Midnight Adventures

Synopsis: Hope wants to get to know her uncle, so she decides to visit him in the pendant. Klaus' retrieval mission gives him a chance to see his brother again too. 4x10 coda.

"Did you have fun with your aunt Rebekah?" Dad asks as he tucks her in that evening.

Hope nods. "I showed her my drawings and she told me she took care of me as a baby."

"I remember," Dad says.

"She also said she was sorry for leaving so soon last time and that she will be staying with us at least until you can bring uncle Elijah back."

"That's good to know," her dad replies. "Maybe you'll get the chance to get to know each other a bit more, hm?"

Hope nods again, a little distracted.

Her dad notices and he reaches out to touch her cheek. "What is it, sweetheart?"

"Would uncle Elijah ever hurt me?" she asks in a soft voice.

Her dad looks startled. "Is that what you're worried about?"

Hope shrugs awkwardly, not meeting his eyes. "Maybe a little," she admits.

"Your uncle Elijah is very protective of our family," Dad tells her. "He would do whatever he could to protect you."

She frowns slightly. "Mom seemed scared of uncle Elijah when we were in his mind."

"Your uncle Elijah has some rather frightening memories," her dad says, brushing back her hair. "He might have been a little... unstable, while his mind was broken. But I heard that the two of you fixed that right up, so your uncle is himself again."

Hope nods. "That's what uncle Elijah said too."

Her dad pauses, then continues tucking her in.

"Uncle Elijah hasn't really talked to me much," she tells him.

"I'm sure he'll want to spend time with you once we bring him back," her dad says. He leans forward to plant a kiss on her forehead. "Perhaps you could even ask him to teach you how to play the piano, how about that, hm?"

"Uncle Elijah likes playing piano?" Hope asks, suddenly curious.

Dad smirks. "If it's any kind of hobby usually referred to as 'cultured', your uncle is probably in favour of it. Aside from painting perhaps," he adds. "But yes, he did enjoy music once. Still does, I suspect."

"Mom never told me about that," she says.

"There are things even your mother doesn't know about your uncle," Dad says. He leans forward as if to tell her a big secret. "For instance, she still doesn't know about your uncle's habit of sleeping like a bat hanging upside down from the ceiling either."

Hope giggles. "He doesn't!"

"I can assure you, I know my brother quite well," her dad says, looking a little smug. "But either way I think it's about time for you to go to sleep as well, don't you?"

"I'm not that tired," Hope says, biting back a yawn.

"If you go to sleep on time you can wake up early tomorrow morning to meet your uncle Kol before he leaves town again," her dad tempts her.

It would be kind of nice to properly meet her other uncle too. Hope nods and closes her eyes as her dad presses another kiss to her forehead.

"Sleep well, my littlest wolf," her dad whispers.

She really does try to sleep for a while after her dad slips from her room, closing the door behind him almost soundlessly. She tries, but instead finds herself thinking about her uncle Elijah again. His appearance today had scared her a little, but she still wants to get to know him better.

Hope's never really had musical lessons before either. Her paints are fun enough, but it would be really nice if her uncle could teach her how to play the piano. She hopes he will be back in his body soon so she can ask.

She pretends to be asleep already when her mom slips into her bedroom a while later to kiss her goodnight. Mom usually stops by to check up on her if she's not the one to put her to bed that night.

Hope breathes deep and slow and peeks through her eyelashes as her mom opens the door connecting their bedrooms.

It's when she sees a flash of blue stone in her mother's hand that she suddenly remembers there's another way to find out more about her uncle. The pendant! She can visit uncle Elijah in there and talk to him. Dad said it is safe now, so there is really no reason to wait until he's back in his body again.

Hope waits a few minutes before she slips out of the bed and tiptoes to the door to her mom's bedroom. Being very careful not to make too much noise, she opens the door an inch and peers through the crack.

The room is empty, but Hope can hear water running from the bathroom. Mom must be taking a shower, as she usually does every evening before she goes to bed. She wouldn't miss the pendant for a while, which works out perfectly for Hope's plan.

