Raising Warriors, chapter 1

Vikings era Mikaelson family. Mikael trying to deal with his 'three' sons after Esther left with their eldest.

"Stop complaining, Kol," Niklaus rolled his eyes. "We're just arriving." He was having plenty of fun with Elijah, who was actually relaxing and fooling around for once.

Visiting the neighbor village was an idea that had been revolving around his head for a while, but they were not really allowed to get far from home under usual circumstances...

"Well what are we going to eat?" The kid continued to complain, not enjoying how the two were leaving him out.

"Well, let's see what do they sell here." They had been saving for that particular occasion.

They had had to leave the House really early in order to be able to get the Horse and the cart without Mikael noticing, but thankfully they hadn't forgotten the money.

"Let's go." Elijah led the way, this hadn't been his idea, but Klaus had seemed so miserable lately that when he'd come up with the idea to travel to the neighboring town, Elijah couldn't help but to humor him.

And it hadn't turned out to be such an awful idea. The food didn't look bad at all and they were all so hungry it smelled like Heaven.

Besides, in their village they didn't get to use the cart, so they were having so much fun doing that...

After they had eaten, they found a bonfire to socialize at, and while both Elijah and Klaus were having a good time with new 'friends', Kol became bored and after complaining and then being ignored, he went off to find his own adventure. 

Eventually Elijah decided they needed to return home if they were going to avoid their father finding out about their little 'escape'. "Niklaus, we need to go..." He found his younger brother. 

"Can't we just... I don't know, stay the night?"

"Niklaus... is that a wise idea?" Elijah frowned. 'Getting caught' hadn't been part of HIS plan. 

"Well... Maybe." He had met an extremely interesting girl and she was so intriguing.

Elijah just sighed. "We will have return eventually, brother..." 

"We could just not..." The younger boy muttered, ignoring Elijah's astonished look.

Elijah understood his brother's need to stall, but not returning home was unreasonable, even if their father was not...the easiest man to get along with. "Niklaus. It's time to go." He suddenly looked around. "Where's Kol?" 

"What are you talking about? He was with you."

The 16-year-old put a hand over his face, frustrated. Perhaps Kol had a point when he complained that they never paid any attention to him. "...no, he said he wanted to show YOU something..." 

"No, he said he was going to look for you." Niklaus frowned. While Kol was definitely annoying, he didn't like the idea of his little brother being alone in an unknown place.

"KOL!" Elijah immediately started hollering, looking for the stupid kid. They needed to find him fast. "Niklaus, come on." He grabbed his younger brother's arm and led him on the search. 

"KOL! KOL, WHERE ARE YOU!"

After a few hours, they met some villagers who had seen someone matching his description around the cemetery, of all places, the two rushed over, with Elijah realized they WOULD have to spend the night. "It's too dark to travel back." 

Niklaus had to force himself not to smile while still looking for Kol. "KOL!"

When the raven-haired boy heard his brothers, he quickly ran to them, trying to not seem guilty of anything. "....What? " He appeared from under some bushes. "Is it time to go?"

"Where were you?!" Niklaus roared at him, which made the youth immediately run behind Elijah.

"I TOLD you I was bored! You never listen to me!" Kol hated how Nik and Elijah always had to play at best mates. 

"But you told me you were going with Elijah!"

"Well I couldn't find him." Kol shrugged and gave them both a cheeky smile. 

"Stupid! What are you even doing here?!" Niklaus would never admit it, not even under torture, but he didn't love darkness.

The youngest Mikaelson just rolled his eyes. "Nothing." He muttered. Elijah sensed the brewing argument and raised his hands. 

"Enough. We need to find a place to stay." 

"We could just stay in the cart." They had brought money, but not that much.

"I'm not going to stay there." Kol complained. How uncomfortable. "Let's go home." 

"We can't, it's already late." Nik made a face at him.

"And it's not like home is so much better anyways." Maybe It was for Kol because father was so much nicer to him.

"So? I’m not afraid of the dark." He challenged. He much preferred to go home. 

