KLAUS wandered around the excavation dig site in Italy, watching them dig for Alexander's sword, while Ingrid stood a few feet away, making sure everyone was doing their job. He sent a text to Stefan saying: "We have a problem."

Stefan was quick to call him, sneering at him after he answered the phone. "How the hell did Connor escape?"

"I'd blame my numbing incompetence--" Klaus began to say causing Ingrid to snicker to herself.

"Of which there is plenty." She commented, earning a glare from her husband, while looking down at her perfectly manicured fingernails.

"--but pointing fingers isn't going to help me, you're going to help me." Klaus continued on with an annoyed expression.

Hours prior to their landing in Italy, Connor Jordan had gotten free and chopped off the head of one of Klaus' hyrbids. Stefan sighed heavily in exasperation. "Well, he could be anywhere now."

"Think, Stefan." Klaus encouraged, speaking to him in the way you would a child. "He took the hybrid's head which means he wants werewolf toxin."

"Which means he plans to stay in Mystic Falls to kill vampires." Stefan stated in realization.

"Which is a pity, as I'm half the world away digging up a dead hunter, you'll have no access to my or Ingrid's blood and therefore, the antidote." Klaus taunted with a wicked smirk on his face. "Nevertheless, his tattoo is our only map to the cure, so your task is quite simple; find him, catch him, and above all, keep him alive." He gave the order in a stern voice. "He's no good to us dead."

"Damon's been looking everywhere for him, if they cross paths..." Stefan trailed off suggestively.

"You'll need to keep Damon in check." Klaus remarked in a serious tone.

Ingrid smirked with an amused facial expression. "That seems close to impossible."

"Be a lot easier if I could just tell him the truth." Stefan remarked, hoping that Klaus would ease up with his order of secrecy.

"You trust Damon with the cure? I imagine he prefers Elena the way she is." Klaus said with a knowing smirk.

Ingrid couldn't contain her laughter and glanced at Klaus with a matching look. "Of course he does."

"Nice try, Klaus. But I trust Damon a hell of a lot more than I trust you." Stefan sneered in aggravation, not playing the Original's game.

"And I trust no one." Klaus reminded before turning toward Ingrid and shaking his head, mouthing. "Except you." She rolled her eyes and shoved his shoulder but he continued on with his phone call. "Which is why my sister is lying daggered in a box. The more who find out about the cure, the more who will go after it. Nations have gone to war over less. You mark my words, tell one soul and I will throw the hunter's sword in the Mediterranean and we can end this quest right now. Am I understood?"

Stefan said nothing in return and simply hung up the phone. Klaus chuckled to himself while putting his phone in his pocket. Ingrid licked her lips and smirked at him. "I wonder how he'll take the news."

"Oh, which part? That Elena is really sired to you or that she is truly in love with Damon?" He rhetorically questioned with an amused smile and the Mikaelsons laughed together at the situation.

A few minutes later, Stefan called back to explain that Jeremy, Matt, and April were being held hostage in the Mystic Grill by Connor. Klaus leaned on a shovel with an incredulous look on his face. "You expect me to care about bloody hostages?"

"Well, you should. Damon does. So does Caroline, Tyler, Elena." Stefan listed, attempting to win Klaus over to help his cause.

"So?" Ingrid remarked in confusion, waiting for an actual reason for either of them to care.

"If any of them get to Connor, then you just wasted a trip to Italy. I can buy us some time, but Damon's getting antsy." Stefan informed anxiously. "So, if you want Connor alive, you better get your hybrids on board with my plan."

Klaus hung up before calling Dean and ordering him to go to the Grill to get Connor, alive.

The sword had been successfully excavated and one of the men held it up, brushing the dirt off. He handed it off to another man but it was snatched away by Ingrid, who studied it curiously. Klaus then dismissed the compelled team of excavators and turned toward her. "Ready to go home?"

"Always." She remarked with a wide smile.

