𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐄, ERIK LEHNSHERR

𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑹𝑻𝑬𝑬𝑵

"Are you sure you want to do this? We can come back another time if you'd like?" Kara suggested to her brother as they stood in the middle of the road, with the wind whipping harshly against their clothes.

It was a few days after the trip to Russia and earlier that morning, Kara had driven to the location where her grandfather lived, having more questions now that Klaus was with her. It was in the early afternoon when she had parked on the side of the road like she did a few nights ago.

She could visibly see the nervousness marked across his face as he fidgeted with his fingers. He'd been quiet all morning, which was highly unusual for him due to his trait of being the talker out of the two.

"No, I'm just a bit nervous. It will be fine, right?" He asked her, shoving his hands into his jacket to try and hide his fidgeting.

"Yes, Klaus. I was a bit on edge when I first met him, as I still am, but he was polite." She gave him an encouraging smile before jutting her chin to the woods to gesture for him to follow her.

Luckily, she had memorized her steps through the dark when she and Kit scouted out the woods so she didn't have any problems making her way around the trees to find the cabin, though it was still a far way out.

The confusion had set on Klaus' face due to not seeing anything until they passed a certain point and it seemed to appear in thin air. Kara made sure to ask their grandfather about that when they were settled in.

"I wasn't sure you'd be back anytime soon." The voice rang from behind them as they stood on the porch, Kara's hand landing on Klaus' shoulder to keep him steady.

"You wanted to meet your grandson and we had a few questions that I know you'd like to answer." Kara stated, running her eyes over her grandfather's face.

Ellis smiled before glancing over at Klaus, his gaze taking over his grandson and back and forth between the twins. "I've always wanted to see you two up close and now that I have, you both have grown to look like your father." He breathed out, his eyes wrinkling at the corners as he motioned them inside.

Kara's face was rid of any emotion as she heard those words, recalling saying something similar to Erik a few days ago. She turned to look at Klaus but found that he was still dumbstruck at the sight of their living grandfather. She knew he was stuck on what to think of the older man at the moment.

The two followed him inside, Kara's eyes immediately finding the paintings she adored and wished to know more about. Klaus tugged on her arm as he looked around, scouting the place out to make sure there wasn't a threat.

It was as if he was seeing a ghost of their childhood home, the similar objects around him were replicas of what was scattered about in the mansion before it burned down. The cabin was warm and inviting, he noticed, much different from the wealthy mansion their father owned.

Klaus didn't know how a pleasant man his grandfather seemed to be was the father of their father, a person so hostile and aggressive.

"Would the two of you like anything to drink? I've got water, coffee, and whiskey, that's about it." Ellis chuckled to himself, staring at his grown grandchildren.

It was weird for Ellis as well, from seeing them as children from afar to now welcoming them into his home that needed to be kept a secret. They were spitting images of their father, despite their white hair and bright blue eyes, which could be taken wrongly but he knew it wasn't a boundary too vast to cross.

"No, we're fine. Why don't you start from the beginning of when everything started." Kara spoke, sitting down on the chair she sat in previously when she was there. Klaus sat next to her with his jaw locked into a tight clench, still not quite sure what to think.