Okay so I have just finished the second season of 'Legacies' and I have so many ideas.
Chapter 67
Marcel ended his call with Josh just as his bedroom door burst open. Kol stood in the doorway swinging a bottle of bourbon in one hand and carrying two crystal glasses in the other.
"Look what I found," he sang.
Marcel threw his phone on the bed with a laugh as Kol came sauntering in the room wearing only a pair of white briefs. "Really wanna try Klaus while he's already pissed about dinner and you and I still have a promised licking looming before bed?"
Kol rolled his eyes as he strolled into the room, flicking the top off the bottle and pouring himself a glass. "Listen, mate," He filled the second glass. "You can be just plain sore or you can be drunk and sore." He set the bottle on the jewelry armoire across from the bed, holding one of the glasses out to Marcel.
Marcel pulled his bath towel from his shoulders, his stubby curls still a bit damp like the rest of his body, as he shook his head no. "I'm gonna have to decline your specific brand of blindly-diving-headstrong-into-mischief attitude tonight, old friend. I've got plans that require me to be sober for the next few hours."
"Is that so," Kol's voice lilted at his question, curious as to Marcel's plans.
"I texted Tyler. Told him to grab the pig farmer and meet me at this biker bar I know just outside of Baton Rouge. It's secluded and only the dead, depraved, and degenerate go there so there's no chance of hurting any innocent people."
Kol threw back one glass of whiskey in one long gulp before slamming the empty glass down beside the bottle. "What happened to waiting until the last night?"
Marcel waved his arms out at the cabin. "That was before this. Before, I thought we were going to be sleeping in the open in front of Klaus and Elijah where I would chance one of them waking to see me gone. Now, I can just sneak out the house for three hours and come back before anyone wakes up."
Kol gave a wide-mouth grin that set Marcel unease.
"What's that smile mean?"
"Oh, you know," Kol shrugged. "Just remembering earlier how Elijah was warning you not to let us drag you into our 'nonsense' when you have nonsense of your own to keep you busy."
"It's not nonsense."
"Oh it most certainly is. When those Mystic Fall vamps and Klaus's radical sireline rip you from limb to limb, remember I told you it was a stupid idea to go out there on your own."
Marcel scoffed, turning his back on Kol as he tossed his wet towel in the wicker laundry hamper by the bathroom door. "I knew you were going to chicken out on me again."
"I'm not chickening out. I just think it's a stupid, stupid, moronic idea to run headfirst into a possible trap without your healing, a fact that you will not live long to see I'm sure. Luckily, if they don't rip your bloody heart out beforehand, the rest of us will get Freya to end the spell early and you will heal just in time for Klaus and Elijah to tear you a new one."
"Then why don't you come with us. The more allies I have going in, the better my chances are of making it out. I know that from experience."
"You might be stupid enough to reckon my brother's anger but there's no way I'm going to-...wait...us?"
Marcel tensed, his eyes suddenly refusing to meet Kol's as he awkwardly massaged his neck. "Well...Josh and I sort of came to the same conclusion you did. I'm more vulnerable without my healing so he and Lora are going to meet me at the bar too. We agreed to be there by midnight."
"No. Absolutely not. There's no way I'm letting you drag Josh into this."
"I tried to talk him out of it but he insisted. He said that since I don't have my supernatural healing, he wants to be by my side to make sure I get out of there alive. Lora's coming too as an extra backup."
"Damn you!"
Marcel just barely dodged the flying crystal glass as Kol hurled it against the wall behind him.
"Call him back right now and tell him not to go!"
"No," Marcel barked, his anger slowly rising with Kol's. "This is what allies do for each other, Kol. They're there when you need them."
"I need him to be alive! I need him to be there when Davina needs him! I need him to not die like a blasted idiot." Kol took an intimidating step towards Marcel. "And you're going to call him back and stop him. Right now."
Marcel stood tall, squaring his shoulders to Kol and narrowing his eyes. "Or what?"
