Isa's leg didn't stop bouncing the entire drive, even when Nik took her hand. She was going to see her baby, her Hope. It didn't seem real. If she stopped moving, this all might fade away and prove to be a dream. Though, when Nik explained why there were currently driving into the neighbouring state, it sufficiently cracked holes in her dreamscape. Elijah was still suffering some side effects from Esther's torture and he'd massacred an entire diner full of people in the name of protecting Hope.
Nik had loosed a breath of relief at the discovery that the wolves would soon be aligned with them under Julian's rule. Marcel was minding Finn while Kol and Davina attempted to restore Kol's burned body again. Nadia had been given a bag of Elena's blood and a vial of Nik's to turn Julian into a hybrid. She was tasked with teaching Julian the basics of vamping until Nik came back and could give him the 101 on everything hybrid. Katherine, in the meantime, was reading up on psychology in an attempt to help her fiancé overcome his mental torture.
But right now, none of that mattered. Their city could've burned to the ground but she wouldn't have cared. She wouldn't have given a damn because she could feel her daughter and it was as if her daughter could feel her because Hope's happiness seemed to grow with every mile closer they got.
Her heart had stopped dead in her chest as the house came into view. It was white wood, much like the plantation house, and standing out the front was Elijah and Rebekah and in Elijah's hands...
Nik had barely stopped the car before Isa jumped out, the door still open as she ran at a human pace towards her child. She stopped a few metres from Elijah as she breathed, taking in her daughter. She'd grown so big. She'd been dressed in leggings a floral skirt and a pink sweater, matching socks on her feet. But those eyes. Those eyes, which were the mirror image of her father's, were still the same. Those bright blue eyes that seemed to grow brighter at the sight of her mother and father.
The slow steps that Isa took forward seemed like a thousand miles as she stared at her little Hope. Tears of pure joy lined Isa's eyes as Elijah came closer, handing Hope over as Isa took her into her arms. Her tears fell but she didn't feel them as she smiled, her eyes closed as she tried to imprint the feeling of holding her daughter in her brain forever. Her lips kissed Hope's head before she turned, looking from her daughter to her husband who'd stopped dead in his tracks a few paces in front of her as both his girls smiled at him.
His own eyes seemed to line with tears, not believing the sight in front of him, his wife holding his child. Isa was still smiling as she gently pressed her lips to Hope's head, walking towards Nik who held Hope so gently as if she'd break with the faintest touch. His first tear fell when Hope gurgled as she smiled a toothless smile at her father, Isa still holding onto one of her little hands.
He'd imagined this moment over a thousand times, and nothing compared to it right now. Nik broke into a smile as he wrapped his arm around Isa, content to stay that way forever with his wife and daughter in his arms, as he pressed a kiss to both their foreheads. They were together again.
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Nik, Elijah, and Rebekah were outside as Nik informed his siblings of the supposed curse on Mikaelson firstborns, while Rebekah built a bonfire, and they discussed the validity of Finn's fairytale.
"No one is going to hurt Hope because no one is going to find her," Nik declared, putting an end to the debate. He then turned to his sister and said, "That's enough firewood, Rebekah. Unless you want to burn down the entire bloody state of Arkansas."
Rebekah rolled her eyes at him but smiled as she rubbed her hands together and said, "We're just missing a key ingredient."
"No, we're not," Nik shot down, already knowing what his sister meant. He didn't want to wish because it only made him think of all the things he wanted but could never have.
"Yes, we are Nik. Back me up Elijah," Rebekah smiled and Elijah laughed.
"I suspect Niklaus would rather choke on the ashes than revive the family tradition of wish writing during the first bonfire of the season."
It was then that Isa came out of the house holding Hope, she'd been very reluctant to part with the child in the small time they'd have with her.
"Ah, let's see what the voice of reason has to say," Rebekah said as they all turned to watch Isa walk over to them, the girl sighed but with a smile as she asked,
"What is the argument now?"
"To write down our wishes for each other to burn for luck. Yay or nay?" Rebekah asked and Isa just smiled as she moved to stand in front of her husband.
"It's Hope's first bonfire season. Do you truly not have any wishes for her?"
Nik rolled his eyes but gave a small smile as he kissed his wife and said, "You're cruel," before he took his daughter from her.
Isa matched Rebekah's triumphant grin as they marched back inside to write their wishes.
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Isa's heart truly melted when she saw Nik sitting at the table with Hope standing on his lap as they both laughed.
"Your turn, my love," Isa said as she slid a notepad and a pen on the table.
"I'm holding a small child, this silly wish game will have to wait," Nik said somewhat childishly as Hope raised her hand to his cheek, liking the feeling of his small beard under her tiny hand.
"You write, I'll hold."
