As expected, the rules were disappointingly simple just like in the show.
They burned in the sun like parchment held to flame, the White Oak pierced them like judgment itself and vervain which as of now just became Michael's newest and most delightful plant sent their bodies into violent revulsion as it burned the shit out of em.
He had laughed when Ayana explained the plant's effects, pretending not to already know all their weaknesses. "I'm going to need a whole plantation of this," he'd joked with her, eyes bright with wicked amusement.
Not that he needed it but better to keep up appearances.
Still, Michael had been practical. Before the White Oak was reduced to ash, he took his prize an entire branch, insurance he called it and hid it from everyone even Ayana.
The strangest thing about the year 1001 AD, however, wasn't the birth of Originals or the rewriting of magic.
It was the sheer audacity of Mikael and his son trying to kill him.
Kol.
⸻
Flashback within Flash back
Michael sat alone in Ayana's home, the fire crackling softly behind him. She had stepped out on an errand, leaving the house to silence with only him and his thoughts
Creek.
The wood groaned behind him as a faint whistle cut through the air. Michael sighed at the utter stupidity.
'Honestly,' he thought. 'If you intend to kill someone, why announce yourself like a drunk bard?'
"I know you're here, Kol," Michael said calmly. "Come out."
The vampire appeared instantly, eyes wild, bloodlust rolling off him in waves. Kol lunged at him with his fangs bared. Michael raised an eyebrow.
One word left his lips as he casually casted the pain infliction spell inwardly.
"Fall."
Kol hit the floor screaming. Blood vessels ruptured inside his brain, one after another with the pressure building catastrophically. His body convulsed as something deep inside his skull burst, leaving him clawing uselessly at the ground, shrieking.
Michael grabbed him by the collar like discarded laundry.
"Now why," he asked mildly, "did you have to come after me of all people?"
He hurled Kol backward.
The vampire smashed through the wooden wall, splintering Ayana's home before crashing into the open ground outside.
Michael froze.
"…Shit."
He stepped through the wreckage, surveying the damage with a grimace.
"Now look what you did, Kol." Just then he looked to the forest and saw the boy's father.
Mikael emerged from the treeline, sword resting easily in his grip.
"It's you, isn't it, boy?" Mikael said coldly. "The one my daughter has been sneaking out to see. I can smell her on you."
His eyes hardened.
"You've been sleeping with my daughter."
Michael's eyes ignited into a fiery red.
"Do you know," he asked softly, "how incredibly disgusting what you just said was, I mean yes your daughter and I have fucked one another but still ewww, that's none of your damn business man?"
Mikael roared, rage overtaking his reason.
"You will pay with your life for touching what doesn't belong to you!"
That made Michael pause and he tilted his head.
"…What?"
"You will pay with your life," Mikael repeated.
Michael laughed a low and dangerous sound.
"You deal with forces beyond you, Mikaelson," he said. "Give up, or I will kill you."
Mikael smirked that.
"I can't be killed."
Michael's grin widened into something sharp and feral.
Heat surged beneath his skin and his fire answered in his blood. Steam curled from his body as the air itself recoiled.
"Well then," Michael said pleasantly, claws beginning to tear through his fingers, "I shall rectify that error."
He stepped forward as his eyes burned crimson. "Come, you vermin. I shall teach you and your son how far out of your depth you truly are."
Kol, barely able to move and watched in horror as his father blurred forward, sword arcing toward Michael's heart only for the blade to stop dead.
Caught as a clawed hand wrapped around the metal and then the steel started melting where it touched his flesh.
Micheal's fist slammed into Mikael's chest with crushing force, a well timed motus and his physical strength converging in one brutal strike. The Original vampire was launched backward, tearing through dirt and stone as his body flew several meters before crashing hard into the forest beyond.
Kol didn't hesitate and used the opening.
Bloodlust burned too hot in his veins for reason. Using his father's flight as a distraction, he blurred forward, fangs bared, ready to tear into Michael's throat.
Michael didn't even turn fully as his free hand lifted and his fingers curling slightly.
Phasmatos Ossox.
The bone breaking spell snapped into existence like a guillotine and for the second time, Kol hit the ground mid-sprint.
His scream tore through the clearing as bone shattered violently inside him. His femur cracked first with loud and wet unmistakable tearing sound followed by the tubular bones of his legs and arms, fracturing one after another as if an invisible force was twisting him apart from within.
