KLAUS had blood splattered all over his hands and face and was washing up in his bathroom sink when Ingrid popped her head in and smirked at him. "Am I to assume it went well?"

He looked up at himself in the mirror while he washed up and smirked. "Eh, it turns out these witches are delicate creatures. No matter! I suspected my mother had Elijah captive."

"I had thoughts about that as well." Ingrid admitted and walked further into the room. "How do you intend to proceed?"

He turned toward her so they were face to face and dried his hands off. "Esther is too powerful. She won't be easily found. I need to draw her out."

"I think I know how we can do it..." she trailed off with a mischevious smirk plastered on her face.

Klaus was in the middle of digging up Esther's grave where she was buried at the old plantation they had lived in a year prior. Ingrid was standing by, watching with a cold facial expression. He pulled her coffin out of the ground and turned around to glare at the starlings he heard chirping in the trees nearby. He begins to doused the coffin in gasoline and shouted at them. "Are you watching this, Mother? Nothing says "I loathe you" quite like desecrating a corpse!"

He pulled out a lighter and lit it, but before he could drop it on the coffin, he heard a familiar voice call out to him. "Niklaus!"

The couple turned to see Elijah on the other end of the yard, walking toward the plantation house. Klaus, confused and a bit suspicious, followed him. Ingrid glanced at her husband in concern and began to chase after him. "Niklaus! Wait!"

Inside, Elijah started to tap the keys of the piano as Klaus slowly approached him. Elijah smiled up at his brother and furrowed his eyebrows. "You seem troubled. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were worried."

Ingrid walked through the threshold and joined them with a hesitant expression on her face. "Elijah..." she greeted him with narrowed eyes.

Klaus studied his brother for a moment and scowled. "What has she done to you?"

"A thousand years of murder and mayhem, and Mother believes she can still save our souls." He answered in an off tone and ran his finger across the piano keys. "She wants to talk. Perhaps we should listen?"

Klaus smiled for a moment before angrily picking up a piece of overturned furniture. "ENOUGH!" He bellowed at threw it in Elijah's direction. The furniture passed right through Elijah and he disappeared, revealing that he was only an illusion. "The petty illusions, Esther! Where is Elijah?"

Suddenly, Esther, still in Lenore's body, appeared behind them. "He's preoccupied at the moment. I'm helping him find his way. But, not to worry, I'll return him to you. All I ask is that you hear me out."

Ingrid rolled her eyes and groaned in disgust under her breath. Klaus turned toward his mother and glared harshly at her. "You expect me to sit through a sermon of your lies?"

"I have lied in the past, to my shame. But, I'm going to tell you the truth. I'm in the process of making Elijah into the man he was meant to be. And, I intend to do the same for you." Esther explained to him then looked over at Ingrid. "Both of you." She then looked around the plantation and smiled to herself. "After all, you never intended to build a true home here. Even as Ingrid carried your child, as Rebekah and Elijah sought to defend you, your thoughts were focused on only your conquest of the Quarter. Tell me, how did that go?" She questioned with a confused look.

Ingrid licked her lips while turning her gaze away. "I think you know... especially considering it was you who had her murdered."

"I'm sorry. Is this some sort of motherly critique? Please feel free to choke on it." Klaus sneered angrily, a patronizing smirk on his face.

Esther noticed their expressions and smiled kindly. "I mention your failures only to make a point, my dear. You've endured several lifetimes of misery, never mind the suffering you've caused others, even to your own blood. You yourself remain trapped in a perpetual state of despair. I have come to offer you a means to escape that cycle." She explained herself in a caring manner.

"And that's about all the hypocrisy I can take. I suggest you give me my brother before I get angry." Klaus threatened her, his jaw clenched and eyes trained on her.

"Such hatred. It breaks my heart to see you like this. The boy I loved." Esther emotionally remarked, frowning at him.

"Your love was a curse, an affect you feigned. The truth is, you're not better than Mikael, and like him you seem to have crawled back from the grave simply to ruin your children." Klaus stated in anger and Esther's eyes widened in shock. Klaus realized this was news to her and smiled in amusement. "Oh! You didn't know! Yes, the Destroyer has risen, brought back to kill me by the witch Davina. Surely Kol has revealed everything to you?" He questioned in a mocking manner and Esther's face remained blank. "Or, is Mother's loyal little boot-licker not quite so loyal, after all?"

Esther took in this information and glanced at them in concern and determination. "If Mikael has returned, we will need to deal with him."

Ingrid flattened her lips before smirking and folded her hands. "Of course." She mused sarcastically. "The same way you dealt with it the first time, right?"

Klaus laughed at his mother and raised an eyebrow. "We? Is that a joke? Am I to forego centuries of hatred for my evil mother in order to join her in besting the very demon she herself allowed to raise me?"

Esther sighed heavily and gave him a saddened look. "I am not evil, Niklaus. I am your salvation. And Mikael? He was not always a demon. Long ago, he loved his children with all his heart. He doted on your brother Finn, but it was our first-born, Freya, who was the apple of his eye."

