"Doubt comes in, And strips the paint
Doubt comes in, And turns the wine
Doubt comes in and leaves a trace
Of vinegar and turpentine
Where are you? Where are you now?
Doubt comes in ,And kills the lights
Doubt comes in ,And chills the air
Doubt comes in and all falls silent
It's as though you aren't there
Where are you? Where are you now?"

~Doubt Comes In, Hadestown~

...

Roman leaned himself against the sticky wooden bar. His amber almost golden eyes locked on one patron across the room. Another man of similar belongings, chiseled from the heavens themselves and fallen far from the grace of their father. The old god would give him some credit his fellow was doing his best to to ignore him. Of course they both knew it would be fruitless but Roman did admire the attempt. He pushed himself off of the bar completely content to make the first move.

He knew his brother wouldn't run from him. Roman shoved his hands lazily into his pockets before telling the bartender his order and then strolling over to the man. He's met by a raised brow and reluctant nod to sit is met by a smirk.

"It's been a while." His brother snorts turning his head slightly. A while might have been an understatement.

"You've been dwelling among mortal company for far longer than usual." Roman couldn't deny that sentiment he'd own half of their lives regardless, being among them was always frivolously entertaining. Mortals had always proved to be far more interesting than gods or monsters and with an eternity he could be whatever they needed. He just continued to smirk at his sulking brother.

Until his brother decided that he was not in the mood for playing games and got right down to business. What more should he have expected from him? Death hardly ever had time to play games.

"Hypnos you've been playing a dangerous game with that girl." The smirk falls from his lips. Hypnos now outed narrows his eyes at the other. Well, he knew where they still stood.

"I don't remember asking you Thanatos." Thanatos cast a sly smile at his twin raising his arms. A mock surrender.

"It's not my intention to upset you brother, It was just an observation." Hypnos with his eyes still narrowed leaned dangerously forward.

"Bold of you to lecture me about dangerous games brother. Tell me Thanatos what rolls you've played." But the god of death smile turned secretive and select. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair. It seemed he would not be revealing his cards anytime soon.

Hypnos should have known better. You should never play cards against death. Death always found a way to be the smartest and most prepared at the table. Ready for anything.

"You've become reckless since Pasithea's death. I am sorry about the Fae Queen but you need to take better care of yourself." Hypnos snarled at Thanatos pushing himself from the table. That was too far. How dare he be so presumptuous. He dropped his money on the dark wood startling the approaching waitress who was then shooed away by the still calm patron.

"Don't talk to me about her. You have not earned that right." He turned his heel and started to walk away. Thanatos not one to be outdone made sure to get the last word in.

"You shouldn't be upset with me for your own faults brother, and if you're not careful you will lose this one too." His fist balled and his knuckles turned white from the pressure.

Except the god masquerading had nothing he could say to that. Deep in the pit he knew it to be true.

"Be careful brother. You know he favors this one."

…

Damon strolled easily up the steps to Niklaus' obnoxiously large house. Really it was such a pompous gaudy thing. He would have much more preferred meeting at the not quite as large boarding house. But this was where his princess had asked him to come so this was where he had to be.

He wouldn't admit to anyone else but he was starting to worry about her. He'd been a little worried for a while now, she seemed like she was spirally and not in the normal sense. Not like he did. Her spiral seemed more self-destructive, more in house. Never a good combination for someone like her.

Someone who despite what she let others believe took everything to heart. Damon shook his head, now was probably not the time to be distracted. To be concerned. Distraction could mean untimely death and Marcella would kill him if he died because of her. Besides he had her new boyfriend knew his place.

It would be a terrible shame if he had to do something drastic. Damon whistled a little tune while pushing the front door open. Forgoing knocking because this wasn't a stranger he was trying to make nice with, just a smelly mutt he had to keep tolerating because someone had decided that he was family too.

"I see your back." Damon smirked at the slightly less sulky hybrid.

"I see your still grumpy. But I do take it by the less surly look in your eye Marcella is here." Damon just patted Niklaus' shoulder condescending as he walked by, the only sign that he had irritated the other man was a slight twitch in the corner of his mouth.

"It's like you want Nik to rip your head off." Her voice reached his ears and he turned to look up the stairwell. There she was smiling at him like nothing else mattered. Before he knew it she'd blurred down the stairs and was throwing her arms around his neck.

Damon pulled her close. He could feel some sort of tension relax in her as she let him hold her. She pecked his cheek when she pulled away from the embrace, he brushed one of her wild curls from her eyes. A true smile on his lips when he recognized them as the ones he'd met originally. Something had changed.

Something inside of her had changed. She seemed more at ease in her own skin, he hadn't seen her this comfortable with herself since before the turn. "Feeling better princess?" His tone soft, softness that was only given to her and she nodded.

