chapter thirty-four.
ashes to ashes
❦
ELIJAH COVERED GIA'S burned body with use of a table cloth with respect as Esme had sat on the corner of the fountain sipping on a blood bag as she built back up the strength she had lost due to the the bite that Klaus had taken into her neck. The Mikaelson crouched in front of her was trying to comprehend the plan that Klaus had told her in her mind and one which he neglected from telling the rest of them. As Esme gulped down the remains of the blood bag where hardly anything else was left to drink she had thrown it to the side feeling herself regaining her strength to allow her to continue.
Gia's death was one of those who were caught in the crossfire, just like Aiden, she was someone innocent and who didn't had to have died. Elijah had lost a good thing yet again and which happened to have had been at the hand of his brother. Though he couldn't mourn for the entirety of the night, Dahlia was still roaming around New Orleans and there was still a plan that Esme had to explain towards him. "So now that you have your strength..." He had broken the silence between them both and begun to turn to face the brunette who had begun to rise to her feet. "what do you mean Niklaus had a plan? We had a plan!" His voice bellowed throughout the compound knowing that if it wasn't for Klaus' interruption Dahlia could've been dead. "A plan he mercilessly destroyed!"
"Your plan wouldn't have worked, Elijah!" Esme yelled back at him. As much as they thought it would've worked, they held wrong ingredients that they hadn't even realised. "When Klaus got into my head, he said your plan would've failed, so he had enact one of his own."
"And what might that be?" Elijah questioned.
Esme sighed knowing that if she thought that what Klaus' plan was bizarre, she was curious to what Elijah had thought. "He has to get her to link to him." She informed.
"My brother wishes to bind himself to our enemy?" Elijah pondered causing Esme to nod lightly as the idea of it wasn't comforting for herself but she wasn't going to doubt Klaus, not when it came to their son and Hope. "She'll be virtually indestructible."
"He said to convince you that everything he had to do, he had to do alone." Esme added as her arms crossed over her chest. "You had the wrong ingredients to kill Dahlia. And he has to buy time before he finds the right ones."
"How?"
❦
Esme studied Elijah as he twirled his phone between his fingers where he had been trying to get hold of Hayley, ringing her phone over and over again and it did bring Esme to her panic as she worried for where Isaac and Hope were. She swallowed the lump building up in her throat as she waited for Elijah to say something that commenced a plan alongside Klaus' to make sure that Dahlia wasn't going to be capable of causing further harm to their family. Esme chewed down on her bottom lip as she chose to break the silence between herself and the Mikaelson, it was far too deafening and though she was mad at him for trapping her in her room, it was going to stop her for giving her condolences towards the woman who was lost.
A sigh passed her lips. "I'm sorry about Gia."
"Are you?"
"Elijah," Esme spoke softly knowing how she sincere her apology was for the loss of the vampire who didn't deserve to die. "I am not condoning Klaus' actions whatsoever. I'm just trying to help. Klaus will do whatever he has to do for--"
"Klaus..." Elijah barked towards Esme as he rose from the edge of the fountain. "will do whatever he has to do for Klaus!" He corrected. "Now, Hayley is not answering her phone. Now, what has he done?" But Esme had no idea what the hybrid had done towards the Crescent wolf and it didn't only bring Elijah to his concern but Esme's.
"Don't blame the messenger." Hearing a voice far familiar had caused Esme to sigh in relief and there was someone to stand by herself and defend her. Rebekah Mikaelson returned back into her blonde haired body with Marcel glued to her side as she interrupted Elijah from shouting at Esme any further.
Elijah's brows furrowed in confusion with his sister standing in her rightful body. "Rebekah?" He questioned.
"Looks like Niklaus had a lot on his to-do list last night." Rebekah told as Esme shifted awkwardly on her feet. "And as for Hayley..." Her head turned in order for her eyes to fall upon Marcel knowing that he had an answer to where the hybrid was alongside the rest of her pack.
