All the cards

42

Once Amity set Hayley up at home, she left to meet Cami at the cemetery.
"Hey." Amity said softly, and Cami glanced up at her. She stood in front of her brother's grave.
"I know things weren't good between you and Finn at the end, but Klaus told me things were different... when he first died."
"Yeah. The old Finn was my best friend. I couldn't have imagined living without him."
"You're not doing so bad."
"I suppose having a child kind of means I can't be weak."
"You're not weak." Cami sighed.
"You haven't seen me on a bad day." Amity tried to joke. "Finn and I were inseparable. I mean it used to be he, Freya and I. And then Freya was taken by Dahlia and it was he and I. Then Esther had Elijah, and then Nik, and then Kol, and barely any time to look after Finn and I, so we would entertain ourselves."
"I'm sorry."
"Finn and I only had each other for a while. Our siblings were too young to understand us, and Mikael couldn't bear to even look at us. Look at me. I reminded him too much of Freya."
"That's horrible."
"It just made Finn and I closer. And when I wanted to marry Abraham, it was Finn who's opinion mattered most to me. When I was pregnant with Benji, it was Finn I told first- well after Abraham and Ayana."
"Your mother in law?"
"Yeah. I wasn't sure, and Esther was always busy, so I asked Ayana to confirm the pregnancy. And then, of course, Abraham had to be the first person I told, it being his child and all. And then I told Finn and he was just as excited as I was. He was always there to help us. Even as a vampire, he helped me hold on to my humanity. I remember the first time I encountered my humanity switch. I didn't really know what it was, I just knew that there was a place to just stop feeling pain. To forget about losing Abraham and Benji. I confided in Finn, and he told me he had the same feeling. The same place within him that urged him to just... stop feeling. But he told me that we shouldn't go there. That it would be a place of darkness and evil and that it was part of the curse. He told me any time I wanted to go there, to remember Benji. Hold on to the better memories."
"Did it work?"
"God no, that just made me want to turn it off more."
"Oh."
"So then he tried something else. And he just spent all his time helping me, and unwittingly became my anchor. And now, I have too much to live for, I guess. I still need him and I miss him every day, but with Izzy, and Hope- I have to do everything I can to make sure they can live good lives. I need to make this city safe, and I need my brothers to learn there's a different way to deal with things."
"My uncle believed in this city, and he died believing it had the capacity for good."
"I think this city has a way to go, but there's definitely hope for its future."
"I don't want to die without having made a difference. I want to leave behind something, a legacy."
"So stay and fight. It's your choice. You can survive. It won't be easy but you can choose to live and continue your uncle's ambition. Or you can choose to be at peace, die a human with your principles intact. Being a vampire won't be easy. It'll be a struggle. Half the battle is fighting yourself, pushing down urges. It'll be a hard, arduous task- learning how to stay true to who you were before you turned. Everything will be heightened. And the thirst is hard, but you already feel that. And dying as a human, well, then you'd just be another... statistic. Another human who fell victim to a supernatural war." Amity stood.
"You're a lot more devious that people give you credit." Cami looked at her. "But you have a point. I don't ever want to be a victim, and that is exactly what I'll be if I let Aurora win. She can't win."
"I guess you've made up your mind."
"Some day, I'd like to hear about all of your adventures as a human. I'd like to know what I'm getting into when I'm dealing with you."
"All in good time." Amity stood. "I have to go. I'm going to try to reach Kol."
"Kol?"
"He's still on the ancestor's realm, which means I should be able to contact him. I haven't been able to reach him much. Half the time I can't even find him. And I can only try the spell once a month at the most." Amity said. Cami nodded, and Amity walked away. She got home, to find Hayley in the nursery, looking over Hope.
"I haven't even told Mary." She said. "I don't know how to- how do you tell someone their grandson is dead?"
"I'll come with you." Amity said, but Hayley shook her head.
"Stay here with the kids. I think I should be the one to... tell her." Amity nodded.
"Say the word, and I'll come."
"Thanks." Hayley said, and walked out. Amity sighed. Hope was sleeping, but Izzy was sitting in his cot, playing with the toy Aeliana had given him. Amity wondered if he even understood that Jackson was dead. That his father was dead. Or if he simply just thought that things were normal. Freya walked in from behind her.
"Aurora's gone." She said.
"Aurora can wait until tomorrow." Amity shook her head. After a pause, she spoke up.
"Are you thinking about him?" Freya asked.
"I'm fine." Amity said.
"That's not what I asked.
"Christmas was just.. hard. I mean we didn't celebrate Christmas, it was jol for us. Closer to early or mid January, you know. The village men would try to hunt the biggest animal the could find, and later at the night, they'd compete to see who's hunt was bigger and more formidable."
