➳ 91: phantomesque
KLAUS entered the living room and slippe his phone into his pocket while speaking to Freya. "Rebekah and Kol just landed. Although, Kol has made it abundantly clear that he's only here for Ingrid. I just assured them we're mere moments from returning Ingrid to life. Don't make me a liar."
"I can't resurrect Ingrid until I'm certain her mind is whole." Freya responded while pouring salt into a bowl.
"Well, you saved Finn with that very trinket. What's the problem?" Klaus questioned impatiently.
"When that pendant was shattered, Ingrid's mind shattered with it. She's most likely retreated to the innermost of her consciousness." Freya explained stressfully, tired of his pushing and demands.
"How do we find that?" Elijah asked curiously, folding his arms over his chest.
"I don't know." She replied with a heavy sigh and set more items on the table. "It could be anywhere in over a thousand years of memories, but if I try fixing the pendant before finding her and healing her mind; she'll be permanently fractured, like casting a broken bone before it's been properly set."
"Spare me the medical analogies and fix her." Klaus snapped angrily. "Now!"
"I need to go inside and find her. Once I'm sure her mind is stable, then I can fix the pendant." Freya snapped back, placing her palms flat on the table and leaning across it.
"Well, then stop talking and get in there." He lowered his voice into a dangerous tone, taking an intimidating step toward her.
"Niklaus? Take a walk, get some air. Let her work. Please." Elijah advised him sternly, getting between them, and Klaus sighed heavily before backing off. Freya shot him a look and he narrowed his eyes then walked out of the room. Once they were alone, Elijah turned back toward the witch and glanced at her in desperation. "Please tell me that you can do this."
"She's my sister. I'm not gonna stop until she's safe." Freya assured him with a nod.
"Does it help that for more than nine hundred years Ingrid was in a coffin?" Elijah inquired with a small smile and ran his finger along the length of his tie.
Freya paused for a moment then nodded, relieved by this information. "Yes. It'll be over nine hundred years of nothingness to sort through but it narrows it down immensely."
Klaus was in the room where he stored Ingrid's coffin and stood with his back to her. He couldn't bear to look at her without breaking down into sobs. He licked his lips and tapped the doorframe. "I never told you... but over countless years, you have managed to surprise me at every turn. I admire you and sometimes, I even try to be like you. When I'm in need of advice whether it be battle or with the kids, I often ask "what would Ingrid do?" Because you always seem to have to right answers. Unlike us, you see situations in every direction and plan accordingly. You're a hell of a lot smarter than me. I don't have the slightest clue what I'm doing.... the kids keep asking about you but I don't have the heart to tell them that their mother is dead. Because... because that would make it all too real. Once I tell the kids, there's no explaining that you're trapped inside a small stone. I figured it be best to wait until... No, we're going to save you. There's no if. We will. I'm not sure what I would do without you. You've been a part of my life for almost every minute of it. You're the love of my life, my best friend. You're truly the one person I could always count on to never betray or leave me. While there are times that you're just a royal pain in the ass, I still can't go on without you. If I lose you, I lose half of myself. I'm so sorry, darling." He finally turned to face her and choked back a sob. "This will not be your end. I will not rest until I bring you back. No matter how many I have to kill to insure it." He promised in a watery whisper and kissed the top of her head.
"Sounds like fun." Rebekah commented, walking into the room from behind him. "I could do with a bit of murder and mayhem."
Klaus quickly turned around and embraced her in a tight hug. Rebekah rubbed his back and closed her eyes to the body of her sister-in-law, unable to even lay her eyes on Ingrid. "Perhaps you should have stayed where you were."
"I never should have left. Ingrid might still be alive." Rebekah argued as they broke apart.
"Or you'd be lying beside her." Klaus remarked with a pointed look.
"Alright! Chitchat's over. Can we slaughter someone now?" Kol questioned angrily as he strolled into the room.
"Well, first things first. We need to destroy the weapons that give our enemy their advantage. Now, one scratch from the rosebush is lethal to us. Freya has tracked down the eight that remain, including the main plant. Here, in the Ninth Ward." Klaus explained and pointed to a map with four blood droplets on it.
"Fine, so we burn them all and then we murder that wretched bitch." Rebekah snarled and turned to leave the room with Klaus following suit.