"What is it?" Esme asked.
"When Klaus attacked me, he stole the spell I used on the Crescent wolves." Marcel announced causing Elijah's jaw to clench.
"So he would condemn her to the body of a beast?" Esme ran her hand through her hair and Klaus had informed her on what he had done to Hayley, something in which she wasn't expecting and which brought her to the concern of where Isaac and Hope were.
"Elijah," Rebekah had quickly stepped forward in hope of calming down his brother. "listen to me. Hayley will be human once a month. We will find her and we will help her."
His head shook. "No."
Rebekah's grip tightened on her brother's arms, making sure he didn't move from in front of her. "We need to focus on those who need saving today." She told. "Freya called. Dahlia is incapacitated. They're two hours north at an orchard near Pearl River. She has Hope..." Rebekah's eyes flickered towards Esme with a faint smile with news she was happy to share. "and Isaac."
❦
Cries echoed throughout the clearing in the woods where standing at the back of a truck was Freya, cradling Hope between her arms as she carried being unfamiliar with who held her and crying out for her mother. Isaac rested in the car seat behind the witch, squirming and hoping to be freed as he had been trapped the chair since the night and he craved for something to eat. But Freya was stuck waiting for someone to appear and help her with the babies that she couldn't cope with both at the same time. Her attention tried to divide to both of them but as she had tried her best she had been interrupted with the presences of Esme and Elijah.
Esme's eyes lingered on Klaus, sprawled out on the floor as he had seemingly daggered himself after Dahlia had linked to him where she was as unconsciousness as he was. A cry that caught Esme's attention pulled her eyes away from the hybrid to her son and where a smile she hadn't formed for awhile spread on her lips and she hurried to towards her soon. "Well, my adage holds. Nothing good ever happens in a clearing in the woods." Freya spoke as Esme cooed at her son, preparing to take him out of the car seat for his comfort.
"Nothing good ever happens where my brother is concerned." Elijah corrected as Esme unclipped the belt strapping Isaac into the carseat that was rested on the boot of the truck. "With two exceptions." His eyes flickered between Hope and Isaac, watching as Esme had pulled the newborn out of the carseat and rubbed his back softly to soothe him from letting a cry none would be able to cope with their predicament.
"How were they?" Esme asked as her eyes narrowed on the witch who had been stuck with them both for hours.
"They're Mikaelsons. Resilient." Freya answered before Elijah had strode forward towards the two unconscious supernatural being laying on the floor in front of them. "When I woke, they were like this. Rebekah tells me Klaus has a plan to kill Dahlia. That he knew our plan would not work." Esme smiled towards Isaac as she swayed gently on her feet to keep him calm and from letting out a blood curdling cry.
"Yes, according to him, our ingredients were incorrect." Elijah explained to his sister. "Niklaus infiltrated Dahlia's mind. You didn't break her heart. We needed the blood of the witch she loved most, and you are not that witch. that honour belongs to our beloved mother."
"So we need Esther's blood." Esme informed as her eyes pulled away from her son who seemed memorised by his mother holding onto him.
"Well, that's impossible." Freya said causing Esme's brows to arch. "I killed her."
"One incarnation." Elijah told. "Our mother is buried in New Orleans. Niklaus wants us to revive the original body."
❦
"Nik is demented." Rebekah exclaimed as she hated the thought of resurrecting her mother who was nothing but not good. Esther was someone she wished to never to encounter again after her death was seen as good riddance. But the reason why resurrecting Esther was so frowned upon because they were due to steal the chance from Davina as she had been trying for months after Kol died to bring him back and she suddenly had the chance given her position as regent, taking the place that Josephine LaRue owned before her death. Esme blew into her lips as she fiddled with the sleeve of her denim blazer that sat over her black vest top while listening to Rebekah's doubt. "Are we really to dig up our mother, burn her to ash, swap said ash for Kol's and then trick Davina into using her last chance to bring someone back from the dead? Not to mention, we lose the opportunity to save Kol, if Davina doesn't turn us inside out."
