anne

33 | From a Cradle to a Grave

TO - S1 E22 

• ____________ •

Sometime after midnight, Anne and Elijah had been running around town chasing screams in pursuit of Hayley and Klaus. Anne could tell that Elijah's main concern was Hayley, as she was about to give birth to his brother's child. Anne made a note to comment on that complex twist later, but right now she had to find her best friend.

When the cries seemed to be coming from everywhere, Anne stopped in the middle of the empty street and thought for a moment. Elijah saw that she'd stopped following him, confused, he yelled, "Mary, what are you doing? We have to find them!"

Anne looked up at him, dismissing his use of her old name despite her discomfort with it. "Elijah, it's no use. Those fucking Witches have us running around town like headless chickens, we've been doing this for hours now! We're poisoned with werewolf venom, we need to stop and use our brains."

He marched over to her with a dangerously impatient glint in his eyes, "Well, what do you suppose we do?"

She stared at him, hesitating to answer honestly, so she said instead, "Give me a minute."

"We don't have time for this—"

"—Just give me a minute."

Elijah gave her an exasperated look, then sighed and threw his hands in the air in surrender. Anne took a deep breath in and let her mind roam the city for Klaus, searching for a tether she could latch on to. Although they were weak, some images flashed in her mind. 

"Do you have a church named after me here?"

::: ::: :::

Upon arriving at St. Anne's church, Elijah bolted through the hallways with Anne behind. When they came to the double doors of the main room, Elijah swung them open with a frantic call of Hayley's name, but his running unexpectedly faltered. Anne lingered at the door, staring at the scene before her. He was bitten much worse than Anne, so it took him a moment longer than her to find a clear image through his disarrayed vision.

Klaus sat resting against an altar in the sanctuary, holding the head of a dead woman on his lap. Elijah staggered towards his brother and the woman—Hayley, Anne assumed—and dropped to his knees at the sight of her slit throat. His breathing laboured as he reached out to touch her cold cheek. Anne shadowed behind Elijah, aware that this moment was of deepest sorrow to Klaus and Elijah, and she did not feel comfortable intruding.  

"She's gone," Klaus whispered. He raised his chin up and looked at Anne, his bottom lip quivering. She kept her distance, unsure whether this was a moment where he wanted her comfort or space, all she could offer for now was an expression of the deepest despair for him. 

Anne could see that Hayley's belly had deflated, but heard no cry and felt no presence of a baby. A dark feeling began to take hold of her as she realised that the Witches responsible for Hayley's death had her and Klaus' baby—an infant, that they were planning to sacrifice. Whether or not they had harmed it, there would be hell to pay for as long as Klaus and Elijah stood; and if they stood, so would Anne. 

"You've both been bitten," Klaus acknowledged, nipping at his wrist and extending it for Elijah. He stared at the blood trickling down Klaus' wrist and dripping onto Hayley's body. He felt selfish curing himself of death over the woman he loved who not not escape it, so he stared at Klaus' wrist. 

Anne found it too tough to watch in silence, so she stepped forward quietly and knelt down beside Klaus, looking into his eyes and understanding the pain he felt. He gave her his wrist and she gently took it, drinking his blood and feeling her body restore itself. Elijah remained stiff and grief-stricken, so Anne hesitatingly put a hand on his shoulder, prompting him to carry on, if just for this moment.