poppycock | entranceway application (part two)

«« BACK

Since Alaric dies with Elena (their lives are linked) Klaus, possessing Tyler, wants Bonnie to transfer him back to his original body. While waiting, Klaus is informed through Tyler’s phone that Caroline (and Rebekah) have been kidnapped by a new foe, the Town Council. Not over her nor ready to let the opportunity to play hero pass him by, he rescues Caroline but leaves Rebekah, calling her “little sister” and telling her to “keep them busy.” Caroline, ecstatic to find Tyler alive, begins enthusiastically making out with him thinking it’s her boyfriend. Despite Klaus’ minimal and amused protests, he eagerly returns her advances until she realizes who he is and decks him across the face. He tries to point out him saving her was risking exposure for him, but she’s not convinced being a halfway decent person for two seconds is really something that deserves a gold star. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Later, when Klaus is in his own body and Rebekah has escaped, she confronts him, upset he saved Caroline over her. Klaus is glib and unconcerned, packing up Elena’s blood and suggesting they hit the road and make more hybrids. He points out that he didn’t leave her in any real danger; she can’t be killed, proving once again that Klaus is willing will let others suffer for his own purposes. But Rebekah is inconsolable, telling him that he knows nothing about family; how can he think to create one with his hybrids? She mourned him, thinking she’d never see him again. She destroys the bags of Elena’s blood as Klaus watches, telling him that it’s always been her: she loved him through everything and he didn’t even care.

This defiance cannot go unpunished. Rebekah has destroyed what Klaus sees as his only opportunity to be secure and not alone. He lashes out, as he’s apt to do. Klaus takes her by the neck and tells her she’s right. He doesn’t care. She isn’t his family, his sister; she is nothing to him. He snaps her neck and leaves her.

He returns to Mystic Falls only at the request of Tyler’s mother to protect Tyler. Though he does not care about Tyler much at all, he does not want his remaining hybrids to die. He meets Hayley Marshall, a werewolf from Tyler’s past when he was breaking his sire bond, and begins to suspect (wrongly) that Tyler and Hayley had an affair. That Tyler would cheat on Caroline seems to truly upset him, but he has no scruples using it to his advantage. Tyler, Hayley, and Caroline encourage this assumption to cover their true motive: break the sire bond of his other hybrids and defeat him. (Why do these people keep trying?)

Klaus helps Damon interrogate Connor, who is discovered to be a vampire hunter of the Five. It turns out that over the centuries their marks have become invisible to all but other Hunters and potential Hunters. It also turns out Jeremy is a potential Hunter. Considering Klaus’ history with the group and his knowledge of their weapon, Klaus takes Connor and Jeremy in an effort to find the location of the cure and either give it to Elena to make her human again or destroy it. He orders Jeremy to draw the tattoo, but soon realizes it’s not the full mark yet and compels Jeremy to tell him why: the marks grow with each vampire kill.

He tries to convince Rebekah to aide him in this endeavor. He and Rebekah reveal to Stefan about their history with the Hunters, about the marks, and the cure. Klaus berates her anew for falling for any man that shows her a hint of affection. Rebekah argues back, accusing Klaus of leaching every moment of happiness from her life. She deduces Klaus’ plan to cure Elena to make more hybrids and refuses the help him. But Klaus, the cunning asshole he is, knows Rebekah would refuse to tell him where Alexander’s sword is. He knows she would tell Stefan.

She does, after a bit of manipulation from Stefan. Klaus is waiting in the wings with a dagger, knowing Rebekah would only get in the way. She tells him to go on and laugh at the girl who loved too easily, but no one will ever tell stories about a man who couldn’t love. She calls him a coward and to look her in the eyes while he daggers her. Klaus is visibly shaken by this and daggers her, too ashamed to look her in the eyes as he does so.

He leaves Mystic Falls for Italy, where he digs up Alexander’s bones and finds the sword. While he is gone, Connor escapes and Elena kills him, so now she suffers the Hunter’s Curse. Wanting to protect Elena so he might give her the cure, Klaus takes her and locks her up so she does not kill herself. Klaus leaves her in the care of his hybrids and goes out. Meanwhile, Tyler helps one hybrid, Chris, betray Klaus. Elena escapes to kill herself after a bungled rescue attempt from Stefan. Klaus isn’t happy obviously, and we’re all reminded of that old adage: if you want something done right… Luckily, the Mystic Falls crew have discovered awakening a new Hunter will end the curse, so Klaus doesn’t have to kill them all on principle.

It works like this: Klaus discovers his hybrid’s treachery, overhearing Tyler and Hayley attempting to convince him to flee. Tyler pleads with him to spare Chris’ life and Hayley offers her own life in exchange, announcing she’d rather die than be one of his “sired little bitches.”

“Don’t tempt me, little wolf,” is Klaus’ reply. He agrees to let Chris go, but only so Stefan and Jeremy can kill him, making Jeremy a Hunter and saving Elena.

This works out even better than it sounds for Klaus, considering he gave up a treacherous hybrid for a date with Caroline earlier.

So begins their pseudo-date, which takes place at the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant, an event Caroline has organized. They flirt and enjoy the company of each other, despite Klaus being the original fuckboy and Caroline’s counter-manipulations. He has no regret using her break up with Tyler, which he believes is real, to his advantage. She asks him if he would ever take the cure and he deftly avoids giving a genuine answer, only questions why he would ever cure himself of being the most powerful creature in the world. Klaus teases her then, revealing a glimpse of his playful sense of humor, and Caroline laughs as well. He does answer her later, confessing with some vulnerability he has thought about being human. He’s thought about being on the verge of death everyday, having to work that hard to survive, and how satisfying every day must be when you do.