When the couple had landed in Virginia, Klaus listened to his voicemails to hear that Elena had killed Connor and snarled furiously. After arriving in Mystic Falls, he asked Ingrid to hide sword while he went after Elena.

Ingrid walked down the hall to see Chris opening the door to one of the rooms and Klaus dragging Elena by her arm into the room. Raising an eyebrow, she walked toward them to see Elena struggling against Klaus' grip. "Let go of me."

"Certainly." Klaus remarked with a smirk and let her go causing her to stumble on her feet. "I apologize for the lack of windows; it's to preserve the art. And of course to prevent you from taking off your daylight ring and burning yourself to death in the sun."

Elena scoffed and glared at him in offense. "I'm not gonna kill myself. I would never do that."

"Oh, but you'll want to." Klaus replied with a pointed expression. "I did. Problem is, I'm immortal."

"You went through this?" Elena questioned in surprise.

"Yes, I did." Klaus answered honestly with a nod of his head.

"For fifty-two years, four months, and nine days." Ingrid added while walking into the room and shutting the door behind her. "Granted I spent that time in a box."

"I was tormented, in my dreams, my every waking moment, relentless, never-ending torture. It was one of the few times when I actually felt time." Klaus stated with a grim look on his face. Truthfully, every minute away from Ingrid he felt in their entirety.

"So, you knew that this would happen if Connor died?" Elena questioned, putting all the pieces together. "That's why you got involved. Did Stefan know too?"

"No." Ingrid answered simply, shaking her head.

"All he knew was that the hunter had to be kept alive. You should have listened to him when he said he had it covered, love." Klaus remarked in a mocking manner with a smirk plastered on his face.

"What else does Stefan know?" Elena asked in a small voice, taking a small step toward them. Afraid that Stefan knew more than he had been leading on.

"Well, that's one of life's little mysteries, isn't it?" Klaus shot back while slowly slinking away and heading for the door.

Elena shifted on her feet and called out to him. "How did you make it stop?"

Klaus stopped in his place and looked at her. "I didn't. Eventually it just stopped. The hallucinations tend to appear in strange forms." He then knocked on the door of the chamber and Chris opened the door. "Don't say I didn't warn you." He said as he and Ingrid walked out of the room. Chris shut the door immediately behind them to prevent Elena's escape.

Later on, Tyler, Stefan, and Chris all walked into the parlor room of the Mikaelson mansion to form a plan to free Elena.

"Thanks for meeting us." Tyler thanked the hybrid in genuine appreciation.

Chris nodded quickly and moved to rush the Lockwood. "Yeah, but make it fast, Ingrid and Klaus will be back soon."

"No, they won't." Tyler remarked confidently and unbeknownst to any of them, Ingrid was listening from around the corner.

"All you need to do is get me access to Elena and I'll take it from there." Stefan said to Chris, desperate to save his ex-girlfriend.

"Please, man, help us and then you can disappear. You'll be free." Tyler explained with a wide smile, hoping to convince him.

Chris scoffed harshly and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, until Klaus sends one of his other hybrids after me."

"Hayley and I got your back. We'll make sure nothing happens." Tyler reassured him.

Chris reluctantly agreed and walked upstairs to the panic room where two hyrbids were guarding the door. He smoothed talked them into leaving their posts and used the excuse of Klaus needed them to go to Tyler because something happened to Caroline. The two hybrids looked at each other for a moment then walked off and Chris watched them leave. Stefan turned around the corner and walked toward Chris, who handed him the keys. Stefan unlocked the door to Elena's room and entered it.

Ingrid smirked to herself before speeding toward Chris and harshly snapping his neck. "Useless." She dropped his limp body carelessly to the ground and glanced at him with a thoughtful expression. "As much as I wish to kill you, I am going save you for Niklaus." She whispered menacingly and stepped over his body with little regard.

Elena was sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her legs. She heard the good open and gasped at the noise, turning to look at the door.

"Elena. Hey." Stefan walked into the room slowly and Elena started to back away frantically, hallucinating Stefan as Connor. "Hey, it's okay. It's me."

