A\N: For this story Marcel never became an original, therefore the Original family was never put to sleep. This starts three years after the season seven finale of TVD.

•

"Sacrifice, that's what we do

For the people we love."

Caroline's feet pounded against the earth, as her heart pounded against her rib cage. Too slow, all this supernatural speed and she was going to be too slow.

Her hair caught on a branch and she felt the strands rip from her scalp. She barely noticed, it didn't matter. Nothing would matter if she didn't get to that trailer.

She broke through a layer of foliage and caught sight of the glow from the trailer in the dark woods.

She ran faster, pushing her abilities to their limits. Caroline came to a abrupt stop and ripped open the trailer door. Relief like nothing she'd ever known hit her.

Josie and Lizzie sat on the floor of the trailer, watching a cartoon on their portable DVD player. They had spilled gummy bears across the ugly orange carpet. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

They stared at her as she jumped into the trailer, pulling the door shut behind her. She kneeled next to them. They didn't have much time now.

"Mom, you're bleeding," Josie said.

"I know, honey," she tried to smile. "Do you remember the picture I showed you?"

They both nodded.

"Good. Find him," she said. "Do you understand? Don't trust anybody, just find him. Alright?"

Lizzie's "yes" and Josie's "okay" chimed at the same time.

Caroline kissed each of their foreheads, trying to memorize her baby girl's faces, who knew when she would see them again... if she would see them again. "I love you, whatever happens, I love you."

They nodded, fear clear in their eyes even if they didn't know what exactly it was they were afraid of.

Caroline reached into her pocket for the small vile filled with the dark powder.

"Wait!" Josie grabbed her teddy bear.

Caroline smiled sadly at the faded old bear clutched to her daughter's chest. "Look out for each other, okay? I'll come find you soon."

They nodded and grabbed each others hand.

Caroline shook the powder into her hand and took one last look at her daughters before she blew the powder onto them. Her vision was filled with a blinding light and her ears rung with the after shock of the spell.

Only a moment after she regained her vision the trailer door crashed in.

A black eyed man stood there panting. "Where are they?"

She smiled as the adrenaline faded and hysteria started to set in. "They're gone," she laughed. "They're gone."

They were gone, it had worked... They were safe.

A snarl was the last thing she heard before everything went black.

"Stop! Please just stop," she almost whimpered. "Enzo, please."

"You have one chance," his voice was flat, completely emotionless. His olive skin was an unhealthy grey. "Get out of my way." The emptiness in his eyes was so unfamiliar to her, it was like she was looking at a stranger. That wasn't the man that read the Iliad to her, or tried with little success to teach her how to play guitar. That wasn't the man she loved.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. She threw her arms out, throwing power felt a lot like making waves in a lake, pushing the magic away from herself like water. The force hit him, throwing him back, into a tree with a force that would have killed a human.

She could see the confusion on his face. "You don't have your magic."

"This isn't my magic," her eyes fell shut as she felt the magic building up in her, like shaking a soda bottle, as soon as she popped that lid it would all rush out.

She thrust her hand forward, his eyes rolled back in his head as he began to convulse. She slowly closed her fingers, struggling for a long moment to close her fist completely, but as soon as she did he went limp.

She collapsed by his side, tears welled up in her eyes at the sight. "I'm sorry," she choked out, shaking her head as she gasped for air through the tears that wouldn't stop.

She had to get him to the boarding house, she had to make sure he couldn't get out, and start a tracking spell to find Damon... But despite the logical part of her screaming to get these things done she couldn't manage to move, she couldn't do anything but sit there on the cold earth and stare at what was left of the love of her life.

The morning sun shone brightly on the French Quarter. Klaus had decided to take a walk to get away from Bekah's endless rambling about redecorating. As usual the streets were alive with a myriad of music and art. Someone was playing the violin a few streets over, a girl had set up an easel on the sidewalk to paint the morning.

The streets were always filled with delicious smells at this time of day. Bakeries were putting out fresh bread and brewing coffee, there was also the scent of blood coming from somewhere. And... witches, sort of. There was something strange about that particular scent.

He glanced around and finally saw where it was coming from. Two girls no older than Hope ran down the sidewalk across the street. One of them glanced up and met his gaze. She stopped suddenly, reaching out with the hand that wasn't holding tight to a faded teddy and grabbed one of the other girl's braids, effectively halting her.

She pointed at Klaus. The other girl glanced at him then nodded.

They linked hands and walked to the edge of the street, looking both ways before they hurried across the street and straight for him.

Klaus glanced behind him, but no one else was looking at the children.

