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Chapter Text

In the living room of the Mikaelson Manor, on Halloween night, surrounded by candies, and cookies, and homemade cakes, and sodas etc were the Mikaelson family ; Esther, Finn, Elijah, Klaus, Kol and Rebekah ; and their former ennemies turned allies turned friends, the Salvatore brothers ; Damon and Stefan ; the Gilbert siblings ; Jeremy and Elena ; as well as Bonnie Bennet, Caroline Forbes and Matt Donovan.

The reason why they were currently sitting together in the Mikaelson Manor was because they decided to do something together for Halloween and they all agreed that Niklaus's idea: tell each other scary stories, was the best, especially with Kol's suggestion : that every story, if possible, must be true. For the Mikaelson, it will be easy since they have lived for over a thousand years. For the others, they will have to make up one and make sure it's believable.

As everybody was helping themselves to the food, a question was asked by Kol :

"Sooo, how are we going to chose who is going first?"
"Well, since we chose Nik's idea, we should let him go first" replied Rebekah with a smile directed at her hybrid older brother.
"Yeah, I'm okay with that, he should go first and since there are a few years where we weren't together, I'm sure it will be very interesting to see what he was up to" quipped Elijah with a teasing smile.

Niklaus didn't even deigned looking at him, preferring to accept the tall glass of orange juice his mother was handing him. After taking a long sip, while making sure to look everybody in the eye, just to mess with them and relishing in the annoyed look some gave him, he eventually said :

"Sure, no problem".

He took a deep breath, took a moment to think about what he was going to say and then began : "The story I'm about to tell you is true. Every word of it. And it all started in Kungsleden..."

**The Kungsleden is a hiking trail in northern Sweden, of approximately 440 kilometres (270 miles) between Abisko in the north and Hemavan in the south. It passes through, near the southern end, the Vindelfjällen Nature Reserve, one of the largest protected areas in Europe.

In the winter Kungsleden is a ski trail with approximately the same route. The trail is well-marked and many sections are well equipped and maintained by the Countyboard of Norrbotten (Länsstyrelsen i Norrbotten), with plank walkways covering swampy or rocky ground. However, other sections, further from the trailheads, are eroded and rocky, increasing the difficulty of hiking. There are bridges across non-fordable streams and during the summer season lakes and rivers could be crossed either with rowing boats provided by Countyboard of Norrbotten or STF or by taking a local charter boat.

The winter trail takes a somewhat different course in locations where it runs over swamps or lakes that can not be negotiated in summer. The trail is separated in four portions--each representing approximately one week of hiking. The most popular part is by far the northernmost--between Abisko and Kebnekaise. The season, when the huts are open, usually runs between mid-June and the end of September, rowing boats are usually in place at the end of June or beginning of July, but the weather can be very treacherous, including late or early snow. The winter season runs from mid-February to the end of April.** (taken from Wikipedia)

Having heard a lot of praises about this hiking trail, Niklaus decided that he wanted to try it, plus, the landscapes in Sweden were beautiful and it would absolutely be worth the trip. And on top of that, Klaus wasn't afraid of anything he could encounter in the woods and the wilderness because first he was a thousand years old hybrid and one of the most powerful beings in the world and if there was a problem (or if he gets bored), he could simple vampire-sped out of there. 

It was decided : Niklaus would do the trail and he would have drawing material to capture the beauty of Sweden and its landscapes, its vivid colors... 

It was on a cold Monday morning that Niklaus began his journey along the Kungsleden. And let me tell you, it was as beautiful and as great as he was expecting it to be. Not even two hours into the hike and the original Hybrid was already stopping to sketch a few trees he found particularly magnificent. He took out one notebook as well as a pencil and an eraser (he took about two notebooks, a few pencils and erasers) and started his sketch. He drew for about one hour before resuming his walk. 

And boy, was he excited, if his siblings could see him, there is only one word they would use to describe Klaus : " Adorable!" He looked like a little boy on Christmas morning. He thought with fondness that Kol would probably mock him. And just the thought of his brother sent a pang of sadness through him. People might think that he was a heartless monster who only love his siblings in a coffin with a dagger in their chest and that may be true (honestly, siblings could be soo annoying) but part of the reason he was doing that was because he was terrified by the idea that something bad could happen to them. Especially with Mikael still running. 

