INGRID walked down the stairs, into the courtyard to see a large breakfast spread waiting on the dining table. Pausing in confusion and suspicions, she took a step toward the table and looked around for any sign of other people. Klaus walked into the room and joined her, equally surprised. She motioned to the table with a raised eyebrow. "Was this you?"

"It's certainly a card I've played in the past, but I had no hand in this..." Klaus admitted and gestured to the food on the table for emphasis.

"Elijah then?" Ingrid asked, curious and on edge.

Elijah returned to the compound and joined them in the courtyard, looking confused when he heard their conversation and noticed the breakfast spread in front of them. "This wasn't my doing..."

The silver lid on the platter suddenly began to rattle, startling Elijah so much that he jumped in fright for a moment. Ingrid raised an eyebrow and hesitantly walked toward it.

Klaus was incredibly uneasy, holding a hand out in front of her, and lifted the platter. Two starlings flew out from under the lid and made their way to the ceiling. The three Originals reflexively ducked to avoid being hit while looking puzzled and nervous.

Klaus looked at the platter to see a white card lying on the tray. He reached for the invitation and opened it. It read: "Dinner, Your Home, 8PM"

Narrowing his eyes and gritting his teeth, he turned toward them with the small card in hand. "An invitation from our mother." The brothers stared at each other in concern before Klaus paced the floor, anxious and furious. "We have enough enemies here. And now, the war for our home is to be fought against my own family."

"Esther has done enough to this family. Perhaps I should wrap my hands around her throat until the life drains from her eyes again." Ingrid snarled viciously with a dark smirk.

"You will do no such thing." Elijah scolded her, a stern glare on his face, causing her to scowl at him. "Esther's a master in the art of possession. We know whose body she currently inhabits. We must decipher her intentions before she finds a new host."

"Well, her last invitation was an assassination attempt on her family." Klaus reminded condescendingly and smiled bitterly. "I think we can assume her intentions are decidedly foul."

Elijah shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Well, then. We have--" He remarked while checking his watch. "-- this afternoon to prepare for the worst." He said with a pointed look before leaving the compound.

Once he was gone, Ingrid mocked his expressions while making a talking gesture with her hand. Klaus glanced over at her and laughed wholeheartedly.

Later on, Klaus was in the dining room, making arrangements for the evening's dinner with a group of, presumably compelled, caterers. One of the caterers gave him a choice of two different bottles of wine and the hybrid looked at them sternly. "Skip the salad course. Let's not make this dreadful evening any longer than it needs to be." He chose a wine and dismissed the caterer.

"Please." Ingrid remarked with a displeased look on her face and threw herself down into one of the dining chairs. "You and I need to create a contingency plan, my darling."

"For?" Klaus questioned her with a suspecting smirk.

"In the event that Esther pulls one of her many tricks." She clarified and leaned against the dining table. "Or for Mikael's inevitable appearance."

"I'm sure Elijah has that handled." He remarked, stifling a laugh at himself because he knew it would upset her.

"Who put Elijah in charge?!" She snapped in aggravation, slamming her hands down on the table, as Klaus finally laughed, his dimples peaking out from his cheeks. "He has his plans and we shall have ours."

"Why bother even discussing it?" Klaus questioned in an amused tone. "I already know what you intend to do should Esther step out of line." He mused causing Ingrid to sit back in her chair and raise an eyebrow. "Kill her."

She pursed her lips and refrained from making eye contact, not wanting to immediately give away that he was correct. "You are... not wrong." She reluctantly remarked as he laughed once again. "Put a sock in it, Niklaus!" She grumbled lowly in annoyance and Klaus laughed harder.

Evening fell quickly and the Mikaelsons were getting ready for dinner with Esther. Elijah and Klaus were both wearing fancy, black suits and Ingrid was wearing a black formal gown.

Klaus looked at his brother in annoyance, fiddling with his tie in frustration. "Are these outfits really necessary?"

"Appearance is a way of showing respect, Niklaus." Elijah informed him with a small sigh.

"Of which, she is owed none." Ingrid snarled furiously while looking at her reflection in a silver platter, checking her lipstick.

Elijah shot her an unimpressed expression and continued on. "Mother will be more likely to surrender her true intentions."

"Well, I doubt her guard will drop just 'cause I'm dressed like a bloody lawyer." Klaus argued in an aggravated snarl and Ingrid chuckled beside him.

She walked over and ran a hand down his chest. "You can show me section sixty-nine of your penal code any time you like." She whispered in a sultry tone and he smirked suggestive down at her.

"Oh, yeah?" He responded in a husky voice and wrapped his arms around her.

"Enough." Elijah rolled his eyes at them with an overdramatic sigh and lit the candles on the table. "We need every advantage we can get, Niklaus."

