It had been a few days since Hope had brought Elena home after Stefan nearly drove Elena off of Wickery Bridge. Elena had given Klaus back Rebekah's body as an attempt at a peace offering to stop all of this. But Klaus wanted his whole family, and Stefan was being unbearably frustrating. However, after some conflict with the Bennett witches, doppelganger, and younger Salvatore, Klaus now had his family being carted in to his mansion.

Hope looked up, her eyes widening as she saw the coffins being brought in. "You found them?" Relief was obvious in her voice.

"It took a bit of effort, but yes I do. And your location was right. Now I can store them safely away" Klaus said

"You don't want to free them yet?" she questioned, looking at him.

Klaus shook his head yet. "I need to figure some things out first. I still have some unfinished business to take care of"

His hybrid that had been helping asked "What business?"

Suddenly a hand went through him and pulled out his heart. The hybrids body dropped, revealing Elijah behind him with the hybrid's heart in his hand. Hope's lips parted open in surprise as her gaze landed on her uncle that had died with her father.

"So, Niklaus..." Elijah greeted, looking at his brother.

"Elijah?" Klaus questioned, his eyes wide.

"What did I miss?" Elijah asked. When Klaus failed to reply, he continued. "You look surprised to see me. So it wasn't you that removed the dagger from my chest?"

"You look like you could do with a drink. And we have a lot to discuss, so shall we?"

Elijah attacked him, and Klaus flew through a window.

Hope magically threw Elijah back, pinning him against the wall. "Can you both sort things out in a civilized way?"

"Things with my brother are never civil. Who are you?" Elijah questioned.

"A friend of your brother's. Now if I let you down, can you not attack Klaus?"

"We can attempt a civilized discussion. Do you know what he has done?"

"I do" Hope looked at him before dropping the spell.

Elijah straightened himself up.

Klaus got up and looked at Elijah, glad he had the support of someone. "Easy. I just finished renovating. You know you have every right to be mad at me. But I kept my word, I reunited you with our family."

Elijah moved toward him, angry.

Hope sighed. "Corpori impetu" She said, freezing Elijah in his place. "Civilized, remember? You're 1000 years old. Both of you. Act like grown ups" She snapped before breaking the spell.

Klaus and Elijah both looked a bit ashamed of themselves, Klaus because Hope was the only person that genuinely liked him. And Elijah because he favored being the most civilized Mikaelson.

"Mikael is dead" Klaus said after a moment

Elijah looked at him, stunned. "What did you say?"

"I killed him. With his own weapon. He's gone Elijah. Forever."

It was obvious how much the mere thought was a relief to Klaus. Mikael had abused him all throughout his human life and then chased him for the past a thousand years. No one deserved to endure that. And Hope too was quite glad her non biological grandfather was dead.

"Very well. Is there anything else you would like to tell me?"

"Mikael did not kill our mother. I did"

The words escaped Klaus' mouth before he could stop it. He didnt want Elijah to hear it from someone else like Rebekah had. But the only person he had told this to before was Aurora, which ended horribly. Not at the time but later. She had called him a monster. And so thats what he became. Regardless of how much Hope disagreed.

Elijah nodded. "That is something of the past and something I had suspected. I aught to go get some blood after being daggered in a box for months" Elijah said before leaving

Klaus let out a breath he didnt know he was holding, briefly in that moment showing a vulnerability he tried to hide. He hated fighting with his siblings. But sometimes it seemed necessary. But for now Elijah was not leaving. Nor was he continuing to hit him.

Hope walked over to Klaus and pulled him into a hug. Klaus, still not used to hugs, tensed up a bit before slowly easing up and relaxing, hugging her back. Hope soon pulled away and looked up at him. "Well that went better than you expected" she said. "So what's the plan now? Besides getting that coffin back?"

"I want to wake my family up, but... I-" He paused, not wanting to use a word in relation to fear. "I have had them daggered for different amounts of time each. Kol is... not always predictable and he will be angry with me for daggering him again. Finn has been daggered for centuries. And Rebekah... now that she knows I killed our mother, she may never forgive me"

"They will forgive you eventually, even if it takes time" Hope said, looking at him. "But they deserve to know the truth"

Klaus sighed softly. "I feel as though today will be a long day with Elijah's return, and I need to figure out how to handle the Salvatore situation. Could you watch out for Elena?"

