Just as he started to make his way down the stairs, Elijah suddenly stopped when he saw Annabelle staring up at him with a blank look on her face and her arms crossed over her chest.
After a couple seconds of just silently staring down at her, Elijah said to her, "Annabelle, you're here. I thought that—"
Annabelle told him, "The only reason I'm here is because Kol called me to come here. That's it. If it wasn't for him calling me here, I wouldn't have come and would have happily left you lot to suffer all on your own."
With a raise of his eyebrows, Elijah said to himself, "Right. My apologies."
While Annabelle only rolled her eyes to herself and Elijah went back to walking down the stairs, Kol said with a crossbow in hand, "Freya's tracking your former sirelings now, so it won't be long. Which works for me. I could use a good fight."
After both Elijah and Klaus had stopped at the table Annabelle and Kol were standing in front of, Elijah replied, "Well, we do have an advantage. No vampire may enter this stronghold so long as the deed remains in Freya's name."
With a scoff, Kol asked his two brothers, "So what? We hide in here while our enemies mass at the front gate?"
Klaus told him, "Well, if they're so determined to die at our hands, let them come."
* * *
The moment the four of them heard the sound of thudding and clattering, each of them quickly walked away from the table and into the next room to see a horde of vampires making their way into the compound from all sorts of angles.
While more and more vampires made their way into the compound, Annabelle silently eyed each of them with narrowed eyes and her head tilted to the side.
It wasn't until all the vampires stopped moving that they heard a voice say from behind them, "I never thought it would come to this." After the four of them turned around to see Marcel leading another group of vampires towards them, Marcel said to them, "But, as always, the Mikaelsons made my choice for me."
As soon as Marcel came to a halt and stared at the four of them, Klaus said, "Marcel. How?"
As he started to make his way around the other siblings before eventually stopping in front of Klaus, Marcel replied, "How are we in your home? I have friends who can nullify a deed, foreclose on a property, like that. Or did you mean, how am I not a rotting corpse?"
After a couple seconds of silence, Klaus said to him, "I thought my friend was dead, and yet here you are. So send these fools away, and let's talk. You and me."
After taking a step forward towards Klaus, Marcel asked him, "Is that relief I hear? Really? If I hadn't been one step ahead of you, I would be at the bottom of the river."
Elijah told him, "Marcel, your anger is with me. I am the one responsible for this crime against you."
With a sigh, Annabelle said, "And don't forget about the crime against Davina Claire."
After quickly turning his head and looking over at Annabelle with narrowed eyes, Marcel looked over at Elijah as he said, "One thing I learned sticking around this family, Elijah, you take on one of you, you are taking on all of you. These guys, Klaus's sirelings, they're here to bear witness today."
It was then that Kol asked him, "Are you planning to put on a little show, Marcellus?"
While Annabelle slowly looked between Kol and Marcel with narrowed eyes, Marcel replied, "Damn straight, I am." Then he turned to the other vampires and said to them, "The fall of the Mikaelsons. And guess what? The show has already started."
* * *
As he started to walk towards Marcel, Kol said, "I know you're hurt. I loved Davina, too. And it would break her heart to see you like this."
Marcel replied, "Don't mention her name. If it weren't for you, she'd still be alive."
After slapping Marcel's hand away, Kol told him, "But she's not. This is an insult to her memory."
In turn, Marcel swung his fist and hit Kol, which resulted in Kol letting out a groan from where he was nearly knelt on the floor.
Just as Annabelle was about to take a step forward, she suddenly stopped when both Klaus and Elijah held an arm out in front of her.
After Kol attempted to hit Marcel, Marcel quickly dodged Kol's attack before biting into the side of his neck.
While Annabelle stared at her screaming brother with wide eyes, Klaus said in a whisper, "Kol."
After watching Marcel snap Kol's neck and toss him aside, Annabelle clenched her hands into fists and started to heavily shake from where she stood, which got Klaus to say to her, "Annabelle, don't."
Annabelle didn't respond and stared at Marcel with narrowed eyes and her veins on display, while Elijah quickly sped over towards Marcel with Klaus close behind him.
Both of them quickly made their attack on Marcel, who seemed to defend himself with ease as he dodged their attacks and threw his own punches at them before hitting Klaus in the face and getting him to fly across the room and hit a column with a groan.
After seeing her half-brother fall with a groan, Annabelle's shaking only seemed to worsen, while Elijah threw a kick at the back of Marcel's leg.
