Chapter Text
Esther Mikaelson stood just a step above her immortal children in the home her son Nikalus built for them. A thousand years had passed since she had last seen her children with living eyes, but they seemed to have changed more than she had.
Finn, her eldest son, so loyal to his parents, filled with hatred towards his immortality. Elijah, her wise and noble son that hides from the monster he has become, even from himself. Nikalus, her kind and gentle son, turned into an angry and vengeful beast that lashes out against the world before it can attack him. Kol, her wild trickster who had become a nightmare to the Supernatural World. Rebekah, her beautiful daughter that loved so freely and completely turned into a spiteful and wicked girl.
Esther masked her contempt for what she had done to her children. She had wanted to protect her children, instead she had destroyed them. She must hold onto her purpose, to fix her mistake and purge the world of Vampires. Only Finn was aware of her true intentions as she used what influence she had on the Other Side to speak to him while he remained daggered.
Esther walked across the hardwood flooring in the sunken living room her children had gathered in. She moved with a grace few others, but her children could match as she came to stand before her son that had killed her. His eyes stayed on the ground as tears fell from his eyes, head hung in shame at facing his mother. Her eyes softened just a fraction as she looked at him, looking so much like her young child that would pull mean pranks against his sister. Her fingers twitched at her side as she withheld the deep desire to pull him into a hug and kiss his forehead like she always did. Despite her plans, she loved her children in the way only a mother could love their children. She made to open her mouth to speak when a throat cleared behind her.
She turned and saw a young man near the age of Nikalus' own twenty-four winters. He was around six feet with short blonde hair that almost matched her own and the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen. He was slim, similar to how Kol was built but the tight shirt he wore showed that he was solid with muscle. He stood in the spot that Esther once stood with a confidence that she only thought her children had mastered. He looked around the room with a softness in his eyes that could only come from knowing someone for years, but all of her children looked at the man with no recognition in their eyes.
"Sorry to show up unannounced but it seems like we are having a family reunion, and I could hardly miss out on that." The man spoke with a slight accent similar to Nikalus'.
"Who the bloody hell are you? If you couldn't tell, we are in the middle of something." Rebekah snapped at the man. The man looked at Rebekah with a look so soft that Rebekah was actually brought up short. The look spoke of a deep love of the immortal though Esther could see the slight hidden pain at the tone.
"Tongue still sharper than our father's sword I see little sister. I was hoping for that by showing myself before all of you, it would cause the memory spell to naturally fade away. Guess it's a good thing I brought some companions to help me." The man said as the door opened and in walked two witches. The power that rolled off of them was enough that even the vampires could sense the magic caressing their skin.
Their appearances seemed to contrast the two perfectly. The young woman was tall with the blue eyes that she inherited from her father with long blonde hair like her mother. She was dressed in a simple white blouse with dark blue jeans and dark boots. The older woman had dark hair that matched with Elijah and Kol, dressed in a dark pant suit that radiated power and authority. Her dark eyes had locked onto Esther as they burned with hatred and sorrow.
Esther was frozen in her place. Her sister was here before her with her eldest daughter, the children that broke her husband's heart. Freya had walked past them to stand before Finn, glaze soft and kind as she stared at him. Eyes wide, Finn raised a single hand and placed it tenderly against her cheek as Freya grinned at him with tears in her eyes.
"Freya. Is it truly you?" Finn asked so softly that Esther could barely hear him from her place.
"It is I dear little brother. I have missed you so much." Freya said as she wrapped her dear brother and best friend in a tight embrace. Finn wrapped her softly in turn, mindful of his vampiric strength. The others could hear him whispering thanks to every god that would hear him.
"Well, dear sister. It would seem we are having a proper reunion now, doesn't it?" Dahlia spoke as she walked further into the room as the man presented his room to escort her in. She smiled kindly at him as she him a soft peck on the cheek before she locked her arm with his.
"Sister. How are you here now? I thought you would still be asleep for a few more years." Esther said as she carefully took a step back from her advancing sister.
"Oh? I see you have been spying on the Other Side. Naughty little sister. Freya and I had reworked that old spell centuries ago thanks to my dear nephew here. He really is quite clever with magic and finding out loopholes." Dahlia said as she glanced over to Freya who nodded at the unspoken question. She stepped back from Finn's embrace, whispering that she would return in a moment and she would never leave her family again.
"Please pardon me but could someone explain what is happening now?" Elijah asked, brow furled as he pondered what little information he had been able to gleam.
"Family reunion that has a thousand years of history." The man replied sarcastically.
"Erik. Please be nice to our brother." Freya said as she rolled her eyes fondly at the man.
"Oh. come on sister. If they can handle our little brother Kol for a thousand years, they can a handle a little bit a snark." Erik replied as Dahlia covered her laugh with her free hand.
"Explain what is going on right now or I'll start ripping off body parts." Klaus growled, eye glowing gold showing his annoyance.
