Chapter Text
Chapter 23
Elijah's slowly pushed open the thin wooden door of the antique record store. It was dark inside but with the light shining through the window, he spotted Kol sitting against the wall with an old record in his hands. He was in tears. Unashamedly and uncontrollably in tears. Elijah walked slowly over to him.
"How'd you find me?" Kol asked.
"You shielded yourself from magic but you forget that your cell phone is just as easily traceable."
Kol smirked. How did he let something so simple slip through the cracks?
"This is where we first met, y'know," He muttered.
"Now, Kol, I think you met in a little birthing shack somewhere in Virginia."
"I meant me and Davina."
"I know," Elijah smirked. He snatched his handkerchief from his pocket and laid it on Kol's raised knee. Kol didn't touch the handkerchief. He wasn't ready to stop crying just yet.
As his brother took a seat beside him, Kol said, "She was carrying this record. Ancient Icelandic Folk music. She was such a brilliant, eccentric girl. Don't know what she saw in a fool like me."
Kol fell into a bout of heavy sobs and Elijah wrapped his arm around his shoulder. Kol pushed his face against his brother's lapel and cried. Elijah felt a pang of crushing guilt for being the reason for his brother's tears. He made the decision to sacrifice Davina to the ancestors, he was the cause of Kol's misery.
"I'm sorry, brother," Elijah said tensely. "This is my fault. We shouldn't have sacrificed Davina. I...I could've found another way. I should've found another way."
"No. I did this to her. Marcel was right. I should've left the city and died rather than come back and hurt the only girl who could make me feel human in a thousand years."
"In a thousand years, dear brother, I have felt love...a few times. And each of them was ripped from me in one way or another. Sometimes even by the hands of our selfish brother. I know your pain," Elijah leaned in closer to Kol and the younger brother fell helplessly into his hold. "I'm sorry," Elijah muttered against his brother's head. "I'm sorry you have to feel this pain. And I'm sorry that you can't take this time to grieve. The wolves have invaded our city and right now Klaus and Haylee are on the front lines defending us but they need us with them."
Elijah stood and held his hand out to Kol. Kol picked up the handkerchief that had fallen to the floor and wiped his tear-drenched face. "I'm not going with you."
"I'm not going with you," Kol stated firmly. "I don't care about this city. And I don't care about our so-called family."
Elijah closed his hand and sighed. "Brother, I do understand that you are a bit unsatisfied with the current arrangement of our family but do take a second to think about what you're doing. You're trying to leave the family who has loved you and cared for you for a thousand years."
"I'd hardly say that any of you lot have cared for me in a thousand years. Least of all Niklaus."
"What is the crime that you hold against him? Forgiveness? Keeping a promise that he made to his son two hundred years ago? Being a decent father to the boy he took in and swore to love always and forever?"
"When Marcel betrayed this family he released himself from that vow. He shouldn't have been let back into the family, Elijah, and you know it."
"And what about you and the vows that you broke," Elijah barked. "When this family was divided you were glad to hop from side to side, joining whichever side benefited your agenda at the time. You betrayed us at one point, Kol, but we let you return. We granted you that forgiveness that you consistently refuse Marcellus."
Kol hurried to his feet and growled, "I am your brother."
"And Marcel is his son."
The two Originals stared each other down, both believing they were in the right and both refusing to give in to the other.
Suddenly the store door opened. They spun around to see Josh standing in the doorway with a panicked look on his face. Josh quickly shut the door and shushed the two brothers as he sped over to them, grabbed them both by the arm, and sped them to the back of the store.
"What is the meaning of this?" Elijah griped as he yanked his arm from Josh's hold.
"There are rogue wolves outside. I just witnessed them rip one of Haylee's wolves apart."
Elijah's face contorted with shock. "How did they get so far into the city? Haylee and Niklaus were supposed to be keeping them at bay at the fringe."b
"I guess some got loose because they're out there." Turning to Kol, Josh smile facetiously and said, "Hi, by the way. Been everywhere in the middle of this Mikaelson-werewolf feud looking for you. Thought you'd got caught up in the war and decided to just go throw myself in the thick of it to help my friend and here you are hiding away in an old, dusty record store."
"I thought you'd be too busy bandaging the wounded pride of your old friend Marcel to care about finding me." Kol spat with just as much bitterness.
