The Beast and Gaston were a lot more alike than one would think.
"Alice: How long is forever?
White Rabbit: Sometimes, just one second." - Excerpt from Alice in Wonderland
The trunk of gold slammed down on the ground in front of his family. Klaus could not help but preen under their attentions. His family was gathered all around him and his treasures. He could not help but feel as though he was finally something. He was finally something great and worth considering now in the eyes of his family.
His sister was donning every piece of jewelry that she could get her hands on and Henrik was practically glued to his side asking about his adventures and what he had seen. But his mother was looking at him with wary eyes.
What was it mother? He wanted to ask. What about his success was there to be wary about? Klaus was all smiles. His family was marveling at the riches that he had brought home but Klaus wanted the big fish. It was easy to please the likes of Elijah and Kol and Rebekah. No, he wanted to see his father.
And that was the first reason that he did all this to begin with. He wanted to see his father's face; the moment that he saw Klaus with all these riches and good and could not deny the fact that the son that he hated the most was the success that he was.
The door swung open and their father lumbered into the room. All the air in the room might have as well have been sucked from the room. The tension was palpable. Klaus could feel every hair on his body standing on edge but he put a smile on his face.
Deep inside, Klaus knew that his father would find nothing of worth in what he had brought them. He knew his father would see nothing but filth when he beheld the riches before him. Despite that though there was a part of Klaus that which sought his father's approval. All he wanted was for his father to look at him with the pride that he looked at the rest of his children with. That is all that he desired.
Mikael looked around the space. He took in Rebekah with all her gold and jewels. He took in Elijah and Finn who were the closest to Klaus their hands on his back. He took his Esther who was a little ways away from the group supervising everything.
Mikael took one look at everything.
"Probably took it off the corpses of more worthy men," Mikael gruffed walking into the house. He lumbered over to the fire and Esther was quick to flit around him, gathering his dinner and bringing it to him like the sopping idiot that she was.
"Father-" Elijah started. But Klaus held up a hand to stop him.
"No he's right. I did take these off the corpses of men. Men that fell at the end of my sword," Klaus said. He felt something burning in his chest. Everything that he did, he did it in some stupid pursuit of making this man proud. But it was all for naught. It was all pointless to do all of this. "You have probably heard from the other men who made their way back. They call me Klaus the True Claw because my sword always finds its mark."
"Bullshit, you probably just got lucky this time around," Mikael said. The food was placed before him and Mikael began to eat. There was still that burning in Klaus's chest. He wanted his father to look at him, to see everything that he achieved despite the thought that he was nothing more than a failure.
"You know I have a long time to think about you and everything that you have put me through," Klaus said. The heat in his chest was growing and it was spewing out of his mouth with the heat and flame and ardor of a dragon. "I just came to realize that you are nothing more than a sad pathetic man who hates seeing anyone do anything great because you're envious that it hasn't happened to you."
The room was silent.
Mikael lowered his meal to the ground and turned to look at the boy - no man - in front of him. Klaus shook his head. Everyone in the room was staring at him, waiting for him to turn around and take back the words that he had just said. But despite the part of him was shivering.
No one had ever had the gall to speak to Mikael like that. No one. Not even his mother. But now Klaus felt that heat in his body. He wanted to say everything that was on his mind. The words poured out of him like the falls.
"You are a pathetic man that has achieved nothing in your life but the glut of children you have birthed. You resent Mother for the power that you think that you should have. You resent us for the potential of what we could be. You are a shallow sad, pathetic excuse of a man that-"
He fell to the ground. Klaus did not feel it at first. But the pain radiated out from his cheek. He looked up to see his father panting over him. His family were silent. They were frozen, watching the interaction between Klaus and Mikael. They waited with bated breath.
This was the part where Klaus receded. This was when he resigned himself to his father's anger. But Klaus didn't want to suffer his father's malice any longer. He was going to rise above it.
Klaus shot up like an arrow. His hand lashed out. The slap was not clean, Klaus's fingers curled catching in his father's cheek and giving him thin paper like cuts. The blood flowed freely from his father's face, catching under Klaus's fingers.
Esther and Rebekah had hands over their mouths. There was a part of Klaus that was surprised by his own actions. Mikael did not let him wonder at his own power. Mikael launched himself at Klaus with a flurry of fists, but Klaus was faster. He dodged, allowing his father to fall to the ground and then he fell atop him.
It was with a whirlwind of fists that he bloodied his father. Every hit was for those times when Klaus felt alone in the world. Every punch was for when Klaus sat in his cot and licked his wound.