"You always did excel in diplomacy." Klaus commented with a smirk then gave him a dark sneer. "Just know, if she tries anything, I'll tear her new body to pieces."

"I second that motion." Ingrid added with an equally sinister countenance. "Altough, my suggestion would be to rip her beating heart from her chest and feed on it. There's also the choice to rip her tongue out so she may never chant a single spell again."

Just then, the same witch from Rousseau's entered the room and laughed dramatically at their conversation. "You three haven't changed a bit!" He looked over at Elijah. "Linens and silk to disguise your pathetic self-loathing." He then turned to Klaus. "And you-- despite the arrogant façade, you're still the same paranoid little boy, full of hate and fear." He finally looked at Ingrid. "Still pretending to be the rational one? Hmm. You're the same vindictive savage you've always been."

"Better to be a savage than a martyr." Ingrid replied back with a condescending smile.

Klaus' face turned from amused to offended while Elijah looked at him in confusion before toward this unknown man. "Forgive me, I don't believe I've had the pleasure."

He feigned offense and placed a hand on his chest. "Oh, you mean you don't recognize me?"

"Hello again, Finn." Ingrid greeted him in disdain, her lips curling up into a sneer. "How displeased I am to see you."

"So much for the unbreakable bonds of family, huh?" Finn sarcastically questioned then laughed humorlessly. "Always and forever indeed."

Klaus began to scowl and turned toward his eldest brother in anger. "It's been a long time, Finn."

Finn smirked and spread his arms out wide in the typical "Mikaelson man" stance. "Now that the introductions are out of the way, let's eat!"

The Mikaelsons were seated along the table, the hybrids on either end and Elijah and Finn next to each other in the right side.

Elijah poured Finn a glass of wine, which he wafted under his nose. "What an aromatic Bordeaux." He complimented politely.

"Well, it was a challenge to find a good pairing. What wine goes well with treachery?" Klaus remarked with a sullen countenance.

"Don't pout, brother. Tonight is meant to be a happy occasion!" Finn proclaimed with a wide smile then whispered something in one of the servers' ears, which made Klaus suspicious.

Elijah sat in his seat with a cautious look, narrowing his eyes. "What exactly are we celebrating?"

"Why, my return, of course! Remember, I spent nine hundred years--" Finn looked at Klaus for confirmation, pointing in hus direction. "-- right?-- lying daggered in a box." He snarled furiously while Klaus smirked. "I'm rather enjoying this new body. Strolling about your lovely city that, uh, you've made your home. But, do tell me-- what'd I miss? Regale me with your contributions to society! Medicine? Philosophy? Art?" He questioned in a passive-aggressive tone while Klaus rolled his eyes, already tired of this conversation. "Or, have you three merely cut a path of destruction across time?"

"How quickly you forget that we were daggered for the same amount of time and yet I am not as bitter as you." Ingrid remarked with a raised eyebrow and sipped her wine. "Swift you are to put yourself on a pedestal."

"The last time we met, you were helping our mother try to annihilate the lot of us! Let's not throw stones in glass houses." Klaus suggested with a glare.

Elijah noticed that the caterers were placing another two plates, glasses, and sets of silverware at the table and became confused. "Are we expecting another guest?"

Finn gestured at the other end of the table and looked at Ingrid. "Mother will sit at the head. So you'll have to move."

"I think not." Ingrid rejected with a shake of her head and smirked at him.

Finn glared at her but knew she would not relent so he continued on. "And, as for the seat across from me, that's reserved for another of our clan. Care to wager an educated guess? How about a paranoid one?"

"Ah, yes." Ingrid replied with a knowing look on her face as she folded her napkin over her lap. "Kol."

"Well, there's no way Kol would listen to anything other than his ego." Klaus remarked in an annoyed voice.

"And yet, our mother has made such a compelling argument that even he, the wildest of us Mikaelsons, has seen the error of his ways and accepted his new form with vigor!" Finn explained to them while they stared at him. "Change, dear family, is inevitable."

"You would dare face us as a mortal? The only thing inevitable is your death." Klaus said coldly and threw a knife at Finn, who easily deflected it with magic, causing the knife to instead embed itself into the chair at the head of the table, barely missing Ingrid's shoulder.

"Oh!" Finn sighed then turned toward her and smiled before reaching over her to remove the knife from the chair and held it aloft. "I suppose the honor of carving should go to the oldest. We have much to discuss. I'm rather enjoying my evening."

"Well, I'd rather enjoy you getting to the point." Klaus replied in frustration.

"I had nine hundred years to learn to be patient. Although, I am curious why you kept me daggered in a box for so long." Finn commented with a slightly saddened face. "Ingrid I can understand, but me, not so much."

