Chapter 9: New Friends and Old Foes

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT MY OWN IDEAS

New Orleans (Season 4 Episode 3 ending)

Vincent had just cleansed the four children that were linked to the spell when he looked over at the table a realized that they had a problem.

"Hey Marcel, we have five totems and four kids."

"Okay, well then who is the other kid" Marcel asks as he walks over to the table and picks up a hairbrush that clearly belongs to a young girl. His long-dead heart almost stops when he sees the Mikaelson crest on the back of the brush. Hope is the fifth child.

Marcel and Vincent argue about what to do until it is decided that above all else, Hope is a child and they will save her if they can. Right before Vincent is about to send a note to Hayley he feels the connection break and the spell dissipate. He runs a scan over the hairbrush and the scans show that the magical signature doesn't match anyone living. When Marcel hears this he is heartbroken that the child that was basically his sister is dead. It is decided to not contact the Mikaelsons now because if that family links the death of their youngest to their city, the city will be burned to the ground. They would find a way to deal with The Hollow and hopefully, they would never see any of the Mikaelson's again.

Mystic Falls

As Ryson and Hope are sleeping the adults in their lives are slowly prossessing the changes that have occurred in the last few hours. First off someone somehow got a hold of one of Hope's possession and tried to use her in a spell. That would not go unpunished and neither would the treatment of Ryson at the hands of the Dursleys.

Second, the family of seven not only gained one child but if what Caroline said was true, Josie and Lizzie now had Klaus's blood running through their veins. This made them his just as much as Ryson was. Their plans would have to change and be modified to include the girls as well. This also meant that as much as he loathed to admit it, Alaric would always have a place in Ryson's life. Caroline, he didn't mind that much since he still fancied her, but Alaric was a different story.

This situation showed how much Klaus had truly changed. If this had happened not only 10 years before he would have already killed Alaric, Caroline, and Haley, daggered his siblings, and took his kids to be raised as he wanted them to be raised. Now while that thought might have crossed his mind but he could never inflict that kind of pain on his children or his family. For the first time that he could remember, his wolf was at peace and his anger was subdued.

There was also Ryson's coven pack to consider. All of the members were orphans or came from bad homes and they all lived at the school full time. Ryson considered these kids his responsibility as a true alpha and coven leader should, which meant that they were now part of their family as well. It looked like they were not going to get to leave this town anytime soon.

Over at the Mikaelson mansion, there was another problem and her name was Kellin. Elijah, Kol, and Rebeka sped through the house making sure everything was clean and up to their standards before joining Freya in the living room. Kellin was spelled asleep on the couch.

The siblings did not know what to do with the young werewolf at this point but they all knew that if Marcel broke his word and came after them then her venom would be needed. Finally, it was decided to keep her in a magically induced coma while the machine drew out her venom and put the room under a cloaking spell. This way she was in no pain, she stayed healthy, and they would have the venom. Freya guessed that in about three months they could release her with heavy protections in place to make sure she stayed safe.

Back at the school at around 6 am Ryson finally began to stir. It took a moment for the night's events to come back to him. As soon as he remembered everything he jumped out of bed without using the ladder but before his feet could touch the floor two strong arms caught him and sat him down gently. Klaus was startled out of his thoughts when Ryson had thrown his covers back and his heart went to his throat as he watched his son just jump from the top bunk. Without thinking he ran to catch his son before placing him down on the ground.

Before either of them could say anything Ryson's bladder let itself be known and Ryson rushed to the bathroom, yelling over his shoulder.

"Be right back dad, got to pee."

Dad. Ryson had called him dad. Haley came over and put a hand on Klaus's shoulder when she saw the effect that one word had on him. She had felt the same way when Hope had called her mama for the first time.

"He called me dad."

"That's because you are his dad."

"I had thought that he would call Alaric that," Klaus said voicing one of his fears.

"Alaric might be an important father figure in his life, but from what Hope has told me, Alaric never tried to take your place. Ryson has known about you since he came to the school and by the pictures on his dresser he has never seen you as anything other than his dad."

"I'm a monster. I don't deserve that title or their love."

"They already know that you did bad things, Klaus. Hope told me about her first dream walk with Ryson when he told her everything he knew about you. The way he phrased it was that 'Dad might have done bad things, but that doesn't make him a bad person.' Even after knowing that, you are still Hope's fairytale prince. The person who would do everything in his power to protect his family. You are not a monster Klaus, and you do deserve to have that title."

Before he could speak the bathroom door opened and Ryson shot himself into Klaus's arms. The little boy hugged his father with so much strength that a normal human wouldn't be able to draw breath.

"You came," Ryson exclaimed "Alaric and Caroline always said that you would come."

"Yes little cub," Klaus said "I'm here and I will never leave you again. I am sorry I didn't know about you sooner but I am here now. We all are."

Ryson then felt Hope start to wake up and looked towards the bottom bunk. Haley caught the look and went to sit on her daughter's bed and brushed the hair from her face. Hope woke up warm and with her mom stroking her head like she did whenever she had a nightmare. Opening her eyes she saw that she wasn't in her room and then she remembered what had happened.