"Lethal thorns, resurrected witches... what could possibly go wrong?" Kol questioned to himself then clenched his hands into fists. He slowly walked toward the coffin and took a shaky breath. "Right, Indy?" He rhetorically asked, glancing at her desiccated body. A small tear escaped his eyes and he grabbed a hold of her cold, lifeless hand and squeezed it lightly. He brushed away the tears then quickly followed his siblings out the door.
Elijah was watching Freya set up and paced impatiently in front of her. "Please tell me you can pull this off."
Freya sighed and shook her head, not wanting to lie and give him false hope. "I don't know. I've never actually tried this before."
"How will you know which is the right one?" Elijah asked curiously, stopping in place and turning toward her.
"She'll recognize me. If I can find the core of her being or whatever memory she's clinging to, I'll pull her out." Freya assured him then lied down in the middle of a white circle drawn on the floor with four symbols on each side. "Tillate ulaz. Tillate ulaz. Tillate ulaz. Tillate ulaz. Tillate ulaz."
The pendant on the table began to glow bright blue as she chanted her spell and Elijah watched closely, anxious.
Freya opened her eyes to see that she was standing at the end of a long pure white hallway with several doors in front of her. She glanced at them all and gulped in before trying a random door. Upon seeing a memory of Ingrid and Klaus naked, Freya immediately shut the door and grimaced. "Nope!"
She then wander down the hall again and choose another door. She gripped the handle and prepared herself to see another inappropriate memory between her brother and sister-in-law. However, when Freya opened the door she walked into a memory from Mystic Falls, Virginia dated 1001 AD.
Freya stepped in and closed the door behind her with a confused facial expression. She wandered the old village where her siblings had lived and heard a pained scream coming from one of the tents and ran toward it instinctively. Opening the tarp, Freya witnessed the memory of Ingrid murdering Esther.
Ingrid held a knife in her hand and was pointing it at Esther threateningly. "Undo what you have done!"
"Ingrid, please. This is not you." Esther pleaded with the Original but Ingrid dropped the knife and wrapped her hands around Esther's throat, strangling her. Ingrid pinned Esther to the ground and choked her until she felt Esther take her last breath.
"Ingrid?" Freya called out to her but went ignored. "Ingrid." She walked toward the hybrid but her hands went straight through.
Ingrid glared at her mother-in-law in hatred until she suddenly screamed out in pain. She clutched her head as two sets of fangs protruded from her jaws. Her dark brown eyes flashed golden-amber with deep, purple veins crawling out from underneath and making their way across her cheeks.
Klaus rushed toward the sound of his wife's screams to find her on the ground, transitioning into a werewolf. She reached a hand toward him, begging for his help. He quickly knelt down beside her and grabbed ahold of her hand. "Ingrid!"
"I took her life, Niklaus." Ingrid sobbed in both pain and guilt as she gripped tightly into her husband's arms. "She lied to you and cursed you. I simply wished to scare her, make her undo it, but--- but she screamed and I did not know what to do. I killed her. Niklaus, I murdered your mother. I am so sorry. Forgive me."
"Hurry. We must not let Mikael see you." Klaus said frantically and rushed them out of the tent.
Freya followed suit and found herself in the hallway again. She heard the sound of screaming and rushed toward that door. She opening to find what appeared to be a small town burning to the ground with people running for their lives and screaming out in terror. In the middle of the town square was Ingrid mercilessly murdering every single person in sight. The hybrid stood before them, soaked in blood from her chin down to her throat and her hands blood stained.
Freya watched in horror as her sister-in-law massacred an entire town. Ingrid paused and for a brief second it was almost as if Ingrid saw Freya but she disappeared without a trace.
Freya found herself wandering the hallways again and listened closely to each door. She heard laughter and paused in surprise before opening the door. She entered the scene to find Klaus and Ingrid running through the woods hand in hand, giggling together.
Klaus tripped on an exposed tree root and brought her down to the ground with him. She fell on top of him and smiled sheepishly before scrambling to get off while her cheeks flushed. "My apologies." She remarked then held her hand out for Klaus to take.
Klaus grabbed her hand but instead of getting up, he pulled her back down next to him. He sat up in front of her with a wide cheeky grin and brushed the leaves out of her hair. "I love you, Ingrid."
"I love you, Niklaus." She expressed affectionately and stared into his eyes.
Klaus stared back and grabbed a hold of her hands. "I wish to marry you." He admitted catching her off guard. "We should marry and run away from here. Start a new life of our own. Have children. Grow old together."
