"The what?" Zach didn't understand. "Never mind."
He patted the arm of the man, and rushed towards the compound.
He saw several people standing across the street. He squinted,
He saw Caroline. And Hayley and Hope.
"Listen to me, Hope!" Hayley shouted. "I know you are in there."
He looked at them.
"Sweetie...It's your family here." Caroline was standing in front of her. "Just listen to us!"
Hope Mikaelson threw Caroline across the street. She hit a wall, she collapsed on the ground, and several pieces of broken glass fell on her.
"NO!" Zach shouted.
He felt as if someone ripped his heart out. He understood what Caroline felt. He ran towards Hope.
He could see her eyes, they were blue, weirdly blue.
"Hope.." His eyes pierced into hers, "Listen to me."
"There she is!" He heard Klaus Mikaelson's shout. He saw Freya and Klaus run down the street. Hope gripped his hands, he felt as if she was sucking the life out of him.
"Can this Hollow thing die, Aunt Freya?" He looked back.
"Yes.." Freya couldn't understand why he asked the question.
He looked over to Caroline, who had been rendered unconscious by Hope.
He took out the knife Caroline had gotten for him last year.
He felt the Hallow go inside him. Hope's grip tightened on his arm. As the grip tightened, Zach tightened the grip on the knife. The Hallow wanted the power that the cure of the vampire had. The Hollow was attracted to him.
The cure of immortality in the blood of a mortal being.
Hayley wanted to hold Zach. Klaus held her back.
"No, little wolf…"
Klaus was standing over Caroline Forbes.
"Tell her that I love her." Zach told Hayley.
She was confused. Nobody knew what he was talking about. "And I am sorry."
He looked at Klaus,
"I am sorry, I really am," Tears brimmed around his eyes, "Dad."
He felt weird calling Klaus 'Dad', as now he knew he was adopted.
"Take care of my mother!" He looked at Caroline who was unconscious, she couldn't see him. This was his last moment on Earth, and all he wanted was Caroline Forbes, his mother to just look at him. Just one more moment, one more word, one more comfort, one more hug. Just one moment that would give him peace that she had forgiven him. That she still loved him.
His eyes turned blue, Hope's eyes returned to the regular color. She fainted. Klaus used his vampire speed, and caught her.
Zach held on to the sword, and stabbed himself in the heart. He grunted.
"Goodbye….." His eyes had tears in them, and he fell down on the ground.The Hollow was in him, and he had killed himself.
"NO!" Freya, Klaus, and Hayley shouted together.
Tears fell from Hayley's eyes. Her knees felt weak, she fell down on the ground, kneeling in front of Zach's lifeless body. Tears falling from her eyes on his face.
"No...Please, no." She whispered.
"NO!" Hayley's screams echoed in the streets. Her hand clasped to her mouth as it trembled.
Hayley fell to the knees, on the ground, next to Zach Salvatore's lifeless body.
She lost a son.
Klaus Mikaelson's face was tear streaked, he turned away, he cried softly, looking away from Zach and Hope.
His daughter owed his wife the life of a son.
Zach Salvatore woke up with a gasp. It was his room. He looked around in disbelief. He was in his bedroom in the Mikaelson Compound.
He stood up, he felt different. He stood up and ran towards the door.
He saw Caroline Forbes, standing in the living room downstairs.She had people moving furniture around.
Has it been so long? He wondered, Or was he watching this front the other side? Was he gone so long that Caroline was now having parties? Or was she glad that he was dead? Had he hurt her that much?
He felt as if he was a ghost. But he could touch things.
He ran down the stairs, Caroline turned around.
"I'll be damned," Caroline had a beaming smile on her face. "If it isn't Zach Salvatore, my son!"
Zach had no answers. Tears swelled up in his eyes. He hugged her. A rush of gratitude filled him up. She was surprised. Holding on tightly.
"I'm sorry." He whispered.
He let go, his hands together, begging for forgiveness.
"I am sorry…." His hands trembled. "Please…"
Caroline remembered, she remembered Stefan Slavatore, doing the same thing after he turned human. He had been asking forgiveness for killing Enzo.
She saw so much of Stefan in him.
He was asking for forgiveness from her for hurting her.
"Please…" Tears fell from Zach Salvatore's face. " Just say something."
Her silence was killing him.
"Say something, Mom.." His voice was almost inaudible. "If you hate me…..just say it."
Startled at the last words. She sat down on the ground with him.
"I love you, sweetie." She held his hands, "I have loved you from the moment I laid my eyes on you."
Both of them were crying. Tears falling from his face on her hands.
"I know I lied to you." She smiled, "I compelled you….But all of that was for you."
"I know.."
"But I will keep you safe, always." She whispered. "Always, you are my family, my friend, my bestfriend my home, my son…"
She stopped for a moment. Tears fell from her eyes.
"My Stefan Salvatore, the friend I haven't seen in 10 years…"
"The pieces are coming back to me." Zach told her. "I remember him…...and her."
She smiled.
"But you know," He told her, "I don't care, not anymore."
He held her hands.
"I love you." He smiled, through tears, "You are my family, I love that you kept me, even though my mom killed you."
Caroline giggled.
"You gave me everything, family, friends, a sister, safety, protection."
Klaus Mikaelson stood at the door, Hayley was going to open the door, but he stopped her. They stood in the doorway. They listened quietly.
