Eternal ➳ N. Mikaelson [COMPLETED]

➳ 40: rebirth

MONTHS had passed since Hope was given to Rebekah for her safety. In their grief, the Mikaelsons drifted apart to do their own things. Elijah was trying his best to keep the family together but the hybrids were making it increasingly difficult for him with their stubbornness. Ingrid hadn't spoken much since her daughter's departure and Klaus holed himself up in his study.

Klaus was listening to Mozart's Requiem in D Minor K 626-3 on a record player while he furiously tried to stretch a canvas over a wooden frame for a painting. When he teared through the canvas, he angrily threw it all across the room just as Elijah returned from his meeting. Klaus, overwhelmed with frustration, yelled at the top of his lungs.

Elijah picked up the canvas Klaus threw and examined it. "I suppose we shall have to call this your "white period.""

"I'm missing a crucial color in my palette-- that of my enemies' blood." Klaus answered in fury, snarling in determination.

"Well, I recommend a Venetian red, with a dash of rust..." Elijah joked causing Klaus to completely lose his temper.

"It's been months! I've adhered to our plan: sit and do nothing, sell our grief. And now, my child is safely away, and another full moon is upon us-- another night of pathetic weakness as the moonlight rings steal my strength!" Klaus screamed and Elijah gave a sympathetic look. After a moment, Klaus calmed down slightly, though he was still clearly upset. "The inertia is killing me. I need to act. I-I-I need-- I need to spill blood."

"Well, then, you'll be pleased to know that I've located the last of the twelve rings forged with your blood." Elijah informed him, glancing at his brother in concern.

At the sound of this, Klaus perked up slightly. "Then, it's time!"

"And none too soon. I'm concerned about Ingrid." Elijah admitted, hoping to get Klaus to talk about his wife. When Klaus refused to speak on the matter or make eye contact, Elijah sighed and took a step toward him. "She is hardly home. She hasn't spoke to anyone in months. Niklaus, you have abandoned her in your time of grief but I implore you to remember that she is grieving as well."

Klaus stared at the wall in front of him, tears pooling in his light blue eyes, but otherwise didn't respond or move. Sighing in annoyance, Elijah spared one last look at him before turning on his heels and leaving him alone.

Elijah was in the middle of packing up Hope's nursery when Ingrid walked down the hall. She stopped dead in her tracks and stormed into the room, pushing him away in anger. "What right do you have?!"

"Welcome back. What is it, the third night this week?" Elijah questioned her in a passive-aggressive tone of voice.

"Spare me your indignation." She snarled at him and narrowed her eyes. "I do not recall permitting you to touch anything." She jeered while snatching one of the stuffed toys from his hands.

"As we have discussed, our illusion needs to be flawless. Now, months have passed. It's the appropriate time." Elijah replied with a pointed expression, trying to be sympathetic but stern at the same time.

"Who decides what is appropriate? You?" Ingrid interrogated him rapidly then smiled bitterly. "What else are you ready to claim is appropriate? Hmm? That Niklaus and I are supposed to be over our grief by now?"

Elijah sighed and licked his lips, gathering his patience. "I understand this is difficult for you--"

"--You do not understand anything!" Ingrid bellowed at him and pointed a finger at him. "What is becoming tremendously difficult is going about my life with the very fact that Francesca Guerrera has somehow been granted the right to still breathe despite her scheme to sacrifice my daughter. Knowing I am not allowed to murder her yet is difficult." She replied, getting more furious by the second.