#au-second chances

| Explosion | Crush Injury | Trap

Day 7 @juneofdoom

Second Chances - Marcel steps out for a break and find one he hadn't expected. after all this group was certainly going to Break something

----

Marcel had needed an escape, a break from the oppressive silence and emptiness the compound had become. 

When he had ruled the city it had been his home base, a place where all of those he trusted could come and pass the time, even months ago it had been filled with the wolves that hadn't sided with Esther.

Since Dahlia’s defeat, the air had been thick, Klaus unrepentant in his actions and the rest of them enduring in resentment, Elijah only returning to the place for Hope and Freya, Marcel forcing himself to return himself for Rebekah’s request and to ensure Davina was safe even when the memory of Klaus' compulsion or Gia’s body never faded from his mind.

He hated how he still loved Klaus after he once again took from him.

Then months ago, Elijah returned to help Freya with a spell and Freya had vanished leaving an unresponsive Elijah for Klaus to find. Marcel had never seen Klaus so panicked and lost even as he tried to hide it behind the rage.

He had messaged Rebekah to call her back from her search for a way to bring Kol back, unsure she would have a family to bring him back to if she didn’t as Klaus flicked from blaming Freya to accusing the witches of New Orleans of taking her and cursing Elijah as a distraction.

Davina had been very obviously surprised by the news and accused Klaus of being behind it instead, as a ploy to drag Rebekah back and remove the unknown witch from his family, something that had clearly hit close given Klaus’ reaction.

Davina had been trying to help although he wasn't sure if it was out of concern for Freya, helping him or just to prove Klaus had something to do with it.

His break was ruined as he watched a small figure carelessly step into the road in front of a car.

“Watch out!” he shouted even as his body was already moving.

He grasped the boy and stepped them back onto the sidewalk he had just left, releasing him as the car sped behind him where the boy had just been.

“Are you alright?” he asked, taking in the boy’s appearance, maybe nine, pale skin and shoulder length brown hair managed with a few braids, it was a hairstyle that seemed out of place but Marcel couldn't place where.

The boy looked at him with a strange expression and Marcel has as suddenly hit with a sense of familiarity.

 “Where are you parents?” He added when he got no reply from the first.

“We left them.” The boy answered, a strange accent to his English that Marcel couldn't place, he continued cryptically “it was for the best, bad thing were going to happen.” 

Before the could ask anymore about that a hand pulled the boy from him.

“El.” A dark haired woman hissed as she crouched in front of the boy, leaving her back to Marcel, who noticed the braids in her hair matched the boy's, “you shouldn't wander off, your siblings hate me enough without blaming me for-”

“You won't let me die,” El apparently cut her off, with a soft smile.

An odd name but Marcel brushed the thought away it was likely short for something.

“Child, you're ten,” she sighed, “You know well enough Death isn't the only thing to fear.” she moved her hands over his body, likely checking for any injuries. “I doubt a coalition with one of those devices would be pleasant.”

It was only Marcel's history with witches that had him able to feel the magic, a witch he realised, one so close to the Abattoir wasn't a coincidence.

“We're almost there.” the child argued slightly, pouting when he found he could pull away from the hand on his shoulder.

“And we'll arrive together.” The woman replied, pushing herself up and turning to look at Marcel.

Marcel froze.

“Thank you,” the woman said even as she regarded him with a narrowed eyed look. “I’d hate to think of what would have happened if you hadn’t gotten involved.”

Marcel stared, his body shifting into a defensive stance; she looked different, years younger, lighter maybe but he recognised her.

Dahlia.

The threat to Hope that made Klaus turn against them and cursed Hayley, the one who killed Josh's Aiden.

He had still failed to find his words when another adult joined them.

“What's wrong?” A man asked, a vampire Marcel's senses tell him before he looks away from Dahlia to him. 

He was tall and bouncing a wriggling child on his hip, regarding Dahlia with a suspicious glare that Marcel would have found reinsurance if he didn't also recognise the man.

Once, long ago when Marcel was a child, he had snuck down to where Klaus kept his family coffins, he had woken from another nightmare featuring Kol and was still wondering what he had done to make Elijah hate him so suddenly and had wanted to make sure Kol wouldn't come back for him.

Instead he had opened the wrong coffin and seen the eldest Mikaelson.

Klaus had found him before he could close it again and explained why he kept Finn daggered, ‘for his own good’ and ‘he hated what we were’ Klaus had told him and that was the last he had given much thought to him until he learnt he had returned in the body of a witch to threaten his vampires.

For all Klaus' claims of Finn being too weak and hating being the monster they were made into, Marcel had noticed Finn's cruelty, disregard of innocent lives and spite made him as much a Mikaelson as the rest of them, even as he tried to excuse it with righteousness.

The vampire standing before him was the same one he had found in the coffin centuries ago, meaning the same man that had cursed and killed his guys and tried to kill Hope.

However unlike Dahlia who looked at him without any recognition, Finn knew him.

“Marcel-” He started only for the child he was holding the mange to land a kick to make him wince, “Stop kicking me, Kolr.”

A sudden idea on where Freya had vanished to and how a young Dahlia had arrived appeared in his mind but Marcel ignored it along with the similarities of the child’s name, because it couldn’t be that.

The boy let out a frustrated growl instead of words.

“He's overtired, “ Dahlia and El said at the same time.

“I know that,” Finn snapped, aiming it at Dahlia as he tried to shift Kolr, “they all are.”

“Almost there.” El added brightly, appearly ignoring he tension and attempting to pull himself out of Dahlia’ hold, the movement brought Finn’s eyes to it and his glare darkened.

“He was almost crushed by the vehicles when I wasn't holding him.” Dahlia defended herself, and Finn’s eyes widened before he returned them to look at El for any injuries, “We have this vampire to thank for him remaining unharmed.” she added, returning Finn’s attention to him and Marcel was lost.

Dahlia and Finn working together? No doubt Freya was somehow involved but nothing explained the children, although it was clear the boys were related with their matching features.

He was torn over concern over Freya’s absence and the worry over the boy’s safety, neither Finn or Dahlia had a history of safety around children as far as Marcel knew and cared about.

They had fought to protect Hope from them and Marcel wasn’t okay leaving other innocent children to them, however before he could act another voice joined them.

“Marcel!” Freya’s voice called relief audible so much he knew her expression before he looked up.

He hadn’t had much time to get to know the long lost Mikaelson sister, besides the fact she had been desperate to escape Dahlia, willing to kill Klaus and himself for it but she had bonded with Rebekah quickly granting her the wish Klaus had forced Rebekah to give up, which had won her points with him.

