Klaus stood on the balcony upstairs that overlooked the city, seemingly not caring about the worsening weather as he stood in thoughtful silence. He heard footsteps behind but ignored them, until Elijah spoke up. "Every last exit is sealed. If you're thinking about jumping, don't. I already tried it. I landed in the world's most pretentious wine cellar."

"You sorted it by vintage." Klaus turned to him blankly, tilting his head as he saw the confusion on his face. "You don't remember, do you? I thought Marcel was intent on retrieving your memories."

"He was. He failed." Elijah responded bluntly. "I still remember absolutely nothing, and Antoinette is dying."

"Is she? Right. Yes. I'd forgotten." Klaus taunted with a mocking smirk.

"What the hell are we doing here? What is this place?" Elijah demanded answers, pointing between them as he stepped closer. "This is dangerous, you and I here together."

"We're not actually here together, are we?" Klaus pointed out to him. "Not physically, at least. It's called a Chambre de Chasse." He let out a sigh. "It's a magical mental prison designed to resemble our home. But don't worry. There's always a way out... A game or a riddle."

"How do we solve this riddle?" Elijah questioned, slightly impatient.

"We don't do anything." Klaus immediately shook his head, that smirk reappearing only slightly as he continued. "We're square, you and I. You got Audrey and Hayley killed, and Antoinette will die because of me. I would hate to upset that delicate balance. So I'm gonna find my way out, and you're on your own." He told him, before he walked out of the room without another word. He made his way downstairs and into the courtyard, his eyes flickering to where the family portraits hung on the walls. He stiffened as he heard the sound of a door opening and closing, turning with narrowed eyes as he looked around. "Who's there? Show yourself!" He demanded.

The sounds of heels clicking against the stone floor filled his ears, and a familiar blonde came into a view as a voice spoke up. "Oh, Nik. Always so dramatic." She teased in amusement.

He let out a breath of relief. "Rebekah." She let out a laugh before she walked closer, the two holding one another in a warm embrace.

Suddenly, Kol appeared as they two pulled apart, staring at their brother in disbelief as he fell shirtless onto the couch in front of them. "Oh, bloody hell." Kol let out in a groan when he saw them. "My least favorite recurring nightmare."

Leaving Kol to make himself decent, Rebekah and Klaus made their way into the downstairs lounge, Rebekah grabbing a couple of glasses and a bottle of wine for them all to share. "I was in Corsica, drowning my sorrows about Audrey and Hayley, and I suddenly dropped." She explained to her big brother, frowning as she pulled the cork from the wine bottle to discover that is was empty. She turned to him with a flat look. "What I wouldn't give to spend just a decade without being dragged into a godforsaken Chambre de Chasse."

Klaus glanced toward Kol in amusement as he joined them. "Suppose you were in a board meeting."

Kol rolled his eyes as he pulled a shirt he'd found over his head. "I was waiting for my wife to come home from work. Once again, ripped from complete contentment for... this." He said, annoyance in his tone as he raised a brow. "Suppose I'll ask the obvious: piss off any witches lately?"

"Actually, my current enemies are a group of hatemongers who see myself and my daughter as abominations to the vampire race." Klaus replied dully. "And tried to kill our eldest niece after viewing Audrey and her bloodline as a potential loophole to undoing any binding spells, being Mira comes from one of the latest two doppelgangers."

"The bigoted undead. That's new." Rebekah mused. "They must have a witch-for-hire."

"A witch that's spent enough time here to replicate every detail." Kol grabbed the empty wine bottle and held it up as evidence. "This is Elijah's prized Cheval Blanc."

"The culprit may be closer to home." Freya's voice spoke from above them, causing them to look up to see her walking across the balcony and toward the stairs to join them. "A witch who knows the compound well and who doesn't trust you to stay away from Elijah." She sent a pointed look toward Klaus. "Someone who would risk everything to save New Orleans from plagues."

"Vincent." Klaus realized.

Freya nodded as she crossed her arms. "On the bright side, he'd never harm Hope and Mira." She told the three. "You, on the other hand, I expect he'll be shipping your bodies to the four corners of the world."

"All of our bodies?" Rebekah looked at their elder sister. "He isn't here, is he?"

"He is." Elijah answered in a blank tone as he joined the four of them. "I think I might have just found a way out of here." He led them out into the courtyard, where the exit now held a wooden door with five locks keeping it shut. "This wasn't here before. What is it?"