Kol didn't give it a second thought before grabbing Marcel. The two tussled around the room, until Marcel flung Kol across the bed and he rolled off the other side. Irritated at being overtaken by the younger vampire, Kol stood, releasing a bit more of his supernatural strength to tackle Marcel to the floor.
Pinning Marcel down with one hand, Kol struck him across the face with the other.
Marcel touched his sore jaw with a cool hand, the heat of his cheek growing with his anger. Clenching his fist at his side, he pushed Ko off of his chest and rose to strike him with the same amount of barely-restrained power.
Just as Marcel's fist rose above his shoulder, a hand clasped around it, pulling him to his feet.
He stared wide eyes, and a bit embarrassed, at Klaus's stern face.
"What do you two think you're doing?" Klaus growled.
Kol and Marcel grew silent. Kol stood beside Marcel, looking every bit the sullen brat as his friend.
Klaus lifted a finger under Marcel's chin, holding his face up to examine the glowing bruise on his cheek but Marcel immediately pulled away.
"Let me see it," Klaus bit, tilting Marcel's chin higher, forcing him to look into his disappointed eyes for a moment before Marcel glanced away again. The dark bruise on his son's face caused a fire to rise in the pit of Klaus's stomach. "Does it hurt?"
"It's fine," Marcel groaned, attempting to hide his embarrassment at Klaus's coddling.
"What happened?"
Marcel half expected Kol to blurt out his plan in hopes of protecting Josh but he simply gritted his teeth and remained silent.
"Neither of you have anything to say?" Klaus asked irritated.
Kol's jaw clenched tighter. As much as he would love to tattle on Klaus's precious Marcellus, he would only be putting Josh in danger as well.
Marcel couldn't look Klaus in the eyes for fear of being compelled into the truth but he could feel Klaus's glare burning into him.
"I said no more secrets," Klaus growled, grabbing Marcel's chin and forcing him to look him in the eye. "Should I compel the truth out of you?"
"He called me a boorish lout so I struck him without thinking," Kol quickly blurted out.
Klaus released Marcel's chin, redirecting his anger back to Kol. For the first time since entering the room, he noticed the whiskey bottle sitting on the armoire.
With a sigh, Kol decided to bite the bullet and continue, "Apparently he was saving the whiskey for something special and he got...angry, and then I got angry and...I just...struck him. I wasn't thinking. I-I'm sorry."
He kept his eyes downcast, ignoring the tingle of fear creeping up his spine at the thought of what Klaus was going to do him for striking his precious Marcellus. He was sure it was going to be harsh but whatever the consequence was would be worth it, in his opinion. Anything to keep Josh off of Klaus's radar.
Klaus stared down at Kol's glum face with narrow eyes. A part of him wanted to be wild and raging with anger but the tension in Kol's eyes and the slight tremble of his hand, and was instantly reminded that Kol was not an enemy for which he was to seek revenge on, but his little brother - young and foolish.
"I started it," said Marcel, to Kol's surprise. Nodding over to the glass shattered against the wall, he said, "I threw the glass at him."
Klaus tutted, shaking his head with growing irritation at both young Mikaelsons. Staring down at their feet, he realized neither of them was wearing shoes. They were barely wearing clothes, wrestling in their underwear like children.
"Where's the broom?" Klaus asked.
Marcel pointed to the closet door and said, "There should be a broom and dustpan in the closet."
Klaus caught his arm as Marcel tried to move toward the closet door, stopping him from crossing the wide expanse of the room and risking getting a piece of glass stuck in his foot.
With a heavy-handed swat, he propelled Marcel back towards Kol. Marcel cringed at the swat triggering layers of built-up soreness across his bottom at once.
"Both of you, downstairs," Klaus ordered. "I'll clean up your mess. As usual."
Kol and Marcel shared a confused look. They were both certain that Klaus was going to thrash them both where they stood but they were not going to argue with him about it. They didn't hesitate to hurry out of the bedroom, leaving Klaus staring heatedly at the messy room alone.
Halfway down the staircase, certain that he was out of earshot of Klaus, Kol whispered to Marcel, "Don't think I'm gonna praise you for taking blame in the fight. It was partially your fault after all."