He understood between Rebekah leaving and her own disappearance Freya had been working to get to know her brothers better and in the state both her in it was a harder task than normal, and relearn a world that had changed much in a century, so he stayed out of her way, at most communicating about Elijah and Klaus’ moods.

But he couldn’t help but see her siblings in her, the woman he loved and the men that raised him even, she was family, even if his own placement in it felt shaky and unsteady, and so her disappearance had worried him and seeing her walking toward him in his city settled a fear he hadn’t allowed himself to dwell on.

Freya smiled at him with relief, Marcel noted it looked like a mix of Rebekah’s and Elijah’s, before he noticed the exhaustion she was showing and what surrounded her.

She was holding a baby, dark haired maybe Hope’s age, in one arm while the other was holding the hand of a small blonde boy who was attached to a smaller blonde girl.

“Freya, where have you been? What happened?” he asked before adding, “It's been three months.” “Only three here.” she commented with surprise, and Marcel frowned.

“What happened?” he repeated,

“It’s a long story.” she sighed, however before she could start to explain her eyes landed on EL’s shoulder and she glared at Dahlia.

“He almost ran into traffic.” Dahlia explained, her tone bored, clearly unsurprised by the distrust and suspicion from her traveling companions. Leaving Marcel questioning why they would allow her near any of the children, if they had so little trust and why El seemed both unsurprised by it yet trusting of Dahlia.

“El, you shouldn't walk off.” Freya turned a stern look towards the boy. “Nicky and Becky look up to you and may copy-” she started but El interrupted

“It's in there.” El said firmly pointing across the road and Marcel followed the direction to the upper floor of the Abattoir, and Marcel realised it was exactly where Elijah's body lay.

Freya vanished with her pendant holding Finn’s soul and Elijah consciousness, apparently and here she was with a living Finn, so where was Elijah? His mind pushed.

Marcel looked at group Freya with a dark haired baby in her arms and a small blond boy and girl at her side, Finn with a restless dark hair boy on his hip, Dahlia, younger than Marcel met her as and the boy, long dark hair and Elijah's eyes.

El, Kolr, Nicky and Becky.

Elijah, Kol, Niklaus and Rebekah.

The numbers were adding up but Marcel's mind refused to accept the answer, it was harder to argue against as he took in two of the three teenagers following them, a younger looking Freya and Finn.

Not possible, he wanted to say for sure, but magic did what it wanted.

“Elijah?” He asked, hoping it would be met with confusion, and laughed off.

“El.” The boy corrected, pulling his gaze from the upper floor to look up at Marcel, a pair of brown eyes Marcel was very familiar with, stared up at him “we decided big Elijah keeps his name, to make it easier when we’re two.”

Marcel’s thoughts vanished at the answer, 

El clearly had enough waiting and moved his hand to hold Dahlia's and remove it from his shoulder so he could pull her into the now clear road. Finn followed, Kolr-the very small Kol Mikaelson, his mind pointed out, in his arms angrily chewing his sleeve.

Marcel had the sudden knowledge that the emptiness and silence he had stepped out to escape was about to be banished.

First it would likely be by Klaus' screams, he only hoped the man restrained himself in the presence of the children.

 The small blond boy of the group, ‘Nicky’ he remembered Freya calling him, smiled up at him shyly as he passed him, leading an even smaller blond girl, ‘Becky’ by the hand.

Tiny Niklaus and Rebekah his mind told him even as the words refused to make sense in his head but the sight in front of him didn't change.

Freya followed with the baby, a sharp pull at his chest made him realise that it was likely Henrik, the one bothe Klaus and Rebekah spoke of with aching hurt even after centuries gone, the boy whose death had started it all.

“It was for the best, bad things were going to happen.” the boy- Elijah- El had said, and Marcel couldn’t argue.

The three teenagers in the group gave him curious looks, as if they weren't getting those looks themselves as they walked with two goats on leads and a rolling suitcase between them.

They were a similar age to Davina when he found her at the harvest; young Freya, Finn and a red head he was sure was Sage, the woman he had only met in passing, attached to the family by a boxed Finn and Elijah's manners, he had thought but apparently enough to be brought forever in time with the rest.

Marcel pulled his phone from his pocket as he followed the group crossing the road, sending a message to Rebekah, who had taken Hope out for a walk.

Get back to the compound ASAP

| Firearm | Precipice | Internal Injury

Day 23 for @juneofdoom, yeah i still have 9 to go.

Second Chances - follows from directly from "Watch out!"

Also known as Niklaus Mikaelson and his many many siblings issues.

@theotherworld97 you wanted more.

----

Klaus had broken his paintbrush when he heard strangers enter his home, where his daughter lived and his brother was defenseless.

He was already planning their deaths when he arrived in the courtyard and froze as his focus narrowed to the two at the head of the group, familiar faces of recent enemies.

“Don’t move!” he snarled at Dahlia and Finn, “I don't know how you've returned but I will tear you apart before I allow you to touch my daughter.”

“Fear not, I am not here for your daughter.” Dahlia told him looking younger than he remembered, her hair in the braids common during his human life, it was that as well as the whine of a child that had him blinking out of his focus.

There was a child whining into his brother’s shoulder, Klaus’ eyes narrowed in on Finn’s hand carefully cradling the back of the child’s head.

He noticed with confusion that most the group were children, his recently returned and lost again older sister stand in the centre.

“Klaus,” Freya started but Klaus’ attention spilt, she was holding a dark-haired toddler in her arms, smaller but a almost match to the one in Finn's arms, movement from behind her brought Marcel followed by three teenagers and two goats, Marcel giving Klaus a confused look.

Two of the teenagers Klaus knew, it was hard to forget the girl that always stole his brother's attention, with her strikingly bright hair, or the Finn they used to, rarely, manage to get to play with them.

Two blonde children retreated from Freya’s side, as she took a step closer to him, to young Finn’s and Klaus found himself meeting his own eyes.

He stared at all the pieces of the puzzle in front of him but unable to comprehend what he was seeing until a little boy, who he had missed at Dahlia's side pulled himself free to stand in front of them all and Klaus felt like the golden daggered had been plunge into his chest again.

“Elijah.” His voice croaked in disbelief, the boy smiled at him the same way he used to when Klaus helped him collect berries or got something he had been teaching him.

Pure happiness and pride untainted by past hurts, because there weren't any this Elijah Klaus had never failed or disappointed.

“Niklaus, you grow up so big.” he exclaimed.

Not hard to say when he was so small, Klaus thought even though the idea of Elijah small seemed wrong, but he had to be, they were all children once and Klaus remembered his brother sharing his food with them on harsher seasons.

