ʰᵘⁿᵗʳᵉˢˢ
001. | ❛ i'll make sure of it. ❜

( 𝑭𝑳𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑩𝑨𝑪𝑲 )

𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐒 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐀𝐋𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄. Elijah often had her moving from place to place, as the Mikaelsons tried to escape their enemies. Besides Mystic Falls, New Orleans was the only place that she stayed long enough to call it home. She made it her mission to know the ins and outs of New Orleans, and to never keep one's guard down. It was one of the things that Elijah taught her as a teenager. To know everything one could of the city as it would come in handy if one ever needed to escape danger.

But it also came in handy when one needed to just retreat into peace.

She always seemed to find peace in the middle of the French Quarter. The music, the life, and the different walks of it filled her with joy. People came to New Orleans to escape and seemed to find themselves in the city. They get lost in it and for a short amount of time, so did Crystal. All the terrible baggage she had always found a way to leave in the French Quarter. She felt comforted in those moments, even if it was for a few minutes.

Her peace was soon interrupted by her phone ringing in her pockets. She moved out of the way of the people partaking in the festival activities and continued forward on one of the sidewalks. Glancing down at who was calling her, she left a huff out before answering the phone.

"Elijah for the last time, stop calling me! Maybe you don't understand that me ignoring your calls is conveying the message for you to leave me alone." Crystal annoyingly hung up the phone before Elijah could reply. Fights between the two of them happened rarely, but whenever they did, one of the two of them normally held a grudge afterward. For a family member that promised 'always and forever', he was very quick to go against it. Although Klaus did various things that Crystal didn't approve of , she didn't approve of Elijah being so quick to be done with Klaus after centuries of dealing with his behavior.

She knew what it was like to not have family, and she never wished it for anybody else. Klaus was difficult for anyone to deal with, but if Crystal could deal with all the casualties from their confrontation with Dalahia so could Elijah. The same man who taught her the importance of family.

"Sounds like you're giving someone the cold shoulder." A tall man with grey hair wearing a blue parka made his presence known as she walked past him on the curb of the street with an impressive motorcycle.

She raised her eyebrow at the man who decided that it was a smart idea to wear a parka in the heat of New Orleans. "Well, it looks like someone is quite the eavesdropper."

"I pay attention," he smirked at her as she examined his motorcycle over. "It seems like you do too."

"Well considering that you are a stranger in my city, I pay extra close attention." She reverted her attention back to him as she beamed, "So who are you?"

"Leonard Snart." He extended his hand as he made his introduction, "And who might you be?"

She hesitated in giving her real name because it was one of the basics that Elijah taught her. Not only because of her family history but also because of her association with the Mikaelson family.

Without giving it another thought, she gave him hers, "Crystal Pierce."

Once again, her phone began to ring without a doubt it being Elijah. She looked down at it once again and was quick to hit decline. Leonard observed her facial emotions as it was clear that the decision she was taking was a hard one.

"Seems like the person you're avoiding means a lot to you." He inquired. "What would it take to get on the bad side of someone like you?"

She deeply thought about the question and diverted from it, "It takes a lot, but it'll take more than a couple of calls to make things right again."

He nodded before he mounted his motorcycle and grasped the helmet in his hand. Crystal watched as he did, but soon her eyes gazed on Elijah's figure on the opposite side of the street.

"I'll let you deal with that situation." He acknowledged as he went to put his helmet on, he left her with one final comment. "It's clear that he's willing to make things right. The least you could do is listen."

His ocean blue eyes looked back at her before he shut the helmet and drove off. She remained planted on her side of the street as Elijah approach her. The two just looked at each other before Crystal caved in and embraced Elijah.

"I've tried, but I can't find a way to forgive him." He whispered into her ear and placed a kiss to the side of her head.

"But you will." She whispered back. "I'll make sure of it."

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── ·

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐃𝐀𝐘, 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐒 -- 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔

𝐈𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐋 𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓, 𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓. Although, the circumstances weren't the best. Elijah needed to find out more of the Strix and their intentions, and the only way to do that was through the masquerade gala.

Of course, he wanted to keep Elijah safe from their current enemies and their prior ones. But in debating the severity of the prophecy, which claimed that one would fail by a friend, one by a foe, and one by family, Crystal would've rather died herself than let Elijah and Hayley go into a gala with enemies lurking near. Plus, she knew how to keep a low profile and could find out way more than Elijah, who was the center of attention at the party, considering he was the patriarch of their sire line.

Crystal was dressed in a studded black and gold dress, thanks to Rebekah's wardrobe. Granted the last thing she wanted to bring was the attention to herself, but Elijah would soon have all eyes placed on him. She made sure to keep her mask on at all times and made sure to keep an eye on Marcel, who was looking to get into the Strix himself. He always envied Crystal because she got to be a true member of the Mikaelson family. Always and forever worked out for her, but not for him. 

She went to grab another drink from one of the servers before she went to get a better aerial view from the balcony. Ascending to the balcony, she toppled with a man in a long tan trench coat. He was very out of place for such a sophisticated gathering.

"Aren't you a little undressed for an event like this?" She questioned.

"For this event, yes. But let's just say that in a couple of minutes, you'll be quite overdressed." As soon as he finished speaking, he raised what looked like a gun and pulled on the trigger. The last thing that Crystal saw was the bright flash of light coming from it.