"Not that I'm complaining, but why not have one of your hybrids do it?"

"They are sired to me and have to do whatever I say, but you are the only one that truly wants to help me yet is also somehow a good person as well. And I trust you to ensure things don't go wrong. You can return later if you'd like. I do not know what is going to happen here in the meantime"

"Alright. I'll go" Hope agreed.

"Not yet. I just... I... I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me" It was obvious Klaus wasnt used to thanking people. But the genuine look in his eyes warmed Hope's heart. He meant it, and she was glad to be here with her family.

"You're welcome. Maybe we could paint later. Once you've finished sorting things out with Elijah"

"I would like that" Klaus smiled at her.

"Right. Well, I'm gonna go keep an eye out. I'll see you later" Hope said before heading out of the house.

--

Elijah Mikaelson reached the woods, slowing a little as he reached the older Salvatore brother. He had far from forgiven his brother but knew better than acting impulsively and ending up daggered again. So once he saw the note in his pocket, he knew he needed to talk to Damon and see what he wanted to discuss.

"Elijah, my favorite original, back from the dead. Clean up nice" Damon said with a light smirk as he looked at him.

"You left something, in my jacket pocket" Elijah reached inside his jacket and pulled out a note.

"Oh, yeah. 'Dear Elijah, let's get together, plot the destruction of your brother, XOXO'"

"Damon" Elijah said, wanting to get to the specifics of the meeting.

"Was I right to undagger you or are we gonna have a problem?"

"I'm here, let's talk" Elijah said calmly, looking at Damon.

"I'll start with an easy question. Any idea what kind of Klaus killing weapon could be magically sealed in a mystery coffin?"

"No. Niklaus never spoke of it. My brother tends to be quite paranoid, and if there was something other than my father that could kill him, he would keep it to himself"

"Of course he would. Well we're trying to get it opened. I'd tell you where, but I'm not sure you're trustworthy yet, seeing as the last time you agreed to help us, you ended up saving Klaus instead"

"He said he would reunite me with our family. I gave him the benefit of the doubt in case I could get my siblings back. Instead a dagger was put through my heart. I am done believing there is hope for my brother" Elijah said. "Not if his presence results in the rest of us being his prisoners"

"Good. Did you meet Hope?" Damon asked

"I did. Who is she?" Elijah questioned.

"She and Klaus apparently met while he was in Chicago with my brother during the summer. They've gotten so close that he chose to get her back over getting his family back. She's part werewolf and part witch"

"I have never heard of anyone that is a hybrid of two creatures besides my brother"

"I know. But thats not all. She heals faster than werewolves do. And Stefan said a witch they met while in Chicago said she was very powerful." Damon said. "As long as she is in the picture, even if we have the coffin open, it's going to be difficult. Because despite Elena's belief that Hope is good, Hope will protect your brother."

"I will figure out what to do in regards to Hope then" Elijah said. "In the meantime, get the coffin opened. I'm going to wake up our family once you do. They all despise him, and will even moreso once they know what happened to our mother"

Damon wasn't exactly thrilled but nodded. "Alright. We need to buy time for the coffin to be opened. Perhaps we can have a meeting to fake a truce. A long dinner party."

"I can arrange that" Elijah said with a small nod.

"Good. Then I suppose I will see you this afternoon" Damon said before leaving.

--

When Hope tracked Elena and reached the hospital, she spotted her hugging her best friend and Hope's former (future?) headmistress who was crying. The tribrid cloaked herself, trying to figure out if it would be a good idea to go over but instead decided to do some investigating once she saw the body. She inhaled sharply and walked away before uncooaking herself, thinking about the body she saw lying on the ground, a knife in his chest.

Her mind was spinning as she thought about that and the other recent attacks in town. There had to be an answer. As she entered the filing information to find out more, she felt someone injecting something into her neck. Hope stumbled back as instinct kicked in and a wave of magic threw Meredith Fell back. Hope pulled the syringe out of her arm, energy a bit drained from her and her body burning a bit on the inside from the injection.

"I'm sorry" Hope said, offering a hand to help her up.

Meredith Fell looked at her hand and slowly took it before getting up. "You should be weaker right now. And why are you being nice to me? I attacked you"

"Because you're just worried about the people in the town. And with the recent deaths I dont blame you. Also because I want to know what you know about them. The recent attacks"

"Not much. Besides the fact they suspected Alaric Saltzman because the weapons were his. And that they were vampire sympathizers based on the looks of it."