Only when their father was dead, burned, his ashes salted and scattered all over the world would Niklaus relax and let his siblings go their own way, until then, they were safer in their coffins. With him. Of course, this train of thoughts led him to think about his only sibling that wasn't daggered : Elijah. And it hurt him. How could Elijah really believe that Klaus would throw their siblings in the middle of the ocean, how could he not know Klaus enough to know that this was just a trick. 

The truth was that Klaus said that to Elijah so that he would hate him and if Mikael found him, he wouldn't hurt Klaus's older brother. Well, his plan had worked a little too well and now, Elijah wanted to kill him too. But hey, it wasn't the time nor the place to have such grim thoughts, he was surrounding by the beauty of nature...

"Wait a second!" Elijah interrupted Niklaus who simply looked at him expectantly (he already knew what his brother was going to ask) "That's the reason you told me that?" The original Hybrid nodded. Everybody was shocked, except maybe Esther, after all she knew her son and spent quite some time by his side while she was behind the Veil. "But... but, why didn't you tell me this when we finally faced each other!" to say Elijah was shocked was an understatement. How could Klaus not tell him, it would have spared them a lot of grief.

"Would you have believed me?" was Klaus simple reply and Elijah didn't respond because he knew he wouldn't have believed his little brother.

Klaus resumed his story like nothing happened.

"So i was surrounding by the beauty of nature... when I realized something : there was no birds singing or crickets or anything..."

Klaus was surprised but shrugged it off and kept walking, stopping from time to time to sketch something or just to sit down and enjoy some moment without him worrying or having to maintain his image of the big bad evil hybrid.

About two days into his hike, Klaus decided he wanted to do something bold and potentially stupid : instead of continuing following the trail, he wanted to cut through the forest. It was probably one of the dumbest idea he ever had but hey! It would be fun.

So he left the trail and went into the forest.

After walking for a couple of hours, Klaus started to hear male voices. A smile full of way to many sharp teeth appeared on his face :

"This hike suddenly became much more interesting" the Hybrid thought.

He kept walking until he reached the place where the voices were coming from and grimaced at the scene in front of him : there were four men, one of them was injured and they were looking at a dead elk, which has been gutted and was hanging from a tree and were also looking at several strange symbols carved on the trees.

What the hell was happening!

Chapter Text

The thing with the strange symbols carved on the tree was that Niklaus recognized them. Or at least, they seemed familiar.

Instead of making his presence known, he decided to wait a little and see what would happen. Yes, it was decided, he would follow the four men from a distance.

So, as the four men were discussing what the hell they stumbled upon, Niklaus stayed hidden behind the trees. Of course, just like them, he was wondering why someone, or something, would gut that poor, innocent thing. It obviously wasn't to feed, it seemed like it was just a display of violence, of blood, of power. Niklaus was truly disgusted. 

Plus, the way it was hanged from the tree, it almost looked like, something... human. Like, if you weren't looking properly at it, you could mistake it for a man hanging from a tree, which seemed even weirder to the Original and made him very uncomfortable.

In general, this forest was making him uncomfortable. It gave off strange vibes, as if he were standing in a temple, ancient and forgotten, with its walls imbued with powers.

Quickly, Klaus refocused himself on the four men to find them almost bickering, trying to reassure themselves by saying it must have been the doings of a bear. The hybrid quietly chuckled, a bear wouldn't waste food like that. But he would cut them some slack, they obviously couldn't feel the power in the air, surrounding them.

They were just humans, after all, blissfully ignorant of the world hidden in their own world, of the dangerous creatures roaming the earth, looking for preys, for worshipers, for believers. 

Finally, one of them remarked that the elk was still bleeding, which meant, whoever or whatever did this was probably not that far and that they should get a move on.

"Wait, wait, wait!, Rebekah shouted. How the hell did you see a gutted, still bleeding elk, hanged from a tree and didn't decide that maybe it was time to go back. Are you crazy!"

Instead of answering her, Nik simply smiled, chuckled and resume his story.

"So, I followed them as they kept going...