"I may be your husband, but that does not mean you can boss me around," Nik said as he moved to hug Hope to his side.
Isa crossed her hands over her chest. "It is precisely what it means, and you do realise that I had to endure horrendous labour and various forms of death, birthing the child that you're holding?"
It seemed impossible to be sad around Hope, even as Nik sighed when Isa scooped up the baby in her arms. Nik smirked as he looked at the two and said, "You didn't actually die. You come back."
Isa rolled her eyes as she kissed his temple and said, "You're lucky I love you," before she walked out and left Nik to write about how he wished for the world for his daughter.
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Nik had just thrown the match and lit the bonfire, while a beaming Isa stood with Hope next to Elijah's side, the little baby entranced by the bright colour of the fire.
"Hey, look what I found!" Rebekah said as she came out of the house holding an old Polaroid camera. "I wonder if it'll work," she muttered as she neared them.
"Isa's the resident photography expert," Nik said as he moved to stand by his wife, an arm around her shoulders.
"Look's in good condition. Press that button and try it," Isa observed and instructed as Rebekah showed her the camera.
"Nik, think you can cram us into a selfie?" Rebekah asked as she handed it to him.
"Oh, well, Niklaus is the virtuoso of cramming his siblings into confined spaces," Elijah teased as Nik fiddled with the camera, Isa showing him what to do.
"Well, I'm so glad I travelled hundreds of miles to visit my mentally ill older brother, only to have him insult me to my face," Nik said with a fake pout.
"Oh for goodness sake, would you both stop acting like children and pretend to get along for five minutes?" Isa scolded in a very motherly tone as both brothers laughed at her.
"Take the picture already," Rebekah urged as Nik raised the camera into the air, his other arm around his wife's shoulders as she held Hope. Rebekah snaked her arm around Isa's waist while Elijah's arm settled around Rebekah's shoulders. They all smiled, Isa even able to get her small daughter to smile as the flash sparked and the camera pushed out the photo.
"I wish it could always be like this," Rebekah said as she peered over Nik's shoulder to look at the photo as it developed.
"If wishes were horses," Elijah started.
"Beggars would ride," Nik finished, and there in the little frame stood their little family. The camera had captured a moment where their happiness seemed genuine, where it seemed frozen in time.
"We have to burn it. It can't fall into the wrong hands," Elijah then spoke and the smiles from all their faces fell.
Isa then took the photo as she held it up. "Exchange those frowns for smiles as I say this, this isn't a wish but a promise. A promise that one day it will be like this, all of the time. That we will vanquish our wicked parents and aunt should it prove true. It is a promise, just like we promised each other always and forever a thousand years ago. This is our promise today. And unlike a wish, it will be true." And Isa threw the picture into the fire.
"A promise indeed, my love," Nik said as he came up behind her, one arm supporting her hold on Hope and the other on her hip.
"A promise, I know how to help fulfill," Rebekah spoke up and Elijah tensed with worry.
"Rebekah, no!" he protested.
"I'm going to take Esther's deal and when I do, I'm taking her down with me."
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While Nik fed Hope a bottle, the siblings gathered to discuss a plan that Nik and Rebekah left soon after to execute. After calling Kol and Marcel for backup, a plan was in motion. They would hope to weaken Esther by making her perform the body-jump spell on Rebekah and then strike. Kol informed them of the prepared body of one Angelica Barker that Esther had for Rebekah to jump into. Nadia had also tracked the woman for a while, learning her routines should Rebekah have to jump into her. The hope was that they'd be able to kill Esther before she could move Rebekah.
That wasn't the only way for their plan to go wrong though. To avoid suspicion, Kol had returned to the cemetery and to Esther's side, with the white oak stake in his possession. His siblings had obviously given it to him because they would need him to use a mystical hourglass that Esther had to keep both her and Rebekah inside their given bodies, so they could kill her. And also obviously, Nik wouldn't hand over the stake without hearing Kol promise in person that he wouldn't screw them over.So, Nik had left with Rebekah, rather reluctantly, to go and complete their plan, promising to come back for Isa in a couple of days. Isa had been more than content to have the extra time with Hope, whom she'd just gotten down to sleep.
She sat with Elijah, the two of them not having a proper conversation without interruption or mediation in...ever. At least she couldn't recall a time. So the two of them sat in the living room talking about all manner of their adventures over the years to distract Elijah from what was happening inside his head and to distract Isa from thinking about all the ways their plan could go wrong and her family could die. And it was working for the most part.
A good thing too, because back in New Orleans, Esther had left one crucial part out of her deal. The true reason why she wanted the white oak stake. It wasn't to protect her children as she'd told Kol. It was so she could kill their vampire bodies once they'd been jumped into a human. And by the time they'd discovered it, it was too late to stop the spell that was going to transfer Rebekah out of her body.
