Introductions
"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness." ~Desmond Tutu
….
Once upon a time, boy met girl, they fell in love, had beautiful children together, and lived long fulfilling lives. Happily ever after.
This was not that kind of story, or anything like that. Let's try again. We will start from the beginning or at least the most relevant place. A hospital somewhere in the middle of Texas. Some years prior.
Our main character, a once human girl who has just lost her husband of five years and their small child. An accident. Or so they told her.
They had been in a terrible accident, car flipped multiple times, the child died upon impact, her husband died on the way to the hospital, and she miraculously survived it all. She knew better. There was no miracle here. It had not been an accident.
She could hear the heartbeats of the people in her room, as they talked quietly thinking she was asleep. They didn't know how to break it too her, to tell her of everything that had been lost, to asked her what she was going to do next. The woman didn't have answers for them either. Not now, not after her discovery.
The man responsible had come by to see her, to explain to her why it had to happen. Of what her husband had been doing, that is was just business. She'd never forgive either of them for it. Her husband had made his bed, and she had to lay in it. She had to feel the consequences of his actions, the loss.
She would never get to see her son smile again, never hear his laughter, never get to hold him, that she would never see him grow up, make friends, fall in love. It was this horrible realization that set her off. Well actually caused her to turn it off. After everything, she never wanted to feel again. Never wanted to love or be loved again.
Her heart wouldn't be able to handle it.
The sun burned her, it mocked her and laughed at her. She became confined to the darkness that stilled inside her heart. And for five whole years she lived this way successfully. Uncaring, unfeeling, perfectly content with being a shell of what she once had been.
She disappeared from the lives of the people she had once called family, those who had once loved her allowing herself to become nothing more than a sort of painful memory. Memories only whispered behind closed doors where no one could hear them. The woman didn't need them anymore.
She wondered around the region aimlessly for the better part of five years. Her life had little value then, she was disinterested from the world around her. She fed carefully, never killing her victims, and never leaving any trails that she was still alive. For what it was worth she had died from her grief of losing them. And she had, she was especially on the inside.
Everything changed for her when she met him. He became her friend taught her to feel alive again, gave her back the ability to walk in the daylight to soak in the sun. Marcel was the possibly the greatest thing that ever happened to her in her undead life. He brought her back, helped her cope with the pain.
She had heard rumors that New Orleans was the place to go for their kind, that there was peace there. Without her humanity that part hadn't actually mattered, she just wanted a place to drink away her pain.
Marcel had gone out with a few of his most trusted that night, whispers of a new vampire in town. A beautiful one at that too from the way some of the nightwalkers were talking about her. It had sparked his curiosity even if just a little bit. They were not wrong.
He had been alive for so long now that when he first saw her, he could see there was a deep pain buried under those cold green eyes. Marcel had also encountered enough new vampires to tell that at some point she had flipped the switch however she was the must controlled out of all of them.
She had ignored them when they entered the bar, like she did with most people. All she wanted from the night was to drink until an hour before dawn and then find somewhere to hide away for the rest of the day before leaving the tourist trap of New Orleans. The charm had been lost on her only hours after arrival.
It wasn't until he sat on the stool next to her did she even acknowledge his presence. Marcel had admired her effort too, she didn't even say anything to him just ordered another drink and continued on in silence. No one had ever tried this hard to ignore him, or anyone at that. He figured that if he hadn't sat next to her then she probably would have spent the whole night in silence. It made him even more interested.
"The next rounds on me." He declared to the bartender as he made motion to include his group of men and the woman sitting next to him.
It was at this point that she finally turned to stare at him, a slight smirk on her lips, eyes mirthful. "I hope you are aware I'm drinking the most expensive scotch here." Marcel laughed then, at least she had good taste.
"Is that so?" His brow raised with the sarcastic commentary and her grin just widened. It had a bit of a feral edge. But she didn't speak.
They sat in silence for a long time after that, neither really made a move to speak. She stayed until last call before giving him a silent nod in farewell. Unaware of what he would eventually become to her.
Marcel watched her go, already planning. There was something about her, about the way she held herself, something that made him want to save her. He didn't know why.
He wouldn't regret his choice to do so.
She stayed in New Orleans for a day longer than intended because of a mishap with over sleeping and missing her chance to leave at night. So she ran into him again at a different bar on the opposite side of town.
"Drinking til last call again?" She rose her glass then shot the whole thing back, standing this time.