Mind made up, she glances back at her bed. Maybe she should bring her pillow too.

The corridor is as bright white as she remembers from earlier, but it looks slightly less scary now. Uncle Elijah's mind is fixed, so she tells herself she has nothing to fear here. She just needs to find him.

She can't see the strange red door anywhere.

All the doors are the same white colour, but with different objects or symbols on them. Hope sees a M like in the family symbol, a door that just has a single black feather, and one with a cross. One has a strange black shape that looks like a bird, with fine silver lines showing its wings. After she stands on her toes to see it better, she decides it might be an owl.

There are many more doors, and Hope walks past them in interest, inspecting the objects. She wonders where uncle Elijah is. Did he go back into one of the memories?

At that moment she spots a door that's open just a little bit. There's an M carved clumsily into the wood and she thinks she hears the last fading notes of a piano coming from within. Maybe it's uncle Elijah.

But when she pushes the door open further and slips through, there's no piano or even music. Instead she finds herself in a large, sunny bedroom with white walls, which looks strangely familiar.

A boy, almost a teenager, is lying on the bed. His shirt is nearly entirely soaked through with sweat and clings to his brown skin. He seems to be sleeping fitfully, and frowns every now and then.

On the chair next to the bed another figure is sitting. He reaches forward to wipe the boy's forehead with a wet cloth and Hope suddenly realises it's her dad. He looks the same age as he does now, only only with longer sideburns and his clothes look really old-fashioned.

If it really is her dad then the sick boy in the bed is probably Marcel.

She looks around at the rest of the room and spots the chest that she'd found in the attic the other day standing next to the wardrobe. She hadn't noticed last time, but it has MARCELLUS carved into the side.

The rest of the room doesn't look very much like a little boy's room. The walls are plastered in an off-white colour, the bed is big enough for an adult and the chairs are stuffy and regal-looking. There are no toys anywhere. It's nothing at all like Hope's bedroom in her mom's house, but reminds her a little of her room in the compound.

When she looks up again, another figure stands next to her father. He looks down at the boy and puts a hand on her dad's shoulder.

"Any change?" uncle Elijah asks.

"He sleeps," her dad replies. He sounds upset, like when he's worried but trying not to show it. "His fever is still high, but he's not as warm as he was before."

They fall silent for moment when the boy moans and opens his eyes.

"Marcellus?" her dad calls. "How do you feel?"

The boy groans, then tries to sit up, but her dad quickly puts a hand on his chest and holds him down.

"Careful," Dad cautions the boy. "You have to preserve your strength. You've been quite ill."

Marcel drops his head back to the pillow and closes his eyes, looking really pale.

Uncle Elijah leans forward to say something in her dad's ear and he responds in a soft voice. Trying to hear what they're saying, Hope steps closer. As she does, her uncle suddenly looks behind him and his dark eyes meet hers.

"Hope?" uncle Elijah asks, blinking in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you," Hope says, honestly.

There's a flicker of emotion on her uncle's face, and then he's steering her towards the door with a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder. "You shouldn't be in here, your mother will be worried."

"It's okay, Mom doesn't know, they all think I'm in bed already," Hope explains. She glances back at the bed where her dad is leaning forward to say something to Marcel, before looking up at her uncle. "And I wanted to talk to you, uncle Elijah."

They step back into the pristine white corridor, and Hope watches in fascination as her uncle's hair and clothes change the moment he steps through the doorway. His sideburns become shorter and from one moment to the next he stops wearing the light green jacket with the long tails and starts wearing the fancy dark suit he wore when she saw him earlier today.

The door clicks shut behind them.

Uncle Elijah looks down at her. "You came here to talk to me?"

"Yeah," Hope nods. "Who was the boy in the memory? Was that really Marcel when he was younger?"

"It was," her uncle says, still looking at her like he's not sure what to do. "Perhaps it would be best for you to leave."

Hope folds her arms across her chest. "I don't want to go yet," she says.

The corners of his lips twitch up for a moment like he's about to smile, before he schools his face. "It might not be safe," he warns.

