"How dare you command me...threaten me, with what you wrongfully perceive to be my weaknesses. I won't hear any more lies!"
"Niklaus. Listen."
"Kill her and the baby. What do I care?"
May 17, 2011
New Orleans, Louisiana
The conversation from nights before replayed through Poppy's mind as she stood near a window inside of what used to be a plantation, where Hayley and she had been staying at. She looked at a squirrel in the grass as it walked around, leaning her head against the wall.
Hayley walked to her quietly, placing a hand on her back comfortingly underneath her curls, which in their natural state were similar to those of Katerina Petrova's when she hung around Elijah and Klaus.
"You've been awfully quiet today. What's on your mind?" Hayley asked her with a soft tone, a tone that could easily be seen as a motherly tone, which was the kind of tone Hayley was taking.
Poppy looked at the werewolf, folding her arms over her chest loosely. "I feel like the drama in Mystic Falls is more worth being a part of than the drama here..."
Hayley let out a sigh. "Maybe, maybe not. But, you do need some time away from this hell hole..no offense."
"None taken." Poppy moved her head away from the wall. "I think I'll head to the shops today. Do you want me to get you anything?"
"Not that I can think off." She replied as Poppy walked towards the doorway, slipping on her sneakers, which added to the white t shirt and sweatpants (which were from the men's section; more comfort and larger pockets). "Actually," a small smile formed on Hayley's face. "If you happen to see Klaus, kick his ass for not letting me leave this place."
Poppy smirked, looking back at her. "You know I'll do it anyways." She winked before stepping outside.
❌❌❌
The streets were calm that day, a few people lingered here and there but other than that it was quiet. Poppy walked down the sidewalk, typing on her phone. She was texting Stefan. Her walking stopped.
I miss you guys :'(((
We miss you too. I have a feeling New Orleans isn't going so well for you. When are you coming back?
Hopefully soon, a lot has happened and I don't know if I can handle it on my own
Well once you visit we can talk about it, ok?
Thanks Stef
She clenched her jaw when her phone was pulled out of her hands and turned off, being put into her pocket. She folded her arms over her chest and looked up at her dad with an unamused face.
She raised an eyebrow. "Tell me how you want this to play out. Do I act surprised and smile at your presence?"
Klaus frowned. "Love, I think we should talk.."
"About how you screwed up?" Poppy asked, beginning to walk, but he vamped in front of her, making her stop.
"Yes, I screwed up." He told her.
"Monumentally." Poppy added.
Klaus let out a sigh. "Fine, I screwed up. Monumentally." He placed his hands on the sides of her upper arms, looking into her lonely and sad blue eyes. "How can I make it up to you?"
"First, you can stop lying to people about how you really feel." His daughter told him. "Second, you can be the father that you used to be. Until you can figure out how to do those, leave me alone." She moved away and began walking, trying her best to keep her eyes from forming tears.
"You speak of showing true emotion when you yourself are lying to everyone around you." Her dad said from behind her, causing her to stop. "You pretend to be happy then attempt to kill yourself, almost succeeding if it weren't for Marcel."
Poppy clenched her jaw, a tear slipping down her cheek. "Stop." She whispered.
"Tell me, what were your thoughts after you cut open your wrists? Did you regret it? You know what I'm wondering? Why did you even do it? Because you loathe the very life that your mother has given you-"
"My mother is dead!" His daughter shouted, turning to face him with tears in her eyes. She took a deep breath. "So don't you dare bring her into this."
Klaus watched her, his eyes glistening.
"You wanna know why I did it?" Poppy continued. "Because my entire life is filled with pain, with death. First it was my mother, then Marcellus, and then I was put to sleep for 80 years, robbing me of the life I could've had. And then it was Zach, who was there for me all the time." She took a deep breath, she had never really talked about Zach. "And then it was Jenna, almost Damon, kind of Bonnie, and then Alaric and K-Kol--killed by my best friends--and now Jeremy." Poppy held back a sob.
