A THOUSAND YEARS, niklaus mikaelson.

QUINZE

QUINZE. the five siblings of grief

It was no shock that the Mikaelson family didn't take losses well, whether that was an empire or a sibling, it was all the same. Yet they each grieved in their own unusual ways. Of course, none of which included the other. For instance, Kol would barely even know how to, not that the others were any better. The psychotic maniac would merely turn his humanity off and go on a mass-murdering spree. Hell, half the time, he wouldn't acknowledge it at all. In this case, the youngest brother decided to fully push the thought of his now-deceased oldest brother to the deepest depths of his subconscious. He liked to think if he ignored it well enough, the problem would go away. In this case, the slightest tinge of guilt he felt when he had heard the news.

In fact, his exact words to Cassia were, "personally I'm a fan of ignoring a problem until it just goes away!" His tone filled with an unnecessary abundance of pep that concerned Cassia in just the slightest bit.

It's said to be five stages of grief yet the hybrid only ever seemed to go through the most destructive one. His anger masked through deceitful plans and unintentional revenge he wouldn't consciously acknowledge. So as expected, he sat in front of his lit fireplace, plotting out his next no-good and somewhat dickish plans to torment the unfortunate population of Mystic Falls specifically the oddly resilient scooby doo gang that resided in the insignificant one-pony town.

As for the youngest, the sister, she had always been the most sensitive yet most strong. There was no crying from her end, maybe the one loose tear that escaped her dams and slide down her porcelain cheek. Nevertheless, the girl sort of just grieved, mostly in shock. Thus, there she was, not being able to stop herself from wondering of all the possible what-ifs.

Last but not least, the now oldest, the most sensible. He wouldn't physically rage as his younger brothers had. Yet, the raging pit of anger within him was the brightest, all the more reason to be the least suspecting. Though, through and through, the suit-clad Mikaelson felt a need to hold it out for the rest of them, to be the calm within the storm, the mediator.

He had to be.

Someone had to be the selfless martyr, especially with a family like his, right?

It didn't matter if he had already fled far from his siblings. He felt the need to keep it together for the sake of their sanity and possibly his own. Of course, even if he did surprisingly lash out in whatever way, word would spread. It seemingly always did when it came to the original family. Still, he mourned, only less destructively than his younger siblings.

"The Salvatores may fight like dogs, but in the end, they would die for each other. At least they know what family means. You destroyed ours," the younger of the two Mikaelson spat out.

"I wanted a family. They just didn't want me, and now we're unlinked, we're no longer responsible for each other," the brother stated firmly. Rebekah narrowed her eyes at the hybrid, thinking he was acting cowardly, "so are you leaving?"

"As soon as I get my stakes, I'm gone. I'm gonna take Cassia and Elena to use her blood to create a new family. Of hybrids," he declared firmly.

"And if I choose to stay?" The younger Mikaelson asked, also adding, "if Cassia?" The two siblings stare at one another, one trying to find the true intentions of the other and the younger searching for an unknown emotion in her brother's eyes. Though, she never got what she was looking for when his eyes stayed concealed with an emotionless blank stare as he spoke his next words with zero hesitation.

"Then you both are just as pathetic as Finn."

***
Meanwhile, upstairs, a party of emotions raged through the girl's body as she sat on her bed. Ever since the news broke to her, a permanent frown found itself etched on her face. She knew no one was going to grieve him, not properly at least. The Sterling knew the Mikaelson family well, even if she had missed out on a thousand years, she knew deep down they were still slivers of who they were all those centuries ago. It was just all the hurt they had all seen over those thousand years that created the monsters everyone feared today. All the pain they witnessed forced to shift into the fear that they instilled into everyone else so that they wouldn't have to fear it themselves.