"THE Hollow has been haunting New Orleans for centuries. It's an unending evil. Its appetite for power is insatiable. And that's what attracted it to your little girl." Vincent explained to the five Mikaelsons.

"You said there was a way to save her." Klaus interrupted impatiently, pacing and biting at his nails.

"There is. But I'm gonna tell you right now, you are not gonna like my plan." Vincent responded and they looked at each other worried by these words. "Step one: we pull the Hollow out of Hope. Step two: we find someplace else to put it. But with the book gone, I need a place that's both powerful and eternal. And in order to make the transition work, I'm gonna need something that's connected to Hope through blood."

"You need a vampire." Freya realized where he was going and glanced at him in disbelief. "You want to put the Hollow into one of my siblings?"

"One ain't gonna cut it. I'm gonna need four of them." Vincent clarified and Freya scoffed loudly, shaking her head.

"Why four of us?" Elijah asked curiously.

"Well, fifteen hundred years ago, when the Hollow was first killed, they divided her remains. Four bones, four volunteers, four different locations." Vincent explained strongly. "That's how we're going to beat the Hollow now."

"Transfer the Hollow's power into four immortal vampires." Freya mused slowly.

"And just send us on our way." Rebekah sneered angrily.

"So the evil is drawn, quartered and separated for all time." Klaus added with a scoff.

"And you have to go your separate ways, and you have to stay separate. For all time." Vincent informed them causing Klaus and Elijah to look at each other. "We can never see each other again. Can never go near each other again." The five Mikaelsons all shared differed looks but mostly shock and disbelief then turned back to Vincent. "That is the only way that we're gonna beat the Hollow."

"Well, if it'll save my little girl, then we will make it so." Klaus encouraged, motioning for him to get started.

Klaus and Ingrid were at a standoff in the den, arguing over who was going to make the sacrifice. Ingrid had her arms crossed over her chest and Klaus was glaring furiously at her. "It's not going to be you, Ingrid."

"Yes. It is." Ingrid snapped back at him, her tone harsh and stern. "This is not up for debate. I'm doing this and you don't have to like but you have to accept it."

"No!" Klaus bellowed, slamming his hand down against the end table next to him. Ingrid closed her eyes to settle her nerves and slowly opened them to see Klaus jabbing a finger in her direction. "I will not stand idly by while my wife offers herself up to be a lock box for some witch."

Sighing, she dropped her arms and took a step toward him. "Niklaus, you made your sacrifice for this family. Now let me make mine. It's my turn to make the hard choice."

"This is different. We don't take turns, Ingrid." Klaus argued with a shake of his head and approached her slowly. "You won't just miss five years of their life, you'll miss all of it!"

"I know." She whispered emotionally and gulped back the tears brimming. "But I trust that as Hope gets older, she and Freya will find a way to to fix this. But for now this is what it has to be..." Ingrid then grabbed his hands and kissed his palms softly. "This way... you get to see your siblings instead of being the one who has to run from them. You'll get to raise our children and make up for the time you lost."

"Ingrid, don't do this." Klaus pleaded in a whisper, devastated that she would be willing to make this choice. "Please don't. I am literally begging you not to."

"One of us has to." Ingrid responded with a small shake of her head. "And it's going to be me. You deserve peace. I'm..." She trailed off and licked her lips, turning her head away from him. "Eventually, we'll be reunited, my love. It's a short span of time compared to an eternity with you."

"Do you know what you're asking of me?" Klaus asked in a watery voice, grabbing her cheek with his hand and turning her to face him again. "You're asking me to let you go..."

Ingrid leaned her forehead against his and placed her hands on either side of his face. "Just for a minute."

Klaus closed his eyes causing the tears to escape from under his eye lids. He grabbed her hands tightly in his and took a shaky, deep breath. She glanced up at him through watery eyes and tried her best to smile. "It'll be okay." She tried to reassure him but knew that she was failing.

