「 . 𖦹˙-⋆ 𝐒𝐈𝐗 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 」
⤿𝘏𝘌𝘓𝘓𝘖, 𝘋𝘈𝘙𝘓𝘐𝘕𝘎🪦 ˖ ࣪. ࿐
𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 ┆𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦
❪ ﹆ ━ 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 ⋆⭒˚.⋆ ❫

𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗝𝗔𝗛 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗦 before Klaus, wiping the dripping blood from his hand as one of Klaus' hybrids lays at his feet with a white handkerchief. "You look surprised to see me. So, it wasn't you that removed the dagger from my chest?"

"You look like you could use a drink. And we do have a lot to discuss, so shall we?" Klaus asks his older brother.

Elijah doesn't say a word as he attacks Klaus, the hybrid flying through a door in the newly renovated home made for him and his family.

"Easy. I just finished renovating." Klaus spats before rushing at Elijah, crashing him into the table and causing it to break. "You know you have every right to be mad at me. But I kept my word, I reunited you with our family."

Elijah attacks him again, knocking Klaus into one of the coffins. Klaus opens the coffin next to it, pulling the dagger from Kol's chest, rushing to Elijah and holding him against another closed casket by the throat as he holds the dagger up threateningly.

"Don't make me do this to you again, Elijah!"

"Come on. Use it. I dare you. You'll have Kol to deal with.

Klaus lowers the dagger, "Mikael is dead."

Elijah stands up in surprise as Klaus lets go of him, "What did you say?"

"Anastasia killed him. With his own weapon." Klaus says, "He's gone, Elijah. Forever."

"Why do our family remain in these coffins?" Asked Elijah. "Finn for over nine hundred years. Kol for over a century. Away from Anastasia."

"Because of Stefan Salvatore. He holds the one thing keeping me from freeing them. There are things that you do not know about our past, Elijah. Our mother's death. Things I never wanted you to know but I'm ready to tell you now. I only ask that you remember the oath of loyalty you once swore to me."

Klaus walks over to a small table in the room, removing the lid of the small urn resting there, dipping the dagger inside and walking back over to Kol's coffin.

"What are you doing?" Questions Elijah.

The hybrid pushes the dagger back into Kol's chest, "Always and forever. I need you to stand by my side. Be my brother. Help me destroy Stefan and I promise you our family will be whole again." He closes Kol's coffin.

𑁍˚⸝⸝ --

𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗔 𝗦𝗜𝗧𝗦 𝗜𝗡 walks across her bedroom floor, one of her grimoire's in hand, when she suddenly feels a sharp pain and burning sensation deep inside her chest. Dropping the book to the floor, a loud cry of pain leaves her lips as she crashes down to her knees.

Stefan rushes into the room, dropping down next to his niece as he desperately searches for what could possibly be wrong with her, when she stops, chest heaving as she tries to catch her breath. "What the hell was that?"

"Kol."

𑁍˚⸝⸝ --

𝗗𝗔𝗠𝗢𝗡 𝗪𝗔𝗟𝗞𝗦 through a meadow, talking to Elena and Alaric over the phone, "So you're the prime suspect, huh?"

"She doesn't think that I did it." Elena tells him, "She's just trying to find out why somebody used one of my family weapons to kill a council member."

"Well why don't you just ask Ric if his dirty little doctor had access to the weapons."

"You're on speaker phone, dick." Alaric calls out.

"I'm just sayin' first suspects usually the right one." Damon tells them, "Don't get so defensive."

"Brian Walters was killed three days ago, alright? I didn't show Meredith this stuff until last night!"

"It wasn't Meredith." Elena said.

"But Brian Walters was her ex-boyfriend and Ric saw them fighting that night." Damon spoke.

"It's not Meredith! Okay? I refuse to believe that your luck with women is that tragic." Elena says, directing it to her new guardian.

"Who else knows about your secret little slayer stash?" Questioned Damon.

"Who doesn't? Got weapons everywhere; here, the school, my loft, your car, Stacie's car." Alaric named a few of the places he kept his weapons.

"It's Klaus. It has to be." Damon accused. "He's screwing with us."

"What if it was Stefan? He was crazy that night. And you know he was trying to get underneath Klaus' skin, he was capable of pretty much anything." Elena stated, accusing Stefan this time.

"Ahh, makes me nostalgic for the first time when Stefan was a bunny snacking pacifist, anyway got to go, you'll know more later." Damon tells them, coming to a stop.

"Hey, where are you?" Alaric asks the vampire.

"Tea with an old friend." He hangs up the phone and is face to face with Elijah. "Elijah. My favorite Original, back from the dead. Clean up nice."

