CHAPTER LVI
❝ Casper. Hav-Have you seen Brie? ❞
The Lafayette Cemetery was a far cry from contentment, which Niklaus was beginning to feel deep within his heart, mingled with a twinge of confusion and shock.
And, of course, anger, the biggest contributor to his emotional state at the moment. Anger, about to lash out at the New Orleans Witches.
"Welcome, Mikaelsons." Sophie Deveraux greeted them at the entrance of the cemetery,"You may come in."
"You may discuss your terms with my brother, Sophie." Elijah said calmly, clasping a hand onto Klaus' arm to stop him from lashing out, giving him the side eye to let him do the talking.
"Well, since he is clearly willing to listen." Sophie sighed, giving them a look. "Like you already know, Marcel is the King of the City and he is controlling the witches. So, we want you to run Marcel and his vampires out of the town. Everyone knows he learnt everything from you. He looks up to you. He won't see the betrayal coming."
A deep silence followed Sophie's presentation of terms.
She looked at the pair before her, Elijah in turn looking at Klaus whose jaw was clenched, eyes ablaze.
"Where. Is. She?"
Sophie sighed, the seething tone of the Hybrid not enough to scare her. She had nothing left to lose anymore.
She was pretty sure that his brother was the only one keeping him in line at the moment.
"Come." she motioned her hand towards the mausoleum. "And before you may even think of doing anything, I warn you, you'll regret it. So, watch your actions."
"You-" Klaus took a step towards her in anger, just to be stopped by Elijah.
"Calm down, brother." he squeezed his shoulder in a reassuring manner. "You should see her first."
"You may meet her, but you can't leave until you agree to-"
"First, I'll see her, then, all your bloody terms." Klaus gave her a steeled look. "Now, lead the way."
"Fine." she scoffed, beginning to head inside, the two men following her.
They entered a barely lit mausoleum, a thong of witches at the entrance, with several scattered across the bare land enclosed by the large slabs of stones, as Niklaus' eyes fell onto the figure lying unconscious on a large slab of stone, her hair scattered in the all too familiar way; arm dangling to the side, clasped in the promise bracelet whose duet he wore; that peaceful resting face he could look at forever; everything he knew and was looking for since weeks. His Lucy.
He gulped, forcing his eyes away, pushing out all the vulnerability from his face.
"What have you done to her?" he let out an angered sigh, his fists curling by his sides.
"She's just asleep. Fine, for now." Sophie crossed her arms. "She was being too violent, so we had to. Otherwise, she was all fit for a reunion."
"Speak your final terms, now." Elijah interrupted before Nikalus could react to Sophie's words. "We're all willing to listen."
"I've already told you what we want. Marcel and his vampires out of the city."
"And, then I'll rule the city," said Klaus loudly, "and you witches' condition will be much worse."
"You're playing a losing gamble, Ms. Deveraux." Elijah smiled at her, nothing friendly, "replacing Marcel with Klaus will be ten times worse, I assure you."
"Oh, please, he won't be able to control us like Marcel does. He doesn't have his weapon. Nobody even knows what it is."
"You think I'll let you all live?" Klaus chuckled superciliously.
"The life of Lucy and your child is controlled by us. Let me tell you that anything that you do to me happens to her too. The spell my sister did, not only confirmed the pregnancy, but linked Lucy to me. Don't believe me? Then watch."
Sophie pulled out a hair pin from her hair, and pricked her finger harshly.
"Go on." she shrugged. "Check her hand."
Niklaus stepped forward reluctantly, crouching by her side, as he slowly took her hand which was resting on her stomach, and looked at the wound on her forefinger, exactly like the one on Sophie's finger.
"This is idiocracy." Klaus clenched his jaw, pressing at her wound to stop the blood flow.
"Do you realise how grave a mistake you're making, Sophie?" Elijah said calmly. "You can lose everything."
"I'll kill every single one of these witches." Klaus seethed, standing up to face the Deveraux sister. "Then, I'll see how fast you'll unlink yourself from her."
"Go on." she shrugged, as other witches gasped lowly in the background. "I don't care. I've already lost everything. My sister is dead. I have literally nothing left to lose. So, go on, kill them all and then watch me kill myself and suffer the consequence. She won't even live long enough to see her first maternity dress."
Klaus squared his shoulders, feeling the reality set in, as he shared a long look with Elijah.
"I'll end this now. I'll kill Marcel myself." Elijah said firmly, unbuttoning his coat.
"No, we can't." Sohpie shook her head. "We have a clear plan that we have to follow and we have rules."
"How dare you command me!?" Klaus breathed out in anger. "Threaten me with what you wrongly perceive to be my weakness?!"
"Everyone knows what your wife means to you, Mr. Mikaelson. No need for fooling us."