"It's my fault you react to bad news like a drunk fratboy at a party?"
Kol slowed his stroll so that he was a step behind and watched Marcel's feet moving down the staircase. Timing it just right, he shoved Marcel's shoulder just as he lifted his foot to take a step, causing him to lose his footing for only a second before placing his foot back down on the step.
Marcel stopped and stared back at Kol in surprise but Kol simply continued past him down the stairs.
"What the hell?" Marcel demanded.
"Gotta be more careful," Kol shrugged. "Wouldn't want to hurt yourself and force us to end the trip early."
-M-
Hope sulked down the sidewalk with a pretzel in one hand and Sebastian's hand in the other. Izzy stood on the other side of her reading over her notes from her last lesson with Vincent. The three of them had gone out for the day in an effort to get Hope's mind off of being left behind by her father.
"I mean, seriously," Hope groaned. "What is it with old men and their Boys' Clubs. They know we have equal rights now, right? I can do anything a boy can do. What could they possibly be doing out there that makes me 'too young' to go?"
"Murdering people," Izzy said without looking up from her notebook. Hope's steely gaze burned into the side of her head until she finally looked up at her with a shrug. "What? Isn't that what the Mikaelsons are known for?"
Hope rolled her eyes. "Not anymore. Now they're known for abandoning their children to go drink beers in a forest with the boys."
"C'mon," Sebastian kissed the back of Hope's hand. "It's not that bad. At least you get to spend the weekend with me."
Hope sighed but nodded. Having Sebastian spend the weekend at the Compound was one perk of being ignored by her father. After seeing her daughter mope around the Compound feeling so dejected, Hayley was willing to do whatever she could to make her happy from inviting Sebastian over for the weekend to giving the kids her credit card to go spend the day out at the Quarter. But nothing quite good enough to keep her mind off of it.
As it became harder for Izzy to read her own handwriting, she realized that the sun was beginning to set.
"We should probably head back to the Compound now," she said, staring curiously up at a nearby streetlamp. "Elijah says we have to be home before the street lights come on."
Hope fought the scowl the threatened her face. Over the last week of living with Izzy, she realized that her crush was not as much of a bad ass as she thought she was. At least not when it came to disobeying Elijah. When Elijah gave Izzy an order, she argued and pouted but she always obeyed even when he wasn't there to confirm she'd obeyed, which irritated Hope the most. Sure she did what her parents ordered when they were there to supervise her, but when she was off on her own, she was her own person and she did whatever she liked.
"It's not like he will be home to know," Hope scoffed.
"Hayley will know," said Izzy. "And she might tell him when he gets back."
Sebastian released Hope's hand and crept slowly up to Izzy, his hands curled into vaguely intimidating claws. "What's the matter, Izzy?" He asked, forcing his voice to be low and husky. "Afraid ol' Elijah Mikaelson is gonna drain you for being out past curfew?"
Izzy stared at him deadpan, unimpressed by his attempt at frightening her and wholly unamused.
"It's called respect," she bit. "The Mikaelsons are nice enough to let me and my brother stay in their home rent-free, the least I can do is obey their rules."
Hope reached out to Izzy's notebook and snatched it from her hands too quickly for her to snatch it back.
"You don't have to be Ms. Goody Two-Shoes all the time." Hope closed the notebook and held it just out of Izzy's reach. "Uncle Elijah's rules are just a way of trying to force us to be more responsible. It's like, the same reason he's started making me take out the trash and do the dishes. But everyone already knows you can be responsible so you have nothing else to prove. I mean, you took care of yourself and Oliver alone."
"Obviously not good enough," Izzy growled, reaching for the notebook again and Hope simply tossed it into her other hand, still out of Izzy's reach.
"It's not like Uncle Elijah's really going to kick you out or anything."
"He might." Izzy reached for the notebook once more, failing as Hope zipped a few feet away from her with her supernatural speed. "Stop kidding around, Hope. We have to get back home. Ollie's probably missing me."