"On top of that," she continued, "there was the whole thing with Mikael and Esther. And I was tortured by Tyler. But before all of that I was trying to deal with the fact that Stefan was no longer paying attention to me, and then I got my memories back, and all of the terror and devastation crashed down on me from the night of my birthday.
"And I hate myself because I've killed people and I'm still struggling with my magic and-and I haven't been able to enjoy my werewolf side and" she rubbed her head to soothe her oncoming headache, tears soaking her cheeks "all I wanted was to be with my family to get through it but look around, Dad. Elijah skipped town, Rebekah has no interest in hanging around, Kol is dead, and my grandparents tried to kill me, Finn would want to also. So yeah, I'm sorry if everything became too much to handle, but I'm glad I got it out of my system before I heard you wouldn't mind if some witches killed your unborn child. Before I heard that family means nothing to you. If I had heard that before, then I would have exploded."
Poppy furrowed her eyebrows, sniffling. "Why do I even bother living? Everyone in this family is immortal, and I'm not. I'm just temporary."
Klaus, shocked and upset, walked to her and hugged her tightly, pulling her head into his chest as she let out her sobs. "All right, little flower, let it all out.." He kissed the top of her head, a tear slipping down his cheek. "I love you, Poppy. I really do.."
Poppy sobbed into his chest, gripping his shirt tightly, her knuckles white. She couldn't respond, she just cried and cried. This went on for about 7 minutes, and then she calmed, hiccuping here and there. She closed her eyes, exhausted from the crying and stress.
"Let's get you home, little flower." He said softly, picking her up and speeding to the compound and to her bedroom.
He laid her down on her bed and pulled the covers over her body. He sat on the bed next to her, holding her hand. "I've thought about it once or twice in my lifetime..suicide." He spoke.
Poppy turned onto her side and pressed her forehead against his leg. "How did you get through it?"
"I found beauty in the world, true beauty. Art, music, sceneries beyond your imagination. Life is for exploration of ones self and their surroundings. Poppy, I can take you anywhere in the world, and all you have to do is say the word...and yes, you're not immortal, but mortality makes your life all the more precious." He paused for a moment. "You can take your time with things, but the limited amount of time you have challenges you to face your fears. So I, your loyal knight, will help you fight this battle of yours one day at a time, my princess."
Poppy closed her eyes when he finished talking, letting sleep overcome her. Klaus watched his daughter as she slept, seeing her as the seven year old she once was; the little girl whose grandfather terrorized her, which she never actually got over. He thought about her encounters with Mikael and with Esther, and about her love for her uncle Kol, he had been her favorite. He felt guilty for daggering Elijah, because Poppy needed her family. He understood her pain, and wanted to comfort her.
He just wasn't completely sure how.
It also crashed on him the amount of time he had let slip away with his daughter. She was 18, not 7. He had been so focused on other things that he hadn't spent his time searching for her, which he should had done.
He then realized that he had to change, but it would take time.
❌❌❌
A few hours later
Poppy walked into Hayley's home, carrying a few bags. She shut the door and took off her shoes.
"Hayley!" She called out, though Hayley also had supernatural hearing. "I'm home!"
Hayley stepped into the room, smiling. "You know you don't need to shout, we both have supernatural hearing."
Poppy smirked. "I know."
"So, what did you get that took 4 hours?"
Poppy walked with her into the dining room and set the bags down on the table. "Well before I shopped, I yelled at my dad, cried, and then took a nap." She emptied the bags onto the surface of the table. "I got clothes, a pair of shoes, travel essentials, and some witch things."
"Travel essentials?" Hayley inquired, picking up the pair of heels and admiring them.
"Yeah, I decided that I'm going back to Mystic Falls for a bit, by plane."
❌❌❌
June 13, 2011
Mystic Falls, Virginia
Poppy had been in Mystic Falls for a week. At the given moment, she was walking through the woods with her father, who had suddenly showed up, and Caroline, who seemed displeased with his presence.
"Everyone said that you were gone for good." Caroline spoke.
Klaus looked at her and nodded. "It's true. But I never meant to go without saying goodbye. Plus, I wanted to see how Poppy was doing."
"You don't owe me an explanation." The blondie told him. "You're moving on-- by all means, go."
