"Sometimes you face gods, monsters even, and the battle is perilous, bloody,dangerous. It takes more out of you than you can bare. Gods and monsters are daunting foes, unforgiving. However, it will come a point where sometimes you will face a even more harrowing feet and more often than not your biggest enemy is only mortal. Only human, and they're the worst one yet. Because.
Because, that enemy is you.
You are always your own worst enemy."
X
Tyler wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. How he was supposed to react, but in hindsight aggressively pushing his father had not been his most brilliant idea. But he had just made him so angry. Angry to the point of escalation. Angry to the point of blind rage. Angry to the point of anguish.
He'd made a horrible mistake.
Mason clapped his hand down on his shoulder, giving the poor teen a tight squeeze. Disputes the situation, despite what the anger of a boy had done he knows it's not entirely his fault. Wolves were just more inclined to rage. Inclined to lashing out blindly.
Even if it meant someone would die. Even if it was an accident.
Mason knew that Tyler hadn't meant too, that he never intended for this to happen. But Mason Lockwood also knew that nature didn't care. So he does his best to be a solidarity figure, someone who can help.
Because now they had a body to deal with. The wolf grimaced. This wouldn't be fun in the slightest. He knew she wouldn't be happy with him.
She hadn't wanted this to happen. Had explicitly warned him that she would not be pleased if somehow it did.
Mason shuddered. A cold dread building in his spine. Marcella wouldn't be merciful when she found out. Her mercy would only stretch so far.
...
Elena crossed her arms over her chest. Hours had past. Literal hours of just sitting still and waiting for something to happen. The man seemed like he had expected it almost, as he made no indication of surprise. But Elena was starting to feel like she had been right.
Marcella didn't care about her. Why would she be in any hurry to rally the forces to save her?
"I told you she didn't care." Mikael turns his head away from the window he'd been staring out. His brow raised at the mouthy teen, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. He was really starting to get annoyed by this girl.
It would be so easy to kill her.
"I thought I told you girl, this isn't about her."
She reminded him too much of another doppelganger he'd known. Mikael had nothing more to say to her. He turned away eyes back towards the window. They'd be here soon.
Because he knew that the one she spoke of, that that girl did care. He'd seen it in her eyes the moment they first met. Just how deeply she felt about all of his children. A fiery protectiveness that would burn to whatever depths was necessary for them. So perhaps she truly did not care about the doppelgänger before him but she did care about his children. Niklaus did care about the state of the doppelgänger and he would want to get her back for her usefulness. That girl would bend over backwards to give his stepson the world if he so asked for it. Such loyalty while inspiring was damning. A death wish.
He cleared his head of such frivolous things. He had more important matters to think of.
They'd be here soon and they'd be armed. Mikael could feel it. He couldn't wait. The time was upon them, upon him, his children standing united against him. An almost bitter feeling, almost. Because there was a part of him that was still a father and in all his years never had they stood together as one.
Bitter. But proud.
…
She tapped her fingers anxiously against her leg, tapping the other foot impatiently. Marcella wasn't feeling particularly confident at the moment. They hadn't agreed with her, they hadn't taken her advice, this wasn't going to work. There was no possible way. Mikael would expect them to have a plan, he will have prepared for that. Not having a concrete plan was the best plan and Niklaus didn't agree with her.
That stung.
Marcella hadn't expected that. It hurt.
To make matters worse, she still hadn't heard from Roman and she'd been waiting for his news. Whatever he discovered could make or break this. Marcella had to remind herself to take a calming breath. Despite her fears, her concern, her worries it was now or never.
A hand clasp down on her shoulder, stilling her twitching limbs. She doesn't look at them. "It's going to be okay princess." But even the reassurance in Damon's voice can pull her out of the doubts. He couldn't know that. No one could.
Everything was entirely different now. Marcella just shakes her head looking down at her feet. God she hated this feeling. The feeling that something terribly wrong was going to happen.
"Let's just get this over with." The sooner it was over the better she'd feel.
…
Beware a king who bowed before no one except his queen. Thanatos thought absently his eyes on the unfolding page. He could feel death in the air like one felt water on skin. Ingrained deeply within his very being.
Death. Destruction. Chaos.
The god smiled. He hadn't felt this much of his fathers presence in a long time. An eon possibility. Chaos was here and he was enthralled with that mere girl.
He had been since the very beginning. All because of that boy. A true servant. Thanatos folded his hands under his chin, this could prove to be far more entertaining than he first thought.
Revere a queen whose king bows only before her.
It was time.
….
The closer they got to where Marcella insisted Mikael would be the more unsettled he was begging to feel. Chaos brimming at his core, eating away at his being. Kol wanted there to be bloodshed. He wanted retribution. He wanted his father to burn for the hell he put them all through for centuries.
He wanted fire and he wanted blood. But more importantly he wanted this to be over with so he could take his girl and show her everything the world had to offer. He wanted to take her far away from the dark terrible place. That was beginning to consume them all.
For a moment when he looked at her, at the stone cold look in her eyes, at her stiff posture he could of sworn he felt something buzzing under his own skin. Something warm, something familiar. Soon my son.
The words echoed in his ears like a ghost memory and Kol couldn't help the giddy feeling that crawled up his spine. An almost manic laugh escaped his lips and she looked back at him a smiled knowingly.
Soon.
…
In a true dramatic Mikaelson fashion Mikael stood direct center of the field, holding the Gilbert girl close to his chest. The smirk on his face grew as he children and their associates arrived. To no surprise they were all there, all of his remaining children and the girl. She stood with them as if she was one of them, and if he didn't know better from the look on her face he might have thought she was.
