Heavy Hollowness
"What the fuck Rebekah?"
She heard the voice on the other end sigh exasperatedly. "I'm so sorry Persephone, it's just Elijah and Nik suddenly-"
"-I don't give a crap what your self righteous brothers 'suddenly' did, you don't just fucking leave without so much as a goodbye. It's been days, and all I have done is lay around doing nothing." Persephone bit her tongue, deciding against telling Rebekah what she did last night, no one could know of that. No one could ever know that she used those kinds of things.
She could hear Rebekah sigh. "I know…"
The blonde was quiet, and her tone was distant. Persephone could hear the unsaid words hanging in the air on the other side of the line, and felt as though there was something Rebekah wasn't telling her. "Did you find anything that might be useful?" She prompted.
"Hm, yes, Elijah found some old novella's that he thinks could be of use, I myself am not so sure. Nik wants to continue the look for more texts in Mystic Falls; I, however, think that instead of looking for dusty old books, we should find knowledge in others instead. I believe this to be more practical." Rebekah stated, her voice sure, but tinted with irritation.
"Why don't you split up?" Persephone suggested what made the most sense.
"Yes, that's exactly what we are doing." Rebekah answered instantly. "Elijah and Nik will go around, allowing them to cover more ground. I will be coming back to New Orleans immediately. I have things to attend to."
Her tone of voice was strange, and struck a chord. Persephone still felt as though there was something she was hiding. "What kind of matters?"
And she took a breath, paused… No answer.
"Rebekah, why are you coming back to New Orleans?" Persephone asked once again, more urgently. It wasn't as though she didn't want Rebekah coming back, the house so big and quiet was closing in on her with each passing day. But something was off, and it was worrying.
"Um, it was completely irresponsible of us all to go off without telling you and leaving you without protection. That's why I am coming back." She answered with a sense of conviction.
But Persephone scoffed. "That's funny. I do seem to have a protector, in the form of a witch named Freya."
"Freya…" Rebekah started, but her voice trailed off, clearly at the surprise of her knowing about their secret sister.
"She did seem rather eager to help, in her own way." Persephone noted, ignoring Rebekah whispering on the other end of the line. "I can see the resemblance between you and her, but she definitely has Elijah's… charm."
"Persephone, we haven't seen Freya since six months ago." Rebekah started, a strange tone to her voice. "She just disappeared, we didn't know what happened to her."
And Persephone stood, starting to pace around her room, feeling restless. "Well she made it seem as though you all very well knew where she was. She said that you'd know where to find her." She ran her fingers through her matted hair, running over to her curtains to rip them open, however all was dark outside in the dead of night. The partygoers were away sleeping off their hangovers, and all she could see was her deranged reflection.
"Hm."
"Rebekah!" She mouthed off into the phone, she was distracted, and Persephone needed her attention, and needed answers. "Why did she say that? She implied that she might be able to help me. Why? How do you think she could help? Does she know something we don't?" The questions came pouring out of her mouth into the phone, but to no avail.
"Listen, I have to go, but I'll be back by tomorrow morning. Just stay put, and try not to lose your mind."
This made her agitated, and a rush of frustration flooded over Persephone. "'Try not to lose my mind'? Rebekah what do you-"
The line went dead.
She furiously wiped at tears of despair that pricked at the corners of her eyes as she set her phone down on her bed. The air was icy, biting at her everywhere, breath frosting slightly in the air. Uncomfortably cold, her skin felt raw, and she could still feel the scratches that lined her legs, the bloody scars that mapped themselves across her palms, and the blossoming bruise that was forming where that needle pricked her vein only last night.
God, she needed to feel warmth. Persephone was too cold. She walked over to the fire and poked at it, trying to reignite it, sparks flew, and it eventually flared up, radiating soothing heat. And so she rubbed her hands over it until they burned. Picking up the opened bottle of vodka that sat on the mantle, she chugged it, all the way, until her throat was numb, and insides burning.
Persephone needed warmth, even if it was painful.
