A Story for a Life

• A dream friend is far more powerful than one could expect. •

".."

That night Hayley slept with a troubled mind. She was crafty but Katherine Pierce had five hundred years on her. Hayley could kill her but she also needed to have powerful people on her side. Even though she had liked Katherine's character on the show, Hayley cursed at having attracted the vampire's attention. If anyone ever gave Katherine a mile, the doppelgänger took the whole highway.

Hayley needed to be more cruel with her magic and more crafty with her strategies. Thus, Katherine Pierce's enemies would gladly be her friends.

".."

Hayley sat on Finn's closed coffin, watching the Original do some sort of fighting routine. He'd once explained that it was what his Viking father taught him and how old habits died hard.

In fact, aside from seemingly enjoying her company and their occasional verbal flirting, the older man was a mute.

He never said zilch about his family and that's what Hayley had been interested in. At first.

Now she was just glad to have a friend — even if it was in her dreams — that knew of her nature and was also part of the supernatural. In Finn's clearing, there was no pretense. No fake emotions. She could laze around all the time, be free of the real world's troubles. She could speak if she wanted to and not utter a word if she did not want to. Side by side, the two supernaturals had found a precious companion in each other. Pity it only lasted while she was asleep.

Usually, Hayley would be lazing around, minding her own business but time was precious today.

With Katherine in her peripheral vision, Hayley had to know the real story of the Mikaelson and see if she could bring something to their table. Life was all about give and take. If she could help them, they would be great allies against the Petrova.

Hayley was not stupid. Even though Finn rarely talked about his siblings, she would catch his eyes whenever he talked about something that would please his younger sister or a joke that would've made his brothers laugh. His eyes were full of a love so potent and unconditional that even she had to look away.

It was not like this in the show. Finn was the momma's boy. The traitor to his siblings. He was only loyal to Esther and did everything and anything to finally kill his siblings. So what had happened on this earth? What exactly changed? Hayley was determined to know.

"Hey warrior," she called the nickname she adorned him with as she leaned back on his coffin, looking at the bright blue sky. When Finn hummed, prompting her to speak, she smiled. "Tell me about your family." Hayley felt him tense up and her eyes fell on him. He had stopped his work-out to eye her suspiciously. "Please? Though I'm honored to know how you would take your coffee even though you've never tasted some, I want to really know you."

"You know me, little one," Finn replied, swiping the sweat off his forehead with his white blouse and offering her a glimpse of deliciously sculpted abs. "In fact, outside of my family, you're the only other person I'm myself with." For the past year, Finn had thoroughly enjoyed Hayley Marshall's feisty presence. Her liveliness was truly life-saving.

Hayley rolled her eyes. "That's sweet, warrior but you've been in this bloody coffin for nine hundred years. Of course I would know you the best since you didn't meet anyone else!" With a humph, she turned her head away. "And here I was, thinking we were friends."

" .. Friends," Finn tasted the word on his tongue. He'd never had one of those. "We can be friends if that is your wish."

Hiding a smirk, Hayley turned to lie sideways on his coffin, facing him. "Then tell me about yourself," she pleaded. "What were you like as a human?"

The Original observed her with sharp eyes. His family hadn't taken into account that such a powerful witch would cross their path so he had not wanted to reveal himself for a year but, looking at Hayley's clear eyes, he decided to take a leap of faith.

Hayley was very patient. She'd already decided that she would be on Finn's side, and thus, his family's side. If he told her his story, then she would make sure to help him in whichever way he saw fit.

"I can't exactly recall when, but I was born in the Middle Ages from a Viking father and a witch mother," Finn finally said while he leaned against the coffin where her feet were. "Being the second child and eldest son, my early childhood was blissful."

Hayley hid her surprise deeply but she was indeed startled. She had assumed he would be very hush hush about Freya but he was truly telling her his life. She sat up, her eyes more focused and her mind open.

"I was very close to my older sister for we were merely a year apart," Finn continued. "Mother used to call us Huginn and Muninn," he had a small smile on his face.

Hayley's eyes softened at seeing his genuine expression. "Huginn and Muninn?" She chuckled. "As in Odin's ravens?"

In Norse mythology, Odin's ravens were a mischievous pair of animals who served as his messengers.

Finn nodded. "We were little imps," in a split second, his mood was somber. "When I was four, my sister five and Mother was heavily pregnant, Mother's older sister — with whom she'd been estranged with for years — came to our settlement and her visit shattered my happy little life." Hayley reached over, taking one of his hands in her own. "The loss of my sister was nearly my undoing. Since Father was away to battle at the time, Mother was able to lie to her husband, saying that she had died and it greatly changed him. Fortunately, aided by her witch mentor Ayana, Mother and Father took our family of four and moved to the Viking colonies in the New World to have a fresh start. Our neighbors were not ordinary, not even human but they accepted us. Eventually, my younger brother was born and then four more siblings joined the family." Finn's fingers were unconsciously stroking Hayley's hand as he continued. "One might think that I would neglect my siblings because of my fear of losing another but it was quite the contrary. I embraced them, I loved them and I took care of them to the best of my abilities as a young boy and then a man."

Hayley's brow slightly furrowed. This was the part of the story she couldn't understand. It had greatly differed from the Finn's storyline in the show, seeing as canon!Finn could never become close to his siblings after the loss of his sister, the memory of Freya and the secret he shared with his mother weighing heavily on his mind.

"Mikael's five sons and a daughter," Finn said, a fond smile teasing his lips. "A bond as tight as anything I would ever see. We are blood, family, better together and miserable alone. Always and forever."

Hayley didn't forget to take note of the fact that he used the present tense. It definitely meant the siblings were actually close in this world.

"Did your siblings ever know of your older sister?" Hayley dared to ask. If the other Mikaelson knew about Freya, then this world could consider Hayley thoroughly hooked. With what happened with Tyler, she was afraid she could not change the people's fate but if their fate were different to begin with ... that she could work with.

Finn blinked. "We were too close for them not know," he confessed. "Even our youngest knew and he was over a decade younger than me."

Hayley frowned, thinking he was talking about Kol since he was the youngest brother. "Was?" If she recalled, he was currently occupying a coffin as well. "What happened to him?"

"He died."

Oh.