ELIJAH was lying on his bed in the compound, still asleep from Esther's spell. He was breathing erratically, covered in a thin sheen of sweat, and his muscles were tense, as though he was being overwhelmed by fear.

Ingrid sat next to his bed, staring blankly in front of her while Klaus stood over the bed and spoke to his brother. "I know you are locked in battle, however deep in your mind our mother has set the stage. Hear my voice." He called out softly and Elijah twitched anxiously in his sleep. "Our mother thinks she will win because she has left you alone, but you are not alone. Let me in." Klaus put one hand on his head and one hand on his chest, hoping to gain entry into Elijah's mind. Elijah's body went rigid as though he had been shocked and his muscles began to seize and spasm painfully.

"Let me help end whatever torment she has forced upon you." Klaus offered kindly and his nose began to bleed while getting glimpses of the dreams Elijah had been having. Klaus groaned in pain as he continued to try to break through.

Ingrid snapped out of her own thoughts and immediately turned to her husband in concern. "Niklaus..." she whispered to him and slowly stood up from her chair. "Niklaus, can you hear me?" She was about to approach him when Hayley stormed into the room.

She gripped Klaus on the shoulder and ripped him away from Elijah, gaping at him in confused. "What are you doing?"

Klaus, startled, panted in an attempt to catch his breath as he wiped the blood from his nose. "I'm trying to enter Elijah's thoughts to wake him." He replied and gestured to Elijah, who was still sleeping fitfully. "Esther's locked me out."

Hayley walked over to Elijah, noticing a flower petal-shaped wound on his neck, and pointed to it. "Is this rash a side effect of the witchy acid trip he's on?"

Klaus frowned and returned to Elijah's bedside to examine the wound more carefully. "I haven't seen this since I was a child. Mikael would return home from battle more blindly temperamental than usual, and our mother would use the petals of a rare merlock orchid to put him to sleep." He explained while Ingrid growled lowly to herself. "She would mend his mind with a spell, and then wake him with the roots of the same plant." He then turned toward the women, looking hopeful. "If she has access to it now, then maybe it also grows in the Bayou." He mused lowly and looked at Ingrid. "Please stay with him."

Ingrid nodded her head in understanding and sat back in her seat. "I fear if I went into the bayou, I would rip your mother's head off."

"For once, Ingrid and I agree." Hayley commented in surprise and crossed her arms over her chest.

Klaus shook his head and looked at her seriously. "Stay clear of her. I mean it, Hayley. She already got to you once. What would happen if Elijah were to wake and find you a victim of her madness?" He questioned with a stern look, using her feelings for Elijah to sway her anger.

Hayely sighed and rolled her eyes before reluctantly giving in. "I won't go after her. I promise."

Klaus looked at her for a moment before turning toward Ingrid and walking in her direction. "I will return soon. Keep trying to break through please." He pleaded with an appreciative smile and she nodded without saying anything. Noticing her demeanor, he frowned deeply and grew concerned. "Are you okay, my love?"

Ingrid shook her sorrows away from a minute and mustered up a convincing smile. "It's not important right now but I will share when Elijah is alright."

He grabbed her hand and squeezed it assuringly before placing a kiss on her knuckles and smiling affectionately. "Alright. I'll be home soon."

"Be careful, darling." She warned with a worried expression and shifted in her seat. "Esther is still out there and she out matches us at the moment."

"I'll be careful." He promised before kissing her knuckles again and leaving the room.

Hayley turned back toward Elijah and approached the bed to talk to him. She cast a glance at Ingrid, who met her eyes, and spoke quietly. "I've learned a few things from your mother. I won't go after her. I'll go after everything that she loves."

Ingrid giggled to herself and looked down at her lap, licking her lips, then smirked at the hybrid. "Esther loves nothing." She informed the brunette with a dark laugh and shook her head.

Hayley frowned and looked at Elijah again, worried for his well-being, before turning around and leaving just like Klaus.

Throughout the entire evening, Ingrid attempted to break through to Elijah's mind just to get vague glimpses and a migraine. Hours had passed and she tried too many times to her patience. Realizing it was ultimately useless to keep doing the same task just to get the same result, she sat back in her seat and looked at her brother-in-law, speaking to him despite his inability to respond. "This is insanity."

"Elijah." She called out to him in a gentle tone of voice and looked down at her hands. "I know I pester you quite often but I do care for and love you. You are not alone. You will never be alone. We will always have your back. Always and forever."

"This..." She trailed off and licked her lips before reaching over to grab his hand. "This family would not thrive without you. After losing our daughter, Niklaus and I would have easily massacred this entire city had it not been for you. You truly are the leader of this family and much to my dismay... we need your leadership."

"How is he?" Klaus arrived back home and headed straight for Elijah's room.

"More or less the same." Ingrid answered with a frown, letting go of his hand and standing up.

Klaus pulled out a handkerchief and started smearing the poultice onto Elijah's neck while speaking quietly. "We were innocent once, Elijah. This bloodlust was forced upon us by our parents, turning us from prey to predator. We're the demons lurking in shadow. We are the savage villains in fairy tales taught to children. But, not for my child. Not for Hope. In her stories, we are knights in shining armor. Without you by my side, I don't think I can survive my own love for my daughter. I need you. I need you, brother. The monster in me can only be challenged by the monster in you. Only together can we fight our demons and save our family."

