Always & Forever A Mikaelson {Sequel to Klaus' Daughter Is A Lockwood}

Grief and Sorrow, Searching in a Maze and Rebirth

ST. ANNE'S CATHOLIC CHURCH
Some time later, Elijah burst into the church and looked around desperately. "HAYLEY?!" He yelled frantically. He saw Nicole on the floor unconscious and ran to her. Once he was close enough, he stopped dead in his tracks, panting and out of breath as a result of the werewolf bites, and struggled to focus his vision. Eventually, he saw that Klaus was sitting at the altar with Hayley's body resting in his embrace. Klaus was holding back tears. Elijah picked up Nicole and then approached them with a horrified look on his face."No. No, no. No..." He said and laid Nicole down on the floor in fear of dropping her. He then fell to his knees next to Hayley and realized that she was dead. "She's gone." Klaus said numbly. Nicole began to wake. She looked and same as Elijah couldn't fathom what she was seeing before her. "Hayley?" She asked above a whisper before tears began to roll out of her eyes. Elijah too began to cry, which caused Klaus to start to cry as well. Klaus saw how injured his brother was and how many bites he had sustained. "You've been bitten. Here." He bit into his wrist and offered it to Elijah. Elijah was stunned by this display of kindness from his brother. Nicole just sat and stared at Hayley. Her best friend was dead because in her head she wasn't strong enough to save her.

Nicole and Elijah cry for a few more minutes. Elijah composed himself and picked up Hayley's body out of Klaus' arms and laid her back onto the table at the altar while Klaus and Nicole sat nearby. Nicole stared into space just thinking about what their next move should be. "How?" Elijah asked distraughtly; breaking the silence. Klaus and Nicole exchanged concerned glances. "We were bested." Klaus replied to him; completely numb. Nicole lowered her head in shame. Elijah's face turned from an expression of horror to one of fury. "You were bested. Huh?" Elijah said quietly. Nicole furrowed her brow. He walked toward Klaus and stared at him furiously. "You were BESTED?" He scolded Klaus. Klaus looked at him in shock at his loss of temper. "My invincible brother!" Elijah shouted at him in exasperation. "Nicole being bested I can understand, she's a new witch. But you brother?!" He asked him. Klaus just took whatever Elijah was going to say to him. "Uncle Elijah stop. You don't understand." Nicole said and tried to calm him. Klaus pulled himself weakly to his feet and looked Elijah in the eyes. "They took the baby. But there's still time." Klaus said to both of them. "We can save her." Nicole said and looked to her Uncle. She needed to save her sister.

LAFAYETTE CEMETERY
Nicole, Klaus and Elijah rush around the cemetery in an attempt to figure out where the witches are keeping the baby. "I can't believe they cloaked the baby. I wish I knew a way around it." Nicole said frustrated. "The tombs are empty. The grounds are deserted. She's NOT HERE!" Elijah expressed frantically. "This is the only place they can be! We'll keep searching." Klaus said trying to stay positive. "They are NOT HERE, Niklaus! We're wasting time!" Elijah said exasperated. "The Harvest was here! The Reaping was here! They're about to perform a ritual which will feed their ancestors for centuries! Ancestors who are buried HERE!" Klaus shouted at his brother. "Dad's right. The ritual has to be performed here." Nicole said and looked around her. She stopped talking when she noticed an angel statue on top of one of the tombs and sighed in frustration. "Son of a bitch!" She exclaimed angrily. "What is it?" Elijah asked in confusion. Klaus looked up and understood immediately what Nicole was staring at. "This statue; we've passed by this three times, all whilst going in the same direction." Klaus said in defeat. Nicole, Klaus and Elijah brainstorm silently as they examine the various tombs near them. "They've fabricated some kind of illusion." Elijah said in realization. Klaus vamp-sped to the top of the tomb with the angel statue and tried to get a better view of the cemetery. When he looked out, there seemed to be an infinite number of tombs, stretching out to make the cemetery appear to be endless, and his eyes widened in horror. "That's one word for it." He said in astonishment.

With this new discovery Nicole, Klaus and Elijah continued walking through the maze illusion in the cemetery whilst using a stone like a piece of chalk in order to mark the tombs that they'd passed. "It's ingenious. I can see them, I can feel them, and yet they are not real." Klaus said perplexed. Nicole let out a sigh. "I can feel them too." She said overwhelmed and frustrated. Elijah was still visibly distraught as he ran his hands through his hair. "There has to be a way. Even if we could just push through..." He began but Klaus cut him off. "What we need to do is focus." Klaus said sternly. "My only focus right now is that child and her safety, do you understand me?" Elijah lost his temper again; snapped and glared at Klaus furiously. Nicole and Klaus stared at him in shock for his outburst. "This; all of this; this is the world that you created, Niklaus." Elijah said with a finger pointed at him. "Brother..." Klaus began but Elijah interrupted him. "All of your scheming, the enemies that you have made every single day of your miserable life. What results did you expect? That your child would be born into a happy life? That Nicole would get to have a happily ever after with us and the love of her life? That Ivy would tell you the baby was yours and stay with you? That the mother of your second child would be alive to know her daughter? That we could live and thrive as some.... As some sort of family?" Elijah asked in sadness. "That was your fantasy, brother, not mine!" Klaus raised his voice to Elijah. Nicole remained silent as the brothers argued. They were both grieving. She knew better than to get involved when they argued. "NO, brother! This was our hope. Your children! This was our family's hope." Elijah shouted; enraged at his brothers words. He began to hyperventilate and stopped to try to catch his breath. Nicole was stunned at Elijah's emotions. He never got this way. "And now she is gone." Elijah said as his voice became softer. "Do you understand? I let this person in. I let her in!" He said as he tried to hold back his tears, but ultimately fails. Nicole's heart broke at the sight before her. "I don't let people in! You knew this. You've taken her from me! I needed her, and you've broken me." Elijah said with tears, until his strength gave out. He sat down on the stoop of one of the tombs and put his head in his hands. Nicole and Klaus quietly sat down on either side of him. Nicole wrapped her arms around his forearm to let him know she was there for him. Klaus then gripped his other arm in comfort. "You can tell your niece how much you cared for her mother when we save her." Klaus said with determination in his eyes. Elijah looked at him, his chin quivering, as Klaus nodded encouragingly. Nicole smirked. "Let's go teach those witches what happens when you cross the Mikaelson's." She said and stood from the stoop.

ST. ANNE'S CATHOLIC CHURCH
Hayley's body was still laying on the table at the altar where Elijah left her. Her neck looked as though it has healed. Suddenly, she awoke with a gasp and grabbed her throat. As she sat up, she's overwhelmed with flashbacks of being in labor, the baby being born, Nicole and Klaus being pinned to the wall, and Monique slitting her throat. She realized that the baby is still alive, but has been taken by the witches. She calmed herself down before leaving to find her daughter with a look of hate and perseverance on her face.