They walked right up to him and stared for a long moment. "You know it is very rude to stare," he spoke when it appeared theory weren't going to.

One of the girls finally nodded. "Yup, you're the right one."

Klaus frowned. "Do you know me?"

"Nope," one of the girls said happily.

Klaus got down on one knee so he was eye level with them. "Then may I ask what you two are doing speaking to a stranger?"

Honestly, they had managed to find the most dangerous person in the French Quarter to talk to.

"Our mom told us to," the one on the left said.

"Yup, we promised," chimed the one to the right.

"Oh? And who is your mother?" Klaus asked truly baffled as to who would trust their children's lives to him. They were witches, but the New Orleans coven would sooner use their children as blood sacrifices than send them to him.

The two shared a look then crossed their arms in unison. "We aren't supposed to tell that to strangers."

Klaus raised his eyebrows. "You shouldn't talk to strangers either. Well, do you remember the last place you saw her?"

They nodded.

"Where was that?"

"We aren't supposed to tell that either."

Klaus laughed. "How am I supposed to find your parents if you won't tell me anything?"

"You aren't supposed to," the one to the left said.

"She'll find you," the other finished.

Klaus nodded. They had probably been told to find an adult and stay where they were. Just happened to be bad luck they had found him.

"When was the last time you saw her?"

"Last night," the right said.

Klaus frowned, that wasn't good.

"Alright," Klaus said. "We're going to go to the police station, your mother might be there." Even if he didn't particularly like the idea of giving children back to such a careless parent, it was better than leaving them on the street he supposed.

"She's not there," the left said.

"And neither are we," the right stomped her foot.

Stubborn little ones weren't they? And familiar, terribly so, but he couldn't quite place who it was they reminded him of.

"We have to," Klaus insisted.

"She. Will. Find. Us." The right said, punctuating every word.

Klaus sighed. "Okay, then we'll stay here, is that good?"

The left shook her head. "We are supposed to find you then get inside."

That was odd... "You were looking for me?"

"Duh," the one on the right said.

He would have to ask their names, if they would tell him, it was odd the information they chose to keep to themselves. "Who are you?"

"I'm Josie," said the one on the right.

"I'm Lizzie," said the left.

Okay, good, at least he had something to call them now. "Well, Josie, Lizzie, I'm Klaus—"

"We know," Josie interrupted.

Of course they did. "Your mother told you?"

"Yup," Lizzie nodded.

"Why did she tell you to find me?"

"Bad people want to take us," Lizzie said. Worse than him? Was the literal devil chasing them?

"But mom said we could trust you," Josie said. "You're a good one, like mom."

"A good what?" Klaus said, knowing it was in vain to hope they would say they meant a good person.

"Vampire," Lizzie said quietly while Josie mimed fangs.

Bloody hell, who's kids were these?

"Your mother is like me?"

They nodded.

That was just perfect. She must have just been changed, probably sent them away to keep herself from hurting them by accident. But still, why him?

Klaus straightened. "Well, come along."

"Where?" Lizzie asked sceptically.

"Not the police," Josie looked at him with outright suspicion.

"No, not the police," he assured them. "My house."

Josie and Lizzie shared a look then nodded. Well, finally he had said something that met their approval. Klaus turned and started walking, hearing their light footsteps follow him.

This was going to end horribly, he knew it.

"Want us to get rid of them?" The man on the other end of the call asked even though they both already knew the answer.

"All of them," Elijah hung up and pocketed his phone. It wasn't the kind of conversation to have in their home, especially since Hope's playroom was just down the hall. Another Kingmaker research facility had been found, still operating almost a year after Lucien's death, like the other few they had stumbled upon.

Preoccupied with his thoughts he almost walked past the playroom without noticing. Elijah paused, backtracking and looked into the room to see two children he didn't recognize sat with Hope.

"Niklaus!" he called, turning and found his brother already stood next to him in the hall.

"Yes?" he said with a pleasant smile.

"Who are they?" Elijah pointed at the children seated next to his niece at the brightly colored table to avoid any sarcastic request for clarification.

"Josie and Lizzie." The children looked up at their names, smiling brightly and waved at the them, his brother smiled back at the two, returning the gesture and they went back to their coloring book.

"Where did they come from?" Elijah pressed.

Klaus shrugged. "No idea, found them earlier wandering around the Quarter." Without further explanation he turned and headed back towards his office.

"Why wouldn't you let the police handle this?" Elijah continued as he followed his brother into the cluttered room.

"They refused," he said simply, falling into the chair at his desk with another shrug.

"The police?"

"Lizzie and Josie."

