Gone Girl

Pain, that was the first thing that registered in my mind. A great amount of pain, what was rather surprising since I had not felt pain in some time. Over the centuries I guess I just tuned it out, but now my world was filled with it. I slowly opened my eyes and quickly shut them back again. There was a searing light as if someone had been shining an obscenely bright flashlight directly into my eyes. I let out a groan and rolled over to my side feeling a warm wetness on my shirt. I opened my eyes again, much more wary of any bright lights and winced when I saw the branch Impaled through my gut. It had been a while since I had been hurt, I attributed this to whatever the hell that old man Morgana had been fighting had done. Hell, maybe this was Morgana's doing, I couldn't exactly remember what had happened when she popped up. But I was sure that one of them had blasted me backwards.

Wrenching the branch out of my gut, I watched the wound close with bated breath. When it did I let out a sigh of relief, I still had my powers. Knowing my own luck I half expected to have been turned back human, or at the very least on the verge of dying. With the thoughts of my own mortality abated I took in my surroundings and sighed. I had wandered these woods enough to recognise them. Something felt off though, the leaves on the trees were beginning to change colours. Yet I knew that when I left it was the middle of summer. Quickly I made my way back to my mansion and sighed in relief when I was greeted by the sight of the building, still standing, grass still neatly mowed. 

Making my way through the heavy oak double doors I looked around. Freya was nowhere in sight, and neither was Anna. I restrained myself from calling out, I don't know what it was, but calling out 'is anyone here?' always felt a bit strange to me. Either you'd get a response, which was ideal, or you wouldn't, which would leave you feeling like an idiot. 

I made short work of searching the entire estate from top to bottom. Strangely enough the place was empty, there was a knock on the door and I made my way over to answer. The feeling of something being off solidified as I opened the door to Klaus, who was leaning against the doorframe. 

"What do you want?" 

The Hybrid grins, "Missing something Seth?"

"I highly doubt that Freya would be abducted so easily, nor would she allow any harm to come to the guests I have in my home." 

A head of wavy red hair bounced out from behind Klaus. I looked at the woman who sauntered over his side. She looked familiar, though once again, my abysmal knowledge of character names reared its ugly head. 

"Aurora love, I thought I told you to wait in the car?" 

"I was bored, Nik. Besides, I wanted to meet THE Seth Williamson. Aurora de Martel," she curtsied "honored to meet you." 

Aurora, I didn't remember much about her character, only that she had a strange relationship with Klaus, being bat shit crazy like her brother, and she was one of the first vampires the siblings created. 

"The? So now I have a 'the' in front of my name?"

"Mate, don't tell me you haven't realized by now?" 

I raised an eyebrow at Klaus. 

"Oh for fucks sake, you own a major bank, you're a big name in this god forsaken town, and you're possibly the oldest Vampire here. You're bloody famous." 

"Oh no, I knew that, I was just curious as to why you care so much about those things to remember them off the top of your head."

"I don't, care, I mean. I've gotten off track, I came here to check up on things. Ever since I found out that there was another doppelgänger here in Mystic Falls, I've had my witchy friends keep a close eye on this town."

"And?"

"And they just so happen to-"

"They picked up a powerful blast of magic." 

I looked over to Aurora who cut into Klaus' sentence. I was half expecting him to reprimand her at the very least but he just gave her a small smile. Frowning, I looked at the two ancient beings. 

"You still haven't gotten to the part on why you're here."

"I was getting there, like Aurora said, my witches felt a blast of magic unlike anything they've ever felt before. We came to investigate. As for my dear sister, I have no idea where she has gone. Perhaps Elijah might know, she came to him two months ago searching for you."

I get my heart dropped to my stomach. Two months ago, I should have known that time would function differently in separate worlds. 

"Two months?" 

"Well she told Elijah that you had been gone for several, but yes. She was last seen two months ago." 

"Damn it, fine let's go." 