"Me neither, but we are not heading back."

"Yes, you are. Coward." 

"Not a coward." Niklaus glared at him as if he hadn't been worried to death a few minutes before.

"YOU ARE-" Kol started to say, but Elijah quickly covered his mouth. "Let's go, already." 

"Where? Stupid Kol refuses to sleep in the cart!"

"Too bad, he doesn't have a choice." Elijah's commented before giving Kol a look and then dragging him to the cart, while Klaus sighed and followed. 

They started a fire by the cart and gave the horse some food and water before trying to decide if sleeping inside or outside the cart. Niklaus initial idea was inside, since it had a door they could close with a piece of wood, but the night was getting colder than expected...

"I HATE this! I'm going home!" Kol started. He didn't like being uncomfortable and didn't understand why they couldn't just head home. 

"You can't go alone." Niklaus explained like it wasn’t obvious.

"I can if I want to." Kol clarified. And he did. The kid stood up and started walking. He was sure the Elijah and Nik would make the smart choice and go with him...so he wouldn't have to walk. But only thing they did was grabbing him by the arm and drag him back.

"Kol, it's dangerous to walk alone at night out of a village." Nik tried to explain calmly.

"I don't want to sleep here! Why can't we go home!?" He yelled and pulled away from them, but the two teenagers had a good grip on him. 

"Because it's late and some animal could attack us or something."

"I'm NOT going to sleep here!" He looked at Elijah to give him a pitiful look. "...I'm cold." 

"We can... Sleep outside by the fire and take turns."

…Sleep outside. Kol hid his face in his arms, miserably. "I HATE you BOTH!" 

"You wanted to come too!"

"Niklaus, just leave him alone..." Elijah interrupted, noticing Kol's shoulders shaking. He didn't think there was a reason for the kid to cry ...but he figured it was best not to push him. 

"Fine, it's just not a good idea to go back right now." It was dangerous.

"I know. We'll leave early in the morning." Maybe that way they'd be able to make it home before their father woke up...

"Or not so early..." So they'd arrive after their father left.

Elijah just nodded, and laid down next to Kol, putting at arm around him. 

"I can watch first." Nik offered and sat by the horse.

"Thanks. Wake me up in three hours." Surely that was enough time to rest. 

But even if they hated sleeping so bad, they didn't even wake up Kol to watch. They felt bad enough about losing him that night.

Despite the kid always walking around the world like he was so brave and independent, he was still a kid, and they were his brothers, they needed to watch out for him. When Kol finally did wake up, he was happy to see they were on their way home, though Nik didn't seem all that happy for it. 

"We should have waited an hour more." The middle boy complained.

"...Look I know father has been really...intense lately, but we need to do our part to make things work." 

"...Are you implying I don't?"

Elijah made a face. Niklaus wasn't an easy person to deal with when he got angry. Mikael wasn't an easy man to get along with, period, and the two never seemed to see eye to eye. "I'm not implying anything." 

"Then what the hell are you saying?"

"Niklaus, sometimes you...push him." 

"What?" The boy looked at his older brother completely offended.

"That's why he doesn't like you." Kol piped up, agreeing with Elijah. 

Niklaus just slapped him upside the head. "No one asked you!"

"That's not what I'M saying." Elijah was quick to point out, grabbing Kol so he wouldn't attack Niklaus. "I'm just saying that we know how he is. We know how to avoid his anger..." Unless the man was totally wasted or something like that, an then they just had to stay out of the house for a while. 

"So what? We shouldn't even go back."

"That's not an option." Elijah had to let go of Kol to keep both hands on the reigns, and sighed as he heard Kol pouncing on Niklaus. 

"Stop being annoying!" Niklaus pushed him away. "And why not?"

"Where would we live? Sleep?" Elijah's idea of a total nightmare was having to take care of his younger brothers on his own. 

"Wherever else sounds just fine to me."

"Look brother...maybe when Kol is older."

"How older?" He wanted to leave right then.

Kol frowned at that, as they were making it seem like they had to stay and be miserable at home because of HIM. 

