So sorry for all the angst. I promise things will start to get a bit better after this. Oof. Everyone grab some Kleenex for this chapter. I know I needed about a half a box just to write it.

I replay the argument over and over again in my head. Not telling Klaus about Lana that first night was a mistake. But I was waiting for the right time. For everything to calm down. To really discuss it. So many things caused me to make the wrong decision. Hayley's unforeseen pregnancy, the issues with Marcel and Rebekah, and the war brewing with the witches were all contributing factors. And now I don't know what will happen next.

As it turns out, what happens next is a sudden influx in earthquake activity.

Rebekah is the one who calls me.

"It's Davina."

"What's wrong with her?"

"According to Sophie, it's because the Harvest wasn't completed. All that magic is trapped inside her and has nowhere to go. All of that power is causing these disasters and it's only going to get worse. Marcel is beside himself with worry and the poor girl is terrified." Rebekah huffs a sigh. "Marcel won't admit it but...I think it would be really good if you were here."

The earth shakes again and I brace myself to keep from falling over.

I bring the phone back to my ear. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

By the time I arrive, the winds have picked up exponentially. Rebekah leads me to Davina's room, where Marcel is holding her close and speaking soothing words to her. Marcel looks up and sees me. He ducks his head again and holds Davina closer. "I'm so scared."

"I know honey. But we got to keep you calm." They administer a sedative, even though she doesn't want it. She's terrified and I feel for her.

Marcel guides me out of the room and into the hall. His hands shake and his voice trembles with the effort to not cry. "I don't know what to do. I don't know how to help her. She's dying and I can't...I can't…"

I take him into my arms and he sobs. I hold him close as he crumbles. The strength he's been putting on for Davina fades away into nothing.

Over his shoulder, I see Klaus round the corner. He stops in his tracks and regards us with a surprised expression that slowly softens.

After a few minutes, Marcel pulls himself back together again. "I have to get back to her."

I nod and hold a hand to his cheek. "You've got that look in your eye. The look of a protective father. And I know that at this moment all you want to do is keep her alive. And hopefully we can do that, but as a parent you have to know...there are some choices that you have to make sometimes that are so painful you'll think they'll kill you. But no matter what, you always do what's best for her. Always."

He swallows and nods before pulling away and entering the room again.

I lean against the wall and look up at the ceiling as Klaus comes to lean against the wall next to me. "We have to complete the ritual," he says.

I swallow. "I know," I whisper.

"That night...back in 1919...when he was on that stage. Bloody and broken. At that moment I felt like I would do anything." He pauses and swallows. "Anything to keep him alive."

I look at him and he looks at me. It's the first conversation we've had in a little over a week. We haven't had contact since the fight.

"I imagine he's feeling much like that at the moment. That he would do anything to keep her safe."

I nod. I look at the ground and swallow. "Lana...my daughter. Lana Nicole," I say softly and he looks at me with a clenched jaw, trying to wait patiently for me to speak, even though the subject is painful for us both. "I lost her."

My eyes sting and the tears start to spill over in my grief.

"She fought so hard, to be brave. She had that fight in her. That will, to never back down. She reminded me a lot of you."

The tears start to flow harder and I feel Klaus hesitant pull me in as I cry into his chest. My words are broken as I say, "A parent….a parent should never….never ever have to...to know. To know what...what it feels like…"

I gasp for breath as it becomes increasingly harder to control everything I'm feeling. "It should have…it should have been me. The parents…are supposed to die first."

He pulls me in tighter. "I'm sorry," he says softly.

Some time later I manage to get my emotions back under control. The numbness comes back. The resolve that even though everything has changed, it's always going to be one step in front of the other. "I'm sorry," I say. "I didn't tell you about her. I didn't know how too. I want to tell you all about her but…"

He takes my hand in his. "Julia."

I look up at him and find soft understanding in his eyes. "I couldn't speak Marcellus's name for many years after...after what happened. When you're ready to, we can talk about her. But we don't have to if you don't want to."