As the group kept going, unaware of Niklaus following them, the night came and with it, a storm. Rain fell heavy and contributing to the darkness surrounding the four men. Niklaus being a vampire, and a werewolf, could see perfectly well in the dark and concerning the rain, well, he has known worst. The humans on the other hand, turned on their flashlight and continued their walk through the forest in search of a shelter for the night.

At some point, they stopped to check where they were and one of them, Hutch, If Niklaus wasn't mistaken, said they should pitch their tents where they stopped. Two of the men looked at him like he was crazy and honestly, Klaus agreed with them.

However, the Original spotted close to them a house and decided it was time to introduce himself.

"Hey, hey!, he shouted, trying to be as convincing as possible. Oh my God! I can't believe it!"

The three men startled and raised their fists in a defensive position while the fourth didn't really move but eyed him very carefully.

"I've been walking for hours trying to make it back to town to no avail. I thought it would be fun to leave the trail. I've never regretted a decision I've made in my life so much! Niklaus said trying to sound self-deprecating and relieved to see the men. I stumbled upon that dead thing hanged from the tree and hauled ass, I mean. Klaus vaguely moved his hand to illustrated what he said."

"Yeah, tell me about it. The injured one mumbled. And what tells us you're not the one who put it there"

"You're kidding me, right? And Niklaus was completely honest in his disgust and disbelieve"

That alone convinced them that he probably was just an idiot lost in the forest like them. To further try to win their trust, the original introduced himself :

"Hum, I'm Niklaus but you can call me Klaus."

"I'm Dom. (It was the guy who was injured)"

"I'm Hutch (The one who suggested they sleep there for the night)"

"Hi, I'm Phil (The one who said he was a bear which gutted the animal)"

The fourth didn't immediately introduce himself. Instead, he pointed at a tree to his friend and Klaus. On the tree, some more symbols were carved and now that he could see them clearly, Klaus was absolutely certain he knew them and was even more sure that they should get out of this forest yesterday, however, it could be nothing, after all, nowadays people use rune or symbols like these ones as inspiration for tattoos or as tattoos.

Yes, it was probably nothing more than a coincidence, after all, the occasion was too good to pass to scare some unsuspecting hikers like Klaus and his new companions.

One of which has not introduce himself yet but was quick to point out the house Klaus spotted earlier a little further. It was decided unanimously that they would take shelter there.

Although it was a good thing to find a house in the middle of the forest when the rain was pouring out, it was still strange : what would a house do there and more importantly, who in their right mind would build a house there.

Some of the members of this merry band were all for leaving this house alone and others were trying to see how to get inside the house. 

After a few arguements were thrown back and forth, the door was kicked in and they all entered the abandoned house. It wasn't particularly warm or welcoming, but at least, it was (relatively) dry.

As they were all entering, Luke (the one who didn't introduce himself, yet) who was last, turned around suddenly. Nik did too. Both heard something sounding like...roaring, and screeching and rustling leaves. They both looked at each other and silently agreed to pretend they heard nothing. And if they were honest, a sort of kinship developped between them, strengthen by the fact that no else heard what they did hear.

But even if they joked around to reassure themselves, the house was strange nonetheless : hanged from the ceiling were the same symbols carved on the trees outside, there were clothes still hanging on the wall like the people who might have lived there packed and left in a hurry.

Luke told his friends he definitely heard something outside, which Hutch dismissed as perfectly normal animals hanging in the woods, and if he didn't argue, Luke was still not completely reassured. Niklaus walked up to him, didn't say anything but it was clear: he was supporting what Luke said. 

As the two men wearily looked through some of the shattered window, Phil was sent to look upstairs as he was next to the stairs and there might some things to burn to warm them.

The least you could say was that the man looked as enthusiastic as you may imagine, meaning NOT AT ALL. But truth be told, he was the closest to the stairs.

However, Dom was feeling charitable so he offered to accompany Phil upstairs, who declined. Hutch and Dom shared a laugh as the man was cautiously climbing the stairs, trying to diffuse the darkness ruling over every corner of that abandoned, falling-into-ruin house.

As the skies kept weeping, Phil took a left turn when upstairs, and approached a door as rotten as the rest of the house, a rusty door handle stubbornly clinging to the decrepit wood. Phil was trying to see if he could hear something through the door when a loud noise made him jump out of his skin : Dom had just broken up a chair, loudly cheered by Hutch.