"Well, that's just it, isn't it? I never had any intention of moving on. The truth is, I've tried to stop thinking about you, and I can't." The three stopped walking, but Caroline continued again, beginning to push past Klaus.
Poppy let out a small sigh.
"Come to New Orleans. What are you afraid of?" Klaus inquired.
"You!" Caroline exclaimed, causing him to frown. "I'm afraid of you."
"Wouldn't it be more accurate to say you're afraid of yourself, your darkest desires? Elena was right, wasn't she? Deep down, you long to have your perfect feathers ruffled."
Caroline and Poppy furrowed their eyebrows. "How do you know what Elena said to me in that cell?"
Poppy gasped as Klaus shoved Caroline into a tree, pinning her still. "Dad!"
"Then again, there's so much to be afraid of, isn't there? Like what I'll do to you if your friend Bonnie doesn't come out of hiding. Where is she?" Klaus asked the two, holding Caroline against the tree.
Caroline frowned in realization. "Silas."
"Where is she?!" Silas shouted. "She's not at home, she's not anywhere. Bonnie is playing games with me, and I don't like it. Tell her I'm looking for her. Tell her to come out of the shadows. Tell her that this-" he thrusted a stake into her stomach, "is only the beginning."
He dropped her unconscious body to the ground, stepping a few feet away as Poppy rushed over, kneeling down.
"Caroline!" She pulled the stake out and tossed it aside. "Come on, wake up." She let out a gasp when Silas wrapped his arm around her neck, pulling her up to her feet, cutting off her air supply.
"We, Poppy, are going to have a long chat." He whispered in her ear with her father's voice.
❌❌❌
Poppy opened her eyes, her body resting on a cold surface. The area around her was lit by a torch. She was in a cave. She pushed herself up off of the ground and observed her surroundings.
"Silas!" She called out, frustrated. "Why am I here?!"
"Poppy?!" A voice sounded from somewhere in the cave. "Is that you?!"
Poppy paled, frowning as a woman entered the room. A woman she recognized immediately; she had bright hazel eyes, curly brown hair, and a comforting aura.
But it couldn't be possible.
Delevingne Williams was dead.
❌❌❌
A whole night had passed.
"You just missed the doughnuts." Damon spoke to his approaching brother, standing in a crime scene at the hospital, which was being investigated at the hospital.
"Yeah, I was with Elena," Stefan said "burning off a few thousand hate-filled calories. What happened to you helping me?"
"Help, yes. Prolong the inevitable? Waste of my time." Damon told him. "I've been looking for our sister. I haven't seen her anywhere, I don't know where Silas took her, or what he's doing to her...and I'm not avoiding helping you. Elena's only goal is to end Katherine's life, and that's not gonna just magically disappear with pilates and a juice cleanse."
Sheriff Forbes walked to them. "Hey guys, thanks for coming."
Damon nodded. "Why were we invited?"
The sheriff let out a sigh. "Well, the hospital has kept the blood banks empty ever since they were raided last month. We thought at the very least it would help keep the vampire population away."
"And it didn't?" Stefan asked.
"See for yourself." She led them into a room, showing the a body that laid on the bed, their wrists covered in blood.
"Whoa." Damon remarked.
Sheriff Forbes nodded. "There are four other victims in this wing, each one almost completely drained of blood. You think it's Silas?"
Damon furrowed his eyebrows. "Or a doctor with some very questionable bedside manners."
"But 5 victims?" She asked him. "That's a lot of blood, and it's not like he can take it with him."
"Unless he's fueling up for something big." Stefan suggested.
"Big?" Liz raised an eyebrow. "Any details would be helpful, considering I'm dealing with 5 grieving families out there and a psychic killer on the loose."
Damon looked at her. "Silas wants Bonnie to do a spell to drop the veil from the Other Side."
"I have no idea what that means."
"It's an invisible wall that separates our plane from the plane of all dead supernatural creatures. Now, Silas wants that to go away so he can take the cure, die, and not have to spend an eternity in a supernatural purgatory." He explained to his friend.