I swallow and nod. "Thank you." I pause and bite my lip. "Last week…"

He releases my hand and pulls away slightly but not a complete retreat. "We were both taken by surprise," I continue. "And we both got angry. Eventually we'll have to talk about it but right now isn't the time. We have enough to deal with at the moment. Let's just be thankful that it actually helped with the original plan."

His hesitant smirk at that last part makes me smile. "Yes. Yes it did."

Knowing that ritual must be completed, and then coming up with the means to go through it are two completely different things. But the hardest part is allowing Marcel to come to that conclusion.

Klaus and I enter the room together. Marcel sits at Davina's bedside holding her hand. The sedative is keeping her calm and less coherent than desirable, but it seems to be keeping the progression of things from getting too much worse too quickly.

Klaus places a hand on his son's shoulder. "Marcel…"

Marcel looks up and him and whatever he sees on Klaus's face makes him grow angry. "No. No we're not doing that."

"She is dying Marcel," Klaus reminds him.

"We can wait it out…"

Klaus has to hold Marcel back from becoming aggressive. "No, Marcel! We cannot. She is dying. She is dying and it's hurting her. The Harvest was working. By all accounts it was working. Which means there's a chance. A chance that she'll be okay in the end. But if we don't do this, then she dies anyway, and leaves a whole lot of destruction in her wake."

Marcel shakes his head in denial. "I promised her. I promised I would protect her. I have to protect her."

I look at the girl in the bed who I can tell is listening to every word. The wind outside howls ever louder. I go to Davina and sit by her on the bed, brushing the hair off of her damp forehead. She whimpers. "Shhh. It's okay honey."

"I have to do this don't I?" she whispers.

Marcel rushes back to her side and Klaus comes to stand at the foot of the bed. "I know it's not fair of us to ask you Davina," Klaus starts, "but we need you to grow up rather quickly today."

She looks up at Marcel as he starts to protest. "It's okay," she says.

"No. I failed you," he responds.

"I'll die whether I do this or not. I mean, now the only option is...is whether I take everyone with me. If you look at it that way, it's kind of selfish not to do it."

Marcel holds her close. "There has to be another way. This is not how it ends."

"And if it is... If this is all I have, I've had a lot. I had Monique, and I had Tim, and I had someone who fought for me from the moment you met me."

Marcel's eyes start to water, "Oh, Davina."

"Most people don't get that even if they live to be a hundred. Marcel, I want to do this. I can do this." She says it with more conviction than I would've expected from someone twice her age. I can't help but be a little proud of her.

Marcel stays with her to keep her calm while the Mikaelson siblings and I once again convene to discuss the matter at hand. Elijah's plan is unorthodox, and Rebekah is just as apprehensive as the rest of us. "It's taken one thousand years, but you've finally gone mad. Our own mother?"

"Yes, our beloved mother, who Niklaus has affectionately placed in a coffin in his basement...not daggered, but quite dead," Elijah responds.

"Well, she did try to kill us all," Klaus reminds us. Or rather reminds them. It's the first I've heard of it. I never had the pleasure of meeting her.

"Well, I say we put her to use and put her to rest once and for all," Elijah says. "Now if we bury our mother on land owned by one of her descendants, she becomes a New Orleans witch, and we, as her family, share in that ancestral magic."

Rebekah rolls her eyes. "We're vampires, Elijah. We can't practice magic. Or own property, for that matter."

"Yes. With regard to practicing magic, we can channel our mother's energy into Sophie so that she can complete the ritual. Unfortunately, that means we all have to participate in the ritual. And, as for owning property, not all of our mother's descendants are dead…"

Understanding dawns on me. "The baby."

Elijah nods. "The baby. The parish Tax Assessor's office is just steps outside of the Quarter. Hayley now holds the title to the plantation. So, if we bury our mother there, and we consecrate those grounds, we can finish the Harvest ritual."

Klaus barks a short laugh. "You're a bit of a mad genius, Elijah. Count me in."

"Am I the only one thinking?" Rebekah asks. "Our mother was the most powerful witch in history. If we bury her, we hand that power to our enemies to use against us."

"Given our circumstances, I hardly see that we have a choice, Rebekah."

