Niklaus pulls his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans when he hears the familiar ringtone. He sighs upon seeing who the caller was. Reluctantly, he accepted the call and held it up to his ear.
"Hello brother," he greeted.
"Niklaus," came the voice of his older brother.
"What is it you need?"
"I simply wish to know where you are," Elijah said, clearly irritated.
"Why does my location concern you?" Klaus asked teasingly, trying to get a reaction out of the older vampire.
"Because Niklaus, you told me you were leaving for a few days. It's been almost a week now," he replied, sounding exasperated.
"Yes, well, I have found something that required my immediate attention," Klaus told him, voice turning serious.
"What is so important that it earns your full attention?" Elijah questioned curiously.
"I can't tell you just yet brother."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, Elijah, that I'm not telling you what I'm doing or where I am just yet," the younger brother answered in a 'duh' kind of tone.
"And when exactly will you tell me what you're doing?" Elijah asked, once again irritation was evident in his voice.
"Soon brother, soon."
"Well then, can you tell me when you'll be returning?"
"I don't know. It depends on how long this has me occupied for. It could be a few weeks, it could be a few months. I'll let you know when I'll be returning, brother." When he said this, Klaus thought fondly of their baby sister, excited to get to know her after all these years.
"Fine, Niklaus. Just try to hurry up at least," he replied, curious at his brothers sudden cheery mood.
"Of course brother. There is something you should probably know though."
"And what's that, brother?"
"I will undagger our siblings when I return." Klaus said quietly, waiting for Elijah to speak, as he had fallen silent upon hearing his brothers words.
"Niklaus you better not be lying to me. Not about our family," he half threatened, emotion clear in his tone of voice.
"Of course not Elijah." Klaus knew how much family meant to his brother, he would never lie to him about them, despite what the others thought of him.
"Once I have dealt with this, I will return and our family will be whole once again," he continued, his expression and tone quickly turning to one of pure happiness and excitement.
Elijah didn't miss how happy his younger brother sounded, and instantly became suspicious. Nothing good ever came of him being in a good mood. It usually involved murder or torture. He decided to ignore it for now, knowing he'd eventually find out anyway. Instead, he replied, "I'm glad Niklaus."
"Until then brother."
"Until then. Goodbye brother," Elijah said quietly, thinking over the whole conversation.
"Bye," Klaus said before hanging up the phone and placing it back in his back pocket.
He walked into the town, stopping near the bank, waiting for his sister to appear. He knew she would come looking for him again, to get more answers. As he waited, a smile was plastered across his face, never wavering. He couldn't wait until he had his whole family back together again. Minus his youngest brother and parents, of course.
He leant against the brick wall, waiting for Alexandra. He was lost in his thoughts, thinking back to when they were all still human and she was still awake.
~~~~
Flashback- The year 1000 (A year before they turned)
Niklaus' POV:
I turned around upon hearing my baby sister call my name. I watched as the four year old Alexandra ran up to me, jumping into my outstretched arms. I laughed cheerfully. My little sister always knew when I needed a hug. It was like a sixth sense. She somehow knew when something was wrong and when someone needed a hug.
I carefully placed her back on the ground, watching her bright smile widen as she looked up at me.
"What happened Nik?" She asked me sadly, picking up on my mood.
"Nothing Lex, don't worry about it," but of course, she knew I was lying. I honestly don't know why I even bother trying to lie to her anymore. She was only four years old and she could instantly tell when someone was lying to her. She was a very smart girl.
After seeing the look on her face, I reluctantly gave in and answered, "It's just father. Nothing new, I'm fine, don't worry."
Lex took my hand and lead me to the outskirts of our little village, where there was a large patch of grass, with lots of flowers growing in the centre. Whenever any of us was upset, she would bring us here and we would sit in the field of flowers with her. No one could stay sad in the company of our little sister. She always knew how to cheer us up, even if it was just sitting with us for a while.
I sat in the centre of a ring of flowers next to her. She leaned her head on my shoulder cuddling into my side. I put my arm around her, glad she was the one sat here with me.