"I am your brother although I am not blood related to any of you. However, we did do a familial bonding ritual between all of us when we were all still human. Mikael, our father, took me in after I had been abandoned as a newborn. When Mother turned all of us into vampires, we discovered something unusual with my transformation. I became known as the Original Heretic. An Original Vampire with the ability to still perform magic by siphoning magic either from myself or other sources. When Mother discovered this, she forced Mikael to capture myself and Nik, to lock away our other half. I wasn't in control of my magic, and I accidentally sealed all memory of myself from everyone that had met me. When I realized what I had done, I fled back to the Old World, both to protect myself and to discover a way to remove the memory block. The block did more damage I discovered later. It warped all of your memories of our childhood and turned Father into a monster to his children. He became the Original Vampire Hunter, bent on the destruction of his children that he loved deeply. I am... I am sorry for all of the pain I caused you all." Erik hung his head in shame for the torment his siblings had endured due to his actions.
"Are you saying that you are a vampire that can do magic?" Kol said with a deadly calm that caused the others to tense in the room. He wasn't known as the Wild One and the worst of the worst for nothing.
"Actually, I think I have discovered a way to recover your connection to nature. I am not sure how this may affect your magic or your vampiric abilities. Between the combined power of Freya, Aunt Dahlia, and myself, we should be able to restore your connection. I would recommend we wait until the next Winter Solstice or the Spring Equinox. I promise you dear little brother, we will return your magic to you. You will be made whole again." Erik said as he stepped away from Dahlia and pulled his little brother into a tight embrace. Kol remained still before he returned the hug just as tightly. Some part of him could remember being hugged like this before, faded and dull but there.
"Thank you." Kol whispered, tears gathering in his eyes. He had waited for centuries to feel whole again, he couldn't wait.
"Well that's your story but what about the others?" Klaus demanded as his patience began to wear thinner the longer this night went on.
"Dahlia is our mother's elder sister. Our family line has a sort of blessing on the firstborn of the family. They will have a deeper connection to the ancestorial magic of our family; however, it does mean that they have a harder time controlling their magic. Dahlia and Esther were captured as young girls by Father and his people. Dahlia was both feared and respected due to her considerable power while Esther abandoned her magic to marry Father. When Esther discovered she couldn't have children, she went to Dahlia for help."
"Dahlia had accepted for a price, the firstborn of every Mikaelson forever. Esther could have as many children as she wanted so long as she turned over the firstborn of each generation. The deal became a bloodline curse in that Esther had to turn me over to Dahlia or every child would die before their next Spring." Freya explained as she rubbed her arms. Dahlia glanced over at her daughter in her heart. She herself had no interest in laying down with a man and as such, in her own way, had adopted her niece and nephew as her own children.
"Is this true Mother?" Rebekah questioned as she began to think back their human lives. Rebekah remembered members of the village questioning her parents about why none of their children ever married or had a child. She remembered hiding every relationship she could have had because of her mother's wrath.
Esther stared at her sister with a burning mixture of fear and hatred as so many of her hardships could be laid down at Dahlia's feet. She glanced at her youngest daughter before giving a slight nod.
Rebekah and all of her siblings' faces twisted in disgust and horror at their mother's actions.
"After I left our village and returned to the Old World, I went to our mother's homeland to find a magic that would help me. I came across Dahlia and Freya arguing about something or another. I could instantly see the resemblance between all of us and so I began to live with them. I even helped redesign the link that Dahlia had created along with her immortal sleep spell to include myself. Essentially, I helped make both of them immortal like an Original and I even added in the ability for them to draw in more magic than a normal witch should be able to handle. I basically made them immortal powerful witches." Erik said with a nonchalant shrug, as if breaking the laws of magic and nature was an everyday event for him.
"What the hell brother?" Kol muttered as he slammed back his glass of bourbon. Freya let a small snort as she shook her head.
"I've known him for almost a thousand years, and he still surprises me with his use of magic and finding loopholes. Speaking of, Dahlia, perhaps this conversation would be easier if we remove the memory block fully now." Freya said as she looked at her aunt. It had taken centuries of talking and Erik mediating for her to be able to even talk to her aunt without trying to rain hellfire upon her.
"Of course, dear Freya." Dahlia said as she crossed her arms in front of herself as Freya and Erik did the same, linking their hands together.
"Memoria restoria. Memoria phastmatos restoria. Memoria restoria. Memoria phastmatos restoria." The three chanted as the pressure of the air in the room became heavy.
Suddenly all of the others grabbed their heads as memories flooded into their minds. Memories of Mikael finding the young babe, welcoming it into the family, the babe growing up and cooling Mikael's rage, and other random moments of the child growing into the man before the family.
One such memory that seemed to burn the brightest in everyone's mind was from about two years before Henrik's death. Visitors from the Old World had come to their village to trade and perhaps settle down. One of the men had attempted to rape Rebekah in hopes of forcing Mikael's hand in wedding her to him. Erik had discovered this plot and stopped the man before he could go further than ripping her dress. He had brought the man before Mikael as chief and father of the victim to request permission to end that man. Mikael nearly blind with his rage allowed his son of his heart to deal with the man as he saw fit. He dragged the man out to the center of the village, before the White Oak tree, and took his head before any could blink. The words he spoke were burned their minds even with the memory block.