"How many children?" Ingrid questioned curiously and inched closer to him.
"How many do you want?" Klaus asked curiously and kissed the back of her hand.
Ingrid thought about it for a moment then grinned happily. "Five. Two boys and three girls. You teach them how to paint and we will raise them all to be strong regardless of gender."
Klaus laughed and nodded his head in agreement. "Then we will have five children." He promised her and leaned forward until their lips were inched apart. "How about it?"
"Niklaus, marry me." Ingrid responded with a wide grin and Klaus glanced up at her excitement.
Freya watched the scene with an affectionate smile then called out to her. "Ingrid?" Ingrid paused slightly and turned her head to the side, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. "Ingrid!" Freya called out to her again, hopeful. "It's me."
Ingrid turned around completely and glanced around in confusion until her eyes finally landed on Freya just before disappearing completely.
Freya woke with a loud gasp in the real world and Elijah rushed toward her. "Freya, what's wrong?"
"I thought I found her, but she just vanished right in front of me." Freya explained while panting for breath and stood to her feet. "That's not our only problem. I can't search Ingrid's mind and sustain a spell at the same time."
"What if you sent me in?" Elijah asked, offering himself up for the task.
"That would require more power." Freya answered, walking over to the table to study the pendant. "Besides, the sight of you would send her running away faster."
"You stay here and anchor the spell." Elijah brainstormed then licked his lips. "We ask Niklaus to go inside and find her."
"To place Klaus into the pendant, I would need to channel another witch. A powerful one. Born of my family's bloodline." Freya hinted, getting an idea, as her nose began to bleed.
"Hope." Elijah concluded then shook his head in rejection. "No. She's far too young for this. Neither Niklaus or Ingrid would allow it."
"Ingrid is dead! Our best chance to get her out of there is this." Freya snapped, pushing fiercely. "She's young, but she's strong. Stronger than I was at her age. Elijah, I would never hurt my niece, ever."
"Neither will I." Elijah argued loudly before sighing heavily and shifting on his feet. "Let... let me call Niklaus."
A few moments later, Elijah walked back into the room and held his phone up. "Niklaus has agreed to allow Hope to assist you. He, unfortunately, cannot tear himself away from his current task so he gave me another suggestion." He explained and held his hand out to the side as Marcel strolled through the door.
"Whatever I can do to get my mom back." Marcel said strictly and stopped outside the circle. His eyes were still puffy and bloodshot and it seemed as though he hadn't gotten any sleep.
Freya nodded and clapped her hands together. "It'll do."
"You don't have to do this if you don't want to." Marcel explained to his sister as he lead her down the stairs and took her bracelet off.
"It's okay. I'm not afraid." She assured him with a warm smile. "I'm going to save mom."
"Ready?" Freya asked Hope, who nodded, and led her toward the table.
"So Ingrid's just in there somewhere, clinging to broken memories?" Marcel questioned Freya and Elijah in confusion as he stood in the middle of the circle.
"The core of her being has retreated deep into his subconscious, but, yes, she's still in there." Freya explained while walking toward him again.
"And so I just search until I find her?" Marcel asked as he bit into his wrist and drew his blood, hovering it over a bowl.
Freya took the bowl from him and shook her head. "You don't have time. There are too many memories for you to randomly search. You have to think, where would Ingrid find refuge? It has to be somewhere that represents the fundamental basis of who she is. Hopefully, that's a good place. When you find it, draw her out and wake her up. But be careful, her mind is unstable."
Marcel nodded in understanding before lowering himself onto the floor and lying flat on his back.
"Marcel?" Hope called out to him on concern. "Be careful."
"I'll be right back, kiddo." He promised with a kind smile and prepared himself for the spell.
"Tillate ulaz. Tillate ulaz." Freya began to chant and Hope listened closely before joining in. "Tillate ulaz. Tillate ulaz. Tillate ulaz. Tillate ulaz."
Marcel opened his eyes to find the same white hallway that Freya had found earlier. He looked around suspiciously and slowly walked down the hall. "If I were Ingrid Mikaelson, where would I be?"
He opened a door and walked in to see himself surrounded by nothing but fire. Looking around frantically, Marcel saw Mikael holding a tall, built man with a long black beard in a choke hold.
"No!!! Papa!!" Ingrid screamed at the top of her lungs as she rushed toward him. However before she could reach him, Mikael punched his hand into Eirik's chest and ripped his heart out.
