"Are you seriously thinking about bringing Hope back?" Elijah looked at Klaus with a sigh. "You know that's a bad idea."
"I'm not going to miss another one of my children's childhoods." Klaus growled angrily, staring directly into Elijah's eyes. "One was enough, Elijah."
"You should have thought about that before making so many enemies, Niklaus." Elijah countered as he poured some wine into a glass. "Your enemies will come flying after Hope, not to mention our mother is lurking in the shadows."
"It doesn't matter." Klaus argued as he paced back and forth. "We can leave Hope at Nik's house. My son is there, Caroline, Amara, and Hayley, who's an Alpha now. From what I've seen, they're all pretty strong. I doubt anyone is powerful enough to take all of them on."
"Your son has his own enemies to deal with." Elijah sighed, trying to change his brother's mind. "Besides, I don't want my niece being raised in a place where one man has a harem."
"You're not being fair to Nik, and he's Hope's brother." Klaus walked around the couch to defend his son. "Her biological brother. It's good for Hope to be close to Nik. You're just jealous because Hayley treats Nik like he's some kind of god."
"It has nothing to do with that." Elijah sighed. "You're not seeing it, Niklaus. Bringing Hope back will only make all of our enemies gather here again."
While they were talking, they heard something outside, and the two of them immediately rushed out.
Klaus instantly gasped when he saw Mikael standing in the slaughterhouse courtyard, staring at them.
"It can't be... I killed you." Klaus stammered, his voice filled with fear.
"I told you he was alive." Elijah replied suspiciously as he stepped in front of Klaus. "What do you want here, Mikael?"
"Nothing much. I just came to let you know that your adopted son is having an affair with your mother." Mikael said with an amused smile as he watched Klaus's eyes widen. "Besides that, Esther turned the boy into an Original. I'd be careful if I were you."
"Why are you warning us?" Elijah asked suspiciously.
"Nothing much." Mikael simply replied as he turned his back. "Just one good deed to make up for all the evil I've done to you."
"What? Are you actually going to say you regret what you did to us? To me?" Klaus shouted, almost lunging at Mikael. "Don't toy with me."
"Regret? The only thing I regret is wasting a thousand years hunting worthless bastards like you while neglecting what truly mattered." Mikael replied with a grimace. "Do whatever you want with that information."
He vanished, leaving both Elijah and Klaus completely bewildered.
"So Mikael didn't join us after all, huh?" Esther murmured as she stirred a pot of coffee on the stove. "So be it."
"I couldn't defeat him either." Marcel said in a defeated tone. "I thought I was stronger than an Original. That's what you told me."
His tone shifted from sadness to anger in an instant, and Esther merely smiled.
"AAAHH!"
Marcel collapsed to his knees, clutching his head.
"Control your temper, Marcellus." Esther walked over to him as he remained kneeling with both hands gripping his head. "You are stronger than an ordinary Original, but Mikael is anything but ordinary."
"What do you mean?" Marcel asked, recovering slightly, though he didn't stand up.
"When Mikael was still human, a friend of mine named Ayana and I managed to weaken a dragon enough for Mikael to kill it and bathe in its blood, making him powerful enough to fight and kill werewolves during the full moon." Esther said as she walked away from Marcel and returned to the stove. "Back then, we were terrorized by werewolves, so we thought it was a good idea. Unfortunately, when he became an Original, that power never disappeared."
"Dragons don't exist." Marcel growled angrily. "Why are you telling me fictional stories?"
"To humans, vampires and witches don't exist either, and yet here we are." Esther replied with complete indifference. "But don't worry. Mikael won't risk himself to save my children..."
"How can you be so sure?" Marcel asked, confused.
"Because that man knows what I did, but he doesn't understand my reasons." Esther said with a sigh. "The simple fact that he was brought back by Davina means he was already killed by Dahlia once, and he knows he can't afford to make a mistake this time."