"I'm not scared. Dad said that now that your mind is fixed there isn't any danger anymore," Hope tells him. "Also I wanted to get to know you better but they might not let me go in here again if they know."

"That's probably true," her uncle says.

She kind of wishes her uncle wouldn't stand up so straight because he's really quite tall when she stands this close to him.

"Nevertheless, if I cannot convince you to leave, perhaps we can make a deal," he continues.

Hope tilts her head. "What kind of deal?"

"How about you and I talk, and I promise to answer some of your questions. In return, you will promise not to go exploring in here, and to leave when I ask."

Hope thinks it over. She frowns. "But what if you ask me to leave right away?"

"I will promise to answer a few of your questions first," uncle Elijah reminds her.

She nods. That does sound fair. "Okay," she says. "I promise." She kisses her fingers and holds them up to him.

Her uncle raises his eyebrows a fraction and blinks at her.

"It's kind of like pinky-swearing only better," Hope explains at his puzzled look. "Me and mom do it all the time when we make promises."

"Mom and I," uncle Elijah corrects.

Hope rolls her eyes.

"Some people claim that the origins of 'pinky-swearing' involved a promise which called for the person who broke their word to cut off their finger," uncle Elijah adds.

Hope makes a face. Ew. "I like our way more," she says.

"So do I," her uncle says, sighing, and his suit rustles as he bends down to one knee. "Although one has to admit the other method had its uses."

Like this she is actually taller than uncle Elijah, which is an interesting perspective. She meets her uncle's patient dark eyes.

"How does this work, exactly?" he asks.

"You kiss your fingers and then put them together, like this," Hope says, bringing her index and middle finger to her lips and kissing them before holding them up to her uncle.

He kisses his own fingers and they press them together.

"There," Hope says happily. "Now it's a promise."

Her uncle gives her a fond smile.

"Now then," he says. "I believe we have a bargain. What would you like to know?"

"Dad said you loved music," Hope begins. And just to be sure, she asks, "also is it true that you sleep upside down like a bat?"

Hayley looks rather distraught when he runs into her in the hallway, which instantly puts Klaus on edge. She's already in pyjamas and a bathrobe, with her hair still slightly damp from the shower.

"The pendant is missing," Hayley tells him as she brushes past him, worry clear in her voice.

"What do you mean 'it's missing'?" Klaus immediately demands. "That pendant contains Elijah's soul."

"I mean that I put it on the bedside table when I went to take a shower and it's gone," she snaps at him, walking quickly towards the stairs, only to pause as she enters the room.

Klaus follows and glances over her shoulder to see what made her stop.

Hope is lying on the ground in the middle of the circle from Freya's spell earlier, hands folded on her stomach and her smallest pillow under her head. She's still wearing her pyjamas and it almost looks like she's sleeping. Lying on top of her folded hands is the bright blue pendant.

"Well, I suppose we know where it went," Klaus says, stepping closer and quickly scanning his daughter to make sure she isn't hurt.

"Dammit, what is she doing?" Hayley asks. "Please tell me she hasn't gone back in there."

Freya leans over Hope to touch the pendant in her hand, murmuring a spell. "It appears she has," she says, opening her eyes again. She looks at Hayley. "She went in on her own power so we can't force her to leave, but I could send someone in after her to get her out."

Hayley hesitates.

"I'll do it," Klaus says.

They both turn to look at him.

"Elijah should be no danger to her with his mind restored, but there are memories in there that I would much rather my daughter didn't see just yet." He turns to Hayley, giving her a half-smile. "I'll bring her home soon enough."

Hayley meets his eyes for a moment, then nods.

Freya looks between the two of them at their interaction, but quickly moves on to the next point of business. "Alright, Klaus, you need to be in physical contact with the pendant for this to work. You should lie down in the circle as well, and I'll start the spell."

Klaus nods, and steps into the carefully drawn circle.

Freya is already murmuring away in Latin with her eyes closed, so he lowers himself to his knees.

"It will be fine, Hayley," he tells her when he sees her watching with her arms folded across her chest.