Kol walked closer to examine it, grabbing hold of one of the locks and noticing the initial K engraved on it. He looked at the rest, and put the pieces together as he saw the first initial of each of their names on the locks. "It's representational magic." He told his siblings as he turned back to them. "I expect there are keys, one for each of us, hidden somewhere meaningful. Somewhere connected to who we are."

Concern etched onto Elijah's face. "And for those of us who don't remember who we are?"

"I'll give Antoinette your regards." Klaus hummed, glancing at Elijah with a smirk.

Freya quickly got between them before Elijah could go for him. "Door won't open unless all five locks are released. The only way out is together."

"Elijah, if we're to get through this without bloodshed, I recommend that you go to the corner of the house furthest from Nik." Kol said knowingly, and began to make his way in the opposite direction. "Come on. Follow me." Elijah paused a moment and glared toward Klaus before he followed Kol away.

"Split up. We need to turn this place upside down." Klaus spoke once they were gone, looking between his sisters sternly. "I only just promised my grieving daughter I wouldn't abandon her again. I can't be stuck here."

* * * * * * * * * *

Upstairs, as far away from Klaus as Kol could possibly get their amnesiac brother, the two began to search for things that could lead to what represented Elijah. As Kol pulled out an old chest, Elijah pushed closed the window that the wind blew open. "Ominous weather." He commented as he looked outside.

"That's an indication of what's actually happening in New Orleans." Kol informed him. "Mira, Hope and Klaus are in the same city. The resulting consequence is leaking into this reality." He glanced at him as he pulled open the chest, looking to see if hearing his daughters name brought any sort of recognition on his face, but there was nothing there. He held back a sigh as he nodded to the contents of the chest. "Here, this might jog your memory. This is all the junk you deemed as worthy of preserving. Ring any bells?"

Bending down in front of it, Elijah grabbed a handkerchief hanging from the lid, looking at the white fabric that his his initials stitched into it. "You know, Klaus came to visit me at my bar in France. Rebekah, too." He told him, glancing up as he looked at everything else. "You didn't."

"You and I have never really had much in common besides our dashing good looks." Kol answered. "That, and I usually only found myself in your presence when after Audrey's company." He gave a sad smile, not allowing Elijah question or argue that as he continued. "And you and Freya more or less murdered my wife, so..."

That made his face fall as he slowly rose to his feet. "I'm..."

Kol stopped him before he could continue, seeing the leather books he'd picked up. "The journals. They may contain information about what represents you, somewhere amongst the martyrdom and self-righteousness." He tapped the covers before he began to walk out.

"Wait." He stopped him. "Did I ever apologize to you for what I did?"

"In your peculiar way, I suppose." Kol told him with a small nod. "Look, what matters is that I got her back. Not everybody is so lucky." He said honestly, leaving Elijah behind to read through the journals, considering what he'd said.

Downstairs, Klaus looked at the family crest on one of the pillars in the courtyard, his mind thinking back fifteen years. The day after Tyler Lockwood had taken Hayley and Audrey hostage in the bayou, trying to prove Klaus was using the baby as nothing but another means to make more hybrids. He'd brought the girls back to the house, after exiling Elijah and Rebekah to the plantation house for the accusations they'd thrown against and more. Audrey had been quiet as they arrived in the courtyard, having just broken up with Elijah, one of the main reasons she hadn't argued against going when he told them. She hadn't stayed with he and Hayley long, going upstairs to find herself a room to be alone in, leaving him to talk with Hayley privately.

And as he remembered Hayley's words from that day, a mixture of emotions hit him and he vent his frustration on the crest. Grabbing the the candle holder nearest to him, he used it to smash the stone crest into pieces. "Nik, it's done." Rebekah called out calmly, causing him to stop and drop the metal candle holder to the ground.

"I think we've established that there's no key in the crest." Freya agreed as he sullenly made his way over to them.

"The thing was a relic anyway." He brushed off carelessly.

Suddenly, Marcel appeared on all fours on the ground, letting out a yell. "Marcel." Rebekah let out in shock.

"Damn it!" He pushed to his feet and began to look for a way out, showing the blood he was covered in. "I got to go now."

"Hey!" Klaus stood in his path and pushed him back. "What game is Vincent playing?"

