KLAUS, Ingrid, Hope. Eirik, and Freya were all seated at the table together, enjoying breakfast in peace as Klaus gave a speech. "The curse that plagued our family for seven years has taken its toll on all of us. On our city. On our home. On our family. The consequences of us being together were grave, but today, thanks to you---" Klaus remarked, turning toward Hope with a smile. "--we celebrate a new beginning. One in which we have the freedom to stand side by side. And whatever trials may come, we will face them together, as a family." Klaus held up his orange juice in a toast. "Always and forever."

The other four followed his lead and held up their glasses before taking a sip. "Would you please pass the beignets?" Hope asked her aunt kindly.

"Of course." Freya responded with a smile and reached across the table to hand her the plate of beignets.

"So, Rebekah will be back in a few days." Klaus informed his family with a wide smile. "She's just tying up some loose ends overseas."

Hope grabbed a beignets from the plate and nodded. "It'll be nice to have her here."

"I love Auntie Bekah." Eririk grinned and shoveled his food into his mouth.

"It'll be good to have all of us under one roof again." Freya commented, a happy expression crossing her face.

"No, it won't." Ingrid pointed out gruffly and took a sip of her orange juice as Klaus and Freya shot her unamused looks. She rolled her eyes and set her glass back down. "Am I the only one who remembers what happens when every Mikaelson is together?"

Footsteps echoed toward them and Elijah walked into the room, wearing his usual suit and tie. Both Hope and Ingrid's faces fell upon his arrival and Ingrid sunk down into her seat with a low groan.

"Good morning." He greeted them, staring at the children in astonishment. He hadn't seen them in seven years and now they were sitting before him, grown up.

"Trippy, right?" Ingrid commented, knowing what the look on his face meant.

Elijah sensed the tension between them and nodded his head in understand while fiddling with his fingers. "Obviously, there is a lot for us to discuss. Hope, let me begin by telling you how truly sorry..."

Hope glared furiously down at the table and bent a fork with her magic. She looked up at her parents with an appreciative expression and moved quickly to dismiss herself. "Thanks for breakfast, guys, but I have homework to catch up on." She said quickly then stood up from her chair and walked out of the room.

Klaus watched her in worry and Ingrid pointed at Elijah while chuckling quietly. Eirik spared Elijah a confused face and grabbed a handful of beignets before following after her. "Hope!" He called out through the hallways, chasing his older sister down.

Klaus picked up the bent fork and held it out to his wife. "That's not normal. She's not normal."

"Niklaus---" Ingrid shot him a warning look and was interrupted.

"I shouldn't have come down here." Elijah mused in guilt and looked off in the direction she ran off in.

"It's fine." Ingrid breathed out and rubbed her temple.

"At least you can claim amnesia, unlike our sister, who willingly aided a child in ruining her life." Klaus sneered slowly in anger, looking down at the table.

"Hope is not a child." Freya argued, offended by his tone.

"Except she is." Ingrid snapped defensively and glared at her.

"Did you even consider what absorbing all that magic could do to her?" Klaus questioned Freya furiously.

"And what choice did I have?" Freya asked curiously, gaping at him in disbelief.

"Leave well enough alone. We would have managed going about how we were." Ingrid remarked pointedly then turned toward Elijah. "The distance would have done us some good anyhow."

"Deny her." Klaus answered and Freya laughed humorlessly at them. "Defy her. We had a plan to keep the dark magic away from her."

"A plan that wasn't working." Freya rejected his statement.

"It was." Ingrid argued strongly and narrowed her eyes. "We were all willing to play our part. Well, maybe not all..." She mused with an eye roll, hinting at Elijah, who was standing there awkwardly.

"Yes, well, thanks to you, the magic has her now. So, if my daughter should be harmed in any way, shape or form, I will hold you personally responsible." Klaus sneered to his older sister and stood up from the table before storming out of the room.

"Oh, yes. Let's bring every Mikaelson back under one roof." Ingrid said sarcastically and stood up herself. "Such a wonderous idea." She continued in the same tone and followed after Klaus.

Hope was standing at her easel, running a brush dipped in paint across the pulled canvas. She stopped for a second and sighed heavily, calling out to the stalker in the doorway. "I know you're there." She remarked and turned her head to face them.