In turn, Marcel punched Elijah in the chest, broke his arm in half and then proceeded to Elijah in the arm.
After watching Elijah also get tossed to the side and seeing the look her half-brother had on her face, Annabelle's shaking had become far worse than either of her brothers had ever seen.
The moment he saw the murderous look on Annabelle's face, Klaus said to her, "Annabelle, don't."
Instead of listening to him, Annabelle quickly sped towards Marcel, who attempted to swing his arm at her, only for her to dodge his arm at the last second and then threw a punch into the back of his head.
Marcel quickly turned around to see just how angry she looked at that exact moment, but he didn't care.
So he resorted to her violence by throwing a punch into her face, which got Annabelle to do nothing but let out a groan as blood started to leak out of her nose.
After chuckling to herself, she asked him, "Is that the best you can do, Marcel? Hmm?" When Marcel didn't respond, she said, "If only Davina Claire could see you now. She would be so disappointed to see the monster you've become."
In his fit of rage, Marcel went to kick her in the face, only to stop when Annabelle grabbed his leg and harshly twisted it before she threw him away from her.
Before falling face-first onto the floor, Marcel caught himself and brought himself back up onto his feet and stared at Annabelle, who said, "I'm going to kill you."
After scoffing to himself, Marcel replied, "I would like to see you try."
It was then that, instead of seeing Marcel's face, she saw Lucien's and she actually believed she was back in that cage and being forced to listen to Lucien's boasts about how everything was going according to his plan and everything else he planned to do to her siblings.
In her own fit of rage, Annabelle quickly sped towards him and threw a punch into his face before she kicked him right in the chest.
And as she continued her assault, she yelled all sorts of things that she wished she could have said to Lucien, while he kept her locked up in that cage he kept inside of his penthouse.
And the angrier she got, the more sloppy her attacks were, which allowed Marcel to eventually dodge her attacks before he threw yet another punch into her face, which resulted in her being thrown backwards from the force behind his hit.
After the back of her head hit a column, she went to stand up, only to stop when Marcel suddenly grabbed her by the front of her neck and raised her off of her feet.
Instead of cowering like he would have expected her to do, Annabelle stared into his eyes as she said, "Go ahead. Do your worst. Bite me. I don't care. I would rather die than have to hear you and your self-pity speeches or see your damned face ever again."
After spending several moments of just silently staring at her, Marcel's veins came onto display before he did just that.
And much like he hoped she would, Annabelle started to scream the second he started to tear into her throat before he tossed her aside, just like he did to Kol and Elijah.
While Annabelle glared up at Marcel from where she laid on the floor, Marcel started to make his way back over towards her, just to do as she practically begged him to, only to stop when he suddenly felt a thousand jolts of pain practically invading the inside of his mind.
Just as he started to grab at the sides of his head, he heard a voice say to him, "Sorry, Marcus, but I'm gonna have to stop you right there." While Marcel slowly raised his head to look at Kai Parker, who had a hand held out in front of himself, Kai told him, "See, my daughter is part of Annabelle's, you know, sireline thing and if I find out that she dies as a result of you biting her, well, let's just say that I'm gonna be really pissed off. So, if you'll excuse me, I need to take a very mentally ill Original vampire away from here before she loses her freaking mind some more and decides to kill these, uh, friends of yours."
Before Marcel had the chance to respond, Kai grabbed Annabelle by the arm and muttered a single word.
And then just like that, both Annabelle Mikaelson and Kai Parker were nowhere to be seen.
* * *
As he went to open the doors to Lucien's penthouse, Elijah yelled, "Freya!"
Both Freya and Hayley quickly turned their heads just in time to see Elijah and Klaus trying to carry in a groaning Kol.
While Klaus continued to carry Kol into the penthouse and towards one of the couches, Hayley took a step towards Elijah and said to him, "Elijah."
In turn, Elijah said to her, "Don't, please. We'll deal with it later."
Not long after he said that, he heard a voice say, "If you really think I'm going to be spending what might be my last couple hours inside the same damn place I'd spent being held hostage in for three bloody days, then you are out of your bloody mind, Malachai Parker."
After both Hayley and Elijah turned to look over at Kai and Annabelle, Kai asked them, "Um, Elias, Hallie, do you mind giving me a hand here?" When neither of them made a move and simply stared at him with furrowed eyebrows, Kai said, "Or, you know, don't and just stand there staring at me like freaking dumbasses."