Worry tore through my heart as we arrived at the Mikaelson estate. Three months, I had been gone for three months. Both Anna and Freya were missing, I didn't even know if Amelie was in any danger. 

I practically flew through the doors as Klaus and Aurora followed close behind. Rushing into the home I found Elijah sitting in a study with a book open and Katherine sitting on the desk. Katherine looks up at me as I entered the room. 

"Seth, I take it you've noticed the absences." 

"Freya. She came here so I'm told. Where was she headed." 

"Take a seat, have a drink with us, there's no rush."

"No Ru- Elijah, your sister is missing." 

"We have the best of our witches casting locator spells to look for her. When she didn't return from New Orleans I feared the worst. Rebekah has also stopped returning our calls, Marcel as well." 

"So New Orleans."

"My old kingdom," I turned to Klaus who walked in carrying a bottle of blood. He continued to speak. "I was reluctant to leave it in the hands of Marcel, but my dear brother here has managed to convince me that it was for the best." 

"Enough of this, I'm going to New Orleans to find Freya. I'll burn the whole damn city to the ground if I have to."

"Relax, we already have a plan." 

"What? To sit here and start a vampire book club?" 

Katherine stifled a laugh behind her hand as Elijah shut the book and sighed as he looked past me. I followed his trail of vision and sighed along with the sharply dressed vampire. Klaus and Aurora were in each others arms practically swallowing each others head. 

"Either you two get a room, let me join, or bugger off." 

"Time and a place brother." 

Klaus grinned and set the auburn haired woman back down. Aurora flashed me a feral grin and I looked at Klaus to avoid her gaze. 

"You know, the humans have this saying. 'Never stick your dick on crazy.' I think you should try it Klaus." 

"Where's the fun in that?" The hybrid laughed, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. 

"Well, what the hell are we waiting for? We have places to go, people to kill, sisters to rescue." 

"We have it handled, I have a sneaking suspicion that not all is as it seems." 

I glared at the three vampires and sighed while I weighed the options I had in my mind. I could potentially just ignore the Mikaelsons and go to New Orleans alone. Nothing could touch me after all. Yet for some reason, just like Elijah, I had the sneaking suspicion that something was afoot. I slumped on the couch and closed my eyes reflecting on the insanity that was my life. 

The fact that other worlds existed was nothing new, my presence here in this universe was proof of that. Other people being in those worlds wasn't that hard to believe, there were books written about people falling into different universes after all. Morgana was a strange outlier no matter how I thought about it. From what I knew, reincarnations and world traveling was usually a result of death or some strange anomaly. In my case I didn't really know if Morgana turning me into a vampire counted as dying and getting 'isekai-ed' to another world. Moving from those thoughts I went back to what I had learned in the other world I had been in before coming back. 

Casimir and Dorina, two sets of reincarnations in a world from a movie. Then there was that 'One Above All' twat. Morgana called him 'Myrddin' and he responded with 'sister'. Which made no sense, since I was pretty sure Morgana was Merlin's wife or something. She had called him an old man, which was technically true but Morgana had no room to talk; they were both ancient. Hell, all things considered I was pretty damn old myself. 

Maybe this was all some sort of twisted game, and the two ancient mage-vampire-god people saw everyone as nothing more than pieces they could manipulate for entertainment. 

'Who am I kidding, Morgana pretty much admits that she watches me with her magic bullshit for fun. At least she's honest about it.' 

Myrddin on the other hand, or Merlin, or whatever the hell he went by. Seemed like some creepy old coot that mashed barbie dolls together before setting them on fire. Not that Morgana was any better, yet if I had to choose between the two. I would pick Morgana, she would at least give me prior notice before screwing me over.

Then there was the fact that I had been gone for months on this side of the world. I wondered how much time had passed in my original world and what the hell Morgana had done while I was gone. She had said something about world domination at one point but that was centuries ago. 