“Elijah?” He repeated stupidly, had he really ever been that small, “How?”

“We're getting a safer life.” The boy answered, not the question he asked but one he was thinking, “big me promised, and Freya and Finn too, a big family without the dangers of the wolves every month and training.” Little Elijah’s voice dropped into a whipher on the last word, and he knew why.

Klaus suddenly wished Mikael was alive, so he could kill him again as he remembered their training in a whole new light.

Why hurt and push them to be strong when he should have been the one protecting them? How could he have looked at Elijah like this and wanted to do anything other than care for him.

Before he could dwell on it any further Elijah started walking past him, eyes set on the stairs. 

“Stop,” he said, stepping in front of Elijah before he gets any further.

“You don't trust me?” Little Elijah asked suddenly, lips trembling, hurt in his eyes and Klaus wanted to take it back, this Elijah should never look at him like that.

He ignored the question of ‘when it became ok to get that look from Elijah?’ and swallowed.

“It's not you,” he told the boy, glancing at Finn and Dahlia, if Elijah left he would be out of Klaus’s sight, since Klaus couldn’t leave and who knew what either Finn or Dahlia had done, even if Freya could be trusted she likely had the others to watch over. “I don't trust your company.”

Tiny Elijah cocked his head to the side and looked up at him with a questioning glance and big confused eyes.

“We're family.” He said simply, “why wouldn't you trust family?”

Klaus wanted to wrap his little elder brother in a blanket and never allow the world to taint that belief, but Elijah no matter the age would never allow it.

“They-” he started, but Elijah didn’t let him finish 

“Auntie Dahlia helped me even when it was making her tired as well as me.” he explained, “And Finn's going to be our new father.”

Klaus caught the sound of Finn choking at the words as well as a muttered ‘not you too’.

“Big Elijah can help, I just need to wake him and he can fix everything.”

Klaus ground his teeth, he didn’t want to let the boy out of his sight but he couldn’t trust Dahlia or Finn to anyone else and needed an explanation from Freya. 

He also needed his Elijah back, he could trust him more than Freya in this. Dahlia was the woman that raised her, Finn was the sibling that knew her if anyone could sway her it would be them, either through fear or love.

‘Marcel,” he called, “take Elijah-”

“El.” Little Elijah interrupted him brightly.

“El,” he corrected before continuing, that would make it easier when there were two, he mentally noted “Up to Elijah’s room, if any looks wrong bring him back here.”

El didn't wait for Klaus to change his mind, setting off with determination while Marcel gave him a questioning look as he passed but followed the boy anyway.

He waited until Marcel and El vanished around the corner and out of view, El leading the way despite never having been here.

“So you were explaining Freya?” he prompted her, “Just where have you been and how did you collect this-” his demand died as he found his eyes fixed on the baby in her arms.

Watching Kol burn had been a nightmare but he’s never forgotten the feeling of Henrik growing limp in his arms and knowing it was too late. 

Yet Henrik's eyes were on him. It wasn't Henrik he told himself but it didn't help, it was a Henrik, one he could protect better this time, same with the Kol and Rebekah.

“I was trying to call our family’s ancestral magic to ask for the power to break the crescent curse and instead we woke up a thousand years ago.” she replied, readjusting her hold on Henrik.

“And you returned here with souvenirs,” he mocked, trying to keep the distance between them, even as his hand itched to take Kol or Henrik from them, to sweep Rebekah away and spoil her, given his younger self the best sketchbooks and paints.

Never let any of them feel doubt or fear ever again.

We're getting a safer life. Little Elijah had said that meaning they were staying, he could do all of what he wanted, but Klaus didn’t know if he could trust it.

“Elijah woke in his younger self’s body and we decided we couldn't leave them, not with Esther or Mikael while knowing how it would end for them.” Freya told him a hard look in her eyes and Klaus almost bristled, ‘knowing how it would end for them’ like she knew, Klaus had lived it.

Yet here Klaus was standing opposite them; A Finn who didn't hate them yet, a Rebekah who he hadn't made fear him, a Elijah he had never failed, a Kol who hadn't felt abandoned and left out and Henrik, who had a whole life ahead of him and wasn't dead by fourteen because his big brother failed to protect him.

Day 5 of @fluffyjuly

Second Chances

----

Finn will never admit to the flare of panic he felt then he found Elijah missing from the nest of blankets and sleeping children, it wasn't until he returned to the sleeping encampment from checking the goats pen that Finnbjorn, preparing to sleep himself spotted Finn's reaction and pointed him in the direction of the spot they had found early with a clearing in the tree canopy.

He found Elijah laying in the middle staring up at the sky, stargazing.

“Mind if I join you?” he asked, lowering himself to the ground at Elijah's slight nod.

He was reminded of his early memories, explaining to Elijah the names of the pictures in the sky and the stories that he knew, Elijah's quiet awe.

“I forgot how clear the skies used to be, no light pollution, no planes, no satellites.” Elijah confessed after several moments of quiet.

Back when the stars were sparks and embers of Muspellheimr, Finn thought, before the centuries of human development Finn had missed, forgotten in the dark of a coffin.

“You should be asleep.” Finn commented instead of speaking his thoughts, he wouldn't bring up the past when he had a future with Freya, one Elijah was going to be part of.

He shouldn't have been surprised, Freya had been ecstatic at the idea of another little sibling, singing to Elijah in mother’s stomach, telling Finn of their plans once they had a little brother, but over the years drowning in her loss and all the wrongs it made Finn see he had forgotten that.

“Finn, I may look like a child but I'm a thousand years old.” Elijah, of course, started to argue, pushing himself up to glare at Finn.

“Your body is a child’s and needs rest.” he replied firmly.

“I fail to see when that-” Elijah tried and Finn gave into the impulsive thought, cutting him off by picking him up and pulling him on his lap.

Finn would treasure the memory the squeak Elijah made at the sudden movement, and recall it the next time Elijah got on his nerves. 

Elijah's new placement also helped quiet the growing concern in Finn's head over if Elijah was warm enough. He wondered if Elijah even remembered how prone he was to illnesses as a child.

“Become my business?” he finished. "You’re my little brother,” he empathised the little while wrapping his arms around him in a hug, “No matter how old you get.”

Elijah snorted in disbelief and Finn refused to let himself fall into arguing with Elijah, it was asking to lose, either the argument or his temper, his brother was as good with words as the weapons father trained them.

“You said we were going to do better.” he replied, using Elijah’s own words and blaming Elijah’s current appearance and Freya’s return to his life for the ease they escaped.