"Not the wife." Elijah cleared his throat, cutting through the awkward air, as Klaus clenched his jaw.
"Well, we just assumed from that ring on her finger." Sophie cleared her throat. "Anyway, do you agree with the terms or not?"
Elijah looked at Niklaus, whose eyes were busy hovering onto the ring resting on Lucy's finger.
"Niklaus?" he cleared his throat.
"Alright." he nodded stiffly. "So be it. I agree to your terms."
"Perfect." she smiled at them, as if finalising a business deal.
"When will she wake up?" he asked quietly.
"An hour or so. The concoction we made her drink wasn't that strong." Sophie explained. "Also, she doesn't know that she's about to be a mother. Better break it to her in a good manner."
"Come on, brother." Elijah clasped his shoulder, as Klaus looked at Lucy. "Let's go home."
◇◇◆◇◆◇◇
Lucy's mind was wandering. Buzzed with lethargy, it crawled across the dreamland in an excruciatingly slow pace. Therefore, showcasing her dwindled memories mixed with fantasies as if the reality.
. . . Brie's giggles echoed through an unfamiliar mansion as Lucy called out to her.
"Brie, come to mom, Brie?"
Only laughter came as a response, laughter which was slowly beginning to feel far-far away.
"Brie? Come back." Lucy shouted, her tone shifting to a worried one. "Brie, come back, please."
"Brie?!" Lucy shouted, as the trace of any other personage in the mansion vanished. "Brie! Where are you!?!"
The sharpening of a saw caught her attention, the sound coming from the courtyard, whose directions she somehow knew already as she stepped in the open yard, her eyes falling on a man working by the tubewell, his back turned to her.
"Excuse me?" she called out, the man's work instantly ceasing, as he slowly turned towards her.
"Casper?" Lucy squinted at him. "Casper. Hav-Have you seen Brie?"
"Brie?" he asked with a sly smile. "Of course, here she is."
He titled his head, smirking at her, before he pulled his hand from behind his back, Brie's decapitated head dangling by his fingers, as a scream left Lucy's mouth. . .
. . .the scene changed and so did Lucy's emotions as she found herself standing in a clearing in the woods.
This time she felt anger and resentment.
She was panting. There was something sticky on her hands, the same thing splattered on her face.
She brought her hand to the front of her face slowly. There was blood. A lot of blood.
She lowered her gaze to her feet.
A heart was lying next to her foot as her gaze trailed ahead to a bloodied body.
It was Casper.
Then, she heard screaming. Loud anguished screams.
Her head snapped up, eyes widening at the sight before her.
Niklaus. Tied to an altar.
Bloodied. Wounded.
Dark Arts symbols engraved onto his bare chest, fresh blood dripping from them.
And then there was chanting. Loud, overpowering whispers, as Niklaus screamed. . .
. . . then there was silence. Loud silence as slowly a voice reached her. Steadily becoming clearer.
". . I know you were hurting, Lucy. And then you just left. We were all worried sick. I've been looking for you, following your trail, for so long. And, now," the voice sighed, "all this with the witches. But I'll fix all of this. I'll figure out what Marcel has and we will all be okay. Just, just wake up, love. . ."
Lucy felt her head clearing, her eyes fluttering open as a harsh light greeted her.
She screwed her eyes shut, naturally turning her head away from the source of light, as a groan left her lips.
"Lucy?" a voice asked, relieved.
"Yeah?" she called out, rubbing her eyes, blinking to wear out the sleep.
"You're awake." the same voice breathed out, and the identity of the owner of that voice slowly registered to Lucy.
"Nik?" she said in shock, her head snapping to his direction, eyes widened.
"Yes, love, yes." he nodded softly, taking her hand, looking deep in her eyes.
She looked at him, her eyes taking in all the details. The colour of his eye, the slightly grown stubble, that twinkle of happiness on his features.
"I-I-" she stuttered, snapping out of it as she looked away immediately, pulling her hand out of his grasp. "Where am I?"
"It's my place. In New Orleans." he replied after a pause, standing up and taking a few steps away from her, and leaning against the cupboard.
"What am I doing here?" she asked in a hard voice, still not meeting his eyes, and got up to sit against the headboard.
"It's a long story. We'll talk. But first you need to freshen up." he said quietly, crossing his arms.
"No, just tell me already so I can just go and be on my merry way."
"'Your merry way'?" he asked, ceasing his leaning across the cupboard. "You're not going anywhere, Lucy. Not at all."
"You can't force me." she scoffed, although her voice wavered nevertheless.
"I can. And I will." he said firmly, taking a step towards her. "First you disappear all of the sudden without informing a single soul of your whereabouts. And now that I've found you, you want to leave again? Not at all."
"For all that I did, I had my reasons." Lucy gritted her teeth.