Ingrid threw her head back and laughed loudly while Klaus glanced at the witch, unmoved. "You really think that saccharine recollections of ancient history will have any effect on me at all?"

"What I think is that you have gone mad from centuries of hating your parents." She answered in a stern tone then paused. "But, if you join me now, I can grant you peace. And, should Mikael return with the intent to harm you, I will strike him down myself."

Klaus seemed slightly tempted but he remained firm in his position. "That's quite an offer. But, you know, I've never needed any help when it comes to killing parents."

Esther rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. "You reject me out of hatred, but I have something stronger. I have the truth about your father." Klaus looked at her skeptically but she continued on. "Not Mikael-- your real father." Esther walked outside into the front yard, and the couple slowly followed behind her. She stopped when she came across her dug-up grave. "A thousand years ago, in a fit of rage, Ingrid wrapped her bare hands around my neck and squeezed until I died."

"Ten out of ten. Would do again." Ingrid remarked back with a wide smirk as she walked over to the grave.

Esther rolled her eyes and turned toward the female hybrid. "Do you even remember why?"

"Of course. I will never forget what you did." Ingrid answered simply and shrugged her shoulders. "You lied to Niklaus and then punished him for your mistakes. Like the poor excuse of a mother that you are."

"Why do you think she did it, Niklaus?" Esther questioned her son in curiosity.

"Let's see..." Klaus trailed off, pretending to think about it. "You turned us all into monsters. You cursed me, denied me of my hybrid nature. You lied to me about my father--"

Esther interrupted him with a pointed look. "It's that one above all. She killed me because I kept you from ever knowing your true father."

"No." Ingrid argued with a shake of her head. "No. I killed you because you lied like you always do. I killed you because you cursed Niklaus."

"Do you remember what happened after you killed me?" Esther questioned Ingrid, earning an eye roll from her.

"Is that what we're doing? A walk down memory lane?" Ingrid asked in annoyance and smirked. "You think if we do that, that we'll take your offer. If we remember our pain, we'll agree?"

"Do you remember what happened?" Esther repeated again in a stern tone, wanting Ingrid to recall the events that happened after she killed Esther.

Sighing loudly and rolling her eyes, Ingrid lazily glanced in her direction. "I triggered my werewolf side." She answered in a dry tone and sucked her teeth. "Lucky me."

"You hate me because I lied." Esther concluded with a knowing look then looked at Klaus. "Why do you hate me so?"

"My hatred for you runs so deep, it's difficult to pinpoint it's origin." Klaus spoke up in anger then glanced at his mother with narrowed eyes. "Maybe I hate that I'm the product of a whore's lechery?"

Esther grew furious at that insult and slapped Klaus across the face. "Watch your mouth! You will do well to remember that you are still my son!"

"You judge me evil, yet it was your lust that made me what I am." He sneered back at her.

"And not once have I ever regretted the love I had for your father." Esther said softly and shook her head, taking a step toward him. "And, you have never known the truth of how that love came to be, or what happened in the months after Mikael and I lost your sister Freya to the plague. There are no words for the loss of a child, as you both well know."

Klaus' eyes widened in pain and he strained to keep from crying as Ingrid cast her eyes to the ground and stared down with a distant look in her dark brown eyes.

"After Freya died, Mikael was inconsolable. Compelled by his grief, we were forced to pack our things and set across the seas." Esther explained to them, hoping to cast Mikael in the roll of a grief strike father. "Eventually, his despair would drive us apart, and that's when I saw him for the first time--" She said with a smile and looked up at her son. "--your father. I'd never seen a man like him. Powerful, yet wise, but loved by his people. And-- because Mikael had chosen to leave me alone in his grief, shunning me from his life-- I found myself drawn to another."

Klaus groaned in disgust and glared at her. "Spare me the sordid details of my origin."

"I only speak the truth." She defended herself, a stern look on her face.

"Then tell me this, Mother-- Why did your Adonis abandon his son? Why did he allow me to be raised by a monster who hated me? Why not claim me for himself, raise me among the wolves? Or, was he as ashamed of his bastard as you were?" Klaus questioned emotionally, his voice breaking slightly. Ingrid placed a comforting hand on his back and rubbed softly.

Esther frantically shook her head and looked at him on concern. "No, no, no. He loved you. It was I who forbade it. I knew if Mikael had learned of my infidelity, he would've destroyed us in his rage. I had no choice." She explained and Klaus glared at Esther furiously. "When I learned I was with child, I went back to Mikael. I told him I was having his baby. He showed no joy, but neither did he suspect the truth.When you were born, it renewed his spirits. We had Kol, Rebekah, Henrik..." she trailed off then smiled happily. "Because of you, we were a family again!"

Klaus, clearly overwhelmed by this story, stepped away from her. "A family built on secrets and lies."

