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"FREYA." KOL'S CHIPPER voice sounds through the courtyard as he joins the rest of them. "I'm trying to sort out a puzzle. A Chambre de Chasse of this size would be constructed from the depth of memory, right? But there's a room here that hasn't existed for a century. And Hope would've never seen it."
"Wiped out by a storm. The music room. Oh, I brought you there during the Christmas party, where we drank, Marcel played 'Carol of the Bells,' Niklaus stabbed me in the heart. You remember." Kol continues, a wicked smile on his face.
"Kol." Freya whispers, trying to stop him.
"Freya." Klaus stops her, realizing what Kol was implying. "What have you done?"
"Hope asked for my help." Freya sputters out.
"So you decided to lend a hand in her destruction?" Cullen questions, becoming defensive. "She is fifteen. This is not her problem. Why would you help her?"
"The plagues are nearing their end. All it would take is one more meeting between you to end it all, something needed to be done." Freya tries to prove her point. "And even if you did leave who's to say you wouldn't test the limits again to lay your eyes on Hope or Cullen, as you did with Elijah?"
"Don't put this on me!" Klaus snaps, grabbing ahold of his sister. "I was trying to protect her. Perhaps I was wrong to have faith in you. Maybe your obligations to family were infringed upon by other plans. Keelin's back, isn't she?"
"Stop it, Klaus." Freya raises her voice. "I have sacrificed everything for you, for Cullen, for Hope. I understand that you were trying to protect her, but that is not what she needs right now."
"Freya." Cullen speaks up, pushing past Klaus. "I am her mother. Klaus is her father. We decide what she needs and what she doesn't."
"I get that, Cullen, but I don't think Klaus does." Freya turns back to her brother. "While you were gone, I was here, with Cullen. Hope did everything we ever asked of her. The one time she acted out, it was because she missed her dad. You want to see what she does if she has to spend the rest of her life missing her family? We have to let her make her own choices."
Klaus shakes her head, trying to hide how much Freya's words affected him. "She's a child."
"She's a Mikaelson witch." Freya corrects. "And as long as that magic is inside of you, Klaus, she'll never stop. Look, we've all done dangerous things for family, and we've seen each other through it. Now it's her turn."
"Freya. You have to stop her." Cullen commands.
Freya places a comforting hand on Cullen's shoulder, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, but I can't." Before Klaus or Cullen can stop her Freya's grabbed ahold of her lock, vanishing away.
-
With the only way out of here being the key to their respective lock, Cullen begins searching again, this time making her way to her bedroom. Sighing Cullen glances around, thinking of all the years her and Hope had spent together here. Rummaging around the room she's not able to find the key, letting out an aggravated sigh when she finally takes a break, sitting on the edge of her bed.
Looking around the room a thought suddenly strikes her. Turning around, Cullen reaches forward, aimlessly feeling under her pillow. When the cold feeling of metal hits her hand she stops, a smile pulling on her face as she grabs ahold of her key.
When Hope was younger and she missed her mother she used to astral project to New Orleans, randomly appearing in Cullen's bed at different hours of the night. At first it frightened Cullen, to wake up to the feeling up someone else in her bed, but as it went on Cullen found it to be comforting. Knowing that even though they were miles away Hope could still be with her, even if she wasn't actually with her.
"I found my key." Cullen announces, meeting Rebekah and Kol downstairs as they wait for Klaus and Elijah.
"Why would I lie?" Elijah's voice is heard as him and Klaus march into the courtyard. "I want out of here as bad as you."
"What's going on?" Rebekah questions, glancing between her brothers.
"Our brother has been deliberately repressing his memories to keep us trapped here." Klaus angrily points at Elijah.
"I am not your brother!" Elijah yells, turning to face Klaus. "And I didn't ask for any of this."
"You most certainly did." Rebekah snaps. "It's not like you held a family vote before you decided to erase all of us."
"You ever consider the possibility that perhaps you don't even want me back?" Elijah exclaims. "I mean, it seems to me that I make you all incredibly miserable. I'm pretty sure I killed you just yesterday."
"We all make each other miserable." Kol chimes in. "And we all kill each other from time to time."
"But through it all, we are family, and we made a vow. Always and forever." Rebakah declares. "If I can forgive you for killing me, you can at least do us a common curtesy by helping to get us out of here."
"I made another vow!" Elijah raises his voice. "And the woman that I pledged my life to is out there. So, if you believe in any way that-that I am your family, then I'm begging you... help me."
"When Vincent and Marcel were recovering your memories, what did you see?" Klaus steps forward, moving towards Elijah.
Elijah shrugs. "A white corridor. A long white corridor with a red door."
"That's where you hide the things you don't want to remember." Kol interjects. "You've been doing it for a thousand years."
"The storm's escalating. We're running out of time." Cullen speaks up as the wind around them picks up.
"We're wasting it rehashing ten centuries of separation anxiety, and none of this has anything to do with our vow." Klaus shakes his head.
"This has everything to do with it." Rebekah tries to speak, but Klaus just cuts her off.
"Elijah was always there for me." Klaus shouts. "Swooping in when my rage got the better of me, setting me on a path to redemption. For a thousand years, he made me need him. My brother was my greatest ally. He was the only one who could give me a chance of being worthy of Hope. And he was my best friend. You killed him." Klaus points towards Elijah. "And I hate you for that."
A sudden bang sounds through the room as all of the Mikaelson siblings feel a sharp pain radiate through their bodies. Cullen looks around in confusion as they all place a hand over their hearts. "What's going on?" Cullen questions, worriedly.
"Hope's taking the power from us." Kol groans out. "There's no stopping it."
"It's too late." Rebekah exclaims as a blue light starts to pull from all four of their bodies. Cullen stands back, watching in horror as the light collects into one above them, no longer split.
"Hope." Cullen breathes out watching as the Mikealson's drop to the floor, the power of the Hollow no longer inside them.