"Enough," Elijah interjected. "We don't have time for any petty squabbles about Marcel. We have to go stop these wolves before they tear up our city."
"I told you I don't care about the city."
"What about Hope?" Kol's anger seemed to cool at Elijah's mention of Hope. "Is she not still your niece? Did you not promise to protect her?"
Kol took only a moment to think it over before he said, "Alright, fine. I'll fight. For Hope."
As the two Mikaelsons were leaving the back of the record store, Josh said, "Alright, I'll just stay hidden in here until it's over because there are like a dozen of those guys out there and, y'know, I'm not an Original. Super vulnerable to wolf venom and stuff. Kinda digging the 'staying alive' thing, wanna try that out for a few more years."
"Don't be a coward," Kol grunted, holding the door open for Josh to follow them. "I'm sure your dear friend Marcel is out there fighting a group of these mangy wolves already. Are you really gonna leave him to the slaughter?"
Taking only a moment to think, Josh took cautious steps to the door. "I'm gonna die, aren't I," he groaned.
"Probably," Kol mocked.
-M-
Meanwhile...
Marcel paced the courtyard, his patience wearing thin the longer he didn't know what was going on in the ensuing battle across town.
He heard a creak on the stairs behind him and spun around with his guard up, prepared to fight.
"Calm down," Hope stated walking slowly down the stairs to him. "It's just me."
Marcel let down his guard but he didn't calm down. He was tense thinking about how Hope must've hated him after ditching her at Sebastian's house.
"How are you feeling?" He asked knowing what Klaus had put her through only an hour ago.
Hope shrugged. Since Young Marcel knew about her parents' preferred form of discipline she knew that Older Marcel would know too, still she hoped he wouldn't automatically assume that's how she was just punished by their father. What she didn't know was that Marcel was also a recurrent victim of Klaus's old-fashioned punishments and he hoped it stayed that way.
"Hope, look, I'm sorry about running off on you back there," Marcel apologized. "I just...didn't want Klaus to find out we were together."
"You're afraid of my dad," Hope scoffed. "What happened to the fearless Marcel I met when we first came to New Orleans?"
"I'm still fearless," Marcel replied indignantly. "But if I want to stay here I have to obey Klaus's rules and one of those rules was that I couldn't be around my little sister but Klaus and I have talked and we both agree that the rule was irrational so he lifted it."
"Oh goodie," Hope's voice was filled with unhidden sarcasm. "Now that dad says it's okay for us to be seen together, maybe you won't abandon me to take the heat for running away by myself anymore."
"I'm sorry I left you, okay. I admit it ways selfish-"
"Damn right it was."
"But, hey, you knew what you were getting yourself into from the beginning. Even if I didn't show up to tag along on your little trip, you would've still gotten caught."
"But since you were there, you could've taken me with you when you heard Mr. Dupeaux coming."
"I tried to get you to leave with me. I told you Klaus wanted us back here and you wouldn't listen to me."
"Well in case you haven't noticed, I don't really do everything my parents tell me to do. I have my own mind and I do what I think is right even if..."
"Even if it means getting your behind blistered every time."
Hope stood on the bottom step of the staircase with her eyes wide and my jaw dropped. "How...how did you know..."
Marcel fought to keep a straight face, hoping to not reveal anything about his own form of punishment from their father that day. "I was raised by Klaus," he said calmly. "I know how he does things."
Hope straightened her face and fanned her hand as if to shoo away Marcel's accusation. "Well, jokes on you because I don't get spankings. I'm thirteen, not three."
Marcel knew she was lying. Klaus had already told him that he was going to spank her. She was just trying to save face and he was going to do her the courtesy of letting her believe he didn't know.
"And even if I did have the threat of being...spanked looming over me," Hope grumbled. "That still wouldn't stop me from doing something I think is right. Like, I wouldn't abandon Sebastian somewhere because I was afraid dad would find out and punish me for being there."
"You think you have it all figured out, huh?" Marcel bit. "Life isn't so easy for all of us. Your place in this family is practically guaranteed. You're just a thirteen-year-old kid. You can do whatever you want and get away with just a scolding or a time out or whatever punishment they do give you in this place but some of us have to be constantly on our toes because messing up for me doesn't mean I get 'grounded' for a week. If I mess up, I spend the rest of my life roaming the world for a new place to call home. I mess things up here again and it's over for me in New Orleans. So yeah, I ran away when I thought we were going to get caught because I just got back home and I'm not ready to leave again just yet."