Rebekah and his mother were screaming, and Klaus could feel his brother's pulling at his arms and shoulders, trying to get him off his father. But Klaus could not stop, would not stop. It felt good, it felt right. After so long living in fear from this man, Klaus was the one that should be feared. It was Klaus that was inflicting pain and not the other way around.
Elijah and Finn managed to pull Klaus off his father. Klaus looked down at the mess that he had made. His father's face was a bloody and bruised pulp. His nose was broken and bleeding profusely. One of his eyes was swollen shut and there were bruises on his cheeks.
For a moment Klaus could not believe what he had done. There was a part of him that was recoiling at the thought that he had done that to his own father. But Klaus just could not handle the anger burgeoning in his chest.
His mother went to Mikael. She pressed hands to his face, her eyes foggy with unshed tears as she patted and tried to soothe his father. In that moment, the pride that Klaus felt ebbed away and all that he could feel was shame.
What was he thinking? He was no better than his father for doing this. But as quick as the thought rose in his mind it was immediately dashed. Klaus was nothing like his father. His father hurt his children, hurt him all because he thought that his children could not fight back. Klaus had to do something in order to make sure that his siblings were safe from Mikael.
Esther rose from the ground and turned away from Mikael. In her eyes there was nothing but fire. Klaus's eyes widened. Why was she mad at him? It was Mikael who started it. It was always Mikael who did things and Klaus had to pay the price for it.
"You brute!" Esther said, her voice low and clearly incensed. "How dare you do this to your father! After everything he has done for you and your siblings."
Something in Klaus broke at the thought. His mother was siding with that monster instead of him. His heart was beating in his chest, but all that he felt was the fact that his chest was caving in with the anguish he was feeling.
If his mother would side with that monster then she was no better than him. Klaus shook his head and wiped his hands on his pants. The blood was going to stain but that was not something that he was going to think about. He shrugged off the touch of his brother and turned to face the rest of his siblings.
"I am going to have a house built for myself. You are all welcome to join me there when it is finally built," Klaus said. The words came out terse, but his back was fully to his mother and father to make the message more than clear. "If you need me I will be with Caroline."
The thought of his mother looking at him with those eyes made something burn in Klaus. He was her son and yet she was so ready to throw him away all for that man. Klaus could not even consider Mikael his father any longer.
But still there was a part of him, small and wanting, that wanted his parents to love him the way that they obviously loved Finn and the nameless older sister that they left the new world for. How lucky it must be to be a child that was adored by their parents.
Klaus walked out from the house and felt the anger in his chest slowly subsiding. It didn't matter that his mother chose his father over him. It did not matter that his father did not think much of the gold and jewels that he brought back with him. What mattered was that Klaus was now officially out of the house.
Caroline was right in that he needed to make a place where his siblings could hid from their father. Mikael was surely not going to be any better and Klaus could not trust his mother to defend his siblings.
It was… unfortunate that Henrik and Rebekah had to see him clobber their father, but it was something that needed to be done. It was something that had to be done. Klaus was the one that needed to protect his family. He wanted to care for them the way that Mikael and Esther were reluctant to do.
Klaus strode over to Caroline's cottage and knocked on the door. He had already chosen something out for her, to thank her for her help in training and making sure that he survived his first raid. He smiled as he heard someone coming from behind the door.
It swung open and Klaus was met with the face of Ayana and not caroline. Klaus's smile almost dropped from his face, but he was better practiced with disappointment more than most people and so the smile stayed upright. Klaus nodded his head.
"Ayana! When did you get back?" Klaus asked with a bright inflection in his tone. Ayana tilted her head and peered closer at him.
"Sometime after you left on your first raid. Here to show the spoils of war?" Ayana said, stepping aside so that Klaus could walk into the cottage. Everything stayed exactly the same. The smell of lavender and the scent of boiling broth brought back thoughts of when he was staying in the house with Caroline.
He could already imagine her and the smile that would grace her face the moment that she saw him. She was always so bright and happy, despite everything that happened to her she was always full of light. The gift that he had for her burned inside of his pocket and all he could think about was the fact she would love it.
Ayana shook her head. "I never thought that you or any of your siblings would go out on a raid," Ayana said as she went to the cooking by the fire. She poured some spices into the mix, sending an earthy herbal scent wafting through the small cottage.
Without a word, Ayana waved him over and Klaus came. He was surprised when Ayana brought a warm cloth to his hands. She wiped at the wounds and the blood on his knuckles and looked down at his hands with something akin to amusement.
"I was wondering when someone would stand up to Mikael. I have told Esther a thousand times that something would happen if she did not stop Mikael. Gods, above I do not even know why she married that man given his reputation. But women do strange things when they claim they are in love."
Klaus scoffed. "That is a shit excuse."