"Oh, this has nothing to do with Vincent. We got to get out of here. The city is about to wash away." Marcel moved past him toward the locked door. "They're out of their damn minds."

"Who, Marcel?!" Klaus demanded, grabbing his arm and pulling him back for answers. "Who put you here?!"

"It was Hope and Mira. Hope and Mira are responsible for all of this." He finally answered, the three staring at him in disbelief. Eventually, Freya convinced him to calm down and explain, the two sitting on the garden furniture as they listened to his story. "Ivy was telling Vincent and me all about the latest prophecy when a hurricane showed up off the coast out of nowhere."

"A monsoon from the water is the final curse before the firstborns die." Freya nodded, as Rebekah held a cloth out to Marcel with a small smile.

Marcel stared at Rebekah for a long moment, before he took it with a nod, using it wipe the blood off his face. "I went to go find you guys. Hope and Mira was at St. Anne's. They had Klaus and Elijah's bodies laid out on the floor. They're gathering up all of you to take back the power that's been split up inside of you." He explained. "They're planning to take a part of it and reestablish the link the Inadu used to channel Mira when she possessed Hope. Allowing the magic to be whole despite being split into both of them."

"They can't do that. It will destroy them." Klaus snapped in frustration. "That was the whole point."

"They threw me in here when I tried to stop them." Marcel told them. "I can't leave until you guys find your keys."

"Well, they can't find my body." Rebekah pointed out, shaking her head. "It's halfway across the world."

"They have help. I created hybrids with Hope's blood, they're sired to her. They'll do anything she asks." Klaus told them. "They'll take the power back. They'll end the curses, they'll keep the firstborns safe, and then my daughter and our niece as we know them will be forever lost to darkness."

Determined even more than before to find the keys, Klaus made his way upstairs to search, now no longer bothered about keeping space from Elijah. When Elijah joined him in the room he was destroying in his search, the two brothers searched in silence, until Elijah came across two children's toys. First, he picked up the grey stuff bunny, glancing toward Klaus. "What was my relationship like with your daughter?"

"The irony of you expressing interest in family..." Klaus scoffed angrily, not even sparing him a glance.

"Listen, I got nothing to go on here. You help me, we all get out of here." He reasoned with him.

Klaus let out a sigh as he turned toward him, nodding to the bunny in his hands. "The day she was born, you gave her this." He looked thoughtful as he looked around the room, remembering it from the day Hope was born. The little time he and Hayley had with her before he had to hand her over to Rebekah for her safety. "You gave her her name." He cleared his throat emotionally, as he took hold of the bunny and gave it a final look, before he pulled it apart and found nothing inside of it. "It's not my daughter you should be concerned with. It won't be her that chose your representation, it will be your own." He then told him after a moment, seeing Elijah's eyes flicker to the white bear security blanket that had been packed away with the bunny, Mira's initials stitched on the corner in golden thread. "You gave that to Mira on her first Christmas." He watched as Elijah picked it up. "She adored it, had it with her constantly, kept it with her for years to come even when we weren't present in our children's lives for five years." Elijah's thumb stroked across the initials, trying to remember but nothing was coming to mind. "She then passed it onto her younger siblings when they were born." Klaus said, causing Elijah to finally look up at him. "When this curse took over our family, Audrey was pregnant. Your memories were gone long before she discovered it was twins, our family split apart to different corners of the world for Hope and Mira's safety. A girl and a boy. Grace Gianna and Elliot Henrik Mikaelson."

"Why would--"

"You saw yourself as a threat to their safety." Klaus knew what he was going to ask. "You knew the dangers of any of us being around Mira and Hope once we took in this magic, but you knew you wouldn't be able to keep yourself away. Audrey, Mira, the twins, all of us...family was your weakness, our vow was everything to you. You knew you had to disappear without temptation. But despite, Audrey kept your memory alive for Mira, she made sure Grace and Elliot knew exactly who their father was though not knowing you." He took a deep breath. "Try their rooms. You want to know what your children see you as? I'm willing to be that is where you will find your representation." With that, he walked away, and Elijah stayed stood in silence as he gazed at the bear blanket in his hands.

* * * * * * * * * *

Marcel wandered into the the music room to find Kol already inside, flipping through books on the bookshelf and tossing them to the ground before moving onto the next. "You got something against literature?" He raised a brow, as he moved to help look.