"Or we dig a deep hole and leave both of our problems at the bottom of it." Elijah suggested as he hovered over his desiccated brother.
Freya was far focused on Dahlia's unconscious body, all she had wanted was to be rid of the woman ad the perfect way she saw fit was death. "I say we choose a more permanent option. Find the white oak stake. Kill Klaus. Dahlia dies with him."
Esme's eyes quickly pulled away from Klaus to look at Freya as if she was insane. "Oh, yeah," Marcel had broken his silence. "and so do I, Esme and every other vampire that Klaus had turned." He objected.
"And my son will not be growing up an orphan." Esme warned as she stalked towards the witch with her awful idea. "So think of another option, Freya."
Rebekah's brows furrowed while hearing small creaks that brought her to stare at the dagger embedded into her brother's chest. The metal had begun to fold, becoming thinner and near to dripping. "The dagger. It's bloody melting."
Elijah had quickly crouched down beside his brother, guessing that time was running out for them to make sure that they followed Klaus' plan. "We have no choice but to finish the task that Niklaus has set." He concluded as his eyes flickered up to those willing to help him.
❦
Esme smiled down at Hope and Isaac knowing that it was for the better if at least someone had to watch them both and it had been the Browne. Rebekah and Elijah were sorting out the plan that resurrected Esther while Marcel and Freya were watching and worrying for when they dagger was to melt and both Klaus and Dahlia were to wake up. Esme ran a hand through her hair as Hope giggled at her, completely oblivious to what was happening around her but the smile was the best thing in which Esme had seen for the moment, and it was far captivating. Isaac was rested between her arms sucking on the pacifier between his lips as he had clenched onto the necklace hanging around his mother's neck it was as if he didn't want to be let go, not again.
"Things will be better, Isaac." Esme reassured as she smiled down towards her son with a promise that she hoped to keep. "I promise you, baby."
Esme's head bowed to peck her son, gently on the top of his head and for as long as she wanted to spend time with her son, it had been interrupted with a scream of her other son. "No! Freya!" Her brows arched in concern as she rose from the rocking chair to rest Isaac into the cradle by her side for her to push herself quickly to her feet with concern for Marcel.
With use of her vampire speed Esme had returned to the parlour where Dahlia and Klaus' body had been put within their rest and where vines suddenly hogged the walls from use of the woman's magic. Before Esme had the chance to be filled with realisation of what was going on, her back had slammed against the wall by a wave of Freya's hand to stop her from stepping any further. The vampire was winded with the hit against the wall as her eyes flickered towards the Mikaelson who, within her free hand, held the white oak stake that hovered over Klaus' chest.
Esme had felt panic rising into her chest causing her chest to heave faster up and down with her concern with the thought that Freya was going to impale Klaus with the white oak stake. "Freya, listen to me!" The girl's eyes flickered towards the vampire who pleaded for her to think of what harm she was doing by killing Klaus. "We can find another way. There is always another way."
"I'm sorry, but I see no other way." Freya cried.
Marcel tried fighting against the hold of Freya's magic that pinned him into the railing along the stairs but as he couldn't budge, alongside Esme he only begged for her to not kill the hybrid. "No, no, no! You kill him, you kill me too, you kill Esme."
"I don't wanna kill either of you!" Freya admitted as tears brimmed in her eyes before pulling away from Marcel to Esme who frowned at the girl who had been pained far too hard by an aunt who wanted her for power. Esme for once, sympathised Freya and only wished to give her a family that would take care her for the reason being because of their blood. "I don't wanna kill him." But the dagger within Klaus' chest was melting away to the point where he was near to his wake. "This is the family I longed for. But because of her...I'll forever be alone." As her hand rushed to put force into the stake embedding into Klaus' chest, her hand had been grabbed from having even the chance.