Elijah was quiet in return as he gave up struggling to free himself.

Stubborn thousand year old brother or no, the body was that of a child and Elijah had been pushing himself more than he should have since they woke in the past.

Day 2 for @augustofwhump, this just kept growing

Second Chances, takes place before “Somebody had to do it.”     

---

“Well, well, what do we have here?” a woman’s voice cut through the silence of the woods, cloyingly sweet and almost convincing “dear one, did you get lost?”

Elijah twisted to find her walking alone, blood covering her throat and chest from where Finn must have ripped it out in his attempted rescue of Freya. Elijah forced himself not to roll his eyes, he knew Finn’s hatred of Dahlia and Freya’s fear made them both too emotional to think it through fully, it was why even though they had claimed to listen to him he had spilt away earlier.

Elijah didn’t exactly enjoy what he was going to do, he wouldn’t be able to trust her for years if ever but, they needed the extra power to safely take them back to where they came from and he still needed the crescent’s curse broken to free Hayley. Dahlia, her knowledge of the dark arts and the fact it was her magic that trapped the pack in the beast shape would be able to find a way to break it far faster.

“Hello aunt Dahlia.” he smiled at her surprise as she came to a stop to look at him. He wondered briefly if she was looking for any signs of his parents in his face. “I’m here to offer you a deal.”

She raised her brows as she looked, taking slow steps towards him. ‘cautious, smart,’ Elijah conceded of her but held his ground, keeping him smile even as he was annoyed to be reminded by his shortness when he was forced to look up to maintain eye contact.

“Really?” she smiled back, the expression mirroring his own fake one, while her tone screamed patronizing. “A deal with me?”

“One that would be the best for both of us.” he offered as she drew close enough to reach him, well aware he was out matched, even with what little magic this body had she was an adult and first born witch.

He had knowledge, she had power; this return to his child-human body had been a lesson, he had grown far too used to having both.

“You're not the child you should be.” she said with realisation and he refused to react as she laid a hand on his shoulder, nails digging though the fabric “Tell me”she hissed, “did my Freya bring you here to save her, along with that beast.” 

“Not your Freya.” he told her simply, wanting to ask her how she could tell who they were by a touch but deciding to save that for a later time, if all went as he wanted they would have time for those kinds of questions.

“Oh?” she hummed, and Elijah refused to shift as she caught on quicker than he planned, he had hoped to use her confusion to his advantage. “That would explain the strange echo, you arrived a few months ago?” she asked not waiting for an answer “You, the beast that must be your Finn and another Freya.”

“Yes,” he replied, noting the difference in how she spoke of Finn and Freya, ‘no matter what happened, Dahlia was not moving from this spot with a claim on either Freya’ he reminded himself. “Traveling on foot with a collection of children took us time or we would have been here far sooner.”

“Children?” her eyes narrowed.

“We weren’t leaving the children with their former parents” he shrugged “given how that turned out for us, were we?”

“Oh was the brute who murdered and enslaved our village not the perfect father, what a surprise.” she mocked.

“Niether was the woman who cared for herself and appearance first.” he corrected, perhaps due to his last few moments with his parents, or the recent fresh look at them when they were all human but her tone caused a flicker of defense for Mikael to arise, the man was a terrible father but Esther wasn’t any better.

Both their love was selfish and left scars.

Dahlia failed to hide the look of anger that flashed across her face, Elijah could have assumed it was due to the mention of the woman that betrayed her but as much as he hated it, he understood, even after years of resenting Esther, Dahlia still loved her, the memory of the little girl she grew up with.

Elijah felt the same for Klaus, even after every horror and cruelty he inflicted onto the world and their family.

“So my siblings and I decided we would do better raising them in a world far from this point in time and couldn’t leave young Freya behind.” he told her, appearing to ignore her slip up before adding “unlike mother we family sticks together.”

“You believe you can take them back to whence you came.”she said calmly as if the final words hadn’t touched her but Elijah noticed the new tightness in her mask. “What did your parents think about that?” she asked and Elijah was hit with a stabbing wave of anger.

His siblings had been his responsibility for far longer than either of his parents had them, he raised them as best he could when he was a child himself and this time he could do it better, without their interference making it harder.

“What they think doesn’t matter. They attempted to follow and were dealt with.” he said coldly, aware she had managed to bring a sharpness out he hadn’t wanted to show, his parents were a sore point he wanted to finish with. “I’ve lived through their failures and I refuse to let them happen again.”

“That's why your brother attacked me?” she smiled, eyes drifting down to see his shaking fists. 

He forced himself to calm down, this body showed his reactions far too openly and a strong emotion could wake El and he didn’t need to see any of this, Elijah had been trying to avoid letting his younger self see too much in his mind.

“I warned them.” he sighed, the put-upon brother who had to fix his siblings' mistakes was a familiar act, even if it was a new version of it. “You're too powerful for that to work, but neither were thinking logically when it came to you.”

“So you came here to bargain with me after your brother’s attempt on my life failed?” she replied.

“We are not bargaining.” he told her firmly, “I offer you a deal, and you either accept it or lose.”

“Freya is mine.” Dahlia laughed, it was bitter and cold. “Do not mistake me for some bleeding heart, who would bow at some sob story of parental failings.”

“Don’t underestimate us,” he mirrored her, “I may be trapped within this body but Finn and Freya are not so handicapped, you’ve already felt the bit of my brother’s teeth.” Elijah grinned gesturing to her blood stained clothes. “The man who’s hated you since you stole his sister from him and the woman who’s so recently gained her freedom from you, they’ve been plotting your death since we agreed to give our younger selves a better chance."

“Then why are you here?” Dahlia asked, cocking her head to the side. “If you're so confident in your siblings, why come to me?”

“The additional power from you would prevent too much falling on either Freya and ensure all of us make it to the future.” he explained, offering her the honest truth.

She blinked at him, clearly not expecting it.

“Why would I accept anything? I already one deal with your mother-”

“She’s not our mother,” he snapped “Esther from my home is dead, died killing yo,u as if that made up for any of the countless failing and harm she left on us, may she stay that way and your Esther, the one from here, has no children, and as such no claim to have sold off their firstborns.”

“Freya is still bound to me, linked.” she countered

“Until we break that,” he replied. “and our Freya has years of experience that you haven't yet and if we can not, she’ll never give you a child. Your coven-family will remain the pair of you; two people broken by the same woman resenting and hurting.”

“And your alternative?” she hissed,

“Win.” he said simply, catching her eyes, showing her nothing but honestly, it was a manipulation but nothing he said would be a lie. “You can be in her children’s life, be loved by them where Esther and Mikael are nothing but a faint memory. Live in a world where those that took and harmed you are history, dust, bone and stories. Where even those that carried the memories of them are gone.”