Kol looked at him and held up the book in his hand. "Well, these are the collective works of William Shakespeare. Love, power, betrayal. How to thrive in the Mikaelson clan 101." Finding nothing in the one he held, he tossed it to the floor and grabbed the next. "Davina and I sent these to Hope on her ninth birthday."

"How is Davina?" Marcel asked him at that. "You know, she doesn't call much these days."

"Well, that's how normal families work." Kol replied with a shrug. "You learn what you can, and then you grow up. Join a cult, start a rock band, find love, make your own family."

"Hmm." The Gerard man hummed at his words. "Doesn't that fly in the face of "always and forever"?"

Kol rolled his eyes. "You know, to think I spent a thousand years dying to be a part of that vow."

"What changed?" Marcel asked.

"I met a girl. Voilà." He grinned as he found a key taped to the page of the book he picked up, lifting it up for Marcel to see. "Four more keys to go."

Marcel paused as he looked around, glancing at Kol as he went to leave. "Why would your book of plays be in the music room?"

Kol paused in the doorway and made a face. "Kids are messy?" He offered.

"Yeah, but this room doesn't even exist anymore." He reminded him. "There was a storm. Everything was damaged. That was at least a century ago. Anything musical ends up in Mira's room now." Kol frowned as he realized what he was saying. "Hope and Mira's never even seen this room."

Across the hallway in Hope's room, Freya and Rebekah worked together to go through her things, to see if any of the keys were hidden in there. Rebekah paused as she looked toward the corner Hope kept all of her art supplies, seeing the half started portrait of Hayley sat upon the easel. Freya noticed her sisters gaze and walked up behind her sadly. "It doesn't feel real yet."

"I guess I've always been jealous of her." Rebekah admitted to her sister. "I was jealous when I saw her with Hope. I was jealous when she got married. I guess I'm even jealous that she's dead." She made a face as the words came out.

"Wow, that's morbid." Kol's voice mocked from the doorway, leaning with his arms crossed over his chest before he stepped into the room. "Freya, I'm trying to sort out a puzzle. A Chambre de Chasse of this size would be constructed from the depth of memory, right?" He asked and she nodded. "But there's a room here that hasn't existed for a century. Hope and Mira would've never seen it."

"Oh, that's impossible." Freya shook her head in denial.

Kol, however, continued as he stepped closer to her. "Wiped out by a storm. The music room. Oh, I brought you there during the Christmas party, where we drank, Marcel played "Carol of the Bells," Niklaus stabbed me in the heart. You remember." He said, tilting his head with his eyes narrowed on her.

"Kol." Freya shook her head in a pleading tone.

"Freya." Klaus's dark voice demanded from the doorway, making them all turn to look at him as the storm knocked out the power, making the room go dark. "What have you done?"

Leaving Rebekah and Kol, Klaus followed Freya downstairs angrily as she attempted to defend her actions. "Mira and Hope asked for my help."

"So you decided to lend a hand in their destruction?" He scoffed.

"The plagues are nearing their end." She reminded him, walking toward the locked door. "All it would take is one more meeting between you to end it all, something needed to be done."

"I was leaving New Orleans when you struck me down!" He snapped in disbelief.

"Who's to say you wouldn't be weak again?" She turned to him. "Test the limits to lay your eyes on Hope, as you did with Elijah?" She nodded upstairs. "What would have stopped Elijah doing the exact same when his memories returned to see Mira? To meet Grace and Elliot and know his children?"

"Don't put this on me!" Klaus snarled angrily. "I was trying to protect her. To protect all of them!" He glared at her. "Perhaps I was wrong to have faith in you. Maybe your obligations to family were infringed upon by other plans. Keelin's back, isn't she?"

"Stop it, Klaus." Freya snapped, refusing to let him throw anything in her face. "I have sacrificed everything for you, for Hope, for Mira, Grace, and Elliot. I understand that you were trying to protect them, but that is not what she they need right now."

"I'm her father. I decide what she needs and what she doesn't." He said firmly. "Audrey asked me to take of them and that is exactly what I am trying to do."

