KLAUS met with Elijah and Stefan, who had arrived shortly after Elijah received a nasty werewolf bite from the Guerrura werewolves. Together, the trio searched every corner of the Lafayette cemetery for any sign of the Mikaelson twins.

"The tombs are empty. The grounds are deserted. They are NOT HERE!" Elijah, covered in his own blood from the bite, yelled frantically at the top of his lungs as he rounded the corner.

"This is the only place they can be! We'll keep searching." Klaus managed to keep his calm despite everything that had happened. Focusing on one task so he wouldn't break down and become inconsolable. He still hadn't registered the fact that Valentina was dead. It all happened so fast. Just a bad dream his mind fabricated that he shoved to the darkest part of his mind.

"They are NOT HERE, Niklaus! We're wasting time!" Elijah snapped in frustration.

"The Harvest was here! The Reaping was here! They're about to perform a ritual which will feed their ancestors for centuries! Ancestors who are buried HERE!" Klaus finally rose his voice, then stopped talking when he noticed an angel statue on top of one of the tombs in front of them. "This statue-we've passed by this three times, all whilst going in the same direction."

Elijah took a second to study the various tombs nearby, running his hands along the stones. "They've fabricated some kind of illusion." He remarked in amazement and glanced around at their surroundings.

Klaus sped to the top of the tomb with the angel statue to get a better view of the cemetery. When he looked out, there were an infinite number of tombs that stretched out to make the cemetery appear endless. "That's one word for it."

Stefan joined him to see for himself what they were dealing with. "It's a fucking maze." He complained and drew out a frustrated sigh.

They continued through the cemetery, using a stone like a piece of chalk to mark the tombs as they passed.

"It's ingenious. I can see them, I can feel them, and yet they are not real." Klaus sighed paired with an eye roll.

Elijah was visibly distraught as he ran his hands over the back of his head. "There has to be a way. Even if we could just push through-"

"What we need to do is focus." Klaus interrupted him in a stern matter. "My children -"

"My only focus right now is those children and their safety, do you understand me?" Elijah's temper started to come undone, and he spun around to glare furiously at Klaus, who was shocked by that sudden outburst. "This-all of this-this is the world that you created, Niklaus."

"Brother-" Klaus attempted to defend himself but was unable to get far because Elijah continued speaking as though Klaus hadn't even opened hid mouth.

"All of your scheming, the enemies that you have made every single day of your miserable life-what results did you expect?" Elijah rapidly questioned him with a finger pointed in the hybrid's direction. "That your children would be born into a happy life? That your wife -"

"Do NOT talk about her." Klaus responded in a small voice, which broke with the heaviness of his emotions.

Stopping in place, Elijah narrowed his dark brown eyes in suspicion and cautiously approached his brother. "What happened?"

Taking a seat on a cement bench, Klaus stared up at the night sky as tears started to build. He rubbed his hands along the top of his jean covered thighs, then glanced down at his lap. "She---" he started to choke out but couldn't get the words past his vocal cords.

"Klaus. What happened to my sister?" Stefan demanded to know, his heart racing at the thought of another sibling dead. The world seemed to spin around him with the anticipation of an answer.

"The babies... they weren't getting enough oxygen, so she had to deliver quickly, and she..." Klaus' lips quivered as he tried to form the words to express the situation. "Valentina---" he could barely say her name without crying. "She started hemorrhaging. I watched them try to resuscitate her, but Genevieve took the babies from the NICU. I--- if we don't get them back soon, they..."

Stefan stumbled back a few inches in a grief-stricken gaze then slid down to the floor after his back met a stone tomb. He hugged his knees to his chest and began to sob loudly.

"She is... gone?" Elijah questioned slowly. Rubbing his hand across his face, he flattened his lips into a firm line before grabbing a nearby pot and throwing it with a sorrowfully yell.

Suddenly, the last remaining Salvatore rose to his feet, grabbed Klaus by the collar of his jacket, and forced him to stand up. "You did this! This is your fault." He snarled while pushing Klaus away from him several times. "I knew you should've stayed away from her. You got my sister killed. She was all I had left! My sister is dead because of you. If my life wasn't tied to yours, I would fucking kill you."

Elijah sped over, wrapped his arms around Stefan, and dragged the thrashing younger vampire away. "Perhaps this isn't a productive use of our time."

Klaus stayed on the ground at first, wallowing in his own self-pity. He sat up, wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand, and stood up. "She died giving birth to my children. Our children. Who I continue to fail. If we don't find them soon, they'll be gone too. I can't allow that to happen." He said in determination. "You can hate me all you want as soon as this is over, but right now, I need your help rescuing my babies."