It was then that Hayley quickly made her way over towards Kai and helped him with carrying Annabelle into the room, while Hope started to cry and Kol said to himself, "I'm going to die."
Klaus replied, "You're not going to die."
After forcing a chuckle, Kol said to him, "That sounds familiar. Isn't that what you said to Finn and Cami?"
With a shake of his head, Klaus told him, "Look, Lucien engineered his venom from the seven werewolf packs. So maybe that's the key to a cure."
Freya replied, "Oh, great. That's the first piece in a puzzle none of us will be alive to solve. I'm poisoned, Rebekah's hexed and our brothers and Annabelle are bitten. We need three different cures to three different ailments. Each of which could take years to find, and none of us will make it through the day."
* * *
As Kai tried to siphon the bite off of Annabelle's neck and Freya placed a rag onto Kol's forehead, Kol said, "You know, maybe it's fair that you and I pay for what was done to Davina."
With a shake of her head, Freya said to him, "Hey. Davina didn't want revenge, okay?"
In turn, Kol yelled, "Just put me out of my misery! At least put me to bloody sleep! The fact that I can hear Annabelle moaning and groaning to herself is driving me mad! I don't want to be alive to hear her last and dying breaths!"
While Kol continued to groan to himself and Annabelle tried her hardest to reach out for Kol, despite them being on opposite pieces of furniture, Klaus told Elijah, "Hayley's attending to Hope, but I can get her for you."
Elijah replied, "She's struggling with this. Not our finest moment, Niklaus."
Klaus said to him, "No."
After turning his head, Elijah said to Klaus, "Please take care of her."
Klaus replied, "I promise you."
Elijah said to him, "And Rebekah."
Klaus told him, "I will get our sister and I will make Marcel pay."
Elijah replied, "No, brother, no, no. This was not..." After leaning forward in his chair, Elijah said, "This was not Marcel. This was me. This was my fault. I did all of this."
After watching Elijah stand up from his chair, Klaus said to him, "I can't do this without you, Elijah."
Not long after Klaus said that, Elijah quickly moved over towards him and wrapped an arm around Klaus as he said, "Listen to me. You have to be strong. We need you."
After Klaus nodded and Elijah started to make his way back into the other room, Annabelle let out a sniffle and said as a single tear started to roll down the side of her face, "I'm-I'm so sorry, Kol. This is all my fault. If-If I had just listened to you all those years ago and didn't speak to Lucien, none of this would be happening. We wouldn't have to be dying from a bite Marcel had given us, and you wouldn't have been forced by those damn Ancestors to kill Davina." After letting out a groan, she said, "Maybe-Maybe if I didn't consider Lucien to be a good friend and I wasn't kind to him, I could have been there for you and ripped you off of her. I-I could have healed her. If-If I wasn't trapped here in a bloody cage for three whole days by Lucien, I could have done more. I could have done more to prevent us from going out like this. I'm sorry, little brother."
After letting out a groan of his own, Kol replied, "Don't blame yourself, Annabelle. This isn't your fault. All those years ago, despite everything you were put through as a child, you still believed in the good in others. So I don't blame you for trusting Lucien, I don't blame you for what happened to Davina or the fact that we're now dying from a bite Marcel had given each of us. After all, how could I? You're my sister and I love you. I've loved you since the moment we could walk and talk. And although you are older than me, you still needed my protection, just like you do all these years later. You are my twin sister, and there is nothing I wouldn't give up at this very moment just so that you wouldn't have to be dying right beside me. I would give up my own life, if it meant that you could live."
After letting out a groan and then a yell, she said, "That's nice to hear, Kol, but I already watched you die once. I don't think I would be able to handle watching you die just so that I could live. If that were the case, I would have seen to it that I would die anyways. Because in all honesty, I can't live another moment in this life, if it means I can't have you by my side. That year when you were dead after you were killed over in Mystic Falls, I could barely keep control of myself. You were my everything, and I couldn't do anything to keep you from being killed. Then a year after your death, I was overjoyed at the fact that you were alive again, despite your resurrection being a result of Esther putting you in the body of a witch. And then I leave New Orleans and am gone for the remainder of the year and then I come back months after your death, and I was so angry that no one told me that you had died. Because you're my everything, Kol." After letting out a sniffle, she told him, "I don't think I would be able to handle it if I lost you again. You were the only thing that truly kept me sane during the ten years our parents had tortured me. If it weren't for you, I would have done as I planned all those years ago and murdered our parents while they slept."
