"You don't love someone because they're perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they're not."
~My Sister's Keeper~
XxX
It was five days before her final Nutcracker performance. The last time she'd ever dance the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Marcella was honestly a little sad, but she knew better than to believe that she'd be able to keep on being in public production. One of the downsides of being a vampire she supposed. Marcella could no longer have the limelight, she couldn't afford to be remembered.
To pull her out of her melancholy on the matter Roman and Isadora had surprised her by arriving early and were taking her to lunch. Along with Klaus and Damon, both who were trying hard to make it seem like they didn't care that her attention was almost entirely devoted to her fellow dancers. Niklaus hadn't met the duo before now and was surprised by the sheer power they resonated in.
And completely unsurprised that Marcella loved and befriended them.
Marcella had always had a bad habit of making dangerous friends. Klaus hadn't seen beings like them in a long time. Powerful entities with no explanation, beings who just held authority that you didn't question. Even he wasn't foolish enough to believe himself to be the most powerful supernatural being out there. The most feared and powerful vampire, definitely, but the world was big and wide. Vampires and werewolves weren't the only creatures out there who went bump in the night. There were still many unexplainable things.
The man who looked like a god incarnate sighed heavily at the tale the small blonde was telling. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. The woman to his side snickered accordingly appraising Marcella with a smug smile. "And then our fairy princess manages to take over the entire universe. Good job Ella, I'm proud of you." Marcella rolls her eyes back sliding gracefully into the booth.
"Don't be absurd Isadora." Roman says but it's the only thing he contribute to the statement before turning his attention fully to his main dance partner.
"I got to see a clip of your rehearsal with the boy playing the prince. His technique is quite good, it was a good casting choice. I'm impressed." Marcella beamed knowing the boy in question would be honored to hear that. Roman is well known in their community, he's a great performer and choreographer.
"He managed to keep up with you well." Niklaus comments and Damon nods, both had already seen her perform the ballet more than once at this point. Isadora clasp her hands together drawing Marcella's attention away from her vampire pets and back to her.
Apparently the dark woman wasn't at all pleased by having to share her attention. "Roman tells me you are going to take a step back from dancing. Why?" Isadora's head tilts curiously, as if she doesn't particularly understand the younger girls choice. Marcella shrugs and doesn't voice her answer.
They move on. Changing the subject to lighter and warmer matters like what everyone wants for Christmas. She remembers everything that's said. Taking that information to heart and with her through the next five days. It helps her get over the painful conclusion.
Standing on the stage as the final applause sound. She'd asked to do this alone, and for once her small family had listened. They hadn't come with her here. All making it a point to see her perform at least once before tonight' show.
Marcella takes a bow, her final bow on this stage. And just like that she closes that chapter of her life to an end. There would be no future for her as a professional ballerina, no reality where it was a possibility now. A bitter consequence of immortality. She walks off the stage as the curtain closes.
In the small dressing room she carefully removes her costume, rubs her sore legs and changes into more practical winter ware. "You were excellent." Marcella looks up from tying her boots. She bites her lip in an attempt to sway her smile.
She had wondered how long it would be before he showed his face again. "Thank you Eli'." Marcella waltez gracefully to him taking his offered elbow.
"May I take you to dinner?" He asks carefully, she gives a small nod. It's late so only a few places will be opened but she was starving and it was always nice to have company. Marcella had spent a long time alone in her dressing room letting the reality settle in slowly. No one would see just how much this hurt her.
Marcella loved dancing. She wouldn't stop, but more than anything she'd loved performing for an audience just as much. Now, now that was over. It felt a lot like losing.
"I haven't had a real meal in over twenty-four hours so be warned I'm starving." She does warn him. Elijah just shakes his head.
"I know just the place."
Just the place turned out to be a twenty four hour dinner, but it was still enjoyable.
xx
She spends the night in Richman so she can get the rest of her holiday shopping over with the next day. Elijah meets her at that same cafe they'd first met the next morning. Marcella offers him a resigned smile as she takes a sip from her cup drinking in the warmth of freshly made coffee.
"Morning, care to join me while I do some last minute christmas shopping?" She asks when he takes a seat across from her.