With all of Klaus’ remaining hybrids unsired by Tyler and Hayley, they both decide to launch their plan to condemn Klaus during the holidays. Fortunately for Klaus, Hayley elucidates the situation: she warns Klaus of Tyler’s plan, because she’s secretly had her own this whole time. She’s made a deal with Atticus Shane, a professor at a nearby university. Professor Shane plans to awaken Silas, the first immortal and the bearer of the cure, to save his own family. To do so, he must plan three sacrifices of twelve people. In return for Hayley’s help, he will help her find her biological parents. Hayley sets Klaus up to kill his hybrids, of which there are twelve, to complete a sacrifice.

He does, slaughtering them all viciously and mercilessly for their betrayal. He then searches for Tyler and finds Carol, Tyler’s mother. Carol begs Klaus not to kill Tyler because her son is all she has. He kills her, knowing his mother is all Tyler has, remarking on the beautiful symmetry.

Klaus takes a few days to chill and then turns an entire bar full of people into vampires to motivate Jeremy to become a Hunter. It is the most effective solution, since he can’t count on the Salvatores to do anything efficiently, effectively, or without motivations of their own. This plan is foiled by Kol, who hearing of Silas’ imminent return, kills all of Klaus’ vampires. His time spent with Silas worshippers centuries ago have taught him a thing or two about Silas bringing about the end of time, and he’d like to prevent that. Klaus threatens to dagger Kol if he doesn’t back off. He complies, but not before compelling Damon to kill Jeremy.

Rebekah confronts Kol with a dagger, knowing if he is daggered his compulsion will break. (Stefan has already stopped Damon and locked him up.) Kol turns on her with the White Oak Stake, but Klaus stops him before the situation escalates more; at the end of the day, Klaus will always care for Rebekah and his siblings, no matter how he treats them. Kol absconds with the remaining daggers, being no fool. Naturally, knowing Rebekah has a dagger and Kol has the rest is inconvenient for Klaus, who is most comfortable when he has his siblings under his thumb. Not to mention, he would still like to dagger Kol for his purposes. Rebekah, in an understandable huff, refuses to give the dagger up.

Klaus is unaware that Kol is at Elena’s house with Jeremy, who both kill him. To say Klaus doesn’t react well would be a gross understatement. Despite his annoyance with Kol and despite their disagreements, Kol is still his brother; he loves him dearly. Klaus never intended for Kol to die, only to be punished on his terms. He bellows as much to Elena and Jeremy, threatening to burn the house down and when they run from the flames, kill them both without blinking. When Jeremy argues he can’t kill Elena, Klaus shouts he doesn’t care about his hybrids; that he doesn’t want Elena to take the cure. So full of rage, he reveals he planned all along to destroy it and kill them all.

Before he can make good on his threat, Bonnie arrives and lures Klaus into a trap. He is now stuck in Elena’s living room for a few days with a barrier spell. Klaus rages, telling them all he will hunt them to their ends. When Tyler and Caroline arrive the next day, Klaus has calmed and is staring with grief at his brother’s charred body, forced to remain in eyesight of it. Tyler goads him, threatening to shove the cure down Klaus’ throat to kill him. After they cover Kol’s body, Klaus appears tortured and attempts to ~~manipulate~~ appeal to Caroline, telling her they are even now and to get Bonnie to release him. She refuses, nastily enough to anger him, and so Klaus uses a floor lamp to impale her and drag her inside the barrier, where he bites and poisons her.

Tyler pleads with Klaus to help Caroline, to save her, but he refuses even after Tyler apologizes and promises to be his slave again. Klaus looks unhappy even with the ball in his court. Yet he clings to his hurt and spite, even after Tyler leaves Caroline in the room with him in an effort to save her. If Klaus wants this, he can watch Caroline die. It’s only after Caroline tells him he’s capable of love and capable of being saved that Klaus is moved. He’s swayed watching her begin to die and heals her, not wanting to become a complete monster.

Of course, he sort of ruins that later. Caroline and Tyler retrieve Alexander’s sword and with Klaus’ help, find out there’s only one dose of the cure. He warns Rebekah, who is on a mission to find Silas’ body, that she must get to it first. Knowing Klaus will kill Tyler since the cure is meant for Elena, Tyler decides to run. Caroline pleads with Klaus to spare him, but Klaus refuses, unable to let someone who has wronged him live a happy life. He makes one concession, for Caroline’s sake: he’ll give Tyler a head start.

The barrier spell expires after Tyler runs, and Klaus is free. Silas has also been freed and the cure has been stolen - not by Rebekah, but by Katherine, who is the true mastermind here. She’s been behind the scenes this entire time, in particular influencing Hayley. She sends a vampire after the werewolf to tie up her loose ends, but Hayley makes a deal with Klaus: she’ll tell him all about Katherine if he saves her.

He does in the nick of time and spirits her away to his home, where he questions her. She divulges what she knows, confessing she helped Katherine because Katherine knew something about her family. Klaus shows her his art, confessing that he considers it a metaphor for control. Everything is his choice: the canvas, the color, etc. Klaus is the most comfortable when he is in control. She expresses how much she likes one of his paintings, and Klaus glibly and bitterly asks if it’s because it allows her to see into his deep, wounded soul. She says no; it illustrates how twisted he really is and she suggests she can relate.