After letting out another groan, Kol said, "I know you would have."
Instead of responding, Annabelle let out another groan, which got Kol to squeeze his eyes shut and Freya to look between the Mikaelson twins with a deep frown on her face.
* * *
With a sigh, Elijah said, "It's not a trial. It's a suicide. Take Hayley, take Hope, get the hell out of the city."
It was then that Hayley said to him, "No. We won't leave you."
Not long after she said that, Kol yelled, "No! Davina! Please! No, please don't leave me!"
While Annabelle squeezed her eyes shut and actually started to sob at what was happening to Kol, Freya glanced over at Annabelle before she sighed to herself.
It was only going to be a matter of time before Annabelle started to yell about whatever was her deepest and darkest fear, and she wasn't exactly looking forward to seeing Annabelle being tormented in the way Kol currently was.
So with a sigh, she walked over towards Klaus and quietly told him, "There may be a way to save them."
Klaus replied, "Then I will move the world to make it so."
Freya said to him, "I need time."
With a sigh, Klaus asked her, "You think I should stand trial before that death-dealing mob?"
Freya said to him, "Well, that's the easy part. In order to save your family, you need to come out of that trial alive."
Then Kol brought his attention over towards Kol, who was still being held down by his other siblings, before looking over at Annabelle and seeing that she was still sobbing to herself and doing everything she could to try and get over to Kol and ease his suffering.
* * *
While Freya started to work on a spell and Annabelle started to cry to herself yet again, only this time she was muttering key phrases that Kai wasn't paying the least bit of attention to, Kol started to whimper once more before he yelled, "No, don't hurt her!"
As he started to make his way over towards Kol, Hayley yelled, "Freya! Freya, it's getting worse."
Then Kol yelled, "Don't hurt her! Davina!"
Hayley said to him, "Calm down. Calm down, okay? Davina's gone. She's gone. She's at peace now. It's okay."
Then Kol quickly grabbed her by the front of her neck, which resulted in Elijah quickly going over towards Kol and pinning his hand against the couch as he yelled, "Brother! Calm yourself." Then Elijah looked over at Hayley and asked her, "Are you okay?"
Hayley replied, "Yeah. I'm fine."
Not long after she said that, Annabelle started to mutter some apologies.
Elijah slowly turned his head to look over at Annabelle with furrowed eyebrows, while Annabelle's mutterings soon turned into yells.
It wasn't until Annabelle yelled out a single name that Elijah closed his eyes with a sigh, which got Hayley to ask him, "Who the hell is Atticus?"
Elijah told her, "Atticus is the man Annabelle fell in love with when we were still human. They were only teenagers when they met each other. She was thirteen, while Atticus was fifteen. Over time, they started to grow feelings for one another, despite our mother's wish that Annabelle stop hanging around Atticus so much. But Annabelle being Annabelle, she didn't listen. She continued to hang around Atticus, only because he seemed to be the only person, aside from Kol, that made her feel truly happy. And from the moment they officially started to date each other when she was fifteen, shortly before she became pregnant with her son, she chose to spend her time with him more than she did with Kol. Kol didn't care. He was happy for her. And the rest of us, excluding our parents, were also happy for her. Then seven years after they met, we were turned into vampires and due to a spell Esther had put on her, Annabelle blacked out and murdered her own husband and two children." With a sigh, he said, "Of course she didn't know that she was responsible for their deaths until ten years after she killed them. And ever since then, she's done nothing but hate herself and blame herself for what she had done, despite knowing now that she wasn't at fault for what happened to them."
Hayley asked him, "And that's her deepest and darkest secret? The hatred she feels towards herself for what she did over a thousand years ago?"
Elijah replied, "Yes. As it turns out, the murders of her husband and children, is the only time she ever regretted killing someone. Other than their deaths, she's killed thousands upon thousands with no remorse whatsoever. And as far as I can see, she's probably going to keep hating herself until she dies from this bite Marcel had been so kind to give us."