"No, no." She scrambled off the floor and continued to back away. "Stay - Stay away from me."

"Let me help you." Stefan affectionately attempted to break through to her.

Elena rushed towards the bed and grabbed a lead pipe that was underneath it. She rushed at Stefan, who grabbed her by the wrist, preventing her from harming him. "Elena, stop!"

Elena threw Stefan against the wall and rushed at him. She stabbed him in the stomach with the lead pipe and rushed out of the room as he fell to the floor. Before Elena could go any further, Ingrid caught her by the neck and held her in place.

Stefan ripped the pipe out from his abdomen and sped toward them. "Ingrid, let her go."

The Mikaelson glanced over at him with a small smirk. "You think you're so clever, don't you?" She remarked in amusement. "Sneaking into my house once again. Such disrespect for boundaries." She mocked with a fake pout. "You make this sooo easy for me it's almost disappointing."

"Ingrid just let her go. I just want to help her." Stefan remarked with a shake of his head and a hesitant step toward them. "Don't kill her. Please."

Elena thrashed against the hybrid's grip but was unsuccessful. Ingrid laughed at the vampires before her and stared at Elena with a stern expression. "Stop moving." The doppelgänger did as she was told and stopped struggling.

Ingrid then turned to Stefan with am offended expression. "It's hurtful that you would make such wild assumptions. You want to stop her hallucinations? You must find the next hunter. Do you wish to make a guess on who that may be?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Stefan's shoulders dropled as he realized who could be the next hunter. "Jeremy."

"What do you know, Stefan, you won first prize. You're not as stupid as I thought." Ingrid replied in a condescending tone. "All he has to do is kill a vampire. So pick one. There is a never ending abundance. But I have a suggestion."

At the Lockwood mansion, Chris picked up his stuff and opened the front door to see Klaus and Ingrid on the other side. Ingrid waved at him with a smile and the couple crossed the threshold. "Hello again, Christopher."

"Going somewhere?" Klaus grabbed Chris by the throat and sped him into the staircase. "When I said don't let her out of your sight, what did you think I meant?"

"It's not his fault, it's mine. I was distracting you. It's my fault she got away!" Tyler admitted quickly, hoping to spare Chris from Klaus' rage.

"Then maybe you should be the one to die for it." Klaus replied with narrowed eyes and gestured around the room.

"No one has to die!" Hayley Marshall yelled in outrage.

Klaus rushed at Hayley and proceeded to shout. "Did I not say mind your business?!"

"Tyler's covering for me. I'm the one that let her go." Hayley lied, shifting the blame to herself.

"Hayley..." Tyler began to argue but she stopped him.

"No." She said sternly, shaking her head and standing her ground.

"You dare call my wife a liar?" Klaus sneered at her furiously, defending Ingrid, who smiled over at him.

"You want someone dead, go ahead. Kill me. I'd rather die anyway than end up as one of your sired little bitches." Hayley sneered at him in disgust.

Ingrid laughed sinisterly and clapped her hands in excitement while Klaus gave her a smirk. "Don't tempt me." He then turned around to face Chris again. "Your existence is to serve me. To please me. Do you understand?"

Chris nodded his head quickly and casted his gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry, I won't fail you again."

"No, you won't." Klaus remarked in a warning tone and moved aside. "Get out of here."

Chris quickly walked to the front door as Stefan walked through the door and stabbed him with a stake. Chris fell to the ground and Hayley gaped at them in horror. "No!" She covered her hand with her mouth and cried.

Jeremy walked into the house with a cleaver in his hands and Tyler glanced at him in shock and confusion. "Jeremy? What the hell, man?!"

"I'm sorry." Stefan whispered then looked at Jeremy and nodded in approval. Jeremy swung the meat cleaver down and chopped Chris' head off. Hayley screamed loudly and hid her face while the Mikaelsons watched with impressed facial expressions.

Jeremy glanced down at his arm to see the Five tattoo growing across his skin.

---
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