All this talk and drinks leads to its obvious conclusion: Klaus and Hayley have sex. Afterwards, Klaus notices a birthmark on her shoulder; it’s the mark of a Louisianian pack of wolves. She demands to know more and Klaus, remarking that family is sacred, does.

Klaus is later confronted by Silas, who has taken the form of Professor Shane. (Silas can appear in any form. Neat.) Silas tells Klaus to help him find the cure or he’ll torment him for eternity.

Elijah returns (\o/) with Rebekah soon after to support his little sister’s desire to take the cure, become human, and live out her life. If they give the cure to Silas and save Klaus that promised torment, Silas will basically end the world. Klaus still wants to refuse Rebekah, but Elijah tells him to put a cork in it because Klaus’ personal discomfort isn’t reason enough to put the world in jeopardy. Incensed, Klaus tells Rebekah that when she’s sick, dying, and begging for his blood, he’ll deny her.

Later, Elijah offers the White Oak Stake to Klaus as a peace offering. Not much peace comes of it, considering Klaus threatens to kill Katherine, who Elijah cares about, if he ends up having to run from Silas. Rude. But typical. Speaking of Katherine, Klaus receives a letter from her warning him of a New Orleans witch plotting against him.

"I was never naive enough to think that I was your light, but there is light in you. All that anger, the cycle of abuse that Mikael began, you can end it. You have to, so you can be the light for your little girl. For Hope." - Cami to Klaus, The Originals, 3.19, “No More Heartbreaks”
♚ ♚ ♚
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, PRESENT DAY
Klaus returns to his city, New Orleans, in search of this meddlesome witch looking to disrupt his life. In the process of finding this witches, he learns something of greater import: his son and sireling Marcel survived his father’s attack of his city. Klaus seeks him out and finds him on the throne of his kingdom with the werewolves beaten into the depths of the bayou and the witches somehow under control. This isn’t something Klaus swallows easily after mourning Marcel. Seeing all of Marcel’s power and his accomplishments in what he still considers his city fills him with rage and envy. On top of this new discovery, the witches reveal to him that Hayley is pregnant with his child and they intend to use her and the baby as blackmail. They want Klaus to free them from Marcel.

Klaus is obstinate at first, unwilling to accept the possibility he could have a child. He rejects Hayley and the baby at first, despite Elijah’s insistence this is their family’s hope and their shot at redemption, but by the end of the night he is lured by the promise of having a child and specifically, having an heir. He confesses to Elijah he wants what Marcel has. What Marcel took.

Klaus begins a campaign to stick by Marcel and slowly undermine him to take the city back, all the while keeping Hayley and his child cooped up in the plantation house that used to be the Governor’s. He daggers Elijah, knowing his sentimentality would get in the way and because Elijah is the one weakness that Marcel could exploit. Yet he is power-hungry and callous enough to give Elijah’s body to Marcel in a ploy to gain Marcel’s trust.

By then, Rebekah has arrived, wanting to know what happened to Elijah. Klaus welcomes her home but gives her no clue to as to Elijah’s whereabouts nor his intentions at first. Only after Rebekah discovers that Marcel has the extremely powerful witch Davina on his side does Klaus relent. They agree to get Elijah back. Klaus continues to busy himself with Marcel, playing the long con. He drains a few of Marcel’s underlings of vervain and compels them to do his bidding. He compels a bartender and therapist, Camille, that has caught both his and Marcel’s eye, to go out with Marcel and spy on his friend.

Through all this scheming, he grows closer to Cami, enlisting her as the stenographer to his memoirs. He compels her to forget all he speaks about when she leaves his presence, wanting someone to listen to him and to understand him, but terrified of the vulnerability that would follow. Cami confides to him about the death of her twin brother, despite his compulsion of her. She confesses her twin went on a killing spree and then killed himself; she wants to figure out why. In an effort to save her the pain of this and also for his own purposes, Klaus compels Cami to be at peace with what happened to her brother and promises he will figure it out for her, even though she protests and fights him. But Klaus is decided and adamant. He knows what it is like to lose a brother and there is no peace. Furthermore, he needs this to save Elijah and fulfill his promise to him.

Klaus finds out the story behind Davina and her magic from Marcel: she’s a Harvest Witch, intended to be a sacrifice for the power of the New Orleans covens, but Marcel saved her. Unbeknownst to either of them, Davina has awakened Elijah and made a bargain with him for pages of Esther’s grimoire. With Elijah awake and returned, he and Klaus return their attention to the witches. There is a faction within the covens who believe Klaus and Hayley’s child will result in the end of all witches. (Klaus likes this child already.) The faction intends to kill Hayley and the baby. They find these witches, who also happen to be the reason Cami’s brother was hexed and became murderous, and kill them all. Klaus brings this news to Cami, thinking it would please her for some reason, and ends up getting slapped across the face. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In the midst of all this, Marcel discovers Hayley. Hayley is also kidnapped, but not by Marcel. She’s taken by Tyler. (Dun dun dah!) He believes that the baby will be able to make hybrids. Klaus deals with Tyler how he usually deals with Tyler: by ruining his life but keeping him alive to suffer through it. Elijah and Hayley surmise the real reason Klaus is protecting Hayley is because he believed he could make an army again, but it’s not. Klaus is hurt that Elijah and Hayley could look on him as nothing more than a beast and an abomination, that even for his child he would would have ulterior motive. He bites Elijah and leaves him to suffer.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Rebekah and Marcel have entered another unholy alliance, since that worked out so great for them the first time. Klaus suspects they are planning some sort of coup and is not surprised when Marcel, Rebekah, and the vampires surround him. They attack, but Klaus is simply too powerful and vicious to be beat; Marcel surrenders. The city is Klaus’ once again. It’s an empty victory, considering it comes at the price of his family. Klaus feels betrayed and hurt by his siblings; he leaves them in to rot in the plantation home and moves into their home in the French Quarter with Marcel and Hayley.

