chapter thirty-four

dreamers are selfish

when it all comes down to it

ALL FOR US

, her eyes slowly opening. She frowned, her hands feeling dirt around her. Where was she? Suddenly, as if she'd been shocked by something, she splashed around and stood up. She was at the bank of the lake, alone.

"Andy!" she called. No one answered. "Brody?"

A familiar pained cry tore through the woods. Her face paled; this was her dream.

"She's ready," a voice said. It was soft, like a whisper of the wind that rattled through the trees. It was Andrea. Marian shakily stepped out of the water and ran towards the source of the screams, her body soaked and wet.

"You can see the house. They're all there," Andrea said. In the distance, Marian could, indeed, see her family standing outside a small house. "Mikael, Finn, Elijah, Klaus, Henrik." As she got closer, she saw each of them waiting anxiously, Klaus cringing the most as the wails continued.

"Go inside," Andrea's voice beckoned. Marian did as she was told and slowly crept past the brothers and their father and into the home that had once belonged to Kol and his wife. She looked around her in awe: the wooden walls held carved masterpieces that she'd once been told were made by both Klaus and Kol when they'd built the house, and on the floor lay several sheep skins from the livestock Mikael had brought with him to this new land.

Marian froze in shock as she watched both Rebekah and Kol holding her mother's arms tightly as she stood, legs apart and bent, trying to push the baby out.

"You are doing well," said Esther, who brought her hands up under Marian's mothers robes to help pull the baby. "Try once more."

With a loud groan that eventually turned to a scream, Marian watched, bewildered, as Esther swiftly brought her arms back out, holding something bloodied and crying. A baby.

Kol gasped, his grip loosening as he took his first glimpse of his newborn child. "A boy," Esther announced, taking a knife from the floor and cutting the cord that connected the mother to her son.

Kol grinned. "A boy," he repeated.

"Aldrik," said his wife softly. "After my father." Kol nodded, happily agreeing. She went to lie back on the bed behind them, but stopped with a cry as she felt another deep pain rip through her.

"What's wrong?" Kol asked suddenly.

"It's happening again," said his wife fearfully.

Rebekah looked at her mother. "You said it would not be so soon!" exclaimed the girl.

Esther, who frowned deeply as she helped support the pregnant girl, answered, "I was mistaken. Go find Ayanna." Rebekah wasted no time in running to locate the witch. "You must be strong, Runa."

Kol looked at his wife. She was crying, the pain too much for her to bear. "I love you," Kol said gently, watching as a painful cry ripped through the room.

"Where is that girl?" asked Esther desperately, looking out the window to see if she could see her daughter. Her predictions had made her believe that Runa would have time before her second child was born. Oh, how wrong she was. "Rebekah!"

Someone came rushing in. "She's not yet back, Mother," said Klaus.

"You will have to do," said the woman, beckoning her son forward and telling him to take Runa's arm. Klaus' eyes went wide as Runa groaned again, her whole body tense and shaking.

Esther knelt in front of the woman once more, lifting up her robes to see if she could help while holding the newborn infant carefully in hre arms. "Eye of Odin," she cursed.

"What is it?" asked Kol. "What's wrong?"

"The child is the wrong way," muttered his mother. "I saw not its head but its feet." She stood from the floor and looked at Runa. "You must be brave. This child could die if we are not fast."

Afraid, the crying woman nodded quickly. Kol tightened his grip on her arm as Klaus gently rubbed his thumb over the skin he held. "I will be brave," she whispered. With a nod, she told Esther that she was ready to continue, a cry escaping her lips as she pushed.

"Again," said Esther. The girl complied. "Keep going."

"Mother! I could not find Ayanna," Rebekah rushed, running back into the house.

"Forget her," said the witch. "Take the child." Rebekah nodded, taking the infant from her mother and cradling him in her arms. For a moment, she smiled; she couldn't wait to have a child of her own one day, even if it was as painful as she now believed it was.

Runa felt a stinging pain erupt as she pushed harder. Esther brought her hands up to help tug the baby's hips downwards. "You are doing so well, my love," Kol encouraged.

"Kol, get the knife." The boy did as he was told as his brother carefully moved to stand directly behind Runa, supporting her weight fully. "The cord is likely wrapped around her neck. When you see it, you must cut it."

Her neck? Kol wondered. This child was a girl.

Marian watched with dismay as her mother gave one final push, and the baby's shoulders slipped through.

"Do you see it?" Esther asked firmly.

Kol, who rubbed his left hand up and down his wife's waist, looked up at her pleadingly. "Push again."

The girl shook her head, weeping and crying out in pain. "I can't," she sobbed.

"You can," he said with a calmness that surprised him. "I promise." Using his magic, he muttered a spell under his breath. Instantly, Runa's nerves become more settled.