The original raises an eyebrow, "You didn't bring the lovely, and beautiful, Anastasia with you?"

"My daughter was in her own little world." Damon tells him with a shrug.

"You left something in my jacket pocket." Elijah ignores him, pulling a note from his pocket.

"Oh, yeah. Dear, Elijah, let's get together, plot the destruction of your brother, xoxo." Damon recites what he had written on the paper.

"Damon."

"Was I right to undagger you or are we gonna have a problem?" Asks Damon.

"I'm here, let's talk."

"I'll start with an easy question." Damon said, "Any idea what kind of Klaus-killing weapon could be magically sealed in a mystery coffin?"

𑁍˚⸝⸝ --

𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗔 𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪𝗦 behind her uncle, Bonnie, and Abby Bennett through a tunnel. Tunnels she knew all too well from her years with the Mikaelson family.

"Slow down!" Abby, Bonnie's mother, calls out to the two vampires.

"Keep up, we don't have much time." Stefan tells them.

"Sorry, Stefan, but I didn't have a choice." Bonnie says to the vampire.

"It was a choice, Bonnie. You made it and now we have to live with it. You told Klaus where the coffins were and he took them. All of them except this one."

"That's the one that's sealed?" Abby asks as Bonnie looks over at Anastasia, who has her head tilted to the side as she looks at the coffin.

"Yep. Fortunately it seems to be the one he cares about most." Stefan answered.

"Do you know what's inside?" Bonnie asked the hybrid, someone she used to be very close with, until she started to like Jeremy.

"I don't know who is in that damn box, and I lived with them for a couple of years." Anastasia tells her.

Abby looks over at the uncle and niece, "Aren't the two of you coming inside?"

"Vampires can't get in. Damon had to compel a couple Lockwood gardeners to bring the coffin in." Stefan said.

"This is a bad idea."

"What's a bad idea is to trust two Bennett witches, one of which says she doesn't have any magic." Anastasia rolled her eyes.

"Look, if you're really the key to opening up that coffin, I think it's a pretty safe bet you're on Klaus' hit list. So I suggest you hide out here and figure out a way to open up the damn thing." Stefan said.

"I told you, both of you, I don't have any powers."

"And we don't believe you." Anastasia crosses her arms over her chest as she shrugs her shoulders.

"Time's ticking. Won't be long before Klaus calls his hybrids to find that coffin and kill all of us, besides Anastasia. So dig deep, Abby Bennett." Stefan tells her, "Scrape out whatever magic you have left. C'mon, kid." He nudges his niece back the way they came, both of them coming face to face with Elena, "What are you doing here?"

"Bonnie told me that you guys would be here. I need to talk to you." Elena looks over at Stefan.

"I'll be in the car. Maybe questioning myself on why my ass is still in this damn town." Anastasia mumbles under her breath, but loud enough for the two to hear her, before she leaves.

"There's nothing to talk about." Stefan says as he rolls his eyes playfully at his niece's words. "I'm just focused on getting this coffin open."

"Did you, or Anastasia, kill the medical examiner?" Elena asked him.

"Why would either of us do that?"

"Maybe because I don't know what you're capable of anymore." Elena said, "What the both of you are capable of."

"Well, believe what you want, Elena." Stefan tells her, "And for the record, my niece wouldn't kill anybody that didn't try to kill her first. Don't ever blame her for killing anybody without the proof that she did so."

"I don't want to believe any of it, Stefan."

"But you had to ask me anyway." He says.

"Stefan.....,"

"Did you ask Damon....if he killed anybody lately?" Stefan questions her before leaving when she didn't answer him.

𑁍˚⸝⸝ --

𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗧 the boarding house, Anastasia lays across her uncle's bed with one of his old journal's as her dad stands at the end of the bed with two shirts in his hand, and Stefan walks out of his bathroom, towel thrown over his shoulder.

"Both of you, get dressed." Damon tells his daughter and little brother. "We're going out."

"No, thank you."

"Yeah, sorry, not interested." Stefan puts his shirt on.

"I didn't ask. Elijah and I have scheduled a very old-fashioned sit-down with the two of you and Klaus." Damon tells them, "I say go with the black. Makes you look all villaniy."

"Dylan needs a wing-woman for two days, and Elijah gets undaggered." Anastasia shakes her head, eyes never leaving the words on the page.

"Don't leave and you won't miss all of the important stuff." Damon looks over at the green eyed girl.

"Klaus won't make a deal, Damon." Stefan moves closer to his older brother.