"Don't listen to father's cruel words, Nikky. He's just a mean old man who likes to pick on his children. I don't know why he always targets you, but it's unfair. Next time he says or does something to you, I'll protect you," she spoke confidently.
"I appreciate that Lex, it is unfair, but there's nothing we can do about it. And you will do no such thing! I will not let him harm even a single hair on that head of yours," I replied, tightening my grip on her hand. I knew that no matter what I said to her however, she wouldn't listen. She was already beginning to draw the attention away from our siblings when they were in trouble with our father, and instead put the focus on her. She was such a young child, and she was already protecting all of her siblings from her cruel father.
"I know Nik. But I won't let him hurt you either. You're my big brother, and I don't want to see you hurting because of that nasty man who calls himself our father."
I felt my eyes threatening to spill tears, and quickly wiped them with my free had before Lex could notice. I loved my little sister so much. She was one of the only reasons I was happy in these recent days, as father's punishments had become more cruel and painful. No one could do anything about it, all they could do was watch in horror. They all managed to keep Lex away from these awful scenes though, which I was grateful for. I don't know what I would do if she had to ever see anything like that happen to her big brother.
We stayed sat in the flower field, comfortable in each others arms and presence. I'm happy that my youngest sister cared enough to stay here with me. I know that I will never let anyone hurt her, she's too kind and innocent for that.
~~~~
Present day
Niklaus was snapped out of his thoughts only moments before he saw Alexandra walking over to him, a determined but relatively happy look on her face.
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Alexandra spotted her brother leant against the wall of the bank and began making her way over to him. She had decided to take Ali's advice about going to find him again to get more answers. The only part she had ignored was the 'don't go alone' part.
She was smiling as she reached him. She hadn't realised until she'd stopped walking, but for some reason she didn't want to stop. She once again felt that now familiar feeling of safety and comfort when she leant against the wall, next to him.
"Hey," he greeted her, surprised she seemed to be so calm around him. After all, the last time he'd seen her, she'd gone running.
"Hey," she replied.
"Everything okay?" Niklaus asked her, slightly worried at her sudden change in attitude towards him.
"All good," she paused, before adding, "just wanted to get a few answers about all this."
Her brother nodded, understanding that she'd be confused after learning of her adoptive and real family, and the fact that he's her brother.
"What do you want to know?"
"Tell me about our family?" she asked, earning a huge smile from Niklaus, which she almost missed.
"Well, there's quite a few of us. There's our parents, Esther and Mikael Mikaelson-"
"Our father's name is Mikael Mikaelson?" Alexandra interrupted, in disbelief. "What kind of a name is that?"
Niklaus chuckled at his little sister. "Yes, that's his name. It's strange, I know," he laughed again before continuing.
"There's eight siblings altogether. There's Freya, who's the oldest, then there's Finn, Elijah, me, Kol, Rebekah, Henrik and you. You're the youngest."
"Where are they all now?" Alexandra asked curiously.
"Well, both of our parents are dead. So is Henrik, he died when he was quite young. The rest of them are scattered around, here and there," he told her hesitantly, not mentioning anything to do with the supernatural or their siblings being daggered.
"Oh.." she said, not knowing what to say.
"I know you don't remember them, but they all loved you, so much," Niklaus told her gently, watching for her reaction. After finding none, he carried on explaining about their family history. "You were taken when you were five years old. No one knew where you were, we looked for you for years, before they all decided you must be dead. I've been looking for you since then."
"You've been looking for me for the past nine years?" Alexandra asked, not quite able to believe it.
"Of course I have. You were the one that held our family together. The day you disappeared was the day our family fell apart. No one knew what to do, we all kind of just spiralled," he explained, recalling how his sisters 'death' had broken the family apart.
"Oh my god. This is unreal, this can't be true. It's too much," she stated, shaking her head, looking up at her brother. She could feel tears building up behind her eyes, getting ready to spill.
"This is real, I promise you Lex, I won't lie to you," the older of the pair spoke, not realising he had used her nickname.