A sleepy haze suddenly overtook her, but she fought to keep it away, because it meant falling asleep, and that therefore meant either dreaming memories, or dreaming whatever the fuck she had dreamt the night before. And her mind couldn't take it, she felt too fragile.
Her stomach groaned, and she realized that she needed to eat. Promptly leaving her room, she stormed into the halls until she got to the outer corridors that opened out into the courtyard. Persephone went to descend the stairs, but she saw something that stopped her in her tracks - Hayley, with two other people. Unknown people. People that she automatically couldn't trust. What the fuck was she thinking, bringing them in?
Stepping back, and hiding behind a corner in the dark, she looked out upon them, and strained her ears to try and hear their conversation.
"Okay, so this is the courtyard, and as you can see, you're kind of out in the open, so maybe try and keep away from here. Stay in your room, and if you need to leave, stick to the shadows. I'll compel a servant who will do anything for you on the down low." Hayley explained to the two strangers, her arms crossed.
"Or, I could just magic whatever we need to our room." One of the strangers, a curly haired blonde girl, said, her voice sour in response to Hayley's hospitality. "I'm apart of the Gemini coven, so I'm pretty strong."
Oh god, the Gemini coven. Isaac and Willow were from that coven. Persephone felt panic slowly seep into her core. And damn, she knew it was ridiculous, why was she basing her opinion of this girl upon two people she had known a couple of centuries ago just because they have a distant connection?
But that didn't stop her from cursing Hayley. What the fuck are you doing?
"You might have to abstain from magic, actually." Hayley shot back quickly. "When they come back from their 'trip', they'll definitely more or less sense that magic is being used, especially Klaus. I don't know how they do it, probably something to do with being the children of the original witch." She paused. "Plus, Kol is always around here somewhere, and there is Persephone, and I have no idea what she is capable of, but-"
"Having your life linked to the whole of the supernaturals population is bound to give you some mad quirks." The dark haired man interrupted with a tired voice. Persephone felt a rush of anger and betrayal at this. Hayley had told them about her. She had trusted her, and Hayley had just told these random strangers about her, about her life. Hayley clearly had no idea how reckless that had been. "Listen, we really appreciate this Hayley, but right now, Liv and I are exhausted, so maybe can you give us a briefing tomorrow morning or something, its been a really long week."
"When you're on the run from your temporarily locked up magic sucking psycho brother, you tend to have a few sleepless nights." The sour girl, Liv, continued, pursing her lips. Good God, 'magic sucking psycho brother'? Crazies clearly had continued on in the Gemini bloodline, and that fact just made Persephone angrier with Hayley.
"Okay sure, Tyler, Liv, follow me." Hayley turned around and started towards a door. She stopped however, and spoke, without turning back. "Another pro tip, you might want to be careful with the volume in which you decide to speak…" Her voice hushed down to but a whisper. "The walls have ears here, and you never quite know who is listening at any time."
Persephone felt her heart skip and beat, and she sprinted back to her bedroom, the idea of food completely abandoned at Hayley's ambiguous words. As she entered the room, she slammed the door and turned the lock with it, although in a house of vampires, witches, werewolves, and hybrids, it was only giving her a false sense of security, nothing more.
"Have you seen Kol?"
She wildly lifted her eyes towards the source of the alien voice, finding Marcel standing by her bedroom window. They had met briefly, but hardly knew each other, so what the hell was he doing in her room?
But more importantly, why was he asking her about Kol?
Persephone swallowed dryly. "Kol? I… He-"
"I know your relationship with him is strained, I got a sense of that when I told him about you and-"
And she felt as though she had been slapped. "You told Kol I'm here?" She blurted out in absolute disbelief.
He ran his hand over his head and down his neck, looking uncomfortable, but he wasn't backing down. "Yes, and now he has gone missing. This is my city and Kol going on a blood thirsty rage doesn't bode well with anyone." He was so ignorant to what he had done.
"Do you understand what you have just done?" Persephone asked, slowly and quietly.
He stilled. Her predatory tone made him hesitate.
"By telling Kol that I am here?"
He didn't answer.