"Did father ever win?"
"Thrice. He was one of the best hunters in our village." Freya smiled. "At nightfall, the winner would be given the honour of sacrificing their prey. And then we'd all gather at the centre of town for festivities. We'd have a bonfire, and Tatia and I would have spent days beforehand cooking. The entire village would be drinking and dancing and of course, singing. We women didn't have to drink, but most chose to. I never did, and neither did Tatia. But I remember leading Abraham back coming home past dawn. He was always very sweet when he was drunk."
"Sweet?"
"Yeah, affectionate. He'd compliment me and tell me he loved me..."
"And end up getting into your pants. Or dress, as it was back then."
"Actually no. He'd just hold me, and we'd talk until morning or he fell asleep."
"Really."
"Abraham was not like usual men. He really was different and he really did care. I know you don't like him-"
"I never said I didn't like him."
"You think he's a selfish jerk who should rot in hell."
"When did I say that?"
"When you took away the gift to go hide. Oh, by the way, under your bed is not a good hiding spot." Freya rolled her eyes.
"Truthfully, I don't know what I think of him. I only met him once, and back then he didn't seem so bad."
"He was perfect."
"No he wasn't." The girls turned to see Klaus standing, looking annoyed.
"Up until we turned, you loved him."
"That was before he broke your heart and treated you like dirt."
"This coming from the man who cursed the mother of his child to be a wolf except on a full moon? Yeah, you're definitely in a position to judge."
"I never claimed to be perfect, and you certainly won't ever hear Hayley say that either."
"You're both wrong." Amira joined the conversation. "Grandpa was not perfect, grandma. Sorry, but he wasn't. But even so, he was a good man. He wasn't a bad guy, uncle Nik."
"She's right. Abraham, whatever faults he had, truly did love Amity. And he was our family. He was always good to us all." Elijah agreed and Amira rolled her eyes.
"I'm going to bed." She announced, walking out.
"Huh. You think she'll ever forgive Elijah?"
"With the way he behaves? Doubtful."
"What do you mean, the way I behave? I'm trying to apologise."
"You don't treat her like family, Elijah. When you're not insulting her, you're being perfectly polite and proper."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you even know how Amira came across Aurora?"
"Aurora turned her. She thought she was Rebekah, and wanted to bring Amira into the family."
"Yeah, but how did they meet?" Elijah stayed silent.
"Aurora, Lucien and Tristan paid a brief visit to our hometown a couple decades later. They thought they were us, after all. And Amira, Amity junior and Adam, her brother," Klaus clarified realising Elijah didn't even know there was a third child. "The three of them were defending the town from the evil. Aurora tried to explain who she was."
"The siblings knew Aurora wasn't Rebekah. She knew what she and our brothers looked like from Benjamin's memories." Freya told him. "But she figured if anyone could lead her to Amity, it would be the trio so she played along."
"She led the three to our old home and then went to tell her father what happened. And then, with Benji's blessing, eventually left with them to start her adventure in finding her family." Klaus finished. Elijah looked between the three, and walked out, presumably to find Amira. Hope started crying. Klaus walked over to her cot, but Izzy had beat him there, teleporting over. He sat in Hope's cot in front of her and held out his toy. She grabbed it, and started to quieten, holding the fluffy toy in one hand. She picked up the wooden knight and held it out to Izzy in return.
"Huh, she knows how to share. She must've gotten it from her mother." Amity remarked, teasingly. Klaus rolled his eyes. Amity walked out to her own room, patting his shoulder as she passed him.

Once she got to her room, she prepared to go find Kol. Grabbing on to his shirt, she knocked back the potion and woke in the ancestral realm.
"Kol?" She called. "Kol!" She found him pretty quickly this time. "Kol." She smiled.
"Hello, sister. Long time no see."
"You weren't at your usual spot last month. I couldn't find you."
"What's new?"
"Well, we've gotten rid of Tristan, so that just leaves two more. I'm that much closer to getting you out of here and back to the real world. I just need you to hold on for a little while."
"Really?"
"Yes. Just please, give me a few months?"
"Thank you, Amity. How's.. how's Davina?"
"I haven't been able to talk to her in a while. She was regent of all nine covens, but now there's a new regent. Apparently she was shunned. I'm going to go to her tomorrow. Talk to her and help her."
"How was she shunned?"
"I don't know details. It's been a little busy lately, I haven't had much time to talk to her. The last time I did, Izzy became a vampire and I had to deal with that. Hayley and Jackson helped her, though, so I guess that ended up fine."
"Izzy's a vampire?"
"Yes. He drank blood off a woman who Aurora de Martel compelled to slit her wrists in the courtyard. I guess being part ghost, he's also part dead, and was always in a state of transitioning."
"Fill me in on everything, would you?"