'My sister is not a prize to be taken by force. If another man ever lays their hands on her again without her permission, I will erase your family line from the face of Midgard and will salt your family home. I will not be as kind or as swift as I was with this man if I find out this happened again.' Erik said loudly and clearly as he cleaned his sword on the headless corpse of the man he had killed.
Esther, Elijah, Klaus, and Rebekah recovered fairly quickly from the influx of memories while Finn and Kol took a bit longer.
"What did you do? I have memories of things I couldn't have." Finn questioned as he shook his head.
"I transferred some my memories over to both you and Kol that I thought would be helpful for your both. I included some of my schooling in business, law, and history to you Finn while Kol got agriculture, music, and art. I also included knowledge of modern culture and recent technology." Erik said as he stepped away from the other witches.
"Erik is an eternal student. Constantly going to university or studying some new advancement. I am beginning to think he did that partially for all of you." Freya said as she wrapped her arm around Finn's waist.
"That would explain a few things." Kol muttered as he worked on sorting all of the new memories.
"Well now that is all taken care of, I believe it is getting quite late and I am sure Auntie would like to get to bed soon. Elijah, do you have a tailor that we can have come to the house to get clothes arranged for Esther, Finn, and Kol? They'll also need a haircut so a salon appointment would be needed also. Nik, can you help me get everyone settled in?" Erik said as he pulled his phone from his back pocket and started texting someone.
"Of course. I'll give Giovanni a call first thing. He's actually in Richmond right now so perhaps we can go to him." Elijah offered up.
"Sure, I can drive everyone there. Also, Nik, can you make sure that Finn's room is big enough for two people? Sage just told me that she'll be arriving in the morning." Erik informed them as he returned his phone to his pocket.
"Why is that peasant coming anywhere near here?" Rebekah sneered. Finn, who had beamed at the news, turned a hard glare at his little sister.
"Because she's his wife and a part of this family. She's also been a good friend to me by keeping me updated on all of you." Erik replied with a bland look at her distaste.
"Ugh. You need better taste in friends, dear brother." Rebekah said as she adjusted her dress before her hand froze as the dress slipped a little due to the dagger wound.
"I am going to kill that little wrench." Rebekah growled.
"She is not to be harmed!" Klaus yelled at her.
"Who are they arguing about?" Freya questioned as she watched the ensuing argument with part concern and part amusement.
"Elena Gilbert. The current Petrova doppelganger." Erik replied with an eye roll.
"How are you aware of Ms. Gilbert?" Elijah asked as he pinched the bridge of nose.
"I tracked the Petrova line for centuries alongside the other doppelganger bloodline. Stefan Salvatore is one of the doppelgangers of Silas, The First Immortal. I also became rather skilled in divination magic so I peaked in on few future events." Erik said with a shrug. That little nugget of information was enough to stop Klaus and Rebekah's fight as they gapped at their brother.
"I didn't know there was a second doppelganger bloodline. Even after a thousand years, you can still learn new things. Does this mean there is another Stefan Salvatore walking around somewhere?" Elijah questioned.
"Name's Tom. Perfectly normal guy living in Atlanta." Erik said simply.
"Well no offense children but I do believe this has been a long evening for all of us. We should all be getting some rest." Dahlia said as she snapped her fingers, and three large suitcases appeared before her.
"Of course, Aunt Dahlia. I believe we can have everyone set up in their own rooms." Elijah said as he stepped up to his aunt and grabbed one of the suitcases.
"Thank you, dear nephew." Dahlia said with a small smile.
"What are we to do about Mother?" Rebekah asked as she glared at the woman who had given birth to her.
"Already ahead of you sister." Erik said with a malicious grin that him being related to the other Original couldn't be more obvious. He had vamped over and slapped a silver cuff on Esther's wrist. Esther, unable to react in time, collapsed to the floor as her own magic and the magic she was channeling from the Bennett line was reduced to barely a trickle.
"Anti-magic cuff. It'll allow enough magic for you to live without worry but not to have enough to cast any spells. I've also spelled it so that only I can remove it from your wrist." Erik said with a smirk as he grabbed her by the arm and hauled her up.
"Where should I stick her?" Erik asked Klaus who looked like Christmas and his birthday had come early.
"Normally I would say the cellar but I suppose there is enough rooms that we can just toss her in a guest room." Klaus said with a shrug as he began to lead everyone to the various rooms.
Erik, Dahlia, Freya, and Finn would all be on the East wing of the house while Elijah, Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah would be on the West side. Esther was thrown into a simple guest room that was sealed by both Freya and Erik to allow everyone to enter but Esther was seal within the room. Everyone went quickly to sleep, all wondering how things would change with their family reunited.