Once Elijah felt Stefan relax, he let go of his brother-in-law and they returned to the maze. They started breaking their way through the illusion by destroying the tombs. When they reached a room full of candles, they stopped to catch their breath and think.

"We've passed through here twice already. We're running out of time." Elijah angrily punched through a wall.

"Then we move faster." Klaus suggested and marked the wall with a third tally using a large rock.

They set forth on the path again and rounded the corner to see Genevieve holding a knife above one of the babies.

Elijah picked up an urn and launched it at the witches, knocking the athame out of the red-head's hands and onto the ground. The three vampires ran toward them but Monique and Abigail held each other's hands and channeled the ancestors' power to throw them backward while Genevieve went to find the athame.

"You fools! To come against us in our place of power in our strongest hour? You don't face three, you face us all!" Monique mocked as they continued to use magic against them.

Hundreds upon hundreds of the dead witches came together to protect them so they could complete their sacrifice.

"I don't want to do this." Genevieve admitted sympathetically as tears fell down her cheeks. "I just need the first born. I'll spare the other."

Klaus found himself cornered by the spirits of Papa Tunde's twin sons, who telekinetically threw him into a tomb and shattered it with impact. Klaus fell down onto the pile of rubble, groaning from the pain.

Stefan sped around the mirage of witches and kicked the athame out of Genevieve's reach before he knocked her down to the ground. He started to rush toward his newborn niece and nephew but the witch held a hand our in front of her, casting a pain infliction spell on him. Gripping at his head, Stefan fell to his knees.

Elijah fought to get close enough to get the altar only to be knocked down again.

Klaus pulled himself out of the tomb and angrily rushed toward the action again. He spotted a wrought iron fence, and broke off one of the spikes. He shifted it in his grip, held it over his shoulder, and tossed it like a javelin straight at Abigail, impaling her abdomen and killing her instantly.

With the connection to their ancestors broken, Monique quickly ran to grab the athame to finish the sacrifice herself. Klaus and Elijah sped toward her but she used her magic to block them using a wall of fire.

She held the knife up in the air and just as she was about to sacrifice the first baby, a figure dropped down from the roof above and latched onto her neck, feeding until there was nothing left to drain.

They carelessly dropped Monique's lifeless body to the ground, stormed over to Genevieve, and kicked her in the face thus knocking her unconscious onto the concrete ground. "Do you know how long I've wanted to do that?"

Stefan was released from the spell and gaped with blurry vision at the silhouette of his sister. "Val?"

Valentina's face, while exhausted, was covered in blood, both fresh and dried, and she had swapped out the hospital gown for a pair of random scrubs she had found in a linen cart. She panted heavily for breath and went to wipe the blood away but ended up just smearing it along with the rest and staining her hands.

Stefan slowly rose to his feet, laughed in shock, then launched forward to wrap his arms around her. "Oh, my God!" was all he managed to say before sobbing uncontrollably into her shoulder.

"Hi, baby brother." Valentina greeted him in a fond yet strained voice and immediately hugged him in return.

The fire fizzled out and the siblings separated, giving Klaus a clear view of who their savor was.

"Valentine?" He stared at her in utter disbelief and hesitantly approached his wife, cupping a hand on her cheek.

"Hi." She whispered emotionally, placing her hand over his.

"You transitioned." He concluded, relief lacing his voice.

"Yeah..." She mused in mild disappointment then played it off by shrugging and smiling slightly. "I was just getting used to being a human too."

The sound of an infant crying caused both of them to stand alert. Valentina backed away from Klaus, approached the altar, and started to tear up at the sight of her children. "Oh..." She reacted softly, gently scooped one of them into her arms, and cradled them against her. "Hi, baby. Mommy's here. I've got you." She cooed at the small child and turned back to the trio. "They're not doing great. We need to get them back to the hospital."

"What about her?" Stefan pointed over the unconscious witch lying a few feet away.

"I'll handle it." Valentina responded darkly then jerked her head in Stefan's direction. "You and Nik take the twins, get them back to the NICU. I'll meet you there when I'm finished."

"I'll stay with her." Elijah reassured Klaus, who was looking at Valentina in tremendous concern.

"What are you gonna do?" Stefan asked curiously while he took his niece from her.

"I'm gonna make her fucking pay." She sneered venomously.

While Genevieve was still unconscious, Valentina and Elijah hung her up by her wrists in one of the tombs.