But he knew she was nothing shy of a pretender. A girl playing queen. She stood no chance against him. Their eyes meet and he watches with amusement as she keeps his gaze.
He'd kill her last. He'd force her to watch as he killed all his children, and then he'd watch with pleasure as the light snuffed from her haunting eyes.
"Were you to scared to face me alone boy, that you have to drag your siblings down too." Mikael sneered. But to his surprise he receive no reaction from Klaus. Nothing but a cold resentful look that burned deeply in his eyes.
For the first time in Niklaus' life he stood before him without any fear. Without any care. Never before. Mikael had not expected that. Had not expected such confidence. Interesting.
He had expected rage. Violence. Immediate reaction, not cold indifference. Mikeal's eyes shifted over to warrant all his other children's reaction to find more of the same. Set steal. A united front.
A beautiful farce. One he doesn't believe. United. A laughable idea. Never had they been truly united.
"I'd say never is unfortunately a lie. Especially since In your dreams you wished to all be together again." An arm snakes around his shoulders and suddenly he's being crushed under the weight.
Mikael couldn't move. His whole body paralyzed, but not by fear. It was as if all his limbs had simply fallen asleep. The careful hold he had on the girl falls and she doesn't even look back when she runs from him.
Slowly he looks to his right where the extra weight was. That boy. The boy who'd he seen with her. Face distorted by gold shimmering light, but his eyes could still be seen.
Ancient eyes. Eyes that knew too much, had seen too much. The eyes of a wrathful god.
"I'm dreaming." Mikael concludes through gritted teeth.
"Much worse mate, you're dying." A new voice answers, and as the owner comes into view suddenly he's hit with an onslaught of memories. Of blood, carnage, fire and smoke.
He remembers the cold look in her eyes as he plunged a stake through her chest, one that was meant for Niklaus. The cold rage on Kol's face as he tore him apart. The agony on his sons features, to be so in love.
"She could have redeemed you to them. You know, you could have been a family again. But you made a grave mistake." A third voice, haunting him. Because that voice belonged to someone he'd killed.
The Fae queen stepped into view, the gaping hole still in her chest oozing black sludge Eyes dark and deadly. A hand shot forward and broke through his own chest, delicate fingers wrapping dangerously around his heart. Blood fell out of his mouth, dripping down his chin. Then her face was right upon his, lips lingering at his ear.
She whispered something damning. The truth that could have redeemed him. "She wanted you to know that Freya lived."
His ears fill with the sound of demented cackling, it takes him to his grave. Like a deranged angel dragging him to the depths of hell. The Fae queen takes a step back pulling his heart out of his chest, so that even in his last moments all he feels is agony. The heart in her hand turns to dust as she fades back into darkness.
Leaving the dead man with the sons of Chaos.
Mikael was dead.
His hands were covered in blood and other bodily fluids. The stake that he'd once held now buried deep within his own father's chest. Kol let his grip fall, his hands numb at his side. She'd been right. Mikael had expected them to have a plan, he'd prepared for that and Marcella had paid the price.
She'd warned them, and they hadn't listened. Now she might not… No he couldn't think about it that way. He would just get her to have her leave him. Not so soon. Not until he could show her everything.
A hand delicately, gently touches his shoulder. He tries to shrug them off. Kol was no where in the right mind to deal with his siblings pity. Damon had carried her lifeless body from the carnage before he'd gone ballistic. Unfortunately whichever sibling it is they're persistent and there is no relenting.
Kol glances up to look up to tell them off or relieve them of their head. He hadn't yet decided. "You'll find the second option a lot more difficult than the first child." That wasn't a sibling.
"As I am quite fond of my head."
God had arrived and he looked far more amused than he should have been.
Kol allowed himself to be help up, allowed the being to move him. At the thought of how ridiculous this whole situation had become he couldn't help the maniac laughter that slipped past his lips. He ran his bloodied hand through his scalp trying to control himself but control was at such a loss right now. All he wanted was the exact opposite.
He wanted chaos and everything that came with the want. So consumed he missed the smirk on the beings face or the way his eyes soften when regarding the boy. His child.
If his son wanted chaos, wanted everything that was of him. Was ready to accept every aspect of the gift he'd been given. So be it.
Chaos smiled reaching out his hand touching a single finger to his child's forehead. "You'll need this back then." He withdrew his touch after a moment, briefly meeting the awed understanding gaze of the young original before disappearing.
Kol fell to his knees, maddening cackles in the air. To anyone looking in it would appear he'd finally lost it. But the present buzzing under his skin and the fire in his veins was testament to anything but. If anything he was more himself than he'd been in a long time.
His magic had been returned to him, and right then he had a garden to save.
Eden was waiting for him.
XOXOX
OMG guys it's been a month since I last updated! I am so sorry! What can I say? Uh, not a lot in my defense other than this chapter had been a real pain to write. A lot going on here and for that I'll apologize. I'll be frank I had to include everything in this chapter that I did, even the bits that don't make sense because some of it will be important later.
This chapter honestly is a bit of a mouthful, or eyeful.. A lot to take in. I hope that you enjoyed reading it and if you are confused about anything PM I'll be glad to clear up what I can regarding the confusion.
Anyway, thank you all so much for your continued love and support. It truly means the world to me. Your reviews have been really inspiring to read while I've been working on this chapter. Please keep letting me know what you think and how you feel regarding GoE. I look forward to hearing more from you all.
I hope that you have a wonderful day!
Sincerely, La'Rae