"Do you?" She challenged him. "Because while you were gone, I was here, with Hayley and Audrey. Those kids did everything that we asked of them. The one time they acted out, it was because they missed their dads." Klaus was silent as he listened to her words, looking down in guilt. "You want to see what Hope does with a lifetime of missing both her parents? What Mira, Grace, and Elliot do? We have to let them make their own choices."

"She's a child." He said sadly. "They're all just children."

"Hope's childhood ended three days ago, when she lost her mother." Freya told him, and he fell silent once again. "So did Mira's, so did those twins, no matter how young they are. And as long as that magic is inside of you and Elijah, Klaus, they're as good as orphaned." She didn't mince her words. "Look, we've all done dangerous things for family, and we've seen each other through it. Now it's their turn."

"Freya. You have to stop them." He begged his sister.

"No." Freya disappeared, her lock on the door vanishing with her.

* * * * * * * * * *

Elijah took Klaus's advice on board and made his way to search his children's bedrooms. His one of the few keys still missing, with Freya's lock gone, and both Rebekah and Kol managing to find their keys. He checked in Grace and Elliot's first, their rooms joined together by a a door that led into their join bathroom. They both had bookshelves filled to brim with different books, an array of stuffed toys lining their beds and filling their chests of toys. Grace's desk was filled with pieces of paper and coloring pencils, some of her school books in a pile pushed toward the back, while Elliot's had different lego builds displayed proudly on it. Across the walls and shelves, he found different photos of the twins with their friends and family, and he paused and picked up one displayed on Elliot's beside table. Mira, Grace, and Elliot all sat together in a booth of a restaurant in their school uniforms, the twins sharing a milkshake as Mira and Audrey watched them with smiles and split a basket of fries between them.

As he placed it back down, he noticed another picture beside it, and he paused in surprise as he saw it was one of him. Picking it up for a closer look, he saw it was one of him and Audrey, though he had no idea what day this was. He felt a tug on a piece of his heart that felt empty, but the longer he looked, no memories came rushing forward. Flipping the picture over, he saw a note stuck to the back of the frame.

While I am so sorry I have no pictures of you guys with your dad, here is one of me and him for you to have, and I have given one to your sister too. Your dad loves you, Elliot, and he loves Grace too, I know he does. I give you my word. I love you too - Mom.

If his memories came back or stayed gone forever, a thought occurred to Elijah that made his face fall slightly. Either way, Grace and Elliot would always just be strangers to him. His own children would be strangers, as he didn't know them, and they didn't truly know him. They'd never had that chance. He let out a deep sigh, before he made his way out and into Mira's room, getting the feeling that would be where his representation was hidden. He wasn't surprised at how different her room was to the twins, given she was a teenager while they were only seven. He saw the piano that had different sheet music over the top of it, the multiple shelves filled with books, and the different notebooks and pieces of schoolwork in piles on her desk.

An organized mess was the best way to describe it.

His eyes flickered to her bedside table, and he saw pictures there too, but it was the one of him that caught his eyes in particular. Sat on the porch steps of an unfamiliar house, with a little girl that had to be Mira in his arms, gazing at her softly with love. He flipped the frame over in hopes of finding the key taped to the back, but there was nothing there, making him sigh in frustration. Compared to Grace and Elliot, he did have time with Mira, but he just didn't remember it. Leaving him stuck with nothing to go off of.

"Here for the trip down memory lane?" Marcel asked, watching him begin to pull things out in a desperate search.

Elijah didn't look at him as he pulled books off the shelves. "There is no memory lane."

"That's what I'm told. Though I find it very hard to believe, considering Vincent finished the spell." Marcel said as he moved further inside.

"Maybe Vincent should find himself a new hobby, 'cause clearly this witchcraft thing isn't working out for him." Elijah turned from the shelf he was searching to look at him. "Either that, or whatever meddling you did fried my brain."

"You don't remember being the one to teach Mira piano? Or reading her stories at night?" Marcel asked him, not believing that and Elijah shook his head. "You don't remember teaching me how to play the piano? Or welcoming me home from the war, in the courtyard? How about exiling me from the city that I built? Or ripping my heart out, before dropping my body off a bridge? No?" He asked as he stood directly in front of him. "Well, I guess if I were you, I wouldn't want to remember either. At least, not those things. But your daughter? I'd think you'd want to remember that."

"What are you suggesting here, Marcellus?" He snapped, pausing in surprise as he realized what he'd called him.