"Actually I'm leaving, just needed one last drink." She still needed to get a hunt in before doing so. But she wasn't going to tell him that.
"It must be a long way if you're leaving only hours after dark." Her eyes narrowed dangerously, he knew what she was. She could tell by the look in his own eyes, by the tone he used. The woman let out a huff.
"The best travelling is at night mind you." A terrible painful lie. She missed the sun, missed the warmth on her skin, and missed the colors of sunrise.
Marcel let out a sigh, he couldn't believe he was about to do this. "Tell me, to you miss the sunlight?" How could he know, how could he see through her like that? She didn't understand.
"Perhaps, do you?" So she didn't know, she did not realize that he could walk around in the sun. Marcel gave her a sad sort of look.
"I can't miss what I never lost." Her eyes widened a little more, could he? No that was impossible, she had never met another one of their kind who could walk in the sun. Admittedly she also hadn't gone out of her ways to meet other vampires either though.
"How?" She demanded, her voice hoarse. This was something she needed to know.
Marcel smirked then, he had her. "Drink with me." He made motion for her to sit in the chair she had stood from earlier. With great reluctance she sat, her eyes never left his. She watched as he took a slow sip from his drink. Her eyes narrowed.
"Tell me how you can walk in the sun." His smirk grew.
"First, I think introductions are in order. Who are you?" She let out a sigh, who was she? For the most part she didn't know anymore. Hadn't in a long time. Then she let out a laugh, a broken careless laugh.
"I don't think I know anymore." Her answer had startled him, could she really be that far gone? To not even know one's self. He was actually surprised that she hadn't rampaged through the Quarter then, but he also was questioning if her humanity was actually off or if she had just chosen not to care anymore. There was a difference.
She ordered another drink then. It has been such a long time since someone had asked her that, it brought forth a side of herself that she had chosen to put away. So another drink was in order. Not like the alcohol would have a lasting impact on her liver anyway.
They resumed sitting in silence after the admittance. She stared into the depths of her drink, thinking over the question now. Who was she?
At one point, she would have gladly claimed to be a teacher, wife and a mother. But now what was she, damned for all eternity and trapped in darkness. Marcel watched her collect her thoughts. She had officially captured his full attention.
New vampires didn't act like this. And he had no doubt that she was new, maybe turned a year or two ago. Which couldn't hold a candle to the centuries he had lived.
Finally after several long intervals of silence she finally spoke, as if she had decided the best answer to his question. As if she was deciding then who she was going to be now.
"Vivian Williams, that's what my name was." When I was human, words she didn't dare speak and words he could hear clear as day. Marcel actually gave her a smile then, not a smirk, or a grin, an actual smile.
"A pleasure. You can call me Marcel." She gave him a cautious nod, still unsure about his intentions here. He called over the bartender and ordered them another round.
Slowly, after the new drinks are poured he raised his glass too her to toast. His expression his carefree as she toast back. "Cheers." He calls before downing his drink and standing. Marcel extends his hand too her.
Vivian accepted the outstretched had with a bit of reluctance. She still didn't know if she could trust him, but she wanted to know about this supposed ability to walk in the sun. The thought that she could perhaps feel the warmth against her skin made her heart flutter anxiously. It had been so long.
"Tell me how long have you been traveling during the dark?" How long have you been a vampire? She knows that's what he means, how could she not?
"Five years." Her tone is bitter and spat out as if they have burned her tongue to speak them.
So she had been a vampire longer than he thought, but nevertheless she was still a baby compared to him. And compared to some of his own nightwalkers that was such a short time. But for some reason he had decided she deserved a chance to feel the warmth of the sun again. Marcel felt for her and he didn't even know her full story yet. He would soon.
"What happened?" How had she become one of them? Vivian stopped in her tracks, for the first time in five long years those memories came flooding back along with the parts of herself she had let go of.
Marcel waited then, he can tell that his question has brought up some sort of painful memory. Then in a soft frail tone she answered.
"It was just business." Vivian muttered the words that have haunted her since that day. His brow shot up at that. Because that did not sound good at all.
He led her to a bench along the canal that overlooked the Mississippi, the lights from the lamppost reflected on the water. Could be romantic if it were a different pair. But this wasn't that kind of setting and they were not a pair.
She took a deep breath, and told her story to an almost perfect stranger. "I was married before the turn, my husband and I had a son, not even a year old. My husband worked for a big company, we were happy." Her words caught in her throat. Vivian took another deep breath before continuing.