"I know Elijah wouldn't hurt her," she states, but doesn't relax.

"Exactly," he says. "And speaking of Elijah, I suspect I already know why Hope went back into the pendant."

"What?" She frowns. "Why?"

Klaus lies down on the floor next to his daughter, putting one hand over her folded ones and touching the blue stone of the pendant.

"Piano lessons," he simply says.

Uncle Elijah reassures her that any stories about his bat-like qualities are most certainly fabrications, intended to besmirch his reputation. Hope isn't sure what all of the words he used mean, but it sounds like she was right when she thought her dad was joking about the bats.

Apparently he wasn't lying about her uncle liking music, though.

"I can visit the different memories at will now," uncle Elijah tells her, stopping at the door with the wooden cross. "Please don't go into one of these rooms again without me there to accompany you."

"The door was open," Hope defends herself.

"I'd rather you didn't go exploring even so. It's somewhat rude, given that these are my private memories."

Oh. "I hadn't thought of that," she admits.

"That's alright," her uncle says. "Just please keep it in mind in the future."

Hope nods, then pauses, biting her lip.

Uncle Elijah sends her a questioning look.

"Earlier today, when you stepped through the red door," Hope starts hesitantly and she can see him tense. "You looked like you were covered in blood."

Uncle Elijah won't meet her eyes. "I was."

"Was it a bad memory?"

Her uncle is silent for such a long time that Hope doubts for a moment whether he is going to answer her. When he finally speaks, his voice is calm.

"You have to understand that your father and I have walked this earth for many centuries before you were even born. A thousand years is a long time, Hope," he says, looking at her with serious eyes. "And not all the memories are pleasant. The ones behind the Red Door are the worst of all."

"Oh," Hope says softly, casting her eyes down.

Uncle Elijah touches her cheek, making her look at him again. "It's not something you should have to worry about," he tells her gently. "But it's one of the reasons why I'd rather you didn't go exploring on your own."

Hope nods solemnly. "I won't," she promises.

"Now, this next memory should be much more pleasant," her uncle says, pushing open the door.

As he leads them into the new room, the first thing she notices is a large piano standing in the middle of the room, with a small bench in front of it to sit on. Bright sunlight is blocked by light white curtains to keep out the heat. Uncle Elijah's clothes have become all old-fashioned again, so it must be an old memory.

"This used to be the music room," her uncle explains. "I have spent many an afternoon playing the piano here."

"I never saw it when I was exploring the compound," Hope says curiously.

"It's been abandoned for close to two centuries," he replies. "I found I had little taste for music anymore so eventually it was emptied out. I believe Marcellus turned it into another sitting room when he took over after our family left the city."

Hope looks up at him. Her uncle seems almost sad. "You didn't like playing anymore?"

"I'm afraid the joy was taken out of it for me," he says, a slightly bitter smile on his face.

"What happened?"

"I wasn't very kind to someone who didn't deserve such harsh treatment," he explains. "I used to teach him, but after our lessons stopped I couldn't bring myself to play again."

"Oh," Hope says, frowning. "That's sad."

"Quite."

"But you still like music?" She looks up at him again.

He nods. "I even started playing again recently, although obviously there hasn't been much of an opportunity since our five-year slumber." He glances down at her. "Would you like to learn?"

Hope beams.

The walls and doors are such a pristine white that they almost hurts Klaus' eyes.

It's typical of his brother. The light here is so bright that he can see no shadows. One might almost be tempted to think that there is no way for any darkness to exist here, which is of course the biggest deception of all.

He knows full well that there is darkness lurking behind this pristine facade. His brother is as much a monster as all of them, after all. Hayley's words earlier have just confirmed that fact once again. He'd really rather his daughter didn't learn that lesson yet, though.

"Hope!" he yells, hearing his own voice echo through the hallway. He waits for a few moments, but there's no reply. He forces himself not to worry yet, there might very well be a perfectly good reason why she's not in the corridor or replying to his call.

Or she's inside one of the memories behind these doors.