The mean blue light had come to take her away but her family saved her. Her younger brother accepted her into his coven-pack and she could now feel her whole coven-pack. She was safe and her family was finally whole. She launched herself into her mothers waiting arms.

It didn't take long for the rest of the school to wake up and get their morning started. Luckily it was a weekend so no one's schooling would get interrupted by the events that had taken place the night before. Lizzie and Josie were the first to notice the new addition into the pack by the pack bond and rushed to Ryson's room. Ryson and Hope were hugging each other when they burst into the room. Ryson noticed them and began introductions.

"Dad, aunt Haley, Hope, these are my sisters Josie and Lizzie Mikaelson-Saltzman. Jo, Liz, these are my dad, aunt Haley, and our sister Hope."

Josie and Lizzie looked towards each other, and with a nod, they both tackled Ryson and Hope into a huge group hug. Once all four siblings touched a golden light encompassed them. Within a minute every member of the coven-pack had rushed into the room and surrounded the four of them holding hands forming a complete circle. Klaus and Haley had been pushed to the side to make room for everyone. Emma had been alerted to the magic before preformed and alerted Alaric and Caroline, all of who entered shortly after the coven-pack had finished forming the circle.

"What are they doing now?" Caroline asked Klaus and Haley.

"We have no idea," Haley replied "they had just woken up and were hugging when Lizzie and Josie came in. Ryson introduced everyone and they all hugged each other. The light encompassed them and before we could do anything the other kids came rushing in and formed the circle."

"I'm assuming these other kids are part of Ryson's coven-pack," Klaus asked.

"Yes, they are," Alaric said.

With a defeated sigh Caroline said "I'll go contact Axetooth" before leaving, wishing she could scream herself raw into a pillow.

Coal finally poked her head out of her house and promptly decided that there were too many people in the room and retreated back to her cozy bed and went back to sleep. Her human was safe and that was all that mattered.

Within half an hour Axetooth, Switchtooth, Boneclaw, Emma, Alaric, Caroline, Klaus, and Haley were all crammed into Ryson's room. They couldn't expand the room with the magic that the impossible quartet was performing this time.

With the kids

As soon as they all hugged the kids didn't even know about the light or that their coven-pack had surrounded them, or the worry that they were putting the adults through. When they all touched their vision went white before fading away showing them that they were in an open field in the middle of the woods somewhere. They all looked around before Ryson let his magic scan the area.

"Guys, this feels similar to my mind-scape," Ryson said.

"What is a mind-scape?" Hope asked.

Josie answered her, "A mind-scape is a form of wand mind magic. You sort your memories and put protections around them to prevent any other wand users from reading your mind. It will also help you remember things better so you learn things faster."

"Ya," Lizzie said " Right now only Ryson has a mind-scape but he is teaching us how to make one. When we wake up and you start school with us he can teach you to."

Hope's face lit up with the prospect of actually getting to go to school. It made it even better that the school she would go to was only for the supernatural so she wouldn't have to hide what she was.

Then before they could say anything else, a burst of colored flames appeared in front of each of them. Ryson's was black, Hope's was white, Lizzie's was red, and Josie's was blue. The flames formed into four beautiful phoenixes and landed on their shoulders. When the bird's talons touched each of their shoulders a bond was formed between each bird and their chosen human compaion.

Through the bond, each child learned of their bird and what it all meant. The phoenixes had chosen the four of them to be their lifelong companions. To form the bonds needed for them to appear in the human realm the birds had to bring the children to them through mind magic. They used the magical event of the reunion between them to power the mind magic as to not put a strain on each of the children's developing magical cores. Once the mental bond was completed and stabilised between each child and phoenix the trance will end. When they come out of this an egg will appear before each child and they hatch once their egg touches their bonded's skin forming the physical bond. Over the next hour the baby phoenix will grow to adult hood.

Through the mental bond, each child would gain the gift of occlemency at the highest level and be able to communicate with their phoenix. Through the physical bond, they would gain the ability to control their phoenix's element.

Ryson's phoenix was a shadow phoenix, which went hand in hand with his other familiar. Hope's phoenix was a snow phoenix. Lizzie's phoenix was a fire phoenix. Josie's phoenix was a water phoenix.

Back with the adults

The goblins immediately recognized the type of magic that was at play here and put all the adult's minds at ease. A phoenix bonding with a human was a rare occurrence in itself but four bonding at the same time was unheard of. Just another thing that put the kids apart from everyone else.

When the light finally faded the eggs appeared in front of the four children and within two minutes the school now had four new phoenixes.

After all the excitement Alaric sent everyone to go get dressed for the day. They would meet up in the dining hall to have breakfast in half an hour. The two goblins declined the invitation and went back to Gringotts to put things in order for their meeting that was scheduled for 10:00 am. Luckily the birds grew rapidly and by the time they all made it down for breakfast they were almost fully grown. The entire school was so shocked at the bird's appearance that the fact that all of the Mikaelson's were sitting in the same room didn't even register. At least until it was pointed out. Having them all at the school would have a mixed response with all the students that were not part of Ryson's coven-pack.

