chapter twenty-two,

carving a small chunk of wood with a knife she'd taken from Klaus' art studio. Next to her sat a small note from Ambrose. They'd spent most of last night getting to know each other, sharing stories of their life—or lives, in Marian's case. She'd woken up on the couch in the morning, a note telling her he was sorry but he had to leave making her hope diminish immediately. She didn't bother looking up at Klaus as he entered the room, sitting beside her on the couch.

"What's got you looking so glum?" he asked.

"I hate this town," she grumbled.

"What's happened this time?" Marian ignored him, bringing the knife down and peeling away the wood. Looking at it, Klaus could see that she was making a new pawn to replace one that had gone missing from their chess set.

"My mom's dead," she began. "I killed someone—my grandfather!—my friends hate me because I'm related to you, Jeremy's a dick, my Dad is still missing—"

"Calm down, love," Klaus tried, watching her with concern. He could tell that the events of the past few nights had unsettled her greatly. He knew that she had been confused by her feelings when she'd killed Mikael; she'd been a mixture of giddy, upset and angry for the rest of the night. And what's more, Marian hadn't killed a living soul in over half a millennium. They had all kept her away from danger as much as they could and had thus never given her the opportunity to even think about doing it.

"Why haven't you found him yet?" Marian asked, looking up at him with sad eyes. "He's been in that box for so long." She paused. "He didn't even deserve to be daggered in the first place."

Klaus took a deep breath, trying to control his temper. He'd promised himself that he would try his hardest to not get so angry at Marian. "He was trying to kill me; I had no choice—"

"He was trying to dagger you, Nik. Just like you've done to him so many times. He'd never kill his family," she interrupted.

"That may be so," Klaus continued through deep breaths. "But he was being too reckless. Mikael would've found us if I hadn't done it."

Something inside Marian snapped, and suddenly she was furious with him. Maybe Jeremy had been right; Klaus had torn her away from her father, and he'd driven a wedge between her and her friends. "How do you live with yourself? You've daggered your whole family, killed your mother. You've ruined every chance I have at happiness. What's next?"

Klaus looked down, both shocked and hurt by her words. "I understand," he began calmly, "that my actions have caused you pain, and for that I am truly sorry." Marian looked up at him; she'd never once heard him apologise in their thousand years of living. "I will wait for eternity if I have to. Just please, find it in your heart to forgive me. I'm not perfect, but I'm trying to learn to be better."

Marian nodded after a moment, still not believing that he'd apologised to her.

"And I love you... so much," he continued. "And I know your friends do, too."

"But Bonnie—"

"I'm not talking about those ones, Marian," he interrupted her. "I'm talking about Peggy. And Jake. And Hannah."

Marian laughed. "Penny, Jack and Hannah?" she asked. Klaus smiled in amusement before slapping his hands on the cushions beside him and pushing himself off the couch.

"That's enough kindness for one day," he said. "Why don't I show you to your room?" Marian perked up, standing next to him. She was yet to see that part of his new home—it had been the last to be built and furnished.

As they walked up the grand stairs and to the 'Hallway of Bedrooms'—"Why did you put all the bedrooms along one hallway?" Marian asked—where she saw a large painting of their family hanging on the wall at the end of it.

Marian stared at it for a while, admiring it. It was beautiful; the four brothers standing beside one another, the two girls sitting in chairs in front of them. She looked older, more confident. Her father had his hand on her shoulder. Subconsciously, she lifted her hand up to her shoulder, too, wanting to feel it there.

"You were more grown up the last time we were together," he said quietly behind her. It was true; the last time Marian had been with her family was in the 1914s. Finn was still daggered then.

Klaus, who had stood beside her with his hands behind his back for a short while, had disappeared into the room directly to the left of the painting. On the door in golden letters was her name.

Marian Mikaelson.

...

Marian felt her heart stop beating the moment Penny's voice echoed in her ears, a sudden relief washing over her. After what her uncle had told her, she realised that she'd ignored her friends for the better part of a few weeks, and she felt terrible.

"Annie?" Penny answered. "Hello?"

"Hi," Marian breathed.

"Hey, how are you?" Penny asked. "You haven't been at school." It was true, Marian hadn't gone to school last week. "I heard about your mom. I'm so sorry. I wanted to come and see you, but I didn't know where you were staying."

"Is that Annie?" Marian heard in the background. "Put it on speaker, Pen." She assumed that Penny had indeed put her phone on speaker, as within the next second, she heard two new voices calling her name. "Annie! Hi," said Jack.

