ELIJAH walked into Ingrid's office and took notice of the blood bags sitting nearby. He watched as Klaus drained one into a glass and groaned in disgust. "Ugh, O-positive. You heathen." He commented sarcastically.

Ingrid sat back in her chair and rolled her eyes while Klaus stood up from his seat on the couch and clapped his hands together. "New rules. No blood shed in the house where my children sleep and play." He instructed sternly then smelt his glass and grimaced in disgust. "Perhaps I'll go out for dinner."

"Listen, I understand it sucks." Ingrid replied with a face of disappointment. "However, we cannot just feed recklessly anymore."

"Which is why I'm doing take out." Klaus replied with a cheeky smirk and turned to walk out of the door.

Elijah grabbed his arm, stopping him from leaving the room, and wagged his finger in rejection. "Oh, no, no, no, no. We have no way to know who will take Dominic's place as the Hollow's right hand. There could be any number of disciples out there."

"Yes, yes, yes, all who may have the means to kill us." Klaus mimicked his tone and rolled his eyes, waving it off. "You know, if you hadn't been so hasty to kill him, we'd be dealing with the devil we know." He threw in his older brother's face.

"Spoken by the devil I know best of all." Elijah sneered back with narrowed eyes and tried to leave the room to avoid an argument.

"I take it you have a plan." Klaus remarked knowingly and stared back at him.

"Freya will place a barrier spell on the compound. No one gets in or out." Elijah explained simply earning reactions from both the hybrids.

"Hold on." Ingrid replied, holding a finger up and raising an eyebrow. "Why wasn't this run by either of us?" She questioned in annoyance and motioned between herself and Klaus.

"Oh, so we're to stay here while our enemies seek to resurrect this monstrosity and let me guess, you won't be confined here." Klaus concluded with a bitter smile on his face.

Elijah smirked to himself and licked the corner of his lips. "I have a little errand to run."

"And while you're off cavorting all over town, I'm what? Grounded?" Klaus angrily asked, staring at him in disbelief.

"Essentially. Why don't you take out your frustration on that filthy jawbone our enemy seems so fascinated by." Elijah suggested passive-aggressively.

"Gladly." Klaus snarled furiously and stormed out of the room.

Elijah turned toward Ingrid, who held a hand up and shook her head. "Just... get out of my face."

The older Mikaelson was shocked by this but did as he was told and walked out of the room. Ingrid sighed heavily to herself and grabbed one of the blood bags before ripping the tab off and drinking the red liquid in one swift motion. She grimaced in disgust and tossed the plastic into the garbage.

Marcel covered his ears and groaned at the loud sounds above him. He snapped his head up and glanced at his visitor in aggravation. "What is going on up there?"

"Niklaus is trying to destroy the mandible but it's proving to be... resilient." Ingrid drew out with an eye roll and shifted on her feet in frustrated. "I intend to free you today while Elijah is off doing whatever it is he does."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Marcel questioned in curiosity, raising an eyebrow. "Vincent is busy with the Hollow and Freya would never help."

"I think it's time you meet the newest Mikaelson witch, yes?" She offered the opportunity for him to meet his siblings and grinned suggestively. He glanced at her before grinning himself and nodding eagerly.

"A man of words and not of deeds, is like a garden full of weeds. And when the weeds begin to crawl, it's like a bird upon the wall. And when the bird away does fly, it's like an eagle in the sky. And when the sky begins to roar, it's like a lion at the door. And when the door begins to crack... it's like a stick across your back. And when your back begins to smart, it's like a knife inside your heart. And when your heart begins to bleed, you're dead and dead and dead indeed." Hope read aloud from a book she found in the attic.

"Not exactly the most uplifting reading material." Klaus commented grimly as he walked in, startling her and Eirik.

"It's scary." Eirik said with a deep frown and covered his ears with hands. "I don't like it."

Klaus walked over to him and smiled warmly. "It's okay, buddy. It can't hurt you."

"It's an old book of rhymes. There's a lot of weird stuff here." Hope observed and closed the book.