"He will go on a blood thirsty rage." She started towards him deliberately. "Kol will murder, he will burn, and he will paint the town in blood."
She saw a flicker of panic in his eyes. She could tell that he had seen Kol do those exact things before, and it just made her more furious.
"And then he will come for me." Clenching her fists, and twitching in rage, Persephone glowered at the stupid vampire who didn't know enough. "He will come for me, because I left him, I left Kol in 1702. I left him daggered, and I left him without a companion. Do you know why that means he is coming for me, Marcel?"
He nodded in realization, and dreadful understanding. "You left him before he could leave you." Pausing, Marcel looked away, and shook his head slowly, completely thwarted. "No one who Kol brings into his life gets to leave him."
She choked the word out through the sick knot in her throat and through the heavy ache in her chest. "Correct." Slowly stepping back and away, Persephone felt tears flood her eyes, her stomach thrash about in her abdomen, and her mind pound against her skull painfully.
"I didn't know."
His voice was one of guilt over his mistake. He knew that Kol was a liability, to everything. Marcel knew that if he hadn't told Kol of Persephone, then Kol wouldn't have been a problem. Marcel knew it was all his doing. But she looked at him, and shook her head, because it was easy for her to be angry with the man who had destroyed her chance of finally getting through the biggest obstacle of her life, however that was too easy. It was her own fault, she should've told Marcel herself to not tell Kol of her. And she don't know why she didn't. Maybe because she thought that Kol wasn't ever going to be a problem again, Rebekah herself said he was going to leave to Miami. Persephone just hadn't really paid any mind to it.
It was her entire fault and she had to pay the price.
"I thought Kol was going to be in another state. It's my fault, Marcel, I should've told you."
Letting out a sigh, Marcel cracked his neck from side to side. "Well, there's no point in standing here and discussing who's to blame, we need to find a solution, fast." He announced, walking forward with purpose.
"Well then we must call Freya." She replied quickly, a plan formulating in her mind.
He gave her a quizzical look, tipping his head to the side. "Why?"
She licked her lips, thinking. "Because… We can have her track Kol and then we can-"
There was a curt knock on the door. It creaked open without prompt, and Hayley stepped in. "I doubt there'll be any need for that." She interjected, crossing her arms.
"Why?" Marcel repeated, a dubious look on his face, his eyebrows furrowing faintly.
A smirk of disbelief came upon Hayley's face. "Because Cami just dumped an out-cold Kol into the entrance." Persephone's jaw fell open, she felt her stomach settle somewhat, because at least they knew where the hell he was, and she could get onto the next step of her plan easier. "She said he started trashing her bar after an angry phone call with Rebekah. Cami pumped him full of vervain, and held him over night before dumping him here, she said he'll be out for another few hours."
The sick feeling came back, and Persephone's heart felt heavy with dread. What this Cami said was exactly how she thought Kol would react. It was extreme and terrifying and uncontrollable.
"Does anyone want to fill me in?" Hayley asked, her voice irritant, clearly over not being told much. But Persephone wasn't about to tell her anything, not after she brought in those two impostors and told them of her. Her own life was for her to tell others, Hayley had no right.
Storming forward, Persephone grabbed Hayley by the shoulders, taking her at surprise. Staring straight at her, as eye contact always made what she was about to do more effective, the brunette watched her in shock. "Call Freya, tell her she needs to take the protective boundary down so I can run, tell her it's not safe for me here anymore." And she watched as Hayley's face flushed, and her eyes glazed over. "Run."
She stepped away, and sprinted out the room. Persephone ran over to her bag, completely ignoring Marcel's stunned stare, and went to haphazardly stuff anything that could fit into her backpack. "What are you doing? How did you compel her?"
She blew out air through her teeth. "I can't ever see Kol again, you wouldn't understand Marcel, but I have to run now, I can't stay here with him." Her mind rushed with a flurry of plans, places to go, routes to take, somewhere to hide. Somewhere she would be safe.
"We can manage Kol, you're panicking, we can't afford to have you panic like this Persephone. Rebekah told me you'd do this."
