𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 ⎯⎯ 𝘯. 𝘮³

XLI. THE RIVER

━━ ∞ ━━
𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑
[ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ғᴏʀᴛʏ ᴏɴᴇ - 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳]

'the devil has come
to carry me home'

☾ ♥ ☾ ꕥ ☾ ♥ ☾

The two Mikaelson twins were sat at the table in the courtyard with troubled expressions as Klaus studied the dark veins on both of their arms. "What's happening to us?" Hope asked nervously, her voice quiet as she looked up at her dad worriedly. After finding the dark veins on Kaiden's arm, it hadn't taken the twins to realise that the same thing was happening to Hope.

"I don't know," Klaus admitted with a sense of worried defeat as he turned Hope's arm over, studying where the veins stopped. "It's bad, right?" Kaiden asked, swallowing thickly as he knew the answer before he'd already asked the question. Klaus frowned, looking from Hope to his son, noticing the look of fear and defeat on both of their faces.

They looked as if they'd already accepted their fate. That they knew the darkness would soon take over them and were ready to accept defeat. The fact broke Klaus' heart - especially considering he himself didn't have a solution to their problems. "You need to rid yourselves of this darkness," Klaus told them both after a moment, offering them a temporary solution to their never-ending problem.

"I can't, I can't kill him," Hope stated firmly, referring to Roman who was still chained up in the dungeon downstairs, "I won't," the eldest Mikaelson twin refused sternly. Kaiden rolled his eyes as he realised he wasn't going to get the revenge he so desperately sought, as whilst the teen wanted nothing more than to see Roman perish, he wasn't prepared to hurt his sister to do so. As stupid as he himself thought it was, Hope cared for Roman, and Kaiden cared about Hope more than revenge.

"Hope," Klaus sighed with a frown before she quickly cut him off. "Dad, he's no more guilty or responsible than me and Kaiden," Hope argued firmly, with a stern expression. Klaus trailed his gaze from Hope to Kaiden, earning a subtle nod from the boy in response to show that he agreed, albeit begrudgingly, with his sister.

Klaus sighed once again, however this time a soft smile graced his lips as he looked at both his children with a sense of pride. "All that power and still merciful," Klaus commented with a small smile, "clearly didn't get that from my side of the family," the hybrid chuckled softly. Hope sent him a small smile at the obvious comparison to her mother; in her eyes, there was no better compliment.

"This is only gonna get worse, isn't it?" Kaiden asked gravely with a worried frown, his eyes locked on the moving dark veins that were crawling slowly up his arm. Klaus frowned; his lips parted as he searched for an answer that he didn't have. However, before he could even offer one, Elijah suddenly entered the room causing Klaus' frown to deepen as Hope glared at her Uncle and Kaiden avoided his presence.