"You know, guys, I'd rather you didn't play here, actually. All the splinters and the dust..." Klaus trailed off while trying to make up excuses. Truthfully, he didn't want them uncovering parts of his past that he had buried. "...and the bats."

"There aren't any bats." Hope replied with a knowing expression.

"I've seen no evidence that your Uncle Elijah doesn't sleep here, hanging upside down." Klaus joked with a smirk causing Eirik to giggle wildly.

"That's silly, daddy. Mommy said you turn into wolves not bats." The smallest Mikaelson said with a giddy laugh.

"Mommy and I turn into wolves." Klaus replied and continued on with his game. "Your Uncle Elijah could very well turn into a bat."

"Dad... was there a little boy who used to live here?" Hope asked in curiosity.

Klaus' smile fell as he realized what she was asking about and walked over to take the book from her. He then held his hands out to both of them. "Come along, kiddos. We can discuss ancient history another time."

Hope grabbed one of the figurines from the chest before taking his hand and skipping out of the room. When Eirik threw a fit and refused to leave, Klaus picked him up and followed after his daughter.

Klaus let them play in the courtyard and walked into Ingrid's study to find a series of boxes stacked around and several items taken out. "You're hosting a yard sale?"

Ingrid laughed and shook her head while unpacking a series of framed photos. "No. Staying here was never supposed to last this long but it has. So.... I sold the farm in Montana and had a moving company bring our stuff here. Now, I'm going through to see what fits in the theme of this mansion and what doesn't. Mostly everything..."

Klaus frowned upon hearing that she sold her house to stay in New Orleans. "I'm sorry, my love. I know you loved it there."

Shrugging, she set out the photos on her bookshelves and tilted her head to the side. "It's okay. It worked for when I needed it and now it doesn't fit into our life anymore. Besides, this feels more like home." She explained with a warm smile on her face then noticed his concerned expression. "What?"

"Listen, I found the kids exploring the rubbish in the attic." Klaus brought up as he walked toward her. "Hope's restless."

Ingrid smiled at him and rolled her eyes. "Niklaus, she's not restless. She's bored. There's only so much of Eirik's games she can take. I would say we could take them to the park but we can't. So you're just going to have to keep them entertained."

"How did you do it alone for five years? I've only been back for a few short months and I'm barely scratching the surface of this." Klaus praised his wife in admiration.

"Patience. A lot of patience. Internet advice. Parenting books. It took me awhile to find the style of parenting that not only worked for me but worked for them." Ingrid answered with a meaningful look and met him halfway. "You'll get there. I swear it."

"Well, once Freya teaches her to hone her magic, she'll be powerful beyond measure. She will have power enough to protect herself from anything. We won't have to trap her in bloody boundary spells just to keep her safe." Klaus sneered in frustration and reached out with his hand, only to be unable to cross.

"There was something I wanted to talk to you about while we're trapped here." She nervously remarked causing him to look at her in worry. "How do you feel about the children finally meeting Marcellus?"

"Not while our family has him trapped down there. Once we figure out how to free him, yes." Klaus answered with a nod of his head then noticed her sheepish expression. "What?"

"Would I be a horrible mother if I allowed Hope to try and undo Freya's magic?" She asked slowly, her voice going up in pitch toward the end, and closed her eyes in anticipation of his rejection. She opened an eye and peeked over in his direction to see him pondering the idea.

"No... no. She's not yet controlled with her magic and could hurt him. Or worse, herself." Klaus shook his head and denied her idea.

Sighing to herself, Ingrid nodded in understanding and pursed her lips. "Well, I tried." She then paused and gave him an appreciative smile. "Oh! I meant to say thank you earlier." She said causing him to shoot her a perplexed look. "For trying to keep the peace. I know it's not exactly our nature to keep violence out of the house. Or anywhere really. I appreciate that you're doing what's best for the children even when it's not best for us."

"Well, we'll protect their innocence for as long as we can. You and I both know the importance of that. No one protected ours." Klaus reminded her and watched as she frowned.