"Yeah right. He probably barely even notices you're gone as long as my Aunt Rebekah is with him."
As Izzy ran over to snatch the notebook from Hope's hand, the girl tossed it over her head to Sebastian.
Izzy paused with an intense frown on her face, refusing to indulge them in their game. "I'm going back to the Compound." She growled, walking off towards the direction of the Compound. "I don't have time to play silly games with kids."
Hope's face contorted into a furious scowl at being called a kid. "You're the kid," she screamed behind Izzy but the older teen didn't give her a second glance. "Go on and hurry home before you get in trouble for breaking curfew, little girl!"
As Izzy's back disappeared into a crowd of people, Sebastian put his arm around Hope's shoulders and said, "Good one, friend. That's one way to seduce your crush."
Hope rolled her eyes again and started walking in the opposite direction of Izzy. "I'm so over that crush. Once you live with someone, you start to learn a lot about them. And I've learned, Izzy is not a cool as the rumors made her out to be. Did you know she actually enjoys studying? And I'm not talking about Magic, I mean school work. Apparently, Uncle Elijah told her that if she can catch up on the eleventh-grade course work before Fall, he will use his powers to get her back into her right grade."
"Oh, so that's what this is about. You're mad that she's going to be in the 11th Grade next year and you're just going to be a pitiful little 9th grader with the rest of us. Afraid she's not going to wanna hand out with a lowly Freshman?"
Hope slapped Sebastian's arm with the notebook. "Shut up."
Sebastian chuckled as he dropped his arm back over Hope's shoulders. "Don't worry, little Mikaelson. You still got me."
As the two continued walking through the Quarter, the street lights slowly came on one by one.
Hope sighed. "I guess we should get back home. Even without Uncle Elijah, mom is still pretty serious about curfew and I don't want-"
Sebastian stared at Hope in confusion as she suddenly stopped talking and stared off into the line of traffic in front of them, her eyes squinting as if she was trying to make out a face in the distance. He followed her eyes to a car with a dark-haired young man and a curly-haired woman driving a blue sports car.
"Those are Marcel's vampires," Hope stated. "What are they doing in the Quarter?"
Sebastian looked ahead down the road to see an Exit sign at the end of the lane they were driving in leading to the freeway.
"Looks like they're headed out of town."
"There are other ways of getting out of town than coming through the Quarter." Hope's eyes narrowed sharper as she considered the possibilities. "They must really need to be somewhere on time if they're willing to risk being found by my mom's wolves to cut through the Quarter."
"It's a wonder why the wolves haven't sniffed them out already."
Curious, Hope gave the air a faint whiff but smelt only the normal city smog. "About a hundred people on the street right now including three wolves nearby...but no vampires. Interesting."
"You think someone's cloaking them?"
"Definitely. Most likely Davina. And if they need to be cloaked, they're definitely up to something."
Hope suddenly grabbed Sebastian's hand and ran to the nearest alley. She set Izzy's notebook on top of a dumpster as she held both hands out for Sebastian to grab.
"Repeat after me," she ordered.
"What are we doing?"
"Cloaking spell. We're gonna follow them to see what's up and I don't want my Aunt to tracking us."
Sebastian's hands trembled as he grabbed hers. "Wh-what are we going to tell Mrs. Marshall-Kenner when we come home after curfew?"
"Don't worry. We'll just call her and tell her we're spending the night at your place."
"But...we're not."
"Well, duh."
"But what if she calls my mom."
"She won't. I saw it in a movie once. Trust me, it'll work."
Sebastian clasped Hope's hands tighter, his palms calmy with nervousness that her plan won't work like most of her plans didn't work as he'd come to learn in the almost year that he'd known her. But still, he feared leaving her to follow Marcel's vampires alone would be worse than dealing with whatever Hayley would do to them. At least she would only kill them figuratively.
As Hope started to chant the spell, Sebastian followed along until they felt the magic surging through them come to a peak.