Hope sighed. "Alright. Well, I'll try figuring it all out. I dont really expect you to be open more to me considering I assume you know who I am. Or at least who I'm working with. But just be careful. And tell them to contact me if something big happens that doesn't involve Klaus. Since I've gathered you talk to the Mystic Falls group"

Meredith shook her head. "They dont know how much I know. And I want to keep it that way."

"Then here" Hope wrote down her phone number and handed it to her. "Just in case. I should get going. And don't try that on me again"

Without another word, the tribrid walked out of the room.

--

After talking to Caroline and Bill about vampirism, Elena left them both to help Alaric and give them some privacy. "What are you doing?" she asked as she entered her house and spotted Alaric in the kitchen with a set of his weapons.

"Taking inventory" Alaric said "Did you bring it?"

"You mean, did I steal evidence from a crime scene? Yes." She gave him the stake.

Alaric compared the stolen piece of evidence with his collection. "You're right. It's a match. This is from a crawl space in the foyer. Which means, Meredith knew where it was."

"That doesn't mean, she stole it."

He showed her other stakes. "This is from the loft. These are from the duffel in Damon's car."

"Identical to the one that killed Brian Walters." Brian Walters was Meredith's ex that had been killed at a Founders party. The start of the attacks. So far there had only been two. Not enough to create a pattern.

"Damon's car was at the Wickery-Bridge fundraiser, so was Meredith. And that was the night her ex-boyfriend, the medical examiner, was killed. The one who called her psycho."

Elena's face faltered, but her instincts were telling her this Meredith person wasn't the killer. "Well, she was trying to save Bill Forbes, why would she turn around and try to kill him?"

Alaric said "I don't know what to think either. You know, but... we'd be idiots to ignore all these facts."

"So what should we do?"

"Well... Get this to the police" he passed her back the evidence. "As if we don't have enough to deal with in regards to Klaus and this Hope person. But now we have to deal with my newest girlfriend being potentially a murderous psychopath"

"I dont think Hope will be much of a problem. I mean she seems to genuinely care"

"Yeah, well, I thought Isobel cared about me. But it wasn't enough. It might not be with Hope either" Alaric said

Elena's gaze lowered and she nodded. "She could be a threat. I could be wrong. But I just... I dont want people jumping onto the idea of killing her."

"I understand, Elena" Alaric assured her.

"Good. I should probably go be with Caroline, considering everything she is going through" Elena said, looking at him before leaving

--

Hours later, once Hope spotted Elena outside on the steps of the porch of the Forbes residence alone, she walked over to her, wanting to make sure she was alright. Not just for Klaus but for everyone.

"Hey. Are you okay?" Hope asked softly, looking at her.

"Not really" the doppelganger admitted. "My best friend's dad is dying today. He doesn't want to complete the transition. I was there for her. But now it's time to leave the family be. So I should probably go"

"I'll walk with you to your house" Hope said

"Do I have a choice?"

"Of course you do. But I just want to be here for you and make sure nothing happens. I mean your friend has her mom. But clearly the death and your friend being upset is affecting you too. I'll be here and walk with you if you want"

Elena sighed and nodded. "Okay" she agreed, looking at Hope.

The tribrid gave her a small smile and started heading down the street. Elena walked alongside her.

"I told Damon you weren't bad just because you help Klaus. He doesn't believe me. Neither does Ric. But I just thought you should know I tried to talk them out of having issues with you"

"Its okay. They're just being protective over you. People do crazy things for the people they love. Romantically or otherwise"

"Like you with Landon and Klaus?"

Hope nodded, not wanting to talk about that. She sighed softly and looked around the streets. "And you care about the Salvatores, your best friends, and D-Alaric"

Once they reached the house, Elena headed inside and Hope followed after. Hope was thinking about the dinner party and what could he going on with her family and the Salvatores.

Elena tried to turn on the lights, but they didn't come on. "That's weird"

"Electricity must be out" Hope said and raised her hands. "Post tenebras spero lucem" A ball of light formed over the palm of her hand.

Elena looked at her curiously. "That looks pretty handy"

"Yeah you have no idea. Even with wolf sight, it can be helpful."