"Yeah..." Ingrid breathed out with a far off look in her eyes. "Any who, while you're over there dicking around and complaining, you could help me decide what we should keep or donate."

Klaus rolled his eyes at her with a wide smile and opened one of the boxes. He furrowed his eyebrows and pretended to find something while his tone remained sarcastic. "Oh, look at that. How to Defeat the Hollow: Volume One. Hidden in here amongst these old Guns N' Roses records."

Ingrid threw her head back and laughed before walking over and snatching them from his hands. "Those are Eirik's. He's really into that stuff."

"Oh, sweet child of mine." Klaus commented with an amused smile causing her to laugh louder. "What's Hope into then? I'm assuming that Fleetwood Mac is all you."

"Maybe it is." She replied and stuck her tongue out at him. "Hope listens to whatever you listen to when you paint. She practically wore out that playlist you made me years ago. She's also really into pop music."

Klaus chuckled to himself and grabbed the Fleetwood Mac vinyl from the Rumors album and set it in the record player. He dropped the needle and Dreams began to play through the speaker. Ingrid turned toward him with a wide smile and laughed blissfully. He walked over and grabbed her hand in his before spinning around with the music. She giggled and closed her eyes, singing along with the music. He pulled her close to his body and basked in that moment, enjoying the small intimate moments between him and his wife.

Marcel swayed slightly to the music and smiled at the sound of Ingrid's voice echoing above him. He was caught off guard by the iron gate opening and quickly turned around to see two small children approaching them.

Hope tossed him the trinket she stole from the attic and smiled. "Hi. I think this is yours."

"Hi!" Eirik greeted his older brother with a wide smile and waved happily.

Marcel gaped at them in shock and caught it with ease. "Eirik. Hope." He breathed out then looked at the object on his hand and studied it closely. "I haven't seen this in a century."

"So, you're the little boy who used to live in my house." Hope concluded with a nod of her head.

"Once upon a time, I lived here with your dad." Marcel vaguely responded and fiddled with the wooden piece in his hands. "Your mom... well she wasn't really around."

"Mommy was sleeping." Eirik said pointedly and rocked back and forth on his feet. "Like from that movie. Sleepy Beautiful."

"Sleeping Beauty." Hope corrected him and nodded her head. "She wasn't around because Uncle Elijah had her locked away." Hope responded knowingly and raised an eyebrow at him. "He keeps you down here because he thinks you want to kill us. Do you?"

Marcel gulped and took a small step toward them. "Listen, I will tell you anything you want to know. Okay? If you get me some blood from your dad's stash."

"I'm seven, not stupid." Hope responded with an offended expression.

"Right. You know, you're also pretty courageous. Come down here and talk to a stranger." Marcel replied with a smile. "Especially to treat them with this much kindness."

Hope crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a stern look. "I'm not scared. I'm a Mikaelson witch."

"I'm not scared." Eirik mumbled, wanting to be included. "But I don't think I'm a witch."

"No, I don't think you are either." Hope informed her brother with a frown and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll tell you what, let's start fresh, all right? It is very good to see you again, Hope Mikaelson. And it is my pleasure to meet you Eirik Mikaelson. My name's Marcel." He introduced himself with a kind smile.

"Like Marcellus?" Eirik questioned in confusion and Marcel looked at him in shock. "We hear mommy talking about a Marcellus all the time."

"What does your mommy say about Marcellus?" Marcel asked curiously and bent down to their level.

"She argues with Uncle Elijah and Auntie Freya about him a lot. She calls him her son. Which would mean we have an older brother and that she's keeping secrets." Hope explained with a disappointed look on her face. "We don't keep secrets---"

"And we don't lie." Eirik finished for her with a nod of his head.

"Well, maybe your mommy had a good reason to keep this secret." Marcel tried to reason with his siblings and stick up for their mother. "Ingrid is one of the strongest women, strongest people, I know. She's balancing a lot and sometimes there are things in our world that's not worth sharing with everyone. But she is doing the absolute best that she can to keep you guys safe. When she thinks you're ready to know, she'll tell you, okay?"

