28 | The Queen's Command

     𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐊𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐒 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 once more that he was going to bring Kol back to her, he was expecting it to be quite a challenge. Given that they all knew Esther wouldn't let any of them have their way, hiding and keeping Kol away from Mary was one of her plans.

The original hybrid was not liking what Mary was becoming the longer she was kept away from Kol. She wasn't leaving her room all day and all night, just tending to her shattered pots that she herself broke so she could repair them. And at times that she did leave her room, they would catch her returning dressed in somebody else's blood...multiple somebodies.

Putting an end to both of their parents was important, but bringing Kol back to Mary was starting to be on the same level of importance.

"We should get her to a hospital." Cami said as she and Kol—still in Kaleb's body, tend to the unconscious Davina inside a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

She was hiding out here with Mikael and Kol until Klaus and Cami found them. Being face to face with Mikael again triggered something inside Klaus, but one that he had still managed to suppress per Cami's advice. Now, instead of dead, Mikael was in the back of the car with Papa Tunde's blade shoved in his chest in pure agony.

"Oh, hello, darling." Said Kol when he turned toward Klaus, who was angrily standing on the porch of the cabin, unable to enter without invitation. "Back to huff and puff and blow the house down?"

"You know it's funny how often a person's sharp tongue can end up cutting their own throat." Klaus remarked, a small smug smile lingering on his lips. His left hand was still gripping the white oak stake he stole from Mikael.

"Klaus, he's just a kid. Give him a break." Cami warned.

"Yeah, she's right. You might wanna try a bit of lavender under your pillow. Does wonders for stuck-up pillocks with anger issues." Kol said, his snarky response beginning to get in Klaus's nerves.

"Hey, shut it." the blonde woman told Kol.

"I promised not to kill Davina. I said nothing of this insolent sod." the original hybrid pointed out, his gaze not faltering from the blonde-haired witch.

Cami was now done with the bickering of Klaus with what she thought was simply a kid. She stood up and made her way toward the original hybrid and dragged him away. "Come on."

Once again, Cami with her way with words and charm, she managed to keep the original hybrid on a leash, which normally would have upset Klaus. But it seemed as though Klaus was fond of his blonde friend and that just a mere request from her, he was willing to do it. However, while he promised to not kill the 'kid' as she called him, Klaus never promised anything about trying to taunt him. And so while Cami took the white oak stake and went to prepare the car, Klaus returned to the doorway with a snide look on his face as he reverted his attention back to the male witch.

"You've got a way with words." Klaus noted, suspicion starting to bubble inside him as he observed the skeptical man in front of him.

"Well, I've traveled." Kol answered, turning toward the original hybrid at the door before he finally stood up.

"You seem to have crossed continents in order to weasel your way into Davina's good graces, thereby meddling in my family business." he replied, further jabbing at the topic as if he was coming up to a point.

At that point, Kol was already standing in front of him with his arms crossed against his chest, as if he himself was also anticipating the point that he knew his brother was soon going to make.

"Strange, isn't it?" Klaus said, a wide sarcastic grin stretching across his face as he maintained his stern eye contact on the male witch. Kol simply lowered his head, holding back the smirk that was eager to creep its way toward his lips. And he held it back well, until Klaus finally made his point. "Unless of course it's your family business."

And with that, he slightly lifted up his head, just enough to peek at Klaus through his lashes as an amused smirk curled on the male witch's lips.

"You know, ever since my dinner with my mother and Finn, I've been wondering when you might make an appearance..." Klaus stated before he stared right into the witch's deceiving blue eyes. "...Kol."

Kol did not bother to conceal the chuckle that left his lips as he looked at the ground. The cat was finally out of the bag and Kol could not be more entertained by the fact. He then proceeded to be theatrical as he took a bow as if he had just finished an outstanding performance. "Then the jig is up."

The original hybrid placed another grin on his face when Kol finally admitted it.

"Hello, brother." Kol said as he straightened his posture.

"It's not that I begrudge you hitching a ride back to the land of the living. It's just that you're making all the wrong friends." Klaus told him, his blue eyes narrowing a bit at his brother who had taken possession of a boy's body. "And I have half a mind to show you how wrong you are."