"Oh, you were my secret joy! And, to protect your secret, I denied you a life with your father. But, what if I could make up for all that? By curing you of this sickness that's infected your soul?" She questioned him with a kind smile. "Whereas I put Kol and Finn into the bodies of a witch, you both I shall place into the body of werewolves! So you both can live out your days as what you were always meant to be!"

Klaus turned away from her and chuckled humorlessly. "What could possibly make you think I would agree to such a thing?"

"With mortality, you could start over. You could have a family of your own. Happiness, peace, all the things you have long been denied?" Esther questioned softly and Ingrid narrowed her eyes at the witch.

Esther walked toward Klaus as she talked but with every step she took in his direction, he took a step backwards to get away from her, with an unhappy expression. After a moment, he stopped backing away and bellowed at her. "ENOUGH! Tell me where Elijah is, or I will kill you, in this body or any other you choose to jump into from now to bloody Armageddon!" He stepped toward her in an aggravated manner as he threatened her.

Esther threw him away from him using telekinesis and looked at him in disappointment. "I had hoped there was some part of you that yearned for an end to your vicious ways!" She continued holding Klaus back using magic as he stood to his feet and tried to push against it. "But, if you are determined to perpetuate the cycles of the violence to which you have become accustomed? Well, then, I'll have to accommodate you." She made her outstretched hand into a fist and twisted it in the air, snapping Klaus' neck with telekinesis. Klaus fell to the ground, unconscious, and Esther turned toward Ingrid with a slight smile. "Now, Ingrid..." she trailed off and walked toward the hybrid. "Let's talk."

"Spare it. I am in no mood to hear the same manufactured speech you have given your children." Ingrid replied in disinterest and gave her an unimpressed look. "If it's all the same to you, we can skip the part where you promise me a new werewolf body and the ability to start a family because I don't need it." She said dully and turned her back to the witch.

Esther raised an eyebrow, anticipating what she may say next. "Oh?"

"No." Ingrid answered with an unreadable expression and turned back to her. "I do not need your offer. I don't want to leave my body for someone else's. I don't want to be a werewolf. I love how I am now and I don't need to change." She explained honestly, her voice stern and strong in her position. "Niklaus and I can have children without your help. We can have a family without your offer. We already have a family. You can keep trying and pushing but the answer will always be no. So leave us alone."

Klaus awoken with a gasp after his snapped neck had healed. He sat up to hear the end of Ingrid's response to Esther.

Esther noticed that her son was awake and looked at him with a smile. "Apologies for the headache. Were you dreaming?"

Klaus stood to his feet and glared at her. "I was remembering the day I found out who my real father was. Only that was after Mikael slaughtered him."

"My darkest hour. Had Ingrid not killed me soon thereafter, I doubt I ever would have recovered." Esther said emotionally, staring off into the distance for a brief moment. She then checked her pocket watch and nodded to herself. "You woke earlier than I expected. No matter. It is time."

The hybrids shared suspicious glances and Klaus turned back to his mother, concerned. "Time for what?"

"You said you wanted Elijah. He's sleeping. Chained to the wall of a tomb in Lafayette Cemetery. I've lifted the spell that hides him. You are free to take him home. Now, his own mind will work out his choice for him. When he wakes, he'll make his own decision. Every single thing I've said to you tonight is the truth, Niklaus. Whether you choose to believe it is up to you." Esther informed him and Klaus scowled at her before speeding away to get Elijah.

Ingrid was about the leave as well until Esther called out to her. Turning back, the Original glanced at her impatiently. Esther stepped toward her while nodding her head. "You are right... you and Niklaus don't need me to have children." She commented and took a deep breath. "Because had it not been for me, you would have had plenty by now."

Ingrid froze in her spot, her heart pounding in her ears as her stomach dropped, and realized what she was referring to. Tears welded in her dark brown eyes and she glared at the witch, beyond enraged. "It was you."

"Yes. One of my biggest regrets." Esther admitted in a soft tone and took a step toward her but Ingrid took a step away from her. "All you ever wanted then was to be a mother but I couldn't allow you and Niklaus to have children because it would expose my secret."

"The tea..." Ingrid whispered as she recalled when Esther would offer her tea. She closed her eyes as a tear escaped and rolled down her cheeks.

"Yes." Esther answered with a nod and frowned deeply. "I was trying to protect you both."

Ingrid's eyes snapped wide open and she sneered at her mother-in-law. "NO! YOU DID IT TO PROTECT YOURSELF!!" She bellowed, furious beyond the point of reason. "Like you always have. All you ever cared about is yourself."

Ingrid was going to rush toward her aggressively but she know that if she did, Esther would immobilized her the same way she did Klaus moments prior. Shaking her head, Ingrid backed away from her as tears streamed down her face. "Shove your offer up your ass and choke on it." She snarled before turning on her heels and speeding away.

The hybrid stopped when she reached the compound and she leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down it, before sobbing loudly into her hands.

---
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