"I have no plans for today." Is what he tells her and she nods. Good because if he had she probably would have demanded he cancel them.
Elijah watches as she finishes her drink. Something is different about her something has changed since the last time he has seen her and he of course cannot help but to wonder. Alas he also knows that even if her were to question it she wouldn't give him an answer. At least not one he wanted to hear, instead he decides to ask her a different question.
About a rumor he'd heard in the vampire community. The apparent arrival of a new Mikaelson on the board. Elijah wasn't aware he had anymore sisters, to his knowledge Rebekah was it. His younger sister, daggered and lost. "Why Eden?" Marcella snaps her head back to look away from her lost gaze out the window. She smiles unashamedly.
"It's my middle name. Besides Eden Mikaelson has a nice ring to it. When you think of Eden you think of something beautiful, something coveted, safe. Eden is a nice story of a beautiful place where humanity and god existed together peacefully." She begins eyes never leaving his as she speaks. Never wavering or faltering.
"Eden reminds people that god exists, that mercy is a privilege and that wrath is the ultimate consequence. Adam and Eve in the garden, the perfect paradise and then they ate the fruit and lied about it. God closed the gates and paradise was lost forever." Marcella muses thoughtful running her finger around the rim of the mug wistfully.
"Compared to you, I am a beautiful relief. A kindness they have never known. Eden Mikaelson doesn't need fear and anger to control them. Nice is a greater manipulative than that and Eden, Eden was a nice place." Marcella stands then, the bored look shifting back like a shield. She smiles pleasantly but there is something not so sincere about the gesture.
He hasn't yet earned one of her true smiles. Elijah hasn't the right see the real Marcella and she's not afraid to let him know that.
"Let's go, I have lots of shopping to get done and only a few hours to do so." Elijah finds himself rolling his eyes again thoughts far away as he takes in that piece of information. How interesting.
She would be the relief to their typical volatile behavior although while being one of the most vindictive among them. He appraised her foresight on it, she'd thought it through. Elijah hated that he couldn't disagree with her sentiment on the matter, hated that he agreed with her.
There was something Mikaelson about her. Now he was even more curious about what role his younger brother had played in all of this. Only Kol would have been able to pull something like of this magnitude without them ever knowing. Marcella's connection to his brother was stronger than he'd first assumed.
How very interesting. He wondered then what Niklaus thought of all of this. Just what his explosive little brother would have had to say on the matter. There was no doubt he knew, especially if the rumor was true and his brother was back in there home.
Elijah was curious as to what games the two of them were playing. He was eagerly awaiting to find out.
xx
Christmas came and went, Caroline was off spending more time with Matt, and her mother who she saw less and less of these days was at the station working early and staying late. Someone was still killing locals, sporadically that is but the facts remained. Someone had the gall to break Marcella's rules.
It appeared that she was going to have to meet with Pearl again to remind the older woman of them. Of the consequences that occurred when they were broken. She wasn't pleased.
Marcella pulled her hair into a high pony and tugged another one of Damon's sweaters over her head. She hadn't yet figured out why he had so many when he never wore them but who was she to judge. Niklaus had gone back to New York following Christmas having some loose ends to tie but had promised to be back by New Years. The blonde vampire would be making this visit alone seeing as her usual partners in vampire douchery were not currently available.
But it had to be done. She couldn't have untrained vampires in her hometown running loose and causing any more problems for her. Pearl was in charge of the tomb vampires so she would give the woman a chance to rectify the situation before taking the matter completely in her own hands.
She didn't have time to be babysitting five hundred year old vampires who couldn't contain themselves. Marcella had very little patience for the weak. She would have left immediately from her house if it hadn't been for the current deja vu she felt.
Actual human Elena Gilbert stood on her porch arms crossed, eyes concerned and heavy. Marcella bit her lip before opening the door. What did she want? Elena barged right in a show of self righteousness.
"Yes, please come right in." She mutters sarcastically to herself. Of course she didn't have plans, of course she had time to entertain this petty little teen. Or anything more pressing than attending to the whims of Elena Gilbert.
Marcella pinches the bridge of her nose eying the older girl suspiciously. What did she want? Why was she here? How long was this going to take? She really needed to go meet with Pearl.
