya said. Given everything that Elena had said about herself so far tonight, that was the deduction she made.

"You knew about me?" Elena asked surprised.

Freya nodded. "Dahlia kept a close eye on Esther and the rest of her children. She wanted to know when a new generation was born. She was ecstatic to learn about you. You were her last hope of continuing the family line. She was furious when she leaned not long after that you had died of SIDS. I'm guessing that's not what happened.

Elena laughed bitterly. "I didn't die of SIDS. I was murdered. Esther used a spell at the last moment to send my soul forward into the body of another. I was transported a thousand years in time and put into the body of a doppelganger. It killed the girl whose body I'm in."

Freya's eyes widened. "She what?! Is she crazy? The spell you're talking about sounds familiar. I've seen it in Dahlia's grimoire. It's the most dangerous resurrection spell there is. She's lucky she didn't completely obliterate your soul!" she said angrily. That could've ended so badly. Elena dying was bad, but her soul would still exist on the other side. If that spell had gone wrong, it would've been completely destroyed.

"I think she's made it clear that she is bloody crazy," Kol said.

Elena nodded. "She told me when she was brought back a little over a year ago. I was so distraught. I called her a liar and tried to run. She had Finn lock me in a room for the night. Then she held me captive in the house. At that time, the only one I had a good relationship with was Elijah, so it was terrifying."

"Finn did what?" Freya asked in horror. She just realized that he must have been the older brother Elena told her about that she didn't have a good relationship with.

"Finn's a dick. He made my life hell in that house. He did everything Esther asked of him. Hell, he tried to turn her against me entirely. He told her lies about me. The only thing that saved me was recording the conversation," Elena told her.

"I'm going to kill him," Freya said. The first thing she was going to do when she got her hands on her little brother was beat sense into him. How could he treat their sister that much? Had their mother screwed him up that much?

Elena chuckled. "I'd actually love to see that."

"Wait, you said that you were murdered earlier. By who?" Freya asked. Her first thought would've been Esther, but why would their mother kill her just to try to bring her back from the dead?

"Mikael," Elena said.

Freya felt like someone had just stabbed her in the heart with that one word. She remembered her father as a child. He was so loving with her. She could not imagine that he would kill an innocent baby. "What?"

"I wasn't his, and he hated me for that, just like he hated Nik. He hated us even more because we had the werewolf curse. He spent centuries hunting Nik with the purpose of killing him. Before that though, he killed me," Elena said with a shudder. She still had nightmares about that. She didn't remember it, but that apparently didn't matter.

"Excuse me. I just need a minute," Freya said before heading out of the room. Her hands were shaking as she left.

Elena sat there for a few moments before getting up and following her sister. She found her outside on the porch, taking several deep breaths. "I'm sorry, Freya."

Freya turned around and shook her head. "Don't you apologize. You didn't do anything wrong. You were an innocent baby put into a position you never should've been in."

"You loved Mikael, didn't you?" Elena asked. She could see it on Freya's face when she told her about Mikael. She was distraught. This was actually a new experience for Elena. All the others hated Mikael. Freya was the first to seem to have any love for him.

"Very much. It's hard to imagine the man you've just told me about, but I know you're telling me the truth," Freya said.

"I'm sorry you're hurting," Elena said.

"Me too, but that's on Father, not you. I loved him, but he's a baby killer, and I will not love a baby killer. Look, I just need a minute or two and then I'll come back inside. There's more we need to discuss. Know this though. I will not let anyone ever hurt you again, whether it's a stranger, a parent, or a sibling," Freya said in a strong tone. She'd felt protective of Elena before, but now that she was her sister, that feeling had intensified by about a thousand. No one was going to hurt any of her siblings again.

"Thanks. You know, I've wondered what it would be like to know you," Elena said.

Freya smiled at her baby sister. "I've felt the same way about you all, and now we will get that chance. I'll be inside in a second."

Elena nodded before heading back inside.