𝑰𝑵𝑻𝑶𝑿𝑰𝑪𝑨𝑻𝑬𝑫 - 𝘯𝘪𝘬𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘬𝘢𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘰𝘯

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ ʜᴜɴᴅʀᴇᴅ ᴏɴᴇ

                                                ➳

Klaus enters Elijah's room, to find his brother getting dressed into his usual suit and tie combo.

Nik holds a leather bound book in his hands, he shifts it in his palm, feeling the weight of it as he struggles to find the words to speak. So, he doesn't speak at all.

"What is it?" Elijah eventually asks, turning to face Klaus.

Klaus hesitates for a moment. "I spent the day with my father. My real father." He admits. Elijah is stunned and speechless, as he moves to sit on the end of his bed. "Esther brought him back from the dead, believing he could convince me to renounce my vampirism." Klaus continues, looking torn as he approaches Elijah.

"The thought of what I could be, had I been raised by him. Had I been nurtured. This was his." He hands Elijah the leather bound notebook now, and his brother opens it to find a sketch of Klaus as a boy inside.

"He knew about Hope." Klaus finally says, and this causes Elijah to immediately snap the notebook shut, he rises to his feet. "I wanted to trust him more than anything in the world. I-I wanted to, but.." Nik trails off, not sure how to put his feelings into adequate words.

"I couldn't be sure. And, I would never forgive myself if something happened to her because of my selfish desire for a father. So, I killed him. Without hesitation. I killed him." Klaus admits, close to tears.

Elijah pauses for a moment to take it all in. "You killed him for Hope." He eventually says. He walks over to Klaus, handing him the notebook. "And whatever innocence remains, we must protect at all costs." Elijah pulls his brother in now, putting a comforting hand on the back of Nik's head as his brother crumbles before him.

The strong facade gone. Niklaus is no longer the immortal hybrid, but a boy who lost his father.

And so, the war raged on. Battles were lost, and battles were won. Hearts were broken, and trust was lost.

Esther returns to the crypt in the Lafayette Cemetery where she had been keeping Elijah, only to find Ansel hung up in the chains instead. Esther gasps in horror, rushing over to the man she had once loved, sobbing.

She vows to make Niklaus pay, so she descends upon the French Quarter ready to start a new war. Entering Rousseau's, she finds Cami at the bar, drinking from a tumbler.

"Sorry, we're closed." Cami says, hearing the door, but not bothering to see who it is.

"That's too bad. I hear you serve the best Sazerac in town." Cami looks up now, instantly frightened at the sight of Esther approaching her. She quickly starts to back away from the crazed woman. "Camille, right? My sons have taken quite the liking to you."

She raises a hand towards Cami, holding the bundle of herbs from earlier. The blonde gasps.

And, once she's done at Rousseau's, Esther descends out into the Quarter once more. She waits in the shadows for Lunar and her daughter to return home, they're with Marcel.

The younger of the brunette trails behind the others and Esther makes her move now, as Marcel and Lunar enter the compound, she approaches Hayley from behind and uses her magic to subdue the werewolf. She catches her before she falls.

"There, there. I just need a little leverage." She whispers to the girl.

Elsewhere, Davina awakens at St Anne's Church in her attic bed. Starring around the room where she spent so much time, she's confused as to how she got there.