"You need to stop hanging out with Damon." Are the first words out of the brunettes mouth. Marcella sucks in a deep breath. Well then, it seemed as if Elena had finally been clued in to something.
What that something may be, was still to be determined. Since apparently the Gilbert doppelgänger still believe she had the moral high ground. That somehow what she thought matter to Marcella. That she'd just drop her friend because someone told her too out of veiled concern.
Marcella couldn't help the laugh that slipped from her lips. That was just silly, she'd never abandon Damon. "What? Why? Damon is my best friend." She managed after a moment trying to make herself sound as confused and naive as possible.
The thing was, that without all the drama from Damon and Vicki, and Damon and Caroline. Elena would have no grounds for such a drastic statement. From what Marcella had gathered Elena had only known about the existence of vampires for a month maybe, and the discovery of Katherine hadn't even happened yet. Stefan could keep his secrets better when he wasn't constantly trying to one up his brother.
Trying to protect them out of guilty conscience. Marcella didn't need Stefan's protection. She'd taken everything that was Damon Salvatore by the hand and she'd run with it. If anything Stefan, and consequently Elena needed protection from her. She would take to kindly to some uninformed teenager trying to dictate her choices.
"Damon isn't a good guy, you're too good to be getting mixed up with him. I'm just worried about you Marcella." There is something about this particular sentence, the chosen words that is extremely irksome to the smaller blonde. Who did she think she was to presume such a thing?
That she was allowed to worry about her. To assume that Marcella stood above Damon on the moral scale. Marcella had never openly claimed goodness, how could someone say such a thing. How are you somehow better than another being? She never understood the concept.
The tiny blonde takes deep long breath, ignoring the look she gets from the older girl in response. Marcella takes a moment to reply before stating in a calculated tone. "Thank you for your concern Elena but I can take care of myself. Besides Damon would never, could never hurt me. I appreciate your concern but it really isn't necessary." Then Marcella promptly ushers the human out of her house before she loses every ounce of her composure. The faster she got to Pearl the better for everyone this would be.
At least then when she snapped it would be somewhere she could properly take out her outrage. She made haste to her desired location.
Marcella waltz into the apothecary head held eyes, eyes guarded. She'd never been it this shop before despite its location across from her studio. It was nice to see that it was just as interesting on the inside as she assumed it would have been. With different variants of medical remedies and naturalistic old world cures. It was quaint.
She approved.
"I'll be with you in just a moment." There's a call from the back, Marcella smiles faintly. Pearl wasn't expecting her so this would prove to be entertaining.
Which is just what the doctor ordered. Good old fashioned distraction from the pressing problem that Elena and co were going to become. She'd need to nip all of this self proclaimed righteous in the butt. Moral high ground Elena was not allowed to interrupt the plan in motion.
Which meant one thing for sure. Marcella had to tell Caroline the truth before Elena found it out and snitched on her. Or Stefan.
"Good morning Pearl." She greets the dark haired woman as she comes around the counter. Marcella is examining a vase of dried herbs she's not really looking at the other vampire. It doesn't change the sound of the sharp intake of breath though or the subsequent holding of breath to follow.
Good.
"Eden, what do I owe for the pleasure of this visit?" Marcella looks up them she hums a tune. Watching the woman squirm for a moment longer.
"Have you found the part I requested?" The piece of the Gilbert device Pearl took was still supposedly missing. Marcella didn't mind as long as she got her hands on it by founders day, or before the utter idiot that was John Gilbert cane back to town.
It took her a moment but she still denied having it. Marcella reminds herself to stay calm since that wasn't even the reason she was here today. She does grimace but only slightly before nodding her head. "Such a shame. I'll give you some more time to locate it. Use it wisely Pearl. Now I actually have a different matter I wish to discuss with you."
"The murders I presume." Pearl is quick to the draw, she does not miss a beat. Marcella bit her lip impressed.
"I hope I won't have to remind you of my rules. The conditions. All locals, including the supernatural ones are off limits to your group. I don't care if fresh blood is the only thing that quells their hunger. No more dead locals darlin'." The distinctive warning isn't lost on the woman.