Ayana did not look put off by his crass language, she only chuckled. "It is not an excuse but it explains why she is the way that she is. You need to understand that your mother and your father are broken people. After the loss of their first child something changed in them. Something was warped and they are not the same people they were before that."
Klaus considered her words. He knew that his mother and father still mourned the loss of their first child. They never spoke about the child, but everything in their lives now oriented around that child. The moved to the New World and their father was obsessed with wealth because he was not well off when their sister died.
Everything in their lives was about power and having it so that they never lost another child, but could they not see their obsession was drawing their children away from them? Could they not understand that the way they were was harming their children?
Klaus shook his head. Yes, Ayana was right that they were broken people that were clinging to a loss that happened years ago, but it was still unfair to the rest of them to have to suffer for something that they had no hand in.
"Is Caroline here?" Klaus asked, done with the conversation. The smile on Ayana's lips grew wider and she let out a small huff of laughter.
"She just went to fetch some water and bring a poultice to a family. She will return soon enough."
Klaus couldn't wait.
She swore she saw it in his eyes. That flash of gold.
Gods above why did she do this to herself. It was a mistake, some stupid mistake that she had made in her grief and mourning. All she wanted was a bit of comfort. How was she to know that it would come to this?
She knew that she was playing with fire the moment that she lay with a wolf, but she needed someone and Mikael was always gone.
Esther wrung the cloth in her hands and pressed the cloth against Mikael's swelling face. Wiping the blood from his nose and chin, she could not help but marvel at the strength that her son held in just his hands alone.
It was too much. It was not right.
Mikael was not a bad man. He had made mistakes, sure, but he was not bad. He provided for them and at this point that was all Esther could have asked for. He provided her with some stability and despite the fact that he could be harsh he protected them well enough.
It was Niklaus's fault. It had to be. Because if it was not…
Esther shook her head as Mikael groaned under her ministrations. She shushed him and wiped more blood from around his nose. Head wounds had a tendency to bleed more than necessary. She kept wiping with soft feather light touches.
She needed to fix this. She needed to do something. The necklace was working but it did not help with the strength and the anger. Esther needed to do something more, she needed to stifle the power that Klaus was gaining.
Niklaus had always been a special baby, ever since he was born. From the moment she birthed him she knew that he was going to give her trouble because he would not fall into line the way that the others would.
Ah, yes, her rebellious child. Never one to follow the life plan that she had laid out for him. What she wanted to do with her children was simple. Have them live magicless and unremarkable lives. That way they could avoid the attention and detection of other witches and whatever else was out there.
And now they were lauding him as some sort of berserker when he was nothing more than a mutt. He was nothing more than a child who was playing at adult games. No, Esther had to do something about this. She had to make sure that he could harm no one else.
The wolves were nothing more than people that were cursed for their hubris and she would not have that curse plaguing her family. No, she would deal with this curse outright. She would make sure to put an end to Klaus Trueclaw and ensure that her family lived out the lives that she deemed appropriate.
Esther wiped the last of the blood from Mikael's face and wrapped his face in healing wraps. She had Rebekah bathe them in a poltice so they smelled heavily of herbs but it would be good for him. It would make sure that the bones set properly. Esther left some space for his mouth and the crooked slant of his nose.
Esther rose from the pallet where Mikael was resting. She opened the trunk sitting at the foot of the bed. She pulled out her grimoires and scoured the pages. The suppressing charm was working fine. It was working perfectly, but she knew that she could do better.
She grabbed another grimoire out of the trunk; it was her mother's. She looked at spell after spell. Each one detailing everything that she had to do in order to suppress a curse. And then she saw something that she had never thought possible.
A face stared back at her. It was in a grimoire that was older than Esther and her family. It was one that her so many great grandmother took for herself when they were burning witches some centuries past. The face that stared out at her was one that was deeply familiar, though Esther knew exactly where she had seen that face before.
Tatia's face looked out at her. In the annals of the book it spoke at length about the magical properties of the doppelganger. Their blood could be the binding agent that allowed for the spell to work. Esther smiled as she looked down at the face.
Yes, this could work… Esther read the spell and everything that she was going to need in order to do the sealing spell. It was simply a matter of getting everything together. All she needed to do was right before her.
"You will not shame this family," Esther muttered under her breath. Mikael groaned from the bed and rolled. Esther was quick to be at his side. Mikael moaned a little bit and tried to raise a hand to his face, but Esther held him back. "Darling, wait. You need this so that the bones will set right."
"Blast that boy. After everything I have done for him. Everything that I have sacrificed. Allowing him to eat scraps from my table was too good for him," Mikael said.