When Ingrid pulled away, he watched her in confusion. She walked over to the table across the room and opened the drawer. Grabbing what she had left inside, she closed it and returned to her spot in front of Klaus. "I need you to do something for me after the ritual."

He gave her a perplexed facial expression until she held out a dagger toward him, her golden dagger. Klaus immediately shook his head in rejection and grabbed her wrist. "Anything but that."

"Niklaus, please." Ingrid requested, the tears falling down her face in a never ending waterfall of grief. "I won't be able to stop myself from coming back. The only thing that will is this." She explained and held it out to him, motioning for him to take it. "Dagger me, lock me away, and store me somewhere no one will ever find me. Please."

Klaus wrapped his hands around the dagger in her hand and stared at her in despair. "Ingrid..."

Shaking her head, she glanced at him in heartbreak. "No. Don't try to talk me out of it. I've already made up my mind. I just need you to let me do this. For our family. For Hope. Let me do this for her. Please."

Klaus sobbed while taking the dagger from her and watching her sob herself in front of him. He wrapped his arms around her and she immediately returned the gesture. The two hybrids held onto each other, not wanting to let go, as they cried loudly in one another's arms.

"They will know you." Klaus whispered into her hair. "They will know what you've done for them."

Ingrid whimpered into his chest and clutched his shirt tightly in her hands. "Falling in love with you was the greatest thing I have ever done."

"You're the love of my life, Ingrid." Klaus expressed affectionately and pulled back to gaze at her face. He admired her and still thought her the most beautiful creature on the planet even with red cheeks, tears, mascara, and snot running down her face.

"You're the love of my life, Niklaus." Ingrid whispered back emotionally and Klaus leaned down to kiss her passionately on the lips.

After they had settled enough to face their family, they walked out of the den and Freya snapped her head up toward them. "Klaus, I need your blood." She requesting, holding a bowl out to him.

"Actually..." Ingrid corrected her and took the bowl from her. "You're getting mine." She admitted, her voice cracking at the end.

Rebekah, Elijah, and Freya all gaped at her in shock before looking over to Klaus, who wouldn't meet anyone's eyes.

Ingrid grabbed one of the knives sitting on the table and slit her wrist, drawing her blood. She held the stream over the bowl then pulled away when there was a decent amount. She wiped her wrist and handed the bowl back to the witch. "I hope that's enough."

"Uh. Yes." Freya answered with a nod of her head and stared at her brother. "Then all that's left is Kol..."

"We still need to go get Hope." Ingrid responded in a determined tone of voice. "Vincent said the Hollow is gathering a congregation at the church."

Klaus started walking toward the door and threw his hands up. "Then let's go get her."

"Niklaus, she's possessed and surrounded by followers." Ingrid stopped him and gave him a pointed look. "We can't blindly storm in. She would tear us to shreds."

"Ingrid, we have a plan. It's actually a rather good one." Rebekah praised with a shrug of her shoulders and Ingrid turned toward her with narrowed eyes.

Deciding it was best to go along with them, Ingrid nodded her head curtly and shifted anxiously on her feet. "There's something I need to do first."

Ingrid walked into the playroom to find Eirik playing cars on the floor. He smiled widely at her and held up a red car toward her. "Mommy! Will you play with me?"

"Sure, baby." She responded with a fake smile and sat down next to him, taking the car. "Do you mind if we have a talk while we play cars?"

"About what?" Erik asked curiously, turning his attention entirely toward Ingrid.

"Do you remember when daddy was gone and you would ask why?" Ingrid asked her son, trying her best to hold it together.

"Yeah." He responded, nodding his head overdramatically. "You told me daddy had to be away because he made a... a... I forgot the word."

"Sacrifice." Ingrid finished for him and he nodded again. "Do you remember what I said about sacrifice?"

Eirik placed his finger to his chin and tapped it thoughtfully. "Uh... no. I'm sorry, mommy."