Kol writhed, howling as his body betrayed him.
"ARGHHHHHH..NO..PLEAS….ARGGGGGHHH"
Behind him, Mikael was lifted bodily from the ground, caught in Michael's telekinetic grip and hurled deep into the woods like refuse.
Michael stood still for a moment, brow furrowing faintly.
"…Is it just me," he murmured, "or was that a bit too easy?"
A scream answered him.
But it wasn't Kol's.
Michael turned to the left to see a sight he'd been expecting.
Rebekah stood at the edge of the clearing, eyes wide with fury and fear. Beside her were the rest of the Mikaelsons minus their mother. Niklaus rigid with rage, Elijah looked tense and careful, still not used to his new nature as the Elijah from a thousand years from now would have approached with a word of warning which would ultimately lead to the death of anyone opposing him. Allof them flinching instinctively every time another sickening crack echoed from Kol's breaking bones.
Michael smiled calmly as he addressed them.
"Well hello," he said pleasantly. "Niklaus. Elijah my dear friend and my sweet Rebekah."
He tilted his head.
"And how are we feeling today?"
The spell continued.
Kol screamed again.
Michael glanced back at him.
"Oh look who decided to join the party," he added lightly. "Have you come to feast on my blood like your brother tried to do a few minutes ago?"
His tone was genuinely curious.
Another crack rang out.
Niklaus growled, eyes flashing as veins appeared underneath his eyes.
"Kánen'to. Release Kol."
Michael sighed, almost indulgently.
And the pressure vanished.
Kol collapsed, gasping painfully befire Michael stepped forward and snapped his neck with one sharp motion.
With a movement of his hand and a whispered Motus, Kol's limp body was hurled through the air. Klaus caught his brother automatically, shock flickering across his face as he realized, "He's alive," Klaus muttered.
Michael nodded.
"I know."
He looked back at them, eyes glowing faintly.
"You Mikaelsons didn't really think you were the only immortal beings on this planet… did you?"
Elijah finally spoke, confusion cutting through his composure.
"What are you talking about?"
Michael straightened.
"Sorry to burst your bubble," he said calmly. "But I am among the first immortals to ever walk this world."
Elijah looked with a much different expression now, one that showed caution and doubt, "Who or what are you Kànen'to?"
Heat rolled outward as Michael made his announcement.
"I am the Ash-Walker.
The Fire-Watcher.
The One Who Stays.
The Grandfather Flame."
His magic surged outwards in a raw, scorching manner. The air itself recoiled as a wave of heat and power slammed into them like a physical blow.
"I am the Witch of Fire…"
His eyes burned molten red as a low growl reverberated from his chest.
"The hellhound."
"Disrespect me," he warned softly, "by coming after me or mine again… and I will not allow you to continue existing on this earth."
The Mikaelsons instinctively stepped back.
Then, Rebekah stepped forward.
"My love," she said carefully. "We didn't come here to drink your blood. Or to harm you or Ayana. We only wondered why Father and Kol were heading this way."
Elijah inclined his head, voice measured.
"If offense was given, you have our apology."
The pressure eased and the heat withdrew.
Michael exhaled, shoulders relaxing as the glow faded from his eyes. He returned visibly to something resembling human.
Klaus, still holding Kol, looked up.
"I'm sorry for my reaction as well Kan," he said stiffly.
Michael rubbed the back of his neck and laughed softly.
"Well now," he said, "you're all making me feel like the villain here."
He glanced at them all.
"I know you weren't involved. But immortality doesn't make you untouchable."
His voice hardened slightly.
"There are still beings in this world that can kill you. Things that breathe fire hotter than anything walk this earth."
His mind flickered the creatures in the dark, the ones shown in the Legacy, monsters soon to be locked away by Malivore but the warning remained necessary.
"Be careful," he finished.
They left shortly afterwards.
When Ayana returned, Michael was already packing.
"I'm leaving little one," he told her gently. "I won't risk a confrontation with Esther."
He paused, eyes darkening briefly.
"I considered killing her," he admitted.
Then shrugged.
"But I think… I'll leave that problem to Klaus."
Fire crackled softly as he stepped into the night without even allowing Ayana to speak.
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