to stop thinking about them.

Thoughts clawed at his brain every second of the day, ripping his mind to pieces that seemed to scatter in a wind that he would never be able to withstand. Dreams turned to nightmares in an instant, with their faces burned against his eyelids no matter how many times he rubbed at them, chains rattling against his wrists. Pain consumed every bone, but his mind remained forever encompassed by the only true light that his eyes had ever seen.

Hope had been an angel with the devil's eyes, her laughs impossible to ignore and her beautiful smile blinding anybody who surrounded her. Mercy, on the other hand, had been a trickster with good in her heart, already too curious for her own good as she tried to crawl everywhere and anywhere her heart so desired. They were perfect, and Klaus missed them.

He would wonder how the few small characteristics had grown as they matured into children. Was Hope still the carefree little girl who laughed without even the thought of hate? Was Mercy running around the world, entranced by its beauty and yet determined to create something of her own as well? Were they both happy? Healthy? Were they even alive?

He dismissed the last thought quickly, lying against the ground and breathing deeply against the pain in his chest that froze all of his body in stillness. Only his mind worked properly, so he couldn't handle thinking like that. Besides, he had no doubt that Hayley was protecting them with everything that lived inside of her, and with his past experiences with the new hybrid, he knew that she could bite just as hard as she could bark. He needn't worry about anything concerning that.

And yet he did. He worried that someone, somewhere, had heard about Klaus's current state as Marcel's prisoner and wanted to seek whatever revenge or hatred in their heart by hurting his two little girls. He closed his eyes tightly at the thought, wishing that he could see them for himself. And yet...

"Stop tormenting yourself," a voice spoke up from the darkness, and a small, almost inconceivable smile spread across his lips. "They're fine."

"Camille," he greeted, opening his eyes to see that his position had changed, and he was now leaning against a small wall of bricks in the middle of the circle that had been his home for the past 5 years. The girl in question, with her blonde hair resting perfectly against her shoulders and that small smile still painted on her lips, stood in front of him, her arms folded. "Back again for more psychological analysis?"

She rolled her pretty blue eyes, shaking her head and folding her arms in a relaxed, yet sincere, stance. "You're the one who brought me here, remember?"

He was silent at that, the small smile on his face vanishing within an instant as he remembered what had taken her from him, and all the emotions he had felt when he said goodbye. He pushed them away, the pain from being away from his daughters already filling every space in his body, with no room for more. He shrugged, the chains rattling. "I suppose I've grown lonely once again," he told her in confidence, remembering all the secrets he had shared in her presence before. She always managed to bring out anything he was thinking to the surface.

She walked forward, wearing black pants and a white, silky shirt that made her look like an angel when paired with her golden blonde hair. She tilted her head slightly, the ghost of a smile on her lips. "I know you're worried about them, but you have to trust that Hayley is able to keep them safe."

"How can I trust that when I've been trapped within these walls for years?" He asked her honestly, gesturing with a lazy movement of his hand around him. His voice lowered slightly. "All of my enemies over the years can easily come and hurt my daughters without me there to protect them. How can I possibly know for sure if they haven't come already?"

"You would know if they did," Camille said with unwavering certainty. "Besides, there's nothing you can do about it here. If you actually tried to get out of those chains instead of accepting your fate—"

"I have not accepted anything." He spoke with a dark tone, angry that she would assume such a thing, but she only shook her head.

"Yes, you have," she countered back. "You're afraid of seeing them after all this time. They've grown, and now they can see you for you, remember the things you do. And that terrifies you."

He stayed silent, not wishing to reply to her words because he had nothing to say. He was, indeed, scared to see his daughters again in fear that he would be rejected by them, just as was done by his family before. He longed for their unconditional love, but what if they didn't like who their father truly was? What if they didn't like him at all?

He didn't know if he preferred that pain over this physical one.

He looked back up into Camille's eyes, shaking his head. "Who are you to tell me what I'm afraid of?" He asked, upset that she had actually hypothesized correctly. "You are nothing but a ghost of a person, a memory that is only here to haunt me."

"I'm only here because you want me here," she reminded him once more. "I'm not the one who's given up on seeing his only daughters."

"Enough!" He yelled, jumping to his feet, fed up with the truth that was being thrown into his face. When he opened his eyes though, Camille was gone, her space filled by the darkness that had been his friend for five years. He let out the air in is lungs in one full swoop, realizing that Camille was right in every way: he was afraid, and had accepted his fate instead of choosing to return to his children that might not even want him.

He returned back to his spot against the bricks slowly, his mind conflicted with her words. He put his head down, breathing slowly as his heart ached for the two things that he wanted more than life itself.

But he knew that one day, he would see them again, even if he was afraid. He needed them to know that he did not simply abandon them, or left in exchange for something better. He needed them to know that they were everything he's ever wanted and more.

He will see his daughters again.

And whether or not he was able to bare the possibility of their rejection, he needed to stitch his heart back together.

He needed Hope and Mercy.

>

-kay :)