SHE PROMISED ( the originals )

0060. DEAR OLD DAD NOTICED ME... KINDA TOO LATE

SHE PROMISED
( part two, chapter sixty )

IT HAD BEEN A RATHER LONG and uncomfortable walk back to the Abattoir, with Mikael looking at his youngest with both confusion and shock. This was his daughter, his own flesh and blood, and he had thought that she had died a thousand years ago. Elle knew that this must've been hard for him, having both of his daughters supposedly die then come back into his life.

"How is this possible?" Mikael had said at one point in their walk home, blood still covering his body. He still looked at his youngest with shock and disbelief, as if the idea that another daughter he lost could come back. "Your mother 一"

"Yeah, well, Mother lied," Elle interrupted, crossing her arms over her chest. "I mean, didn't she also say that Freya was dead? Really... it's a wonder that you still believe what that woman said."

"But how are you here?" Mikael asked, hardening his gaze.

Elle simply shrugged. "You ask that like I have all the answers when I obviously don't," she said and rolled her eyes. "Oh, and by the way, I'm okay, thanks for asking. I know you're so worried about your children and their health." The brunette stormed away, crossing her arms angrily over her chest and trying to catch up with her siblings.

That was all the words the two had exchanged it. While Elle knew that her father was still in shock at her existence, she was angry with him for all the torment that he had caused her siblings over the years. He had hunted them down for centuries, hell-bent on killing Klaus (one of her closer siblings) and that was something she couldn't forgive him for. Yes, he was her father, but she had so little memories of the man.

Honestly, her father reminded her too much of Joseph; the two were strong men, respected in their communitites, and had purposely brought harm to their own children. It pained her to know that she had no good father figure in her life, one that showered her with love and comfort. Actually, she didn't really have a good mother figure in her life either; Esther was a bitch who wanted to kill her children, and Stephanie had been present in her life for such a short amount of time.

Mikael just simply isn't a good man, and yet he asks as if he's surprised his youngest child is looking at him with disdain. For a moment, he was actually was tempted to ask how she was, how long she'd been awake in this world but stopped himself. He supposed he could get the answers later...

When they returned, everyone had cleaned up and Elle, after changing into a baggy sweater, had helped explain to Rebekah about their showdown at the church.

"She's done with us for the night," Freya said angrily, standing close to Mikael. "No doubt she wants us to take the time to wallow in our defeat."

"Defeat?" Klaus asked, brow raised. "I disagree. We saw her face, we took measure. If that's the best she got, quite frankly, I'm unimpressed."

Mikael was quick to refute. "Her aim was not to impress us. She wanted us to reveal our sole weapon, and like fools, we did."

Rebekah, who had been standing quietly beside Elle, asked, "Am I hearing things, or did our father exchange words with our brother?"

"Rebekah," Mikael said, aiming an amused smile towards his second daughter. "I'd recognize that wicked tongue anywhere. What trouble have you gotten yourself into now?" He eyed the witch Eva's body from head to toe. "No doubt the bastard's doing."

"Enough," Klaus interrupted. "My patience, like this farce reunion, is at an end." Out of the corner of his eye, he looked to Elle; he knew how awkward it must be for Elle to have reunited with their father, a man she could barely remember but reminded her so much of the same man who hurt her.

"Nik's right," Elle said, crossing her arms. She looked at her older siblings. "We need to figure out what exactly the hell we're doing. What happened tonight can't happen again, unless you know, we all wanna die. Permanently, I mean."

"This was not my plan!" Freya seethed. "You rushed it and made but a single weapon! Of course she took it from you. And now we've lost what advantage we had and used up the very materials we needed to kill her."

"It's a bit histrionic. Your materials are easily found. Let's take stock, shall we?" Klaus pointed at Freya. "There's an ample supply of your blood, Norwegian soil is hardly scarce... what else? Ah, yes 一 the ashes of Dahlia's Viking oppressors."

Mikael scoffed loudly at the hybrid's words. "Only priceless relics gotten with great difficulty in a museum. Lost due to your worthless strategy 一"

His words were cut off short when Klaus darted forward, pining Mikael against a column and the tip of the White Oak Stake pressed into his chest. Elle took a step forward in shock, eyes wide at the thought Klaus killing their father, but also at the fact that Mikael wasn't fighting back. He only groaned at the sudden pain and looked at Klaus.

Freya let out a shriek for her father, lunging forward only for Elijah to hold her back.

"If I feel even the faintest touch of magic, Freay, I will end him with the flick of my wrist!" He eyed Freya out of the corner of his eye, but kept his body positioned in front of Mikael. "You don't seem surprised."

"Betrayal is your nature, boy."

"No, I wasn't born like this," Klaus said. "Her, you fight for 一 lovely Freya, the daughter you barely know 一 but there was a time when you knew me as your son! A time before all of the disappointments, the revelations of betrayal."

Elle could hear every bit of vulnerability in his words. It was odd to hear him talk like this to anyone but her, for the two have often had conversations like that. But it hurt to know that even after all this time, Mikael loved Freya (someone he had just reunited with not too long ago and not seen for a thousand years) more than Klaus, a boy he had raised since he was a babe. It was only then did Elle realize the true amount of pain Mikael had caused for her brother.

"There were moments when all you had to do was be my father! And even then, you despised me, didn't you?!" Klaus let out a weak gasp, one that Elle barely managed to hear. "I want to know why," he begged.

When Mikael answered, Elle's heart broke. "I don't know," he whispered with the smallest shake of the head. "I just did."

Klaus bowed his head, struggling to hold his composure together. It was difficult to know that a parent hated you, but to find out their father had no reason for hating Klaus was heart wrenching. When he looked back up at Mikael, he asked, "Are those your final words?"

The elder vampire turned his gaze to Freya, eyes shining with tears. "Freya," he said, "I'm so sorry. I love y一"

He did not get the chance to finish speaking as Klaus drove the stake home, piercing Mikael's heart, and Freya delivered an broken cry.

Klaus stepped back, allowing Mikael to take the few steps forward before he finally turned gray and collapsed. His body went up in flames in an instant, and Elle couldn't help but feel the smallest bit of grief build up in her chest. He was an awful man, but in the end, he was her father.

The noble Original had let go of Freya, causing her to drop to the floor and let out a wretched sob.

Klaus turned away from the body, his features lit up by the flames behind him. "Viking ash is indeed rare," he said. "But all you really need is a burning Viking corpse." He started to walk away, cutting a path through his siblings and when Freya lunged at him, Elijah and Elle stopped her, watching his retreating figure disappear inside.

Then, the young witch turned her attention back to burning body that once was her father. She couldn't help but just stare at it, hands remaining at her sides as she watched with a blank face. Typically, when children lost their parents, they'd burst into tears and cry endlessly for days. And yet Elle couldn't even do that. She simply watched her father's corpse burn until it was nothing but ash.