Ingrid smiled assuring and tussled his hair. "That's okay, baby. I'll tell you again. In life, we sometimes come to a crossroads and we have to make a choice. And sometimes the right choice is not always the easiest. Sometimes we have to give up something important to make that choice. This is a sacrifice. The greatest sacrifices are when you put someone else above yourself." She gave her son a lesson while tears pooled in her eyes.

"Why are you crying, mommy? Are you sad?" Eirik asked in worry and placed his hand on her cheek.

"Yeah... mommy's sad." Ingrid answered honestly, her voice breaking. "Mommy has to make a sacrifice."

"Like daddy?" He interrogated with furrowed eyebrows.

"Yeah, like daddy." She responded with a nod of her head and blinked back the tears. "Mommy has to go for awhile. And I don't know how long I'll be gone or when I'll be back. So I need you to promise me something."

"Anything." Eirik said happily and held up his chubby pinky finger.

"I need you to promise to be good for daddy. He's going to be the one taking care of you from now on, okay? So I need you to be a good little man, yes?" Ingrid requested and held her pinky out to him. "Do you think you can do that for me?"

"Yes, mommy. I swear it." He agreed and wrapped his pinky around hers. "Can we go back to playing cars now?"

"Yeah, buddy." Ingrid breathed out emotionally and smiled sadly at him. "We can play cars." She then leaned over and kissed his affectionately on the top of his head. "I love you."

"I love you, mommy." Eirik answered cheerfully then offered her a selection of toy vehicles. "Do you want to be red or blue?"

"I guess I'll be blue." Ingrid replied, taking the blue car from him and began to drive it around the plastic track.

The Hollow, in Hope's body, was standing at the alter in the St. Anne's church with her followers standing in front of her. Marcel and Sofya strolled through the door and the acolytes moved aside to let them walk past. "Quite the party." Marcel complimented as they approached Hope and Dominic.

"Marcel Gerard, king of New Orleans." Dominic mused with a delighted expression and smiled as Marcel and Sofya collided against an invisible wall. "Accompanied by his top advisor. Well, I trust you've come to grovel and bow before the power of the Hollow."

"Actually, we came to make a truce. The way I see it, we both have the same enemy: the Mikaelsons." Marcel replied, hoping to earn their trust. "Now, you help me get them out of this city, and maybe there's a world in which we all live happily ever after."

"Diplomacy. A wise choice." Dominic praised and slowly turned his head to look at the Hollow. When she nodded, Dominic released the boundary spell so Marcel and Sofya could get closer. They both took hesitant steps forward then approached the Hollow, stopping in front of her.

"I want the king to kneel before me." The Hollow demanded with a stern expression on her face.

Marcel stared at her for a moment before kneeling down on the ground in front of her.

"Behold, covens of New Orleans, even the great Marcel Gerard is nothing in the face of the Hollow." Dominic spoke loudly to the crowd witches in front of them.

Suddenly, Marcel raised his head and blew magic dust in the face of the Hollow, causing her to fall asleep. He then grabbed her in his arms and sped away. Sofya, on the other hand, stayed behind and stabbed Dominic, killing him. She turned to face the rest of the Hollow's followers as Klaus appeared from the left side of the altar.

"Hear ye, hear ye, all disciples and acolytes of the evil Hollow. Now that your master has been subdued, the power she promised you has been revoked, rendering you helpless,and bringing this pitiful coup to a rather abrupt end." Klaus lifted the object in his hands and showed it to the witches. "This dark object has the astounding ability to seal you in the room." He then dropped the dark object, which immediately broke.

They all ran toward the exits to find that why were indeed trapped.

Ingrid, along with Elijah, appeared from one of the balconies above them, holding a bottle containing flammable material, with a handkerchief wrapped around its neck.

"Which is very inconvenient indeed. Particularly when one considers the architectural composition of the structure. And so, with very little effort..." Elijah commented and handed the bottle over to Ingrid, who lit the handkerchief on fire using the flame of one of the candelabras.