"For the most part. Are you okay?" Because she knew what he had done, they'd talked about it a while ago. Because she was her and she knew that no matter what Stefan did he was still his brother and a part of Damon would always love and feel pity for him.

He grinned but it was barely committed, it looked like a lie on his face. "I will be. So what's the plan." Damon purposely changed the subject and for once she let him. However he could see it in her eyes that they would be talking more about this later. That girl.

"Marcella thinks it's wise to just straight out attack the most powerful hunter of all time." Niklaus decides it's time for him to interject on their conversation. Damon rolled his eyes at him.

"You should know by now Niklaus that she's never been a fan of sneaking around or devious plots. It's not a bad plan, I assume Caroline already brought over the stakes?" He turns his question to her and she nods smiling like a crazy person.

"About an hour ago, we could have already been over and done with this but no one wants to agree with me on the best way to proceed. I know this is the best way, I'm right but not everyone wants to see it my way." She pouted crossing her arms appearing like a put out little child. Damon shook his head at her act, Niklaus too could see it for what it was and he rolled his eyes not at all impressed.

"I already told you sweetheart why just winging it when it comes to fighting Mikael is a terrible idea." He chastised her and she decided the best option was turning her nose at him and looking across the room.

"And I told you Niklaus why having a plan plan was a death sentence." Then she stalked away, obviously upset. Damon let her go before turning to look at the original.

He raised a brow. "You know just as well as I do that she's never wrong, why are you doubting her now?" Damon leveled his gaze he would not back down from this. Especially since he could see just how much Klaus' doubt bothered his girl.

Marcella hated being taken for granted. Hated being doubted. She didn't open her mouth or give her thoughts on something unless she'd really considered them. It was just how she'd always been. Damon remembered the last time he doubted her, he remembered the betrayed look in her eyes when he'd attacked her out of his doubts and from those memories he'd sworn never again.

…

Marcella took a moment to access their standings, to try to process their odds. She knew that they could do this. Knew that it had been done before. No matter all of her knowing it didn't change the fact that she was afraid. Afraid that all her efforts wouldn't be enough, that she could still fail.

She didn't want to lose them, any of them. At this point she was more than attached. Her heart wouldn't be able to handle it if anything happened to her people. Especially Kol, Niklaus, and Damon. Facing Mikael no matter their odds was dangerous. There were so many things that could go wrong, so many places where they could fall short and fail.

It had to be enough. There was simply no other option.

Kol watched her for a moment, he'd been just watching her for a while. She was nothing like he had expected so much more. The way she held herself, the way she loved, the way that she existed as if she was the center of everything for everyone. The way she hurt when her ideas and opinions were ignored, were doubted. Marcella was something special.

Something that was his and he could see that she felt incredible pain. His brother's doubt, reluctance to believe her word. It frustrated her beyond measure because it was so abundantly clear to him that all she wanted for them, any of them was the best. She wanted them to be happy and this was the only way to achieve that feet.

On the other hand, the fear he'd once held about the place the Salvatore held in her heart was not the threat he'd first perceived it to be. He could see that the other man loved her in a way that Kol never could, that he'd protect and care about her in reaches that were just his. Damon Salvatore was her family, her sire, he'd never let anything hurt her.

Even himself or anyone else who dared. Even Kol. The original was giddy at the thought it wasn't like he ever would hurt her but it was nice to know that someone was there to make sure he didn't. He could see himself and the Salvatore becoming interesting allies. Friends perhaps if they were lucky. Marcella would expect nothing less.

His eyes lingered on her face. He could see the tears building in the corner could feel her beginning to break. The time for lingering and watching was over. Kol put a sly smile on his face before walking over to her. Wrapped his arms over her shoulders, his fingers playing with the ends of curls.

He leaned just slightly into her, so he could whisper in her ear.

"You look incredibly frustrated darling, and not in a good way." She smiles at the sound of his voice, looking up into eyes that felt like home. Warm coffee and soothing honey had never felt more at ease. Kol smirked down at her and it did nothing for the feeling.

Marcella gave a small nod for confirmation of his words but still she seemed lost in her own thoughts. Whenever she looked at him instantly no matter what was going on she felt comforted. Safe. She leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his torso and linking hands behind his back. Burying her face into his chest. Breathing in his scent, taking in the deep forest and faint smoke.

Marcella never one to shy away from her feelings told him everything she felt in that moment in two small words.

"I'm afraid."

XOXOX

Short chapter I know, and I'm sorry about that. Also I'm sorry that we haven't even gotten to the Mikael fight yet originally that had been the plan for this chapter but as I was writing it I felt like it would be crammed in at the end and I didn't really want to do that to you guys. SO hopefully the actual confrontation will be in the next chapter. Anyway thank you all so much for your continued support and kind words!

You guys are awesome!

Thank you for reading! I look forward to hear what you are all thinking about this so far.

I hope that you all have a wonderful day/night/whatever!

Sincerely, La'Rae