Great comments on the last few chapters!

Again, thanks for reading and keeping up with this wild upload schedule I'm on right now lol.

But a few points I thought I'd make just for clarification.

1. A few readers have commented to me about how immature they think Marcel is being in this story and I'd have to say I agree completely!

But that's kinda the point lol.

I think the portrayal of Marcel in The Originals is amazing. He's physically and mentally strong, self-sufficient, kind, and fiercely loyal to those who are loyal to him. I adore that Marcel so much and he's pretty much the reason I kept watching the final season even though I didn't like it as much as the others.

But when I started writing this story, I wasn't trying to keep him genuine to the show's Marcel.

I wrote this story to explore how a Marcel who was a bit younger and a bit more immature would act. I made him emotionally dependent on his family because I feel like this story would've gone in a whole different direction if he was still self-sufficient. Instead of trying to work his way back into the family he probably would've tried to lead another revolution against the Mikaelsons when they returned or left the city all together which...just wouldn't have been the story I wanted.

In order to get the story I wanted, Marcel had to change. He had to become emotional and immature because otherwise why would he submit to corporal punishment? What adult lets their parents still spank them?

I made him about 18 or 19 when he turned because I feel like that's just old enough for Klaus to give him a bit of freedom after he first turned while also still feeling the desire to spoil and protect him whenever he could, causing Marcel to develop a personality that is both confident and proud while also being a major factor of why he becomes unbearably hurt when Klaus rejects him (like he was at the beginning of the story) or unconscionably jealous when he thinks there's a prospect of Klaus leaving/abandoning him again (like he is now).

2. The reason the Mikaelsons don't seem to learn their lessons after their punished/spanked is because *SPOILER ALERT* (No, like an actual SPOILER is about to happen so read at your own risk): They don't.

But Finn did.

After Freya used her magic to let Finn's pain linger after his spanking, he learned to be more mindful of his temper (which he was up until the last chapter but he was immediately remorseful about it and not just because of what Kol and Marcel did to him but also because he knew losing his temper would lead to him being punished again and possibly losing his family.

The Mikaelsons (at least the ones in my story and possibly the canon ones) only seem to learn a lesson when things are taken to the extreme so for a thousand years they've taken things to the extreme (daggering each other for years/centuries at a time, using magic to turn the mother of their child and her pack into wolves for 29 days out of the month, threatening death to their brother in order to prevent him from becoming a powerful hybrid (that's one thing from the tvd series I remember)) but now they're trying to be better in order to have a new generation of Mikaelsons (Hope and her children) who aren't constantly looking over their shoulders and running from enemies they've created.

The Mikaelsons are gradually coming to the conclusion that punishments like the daggers, curses, and hexes are counterproductive to the future they're trying to create and are throwing away their old methods of control for an old time favorite. But in order to get the lessons to stick, they decide to *SPOILER ALERT* use magic to disable their vampire abilities of whomever's punished so the lessons have that long-term effect their previous punishment methods had. (I was gonna build up to this but you guys were too clever and I can't ever resist a good spoiler).

3. Marcel Gerard was once the King of the Quarter in my story just like in the show. For a hundred years he ran New Orleans with all the wisdom and strength of a King...but there's a reason he didn't expand his kingdom outside New Orleans in a hundred years (in this story).

New Orleans, despite the advancement of technology and architecture over the next century, kept its classic style and every time it rebuilt after every disaster, the Quarter kept it's original look. This old-timey look was a constant comfort to Marcel of a time when he had his girl, his father, his strict uncle, and his best friend all under one roof and he didn't feel like he needed anything else.

The Marcel in my story *SPOILER ALERT AGAIN* was heartbroken for a hundred years after his family left him to die in a burning opera house and too angry to reach out to them about his survival. It wasn't until he found out that they had already thought him dead when they saw him on the stage of the opera that he even forgave them...but I digress.

Anyway, the point is, I think it's possible for a teenager to rule an entire kingdom and still have the emotional maturity of a spoiled brat and that's kinda what I've based Marcel's personality on: someone strategically and societally wise but overly-emotional. (Don't hate me my teenage readers for stereotyping you like this lol I'm sure some of you are very mature for your age.)

So in conclusion:

My Marcel is not the same Marcel from the show: he's emotionally driven, at times immature, and very much in love with his family unit as a whole, despite all its flaws, and doesn't ever want it to change unless it's positive growth (like with Hayley and Davina).

He most certainly can run the city on his own, he had for a hundred years, but he doesn't want to. He wants to rule with his family standing proudly behind him, not off in Europe or Mystic Falls or wherever they escaped to when they first left New Orleans.

For a hundred years before that he was spoiled by having his family always by his side when he needed them and although he built a new family with the vampires of New Orleans, he still missed his Original family, the family that always promised him forever.

Keep reviewing! I love it all, the good, the bad and the ugly!

(p.s. Although Marcel loves his family, he has grown used to being a leader so *BIG SPOILER ALERT* he is most certainly going to rebuild his vampire army at some point in the near future.)