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"Please do, do make a fool of yourself. I will be very much amused.
                                                                    -HB"

1168

The Mikaelson siblings were taking a trip to Spain, their current reside still in France. Hayden wanted nothing to do with the revenge they wanted, and stayed behind by himself.

Much to Niklaus' arguing, Hayden got him to agree to let him stay seeing as everyone in the village knew not to walk up to the Mikaelson mansion.

It was quite a sunny day that day, and Hayden wanted to get out the mansion for a change of scenery.

He made sure to grab his pencils and parchment before heading out, his navy tunic blowing in the wind to show his brown pants beneath it.
He let his curly hair fly wildly as he walked down the brick road.
Many people said hi to him as he walked, he knew he always had a welcoming look to him. People often gave him free things and smiled warmly. And he never complained.

He walked until he came to a stop in front of a small lake. Ducks of all sorts waddled around, the sound of frogs all around him as well.

Hayden absolutely loved nature, and in that moment he was more than content.

In the distance he heard horses coming to a stop just before the lake, and a person jumping down from their place on the horse's back.
Hayden barely looked up from his drawing to see a tall blond in a red and gold tunic and a red cape draped over his shoulder.

The man looked over at Hayden, a smile making its way onto his face, "How're you this afternoon?"

Hayden shrugged as he looked deeply at the colors of the water in front of him, he wanted to create the perfect shade with his colors.

"Only as well at the wind. How about you?"

Hayden hadn't yet looked over at the man, so he didn't see the royal's symbol of France stitched into his cape. When Hayden did look up fully, his mouth partially opened in shock.
"Your majesty. I did not see it was you. I do apologize." The blond waved him off before grabbing his water sack and parading toward the lake.

He bent down to fill his water sack in full, walking over to the curly haired boy sitting on the log.

"Please, call me William."

The crowned King of France held out his hand to the pale man before him, hoping to make a friend out of it.

"Hayden Bentley. Nice to meet you your- William."

The two shared a small smile as William proceeded to look over his new friends shoulder to look at his drawing.
He was thoroughly impressed with his marksmanship, commenting on the shading of the stilled rabbit sitting on top of the rock.

"Tell me Hayden, do you paint?"

Nodding his head, he concentrated on his drawing as the young king carried on with his words. "You know, I could pay you 10 pounds to paint my portrait, what do you say?"

Hayden wasn't much for painting people, but he could do it well, and since he had nothing better to do, he shrugged and looked over at the young blond.
"When? I'm not quite finished with my drawing here." Hayden knew he was speaking to the king informally, but in reality he didn't fear death, so he didn't care.

"How about tomorrow? An hour past the sunrise?"

Hayden let his lips turn upward slightly with a small nod.

"Then I shall see you tomorrow William."

Williams tipped his pretend hat at his friend before walking back to his horse with a giddy smile. The king hadn't many friends since he was crowned. After his father's death he cut many of them off, and now, he only wanted a true friend that didn't want anything from him.

He suspected that the man named Hayden, who spoke to him as one that was true, could be just that.

"Tomorrow, then, Hayden."

2028

"My father's a complete imbecile!"

Hayden couldn't believe it, his father had actually found Malivore. But that would be impossible since he could remember him.

Unless he had found Malivore during the time he was desecrated.

Oh yes, a fight with Niklaus Mikaelson brought them to the realization Hayden Bentley really couldn't die. Just like the Mikaelson siblings themselves.

The only thing that happened was he was put to sleep for a hundred years, woke up to Niklaus and Elijah running from their father once again.

Could it have been possible that when he was technically dead he was denied the fate of Malivore?

It was the only possibility that made sense to the almost 900 year old vampire.

"So what, you're trying to tell me Dracula was real?"

The now crazed looking vampire turned to the young blonde, his face contorted with anger at her accusations. His hand turned into a fist at the coy look on her face, and only then did he realize he was becoming angry over his father, Dracula.

"Yes, I am."

His body language was completely calm now, as the memories of his better fatherly figure took over his mind. Niklaus' smile and protectiveness, but then the worse parts of their relationship floated through, which caused a spike of anger once again. No matter how much he loved Niklaus, he had still hurt him.

In ways no one else ever could have.

"Hayden, explain, please. I want to know. If you say Malivore erases the memories of those inside it, then how do you remember your father?"

Hayden sighed, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. He tapped his foot against the wooden floor as he now realized he would need to explain more about his reasoning.

"It could be because I was daggered. But I'm not quite sure. It's the only reasonable answer though."

Hope Mikaelson inwardly gasped at his choice of words. She hadn't heard someone being daggered since her father was alive.
She wondered if he was a long lost uncle of hers, or relative of some sort. And then how disgusted she would be since she thought he was extremely good looking.

"Daggered? Like- How?"

The vampire looked down at the floor with interest as his curls fell over the hoods of his eyes, hands now inside his front pockets.

"My fat- Nik. Who was like my father. He uh- Daggered me. With a stake made of-"

Hope fully gasped this time as she turned toward the man and finished his sentence, "White oak."

The Saltzman twins looked from their father to Hope and back at the finished sentence. Their eyes then taking over the shocked look on Hayden's face.

"H-How did you?"

Hope became shy in that second, her mind replaying his use of terms, and the look of complete and utter shock on his face as she finished his sentence.

She put the pieces together in her mind, and came to the conclusion that he knew her father.