His voice was steady, and wary as he watched her scramble around the room.
"Stop now."
But she rolled her eyes. Of course Rebekah had warned him about her tendency to run in the face of danger, she called it an 'unnecessary evil', Persephone called it the opposite, it was the exact reason as to why she was still alive.
Something she had learnt from her Mama, 'always stay on the balls of your feet, because they'll always be at your heels'.
"Rebekah doesn't know what she's talking about." She muttered, pulling out the draw of her bedside table and pouring the contents into her bag. The compulsion should've made her tired, but the rush of panicked adrenaline that was rushing through her body kept Persephone going. "Don't even try to get in my way Marcel, because I'll just compel you like Hayley, I can compel anyone."
Turning to grab some clothes, she hit his chest, and he stopped her moving by tightening his hands around her upper arms, stilling her movements. "Don't do this, you're safer here."
Persephone thrashed about, struggling as she could to get out of his iron grasp. She looked up at him, fuming. "Don't. Test. Me." She warned harshly, baring her teeth at him.
"We can dagger him, he'll be neutralized and no longer a threat." He reasoned, trying to appeal the rational side of her that was being suppressed in that moment by her panic.
Sighing in annoyance, Persephone shook her head. "You know Rebekah will never let that happen again!" She retorted the truth that they both knew. "This is the only way-"
"-Rebekah will let it happen if she knows your life is in danger!" He yelled back, his hands gripping tighter and tighter around her arms in frustration. "You're safer here, and you know it."
Squeezing her eyes shut, Persephone felt her mind flood with memories that corresponded to the last time that she heard those exact words being spoken.
Western Spain - 1702
"You're safer here, and you know it." Kol retorted back to her suggestion that they should've left to Iceland sooner rather than later. "I bet they're close, and they are just trying to draw us out onto a ship, and they'll come on as crew, we won't be able to run anywhere, we'll be isolated out in the sea. Yes, I'm sure that's it." He muttered to himself, ignoring her pleas, as he paced back and forth in the small, cramped room.
He had been doing it for the past hour. The atmosphere was tense, all she wanted to do was sleep, but sleep brought back violent nightmares, and Persephone preferred to put up with the pain that being awake was. Licking the blood from her lips, she cleared her throat to get his attention. And she did, whilst he continued on walking back and forth. "Just… Sit, Kol, rest."
"I just don't understand, it's been two days for gods sake, why has the bleeding not stopped?" Kol exclaimed in reply, just as frustrated as Persephone was. "You should be better now, it doesn't make any bloody sense!"
"Kol, stop, please. I have a headache." She whispered meekly, just so tired, even the most mundane of tasks wracked her body in fatigue, but she refused to let myself sleep.
Persephone felt hot blood rise up her throat, and she let out a violent, spluttering cough, expelling thick clots of blood on the the pillow beside her. She felt hot tears sting her eyes, and her vision went blurry and red. She stared at the ceiling above and willed and willed herself to be stronger, get better, be stronger.
But it was so hard; Persephone had never felt so weak.
"Darling," she felt the bed sag down as Kol sat himself beside her, taking her hand, brushing sticky hair from her face, and wiping blood from her eyes. "You should sleep, you need your strength, okay?"
Persephone couldn't look at him, she couldn't stand for him to see the fear in her eyes, so she just stayed put, her eyes glued to the splintered wooden ceiling, and nodded. "You know I can't do that." She croaked back.
"Has this situation ever happened before though?"
She sighed. "Kol, you've already asked me a hundred times, no, it has never gotten this bad for this long before." Persephone's voice was coarse but hushed, and her tone agitated. She felt like utter shit, and was sick of him bombarding her with questions, and then forcing her to sleep. It wasn't just that sleep brought vicious nightmares, but she was scared. She truly felt like she was dying, and every time she was pushed to sleep, she was scared that it would be her last time awake. But she couldn't tell him that, she didn't know how he would react.
"So this is the worst it has gotten?"
Persephone nodded.
"Okay," He leveled his voice, and glanced out the window at the red orange sky lit up by the setting sun. "What about the second worst it has gotten? When was that?"