"My parents live in Mississippi, we were coming to visit them… well I and my son were. My husband was dropping us off on his way to a big business meeting. It had been a last minute decision on my part." She closed her eyes then, the memory forever etched into her brain.
"It was dark and had been raining earlier, my husband saw someone standing in the road he swerved to miss them. The car hit a slick spot on the road and he lost control of the vehicle. We flipped several times, our son was sleeping he died on first impact." Her eyes opened then and she stared out at the water the scene playing in front of her eyes.
"I had a broken collar bone, fractured ribs and several other life threatening injuries. The person my husband had swerved to avoid hitting pulled me out of the car through the broken window forced his blood down my throat then snapped my neck." Her fist clenched against her legs, she finally looked down into her lap.
"My husband had died on the way to the hospital. I woke up in the hospital hours later where I was then informed what had happened to me by the very same man. He gave me a blood bag to drink, made sure I drank it then just left me there." Vivian looked up at him then, his expression was unreadable.
"He told me it was just business, as if that excused the fact that he had just killed us all. That I was now damned, that my baby was gone." And then finally she just cried, tears she had been holding back for five long years. Feelings she hadn't had to deal with in all that time just flooded her senses and the dam gave way.
Marcel hadn't known what to expect when he asked her the question. But that certainly wasn't it. He laid his hand on her shoulder as an offer of comfort as if it would help. His decision finally made.
He wasn't going to let her suffer any longer. She wasn't going to be alone anymore. Not as long as he lived. No one would ever lay a finger on her as far as he was concerned. It was the start of a long and beautiful friendship.
She would become one of his most trusted, even when she wasn't there physically he knew he would always be able to count on her. It's just who she was.
Vivian Williams had been many things in her life, some good and some not as good. But she had always been a faithful friend. Living or dead. She coveted those she chose as friends, protected them.
Marcel was her first friend as a vampire, and he would continue to be so for the rest of her life. She would even come to consider him family. No one would dare hurt her family. Vivian would never allow that to happen again.
She had trusted him, a perfect stranger with her story and in return he had gifted her a daylight ring. He had given her back the ability to walk in the sun. Marcel had earned her respect and she stayed in the quarter with him, helping him build his kingdom for several years.
Eventually he had to let her go, she wanted to travel, to see the world, to enjoy the sun and he wanted her too. Because he knew she would always come back to New Orleans, to him. It was home to her now. She would never abandon home, Vivian wasn't that type of person. Marcel loved her for it too.
She was still pure, unlike him. Vivian could still see that there was good in humanity. Even when she forgot her humanity she still valued human life, still remembered what it was to loss those most important to you. Marcel couldn't always see it like that. He needed her, just as much as she needed him. Just not like that sounded.
There was no romantic feelings between them, there never had and never would be. They just valued their friendship more.
Eight years later he would drive her to the airport laughing the whole way, never feeling like it was the end. Because it wasn't not for her, no it was a beginning. Because thirteen years after turning she was finally free of her guilt and she could move past what she lost. The pain had dulled over the years and she was finally ready to let go.
She kissed his cheek making him promise to keep her updated on the happenings of their home. He rolled his eyes telling her not to worry. And life spun on. Marcel did keep her up to date as promised and she kept him informed of where she was for the most part.
Neither one aware of what was to come, nor of whom she would meet next. Perhaps if he had, he would have given her a little more warning then. But they didn't and they remained in their ignorance of things to come.
XOXOX
Sometimes story ideas just come to me and are easy and I have to write them down. Like this. I've been dreaming this story for a week now and decided to put it to words. This will not be a MarcelxOC story. They're just friends, very close friends, but friends regardless. This actually probably going to end up being an ElijahxOC story so yah. Also I've only seen the first half of season one of the Originals so I'm not really sure what I going to do about that yet. So just hang in there with me.
The story starts several years before the Vampire Dairies does. Haven't pieced the timeline together yet just know it starts at least twenty years before the show. So the accident takes place somewhere between the late sixties to the nineties. Yes I know that's a huge time, but I'm giving myself something to work with while I figure out all the details.
I am still working on the next bit for "Days in the Sun" if any of you have read that. It's not going as smoothly as I wanted so it will probably be awhile before I update that particular story again.
Thank you so much for taking your time to read this!
Please let me know what you think!
Sincerely, La'Rae