"I know my love, I know," Esther said, petting at his arms and patting his shoulders. Niklaus was acting so ungrateful. After everything that they have sacrificed to make sure they lived comfortable lives. "But I have a way to make sure that everything goes back to the way it was. The way that it is supposed to be."
Mikaeln groaned again and rolled on his side, laying on the least bruised part of his face. "Get it done and make sure that boy suffers for this indignity."
Esther smiled and pressed a kiss to her husband's hand. "Of course, my love. Of course."
She would make sure that everything was the way that it should be.
Tatia watched as the men celebrated. The mead hall was alight with laughter and tales of adventures and glory. Tatia walked into the mead hall knowing that all eyes were on her.
She wore a deep purple dress, one of her more low cut ones that brought out her eyes. She looked around, her hair braided and twisted so that it made her face appear more angular but not too angular that they could mistake it for age. No, she wanted these men to know that she was a grown woman and that she was ripe for the taking.
But not any man was going to be the one that picked her. No, Tatia was more selective than that. She wanted the best man, the strongest man, to take her. A man winked at her, but he was far too old for Tatia and his attention was soon swayed.
Men were such simple beings. It was a wonder that they thought themselves the leaders and patriarchs of the world. They were nothing more than children, throwing tantrums when they did not get their way.
All men wanted was a good fuck, some food and thinking that they were the top of the world. And it was easy to make men believe those things to be true. Tatia knew that she was a good lay. She knew that she was pretty and she could make some good food. That was all a man needed to feel as though they were on top of the world.
Tatia smiled as she snaked her way through the crowd. People were singing, dancing and drinking and it was all well and good, but she had heard the tale of the man of the hour and he was sitting with the Jarl of the land.
His blond hair was longer and the stubble that covered his chin was a bit too long to be considered stubble at this point. Tatia smiled as she came to the table and all the men paused when she stood before them.
Tatia bent at the waist and smiled when she felt the stares of the men flitting over her chest and neck. She rose after a moment and smiled at the men. They were waiting for her to speak and Tatia smiled and let the hand that she was twirling her hair with drop and lighting brush against her chest.
Their eyes lazily followed her hand and she was quick to bring her hand back up to her mouth where her fingers brushed against her mouth. The men watched her hands and she knew she had them enraptured in a matter of moments.
"I was hoping to meet the berserker that everyone has been talking about. Niklaus Blueclaw I think his name was," Tatia said with a hum.
"Niklaus Trueclaw," he said and he rose, those blue eyes looking at her from his seat. Tatia laughed and lowered her hand from her mouth and popped her hip.
"Well then what did I say?" she said with a pout. Klaus walked over to her and tilted his head. Ah, those eyes. They were intense and burning with a passion. Was he imagining stripping her dress off? Touching her where other men have been dying to see?
A lascivious grin played on both their mouths and Tatia felt as though she was sinking deeper into his gaze. He was just so decadent.
"How can I help you, Tatia?"
Ha! And he remembered her name! One battle was already won. Tatia smiled and pressed closer to him, their chests barely brushing against one another with every inhale.
"I just wanted to hear tale of your prowess. I have never met a berserker before." She rested a hand lightly on his arm, not too light, but feather light enough to remind him how close she was, how much closer she could be.
"I would be remiss to not regale a lady of my glory," Klaus said with a grin. He took her hand and led her to an alcove. They sat and Klaus told her about the battles he fought and the gold that he took. Everything was all well and good in that front and Tatia knew that she would be well taken care of with him.
Tatia inched closer and closer and soon she was almost glued to his side. As Klaus spoke Tatia stared at his plush lips and without thinking she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his own. The kiss was hard and rough the way that Tatia liked it. It had been so long since she last felt something like this.
Klaus pressed more insistently against her. Tatia smiled into the kiss and pressed her mouth harder against his own. God this man could kiss and his lips were so plush. Tatia moaned into the kiss and grabbed his hand and placed it on her chest. Klaus reared back almost in shock.
Okay, that was a bit too much for their first kiss. Klaus pulled back and Tatia pulled his hand and wrapped it in his own. She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. Her hands feathered around him, touching and not touching everywhere.
She turned and looked up into his eyes from under her lashes. Her voice was soft as she said, "You are just so… powerful. I couldn't help but get a little… hot?"
Klaus nodded his head, his throat bobbed and Tatia smiled and nestled in closer to him. This one was going to be all hers.
Author's Note: Doing Tatia's POV was near impossible. Thanks to the Klaroline Discord for helping me with that. Also Esther is such a bitch. Still no idea where this story is going. And what type of creature is Caroline? That has yet to be discovered. I am going to hold that one to my chest for a moment longer.