"He didn't have to. All we're doing is buying a little time to give our wicked witches a chance to pop the top off the coffin." Damon said.

"So, that's your, uh, plan? Stall Klaus?"

"If you didn't go postal on his hybrids, then maybe we'd have some options." Damon tells him.

"So you unleashed an Original to help him out?" Stefan questioned.

"Undaggering Elijah was smart, Stefan. Are you kidding me? After what Klaus did to him? He's in vengeance mode. It's perfect."

"There's nothing smart about trusting Elijah, Damon. He screwed us over the last time he promised to help us kill Klaus." Stefan said.

"Yeah, the way you've been acting, I trust him about as much as I trust you." Stated Damon.

"Hm, well I guess that goes both ways, doesn't it?"

"Oh, yes..this is about me kissing Elena." Damon said, causing Anastasia to snap her head up in her dad's direction, eyebrows pinched together in confusion. "Just remember, if it wasn't for Klaus, you would have never become such a dick and that kiss would never have happened."

"Yeah, right." Anastasia scoffs, getting ignored by her father, and an amused look thrown her way by Stefan.

"So both of you get ready and get happy. We're going to negotiate a fake truce and I don't want either of your attitudes screwing it up." Damon tells them before leaving.

"Attitude?" Anastasia scoffs again, this time in disbelief, "When do I ever have an attitude?"

Stefan lets out a laugh, pointing towards his bedroom door, "Get out, and go get ready. If I have to sit through it, then so does your ass."

"Ugh, fine." Anastasia lets out an over-dramatic groan as she stands up from the large bed and stomps her feet as she leaves.

𑁍˚⸝⸝ --

"𝗟𝗜𝗝𝗔𝗛!" 𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗔 flings herself into Elijah's arms as he opens the door to the Mansion Klaus had built.

"Hello, Little one." Elijah grins, hugging her back tightly, "Niklaus, our guests have arrived."

"Damon, Stefan, Little one." Klaus walks towards the three as Elijah lets them inside the house, "Elijah tells me, you seek an audience. Very bold. Let's discuss the terms of our agreement like civilized men, and lady, shall we?"

"It's better to indulge him." Elijah tells the Salvatore's.

"I didn't come here to eat, Klaus. In fact, I didn't want to come here at all. But I was told I had to cause you would hear us out." Stefan said.

"Hey! Play nice." Anastasia gently slaps her Uncle's chest.

"Well, we can sit and eat or I can reach down your throats and pull out your insides. The choice is yours." Klaus tells him.

𑁍˚⸝⸝ --

𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗦𝗜𝗧𝗦 at the table, everyone eating except for Stefan, as one of the servants pours wine into both Damon and Anastasia's glasses.

"Thank you, love." Damon gives the woman a smirk as she walks away, Anastasia smiling sweetly at the other as she too walked away.

"You lost your appetite." Klaus points towards Stefan's plate.

"Eat." Damon demands his brother, "I thought we agreed that we would leave the grumpy Stefan at home."

"That's the spirit!" Klaus says as Stefan finally takes a bit of his food, "Isn't it nice? The five of us dining together? Such a treat. Is this what you had in mind when you pulled the dagger from my brother?"

"Well, I know how he felt about you, so I figured the more, the merrier." Damon stated, winking playfully towards Elijah.

"Well, Elijah and I have had our share of quarrels over the century. But we always make it through."

"Kind of like you and Rebekah, right? Where is she, by the way?" Asked Stefan, "Last I checked she was still daggered because you were afraid to face her."

"If you're referring to the fact that Rebekah knows I killed our mother, I've already come clean to Elijah." Klaus said.

"Hey, Stef, remember when you killed dad with your four year old niece watching?" Damon asked his brother with a tight smile. "Might want to dial down the judgement until dessert."

Stefan turns his head with a smirk, "Hey, Damon, remember when I forced you to turn into a vampire and you left behind your four year old daughter, and I took care of her? I'm sorry, am taking care of her?"

Damon's smile falters as he glances over at his daughter, who now looks down at her plate awkwardly.

"We're here to make a deal, Damon. Doesn't mean we need to kiss his ass for seven courses." Stefan said.

"I'm just saying we have a long evening ahead of us." Damon tells him, "Pace yourself."

𑁍˚⸝⸝ --

"𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗙𝗔𝗡, 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗜𝗦 the lovely Elena tonight?" Elijah asks.

"I don't know. Ask Damon." Stefan tells him.

Klaus lets out a laugh as Elijah looks over at his brother in confusion, "I'm sorry, you've missed so much. Ah, trouble in paradise."