Klaus taking the helm of the ship is quite the regime change. Through much slaughtering on both sides of the human and vampire faction, he and Marcel emerge with the upper hand; he convinces Marcel to rule alongside him. Not to mention Klaus orders a hunt of the werewolves. Elijah and Rebekah stop this, knowing one of the packs is descendants of Klaus’ werewolf line. When they bring this to him as an amends, he rejects them but later on forgives them both when Elijah simply apologizes. (He can be semi-decent. Sometimes.)

Davina soon rebels against everyone in part due to Klaus’ manipulations. She undoes Camille’s compulsions before beginning to succumb to the immensity of her powers. She must be sacrificed or the city will be destroyed. The Harvest was supposed to work like this: three young witches are sacrificed and then resurrected. And though Davina is eventually sacrificed, she and the other Harvest witches don’t come back. After she is dead, Klaus comforts Marcel, explaining that he knows the pain he feels: Klaus felt it when he thought he had lost Marcel.

Who does come back in the Harvest witches’ place are older witches sent to drive the Mikaelsons from the city. Among them is Papa Tunde and Genevieve. Papa Tunde is quickly defeated, but the witches give his blade of never-ending mystical torment to Camille, hoping she will use it on Klaus. She doesn’t, choosing to value the good she sees in him versus the terrible things he’s done.

It’s Genevieve that the Mikaelsons need to worry about. She holds a trump card: being the witch Rebekah and Marcel used to call Mikael in 1919, she kidnaps both Klaus and Rebekah, intent on driving a wedge between them. She had no idea what she was doing for Rebekah and in point of fact carried a torch for Klaus. Rebekah killed her to cover up her own treachery and now she wants revenge.

Klaus is unwilling at first to believe her story, immediately denying Rebekah could do such a thing. He is shaken by the memories Genevieve shows him, watching his worst fears come true: that his siblings would love another enough to grow to hate and leave him. He is calm and reticent under Genevieve’s manipulations until this comes to light and despite his denial, the proof he is shown is too great. When Genevieve releases him and gives him Papa Tunde’s blade, Klaus considers killing her too but ultimately stalks Rebekah.

He’s enraged, willing to condemn her to indefinite anguish over a simple daggering. He remarks that he’s disappointed she stopped running from his chase, that she’s not begging for her life; he was really looking forward to that. This is the Klaus who is feared: one without mercy. He says if Rebekah had shown him even a fraction of loyalty, he wouldn’t have to do this. Thankfully, Elijah shows up and stabs Klaus with the blade instead, saving both Rebekah and Marcel.

Elijah removes the dagger from Klaus and leaves him weakened under the care of Cami, knowing that a) she’s one of the few people Klaus would not immediately slaughter, and b) she can convince him not to harm his sister. (Good luck, Cami.) She attempts valiantly to reason with him, telling him that if he kills his sister he will not be able to live with himself, but Klaus does escape with the White Oak Stake. He explains to Cami that Rebekah has ripped his heart out, that the night their father burned New Orleans to the ground was the day his last shred of humanity died. He will not be like his father and torment, dehumanize, and humiliate her: he will simply end her.

Through contrivance, Elijah, Klaus, and Rebekah end up mystically locked in a graveyard for a night. Elijah brings some decorum to the proceedings by insisting Klaus hear Rebekah out. They all speak: about their father and his abuse of Klaus and them all, about Klaus’ abuse of Rebekah and how it lead to this. Klaus suggests he could forgive Rebekah if she admitted Marcel simply manipulated her, but it’s a desperate hope that goes unfulfilled. Rebekah truly did betray him and for this he feels there must be terrible recompense. He stabs Elijah with the blade and forces Rebekah to admit that she didn’t want him to run, she wanted him dead.

Klaus stakes her, but he misses her heart. He admits he meant to miss. That perhaps he only meant for her to suffer. He is tired, defeated now, unable and unwilling to kill or condemn the sister he loves so very much. He asks her what she wants. She wants to be free and so he exiles her and Marcel. The horror of Rebkah's betrayal and the hopes Klaus has for his family has begun to influence him in a better way. He wants for them a new story; one that is perhaps is less broken and cursed than they are now. Rebekah leaves New Orleans to live her own life but Marcel remains behind to reclaim the city.

Rebekah’s uncovered betrayal and absence devastate Klaus and sends him into a self-destructive spiral. He may have let Rebekah go, but he is wounded by her. He passes the next month seemingly unconcerned with the city, spending his time painting and starting a sexual relationship with Genevieve. But he is only healing and bidding his time. He begins a new ploy as Elijah sets up alliances between the human, witch, and werewolf factions. Klaus puts his lot in with the wolves, promising them moonlight rings to release them from the power of the full moon. This, he believes, is the smartest move: his daughter will have a pack of wolves, a family, to protect her.