Elijah finally woke up with a gasp and the Mikaelson brothers both seemed shocked to see the other but after a moment, Klaus smiled warmly at him.

They left Elijah alone to clean himself up and get dressed and Klaus found Ingrid in the study, sitting in a chair by the fire while staring blankly in front of her. He walked over at placed a hand on her shoulder, brushing it comfortingly as he walked passed to the chair adjacent from her. Sitting down, he studied his wife's face and tilted his head to the side. "What's wrong, love?"

Not breaking out of her trance, she twisted her wedding find in her fingers and tears glistened in her dark brown eyes. "Yesterday, when you left to get Elijah, I stayed behind because Esther wanted to share with me one of her biggest regrets." She began to explain and let out a small, humorless laugh. "She informed me that the tea she used to give me every month for five years was known to cause miscarriages." She notified her husband and sucked her teeth while tears streamed nonstop down her face. "It was her fault. Fourteen of our children never got to take a single breath of air or see the light of day because of her." She finally looked away from the fire and rested her head in her hands, sniffling aggressively.

Klaus immediately stood up from his seat and rushed toward her. He knelt down in front of her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her into his chest. He placed a hand on the back of her head and stared at the wall ahead of him with wide, teary eyes. She fell out of her chair, into his chest, and began to cry her heart out.

They had both learned to cope with the loss of their unborn children but to learn the truth after so many centuries made the wounds feel fresh. The grief hit Klaus hard at that moment and was slowly replaced by burning resentment. He kissed her temple repeatedly and held her while she cried, not wanting to let go of her in the time she needed him.

Her cried soon became almost inaudible whimpers and she gripped tightly onto his shirt. Klaus wanted to swear to his wife that Esther would pay for her betrayal but he knew it wouldn't help. Esther had taken everything from them and he wasn't going to allow her to take Ingrid's well-deserved time of grief.

Once it seemed like she was calm, he leaned back slightly to look upon her red, tear stained face. His hands slid down from her shoulder to her hands, intertwining their fingers. He opened his mouth to speak but she shook her head in rejection and stared blankly at his chest. "There is no point in crying over it anymore..." She trailed off in a dull tone as a few stray tears fell. "There should be no reason to grieve them any longer."

Ingrid then wiped away all her tears and shook her head. "This is what Esther wants and I refuse to give it to her." She sneered furiously then looked at him with a genuinely concerned look. "How is Elijah?"

Klaus was surprised for a second but smiled affectionately at her and kissed her forehead. "He's awake but that's not something you should worry about at this moment, my love."

Elijah walked into the room with a intrigued face upon hearing his name. He noticed their facial expressions and raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Klaus hesitated on which topic to share with him but he decided and licked his lips, standing up straighter in his feet. "I spent the day with my father. My real father."

Elijah looked stunned speechless and sat down on his bed on the seat next to Ingrid, who stared up at her husband with wide eyes.

"Esther brought him back from the dead, believing he could convince me to renounce vampirism." Klaus said. looking torn as he approached them. "The thought of what I could be, had I been raised by him. Had I been nurtured. This was his."

He walked over to the table and grabbed a leather bound notebook. He then handed it to Elijah, who opened it to find a sketch of a much younger Klaus inside.

"He knew about Hope." Klaus informed them with a saddened expression.

Elijah immediately shut the notebook and rose to his feet, shocked once again. Ingrid sat still in her seat and stared in front of her as her heart began to beat wildly in her chest. Her stomach dropped and she could feel her face heating up. Running her hands against her jeans repeatedly, she sucked on her lower lip while breathing heavily. She was panicking.

Klaus paced the floor and shook his head, stumbling with his words. "I wanted to trust him more than anything in the world. I- I wanted to, but..." He trailed off, unable to put into words what he did and how he felt. "I couldn't be sure. And, I would never forgive myself if something happened to her because of my selfish desire for a father." He said emotionally and stopped for a second before throwing his hands up and looking at them with a tight lipped smile. "So, I killed him. Without hesitation. I killed him."

Ingrid snapped out of her panic and gaped at him in astonishment. Klaus had killed his own father in order to protect their daughter. She swallowed the lump in her throat and batted away any tears with her eyelashes. She wanted to speak but she was unsure of what to say at that time.

Elijah paused for a moment to choose his words carefully before speaking to him. "You killed him for Hope." Elijah walked forward until he was face-to-face with Klaus and handed him the notebook. "And whatever innocence remains, we must protect at any cost." He placed a hand on the back of Klaus' head comfortingly and Klaus started to cry.

Ingrid stood up from her seat and walked toward them, hugging Klaus from behind and resting her cheek on his back. Elijah pulled Klaus into a hug and the two Mikaelsons held Klaus from both sides, sandwiching him between them.

Downstairs, the Originals walked into the ballroom, where they find both Finn and Kol wearing the enchanted manacles, which are suspending them from the balcony by their wrists.

Kol gaped at his family incredulously. "Kidnapping? That's a rather unpleasant way to begin a family reunion!"

Klaus grinned sadistically at them and clapped his hands together. "Well, wait until you see how we end it!"

---
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-the1andonlytifftiff