Klaus goes to bring Elijah home to get help finding Hayley. But, what is he going to do when the man who used to be his brother doesn't want to go?

~The Path To Forever~

He stood in the corner and watched her. The woman that the man who used to be his brother thought he wanted to marry. Watched as she searched through the coolers, looking for the bottle he was holding. The champagne she intended to celebrate her engagement with. Though, if he had anything to say about it, there wouldn't be an engagement to celebrate. As much as he wanted Elijah to be happy, he would be damned if he would stand back and watch him throw forever away on any woman that wasn't Hayley. Because he still had hopes that one day Freya or Hope would get rid of the Hollow and Marcel would give him his brother back.

Or, at least, that had been the hope for the past seven years. Until Hayley disappeared, and Hope became frantic enough to risk everything to get her back. Now, things had changed. Now they needed Elijah back, whether he was ready to come back or not. It was selfish, he knew that. He was dragging his brother back to a life where he still couldn't be near his siblings, still couldn't have a real life with the woman he loved. But, Klaus needed him. He couldn't do this alone. And if anything happened to Hayley… If anything happened to Hayley, then they would lose Elijah permanently. No matter what happened with the Hollow after that wouldn't matter. Because to get Elijah back after that would be to shatter his mind more than it already was. And he wouldn't let anybody put him through that.

But first, Antoinette needed to be dealt with. And, as much fun as it could be to just rip her heart out and be done with it, perhaps a less… Klaus-like approach would do this time. "Looking for this?" He held up the bottle as she turned around. The look she gave him was satisfyingly terrified. He looked at the bottle in his hand. "1928 Clos Du Monet. Hmm. Pricey." He smirked as he let go of the bottle to let it shatter on the ground at his feet. "Do you know who I am?" She should. They had met before. But, perhaps she had forgotten him.

"Someone who's about to regret his hideous timing." He had to hand it to her, she was brave. Or perhaps stupid. She took a couple steps towards him.

He vamp-sped to her, grabbed her by the throat, and pinned her to the cooler doors. "You've spent a handful of years with Elijah. You've treated him well. You've taken good care of him. I suppose I should be thanking you. But, alas, all good things come to an end. I'm afraid your services are no longer required. You see… I'm taking my brother home tonight." He looked her in the eyes and let the power of his gaze wash over her. "You're done with Elijah. You're going to reject his proposal, and then you're going to exit this bar and my brother's life… forever. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

He smiled, then. Yes, he had just broken Elijah's heart. But, by this time tomorrow, that would hardly matter. Because once Marcel gave him his memories back, whatever he felt for Antoinette would pale in comparison to his love for Hayley. The man sitting at that piano would be heartbroken, but his brother would thank him for saving him from making the biggest mistake of his life. He watched Antoinette walk out of the kitchen, and he waited for his chance to deal with his brother.

And then the bar was empty. Only Elijah sat, still at the piano. Probably stunned at what had just happened. Klaus walked out. "Your name is Elijah Mikaelson. You may not remember yourself or your family, but we need your help. Our family is in crisis. I've come to take you back to New Orleans."

If he was expecting a response, he was sadly disappointed. His brother's only reaction was to start playing the piano, again. Perhaps Elijah was just in shock? "Say something, brother."

Elijah stopped playing at that and shook his head. "I'm not your brother."

"You are. And your family needs you home."

"This is my home."

He didn't have time for this. With every passing minute the chance of saving Hayley slipped further and further away. And they still had to fly across an ocean, and get Marcel to undo what he did so that Elijah would care, again. "This is not a request. You will return with me, willingly or otherwise." Because there was a dagger with Elijah's name on it in Klaus's pocket. Compulsion certainly had its uses, and getting airport security to ignore him bringing that dagger onto the plane was only one of them.

Elijah stood up and walked around the piano, then. "It's gonna have to be otherwise."

And then there was a flash of lightning, and a roll of thunder. And the power went out. Klaus looked up at that. Shit! He had a feeling this wasn't a normal storm. He wondered how long they had before the voices started, again. Because his day wasn't bad enough, yet. "We made a vow. Always and forever."

"You're talking about somebody else's life."

"No, this is still your life!" He was shouting. He didn't care. They were running out of time. For Hayley. Before the Hollow started messing with them. And right now, he was feeling more than a bit homicidal. He didn't know how much was his own werewolf temper, and how much was that thing living inside him. "You have responsibilities! You cannot just abandon them for a fairy tale, playing piano in the French countryside!"

Elijah walked towards him, then. Kicking something out of his way hard enough to break it. "You think I'm just gonna stand by and watch as you destroy everything that I've built here?" He was shouting, too. Perfect.