Esme sighed in relief with realisation that Klaus had woken as the dagger had melted away. Klaus was filled with shock as he had believed he had hit the white oak well enough as it hung over his chest. "Sister..." He lowered the white oak stake from his chest as Esme had felt the release on her shoulders while Klaus had propped himself onto his elbows to witness Dahlia rising from the nap she had been forced into.
Marcel held out his arm for Esme to join his side and which she had slowly crept to while Freya helped Klaus to his feet and as Dahlia had woken up just the same. She was amazed by how strongly the Mikaelsons fought against her for the sake of the children she was after. As she fixed her jacket that sat on her back she begun to share her thought with the four standing before her. "I'm almost impressed by the length you'd go to for your little girl. Though not enough to let bygones be." As she raised her hand it had snatched the white oak stake from Freya's grasp and for her to be the one to hold the weapon able to kill Klaus and sever his bloodline.
"We are still linked, dear aunt." Klaus reminded as he had slowly let go of Freya's side. "You may not want to punish me with that particular weapon."
"Hmm." But Dahlia was far more smarter than any of them had thought. "I made sure that the link between us melted along with that dagger. Meaning..." She had pointed the tip of the stake towards Klaus. "I am quite free to kill you." As her fist clenched using her magic to draw Klaus towards her where he had been unable to fight against the strong pull of her magic it and caused Esme to intervene as she tackled Klaus to the ground and away from his death.
Klaus looked up at the Browne who hovered over his body, their noses brushing against each other as he had been filled with relief from the save she had managed. A smile had spread on his face and for as long as he would've liked to have had been captured in the moment with her, she soon had rolled off of him, rising to her feet immediately with realisation that Dahlia and Freya had both disappeared. "You're bloody joking." She grumbled beneath her breath before hearing the cries of not only her son but Hope's.
The vines that had surrounded the house had found their way into Hope's nursery where Isaac had also been rested to lay. Esme had skidded to a stop in the room, noticing the prick of blood on Isaac's hand from the tip of a torn of a harpy that had caused his cries to grow louder. As Esme hurried to Isaac, Klaus had hurried to Hope who had been pricked just the same and drawn the same amount of blood.
Esme hushed her son, rubbing her back with hopes of sooting him to silence. "Why didn't she take them?" Marcel questioned.
"Because all she needed was a drop of their blood." Klaus informed causing Esme to slowly turn to face the hybrid, a drop of their blood was going to allow Dahlia to connect to them both, to have power over them that everyone had tried so hard to prevent. "Unfortunately, I have no idea where the vile harpies fled to."
"All right, go." Marcel demanded the both of them who held two kids in danger. "Get them someplace safe. I'll track down your witch. And when this is over, " His finger pointed towards Klaus. "you and I are gonna settle up."
"Provided we survive what's to come tonight, I look forward to it." Esme had reached for the baby bag in the corner of the room while throwing it over her shoulder and Klaus had done the same with use of Hope's baby bag.
"Come on, Isaac." Esme spoke softly against his ear. "Let's get you someplace safe, baby."
❦
Where magic was void seemed to have had been the best place for Isaac and Hope to hide, the jazz club was to be their safe place while Dahlia still needed to be defeated. Throughout the car ride, there hadn't been a word between the both of them, as Esme was awaiting for Klaus to be the first to break silence given the amount of apologies he was supposed to give. Her interests narrowed on her son as he slept peacefully in the carseat that she had clipped him into when getting into the Range Rover.
The hybrid hadn't been the first person to break the silence between them but his phone as he he received an incoming text from Marcel with knowledge of where Freya and Dahlia were. It was a relief as there was a coming end to the battle that they faced. "I would like you to stay here with Hope and Isaac." Finally, the silence had been broken and Esme's brows had raised as those were the first words that the Klaus had explained with her.
