DESICCATION IS PAINFUL. The heart continues to beat despite the lack of blood to bump, forcing veins to rub together without purpose. Compared to the rest of his siblings, he hasn't been neutralized as long, but the daggers will almost immediately desiccate their target.

With a growing ache in his chest, veins scorching, Elijah opened his eyes tiredly.

He did not expect to see his brother's outstretched hand waiting for him.

Elijah sat up stiffly, staring at Niklaus with distrust as he left the confinements of his coffin, ignoring his help. His anger hasn't disappeared just because Klaus removed the dagger. "Brother, how... Unexpected."

He did not imagine Niklaus would undagger him; his gambles had been on one of the Salvatore brothers, or Elena herself.

Niklaus lowered his hand at the rejection, looking at it with lost eyes as if the hand didn't belong to him. Elijah couldn't stop the pang of worry that hit him sharply; his younger brother looked frightened. Despite their unsteady relationship at the moment, that look is unacceptable.

"Niklaus?" Elijah probed, staring at him worriedly. "What is wrong?"

"It seems, brother..." Klaus said after a moment of unsureness. "That I've lost."

Elijah's eyes widen as Niklaus' voice trembled.

"What are you speaking of?" He asked, ignoring his hunger and weakened state to near him; his brother needed him.

A thousand years of bitterness and disarray, inexcusable evils committed against each other, Elijah has never failed his brother when it matters—he wasn't going to start now.

Klaus sounded like a little kid when he spoke. Softly, he admitted. "I've lost her, Elijah. They've taken her, and I don't know what to do."

Elijah must've heard wrong. There's only been one her in Niklaus' long life—his daughter, the beautiful Lilla.

"What?" He asked dazedly, because if there's one thing his brother considers sacred, it is her. Nobody could simply take Lilla from them.

But Niklaus' tearful says suggested something different, and fear gripped Elijah's soul.

Someone had taken his niece.

Someone had taken Lilla.

A snarl resonated from within his chest. He lunged at his brother, throwing him to the floor in a rage he hasn't felt in over millennium. "You were supposed to protect her, Niklaus!" Elijah shouted at his brother, far too weak to truly harm Klaus. He knew he should stop—his emotions could not be compared to his brother's; the pain of an uncle cannot compete with the agony of a father—but the knowledge that an enemy had taken Lilla...

"You promised to keep her safe!" He hissed, a hatred he kept so deep inside for his family surfacing. "You said she remained in a coffin to keep her out of harm's way! How did you allow this to happen, brother?"

Klaus remained quiet; face twisted with anguish as Elijah tackled him through the glass door of the mansion, the two brothers flying through to the next room.

"How could you, Niklaus?" Elijah repeated, heart twisting at the sight of his brother crying—but he could not hold it in anymore. "All of your scheming, the enemies that you have made, every single day of your miserable life... I should've expected this. I should've known that with a father like you, Lilla would not be safe; this is my fault, all of it, for allowing your greed and envy to robbed me of my family."

"Help me get her back, brother." Klaus pleaded quietly from the ground; no fight left in him as his brother's word echoed in his mind.

"And what then, Niklaus?" Elijah scoffed, a bitter laugh escaping him when he looked back to the other coffins in the room. "Damn a child to another thousand years of sleep, leave her with you to collect dust like an abandoned toy while you try to pacify your paranoia with disillusions of hybrids and power? I refuse, Niklaus. I will find Lilla, and I will leave with her. It is not my desire to bring you pain, brother, but I will not see you hurt this family any further."

Klaus rose from the ground; his glassy eyes reflected the delicacy of his soul. "We can be the family you've always envisioned, brother." He begged. "Just help me find her, please. Help me find my daughter, Elijah."

"I've forgiven you; I've stood by you just to be betrayed, time after time. Why should I believe you now?" Elijah shock his head, staring at his brother with heartbreak.

"Because," Klaus swallowed thickly. He reached into his jacket slowly, hands trembling as he held up the objects that have torn apart the siblings; the four daggers. Elijah inhaled sharply, taking a step back in disbelief. "I kept my word—I reunited you with our family."

Elijah locked eyes with his brother, heart drumming as the ire in his heart was replaced with hope; he turned wildly to the other coffins, lifting all lid of the closest casket—Kol's—to a sight that caught his breath; no daggers.

They are all free.

He turned to Niklaus, lost for words.

"I need you, brother. I realize that now," Klaus confessed with eyes casted downwards in shame. "I...ask for your forgiveness, Elijah, and your loyalty, for the last time." Slowly, with a fear of rejection Elijah has only associated with his brother when they were human, Niklaus approached him with careful steps. He didn't stop until the two brothers faced each other, then he lifted his hand.