“You wish to bring me along with you?” she asked, and Elijah almost smiled at the glimpse of longing for the picture of the world he was painting. 

She may be resentful and suspicious, lashing out at the world that hurt her to protect herself but loneliness was a bone deep ache that Elijah was painfully familiar with and any chance to escape that hell was hard to ignore. 

He was offering her what Esther had taken from her and more.

“Family is family and while those that claim parentage by blood have proven to me they don’t deserve the title, you have not.”

“I don’t believe your siblings agree with your opinion.” she gestured to her throat, he shrugged, suddenly reminded that her hand was still on his shoulder.

“They’ll have to learn,” he told her, a smile creeping back onto his face, as she still looked at him with suspicion, his words too good to be true. “Besides my younger siblings and I have made many enemies in the future, while Finn and Freya were otherwise occupied, bringing the children with us makes them targets for those enemies, an additional witch with your knowledge and power isn’t something to turn away.” 

He would tell her about fixing the crescent curse once they were back home.

“So I give up my claim of Freya and the firstborns for words and promises that can easily be taken away.” she summarized, his more pragmatic answer seemed to have settled the suspicion at least. “I require more than that.”

“Immortality.” he offered, forcing himself not to chuckle as the offer got him open shock.

“What?”

“The curse mother placed on my siblings and I, the monster you saw Finn has become, comes with it.” He explained “Once I'm returned to my original body, you may form a link with me, granting you that immortality without the thirst for blood as well as the ability to channel the power that exists within me. You would be safe from harm and stronger than now, is that a fairer trade.” he asked ignoring the knowledge that any future channeling would likely be unpleasant for him.

“You for your sister, a coven of witches instead of firstborns.” she clarified. 

“And Mikael and his ilk, a faint memory of a bygone age.” he added “Esther unable to harm you ever again.”

He knew he had her when she sighed.

“You are aware something is needed to seal the deal, if I'm to revolve my claim on the family’s firstborns and free Freya,” she said, withdrawing the hand from his shoulder to give him a full look over, and he refused to wonder what she was seeing. “I’ll need assurance that you won’t break the deal, kill me or abandon me here.” She held her hand out to him and he could feel the magic gathering behind it as she prepared a spell “You understand of course.”

“Of course.” he nodded, offering her his hand. “However I remind you, we’re taking the children to spare them the harm they would have endured otherwise from Esther and Mikael, not so they could take it from you.”

“The child is aware within you?” she asked as she took it.

“Yes, he’s been most opinionated on Auntie Dahlia.” he answered, mimicking El’s choice of title for her, as she muttered an incarnation that did nothing to him, leading him to understand it was breaking her link to Freya. “We grew up without a parent that looked like us,” he added after she stopped “he was very interested when I told him we took after you.”

Elijah smiled at the look of surprise she gave him, before she started another spell, this one he felt wash over him.

“Done.” she announced as she let go of his hand. 

“Once I’m returned to my body we shall transfer the link so your link will remain between us and El will be free.” He reminded her.

“Of course,” she replied, before adding “El?” 

“Two Elijahs would make things confusing.” he said, “The younger ones choose new names when we explain things.”

“You’ll have to introduce me,” she told him, offering her hand to him as they started toward where he knew he had left the others and she had likely felt Freya had been taken “I only know the names your- Esther chose for you all.”

| Weak | Embrace | Miscalculation

Day 27 for @juneofdoom, 8 to go after this

Second Chances - Rebekah returned to the compound after Marcel's text, the dramatic are past but she has her own things to deal with.

---

Rebekah had returned to the compound as quick as she could, with Hope, the moment she got Marcel's text.

She had a feeling she had missed whatever confrontation Marcel was concerned about when she arrived to silence but her search for either Klaus or Marcel was stopped suddenly when she saw them.

A pair of goats tethered in the center of the courtyard, grazing at the new grass that had grown better the cracks of the stone.

The same kind she had grown up with a thousand years ago, in fact- her eyes narrowed and she found herself stepping closer to them, Hope in her arms.

Short black pointing straight up, black and white shaggy hair, the larger of the two looked just like one she remembered from her childhood. She only remembered it so clearly because of how heartbroken she had been to find her dead.

“Rebekah.” Klaus called, appearing a little away from her, in vampire speed, to sweep Hope into his arms, Rebekah allowed him, confused when she realised the reason he stopped a few steps from her was so he wouldn't startle the goats.

“Is that-” she started, question faltering at the sheer ridiculousness of it, “it looks like Nettles.”

“It is Nettles.” he replied,

“Nettles died over a thousand years ago.” she reminded him, the memory of going to feed her that morning, just when they all thought she was starting to recover, to find her dead had been heartbreaking to her seven year old self.

“And that,” he told her,  “it would seem, was where our siblings were.”

All concerns about the goats vanished as she turned her full attention to him.

“What?” she demanded, “Wait Freya's back? Elijah woke up? Are they alright?” 

why hadn't he started with that, why hadn't Marcel?

“Rebekah.” the voice she had been dreaming of healing, since she had returned to find him still, body empty despite her best attempts to find him within his mind, called her name.

“Elijah” she breathed when she turned and saw him.

She was in front of him at an almost vampire speed pulling him into a hug, his hand settled on the back of her neck as he hugged her back.

She held onto the embrace a little longer than necessary,

“I'm so sorry.” she muttered it into his shoulder.

He pushed her away, just enough to look her in the face, a confused frown on his.

“What do you have to apologise for?” 

‘So many things’ she wanted to shout, returning to find him gone without being lost had made her rethink.

She shouldn't have left him after everything Klaus had done to them, expecting him to pick up the pieces and manage their brother while Hayley was still cursed, disregarding his feelings for Gia completely before her ashes were even cold.

Every time Klaus had killed her lovers and friends Elijah had offered her a shoulder to cry on and she discovered while sitting alone in his room that she hadn't repaid that kindness anywhere near as equally. Gai was just the latest with Rebekah putting her own feelings for Hayley and her wish for them over Elijah's grief.

“I left you when-” she started but of course her selfless brother cut her off before she could even finish the first.

“No, you were looking for a way to bring Kol back, you have nothing to apologise for, unlike someone.”

Klaus glared but holding Hope was held back from anything else and Rebekah had to wonder what had happened. 

Klaus had spent much of the time since she returned to the city, when not with Hope, pleading for Elijah to wake up or searching for those responsibility and yet Elijah was returned and he had gone back to as it was before, why couldn't get brother ever learn from things.

