20 | Here I Am

     "𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘!"

The former queen gasped awake, blinking her eyes to recover from what seemed like a nightmare she couldn't remember because her heart was pounding. Though she wasn't sure if it really was a nightmare given the fact that when she awoke, she was seated on the ground with candles surrounding her and a grimoire opened in front of her.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she whirled frantically around her, confused at what was happening. She was on her living room floor. When did she come home? More importantly, why was she seated on the floor looking like she was performing a spell while unconscious?

"Mary?" the woman turned to look behind her, seeing the brown-haired original vampire standing outside her circle of candles.

Kol was struggling to get to her considering that not only was the fire from the candles burning brighter and bigger than normal, but there was also a barrier spell around her that separated her from everything and everyone else.

Mary swiped her hand across the air and the fire from the candles were put out and the spell was taken down. Kol immediately took this chance to step into Mary's former bubble of solitude and kneel in front of her and the grimoire.

"What have you been doing? Have you any idea how much I've called you?" Kol complained. "I thought you were dead!"

While Kol ranted, Mary could not be more confused. The last thing she remembered was being at the Mikaelson Mansion, talking to Kol and Klaus. What time did she come home? Her eyes turned to look at the clock in her living room and it was already a few minutes past midnight. She looked at Kol and herself and saw that both of them were still wearing the same clothes as the ones from her last memory. So she could not have been out for that long.

"Mary..." His call on her name was soft and it trailed off as he looked down on the grimoire and picked it up, turning it the other way around so it wasn't upside down in his eyes. "...this is an Essence Suppression Spell. I saw this in my mother's grimoire."

The redhead averted her gaze back to the man before her with her eyebrows still knitted together in bafflement. "What's an Essence Suppression Spell?"

Kol lifted his head to meet the redhead's gaze. He was staring into her eyes as if waiting for something to come out or reveal itself. If Kol didn't know any better, the subtle shine of blue in her deep brown eyes—its glow—would just be because she had mesmerizing eyes. But there was something odd about them. Something was wrong. Something unusual. Kol mentally cursed himself for not noticing it sooner.

The original vampire grabbed the sides of Mary's head as he moved closer, his touch was gentle, but Mary could feel the desire to be the opposite under his gaze.

"Get out." He whispered.

"Kol, what is happening?" Mary said, holding his wrists as she looked up at him. She saw the terror in his eyes. Like he had seen something he shouldn't.

"Here I am. You've been muttering 'here I am' all day in Latin."

"No, I wasn't."

"Yes, you were." Kol said, trying to make her understand before he grabbed the grimoire again and held out the pages toward her. "This spell. It suppresses the essence of a soul so that a possessing spirit can inhabit the body of its host unabated. Your body. You're lucky I woke you up before it was completed!"

Mary arched an eyebrow. She didn't know why she was so set on not believing this when she was fully aware of the things the supernatural world was capable of. Aliens could literally fly down the Earth and Mary would think that it was just a typical Tuesday. Maybe she just didn't want to believe that she had been weak enough to be possessed.

"A possessing spirit?" Mary echoed. Kol simply nodded before placing his hands on her face, but now, with a caring and worried touch.

"Mary, listen to me. I need you to think very carefully." Kol told her. He tried to soothe her by gently caressing her cheeks with his thumbs because he could hear her heartbeat starting to pick up its pace. "Have you been experiencing blackouts?"

"Apart from tonight?" Mary asked. Once again the original vampire responded with a nod. "When I was in the prison world, I told you. I've blacked out a couple of times."

"How many times have you used the Queen's Crown?" he continued with a follow-up question.

"I don't know. A hundred? Two hundred?" The former queen answered, unable to determine how many times exactly she had used the dark object considering that it was basically her holy grail for everything while she was stuck in the prison world.

Kol could not hold back the deep exhale that escaped him as he moved away from her. He lowered his head and tangled his fingers into his soft brunette hair. "Bloody hell, Mary." he muttered under his breath, realization hitting him.

"What? Do you really think that some random spirit is possessing me?" Mary tried to clarify what Kol was insinuating while he asked those questions.

"Not a random spirit. A very powerful witch." He replied as he removed his hands from his hair and lifted his head to gaze upon her. "Probably one of the witches whose bones you've been pricking your finger with for the past four centuries!"

Kol stood up from the floor and began pacing back and forth across the living room. His hand was on his hip while his other one was covering his mouth, frustratingly rubbing his jaw as he dove into his mind, scouring his brain of his witchcraft knowledge to find out how to reverse the effect the dark object had on Mary.