"Dad wouldn't really banish you again," she mumbled. "...would he?"
Marcel looked straight ahead out the courtyard opening. "He said he wouldn't," he admitted. "He promised. But there's still an inkling part of me that's afraid if he did it once he'd do it again."
"I won't let him do it again," Hope stomped her feet. Her anger towards Marcel was suddenly replaced by anger at Klaus.
"And what would you do to stop him," Marcel scoffed.
"I'd...I'd run away with you if he tried to banish you again."
"Don't be stupid," he bit. "There's no way I'd let you come with me. You're just a kid. You belong in New Orleans with your family."
Hope ran over to Marcel, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his abdomen as tears began their way down her cheeks. "You're my family," she cried. "I don't wanna lose you again, Marcy."
Marcel bent down on one knee and pulled the girl into a hug as she cried against his neck. "Hey, now," he cooed. "I'm not going anywhere. I was just saying that was a fear of mine. It doesn't mean it's actually going to happen. It's probably never going to happen."
Marcel suddenly felt guilty about confiding in a little girl about his fears and decided as Hope relinquished all of her sorrow onto the collar of his shirt to never do it again.
"What's going on down here?" Marcel's eyes diverted over to the doorway where Freya stood.
"Sibling bonding," Marcel replied curtly. Although he appreciated Freya saving his life, he still hadn't forgiven her for her part in helping Kol torture him. It irked him to see her standing in the doorway then looking as if she belonged in the Mikaelson Compound when he didn't believe she deserved to call herself a Mikaelson.
"Anybody wanna clue me in?"
"Not really," Marcel stood up as Hope's tears began to stop. The young girl stared down at the floor, ashamed of having broken down in front of both her big brother and her Aunt.
"Hope is standing in the middle of the courtyard crying," Freya said, her eyes intensely focused on Marcel. "I think you should tell me what happened."
"It's none of your business,"
"Then how about you make it my business."
"How about you make me." Marcel stepped around Hope putting the girl behind him as he faced off with Freya.
Freya raised her hand and with a flick of her wrist, she sent Marcel flying into the balcony.
"No," Hope screamed. "Stop. Leave him alone."
"Get out of here, Hope," Freya ordered, ignoring the girl's pleas.
When Marcel got back to his feet, he vamped down to Freya, wrapping his hand around her throat and pinning her against the wall.
As Marcel bared his fangs to her, Freya used her magic to cause his body to seize up, releasing her and leaving him in a state of physical paralysis. Marcel's body fell limply to the ground. He could still see, hear, and feel everything but he couldn't move.
Hope ran over to her fallen brother. She grabbed his hand and felt a sense of relief when his fingers moved with her assistance. If he wasn't stiff then he wasn't dead.
"What did you do to him," Hope demanded.
"He's fine," Freya insisted. "It's a simple paralysis spell."
"End it. Let him go."
"I will when I figure out what to do with him."
A loud noise suddenly came from the entrance of the courtyard. Hope and Freya turned around to see three of the rogue werewolves standing in the doorway blocked only by the protection spell Freya had placed over the Compound.
"Don't worry," Freya assured her niece noting the girl's sudden fearful tensing. "I have a Protection Barrier up. We can get out but they can't get in."
"C'mon Mikaelsons," one of the wolves taunted. "Take this barrier down so we can finish this."
"How did they get so far in the city," Freya growled. "Where is Klaus?"
Freya's muttering about Klaus made Hope anxious. Where was her dad? Where was her mom? Where were the wolves that were supposed to be protecting the city from the rogue werewolf invasion? Had they all been defeated already?"
Freya held up her hands and caused the three wolves to drop to the ground screaming from the spell making their brains boil.
Wanting to take advantage of the opening, Hope said, "Keep 'em like that. I'll be back. I'm going to find my mom and dad."
"What?" Freya asked but before she could get a reply, Hope vamped out of the Compound past the incapacitated wolves and down the street. Freya screamed after her but it was too late, Hope was gone.
With a snap of her fingers, Freya snapped the necks of the three wolves and ran to the Compound opening. She looked in every direction but couldn't see any sign of Hope. The girl moved too fast for Freya's human eyes to keep up with so she didn't know where she'd gone.
Freya looked over at Marcel still lying on the ground and knew she didn't have a choice. If she was going to get Hope back she was going to need his help. She raised her hand and released the spell keeping Marcel paralyzed.