“I'm putting Hope to bed.” Klaus told them instead.

Rebekah saw the longing in Elijah's face as he watched Klaus walk away with Hope and told herself she was to make sure he would get the day with their niece tomorrow, after he told her everything.

“I'll set up a second crib in the nursery, tomorrow.”

She looked between her brothers in sheer confusion at the word,’why would they need a second crib?’ But the surprise in Elijah meant he understood what he was talking about and hadn't been expecting Klaus' offer.

“Niklaus?” Elijah asked softly, Rebekah could almost hear the hope in his voice, Elijah had never been able to give up on Klaus for long because deep down Niklaus was a good caring brother.

“They’re my family too” Klaus said as he stopped at the top of the stairs, “you can raise them but I won't let you raised them anywhere else, I'll even put up with her.” he spat the last word before swallowing his sudden anger and finishing with  “Henrik and Hope will grow up together.”

“Henrik?” The name cracked in her throat, the same way it had shaken when Klaus said it.

“Henry,” Elijah corrected softly “we’re calling him Henry now.”

“What?” her voice squeaked as her mind failed to make any sense of their words besides the impossible.

“I have a lot to tell you sister” Elijah told her a warm smile growing “and several people who can't wait to meet you in the morning.”

—

Half an hour later she had torn herself from Elijah’s side, leaving him with another glass of blood and strict intrusions to drink it before she excused herself.

Given his look he knew where she was going but did nothing to call her back, she forced herself to pass Elijah’s room no matter how much she wanted to see those in there, ELijah had pressed their need for sleep and she refused to risk waking them.

Instead she had gone to Freya’s part expecting the returned Finn, her Finn, not the young one, to be standing guard but he was absent. She opened the door carefully, ignoring the sleeping Dahlia, who she had been firmly warmed away from by Elijah and crept to the bed, Freya, the one she had missed and worried about for the last few months.

Her long lost sister was curled on the bed, around a makeshift nest for another long lost sibling- no that wasn’t quite right.

| Obsession | Fight | Revenge

Day 29 @juneofdoom, two to go

Second Chances - Klaus thoughts following “When will you learn?”

----

Klaus hadn’t wanted a fight.

He had missed his brother, spent months pleading for him to wake up and Elijah had returned with a miracle; to give their siblings a better chance, to see Henrik again even if it was just in the face of another who would grow up differently.

Yet as he returned to their normal back and forth where they would argue and Elijah would find a way to calm him and talk him into a compromise, Elijah hadn’t.

Elijah had met him were equal, if not more rage, it was like a dance but his partner had changed the steps, he was floundering as Elijah watched throughout it all.

Klaus isn’t sure what was worst the indifference Elijah showed him beyond the anger or Elijah saying all the words Klaus himself was trying to ignore.

“I'm blaming you for Kol.” he had said and Klaus shouldn’t have dared him, he knew Elijah always saw more than they liked and could always cut deep with his words and disappointment, but he hadn’t thought Elijah would go that far.

 In all the time he had waited for Elijah, watching his still body he had forgotten how angry his brother had been, over Hayley and Gia, this was different- or perhaps just the end point.

The straw that broke the camel’s back.

“I’ll never stop.” Elijah had once hissed, he’d never give up on Klaus and Klaus had taken that as a challenge to see how far he could push him, push them all and it seems he had finally managed it; Kol dead, Rebekah refusing to live under the same roof as him and now Eijah had only returned because the compound was better suited to raise the children.

He had mocked Elijah’s obsession with his redemption but clung to it at the same time, because as long as Eliah had hope for him he wasn’t lost. Now he may have lost it and his brother and family with it.

He’s not a fool, he knows how easy it would be for Elijah to find and buy another home, take the miracles away and barely let Klaus see them, leave Klaus behind and alone on the outside of their new family.

He didn’t want that, couldn’t have that; little Henrik was at a similar age as hope, they could grow up together; his younger self was free to explore art in the modern world and Klaus should get to be the one to show him. 

He wanted to spoil them all; get Rebekah the prettiest dresses and Kol, those light up shoes he would love and El some comfortable clothes and see him first discover the range of modern instruments. 

He wished to take Young Finn, Freya and even Sage to a store just to see what they would pick and buy it for them.

He couldn’t have them move out, would find a way to convince Elijah to stay, prove he had changed, that he could on his own without Elijah dragging him there.

The compound has always been filled with empty rooms and now they had the chance to fill it with warmth and laughter, and he’d finally get to see what he could have been like without Mikael- see what they all could have been without their parents turning them into monsters.

He just needed to show Elijah he had learnt his lesson, learnt he had gone too far and would never do it again.

| Sleep Deprivation | Shackle | Injury Reveal

Day 26 @juneofdoom, 3 to go

Second Chances - Follows "Don't Move!" and "I don't feel so good." Elijah gets his new family settled and Klaus attempts to take control fail

---

Elijah is unsurprised to arrive at Klaus antagonising Freya and Finn, he is surprised however to find Dahlia knelt by the newly tethered goats doing something which had the children's and teen’s attention.

Grass and weeds bloomed and grew in the cracks to Becky’s audible delight and Elijah pretended no to see the flicker of pain in Dahlia's expression in response, possibly remembering his mother at the same age.

“Bed, children!” he announced his arrival, interrupting Klaus latest words and he spun around to see him.

“Elijah.” Niklaus called softly but Elijah ignored him, focusing on the others.

“Elijah?” Several young voices questioned. 

“Yes,” he answered them, taking the steps slowly, “El helped me return to my body.”

“Where is he?” young Freya, Faye as she had chosen days ago, demanded 

“Sleeping, as should you all be.” he answered, while he walked over to Finn, asking his brother for the crying Kolr’ with a look.

Finn handed him over eagerly, not that Elijah blamed him, he had been trying to sooth a increasingly upset Kol’r for over a hour now.

“E-el-li-jah” Kolr hiccuped through tears and Elijah hummed rocking him slightly as he returned to the stairs, poor Kolr was in the worst state than the other because he had been far too fascinated by everything on the plane to sleep.

“Kolr, can you do something very important for me?” Elijah asked, smiling softly as Kolr’s cries died away at the request, looking at Elijah with big wet eyes, “can you cuddle El and make sure he has a long good sleep?”

Kolr nodded, his restlessness now focused in a direction and no doubt with how tired he was he would fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

Elijah's attention was taken from Kolr when another stepped close and he found himself looking down at his older brother.

“You grew up well, Elijah.” Finnbjorn smiled as he took Kolr from him, and Elijah refused to show how much the words hit him, instead he gave Finnbjorn, Faye and Sage, who each had Becky and Nicky, direction to his room where El was.