'This place becomes an inferno." She finished his speech, holding the makeshift molotov cocktail in her hand.

Klaus looked up at them with a smirk and watched as Ingrid dropped the bottle down into the boundary. The three then watched as they screamed loudly in terror and burned alive.

Later on, Hope, still possessed by the Hollow, was sleeping in her bed with chains on her wrists. Klaus stood at the edge of the bed, looking down at her. "I know you're in there. And I know you can hear me, so I want you to listen very carefully." Klaus leaned over to Hope and began to talk to her, his eyes glistening with tears. "You are my daughter. You're a Mikaelson. And you are strong, and brave, unlike anyone I've ever known. In fact, you helped me believe in something your uncle once said. "Family is power"." He kissed Hope on the forehead, then sighed and turned around, finding Ingrid standing behind him.

He sighed heavily and licked his lips. "Say it."

"You're a perfect father." She admitted causing him to glance at her in shock, not expecting that to be what she was thinking. "She's lucky you're her father."

"She's lucky you're her mother." Klaus retorted back and closed the distance between them.

"I wouldn't say so right now. I hope... I hope one day she'll understand why." Ingrid said emotionally and glanced up at him, her eyes filling with tears. "Please don't let her think I abandoned her."

"Never." Klaus replied sternly, shaking his head and hugging her tightly.

Ingrid backed away and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Alright. I'll be back. Call me if Kol shows up."

"Where are you going?" Klaus asked curiously, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I'm going to go say goodbye to Marcellus." She explained in a watery voice and kissed him on the cheek before walking out of the room.

Ingrid arrived to Marcel's loft and knocked on the door. He answered it and frowned in worry upon seeing her on his doorstep. "What's wrong?"

Ingrid walked past the threshold and sighed heavily to herself, keeping her back to him. Closing her eyes, she turned around to face him and smiled sadly. "I've come to say goodbye, sweetheart."

"Goodbye?" Marcel asked in confusion and walked toward her.

"I'm part of the ritual. I'm one of the four." She informed him, biting her lip and looking away from him. "Part of the ritual is that we can be close to one another and we can't be close to Hope. Kol, Rebekah, Elijah, and I will be scattered across the corners of the Earth. But... I'll be doing that in a coffin. I've asked Niklaus to dagger me and hide me. So, I don't know if I'll see you again so I came to say goodbye."

"No... no, ma. You can't..." Marcel shook his head and glanced at her emotionally. "You can't."

"I'm so sorry, Marcellus. But I need to do what's best for our family." She argued and grabbed ahold of his hand. "I know I didn't get to be the mother you needed when you were a child. But I do hope I was the mother you needed as an adult. You will always be my son." She squeezed his hand and cried softly. "I love you and I do hope that I get to see you again. But for now... this is it."

Marcel embraced her into a tight hug and cried into her hair. "I love you, ma. You'll always be my mom. I'm going to miss you so much."

"I do have one request." Ingrid brought up in a whisper.

Marcel backed away and nodded his head quickly. "Of course."

"Please watch over them. They're going to need their big brother. I know Niklaus will be a lot to handle and no one will be around to help him. So please, please don't abandoned them because of your hatred for Niklaus." She pleaded with tears falling down her cheeks. "They need you."

"I've got them, ma. I'll be the best damn big brother I can be." Marcel promised her in a watery voice and wiped the tears from his face. "I hope the darkness brings you solace."

Ingrid smiled and wiped a stray tear with the pad of her thumb. "You've been inside my mind, Marcellus. You already know where I'll be going. Another nine hundred years of dreaming about Niklaus and now my three perfect children? That's all the solace I need. But please go find yours. Go be happy, Marcellus."

Marcel leaned forward and placed an affectionate kiss on her forehead as she squeezed his hand.