"But you're not gonna do that, are you? Aside from that little blonde friend of yours, your dear little fox will hate you if you even touch a hair on my head." Kol pointed out, which only earned a sarcastic grin to tug on the hybrid's lips.

"I'm sure Mary would understand, given that you're out here running mother dearest's errands while she suffers at the hands of the spirit that still has a death grip on her life." Klaus responded. "Mary needs you, brother."

"Don't you think I know that, Nik?" Kol narrowed his eyes at his brother, the entertained smile on his lips faltering as he spoke. "That's why I'm doing this in the first place. So I can be with her without my privileges of being alive being revoked by our mother."

Klaus remained silent, looking away from his brother as he suddenly remembered the night of which he had watched Kol burn and die right in front of him. He remembered the look on Mary's face when she herself witnessed it as well. Her world shattered and he could see it in her face.

"How is she?" Kol asked, setting aside his usual jesting and mocking manners to get information about his beloved.

"Doing a lot worse." Klaus answered. "You better cut those strings sooner rather than later. You haven't a clue on how much she has changed after losing another person she cares about."

"I can wager a guess or two." Kol answered, remembering watching her break down in Rousseau's after fighting a pack of wolves and Mikael. But he knew that that wasn't even half of what she had been going through.

"She's a ruler, Kol." Klaus told him, reminded him. "She's mastered putting up a strong front so that both her friends and enemies won't know how damaged and afraid she really is."

Despite Klaus and Kol's differences, when it came to Mary, they were united.

"She won't accept our help. Only you can get through to her."

• ─────────────── •

The night transitioned from what they thought was the near end and into something a lot worse. The original hybrid found the car bloody empty, no Mikael or Cami in sight. This was what Klaus got for showing the slightest bit of mercy to the person whose only goal was to see him dead.

The former Scottish Queen, on the other hand, was living up to what Klaus feared. Maxime had her on house arrest, much to Mary's dismay. But it was for her own good. Each day that passed brought her closer to insanity. Every time the sun rose and the sky was brightened up a glowing yellow and white, she remained dark and grim. The lively music that played on the vibrant streets of the French Quarter was nothing more than a buzzing sound in Mary's ears. She was losing touch from reality every day that passed. And the only thing that was keeping her grounded and awake was the hopes of seeing Kol again.

But right now, Klaus needed their help.

Cami shook in fear as she crawled toward the gray corpse of the original hybrid, the white oak stake jabbed in his heart, but he wasn't bursting into flames, which infuriated Mikael before he went to look for someone to blame for this hindrance.

The blonde woman, despite her whole body trembling in terror, grabbed a hold of the white oak stake and used her strength to pull it out, but to no avail. She was too weak and the stake was too dug into his chest. She kept a tight grip on the stake while she repeated the same thing, attempting to pull it out before it really killed the original hybrid.

Meanwhile, Mikael found the hindrance in the form of two teenage witch chanting in the middle of the room with their hands joined together, their concentration not breaking even with the vampire who hunted vampires were quickly approaching them.

"Is this your doing, little witch?" Mikael growled as he marched toward the two, his gaze set on the brunette Harvest girl. "Then you will undo it. Return the power to the stake!"

Kaleb and Davina proceeded to mutter the incantations as the girl withdrew one of her hands from Kaleb and held it out toward the original vampire, using her magic to inflict pain upon him which caused the thousand-year-old vampire hunter to grunt in agony, but only for such a short while before he fought through it, as he often did. With his teeth gritted and his anger running deeper toward the little witch, he approached them while Kol stood in front of the girl to protect her only to be thrown to the side harshly, surely gaining injuries.

The male witch immediately lost consciousness upon the contact of his father's backhand on the side of his face before he flew to the air and landed to the side roughly. This was when Davina lost her concentration and her mind was filled with fright. The incantations left her mouth and trailed off, fear stepping in while she watched the original vampire near her. Screams left her lips when he yanked her by the arm and held her before sinking his fangs into her neck, the girl's shriek echoing throughout the abandoned warehouse.

And just in time, Cami finally managed to pull out the white oak stake from Klaus's chest, the tip dripping deep crimson.