"I'm gonna get a flashlight in case you need to do any more magic. And you really don't have to stay"

"I want to" Hope said, looking at her. "Besides" She followed her towards the kitchen. "With the dinner party between Klaus, Elijah, Stefan, and Damon, I could use something to do. And you look like you could use some company"

"I wanted to stay with Caroline after everything. But I was there for her. And now she'd rather be alone with her family. I just wish we could figure out who is causing all of -" Elena stopped, seeing a puddle of blood. "Oh my God!"

"What the hell?" Hope muttered and listened carefully, pulling a knife out. "Someone's upstairs"

They followed the bloody footprints out of the kitchen and went up the stairs. There here were more bloody handprints on the wall. Once Hope reached the top of the stairs and looked around, she saw Alaric lying in a doorway with a knife through his stomach. Both the tribrid and the doppelganger gasped and rushed over to him

"Dr Saltzman" Hope breathed out, not wanting to lose him. This wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to be okay.

"Ric! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Elena exclaimed, moving to pull the knife out. Alaric screamed out in pain, and Hope stopped her from pulling it out further.

"No, leave it in! Leave it in! He's lost too much blood."

Elena looked at him. "Ric, look at me. Who did this to you?"

"I dont know" Alaric said, wincing in pain. "You have to kill me"

"What?" Hope questioned incredulously.

"Wait, wait, wait, He's right" Elena said. "If he dies a supernatural death, then he'll come back to life and he'll be healed."

"What? But didn't that not work last time? He ended up coming back to life and starting to die again" Hope said.

"I don't see another option"

Hope cursed a little under her breath. "I do. Just give me a minute. Stay here and don't do anything"

Her voice was firm. She took off down the stairs and pulled out a glass from the kitchen. She bit her wrist and let her blood fall into the cup before cleaning off the last bit of blood on her hand as it healed up almost instantly. She rushed back upstairs with the glass and returned to Alaric's side. Hope gripped the knife and pulled it out.

"What is that?" Elena asked, barely able to see in the dark. She hadn't grabbed the flashlight she planned on getting.

"Vampire blood. I keep some with me" Hope said and fed it to him.

She couldn't help it. She couldn't let him just die. The tribrid let out a sigh of relief as she saw the wound starting to heal, and she looked down at the blood on her hands. Dr Saltzman's blood. The blood of the man who was like a father to her.

"You're gonna be okay. You're healing"

Elena held Alaric's bloody hand a bit, seeing him as a sort of second father as well. Not knowing that Hope too felt the same way.

"I, uh, I'm gonna go wash up. Just call my name if something happens. But he should be okay now" Hope said and stood up before heading downstairs. She went over to the sink and washed her hands, thinking. Her gaze drifted to the blood on her outfit, remembering how much blood had been on Alaric. She shook off the memory and cleaned off the knife and the glass she had put the blood in. She magically lit candles and started to clean up any blood she saw smeared anywhere.

And as Elena sat beside Alaric, who was on a bed, already asleep the second he was changed, she pulled out her phone and hesitated before calling Damon. Thoughts were swimming through her head. About the attacks. About the kiss. About Klaus and everything else. However, instead of being able to speak to Damon, the call rang until it went to voice mail. Something inside Elena deflated as he didnt answer the phone.

It was strange how Damon went from someone she wanted distance from to the person she called to spend time with, to help her, and to inform about everything going on. Before she called anyone else. And part of her knew it was because at some point she had fallen in love with him, and nothing had been the same ever since.

--

When Hope made her way back to the Mikaelson mansion after cleaning up the blood, Klaus turned to look at her in shock. "You're covered in blood"

"It's not mine. Or Elena's. We are both okay. I'll explain everything later. But clearly you are preoccupied" Hope said.

"I am" Klaus said, still holding Stefan's arm in the fire. It was obvious he had been for a little bit. The arm was very badly burnt.

"What are you doing?" Hope looked at him.

"Getting what I want."

"Go ahead and kill me, I know you'll do it when he brings the coffin" Stefan said

Klaus pulled Stefan out of the fireplace. "You really have given up, haven't you? Where's the fight? Where's the ripper?" He pushed Stefan. Stefan pushed Klaus back, glaring at the hybrid. His emotions were still focused on his rage towards Klaus. Suddenly, Elijah and Damon re-entered the room.

"Elijah... why haven't you left?" Klaus asked his brother in confusion

"Where are you ma