"You were daggered for being an ever-simpering sycophant. Did Mother bring you back from the dead so you could wash her knickers?" Klaus mocked him and smirked amusement while Ingrid sputtered on her wine, trying to contain her laughter.

This caused Finn to begin to lose his temper and sneered at them in fury. "She raised me because I was treated unfairly! Cheated of all but the smallest portion of my life!"

"Unfairly?" Ingrid questioned with a scoff. "Please."

Finn turned to Elijah, looking upset, and attempted to reason with him. "Elijah, I can understand such cruelty coming from him." He said pointing to Klaus. "But I always thought of you as being the compassionate one! What did I do to deserve you turning your back on me? Were you afraid of Niklaus? Are you still?" He interrogated Elijah, who was unamused by his words and remained silent. "Or perhaps jealousy is what kept me locked in a box?"

Ingrid laughed loudly and smacked her hand on the table, causing the silverware to clink together. "Jealousy?" She questioned through her teary chuckles then wiped the corner of her eyes while calming down. "Who would be jealous of a mama's boy with a martyr complex? You were out of your coffin for no more than a day and you tried to slaughter our entire family because of your own guilt and hatred! No one is jealous of you Finn. We simply despise you for your indignance."

"You coveted the duties of the eldest brother, in which case you had near-on a millennium to fix the problems of this family, and instead, produced nine centuries of failure." Finn snarled at his brothers and realized his anger had gotten the best of him and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb, stopping himself from further exposing his feelings to his family.

After a moment, Elijah broke his silence and spoke slowly while smirking at the hybrids. "You might reside-- somewhat parasitically, I might add-- in another body, but I assure you, in nine hundred years, your tedious sentiments remain quite the same. You see, Finn, like Father, you've always despised our supernatural existence. Father, of course, slaughtered and consumed his own, whereas you became pretentious and dull... much like this meal." He drew out in displeasure ad Klaus and Ingrid began giggling at Elijah's insults. "I will not ask you again-- where is Mother?"

Just then, Esther in Cassie's body walked into the dining room and joined them. "Oh, my darling son." She said in a dramatic tone and Finn immediately rose to his feet to greet his mother. "I've missed you, too." She commented sarcastically then turned to Ingrid, who immediately snubbed her, and sighed. "Fine." She mumbled in aggravation and sat down across from Finn.

Klaus leaned forward in his seat and snarled in her direction. "Why don't you say what you came here to say, so this wretched night can end?"

"It pains me that you and Elijah look at me with such disdain. I wish you could see that my every action has been to protect you!" Esther argued, defending her actions.

"You actually believe that, don't you?" Klaus questioned incredulously and smiled humorlessly. "I knew you were a liar, but now I see you're utterly delusional."

"If you can forget the hatred that you cling to and remember all the times I've mended and healed you." She reminded him and Klaus laughed sarcastically but Esther turned to Elijah, hoping to get through to him.. "Elijah, do you recall the day Niklaus challenged your father to a duel? Did I leave your brother to die alone? What did I say, when you came to me and asked me to help him?"

"That you would rather die than to see any of your children suffer." Elijah answered with a bitter smirk on his face.

"Mother of the millennia." Ingrid mumbled sarcastically under her breath and rolled her dark eyes.

Klaus sat in his chair, staring off into space for a moment before returning to reality and coming to a sudden realization. "The necklace." He whispered, horrified, and glared at Esther furiously when he realized what she did to the necklace. "It wasn't spelled to protect me. It made me weak." He concluded as his light blue eyes began to glisten.

"I sought to protect you from yourself! If you had killed your father in that duel, or anyone else in the course of your life, you would have activated your curse." She explained calmly, attempting to reason.

Klaus angrily slammed his hand down on the table and jabbed a finger in her direction. "You ruined me! You left me to suffer at the hands of a father who valued only strength!"

"I kept you from becoming a beast for as long as I possibly could!" Esther responded in guilt.

Klaus' voice raised to a shout, and he slammed his head against the table once again before he rising to his feet. "Oh, you lied to me! To hide your own transgressions because of your own fear! My whole life, I sought the approval I was denied by the man I thought was my father! You turned me into the weakling he hated."

Elijah rose to his feet and paced anxiously while Finn watched with a smirk and Ingrid removed her glass from the table, anticipating a fight and wanting to spare her glass of wine a victim. Esther gulped and looked guilty under Klaus' furious glare, unable to look him in the eyes.

"Look at me!" He bellowed at her and she reluctantly did as told. "You rant and you rave about the monster I have become, but you, Mother-- you are the author of everything I am."

Esther looked flustered and suddenly began gasping for breath. Finn looked mildly alarmed as she fainted and slumped over in her seat. Elijah managed to catch her before her head hit the table and he looked at his family in shock. "She's gone."