The poor and scared man tried to calm his franticly beating heart, while insulting under his breath his friends :

“Dickheads.” And who could blame him.

Kol’s loud laugh interrupted Klaus’s narration. The rest of his family and their less or more friends looked at him, expressing different feelings :

Klaus being used to his antics was waiting patiently, and so was Elijah and Esther (although she was clearly amused by Kol’s reaction) ; Finn and Rebekah felt annoyed, they very much wanted to hear the rest as the story was getting more and more interesting, Klaus’s narration was just perfect, the intonations, the voice, everything was coming together to create the atmosphere for such a story and the two siblings were hooked ; As for Damon and Stefan, the former was smirking feeling the same kind of amusement of the Original and the latter just rolled his eyes both at his brother’s antics and at the Original’s.

Bonnie, Elena and Caroline had on their face an epic bitch face, worthy of Sam Winchester’s. And to end, Jeremy and Matt were so not impressed.

“Are you quite done, brother. Klaus inquired very politely and not bothered in the slightest, of all his brother’s “quirks” interrupting his story by laughing was the less annoying to Klaus”

Still smiling widely and his eyes shining with mirth, Kol nodded.

The Original Hybrid resumed his narration :

“Under his breath, Phil cursed his loud and annoying friends :

“Dickheads.”

Klaus and Luke were still looking outside, still trying to discern what it was they heard through the trees, but so far, everything looked the same. And now, for them, the woods seemed menacing, like it was waiting for them to exit the house to swallow them all, waiting, feeding on their dread. Unconsciously, Luke got closer to Niklaus, seeking warmth, shelter, comfort from the man. Luke didn’t know why, but one thing he was sure of, at the moment, Niklaus looked like the most secure thing out there.

The Original, as for him, noticed the human getting closer, but didn’t say anything, he just extended his arm to the other side of the doorframe, subtly providing the other man with some comfort as he slowly backed up, and leaning on the warm arm behind him.

Phil was continuing his exploration of the upper floor, opening the door he had spotted before his stupid friends almost gave him a heart attack.

That first room didn’t contain anything special, except for what seemed to be gardening tools, gloves and a bowl.

Next to this room, there was another door that Phil opened too. Inside, he found what looked to be a life-size grotesque idol. As soon as he processed what he found, he shouted for his friends to get upstairs :

“Guys, get the fuck up here, right now”

His shout broke the spell surrounding Luke and Klaus. Luke abruptly turned around, facing the direction his friend’s voice came from. Klaus was in fighting mode, muscles tensed, ready to fight whoever, or whatever, there was to fight.

Hutch sighed, thinking Phil was overreacting, but still went upstairs, followed by the rest.

But once upstairs, his reaction resumed what the others were thinking and feeling :

“Oh, shit.”

Dom looked disgusted and horrified, Phil was disgusted and resigned, and Luke looked just scared, asking what it was.

As for Klaus, as the night went by, he was feeling more and more uncomfortable. He was feeling like he had the answer, but it just wouldn’t stick long enough for him to catch. Like a story told to you by your grandmother, but you can’t quite remember it.

The idol standing in front of them in all its morbid glory looked like a man whose head was cut off, and whose hands were replaced by antlers. It seemed to be made of hay and other material, spiderwebs woven between the space of the antlers, replacing the hands of that grotesque idol and its neck.

It was a morbid spectacle, and yet, it was fascinating. You couldn’t avert your eyes, like that statue was commanding you to look at her, to drink it up, to admire its sinister beauty before you are consumed, soul and body.

And Klaus was feeling it more keenly than his human companions in misfortune. It was calling him up, ordering him to drop to his knees and worship it. It was screaming at him :

“WORSHIP ME! WORSHIPE ME! WORSHIP ME!”

Unaware of their new friend’s unease, the four humans were still staring at the idol, all speechless. Then Phil broke the spell, once again :

“That’s witchcraft.”

“Huh? Hutch replied”

“That’s what that is. That’s witchcraft. Phil insisted, and if Klaus wasn’t feeling so disoriented and uneasy, he would have agreed with his statement.”

“Uh, is that meant to be a person?. Luke inquired in a weak voice.”