"I didn't want to disturb you." Klaus said with a sheepish smile, standing in the door.

"Dad, if you're worried, I'd wish you just say something." She pointed out with a small smile. "Helicopter parenting isn't really your thing."

"You bent a fork in half." Klaus reminded her and walked further into the room.

Hope licked her lips and made a face. "Better than sticking it in the side of Elijah's neck."

Klaus smirked slightly with a small laugh. "Your mother would have encouraged it. She's happy to finally have someone in her "Hate Elijah" club." He joked causing Hope to smile a bit. He then took a deep sigh and shook his head. "He wasn't himself, Hope."

"I don't care." Hope snapped and set her brush down. "Okay? I'm not ready to forgive him, memory or not."

"So, it's just Elijah, then? Nothing more?" He asked in worry, not truly believing that all her rage was centered on Elijah.

"Alright." She mused in annoyance and walked toward him. "I'll keep saying this until you believe me: I'm okay. I promise." She assured him sternly. "Look, I know that you think I made a mistake doing that spell, but I swear I thought it all out. And you know what, I'd do it again, because for once I can have mom in the same room, and the world's not ending."

Klaus stared at her and thought of how to word his feelings. "You know, every day I marvel at your strength and your grace, all of which certainly came from your mother." He remarked with a chuckle and tilted his head. He then held his arms out and pulled her into a hug. "Come here."

Ingrid was sitting in her office, reading the letters that Klaus had written her from the past seven years. She smiled widely to herself until the door flew open and Klaus and Freya burst in. She rolled her eyes and set the letter down. "Oh yes. Please do come in because a closed door is obviously an invitation." She sneered sarcastically then sighed and folded her hands together. "What?"

"The three of us, we need to talk." Freya responded with urgency.

"No. No more talk." Klaus snapped at her. "My daughter needs help. I intend to get it for her."

Freya sighed heavily and shook her head. "Please, Klaus, I am not the enemy. Okay? Every time I look at Hope and Eirik, I see the child of mine that I never got to raise." She tried to reason with them and Ingrid rolled her eyes. "That's how I feel about them. That's how much I want to protect them. Hope came to me in so much pain, and I knew that she was gonna take back that power with or without me. Okay? So I gambled that if she felt like we were on her side, maybe she would let us help her."

"Well, you couldn't have been more wrong." Klaus replied, throwing it in her face. "Now Vincent will have to come up with something."

"Already did." Freya admitted and held her hand out, revealing a piece of jewelry.

"Hope's bracelet." Ingrid breathed out and reached across the desk to grab it from her. She studied the flimsy jewelry and sighed heavily.

"She took it off for good a few years ago. Said she didn't need it anymore." Klaus explained to his wife and sat down in the chair in front of her.

"But..." Freya interjected and held a finger up. "Now she does. Now, this won't stop whatever the dark magic is doing to her, but it could lessen her suffering until we find a permanent solution."

Klaus and Ingrid shared looks and the latter of the two sighed heavily and looked down at the bracelet again. Klaus turned to his sister and gave her an affectionate expression. "I know you love her. I never doubted that. I just..."

"Wish things were different?" Freya finished for him with a nod of her head. "Me, too."

"Well it isn't." Ingrid said, clapping her hands together. "We deal with what is happening the best we can. So deal with it." She ordered sternly and held the bracelet out to Klaus, who took it.

Hope was sitting in her room still, trying to paint but the ghostly whispering was echoing loudly in her head. She clutched the sides of her head then took off her smock and threw it down in frustration. Klaus walked up beside her and offered her the bracelet. "I need you to put this on."

Hope looked at him and shook her head. "No, I don't need it."

"It's not a request, Hope." He replied sternly.

"Dad, you said it. I'm strong. I can control myself." She tried to reassure him, brushing off the situation.

"No, you can't, not with this." He rejected and shook his head. "Your mother lived with that darkness for seven years. I don't really know how awful it can be but by the way she described it, it was agony. She said when she was in proximity to you or my siblings, it was almost unbearable, and now you... You're carrying all of it inside you." He said emotionally and closed his eyes.

"Okay. If, um... if I put that on, do you promise to stop worrying?" Hope asked quickly, trying to ignore the whispering.