"Maybe 13 or 14..."

"Those are almost two years!"

Kol's frown deepened as he pushed Niklaus. "I don't care! Leave now if you want, I don't care!" Stupid brothers. 

"As if we were leaving you."

"I can take care of myself!" He had no desire to live with his father either, but he was making a point. 

"Whatever, Connor, we're not leaving you there anyways." Niklaus didn't want to do that either.

"Nobody is being left behind." Elijah affirmed as well and continued on. They arrived early, and there wasn't too much movement in the village yet.

But to their surprise, their father wasn't still asleep, but wasn't at home either. There was SOME relief, but also...well, he'd be back eventually. 

"Let's unpack the cart." Elijah started handing out jobs, but of course it ended up being him and Klaus that did everything, while Kol complained and then went to the kitchen to eat. 

"Let's just hurry to get some sleep." Niklaus huffed, unpacking the last bag. "I'm taking the horse back to the barn."

"Don't forget to give him water." 

"I know." Niklaus enjoyed spending time with the animals and would usually take care of them. 

Elijah nodded and went back into the hut, where he found Kol eating dried meat and cheese. "Where's father?" The kid asked him. 

"Apparently, he left early." Either he had left earlier than usual or he had not arrived home that night.

This appeased the child as he continued to nibble, but then looked up. "I'm hungry. I want fish." Like he hadn't just been eating the last of the dried meat.

"We have none."

"Can we go fishing?" 

"No, Kol. Niklaus and I will try to get some sleep."

The 11 year old gave him the nastiest look before turning away. Clearly they were trying to starve him. 

"What? We need to rest a little."

"I don't care , do whatever you want." He'd just do whatever HE wanted once they were asleep. 

"Kol, don't be like that." Elijah started saying.

"Yes, we're tired." Niklaus entered the House after feeding and giving water to the animals.

"Then go to sleep. I'm not stopping you." 

"You're such a brat!" He probably wanted to sneak out.

"I don't care!" He hit Nik's arm, not forgetting how his brother had smacked him the night before. Kol had a hard time letting things go, always looking for 'revenge' when he'd been wronged. A trait he shared with Niklaus. 

"Say something!" Niklaus turned to his brother.

Elijah sighed but did go grab the younger boy. "We're all going to rest. Let's go! And stop hitting people, Kol, I'm serious-" He scolded as he dragged the kid away from Niklaus. He was exhausted, and he assumed his brothers were too. And he was right. As soon as Niklaus’ head hit the pillow, he fell asleep.

The two older boys were out cold, but Kol immediately snuck out, not too far, just to gather berries since his stomach was growling, but as soon as he saw his father returning home, he ran in to the hut. No way was he being the only one around for the man to expend his wrath on... And not just any wrath. He had actually spent the night out looking for them.

The kid's initial instinct was to hide, but he wanted to warn his brothers. He jumped into the bed with them and hid underneath the furs, but did pinch the two. "He's coming..." 

Niklaus grunted in his sleep, but didn't wake up.

Kol just shrugged and went to hide. By the time Mikael was done with Klaus and Elijah, he'd forget all about the youngest. He had tried to warn them, and so he didn't feel guilty as climbed out the window and went to hide in the barn. His timing was perfect as Mikael stalked into the bedroom a few seconds later. 

Niklaus just snuggled even more into the furs, the night had been really cold... Until of course, their father yanked the two teenagers out and into the middle of the room. "WHERE have you been?!" 

"What the hell...?!" The younger boy hadn't expected that. Their father usually arrived home until noon and they couldn't have slept that much. He had barely fallen asleep... Before either could get their bearings, or even fully awake, Mikael gave each a slap across the face. "Answer me!" 

"Ow!" Unfortunately, the boy was familiar with that kind of sting. "What?" He couldn't help the sting on his eyes.

"Where the hell have you two been, and where is Kol?!" Despite the fact that the man was grabbing on to both sons, his anger was definitely directed at the younger of the two. 