He picks up the pace, walking past a door with the Strix symbol on it. Apparently it is impossible to use his vampire speed in here, so he is forced to settle for a brisk pace as he keeps an ear out for any sign of his daughter or brother.

Suddenly, he hears music coming from further up ahead. A few quick steps take him to the source of the melody. The door—with a cross on the outside—is slightly ajar and he can hear the sound of familiar voices behind it.

Silently, he pushes the door open further and peers inside.

The room he finds is familiar. It's the compound's old music room from before the 1836 renovation, with the grand piano Elijah had acquired somewhere in the last decades of the 18th century.

Sitting on the narrow bench in front of the piano is his daughter. He lets out a quiet sigh of relief. It seems she's found his brother and roped him into giving her a piano lesson as Klaus already suspected. And there's Elijah, alive. The sight of his brother eases some of the tension in his chest that's been there ever since he heard his brother never returned from visiting Marcel.

His brother's hair and clothing style narrow the memory down to the last few years of the 18th century, certainly a few decades before they took in Marcellus. Even so, the image before him is a familiar one.

He watches them for a moment, his brother smiling at his daughter as he instructs her on where to put her fingers. Hope's still clearly a beginner, but Klaus is pretty sure he can already recognise the first few notes of au claire de la lune.

They don't seem to have noticed his presence yet, although Elijah should have been able to with his enhanced senses. Yet it appears his brother's focus is entirely on Hope and the music. He isn't particularly surprised. Elijah always had enjoyed teaching Marcellus how to play as well.

Klaus leans against the doorpost as he lets his brother's calm voice wash over him. He can give them both a moment longer before he steps in.

"Press the C—no, that's the B, the one to the right—and then the E and the D again twice."

Hope dutifully presses the right keys, with perhaps a bit more force than is truly needed.

"Good," Elijah says anyway, "now repeat this and add with the C again, only hold it for longer. About four times as long as the other notes."

He counts the rhythm out loud for her this time as his niece plays the melody, which is starting to sound more and more as it should.

Hope looks up at him questioningly as soon as she finishes and he nods approvingly. She smiles.

"Do you remember the first part?" he asks.

Hope thinks for a moment, her hand ghosting towards the C. "I think so."

"In that case, let us play it again from the beginning," Elijah instructs. "And remember to count along in your head to get the rhythm right."

Hope puts her hands on the keys and starts to play again. The tempo is still a bit off, where she either goes too fast or too slow, but she's doing quite well for a first-time pianist.

"Very good," he praises, and Hope beams up at him. She reminds him a little of Marcellus back in the day, all eager to learn and responsive to praise. But then of course his relationship with Marcellus hasn't been this uncomplicated in centuries. He forces the comparison from his mind, focusing on his niece instead.

Hope still smiles at him, not having noticed how her tutor got lost in recollections for a moment.

"You two seem to be getting along well," a familiar voice sounds from behind them.

They turn around.

"Dad!" Hope shouts.

"Niklaus," Elijah greets him, much less surprised by the sudden arrival than his niece.

His brother crosses the distance between them with three quick strides and throws his arms around him. Elijah finds himself returning the embrace with unexpected desperation.

"It's good to see you, brother," Niklaus whispers. He holds Elijah closer for one moment, then pulls away enough to look him in the eye.

"Likewise," Elijah replies, with a half-smile.

They stay like that for a moment, Niklaus' hand still resting warm on his arm, until his niece demands their attention again.

"Dad!" Hope says again, seemingly oblivious to the emotions in the room. "Uncle Elijah taught me how to to play the piano."

Niklaus kneels before her. "That's very impressive in such a short time, love. But I rather thought we'd agreed you would go to sleep so you could meet still uncle Kol in the morning?"

Hope's face falls.

"I just wanted to talk to uncle Elijah," she tells her father. "Please don't be mad."

"I'm not mad, sweetheart," Niklaus reassures her. "I do think, however, that it's about time for you to go to bed." He looks back at Elijah, who nods.

"I quite agree," he says.

"Can't I stay for just a little while longer?" Hope asks hopefully. "I'm not tired yet."