I felt the couch I was sitting on shift slightly as someone else sat beside me. Cracking one eye open I saw Aurora looking at me curiously. Klaus and Aurora getting back together was a surprise, then again I had changed so much in this world that I wouldn't be too shocked to learn that the story was now completely and utterly different. Elena was still alive doing whatever hormonal teens do, last I heard Damon was keeping an eye on Stefan who was being his usual broody stalker self. Anna was missing, though I doubt she was in any trouble, Amelie was probably frolicking away in a vineyard in France, Evelyn was doing science shit, and here I was surrounded by two brother who have danced around the idea of killing each other for at least a thousand years, and a mentally unstable woman whos brother I suspected, had an unhealthy obsession with her. 

"What do you want, Aurora?" 

She grinned before trying to get closer. Using my power I shoved her away and she pouted.

"What? It's not everyday that I meet a valiant knight. Though you're not in armor at the moment." She hid behind her hand and giggled. 

"The fuck are you talking about?" 

Her eyes wandered around my body and I looked down. Cursing silently I sped back to my home and slammed the door shut. Somehow I had forgotten that I was still wearing period appropriate clothes from my recent trip to medieval Romania. I sighed before taking a quick bath and stashing the clothes in my closet, maybe I could sell it for obscene amounts of money to a museum or a weird collector, not that I was in need of cash. Putting on a pair of dark jeans and a plain shirt I looked around my room. A light blanket of dust had settled on the furniture, the servants having also disappeared with Freya. I noticed a slip of paper on my desk and made my way over. It was a note, recognizing Freya's elegant writing I quickly read what she had left me. 

Dearest Seth, 

I want to be angry at you but somehow I know that it's probably not your fault. I give you a month, and I'm being generous here, a month, before I go out and start looking for you and believe me. When I find you, I will drag you home and chain you to the damn bed so you don't go off and disappear on me. Should you find this note, that would mean that you didn't come back on time and I'm out looking already. I'm starting here, before moving to New York, then New Orleans. I'll check on the girls along the way.  

Always and Forever, 

Freya.  

I folded the note and tucked it into a pocket, she had confirmed that she was in New Orleans. Grabbing a coat I threw it on before retrieving my wallet and making my way back out of the house. Mikaelsons be damned, I was going to go find Freya. Jumping into the air I flew up into the clouds and burst forward. The air screamed past my eyes as I broke the sound barrier. I had never flown as fast before and my laugh was lost in the wind. Slowing down as I reached the familiar swampy outskirts of New Orleans I made my way to The Crescent City.

I couldn't remember the having a reason to be in New Orleans in the past few decades. That being said, the city was the prime example of being stuck in time. I doubted that very much had changed apart from electronics and the existence of cars. The storefronts, the stalls, even some of the streets looked as they did in the 1800s. Mikael would have burnt down this city had I not dusted the old Viking. I made a mental note to check on my supply of white oak, and to see if a new tree had grown. 

Slinking into an alley I took to the sky, high enough to not be noticed but still close enough to react properly if things went tits up. I flew around for a few moments before I made my way over to the old Mikaelson compound. Noticing a strange amount of activity I watched the new tenants come in and out. 

Closing my eyes I sent tendrils of power feeling around below me. Something I noticed immediately was the fact that a majority of the people milling about had been vampires, none younger than a few hundred years. I couldn't get a handle of where Marcel and Rebekah were, so these assholes had to be led by someone else. Opening my eyes I dissolved the tendrils and looked at a familiar man stepping out of a fancy car. 

His name evaded me for a few moments, it was either Lucius or Lucian something awful. I tuned out the surrounding sounds and listened to the conversation the man was having on his phone. 

"No, tell him we have the Mikaelson Witch. That should draw the rest of them over eventual. Especially him , she is his lover after all. Yes yes, keep them all alive so that you can deal with them."

The voice on the phone was garbled and I frowned. It wasn't every day that a sociopath was on the phone with a mysterious benefactor with some janky voice modulator. Another vampire stepped out of the compound and I grinned. Tristan stepped into the counpound with Lucian, it was all starting to make sense. This had to be the arc where all the old blood vampires bent over backwards to kill the Mikaelsons. This was all some convoluted plot to draw them here, me included. 

