CHAPTER 6

The sun was breaking the horizon line as the ritual reached its conclusion. "Feel any different?" Marcel asked as the ritual completed. Freya's list of fail-safes was extensive. There were even provisions for if one of them were killed, the other wouldn't die. When it was completed, he felt like he had just taken off a weighted vest. Not too different, but definitely a little stronger and faster. Not that he needed either of those things…or hopefully wouldn't need those things, but it was nice to feel a little younger.

The Norwegian born daughter of Mikael looked to the sky and muttered a short verse in a language Marcel couldn't quite identify. The clouds seemed darker for a moment before the rain came down alongside a violet flash and immediate thunderclap. Freya's upturned face, broke out a foreign expression Marcel had never seen on her; unrestricted wonder. "I'm feeling good," Freya murmured. Despite the rain, she stood there for the next couple minutes, getting drenched. She clenched her fists, and then calmly opened her hands, arms held out in front of her. The rain came to as sudden a stop as it was born.

"Wanna go get celebratory milkshakes?" She asked, her demeanour slightly muted from before, but still as happy as Marcel had ever seen her.

"As long as they've got strawberry, I'm in," Marcel chuckled. Holy fuck. Holy fuck. Holy Jesus Christ, Freya was strong enough to control the weather now as easily as bending down to tie her shoelaces. So that's a thing Marcel struggled to wrap his head around as Freya literally skipped the rest of the way back to their car and the diner.

The involuntary twinge of horror at Freya's new powers quickly was gone as she made an ecstatic call to her wife. Marcel knew that at some point Rebekah would gently nag him about not being the first to check in with her and Keelin.

The rest of the drive to the Salvatore school was as quiet as the drive to the diner. Well, except for Freya muttering some kind of spell using a brochure from the school itself; a location spell for Hope.

Luckily, Freya was a decent navigator, since Marcel had never been to the Salvatore School before. They stopped once for gas at a strip mall off the highway, and Freya outed herself as a basic bitch. Nursing her peppermint mocha, she gave Marcel a look daring him to make a cheeky comment. He did not. He did however, order himself a large hot chocolate to Freya's amusement: the two most powerful supernatural creatures of their kind...way to represent.

"Dr. Saltzman, it's a pleasure to see you again," Freya crisply greeted a harried-looking Alaric as he approached the gates to let them in. Well, Freya could've easily let them in, but shattering the boundary spell may have sent an unnecessarily aggressive message. Hope explicitly asked them to put their best foot forward, since it had been a crucible of a fortnight for the school.

"It's 'Alaric' and you know that," Freya's lips twitched into a grin. Alaric undid the enchanted chains keyed to him. He looked up to address the Uber vampire, "I don't believe I've had the pleasure, I'm Alaric Saltzman."

Marcel took Alaric's hand in a firm shake, neither intimidating nor weak, "Marcel Gerard, I've heard great things about you from Hope." Marcel wasn't even lying.

Freya looked at her old friend; they had in fact been on good terms for the last decade, since Hope began schooling here. There was no way Hayley would've been okay with this place without having Freya vetting it first. Freya and Alaric's conversations in the old days were focused about her learning about what her siblings had been up to in this sleepy clusterfuck of a town, where her family had set down roots after abandoning her in Norway.

Alaric deeply hated Klaus. And Freya could honestly empathize with that. It was something they bonded over. Oh, Freya would've defended Klaus to the death if she had to against an outsider, she was his big sister, but she never forgave him from killing Mikael. Even though she knew her beloved father was objectively evil in so many different categories. Alaric was also still conflicted that the school only got off the ground because of Klaus' monumental donation during its founding phase. Freya confirmed later that the money came from Klaus alone. Sure, the other Mikaelsons donated generously and regularly after Hope enrolled, but Klaus's positive contribution to the Salvatore School was something Alaric would never really live down.

Alaric led them to the main building without much fanfare, "I've also recalled Caroline, and she should be here by dinner, to which you're both invited."

Marcel and Freya exchanged a look before Freya said; "We were planning on having dinner with Hope,"

Alaric rolled his eyes, "She'll be there. The recent attacks spurred her to take a certain initiative that I'd like to talk with her along with Caroline and my daughters with, together."

Marcel raised an eyebrow, not entirely pleased with this development, but Freya shrugged, "Sure, that'll work, if it's what she wants. We'd like to see her immediately, but then we have things we need to discuss with you as well regarding the attacks at this school. We're…concerned," Freya said pointedly.

Alaric nodded, resigned that 'concerned parents and family' now meant this lot. "That's fine. If you want breakfast, it's served in the main hall at 7:30, which gives you a little bit of time to talk with Hope, and time for me to take a damn nap."

"Burning the midnight oil?" Marcel asked with smirk.

"More like being guilt tripped by a certain red head into accepting private tutoring for my daughters," Alaric admitted. Freya broke out in a grin, "Don't you start, Viking." Freya didn't say anything, but she let out a chuckle as they reached the staircase of the dorms. Marcel politely held in a grin as well.

"We'll be back down soon enough, enjoy your naptime Alaric," Freya grinned as she took the stairs two at a time, leaving Marcel in the dust for a moment before he shook his head at her antics.

To Marcel's surprise, Alaric had shaken his head in identical posture. Marcel came to a realization right then, he kinda liked this weathered dude who clearly was at ease around Freya. And Freya didn't show her playful side to anyone really, not if they weren't family. "If you ever need a guest lecturer or something, feel free to ask. Between Freya and myself, we could probably give some advise on how to walk down paths that lead away from being monsters. You know, if you've got any trouble makers that'll become dangerous once they're outta here," Marcel said seriously, taking the usually unflappable headmaster by surprise.

"Because you've been monsters, right?" Despite Alaric's dry retort, Marcel didn't feel any real malice.

"Exactly," Marcel agreed. "Also, because if Hope one day finds out her former classmates are victimizing or killing people…" Marcel didn't need to continue. Alaric got it.

"That blood shouldn't be on her hands, yeah," Alaric agreed.

A flame burst into being on top of Marcel's head, baffling him for a moment before the fire faded into a hastily scrawled note, "You're missing some gay panic, and it's priceless. Get up here!" Marcel chuckled as he read Freya's note before it disintegrated to ash.

"She does that to you often?" Alaric asked with a grin on his face for a change.

Marcel just rolled his eyes with a long-suffering sigh, "According to her wife, she considers it 'making up for lost time,'" Alaric's grin widened a fraction.

"I might take you up on your lecture offer," Alaric said as his grin disappeared. Marcel clapped him lightly on the shoulder in acknowledgment before heading up to the dorms.