The Dark Ember

Epilog: Orphans at 15

I was sitting in my room when a few hours later when there was a knock on my door. I opened it to see Elijah and he said "Before you tell me you don't want to see me... Your dad plans on killing himself and I need you to help me stop him." My eyes widened but he simply grabbed my arm and ran to where my dad was. He had just taken in the hollow and had a stake pointed at his chest, Elijah said "Niklaus. Don't." I said "Daddy?" Elijah said, "Put it down." Dad said "Walk away Elijah, take her now. Neither of you should be here for this." Elijah said, "Put it down and let's talk." Dad said, "It's time to end this chapter, Get rid of the dark magic once and for all." I said, "Dad we already lost mom, we need you, you want to leave Hope and me all alone?" Hope said "Dad? Whats going on here?" dad said, "Get them out of here." Elijah said, "Your death is not the answer." 

I walked over to Hope as she said "Death? What are you talking about? They put it into you. But you told us that they put it into something safe, and instead, you used my first transition to trick us. So what happens you just kill yourself and the magic goes away? And your gonna let him go through with this?" dad said "I don't need his permission to save your life!" Elijah said "Come back with me to New Orleans Niklaus. We'll find another way." dad said "We both know that's not gonna happen. Im sorry Hope, Emberlyn. I've made my decision." Hope and I said "And we've made ours." we held up a fist and he fell unconscious. We went back to New Orleans and I was done, I was tired of everyone leaving, of being in danger, of death coming for our family and... I just broke. I sat in the corner of Hope's room buried under anything big enough I could find, I let the tears fall as I sat curled up in my dark corner. I only started to pay attention to Hope and Freya's conversation when she said "I need you to hear me on this, Hope. And I need you to get Ember to understand there's not enough magic in the world to slow this down."  

(Hope's POV)

Ember has taken residence in a corner of my room piled under everything she could lift. I am the big sister so therefore it is my job to save him for both of us. I went to where he was chained up and no one was there. Marcel walked in and said, "So it's true." I said, "We have to find him." Marcel said "It's Mardi Gras out there. The streets are packed to the rafters." I turned to face him and said "Well, he'll be the one foaming at the mouth and ranting." Marcel said "Yeah, which is exactly why I don't think it's such a good idea for you to be out there. You should go be with your sister." I said "It's better than us being fatherless, and the only way to help her is to save him. We lost mom and losing him will destroy her." I walked out to the streets. 

Marcel caught up with me and said "Hope, come on. We both know firsthand what he's up against. The voices, the rage." I said, "He's in this mess because he's trying to save us, just like always." Marcel said "Look, you girls put him down, he got back up. You put him down again and the same thing is gonna happen." I turned on him "So what? We're orphans at 15. God, you guys are always saying that we need someone to take care of us. Well, who's gonna take care of us when he goes? Uncle Elijah? You? No, of course not. Because you have your own never-ending life to live. So, Marcel, just go and let me have my last moments with my father." I gave him an aneurysm and walked off.

I finally found him in an alleyway, I said "Dad. Come on. Let's go home." Elijah snapped his neck while he was hearing voices and Marcel grabbed me, I went home and pulled my sister out of my room against her will and stood us in front of the pictures there was one of mom and Elijah, one of me and Em when we were little, one of us and mom, one of Kol and Davina, one of dad, Bekah, mom, Elijah, and us at 6 months old, one of Davina and Marcel, one of Freya, Kol, and Keelin at their wedding, one of me at the wedding, and then one of Ember at the Wedding. we all looked happy. Ember simply grabbed the family photo, hugged it to her chest, and went back to hide.

(Ember's POV)

Hope decided to sit in her room with me, she took my hands and pulled me to the bed and we cuddled as I cried I said "Why does he have to leave us after we just got him back?" She said "I don't know Emmy. I don't know." she was trying not to cry, I could hear it in her voice. He was off on a tour with Caroline. Elijah came in and Hope said, "He left instead of spending his last hours with us." Elijah said, "He's hurt and he's scared." I said, "That's no excuse." Elijah said "Im not making excuses. If anything he cares too much. Hope, Ember, you're his everything. And without you both he wouldn't even be making this sacrifice. Do you understand in 15 years you've accomplished what I couldn't in a thousand? This isn't abandonment. He's afraid." Hope hugged me tightly as we heard dad walk in he said "I'd like a moment alone with my daughters, please." Elijah left the room.

