INGRID was lying in her old coffin with the golden dagger sticking out from her chest. Her skin was grey and desiccated as she lied still and, what looked, peaceful. Rebekah and Elijah stood beside her, both conflicted and guilty about what they had done to their family.

In the art studio, Klaus lied on the floor with the other dagger in his chest. Just like Ingrid, his skin grey and desiccated. Unbeknownst to anyone, Dahlia had pulled him into her mind space to get her point across.

Elijah spent the majority of the day planning with the remaining of his family on how to get rid of Dahlia without the strongest unit of the Mikaelsons, the hybrids. He wasn't going to admit that he was worried about losing without them but he thought it was best to keep them out of the way.

They were both reckless and wrathful. Acting on impulse without truly thinking anything through. No regard for anyone's lives other than their own. Although when it came to family, they would do anything to protect them.

Ingrid lied in that coffin, subdued and trapped for what felt like eternity while being able to hear every word that was being said around her. For hours, she was alone and the only noise at her disposal was that of deafening and suffocating silence.

The day was coming to an end and Elijah was standing with his arms folded over his chest, staring at Ingrid's desiccated body with a pondering look. After a moment, he was joined by Marcel, who stood there nervously and sighed heavily before speaking. "I miss her too..."

Elijah sighed lowly and turned to face him with an overwhelmed expression. "Ingrid didn't kill Aiden."

Marcel looked shocked and rubbed his face with his hands stressfully. "Klaus?"

"Niklaus didn't kill Aiden either." Elijah answered honestly, letting out a loud breath of air.

Marcel paused for a second before rubbing the back of his neck while trying to think of the guilty party. "So... who the hell did it, then? And why--- why would she lie about it? She never lies."

"My guess is Freya or Dahlia. Any number of witches with the desire to turn me against my family..." Elijah answered in a quiet volume, not wanting anyone to overhear. "Niklaus was being accused of something he didn't do... and Ingrid is fiercely loyal to Niklaus. So, she lied. Her tendency of being honorable with her honesty made it easy to believe her without any doubt and I'm sure that was her intention."

Marcel thought over what Elijah had said and began to form conclusions that would offer logical answers. "Hmm. So, given that taking out enemies is sort-of Klaus and Ingrid's forte... you thinking about pulling that dagger out?" He questioned, slightly hopeful for the muscle to back up their cause. Especially since the hybrids were proven to be innocent.

Elijah wanted to but he know it wouldn't be beneficial after engaging them beyond belief. So he shook his head and glanced at his adopted nephew with a pointed look. "Until Hope is safe, I would rather not unleash that Shakespearean rage. Especially at this capacity. We do not need that at this particular moment."

"Well, whoever did frame them for Aiden's death got us to take our biggest weapons off the table, which means..." Marcel trailed off with a small smile. "...you're gonna have to think like one of them. Problem is, which one?"

Elijah looked down at Ingrid and frowned exhaustedly, wishing he could speak to her about what would be best but now he had to figure it out for himself.

The remaining trio decided the best course of action was to use Hope as bait to trap Dahlia. It was that moment Elijah was glad Klaus and Ingrid were out of commission because he knew they would have never allowed that to be a consideration in the slightest.

Freya was in the middle of the courtyard, using a sage smudge-stick and Klaus' three paintings made of Norweigan soil and Viking ash to create a battleground for their impending confrontation with Dahlia.

While she moved around the room and waved the smoking smudge-stick, she murmured the incantation to the spell. "Drende moral associeres. Drende moral associeres." Freya finished her spell just as Elijah arrived and she didn't bother turn to face him right away. "Once the spell has set, Dahlia won't be able to enter without being rendered mortal." She finally turned to face him, but was immediately upset to see he didn't have Hope with him. "Where's the child, Elijah?"

"If we use her power to lure Dahlia, swear to me that Hope will come to no harm." Elijah requested, anxious and second guessing whether to use his niece for Freya's ridiculous plan.

Freya's face softened when she realized his concern and walked toward Elijah. "Dahlia won't get close enough to hurt Hope. She will not be able to hurt any child ever again."

Elijah nodded in understanding before quickly speeding toward her, grabbing her by the hair, and using a syringe to inject Freya in the neck. "I do hope that is true. You are now the bait." He remarked in a venomous tone and let go of her.

Freya fell to her knees, holding onto her neck, and looked up at Elijah with terror in her eyes. "What did you do to me?" She questioned in betrayal and fear, pulling hand away to expose the small droplets of blood from the injection site.

"Hope's blood is now in you, therefore Dahlia will now be hunting you. All we needed was a beating heart, and though I question the purity of your heart's intent, I hear it beating just fine." Elijah answered with a motion of his hand.

Freya stood to her feet, clutching her beating neck and looking terrified. "No! No! If Dahlia senses a ruse--" she began to desperately pleased against this but was cut off.

"Rebekah assures me this will work, and I trust her far more than I trust you." Elijah informed her in a bitter fashion.

Freya shook her head frantically as she began to panic. "I am not your enemy, Elijah!"

