Archive of Our Own ^beta

Death is something Hayley has not taken into consideration in a very long time. Why would she? She is a hybrid—well, was. One of the most powerful creatures on earth and immortal, and a Mikaelson, and if there is something her family is good at, it is avoiding it at all costs.

That being said, there was no hesitation when she spared what were obviously the last seconds of her life to take that Nazi bitch down with her. From the moment Hayley realized the weight of motherhood, when Hope was nothing but a couple of cells full of magic and impossibility in her womb, Hayley swore to herself that there was nothing she would not do to protect Hope. Being a mother gave Hayley everything she had never known she needed. It gave her space in the most powerful family in the supernatural food chain, sure—but it gave Hayley purpose. It gave her a reason to fight and live rather than search endlessly for her birth family. It gave her a fulfillment she had never known she needed.

So no, when she takes a moment to take in her surroundings before she dies, it is not hesitation but sorrow. Because this is it. This is the end of always and forever, at least for her.

She is never going to watch Hope bitch and moan about school. She will never have their camping days in the bayou over summer break. She is never going to get the chance to hear her daughter admitting to her first crush—and Hayley wishes her daughter didn’t have a thing for a freaking Nazi, but considering Hayley’s own taste in men and Rebekah’s love life, she believes it might even be hereditary. She will never be there for Hope during her first transition in a wolf, never see her sweet girl becoming the fierce woman Hayley knows she will be. It breaks Hayley’s heart beyond what she thought was possible.

She takes one look at Klaus, who is on the floor with a stake through him, blood seeping from his mouth, looking at her imploringly. This is the first time they have been in the same room since Germany. She tries to convey everything for him in a single glance. He is going to be the only parent Hope has from now on.

He will be in charge of a grieving teenage girl’s well-being and safety. Hayley knows he has it in him to do right by their daughter. He loves Hope more than Hayley thought a person could ever love another. There is nothing he won’t do for her, and that is a small reassurance for Hayley.

To Elijah—God, she loves him. They have been over for a while now, and seven years was more than enough time for her to make her peace with it. But seeing him turn away from her when she so desperately needs him undoes something in her—her last hope of making it out alive, maybe. She actually hopes he never gets his memories back. He would never forgive himself, she knows. He would live with the weight of her death on his back, would refuse to let it go, in fact—for eternity. He shouldn’t, if anyone is to blame, it is the woman who has her hand wrapped around Hayley’s heart but is useless now.

Hayley closes her eyes one last time before she breaks Greta’s fingers deep in her chest, dropping along with her daylight ring and sending the vampires into the sunlight.

Death was… more calm and serene than she expected it would be. She never thought she would ever see Jackson again, and meeting her birth parents—even if in death—was something so unreal she had not been able to resist a few tears escaping her eyes. Mary hugged her so tight when seeing her that Hayley had even joked about it, but she held the woman just as tightly in return. She told Jackson of what happened after his death and how she made sure to avenge him. Told Mary the truth about how her husband was controlled by the Hollow.

She told her parents the happier parts of her childhood—which admittedly were few, but still mattered. But most of all, she moped.

It is not something Hayley was used to doing, but something she could not avoid. Hayley worried for her family so much—the aftermath that her death would bring to them, how she would miss the rest of Hope’s path into the world, how she would never have a trip with Rebekah and Freya again where they did absolutely nothing.

She remembers how she and Freya visited Rebekah in New York when Marcel commented how Rebekah had still been mourning the distance forced by their family being scattered in different points around the world, with no chance of seeing one another again. So she and Freya had decided to take two weeks off from managing the aftermath of the Hollow and taken the family jet to New York, proceeding to spend the next two weeks getting drunk and talking for hours on end.

How she would never hear Davina complain about Kol—as if she didn’t marry him in the first place—and Kol and Davina doing astral projection to talk and keep Hope company when her sweet girl had needed her favorite uncle and aunt by her side. Hayley is pretty sure they used to teach her black magic, but she could never be sure.

How she would never see her family again. Eventually she saw Hope again in this strange afterlife, and Hayley had almost died again. She could only bring out a sigh of relief when she faintly heard Klaus calling for their daughter.

She had known that her death would scar Hope, but Hayley refused to allow it to bring her daughter here so soon.

It’s not your time yet, she told her sweet girl. No, Hope said. I want to be here with you.