"May I express how pleased I am that you're not dead?" Elijah affectionately expressed his relief causing her to grin widely at him.

"You thought you'd be rid of me that easily? You should know by now that Salvatores are stubborn." She remarked playfully then winked at him.

Once they were sure Genevieve was secure, Valentina stood directly in front of the witch with a sneer. "Wake her up."

Elijah placed his hands on either side of Genevieve's head and a few moments later, the red-head snapped back into consciousness with a loud gasp. She frantically glanced around to gage her surroundings then began to panic when she realized what was happening. "No. Please. No!!!"

"Shhh." Valentina hushed her nonchalantly with a finger held to her lips. "I have a few questions. First off: why would you ever think to murder two innocent babies?"

"The Ancestors left me no choice--" She started to explain herself.

Valentina groaned loudly, threw her head back, and rolled her eyes. "Blah. Blah. Blah." She mimicked her with a talking motion of her hand. "There's always a choice. Try again. Why?"

"It was the Ancestors' decree. It was her decree." Genevieve stressed tearfully.

Elijah harshly grabbed Genevieve by the face and forced her to look at him in the eyes. "It was whose decree?"

Genevieve smiled weakly against his grip. "I'm surprised you have to ask." She laughed darkly. "After all, you were the one who convinced your siblings to consecrate her on New Orleans soil."

"Of course, it's your fucking mother." The newly transitioned vampire jeered furiously.

Elijah, visibly disgusted, let go of her and glared at nothing in particular. "So, not even death can stop my mother from seeking the annihilation of her own flesh and blood."

"This isn't the end. As long as that children live, the witches of New Orleans will never stop coming for them." Genevieve explained anxiously.

Without thinking, Valentina wrapped her hand around Genevieve's throat and pulled her down with such a force that it ripped the chains free from the walls. "If you or any of your little cultists come near my children again, I will flay your skin from your bones and hang you out to dry." She threatened menacingly and pushed Genevieve away from her.

The witch stumbled back from the motion and fell to the ground. "Esther will never stop coming for it. It has been decreed-- your babies will be consecrated among their ancestors. She will not live." Genevieve hoarsely warned them as she started to bleed from her eyes. "They're coming for me, I can feel it. I failed them. Understand-- I just wanted to live."

"So, do my kids." Valentina responded hollowly before punching her hand into Genevieve's chest and ripping her heart out.

They all gathered in a private NICU room to discuss what they should do about Esther's decree to sacrifice her grandchildren. The twins were placed back in their incubators with proper oxygen being administered.

"We should have felt our mother's hand in this. We should have known she would not be bound by anything as obvious as death. And now she has control of the witches. They will never stop." Klaus mused with a far off look in his eyes.

"They will never be safe." Klaus paused for a second in recollection. "What was it you said to me earlier? That I have made enemies every day of my miserable life? Well, the worst of them are within these borders, brother. I have brought into the world a weapon they can use against me."

"Then we will arm ourselves!" Elijah proposed as he lowered himself into one of the armchairs. "Brother, we have fought every adversary in this town, and we have won. And we'll fight them again, no matter who they are! We will make our home a fortress."

"I will not imprison them." Klaus instantly refused.

"Then we leave here, together. All of us." Elijah motioned to everyone in the room.

"Wherever we go, however far we run, those who seek power and revenge will hunt us! They will hunt them. They have inherited all of our enemies with none of our defenses." Klaus pointed out, looking down at the babies swaddled in their incubators with oxygen masks strapped to their faces. "They are already so vulnerable."

"So, whether we stay, or we leave-we condemn them." Elijah mused sadly. "As long as they live, they will be hunted."

"Which is why I have a plan." Valentina decided to speak up and the three other vampires turned toward her. "I put in a request for them to be transferred to a NICU out of state. One far away from here. Genevieve said as long as they're alive, people will hunt them so we hide them. We sell the people of this city a story. A tragic one. Valentina Mikaelson and her twin babies died due to complications during childbirth."

"No! This is insane." Elijah said in disapproval and shook his head.

"What's insane is that they're barely a day old and they already have to fight a war." She said in displeasure then paused for a brief moment. "I woke up in the morgue on an autopsy table." She confessed, causing Klaus to grimace at the thought. "There's been a death certificate issued for me. If anyone goes sniffing around, that's what they're going to find. Nik and I never got around to filling out birth certificates for the babies. There's no record of them. The three of us are gonna disappear."

"What about Stefan?" Elijah raised the point.

"I don't think it's a good idea for me to know they're alive. As their uncle, I need to do what's best for them so..." Stefan inserted himself into the conversation. "I agree to letting you compel me."