There is tension between Klaus and Elijah, who fight over the city and over Elijah’s affections for Hayley. Klaus’ jealousy rears its head. Despite his poor treatment and regard for Hayley, it is clear he cares for her and their daughter, and he fears Elijah will take his place. Because of his viciousness, he and Genevieve also part ways. In the process, he also loses the last chance Cami had to save her uncle, who had been hexed. He stays with her as her uncle dies and even calls Marcel to comfort her, showing rare selflessness.

This chapter of Klaus’ story culminates in war with the witches, wolves, and vampires. Marcel attacks. Genevieve double-crosses them, giving the moonlight rings to the Guerrera werewolf pack. The witches take Hayley, who is giving birth to the baby, and plan to kill them both. Klaus tries to save Hayley but fails; luckily she transitions into a hybrid with the baby’s blood in her system. With Marcel, they save the child. But both he and Hayley know she will never be safe. They let the city believe she is dead and send her away to Rebekah.

There’s no one else Klaus trusts more to care for his child. He names her Hope, finally admitting with that gesture that perhaps there is hope for them all and for him.

The Guerreras are soon defeated. The true foe of the moment is (surprise!) their mother, who was consecrated as a New Orleans witch some time ago because of plot contrivance. She has returned from the Other Side to possess a witch and has also brought with her both Finn and Kol, who she places in the bodies of two other witches. Davina, who was resurrected once Genevieve died, has also brought back Mikael in the hopes that he’ll kill Klaus. (Double surprise!)

Esther’s plan differs; what she wants is to kill their vampire bodies and have them all possess mortals to live out their lives in peace, as a family. This is not only a delusional and a ludicrous idea to Klaus, but it is an abhorrent one, considering he hates Esther more than he can say. Her return reveals much to Klaus; he learns that his mother weakened him with magic as a child. Not to mention, she is the reason the witches wanted to kill Hope.

Esther attempts to ~~convince~~ manipulate and force her children to abide by her plan. She takes Elijah and reveals to him he killed Tatia. She resurrects Ansel, Klaus’ true father, in an attempt to sway him to live a mortal life. But Klaus is not swayed, and despite his heartbreak at seeing a life in which he might have been different, where he might have been loved and nurtured, that has not been his life. He is Mikael’s son. He cannot trust Esther’s manipulations and therefore cannot trust Ansel, no matter how pure and genuine his true father’s intentions are. Especially after Ansel reveals he knows Hope lives. Klaus kills him.

Klaus also makes inroads in defeating Mikael. He plans to kill his father once and for all. It’s only Camille’s interference and her dogged insistence that he should only condemn Mikael and spare Davina that he relents. It’s a huge mistake, for he nearly dies trying to save Cami from Mikael. Mikael retreats in the end, considering that Klaus has so many people on his side, perhaps for the first time in his long life. He has a family and not only by blood. He has Marcel and he has Hayley, the latter with whom he has connected and bonded with over the pain of losing their daughter. Klaus takes comfort in their relationship because they are both similar: they have parents who didn’t want them and they are both vicious in exacting vengeance. He encourages her to lead the wolves and helps her hone her newly acquired hybrid abilities.

After kidnapping both Kol and Finn, Klaus and Elijah intend to use them to find out just exactly how Esther plans to accomplish her ends. Klaus recognizes that all Kol has ever wanted was to be included and accepted, and so he successfully persuades Kol to their side. Finn ends up revealing something they never expected: that there is a curse on their family. Esther long ago made a deal with her sister, Dahlia. In exchange for the ability to bear children, Dahlia was pledged every firstborn Mikaelson. Their eldest sister Freya, who they believed to be killed by the plague, was taken by Dahlia before Elijah was born.

Hope is in danger from not only Dahlia but from Esther. Their mother is close to finding Rebekah and therefore Hope. Klaus, Hayley, and Elijah leave to meet up with Rebekah and Hope in order to keep her safe and make a plan. Klaus also brings Cami into the fold, revealing to her Hope’s existence and entrusting her with his most precious secret.

Klaus, Kol, and Rebekah devise a plan to defeat Esther. Despite Klaus’ refusal, Rebekah gives herself up to take Esther down with her. This… doesn’t go entirely to plan. While Rebekah’s soul leaves her body, it’s placed in a different body than they planned. Angry, Klaus turns Esther into what she hates most: a vampire, and leaves her to rot, stuck in a tomb.

Finn channels Mikael and Esther’s power in an attempt to bring down his siblings. He locks them all in a dreamscape and reveals to Klaus that Elijah killed Tatia. But Klaus surprises them all, choosing to forgive Elijah instead of punish him; he’s learning, slowly but surely, to be more understanding. Not to mention it would do him no good to turn on Elijah now. He needs his brother; they must be a united front.

It’s a sentiment he also begins to extend to Kol. Finn hexes Klaus’ little brother and he goes to Klaus for help. Unfortunately, Kol has also been working with Davina on a dagger that would work on Klaus. Klaus enters Kol’s mind, wanting to know the spell Finn used on him and instead finds this tidbit of information. Klaus is enraged and so Kol attacks him desperately in an attempt to be unhexed by Finn. Kol goads him to finish it, to kill him, but Klaus, for once in his life, relents. He says he won’t kill him, that Kol is his brother, and he needs him. They find a way to unlink Finn from their parents, Klaus deciding to literally put his life in both Kol and Rebekah’s hands to do so. Anything for Hope and for their family.