"We shall see. Proceed with your preparations." Elijah encouraged then turned on his heels and leaving the compound with a shaken Freya behind.

Suddenly, Klaus's consciousness was magically returned to his body. The veins on his body began regaining their color color and once he was no longer desiccated, he pulled the dagger out of his own chest. Weakly standing up from the ground, he walked out of the art studio down the hall to where Ingrid's coffin was kept. He looked down at his wife and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand before pulling her dagger out as well.

Her skin returned to their usual pale, pink instead of the desiccated dull grey and the engordged veins slowly receeded and regained their color. Her dark brown eyes flew open and she sat up immediately, glancing at him in confusion. "Niklaus?"

Klaus helped her climb out of the coffin with a small, sheepish smile. "I owe you an apology, my love." He said gruffly causing her to raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Being daggered is excruciating."

She shot him a condescending smile and tilted her head to the side while laughing. "Ahh yes. Finally some recognition for what you've put us through. You were only in there for a day. Imagine nine hundred years."

He frowned deeply and nodded in understanding. "I am sorry."

"Well, you're forgiven." She pardoned his past transgressions and smiled genuinely up at him before snarling. "Now let's get our daughter back."

Elijah played Hayley's voicemail aloud for Rebekah to hear and unbeknownst to them, Klaus and Ingrid as well while they stood in the next room, eavesdropping.

"Elijah... I'm calling to say goodbye. Hope can't be part of your family anymore so I'm taking her somewhere safe. Safer than here. Away from all of you. All Hope's life, her family has tried to destroy her. That can't be that little girl's story. I can't sit by and allow that to happen to her. She is innocent and she deserves more than you guys offer her."

Elijah and Rebekah were standing in the study, both looking devastated as they listened to Hayley's voicemail. Behind them, Klaus snuck up and listened from the hallway, growing angrier with every second of the message that passed. Ingrid was in the room next door with silent yet painful tears rolling down her face as she fought every urge to scream out.

"Family is supposed to love you. Even if she is free of Dahlia's first-born curse, Hope would still a Mikaelson. She'd inherit a thousand years of enemies, all Klaus' anger and rage and Ingrid's destruction and fears... I don't want Hope to be a Mikaelson, all the pain that comes with that name... She doesn't deserve that. She deserves a life. A good one."

In the hallway, Klaus was near tears, and took a deep breath to steady himself.

"Elijah, I..." Hayley sighed heavily and quickly finished her message. "Goodbye."

Elijah's dark brown eyes welded with tears and his face resembled that of someone being punched in the stomach. Rebekah was devastated for her family and hesitated for a moment before speaking. "She's right, Elijah."

Elijah turned off his cell phone and held his head in his hands, while Klaus, now furious, escaped the compound with Ingrid following right behind.

When they were far away from the compound, Ingrid screamed at the top of her lungs and Klaus held onto her hands as she began to sob loudly.

Ingrid was blind with fury and clenched her fists around his fingers. He squeezed back in a manner that read an understanding and she stared up at him with a steady, waterfall of tears. "We need to get our daughter back and when we do, I'm going to kill Hayley. I do not care if I have to kill the entire Cresent pack."

"Ingrid--" He called out to her softly, causing her to snap out of her rage and look up at him in heartbreak, her bottom lip quivering. "I'm with you and I'm going to help you. But I need you to help me first." He requested then put a finger to her lips when she began to speak again. "It involves getting Hope back."

Staring at him on confusion, her eyes moved rapidly side to side while thinking over her options before nodding curtly and agreeing to help him. "Anything."

Dahlia was at the cemetery, set up in one of the tombs and rubbing her fingers with blood in a stone cauldron. After a moment, Klaus and Ingrid made their way through the cemetery until they found Dahlia's hideout.

Dahlia looked up at rhem, shocked to see Ingrid but smiled in approval regardless. "I knew you were the smartest of your siblings. There's no brute Viking blood in those veins. I'm glad to see you made the right decision."

"I never cared for Hayley." Klaus sneered causing Ingrid to let out a low, animalistic growl. "But, you should know, the rest of our family will stand against us in defense of her."

Dahlia sighed as she understood what he was hinting. "We will have to go through them. Are you prepared for that?"

Klaus, still pale from desiccation, stumbled toward her, glaring angrily. "They have more than earned everything that is to come." He knelt down across from Dahlia, with the table she was working on sitting between them. "We need to hurry. Even now, Hayley is attempting to flee with our child."

Dahlia laughed and rubbed her bloody fingers together before grabbing a bundle of lavender, using it to stir the bowl of blood. "Mmm, don't worry. She won't get far tonight." She assured them then finished stirring the blood, which was now reflecting the sky of the Bayou in the bowl. Dahlia and Klaus both looked inside it and watched as the weather grew more and more intense. Dahlia blew into the bowl, which caused a storm to begin in the Bayou. Klaus was visibly impressed by Dahlia's magic, and when she smiled happily at him, he returned the smile.

---
Comment
Vote
Share
Xoxo
-the1andonlytifftiff