After what seemed like hours, Elijah Mikaelson had been pacing Lafayette cemetery. He had found himself drawn here once again. What should have been a time filled with joy and delight, now stained with blood and sorrow. Death had crept it's way into his family once again and destroyed it, torn too shreds as it lay as a broken puzzle beneath his feet. Pieces broken into shards of glass that would pierce his flesh and yet never heal. 

A puzzle of a million pieces would lay scattered around him and yet none fit together as one. Elijah always believed that Hayley's child would bring their family together as one united front. But that was a pipe dream, a false reality that would never exist. His brother, Niklaus a broken man who sought the love and affection from their father only to have it dashed by torturous beatings and lashings. Once a weak boy had grown into a man whose soul was beaten.

Rebekah, his dear sister Rebekah. One whose heart was filled with love and hope, encased by vines of darkness created by her own family. But one that fought through the darkness that threatened to consume her. An admired strength in her that gave him hope that one day she would see what he saw through his eyes. A possibility that they could and would reunite.

Kol, Kol Mikaelson. As reckless as his brother Niklaus on more than one occasion and quite frankly could challenge even the sanest person in this universe. But yet Elijah found a kindness in him that many did not see. A rare beauty as the first rays of sunshine on a dark winter's morning, a light that would soon be extinguished for eternity.

Finn, dearest brother Finn. A man of wise words, a soul of love and light. But yet tortured about what he had become. Once a man of faith, torn between the light and darkness. Straddling between the two, dipping between both. In the end, hating himself for what he had become. At the end, what he had become destroyed him.

Hayley, Hayley Marshall. The woman carrying his brother's child, a miracle. The light at the end of the tunnel that Elijah believed to bring his family together as one. But now, destroyed by his brother's vengeful enemies that he had created for himself. Now all that was left behind was an empty vessel of where Hayley should have been. A mother without a child, without a daughter. Rage and anger consuming everything that she once was. She was gone, but Elijah wanted too believe that she was still there, buried inside.

Hope, precious baby Hope. Their family's hope, death lay upon his head before her birth. Now torn away from her mother's breast before her first breath. Tainted and marked in blood, death would follow her until her first cry, her first smile. But a promise made, Elijah would end it all. He would reunite mother and child, their family's hope.

Letting out a pained sigh, his hand dusted the stone platter that would have been Hope's death bed. But no more would Elijah allow his brother's foolishness to keep them apart. An unspoken vow that he made to himself. 

Their family's hope would return....And so would she....Hayley.