"Unfortunately not," Niklaus says.

"I believe we made a promise earlier," Elijah adds. "I have answered your questions, and now I am asking you to leave. That was our bargain, if you recall?"

Niklaus gives him an amused look at that.

"Oh, yeah." Hope frowns, before her face suddenly brightens.

He raises an eyebrow in suspicion as his niece looks up at him with a smile.

"You didn't say when exactly I had to leave," Hope says slyly.

Niklaus chuckles.

Elijah blinks. Had he...? He thinks back to his earlier words. No. "I believe the exact wording of our original clause was that you would leave when I asked. Which I am doing now."

Hope's face falls. "Ah," Hope says, sounding disappointed. "That's true."

"Why don't you go on and tell your mother you're alright and that you're sorry for stealing the pendant from her room," Niklaus tells his daughter. "You gave her quite the scare earlier."

Hope frowns, looking guilty. "I didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't, sweetheart," Niklaus says, touching her cheek. "But go tell her anyway, alright?"

Hope nods and turns to Elijah with a nervous, hesitant look on her face. Then, before he realises what she's about to do she throws her arms around him and buries her head in his stomach.

He stills for a moment, and then his arms automatically come up to hold her close.

"Bye, uncle Elijah," his niece says, pulling back and looking up at him with her father's light-blue eyes. "Thanks for the piano lesson."

"Thank you for our enjoyable conversation," he replies. "Although perhaps next time you should tell your parents before you come to visit me in here."

"That would be appreciated," Niklaus says dryly.

His brother puts a hand on Hope's shoulder and together the three of them step back into the corridor.

"Off you go," Niklaus tells his daughter. "And tell your aunt Freya to wait five more minutes before pulling me out."

It seems his brother wants a word in private before he leaves.

Hope nods, and with one final glance at him, she closes her eyes and stretches out her arms as she had done earlier that day. A few whispered phrases later and she disappears, leaving the brothers alone.

It's quiet for a moment after Hope leaves. Klaus uses the moment to take in his brother, or rather, the physical manifestation of his mind.

"I hear you've been filling my niece's mind with bizarre notions about my sleeping habits," Elijah finally says, breaking the silence.

He feels the corners of his lips twitch as he struggles not to laugh. "She asked you about that?"

"She seemed mostly convinced that you were lying, but apparently felt the need to check," Elijah says, sounding mildly exasperated.

"She did defend your honour whenever I brought it up." Klaus grins, unrepentant, then shrugs. "Perhaps had you spent more time with her she never would have doubted you."

Elijah doesn't respond with much more than a twitch of his lips, so Klaus turns around to properly take in the corridor. With the need to locate his daughter gone, he finds himself rather more curious.

The corridor stretches on seemingly endlessly, but that may very well just be a trick of the light. He doubts it. After a thousand years his brother is bound to have more memories than would fit in just this small corridor.

He takes a step to inspect the dagger that's placed at eye-level on the door to the left of the memory they have just exited. The blade is silver and looks familiar. Klaus can remember vividly holding a similar dagger clenched in his hand before he'd shoved it through his brother's heart.

Elijah gives a pointed cough. "Are you quite done, Niklaus?"

"Almost." Klaus shrugs. "It's not every day that I get to see the inside of my brother's mind," he says, glancing back over his shoulder.

Elijah raises an eyebrow. "I suppose it's too much to expect you to have more respect for my privacy than your seven-year-old daughter."

Klaus rolls his eyes. "I never touched any of the closed doors, only the one you left open."

"I can see where your daughter gets it from," Elijah states dryly.

Klaus smiles.

His smile falls a little when he takes another step and notices a door that wasn't there before. It's an old wooden door, red with blood and clearly at odds with the stark white walls of the corridor.

"So this is your infamous Red Door, then," he says, resting his hand against it. The wood feels strange and when he pulls his hand back, some of the blood sticks to his fingers. "It's still wet," he observes.

"It never really dries," Elijah says, with an odd note in his voice.

Klaus turns back to his brother, who seems to be avoiding looking at the single red stain in the pristine white corridor of his mind.