"One more word about Elena and this dinner's over." Stefan states.

Klaus smiles and puts a finger over his lips as a promise to keep quiet about the Doppelganger.

"You know what, probably best just to keep Elena in the do-not-discuss pile." Damon said.

"You're probably right." Klaus said.

"Yeah."

"It's just the allure of the Petrova Doppelganger, still so strong. What do you say, brother?" Klaus looks over at his brother, "Should we tell them about Tatia?"

"Now why should we discuss matters long since resolved?" Elijah asked, throwing his napkin down on the table.

"Well, given their shared affection for both Elena and Katherine, I think our guests might be curious to learn about the originator of the Petrova line." Klaus said.

"Well, we're not going anywhere, Elijah. Please, do tell." Damon takes a sip of his wine.

"When our family first settled here, there was a girl named Tatia. She was an exquisite beauty. Every body of age desired to be her suitor, even though she'd had a child by another man. And none loved her more than Niklaus." Elijah explained.

"I'd say there was one who loved her at least as much." Klaus said.

"Oh, would you look at that?" Anastasia's voice is heavy with sarcasm as she speaks up, "Even they fought over the same girl....and even better, one that looks exactly like Katherine and Elena."

"You sound jealous, Little Warrior." Klaus smirks in her direction.

"Please." Anastasia scoffs, "Like I'd ever be jealous of the slutty bitch and the whiny whore who gets what she wants?"

"Anastasia!" Damon snaps at his daughter, who shrugs her shoulders with an innocent look on her pouty lips.

"It's nothing you and everyone else doesn't already know."

"So you both loved the same girl?" Stefan asked, getting the attention away from his niece.

"Our mother was a very powerful witch. She sought to end our feud over Tatia and so she took her. Klaus and I would later learn that it was Tatia's blood that we consumed in the wine on the night where our mother performed the spell which turned us into vampires." Elijah explained. "Tatia wouldn't make a decision between the two of us, so for a time, Niklaus and I...grew estranged. Harsh words were traded, we even came to blows, didn't we, brother?"

"But in the end we realized the sacred bond of family." Klaus said.

"Family above all." Elijah and Klaus raise their glasses.

"Family above all."

𑁍˚⸝⸝ --

"𝗦𝗢, 𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 we move this evening along and discuss the terms of this proposal?" Elijah asks as Damon gets a text from Bonnie telling him that they needed more time, but they were getting closer to opening the coffin.

"That's very simple. Klaus gets his coffin back, in exchange, he and the Original extended family leave Mystic Falls forever. Me, Stefan, Anastasia and Elena live happily ever after. No grudges." Damon says to the Original's.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Damon, but I believe Anastasia would follow us to the ends of the earth for just a change to have Kol up and roaming with her once more."

"Hey, don't bring me into this." Anastasia says as she holds up her empty cup, turning to the girls behind her, "Can I please have more? And fill it to the top this time."

"The deal sounds fair, brother." Elijah beckons the servant over to the table, pointing towards the hybrid girls cup.

"I don't think you understand. Elena's doppelganger blood ensures that I will always have more hybrids to fight those that oppose me. I will never leave her behind." Klaus tells them, standing up from his seat and begins to pace the floor, "Let's say I do leave her here, under your protection, what then? How long before one of you turns her into a vampire? Or worse, how long before she dies caught between your feuding? You see, each one of you truly believes that you're the one that can protect her, and that is simply a delusion. Gentleman, the worst thing for Elena Gilbert is... the two of you."

Damon gives a weak smile, glancing at his brother. "I'm gonna get some air."

"Let me deal with this." Elijah says before getting up and following after Damon, leaving Anastasia with a raised eyebrow at the two.

"All this talk has made me thirsty." Klaus says, looking over at one of the servants and she walks over to him, "What do you say, Stefan? Anastasia? Can I interest the two of you in a little after-dinner drink?"

He bites into her neck, drinking her blood.

𑁍˚⸝⸝ --

𝗞𝗟𝗔𝗨𝗦 𝗗𝗥𝗢𝗣𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 blonde'd dead body to the floor, "Delicious. Aged to perfection."

"Well, I guess the only reason you agreed to this evening, Klaus, is to drive a wedge between me and my brother." Stefan said, standing up from the table.

"Oh no, you're doing that well enough on your own. Because of Elena, you're gonna lose your brother and you'll only have yourself to blame." Klaus said as Damon and Elijah walk back into the room.

"What do you say, Klaus? It's time for you to put something on the table. We've made our offer, now you counter." Damon tells him.