Because it was only reasonable to let the children make that decision. "Exactly how long do you plan on keeping them here?"

"Oh, don't get worked up, they're only staying until I can locate their parents."

Why was that not reassuring? "And when will you be getting around to that?"

"When they decide to tell me something," he said, though he didn't appear in any rush to question them further.

Elijah sighed at his brother's cavalier response. "They are not stray animals, you can't just—"

"If you're so concerned ask them yourself!" he snapped.

They stared at each other for a long moment, each waiting for the other to relent. "Alright," he said, he turned and left the room, hearing his brother huff in irritation before he stood and followed him.

Elijah stopped in the doorway. "Lizzie, Josie," he said, and when they both looked up at him he continued, "Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

"Okay," one of them agreed immediately.

The other was less certain. "About what?"

"Your family. Your home, you'd like to go home, wouldn't you?" he moved forward until he stood on the other side of the table from them.

The girls looked at each other for awhile, no words were spoken but it was clear they were making some sort of decision, then they turned back to him and nodded.

"Can you tell me anything about your parents? How they look? Their names maybe?" They were old enough to know their parents actual names, weren't they? Hope was the only child he had been around in centuries and being an especially intelligent child that sometimes threw off his estimations.

They looked thoughtful for a moment, one of their noses scrunched in thought. But in the end they both shook their heads.

"I need to know if I'm to get you home," Elijah explained, though it was a bit curious that they wouldn't give any real information, even the simplest of sorts.

"We can't tell you," one of them insisted, she was Josie wasn't she?

"I'm only trying to help," he promised.

"We can't," she insisted, frustration making the last word a shriek. "We can't remember!"

"You can't remember?" Suppressed memories weren't like that... not instant. Magic was though, and if someone had taken their memories there must have been a reason.

"No, just..." she held up a bear Elijah hadn't noticed she held.

Elijah glanced over his shoulder at his brother who seemed to have comes to the same conclusion as he had. Klaus smiled convincingly as he clapped his hands together. "Well, girls, how would you like to meet Freya?"

"Is she nice?" Lizzie—he thought that one was Lizzie, he would have to ask his brother— asked.

"Very much so," he told them and that seemed to be enough as they both stood and walked over to him.

"Is she like you?" Josie asked.

"She is my sister, but she's more like you," Klaus hesitated for the briefest moment, "a witch."

Lizzie smiled brightly. "I'm good at being a witch! I know, because..." she trailed off, her smile faded. "Someone told me," she finished quietly.

Klaus shot him a concerned look. Freya would know how to fix it, she had to.

"I can't fix it," Freya said, setting the old grimoire on the table and sent up a puff of dust. "It's powerful magic, I have no idea how to even begin undoing it."

"There must be a way," Elijah said.

"Of course there's a way," Klaus said. There was always a way. "You're a witch, figure it out."

"This isn't a simple curse," Freya hissed low enough that the kids playing on the other side of her attic work shop wouldn't hear.

"Then you'll have to be smart, sister," he growled back at her.

"I'm a witch!" she whisper yelled. "Not a miracle worker."

"I suggest you—" he looked down at the child tugging at his coat. "Yes, Josie?"

She held up a piece of paper, flowers scrawled across it in bright yellow crayon. "I made this for you."

Klaus smiled as he took the drawing. "Thank you, sweetheart, it's lovely."

She smiled brightly before she returned to Hope and her sister. He had to find their parents, he had to get them back where they belonged before... "Fix it," he demanded before he walked away from his siblings to tell the kids it was time to go back to the house.

Twelve years later

The car flew down the dark street on the outskirt of town, the windows rolled down, her hair whipped and tangled around her face as the wind roared in her ears. Laughter spilled from her lips as she watched the needle on the speedometer steadily rise.

She loved moments like these, when she didn't have to think or worry about anything. For just a moment, she could forget everything.

The moment was shattered as she caught sight of blue and red lights in the rearview mirror. "Shit!"

She had been going at least forty over the limit, and, well, the car was stolen. She considered her options as the car gained on her, sirens blaring.

Ah, well, time to face the music.

She spun the wheel, laughing as the car spun before it screeched to a halt.

Step out of your vehicle with your hands up, she mouthed to herself right before the officer shouted the words.

She slid out of the car, and turned to look at the policemen over the top of the car. "Come on, officers," Hope smiled slowly. "I was only having some fun."

Soundtrack:

Scenes one & two:

We Must Be Killers — Mikky Ekko

Scene six:

No Good — Kaleo

A\N: I hope you guys liked this start! Thank you for reading, and as always reviews are appreciated! The quote is Gayle Forman