She split her thoughts, ignoring every part of her that was screaming in exhaustion and pain, in order to answer his question. Persephone had no idea why it mattered, but from his tone of voice she could tell he was on to something. "Maybe, a century ago, I was in Bavaria."
"What about the third worst?"
A lump formed in her throat. "It was after they killed Sam." She choked out, tears falling down her face.
He jumped up suddenly, and ran over to the chest of drawers, grabbing a small velvet bag. No. He couldn't… Not again. "Kol, please, not again I don't want to, I can't- I'd rather be in pain."
His face was concentrated, however, and her words went straight through him. "I don't care, you need to eat it. Trust me, I know–"
"-I'm scared, Kol!" Persephone blurted out. He stilled in his movement, and watched her with his doe brown eyes. Blinking back tears, she saw a flurry of emotions flash in his eyes. Soon enough, she was coughing out more blood, and he was by her side patting her on the back. When she had heaved it all out, she rolled to her back, and looked up at him. "I don't know what is happening," she started, voice thick because intense fear was clouding everything, "I don't know if… I'm dying, if this is the end for me."
He shook his head. "No, no, no. I know why you're sick, I'm going to make it better, I promise Persephone." Kol grabbed the bag from the table, opened it, and lifted the little spoon. At the sight of the brown powder Persephone gagged in disgust. "Just eat it, and you'll be normal again when you wake." He brought the spoon to her mouth.
"Why? At least tell me, before you drug me Kol. Then I'll eat it." She argued weakly, pushing it away.
He retracted his hand, his face serious. "You feel sick, because a gorgon has died."
"What…"
He sat down beside her. "Gorgons are not only linked to all other supernatural creatures, they are linked together. You are all distant relatives of each other, the same bloodline. So when one dies, you all get weaker, because you lose yet another link, yet another body to share the burden of the thousands of lives that weigh on your soul."
His words hit her like a brick. But it all clicked, and suddenly, everything made sense.
"Every time a gorgon dies, you will feel sicker, for longer, and it'll go away as it always does. But there will always be that little bit of strength you have lost, you aren't the same." He paused. "It makes it easier for the hunters to find you. The last gorgon will be so weak, making it simple for them in their power to destroy."
Persephone felt light headed. "When am I supposed to know… If I am the last?"
"I have no idea." He replied softly. "But it won't come to that."
He quickly brought his fingers to her mouth and forced her jaw open, shoving the spoon down and into her syrupy, clogged mouth. The mass of opium that gave her salvation against her pain, despite how much she hated it. Persephone coughed back however, he couldn't just drop a bombshell like that and expect her to go to sleep. She grasped his hand in her own and struggled, using all of her strength to pull the spoon from her mouth, whilst simultaneously coughing out blood and the powder. His face, he looked conflicted; guilty yet angry, and she just wanted to speak, to plead to him to let her stay awake. But it was no use, she was too weak, and him strong, and the mass fell down her throat, and she had no choice but to swallow it.
"I'm sorry Persephone." He pulled the utensil from her mouth and softly caressed her cheek as she felt the world slip away, and with that, the pain. "This had to be done, you must sleep." He said firmly, his eyes unreadable.
"Stay…" She murmured, reaching out for him, but missing as he stood.
"I can't, darling, for now. But I'll see you on the other side."
And as he walked from the room, he glanced back once; his face one of what Persephone thought was determination. As she passed out from the opium overdose but a moment later, she realized it could've been anything.
Anger. Sadness. Freedom. Guilt. Happiness.
Resignation.
Anything.
"Stop panicking and think reasonably."
With a heavy heart, she looked back up at Marcel. "I'll stay."
This took him off guard, and he raised his eyebrows at her, warning, seemingly unsure of whether she was playing him. Taking a deep breath, Persephone nodded.
"My mind is clear now, I know I was overreacting, okay? I know I'm safer here with everyone rather than out in the open alone." She shifted in her place, acutely aware of still being in his bruising grip. Noticing, he let go, and stepped back, still eyeing her suspiciously.