"Klaus?" Cami called, hoping, praying, that he could still hear her, that he would wake up from the sound of her voice.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mikael threatened as he entered the same room he left Cami and Klaus in. Cami's eyes widened at the added blood that dripped from his mouth and down to his neck and shirt. She gripped the white oak stake firm in her hands, holding it out as if she planned to use it against the original vampire.

"Stay the hell away from us. Or I swear to God, I'll kill you myself." Cami said, panic unmistakably present in her pale blue irises.

"You have a warrior's heart. Perhaps I'll keep it as a souvenir." the original vampire hunter taunted as he trudged toward the blonde woman. He leaned forward to grab her when suddenly, another person entered the situation and shoved him away from Cami.

Marcel did not waste time and landed a punch on the original vampire's face with as much force as he could muster. Mikael staggered backwards as Marcel threw punch after punch, before kicking him. On his second kick, however, Mikael was finally able to register the sudden appearance and attack of the younger vampire and seized his leg in his grasp and kicked his other leg to cause him to lose footing and drop to the ground.

Meanwhile, Maxime found the injured witches lying on the ground as he was on his way to meet Mary where everyone else was.

"Davina! Hey, are you all right?" He asked, crouching down to hover above her when he saw her neck marked with a vampire bite, some of the blood on it sticking to her dark brown hair. The black-haired vampire pulled the sleeves of his jacket upward to reveal his wrist before biting down on it to draw some blood before offering it to the witch to heal her. "Here."

The girl hesitated before she accepted his offer. While Davina drank, Maxime's gaze shifted toward the unconscious Kaleb on the other side of the room. He listened in on his heartbeat, checking if he was still alive and relief shot through him when he found out that he still was.

"Your friend is gonna be fine. Apart from the throbbing headache he'll have soon after he wakes up." Maxime informed Davina as she pulled away from his wrist, wiping the vampire blood that stained the sides of her mouth.

"You good?" He asked her again and the girl merely nodded before she used Maxime's help to get back on her feet.

In another room, Mikael was standing over Marcel with vexation radiating off of his injured body.

"Now enough!" Mikael yelled, taking a broken wooden pole and aiming it at Marcel who had laid on the ground staring at the sharp end of the pole as Mikael threatened him with it. "This night has been a long parade of fools. I'll enjoy killing every last one of you."

Right after those words were uttered, a small gasp escaped Klaus's lips as he finally found his way back to the land of the living. Cami slowly stood up with the blood-stained stake still locked in her hands and while Mikael was too busy focusing on the blonde, a long, heavy chain caught itself around his neck which pulled at him and caused him to whirl around and face the one responsible.

"Yeah, I wouldn't bet on it." Hayley remarked with a dour expression plastered across her face before whipping the same chain across his face which made Mikael stumble to the side and kneel. As soon as he stood up, he was met with a pair of mad deep brown eyes that contrasted her rich auburn hair before a complacent smirk curled on her red-tinted lips.

"We've got to stop meeting like this." Mary commented before bringing her foot up and channeling all her strength into that one kick that sent the original wobbling backward.

While Mikael was recovering from the attacks of Hayley and Mary, the two went to the other side of the room and joined the rest of their clan, Maxime and Davina emerging behind them as well.

Mikael finally composed himself, the long wooden pole still in his grip as he faced them, his bastard son coming forward with a triumphant look on his face.

"It's over, Mikael. You're outnumbered." Klaus said. "Are you going to beg for your miserable life?"

A grin stretched over Mikael's bloody lips as a chuckle rumbled in his chest. "You think having people makes you strong? It proves how weak you are."

Mary glowered at the original, the traces of sarcasm and smugness leaving her face.

"Come find me when you don't have fools, women, and children fighting your battles." Mikael said before throwing the wooden pole to the ground and speeding away.

It was like a heavy weight was lifted from Mary's chest. She never liked Mikael, at least when she first met him in Mystic Falls taunting and bullying Klaus. She never liked bullies. And she never was one to let anyone bully her. Which was how the whole Tale of the Foxes came about.

The Tale of the Foxes...she remembered him again. She barely had a moment when she was not burdened by the thought of where Kol could be, what he was doing, and why he hadn't come back to her yet. Honestly, she was starting to hate him for it. She hated how he dared to make her worry all over again. She just knew that he'd be receiving a proper beating when they'd finally reunited.

