Growing up as a Mikaelson was much worse than it was shown in the show, maybe that is because in the show Mikael was unaware of Klaus not being his son until he changed after his first kill.
In the show, the Mikaelsons seem to be a relatively loving family or at least caring, but in my experience in this life, the only thing our parents cared about was that we were powerful and capable of protecting ourselves. Some would say that that was the sign of their love, and maybe it was. But does it really matter when we spend every moment of our lives either learning from Esther or being beaten/trained by Mikael?
I remember day after day coming home bloodied and battered. I remember Elijah and me almost being killed a few times for protecting Klaus from being "accidentally" killed by Mikael. I remember being nine and coaxing a rabbit I wanted to keep as a pet, and I remember Mikael making me kill it and eat it.
I remember discovering my magic and Esther making me practice until I fainted. I remember protecting Rebekah with my body as Mikael and Esther fought and items and spells flew throughout our home.
Through all that, Rebekah was my rock. She kept me sane and able to continue, so I will do everything to keep her safe, happy, and MINE.
...
At that last thought, my eyes flew open. I was lying on the forest floor with Rebekah sleeping on top of me.
It had been a few days since our transition, and a lot had changed. First, we discovered our strength, speed, and regeneration. But we also discovered that we couldn't walk in the sunlight without a ring for protection. We discovered that the plants that grew around the white oak became poisonous to us, and we discovered that we needed blood.
Luckily, it isn't some kind of addiction or anything; it is more like our need for food when we were human. I have no doubt that it can become bad. I do remember people who had massive problems with eating too much and unhealthily, so while not to be, I vowed to be careful with blood consumption.
Another thing we discovered that was new even to me was that the transformation actually changed us physically a bit. Nothing ridiculous, but we are all now a lot more attractive. I, for example, while having an athletic body worthy of a warrior before, now look like one of those drawings of Spiderman with all his muscles visible. Elijah, who was before a head taller than everyone else, now looks like a giant with his biceps the same size as my head. Kol, Finn, and Klaus all had similar transformations, all appropriate for their body types. Lastly, Rebekah, she was always beautiful, but now she is the type of beauty that could topple kingdoms.
"What are we going to do?" My thoughts were interrupted this time by Rebekah, who woke up and was looking me in the eyes from her position on my chest.
"Shh. Everything will be fine." I reacted quickly, before she could say anything more. While I had some plans, I couldn't say anything out loud. It was one of the first things I discovered. Enhanced hearing was extremely dangerous when you live in close proximity to a person like Mikael. If he got even the slightest idea that I or any of my siblings were planning something he wouldn't like, things could turn ugly fast.
...
Luckily, I didn't have to wait long—just a month or so—to execute my plans. I wasn't there when it happened, but Klaus killed someone. It was apparently an accident; he was feeding and overdid it. I wasn't so sure about it. In this month, I came to realize that I had underestimated how much heightened emotions influence us.
As I thought before, blood is like food for humans, but heightened emotions mess with it a lot. It is quite easy to get addicted to pleasure and hard to stop when you are feeling it.
But I digress. Niklaus killing someone triggered his werewolf curse, and from there, everything went downhill.
Mikael flew into a rage and tried to kill him. Esther somehow managed to calm him down enough, but a curse was placed on Niklaus that sealed his wolf. Unfortunately, it didn't seal the rage that came with being a werewolf. The next day, we discovered Esther dead. Niklaus, of course, blamed Mikael, and the rest of the family believed him. Mikael had been acting even more erratically than usual, so it wasn't unexpected of him to do something like this.
"Where is Father now?" Elijah asked.
"I believe he went to avenge his humiliation."
At those words, we all stiffened, realizing what Klaus meant by Mikael avenging his humiliation.
"That... is good." At my words, everyone looked at me in surprise. "Mikael has saved a stake from the white oak. He has a means to kill us. But with him hunting werewolves right now, we have time to run."
Now everyone looked scared, Elijah being the first one to speak. "You saw him save one?"
After I nodded, he continued.
"Hakon is right; we have to run. Everyone, get what you need and meet here as soon as you are ready." Everyone nodded, and as we dispersed, Elijah added, "Be quick."
...
We were. With Rebekah's help, we have been preparing for this day since we were turned. Over the previous few days, we created a stash containing a few clothes (in case what we are wearing gets destroyed), a few potions we learned how to prepare, and two daggers.
We picked it up together with a few things that looked like valuables we could sell in some town for a few coins and made our way to the rest of our siblings.
They had already gathered, and we showed up in the middle of what seemed to be an argument as to where we should go.
"Rebekah and I are going west, deeper into the continent."
"What are you talking about! We are going to the Old World!" Klaus snarled at me in response to my statement.
"You are. We are going our separate ways..." Not allowing Klaus to cut me off, I barreled on, "It is for the best, and with Mikael chasing after you, Rebekah and I can search for a way to defeat him and break your curse."
"Why do you think Mikael wants to go after you two?" Elijah asked, without anger, just curiosity, unlike Klaus, who looked like he was going to explode until I mentioned breaking his curse.
"Because he wants Nik, obviously." Without even looking, I could see Rebekah roll her eyes as she said that; it almost made me smile, but I managed to hold myself back.
"Quite..." I sighed.
The rest of my siblings reluctantly agreed as well.
"Fine! But you better have something when we next meet!" Nik spat out.
...
After that, we said our goodbyes. While our brothers made their way toward the ocean and from there toward the old world, Rebekah and I ran toward the setting sun.