She sighs in frustration. "I don't know why I bother. You two will just do what you want anyway."

"No. Our decision must be unanimous," Elijah states.

"This is not a democracy," Klaus reminds him.

"You're quite right. This is family."

The skies open up at that moment and begin to pour down more rain than the city had seen in most of its history.

"Water," I say absentmindedly. "The next sign's begun."

"Rebekah?" Elijah asks.

"Kill a demon today, face the devil tomorrow." Rebekah sighs in resignation. "Count me in."

Klaus smirks. "Well, this is no family reunion without our mother. I'll fetch her."

With the decisions made, I take my leave to go back to the Bayou. I have to make sure that my people are okay. That the wolves are keeping as safe as they can during the onslaught of supernatural storms.

When the fires suddenly blink out, I know that Davina is dead, and I can't help but feel Marcel's pain as keenly as my own. Especially when Rebekah's text comes through - It didn't work. They're all still dead.

My mind swims with painful memories.

"Lana!" I shout as I run at full speed through the woods.

Marcel had allowed a hunt. Vampires were spilling into the Bayou taking advantage of the wolves in their human form with the full moon high overhead. In the distance, I see the form of my daughter stumbling and slumping to the ground in pain.

I rush forward even faster, and skid across the ground before grasping at my daughter with shaking hands. "Lana."

She looks up at me, blood dripping from the corner of her lips. "Mom," she gasps.

"Shhh. Shhh. It's going to be okay." My hand brushes her hair out of her face.

"Okay. Okay. Mom," she struggles to say.

"You don't have to talk. It's okay. You're going to be fine."

She chokes on what seems to be a laugh. "No. But that's...that's...okay."

"MOM!"

My grandson runs full tilt toward us and falls by his mother's side. "Mom." He shakes in horror at the sight of his mother, broken and bleeding on the Bayou floor.

"It's okay...Baby Devil," she says, lifting her hand toward his face. "You have...have to be...strong...now."

He shakes his head. "I can't. I can't."

"Yes you...can. Listen...to...to your gran."

My eyes overflow with tears as do his as he nods. "Okay. I will."

"Good." She looks up toward the sky. "The sun...is rising. The pack…"

He looks out into the woods. He has been raised to be their leader. That responsibility is fast approaching. "I can't lead them. Not like this. There will be anarchy amongst the wolves."

I swallow as my daughter grasps his arm. "I never...wanted you...you to feel that...pain."

"I have to. I have to turn." He looks up toward the sky that is slowly brightening. The pack is beginning to turn back to their wolf forms in the far distance. "I have to trigger my curse now." He goes to stand. Lana's hand tightens on his arm.

"No. We...do not...take innocent lives...by...choice." She coughs violently, blood pouring to the ground.

We both tighten our hold on her in concern. She gasps and looks back at her son. "I am...dying. You can...make it...quick."

His eyes widen in horror and he looks at me. "I..I…" He swallows thickly, a new set of tears falling. "I don't know if I can do that."

"You...must." She says. "The pack...needs an...an alpha...Anarchy...you said."

"Right."

"It's okay Baby," I say as gently as I can. "She is...she is in pain."

He nods in resignation and moves to situate himself behind her. I kneel in front of them and take my daughter's hands. "I...I love you, Lana Nicole."

"I love...love you too," she gasps.

His arms wrap around her. His lips kiss the side of her temple. "Thank you so much for everything. I am so, so lucky that you were my mom. I love you."

She raises a shaking hand up toward his hand and rubs it in comfort. "I am...lucky...you were my...son. I will...always...love you."

He squeezes his eyes shut and positions his hands. I shut my eyes and my daughter holds my hands tighter.

Snap!

Her hands go limp in mine.

I sit silently with my head in my hands. The makeshift gravestone before me taunting me with their emptiness. Jaque Kenner is buried beside Ida Kenner a little off to my side.

But it's the stone directly in front of me that has the loudest silence. It leaves the deepest void.

Here lies Lana Nicole - Beloved daughter, mother, and leader.

The whole world seems too quiet after days like this...but that is something a parent should never have to know.