Nik had offered himself up instead. He'd pleaded with his mother to take him and not his sister as he sent a silent goodbye to his wife and children, as he stood ready to save his sister.
But it was then that Isa gasped in pain as a hollow feeling of dread settled in her chest that wasn't her own. As Esther refused Nik's deal in favour of another that she'd made. She'd bargained with Mikael, in exchange for his help, she'd promised to bar Nik from becoming a human so Mikael could reserve the right to kill him. The true depth of how much Nik's parents hated him still had the power to hurt him, to render him speechless even after all this time.
Kol had waited until there were but a few grains of sand left to fall in the hourglass before he screamed out the signal and Nik hadn't hesitated to stab Esther's body. Back at the compound, Davina began chanting to stop Esther from body jumping, forcing her spirit to stay inside Lenore's body, while simultaneously trying to do the same for Rebekah. As she chanted, she held Katherine's hands as she channelled her, a vampire made strong by centuries of witch magic.
And the hourglass exploded as both Rebekah and Esther fell to the ground. Nik caught his sister as Kol ran to their sides, worried expressions glittered on their faces because they could do nothing but wait to find out if their plan worked or not.
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Turns out that the task that Esther required her husband's help, involved sneaking into the compound to bust out Finn whilst the rest of them were distracted with her.
Marcel was beside himself as he sat at Rebekah's bedside after Nik had carried her into their home and laid her down in the room she shared with the King of New Orleans.
"I couldn't stop the spell," Nik murmured when she wouldn't wake up, his eyes watering.
"Please tell me that your mother is dead," Marcel exclaimed as he stood, tears falling down his own face.
"Before we left, Isa suggested Rebekah and I take special precautions. Esther is exactly where she needs to be. And speaking of your mother, you should call her. I have to go deal with something and she's left me a million messages," Nik said and Marcel was confused. Nik would've called Isa back the second it was all over. Something must've been wrong if he didn't want to talk to her.
He couldn't speak about it just yet, the pain that Esther's bargain afforded him. Not to mention how guilty and angry he was at himself that he wasn't able to save his sister. It was almost embarrassment that he felt. He was the first of his kind, an immortal, untouchable, powerful hybrid of a werewolf and a vampire. And he couldn't complete the most basic task of keeping his baby sister safe. And he knew that the minute he spoke to his wife, all of it would just come tumbling out and he wasn't ready to face his feelings just yet.
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Katherine had been the one to call Isa who was frantic when no one answered her calls. Her anger and stress deflated instantly when Katherine told her what happened. How their plan had semi-failed and how Nik felt guilty about not being able to save his sister. And had Kol not spoken in private to her, Katherine and anyone else wouldn't have known about the dealings between Esther and Mikael.
Nik now leaned against the stone walls of one of the crypts in Lafayette cemetery. "Hello, Mother," he greeted as he threw a blood bag to the floor, Esther slowly regaining her bearings as she sat up.
"What have you done?!" she asked, acutely aware of the feeling that something wasn't right but she couldn't quite place what exactly was wrong.
"The better question is what have you done to deserve this punishment thought up by my very clever and devious wife?" Nik's face darkened as he looked upon Lenore but saw beyond her face, he saw only the woman who'd tormented him for centuries. "You sold me to that butcher Mikael, like I was nothing more than chattel. So please, mother, ask me what I have done." Esther was silent as she looked around, desperate for help that would never come as Nik pushed himself off the wall and came closer to her. "See it's truly amazing what my wife can talk me into doing. Isa actually suggested that we listen to you and follow your example. And so, I have." Esther braced one hand on the floor as the other was held to her chest, head moving around frantically as if searching for a way out. "You must be feeling a little twitchy right about now. It's what happens when you're in transition," he explained, and Esther looked down in horror and lust at the blood bag on the floor.
"No. That's not possible," Esther persisted, teeth bared as she spoke.
"Oh, but it is. You may have thought you were one step ahead of us, but Isa and Rebekah were two ahead of you."
"The wine," she whimpered in realisation.
"You died with vampire blood in your system. A truly delicious irony because as you know, you cannot be both a witch and a vampire. So now you can either become the thing you hate the most, or you can be dead." Nik turned around and slipped out of the hole in the wall that led to the hidden tomb within a tomb. "Your choice," he said, causing Esther to look up at him as he snarled, "Which is more than you ever gave us."
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Rebekah gasped as she awoke in her new body. But it was not that of Angelica Barker. Esther had suspected something amiss when both her sons went missing and Kol then suddenly turned up, Rebekah a minute later. So rather than use the prepped body of Angelica, she used the one of a witch named Eva Sinclair, who was imprisoned in an informal mental facility for witches that prevented anyone with magical blood from leaving.
And the worst part was, no one even knew Rebekah was there.