A chuckle passed through Esme's lips as she pushed herself to her feet. "Oh, so you're talking now?" She questioned while her hands slammed their way onto her hips. "Well, hello to you too. Thank you so much for convincing my furious bloody siblings to join my Machiavellian plan. Good times, right? Oh, wait, what did you just say?" She had played out the conversation she knew she deserved from the hybrid who hadn't even bothered to bring up all that she had done for him since the night before. "I didn't quite catch that. Sorry for biting my neck, coursing werewolf venom through my veins and then snapping my neck? Oh, thank you for apologising. Anything else? Oh, right. You're welcome, again, for tackling you away from the white oak stake. Don't worry about it. Now...you were saying about me staying here with Hope and Isaac?"
"I had to make it seem as if I cared for nothing." Klaus defended causing the girl to snort. "For no one. But you should know that when I hurt you..." His lips parted as he was unable to say the words that he thought all the time which had led him to resting a soft hand against her cheek, radiating his warmth onto the Browne who clenched onto the back of his hand as his thumb brushed over her cheek. Esme's head slowly turned to the peck the palm of his hand before he head leant forward for his forehead to fall onto her own. "Our battle is not yet won. And I need you to protect the three most important things in my life."
"Three?"
"You." Klaus told as his nose nudged against hers. "I need you to do it here, where magic is void. And I'm sorry." Esme had chuckled with words that no doubt pained Klaus to say. "I will find a way to make it up to you."
"Nik," Esme spoke softly as she had cupped his cheek, brushing her finger over his bottom lip. "you're right. This is our battle which means that I am part of it. I am helping you kill Dahlia. I want to kill her. You can't change my mind."
"I know." Klaus had slowly pulled away from her hold as the doors behind her had opened causing her to quickly turn on her heels to face Camille who was happy to babysit for the night. "Figured you'd want that."
❦
Esther Mikaelson was someone who Esme had never had to encounter, she never had thought that she'd be meeting the woman who damaged all of her kids. There wasn't much for Esme to say towards her just that she hoped that the woman would agree with helping her children who manages to have stuck side by side for so long. The paled woman was waiting for the pain and for the torture knowing fully well the hatred her children carried towards her, there was no possibly way to defend herself as wrapped around her wrists were shackles, preventing her from using her magic against them, keeping her restricted.
The brunette's hands rested into the jacket of her denim blazer as she followed Klaus into he abandoned bar where Esther had sat with Elijah twirling a knife between his fingers behind her, rather intimidatingly. Chatter that erupted between the mother and son had been interrupted with the doors swinging open and Klaus emerging from behind the door with Esme following slowly behind him. "Ah! Mother!" He greeted as soon as his eyes landed on the cherry lipped woman who was waiting for the most murderous son. "I've arrived just in time for another of your deaths. And as much as I appreciate the front-row seat, I'm afraid I'm going to have to postpone the festivities."
Elijah studied his brother who had stormed in with a smile that he questioned how was plastered across his face, especially after what he had committed. "You're in excellent spirits." He observed.
"Lucky for you..." Klaus replied as his eyes followed after his brother who stalked towards him. "as I'm the one needed to save the day."
"Is that what it's called?" Elijah doubted.
"Why not?" Klaus shrugged and purposely tormenting his brother with his far too high spirits that had caused Esme to back away from the brothers and move further into the bar with Esther's eye lingering on her. It was the first time she had caught sight of her, even through hunting her down when she was pregnant with her son and believed that she was dead. She had met one of her lover's children who didn't take seem to take interest in her whatsoever. "My plans worked, perfectly." Elijah had stored forward causing Klaus to call for the calm side of his brother. "Easy, Elijah. I can see your red door swinging wide open. But our job's not yet done."
"So we kill her and be done with it."
"To be clear," Klaus begun to explain. "I do want her blood. But I want it on this blade," He had pulled it out of his pocket, showing it off in front of Elijah's eyes. "which I've had bound with soil from Dahlia's homeland, not to mention Viking ash. Mother's demise will have to wait. You see, I need her to weaken Dahlia's defences. Bit of a psychological warfare..." He had crouched down at Esther's ear with news of what was to happen to both her and her sister. "before I slaughter the both of you."