"I don't care who Katherine Pierce is, I don't care if I called Aunt Hayley my mother for 17 years," He took her hands, and tapped them softly, "I don't want to know anything about Stefan Salvatore…."
He nodded,
"Because, you are everything to me!"
She smiled, wiping her tears off,
"I'm sorry…..mom." He whispered, "I love you."
She stood up, she offered him her hand. He took it, she pulled him up. She took a glass from the table and opened a blood bag, and poured it out in two glasses.
"Happy Birthday," She handed him a glass, "Happy seventeenth birthday forever, Zachary Lorenzo Salvatore."
He took it, smiling.
"Thanks, Mom." He looked at it, "My mom is feeding me blood…..Bad parenting,"
"Shut up!" She laughed. She punched him on the shoulder.
"Seriously," He resembled Stefan a lot. "I don't mind if you keep calling me a Mikaelson. As long as I can still be a part of your family."
She nodded and smiled.
"I have a gift for you."
She took off a ring she had worn for almost a decade.
It wasn't just a ring.
It was a daylight ring.
It was Stefan Salvatore's daylight.
"I got this from your father, through his will." She explained, "You and this ring."
"You kept it?" He was surprised, "For ten years?"
"Correction, I wore it for ten years." Caroline smiled. "Now, it's yours….I got Hope to spell it for you."
"I love you!" He turned towards her.
She enclosed him in a hug,
"I love you too, sweetie."
He put the ring on his finger, he didn't see Caroline running her hand on her finger, it felt weird, since she had taken the ring off for the first time in ten years....For what she felt, it had been an eternity for her.
Hayley smiled, she had tears in her eyes. She lost a son at that moment.
"What happened, little wolf?" Klaus asked, his arms around Hayley.
"He was…." She looked at him, "I know it's crazy…But, him and me…..we were…"
"I understand." Klaus nodded, "He was your son for ten years, you love him."
"But, I am happy…"
"You are happy that he is recognizing Caroline for the work she's done for him." Klaus completed his sentence.
She nodded,
"He still loves you, you know that." Klaus told her, "That hasn't changed. That will never change."
She nodded,
"She deserves it though." Hayley wiped her tears off fiercely. "I love both of them."
"I know…" He told her. "They both love you, Hayley."
Hope and Zach stood next to each other.
"So, Vampire brother...."
People were coming in, and they were receiving presents.
Zach smiled.
"You could have died, you know." She smiled at the woman who handed her a box.
"When?" Zach was standing by the open bar. Hope followed him.
"Seriously, Zach." She pulled his arm, "You saved my life."
Zach was compelling the bartender, and took a glass of champagne.
"Thank you." Hope smiled.
"Always and Forever, sister." He smiled back. "The Mikaelson family bond."
"You aren't a Mikaelson!" Hope smirked. "Are you?
"Ouch!" Zach laughed.
Klaus Mikaelson and Caroline Forbes-Mikaelson stood in a corner, Hayley and Elijah next to them.
"A great party, Caroline." Elijah raised a glass.
She smiled.
"Well, after the most horrible emotional ride we have been through." She raised her glass, "I think it's well deserved."
Hayley and Klaus raised their glasses. Caroline caught Zach's eye. He raised the glass he was holding.
She shook her head.
"Apple juice." She heard him.
Caroline laughed. Klaus Mikaelson took a knife from the table. Tapping it against the glass.
"If everyone could join me in raising a glass." Everyone looked at them standing at the top of the staircase.
"To my beautiful wife for throwing this amazing party, on such a short notice."
Caroline smiled.
"And," He looked at the waiters moving around the room with drinks. "To the Mikaelson twins."
Zach looked down, he was ashamed. After what he did two days ago, even Klaus Mikaelson, the great evil had accepted him. It was all for Caroline.
Hope took his hand, and squeezed it.
"It was a mistake anyone could make." She whispered. "We lived like twins for years….it must have been a shock!"
He nodded,
"Thank you." He smiled at her. "Means a lot to me."
"To Hope Mikaelson." Klaus smiled, "My Beautiful Daughter,"
Hayley smiled,
"And to my son, Zach Mikaelson." Hayley continued. Interrupting Klaus.
Klaus raised his glass. Caroline felt a wave of gratitude towards Hayley.
"To Hope and Zach Mikaelson." People repeated after Klaus.
Hayley Marshall-Mikaelson stood next to Elijah, leaning on his shoulder.
Caroline Forbes-Mikaelson held Klaus's hand, as she looked down on Hope and Zach. They were laughing at something. They looked happy. She smiled.
"You did a great job." Klaus nodded. "Better than anyone could have,"
He squeezed her hand, as it trembled. She had no idea why, but just a few hours ago, when Hayley had broken the news that her son was dead. She didn't believe it. And sat by his bed for hours. A guilt that had covered her in those horrible hours, Klaus felt she might kill herself over it. She felt as if she had let her best friend down.
But as soon as Freya told that he was fine and wasn't waking up because of an effect of a spell. She was so excited that she was planning a party.
That horrible feeling she had had. It was overcoming her again for a moment. But, Klaus….being with him gave her reassurance
She had fulfilled her promises and her duties given to her by her best friend, Stefan Salvatore. She had given him things even his own mother couldn't.
Protection.
Safety.
A Home.
A Mother.
A Father.
A Sister.
A Family.