When Marcel had the ability to move back, he jumped to his feet. "Where did she go?" He asked having heard it the moment Hope left.
"I don't know but you have to find her before one of these wolves do."
Marcel remembered the night he fought off three wolves with Hope. She survived then but she had him and Sebastian with her to help fight. He didn't want to think about what would happen to her out there on her own.
"Alright," he said marching out the Compound. "Let's go."
"No, I have to stay here to let her back in the Compound in case she comes back. You go on without me. We can finish our fight later after we know she's safe."
-M-
Klaus's left hand was wrapped around the throat of one werewolf while his right hand plunged into the ribcage of another. He gripped the wolf's heart and ripped it out before throwing it across the ground and shoving his hand into the chest of the other wolf.
"Hayley," Klaus yelled out across the battlefield. In the abandoned side of town, he, Haylee, and Rebekah had their hands full killing rogue wolves. "How are you holding up?"
Hayley mournfully broke one of the wolves' spine across her knee and threw their body to the ground. Most of the wolves they fought came from Travis's pack but every once and a while she would have to fight one of her ex-wolves. Whenever she recognized a face like the one she'd just fought, it would break her heart. She wished she wouldn't have to fight her own people but that was the way things were.
"I'm staying alive," Hayley yelled back. "What about you?"
"I'm the Original Hybrid, love. How do you think I'm doing?" Klaus chuckled as he killed another wolf. "What about you, Rebekah?"
Rebekah spat out a disgusting chunk of wolf flesh from between her bloody fangs and said, "Other than the disgusting taste of dog, I'm alright, brother. Though after this, I'm never going to complain about drinking AB neg again."
"No need to dirty yourself up with this lot, little sister. Most of them are fangless. They should be easy to kill. They're basically human."
"Don't get too cocky," Hayley yelled. "The sun's starting to set."
"And?"
"Tonight's a full moon."
Klaus released a deep growl. A full moon would mean Travis's pack would transform and they would have to fight actual wolves, an ordeal Klaus was not looking forward to. Enraged at the thought, Klaus bit into the nearest wolf's throat and pulled out her jugular.
"Let's end this quickly then," Klaus yelled to Hayley.
"My thoughts exactly."
As they fought, they started to realize that they were hardly putting a dent in the number of wolves coming into the city. They knew then that Travis must have combined his pack with other rogue packs to get his numbers that high. Haylee knew they weren't going to be able to get rid of all the wolves before nightfall so, with no other choice, she decided to pull her men out of the fight before they had too many casualties.
"Everyone, get back to the Compound!" Hayley screamed as another dead body dropped from her hold.
All of her Hyrbids sped off in different directions away from the fight.
Rebekah, Hayley, and Klaus vamped onto the top of a nearby building looking down at the sight of Travis's wolves storming into their city.
"We failed," Klaus bit.
"We didn't fail," Hayley corrected. "We can hold them off at the Compound until daybreak and start again then. But we need more people. Right now they outnumber us 4 to 1. We have more Hybrids so we have an advantage there but if they ever realize they can take my guys out by ganging up on one of them at a time they'll have us."
"We need to get the witches on our side," Klaus stated. "I'll talk to the Dupeauxs and have Freya speak with-" Through the corner of his eye, Klaus spotted a fight going on on the ground beneath them. From 50 feet in the sky, he recognized the assailant fighting a pair of Travis's wolves. "Marcel," he barked and without a second thought, he jumped from the roof down to the ground on top of one of the venomous brutes that had their clutches around Marcel. He yanked out the wolf's heart and quickly spun around and chopped his hand through the neck of the other wolf, knocking his head clean off his shoulders.
From the moment he saw Klaus, Marcel stopped fretting about the wolves and started worrying about Klaus. He didn't expect to find him while he was about looking for Hope. In fact, he was doing his best to avoid him when he wandered into the sea of wolves crashing into the city.
Klaus grabbed Marcel by the collar of his shirt and pulled him inches away from his face. "I told you to stay in the Compound," he growled. "What are you doing here?"
Marcel didn't have time to think of a lie before he spotted another werewolf coming up behind Klaus. He opened his mouth to warn his father when Haylee appeared and snapped the wolf's neck. Klaus turned around just in time to see the wolf's body hit the ground. Rebekah jumped down to Haylee's side staring longingly at Marcel. She wanted to take up for him being out there but she knew her speaking on Marcel's behalf would only make her brother angrier.