During breakfast, the kids were telling the adults all about what had happened and about their new familiars. Ryson had named his phoenix shadow. Hope had named her phoenix Avalanche. Lizzie had named her phoenix Ember. Josie had named her phoenix Ocean.

Coal and Shadow had had a staredown in Ryson's room before they nodded to each other and the wolf allowed both Shadow and Avalanche to ride on his back to the dining hall. Salt and Pepper didn't take well to their humans having another familiar but after Ocean had doused them with water the two felines decided that they could share their humans. By all means, this meant more protection for their humans and less work for the felines, which meant more time for sunbathing.

After breakfast Caroline, Alaric, Klaus, Ryson, Haley, Hope, Avalanche, Coal, and Shadow took a portkey to Gringotts. They had magical custody transferred to Klaus as his biological father and the father and son shared a tearful hug. Klaus then shook Alaric's hand and kissed Caroline on the cheek, thanking them for taking care of Ryson when he couldn't.

Klaus looked over Ryson's finances and didn't see anything that needed attention and agreed with Alaric and Caroline about how they had handled everything. Hope now had a trust fund account from the Mikaelson account and was second in line for the Lordship. Usually, as Hope was the oldest and now had Wand magic she would be the Heir, but since her ability to do wand magic relied on being in Ryson's coven, magic still deemed him the heir. Hope was okay with that, in her own words 'I don't want to put up with the stupid politics that come with the title. I'll leave that all for you to deal with brother.'" It's safe to say all the adults laughed at that.

Kol was a little pissed about the new law and him no longer having direct access to his account but nothing could be done about that now so he let it go. Plus he still had his mulitple accounts in the non-magical world and it was kind of pointless now since his brother knew of his plan to hide away here.

Klaus was now in possession of Ryson's card and told Ryson that the stipulation that Alaric and Caroline had put on the card was still in place. Haley did the same with Hope's card and agreed the stipulations were fair. Alaric now held Josie's card, while Caroline had Lizzie's. This way each adult only had one child to deal with when they got older and wanted something.

They still didn't know when they were going to take care of the blood adoption and have Ryson claim his titles. It would be decided before he turned 11 though since they knew the Potters wouldn't have Jamie do an inheritance test until his 15th birthday. This gave them plenty of time to carefully go over all their options.

After their trip to the bank, they port keyed back to the school just in time for lunch. It was at lunch that Ryson was formally introduced to the rest of his family. Rebeka thought he was just the most perfect little boy in the whole world. Klaus already knew that she would be spoiling him and Hope. Kol was of course the crazy uncle that all the kids loved. Elijah had actually let his stiff posture loosen up for a bit and was already wrapped around both Ryson's and Hopes fingers. Freya adored them and was ecstatic that she would get to see them grow and learn magic. Haley already felt as if Ryson was her own cub and would protect him as she would Hope.

Lizzie and Josie were also formally introduced and slid into the family dynamic quite easily along with Alaric and Caroline. The two adults would still be held at arms lengths at some instances but due to how they had saved and protected Ryson they had earned a spot with the Mikaelson's. Not to mention they were technically related through blood now.

After lunch, Ryson introduced his coven-pack to his family, and the newly found members were greeted with hugs and smiles from everyone. Ryson, Jackson, Jed, Karen, Jasmine, Jasper, Coal, and Klaus all went for a run around the grounds in their wolf forms. To Klaus being able to run with his son in wolf form was one of the happiest memories he had ever had in over 1,000 years. It would be even better if his daughter was running with them but would in no way push Hope to activate her curse. He wanted her to remain young and innocent for as long as she could.

Freya got to know Daniel and Cal some more while the wolves were running, and Hope, Lizzie, and Josie were bonding. The rest of the adults were talking about random things trying to not bring the happy atmosphere down with serious topics. Of course, the coven-packs treehouse was brought up and more plans were made. Nobody but Klaus, and Haley knew why the treehouse was so important. The coven-pack might have a home in the school, but Ryson's wolf was pushing for a den of their own to protect. Klaus wasn't even sure Ryson understood why he wanted a treehouse so bad. It is in a wolf's nature to build their pack, make a den for their pack, and protect said den and pack.

Later that night when he was going to sleep Ryson felt a cold shiver go down his spine and a feeling of dread filled him for a second. He thought he saw the same blue light that had been in Hope's dream out his widow before it faded away. Something was coming, and it was coming for him.

New Orleans Unknown Exiled Spirit Location

The Hollow was pissed. All of her planning and preparations went up in smoke because of an unforeseen consequence. As she was linked to New Orleans and couldn't leave she didn't know who or what disrupted her plans but by the power she felt she knew that it had power. Lots and lots of power. She must have that power for herself. She went in search of her minions, so they could revise the plan. That power must be brought to her.