Klaus sped toward Ingrid and held her back as she screamed at the top of her lungs in anguish. "NOOO!!"
Klaus held her tight and slowly eased her to the grass when her knees started to buckle underneath of her. She stared at the lifeless body of her father and sobbed loudly. Mikael sneered at the couple in disgust before stalking toward them. Klaus tried to stand Ingrid up but she continued to fall down, too distraught to keep herself upright. "Ingrid, we have to go." He urged her quickly and pulled her away from the scene. "We have to go before he kills us!"
As they passed by, Marcel remember Freya saying to try and get her attention. "Ma! Ma! Ingrid!"
Ingrid turned toward him in confusion, tears rolling down her cheeks nonstop before disappearing into thin air, and the memory with it.
Marcel found himself back out in the hallway and blinked repeatedly in confusion. He straightened himself out and tried to think of where Ingrid would hide if she was seeking refuge from her own past.
He opened another door and was transported to a dark room. Raising an eyebrow, he slowly walked further to reveal Elijah and Ingrid arguing loudly amongst each other.
"You are reckless!" Elijah sneered at her and motioned toward the window. "This is the fifth time this year that we've had to flee."
"You cannot put this entirely on me." Ingrid snapped at him and rolled her eyes. "I do not see you harping at Kol or Niklaus for their dinner parties."
"Their dinner parties don't result in four hundred dead." Elijah pointed out just as Klaus walked up from behind him. "We think it is best you take a moment."
Klaus spun a golden dagger between his fingers and wouldn't make eye contact with her. Ingrid realized what was happening and gaped at them in disbelief. "You dare treat me like Finn?"
"Finn isn't slaughtering the innocent." Elijah argued then gestured toward his brother. "Niklaus?"
Ingrid glared at them with tears in her eyes and pointed a finger at Elijah. "No. If you want this, you be the one to do it. Don't subject Niklaus to your treachery! Look me in the eye and do it yourself, coward."
Klaus hung his head, contemplating if it was best to dagger his wife, and Elijah cleared his throat. "Niklaus, please end this show already."
Klaus glanced up at Ingrid with an apologetic expression and frowned. "I am sorry, my love." He whisperer emotionally and held the dagger above her heart.
Elijah moved behind her to hold her arms back and nodded in encouragement. Klaus sighed and squeezed his eyes shut as he drove the dagger through her heart. Ingrid screamed out in protest and pain before desiccating and falling limp in Elijah's arms.
Realizing he wasn't going to get the answers there, Marcel backed out of the memory and quickly searched the hallway again. He opened a door and saw Ingrid sobbing in Klaus' arms in what appeared to be another tent. Klaus held Ingrid tightly in his arms while she continued to whisper. "I have failed you, Niklaus."
"You have not failed me." He would whisper back and rubbed her back soothingly. "Perhaps it's not the Gods' will that we conceive."
"I cannot give you the family you deserve." Ingrid cried softly in guilt.
Marcel knew what this was and frowned deeply. Ingrid's miscarriages. He clapped his hands over his mouth and yelled above her crying. "Ingrid! Ma! It's me! It's Marcellus."
She pulled away from Klaus' arms and turned toward him with a confused expression. Her dark brown eyes narrowed at the man and she tilted her head to the side. "You don't belong here. It's too early." She replied before disappearing again.
Marcel ran his hands down his face in frustration and groaned lowly. "Ma! Stop being stubborn. Please!" He yelled into the vastness of the hallway. "I know you're here!"
He threw open a random door and stood in the middle of an unfamiliar dinning room surrounded by all the Mikaelsons and two random vampires standing in the side lines. He recognized the one as Stefan Salvatore but had no recollection of the raven haired vampire beside him.
Elijah stared at his family while speaking to the other two. "You're free to go." He said calmly and walked over to stand next to Ingrid. "This is family business."
Marcel stood directly in front of Ingrid and called out to her. "Ingrid! That's what your refuge is, isn't it? Family. Regardless of how many times they hurt you or betray you. You will always do what you have to do to save your family even if it costs you yourself."
Ingrid's eyes snapped toward him and everyone else in the room disappeared. Her eyes were cold and angry, just as they were on the day that memory took place. Marcel held his hands up in surrender and glanced at her, pleading for her. "You lost everything and all you had were the Mikaelsons so you poured your blood, sweat, and tears into them to fill the void that Esther and Mikael created. You couldn't save your family that day in your village so now you will do anything it takes to save the Mikaelsons. Even if they won't return the favor."