The girl took a deep breath, holding it in as she pushed once more, her scream muffled as she kept her mouth closed.

"I see it!" he exclaimed.

"Do it now!" Esther urged.

Without hesitation, the boy pushed the knife forward and pierced the cord, dragging it upwards to cut it completely. He held his breath as the baby slid out further, now entirely in Esther's hands, and quickly removed the rest of the cord from around her neck.

Runa leant back completely on Klaus, who stared at the little girl in his mother's hands. He noticed a small cut on the baby's neck where Kol's blade had accidentally caught her skin. Marian, transfixed as she watched herself cry for the first time, brought her hand up to her own neck where a small scar sat. She frowned, noticing that it was bleeding too.

Suddenly, the room began to spin, and as if she were in a film, everyone began to rush around. Klaus laid Runa on the bed a little too sweetly for Kol's liking, Rebekah laid Aldrik next to his mother, and Kol kissed her head and took his siblings outside to tell their family about his son and daughter. Esther cleaned little Marian gently, careful not to put any pressure on her weak bones. Finn joined her and the two spoke until the eldest Mikaelson son began to pace.

"Marian!" a voice whispered in her ear. It sounded like... was that Rebekah?

Ambrose had sent a message to Rebekah when he knew neither Marian or Andrea were looking. The Original Hybrid sped towards the woman and held her by her throat, demanding to know who she was.

"I'm Andrea Seydoux!" she wheezed. "Marian's granddaughter!" Klaus hesitantly let her go.

"Klaus, if you wake her now, she could die," Ambrose explained hurriedly.

The voices were getting louder now, more clear. She was waking up.

"No," she muttered, her vision blurring and Finn's voice becoming incoherent. She could no longer see Esther or Finn. Instead, she saw images and heard muffled voices. A hand extended, palm facing upwards, and slowly formed a fist. Little Marian's hand reached up and touched the necklace that hung around Esther's neck. The muscles of her mother's neck became visible as she struggled to breathe. The baby stopped crying.

"The girl is dangerous," said Esther, her speech slow and distorted. She held in her hands Runa's necklace and one little Marian's hands. The necklace began to glow, as little Marian's head began to droop. "Without her magic, she won't be able to find her."

"No," Marian gasped, her eyes wide as she watched Esther caress little Marian's head. "No!"

The world around her began to spin again. It pushed her this way and puller that way, tugging and knocking her about until she landed on a soft bed, living in another memory. A recent memory.

"Andy!" It sounded like Ambrose. "The crystal." The green crystal in Marian's hand began to lose its light.

Kol kissed his daughter's forehead as he sat beside her. Just as they had done for the past three nights, he had slept beside her and made sure that she was comfortable. But tonight would be different, for it would be Kol's last night in Mystic Falls for a very long time.

The pain she felt still lingered from Esther's dagger, and though it had become less intense, she was still unable to do a great many things. Kol felt an immense amount of guilt in leaving her, but he knew that his brother and sister would take good care of her while he was gone, and in two weeks, she would join him.

"I don't know if I'm strong enough to leave you," he whispered into her ear. It pained him just as much as it did her that they would be spending time apart. It had still only been four full days since the dagger had been pulled from his heart. "I don't want to."

"Then don't go," Marian whispered to him pleadingly. "Please." She didn't want to be without him, especially now that Esther and her Uncle Finn were adamant on killing them. "Let me come with you then."

"You're not strong enough yet, my darling," said Kol sadly. "Besides, with the technologies of this new world, it'll be easier to communicate with you."

"As long as you remember to charge your phone," she reminded him pointedly.

"I won't be gone for long."

"Two weeks is a long time to miss someone."

"We have to wake her up. Now," Andrea said urgently.

"Come on, Marian," Ambrose said, looking down at her. "Wake up."

Klaus stared, horrified at what was happening right in front of him. He'd been in this situation before, only this time, he could help her before her body gave into the cold. He went to move forward, but Andrea stopped him. "If you pull her out of the water, it'll just make things worse."

"Marian!" he called.

"Wake up, Marian," Ambrose repeated, his voice shaking.

"Marian!"

"Marian!"

"Marian!"

Her body suddenly shook and lurched forward, her eyes opening as she gasped desperately for air. Klaus sped to her, holding her in his arms. She immediately started to cry.

"Esther killed them," she whimpered. All she wanted was her Kol. "She killed them. Right in front of me." Klaus put his hand on the back of her head, holding her close to him. "And then she took my magic."

...

Marian had barely spoken since she'd woken up in the lake. Klaus had called Rebekah and Kol immediately, telling them that they needed to be home as soon as they could. Both immediately agreed.