"So someone should probably go get Hayley…" He started.
"Yeah, I'll go get her now." Making her way towards the door, she could feel his eyes burning her back. Glancing back at him, irritated, Persephone scowled. "I'm not going to run, okay?"
He made a sound of understanding, and took out his phone, clearly wanting to make a phone call.
Walking up the corridor, Persephone could already see Hayley standing nearby the stairs, staring blankly ahead as she held her mobile to her ear.
"Just take the boundary spell down." She muttered forcefully into the speaker. Hayley hadn't noticed her presence, because of the compulsion she was entirely focused on doing what she had been told.
Persephone stood beside her, and bringing her lips to her ear, she whispered, "Apokteino to peripaton." Backing away, she waited for the moment the compulsion broke, and for the confusion to come.
Abruptly, she dropped her phone, letting it smash to the floor. Yet, Hayley remained standing, albeit wavering in her place, grasping onto the railing for support, and clutching her head as she squeezed her eyes shut tight. Letting out a long moan, her lips opened over so slowly, with her hazel irises hazy in bewilderment. However it seemed the minute her eyes hit Persephone, she regained her memory of what had just happened, and a fierce expression pinched her features as she stormed forward.
Shoving Persephone against the wall, Hayley growled at her face, keeping her hand firmly clutching at her shirt.
"What the hell did you do to me?" Hayley bellowed, her eyes glowing yellow, fangs poking out of her lips, and black veins crawling out onto her cheekbones.
Persephone held her hands up in surrender. "Calm down Hayley. I just compelled you to do some stuff, but I realized it was a mistake, and broke it before you could do anything." With her reasonable voice, she tried as she could reassure her. "I'm sorry, it was wrong, but I just panicked, and-"
"-Kol." She cut in, looking away in recollection, studying the floor beneath their feet as she thought.
"Yes."
"You were going to leave…" Hayley started softly.
Nodding, Persephone continued on where she had been interrupted, "I now know I was overreacting, I know I'm safer here. I'm staying."
Blinking, Hayley stepped down, releasing her shirt from her fingers. Looking at Persephone's, she narrowed her eyes, and tilted her head to the side. "Why did you overreact, though? Why did Kol trashing Cami's bar, her knocking him out, and dumping him here make you panic so much?"
Shifting from foot to foot underneath her skeptical eye, Persephone quickly shook her head. "That doesn't matter right now, just- just follow me."
Before she could ask any more questions, Persephone started down the corridor towards her room, and thankfully, Hayley's footsteps trailed closely behind, wordlessly. Swinging the door open, she found Marcel to be finishing up his phone call. Giving her a knowing look, and a nod of affirmation, he hung up.
"Who was that?" Persephone asked, wondering what important phone call he had to make when they had more pressing matters to deal with.
"Rebekah." He replied curtly. "She knows where Klaus keeps the daggers."
Jumping forward, Hayley looked between them, an expression of exasperation painting her face. "Can someone please tell me what's going on? Why do you need daggers?"
Giving Marcel a pained look across the room, he decided to answer. "Hayley, Kol has gone out of control, and he's too much of a liability. We need to neutralize him, even if it is just for now."
Shrugging, Hayley seemed to take this as the truth. "How can I help?"
Taking charge, Marcel straightened up, and made his way to the door. "I'll go get the daggers, Hayley, you go get Kol and take him to the downstairs bedroom, the one with the coffins."
Persephone snorted and rolled her eyes, incredulous at the fact that they had a bedroom that was known as the 'one with the coffins'. Although, it was no surprise, from what she had heard, Klaus seemed to get a bit dagger happy. So perhaps having coffins lying around was normal because they were probably used a lot.
However all the humor in the situation was gone when Hayley said those eight words.
"Persephone, can you come help me with Kol?"
She stilled. It felt as though all of the energy had just been sucked out of her, and she was about to pass out. The minuscule human part of her, it could feel her heart leap out of her chest and all of the air be knocked out of her lungs. Persephone's mouth dried, her eyes dampened, her hands in fists, and her mind was so overridden with thoughts and emotions that she could think of nothing but darkness.