Ingrid returned home to see Elijah and Klaus sitting in the den in silence with Elijah reading to himself. They both turned to face her and Klaus immediately stood from his chair. She grabbed his hand but otherwise didn't say anything.

Just then Rebekah strolled into the room with Kol. "Look who decided to show up."

"Little brother. You always did love a dramatic entrance." Klaus greeted with an amused smirk.

"Well, I prefer them more than my departures, which often involved you and the pointy end of a dagger." Kol replied snarkily and the two smirked at each other.

"Now that we're all here... shall we?" Elijah gestured to them causing Klaus' smile to fall instantly as he looked down at the woman beside him.

Ingrid turned to look at Rebekah and Kol and they both nodded before turning to leave. Ingrid and Elijah started walking after them but Klaus called out to his brother. "Elijah. You were always the keeper of our bond, and because of that, you will feel this pain the most. When the inevitable happens, and I, devoid of family influence, relapse into a spiral of mayhem and bloodshed... I need you to leave me to my fate. If you come to my rescue as you have done so many times before, it will only serve to aid our enemy, allowing it one step closer to my children, and I cannot allow that. So, my brother... when the time comes, I beg you, let me go."

Elijah gaped at Klaus in distress and they briefly stared at each other before hugging.

"You have my word." Elijah promised, taking a deep breath and walking toward the door. As he walked past, he placed a hand on Ingrid's shoulder and kissed her tenderly on the forehead. She drew a shaky breath and squeezed her eyes shut then opened them to find him gone.

Klaus turned to Ingrid, already crying, and shook his head. "Anything I can say to change your mind?"

"No." She answered honestly and gave him a sad smile. "You have to let me do this, my love. For us. For them."

"I know." He whispered sadly and kissed her affectionately on the lips. The two pulled away and walked out of the room to join their family in the courtyard.

They gathered around to start the ritual and Klaus sat on the floor with Hope in his arms and Vincent and Freya were standing near him. Rebekah and Kol approached them and Vincent began pointing them where to go. "Uh, Kol, if you would, right there. Uh, Rebekah, perfect. Right there."

Rebekah narrowed her eyes as Marcel joined them. "What the hell are you doing here? You come to gloat?"

"No, I came to make sure that this works." Marcel said sadly then turned to see Elijah and Ingrid walking toward them. He gave Ingrid a heartbroken expression then walked across the room.

"Elijah, I need you right there at the top." Vincent ordered the older Original then directed the hybrid where to go. "Ingrid right there for me, please. And we are ready." He commented when the four Mikaelsons were in place.

Ingrid, Elijah, Kol, and Rebekah looked meaningful at each other. Ingrid hung her head and sniffled to herself so Rebekah reached out and grabbed her hand.

Vincent watched her with a sad look for a second then glanced at each of them. "I just want to say that what you guys are doing here today is gonna go a long way towards setting things right in this city. The Hollow took everything away from me. It inspired nothing but suffering and torment. It's ruined families, it's gone after little kids." He gave his speech, looking at Klaus and Hope, who were sitting in the middle of the square. "And yet, here and now--" He glanced back at the Mikaelsons. "---despite all of our differences, and there are many..." He laughed but received none in return. He nodded his head in understanding and held his hands up in surrender before placing one over his heart. "--thank you." Vincent flatted his lips and sighed heavily. "Freya."

Freya took a deep breath and joined them at Vincent's side.

"The savage Mikaelsons heroically defeating a terrible evil. Maybe this will finally earn us our redemption." Rebekah remarked, hopeful.

Ingrid scoffed and raised her head with a small smirk. "Do any of us truly believe that?"

"Not for a second." Elijah replied honestly and Marcel looked over at him in interest. Elijah shook his head and gave his sister a barely attempted smile. "It's a wonderful sentiment."

Kol took a deep breath and looked over at his sister-in-law. "I'm going to miss you most of all, Indy."