* * *
While Annabelle continued to fight against the pressure of the spell Kai was using to keep her pinned to the couch, Kai said to her, "Annabelle, you can stop now." When she only let out groans and yells as she continued to try and break free of the spell he was using on her, he said, "Or, you know, don't. I can do this all day. Only trouble is that you don't have all day. It's only going to be a matter of time before you die, my daughter's coven dies, and then she dies. And I honestly wouldn't like to see you or her die, but I don't really have a choice in the matter when any time I try to siphon away that damn bite on your neck, you start to desiccate. So if you could just quit fighting against me and stay still, that would be great!"
In turn, Annabelle yelled, "Shut up, Esther! It's because of you that I killed them! Everything I have ever done is because of you! The fear I felt growing up, the way you practically starved me as a child, the way you and Mikael had tortured me whenever you damn well pleased and the fact that the only way I saw as an escape was to attempt to kill the both of you while you slept is all your fault! I wouldn't be like this, if it weren't for you!" When Kai only sighed in response and Freya glanced over at them, Annabelle yelled, "I was six years old, and you and Mikael treated me as if I was nothing more than a speck of dirt under your damn feet! And what was the excuse that the both of you gave?! You told me that you had to do this because I reminded you too much of your sister while you were young, and Mikael said it's because I reminded him of his precious Freya, a sister we had lost long before any of us were born! It was not my fault that I reminded either of you of the two people that aren't a part of this family any more!"
After groaning to herself, Annabelle asked him, "And do you know what the worst part of it all, Mother?" When Kai didn't respond and continued to do all he could to keep her on the couch, she told him, "The worst part is that both you and Mikael made me want to die. Day in and day out for ten whole years, you made my life a living hell. And if that wasn't bad enough, you made me a vampire and put some spell on me to make me black out and murder my own husband and children because of some great danger you were talking about! Well as far as I'm concerned, the only two things in my life that are a great danger to me are you and Mikael! No one else! So do me a favor and quit this blasted spell so I can tear your eyes out of their sockets and force feed them to you!"
With a raise of his eyebrows, Kai replied, "Okay. This is totally not helping with this obvious hallucination you're dealing with right now. So... Um, Frida, Hallie? Can someone do something before, you know, she decides to get back into her, uh, make believe land where I'm apparently her mother?"
* * *
With a phone pressed up against her ear, Hayley asked, "Rebekah, is it over?"
Rebekah told her, "Nik found a way to stay alive. Our plan worked. Now it's up to you, Hayley. Make his sacrifice count."
In turn, Hayley said to her, "I will. Hang tight. I'll come for you soon."
After letting out a sigh, Freya said, "Rebekah's dagger. It has her blood."
While Kai continued to keep Annabelle inside of her chair using his magic, Hayley handed Freya the dagger before Freya let out another sigh and put the dagger on the paper with each of the Mikaelson names listed on it.
After letting out a cough, Freya started to say an incantation, while Kai continued to keep Annabelle in place and Annabelle continued to try and make her way over to Kai and kill him in her own belief of him being Esther.
While Freya continued to say her incantation, the three Originals started to move around from where they were seated and blood started to leak out of Freya's nose.
After a couple more seconds of watching Freya say the incantation, Hayley and Kai did nothing but eye the four siblings the second the four of them threw their heads back and their arms fell limply to their sides.
It was only then that Kai slowly lowered his hand and stared down at Annabelle with a frown on his face before he pulled out his phone and started to send a text to Dorothy and her coven of heretics about what was happening.
* * *
Not long after Elijah had opened his eyes, Kol said, "Not exactly what I was expecting. But I guess beggars can't be choosers."
Not long after Kol said that, Annabelle quickly threw her arms around Kol and started to grin to herself, while Kol simply smiled to himself and Freya asked him, "So you like it? It's what I always dreamed of. A home away from the city. Just family."
Elijah asked her, "So this creation, is this yours or is it Niklaus's?"
Freya told him, "We're linked to his life force by the same spell our Aunt Dahlia used to keep me alive for a thousand years. I realized it was the only way. Put us in a deep sleep. Buy Hayley, Kai and the other heretics enough time to find cures for us all."
Elijah replied, "Hence the chambre de chasse."
With a nod of her head, Freya said to him, "My little addition to the spell. In here, we can remain together until we wake."
While Elijah started to walk over towards Rebekah, Annabelle stayed close to Kol, who quietly talked to her as the two of them and Freya walked beside each other.
And while Kol kept an arm wrapped around Annabelle and quietly talked to her, Rebekah said with a tear rolling down the side of her face, "He knew. He had to be the anchor to Freya's spell." After she turned to look over at Elijah, she said to him, "He saved us."