Marcel watched him with a knowing smile, shaking his head slightly. "Marcellus." He repeated the familiar name Elijah had called him over the years. "I guess something in your memory is working after all." Leaving the room after that, Marcel made his way toward the living room where he found Klaus bent down by the lit fireplace, throwing old unopened letters into it. "What are you burning?"

Klaus tossed another in as he answered. "Ancient history."

The Gerard man leaned against the back of one of the chairs as he watched. "You know, you're all the same." He told Klaus. "You setting fire to your guilt, Rebekah pretending she doesn't love me, and Elijah, lying about his memories."

Klaus turned to him at that. "What do you mean?"

"He just called me Marcellus. Things are creeping in, only nothing of substance, nothing that hurts. If Elijah doesn't know who he is, it's not because of magic." He pointed out to them. "It's because he doesn't want to remember."

Hearing something drop, Klaus turned toward the fireplace and looked at the bottom of it, seeing his key had fallen out of one of the letters. "Well, now he's gonna have to, if he wants to save his girlfriend's life."

As Klaus left to deal with his family, Marcel took one of the candle lanterns and began to search on his own, walking along the balcony hallway. "All right, Mira, Hope, whichever of you did it, where did you put his key?" He muttered, checking a table before he turned and looked at the wall behind him, opening up the passage that led into the tunnels and stepping inside.

Downstairs, Elijah made his way down into the drawing room, still searching. He paused in front of the portrait of himself hung on the wall, torn and splattered with blood, no recollection of it in his eyes. Suddenly, Klaus sped into the room and pinned back against the wall furiously. "You've been lying to us all day. You remember everything."

"I remember nothing." Elijah spat, pushing him off him. "For all I know, I was born at a bus stop seven years ago." He denied before he walked past him.

"Lie." Klaus followed him out into the courtyard.

"Why would I lie?" Elijah moved toward the stairs. "I want out of here as bad as you."

Rebekah and Kol looked at the pair in confusion. "What's going on?" Rebekah asked them.

"Our brother has been deliberately repressing his memories to keep us trapped here." Klaus told them angrily.

"I am not your brother!" Elijah shouted, losing his temper. "And I didn't ask for any of this."

"You most certainly did." Rebekah shook her head in a firm tone. "It's not like you held a family vote before you decided to erase all of us."

Elijah looked between the three of them in utter disbelief. "You ever consider the possibility that perhaps you don't even want me back?" He asked. "I mean, it seems to me that I make you all incredibly miserable."

Kol rose from his seat in annoyance. "We all make each other miserable." He huffed out.

"But through it all, we are family, and we made a vow." Rebekah agreed wholeheartedly. "Always and forever."

"I made another vow! And the woman that I pledged my life to is out there, and she is dying." He tried to plead with them all. "So, if you believe in any way that-that I am your family, then I'm begging you... I'm begging you... help me."

Klaus looked at him with no clear emotion. "When Vincent and Marcel were recovering your memories, what did you see?"

"A white corridor." Elijah replied, throwing his hands up. "A long white corridor with a red door."

"That's where you hide the things you don't want to remember." Kol told him. "You've been doing it for a thousand years."

"Then what happened?" Klaus pointed toward Elijah.

"I tried to open the door. The handle was on fire." He recalled, remembering the pain when he attempted to touch the handle. "It was a searing heat. I mean, I've been in broad daylight without my ring, and I've never, ever experienced any heat like it."

"So you know how it feels to have your flesh melt from your bones, have your insides turned to lava. Because that pain is the last thing Audrey knew." Klaus walked toward him with a dark expression. "No swift and painless death for her. Just raw fire! It's true. And that is what's behind your door: the truth about what you did to the woman you love."

But Elijah didn't allow himself to look at all fazed. "The woman I love is Antoinette."

"How can Antoinette possibly hold a candle to Audrey, to the way that you felt about her? You loved her." Rebekah refused, shaking her head. "She was your soulmate, Elijah! She was the love of your life, that two of you shared something that others can only wish and hope that they can find for themselves."

"I mean, did I? Did I really?" He questioned skeptically. "Are you sure that my feelings weren't simply the product of my ridiculous crusade to try and save you?" He pointed toward Klaus. "Any excuse whatsoever just to maintain that pathetic entanglement... of always and forever. Or-or nothing real, just a product of our bond. No true connection."