Alexandra stiffened upon hearing the nickname. She was surprised by it, and saw her brothers worried expression when he noticed her reaction.
"I'm sorry. I don't have to call you that if you'd prefer me not to. It's just we all had nicknames for you, and I just-" he was cut off from his rambling as his sister spoke up.
"Don't worry about it Nik, it just caught me off guard," she said softly, using his nickname to reassure him that she was really okay with it.
Nik smiled, nodding to her response.
"What were the nicknames?" Upon seeing his confused look, she clarified, "The nicknames that our siblings had for me. What were they?"
"Oh. Well, I called you Lex, obviously. Finn and Henrik called you Alexa, Elijah called you Andrea, Kol called you Alex and Rebekah called you Lexi," he recited. "Freya wasn't around much, she was staying with our aunt most of the time, but whenever she wrote, she called you Alexia, so I'm guessing that was her nickname for you."
"So I had like fifty different names?" Alexandra asked, laughing slightly.
"Yep. You were always the favourite too. Everyone wanted to play with you, and wanted to be your favourite," Nik laughed, remembering how they had all fought to be their youngest sisters favourite sibling.
"Who was my favourite?" she asked, smiling brightly, trying to stop herself laughing.
"Me. Our other siblings hated it though. You found it absolutely hilarious to watch them all fight over it," he laughed again, even louder this time, Alexandra quickly joining in with this.
"Sounds like I was a right angel," she said sarcastically, grinning at the fact that she apparently used to be a little wind up.
Nik snorted slightly. "You were a handful at times yes, but you were also a good child. You seemed to always know when someone was upset and you always made them feel better, just by being there. You always did as you were told, and you even defended each of us against our parents, especially me. And you were only five years old," he told her, thinking back to all the times she had stuck up for her big brothers and sisters.
For the next few hours, Alexandra and Nik sat in the town, talking, catching up, getting to know one another.
After a while, Alexandra checked the time on her phone, gasping when she realised it was already 6pm. They had been there for almost five hours, talking.
She stood up from the bench they were sat on and said, "I should probably get going, I'm supposed to be back in like five minutes."
Nik stood up as well, standing next to her and said, "Alright. We wouldn't want you to get into trouble now, would we?" He chuckled slightly, knowing she probably didn't care.
"I don't care about getting in trouble," she began, echoing her brothers thoughts. "I just promised my little sisters that I'd be back early enough to play with them before bed. Well, adoptive sisters," she finished, correcting her previous words.
She looked up into her brothers eyes, and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his waist. Nik was surprised that she was hugging him, but after the initial shock, he quickly returned the embrace.
After a few moments, they stepped back, smiling widely at each other.
"I'm glad you finally found me, Nik." Alexandra said quietly.
"Me too Lex, me too," he replied.
"Give me your phone," she said, holding out her hand. Once she had his unlocked phone, she saved her number into his contacts and messaged herself so she could save his number too. She handed him his phone, and said, "Now we can talk whenever. If we want to meet up again, we can actually do it properly, rather than wandering around for ages, trying to find each other."
They both laughed, hugged each other one last time, said their goodbyes and walked off. Of course, Nik followed behind his little sister at a distance, watching over her to make sure she got home okay.
Once he saw she was safely at home, Nik sped away back to his house in Mystic Falls, a huge smile covering his face. He was finally getting to know his baby sister, and she was already getting used to him. He decided he would tell her about the supernatural after meeting with her a few more times. He didn't want to keep anything from her, he wanted her to know everything.
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Alexandra walked into her sisters bedroom, and heard them giggling from inside the fort they had built. She crept up to it quietly, and crawled under the blankets shouting "Boo!"
She laughed as the two girls screamed, and looked around scared, before realising it was their big sister.
"Andy!" they shrieked.
"Hey girls!" she laughed.
"It wasn't funny," Lia muttered, crossing her arms in annoyance.
"It totally was Li!" Daph exclaimed happily, laughing at her sisters less than impressed expression.
"Was not!"
"It was!"
Alexandra laughed as she watched the girls bickering back and forth over whether being scared by their big sister was funny or not.