Klaus pulled himself up to his full height. "Do you honestly think you have a choice?" He grabbed Elijah's head, intending to snap his neck, to buy himself time.

He wasn't expecting Elijah to fight back so well. The next thing he knew, he was flying through the air to crash into a table. There was the sound of breaking glass as whatever had been on that table fell off, and then Klaus was laying on the floor surrounded by that broken glass. Broken glass and something else. Were those maggots? Wonderful. Now they weren't just dealing with weird weather, they had other not so fun things happening, too. He needed to get this over with. He pulled himself to his feet. "You have no idea the risk I'm taking, simply by being here! There are consequences to us being together! Don't you see?" He waved his hand at the maggots on the floor.

"So leave!" Didn't he understand? Didn't he get that Klaus wouldn't take this risk if it wasn't important? No, he didn't know him, but still. That anger, that rage, was coming from somewhere. Didn't he feel it? Couldn't he hear it whispering to him? How did he not understand that there was something bigger going on?

"I would never have come if the circumstances weren't dire."

"I don't care. Your reasons don't matter to me."

"You once convinced me that Hayley's life was worth saving, that my daughter's life was worth saving. Please, Elijah. Hayley is missing." And if there was even a scrap of Elijah Mikaelson still in there, that would get his attention. "Hayley. Even in your addled state, that name must mean something to you!" He was going to cry. Him. Klaus Mikaelson. On the verge of tears. And he didn't know if he was crying for Hayley, for his brother, or both.

Elijah walked towards him. Or rather, this stranger that was wearing Elijah's skin did. "No more than the name Mikaelson."

That did it. Klaus picked him up and slammed him onto a table. "We are your family! You love us. You love me." Didn't he? Or had everything Elijah had done to try to save Klaus from himself been motivated, not by love, but by guilt and a sense of responsibility? Was it never anything more than atonement?

And then he screamed as something was slammed into his back. A stake. Well, that was inconvenient. Though, thankfully nothing more than an inconvenience. He reached around and pulled it out, then stood up and followed them.

He found them as Antoinette was explaining to Elijah that he can't die, and the stake… "Was quite an inconvenience." He held up his arm to show them the stake, and then let go, letting it clatter to the floor. "Unless you'd like me to return the favor, love, I suggest you run along."

Antoinette said nothing. It was Elijah that responded. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

Maybe it was time to change tactics. He put his hands together as if he was praying. In a way, he was. "I'm begging you, brother. You may not think you know me. Or Rebekah, or Kol, or Freya, or Hope, or even Hayley. But we are your family." He walked closer to his brother. "Everyone you love needs you now. Please, Elijah."

"Everyone I love is right here." Elijah reached up and put his hand on top of Antoinette's, his meaning quite clear.

He could hear whispering, now. Faint, but there. How long did he have? How long before it suddenly started to seem like a good idea to collect Rebekah and Kol before going back to New Orleans? At this point, if Elijah had agreed, it would have worried him. "Forgive me, brother." He whispered. And then he vamp-sped the few feet between them, and slammed the dagger into Elijah's chest.

He caught him as he fell, and then turned his attention to Antoinette. "Now then, what to do about you? Killing you hardly seems like a fair way to repay you for keeping him safe and mostly sane for the past seven years. And yet, I can hardly turn my back on you, lest I need to worry about another stake." He laid Elijah gently on the ground. "So, I suppose a compromise is in order."

She had been backing away from him while he talked, and managed to back up to the wall. He smiled. And then he reached up and snapped her neck. Well, that was one problem down. As he carried his brother out to the waiting hearse behind the bar and put him in the coffin, he considered his other problem. Because the bigger issue was the weather, and the voices, and those damn maggots. At this point, he didn't trust a plane to actually make it to New Orleans if they were both on it.

He drove to the airport in Marseilles and compelled Elijah's coffin onto the first flight to New Orleans. Even got it added to the manifest so that nobody would question it at the other end. Once that was taken care of, he called Marcel. "I'm sending you a present. You'll need to go to New Orleans to get it. It's a little broken at the moment, though. I'm going to need you and either Freya or Vincent to fix it for me."

"Have you lost your mind, Klaus? You're sending Elijah to New Orleans?"

"I don't know if you've heard, but Hayley is missing. I need Elijah to help me find her. Please, Marcel. Hope has already lost me. She can't lose her mother, too."

"I don't quite know what you hope to accomplish by getting Elijah's help, but, knowing you it's already too late to talk you out of it. So, yeah. I'll go pick him up and give him his memories back. And hopefully the two of you won't burn New Orleans down or something."

"Thank you." He ended the call and then compelled his way onto another plane. This one had a layover, but it was still faster than waiting for the next direct flight. In twenty hours, he and Elijah would both be back. He just prayed that they wouldn't already be too late.