Marcella wasn't in the mood for games. She just wanted to spend some freaking time with her mother. And for Stefan to stop trying to blame everything on his brother.
xx
Later that evening Marcella sat awake in her kitchen eating ice cream by the container. Her nerves bubbling in her core, her brain unable to quite conjuring thoughts of how badly this could end. Marcella wouldn't be able to handle it if Caroline rejected her. It was a sad realization of how much she relied and depended upon Caroline's love and approval.
The front door came swinging open by the force Marcella assumed that the old door may finally fall from its hinges. A lovely picture. Caroline comes strolling through skipping slightly, looking completely like the lovesick teen she was meant to be. Marcella waves gently spoon in mouth eyes full of mischief.
"You're late." Caroline's response was waving a hand across her face and 'pfting' her little sister. Turning in her boot heel and taking a seat across from Marcella at the bar. Stealing the spoon from the smaller girls grasps and taking a bite.
"You're entirely too young to be telling me what to do. Why are you still awake anyway?" Caroline questions, Marcella does this boneless sort of shrug that shouldn't have been possible.
"How was your date?" Marcella asks with a smile stealing the spoon back. Regardless that she could have just easily grabbed another one. The utensil drawer was right next to her.
Caroline's face does the thing were it because soft and dreamy. Marcella loved the smile on her sisters lip, the warmth in the older girls eyes. It makes her feel all fuzzy and protective on the inside.
"So wonderful! Matt asked me to be his girlfriend!" Marcella claps her hands together happily, she reaches across the counter to nudge Caroline's arm playfully.
"I told you so!" She cheered sincerely, Marcella loved seeing her sister happy.
Was she really about to potentially ruin this? Unfortunately she no longer had a choice. "So I hate to go and ruin the mood, but I need to tell you something." Marcella starts as Caroline snatches the spoon back from her.
"If this about Stefan, Damon and you being vampires than I already know." Marcella's mouth opens a little, staring at the older girl in pure bafflement. Eyes widen, full lips make a little o. She stutters, trying to figure out how to respond to that.
"Huh?" Is all she can manage Caroline offers the spoon back to her sister smiling softly. Marcella leans back into her chair still startled.
"You were acting weird a few weeks back so I did some digging. I don't care that your a vampire Marcie your still my sister. Always will be." Warm tears slide down the sides of her face. She lets out a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. Marcella smiles brightly at Caroline.
"I love you!" Caroline laughed getting up from the bar stool and taking the few steps to her sister. She wrapped her arms around Marcella pulling her close.
"I know. And no more secrets Marcie, not from me. I'll always be here for you. Forever and always."
"How did you find out?" Marcella asks once they've retreated to the couch, two spoons and a new container of ice cream. Caroline lets Marcella fall into her side, as she always did.
"You were being suspicious, so was Stefan and Elena. I just did some digging. Research on the Salvatore's, and once I figured out they were those brothers from towns history it wasn't hard to put together." Marcella stares up in awe. The show had always done a poor job of depicting just how smart Caroline was, because her sister wasn't stupid.
The blonde was probably the smartest in the little gang of misfits and Marcella had forgotten. So caught up with everything that was going on, she'd forgotten just how much attention Caroline paid to everyone and everything. It was Caroline who always recognized when something was wrong with Marcella.
"Does Elena know about me?" Marcella finds herself asking after a moment. She's slipping slowly out of little sister mindset and into her other persona. Carefully trying to figure what happened now.
Caroline shook her head. "As far as I can tell she only knows that Stefan and Damon our. By the way I'm sure Damon told you but Bonnie is a witch and if you don't want anyone to know you probably shouldn't get too close to her." Marcella nuzzles further into Caroline's side. God she loved her sister. There were no words to express just how much.
Marcella could always count on Caroline. This Caroline was hers first before she was Elena's friend. Her big sister. Forever.
Always and forever.
XOXOX
So I was going to include Klaus and Caroline official meeting in the chapter but I didn't because it was getting a little long for my taste. I hope that you like this chapter! Thank you guys so much for your continued kind words! We reached 200 reviews and you have no idea how amazing that is!
Thank you all so much for reading!
Sincerely, La'Rae