"Okay. I offer Elena's future happiness." Klaus tells them, "You see, what she needs right now is to be rid of you lot. And to fall in love with a human, maybe that nice football player, you know the blonde one?"

"Matt Donovan? Really?"

"Hey! Matt's a sweetheart!" Anastasia tells them.

"Yeah, why not? They'll marry, live a long and fruitful life, and pop out a perfect family."

"And continue the Petrova bloodline." Stefan says, "Every few hundred years, you'll have a new doppelganger to drain and never run out of hybrids, right Klaus?"

"Consider it a small return on my investment in her well-being. See, after you hand me back the coffin, I'll ensure her safety for the rest of her natural life. You know it's what's best for her." Klaus walks towards Stefan. "So, what do you say, Stefan, hmm? Do we have a deal?"

Stefan walks over to Klaus.

"What are you doing?" Damon questioned.

Klaus holds his hand out to Stefan, which Stefan grabs.

"Nice try, Klaus. But no deal."

Klaus breaks Stefan's arm before kicking his leg and breaking it also. He pushes Stefan's hand into the fireplace, causing it to start to burn.

"No! Nik, let him go!" Anastasia exclaimed, standing up from her chair and knocking it over in the process.

Damon attempts to rush over to him, but Elijah intercepts him and pushes him against the wall.

"What are you doing?" Damon rasps out as Elijah holds him by the neck.

Anastasia rushes over to Klaus, tugging on his arm, "Nik, please! Please, let him go! Please!"

"Stop!" Damon yells out.

"Now, bring me my coffin before i burn him alive." Klaus turns to look at Damon.

"I'll get it." Damon tells him before walking away.

"Go with him, brother. You keep him honest." Klaus said, "And when you return, I will make good on my promise to you and I will hand over our family."

𑁍˚⸝⸝ --

"𝗚𝗢 𝗔𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗔𝗡𝗗 kill me. I know you'll do it when he brings the coffin." Stefan grunts in pain as his arm was still in the fireplace.

Anastasia stood there with tears streaming down her face as she begs Klaus in the background to let go of her Uncle.

Klaus pulls Stefan out of the fireplace, "You really have given up, haven't you? Where's the fight? Where's the ripper?" He shoves Stefan into Anastasia's arms, who hugs him tightly as Stefan brushes his hand through her curled hair.

"Shh, I'm okay." He mumbles, kissing her forehead.

Suddenly, Elijah and Damon re-enter the room next to one of the other female servants, who is carrying a tray with a cover resting on top of it.

"Elijah...why haven't you left?" Klaus asks his brother.

"Where are your manners, brother? We forgot dessert." Elijah tells him before removing the cover to reveal two silver daggers laying on top.

Anastasia's jaw drops as she glances at them.

"What have you done?" Klaus questions.

"What have you done? You see, I've learned not to trust your vulgar promises, Klaus. We're doing this on my terms now."

A gasp leaves the Salvatore girl's lips as Kol enters the room, tears pooling in her eyes as she tries to control the sobs that she wants to leave her lips.

Stefan looks down at his niece when her grip on his arm suddenly gets tighter.

"Kol."

"Long time, brother."

Klaus starts to back away just before Finn, who Anastasia had never met, suddenly appears, grabbing a dagger and stabbing Klaus through the hand.

"Finn, don't!" He rushes away, but runs into Rebekah. "Rebekah!"

She stabs him with the dagger in her hand, "This is for our mother." She pulls the dagger out and Klaus falls back into Kol's arms.

Elijah looks towards the Salvatore's. "You're free to go. This is family business."

Everyone grows quiet as loud sobs breakout in the room, all heads snapping in the direction it had come from.

"Anastasia." Kol breathes out, shoving Klaus away from him and into the arms of Finn. Rushing towards the girl, who stood between her uncle and father, he brings his hands up to cup her face, their foreheads now touching one another as they gaze into the other's eyes.

More sobs leave her lips as she quickly wraps her arms around his neck, letting the Original lift her feet off of the ground, and wraps her legs around his waist as the two hug each other tightly.

Kol's clench shuts tightly as he rests his forehead against her shoulder, feeling her body shaking against his as he mumbles incoherent words into his neck. "Hello, Darling."

"It's you. It's really you." She cried, bringing her forehead to sit against his once more, both with happy smiles on their faces as the others watched the two best friends reuniting.

"It's really me."

AUTHORS NOTE ⦂
Sooo, the best friends are
reunited! I've actually changed
this chapter around like 7 times
before settling on this!

Next chapter, we'll have more
Kol and Anastasia since it's the
ball episode. And we all know
who does what to Kol towards
the end....🫢