“What, with no head and antlers for hands?. Phil replied sarcastically”

“And if I hear anything comin’ down those stairs… Phil began, a warning in his voice”

“Don’t! Fucking hell!, Dom exclaimed”

“Not a person…”

The four men turned towards Klaus. Luke immediately realized something was wrong with Nik and went to his aid, grabbing his arms and helping up from the wall he was resting again.

“What do you mean “not a person”?, snapped Dom”

“I mean, retorted Klaus with a glare that made Dom slightly shrink, is that whatever it is and whoever made it, clearly meant for it to not be a person, but something else. I don’t think it is here for no reason. I believe it’s supposed to represent a god or something.”

Seeing the confused faces of his companions, the Original Hybrid elaborated :

“There are religions with multiple gods, that is a known fact, and in some of those religions, there are creature, call them gods or monsters, that are described as grotesque and deformed and despised by other divinities. It is my belief that we are standing in front of one of those deformed and ugly creatures. However, Klaus continued, seeing the state of disrepair of that place, I think that however worshipped that idol is gone. I find it hard to believe that they would have left their god in such a disgusting place”.

Now, Klaus was feeling better, partly because he was able to voice his thoughts and partly because of Luke, helping him stay upright, his warm hand on Klaus’s arm proving him with an anchor.

The four men looked at each other, silently agreeing with Nik's analysis of the situation. Hutch took the lead :

“I’m going downstairs to get that fire started. You guys can stay up here if you want.”

The others agreed and followed him. Luke and Niklaus remained upstairs a little while longer, as Klaus was still feeling dizzy.

“Are you alright, Luke inquired in a soft and worried voice, you look pale.”

“Yeah, I’m alright. It just that I’m actually a pagan, and I thing that idol might be related to my religion”.

“How so?”

“You remember, the symbols on the tree?. Luke nodded, well I know them, they are not symbols, they are runes. They are Elder Futhark runes, it’s a sort of "alphabet" composed of 24 runes, arranged in groups of eight runes and there are three groups. Each group has for name ætt, ættir, in plural.

As it was raining, I only managed to recognize three I think : the Odal or Othala rune; the Algiz or Elhaz rune and the Naudiz or Nyd rune.”

“Okay, Luke said, but, do they mean anything and why didn’t you say anything?, even if it’s was illogical, Luke couldn’t help but feel betrayed that Klaus didn’t say anything.”

“I didn’t because I honestly thought it was a bad joke to scare hikers and since nowadays people use Elder Futhark for all and nothing, I didn’t really find it odd."

Klaus sounded apologetic, thinking back to that moment, maybe he should have told them about the runes. However, how could he have known it was potentially more than just a sick joke?

Luke wanted to be mad at Nik, but the Original was right: it’s not that uncommon to encounter all sort of strange things carved on trees, and if it wasn’t for the deer carcass they found or the pouring rain, none of them would have batted an eye.

Luke smiled at Niklaus to show him he wasn’t upset and guided with an hand on Nik’s arms towards the stairs.

“Let’s join the others downstairs. You’ll sit by the fire and I’m sure you will feel better in no times.”

Klaus stopped his retelling to take a sip of juice, trying to hide a soft smile as he was reminiscing that moment.

“Well, Rebekah began, that guy sure cared about your well-being”

“Hmm, Klaus hummed absent-mindedly still lost in that memory, oh, yeah, he did.”

No one added anything, not wanted to break that very special moment where Klaus seems to  have let down some of the walls surrounding himself and was letting his family (and friends) have a glimpse of his gentle and tender side.

Once downstairs, Klaus and Luke followed the lead of their friends and hanged their clothes so the fire could dry them up and were discussing what they had just saw upstairs :

“It looked like that thing in the tree. Luke said”

“Could be idolizing a spirit or a deity, like Klaus said, Hutch agreed and nodded towards Klaus, Some kind of pagan or Nordic shit, like an offering or something”

If he didn’t react when Hutch mentioned him, the fact that he called that idol “some kind of Nordic shit” made his blood boil, but outwardly, nothing could be seen on his face. He almost wished the thing that was stalking them (because there definitely was some kind of creature outside) would kill that stupid human! But he didn’t wish too hard because he knew it would hurt Luke and he found himself fond of that human with the cute smile and blue eyes.