"There's a very powerful witch inside me and it's trying to steal my body from me by suppressing my soul?" Mary repeated as she too had stood up from the floor, not bothering to look at Kol who was still pacing. She was looking at the floor, letting the revelation sink into her brain. Then Mary remembered something.

"Isabella. She said she heard me say the same thing back then." Mary pointed out, catching Kol's attention all over again. "The morning before you killed me. She said she heard me say it and I denied it."

Kol narrowed his eyes at her as he stopped his pacing. Slowly, he took one step after another toward the former queen, his finger pointing at her. "You're telling me...that it has been inside you this entire time?"

"Stop pointing your finger at me or I swear I will break it off your hand." Mary responded in frustration, annoyed at how weak she was being perceived right now.

The original vampire simply growled before turning his back on her, completely being swallowed by distress and anger about the current situation. He came here to ask Mary for help about the situation with his brother, but right now, it seemed like Mary was in need of help as well.

"I'm going back to Scotland tonight." Mary told him.

"What?" Kol whipped around, a look plastered across his face implying how absurd her words were. "You're not going anywhere until we fix this."

"I know people there who can help me fix this." Mary said as she approached him, trying her best to convince him to let her go because knowing Kol, he was already stubborn while hating her. What more now that he was actually harboring feelings toward the woman?

"Well then I'm coming with you." he offered.

Mary closed her eyes and sighed. "No, you're not, Kol."

"We can keep hating each other all we want but you can't hate me when you're dead."

"That's not very romantic of you."

"I've tormented and killed you. I think it's safe to say that I haven't a clue on how to be romantic."

"You're not coming with me." Mary repeated, locking gazes with the brunette vampire and making sure that he could see how serious she was.

Kol hesitated. It took him decades to get over his grief after Mary's death. He had blamed himself for just as long. Beat himself up for not realizing it before he had ruined all chances he had with her or at least before she died. He was given another chance to right all his deep wrongs and yet they were yet again faced with another problem. He'd be damned if anyone thought he'd just let some dead witch take this chance away from him.

"Nik is dead." Kol blurted out. "Alaric got to him."

Mary's eyebrows raised as her eyes twitched as a wave of hurt and shock overwhelmed her entire being. She never knew how much she cared for the original hybrid up until this moment. She thought she was still pretending. That the moments they'd spent were her merely tricking him into thinking she was this helpless little Dakota Grant. When in reality, she actually enjoyed his company. Because after losing the people she cared about in the 1500s, being alone in a prison world for over 400 years after that, and being ignored and phased out by the ones she tried to befriend in the new world, Klaus was the first one to see her. To care about her. To make sure she was safe. To give her attention and treat her like any good friend should.

She might even dare to say that he was her best friend.

"Is Alaric dead?" were the first words that left her mouth after hearing the news.

The original vampire shook his head. "No."

The former queen took a deep breath and held back the tears that had already formed in her brown eyes, making sure that not one of them would succeed and trickle down her pale face. "Well, then. Looks like I have my work cut out for me."

—

Mary was never close with Rebekah. The blonde never liked the former queen. But she respected her enough to not confront the queen with it. With Elijah, on the other hand, there was some connection there. But Mary believed it was simply because he was the peacekeeper of the family. Perhaps now was the time to air out their true feelings toward her now that she wasn't the Queen of Scotland.

They were in the woods, with the moonlight brighter than ever. It was as if a consolation from the fact that this was one of the darkest nights for the Mikaelsons. Like the gods and goddesses could hear the despair of the most fearsome family and thought that perhaps humanity still existed in them. And it still did, buried deep inside them, yes. But still there.

"Mary Stuart." Her name rolled off Elijah's tongue ever-so-elegantly, welcoming her with respect and politeness despite the trace of sorrow still lingering in his eyes.

Rebekah turned around to look behind her, seeing another one of her older brothers arrive with the company of the former Scottish Queen. Mary noticed the watery eyes of the blonde. She had just finished crying, most likely grieving the loss of her brother whom she always stood by in spite of their disagreements.

"Oh, now you show up?" Rebekah complained. "Where were you when Nik trusted you with that deal?"

Mary expected that reaction. It was actually too accurate.

"Relax, Bekah. She's here to help." Kol said.

"She's about two dead brothers too late." Rebekah said. She hated the fact that Dakota was Mary this entire time and yet she never used her abilities to help any of them.

"Just listen." Kol told his little sister.

The blonde original vampire arched an eyebrow at her brother as she tightened her jaw, resentment still present on her face as she did what she was told and stayed quiet long enough for Mary to speak.

