"He was a king with a broken crown and an empty kingdom.

She was the princess in the tower who longed for a garden of thorns.

He didn't understand her yet she was the only one left and he didn't want to lose her too.

She'd poisoned the people to protect him and planted the thorns to keep him safe.

He wasn't a king. He was a captive.

She wasn't a princess. She was a dragon."

~Q.V.,-insert from a story I'll never write~

xXx

We'll be there soon.

Klaus takes a moment once her words hit him. A moment to consider what that could possibly mean. He knew for a fact that she wasn't with Damon, the elder Salvatore was currently sitting in his living room in Klaus' favorite armchair as if he owned the damn piece of furniture. Lounging about chatting idly with his older brother's intended as if the severity of the situation didn't occur to him.

The doppelganger was missing. His doppleganger. Mikeal would pay for this heinous act, no one stole from Klaus. Not even his own father.

"We?" He finally asks rhetorically, it's not really meant to have an answer but it does pull Damon's attention off of the red head. Klaus is met by a mirthful smirk and eyes that scream I know something you don't. The original growls at Marcella's all but blood brother, he's met by raised arms in mock surrender.

"Your guess is as good as mine, don't get your panties in a bunch Nik she could just be with Roman." Klaus hurls the phone at Damon's smug head in a spiral of control. He was not having a particularly good day, now was not the time to be tested by baby vampires.

Especially those daring to look so amused.

Damon catches the device easily having expected the reaction from the riled up man. He hoped Marcella knew what she was doing, she never made rash decisions it would be a shame if this one came back to bite her. Although it could and she might actually enjoy it, he shuddered not something he really wanted to think about. Finally Damon stands stretching outlandishly, vampires didn't get stiff not really the use for stretching was just a hold over from being human, he yawns. Well this was getting boring. Besides he needed to check in with Roman, who he knew for fact wasn't with Marcella. The immortal male was on an errand for the blonde so it was imperative that Damon heard how that was going.

"Well this has been fun but I'm going to go, no telling how long our princess we'll keep us waiting. Stuff to do, people to terrorize." Damon announced still wearing his smirk. Sage who'd been watching this whole thing silently smirked at her former student. He'd turned into quite a vampire. He tossed the phone back at Klaus and with one more smirk he walked out the front door.

He didn't really want to be around for the next bit. Besides while waiting for Roman to get back to him he could go and torment his brother or that history teacher. Either could prove to endlessly entertaining.

Klaus resumed his tense pacing. This wasn't like her, she never made him wait. What was going on with her? He knew she hadn't been herself for sometime but honestly it wasn't a good reason to keep him waiting. Especially now. Surely she could have gathered from his call how dire the situation was. How important this was to him.

Yet she was taking her sweet time.

Just as he was about to call her again and demand her presence the door burst open. The anger on his tongue, the rage boiling under his skin, burning through his very being at her presumptuous audacity stills. Petrifying itself as his eyes register the form of the person standing in the thresh of the door. Dark silhouette of height not matching that of Marcella's small frame, strong build, and mischievous eyes colored of coffee and honey. Klaus sucks in a breath. He had not expected, not so soon.

Kol.

His younger brother smiled, but it was vicious and alarming. There was nothing friendly about that smile. Nothing forgiving, or kind. "Hello brother." Kol flashes to him and Klaus prepares himself for an assault. Although he'd never admit to it outloud but he knows it would be deserving.

He sees that now.

Instead, thoroughly surprising Klaus and the other members of there fast gathering and nosy family. Kol wraps his arms around Klaus' neck. The warm reunion last for a total of three seconds before Kol snaps Klaus' neck letting his older brother fall lifeless to the floor. He gives the temporary corpse a smug smirk.

"Bastard." He mutters before turning to face the small crowd his surprise arrival had warranted. Kol smirked at both of his older brothers, smiled genuinely at his little sister, and gave the two chosen partners uninterested glances.

While Marcella might have found them amusing he had no such interest with them. But he supposed he'd let her have her fun. He knew how much she liked games, liked having the pieces on the board stacked.

They were very similar.

"What? You know you wanted to do it too. Aren't you going to greet your brother?" He mocks them, his childish wrath blinding his senses. Besides Finn who'd spent the last nine hundred years in a box they hadn't tried to stop Klaus from daggering him.

A slight he wouldn't be forgiving so easily.

"They just watched you snap Nik's neck love, I doubt they will be throwing themselves at you." The grin on his lips magnifies at the sound of her voice, he craned his head to look over shoulder at her perfect face.

Marcella stepped through the opened front door the sun perfectly encasing her figure. She'd let Kol have his fun but now they really needed to get to work. They'd been here earlier if he hadn't decided to distract her while they were meant to be getting dressed. She gives him an annoyed look, now they were going to have to wait even longer to get to the bottom of this. Not that she could really be upset by Kol's action, they did not surprise her, but she'd wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.

He couldn't help it but to smirk at her. She rolled her eyes, conveying meaning with them only for him.

