~E v e r l a s t i n g~ {book two}

~seventy~

"Niklaus, don't," Elijah says, looking Klaus—who's still holding the stake to his heart—dead in the eye. "Put it down."

"Walk away, Elijah. You shouldn't be here," Klaus tells him.

"Put it down, and let's talk," he attempts to reason. Davina glances at Kol, who seems to be rolling his eyes at the conversation between his brothers.

"I have nothing left to say! I'm ending this chapter, getting rid of the dark magic, once and for all." Davina notices Hope walking towards them, probably hearing the arguing.

"Dad? What's going on here?"

"Get her out of here," Klaus orders.

"Your death is not yet," Elijah states, making Hope widen her eyes.

"Death? Wh—what are you talking about?" Klaus stares at his daughter for a moment, making her realize what was going on. "They put it into you. But you told me they put it into something safe! And—and instead, you used my first transition to trick me. So what happens? You just kill yourself and the magic goes away?! And you were all going to let him go through with this?"

"I don't need anyone's permission to save your life," Klaus exclaims.

"Come back with us to New Orleans, Niklaus. We'll find another way."

"We all know that's not going to happen. I'm sorry, Hope. I've made my decision." Klaus lifts the stake and prepares to stab himself, but falls to the ground, unconscious, before he can.

"And I've made mine."

———————————————————————————————————

"Some unilateral decision Nik made," Kol remarks to himself. "Now the rest of us are stewing in his melodrama."

"His death is not a melodrama," Rebekah replies.

"Well, he's spiraling," Davina sighs. "This energy is fueled on anger, and as we all know, your brother has enough to set the world on fire."

"How many times have we already gone down this path? Calamity and doom approaches our brother, and then all of a sudden, a trapdoor appears and poof, he escapes. He's a cockroach that will outlive us all," Kol says.

"And what if it's different this time? What if he figures out a way to end it all?"

"He already did—his death," Davina reminds them. "Klaus is set on his decision to off himself, and we won't be able to sway him. So, either we just accept it or go behind his back and do something."

"Something," Elijah murmurs under his breath.

———————————————————————————————————

"Your dad is strong," Freya tells Hope, who's looking through a bunch of grimoires. "But that works against him here. The energy will feed off of that strength. He'll quickly go mad, and it won't be long before he's unrecognizable and impossibly dangerous to all of us."

"Okay, well, how long does that take? Days?"

"More like hours," Davina mumbles.

"So, today?"

"Yeah."

"All right. Then, we're gonna have to pull the darkness out of him, divide it up again."

"And then we end up where we started," Freya points out. "The family scattered to the corners of the world until something calls them back. It can't go on forever."