"I can still desiccate Alaric. Now that we know that Elena is his lifeline, he'll be coming back to Mystic Falls to get her and protect her. Once he returns, I will weaken him with my magic long enough for you three to subdue him. That's when I'll siphon the magic out of him to the point of desiccation." Mary explained. Her gaze scanned the expressions of the Mikaelson Siblings for a hint of protest. But there was none. It was a solid plan. Three originals and one 468-year-old witch against one ultimate vampire hunter.

"I'll speak to Elena." Elijah said, a respectable nod following it.

The so-called peacekeeper and nobleman of House Mikaelson began to walk past Mary when he stopped just right beside her, shoulder to shoulder, facing opposite directions. Elijah's gaze remained ahead as he spoke.

"Your reputation with my family over the years leaves much to be desired." Elijah said before he turned his gaze toward her. Mary looked at him and met his gaze as a small smile tugged on the man's lips. "I must say I'm pleased to finally be on your good side."

Mary tilted her head up a bit to do a proper nod at the man before Elijah proceeded to walk away. The former queen faced Kol who looked prepared to do whatever she wanted him to do. It was weird. One minute he didn't want to be bossed around by her, and the next he was ready to do everything for her.

"Prepare the coffin. I want to dump Alaric's body in the Atlantic as soon as possible." She told him.

Kol simply smirked before he turned to walk away, doing as he was told. Mary then looked at Rebekah who seemed so annoyed at the way she was once again bossing everyone around.

"Have you got a task for me as well, Your Majesty?" Rebekah mocked.

Mary exhaled deeply, burying her own annoyance toward the blonde so she could say that she wanted to say straight and with no hesitation now that two of the original vampires were too far away to hear them.

"We need to work fast." Mary said, approaching the blonde original while looking straight into her eyes, making sure that she had her attention enough to let the words she would let go sink into her brain. "While Elijah and Kol are away, Elena is returning to Mystic Falls as we speak. We have exactly seven minutes before she crosses the Wickery Bridge. We'll kill her there."

Rebekah could not help the shock and bewilderment that flashed across her face at the former queen's words. What she was saying now was completely different from what she had said just minutes earlier with Kol and Elijah.

"What?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowed. "You just said—"

"I lied. Is it really that much of a surprise?" Mary immediately replied, not letting the blonde be confused for much longer. "Alaric stabbed me and left me to bleed out. He killed Nik. I know you don't want to believe it, but he became important to me. I'll be damned if I let that hunter live long enough to see the light of the morrow."

Rebekah was slightly hesitant. She had no problem killing Elena, but that would mean letting Elijah be a breaker of his word. And he valued that to a fault. However, this was war. Oaths didn't win wars. Violence did.

Mary placed her hands on Rebekah's arms to focus her attention on her. "Listen to me."

Rebekah's reluctant blue eyes met Mary's determined brown ones before the queen spoke.

"In the game of life, we were taught to be as good and as kind as possible so that we will be rewarded. Nobody ever wins, do you know why?" Mary said.

Mary watched as the blonde original remained silent in anticipation, waiting for the woman in front of her to answer the question herself.

"Two things. One, no righteous person lives long enough to claim the prize. Two, no one is truly pure." Mary said. She then let her hands drop from Rebekah to her sides but Mary's eyes remained stern and persuasive as she spoke. "If I learned anything, it's that sometimes righteousness needs to be abandoned, mercy needs to be overruled."

Mary witnessed the shift in Rebekah's face. The way hesitation left her eyes. The way mercy left like a whisper from her lips. The way she held her head high in power. She was in it with Mary now. No one would be able to stop them.

"Fuck the game. Let's break the rules and steal the prize ourselves." Mary said last.

Rebekah could only smirk at the redhead in agreement.

—

Stefan was on his way to his car in the middle of the woods when his phone suddenly rang. He took the phone out from his pocket and saw Rebekah's caller ID flash on the screen. The blonde Salvatore answered the call and brought it against his ear.

"Hello." Stefan greeted, his strides toward his car becoming quicker.

"You're alive, Congratulations." Rebekah's first words to Stefan when he answered the call.

"Rebekah." He replied, acknowledging her even though he already knew who was on the other end of the line before he even answered the call.

The heels of Rebekah's boots clicked against the textured cement road of the Wickery Bridge as she walked into place. "Elijah spoke to Elena. Her and Matt should be arriving back in town any minute."

"Yeah, he told me that. Mary plans to desiccate Alaric herself." Stefan said. He had finally reached his car and he took the keys out.

"That's the problem. Elijah, Kol, and I will be looking over our shoulders wondering if someone had become foolish enough to wake Alaric before his time is up. I don't want to live in worry anymore, Stefan. I've spent my whole life running and worrying." Rebekah explained.