Later, when Kol inevitably perishes, Klaus is by his side with his siblings, promising him they will find a way to bring him back.

It’s Freya time! Their oldest sister is not dead and in point of fact is here with horrible tidings: Dahia is coming. Freya takes care of Finn by locking his soul in a pendant around her neck and ultimately kills Esther. Not even this is enough for Klaus; he does not trust Freya at first and suspects she is in league with Dahlia. They clash and argue whereas Elijah and Rebekah welcome her. Yet his love for Rebekah wins out: he sides with Freya, lets her channel him and see into his mind in order to save their sister, who is in danger because of more contrivance.

When Dahlia arrives, Klaus teams up with Mikael in order to take her down, knowing Mikael will do anything to protect his precious Freya. Their plans ultimately fail and when they do, Klaus kills Mikael once and for all, driving a larger wedge between him and Freya.

In order to protect Hope, Hayley had married a werewolf, Jackson, and performs a ceremony that will give the wolves her ability to control shifting. Klaus supports this strategy’s shrewdness, but once again he is worried of being replaced as Hope’s father. Furthermore, he did not want Jackson to know Hope lived at all, a notion he objected to fervently enough to attempt to murder the wolf. Only the trust he has in Hayley and his unwillingness to drive her away save Jackson. But his greed and thirst for power still live and he worries over his lack of control; that he is not the pack’s true alpha grates on him. When Dahlia kills one of Jackson’s wolves, Klaus claims responsibility to ensure they will abide by his edicts. Only to Cami does he confess it is not the truth; he needs them to fear him, for only he can save his daughter. It’s a slippery slope, one which ends with Elijah using Kol’s dagger on Klaus.

Dahlia uses this opportunity to sway Klaus to her side and awaken him from his daggered slumber. It would be a good plan perhaps, if Klaus didn’t use the opportunity to turn on everyone, including her. See, while Dahlia was trying to convince him to side with her, Klaus realizes what they were missing to defeat her. Driven by his viciousness after his family’s betrayal and Hayley’s abandonment (she takes Hope and runs, planning never to return) he slaughters Elijah’s paramour and stabs him with Papa Tunde’s blade, has Dahlia curse Hayley and her pack to be wolves day and night, and forces Rebekah back into her Original body. It’s a much-too convincing ploy and one that he entrusts Cami to reveal to his siblings: He convinces Dahlia to link her life to his instead of Hope’s for now, and then daggers himself to put them both down.

It doesn’t last because Dahlia performs a spell to slowly dissolve the dagger, but it does buy them time. Rebekah and Elijah resurrect Esther, who ends up saving them all with her death.

But nothing can erase the terrible acts Klaus has committed against his family and particularly against Hayley. Rebekah leaves him to search for a way to resurrect Kol. Elijah, though wont to do it, stays with Klaus only at Hayley’s request, for Hope’s sake.

Half a year passes. Klaus remains the dutiful father with Freya’s help. He employs Camille as a regular therapist. Yet despite his admitted desire to be a better man and a good father, he still refuses to help lift the curse on Hayley and her kin. He is afraid of her hatred and of the consequences of his actions; he is afraid that everyone he loves is angry with him, and he does not have the courage nor the tools to deal with it.

On top of this, there are murders in the Quarter which coincide with the arrival of Lucien. Klaus greets him warmly (suspiciously) and understands his old friend is here for more than just real estate ventures. Lucien reveals that the sire lines are at war and shows him a prophecy that spells the Mikaelsons’ downfall. Lucien tries in vain to convince Klaus he needs him and he is on his side, but Klaus trusts no one. Shaken by these tidings, he turns unerringly to Camille, to whom he has begun making less than professional overtures despite her insistence he stop. (But she like tooootally wants him despite good sense. Just saying. Ahem.)

Hayley’s curse is eventually lifted by Davina and with it comes a reckoning for Klaus. When faced with Hayley’s anguish, the stubborn fight in him dies. Hayley takes Hope and moves into an apartment across the street with their child and Jackson, much to his displeasure. But he lets them go, accepting the consequences.

Klaus’ relationship with Elijah remains rocky, even after Hayley is returned. Klaus refuses to bend or show he cares about Hayley, blaming his actions on Hayley’s betrayal. He brushes off the hurt he’s done to Elijah and Rebekah. Elijah has forsaken his redemption, for once in the ten centuries they’ve loved each other renounced his faith in his brother’s goodness. They clash and argue but at Klaus’ core he is afraid of losing his brother and his brother’s faith in him, and now even more so knowing there is a prophecy that will pit family and against family. He tries, after Hayley is returned, to bridge that gap between them. He admits he went too far. He promises that Elijah will never fall by his hand. Elijah’s reception isn’t exactly warm, but it’s a step for Klaus. It’s something he has never offered his brother before: an apology.

Tristan has also arrived in the city with the Strix. The Strix are an ancient, immensely powerful vampire organization created by Elijah and now Tristan is in charge of them. Marcel joins, intending to spy on Tristan in order to keep Klaus and himself safe. Klaus rages at Marcel’s decision to do so, angry at his surrogate son for putting himself in harm’s way. He reminds Marcel that his enemies may come for Marcel, but they might also come through him.