Elijah rushed to attack Finn but he used his magic to push Elijah away, which threw him over the table and into the nearby wall. Klaus sped toward Finn and grabbed him by the lapels. "Where is she?"

Finn blew on his fingers and rubbed them together, using a muscle-seizing spell. Klaus fell to the floor in pain while Finn adjusted his jacket and looked around frantically for Ingrid, who was no where to be seen. He ran out of the dining room toward the entrance and came face to face with the hybrid he was looking for. She walked toward him and he frantically back away from her.

He laughed nervously and held his hands up in surrender. "Ingrid! Let's talk this through."

She didn't respond and simply raised her chin with narrowed eyes. He began to whisper an incantation under his breath. "Phasmatos Morsinus Pyrox Allum."

Ingrid gripped at her head while growling at him furiously. She yelled loudly in pain and fell to her knees, giving him time to escape the compound, leaving his family behind.

The Mikaelson trio recovered from Finn's attacks only to find that Finn had fled the compound. Angry and concerned about Esther and Finn's motives, they decided to question Cassie, who was absolutely terrified and confused about what had just happened to her.

"Where's our mother?" Klaus demanded furiously and stood before her.

Cassie was so terrified that she was almost in tears. "Where am I? What's happening?"

Klaus lost his temper and grabbed Cassie in a choke-hold. She struggled against his grip as she desperately gasped for breath. Ingrid rolled her eyes at him and called out to him in a dry tone. "Niklaus."

A concerned Elijah immediately stepped in to stop him. "Leave her. She's a puppet. Niklaus, look at her! She has absolutely no idea."

Klaus reluctantly let go of her, which only made Cassie more scared and overwhelmed as she started to cry. "What are you talking about? Who are you?"

"Shut up! Stop talking right now!" Klaus snarled, enraged causing Cassie to gulp nervously and stop talking.

Ingrid walked toward the young witch and studied her for a moment before narrowed her eyes and musing lowly to herself. "Cassie, what is the last the you remember?"

"The Harvest Festival." The teenager answered in a whimper, completely terrified.

Elijah pat Klaus on the shoulder comfortingly before Klaus began to pace around the room. "Our mother orchestrated this entire evening just to torture us, and then simply vanishes." He walked back to Cassie and looked at her. "Why?"

Elijah paused as he came to a realization and looked at them, horrified. "What if we are not the only minds she was hoping to poison tonight?"

Ingrid sighed heavily and made a face of annoyance. "Hayley."

They arrived at Lenore's convince store and interrupt the conversation taking place between Esther, now possessing Lenore's body, and Hayley. When Klaus saw Esther, he rushed toward her. "I assume you've had the misfortune of speaking to my mother?"

Esther picked up a handful of a powder from a small bowl and threw it toward Klaus, creating a magical barrier to keep him from coming any closer to her.

"You hide behind your spells like a coward!" Klaus jeered in annoyance.

"I did not come here to wage war!" She remarked sternly and picked up another handful of the powder, throwing it sideways toward Elijah, who had just tried to run toward her from behind, preventing him from coming any closer as well. She then grab another and tossed it at Ingrid, who was just standing by while planning her attack.

Ingrid threw her hands up and flattened her lips into a tight line. "Okay."

"Everything you do is an act of war. If you touch her, so help me--" Elijah threatened in an overprotective manner, standing in front of Hayley.

Esther shook her head and interrupted him. "Hayley is free to go. I've spoken my piece, she knows why I'm here. I have come to heal our family, Elijah." She informed him in a caring tone of voice and they all spared odd glanced before Ingrid threw her head back and cackled loudly.

"Well, that's a grand sentiment, coming from you." Klaus commented sarcastically then turned toward Hayley. "Go. Now."

Hayley quickly left and as the Mikaelsons turned to follow, Esther threateningly exploded a light bulb with magic. "My intent was never to harm! Only to heal, as I have already healed your brothers Finn and Kol. For you, I will undo everything that has been done, thereby giving you a new life!"

Another light bulb exploded overhead and she stared intensely at her family. "One without the vampire curse I inflicted upon you."

Esther started waving her hand above a cauldron and the earth began to shake, rattling all of the inventory on the shelves of the store. Klaus grabbed Ingrid and pulled her close to him while Esther smiled in their direction. "Ask Hayley to share with you my loving proposition."

"You're a fool if you think we'll accept anything that you offer!" Klaus replied, giving her a harsh glare of anger.

"Oh..." She trailed off with a laugh and shook her head. "You are wrong, Niklaus!" The earth continued to rumble below them as more light bulbs exploded and Esther held her arms open wide. "There will come a time, my darlings, that you will beg for it!"

The glass in the windows shattered inward and they raised their arms over their faces to shield them from the broken glass. Esther lifted her arms over her head as hundreds of starlings burst their way through the windows and descended upon the store.

---
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