"And when do you suppose Silas plans on doing this?"
"Next full moon. Tomorrow night."
❌❌❌
Poppy sat against the cave wall, a few tears slipping down her cheeks as Elijah stood before her.
"Stay out of my head, Silas." She croaked out tiredly. Silas had spent the night tormenting her in the form of her mother.
"I'm afraid I can't do that." Silas said, kneeling down, now appearing as Kol. "I don't know why you're crying, I'm merely showing you what you could have if you side with me."
"I would never be on your side." Poppy told him coldly, narrowing her eyes.
Silas let out a sigh. "Perhaps I've been too gentle with you." He said, changing his appearance to Mikael's.
❌❌❌
"What did you do?" Katherine asked the Bennett witch.
"I linked the final hotspot. It's time to drop the veil."
❌❌❌
Poppy laid on the floor of the cave, her insides feeling on fire. She was in so much anguish that she wanted to tear her body apart, but she couldn't cry or scream, the only was she reacted was by sweating and breathing heavily, like she had just run a marathon.
"He's just playing with your mind, darling." A voice spoke, Kol, as he knelt next her. He rubbed her back.
"Get away from me, Silas," his niece breathed out, squeezing her eyes shut from the pain.
"Poppy, it's me. Look at me." Kol helped her to sit up.
Poppy opened her eyes and looked at him.
"Come on, love. All you need is a distraction." Kol said.
"I can't be you, you're dead.." Poppy frowned, breathing heavily still.
Kol frowned, cupping her cheeks. "You're the only true family I have, and it broke my heart seeing you suffer from my death...you shouldn't have seen it."
"Stop-"
"Poppy listen to me." Kol pulled her into his body in an embrace. "The veil has been dropped by your friend Bonnie. That's how I'm here. Silas is going to pay for what he did to you. They're all going to pay. I'll see you soon." He said, standing up with her. "In the meantime, get out of here. And distract yourself, it'll stop the pain."
❌❌❌
The youngest Mikaelson stumbled down the hallways of the high school, which she had been under this whole time, leaning against the cool lockers as she did, the pain not letting up. She squinted her eyes, watching as a figure rushed towards her. Damon.
"Poppy! I have been looking everywhere for you." He said, hugging her tightly.
"Damon-" she breathed out in pain, causing him to frown. "Everything hurts so much-Silas did this to me and I can't make it stop."
Damon pulled away, placing a kiss on her forehead. "I've got to find Bonnie. Ric is down the hall and to the left. Go, now." He pushed her in the general direction and vamped away.
Poppy began walking again, the pain becoming worse. She swallowed, closing her eyes momentarily before she turned the corner. She looked at Alaric, leaning against the lockers.
"The last time I saw you, you kicked my ass." She remarked, taking heavy breaths.
Alaric turned and looked at her, putting his phone in his pocket. "Poppy-" he walked to her, hugging her tightly.
Poppy smiled, wrapping her arms around him, taking a deep breath as the pain went away.
❌❌❌
Poppy stood near the car, relishing in the calm air, the skies dark and calm. She was glad that none of her friends were Silas, and that she was able to see Alaric and Kol. It gave her a sense of closure. She smiled.
"Calcified Silas is one heavy son-of-a-bitch." Damon said, slamming the trunk shut. He pulled out a flask and took a swig of it.
"I can't think of a more appropriate way to spend my last moment as a semi-living person." Ric said, standing next to Poppy.
Damon smiled. "Oh, I'm sorry. Do you have some place better to be?"
Alaric laughed. "Guess not." He replied, grabbing the flask and taking a drink.
"I thought you were cutting back." Poppy stated, joking.
Alaric raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, well, I thought Damon was gonna take care of the children."
Damon furrowed his eyebrows. "You heard that? Well, that's not creepy."
"Well, if you wanna be technical, Damon, I'm 99 years old." Poppy told him, taking the flask from Alaric's hands and taking a drink.
"Yeah, and I'm close to being 200 years old and your dad is over 1000. You're a child." Damon smirked, taking the flask.
