A/N Thank you for all reviewing, it means a lot. If you liked this chapter, please leave a review. It really does encourage me.

When, my, time comes around, lay me gently in the cold dark earth

No grave can hold my body down

I'll crawl home to her

My baby never fret none, about what my hands and my body done

If the Lord don't forgive me

I'd still have my baby and my babe would have me

When, my, time comes around, lay me gently in the cold dark earth

No grave can hold my body down

I'll crawl home to her

.

.

In Loving Memory Of Niklaus Mikaelson

King Of New Orleans.

Beloved father and brother.

We'll never forget. Always and forever.

Hope hugged herself as she stared at the golden writing on the stone in front of her, sitting down on the worn out bench in front of it. The gravestone was the largest and most bold in the cemetery but there was no body because her family had feared that an old enemy would come and take it for some reason but also because they wouldn't allow her father to be parted with his family. The Mikaelson's were known to travel with their family, mainly her father with his siblings. She had guessed that his body had been in one of the coffins. Elijah had tried to assure her that her father would always look like he was just sleeping in case she wanted to see him, but he had gotten no response apart from her using her magic to throw him out.

Her family reminded Hope ofher father.

Hope barely remembered the farewell gathering that had been held in memory of her father but knew that the entire city had been there. Not just that because in reality, the supernatural community from around the world had travelled to pay respects to the Original Hybrid. Her father may had been hated but the Originals were respected. Hope had been given no choice to be there mainly because it was down to her to run New Orleans. The werewolves, vampires and witches looked to her for leadership. Sure, her family would help her but it was mainly on her shoulders. They looked to her with nothing but love and respect since she was connected to all of them.

But Hope had closed in on herself. She didn't care. The city could burn around her and she wouldn't give it a second glance. She wanted nothing to do with it. Instead, Hope had refused to talk to anyone and didn't bother to give the farewell speech to her father in front of everyone. She left it to Elijah and left during his speech to those who had come to pay their respects. She remembered Elijah standing in front of them with her family behind them. Rebekah had held on to Marcel and Kol as she broke down, her blue eyes filled with pain and tears. She remembered Elijah, usually calm, speaking with a broken tone that none of them had heard before.

She had left because she still didn't believe that her father was gone.

"My brother was many things. Determined, ruthless, hated by some, but most of all, Niklaus was the strongest of us all. He was always the last one standing and those who opposed him never succeeded in knocking him down. Niklaus faced armies alone and won. Niklaus rarely lost and was never beaten. My brother had his flaws but when it came down to it, when it mattered, he stood by his family. Especially his daughter. To some of you my brother was a monster but to Hope he was a hero. He held nothing but love for her and that would forever live on. Niklaus will forever live on."

"You would've loved it, you know. The streets were filled. They had come from all over the world to pay respect to the big bad wolf. All for you. To who was once the most powerful creature in the world. Now you're second to me...well, was. Even in...death the attention was still on you. Most of them hated you and wanted to see if you were really gone but like you always said—as long as we're the centre of the show."

Hope, sitting on the bench with her legs crossed, fidgeted with her hands in her lap. Her sad smile fell from her face as she continued speaking, breaking the silence."Momma and Rebekah wouldn't stop crying. Even Kol shed a tear or two before he disappeared to grieve the only way he knows how. Creating mayhem. Marcel didn't smile, not even once and Elijah….poor Elijah looked a mess. That was when I knew. When it finally sunk in that you...weren't here anymore. Elijah never looks anything less than perfect. His suit is never out of place and he is always composed. Not then. He looked broken."

Hope let out a sad laugh, tucking her long brown hair behind her ears as she stared at the gravestone, eyes glassed over. She had ended up at the cemetery. She had ran as far as she could, feeling as if she were running from a ghost. Hope's legs had led her to the last place she had been before she had left the city after turning it off. After her confrontation with Camille, she had fed throughout New Orleans and this was where she had killed her first victim. In front of her father's gravestone.

"That's not supposed to happen. You drive them crazy, you keep them on their toes and they want to snap your neck most of the time but that was never supposed to happen. You are not supposed to allow that to happen. Rebekah wasn't supposed to look like her heart's been ripped out, you never let that happen. Not with Bekah, everyone knows how much you love her. You never allow your 'precious' Bekah to feel like that. Elijah, Kol and Marcel aren't supposed to look like they've lost their way."

She took a deep breath, a tear running down her cheek as she yelled into the night air, finishing her sentence with a bitter edge to her voice."Momma shouldn't have to tell me that my…my father isn't coming back! That he's dead because it shouldn't be true. Want to know why? Because you promised and you have always kept your promises. Like when you promised that you'd teach me how to drive or that you'd allow me to leave the compound myself. You kept them. You kept the most meaningless of promises but you couldn't keep the one that meant everything?"