Releasing Sebastian's hold, Hope looked back out to the street. Josh's car hadn't made it far. She ran to the edge of the alley and gave another whiff. Past the stench of the alley and the smog of the city, she found her werewolf tail. As a man passed by the alley walking his poodle, she muttered an incantation. Then she waited until the scent of their tail disappeared down the walkway behind the fake duo, mistaking their scent and image as Hope and Sebastian. She smiled at her own cleverness. The wolves always figured out her trick too late, usually when the replicas were halfway home and Hope was too far gone.
"Okay," she grabbed Sebastian's arm and pulled him out to the street, flagging down a cab as it came through the traffic.
Jumping into the back of the Taxi, Hope flagged a roll of cash in his rearview, pointing straight ahead at Josh's car now speeding up down the road as traffic began to break. "Follow that car, and this is yours."
The taxi driver didn't need to hear another word before pulling off behind Josh's car, being sure to keep two cars between them as if this wasn't his first time following someone.
"Where'd you get all the static?" Sebastian whispered to Hope, referring to the wad of money she shoved back into her pocket.
"I get an allowance now," Hope answered plainly. "Since Uncle Elijah's started making me do chores."
Sebastian's eyes widened. "You've only had chores for a few weeks. Your uncle pays you that much for just taking out that trash?"
Hope rolled her eyes. "Please. Uncle Elijah thinks the gift of pride at completing your responsibilities is payment enough. This is from daddy. He supplements Uncle Elijah's lessons in pride with cash."
Sebastian fell back against the seat with a smile. "I'm so glad you're over Izzy."
"Why?"
"Because I'm totally going to marry you just for the perks of being a Mikaelson."
Hope laughed at her friend's joke, giving his shoulder a gentle nudge. "Shut up. We have to focus." She peered through the glass partition separating them from the taxi driver until she found Josh's car getting off on the first exist like Sebastian said he would and their taxi followed right behind.
-M-
Finn took his nose from the corner to watch as Marcel and Kol entered the kitchen. Elijah was rolling out a ball of pie dough but still managed to see Finn from the corner of his eye. He quivered at the boom of Elijah's voice as he called his name and quickly placed his nose back in the corner.
Elijah gave Marcel and Kol a cursory glance before returning to his cooking. Then he paused, realizing there was something different about Marcel beyond his scanty clothing. Laying down his rolling pen, he turned back to MArcel, eying the bruise on his face in disbelief. Kol blushed as his brother's eyes turned to him.
"Has Klaus seen this?"
Marcel nodded. "He's upstairs cleaning up the aftermath."
"Aftermath?" Elijah grabbed a towel and wiped his hands down as he marched over to the dining table, motioning for the two of them to have a seat in front of him.
With a sigh, they did and Marcel repeated to Elijah the same lie they told to Klaus. His cheeks grew redder behind the end as Elijah glared down at him.
"Are your behinds not sore enough?" He asked much to both of their embarrassment. "Are the two of you intent on ending this weekend as red and bruised as you can possibly be?"
Kol and Marcel sunk deeper in their seats. Neither of them felt as if they could take another walloping but now they had two waiting in store for them.
Just then, Niklaus entered the kitchen carrying a small dustpan full of broken glass.
"What do you think, Elijah?" Klaus asked, dumping the glass into the trashcan under the sink.
He leaned back against the sink, staring down at the two of them with the same disappointing glare Elijah laced them with.
"Should we thrash them now or later?"
Marcel gripped the seat of his chair as his eyes followed Elijah's to the wooden spoon waiting at the edge of the sink. He'd received enough swats in the kitchen from Elijah to know what a wooden spoon on the edge of the sink meant.
"I propose we wait," said Elijah, causing a soft sigh to escape Marcel's lips. "Til morning. They already have one lined up before bed and at this rate, they will be sobbing throughout the night, which will make it very hard for the rest of us to sleep in the same room as them."
Marcel's body suddenly tensed up again.
"W-wait, we're all sleeping in the same room?"
There was a hint of anxiety in his voice that caught both Elijah and Niklaus's attention.
