K I N G • KLAUS MIKAELSON [1]

the departed

RIVER stared blankly at the wall in front of him, the bottle of bourbon in his hands doing nothing to quell his sadness. The footsteps moving towards him didn't faze him, he recognised them all too well.

"They took him" River stated.

Elijah stayed silent, unsure how to console the boy before him.

"I begged them" River's voice broke as he began to tear up again "I pleaded with them not to do that to him, but they still did, my friends, my family"

"They were not your family" Elijah stated "We are"

River scoffed with a laugh.

"Your mother is dead after trying to kill us many many times, Finn is also dead, Kol is off somewhere, doing god knows what" River spoke "Rebekah is gone, you left, and Niklaus...Niklaus is in the hands of the Salvatore brothers"

River raised the bottle of bourbon to his lips, feeling hopeless.

"We are going to get him back" Elijah informed, taking the bottle from River.

River glared up at him.

"And how are we going to do that?" River asked.

"A good, old-fashioned deal" Elijah stated, holding his hand out "Now, would you like to sit here and wallow in pity or come and help me rescue my brother?"

River took a deep breath, scanning over Elijah's face before reaching up, grabbing his hand.

-

River stood in the doorway to the Gilbert House, Elijah by his side, Elena holding a scared look on her face as she watched them.

"Stefan" Elena called.

Stefan moved into the hallway, Matt following.

"Elijah" Stefan sighed.

"Hello again" Elijah smirked.

-

River glared at his former friends, standing by Elijah's side as said Original explained their plan to them.

"All we need is to take that stake away from him" Elijah stated "Once he's been disarmed, the weapon's in my possession, my family will scatter to the ends of the Earth and Alaric will follow us"

"And you'll just run?" Stefan asked, sitting between Elena and Elijah.

"We've done it before" Elijah agreed "Klaus and Rebekah spent the better part of a thousand years evading my father, what's another half century while Elena is able to live out the rest of her natural life?"

"We've finally stopped him, Elijah" Elena stated "After everything that he's done to us, I can't just let you bring him back"

"I give you my word, Elena" River spoke up "And Elijah's too, we won't revive Klaus within yours or even within your children's lifetimes"

"Perhaps that will finally teach him some manners" Elijah sighed.

"Please" River pleaded "I just want him back"