So my muse is hellbent on the Originals apparently. Yay. This happened after I finished season 2 yesterday. To be honest, any and all respect that I had for Hayley is gone. The same must be said for Jackson. I mean, I love him and I love his relationship with Hayley but God dammit how fucking dare she try and take Hope away from Klaus?! She is his child NOT Jackson's! Honestly, Dahlia was the smartest person on the show because up till a certain point she may even have actually been able to convince Klaus. Her mistake was in thinking she could kill his family. Ok rant over. This was born out of the idea that when Klaus daggered himself to stop Dahlia while Cami worked her magic to get shit happening what if the two met in some in between place in their heads. They were linked after all. Oh well. Read, review, enjoy! And let me know if you want more. I don't quite think I'm done with the Originals just yet. ;)

If he was being honest, Klaus wasn't even surprised by this point that it was he who was cleaning up the recent mess provided by Dahlia. But then again, cleaning up problems was generally left to him no matter how much they loathed his methods. He was quite sure that none of them would ever truly understand his motivations, that everything he did, each time he committed an act deemed as criminal, he did so for his family. For Hope. Because, as he had gladly reminded Hayley, he trusted her safety with no one but himself. He would gladly die for his little girl and take on as many of his enemies as he needed to, consequences be damned.

He would do anything, sacrifice anything and anyone for his Littlest Wolf. And that was why he was standing here, in some place in between his and his aunt's linked minds, a smirk adorning his face despite the fact that he was well aware of his all too vulnerable body lying somewhere and his child left in Freya's not quite trustworthy hands. Oh well, better hers than who knows where with Hayley and Jackson. As if he would simply let her take away his daughter from him so easily. His little wolf was too presumptuous. If Hayley honestly believed that he would just let her take his child, well, let's just say that she clearly understood nothing about him and what he was willing to do for that child and leave it at that.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Dahlia's screams of rage. "What did you do?" Her demands were shrill, piercing as she insisted upon knowing what on Earth he was thinking to betray her like this.

His own voice was calm, slightly mocking even, with a touch of humor even as unbridled fury flowed through his veins as he replied, "why, I would have thought it obvious! Elijah was so kind as to provide me with a weapon that was actually capable of dessicating me, something which is quite a feat I assure you. I believe I have Kol to thank actually since it was his idea, but let's not go into the semantics of it all, shall we?" His voice grew hard as he spoke, a note of pure rage entering it. "What I would like to discuss are your actions. Your assumptions that I would cooperate with your demands as if you have some hold over me. That because you think we're, what, kindred spirits, that I would refrain from ripping you apart limb from limb for daring to try and take what is mine?

"You actually believed I would just hand my daughter over to you? My child? You come into MY city, MY home, hurt MY family and you have the audacity to not only make demands of me but to hurt those I actually give a damn about? To break apart what family I have left?" He was practically snarling by the end, wishing to do nothing else but rip her heart from his chest. He refrained from doing so, however, settling for simply clenching and unclenching his fists. He had no idea how much he would be affected and he rather preferred staying alive for the moment.

She laughed, a high, cold laugh with nothing even remotely resembling humor, just cruelty. "Break apart your family? Family has brought us nothing but pain! I would have thought you of all capable of understanding! After all, a thousand years and they have given you nothing but betrayal! Lies and false hopes! They speak of redemption and loyalty but where was any of that when your precious Elijah stuck a dagger in your heart?" She spat out the words, disbelief clearly evident in her tone.

"On the contrary, Aunt dearest, there is no one who would understand your plight better than I, but you sought to harm my family. No one is allowed to do that, but me. Do you understand? No one. You see, my problem is that you hurt what is mine and I will repay you in kind and rain vengeance upon you without anything even remotely resembling remorse. And you should know, in the end, Mikaelsons always prevail. We protect our own."

Dahlia's anger suddenly appeared to fade away, replaced by a smug curve of her lips. "But you aren't truly a Mikaelson are you? You are nothing but the result of my sister's infidelity. A bastard, an outcast. Make no mistake, I will get out of this infernal place and take your child. Your life means nothing to me and I will take pleasure in stripping it from you. I will have what I was promised. That pathetic scrap of words you call a promise, I assure you it is nothing but a lie and I will gladly prove it to you as I kill you, slowly and painfully, using your own daughter's magic."

"I would like to see you try." Klaus spoke clearly and with deliberation. A challenge and a threat. He had fooled her once, truly putting on a performance worthy of Shakespeare himself, killing her would not be half as hard.

"Oh, I already am. That little dagger embedded in your chest has already begun to disintegrate. I wouldn't give it much longer. Soon I shall be free. Then I will come for her and you."

"And I will relieve your heart of its burden of keeping you alive," Klaus stated with a smile. He spoke oh so calmly as if merely commenting on the weather. She scoffed then but later, when a sharp pain blossomed in her chest and she gimpsed hardened blue eyes that promised nothing less than pure agonising torment before she truly died she understood why she never could have gotten Hope Mikaelson in spite of all her plots and schemes.

Because no matter what he did, Klaus drew people in. They helped him either because they were coerced into it or because they wanted to. He had allies even in his enemies and he would truly do whatever it took to ensure his family's safety. Always and forever indeed.