"Okay." The agreed in unison then ran off to get him a blood bag from the Mikaelson storage bank.

"You know, I'm surprised your parents haven't stormed down here looking for you two." Marcel remarked with a grin after the pair returned.

"My mom trusts us." Hope replied with a proud smile.

"Yeah. But your dad's never trusted anyone in his life." Marcel retorted gruffly.

"He trusts mommy." Eirik argued with a pointed look, smug that he had a point over Marcel.

Marcel laughed and nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, he does."

"If he took care of you when you were little, why do you hate him? What did he do to you?" Hope interrogated her older brother, both intrigued and perplexed by the dynamic of Marcel and Klaus' relationship.

Marcel soaked in the question and sat down on the ground in front of them, trying to think of the best way to respond. "Your dad, he raised me. He made me who I am. Now, you ask if I hate him. Well, it's hard to hate the person who made you what you are. You just end up hating yourself. The truth is I would like to hate your dad, I really would. It would make things a lot easier. But, um... you can't hate someone who you loved for so long."

"What about mommy?" Eirik questioned in worry and sat down across from him. "Do you hate her?"

Marcel smiled widely and shook his head while he thought over what to say. "No, I could never hate her." He answered honestly and gave the children a look that matched his tone. "She's the only Mikaelson who's treated me like family in a very long time. I love Ingrid like she's my own mother."

"Because you're Marcellus." Hope remarked and crossed her arms over her chest. "You're our older brother."

"Yeah, I am." Marcel admitted and sighed lowly, ready for them to be mad at either him or Ingrid. "Everyone calls me Marcel though."

"So why does mommy call you Marcellus?" Eirik asked in confusion, titling his head to the side.

"Because ma's a special case." Marcel answered with a small chuckle and gave them a meaningful look.

Upstairs in the study, Ingrid had hung up her phone with a sigh of frustration and tossed it down on the couch. "Elijah won't answer the bloody phone."

"I'll try Freya." Klaus assured her before handing off a series of photographs from when the children were younger. "You might want to hold onto these." He advised and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Ingrid smiled at them and smirked up at her husband suggestively. "We should take updated ones. Ones with you in them."

"There is a reason vampires avoid photographs." Klaus pointed out and impatiently waited for his sister to answer his call.

"Well, I understand that but not everyone in our family is immortal." She remarked with a pointed look then sighed. "I'm... not even sure what the children--- They're not fully vampires but will they at some point slow down or will they age like everyone else?" She rambled on then caught his eye and shook her head. "My apologies. Ignore my thoughts and get back to your phone call."

"She's not picking up, either." Klaus informed her and hung up the call. "Ingrid---"

The female hybrid waved off his worry, assuming it was about the phone calls being ignored. "They're probably busy making more enemies and pissing off the wrong people."

"Ingrid, I know you think about it... Out living them." Klaus brought her attention back to what she had been spewing about. "I... I think about it too."

Ingrid placed her hands on her hips and blinked back tears. "How do you--- how do we even go about moving on if that happens?" She asked softly, her voice cracking. "We're just supposed to suck it up, like what? Okay, our first children are gone, time to pop out more!" She commented then waved her hand in the air and immediately apologized. "I'm sorry, that was... dark and unnecessary."

"Darling, we have decades before we have to even approach the possibility." He attempted to reassure her and grabbed ahold of her hands. "Don't let that cloud what we have with them now."

"No... you're right. You're right, Niklaus." She replied and wiped her tears away. "I cannot stand this... Sitting ideally by while an invisible force plots to kill our family." Ingrid answered in a small snarl.

"We should be out there..." Klaus agreed in frustration and balled his hands into fists.

"Unfortunately.... this is best because we're safe in here." Ingrid replied, mimicking Elijah's voice.