"I see you finally freed our brother." Elijah is the one to speak interrupting the silent conversation the two seemed to be having while Marcella shut the door behind herself. The tiny blonde smiles at him but doesn't offer any reasoning.

It wasn't really any of his business. It wasn't any of their concern. Marcella knew what she was doing.

"Nik will be out for a few more minutes I suspect, Elijah could you be a dear and put him in a chair. I'm sure he'll be less than pleased to wake up on the floor." Marcella turns her attention to Rebekah who gasp in surprise at the girls eyes.

Bright vivid blue with odd flecks of dark coffee and deep golden. "Your eyes!" She can't help but point out and Marcella offers her a bemused look.

Oh how she'd missed the other girl.

She'd forgotten that Rebekah had not seen her like this. That the other blonde hadn't been around for the change. Rebekah had only known her at turmoil, a soul at war. She wouldn't know of all the changes her eyes had taken, the toil they'd paid. To finally return to this color, this shade of hazel it had been a long road.

"My soul has settled for now, Kol is here so I assume his residual magic has no need to stake claim." She muses carefully, it wouldn't do well to delvogle all of their secrets at once.

Considering the big one, the deal, the price paid and what exactly Kol got in return for striking such a deal. Souls were not cheap things, and those willing to pay the price well the reward was surely great. Notably when it meant certain aspects of natures loopholes.

Kol paid the ultimate price for her soul all those years ago and she would reunite him with not only his humanity but his magic as well. He'd get what was owed to him. He just had to save her first.

The only concern was what was he going to have to save her from.

…

"He snapped my neck!" Niklaus growled but too Marcella it sounded more like annoyed whining. She rolled her eyes and handed him a blood bag. From what she'd been told and her own experience injuries as a vampire weren't exactly fun, especially those that temporarily killed you. She almost felt bad.

She could have warned him. But where was the fun in the she supposed. Niklaus snatched the blood bag out of her hand giving her a dark unsure look. As if he was no longer certain of her. Marcella ignored his insecurities at the moment, there simply wasn't time to address them right then. There were more important matters to discuss.

Like what idiot had allowed the doppleganger to be taken. She wondered which hybrid no longer had a head, it better not be Mason since she still had plans for him. He was currently one of her most favored pawns.

"You thrust a dagger through his chest and kept him dormant for over a hundred years, honestly Niklaus your lucky he didn't rip your head from your shoulders." She gives him a well meaning look. The uncertainty in his eyes is deeper than before, he isn't sure about her. About this new edge to Marcella's already very peculiar character. The small blonde huffs a sigh at him. This was absolutely ridiculous.

"The real issue is what you plan to do about the current doppelganger. I have enough of her blood saved that you could possibly create enough hybrid to get you through the next century if Mikael kills her. So I guess the question is really how badly do you want to keep making hybrids? Honestly she lives or she dies, it doesn't matter to me." Marcella gets straight to the point. Straight to the problem.

The problem wasn't that Mikael had Elena Gilbert, the problem was Elena Gilbert herself. No matter how many times they save her someone would always be after her for what she was. Marcella knew that no matter what they did it would always come back to this, to that stupid mortal girl.

Klaus turns sharply, his eyes narrow and his lip curls at the blaise tone from her mouth. The carelessness in her words. Could she possibly be suggesting what he thought? Surely not, he hadn't taken Marcella as a fool. Naive perhaps, but not a fool. But that, that was foolish ideal. If the doppelganger died he could only make so many hybrids, a set number wasn't ever going to be enough for him.

For the first time Klaus reacts violently with her. His hand is around her soft pale jugular, nails digging into the flesh of her neck. She doesn't even react, there is something wrong with her. Vacant in expression as if she couldn't really be bothered to care about her life at all.

"I thought you were one of us! If you know anything about me then you know that I will not let the doppelganger die." His growl, the anger in his eyes, the severity of his look in mirrored on her face and then she smiles at him.

Her small delicate perfectly manicured hands wrap around his wrist and she gently pries his hand off of her. There is a fire in her eyes that he hasn't seen in quite some time, but there is also a sort madness in them that he had not been expecting. Something in her was awakening and he had nary an idea as to what that would mean for things to come.

Was this the effect of being with his brother? What could this be?

"If you want to get your doppelganger back in one piece Niklaus then you have to face your fears. You need to translate this anger into conviction, you want Mikael to suffer for all he's done to you then you have to mean it." Her voice is low, barely above a whisper yet there is fire on her tongue in her eyes. Marcella has never been more sure of herself.

She lets go of his wrist only to grab his hand and encase it tightly in her own. "I told you I would always have your back, that hasn't changed. What has changed is that now, now it's not just me. You have your family Niklaus but you have to let them help you. Family is our strength, family is what makes us strong." Then she dropped his hand leaned forward and pecked his cheek before turning effortlessly on her feet and skipping back over to Kol.

It is then that Klaus notices the tension in Kol's eyes, the tightness of his shoulders, clenched teeth and fist, and the hand on his shoulder holding him back. Klaus doesn't want to think about what his younger might have tried if Elijah hadn't been there. Obviously his brother didn't like how his girl had been threatened.