"I'm your father. I'm always gonna worry." Klaus reminded her with a stern expression.

"Okay." She agreed and held her wrist out. Klaus fastened the bracelet around her wrist and she threw her hands up. "There. Feel better? Or were you planning on hovering over me until the end of time?"

"Well, the end of time is a bit extreme." Klaus joked with a smirk.

Hope laughed and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. "Thanks, Dad." She expressed her appreciation and he smiled warmly before she walked out of the room. She was making her way through the Abattoir toward Ingrid's office when she noticed the bracelet began to leave a burn mark on her wrist. She ran to her room and grabbed one of her grimoires when she suddenly felt it being to singe her skin and quickly took it off just in time for it to catch fire. The whispered pounded harshly at her skull and she gripped her head while crying out in pain. "Stop... please stop!"

Eirik ran into her room and knelt down on the floor in front of her. "Hope! Hope!" He called out and shook her by the shoulders. "Hope!"

She fell down onto his lap and curled up into a ball, yelling loudly. Eirik held onto her and raised his voice. "Mom! Dad!"

Ingrid ran into the room, an expression of panic on her face, and noticed her children on the floor. She rushed toward them and grabbed ahold of her daughter. "What's happened?"

"I don't know!" Eirik said frantically, his heart beating wildly in his chest. "I heard her yelling and I ran in to find her on the floor."

Ingrid removed Hope's hands from her head and replace them with her own. She closed her dark brown eyes and used her abilities to see into Hope's mind. Her face twisted up in pain as the whispering attacked her mind through Hope. She yelped loudly and pulled away. Panting heavily for breath, she turned toward Eirik and spoke quickly. "Get your father."

Eirik nodded in understanding and pulled himself off the floor before running out of the room. "Dad! Dad!" His voice carried through the hallways.

Ingrid noticed the burn marks on her wrist and grabbed her arm in concern. "What is this?"

"The bracelet..." Hope groaned out and leaned against her mother for support. "It burned me."

Klaus sped into the room and saw them, his light blue eyes wide with worry. "Why isn't she wearing her bracelet?"

"It burned her." Ingrid answered and held up Hope's wrist for him to see. "Niklaus, I don't know what to do."

"I found a spell that may work." Hope explained and reached over to grab her grimoire.

Ingrid looked down at the page and frowned in frustration. "I don't know how to read that. Tell us what you need and we'll help you."

"No. It's not your responsibility. This is my mess--" Hope began to reject her help but was cut off.

"Let go of your pride and allow us to help." Ingrid advised sternly and shot her a look. "This is our mess and we're all going to clean it up. Together."

"Okay. I need, uh, two drams of absinthe." Hope read off and groaned in pain, falling more into Ingrid's lap.

Klaus smirked in amusement and shook his head in denial. "You're fifteen."

Ingrid reached her foot over and kicked him with an unimpressed expression on her face. "Just do it." She snarled impatiently. Klaus held his hands up in surrender and sped off to grab what was needed.

"Hey, mom." Hope spoke after a moment and Ingrid hummed in acknowledgement. "How do I get dad to back off and stop worrying?" She asked in between the voices screaming in her head.

Ingrid laughed at her question and shook her head. "That's never going to stop. He worries because he cares." She explained and stroked Hope's hair in a comforting manner. "He loves you both more than anything and all he wants is your safety."

Hope nodded in understanding after a moment and slowly sat up. She pointed a finger to her dresser and held her head. "Can you hand me that purple pouch?"

Ingrid stood up and approached the dresser then grabbed the pouch and handed it to her. Hope tried to stand up so Ingrid held onto her elbow and assisted her. "Here. Let's sit down on the bed." She advised and slowly eased Hope down onto her mattress. "There you go. Are you okay?"

Hope breathed out her appreciation and smiled for a moment before quickly reaching her hand into the pouch and blowing the powder in her mother's face. Ingrid backed up in surprise and managed to get out a small "what--?" before collapsing to the ground.

"I'm so sorry, mom." Hope apologized and shook her head frantically. "But I have to clean this up by myself." She said to Ingrid's unconscious body then ran out of her room.