While Klaus was internally trying to refrain himself from killing the men surrounding him by imagining how sad and devastated Luke would look and feel, the discussion went on.

“Yeah, well, Phil continued, I almost offered up a massive shit when I saw it.”

 “I thought they worshipped Odin, all that stuff, a perplex Dom said”

The Original Hybrid had to refrain from rolling his eyes: he would agree that you don’t know some obscure Nordic divinities or whatever, but Odin? I mean, come on, he is among those divinities almost everyone knows, like Loki or Zeus, or Osiris…

“Well, that is Nordic, Luke replied”

“Thank fucking God! Someone with a brain” was Klaus' mental comment. He was probably biased since it came from Luke, but who cares?

After a few more exchanges and a few jokes, everybody went to sleep. It was decided that as soon as there was light, they would haul ass out of there.

Rain was falling on the roof, creating a pattering sound that could be relaxing, almost similar to a lullaby.

Thunder rumbled.

As the men fell asleep, eerie noises could be heard : a soft knocking sound, followed by a low growling, ragged breathing and a roar. The creature that was following them was there, outside their shelter. But the men were asleep, they wouldn’t know, and perhaps it was for the best: they would be able to sleep and it would be necessary to be well-rested if they wanted to escape that creature.

Light came back, escorted by thunder and lighting. The light of the day fell directly on Luke’s face who was slowly waking up, when all of a sudden, it stopped. No more lighting or thunder, only a bright, white light coming from the broken window. Now, Luke was awake.

He got up, intrigued and stared at the light, cautiously approaching it. A strange sound came from the light : it was similar to the sound emitted from neon light. It reminded Luke of hospitals late at nights or small shops. He didn’t want to think about it.

He called to Hutch, who didn’t wake up. He turned towards the others and then Klaus, who seemed to be having a nightmare. Luke couldn’t resist the need to slowly, delicately brushed off a strand of hair, stuck to Nik’s forehead by sweat. The contact seemed to appease the distressed man, who let a small sight of relief.

Luke smiled and then quickly straightened up.

The whole atmosphere reminded more and more Luke of a dream… or a nightmare. The sound seemed muffled up, like he was underwater. He opened the door of the house. It opened to a familiar small shop.

The small shop where his friend, Robert, was killed by robbers. It was just as he remembered it. He walked inside, moss and grass growing on the floor. He went to the alcohol aisle and grabbed a bottle to inspect it.

He looked to a door to his right, a room forbidden to anyone but the staff. The more he stared at it, the more he felt like something was about to speed out of the room and attack him.

Luke was scared.

Then he heard distorted voices and felt a sharp pain. He looked down to the bottle to see a drop of blood inside, slowly expanding.

The shelf before him suddenly moved, the bottles clattered and then he heard it: a soft knocking sound.

All of sudden, the shelf was destroyed, falling into pieces before Luke’s eyes. And he woke up, gasping for air as if he was emerging of water. He was longer in the house, but outside of it, as if he sleptwalked out of the house.

As he was panting and gasping for air, the trees in front of him rustled and moved, as if disturbed by something big walking away.

This is when he registered the sharp pain on his chest: he looked down slowly to see blood soaking his shirt, five punctured wounds on his chest.

Before he could wonder what it was, Hutch’s scream pierced the eerily still atmosphere of the forest.

Luke rushed back inside. Hutch kept screaming. Luke woke him up, trying to calm him down, but Hutch was still in his nightmare and scurried away from his friend.

“Where the fuck am I, Hutch shouted”

“We’re in that house. We’re in that fucking house, OK?”

As Hutch was trying to calm down, Luke started to look for his lamp, when he found, he turned it on and directed towards Hutch to find out the latter wetted himself in in fear.

Not commenting in it, Luke then went to wake up Dom who was crying out for his wife, Gayle.

Dom was in a corner, crying, fear clear in his attitude and voice. His injury was out for everyone to see, since he wasn’t wearing any pants, It was hard not to feel any sympathy towards that man, prostrated in a corner, injured, terrified and calling for his wife, like he was seeking comfort or scared for her. It was hard not to feel some compassion for this man whom in his state of terror and distress was calling out for his wife.