Hope angrily wiped her tears away, rubbing her temples as she felt a headache coming on. She sniffed, trying control herself. As she did, she didn't notice the figure standing a few meters from the bench she was sitting on. The figure behind her watched from the shadows, making sure not to be seen as Hope carried on speaking to the gravestone. The anger and sadness she had been carrying deep down spilled out. She released a painful moan, seeing memories of victims screaming as she chased after them. She remembered Camille begging her not to turn it off before she had threw her aside. She remembered unleashing hell upon anyone who had crossed her path. They all haunted her, but most of all what haunted her was Davina telling her that her father he had returned and Hope leaned forward, cradling her head in her hands as she sobbed loudly, hugging herself.

"It's him, Hope. It's really him."

Please. Just stop.

The days of not feeling any anything was getting to her. She was feeling everything only it felt emphasised. Like she was re-living it all. Anger, pain, sadness all at once and she couldn't control it.

Hope raised her head, cheeks wet as she breathed in and out to calm herself."How does someone immortal, someone who can't die, go on without their father? You've managed with Mikael but that was different. You hated him. I don't hate you. I love you. I love you more than i'll ever love anyone and I wish I hated you because I wouldn't have to live forever with this constant pain. It hurts. It hurts that I can't fix our family, that I won't ever hear you arguing with Kol or Elijah, that I won't ever get to live forever with my father."

"My head is filled with all the horrible, disgusting, terrible things i've done. I feel their pain. I hear their screams. I've done what Mikael did to me. I've taken away fathers from children. I've torn apart mothers while they pleaded for me to stop. I've torn apart families and I didn't feel anything. Just like Mikael did. I wanted the pain to stop, I just wanted to feel like I wasn't being ripped apart for just a little while and now I don't know what's real. I wish that I hadn't turned it back on because i'm right back where I started, but i'm worse."

The figure standing a few meters behind her began to slowly step forward, making sure to stay silent. They watched with tear filled eyes and an unreadable expression as Hope whispered to the gravestone. The hybrid witch still sat on the bench, oblivious that she wasn't alone and stared at her father's name that was written in bold letters. As she did, she toyed with the ring that Kol had given her for her birthday, trying to keep herself calm. She couldn't focus on anything. The words and emotions were spilling out of her and for a moment she wished that she wasn't feeling anything, like before. It felt more simple. She didn't have to feel this way. The figure stopped behind her, years of stalking their prey coming into use as they wanted to stay unknown for the time being.

Hope released a pained sob as she nodded, adding with a bitter tone like before."You were still there and I would think that it was you, that you hadn't left me but I always woke up. It was always a lie, always a dream. So it helped, you know. Turning it off. I could control it, just for a small while and now it's happening again. Only this time i'm left dealing with what i've done. So, yes. I'm angry at you, it's the only thing keeping me together because loving you made me turn it off. Why aren't you here, daddy? Why are you just...gone? You should be here. You should be here because you're you. My father doesn't get beaten, he's always that last one standing, right? Because he's untouchable."

"I guess that wasn't true because if you were so bloody powerful, so indestructible like you promised me you were, why aren't you here?"Hope yelled at the gravestone, her voice echoing throughout the cemetery. She sniffed again before speaking once more, this time, in a whisper.

"Why did you leave me?"

As soon as those words were spoken Hope felt a strong hand on her shoulder. It wasn't threatening, instead it was comforting. Familiar. Hope froze on her seat, her entire body unable to move as the wolf inside her told her that it was family. That she shouldn't take action because it wasn't meant to harm her in any way. Klaus wanted to hold her close like he did when she was scared as a child and protect her from all the horrid things that were going around in her head. His daughter could do no wrong in his eyes, despite her actions recently. He would have done the same thing, he would have done worse things if he thought that he had lost his daughter forever. But he didn't make another move, he didn't want to make her run off again. So with patience that only happened around Hope, Klaus just continued to stand with his hand on her shoulder, voice soft.

"I am here, love. All you have to do it believe it."

Hope didn't reply, just continued staring at the gravestone in front of her."Get. Out. Of. My. Head."Hope demanded, her long fingers wiping furiously at her wet cheeks.

"Get out of my head or suffer the wrath of an angry Mikaelson. I don't care if you're in my head, i'll still destroy you."

She didn't move when the presence, which was wearing her father's face, sat down next to her."I'm not in your head. I'm right here and i'm not going anywhere. I promise."

"Even in my mind you're lying."Hope whispered with a dark laugh. A pained one.

Klaus didn't speak for a long while, hoping that if he stayed long enough that she would realize. He just stared at his daughter with a pain in his chest. Her entire life he had never broken a promise. Whether it be to read his daughter her favourite story at night or return from a 'business' trip at a certain time, he never broke it. Not once. Not to Hope. But he did break the most important one and it made him feel horrible that he had. Even though he couldn't stop it, he had still broken his word to his daughter and the events that unfolded was his worst nightmare. His worst nightmare was not being there. Not watching over her, not laughing with her, even not scolding her when she broke a rule. Hope had turned off her humanity, had tore cities and people apart because he had broken his promise. She had been through so much pain to the point that she didn't have hope. She had lost it all and now she thought that he was nothing more than something in her mind there to torture and taunt her throughout eternity.

