The bonds of family

2

"So what? Are you going to kill me?" Klaus asked. "What- what exactly is your role in all this, Arkyn? What is the truth? One moment you take full responsibility for Mikael finding us. The next you claim he forcefully extracted it from your mind. And now we find that it was Rebekah all along. How exactly do you fit into this?"
"What does it matter? Does it change the story? Mikael still found you. You still survived. So what is the point in all this?"
"We haven't heard a word from you in over a year. Now, you just happen to drop by?"
"Well, considering we haven't been on good terms in centuries, I don't believe I owe you any explanation."
"If you're just going to show up in my city, you do."
"I'm here for Rebekah."
"Ah, yes. The traitor."
"Was what she did wrong? Yes. But you've already punished her. Or have you forgotten the ninety years you kept her in a box. I say you guys call it even and be done."
"There is no sound reasoning for bringing Mikael into town."
"Well, considering she called him on you, I'm sure she had plenty of sound reasonings."
"It's okay for you. He doted on you. He loved you. You were never on the other side of his torments."
"No, I wasn't. Not as a human. Yeah, he was an ass to you. He was an abusive dick who hated you for no apparent reason, but you're also forgetting that for the last thousand years, any time we had to choose between you and Mikael we all chose to be by your side."
"Oh, please. Rebekah called him into town and you ran away centuries ago."
"Maybe. But when it truly counted, we chose you."
"You knew he was coming for us and you said nothing."
"I hated you. I despised you." Arkyn looked between Elijah and Klaus. "But no matter how I felt, I never wanted Mikael to kill you. Not back then."
"You've always hated us. Hated what we are, hated that you were stuck with us for an eternity."
"Think what you want, Klaus. I gave up a very long time ago."
"There you go again with your holier-than-thou attitude, looking down like you're better than us."
"And there you go again, whining about how life isn't fair, how your siblings are terrible. It's everyone else's fault but yours. You are a plague, Niklaus. In a world full of monsters, you have proven to be the worst monster of all."
"I may have hurt you, daggered our siblings but never have I killed any of you. No, those were the acts of your friends. Of all my faults, never have I wanted to kill you. She wanted me dead."
"What you do is far worse. Consider how different things would be if you had just undaggered Finn and I in the twelfth century. That was your first true mistake. Finn would have been free to be with the love of his life. You saw him with Sage. She always made him want to live. He would never have helped Esther kill us all. And I wouldn't have begun to fear you and hate you. We could have been a family, but even after that you continued. Denying happiness to all around you until they all snapped. Kol, Rebekah and Marcel, Elijah. Finn. Even I once entertained the idea of ending your pathetic miserable life."
"So why didn't you try? We thought it was you who called Mikael, but obviously not. For the past century, you've had a stake of your own but you never attempted to use it? Out of our siblings, you're the one who's supposed to care the least. Why are you the only one not to try your hand at killing me?"
"I have no taste for fratricide. I only hold onto this to keep it out of your hands."
"Right. The golden child. You could never dream about hurting family."
"On the contrary. I've dreamed about hurting you too many times to count." Klaus rolled his eyes.
"Rebekah called Mikael into town. He would kill us all. He would have killed Kol and Finn, too. Or do you not care as much about them as you pretend. I'm not the only one Rebekah betrayed."
"Don't you dare talk about Kol and Finn when you were the one who repeatedly shoved a dagger in one's heart, and kept the other one daggered for too long. Rebekah made a mistake when she called Mikael, but she has always been impulsive and quick to anger. Much like you." Arkyn let out a sigh. "But once upon a time, she was innocent. She was full of life- happy. Don't you remember?"
"My memories serve to make her betrayal more painful."
"Can you not then accept some small part of the blame?" Elijah stepped forward. "After all, Niklaus, it was your cruelty that led her to do what she did."
"Do you not see, Elijah? She didn't mean to chase me off. She wanted me dead."
"You're wrong."
"She has always hated me. You know that's true."
"No it's not. Rebekah has always adored you. You have always been the brother she loved the most." Arkyn argued.
"You have no idea, do you?" Elijah added, beginning a tale. "You have no idea what she was prepared to do for you. When our sister sees something that she perceives to be an injustice, she can be stubborn, impetuous, and, at times, downright dangerous. And never was this more apparent than the night she tried to kill our father."
"What is this, some melodramatic fiction designed to garner my sympathy?"
"It is the truth. I was there. And she would have done it, all to protect you, had I not stopped her. I often wished that I could revisit that moment, complete the task myself."
"Why are you telling me this now?"
"Niklaus, sometimes our sister acts without thinking. She's short of temper, she's quick to fall in love, but she loves you. But, your malicious treatment has broken her heart. So, yes, she responded by summoning our father. Yes, that was a mistake. I'm not entirely sure that I can blame her." It almost looked as though Klaus was going to stand down, but quick as a flash, his resolve strengthened.
"I can."