"Ah, yes." Esther had already expected her death as soon as she had been risen. "You expect me to walk willingly to my death."
"If you did that would make it so much easier for us." Esme quipped causing Esther's head to slowly turn towards her, she was fully aware of who Esme was but not her attitude that rung off out of her. "Esme Browne." She introduced herself while resting against the back of an empty chair. "It's a pleasure to officially meet you, Mrs Mikaelson." A smile had forged its way onto Esme's lips as Klaus had let out a faint chuckle while his head bowed to hide his humour with Esme's passive aggressive greeting.
"Yes, dear mother, you do not have a choice." Rebekah had strutted into the room knowing that her death was not up for discussion it was supposed to happen and end the night. "But then again, why should you be any different from the rest of us? We're all dancing puppets in Nik's End of Days Marionette Show. He forces every move we make."
"And how long are you gonna stand there and pretend you don't need me to?" Klaus questioned as he pointed the tip of the knife in Rebekah's different. "The both of you have fought me at every turn, leaving me no choice but to act alone."
"Ooh." Esme took in a sharp intake of breath as she believed that Klaus was supposed to choose carefully with the words that slipped passed his lips. "You're asking for a slap."
Klaus had slammed the knife onto the table feeling the need to explain himself further. "We're no stranger to disagreements on the battlefield...but we also have a very long history of doing whatever it takes to win the war!"
"And what of Gia?" Elijah reminded him of the innocence of the vampire who was burned to a crisp in the centre of the compound. "Hayley?" The girl who had been cursed to the body of a beast on days that weren't the full moon.
"Collateral damage."
With Klaus' answer it hadn't shocked Esme when Elijah had swung a fist into his brother's cheek, knowing his head slightly where he seethed in rage. "You claim your actions are part of some ruse. This was punishment."
"Punishment?" Klaus wondered and he knew that Elijah was right. "Whatever for? Perhaps the dagger you put in my heart?" He guessed.
"You brought that upon yourself!" Elijah yelled towards his younger brother and Esme only sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, wondering how the boys had time to argue. "Now, we have fought together for centuries, and once again, to break you enemy you broke your family. Well, know this: whatever the outcome tonight you will no longer see me by your side. You want to be alone? Well, congratulations." Elijah had grabbed the chain of the shackles that hugged onto Esther's wrist causing the woman to rise to her feet. "You have your wish. Come, mother." Always and forever had been broken.
❦
The location of Dahlia and Freya was on the grounds of a warehouse, far away from those of New Orleans to allow the battle to not be disrupted. Dahlia intention was to kill Freya, no longer needing her and for the betrayal that she had endured on her. Freya rested on her knees, awaiting for a death that had been promised to her by her aunt who circled around her with words that she was forced to hear as she was trapped in the circle of salt that prevented anyone from entering or leaving. Freya was stuck and she wasn't as powerful as Dahlia to fight her way out as she would've hoped.
Dahlia made promised for what was to come after she ended Freya's life. Her heart was described with stone from the pain that Esther had caused her when they were younger she could never love anything like the way she loved her sister. "And with that stone...I will crush everyone of her children."
The moonlight alongside the dim light above their heads were the things allowing for them to see and which had allowed Dahlia to see Klaus as he had made his presence known by the sound of his voice. "Is there a saying about stones and glass houses?" Klaus questioned as a grin plastered its way into his lips.
"In case the analogy is lost on you..." Rebekah had spoke up as she emerged from the darkness causing Dahlia's eyes to flicker towards her other niece. "I believe my brother is calling a hypocritical bitch."
Esme hummed in amusement as she had joined Rebekah side with a smirk that led to Dahlia's eyes shifting on her. "Who needs to die." She added.