The arrival of Aurora to New Orleans shakes Klaus, despite his better sense to not trust a word she speaks. Even after a thousand years his feelings for her have not abated or faded. This is a longing and a heartbreak that has persevered throughout the ages. Even as he attempts to suss out Aurora’s true purpose and desires, he is genuine in his seduction of her. That is until Aurora reveals she has taken Rebekah, her sire, for her own safety.

You really don’t mess with Rebekah.

Obviously he and Elijah take Tristan. Aurora is nearly just as vengeful as Klaus would be in response, kidnapping Camille out of viciousness and out of spite, considering she learns of Klaus’ affections and is jealous.

Klaus cannot be stopped in his determination to save his therapist. He’s not the type to admit he needs or trusts someone, let alone do either in the first place. But he does, going through everyone and everything, including Lucien, to get to her. He saves her, but at the cost of Aurora’s love and (questionable now) loyalties. Weighed against Cami’s safety, it is not a devastating loss to him. He lashes out as he usually does, renouncing his love for Aurora, but still cannot bring himself to kill her. (Not to mention it would certainly escalate tensions with Tristan and the Strix.)

He probably should have anyway, because Aurora compelled Cami to drink a vial of her blood and kill herself the moment she is certain Klaus is in love with her.

In the midst of all this, Elijah retrieves Rebekah. The Mikaelsons spend Christmas together and Rebekah encourages Klaus’ love for Cami, wanting him to be happy. (No one ends up happy.) After confessing themselves and spending the night together (without sex because these two are saps who just fell asleep looking at each other) Cami drinks Aurora’s blood and kills herself.

Klaus reacts badly. (Oh! A fitting title to his memoirs.)

Klaus is afraid of loss as much as he is afraid of loneliness. Letting someone in, allowing himself to fall prey to that vulnerability, to needing them, and then having them stripped away… It’s more than he is willing to bear. Believing Camille has perished sends him into a spiral of helplessness and rage. He paces his room, panicked. He lashes out against such paralyzing inevitability, destroying furniture. And when Camille awakens in transition, set on ending her life instead of becoming a vampire, he fights her. He attempts to force her into making the choice he wants her to make, that he needs her to make so he does not lose her. It drives a terrible wedge between them, though in the end Cami does decide to transition for herself.

Klaus and the others defeat Tristan. They drop to the bottom of the ocean to drown for all eternity. Aurora discovers there is White Oak that still survives; it’s the wooden trinket Klaus once carved as a knight for Rebekah. Klaus and Elijah stop her attempts on their lives. To Aurora, Klaus deals a poetic and terrible punishment. He locks her up in a wall to live forever and desiccate, exactly as he had done to his painting of her.

Meanwhile, Davina and the Strix have been plotting to perform a spell that will release all vampires from the Originals’ sire lines. While Elijah is saved from the spell, Klaus isn’t. His sire line is broken and now anyone may kill him without killing all the vampires he’s begot. Klaus reaches out to Camille, but she confesses to him she doesn’t love him anymore. (It’s a lie said out of self-preservation, considering he chose to keep Aurora alive.)

This is a man who has spent a 1,000 years tying the people he loves, the people he hates, and armies to him out of the desperation to be loved, wanted, and safe. He has now lost the literal strings binding him to that loyalty and safety. He’s been stripped of them and left with the uncertainty, loneliness, and worthlessness that has haunted him since he was a child: He is now truly alone and there is no one who must care for him.

Klaus is frightened. Not only has he lost the sanctity of his first love, his confidante, and his relative safety, Lucien turns on them as well. The only comfort is that Kol (and Finn, but he’s not a problem this time) have been resurrected by Davina.

With such odds stacked against him, he, Hayley, and Hope flee the city, intending to disappear. They instead end up tracking leads to piece together what Lucien is up to, which turns out to be concocting a serum that will make him a super vampire with a poisonous bite that can’t be cured, even by Klaus’ blood. While he is with Hayley, they bond and agree to be partners for Hope. Lucien bites Finn and in his last moments Klaus and his family accept him.

Aurora is freed by Lucien, who is still (still!) not over her and plans to make her an enhanced being like himself. They kidnap Klaus, intending to torture and kill him. Hayley and Camille save him and Aurora is left in a deep, mystical sleep because she is in transition to said enhanced being. Freya succeeds in extracting the serum from her.

In retaliation, Lucien also bites Camille. She dies despite all of their combined efforts to cure her. Klaus stays with her as she does, doing his best to make her passing as comfortable as possible. He struggles with the inevitable: that he will lose her, this time for good. Camille leaves him with the hope he can be the light for his little girl. Even though she is not around to remind him, he has a family and people who love him. Klaus promises that he will keep her with him and never forget her.

At this point, Klaus is tired. He’s grieving. He’s lost more than he ever could have bargained. Freya finds a way to reverse Lucien’s enhanced state, but it’s at the cost of Davina’s life. Klaus orders Freya to find another way, knowing losing Davina will mean losing Marcel, and he cannot lose more. They cannot afford it with the prophecy still hanging over their heads. But Elijah and Freya see no other option and Davina ends up dead.

Klaus defeats Lucien, though there is a moment where Klaus concedes and bows to him for Hayley’s life. It’s another moment in which Klaus puts those he loves ahead of himself.