Hayley had to use all of her strength not to cry, because her girl is so sweet and caring and loving and pure. Eventually Hope was gone as quickly as she came, and Hayley cried out—both in relief because her daughter is going to live and Hayley has done something right in this world, and in utter emptiness because Hayley will never see her daughter ever again.

Eventually she stopped making sense of time there. It could have been hours, or days, or years, or decades—maybe even centuries.

But at a certain point Hayley felt light. Almost like she was fading out. It reminded her, if only for a second, of how she felt in those early weeks into her pregnancy, when she wasn’t able to go hours without feeling sleepy. Eventually Hayley sat down and began fading out. Before she could make sense of what was happening, she felt her eyes close.

When her eyes open again, Hayley’s fight instinct kicks in immediately. She realizes she is on the floor in the woods. It is, in a way, similar to the woods in the afterlife, but this place feels powerful. The whole area vibrates with an energy so strong that Hayley feels it in her bones. She slowly gets up and tries to take a couple of steps around, but just before she manages, a voice she never thought she would hear again sounds from behind her.

“Hayley.” Freya calls for her, and Hayley turns around just in time to avoid being completely thrown to the ground when Freya—why is Freya here, God why is Freya here?—lunges straight into her arms.

“God, I thought I would never see you again,” Freya sobs into Hayley’s shoulder. Remembering herself, Hayley hugs her back just as fiercely. Because this is Freya.

They had been each other’s rock during those seven years in New Orleans. Freya was the one who, in a way, helped Hayley raise Hope more than anyone else in the family when the others had been physically incapable of doing so.

She’s family. So Hayley, for a second—just for a second—doesn’t bother worrying about what on earth is going on. But that second is over pretty quickly, because Hayley can never get a freaking break, can she? Freya groans as she pulls slightly away, and Hayley notices the blood coming from her nose.

“Hayley,” Freya says breathlessly, “I’m doing a spell. To send you and Klaus back. This is our only chance at survival.”

“What?” Hayley asks, alarmed. “What do you mean our only chance? Where is Hope?”

“We don’t have time,” Freya says, her voice shaking. “Rebekah is dead. Keelin and Davina too. Hayley… everything fell apart.”

Cold dread consumes Hayley as she whispers, “What?” And that is when Freya tells her. How after Hayley’s death, Klaus and Elijah sacrificed themselves to take the Hollow out for good. How after Rebekah took the cure, Marcel came home to find her dead in their bed—and how he went mad with grief, forcing Hope to put him into a sleeping spell.

How Davina died because of the number of enemies the Mikaelsons still had.

How her sweet girl—the reason Hayley lived and died knowing the purest form of love in the world—was made into a soldier by Alaric Saltzman, because he was an incompetent teacher and mentor who made children fight his own battles. How her sweet girl was forced to become an adult and a martyr when all Hayley ever wanted was for her daughter to grow up with as few burdens as possible—because her very existence already put such a mark on her back.

How Freya and Keelin came to know the gift of motherhood through their son, who they named Nik for the uncle he would never meet. And how Freya lost her wife—the love of her life—because Keelin died sacrificing herself for their boy.

A faction of vampire purists had come for them when they found out Nik had asked Hope to turn him into a hybrid. And it had all been useless because they killed him before Keelin’s body was even cold. Which caused Hope’s humanity to shut off for the second time, sending Hayley’s daughter into a slaughter that would put even the great Klaus Mikaelson to shame.

“Oh, Freya,” Hayley whispers, pulling her into her arms as Freya collapses while telling her about her son’s death. It shakes Hayley to her very being to hear about the sheer number of losses their family suffered in the next century. Freya pulls back from the hug, coughing blood, and Hayley immediately freaks out a little.

“We are running out of time,” Freya says shakily. “I am using all my strength to send you and Klaus back to a time when you will have your memories and enough time to save our family.”

“Wait—only me and Klaus?” Hayley asks, alarmed.

“To send two people who have been dead for almost a century to the past is hard enough,” Freya says. “And I am already channeling Hope by using her blood. It is too risky to try for more.” Hayley looks around them and notices for the first time the circle of blood surrounding them.

The wind begins to pick up around her. “Wait,” Hayley says slowly. “You mean time travel.”

“It is our only shot at survival,” Freya says loudly so her voice carries over the wind. “You will have all your memories. If everything goes according to plan, you are going to wake up pregnant with Hope already, and Klaus will be there too.”

Before Hayley can—she’s not exactly sure what—argue? ask for more information? what is she even supposed to do? is Klaus going to remember her?

She is already gone.