"Are you sure?" Valentina asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I am. If this is what is gonna keep you guys safe, then I'm gonna do it." Stefan responded sternly and flashed his green eyes over at the incubators.

"Okay, because that was my suggestion too." Valentina said, relieved that she and her brother were on the same page. She looked down at her children with a saddened expression. "They can't stay here and I can't let them go without me. Not in this state. They need more than ever right now. I know it's not ideal and I hate it too... I don't wanna go. I don't wanna leave you behind, Nik, but we must do---"

"Whatever it takes to save our family." Klaus finished for her, smiling sadly, to which she nodded in response.

Stefan was given a few minutes to say goodbye to his family before Klaus would compel all the memories from the last day away.

The two remaining Salvatore siblings stood in the room in total silence, just watching the babies sleep sounding in their enclosed chambers.

"It's going to be really hard letting you go especially since Damon's gone. I'm gonna be all alone." Stefan admitted, his voice wavering with tears. "What am I gonna do without both of you?"

Valentina placed her head on his shoulder and soothingly rubbed his back. "I know. I considered that when I thought this plan over. Once it's safe, I'll come find you, okay? Nik and Elijah told me they'd keep tabs on you. Just don't do anything stupid while I'm gone. They need all the fanily they can get." She motioned toward her small children.

"I'm going to do everything I can to bring Damon back. I promise." He sternly assured her as the tears started to flow from both of their matching green eyes.

"I know." She acknowledged softly and gave him a squeeze on his arm.

"I love you, Val." He whispered affectionately as he leaned over to rest his head on hers.

"I love you, baby brother." She responded in the same manner.

Once it was time, Stefan gave his family one last lingering look, kissed Valentina on the forehead, and blew his niece and nephew a kiss before leaving the room.

Valentina wrapped her arms around herself and hugged her frame while sobbing uncontrollably all alone in that dark room.

Later on, Klaus, Elijah, and Valentina watched the transport team load the twins into an ambulance.

Elijah, sensing that the couple wanted a moment to themselves, walked over to Valentina and embraced her tightly. "I know you will do anything and everything to keep those children safe but you also need to yourself safe. Not just for them but for us. I love you and I am going to miss you dearly."

"I promise." Valentina whispered into his chest, squeezing her eyes shut and taking in the moment. "Please, please, please take care of Niklaus. Keep him on track."

"I will do my best." He said honestly, broke away, and pressed his puckered lips to the top of her head.

When they were alone, Klaus gazed down at his wife with a sorrowfully expression. "I don't want you to go."

"I don't wanna go." She agreed sadly then reached out to grab his hand. She lifted it to her face, kissed him a few times on the knuckles, and cradled it under her chin. "I have to do what's best for them. I need you to stay strong and focused. Eliminate those who threaten our family so that we can come home. I want our kids to grow up with both of us in a safe environment but first, we need to make it safe."

"I will do everything in my power to bring you three home to me." Klaus promised strictly, his tone lacking any humor. "Not a day will go where either of you leave my mind. I love you more than life itself and I don't know how I'm going to manage without you but I will find a way because I have to let you go. Even if it kills me."

"Wouldn't be the first time." She reminded him.

He frowned deeply, rested his forehead on hers, and wrapped his arms around her waist. "It hurts a million times worse this time around."

"It's not forever." She assured him quietly, trying her best to maintain a calm facade and not break down.

"It's not forever." He repeated as though he was trying to convince himself. "You and I officially have eternity together again and believe me, it won't take me ninety years to fix my mistakes again."

"I love you, Nik. I love you so much that I can hardly stand the idea of leaving you. It's taking all of me---" her voice cracked sharply from her emotions. "Not to stay but that would be selfish of me. You have given me the greatest gifts of a lifetime and I owe you for that. How lucky am I to get to spend all of time with you."

"Believe me, my sweet, it is I who owes you. I owe you everything. Every part of me. I will not take that for granted." He expressed fondly while brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I will miss you every passing day. My heart already yearns for you. I swear to you and our babies that I will make this right. I will mend what I have broken."

Valentina began to involuntarily cry before aggressively wiping the tears, grabbing his face, and kissing him passionately farewell.

After a moment, the old married couple broke apart, and she reluctantly started to walk away. He waved a hand while a steady stream of burning tears rolled down his face. Klaus watched as Valentina climbed into the car and followed closely behind the departing ambulance. His heart shattering to a billion pieces when they disappeared from view.

---
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-the1andonlytifftiff