Seeing that the battleground was not the optimal place to reprimand his son, Klaus said, "You are in for one hell of a lecture when we get back to the Compound."
Klaus released Marcel's shirt and grabbed him by the upper arm. As Klaus was about to speed off to the Compound, Marcel said, "Wait, we can't go back yet." Marcel considered not telling them the truth about why he was out of the Compound but he knew if there was one thing they deserved to know it was the truth. "Hope's out here somewhere."
Klaus and Hayley stood still at the news.
"Hope is out here?" Hayley's voice trembled. She looked anxiously around in circles as if she was afraid to spot her daughter in the middle of one of Travis's groups of wolves fighting for her life.
"What is she doing out of the Compound?" Klaus screamed at Marcel.
Marcel quickly answered, "She got scared after she saw some wolves that made their way to the Compound. I think she was afraid something had happened to you two."
In a sudden fit of rage, Hayley slammed her fist into the building next to her, cracking the concrete wall. "She's gonna get herself killed out here."
"We will find her," Klaus reassured them both. "Marcel, go back to the Compound and wait there. If she comes back, call me and make sure you keep her there."
"Klaus, no. I should be out here looking for her."
"Looking for who?"
Everyone's attention turned to Elijah walking confidently through a couple of the straying rogue wolves. When the wolves tried to attack him, they were surprised by Kol speeding through and ripping out their hearts. Josh lingered cautiously behind.
"Hope is somewhere out here in this mess," Haylee informed Elijah. His once cool demeanor immediately disappeared.
"Which way did she go?" He asked anxiously.
"We don't know," Marcel answered. Shamefully staring at the ground he said, "I was indisposed when she ran off."
"What do you mean indisposed," Elijah barked. He was too worried about the safety of his niece to be concerned with etiquette.
"I got into a spat with Freya and she pinned me down with some kind of paralysis spell so when Hope ran off I wasn't able to see which way she went.
"So she could be anywhere in this bloody city," Kol grunted. "Great. You had one job, to keep her in the Compound, and you couldn't even do that."
Quickly coming to Marcel's defense, Klaus said, "Maybe if you were here helping us hold off the wolves we could've killed them all already."
"Excuse me for wanting to have a moment to myself away from this insane family."
"That is enough," Rebekah yelled. "I'm sure we'd all loved to tear into each other for whatever reason right now but we've got more important things to worry about. We have to find that little girl before it's too late."
"Rebekah's right," Hayley spoke. "Let's separate. We'll cover more ground that way."
Before his family could go their separate ways, Klaus said, "Call me the moment you spot her."
Klaus still had Marcel in his hold as everyone else vamped off.
"You go home," he ordered.
"But, Hope-"
"We have enough people looking for Hope. In the next hour, every wolf in this city will have the ability to kill you, and trust me, they will try."
"Then I'll find Hope and take her back with me."
The sound of Klaus's hand making contact with the back of Marcel's jeans echoed throughout the empty street. Marcel stood in silent shock of Klaus's public chastisement but Klaus's eyes looked just as stern as ever.
"This is not a discussion, Marcel, and I do not want to tell you this again. Go home and stay there. Your safety is just as important to me as Hope's and I can't go off looking for her if I'm worried about what monster could have you. Do you understand me?"
Marcel wanted to argue but he didn't put it past Klaus to give him another spank if he objected again.
"Fine," Marcel agreed. "I'll go."
"To the Compound," Klaus wanted to clarify.
Marcel growled out, "I'll go to the Compound."
"Good," Klaus released Marcel's arm, and his eyes finally softened as he saw the petulant look on his son's face. "I'm sorry, Marcel, but I don't want anything to happen to you."
Marcel sped off away from Klaus first. He went back to the Compound as promised. Dead wolf bodies littered the ground surrounding the Compound and Freya stood in the opening of the courtyard holding two wolves outside the door on the ground with her magic. Seeing the wolves struggling to get back up, Marcel sped over to them and ripped out their hearts.
"You're back," Freya sighed. "Did you find Hope?"
"Not yet. I found the others though. We're going to look for her now. You hold down the fort until we get back."
Before Freya could respond, Marcel vamped back off away from the Compound with a proud smirk on his face. He went to the Compound like he promised Klaus. He never agreed on staying.