Elena made her way to Marcel's the next day. This time, she went by herself. There was more than needed to be said between the two of them, and it needed to be in private. She got to his house and knocked on the door.
Marcel opened the door moments later. He'd been expecting his sister. Diego had called to let him know that she was headed his way. "Hi. Come in. You don't have to knock in the future. This is your home too."
Elena smiled before stepping inside.
"You came alone this time," Marcel commented.
"Yeah. I figured we should talk without anyone hovering. My friends mean well, but they're very overprotective, especially recently," Elena said.
"I'm glad there have been people to look out for you," Marcel said.
"Speaking of, you know I can sense vampires, right, Marcel? Which means I spotted the guy you've had following me practically right away," Elena said with a smile. She wasn't angry. She knew why he did it. He was looking out. He was probably afraid of the smallest thing hurting her. She couldn't blame him, given that he'd lived through her abduction.
Marcel blushed. He'd actually forgotten that when he set up the protection detail. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to make sure you were safe. This town can be dangerous."
"It's okay. This must be difficult for you. I'm sure you see danger everywhere where I'm concerned. It's probably no less than what Klaus would've done," Elena said.
Marcel laughed. "Your dad wouldn't have let you leave."
Elena flinched at the term. She didn't know why. She'd used it herself. She supposed hearing it from someone who knew her as a child just made it different.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to upset you," Marcel said.
"It's okay. It's a fact. Klaus is my father. I guess it's just hard because he's the third person I've believed to be my father, even if I was compelled to believe it of the first two. It doesn't help that Klaus did try to kill me," Elena said.
"You should know that if he'd known the truth about you, he never would've done it. He'd die before he'd willingly hurt you," Marcel told her.
"I do know that, and it helps. I guess I'm just having trouble reconciling all of this. I've only known the truth for a couple of months, and since then, I've been navigating through tons of flashes and broken compulsions," Elena said.
"How many compulsions are we talking about?" Marcel asked.
"I'm not entirely sure. My mind is a mess. I'd venture a guess that there are hundreds of thousands of them. We are talking about more than a century's worth," Elena said.
Marcel looked at his sister in horror. "You were compelled the entire time?!"
"I don't know for sure. So far, I've only remembered a few things from before I was kidnapped and the kidnapping itself. That and being compelled for the last two years. I don't remember anything in between that time. I'm starting to wonder if that's just because my mind is so fractured that it's still catching up with all the compulsions or if trauma is also an element. I don't know what happened for sure, but I doubt Katherine was kind to me while she had me. She had hundreds of years of aggression to take out on me," Elena said. She'd actually thought about that a lot. She remembered what Stefan did to her, which was behind horrifying. The fac that she couldn't remember what happened to her in the century before she was compelled to be Elena Gilbert absolutely terrified her.
Marcel shuddered at her words. He'd had tried very hard not to think about all that his sister must have gone through. What little he knew was enough to send him into a fury. The people who had done this had screwed with her mind so badly that she still couldn't remember much of her life. "These people are going to pay for what they did to you. I promise you that."
"Oh, I know they will. I'm going to make sure of that. I'm going to make them suffer. It's almost funny. I've never been much for revenge until now. Then again, I don't really know that. I was compelled to be who I was, both in memory and in personality. I don't know who I am yet," Elena said sadly.
Marcel hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder, unsure if she'd accept it. She didn't stop him though. "You'll figure it out. You're going to get your life together, Sadie."
Elena nodded. "It's hard to get used to that name."
"Is it okay? Would you prefer I call you Elena?" Marcel asked.
"It's okay. I doubt Klaus is going to be willing to call me anything else, so I should get used to it. And the horrible truth is that I'm not Elena. She was another girl whose life was I forced to steal," she said.
"So, you realize that Klaus is going to have to find out the truth?" Marcel questioned.
"Yeah. I know I can't hide it from him. It would be cruel. He doesn't deserve to go on thinking I'm dead," Elena said. It wasn't that though. With every memory she had, she got more of an urge to know Klaus. Of course, there was also still the urge to run in the other direction.
"I have a confession to make. I asked my people to start searching for Klaus, or any Mikaelson if they can't find him," Marcel said.
"Marcel, I'm not ready for that. I know it has to happen, but I'm not ready yet," Elena said.