I could level the entire compound with my power and annihilate everyone inside, but the recent run in with another magical douche bag that warped reality like Morgana made me hesitate. There was also the 'mysterious' benefactor that popped up. I knew there was no one like that in the entire series so that pointed a finger back to the Merlin weirdo. 

No, I couldn't just balls to the wall rush this. I had to plan things out, Freya had the advantage of being a vampire like me and powerful magic at her disposal. The usurpers had also been given instructions on not to do anything to anyone they captured so that the asshole behind everything could do it himself. As much as it pained me to do so I flew higher into the sky before tearing through the sound barrier back to Mystic Falls. Elijah and Klaus could strategize on how to move forward. They knew Tristan and Lucian better than I did after all. 

I landed in the Mikaelson's backyard before straightening out my clothes. Once I stepped back into the mansion I ran into the four brothers talking at a table while a Aurora and another redheaded woman were by the stairs sipping on what smelled like wine laced with blood. 

I greeted Kol and Finn, Elijah looked at me curiously while Klaus did his best to ignore me. Taking a seat at the table I poured myself a glass of bourbon and sighed. 

"I checked on your families old compound. There's a gathering of vampires there. They seem to be led by Tristan and Lucian. Two vampires I'm sure you lot are very familiar with." 

Klaus sat up and glared at me. "What do you know of them?" 

"Besides the fact that you and your family sired them? Not much. They also seem to be backed by a separate entity." 

Aurora made her way to the table and sat in Klaus' lap. The other redhead made her way over to Finn, prompting me to her identity. 

"I take it you're all aware of what's going on then?" 

Elijah spoke up, "It's a group, I started when we were much younger. The Strix, though I am unsure of the extent of their involvement, I know they must be backing both Tristan and Lucian to some extent." 

"And your plans on dealing with this?" 

"Why, we kill them all." 

Everyone looked at Klaus who downed the last of his drink. Finn stood up and took Sage's hand leading her away from tbe table. Kol sighed and Elijah shook his head. 

"We can't go and rush this through brother. Marcel and Rebekah may be in danger." 

"They won't be, at least for now." 

Everyone turned to look at me as I countinued. "They're setting a trap, I don't fully know how, but they've captured Freya and possibly Rebekah and Marcel. This is all to draw me or the rest of your family to the compound. I caught wind of a conversation Lucian was having. The man on the phone seemed adamant on 'dealing' with it personally." 

"Any ideas on the identity of this man Seth?" 

I looked at Kol, then to Klaus. "Klaus here has no shortage of enemies he's made over the centuries. My guess would be to start there while I dig into ways we can solve this without risking the lives of your sisters or Marcel." 

The hybrid grinned at me and shrugged, "My witches are already coming up with a solution as we speak." 

Nodding at the brothers I finished my drink and made my way out of the door. There was no point in lingering when I could be doing better things elsewhere. I already had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to this 'benafactor' than just being an enemy Klaus made. I could consult my outline book, hell I had a few more things to add to it. 

Back in my mansion I entered my study and looked around. Nothing was out of place, I took out my phone from the drawer and powered it back on. Several notifications popped up. Missed calls from Freya and Amelie. Multiple texts asking where I was. 

Calling Amelie I put the phone to my ear waited. She picked up on the first ring and I was greeted by a string of curses in French. 

"Amelie calm down, I'm alright." 

"You asshole, do you have any idea how worried I was? How worried Freya was?" 

"I know, I'm sorry." 

"Three months! That's all you have to say?" 

"I- I was not expecting to have been gone for so long."

"Where did you even go?!" 

"It's a long story, one of those things that I can't tell you about just yet." 

"Fine, Anna is here by the way. Freya dropped her off a while ago when she went looking for you." 