"We've been so worried about you," Hannah told her.

Marian couldn't help but let a small laugh escape her lips. She hadn't realised how much she'd missed her friends, and now that they were all talking, she was upset at herself for not speaking to them sooner.

They spoke for around an hour, moving from the subject of Carrie Whitman to what she'd missed at school, and finally to her birthday. She didn't tell them about Jeremy; she assumed that they knew that he was moving away, and for now that would do.

"I can't believe you'll be seventeen in two days!" Penny exclaimed. Marian was the oldest of the four of them. "We have to do something! What do you want for your birthday?"

Marian laughed. "Would you believe me if I said I don't actually want anything this year?" she asked, hearing Penny scoff on the other side of the phone. It was a lie. Marian wanted many things this year: her mother back, her dad back, her family to be together once more... but she knew it was too much to wish for. "Look, I'll honestly be over the moon with a pair of socks. They're so underrated."

"You're so weird," Hannah told her. "But Penny's right. We need to do something special for your birthday, especially with everything that's happened this year."

"Actually, my uncle said that you guys could stay over—I'm not sure about you though, Jack, because you're a boy and he's a bit weird with boys. Plus, it'll be a Saturday night so there won't be any school the next day."

"I totally forgot about him!" Penny said suddenly. "Are you staying with him, now?"

"Elijah had to leave for a bit. I'm staying with his brother," Marian answered. She frowned when she heard a loud bang from downstairs.

"Didn't you call him an asshole the other week?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, well it was either live with him or go back to the orphanage in New Orleans, so..."

"You're from New Orleans?" Hannah asked. "My Aunt Sophie lives there."

Marian went to respond when she heard a knock on her bedroom door. She'd closed it when she'd called Penny as a way to tell Klaus not to disturb her.

"Hang on a sec," she told her friends, putting her hand on the speaker as she yelled, "go away, Nik."

"Last I checked, I'm not Niklaus." Marian's eyes snapped to the now open door, her mouth hanging open in shock as Elijah stood in the doorway.

"I have to go," she spoke into the phone. "I'll text you guys later." Marian quickly hung up as her friends began to protest, pushing herself off the bed and rushing to hug Elijah. "You're back!"

"I'm back," he repeated, wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head. He moved her to the bed, where the two sat. "Niklaus said that Mikael is dead." The hair on the back of Marian's neck raised. She simply nodded. "And you were the one who killed him." He looked at her questioningly.

"He killed my mom," she said softly. "And he tried to kill Nik... I—I had no choice."

Elijah smiled. "There's always a choice, and you chose bravery. I think Kol would be very proud."

She looked up at him. "Really?" He nodded.

"I do," he confirmed simply. "I think that he will be proud that by defeating our greatest enemy, you faced your biggest fear. Marian, what you did was truly admirable." She smiled softly, the thought of her father being proud of her making her feel happy. She couldn't wait for the day that they got the coffins back from Stefan and her family would be reunited. Klaus had promised.

After a moment, she frowned. "Uncle 'Lijah?" he hummed in acknowledgement. "How are you here? I know that Nik didn't undagger you."

He reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a small note and handing it to her. "I was wondering if you'd be able to tell me," he said as she read it.

Dear Elijah, let's get together, plot the destruction of your brother. XOXO

"Damon?" Marian asked, a confused frown on her face. "But why would he—?" She trailed off, re-reading the note. Damon was a man who hated losing a game, and since she'd killed Mikael, he'd lost the battle between him and Klaus twice.

"You think it could be him?" Elijah asked her.

She looked up at him with a nod. "I know his hand writing. It was him."

Her uncle nodded, pausing for a moment. "Come," he said suddenly, standing. "I have something you may want to see." He held his hand out for her, leading her back downstairs and through the maze of corridors and halls. She was confused by his sudden shift in attitude, but didn't question him as he continued walking.

Then, he stopped. Marian gasped. There, in front of her, were three coffins. Elijah said nothing as she slowly stepped towards the darkest one, lifting the lid gently. Inside, she saw her father, resting. His face was pale and grey, veins covering his body. He wore the same clothes he had the night he'd been daggered—the night she'd died—in 1914. Her eyes welled with tears; she hadn't seen him in so long—almost a century.

She lifted her hand to his face, softly caressing his cheek. Leaning forward, she kissed him gently on the forehead, whispering, "I'll see you soon, Dad."

part ii:

tvd s3, e12, ""

wc: