---
Finn woke that night; he had been alive for more than three hundred years. Sage lay naked in his arms, warm against him.
Watching the very image of the kind of woman he was drawn to, he felt his love for her deepen — she was the light in his existence, the one thing that kept him from losing himself again.
All the curses that the phantom-magic of darkness whispered into his mind were silenced simply by looking at her.
He brushed the sleep-soft hair from her face and kissed her brow.
Sage murmured, half-asleep, "Love… are you all right?"
She opened her eyes, still heavy with sleep, and reached up with an adorably sleepy motion to pull him closer.
Finn smiled and hushed her, "It's nothing. Go back to sleep."
He drew her to him, kissed her with a hunger like a long-held breath, and rested her head on his thigh, stroking her hair until sleep returned to her like an inevitable tide.
While she slept, Finn made plans — containment strategies for each sibling, from Klaus to Rebekah.
To Klaus, Finn advised a focus on physical power; among the older Mikaelsons, Klaus was the weakest in raw strength. Finn's counsel would steer Klaus into undervaluing his phantom power.
During that time Finn discovered that the curse of immortality revealed itself by age: Mikael, the eldest, was the most physically powerful; Finn came next, then Elijah, and so on. Finn arranged training so each brother would develop in ways that ultimately favored him.
He would blunt Klaus's firepower by forcing him to emphasize physical might; when Klaus eventually shook off the curse, he would be stronger in body only —
and if he ever went mad with that strength, Finn believed he could handle him.
Kol, physically the weakest among the men, wielded a phantom-light element that could cancel Finn's darkness — and even Finn's own power.
Finn persuaded Kol to concentrate on magic and abandon physical strength: become an extremely skilled, fast warlock, but still physically inferior to Finn. Then, when their elements neutralized each other, Finn would dominate in sheer force.
Rebekah was the biggest problem. Her element was air, and she was a magical vampire; if she chose, she could reach a nuclear level of power. Finn refused to risk it. As he had with Klaus, he urged her to focus on strengthening her body.
He knew the truth — as the youngest she would never equal the brothers' raw physical power — but it was a sacrifice he accepted: Rebekah had too much untethered potential to be left free and unaccountable.
For Elijah, Finn gave simpler guidance: train both disciplines. The aristocratic brother wasn't someone Finn feared — physically weaker than Finn, his element also paled beside Finn's.
Water was strong, and against Niklaus or Rebekah it could be an advantage; but against cosmic powers like Finn's darkness and Kol's light, it was almost negligible.
Finn set a curse that would hamper Elijah's control over water and incapacitate him if he made a move against Finn.
In fact, Finn crafted curses to blunt every sibling's elemental edge — except Kol, who was immune to Finn's powers and vice versa. Only Mikael remained.
Finn built an army of nobles and planted spies to investigate Mikael. Each sibling formed their own groups — all except Klaus. Klaus transformed five nobles, men Finn had personally respected, and Finn used them to turn vampires for him.
Finn suspected Klaus was saving space for a future pack of hybrids.
He didn't judge, but he prepared a specific curse for hybrids should they become dangerously powerful.
Rebekah turned twenty-seven and Finn killed at least fifteen of them; the other siblings killed five more.
All were men she had loved at one time, and Finn and the others realized none had been right for her.
Kol created an army of magical vampires, turning only witches and warlocks into vampires — a purely magical line — forbidding the turning of ordinary humans. As a result, his vampire line remained the smallest.
Elijah tried to be a king, building his own nobility. Finn saw Elijah's aim to unseat him as leader and nudged others into conspiring against that ambition.
In the end the plot collapsed with Elijah slaughtering his own nobles and, once again, quashing conspiracies against the elder brother.
He tried again, this time turning ten utterly loyal and meek individuals, using his nobles to convert humans and forming an organization called Strix — a force of ordinary vampires he never taught to rise to nobility.
Those who did stand out, he drew close and taught to evolve, but kept them under compulsion to prevent betrayal.
When that organization betrayed him and fled, they were only common vampires without noble knowledge, so Finn let them go.
With time they hid under the nobles and even the nobility forgot them. The Mikaelsons became just another noble family.
Finn chuckled softly as he read the spy reports. Corvinus and Tatia had done their jobs.
They'd kept Mikael occupied for three hundred years, far from Finn and his family. Corvinus, however, had deviated from their plan: he'd fathered children with two werewolf women —
producing two mutant sons and one true pure-blood daughter who lived and died as a human without awakening either side.
The mutant children spawned a new strain of vampires and werewolves, but Corvinus ensured none left the northern European borders.
Finn had no cause for alarm; the real concern was the price Corvinus had paid.
Finn thought it was time to have his first child with Sage, but he refused to be sick for years . After all, he had two problems: Dahlia and Mikael.
Three hundred and fifty years of living. Finn sighed and gazed at his wife sitting in his lap — utterly bare, flushed with pleasure. Her expressions were exquisite, so alive.
"Sage," Finn said, voice low, "let's take a trip."
Even wrapped in bliss, he decided it was time to deal with his problems.
"Now?" she asked, a soft moan still threaded through her words. She slid off him and rose, not bothering to dress, hand resting at her waist as she cocked a curious look at him.
"Come into my shadow," he said. "Stay there until I tell you to come out."
"How long?" she asked. There was a question on her face — equal parts mischief and worry.
"Maybe years. Maybe centuries." Finn exhaled, a flicker of fear at the thought she might refuse.
"Are you planning to fall for someone else and push me aside?" Sage's voice cracked with a sudden vulnerability. "I don't care if you do — my loyalty is to you. Please don't abandon me.
You freed me from slavery and gave me the world; don't take that away." The pleading in her tone was raw.
She'd been hurt before, but she meant it: she would be happy simply to stand near her savior, whether or not his love remained.
Finn gripped her shoulders enough to startle her; she closed her eyes, bracing for punishment. Instead he drew her close in a fierce embrace. "You fool," he said. "I'm not talking about finding another woman. I'm talking about solving a problem that has haunted our family for years."
He told her of his plan — a journey to hunt Mikael and another enemy, a strategy that required them to make it seem as though Finn stood alone so she could strike from the shadows. Sage understood instantly and slipped into Finn's shadow as he instructed.
Finn cast a spell; from darkness he fashioned clones of himself and Sage. Then he made a copy of Mikael.
An explosion ripped through the castle. Klaus, Rebekah, Kol and Elijah ran toward it and found a horrifying scene: Sage pinned to a wall with her chest open and her heart exposed, Finn and Mikael wounded and locked in combat.
"Klaus!" someone yelled. Klaus tried to run forward, but when his eyes met Mikael's, terror rooted him to the spot. Rebekah, Kol, and Elijah all froze the same way.
"Get out, you idiots! Run!" Finn barked. "I'll hold him. Sage — with me!"
The wound in Sage's chest sealed; she folded into shadow and attacked Mikael. The two, fighting against the original father, forced him backward.
"Run." Finn ordered.
Elijah was the first to move. He seized Klaus and vanished.
Kol reacted next, and though Rebekah stood paralyzed, Kol cursed, struck her sharply on the back of the neck — rendering her unconscious when her head was ripped forward —
and made it appear she'd been stunned long enough for him to grab her and flee. When they were gone, Finn, Sage and Mikael dissolved into shadows and disappeared.
From that day the Mikaelson household unraveled: Rebekah withdrew and hardened; Kol grew savage; Klaus became paranoid and violent.
Elijah took control of the family as he had always wanted, but soon wished he had never accepted the burden.
Four hundred years later, Finn walked slowly into a cemetery in Finland and stood before a small, oddly pristine grave. Despite the age of the stones around it, this one looked maintained and fresh.
In runes it read: "In memory of my beloved daughter, Freya." Finn leaned against the tomb and laid his hand on the stone.
"Soon, sister. Soon," he whispered.
A roar split the air. "What are you doing here, traitor?"
Finn turned to find Mikael — a man who radiated menace so intense the very air seemed to bend away from him — standing with a bouquet of flowers in his hand, strangely incongruous for such a monstrous presence.
"Mikael," Finn said calmly. "Who would have thought you'd remember this place?"
"Go to hell, traitor," Mikael snarled. "How dare you touch the grave of my daughter?"
"She's my sister too," Finn replied. "I loved her."
"You sided with that bastard." Mikael spat the words.
"Niklaus is my brother," Finn said. "He's not to blame for your wife's choices."
"He killed my wife — your mother — and pinned it on me. He made my children hate me." Mikael's voice broke in ragged fury.
"No," Finn said, venom in his tone. "He didn't. I killed her." His words hit with a kind of cold finality; surprise widened Mikael's eyes.
"You lie," Mikael barked. "You're shielding the bastard even now."
"I'm not protecting anyone. I tore her heart from her chest myself. If you doubt me, seek out a seer and she'll tell you." Finn's voice was thin with bitterness.
Mikael's rage spiked. "You were always Mama's boy."
"An act," Finn shot back. "A vengeance."
Finn let out a bitter laugh that curdled into something sadistic. Mikael lunged, sword flashing in a swift, precise arc that Finn barely dodged.
The elder moved with a terrifying economy of power — every blow like a guided missile.
Finn was surviving on instinct; he was slower, weaker. Seeing he could not win purely by strength, Finn called on his phantom ability.
.Shadows swarmed and thousands of curses flew toward Mikael. The older warrior dodged them all and, as Finn feared, unleashed his own phantom force: earth and vibration.
The ground quaked under Mikael's assault; his blade struck like an earthquake, slicing through Finn's shadowy defenses and grazing his shoulder — and the wound did not heal.
Panic clawed at Finn's mind. The weapon in Mikael's hand was the one thing that could kill him — Mikael's sword was lethal to Finn.
"You won't believe me? Then I'll show you." Finn flung a darkness-curse and trapped Mikael in a sphere of shadow. Mikael tried to cut through, but the darkness swallowed him.
Inside the dark prison, Mikael saw a vision: Finn, Freya being carried off by someone Mikael recognized — the sister of his wife, a witch he once tried to kill and failed. "Freya!" he cried.
Mikael snapped back as the shadow-bubble burst and fell to his knees. "No — my daughter. My girl. What was I doing instead of saving her?" His voice was raw with agony.
"She's still alive," Finn said.
"Don't toy with me, boy," Mikael snarled.
"Dahlia tied our immortality to Freya and to that witch. They're still out there." Finn's words were deliberate.
Mikael teleported before him and grabbed Finn by the collar. "Let go." Finn struck his hand away, breaking free and kicking Mikael to the ground.
"Promise me you'll stop hunting my brothers," Finn demanded, "and give me your sword."
"What guarantee do I have you won't kill me as soon as I hand it over?" Mikael spat.
"We're stronger together," Finn said quietly. "You and I alone could topple my brothers, and without you I can never defeat Dahlia."
---
Four hundred and thirty years on, Mikael and Finn finally found Dahlia's lair. They watched Freya being punished —
Dahlia slapped her to the floor when Freya tried to run away again. Finn's heart clenched at the sight of his sister hurt; the hatred at Dahlia's cruelty rose like a coiled thing inside him, but he wouldn't attack without a plan.
Mikael, however, was a different beast. He bellowed and lunged toward Dahlia to protect Freya;
Finn thought perhaps Dahlia's death was imminent. Instead, Mikael froze midair and was flung to the ground like a ragdoll. Freya screamed and Mikael rose, shaking it off as if nothing had happened, and struck Dahlia with his earth element.
She merely snapped her fingers and nullified his attack, then shoved his hand away with a vicious push. Mikael flew again, then rose a third time.
Finn seized the opportunity: he slipped through the shadows to Dahlia's back and drove his hand into what he thought was her heart. For a beat he smiled — a small, victorious grin.
Dahlia appeared beside him smiling too. "Did you think you'd pierced me? That was only a shallow wound." Her voice was a knife.
Finn's eyes went wide. His fist was buried in Mikael's chest.
"How?" he whispered. How could this be? Dahlia should not be that powerful — she was "only" a witch.
"You really thought witches only conjure little flames or headaches, boy?" Dahlia's smile turned cold. "You've never met a real witch. You met children who don't understand their own power. Now… die."
She snapped her fingers and Finn felt a wrenching pain in his soul, his strength slipping away. Blades of shadow tore from his shade and struck Dahlia in the chest.
"I expected… a bit more," she said, and then she vanished — reappearing only beside Freya, who disappeared with her.
---
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Finn woke to the throne room — and recognized who was speaking.
"The other side, huh? Did I die?" he asked.
"Not yet. Your little doll was quick enough to save you by wounding the witch. Advice: don't fight witches without a plan. We are cunning." The voice had an amused edge.
"Impossible. Witches shouldn't be this strong. My brothers beat her in another life, and they weren't even nobles." Finn tried to reason.
"Did your brothers beat her, or did she let them kill a copy of herself for sport?" the voice asked. "We are mortal at heart, even if we have achieved immortality; our spirit grows weary. Sometimes we choose a noble fall."
"You speak as if invincible, but you were defeated — the Other Side was destroyed. In the future you're undone by a witch and a band of plebeian vampires." Finn's words pushed back.
"Are you sure?" the voice asked. "I'm still here."
"You're from another timeline — Qetsiyah." Finn named her.
"Do you really think Damon, Elena and Stefan could defeat me? Or that Bonnie's witch project could? I only sent an avatar to toy with them. When I got bored, I destroyed it. It's tiresome to be trapped in this domain." She sounded weary and sharp at once.
"You're reading my mind." Finn felt exposed.
"You underestimate your mental privacy. I can't even see your shallow thoughts, much less those guarded by the old king Titan. Call me Tessa — it's simpler." She stepped up behind him and touched his head.
"What did you do?" Finn demanded.
"Just protected your soul in case Titan tries to possess you and return to the world. That would be bad for everyone." Her tone softened a fraction.
"So you're outside the timeline?" Finn asked.
"In a way. I grew into divinity; I became powerful enough to disregard trivial things like time — as long as I don't interfere with fixed events." Tessa's expression was rueful. "For you, who have an immortal soul, this isn't so bad. For me, a former mortal with no second chance at a different soul, it was terrible. My only pleasures were tormenting my ex and his lover. Horrible. If you don't hurry, your doll will be killed."
"How do I get back?" Finn asked.
"How do you convince me to send you? Know this: you could never defeat me. I exist on another level." Tessa's gaze was implacable.
"What do you want?" Finn asked.
"A soul-marriage pact," she said. "Not love, not sex — only a binding pact. You are less immortal than I. I need this to leave. This place became a domain and trapped me; if you die here, so do I — goodbye eternal suffering and divinity."
"What do you gain?" Finn asked.
"First, I can leave here. Second, a subordinate contract: I won't attack you while you don't attack me." She sounded practical.
"Done." Finn agreed.
Tessa's fingers snapped and Finn woke again on the floor, looking up at Mikael sprawled, Dahlia looming, Sage kneeling and Freya crying in a corner.
"Sage, into my shadow — now." Finn ordered. Sage melted into shadow as he rose.
Dahlia tilted her head. "Oh look who's awake. I thought you'd stay down." Her voice was amused and dangerous.
"I want a bargain," Finn said, scanning Dahlia from head to toe. She looked younger than she felt — perhaps thirty-five by appearance.
"What bargain?" Dahlia asked.
"I'll give you my firstborn," Finn said. "I will father a child for you. You may do with him as you please. You may even choose the mother — except my wife or anyone from my family. Release Freya, free me."
Dahlia laughed thinly. "You're sterile."
"That's a lie," Finn shot back. "My mother couldn't stop nature's course."
"Very well. You have your bargain. Fail to fulfill it and you are dead. Freya will be broken until her mind is lost forever."
.