All of that happened, because thought of even seeing him made her want to die.
And she was so fucking ashamed.
Persephone was so ashamed that he still had so much power over her, she was so ashamed that even the idea of her seeing him, even if he was unconscious, made her feel like she was right back at the beginning, when everything was taken away from her and she was left as a shell of the person she used to be.
No.
She wasn't going to let him do that to her. She wasn't going to let the past, the past that had destroyed her beyond repair, damage her any further. Persephone wasn't going to allow him that power.
"Okay."
Looking between the unsure looking Marcel and Hayley, Persephone nodded, feeling ironic at how ignorant they were as to how hard it was for her to say that simple, two-syllable word. She straightened herself, taking a deep, useless but to psych herself up, breath. Marcel had already gone to retrieve the dagger, and Hayley was halfway out the doorway when she turned back to glance at Persephone with raised eyebrows. "Come on." She encouraged, unaware of how much the next few moments were going to truly impact Persephone. But she didn't have the strength to tell her, so instead, she followed her wordlessly.
Persephone felt as though she was in a dream.
Her vision was foggy and her head light as she stumbled through the halls, down the stairs, and across the violently quiet courtyard to the entrance hall. All the while, Hayley was muttering unheard words back to Persephone, which she only registered as white noise, because nothing she was saying mattered.
She was about to see the one who had ruined her.
The one who had cast the blackest of shadows over her soul that light couldn't ever reign there ever again.
Persephone took seven more steps, as three seconds ticked by.
And there he was.
Lying limp on the carpet.
His arms and legs sprawled out in every which direction, on his stomach, his preferred way of sleeping.
His hair was exactly the same as when she last saw him, equally as purposefully messy as before.
And even though she had froze in the doorway meters away from his lifeless body, even though she was so far from him, she could see, she could hear, she could smell, everything.
Persephone could still hear his heavy steady breathing, she could still see the drool that was dribbling down his mouth, she could still hear him mumbling words of protest from his past and dreams, she could still smell the blood and amber and mint and sandalwood and alcohol that scented him, still see the way his body twitched ever so slightly, the way his fingers stretched out to grab for the nonexistent sheets, and the wisps of a smirk that painted his lips, the smirk that was so small that if you didn't know him, and know what to look for, it could be mistaken for a frown.
But Persephone knew what it was.
Because she knew him.
The man who was lying on the ground in front of her was the man who she thought she knew better than anyone, the man who Persephone gave her everything to, and she thought gave his everything to her.
The man who was lying on the ground in front of her was the man she used sleep next to, who she used to tell her thoughts, her worries, her nightmares, her demons.
The man who was lying on the ground in front of her was the man whose smile she used to study every time it appeared, the man whose features she used to try with all of her might to etch into her mind like a knife to skin, the man whose touch used to give her a jolt of electricity that made her feel so alive.
The man who was lying on the ground in front of her was the man who she spent only a few whirlwind years with, the man who whisked her away from the stark and scarring realities of her life, the man who carefully constructed a façade of happiness and ignorance and trust.
Yet, it was a façade.
None of it was real.
She didn't know it, but it was insanity. It wasn't happiness or ignorance or trust that he gave her.
He gave her pure, undiluted insanity.
And when Persephone looked back at it all, she felt such an intense hatred for him. It was ugly, a hideous, awful, revolting, lethal hate.
He gave her insanity, which was beautiful, so, so, beautiful.
It was so beautiful, so entirely intoxicating, that it became her whole world, her everything, the only thing that would ever matter to Persephone again.
Then he took it away.
Her insanity, which was as false as it was stunning.
He left her with nothing. And in that barren nothingness, a parasite grew, and it poisoned her with loathing and malevolence and everything in between. Those things filled the empty shell of what Persephone used to be, the empty shell that used to be full of such beauty, but became hollow the minute he took.
In a dazed state, with her mind screaming words of the past, present, and future, trembling to the tip of her fingers and toes, with her heart lodged in her throat, Persephone staggered past Hayley, and over to him. She stood tall by him, just as he had her so many times, and stared down.