"Amelie, I have some news." 

"What is it?"

"Freya, she's been-" 

"Mierde, please tell me she's alright." 

"She's fine, she been kidnapped bu-" 

"Then how do you know she's fine! Do you know what kidnapped means. God damn it, I'm coming over there and we're talking face to face." 

"Amelie don't, you-"

"Shut up, I'm already buying the plane ticket." 

"Fine, be careful then." 

She hung up before I could say anything else. I sighed and rubbed my temples, I could already feel a headache building up. At least Amelie confirmed that Anna was with her, but now the two of them were coming. 

Two days later Amelie and Anna arrived at my door. The maids came back the day before, I was coming down the stairs when they were ushered in by Yvette. Anna looked like she was adapting just fine to modern life, whereas Amelie sent a glare my way that would have sent a shiver down my spine had my emotions not been dampened. 

Anna wandered away to another room while I stood before Amelie who was still scowling at me. Sighing I gave her the run down of what had happened. Of course I left out the fact that I had been sent to another world. All I told her was that I was on a job from the one who sired me and that the job had gone sideways. I wasn't sure that she bought my excuse for being absent for the last three months. She eventually sighed and stepped forward wrapping her arms around me. I returned her embrace and sighed, I hadn't realized just how much I had missed her. 

"One day you really have to tell me everything, none of these half truths." 

I nodded. "That I can promise. Come on, dinner should be ready. I'm sure you two are tired and hungry." 

Amelie excitedly shared stories of her travels to me as I sipped the blood in my cup. She had apparently started picking up high profile clientele in her practice. They had been shocked at first, I had turned Amelie when she was barely nineteen. Soon the mood visibly shifted as I looked to the spot usually occupied by Freya. 

"You know, despite everything I feel like she's alright." 

Amelie looked at me strangely. "How can you be so sure?" 

I looked down to my hands before replying. "I- I guess it's just this feeling. I feel like I would know if she was hurt. Same for you as well, I'm thinking it has something to do with the fact that I sired the two of you." 

"What about Evelyn?"

I frowned, the woman had all but disappeared. I could hardly sense her location. It was as if a heavy blanket had been thrown over her 'aura'. 

"Strange, I can still feel her so she's alive. I know that much for sure, but I can't seem to sense where she is exactly." 

"Do you think she's in danger too, or is this something more sinister?" 

"I want to hold off on that for now, she hasn't contacted me in the past few years since we all parted ways." Taking out my phone I put out a call to my security team to send a few men out to her last known location. "I just sent a team to check up on her, but we've strayed from the topic at hand." 

"Why not just rescue her?" Anna spoke up for the first time since arriving. 

Her accent has all but faded, just the smallest hints at a Romanian origin remained. Looking at her I noticed that she had changed quite a bit since I last saw her three months ago. She seemed to be adapting to modern society easily and I was sure Amelie had a hand in that. 

"I was getting to that." They both looked at me to continue. "I know where she is," I raised a hand to stop Amelie from interrupting me. "the problem is, despite the fact that the people holding her are just as old as the originals. I also returned from a little journey where I ran into a being who is just as strong as the woman who made me if not stronger." 

"You suspect that this being is supporting these people who have taken Freya." 

It wasn't a question, "That is why we can not rush into this. Anna, you have proper training in battle tactics." The Romanian princess nodded. "Combat may have changed dramatically since you last remembered but one thing that will never change is strategy. I want you to try and formulate a plan, I'll give you the floor plans to the place Freya was taken and a rough estimate of our enemies numbers and abilities. I want to avoid a direct approach so try to make a plan around that." 

Anna nodded before heading to a spare room, I looked at Amelie. "Love, I need you to contact the local witches and see if they have noticed any anomalies recently. Ask about strange ripples in the city's lay lines." 

Once Amelie stood up to leave I made my way over to my study and called for Anna to meet me. Disappearing just after meeting her and leaving her in an unfamiliar place warranted a long overdue apology.