Marcel felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. The very hope that this girl next to him might be his baby sister was almost too much to bear. He loved that child more than he ever imagined it was possible to love someone. She was his sister. She wasn't his blood, but that had never mattered to him or her.
Losing Sadie had torn a hole into Marcel that had never healed. It had done that to all of them, but Marcel had always blamed himself for it. He was alone with her when it happened. He was supposed to be looking after her. He'd let someone get the jump on him and had ended up with a broken neck. He'd never forgiven himself. He didn't think Klaus ever did either.
Elena was taken aback by the name. Sadie. That felt right in a way, although incredibly strange in another. "Sadie? Is that my name?
Marcel was pulled out of his thoughts by the girl's question. He had to take step back. He couldn't let himself truly believe that this was his sister. That wasn't even possible. Sadie was dead. Even if she hadn't died when they thought she had, it was over a hundred years ago. She would've died by then. Then again, he supposed they didn't know what her physiology was or what her lifespan would've been. "Why do you think you're Klaus' daughter."
"Well, the flashes of memory I have where I call him 'Daddy' are a pretty good hint," Elena said.
"When were you born?" Marcel asked. Even if she was Klaus' daughter, that didn't automatically mean she was Sadie. Sadie was proof that Klaus was fertile. It was possible he had another child.
Elena snorted. "I don't even know my name, and you think I know what year I was born? The only thing I know is that that I was kidnapped in the year 1914. I was at least six at the time, so I've deduced that I was born in or prior to 1908."
Marcel's hands shook even further, and he immediately hid them under the table. "Why should I believe you?"
"Hey, back off! You don't get to just come over here and accuse her of lying! As if she wanted any of this," Bonnie said angrily.
Elena, meanwhile, burst out laughing. "You think I'm lying? Really? The most imaginative person in the world couldn't make up the hellish nightmare that is my life.
"My sister is dead," Marcel said.
"Elena's your sister?" Caroline asked in shock.
Marcel shook his head. "My sister's name was Sadie Mikaelson, and she died when she was six. She and her abductors were killed in an explosion. All that was left was…" Marcel trailed off as he got a look at the necklace around Elena's neck. "Where'd you get that?"
Elena looked down and fingered the necklace she was wearing. "This? This was given to me twice. First by my aunt for my sixth birthday and then by the man who abducted me, and I'm sorry to say that he's not dead. Give me time and I'll make it happen."
"That's why you still wear Stefan's necklace," Caroline realized. She wondered why Elena never took it off. She removed the vervain, but not the necklace itself.
"It was never his. I don't know how he got it, but it was always mine. My aunt gave it to me for my birthday. She told me it was worn by Mikaelson witches," Elena said.
Marcel's ability to believe the girl was lying dwindled with each word she spoke. He wasn't there when Rebekah gave it to his sister, but Sadie had told everyone who would listen about it. She was proud to have it. "You couldn't know that unless Rebekah told you, and she wouldn't."
"I know because I was there," Elena said.
"If that's true, what else do you remember? What did you call me when you were a child?" Marcel asked.
Elena was about to tell him she didn't know, but a name popped into her head. "Marcie."
Marcel jumped up from his seat and held out his hand to her. "You have to come with me."
"The hell she will!" Bonnie snarled before placing herself between him and Elena.
"Get out of my way! She's my sister. She's coming with me," Marcel said. He knew she was telling the truth now. She couldn't have known those things unless she remembered them.
"She's not going anywhere with you. We're not going to let you hurt her," Bonnie said.
Just then, the four vampires Marcel had been sitting with came over.
Elena got up. "Okay, both of you, stop! It's not going to do any good to make a scene in front of a bunch of humans. Where is it you want to take me, Marcel?"
"Home," was all he said.
Elena nodded after a minute. "Okay, but my friends come with me."
"Deal," Marcel agreed immediately. There was nothing he wouldn't give her right now, and that was a pretty reasonable request.
"Elena, are you sure about this? You don't know this guy," Caroline said.
"No, but I know he won't hurt me," Elena said.
"Never," Marcel swore.
"Let's go," Elena said before grabbing her purse and following Marcel.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
Elena looked around the huge living room she found herself in. It was huge. The room alone could fit like two to three houses in it. The whole place was like a castle. It seemed familiar to her too. She had no tangible memory of it, but she knew she'd been there before.
"Elena, are you okay?" Bonnie asked from the couch, where she and Caroline were sitting.
"Yeah. This just wasn't what I was expecting when we decided to come to this town. I never thought I'd have an older brother or that I'd find him here," Elena said.
Marcel soon came in with a tray of drinks that he put down on the table. He would've preferred something much stronger, but he decided that it would probably be best if none of them were inebriated for this conversation. "Sadie?"
It took Elena a minute to realize he was talking to her. Being called a different name was going to take adjusting to. "Sorry. It took me a minute to realize you were talking to me."
"Are you okay?" Marcel asked.
"I don't know," Elena said before going over and sitting down next to her friends on the couch. "This whole situation is overwhelming."
Marcel nodded before taking a seat in a chair. "I don't want to make that worse, but can I ask you some questions?"
"Sure. I may not be able to answer most of them though. I don't remember much," Elena said.
"How are you still alive? Even if you survived what happened to you, you're over a hundred years old," Marcel said.