It broke him.

Klaus swallowed the lump in his throat as he watched his daughter stare at the gravestone, trying to ignore him.

Then, all of a sudden, a whisper hit his ears. If he hadn't been human, he would have missed it, but his supernatural hearing caught it.

"I killed them, y'know."Klaus didn't speak, he just listened, wanting nothing more than to hold his daughter and rid of the thoughts she was having. Hope looked down at her hands, which were streaked with dry blood.

"I killed Liam and the vampires. I tore them apart while they begged for their lives. Davina thinks that I forgot. That she wiped it from my mind, I know that because even though I wasn't awake, I could still see...bits and pieces. My mind is too powerful for her to manipulate it, I guess."Hope sniffed, clenching and unclenching her fists."Th-They were there to help me and I killed them. I killed those I knew my whole life. Who protected me and guided me. I almost killed Cami, too."

She winced as the memory of Liam pleading her not to kill him. Trying to see if the Hope he knew was still inside. She remembered laughing. She remembered enjoying every second of it. She tucked her hair behind her ear and hid her hands in her long sleeves, shaking her head, as if to clear her mind because that wasn't all Hope could remember. She remembered after she killed the vampires. She remembered the illusion of her father when it was actually her uncle Kol. She had heard Davina telling Klaus when Hope had left the room. The memory of when she finally turned it on was as painful as the moment it happened.

"I remember everything and I wish I couldn't. I remember the illusion."Hope inhaled sharply, as if re-living it."I remember turning it on. Like...Like a wave hitting me. All these emotions. Mostly sadness and anger. It's enough to make me turn it off again, which I can't because i'm feeling too much. I'm feeling too much and I can't stand it."

Hope flicked her wrist, and the flower pots that were balanced on another grave stone dedicated to a random person, levitated in the air and crashed against the side. She jumped slightly, shocked, as did Klaus. She hadn't realized that she had done that. Hope sighed. She was out of control. By this age, she had mastered every power and ability she had but at that moment she wasn't focused and her mind was all over the place. She stared at the smashed flowerpots, the roses that were in them were now snapped in half. Hope stared at them for a few moments before turning her head towards the gravestone they had fallen off of. Because of her. Unable to stop herself, tears suddenly spilled from her blue orbs and she felt a pang in her chest.

Klaus' own eyes glassed over as his daughter began to cry and he moved closer, grabbing her shaking hands.

"Love, i'll make it all better. I promise. This isn't your fault. None of it."

Hope snapped her head towards him, eyes falling on his larger hands covering hers protectively. She released a shaky sigh, her glassy eyes meeting his identical blue ones."It isn't?"

"No. Don't think like that."Klaus emphasised, meaning each word he spoke. He held her hand tighter, trying to keep her focused."Why would you think that?"

"I'm supposed to be the most powerful creature in the world."Hope said, her lower lip wobbling as another wave of tears hit her full force. Her tone wasn't strong at all, in fact, she sounded like a small child again. A terrified one."...but in that one moment, that one second it took Mikael to drive that stake into your heart, I was completely powerless. I couldn't stop it, I couldn't save you."

Klaus' face fell and he shook his head wildly."No, that's not-"

"I had no power. I couldn't go back in time, I couldn't heal you. You were gone. You wouldn't wake up, no matter how many times I tried to get you to open your eyes."Hope whispered, cheeks wet as she remembered her father's death."I can't be killed. No stake, nothing can kill me. I'm forever and before sixty six days ago, I was happy. I would have neverhad even entertained the thought of being human because they die. But I wouldn't. I'd have my family forever."

"...i'd have my father forever. Now I don't and a huge part of me wishes I could die. But I can't. I've got the rest of my family, but it'll never be the same. Not for them, either. I'll live eternally with them and one day in the future i'll forget you and I don't want that. I don't want to forget you. I still need you, i'll always need you. A handful of years compared to eternity is...nothing."

Hope's voice broke as she spoke to, what she thought, was something unreal in her mind. She didn't object when Klaus, like he always did when she was little, reached up with his free hand and wiped away her tears. She just stared at him, as if wanting to hold onto him, even if, in her mind, he wasn't real. She had done the same thing countless times after he died, but always woke up and he would be gone.

"I'm here. What will it take for you to believe that?" Klaus said to her.

"You were cold. You're never cold." Hope murmured as if she hadn't heard his previous words.

Klaus, making sure to stay quiet as he sat a little closer to his daughter, who was staring at his gravestone. Then he slowly reached out, making sure not to startle her, he placed his larger hand on top of her smaller one. Hope flinched slightly at the contact.

"Am I cold now?"

Hope's eyes widened and she released a loud, out of breath gasp as she met Klaus' eyes. Her face went pale and Klaus swore that he saw a sparkle in her eyes. A sparkle that she had lost while he had been gone.

"Dad?"

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