Eirik ran breathlessly into the room to find Hope gone and Ingrid lying face down on the floor. "Mom!" He yelled out in worry and rushed toward her. "Oh no!" He tried to find her pulse but then remembered she was a vampire and smacked himself in the forehead. "Duh! Mom's the undead. Dad! Dad I need help."

"Okay--" Klaus cut himself off as he entered the room holding a bottle of absinthe. "What? Where's Hope?"

"I don't know!" Eirik admitted frantically and looked up at him in worry. "Mom has no pulse. How do I know she's alive?"

Klaus set the bottle down and knelt down beside his wife's body. He rolled her over onto her back and breathed out in relief. "She's alive. Her skin isn't grey or sunken in. Plus she's breathing. Do you see your mother's chest rising slightly?" He asked, using this as a teaching moment, and Eirik nodded his head. "She's just unconscious."

Eirik placed a hand over his heart and let out a loud sigh. "Thank god."

"Now I need to find where Hope went before its too late." Klaus said, his eyed moving frantically back and forth, and he stood to his feet. "Stay with your mother and call me when she's awake."

"Got it." Eirik assured him with a smile and a thumbs up.

Klaus nodded his head in acknowledgement and turned on his heels to leave the room. He tracked Hope down at Rousseau's where she was in a stand off with Elijah.

"My memory was gone." Elijah defended himself and shook his head. "I didn't know who you were."

"Well, now you do." Hope sneered with tears in her eyes. "How does it feel?"

"Like the worst pain I've ever experienced." Elijah answered in a heartbroken tone.

Hope groaned as the whispering got louder and she gripped her head. She calmed herself down enough to glare darkly at him. "I hate you."

"I hate me, too." Elijah drew out with a stern expression on his face.

"You almost let me die." Hope snarled as her eyes flashed bright blue. Elijah backed away in concern but she used her telekinesis to force him down on his knees. She then used magic to slice into his chest repeatedly, almost surprised each time that she was capable of doing so.

Klaus walked into the restaurant from behind them and tried to reason with her. "Hope."

She quickly spun around and held her hand out, inflicting him with a spell that brought him to his knees and he cried out in pain. She stared at him with wide eyes and released him from her spell as the whispers stopped. She panted heavily and glanced around at the destruction before running past Klaus and out of the restaurant.

Elijah pulled himself off the ground and faced Klaus with a frown. Klaus controlled his breathing and ran off after her.

Hope rushed into the compound to see Ingrid sitting at one of the table of the courtyard, waiting for her. The young witch stopped and gulped in fear. She turned to walk the other way but Klaus walked up behind her. Hope was trapped between both her parents and could feel their anger swirling around in the air amongst them.

"What was that?" Klaus asked incredulously. "You won't take our help, you reject the bracelet, you knock your mother out, you're throwing Elijah around."

"She did what?" Ingrid questioned in shock and stifled a laugh, knowing it wouldn't help their situation if she burst into a fit of laughter. "Nevermind, I'll ask later." She waved off her questioned after seeing Klaus' disapproving facial expression.

"It stopped the voices." Hope informed them with a heavy sigh.

"What?" Both of the hybrids gaped in equal disbelief and shared a worried look.

"Ever since I took the power back, the whispers... I can't think, I can't sleep, I can't even breathe." Hope informed them with wide, teary eyes. She was clearly overwhelmed by all the power coursing through her. "But right now, it's silent. Is this the rest of my life? A rage that can only be quieted by violence?"

"Hope, if violence is what you need to feel better, then you have the perfect parents." Klaus remarked with a slight smirk and Ingrid hummed in agreement.

Hope brushed her hair behind her ear with a heavy sigh and looked down at her hands. "I thought I could handle it. I really did."

Ingrid walked toward them as Klaus placed a hand on Hope's shoulder, giving her a comforting smile. "You're handling it as best you can, and we're gonna be here with you every step of the way." He promised the teenager as he and Ingrid sandwiched her in a hug between them.

Hope closed her eyes and grabbed onto each of their forearms. "Will you guys stay with me awhile?" She asked in small voice.

"Of course we will." Ingrid assured her with a smile and rested her cheek on top of Hope's head. "Whatever you need, sweetheart."

---
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-the1andonlytifftiff