"It seems I'm immortal. That's what a witch told me anyway. I don't know if nothing will kill me, but I know old age won't. I clearly haven't aged in quite a while. I'm not even sure how I exist. I didn't think vampires could have kids," Elena said.
"They can't, but werewolves can. We figured that that made the difference, that Klaus being part werewolf, even if that part of him was cursed, allowed him to have a child," Marcel explained.
Elena nodded. "So, you're his son?"
"Sort of. Klaus took me in when I was a boy. He raised me. You and I aren't related by blood, but you always knew me as your big brother," Marcel told her.
"That much I know is true. I don't really have any memories of you yet, but when I saw you, I knew that I had known you and I knew that I was safe with you," Elena said.
"I don't know about that. It was my fault. I was supposed to be looking after you that night. They broke my neck," Marcel said guiltily.
"It wasn't your fault, Marcel. You couldn't have stopped them," Elena told him. She knew Katherine well. One way or another, she was going to get what she wanted. The only ones that could've stopped her if they had been there were Klaus and Elijah, and even then she might have still found a way. "You said that there was an explosion. You said you thought I had died along with my abductors."
"Yeah. Klaus and Elijah found evidence supporting witches that they had been at war with were responsible. They made it there just in time to watch the entire building go up with the whole coven of witches. They thought you were inside. They found your necklace. It was the only thing that survived the explosion," Marcel explained.
"Wow. Well played Katherine," Elena mumbled. She'd not only managed to fake her death, but she also took suspicion off of herself. And an entire coven of witches had lost their lives as well. Just the beginning of the casualties she'd leave in her wake.
"Whose Katherine?" Marcel asked.
"Katherine was the woman who orchestrated my abduction. It wasn't witches. They had nothing to do with it. It was two vampires. Katherine Pierce and Stefan Salvatore. Actually, you might know her better as Katerina Petrova," Elena told him. Actually, it wasn't entirely accurate that no witch was involved. There had to be at least one witch because someone had magically blocked her witch side.
Marcel nodded. "Yeah, I've heard the name. Klaus hated her. Vampires. I don't even think vampires were on Klaus' radar. Most vampires weren't stupid enough to screw with him. I can't believe how wrong we had it."
"That was obviously by design," she said.
"What did they want? Why did they take you?" Marcel asked.
"I don't know the full story, but I know that ultimately, they intended for Klaus to kill me," Elena said.
"What? How did they expect to make that happen?" Marcel asked confused.
"I'm a doppelganger for Katherine. I was supposed to be used to break Klaus' curse. How ironic is that? I'm sure that was also on Katherine's mind," Elena said.
Marcel was shocked. He never knew Sadie was a doppelganger, or even a Petrova. None of them knew that. Sadie's mother was just someone Klaus met in the city one day. He didn't know her well before she found out she was pregnant. When she realized what Klaus was, she'd tried to kill herself to take the baby with her when she died. Klaus had had to lock her up until after the baby was born to keep her from making any further attempts. He had no intention of telling Sadie any of that right now. She had enough going on without that in her head. "We didn't know. Klaus had no idea you were a doppelganger."
"I figured that," Elena said.
"He was devastated, you know. There was no consoling him after you died. He couldn't speak your name, and he refused to allow anyone else to in his presence. None of us were ever the same, but it broke Klaus," Marcel said.
Elena cried. It was just so overwhelming and painful, and it had just become all too real. It wasn't as if it weren't real before, but she could sort of separate herself from it. Hearing Marcel's and Klaus' pain made that much harder. What happened to all of them was beginning to really hit. "This was my life, and they took it away. They blew apart my family.
Caroline put her arm around her friend. "My god. There's no end to the carnage these people caused."
Marcel wanted to go over and comfort his sister, but he thought better of it. Some part of Sadie might recognize him, but he was still just a stranger to her. So, instead, he sat there and watched as her friend comforted her.
Xxxxxxxxxx
Marcel met with Thierry outside the house. Sadie and her friends had left an hour ago. He didn't want his sister to go. He had been tempted to ask her to stay with him, and at some point, he would, but he knew that he couldn't expect that after one meeting.
"What do you need," Thierry asked. He'd been in the house when their conversation happened. He'd heard the whole thing. Right now, he just wanted to do whatever his friend wanted.
"First, this should go without saying, but you don't breathe a word of what was said here today," Marcel said firmly. His guys would have to know that Sadie was his sister and was to be protected, but they didn't need any particulars. It was a private family matter. "I want a detail put on my sister, but make sure she doesn't see them. I want her protected, but I don't want to think I'm spying on her."
"You got it. I'll send Diego," Thierry said.
"I also need you to find me a Mikaelson. Klaus would be preferrable, but I'll take any Mikaelson at this point," Marcel said. Well, almost any Mikaelson. He obviously didn't want Mikael near his sister, but Thierry would know that. He knew the story about Mikael.
"Didn't you once tell me you never wanted to see them again?" Marcel asked.
"I'm sure you've noticed, but circumstances have changed. My sister needs her family, and no matter what else, Klaus doesn't deserve to go on thinking his daughter is dead," Marcel said.
Thierry nodded. "I'll start looking right away."
Without another word, Macel headed back inside.