"A bit heavy on the symbolism, don't you think?"

He looks for something to wipe his fingers with. Finding nothing save his own clothing, which he'd rather not stain, he holds out a hand to his brother in request.

Elijah pulls a handkerchief from his pocket with a decisive snap and hands it to him.

"It looks older than I expected," Klaus comments idly, wiping the blood from his fingers.

"It was the door of the slaughterhouse in the village once," Elijah says.

Klaus holds the handkerchief out to his brother again. "I thought it seemed familiar," he admits.

His brother just glances at the stained handkerchief and gives Klaus a pointed look.

Klaus shrugs, and shoves it in his own pocket. He meets his brother's eyes again, more serious now.

Elijah tenses slightly in response.

"Hayley seemed rather shaken up by what she saw inside," Klaus says, tone deliberately light.

His brother looks away as if in shame. "I attacked her."

Well. That explains quite a bit, really. It's rather unfortunate.

"If it helps at all, she seemed mostly upset to have found you in your darkest memory," he offers.

Elijah doesn't reply.

"Rebekah and Kol have returned," Klaus says, dropping the subject for now. "They were still in France when suddenly your sireline started dropping like flies. Rebekah called me as soon as they realised what must have happened."

Elijah looks back at him. "It would have been safer for them to stay in Europe," he says.

Klaus waves him off, even though the same thought has crossed his own mind. He can't handle losing Rebekah or even Kol in this fight as well.

"They wanted to come," he just says. "They thought you'd died at first. That you might be lost forever."

Klaus looks away. "I thought you might be lost forever," he admits in a voice barely louder than a whisper.

"I'm not," Elijah says gently.

He meets his brother's eyes. Elijah looks like he knows exactly how many other things Klaus left unspoken in his admission.

"We'll have to bring you back, of course," Klaus says. "I promise you, I will not rest until I've found a way to put you back in your body. Whatever it takes, brother."

"I'm not going anywhere, Niklaus," Elijah says. "The first priority should be protecting the family and taking down the Hollow."

"We'll do that and bring you back at the same time," Klaus agrees.

Elijah meets his eyes with a serious gaze. "And if you cannot?" he asks. "Do not pass up on a chance to save our family for my sake."

"You're part of our family," Klaus replies stubbornly.

"Not the most important part." Elijah shakes his head. "You have to make sure Hope is safe. And Hayley and Rebekah."

Klaus narrows his eyes. "You don't want us to bring you back?"

"Of course I do," Elijah says. "I wish to help you obliterate the Hollow as much as you do, brother."

"Then what's the problem?"

"If there comes a moment to take down the Hollow," his brother states. "Even if it means postponing my resurrection, I want you to promise me you will not hesitate."

Klaus bristles. "If you think we're just going to leave you here, you're wrong."

Elijah gives him an irritated look, the kind he uses when he believes his brother is being particularly unreasonable. Klaus thinks it rather uncalled for, all things considered.

"If it were you in my place," Klaus starts, stepping closer to his brother, all coiled up menace. "Would you do any different? Would you stop at anything to bring me back?"

"I would carve out the very heart of this city with my own two hands if that were what it took to bring you back," Elijah says calmly. "But you shouldn't."

"Why not?" Klaus bites out. "I want you alive."

"You have Hope now," Elijah says, as if that somehow settles the argument.

Klaus pauses. "Hope is seven, Elijah," he finally replies, far calmer than he thinks the situation deserves. "She means the world to me, yes, and I would sacrifice myself for her in a heartbeat. But she cannot replace my brother."

"That's not what I meant," Elijah says, a note of irritation in his voice.

"Then what do you mean?"

"There have to be limits," his brother says. "The things we've done—to Davina, to Marcel—We can't keep doing this."

Klaus stares at him. "Is that what this is about?" he asks. "You don't want us to sacrifice for you the way you would for us?"

"You don't need me," Elijah states calmly, in that stupid self-sacrificing way of his.

Klaus shoots him an annoyed look. "Of course we do."