"Sadie, you're never going to be ready. A century could pass, and it will still be just as hard to deal with as it would be if he walked though that door tomorrow. You need him. You need them all. Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah. You need them. I'm here for you, always, but I can't do for you what they can. I know that," Marcel said. He loved his sister and would do anything to help her, but he wasn't her parent, or her aunt or uncle. The dynamic was different. She needed the Mikaelson's.
"What if he doesn't believe me. You didn't," Elena said with fear in her voice. She didn't know that she could deal with that. She didn't think she could take the rejection along with everything else that was happening to her.
"There are ways to prove it. He's not going to reject you, Sadie. He's your father. He loves you more than anything. It will be okay. I promise you," Marcel said before pulling her into his arms.
Elena hugged him back. It felt weird but right at the same time. Soon, she felt another flash come.
She grabbed onto her father's legs and hugged them. "Why do you have to leave, Daddy. I want you to stay?"
Klaus bent down and picked her up. "You're going to be fine, my little love. Your big brother is going to look after you. You love spending time with Marcellus."
"I want you," she said with a pout before hugging him. She didn't want her daddy to go. Something just felt wrong inside of her.
"I'll only be gone a few hours. I'll come wake you when I get back," Klaus promised as he rubbed circles on her back.
"Is everything okay?" A voice called out.
The girl picked her head up and saw her aunt and uncle, as well as her big brother. She reached her arms out for her uncle. "Uncle Eli, will you stay with me?"
Elijah smiled and took the small girl into her arms. "Why do I still let you call me that?"
"The same reason Marcel still lets her call him Marcie. She has all the men wrapped around her finger," Rebekah said as she smiled at her niece.
"Oh, yes, it's just the men," Klaus said in an amused tone.
"That's right. I'm unaffected," Rebekah said.
Elijah bounced his niece a little in his arms as she laid her head on his shoulder and pouted. "What has you so upset tonight, little one?"
"Don't want you to go," she said.
"She's just a little clingy tonight," Klaus said.
"In that case, maybe I should stay," Rebekah said.
"Oh, yes, you're not affected at all, sister. You're just ready to give into her every whim," Klaus said.
"That's not me giving into her whims. That's me not wanting to go to this bloody thing," Rebekah said.
"Rebekah, I have told you a million times to watch your language around impressionable ears. And you are going with us," Elijah said.
Klaus took his daughter back from his brother. "You're going to be fine, princess. Marcellus is going to show you a wonderful time. I'll be home soon, and you can have a snack."
"Yeah, come here, little sister. We'll play a game and then I'll read to you before bed," Marcel said as he held his arms out.
She nodded and went to her big brother.
Elena pulled away from Marcel as the flash ended.
"Are you okay?" Marcel asked.
"I think so. I had a flash. I think it was the night of the kidnapping. I can't be sure, but I kind of felt this dread overwhelm me. I remember not wanting the others to leave," Elena said.
Marcel nodded. "Yeah, that was the night. No one ever forgave themselves for that. You begged them to stay, but they didn't. We just thought you wanted your dad to stay with you. We should've known better. You were never like that before. You'd sensed that something was wrong. It was the witch in you knowing that something bad was coming. We should've listened."
"Marcel, I was six. There was no way you could've known that something was really wrong. I couldn't tell you. I was too young to know how to express what I was feeling. All I knew was that something felt wrong," Elena said. She remembered the feeling, but she had no idea what it meant. All she knew was that she didn't want her father to leave.
"If someone had listened, we might have been able to stop it," he said.
"Maybe, but there's also every chance that it still would've happened. Don't dwell on it," Elena said. She then remembered another part of her flash that had her bursting out laughing.
"Are you okay? What's so funny?" Marcel asked.
"I called Elijah 'Uncle Eli'," Elena said with a chuckle. Elijah was not the nickname type, so it was hilarious to think that he'd let her call him that. "I'm calling him that for the rest of eternity now."
Marcel laughed. "You had every single original you ever met wrapped around your finger. You could commit bloody murder, and they'd still swear you could do no wrong. Elijah was the strictest man I've ever met, but he would melt at the mere sight of you."
Elena nodded after a second. In that moment, she decided that Marcel was right. She did need them. She needed her family. "Okay. Find them."
"I will. In the meantime, how about I give you a tour of this place? Maybe it will job some more memories," Marcel said.
"A tour of this house seems like it would take like two days, but sure," Elena joked before following her brother out of the room.