𝟑𝟒 | 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬

"𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 stay out of trouble, can you?”

Maxime whirled around as he stood in the middle of the compound, a genuine smile stretching on his lips at the sight of one of his good friends marching in. Her white curly roots were already showing as it faded into brunette waves. Other than that, Cordelia was pretty much the same.

“It’s the only way you’ll come.” Maxime retorted as he met the witch’s steps halfway, greeting her with a warm embrace which Cordelia gladly accepted and returned.

Cordelia rested her chin on the vampire’s shoulder, letting the hug last for a couple more seconds before they both pulled away from each other. Her eyes immediately darted toward a smirking Klaus with his hands behind his back, looking like he had been waiting for the witch to acknowledge the presence of the original hybrid.

“You.” Cordelia simply said, irritation already evident in the tone of her voice even though Klaus hadn’t even uttered a word.

The original hybrid shot his eyebrows upward with his smirk only widening to a grin as he spoke. “Me.”

The witch merely rolled her eyes at him until she returned her gaze back to the black-haired vampire in front of her.

“Where is she?” she asked.

Maxime sighed deeply, glancing behind him to meet Klaus’s eyes and saw him nod before looking back at Cordelia. The vampire craned his head to the left, signaling her to follow him as he began walking, Klaus following closely behind. Cordelia wandered her eyes around a bit, scanning the compound for as far as her eyesight could take her before deciding to join the two men.

She followed them down a set of stairs that descended into a dimly lit basement. Basement was a way of putting it lightly. It was a prison cell for a prisoner. A dungeon for a monster. Which was fitting, because they indeed had someone with the same traits chained to the ceiling of that very room.

“Hello.” That word was so simple yet it was enough to send a chill down Cordelia’s spine. But then again, it wasn’t because of the word itself. It was the way it was said. And the person that said it.

Cordelia’s eyes landed on the smiling Mary up on her feet, her hands hovering above her head, her eyes glinting diabolically, her brow arched upwards imperiously, her head cocked to the side daringly.

“Where’s Kol?” Cordelia turned to Maxime who was just standing right next to her. She was expecting the original vampire—now witch—to be in the dungeon with the woman, looking after her. But he was nowhere to be found.

“He was with us when we went to rescue Josh. He still hasn’t come back.” Maxime answered.

The brunette witch narrowed her eyes, flickering her gaze between Maxime and Klaus. “And you’re not worried at all?”

“We’ve looked everywhere.” Klaus justified. “The insolent sod is nowhere to be found.”

“Because Mary is with child.” The spirit blurted out, as if wanting to be a part of the conversation that the three were having for the sole purpose of disrupting their dynamic in order to prolong their plans of hauling her soul out of their friend’s body.

Cordelia’s eyebrows shot upward in surprise. That was one piece of information that they forgot to fill her in with.

“Obviously, he freaked out and fled.” The spirit said, shrugging her shoulders as she did. “A common reaction for a person allergic to responsibilities.”

The brunette witch took a step forward and turned around so she could look at both Klaus and Maxime, who were both avoiding her gaze.

“Follow me.” Cordelia ordered them before she walked past them and back upstairs. As much as Klaus hated the fact that she basically commanded them, Klaus decided to swallow his ego—a very rare occurrence—and obey.

Once they had reached the ground floor of the compound where the so-called living room was in, Cordelia stopped in her tracks and faced the two men that followed her there.

“Kol got her pregnant?” Cordelia asked, trying to confirm the statement of the spirit from earlier.

“Quite the surprise, isn’t it?” Klaus responded, modestly hoping that the brunette witch would bite his attempt of lightening the ambiance. However, Cordelia didn’t appreciate the hybrid taking things lightly when there was nothing light about the current circumstance.

“That just crossed out almost all of the spells that I could try on her.” Cordelia said, folding her arms against her torso. “I can’t put her in too much distress especially when she’s only, what, four, six weeks pregnant? The baby won’t survive.”

“Well, you said almost. What spells can you still do to her?” Max asked.

“One.” The brunette witch answered. “I can use the Essence Suppression Spell that that parasite tried to use on Mary.”

“Then do that.” Everyone whipped their heads toward the entrance of the compound, finding the blonde witch waltzing in with an unsettling expression plastered across his face. Like something had happened. And something did happen. “And quickly, because I’m gonna be needing your help, too.”

While Klaus and Maxime were looking at Kol with their brows furrowed, their eyes deciphering what the new problem Kol had brought in now, Cordelia was too busy scouring her brain if she even knew this man at all.

“I’m sorry, and you are?” the brunette witch asked.

An amused yet still bitter smile stretched on the man’s lips at her words. “I might be in a different body but I’m still too amazing to be forgotten, darling.”

That alone caused realization to hit Cordelia like a slap. Of course, it’s him.

“Right. Kol.” She uttered, the man only widening his smile at the mention of his name. “So, this is the witch's body that they told me you are trapped in.”

Kol took a few more steps forward to join the three of them in the middle of the compound as his smile decreased into nothing. Now worry and fear were displayed on his face like a second skin.

“Not for long.” Kol said. He momentarily glanced at his older brother and Maxime before returning his gaze back on Cordelia. “Finn has locked me in this body and cursed me.”

He took a deep breath, his gaze dropping slightly from her eyes when he uttered the next words.

“I’m dying.” He said. “And I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let Mary go through this the second time.”

Cordelia did not even so much as blink at the male witch’s revelation. She didn’t let herself. Because she had the same thing in mind. Mary had gone through so much to last her more than a lifetime. It seemed like she was the universe's favorite victim. And she was determined to be a part of the change.

Just as everyone else in that room was.

Meanwhile, the spirit living inside Mary’s body heard everything. Every word. Every skip of the heart. Every heavy breathing. It made her feel…almost satisfied. She loved the misery that the Mikaelson Family was facing now. She loved finally being in control of Mary’s body. But she was merely a means to an end.

But the end was not near just yet. That doesn’t mean that she wouldn’t want to have a little fun on the way, though.

And with that, the next gasp that escaped her lips was not hers, but of the former Queen of Scotland.

“I need you to get her grimoire.” Cordelia started barking orders as soon as she realized the gravity of the situation just became a lot heavier. “I know the spell’s in there, as well as all the things that we need in order to perform it. I want you to—”

“Mary?” Maxime called out.

Everyone whirled around to follow the gaze of the black-haired vampire and there they saw the auburn-haired heretic with a tear-stained face. Kol slowly rose from his seat the moment he laid his eyes upon Mary. He knew it was her the second their eyes met. She was back.

But why was she crying?

“She let me go.” Mary said, her voice straining. She could feel how tired she was. How her power seemingly depleted. “She set me free.”

The four of them watched as another tear escaped the woman’s eye just in time for her to continue.

“My mind is quiet.” She said those words as if it was a grand celebration. But she couldn’t celebrate just yet. Not when the spirit left her a little parting gift.

Knowledge.

Kol was about to run toward Mary and take her into his arms and never let her go. But before he could even take one step, Klaus stopped him with a hand to the chest.

“Something’s wrong.” Klaus said. He narrowed his blue eyes at the heretic and saw that he was indeed right.

Mary’s gaze on Kol faltered a bit as she took a glimpse at Klaus before looking back at the male witch. Her expression was just as hurt as the first minute she was back.

“No spell can save you.” She said. Something inside Kol broke. And Mary could hear it. That wasn’t even the worst part yet. “But there is one loophole.”

Kol squinted his eyes at the former queen, suspicion creeping up behind him as he took slow steps forward.

“Mary, what did she tell you?” Kol asked. He had a feeling that whatever this loophole was, it was something not good.

Mary maintained eye contact with him while she swallowed hard, making sure that her voice wouldn’t crack when she explained the situation.

“A normal siphoner can’t siphon the hex out of you. The spell is too embedded in your bloodstream.”  The former queen explained. “She said the loophole is me.”