Dad said "Girls, please, scream, yell, break something if you have to. Just don't look at me like that." Hope said, "This isn't right." Dad said, "A father protecting his daughter, id say that's exactly right." I said "Elijah was willing to take the curse completely!" he said, "And what kind of father allows another man to die for his child?" Hope said "The kind that loves them." he said "I love you. I love both of you. It's the way of the world. Children bury their parents, it happens every day, every hour. It's a truth this family has avoided at a cost." I said, "Yeah well, we just got you back so why does it have to be today?" I was full-blown crying right now and Hope was as well. 

He walked up to us and said "Listen, I have not lived an honorable life, you know that. But doing this... Taking the darkness into myself so no one else is afflicted by it. That is an honorable death and I can do that, I can do it, Hope, Emberlyn. Because you've helped me feel something that I never thought was possible... unconditional love... my daughters. My heirs. You both are my heart." he was crying now as well as he pulled us into his arms and hugged us tightly. Once we got our barrings we walked into the parlor as Kol said "Because he is a tremendous ass." dad said "That he is. But he oh-so-secretly adores his youngest brother." Then he hugged Kol once they pulled away dad said "Oh don't stop on my account, if this is to be my funeral then, let's get on with it." We had dinner full of smiles and laughs and love. 

At one point Marcel sat next to us and said "I will never abandon either of you and even though I can't always be around if either of you so much as breathes my name..." Hope said "Thank you." and we grabbed his hand. Bekah said "All right. It's time for an old-fashioned wish-burning ceremony." We wrote a wish on a piece of paper and folded it up before walking to the bonfire and threw them in. Dad said "You know as much as I've savored the joy of tormenting you throughout the years, I must confess, you all mean everything to me. Your loyalty and your counsel and your love... is probably the only reason why I've survived as long as I have. Which is how I know... Long after I'm gone... you will all come together, time and time again, to take care of each other. And that is why I'm not afraid... for your futures." he looked over and Hope and i.

Elijah said, "We are bound forever to those we share blood, and while we may not choose our family that bond is our greatest strength." Dad said "Though I may be leaving you tonight... This is not the end of the Mikaelsons. Always and forever." We all said, "Always and forever." I closed my eyes for a second to stop from sobbing he grabbed each of our hands and said "I need a moment." and walked off with Hope and me. Once we were alone Hope and I said "I want to go with you." he said, "I don't think either of you should." Hope said, "We're gonna make you proud." I said, "I can't promise that I won't go through a period where I get irresponsible tattoos and date older men..." Hope cut me off "But we're gonna go back to school. And We'll be ok. Because we're Mikaelsons." I said "And I promise you, we're gonna do right by our name." dad said "I know you will. I love you... More than all the days and nights, deeper than the oceans and the skies." we said, "I love you too." Hope said "How do we do this?" he said, "I wish I knew." 

Dad, Elijah, and Bekah left, Hope pained a family portrait of us, i however laid in my bed holding the stuffed bear that he gave me when I was born. We went back to school, with no mother, and no father, Elijah also dead, Bekah taking a cure and Marrying Marcel, Freya, Keelin, and Vincent trying to have a kid, Kol, and Davina living their life. It was just Hope Andrea Mikaelson and I, Emberlyn Rebekah Mikaelson on our own at 15 years old with eternity ahead of us and no one to lead us. I can't even fathom how we ended up here, or where to go now that we are. All I know is in Dad's last moments we promised him to finish school, and Hope apparently promised mom when she fainted that we would have an epic love and a life full of adventure. So I guess we start here, at 15 years old and we head into an uncertain future, with only each other by our side. This is ours always and forever.