Apparently well, too.

"I'm Hope. Hope Mikaelson."

Together, the two seemed to compare notes as the two came to their own realizations.

Hope was a Mikaelson, and come to think of it, she looked a lot like Niklaus.
The bridge of her nose, the color of her hair, even her attitude from what he's seen.

"Is Nik your father?" The auburn haired girl slowly nodded, the feeling of dread taking over her body as she knew he probably didn't know he was dead.

"Where is he? Is he still in New York? I mean- It was long ago when I last saw him. I think it was the twenties if I remember correctly. Do tell me, where is he hiding now?"

Hayden could feel the shift in the room, the growing tension from his question. He didn't know why until he looked at Hope's face. Immediately, he filled with regret.

But soon he realized her face told him the very thing he thought would never happen.

Niklaus Mikaelson is dead.

"No. He's not. Please tell me he's not!"

Hayden had never felt so out of control in his life. Of all his nine hundred years, he's never once lost complete control over himself. But in this moment he could feel his humanity slowly slipping away.
His switch was close to being turned off at the thought of the best father figure he could have ever asked for being dead.

Sure, Nik had his faults, and even drove him away after some time, but he was always there.
He was always the one person who would never turn him away. The one that made sure he always had everything he needed, no matter how mad they were at each other.

Hayden remembered their last conversation in a club in New York. In 1922, when Niklaus was going haywire with his killing, and turning a young vampire into a ripper.
At the time, Hayden didn't agree with Niklaus' tactics, hell, he still didn't. That night, Niklaus had created a monster with the young vampire, Stefan Salvatore.

Hayden swore to Niklaus he'd either have to stop, or he'd never see him again.

Obviously, Niklaus chose the alternate, more bloody option. Hayden had left him sitting in that bar, women in his arms, Stefan beside him drinking blood from a random woman's neck, where he'd end up all alone in time.

He never did regret that night, but now he held regret for never finding him after that. Never making it right with him. He still loved him as his father, but was too stubborn to fix it, as was Niklaus.

"Hayden, you alright there bud?"

Hope stepped cautiously toward the older vampire, now realizing how much the boy might've meant to her father. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, trying to bring him back as she saw him slowly shifting his switch of humanity off inside his head.

"Hayden. Don't do what I know you're thinking of doing. Please, you'll hurt people, and you seem like a good guy. Please, just- just look at me."

The boy slowly looked up until his eyes met with Hope's, who smiled gently up at him.

The two felt a growing passion for the other, they didn't know what it was, or how it could be happening, but the two of them secretly liked it.

Hope had never felt this way before, well, maybe for her very first boyfriend, but that sure as hell didn't end well.
Hayden, however, had felt this way about only one other woman, although he'd been in love a total of three.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just... Niklaus. I- The last thing I told him was that he deserved to be alone."

Alaric watched from his desk, looking between the tribrid and vampire, who was beginning to look oddly familiar.
That was, until it clicked in his mind that he knew exactly where he had seen him before.

In one of Niklaus' paintings.

Alaric quickly scrambled from behind his desk and toward the Mikaelson funded library, where he loved a special bookcase that led to a room Niklaus had wanted specially made for Hope.
Hope hadn't entered the room however, as it hurt to see the paintings done by her father. She loved them, but it hurt to look at them and remember happier times.

Alaric stopped in front of the second largest painting in the room, dated April 1258.

The Saltzman twins gasped at the sight, as did Hope, who now realized she should've come to look at her father's work before.

There was her father, Niklaus, to the left of his sister Rebekah, his two brothers, Elijah and Kol beside her, and none other than Hayden himself painted right next to the hybrid.
They were all smiling, each with a hand on the other's shoulder. Hayden had never seen this painting before, the twelve hundreds being a time when he was mostly away getting an education.

"Wow. I- I can't believe it."

Hope nodded at his comment in awe as she looked at the painting herself. It looked so real, like her father hadn't painted it himself and they were all posing.
But in the corner of the painting was her father's humongous cursive writing, where he put his name and the date. She smiled as she brought her hand up to softly touch the features of her father's face.

"You know, in all of his writings, Niklaus always talked about his favorite son. I always thought he was speaking of Marcel."

Hayden glanced at Alaric, shrugging his shoulders at his statement, he didn't particularly like Marcellus if he was being honest.

Niklaus found the boy being beaten by a white man, and hurriedly murdered the man before offering Marcellus freedom with them.
Of course, Elijah and Kol disagreed, for two completely different reasons.

Elijah didn't want to bring the boy into their world of horrible disasters, and Kol complained on the fact that his brother kept bringing in strays. Which of course, hurt Hayden to hear.
He thought he and Kol were quite close, but the day they brought in Marcellus he realized he was wrong. And that maybe he wasn't really apart of their always and forever.

"Screw Marcellus."

Without another sound, Hayden Bentley used his enhanced speed to quickly make his way out of the room, and out of the Salvatore school completely.

He honestly just wanted to be by himself and in the privacy of his own home. He wanted to relax himself and let out his emotions about Niklaus' death, and the memories that had been brought up from his time with the tribrid and headmaster.

Come to think of it, he came to his own findings that the term tribrid was a hybrid, but three.
Which meant Hope Mikaelson was an even bigger mystery than he originally thought.

And he was up for the challenge.

Chapter Edit(s):

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