Luke tried to wake him up from his nightmare, not touching him, only shaking a little Dom’s not injured leg. The man seemed to snap out of it, panting and trying to get his bearings.

Luke then went for Klaus who wasn’t as loud as the others but was clearly as distressed as them. He was growling in his sleep and muttering in another language that Luke didn’t recognize. The language was beautiful and melodic, like a song, even more so, spoken by Niklaus. It seems that in his nightmare, Klaus was fighting someone or something, and in his words, you could almost feel his sorrow, like he was asking for forgiveness, like he had betrayed someone.

In any case, as Klaus wasn’t trashing or anything, Luke went to shake his shoulders, the Original immediately opened his eyes and grabbed Luke’s arm in an almost painful grip. But as soon, as he did, he released the other man : it looked like he got his bearings faster than his friends. It stared at Luke for a moment, heavily breathing, before nodding. Luke nodded back.

Before anyone could say anything, upstairs, the floorboards creaked and one thought occurred to everybody : “Where is Phil?”

Since Luke was the only one truly awake and collected he went to see that was going on.

And as he was climbing the stairs (and noticed Phil’s clothes on the stairs), he wondered if he truly saw a flash of gold in Niklaus’s eyes when he woke up? It was impossible and yet, as the five men were slowly collected themselves, they were realizing that maybe some things were possible (even if Niklaus already knew that).

Idly, Luke thought to himself that golden eyes would suit Niklaus.

Upstairs, he immediately went to the room with idol and slowly opened the door to reveal Phil prostrated in the floor, in front of the idol, in a praying stance,  hand together, raised towards that distorted, mangled and hideous creature, he was murmuring some nonsense, completely naked.

What the hell was going on?

The atmosphere in the abandoned house was tense and heavy with fear, with terror, with questions.

As Luke try to shake Phil off his trance, the man started to gasp and moans, as if waking up, or emerging from staying too long under water.

He was naked and dirty, maybe hurt and disoriented. Vulnerable and scared.

Luke urged him to get up and left the room, feeling as scared and disoriented as his friend was.

Luke desperatly wondered what was going on and if they would survive this trip.

Chapter Text

After everyone got their bearing and calmed down, they all collectively agreed that it was time to get the hell out of this house and try to find a way back to civilization.

However, the probliem lied in how to do it. No one seemed to agree on a course of action.

Dom was all for taking a path that seems to be going south-west, while Hutch was telling him it wasn’t a good idea, indeed, he was arguing that they could end up in Norway.

Before Dom could say more and the arguing could go on and get worse, Niklaus intervened:

« If we end up in Norway, it’s not that big of an issue. One, because we will be out of this Odin-forsaken forest, and two because since my parents came in the USA from Norway, I speak the language, and even if it that doesn’t work, we still have money, we will rent some rooms, somewhere and then I will get one of my siblings on the phone and will tell them to find a way to bring us back.

In any case, I’m with Dom : let’s take that path and get the fuck out of there. And if it’s not enough for you, those symbols on the trees. Niklaus indicated the marked trees.

These are runes, from Elder Futhark. I don’t know how far it goes, but those runes mean that this place is marked, and that we probably entered the territory of something we don’t want to fucking meet! And to scare you even more, since unlike you, I know all about runes. The Original walked to a tree. I am going to explain what the runes engraved on those bloody trees mean.

This rune right there means. He pointed a to a rune resembling a losenge with longer sides at the end. is the one of the oldest rune and is the rune Othala. It means "Home" or "Wealth" but in the family sense of the word, we stumbled upon someone or something's home and therefore, its family. Which, doesn't seem to bad on its own but wait till I explain the rest of the runes to you.

Oh! Niklaus exclaimed making its companions jump. This (his tone turned ominous), this one is the rune Algiz, which means elk, defense, guardianship. Which could be the reason for the slaughtered elk we found yesterday, a warning that this place is guarded and protected. This one right there. He pointed to a symbol resembling an H. is the rune Hagalaz meaning "Hail", like hailstone, intense like "wrath" or for some, it means being tested, the darkest moment of your soul, a moment to pause and reflect.

Also, as runes are arranged in series, it is also the first of its series and and represent the descent into the underworld, obstacles, challenges..."