"No." Kol cut in. "Say what you will about Niklaus, but that isn't true. You and Audrey shared a connection before either of you knew the truth about your bond, and even that truth didn't send either of you rushing into anything. It happened on it's own. It was real, and she brought out a side to you no other has, we all saw it. She brought this family together in ways that no one ever has, and cared for each of us. Not out of some obligation, but because that is who she was!" Rebekah and Klaus's looks only confirmed what Kol was saying. "And she fought for this family when all of us couldn't. Believed in us when no one else did." He looked at him. "When Audrey died, what did you feel?" He pressed.

Elijah let out sigh of annoyance as he thought of that day. "A pain in my chest." He offered. "Like...part of myself had broken that I didn't know that I had."

"That was your bond breaking." Kol told him. "Because Audrey died. That pain was because you loved her and without her, you aren't whole. Because you loved her more than anyone, more than you ever even loved yourself."

The wind around them got heavier, the thunder and lighting hitting even louder than before. "The storm's escalating. We're running out of time." Rebekah let out.

Klaus shook his head. "We're wasting it rehashing ten centuries of separation anxiety, and none of this has anything to do with our vow."

"It has everything to do with our vow." Rebekah shook her head. "You knew he and Audrey would never leave you. Our vow kept them close because they believed in us and this family, no matter what happened, even when you threatened to tear them apart."

"But he did leave!" Klaus yelled, stunning them into silence. "Elijah was always there for me. Swooping in when my rage got the better of me, setting me on a path to redemption. For a thousand years, he made me need him. My brother was my greatest ally. He was the only one who could give me a chance of being worthy of Hope. And he was my best friend." He glared emotionally at Elijah. "You killed him. And you killed Audrey, the only other person that saw in me what he did, despite everything that I did to her. And I hate you for that."

At that moment, they all doubled over and held their hands over their chests in pain. "Mira and Hope's taking the power from us. There's no stopping it." Kol let out weakly.

"It's too late." Rebekah gasped as the pain forced them to their knees.

A blue light illuminated from each of them, forcing their arms up from their sides as the power was pulled out of each of them until it was whole, disappearing as the four Mikaelsons fell unconscious to the floor of the courtyard.

* * * * * * * * * *

Marcel followed the tunnels down into the dungeon beneath the house, seeing Elijah's coffin the moment he walked through the metal gate. Placing down the lantern, he moved and pulled the coffin open, spotting the key the moment that he looked inside. He tilted his head as he saw the chain that it was attached to, and lifted it to see it sat on it alongside the charm of Audrey's old necklace, alongside her engagement ring. And in that moment, the way Mira and Hope both saw Elijah clicked in Marcel's head.

Placing it away in his pocket, he made his way back upstairs, finding the four siblings slowly coming to from where they lay on the courtyard floor. "Rebekah. Elijah's key, I got it." He ran and bent down at her side in concern.

Rebekah looked confused and surprised as she pushed herself to sit up. "How did you find it?"

"Well... Kol's key was in As You Like It. Act one, scene three. "Now go we in content to liberty, not banishment."" He recited the line. "Mira and Hope know you can't stay. They're setting you free." He told him, causing Kol to look down. "Rebekah, Hope put yours on the necklace that you gave her, hidden somewhere safe and secret."

"Just like I hid her when she was a baby." The Mikaelson woman realized.

"Klaus found his in letters Hayley wrote to him about Hope." Marcel then looked at Klaus.

Klaus merely glowered at him. "Get on with it." He grumbled.

"Elijah has been a lot of things to me over the years." Marcel continued, glancing at the man in question. "After you ripped my heart out, all you represent to me is death. After what happened to Hayley, Hope sees you the same way. Your key was in a coffin, in the dungeon." He then held up the key, alongside what it was attached to. "But Mira? She still sees the man that taught her to play piano, that read to her before she went to bed and loved her and her mom more than anything. She's...angry, what this version of you did to Audrey, but she still loves you just like Audrey did." He showed the charm and engagement ring. "And these were reminders of that love that Audrey held onto all these years."

Silence hung around them at that, before Klaus cleared his throat. "Come on. Let's be done with Hope and Mira's maze of metaphors."