"You don't," Elijah says, sounding exasperated.

"And that is why you've been this way with Hope, then?" Klaus asks, switching tactics.

Elijah falls silent, looking at him in question.

"You've been avoiding her," Klaus explains. "Hope told me you've barely said a word to her in this past week."

"Hope needs her father."

"What Hope needs is a family," he counters. "She sought you out tonight for a reason. She's curious about her uncle."

"It would be best for her not to be too close to me."

"You're an idiot if you truly believe that," Klaus says.

Elijah frowns. "Am I?" he asks sharply. "Then tell me, Niklaus, would you rather your daughter be exposed to the dark truth lurking behind these memories? To the blood I have spilled just in the past week to protect this family?"

"Of course not," Klaus replies, "but—"

"Then you should understand why Hope shouldn't be around me," Elijah continues with ruthless logic. "For the sake of protecting whatever innocence remains to her."

His brother falls silent with a sense of finality. He looks at Klaus like he expects the argument to be over.

"You are a bigger fool than I ever gave you credit for, Elijah," Klaus finally says.

Elijah looks annoyed. Well, that makes two of them. "Niklaus," he says. "You—"

"Don't, Elijah," Klaus cuts him off, stepping closer. "I will not entertain these ridiculous notions for even a moment longer." He cradles the back of his brother's neck with his hand, forcing him to meet his eyes. "Our family needs you. I need you."

Elijah's eyes dart back and forth across his face, his mouth open a fraction, but seemingly out of words.

Klaus pulls him even closer, and Elijah's hand comes up to hold his shoulder in turn, still never tearing his gaze away from his brother's face.

"And more than that," Klaus continues, because apparently it needs to be said, "I want you by my side while I raise my daughter. You say I have Hope now, but that's all the more reason why I can't do this without you, brother."

He lowers his voice. "I don't want my daughter to grow up in a world without you," he admits. "I want her have a chance to get to know you. For you to be important to her as you are important to me."

Klaus holds his brother's eyes for a moment longer, before finally listening to his instincts and abruptly breaking away. He turns around to give both Elijah and himself the chance to compose themselves.

They likely won't have have much longer to talk, Freya should be trying to extract him from the pendant any minute now.

His eyes search for something to focus on and land on the nearest door decoration. Angel wings. He wonders what kind of atrocious deeds are hidden in that memory.

Behind him, his brother clears his throat. "Niklaus," Elijah starts, his voice hoarse. "The things I've done—"

"Pale in comparison to the worst of which I've proven capable, brother," Klaus interrupts. "Yet you would not deny me the chance to raise Hope."

"It's not as simple as that," his brother insists.

"Isn't it? Of all the thousands of memories I could have found you and Hope in tonight, you chose a peaceful day at the compound at the end of the 18th century."

"1797," Elijah says absently. "Easter Sunday. I played for most of the afternoon."

"Exactly," Klaus states. "So I'm not worried, brother. I know you will do what you can to keep Hope from the violence of our world."

His brother falls silent for a moment again. When he finally speaks, his voice is soft. "And Hayley?"

"She trusts you as well," he says, a beat too late, and he can tell by the look in Elijah's eyes that his brother noticed.

"I see," Elijah murmurs, looking rather tortured.

On impulse, he puts a hand on his brother's shoulder. Elijah stills and meets his eye.

"We will find a way to get you back in your body, brother," he vows.

Elijah holds his gaze for a few moments longer, then finally nods. "Be careful, Niklaus."

"I will," he replies.

And then there isn't anything left to say.

He doesn't take his eyes off his brother, carefully imprinting every detail of his face to his memory. His brother, always so elegant, in his expensive suit, with carefully styled hair, and dark-brown eyes never leaving his.

All around them, the white of the hallway seems to grow brighter and he knows their time is up.

Klaus forces himself to smile. "I'll see you soon, brother."

A/N: Shoutout to tumblr user comebackali for proofreading and to tumblr user furrydolphin for putting up with me teasing this fic for the past week. Hope you enjoy!

Reviews would be much appreciated! :)