"Safe and entirely ineffective." Klaus sneered and paced the floor impatiently. "Trapped in this house..." He placed a hand over his chest and began breathing heavily. "I can't---"

"Niklaus." Ingrid called out to him, worrisome. When she tried to grab his arm, he yanked it out of her grip while hyperventilating. She was caught off guard and surprised. However, instead of standing by, she walked over and pursed his lips. "Breathe. Talk to me. What's wrong?"

"I can't be trapped here!" He shouted loudly in distress.

"Hey, hey, hey!" She attempted to soothe him and grabbed his face in her hands. "You're not trapped. You're not in the dungeon anymore. It's okay. You're okay."

"The water in the pipes was like nails on a chalkboard. I was starving. I could smell the blood from the people on the street above me, I could hear their heartbeats. My own mind turned against me. It was taunting me. It was relentless. The first few weeks were the worst." He fell into her arms, sobbing softly against her chest. Ingrid caught him easily and quickly moved to soothe him, stroking the back of his head.

Ingrid had managed to soothe Klaus from his panic attack and waited until he was alright before pulling away. She looked over at the time to read that it was past ten at night. She stood to her feet and helped him up with a smile. "It's late. Want to help me put the children to bed?"

Klaus nodded eagerly and walked out of the room with her. He got an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach and grabbed her wrist. "Wait."

Suddenly, an intruder rushed toward Ingrid and tried to snap her neck but Klaus punched his hand into his chest, ripping out their heart. She raised an eyebrow at their corpse until a sinister laughter echoed down the hall. The couple walked toward the sound to see Dominic strolling in through the front door accompanied by three men. "Impressive boundary spell. Unfortunately, it only lasts as long as the witch who cast it."

The hybrids straightened their postures before attacking the group. Ingrid tossed a witch across the room where they slammed into one of the tables and broke it. Dominic began to crawl quickly toward the thorn covered stake that was lying a few feet away. However before he could, Klaus grabbed a sledge hammer and drove it down onto his hand, breaking it. A witch tried to wrap his arms around Ingrid but Klaus beat him with the hammer until it splintered into two pieces. Ingrid grabbed the other half and drove it through one of their chests, killing him.

While she was occupied, one of the witches stabbed Klaus through the abdomen with his own broken half. Klaus roared in pain and Dominic sized the opportunity to hold him down with magic. He cradled his broken hand and looked to his remaining minions. "Marcel's in the tunnels. Find him!"

Ingrid snapped one of their necks before they could rush off to find her eldest son. She was about to speed off when another witch held her down just like her husband. She held her head while yelling out in pain. Ingrid turned toward Klaus with tears running down her face involuntarily. "Niklaus, the children..."

Down in the cellar, the three siblings heard the crash followed by screaming as dust from the ceiling falling down around them. Hope turned her head up at the sound and frowned deeply. "Something's wrong. We have to go." She said quickly, grabbing Eirik's hand and rushing toward the door.

Marcel stood to his feet and frantically tried to stop them. "No, wait, Hope. It's not safe. I need you to let me out of the circle." He tried to convince her.

Hope turned toward him, apprehensive. "I can't. My dad will be mad."

"No, he won't. I'll keep you both safe." Marcel promised sincerely, gesturing toward himself.

"I can protect myself, and brother and my mom and dad. I'm strong enough to stop the bad guys. I'm stronger than anybody thinks." She snarled defensively and took her bracelet off, tossing it to the ground.

"Wait, Hope. I know you're strong, okay?" Marcel said, trying to talk her down. "That's how I know you can let me out of here. Ma believes you can and I believe you can. I just need you to trust me right now. Your dad rescued me. He raised me. We're family. What does ma say about family?"

"That we protect each other. Always and forever." Eirik spoke up causing Hope to grab his hand tightly.

Marcel pointed a finger at him and nodded in encouragement. "That's right. I'm your brother and I need you to hear me out."

"He's down here." One of the witch's voices echoed off into the distance startling the Mikaelson children.

"Okay, look at me." Marcel called out to them, trying to calm them down enough to get them out safely, and they quickly turned to look at him. "Do you trust me?" He asked, holding his hand out.