"Yes," Klaus answered, his eyebrow raised in scrutiny as he carefully gauged Marcel's reaction. He didn't want to believe Elijah was right, that his son could be hiding something more from him than what he told him, but the tension in Marcel's jaw was hard to ignore. "We're going to gather the sleeping bags and camp in front of the living room fireplace tonight."
"When did we decide that?"
"Elijah and I decided while you were in the shower."
Kol's face gave way to a smile as he caught Marcel squirming in his seat through the corner of his eye.
"B-but we have such big beautiful bedrooms," Marcel continued, failing in his attempt to sound impartial. "We could just sleep in the rooms tonight and wake bright and early to continue the...family bonding."
Elijah said nothing as he looked to Klaus, certain his brother could sense the same anxiety from Marcel that he felt.
Niklaus walked over to the dining table, his eyes fixed on Marcel, and stood stoically in front of him.
"Are you feeling alright, Marcellus?"
Marcel focused all of his anxiety into his foot, forcing the rest of his body to relax as his right foot bounced quietly under the table.
"Yeah, Klaus, I'm fine. I just...think it's a waste of perfectly good beds, that's all. But hey, you two are in charge. Whatever you say. But...it still seems a bit unfair that Kol has to sleep on the floor since...y'know, he doesn't have a sleeping bag anymore."
Finn could feel all eyes burning into the back of his head.
"Not to worry," said Elijah. "I will make Kol a very comfortable pallet between me and the fireplace. Between that and his behind, I'm sure he will stay warm and cozy through the night." Heat ran down Kol's neck as Elijah smirked knowingly at him. "But the fact remains Marcellus: This trip is meant for us to bond as brothers and for me and Klaus to be able to observe and appropriately correct behavior of yours that would, outside of the seclusion of this trip, generally go unseen." Cutting his eyes to Niklaus, Elijah said, "Perhaps your father has, since arriving to the cabin, already given you too much privacy and that was a mistake on our part. But I assure you, it will not happen again."
Elijah returned to making the pie dough with a calm elegance.
Niklaus sat at the table across from Marcel, his hands folded in front of his face as he stared at him with an intense gaze.
Marcel could not match his gaze. He knew that Klaus knew something was wrong, but the fact that he didn't immediately accuse him of anything meant he had no idea what was going on behind his back. And Marcel hoped it stayed that way.
As the kitchen filled with the aroma of baking deer meat, Elijah turned back to the room and said, "Finn, come here."
Finn didn't hesitate to turn from the corner, gripping the towel at his waist so it wouldn't fall with the force of him spinning back around, but he paused before strolling over to Elijah, his eyes fixed nervously on the wooden spoon still sitting on the sink.
He stopped more than an arm's reach away from Elijah, twiddling his thumbs nervously in front of him.
"How are you feeling?" Elijah asked.
"M-much calmer, brother," Finn answered softly. "I-I'm ready to come out of the corner now."
Elijah nodded as he placed his hand softly on Finn's back, guiding him towards the kitchen door. "Let's get you in some pants for supper."
As Finn and Elijah left the room, Marcel felt the heat of his father's gaze burn harsher than the heat radiating from the oven.
"The two of you are keeping a secret from me," Klaus stated firmly, causing Marcel and Kol to both stiffen. "I do not know what and I do not know why, but rest assured that I will discover it and when I do, I will be just but I will not be merciful." He paused, allowing his silent threat to linger in their minds a bit longer. "Unless, of course, either of you were to own up to the lie now. Then perhaps I could be persuaded to mercy through the respect of your honesty."
Kol and Marcel knew better than to look at each other at the moment or showing any sign of their guilt.
Clearing his throat, Marcel said, "I promise, Klaus. We have no idea what you're talking about."
Klaus's jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed as he sat back in his seat, glaring at the two of them. He wanted to compel the truth out of Marcellus but a part of him feared that he was wrong, that they weren't hiding anything, and that he was just being paranoid. And if that were the case, compelling Marcel would be a violation of the trust Marcellus so earnestly expected of him.
So he simply waited, and watched, for the truth to eventually come to light.