Marcel, distraught by Davina’s death and angry at the Mikaelsons, steals the serum to become an enhanced vampire. Klaus elects to speak to him above all else, to try to quell that familiar rage and remind Marcel he is part of their family. He admits his jealousies of his son; he tries to persuade Marcel to let his anger go. It’s with a quiet desperation and love he does so, but it’s too late.

Motivated by his own desperation to save his family, Elijah kills Marcel in front of Klaus. Klaus is wrecked by this, utterly unforgiving of Elijah; Marcel was one of them.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Marcel has already taken the serum. He returns to attack the Mikaelson home with a host of Klaus’ enemies. He bites Elijah and Kol and poisons Freya. Hayley undaggers Rebekah, who was hexed and was daggered to stall her inevitable madness, in hopes that she can stop Marcel. But nothing and no one can stop him; he’s his father’s son.

Freya comes up with a plan to buy them all time: if Klaus sacrifices himself and ensures Marcel stab him with Papa Tunde’s blade over the White Oak, she can perform a spell to link all their lives to Klaus’. They will be put in a deep sleep, giving Hayley the opportunity to find them cures. Klaus agrees and manipulates Marcel and his enemies to condemn him to the blade. Marcel entombs Klaus.

As Klaus has for ten centuries, he is willing to do anything for his family. He is simply willing to sacrifice now what he was never willing to sacrifice before: himself.

Abilities/Special Powers:

Klaus is a warrior and a skilled sword fighter, but his true strength is his keen intellect and penchant for strategy. He is significantly more powerful than most others in his canon and most likely characters in a lot of other canons as well. As an Original (one of the first vampires) and the first vampire/werewolf hybrid, Klaus has these abilities:
immortality (barring a certain White Oak Tree stake through the heart, Klaus cannot die; he is also immune to all illnesses, toxins, poisons and disease)

superior strength in comparison to humans, vampires, Original vampires, werewolves, and other hybrids (able to snap necks, pick up cars, overpower dozens of vampires with moderate difficulty, etc.)

superior speed/agility (cover short distances in an instant)

accelerated healing/extreme durability (fully recover from all fatal wounds, broken bones, etc.)

heightened physical senses (keen senses of hearing, sight, and smell that far exceed that of humans and other vampires/werewolves)

mind compulsion (control human and vampire minds/actions and alter/erase memories, but not the minds of werewolves, witches, or other Original vampires)

dream manipulation (ability to produce and manipulate dreams)

tactile telepathy (Original vampires are able to display their memories in other beings through touch and also seek out and take memories/information from others also through touch)

transformation control (have the ability to transform into his wolf form at will and perform partial transformations, manifesting single features of their wolf forms i.e. a hybrid can display both sets of vampire and werewolf fangs, change eye color to their wolf form, grow their claws, etc.)

werewolf bite (a hybrid’s bite is fatal to regular vampires and has the ability to sicken/disorient Original vampires for a few days)

healing blood (Klaus' blood is the only cure for a werewolf/hybrid bite; it also has healing properties for humans like all other vampire blood in this canon)

daytime walking (due to their werewolf heritage hybrids are capable of walking around in the day without the use of a day walking ring)

sire bond (all hybrids Klaus creates are sired to him; however human doppelgänger blood is required to complete the transition from werewolf to hybrid)

Third-Person Sample:

There are but a few saving graces to this enchanted Wonderland prison, and the copious booze is one of them. Klaus has settled into his new furnishings after the end of quite the long and arduous day: one fraught with with old enemies and new ones. This place… Whatever it is and whatever it might hold for him will come in time. He will adjust as he always does to new and threatening foes, however life-altering and whimsical this one is.

What’s on his mind now, in the quiet afterlude, is his family. His daughter, Hayley, and his siblings left behind. And it’s Camille, those two syllables carrying a weight that bears down on him; a terrible and wondrous relief. There’s Freya. Both of them none the wiser of their fates nor of his. It’s deliberate, the room he’s chosen, nestled next to theirs. All the better to keep them safe and close. Yet there is the tremulous, strung fear inside of him. He is not just playing the over-protective brother or the shrewd strategist. The desire to cling to their mere presence is inescapable, a longing wrenching his heart. This is for his own edification. His comfort and his fear.

He sits, glass of bourbon at hand, and listens to them go about their routines. Such simple, innocent sounds he would have thought lost to him: knowing they live and live well. That he could be here and not entombed in a wall to live with them.

It matters not, that desire. He cannot let it rule him, even as he allows its sentiment. No matter his motivations, the result remains the same. They are are out of their depth here. No matter what they have suffered at home, this place has a plan for him and those he loves. He will be ready for it.

First-Person Sample:

[ as far as ludicrous, unending torment goes, klaus is a bit unimpressed. it doesn’t take long to orient himself and realize he’s not in kansas anymore. he’s not in marcel’s garden, stashed away among the dirt and worms, and if this is an elaborate spell of either his sister’s or some foe’s devising, it’s an oddity.

klaus listens in on the network. he explores his surroundings. only after he’s gathered enough information does he take to the network. he supposes text is prudent. ]

I'm a bit intrigued by the juvenile lore of this place. [ do you detect the note of derisiveness there ] I assume we’ve all read the books. Seen the film interpretations. How very whimsical.

[ he might seem amused. truly he's furious and frightened by his relocation and the things he has heard. it's a volatile state for the hybrid to temper, but it's also not foreign for him to succeed. he's here, so he might as well get acquainted for his own purposes. ]

Might anyone offer more novel observations they've collected of our new home?