"Mommy?"

Pale red eyes blinked open, tiredly looking around, still unsure of where she was or when it was. She felt a gentle hand combing her hair, the faint smell of whiskey and the sweet scent of vanilla flowers and almonds of an old book.

The room was quiet, the only sound was the soft change of the pages. She was shivering, despite the heavy blankets which she was tucked in and the warm feeling his left arm brought wherever it met her naked skin.

She knew what was happening, it wasn't the first time, the arrows of Artemis had a very specific poison that would kill anyone on spot, anyone but the gods and goddesses that is.

The ginger winced when she felt the fibers of her skin trying to close the wounds around her body, moving closer to her personal heater, making Niklaus chuckle lowly, putting down the book he was reading about the legends of the goddess of war and pulling her fragile body on top of his as his hands caressed her scarred back.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, love" Nik muttered softly, placing a kiss on his wife's head while his colorful eyes met her gaze, azure orbs met bloody red ones and a small smile was shared between the lovers.

"Morning, hot stuff" Ares whispered, hiding her head on the crook of his neck while closing her eyes again, still exhausted from the previous fight with her dearest sister.

"What happened, love? Persephone showed up with you in her arms, but you were already unconscious... she left me some herbs to help your recover" Klaus questioned her calmly, his eyes focused on the necklace that adorned her neck, the leather strap holding securely the wooden carved wolf that he had made for her as a small smile pulled on his lips, showing his deep dimples.

"... Artemis and I had a disagreement, Aphrodite got in the middle and I went to hell... quite literally" Ares murmured, lifting her head from his body to give him a mischievous smirk, making the hybrid give her an amused smile.

"I'm scared, mommy"

Ares suddenly shot up from the bed, clenching her jaw as the burning feeling spread through her body and she wobbled over, almost falling head on the ground if not by the strong hands that helped her up.

"Where do you think you're going, little warrior?" Niklaus teased the goddess, carrying her bridal style to another room while Ares glared at him.

"Didn't you hear? Damon is calling me, I need to see him" The red haired beauty said, looking around as she tried to spot her son as they passed the rooms of her castle.

"Damon? He's in Mystic Falls, love" Klaus replied in confusion, looking at her with those deep blue eyes that seemed to be shined by the sun, giving a golden light to the mysterious pools of water.

"No, no, no... I'm sure I heard him... we have to help him, Nik" Ares insisted, her scarlet orbs looking at him with wariness, her eyes... he could drown in her sea of blood, it appealed to him as much as the blood that he thirsted for.

"Ok... let's find him" Niklaus promised, kissing her forehead before he used his vampire speed to leave the castle, looking around for a way for them to go back to earth without having Ares using her powers on her current state.

"I-I can do it" Ares grumbled, shutting her eyes tightly as a wave of dizziness hit her body.

"Ares, no" Klaus told her sternly, daring the goddess with his eyes to say otherwise. The ginger looked at him wide eyed since he had never used that tone with her, but soon enough a smirk pulled on the corner of her lips, making the hybrid raise an eyebrow in question.

"You look hot when you're all bossy, my wolf" Ares answered, her smirk widening when she noticed the faint red dust that covered his cheeks, before she gave a long whistle, making Phobos and Deimos flash in front of her, looking in alert around the place to see if their mother was sage before they turned to look at her.

"Hey boys, can you take us to Damon Apemius?" Klaus asked the giant wolves around him, petting their heads with one hand while the other was still holding Ares.

The sons of war didn't waste a second and quickly appeared in the Salvatore mansion with the couple, sniffing the territory for a moment and nodding their heads in a way that made Klaus believe that the place was free from threats.

Niklaus quickly entered the house, not having a problem with it since he had already been invited, and followed the sound of a disturbed heartbeat to a closed room.

"Mom, he's coming, he'll catch me"

What they saw made Klaus' twisted heart clench, he too was haunted by the nightmares of Mikael coming to kill him and seeing the son of the woman he loved more than anything whimpering and crying on his sleep, much like himself and even Ares had been many nights before... this created some kind of protectiveness over the younger vampire.

"I can't help him... hell, I can't even help myself with this" Ares whispered, looking away from her suffering son as he seemed to be panicking even more as the seconds passed.

Niklaus kept silent, carefully laying Ares on one side of the bed while he sat in the middle of the mother and son, laying Ares' head on his shoulder while bringing Damon's head to his lap.

The hybrid closed his eyes and started to change his nightmare, pulling the young vampire to a safe place, away from his abusing father and in the welcoming arms of Ares, his loving and powerful mother.

The trio shared the same dream throughout the night, feeling more at peace than they ever felt and that's when Niklaus' noticed that they were his family now and maybe, just maybe, this one wouldn't betray him like his blood family had.

He noticed that his dream of global domination was a mere facade, an image to show power, to hide his fragility from his enemies, but in the arms of his newly found family, he saw that it didn't matter if he had it all, he just wanted someone to listen, all he had ever wanted was to not be lonely and he would cherish this moment the best he could, after all...

He did promise family above all, but no one said that it had to be blood family. And thats how they slept, peacefully cuddling the big bad hybrid.

Ares didn't know, however, that this was only happening in her head, courtesy of Artemis' poisoned arrows. And while she laid in her deep slumber, in another place a party was happening, and there stood Damon and Niklaus, both unaware of her whereabouts, waiting for the goddess to show up, but then again, they couldn't keep Mikael waiting, could they?

And with heavy hearts, the broken boys got on with the plan, their only hope was that Ares would suddenly appear like she always did, but even Persephone, who stood beside the warrior goddess, applying her medicinal plants to treat her wounds, was worried about the red head.

The goddess looked sickly pale, sweat dropping from her body, lips a deathly blue and dark veins crawling over her entire body, making the goddess convulse in pain as her supernatural healing fought against the poison.