Maxime’s eyebrows were furrowed and not in confusion. He had an inkling that whatever this loophole was, whatever she had to do, it was something bad enough that she stood there crying when she wasn’t someone who cries that exactly, especially not in front of people.

She didn’t like showing her weaknesses. She knows how important it is to hide it. She learned that from being a Queen.

“I can trick the spell. I can siphon it and it wouldn’t realize that it changed hosts.”  Mary elaborated.

Maxime immediately jumped in. He shook his head as a scoff left his lips.

“First of all, that doesn’t make any sense, of course it would realize it. Second, just because you’re a vampire doesn’t mean that you’re immune to the hex.” Maxime told her, taking a few steps forward.

It seemed as though Maxime said something. Something that triggered more tears to pour out of Mary’s melancholic brown eyes. She pushed her lips into a thin and sniffled before she slightly shook her head.

“The hex wouldn’t be transferred to me.” She answered.

Realization struck Kol and it knocked his breath away…not in a good way. In a terrifying way. In a mortifying way. Just…utterly cruel.

“She wanted entertainment. She wanted me to choose. You or—” Mary didn’t need to finish that sentence. Kol already knew. And he took it upon himself to finish the sentence for her.

“The baby.” He answered. “The baby and I share the same blood so the spell wouldn't notice. Finn wouldn’t notice.”

That’s when the sobs erupted from Mary’s throat, not able to push them down any longer.

“I don’t know what to do.” she breathed, her voice was almost inaudible in that sentence.

Klaus balled his hands into fists, his jaw also clenching seeing as the situation affected him more than it should. And it was understandable. He had a child of his own. A family of his own, and he wouldn’t want harm to come to his family’s way just like he didn’t want harm to come to Mary’s new family.

“Transfer the hex to me. Kol might be in this witch’s body but Esther made sure that everything about him is Kol.” Klaus explained. He was determined. Determined to save the child. Determined to save his brother. And at that moment, Kol never felt more valued. “Therefore, we share the same blood. And it can’t kill me.”

Kol appreciated how much Mary valued him. But coming from his older brother, whom he had spent centuries doing all he could for him to care, he couldn’t help but tear up.

“I can’t.” Mary said, shaking her head. “Now that the spirit is not inside me anymore, all of my magic goes straight to the baby. I won’t have enough time to transfer it to you.”

The male witch scanned the auburn haired heretic, seeing how she looked slightly thinner, a bit malnourished even. If he concentrated enough, he could see the way skin around her eyes had sunk, how her cheekbones became more evident than usual. It was like she was being drained.

“She’s siphoning me.” Mary cleared it up for everyone to understand. But Kol didn’t focus on the siphoning part. He focused more on the she. She was siphoning her. She who was inside Mary’s stomach. She.

“She?” he echoed, teary-eyed as he neared her.

A smile—mixed with both sadness and glad—tugged on Mary’s red lips as she watched the man approach her, his face expressing his surprise and delight at what she just said.

She nodded her head as an answer to his question.

A blissful smile spread across his face as he reached for her, enveloping her in his arms while their foreheads touched, their smiles mirroring each other’s. This would’ve been such a happy moment, if it weren’t for the gender reveal taking place at a very unfortunate timing.

“I can’t believe I’m not going to be alive to see her.” He whispered.

Mary pulled away slightly. “Kol—”

“This is not a debate, Mary. The choice is clear.” Kol told her, not letting her speak one more about the choices that Mary supposedly needed to decide between. “It’s okay.”

She shook her head as more tears trickled down her cheeks. “I’m not.”

A tear finally escaped Kol’s eye and it got lost in Mary’s hair as he pulled her toward him again for an embrace—one of the lasts they’ll ever share in the next few days of hurt, crushed hopes, and loss.

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I swear i really can post regularly because i already have several chapters prewritten. It's the aesthetic format that I'm getting tired of LMAOOO. I just want to copy paste my chapter and publish it. Instead i have to do all sorts of editing first *cries*.