Elijah would have led them there himself, wanted to, held Kolr for as long as he could, settled each of the little ones into bed but he couldn’t. He had the ‘adults’ to deal with so he sent them off with a smile.

“Dahlia can stay in my guest room-” he started once he rejoined them on the ground floor.

“No.” Freya interrupted, “she's not staying next to the kids alone.”

“Your alternative?” He asked instead of arguing.

“She can stay in mine for the night, where I can watch her.” she told him and he blinked.

“You'll be watching her while you sleep?” He replied, “you’re both as exhausted as the children.”

Elijah gave into the urge and reached out to rest a hand on Henry's cheek, wanting to hold him himself but had to acknowledge doing so would only unnerve Freya more, with Dahlia so close.

That was going to take work, but as he was going to get along with Finn after he helped mother torture him and killed Kol, Freya and Finn were going to learn to accept her.

“I'll keep watch.” Finn promised before Freya could retort, then turn to glare at Dahlia, “what about the link?”

“We'll complete the change as promised in the morning,” Elijah answered for her.

“You want me to stay linked to El, to lessen any lash back from your leaving him.” Dahlia realised, before nodding and turned back to the other two with a smile.  “Well then, my dear niece and nephew lead the way, the sooner we get our heads down, the sooner I can unlink from your new eldest son, isn't it?”

Freya and Finn glared at the taunting but Freya started to lead and Finn offered Dahlia an arm.

Leaving him with Niklaus and the pair of goats, happily eating the grass Dahlia had encouraged to grow though the stones.

Get goat feed, he added it to the top of his to-do list, sure he could order something online, if not find a local keeper to speak to.

“You can't mean to think I'll let that witch or Finn stay here.” Klaus' voice hit him, pulling from lighter planning to the issue he was avoiding , thankfully waiting until the children had left, and Elijah let his smile drop.

The Issue, as it commonly was, was Niklaus

“I fail to see why who I invite to stay in Our house depends on your desires,” he said words sharp, a warning that he knew Klaus would only take as a challenge, “the reverse has certainly never mattered.”

“My daughter-” Klaus started

“Aunt Dahlia” Elijah used the familial title just to see Klaus bristle, “has never met your daughter and given up her claim on our first borns and Finn will have have his hands filled with our children.”

He almost frowned at the strangeness of saying it outloud but kept his expression neutral.

“Your- you plan on raising them with Finn-” Klaus began but Elijah cut him off

“And Freya,” he explained, well aware he wouldn’t have managed to cope with being alone with Finn without her “we've both wanted children and those children deserve better parents, why not?”

“They're us.”

“No.“ Elijah allowed the neutral expression to frown, “they could have grown into us, and will certainly look like us but they're going to grow up in a safer time and so into different people, better people.”

Elijah turned his back and started up the stairs, planning to check on the children before he found his laptop and started preparing for them; goat food first, but then children food and clothes, arranging vaccinations and medical check ups, possible schools.

“I refuse.” Klaus voice once again interrupted his planning

 “When will you learn?” he asked as Klaus followed him up the stairs.

“Learn what?” His brother sneered.

“Learn that the world doesn't revolve around you.” he replied with matching sneer, shifting his expression into disappointed as he added “I suppose I'm to blame for that I failed to get you to realise our family doesn't centre around you, and because of that out family is much smaller than it should be.”

“You blame me for Henrik” Klaus accused, and Elijah arched his eyebrows because he hadn’t been thinking of Henrik, at all, with that comment.

Elijah wondered if Klaus had ever really gotten past that day, grown up beyond that or was part of him stuck in the moment he came home carrying their littlest brother's body home, begging mother to fix it.

“No,” he answered “I'm blaming you for the lovers we could have still and the friends you killed out of spite or jealousy, I'm blaming you for Father-” 

“Mikael-” Klaus interrupted him but Elijah spoked over him.

“Was our father, even if you made such a fuss of blood, he was Freya's dream and comfort while trapped with the woman who stole and tormented her, and you made her watch that, taunting us all about it.

“He beat me.” Klaus recited the same line he always had.

“He hurt us all” Elijah snapped, remembering the lashing from his first evening in the past, the bruises Mikael had unknowingly left on Becky and Kolr’s wrists the morning before they had packed up and left for good. “but once again you were all that mattered.”

“We needed Viking ash.” Klaus protested.

“There were other ways but you refused to think of them, beyond your own grudge.”

He laughed suddenly as he realised what he had done, allowed himself to get distracted to save Klaus from the words that would truly hurt him.

“Even now I'm trying to spare your feelings and protect you,” he admitted humourlessly “do you want the truth?”

“Go ahead.” Klaus sneered, no doubt believing nothing Elijah could say would hurt him, but then Niklaus always had a misguided option of his emotional strength.

“I'm blaming you for Kol.” He said and watched the words stab at Klaus, the way he failed to hide the flinch “For the mess in Mystic falls where you decided to play with the Salvatores and Miss Gilbert. And for the reason we don't have him with us now as you made Rebekah and I dance to your tune and betray Davina stealing his chance to come back.”

“We needed Esther-” Klaus' voice trailed away at Elijah's glare. They had been over that, Klaus putting his wants before looking for any other plan, they could have come up with an alternative.

Elijah had proven Dahlia could have been dealt with, abit with a far younger Dahlia, Elijah understood what it was like to be betrayed, used and ignored by an ungrateful younger siblings.

Niklaus truly took after their mother.

“So you've just decided to replace me.” Niklaus accused, the fire of rage smothered leaving hurt and bitterness, maybe it would have been enough to soften him before, to falsely believe Niklaus had learned and would change. 

Not this time, he had given in to many time before and his brother just grew worse, Elijah would need proof.

Instead Elijah listened to the quiet muttering on the other side of the door as Nicky ended to argument between Kolr and Becky over who got to sleep next to El while trying to argue with Finnbjorn that he should stay up to watch, an innocent calm that his siblings and he had lost long before Mikael killed them for Esther's spell.

“Does that Henrik and Kol,” he gestured to the door “make ours any less dead?” Elijah asked, ignoring how Klaus flinched at the words more than the coldness he said them with “This is a second chance for them, we are already long past ours.”

Elijah walked away, refusing to look at his brother anymore, the sad teary eyes and trembling lips.

“Where are you going?” Klaus hissed, at least keeping his voice down so not to bother the children.

“To search for a new home” he commented “ as we're not welcome here, apparently, there must be a safer place to raise children in the city.”

| Disoriented | Fainting | Blurred Vision

Day 24 for @juneofdoom, still going, four left after this

Second Chances - follows "Don't Move!"