Listening, they all got to their feet and made their way over to the locked door, Klaus and Elijah to undo their locks. Once they did, the door opened without any of them touching it, leading them into the white corridor. The entrance disappearing behind them as if it was never there to begin with. "Oh, bloody hell. Now we're in Elijah's mental maze." He looked at the other four. "Of all the hells I've had to endure..."

"The door. What is this, the girls revenge?" Elijah slowly walked toward the red door at the end of the hallway. "Imprison me till I reclaim all of my memories, forcing me to accept accountability for all of this?"

"Well, as much as I love a cherry on top of a scheme... I have somewhere else to be." Kol opened the door that his the letter K hanging on it, taking him out and back to reality.

Marcel moved to the door labelled M, he and Rebekah exchanging a nod a before he walked through it, escaping the chambre just as Kol had. Rebekah and Klaus hesitated outside of their doors, as they watched Elijah furiously trying to force the red door open with all of his strength, but couldn't. Klaus shook his head and twisted the handle of his door to go, but Rebekah stopped him. "Nik, we can't just leave him here."

"He can find his own way out." He dismissed bitterly.

"We made a vow." She insisted.

"I made a vow to my brother." Klaus corrected, pointing toward Elijah in distaste. "That's just the man who got Hayley and Audrey killed."

"I thought the same thing about you once. Do you remember our mother?" Rebekah walked over to him. "Before all of the turmoil? Because I do. I remember when she would put flowers in my braid, and I remember when she would sing to us in the morning. And then you killed her."

Klaus looked at her in frustration. "Why are you bringing this up now?"

"Because we are capable of doing terrible things, but we are also capable of forgiveness." She told him, as Elijah tried his door once again.

"It's just a door, Elijah! Open it!" Klaus shouted at him, but Elijah couldn't as he slammed his body against it once again. "Go on, Rebekah. We'll be right behind you, both of us." Klaus promised, touching his sisters arm.

Rebekah looked at him a moment before she walked back toward her door, opening it and stepping through back into reality, where Marcel and Kol waited for them all.

"You killed my brother when you let Audrey die. Because despite what you might think, you did love her. Because everything Kol told you back there was true. She was the best of all of us, and you loved her. You made her feel truly seen and protected her, you brought her out of her shell and helped her become whole after so much loss and hardship. And she helped you too, and you two built something together beyond anything seen before." He nodded his head back. "Come on." He gestured for him to follow and Elijah did. "I don't know who you'll be on the other side of that door, but I know that you can't open it alone. You need me."

The two estranged brothers looked at one another and nodded, before they both rushed forward together and broke down the red door, escaping through it. As they did, a flood of memories finally came rushing back into Elijah's head, starting with his siblings. From the day they made their vow, to every moment they shared after that, up until the day they had all been forced apart from one another. Elijah inhaled sharply as his eyes snapped open, as did Klaus beside him, but it was only Klaus that moved as Elijah laid there, more memories coming back to him.

And this time, they were of her. He saw the day he first met her in that abandoned house, to the first time they talked in her old bedroom in her family home. The day he protected her from the werewolves trying to kill her, to the very first kiss they shared the day after he woke up from being daggered. The moment he proposed after that long day that had been the casket girl festival. Every smile, every laugh, every kiss and touch, small or not, it all came back to him, to the day Mira was born and when she told him she was pregnant for the second time.

Every memory hit him until they arrived at the last time he saw her.

"Elijah." Her voice echoed in his head, remembering the hope she held as they locked eyes in that house, and he remembered how quickly hope faded as he went to Roman's aid. Shakily, Elijah sat up and got to his feet, breathing heavily with tears building in his eyes as he was forced to relieve that moment. He saw the moment she made her choice, grabbing hold of Greta and speeding them out of the house and into the sunlight, the two dying together as their bodies erupted in flames.

He shook his head as the tears fell rapidly down his cheeks, collapsing onto one of the church pews as he remembered standing and staring at what had happened. And in that moment, the pain he felt in his chest that day came back as he choked out a sob, feeling that piece of his heart breaking all over again. Only much worse this time, because this time he knew. He knew what it was, and he knew what he'd done. And all the others could do was watch sadly as he cried out in guilt and pain, tears appearing in their own eyes as they watched it all hit him at once.

My heart hurt for Elijah writing this. This is why I didn't do this season originally. But he remembers now, and next chapter will focus on him trying to rebuild with his children, which will be interesting.

I hope you all enjoyed!