"What reasons?" he scoffed. "Oh, of course, that letter. The letter in which you clearly gave up on me and why? To-"
"-to protect you! God damn it!" Lucy shouted, finally turning to look at him. She stepped down the bed and looked him in the face, "To protect you."
"I don't need protection, love." he said, his tone low, taking another step towards her. "I'm Klaus Mikaelson."
"Oh, yes, you do." she scoffed, tilting her head up to look at him, "from my bloody father. You do. And I'll make sure you get that."
"This is not fair." he whispered, taking another step towards her, making her take a step back. "You don't get to make all those decisions all by yourself."
"I can. And I will." she clenched her jaw, repeating his words from earlier, as he took another step towards her.
"Not fair." Niklaus shook his head, taking another step as she took another backwards. "You cannot do that to me without my permission."
"I do not need anybody's permission." she scoffed, looking him in the eye.
"Yes, you do. You do need my permission before completely blowing up my life." Niklaus looked right back at her, not breaking eye contact. "Before abandoning me like that without even a single goodbye. Before doing that to me. To yourself. To us."
"I did what was needed." she gulped, taking another step back as her legs met the bedside table this time, avoiding eye contact this time. "What I felt was right. To keep you safe."
"You don't have the right of sucking out all the happiness from my Lucy's life." he whispered, gently grabbing her chin and tilting her head up to make her look into his eyes. "No, you don't get to decide if she is worthy of love or not. You don't get to decide that she'll be better off all alone. You don't get to decide that. You don't know her like I do."
"Because I know that she's worthy of all the love in the world." he continued, his breath fanning her face as his lips hovered onto hers. "And that she's always better off with everyone she loves. Her friends and family. She deserves to be happy."
"No, she doesn't." she whispered, her breath heaved, her eyes wet already, and she slowly closed the gap between them, bringing their lips together.
He deepened the kiss, his hand trailing from her chin to grab her by the neck as her fingers tangled into his hair, bodies moulding close together.
Klaus grabbed her by the waist, sliding her onto the bedside table, its contents smashing into the wall, as he broke the kiss, panting into her ear, "Yes, she does. She deserves all the happiness."
"No, no," she whimpered, burying her face into his neck as her hands wrapped around his neck, holding on tightly. "I don't deserve any of this. I just ruin everything I touch. I just ruin it all. . ."
"No." he said sternly, pulling back to look at her, "no, love, no. You're Lucy Wright. The most wonderful partner I've ever had the fortune of meeting. You've completely changed my life, you've filled it with so much happiness. You're my redemption, love. So, tell me, how could you ruin anything?"
"You don't understand, Nik," she whispered, tears falling down her cheeks, "you don't understand. I could never be happy. I'm just fated to constant pain and loss. To run away and just keep on running, hiding."
"What's the problem in running and hiding if you can be with your loved ones?" he asked, cupping her cheeks, "And who knows this better than me. I've been running from my father for centuries, now we'll run from yours, easy."
"God, no," she laughed lightly, "we can't 'hide' from Richard. That's the problem."
"Don't give me that 'I've no other option speech'." he gave her a stern look, "Firstly, you're cloaked, love. You're always cloaked. Secondly, I've already called up Bonnie to do another cloaking spell on you. Thirdly, this is New Orleans, it's my city, no one can harm us here."
"No, Nik," she groaned, burying her face into his chest, "it doesn't work this way. A whole coven can very easily break two teensy cloaking spells."
"I know it can, but the thing is, they won't be even able to enter the city, love. I assure you."
"He's a witch, he'll find his way through." she sighed, pulling back to look at him, and grabbing his face gently, "Nik, just let me look at you one last time. I just. . ."
"Look at me your whole life, love, who am I to stop you," he murmured, pushing a hair behind her ear, "but now you're making excuses. You've simply made yourself believe that you have to be alone and not be attached to anyone ever again so that your father has nobody to sacrifice. That's your plan, right?"
"Yes, exactly," she murmured, grabbing his hand as she kissed the inside of it gently, "stay away from everyone and keep them safe."
"So, you're gonna forever make no friends, have no boyfriend or girlfriend, or even husband or wife, no guardian figure, no crush, nothing? You'll just leave everyone." Niklaus nodded with a faux thoughtful look.
"So, you'll also leave our child all alone?" he titled his head at her in a questioning manner, his hand sliding to rest on her stomach.
"What?" Lucy blinked at him in shock, "You're making this up. This is pure manipulation, Nik."
"Firstly, this is true. And secondly, anything to make you stay."
"N-Nik, please tell me you're not joking." she stuttered out, her hand moving to her stomach, resting over his.
"No, love," he nodded, smiling softly, "you're pregnant. We're going to be parents."
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A/n :
Yeppzz, this chapter was long.
Continuing in the next too<33.
Until then,
Ripahhhhhhhhhh.
Word Count : 2741