Confused, Elijah stared at his younger brother with furrowed eyes. Then he realized what was going on—Klaus was giving him the daggers.

"Oh, Niklaus, you senseless fool." After a thousand years, he is finally learning that the bonds of family far outweigh anything. Elijah gritted his teeth as the heightened emotions brought tears to his eyes. "I grant you that forgiveness. Just promise me, brother; it's time to end this chapter."

Gasps resonating from the other coffins in the room as their siblings awaken.

Klaus nodded once. "I promise,"

ABBY BENNETT STOOD IN THE CAVE UNDERNEATH THE OLD LOCKWOORD CELLAR. "SO, WHAT IS ALL OF THIS?" The Salvatore brothers remained quiet as Bonnie looked at her mother with stony eyes, the powerless witch staring at the Runic and Native drawings inscribe on the walls.

"Family history," Damon answered from the ground, unable to enter due to the defenses meant to keep vampires from entering the cave, staring up with bored eyes. Stefan sat next to him, brooding.

Bonnie leaned against the locked coffin, nodding blithely. "About a mother, who loved her children so much, she couldn't bear the thought she might lose them. So, she turned them into vampires. One of them is Klaus."

Damon shared a look with Stefan, mouthing 'awkward' as the witches talked. "That's a very sentimental way of looking at it, Bon Bon. One of them is Klaus."

Abby looked at the ground. "The one you're trying to kill with whatever is in that coffin?" She looked uncertain. "This is a bad idea. If there was a weapon capable of killing an Original, why didn't the Spirits tell me when Mikael arrived?"

Bonnie glared at her mother, reply cut off by Stefan. "Look," the vampire said impatiently. "If you're really the key to opening up that coffin, I think it's a pretty safe bet you're on Klaus's hit list. So, I suggest you hideout here and figure out a way to open up the damn thing."

"I told you, I don't have any powers." Abby said.

Damon sat up, turning to face the witch from outside the battier. "And we don't believe you. Won't be long before Klaus calls his hybrids to find that coffin and kill all of us." Stefan agreed with his brother, arms crossed. "So, dig deep, Abby Bennett, scrape out whatever magic you have left."

With a resigned sigh, Abby returned to the coffin. Bonnie returned to skim the grimoire prompted on the coffin, ignoring her mother's hovering. "There's nothing in here that's going to help us," she said. "I've seen most of these spells."

Abby stopped her daughter as she flipped through old pages, eyebrows furrowing with concertation as she looked at the drawing next to one of the spells. "Wait...Do you see this? 's the spell I used to seal Mikael in the tomb."

Bonnie's voice was tight. "We're trying to open something—not seal it shut."

"No," Abby shook her head, pointing at the drawing. "On this side. It's a blood knot. It means to bind it you need two generations. A bloodline. Like two keys to a safety deposit box."

Bonnie frowned. "So, unbinding it would reverse the spell; unseal the spell locking the coffin if we did it together."

"Well," Damon said with a smirk. "We're getting closer. Get to work, ladies."

Abby and Bonnie both nodded with determination. After taking the time to memorize the spell, they moved to stand on either side of the coffin, holding each other's hands on the coffin. Stefan and Damon stood, the brothers turning to face the witches as they began chanting.

"Sigalis Intransium, Exalis Exalis, Omnas Quisa Operum, Sigalis Intransium, Exalis Exalis." The candles surrounding the cave flared up, Damon's eyebrows raising as a deep rumbling is heard. The witches continuing chanting, voices growing sturdier while the cave shook underneath their feet. "Omnaben Libras, Sigalis Intransium, Exalis Exalis. Omnas Quisa Operum, Exalis Exalis."

Everything grew still—then a rattle came from the coffin.

"Okay," Damon said dryly. "I'm guessing that worked."

Gasping with delight, Bonnie went to open the coffin with shaking hands. Finally, she thought, nearly crying with relief. She had done it—a way to kill Klaus. She readied herself to lift the lid of the coffin but jumped away as the candles flickered again and the coffin opened by itself.

Bonnie let out a scream as Abby pushed her behind her, the Salvatore brothers straightened up at as the sound echoed throughout the cave system. "Please tell me that was a scream of joy, Witchy." Damon said, eyes widening as he heard Bonnie's breathing pick up with panic.

"Oh my god!" Abby gasped, hands covering her mouth.

Stefan pushed against the barrier, "Bonnie? Bonnie, what is it?"

"It's a girl," Bonnie whispered. "It's a little girl."

____
𝐀 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐃
𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐔𝐒
𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 & 𝘝𝘰𝘵𝘦 !