Ingrid grabbed the dagger from the silver platter and held it above Marcel's heart, pinning him down the same way she pinned Klaus down.
Marcel took a shaky breath but knew he was otherwise alright so he continued on. "But this isn't about the Mikaelsons, is it? It's about one Mikaelson." He realized and pushed back against her. "Your refuge isn't family. It's Klaus." He concluded and watched her back off slowly. "Klaus is the only one who has ever stood by you through everything."
Ingrid pushed the dagger into his chest and he cried out in pain. Grunting, Marcel continued on as she wrapped her hand around his throat.
"He's your home. You ran away because you're scared you'll never see him again. Because you don't to spend eternity without him." Marcel gasped out while she forced him down onto his knees. "Ma! I'm here to bring you home. Home to Eirik, Hope, and Klaus. They need you. I need you. Your children need you."
Ingrid let go of his throat and pulled the dagger out from his chest, finally saw him completely. "Marcellus?"
"Hey, mom." He breathed out in relief with teary eyes. "Who'd you think I was?"
"Oh, did I hurt you?" She questioned in concern and noticed the dagger at her feet along with the hole in his shirt. "No one in particular, just running on autopilot I suppose..."
Marcel laughed and shook his head. "No. I'm good." He then studied the old Mikaelson mansion in Mystic Falls and turned to her in confusion. "Why this moment?"
"This was the day, after nine hundred years, I was finally free." Ingrid explained and glanced around in reminiscion. "I was no longer in that coffin and I saw Niklaus again. I had the chance to dagger him but I couldn't because I know deep down it wasn't his fault."
"Are you ready to come back?" Marcel asked her, worried her answer would be no.
"Yes. I want to see my family again. Not the ghosts." Ingrid answered honestly and smiled warmly at him. "I miss you, sweetheart."
"I miss you, ma. You'll be back soon, okay?" Marcel promised her before he disappeared into thin air.
Marcel woke with a gasp and Hope ran toward him before hugging him happily. "Marcel!"
Freya walked toward them and knelt down with an appreciative smile. "You did it. You saved her."
Later that night, Freya was staring down at Ingrid's body from her coffin with a sad expressions.
"Good work today." Rebekah praised her older sister, walking up from behind her
"She's not back yet." Freya pointed out in a dull tone
"I don't suppose you could drop her into another body." Rebekah offered an idea.
"I can't risk it, not after what she's been through. Her original body is where she belongs." Freya remarked sternly. "And now that her mind is stable within the pendant, I can bring her back. I just need a large enough sacrifice."
"You're thinking what I'm thinking?" Rebekah asked curiously.
"Kill the Hollow, save our sister." Freya answered immediately in a sinister manner.
"Happy to do the dirty work." Rebekah mused.
Freya sighed heavily in exasperation. "Assuming it's even possible. If it's not, we're going to have to consider alternatives."
"Such as?" Rebekah asked curiously.
"I know you don't want to hear it, and I'm glad she's not alive to hear it, but if we have to choose between Marcel and Ingrid... it's not a choice." Freya answered in a dark tone.
Klaus walked up to Marcel, who was standing on the balcony staring at the night sky. "From what I hear, you saved the day. Thank you." He expressed genuinely with a small smile.
"I wouldn't say that." Marcel said dully and shot him a look.
"How much did you see?" Klaus asked curiously, worried that Marcel's opinion of Ingrid would change with what he saw.
"I saw the pain she had to go through to be where she is now." Marcel responded with a sad expressions. "She does what she can to hid that pain but it's with her always "
"You know what we are. We're, all of us, monsters. We've committed countless atrocities over the years. But Ingrid... Ingrid is unfortunately the worst of us all. She allowed that pain to consume her completely for too long." Klaus explained with a far off expression on his face. "But she rose above all of it and has emerged an entirely different person. If second chances exist, Ingrid was given hers and she used it for good. I think we should all take notes."
"Her refuge was you." Marcel informed the hybrid. Klaus gaped at him in pure surprise and took a small step backward. "She couldn't bear the thought of never seeing you again so she hid in any memory that had you. Good or bad. Do you want to know what I saw?" He questioned and Klaus motioned for him to continue. "That you're always there for her at every turn. That's probably why she kept running to you when I was trying to find her. You're her peace, her safe place, her home. Don't ruin that."
---
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