Poppy gave him an over exaggerated huff and rolled her eyes. "I'm going to go find Kol. It was good seeing you, Ric." She kissed his cheek and sped away.
After a while of searching, she found her uncle, who was standing in the woods. She approached him, her eyes suddenly filling with tears.
Kol looked over at her and frowned. "Why are you crying, darling?" He asked her gently.
"There's not enough time, Kol..there's never enough time." Poppy whispered, her voice breaking.
Kol wrapped his arms around her body comfortingly, her cheek resting against his chest. "I know, love, I know. But know that I love you, and most of the time I'm watching over you. Whenever you're here in Mystic Falls."
"I love you too, Uncle Kol." She said, pulling away and wiping her tears.
Kol kissed the top of her head. "Go back to your friends, Poppy."
❌❌❌
"I can bring Jeremy back, I can keep him here."
"No, you can't!"
"Elena needs him. This was always the plan. Jeremy wasn't supposed to die."
"It was the will of Nature. There is no magic in this world that is strong enough to challenge it."
"I have every magic! I have the spirits! Phasmatos revenios un Animum."
"Stop it!"
"I have Expression!"
"Stop it, Bonnie!"
"I have the darkness."
"Bonnie, don't."
"Phasmatos revenios un Animum. Phasmatos revenios un Animum. Phasmatos revenios un Animum. Phasmatos revenios un Animum! Agh!"
❌❌❌
Poppy stood in the street, the power coming back on in the town. When Bonnie dropped the veil, the power was out. She closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face. She had found some closure, but she was still going to miss those she had lost.
"Did you really think you were going to get through this whole veil drop thing without seeing me?" A woman asked from behind her.
Poppy turned around, opening her eyes to reveal a woman, who stood in an early 1910s dress, her hair curled to fit the decade. Poppy's bottom lip trembled as she wiped away her flowing tears.
"I figured you'd be in New Orleans." Poppy told her.
The woman watched her, her own eyes glistening. "Baby, I've been following you this whole time."
Poppy pushed him away and swung her fist at him, slamming it into his nose. He stumbled back, blood dripping from his nose. He smirked.
"Perhaps I was wrong." He smirked, gripping the stake tighter as he reached his hand up to wipe the blood.
Poppy took this opportunity to start running back towards her body, her brown curls flowing behind her, not looking back.
The only reason Mikael hadn't caught up to her was because of the woman. She pinned Mikael against the tree, narrowing her eyes in anger.
"You will not hurt my daughter, you monster!"
"Jeremy, no!" Poppy cried as her friend thrusted the stake into her uncle's heart.
Kol screamed in pain as his body erupted into flame, stumbling around. Poppy sobbed as Jeremy walked to her and pinned her against the wall to keep her still. Her heart broke as she watched her uncle fall to the floor, dead.
"Why?" Poppy sobbed, some of her curls sticking to her tear soaked cheeks. "How could you do this?"
Elena walked to her, resting her hand on the side of Poppy's arm. "Poppy, I'm sorry..he was going to hurt Jeremy.."
"So you killed him?!" Poppy cried, placing a hand on her abdomen as she did.
Delevingne frowned, watching from the other side as her daughter ran to Klaus, standing near Kol's burnt body.
Kol suddenly appeared behind her, looking at his body. He looked up at Delevingne. "Del?"
His sister in law turned and looked at him, hugging him. "It's okay Kol.."
"I left her behind.." Kol whispered, hugging the woman.
"Everyone dies, Kol. Even Original vampires."
The woman ran to Kol Mikaelson, her heels clicking against the ground. "Kol! Poppy's below the high school. You have to get to her now!"
"What about you? You should be the first one she sees."
Delevingne shook her head. "I'll have my time with my daughter, now go!"
Poppy and Delevingne stood in the street, hugging each other and not pulling away.
"Who's that?" Lexi asked Stefan, the two watching Poppy and the woman from nearby.
"That's Delevingne Williams, Poppy's mother."
Lexi smiled a bit. "That's sweet.." Her smile faded. "What happens when the veil is brought back up?"
"Poppy's at peace right now. That's all that matters."