The girl sat in front of the fireplace, two blankets wrapped around her. Rebekah, who had rushed home as quickly as she could, helped her shower and get into her pyjamas. She'd offered for Andrea to stay for the night, but the woman had refused, telling Rebekah that she needed to get home too.

She'd explained—quietly, so Marian couldn't hear—that her father was ill, and that she wasn't sure if he had much time left. And so, giving her grandmother a big hug and making her promise to visit her soon, Andrea stepped outside and disappeared into the night.

Wanting to stay close to the fire, Marian had forced her uncle and aunt to sleep on a sofa which Klaus pulled over from the other room. Klaus and Rebekah sat next to each other on the floor in front of it, Rebekah's head resting on her brother's shoulder, speaking quietly as Marian slept.

"I didn't know what to do," Klaus muttered. "I just... seeing her there, half-dead in the water..."

Rebekah held his hand. After two hundred years of running, the Mikaelson siblings and Marian—who they'd found living in the country of Georgia—had travelled back to their home in the still-undiscovered New World. Mikael had found them not long after, and as a warning, he'd taken Marian from them, only to return dead, in the river that ran beside their old home, as a warning.

The siblings fell asleep after a short while, Rebekah's arms wrapped around her brother comfortingly. The great Klaus Mikaelson may have been the most feared man on the earth, but he, at times, felt like the most helpless man in the world.

Marian woke with a start, the image of her mother desperately trying to breathe in air, fresh in her mind. She glanced down at Klaus and Rebekah and smiled; it was rare to see anyone in her family showing signs of true affection.

The fire, which was slowly dying, licked and clicked, competing with Klaus' snores snores, until it suddenly stopped. The girl frowned. Climbing off the sofa, she glanced from the fire to her uncle, confused to see him still sleeping and snoring. Why couldn't she hear anything?

She looked around, her eyes stopping on a curious blue light coming from the front hall. Glancing back at her aunt and uncle to make sure they were still asleep, Marian carefully tiptoed away from them and towards the light. She was surprised to see that, near the front door, was a small ball of pure blue light. She felt as if she couldn't look away from it.

The light began to move, the front door silently opening as it floated outside. She followed it, curious to see where it was going. Maybe it was someone trying to contact her; a spirit, perhaps.

Marian barely noticed where she was headed, her focus solely on the ball. She didn't recognise the trees she'd walked through not three hours ago, nor did she hear the sound of the lake or the small bugs that flew around it.

"Mother told me I'd find you here."

"Uncle," she gasped, standing. She noticed something shiny in his hands, making her gulp. It was the same dagger Esther had used on her the night of the sacrifice.

"I came to finish what I started," Finn answered darkly. He walked up to the girl who took a frightened step back. "You must understand why I did it, don't you? Why I have to do this." She shook her head.

"Life hasn't been kind to you, Finn," Marian told him gently. "And neither has this family. But that doesn't mean you should see us dead."

"You've had me locked up for nine hundred years, Marian. I can barely even call you family."

Marian had no idea how to respond to such a remark. He was right. How could they have taken most of his life away from him? How could she have taken most of his life away from him? He'd been dead longer than he'd been alive, and it was all their fault.

"I don't know what to say," she said finally.

"Don't you see that this whole family is cursed?" he asked. "We kill everything we touch, and for a thousand the disease that we carried has been spread across the world. We have failed nature, and now we must pay the price."

Marian reached her hand out to touch his cheek as a tear fell down one of hers. "Finn, what has she done to you? She's poisoned your judgement, Uncle. Who is she to determine our fate?"

"Nature wasn't kind to you when it kept you alive," Finn said darkly, ignoring her. He took a step closer to her. She could feel the blade on her stomach. "I'm doing you a kindness."

"Did she tell you what she's done?" Marian asked, trying to distract him. "Did she tell you that she killed my mother? And my brother?" Finn laughed. "Did she tell you how she tricked me into giving up my magic when I was just a child?"

"Did you really think that out of seven children, your stupid father was the only one who practiced magic?" he asked smugly.

Marian's eyes widened. "It was you," she realised. It made sense. The hand she'd seen had been more muscular, the skin rougher than Esther's.

"And now I can finish what I started one thousand years ago," he smirked.

Marian closed her eyes as he pushed the dagger forward, only it didn't go into her stomach. With a loud thud, Finn lay on the ground, a large bloodied hole gaping in the left of his chest. Marian gasped in horror.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, darling."

Oooooo. Who do you think came to save her???

I have so many good ideas for this story but I don't know which ones to use! Tell me what you'd like to see happen.

Should she make up with Damon?

Should she tell her friends about the supernatural?

Will she reach out to Jeremy?

Do you think she likes Ambrose the same way he likes her?