Through His Eyes (The Originals)

The Feast of All Sinners

 "Let me do something, please," I said to Freya. "If Kol isn't coming, let me be fourth. I can do it."

 She sighed. "No, Father, you actually can't."

 "Well, why not?"

 "Because the four immortals must all be related to Hope by blood."

 "And I'm not," I said softly as she walked away.

 So that was it. Hope was possessed by the Hollow, and there was nothing I could do to help her. Because I wasn't really her grandfather, was I? I was the man who hunted her father down to ends of the earth for so long, and now I was practically useless.

 "You can't beat yourself up over it," Henrik said to me. "So you can't help with this one thing."

 "It's a rather big 'one thing'," I pointed out. "I could have helped, but I'm not a blood relative. And if your brother doesn't bother to show up, we'll be one short."

 Henrik turned away, avoiding eye contact with me.

 "You would be able to make me a vampire, wouldn't you?" he asked. "If I wanted you to?"

 I shook my head. "No. You already died once, and I can't let you turn out like the rest of us." 

 He sighed. "I knew you would say that. Dad, I don't actually want to be a vampire. But I would if I had to."

 "That's a noble sacrifice," I said, "But I won't let it come to that. Why don't you go see Freya? I'm sure she could use a hug from her little brother right now."

 "You know, Dad, if you need to be alone, you can just say so," he said. 

 "Fine. I want to be alone." 

 Far as I could tell, everything was falling apart around me, my family and this new life I had ended up in five years before with my family. And now that would be torn apart. 

 Needless to say, Hayley did not look well the next time I saw her. When she saw me, she didn't say a word, just walked over and hugged me.

 "I wish this didn't have to happen," I said. "If there were something more I could do, I would."

 "I know," she said. "You love Hope, too. Look, Mikael, Vincent told me something about this spell. If Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah and Kol are going to be the four, none of them can ever see each other again, and none of them can ever see Hope again. It would be too risky."

 "So, Niklaus could never see his daughter again?" I asked.

 She nodded. "Vincent told to just take Hope and run once the spell is done, but I already told Klaus. I couldn't do that to him. And I want to ask you if, once the spell is done, you want to come with me and Hope."

 "You...want me to leave with you?"

 "Yeah, I do. Hope loves you, and you've actually grown on me in the last five years. We can take Henrik, too. It can be the four of us on the road again, just like it was before. Would you?"

 I nodded. "Yes. I would. But first, let's get the rest of this ordeal out of the way. Once we have our little Hope back, we can decide what to do next."

~~~~~~

 I watched the sun come up. It was rising on a changed New Orleans, one where we Mikaelsons would no longer be. Much as I didn't like the city, it would be a sad departure.

 Kol texted me that he was already out of the city, on his way back to Davina, and that he would 'invite me to the wedding'. It made me feel good to think that at least one of my children were happy.

 Rebekah came to me to say goodbye before she left.

 "I know you and I have had our differences," she said, "And I'm sorry if I've been hard on you in the past. You're not a completely terrible father."

 I smiled. "Thank you, Rebekah. Good luck with whatever it is you plan to do."

 After she left, I got a call from Elijah.

 "Father, there's something I have to do," he said. "I don't want to do it, but I have to."

 "What do you mean?" I asked. "What do you have to do?"

 "I'm sorry. I had to talk to you one more time. Father, I have to forget 'Always and Forever'. Once it's done, I don't know what or who I will remember, so don't ever come looking for me, please, unless I ask you to. Tell the others I'm sorry. Goodbye, Father."

 "No, wait! Elijah don't you dare...hang up."

 "What is it?" Henrik asked as I lowered the phone from my ear.

 "It...it was Elijah," I said. "He just wanted to say goodbye. Um, I'm leaving, Henrik. I'm going with Hope and Hayley. Hayley said you're welcome to come, too."

 Henrik shook his head. "I'm sorry, Father, but I want to stay here, with Freya and Keelin. Freya can teach me more about my magic, and I can help her with her studies. Maybe we can find another way, and bring everyone back together. But I'll call you as much as you want me to, and you can come visit-"

 He stopped as I pulled him into a hug.

 "Be careful," I said. "Please."

~~~~~~

 After saying sad goodbyes, I asked Hayley, "Why can't I drive for once?"

 "Because we both know your driving skills suck," she answered. "And I know where we're going." 

 We made a bit of casual conversation as we drove, but once Hope dozed off, I asked, "So? You going to tell me where we're going?"

 "When Alaric Saltzman came to New Orleans, he told me there's a school in Mystic Falls now, one for kids like Hope. That's where I'm taking her."

 "Mystic Falls?" I repeated. "When it comes to the supernatural, that place is worse than New Orleans."

 "Then you should fit right in." 

 After a few more minutes of silence, she asked, "You ever going to go get your lover boy out of the ocean?"

 I sighed. "You know, I really don't know anymore.  I might fish him out, just because it's a little too cruel. But I don't know what we could be to each other after all of this after..."

 "After Erik?"

 I nodded. "Yes."

~~~~~~

 Mystic Falls was actually much more pleasant than I remembered it being. I officially met Alaric Saltzman and Caroline Forbes, the headmistress of this school. She knew Klaus, and was happy to take his daughter on as a student there.

 Having nowhere else important to be, Hayley and I both settled down in Mystic Falls. The area and the town had certainly changed, and I was happy to reacquaint myself with the landscape and show Hayley all of the places I remembered.

 I did go out to California to be a witness to Kol and Davina's marriage, and got a happy phone call from Rebekah saying that she and Marcel had gotten back together for good. Even Klaus texted me on one occasion. But I never heard from Elijah.

~~~~~~

 I was sitting in my room late one afternoon, doing my usual reading, when Hayley came and knocked on the open door.

 "You don't have any plans for tonight, do you?" she asked.

 "Of course not. Why?"

 She shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought maybe we could go out to dinner or the movie theater or something."
 
 "What, like a date?" I asked.

 She shrugged again. "I don't know. Does it count as a date if you don't have any actual romantic feelings for each other?"

 Now it was my turn to shrug. "I don't know. But it sounds nice."

 She nodded. "Okay. Um, I'll go get ready."

 "Yeah. Me, too."

 Now, what this could have meant, I thought as I pulled my shoes on, I had no idea whatsoever. Maybe this was just a new normal for us. I had been trying to be a father figure to Hope, but I knew it wasn't the same as Klaus. And maybe Hayley needed the company of someone familiar, someone close to Elijah.

 In any case, I dressed a little nicer than usual and went to tell Hayley I was ready to go.

~~~~~~

A/N: I have decided to end this book here, as I have no idea when Season 5 will actually be coming and I don't think I'll have the motivation to add Season 5 onto this book. If I do want to continue it then, I'll write a sequel. 

 In any case, thank you to everyone who has been reading and voting on this book. It has been very hard to write, but knowing someone was actually reading it made me want to finish it.