Ingrid scoffed jokingly and rolled her eyes. "Please. You're going to miss me saving your ass." She corrected causing the other four to laugh lightly.

"Let's go." Vincent said as he and Freya clasped hands and knelt down to the floor. "Klaus, when I tell you to, I want you to take the manacles off. Hold onto Hope. Do not let her go. Everybody else, when this spell is over, you got to get away from each other, and you have to stay away from Hope." He ordered the strictly and they each nodded.

Rebekah took a deep breath to steady her tears before speaking emotionally. "Always and forever. We had a good run."

"Yeah." Elijah whispered, sparing a glance at Klaus.

"Diviser... Diviser ak konkeri. Diviser ak konkeri. Diviser ak konkeri. Diviser ak konkeri Chire apa ak po. Ak konkeri. Ak po." Vincent chanted and a wind picked up around them. "Do it now, Klaus."

Klaus took the manacles off and the Hollow's spirit flew out from Hope and divided into four parts, each one of them entering the body of one of the Mikaelsons.

"I can hear it..." Rebekah remarked, panting for breath. "...whispering."

"Okay, you guys need to go. Now!" Vincent snapped at them with urgency.

Kol wasted no time speeding away, followed shortly by Rebekah and Elijah. Klaus looked at Ingrid, who was hesitant to leave. "I will meet you where we agreed."

Ingrid clenched her hands into fists and nodded her head with teary eyes. "Is she going to be okay?"

"Ingrid, I promise you, she is going to be okay if you go." Vincent assured her softly, pleading for her to leave.

"Okay..." Ingrid whsipered in acknowledgement and didn't seem to have the strength to leave. Freya looked at her, worried, as the female hybrid stood there, frozen.

Hope began to stir awake and Ingrid slowly backed away from her. Klaus helped their daughter sit up. "You're okay."

Hope turned to see Ingrid staring at her and sobbing. "Mom? What's happening?"

Ingrid knelt down in her spot and gave the smallest witch a meaningful look. "I love you more than life itself." She said, backing away from her child.

"Mommy!" Eirik called out desperately to her as he ran out from his room. He looked down at his mother from the balcony and cried loudly. "Mommy!" Marcel sped toward him, keeping him from running down the stairs toward her.

Ingrid choked out another sob before speeding away, leaving the compound completely. Vincent fell to the ground in exhaustion and sighed with relief.

"Mom!" Both the Mikaelson children cried out desperately but it was no use, Ingrid was gone.

Klaus pulled the SUV into an abandoned warehouse at the edge of the city and parked it. He jumped out and rushed toward the woman standing on the pier.

Ingrid wiped her face free of tears only for them to be immediately replaced. "We don't have much time, my love." She remarked then laughed humorlessly. "Funny thing isn't it? We're immortal creatures with an eternity at our disposal yet there never seems to be enough time."

"I will find you and I will free you when it's safe." He promised his wife, trying his best not to break down in tears.

"They come first. Please always put them first. Free me only, and only, when you're certain there is no more threat." Ingrid requested from him and tried her best to smile. "It's going to be okay. It's just like the last time."

"We didn't have children last time." Klaus reminded her.

"I know." Ingrid responded, nodding her head. "I know you'll do right by them. It's up to you now."

"I love you." Klaus choked out through tears and kissed her passionately.

"I love you." Ingrid said back, placing a hand on his cheek, and was cut off by Klaus stabbing the golden dagger into her heart. She gasped out in pain and into his arms. She stared up at him as her body started to desiccate. "It's okay..." She whispered with her last breath and her hand fell limp from his face. Soon, the color drained from her body and she collapsed lifeless in his arms.

Klaus fell to his knees, clutching her tight in his arms, and screamed out in anguish. After a moment, he placed her body into her coffin and stared down at her. "I will do right by them by doing right by you." He whispered his promise and kissed her on the forehead before closing the lid. He loaded the coffin into the back of the SUV and climbed in, driving off into the night.

---
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