"Mary!" The former queen whirled around after making sure that Klaus was okay and saw the male witch Kaleb approaching her with a bloody forehead and a distressed expression plastered across his face.

While Mary's face was contorted into a frown in confusion, the witch's heart was pounding in his chest at the thought of something happening to his love before he could even hold her again, before he could even say how much he meant to her, how much he had missed her, and how much he would give up just so he could kiss her one more time.

And those were the only things running in his mind when his long strides finally let him reach the auburn heretic and as soon as she was within close proximity, the first thing he did was pull her into his arms. Her expression was switched into a surprised and bewildered one when she was suddenly warmed by the embrace of the male witch. His left arm was wrapped around her waist, and her right hand was on the back of her head, tangling his hand in his hair as he pulled her in.

"I'm so glad you're alright, darling." Kaleb—or rather, Kol whispered.

The two of them stayed in that position with the rest of them, excluding Klaus and Davina, confused about the witch's behavior, especially Maxime. Mary finally registered that her face was still resting against his broad shoulder and that was when she finally pushed him away, causing the relief in Kol's face to be turned into a confused one.

"Don't touch me again." Mary snarled at him. And then his voice came in her mind calling her by that name. "And don't ever call me that."

Kol blinked a couple of times as he opened his mouth to say something. "Mary—"

"No." Mary said.

Klaus, who was standing a few feet behind her with an uneasy look on his face, took one step forward with a gulp before he spoke up. "Hear him out, little fox."

The auburn heretic glanced at the original hybrid with uncertainty and skepticism glistening in her brown eyes.

"Mary." Kol called her. The woman turned her head to meet the male witch's gaze again. There it was again. Something familiar about him that was bothering her. She watched as he took steps toward her, careful steps with eyes pleading to her as if he wanted her to stay calm and trust him. And for some reason, Mary trusted him.

"It's me, darling." he finally told her.

The heretic slightly furrowed her eyebrows and creased her forehead in confusion. She opened her mouth to say something as she shook her head when she was unsure about what he was talking about until that familiarity finally clicked.

Mary's forehead smoothed over and her eyebrow raised in realization. And at the same time, tears gathered in her eyes, threatening to roll down her cheeks and inevitably ruin her makeup.

"Kol?" she croaked out, her throat had dried up from how the situation had shocked her.

A soft, genuine smile stretched on the man's lips at the sound of his name on his love's lips. "I take it you've missed me?"

Mary just stood there in surprise as the rest of the people behind her were. Maxime examined the witch in front of his best friend, wondering how he was able to hide his identity from them for that long.

Kol had pictured this reunion in his head for quite a long time. He imagined Mary in her arms, crying tears of joy, her heart full again with hope and love, and they'd live happily ever after. He was a very realistic person but Mary got him believing in something that usually happened in fairytales. And that was a sign just how head over heels Kol was for her.

Though, the scene he pictured in his head didn't include Mary slapping the hell out of him.

The original vampire stuck in the body of a teenage witch whipped his head to the side when he felt Mary's palm make contact with his face, stinging his cheek. The harsh slap managed to wipe the smile off Kol's face before he brought a hand to his cheek and looked back at her, seeing the tears rolling down her face but anger present in those glossy eyes of hers.

"I hate being abandoned." Mary said.

The smile went back to his lips as he teased her. "I hate being dead just as much."

The heretic finally let her guard down and threw her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a tight embrace, to which Kol instantly accepted as he wrapped his arms around her. He closed his eyes and turned his head so he could slightly bury his face in her deep auburn hair.

"You're not going anywhere this time." Mary said, her voice slightly strained from the relieved sobs that wanted to erupt from her throat. "You're stuck with me."

"If that's the queen's command, then there's no place I would rather be." Kol replied before he pulled away just enough so he could look into her eyes.

This was what he wanted. To be back in the presence of the love of his life. To feel her again. To finally be happy after centuries of nothing but grief and regret. He could feel it, their happy ending. And he wanted nothing more than to secure that. And he wouldn't be able to do that until he was back in his original body. Because being in that mortal, fragile body of his was another tragedy waiting to happen.

If only Mary was prepared for that one more time.

• ─────────────── •

Yes, I'm still alive.