Persephone wanted to make him feel the pain she felt when he took everything away from her. She wanted to tear her nails across his skin and scar him in the only way that she could, just like he did to her. She wanted to rip out his heart, because unlike her, he needed his to survive and she didn't. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs so he opened his eyes and she was the last sight he saw before she did all of the aforementioned things.
Never before had Persephone ever wanted to hurt someone so much.
And yet.
As she knelt down beside him, and reached out her hesitant hand, because she needed to know he was real, that he was really there. As the tips of her fingers grazed his lips, his cheek, his hair, Persephone's heart lurched. But the worst part was when his hand jerked, and made a grab for hers. The way he blindly threaded his fingers through her own, the way his thumb found the palm of her hand to gently stroke, the way he did all of those things despite being completely unconscious, the way he did them like it was a knee jerk reaction…
Persephone felt tears sting her eyes; she felt her heart burn as bile rose up her throat because she realized one sick thing.
She missed it.
Persephone missed him.
Everything.
Even if none of it was real, she missed the insanity.
"Persephone?"
Snatching her hand away, Persephone fell back, and away from him like she had been struck by lighting. Her composure quickly returned as she remembered the situation, and her eyes quickly dried, soon flickering to Hayley, who was near the archway, with wide eyes or concern. Persephone scrambled up to her feet, leaning against the wall, as her head pounded, struggling to reply.
"Are you okay?" She continued, tentatively walking towards Persephone.
Quickly nodding, she let out a false laugh, and fake smile. "Sure."
Holding her stare, Hayley seemed like she wanted to say something, however decided better, and quickly signaled towards Kol. "You take his legs."
Hayley lodged the crook of her elbows under him armpits, Persephone wrapped her hands around his ankles, and they lifted. It was easy enough, although he was tall, Hayley was a hybrid, and she was strong, so for once in her lifetime, Persephone didn't have to bear much weight.
As they made their way towards the coffin bedroom, she concentrated with all inside of her to push down her feelings, her sick and pathetic feelings, and ignored how the way in which they were carrying him meant that Kol, although with shut eyes, was looking directly at her.
It was a dark and dank space, windowless, and hardly a bedroom, only decorated with three coffins that lined one wall each, some brimming bookshelves, an armoire, a blood red carpet, and a dark wooden table by which Marcel stood with a dagger in his hand.
Looking up, he curtly walked towards the casket that was engraved with a large, 'KM', on the lid. Opening it to reveal the black interior, Hayley and Persephone eased him down into the cushioned box. Marcel closed one section off, and grabbed the dagger.
It happened quickly.
Persephone didn't know what she expected.
Maybe, she thought that just before Marcel stabbed Kol in the heart, his eyes would flicker open, and he would see her, and…
But that didn't happen.
Instead, she stood at the end of the coffin, and watched as Marcel slid the dagger into Kol's chest, causing his skin to quickly grey, and the veins and arteries all over his body to thicken. He was gone.
It all felt like a dream.
Because Persephone didn't feel hate, or anger, or sadness.
She just felt numb.
WELL THAT TURNED OUT DOUBLE TO WHAT I ORIGINALLY HAD. Okay, when I finished the chapter, it was around 3,300 words, and I wanted to make it longer, because I thought that would be too short. So I did. And then, boom, another 3,730 words appeared and the chapter became my longest ever. I'm sorry.
Anways, I hope you enjoyed that, please review and tell me what you thought of the beast of all chapters. Thank you for reading! X
Next Chapter – Split in the four parts (but won't be nearly as long as this). One part is from Caroline. She is visited by Klaus, who has prepared himself to say his goodbyes, and Caroline has no idea how to feel about it.
Elijah has heard from an ally of a powerful witch with special powers who he meets, believing she can help them.
Tyler and Liv discuss with each other about their actual purpose and the whole reason they're in New Orleans, and the measures they have to take to be able to finally be free.
Rebekah has to figure out what to do with Kol, and once she does, and she then hastily avoids Marcel, visits to Persephone, and they talk.