"Father..." Elijah tried to calm him down a bit. "We were just...exploring a bit, and as far as Kol, well, he must be around here somewhere..." He hoped they hadn't lost him. Again. 

"Yes, we were just... around..." Niklaus agreed, trying to indirectly look somewhere else. It was not very easy to believe they had stayed in the village so late, but it was possible.

"Do you two think I'm stupid, or what? I've been looking for you all night!" 

"...You what?"

"I was OUT looking for you all night!" He repeated, shaking the boys. "Did you think you could spend the night out and that I wouldn't notice? Or care?" He was furious, but the fury was mixed with relief. He wished he could hug them. 

"…We were around in the village," Niklaus stuck to his version, it was IMPOSSIBLE the man had really gone out looking them.

"And where is Kol?" Of course he knew the boy was lying. 

"We don't know!" His father's grip was becoming too tight. Elijah suddenly remembered being pinched and Kol whispering a warning. "...I think he's hiding from you." He tried to explain and tried to pull away, but the comment just upset Mikael even more and he started pulling them towards the central hall, where he'd usually beat them. 

"We didn't do anything!" Niklaus started protesting. What the hell was the man angry about?! "We just stayed out a little bit later yesterday!"

"STEALING my cart, horse and making me WORRY is nothing?" 

"It was all back at midnight!" Usually they all were asleep before that hour.

Mikael didn't respond to that, simply took his belt off and began hitting the two, though Klaus couldn't help notice that eventually he stopped  swinging it at Elijah and focused on only the younger boy. 

"NOOO! STOOOP IIIT!" It was always the same shit! Niklaus glared at him through anger tears and tried to 'escape', but the man just tightened his grip and continued to hit him.

"You two better shape up! I will not have my sons disobeying me!"

"STOP HITTING ME!" It was not fair, Kol had 'disobeyed' too! And using something of your 'father' was not supposed to be stealing.

The man did pause, but only to push him at Elijah. "Go get firewood. And find your stupid brother!" He told them both.

"Not stupider than you!" Niklaus was so furious that he didn't even process what he was saying or to who. He was not even sure if It was 'stupider' or 'more stupid' since his studies weren't going so well, but... All it did was earn him another slap across the face.

"GO, NOW!"

"LET'S JUST LEAVE!" The boy grabbed his brother's arm to drag him out of the house.

And Elijah did run out with him, both miserable... but it's not like they had anywhere else to go. Eventually the older boy started picking up firewood... "I can do this. You go find Kol."

"I'm not going back." He had not picked any firewood yet.

"...Niklaus... I already told you, when Kol is older..."

"I am leaving right NOW! I am staying at our place, if you want to come or visit, whatever." He actually headed to the woods. Their 'place' was a little mini 'hut' they had built almost a year ago in the top of a really tall tree in the forest.

Elijah frowned, unsure of which brother to look for, but as usual, he figured Klaus needed him a bit more and went to fetch him.

"LET GO OFF ME!" The boy punched his older brother and ran to the woods until no one was following him.

There were no possibilities of going back now, because besides the antics of the day before, he had punched Elijah and his father was going to kill him.

The older boy was completely in shock, Niklaus didn't usually take his anger out on him... he hoped his brother just needed some time to cool down and so instead of following, he went to the hut with the firewood and started working on keeping the place warm. 

"Where is Kol?" His father glared at him as soon as he saw his eldest.

"...I don't know. I'm sure he'll be around at dinnertime." The kid was a bottomless pit. 

"Excuse me? I believe I clearly told you to find him." He was tired enough to repeat the same instruction a thousand times.

"...It wasn't his fault. Niklaus and I just dragged him along." He excused the kid, trying to gage how upset his father was. 

"I am not asking you, Elijah." Even if he had a... Soft spot for his youngest, he also knew Kol very well. "And where the hell is your other brother?" He could still get a few hours of sleep before making dinner, but he wanted all the kids inside the hut first.

"He's collecting more firewood." The 16-year-old lied. "...I'll go get them." 

"Run, I want all of you here in ten minutes."