"Hmm." Dahlia was rather amused with the clutter of vampire standing before her, who had no power over her magic, it was a fight she knew immediately that they were going to lose at. "Bringing vampires to a witch fight? Someone hasn't learned their lesson."
"Well, I can be a bit thick sometimes." Klaus admitted before shackles had interrupted him from speaking further. Elijah had dragged Esther along with him, being the person who was no doubt going to cloud Dahlia's thoughts. "Although, not this occasion, I'd say I took your lesson to heart." Dahlia's smirk had faded at the sight of her sister who she hadn't seen for centuries and who she had never thought of seeing again.
"My sister..." Dahlia was struck with disbelief at the sight of the blonde who's lips were still parted from the sight of her. "in chains." The woman had broken out into a fit of laughter. "Is she to be a gift to buy your freedom? Because I brought something."
Thunder had clapped when Dahlia had revealed the white oak stake in her grasp, but it was a stake that couldn't have had been used just on one person. "One stake. Four of us. Even if you hesitate, the other three will rip you in half." Klaus warned.
"Sound thinking. But small thinking." Dahlia commented as her hand outstretched above her hand with the white oak bursting into speckles like snow, falling down onto them as she waved her hand for the three originals to gasp for air and for the speckles of wood to be inhaled down their throats to where they had broken out into fits of coughs while dropping from their feet.
"What the hell are you doing?" Esme questioned as she noticed the red veins crawling their way up their skin, where from inside the originals burned. "Stop! You're killing them!"
Before Esme had the chance of speaking any further, her cries for Dahlia to stop had been interrupted with the tightness securing around her throat that made it impossible for her to breathe. The brunette clawed at her throat, feeling as if someone truly did hold her and tried to choke her to her death. Her skin had turned red, trying her best to gasp for air as Freya screeched. "No!" Her protest of Esme's death leading Dahlia to rolling her eyes and carelessly throwing her into a pile of crates that broke beneath Esme from how hard the throw had been against her.
"Now, sister," Dahlia's attention returned to Esther. "let us watch together as I burn your children from the inside out." Esme groaned against the broken planks while trying to find her way out of the clutter that surrounded her.
Esther strode towards her sister. "You still carry around so much anger for me...after all these years?"
"You broke your vow." Dahlia reminded over the chokes of the originals. "We were to stand together, always and forever, and you left to marry that brutish Viking imbecile. You ended my family and they were the result." Dahlia's fist had clenched, inflicting more pain on the three Mikaelson as Esme continued to try to pull herself onto her feet, feeling herself healing, slower than usual, leading her to stumble her way out of the clutter of crates.
Esther glanced at her children, rather than it being with some sort of hate, it was filled with admiration, she found that through centuries they had stuck together for so long it amazed her. "You call this my wrongdoing?" Esther wondered. "You made me bargain away my firstborn child. My daughter."
"Not just this firstborn." Dahlia corrected with reminder of how the bargain had come to be made. "But every firstborn. And even then, you still found a way to deny me that which you had sworn would be mine! How do you think that felt?" Klaus had pushed himself to his feet through the burning sensation running over his skin to the barrier that made him bounce back and pound to the ground with the knife cluttering beside him. "Now, Esther...say goodbye to the last of your children."
Esme gasped as Dahlia, through her magic, begun to choke Freya, who rescued for air with the tightened hold on her throat. "No! Stop!" Esme cried out in protest before she had felt a sharp pain run through her head causing her to groan in frustration as her head bowed to bare through it. It was like someone had gotten a hammer and started to nail into her head. The brunette tried to fight against her pain, wanting to intervene but the pain that Dahlia endured on her was far too painful that it was unbearable.