----

Marcel followed the child silently, since he clearly knew where he was going. He tried not to look at him too much to see the man he knew. 

He had watched as Klaus after months of being a partially foul tempered rock to all but the few moments Marcel had caught him with Hope, melted with one look.

“We're getting a safer life.” The kid had said meaning the group was likely staying but Marcel was hoping he would be able to just see them as kids and not as a glimpse into humans the originals were, not the people who raised him, who he loved and who he tormented him used to be.

As they entered Elijah’s room Marcel felt himself tense, like it did every time he had as despite having owned the compound for nearly a century, it felt wrong to trespass since Elijah had reclaimed them. 

There was also the other reason which seemed to affect the boy as he stopped steps from the bed staring at the body on the bed, Elijah looked like a corpse and for Marcel, Klaus and Rebekah without the Dagger it was a little too real. 

“Is that really-” the boy trailed off, stepping closer, “I'll look like that?”

“You didn't know what you looked like?” Marcel asked before he rethought it, how could he know what Elijah looked like when Elijah was apparently in his head.

“He was a voice and bad-sad feelings controlling my body, he sounded older when he was thinking but other than that he was me.” El explained, and Marcel briefly wondered if being aware of another controlling his body was anything like being compelled before pushing it away to the never think about box in his mind

“Healthier.” Marcel answered El’s question instead, Elijah's body hadn't drunk anything in several months which was visible in the greying skin.

El gave him an intense look, judging if he was being honest as Marcel was familiar with that look from his older self, before nodding and turning back to the body taking a step closer.

“I don't feel so good.” El muttered suddenly disoriented, swaying , Marcel watched in shock as he dropped in a faint.

In a moment everything changed, El stumbled reaching out to the bed to catch himself and touching Elijah's hand, then in the blink if an eye, Elijah was standing, El in his arms.

“Elijah, are you-” he started to speak but it was clear all of Elijah attention was on his younger self

“Elijah?” El called tentatively.

“Yes,” Elijah smiled, “you did excellently, now it's time for you to rest.” Elijah said gently as he placed El on the bed, where he-his body had been laying moments before.

“But-” the boy tried to argue as Elijah pulled the sheet up to tuck him in.

“No.” Elijah said softly, bending down to smooth the boy's hair from his face and place a kiss on his forehead, “you've done your task, sleep and in the morning it will be a new world for you.”

“Safe?” El yawned, losing his battle to stay awake.

“Yes,” Elijah promised, and Marcel watched as he ran a hand over his head for a few moments until El’s breathing evened.

“Time to put the others to bed and deal with Niklaus.” Elijah announced quietly as he straightened from the bed and turned to him, “Marcellu-”he started before correcting himself “Marcel could you collect a few of the spare blankets and pillows and bring them here.”

“You're putting them all in your room?” he asked as he got the meaning behind the request.

“The children, at least until we can arrange suitable rooms and beds although even after that they may share for a while.”

“You don't plan on going back to your loft?” Marcel questioned, Rebekah had been staying there since her return to the city still too angry at Klaus about his actions to stay at the compound with him, even if she wasn't leaving him completely without siblings.

“Of course not,” Elijah replied and Marcel caught the bite in his words, unsurprising considering he hadn't fed in months as his hunger made his words sharper, it was impressive Elijah had managed to hide it with the kid, “that's hardly a place to raise so many children let alone have myself and Finn or Freya and Dahlia in such close quarters.”

“So you're moving back here, with them?” Marcel asked, “Klaus isn’t-”

“This is as much my home as Niklaus’,” Elijah cut him off, annoyance loud and old, making Marcel wonder how long he had been holding the sentiment as he continued, “I don't need permission. He certainly has never asked me and I'm finished with catering to his whims and insecurities.”

Marcel watched Elijah his anger at Klaus still as clear as before, Marcel would have thought the time apart would have calmed Elijah rage at Klaus as it always had, yet it was still there. Freya's surprise at the time passed made it seem that to them it had been longer yet Elijah was far angrier than Klaus remained despite it normally being Elijah's temper that calmed first.

“That's going to start arguments.” He warned Klaus wouldn't take well to being challenged, let alone allowing any Finn or Dahlia near Hope.

“He’ll have to mind his temper and words around the children,” Elijah said, scorn as visible as it was before Gia's body had cooled, “it will be good practice before Hope gets to the age she'll start to remember things.”

“He's been doing well with Hope,” he defended, Hope was the only person untouched by Klaus’s anger and worry, “since you vanished or whatever.”

“That's because she's new, how long until he grows bored?” Elijah asked before turning his back and walking away. Marcel found himself shaking with rage at the dismissal, the disrespect and even as he understood Elijah’s reason and rush to return downstairs, the words cut at something Marcel had been holding for a long time. 

“He wasn't the one that grew bored of me.” Marcel snapped wincing as soon as he said it.

Elijah stopped stifferning.

“No,” he admitted slowly, before he started moving again, adding “he's just the one who undaggered Kol because he wasn't the centre of attention.”

Marcel was frozen for a moment as the words worked their way into his mind to make more sense than he liked. He shook himself of them and left to get the bedding, Elijah may be a dick but he was thinking of the kids when he asked.

—

By the time Marcel returned to the room, with the collection of blankets and pillows, it had become filled.

Marcel found El still laying in the centre of the bed with Kolr already asleep curled beside him, his face in El's chest and with Reb-Becky behind him slowly blinking as sleep claimed her as well.

Little Kla- Nicky was kneeling on the bed behind Becky having what looked to be a silent battle of wills with the young Finn given the staring between.

“Elijah took me to bring you some bedding.” Marcel explained as he entered the room.

“Who are you?” Finn asked without moving from the bed, as the only redhead in the room, Sage, stepped to him to take the bedding, before shaking his head and rewording the question “I mean what are you to them?” 

Marcel smothered the instinctual urge to bristle at the direction of the questions, reminding himself they're children before he snapped but a voice saved him from answering at all.

“He's family.” Elijah said, firmly without opening his eyes before yawning and falling back to sleep.

Marcel watched as the suspicion faded from young Finn's eyes while Nicky, if anything looked more curious, and ignored the fullness those words caused in his heart.

El, who had had Elijah in his head, only knew him from Elijah memories and yet there wasn't a speck of doubt in his words.

Marcel left after that as Sage set up a bed of her own with the blankets, Freya joined the others on the bed, draping an arm over El, Kolr and resting her hand on Becky while Young Finn sat on the end of the bed and Nicky sat watching above the others at the top of the bed.