The tension in Kol's jaw settled once Marcella is next to him tucked safely to his side. If she hadn't warned him earlier than his brother could have found himself missing a limb or two. Hell he still might, Klaus would think twice before raising his hand to Marcella again. Kol would not stand for it.

There was still much he needed to learn about her, there seemed to be so much he had missed. So much of her that he hadn't expected. He knew her in ways that no one else ever could but it seemed he still had much to discover.

"Alright no more drama it's time to decide what we're going to do about my least favorite Mikaelson. But first coffee, I had a rather unrestful night." Marcella declares ducking out from Kol's grasp and prancing towards the kitchen. At the raised brows from everyone but Kol Marcella smirks over her shoulders.

"Come now darling you know that you enjoyed yourself." Rebekah makes a disgusted face at Kol's comment before throwing her arms up.

"Please no one wants to hear about your sexual escapades brother. Especially not with little love it's not an imagine any of us want of her." Marcella actually cackles at that stopping in her tracks as if she can't help herself.

"I quite agree with you sister, that is simply not something I wish to picture." Kol just grins at his older brother. Well then, it seemed like this would be a fun way to torture his siblings.

Klaus despite the situation cracks a grin at the grimace on both Rebekah's and Elijah's face. They only knew Marcella through her innocence, her naivety neither really seemed to grasp just how devious the girl could be. Now he didn't want to hear about any of his siblings sex lives but he wasn't surprised by how physical those two already were. Perhaps he just knew them both better.

"You know Rebekah telling Kol what bothers you is only going to make it worse on yourself. Though Kol I would perhaps suggest keeping your bedroom tyraids to yourself whenever Salvatore is around. See he's rather fond of our Marcella, a protective older brother of sorts." He teased them both coming up behind her and looping his arm around her shoulders. She grinned mischievously at him. Kol didn't appear pleased by the display of affection.

"Where is Damon? I thought he was going to be here." Marcella's questions pulling them all away from the talk of moonlight escapades. At this the hybrid shrugs as if he had not a single care about the raven haired male. She pouts knowing full well that Niklaus was not going to answer her question, even if it only been asked as a diversion.

Marcella knew good and well where and what Damon was doing. Someone had to keep Stefan at bay and out of the way. Also he should be checking in with Roman to see if everything on his end was working out. Roman had a theory that he wanted to test and she was all for giving him the space he needed to do so but at the same time she was worried about the fallen god.

Isadora had been his partner for the last eon and now she was gone. The loss of the Fae queen had been hard on Marcella, it had been hard on them both. It was unexpected. It should have never have come down to that. If Marcella could turn back time she would have tried harder to stop the dark girl. In the end Isadora had always known how she'd meet her final death.

Just as Marcella knew that once this was over Roman would leave them. He couldn't stay with her forever, not now. Not when seeing her would be a constant reminder of their loss. Not while he still had a job to do.

Mikael let her know that from the very beginning that if she wouldn't hand over Niklaus, if she wouldn't help him kill his own son than she was would also be his enemy. Isadora dying was the first proof of that. Turning Caroline had only nailed the head on it. Any pretty ideals of saving the man were now forever gone from her mind, Marcella would make sure he paid for his transgressions.

"Where have you gone darling?" His hot breath against her ear, the softness to his voice. The concern that lingers in his tone is what pulls her out of her own lost thoughts.

Marcella tries to offer him a convincing, reassuring smile. It falls flat. They both knew he knew her too well to believe it. She would have to tell him later but for now she lightly shakes her head as to not draw attention.

They had work to do.

XOXOX

Hello my beautiful readers! It's been a few weeks since I've posted and I am terribly sorry! My hubby and I went out of state for the holiday to visit family back where we are from so I was a bit busy. Also a forewarning while I am not giving up on this story it's unfortunately not going to be the most present thing in my life, I recently found out that I am expecting our first child so I'll be shifting most of my energy to that. I promise I am going to finish this it's just that the updates are mostly likely not going to be as frequent as they have been in the past. For that I am terribly sorry. I hope that despite that you all continue to stick with me so you can find out where this journey will end.

Also I know there was some confusion in the last few chapters about the pacing of things and most importantly Isadora's off screen death. So I am here to answer a few questions.

.1 yes the chapters are in fact in the right order. Isadora is killed by Mikael when Marcella refuses to give Klaus to him.

.2 Roman did in fact mention that he would be moving on, that was not a typo or anything of the sorts.

.3 Caroline is now a vampire. It was bound to happen at some point and when Marcella didn't react they way Mikael wanted her to with his first power move he of course did something drastic. Unfortunately for him he didn't realize that Caroline had Marcella's blood in her system hence vampire Care.

I hope that those answers help clear up some of the confusion. If you have any questions feel free to leave them as a comment or a PM. I'll do my best to either respond via PM or in the next author's note.

Tootals! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and that the rest of your year is merry and bright!

Thank you all so much for reading and continuing to support Marcella's story. I love you guys so much!

Sincerely, La'Rae