Dominic stood to his feet and glared at the hybrids. The Hollow is gonna have a feast tonight. We can sacrifice the whole family. Your children are around here somewhere, aren't they? How convenient." He smirked tauntingly at them.

Ingrid's eyes flashed gold as she rose to her feet and slit his throat with her nails. Blood splattered across her face and hands as Dominic began to choke on his own blood before falling to his knees and keeling over, dead to the floor.

She quickly looked at Klaus then began to panic when she remembered the men roaming their house. "Hope! Eirik!" She called out to them while speeding around the house.

Klaus helped her search, dread filling all of his senses. "Eirik!" He yelled down the hall, peering into each room. "Hope!"

Ingrid ran down the narrow entrance to the cellar to find Marcel gone, two bodys torn apart, and Hope's bracelet on the floor. She picked it up just as Klaus joined her and the two shared a significant look.

The couple rushed out of the compound and began scouring the city for their children. Ingrid stopped in the street and gripped at the roots of her hair, hyperventilating with tears falling rapidly from her face that helped smear the blood splatter. Klaus walked toward her and grabbed her wrists. "We'll find them. We will." He tried to assure her but knew it was ultimately useless.

She grabbed his shirt in her small fists and sobbed loudly. "I'm a horrible mother. I can't... I couldn't..." Ingrid stopped abruptly when she spotted Marcel sitting on a bench with the small children. She stared at him in shock and Klaus turned to meet her eye line. "Oh, thank Odin! Marcellus!" She called out quickly in relief and the three quickly whipped their heads around.

Marcel picked up Eirik and stood to his feet. "Mommy!" The small child yelled happily and smiled widely.

Hope jumped off the bench and ran toward them. "Mom. Dad." She yelled back then stopped in her place when she noticed their appearances. "What happened?"

Klaus gaped in shame and studied Ingrid before quickly thinking of a lie. "It's, uh... it's, it's paint. I made quite a mess, didn't I?" He remarked with a fake laugh.

"Mom?" Hope asked Ingrid, waiting for her explanation.

"Um..." Ingrid trailed off and licked her lips, trying to think of how to explain to her children that she was actually covered in someone else's blood. "Well... uh..."

Knowing she couldn't lie, Klaus stepped in to cover for his wife by forging another lie. "I accidentally got your mother with some too. We didn't have time to clean up." He fibbed and watched Ingrid cast her glance down at the ground. Klaus knelt down in front of his daughter and grabbed her hand. "Are you okay? You took your bracelet off."

"Dad, don't be mad." Hope begged desperately and looked over at her brothers. "I-I let Marcel out and he kept me safe."

Klaus smiled warmly at her and shook his head. "I'm not angry, sweetheart, come here." He pulled her into a hug, sighing in relief.

"Don't be angry with Marcel, either." She pleaded, walking closely to him. "He's my brother."

Ingrid looked at her daughter in shock then up at Marcel, who gave her a sheepish smile and shrugged his shoulders.

Later on, Ingrid walked out of the bathroom while drying her hair. She saw Klaus sitting on the edge of their bed and looked at him with a frown. "Are they asleep?"

"Yes." Klaus answered with a heavy sigh. "They were quiet when we walked home."

"I don't think she bought your story about the paint... she knew we killed someone and she knew we lied." She commented unhappily and sat down next to him. "Eirik didn't understand what was happening. I think he was just happy to see us safe. We tried to hid this part of us but now I'm afraid we've unleashed the flood gates."

"When I think about the horror they must have witnessed when Marcel killed those men, it just..." Klaus trailed off with a frown and shook his head.

"No. Marcellus told me he swept them away before they could even understand what was going on. He told them to close their eyes and sing." Ingrid informed her husband with an affectionate smile. "Apparently they just argued about what song to sing the whole time that they never actually got around to singing."

Klaus chuckled lightly and glanced over at her with an emotional expression. "She called him her brother."

"Yeah, she did." Ingrid replied with a proud look on her face.

---
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