Esther looked between her children, though she was once saw them as evil, she couldn't watch them die bringing her to her interruption. "Sister, wait. Wait." She called for the witch's attention. "You've won, Dahlia. You have everything you ever wanted including the firstborn of a new generation. You have bested us all. At least let me try to make amends. Let me share with you the glorious freedom that I have found." Esther had offered. "In death." Esther had stepped through the barrier and wrapped the chain of her shackles around Dahlia's neck causing Esme's eyes to widen as she had been freed from the headache and Freya had been freed from her suffocation.
The young witch had opened the barrier and reached out for her siblings to allow them to be free of their choke while Esme had used her vampire speed over to the blade that she had picked up. Esther nodded towards the Browne who pouted slightly before using her vampire speed towards the mother of the Mikaelsons, embedding the knife through her back, piercing Dahlia at her heart. The brunette had stumbled back while watching how Esther and Dahlia had turned to stone causing a gasp to pass through her lips before feeling a hand secure around hers, tugging her away from the sisters who reunited in peace together.
"Seems we're official orphans."
❦
Though Dahlia was defeated, there was a broken family left behind. Elijah was distant, Rebekah was on her search to find a way to resurrect Kol, Hayley stuck in her werewolf form and only able to see her daughter once a month on a full moon, and Freya still trying to find where she fitted in with the family. Marcel was distant just the same as Elijah. The compound was heavily strange for Esme, as much as it was supposed to be peaceful but it wasn't given that siblings who stuck side by side were so far apart from each other. It was questionable if it'd mend, Esme prayed that it did and hopefully it would over time and naturally, someone forcing it was probably going to make things worse.
Esme's eyes were slowly beginning to flutter close as she rocked back and forth in the rocking chair that soothed Isaac to sleep for the night, maybe not for the entire night but she knew she needed a few hours of sleep of her own. Isaac's head rested against her chest, her arms supporting him at his bottom as the only thing heard was the sucking on his pacifier. The youngest Mikaelson had fallen to his slumber and Esme was soon to be joining him until the door to the nursery had creaked open making her eyes flicker open faster than intended.
Klaus greeted her with a mischievous smile while raising up a bottle of bourbon and two glasses for the both of them to drink. He felt that it fitted the occasion for them all being safe, for the celebration of their son that they didn't have. "Oh, hey." Esme greeted before she leaning forward to stand up from the rocking chair but to be caught from doing so.
The hybrid had taken Isaac in his arms, being far carefully as if the boy was breakable. It was the first time he had been able to hold Isaac between his arms and he loved it as soon as the boy had been taken within his hold. As much as he didn't want it to be over, he crept his over to the crib knowing that it was for the better if he stayed asleep rather than being woken. "Come with me." Esme rose out of the rocking chair, leaving the nursery she had been stuck in for over an hour trying to get Isaac to sleep.
"Please just hand me the bottle." Esme demanded as she took the bourbon for herself before throwing herself to sit on the bed that she happily shared with Klaus. "We need this." She screwed off the lid and took a swig that amazed Klaus before she had offered it towards him.
"When you left New Orleans, I promised that you'd come back home, that there'd be peace but that was anything like that." Esme had chuckled softly as she fiddled with her daylight ring sitting on her right hand. "Esme, I gave you so many reasons for you to leave me and you never did. Why?"
Esme shrugged. "I-I know you're someone worth fighting for. I see good in you, Nik. I always will." She guessed a smile formed on her lips. "But the real question is why me? Over eight hundred years and you still love me. You're an immortal, invincible hybrid. What made you want me?"
"There was definitely something about you. Your smile was one of them," Klaus admitted causing the brunette to chuckle. The same smile had fallen in love with was still plastered on her face, where her eyes would brighten beneath the light and love with fill her eyes. "Though, you were very rude when we first met. I thought a smile would be in offering for the stranger willing to help you with your washing."
"It was very weird. But, that stranger is now the father of my child and till this day the love of my life." Esme concluded as her hand rested on his knee.
"Esme, there's one thing you should know." She hummed in response, preparing for some bad news that made her snatch the bottle from his hand. "I would've found you anyway. I know I would've."