Those words alone were enough to make Stefan halt in his steps, his forehead forming creases as he was dreading what Rebekah was implying.

"What are you talking about? We had a deal." Stefan insisted.

"Well, I'm sorry, but Klaus is dead. There is no deal." She responded. Just the mere action of saying it out loud was hurting her. Never in a thousand years did she imagine even saying those words. "You see, Mary and I never saw eye to eye until now. She proposed another idea, a plan I'm certainly on board with. If my brothers and I are going to survive, we need to get rid of Alaric. And the only way to get rid of Alaric..."

As if on cue, Matt's truck appeared before their eyes, driving down the road and approaching the Wickery Bridge while Stefan stood in the middle of the woods, his blood running cold in fear and a hundred thoughts running in his head until one remained. The thought of Elena's death.

"Rebekah, no." Rebekah heard Stefan say through the phone before she hung up.

The blonde original was standing idle in the middle of the road, anticipating the arrival of Elena and Matt who, fortunately for her and Mary yet unfortunately for the two mortals, were too preoccupied to even notice the woman standing there.

"Matt, look out!" Elena yelled when her eyes went back to the road ahead of them and saw the blonde illuminated by the headlights of the truck before Matt swerved the car out of the way faster before he could register what or who he just saw.

Rebekah watched unbothered as the truck went off the bridge and into the water beneath. The truck was slowly swallowed into the deep as it sank to the bottom.

The sound of the tires screeching and the truck hitting the bridge before it splashed onto the water caught Kol's attention. He abandoned the coffin he had prepped and sped toward the direction of the commotion.

Rebekah left the bridge and went to the opening of the woods where she had a good view of the lake. Not long after, Kol joined her with an alarmed look on his face, staring at the rippling water that had just consumed the truck with Elena and Matt whole.

"What have you done?" Kol said.

"It was Mary's idea." Rebekah answered without sparing her brother a glance. She didn't want to miss anything in this scene. She wanted to remember every detail of Elena's death for it was what she wanted for quite a long time.

Kol, on the other hand, was looking around them in search of a certain redhead with pathological lying tendencies. "Where's Mary?"

The blonde original simply curled her lips into a smirk, her eyes still fixed on the lake as she was reminded of what lurked at the bottom of that water.

Stefan, with no hesitation, dove into the lake without wasting another second. He immediately saw the truck that had sunk below and swam toward it. There he found the Petrova doppelgänger shaking Matt, waking him up. With all his strength, Stefan ripped open the car door of the driver's seat and went past Matt to reach for Elena only for her to refuse and demand Matt be saved first.

He should have saved her first. But Elena insisted and he grabbed Matt and swam him toward the surface and out of the water. While Stefan saved him, Elena managed to get the seatbelt off of her before her car door mysteriously opened. The doppelgänger furrowed her eyebrows in confusion for just half a second before she began swimming out of the truck.

She was running out of breath. Her limbs were growing weak. She paddled her feet as she was reaching toward the surface of the river. Before Elena's fingertips could even feel the air past the surface, something grabbed her ankle and pulled her back down. A muted, bubbly scream left the girl's lips as she thrashed around while she was being dragged back down to the bottom. It didn't take long before she was next to the sunken truck again.

She was pushed against the hood of the truck by the neck. Elena struggled to keep her eyes open because of the water stinging her eyes. Not to mention that everything was becoming too dark for her to see anything. But she did not miss the auburn hair that flowed with the water elegantly. A part of her was convinced it was the Little Mermaid. Just at the bottom of the water, swimming about with her long and mesmerizing red hair.

But the Little Mermaid was more innocent and less murderous.

Mary saw how Elena mouthed her name in realization as she continued to hold her down. Unlike Elena, Mary couldn't drown due to the spell she cast before waiting in the water. It was one of the things that she admired about the deep. No one ever suspected the dangers that lurked in it until it found them.

Slowly, Mary retrieved her hand when Elena had finally closed her eyes and stopped struggling. She watched in awe as the doppelgänger's body began to float to the surface. Not a single air left in her lungs while she returned to the arms of the Salvatore brother.

—

Only three chapters left before part one ends. I'm going to take a break from publishing after posting the last chapter for part one considering I haven't finished part two yet. As soon as I have finished that or have written at least past 20 chapters, I'm going to start publishing regularly again.

Anyway, finally, the "Hic sum" thing is revealed, it's been a long time coming! This will set her plotline in The Originals and trust me, while part two contains a lot more cute and romantic scenes, it also involves a lot more heartbreak and a lot more gore than before. I'm planning that act to be the most mortifying ever.