As he was about to continue, Dom interrupted him:

"Okay, Jesus Christ on a bike, we are screwed or about to be severely screwed, we get it. No need to keep trying to make us shit our pants".

"Oh, since you have so much time to argue, I thought it useful to remind you WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THESE STUPID ARGUMENTS! Klaus yelled the last part, letting some of his Original Hybrid "aura" slip.

But the one that should really concern you is the rune Dagaz which represent the dawn, the end of a cycle and the beginning of the next. The key words associated with it are "illumination", "awareness"...

Truthfully, although scaring you is sort of the point of explaining the runes, it is also to show you that the dead elk, the runes, the nightmares...are not coincidences.

No, I think that someone wanted us to get where we are now. Someone saw in us or some of us, something and they intend for us to go through a journey. He pointed another rune like a fancy R.

And for the first time, in a long, long time, I am not ashamed to admit that I am terrified of what they want us to experience and where this journey is supposed to lead us to... Or whether we are all supposed to arrive to this destination."

Now let's go"

Niklaus' tone brook no argument. The look on his face told them that he was being serious and worried.

And in turn, it made them worried because since they met him, although he didn't talk too much, his attitude and aura showed someone confident and not scared, someone who may have already experienced such things, but now, even if he was still confident, his serious demeanor and the way he explained the runes, made them disturbed.

They were scared.

Luke was the only one not intimidated by Klaus, he found him quite...attractive, all leader-like.

Yes, Niklaus was being really vulgar, but you can’t really blame him.

After all, as THE Original Hybrid, and generally, as a supernatural creature with sharper senses, he was able to pick up what his companions of misfortune couldn’t.

And the Hybrid was damn sure that something big and potentially angry (and hungry) was following them and Odin knew that Klaus didn’t want to face whatever it was.

Plus, he was sure that this thing had marked Luke, he smelled the blood on the man and saw the look in his eyes, and that terrified him more than words could say.

The only creature that came to his mind when thinking about the runes, and the totem in the room in that abandoned house, and the dead elk, was a creature from his mythology, Norse mythology, a creature his mother had told his siblings and him tales of.

He really didn’t want to meet this creature (and of course wanted to keep Luke safe and protect him).

Dom nodded, then started to walk down the path he chose, followed by Phil, then Klaus and eventually Luke and Hutch who realized they were in minority and didn’t have a choice. 

They walked in silence for a while, only the sound of their boots crushing tiny twigs resonating in the forest. All of them found it unnerving, no sound, no bird singing. Nothing.

Like the forest was dead or the animals too scared to make noise, and therefore notify the creature of their existence.

Eventually, it ended up doing a lot more harm on their frayed nerves, and after Phil’s attempts to talk about what happened in the house, Hutch snapped and basically ended up telling him to shut the fuck up.

Which didn’t sit well with Klaus (not because he cared about the man, he only cared about Luke at this point).

« Make-believe stories, huh. The immortal drawled. Those make-believe stories are foundations of our world, both yours and mine, or are you going to pretend otherwise, because before science as we know it, all people had to explain what they were experiencing was stories.

However, you can trust me when I tell you that what happened to you, to us, in that house wasn’t caused by stories, and if you can’t accept that, you will end up dead and more importantly, you will get us dead. Which I won't let happen»

Niklaus ended his sentence with a dark look sent to Hutch, who shrung in place, not wanting to anger even more a man, everybody has realized, was just as dangerous as the creature they were running from.

Without waiting for an answer, Klaus resumed his walking, already feeling irritated, and it was not good, because an irritated Klaus usually means some heads rolling on the floor, freed from their bodies.

And obviously, he couldn't do that now, because he needed them to get out of there, or if only, to serve as a shield between the thing chasing them and himself, and he only made him more irritated and an irritated Klaus was not good because it meant dead bodies, the ones of his companions in that case, and he couldn't kill them, which irritated him...

It was just a vicious circle.

Then a noise. Rattling breathing. Not letting anything show on his face, he started to walk faster, reaching Dom's side, he grabbed his arm and put it over his shoulders and circled his waist, supporting part of Dom's waist, allowing to walk faster, without worsening his injury and relieving some of his pain. Grateful, Dom nodded at Niklaus, who nodded in return, acknowledging Dom's silent thank. 

All could feel something wasn't right.