Lights Flicker And Fade : Kol Mikaelson [3]

255: A Little Louisianan Parlour Trick

Cami's instinct was to barge right after Klaus, but she also couldn't bring herself to. She hadn't wanted to follow him. She hadn't wanted to feed into the tantrum – but she also hadn't been able to stop herself. They'd barely been in the same room since she stole the white oak, but now?

In the doorway to his art room.

She watched as he rooted through a side cupboard converted to hold canvases.

His hands moved quickly, eyes unable to still as he pulled different ones out, dropping them to the floor, face down, so she couldn't see what was on them. All except for one. One that wobbled slightly, giving her a flicker of a landscape. Houses and trees, and specs of red. Surprising her slightly.

"Here, I thought you were about to be burning your portraits of her."

Klaus stilled, staring into the cupboard.

Cami carefully stepped inside, letting the door close behind her – like that would do anything to keep ears out.

Klaus still not turning around.

"I..."

"I'm sorry."

Words spoken like an exhale.

"I should've killed her."

Cami swallowed.

"Aurora...that is."

Cami drifted slightly closer, "I assumed."

"I'm sorry I didn't listen in the Cemetery."

"I'm sorry I took the white oak."

"Kol had a point," Klaus slowly turned, "It was exactly what any of us would've done."

"I'm sorry I kept quiet about him."

Klaus just stared at her.

Taking her face in for the first time in what felt like years. The slight curls of her blonde hair weren't familiar, but appreciated, the green of her eyes so bright. Not at all branded undead or destroyed, but calm and worried. Worried for him. For her friend. For the situation, they were all in.

As active with thought as ever.

"Ryan's been begging to meet Kol's family for months," She admitted, "...Always has questions about you..."

Something in Klaus broke at that admission, shoving the final canvas aside to hit the cupboard with his back, staring at the ceiling while trying not to let anything escape his body.

He wasn't crying.

It was something else locked in his chest, craving contact.

"She thought I'd kill him?"

"You proved her right, Klaus."

His eyes snapped back to meet hers.

"They made you doubt her; you lashed out – "

Pushing off the cupboard, "It is not – "

"You thought she would hurt you," Cami spelt out, "Meaning they showed you something that could make her hate you."

She'd never been stupid.

"The Floare showed you Carol."

His eyes raged.

"Meaning MJ said something about it, and you said something worse."

"She needed to hate – "

"She needed you to love her!" Cami defended, "She didn't need you to travel back in time! She just needed you to care enough about her now."

The anger in his expression was fleeting, showing the hurt it had been trying to cover.

"For you to say that whatever high you got from that kill no longer mattered."

It was hard not to feel cruel saying it while he stood there, about to tremble.

"Denying MJ that proves her right."

"You don't know – "

"I don't need to know!" Cami put her hands out, "Sometimes, you need someone who doesn't know to wake you up."

His shoulders curved in.

"It's her dad, Klaus."

The thing she cried for in the night.

"I don't think anything else touches that."

His eyes closed.

"You don't have to like it. You just need to stop proving MJ right."

Leaning again, Cami risked taking a step closer, dropping the anger from her voice.

"No yelling, no lashing out," She paused next to him, leaning against the wood, "Just let her have today."

Especially with Ryos downstairs.

Klaus lifted his hand towards her as her shoulder pressed into the surface, fingers gracing over the back of her knuckles. Watching as she didn't pull away, just breathing out slowly. They were both just there, resting. And, for a moment, the world almost felt nice.

"This hurts more," He murmured, "I don't know why, but it does."

More than the sire line.

But he didn't want to actually admit that out loud.

At the end of the day, that was something he could sleep off and run from; her father? Her words?

"And I don't know how to fix it."

"An apology might be a good place to start."

Klaus closed his eyes again, "I've missed your voice."

THE WITCHES
A Little Louisianan Parlour Trick

"No offence to your mum," Ryan kept talking when Ryos didn't, "I never liked her obsession with chess."

As Ryos refused to move from behind the coffee table, Ryan took all of his scribbles in, reading each word and eventually clocking the board. The colour of the pieces - the design. the instruments in each pieces hand, shaping them into a band as Ryan rolled up his shirt sleeves.

"It's not right."

"It was her," Ryos reasoned, "Every interaction."

MJ finally found the strength to pull herself up, still wrapped in jackets, plopping down on the sofa.

Watching as Kol grabbed one of the plates of snacks.

He didn't walk back straight away, just inching non-conspicuously, knowing he was probably meant to be playing guard to her father but unable to stop himself.

"Needed it to know her."

"You guys were kids."

MJ liked chess.

"Your interactions with the world shouldn't be in that format," Ryan started to reset the pieces, "Life isn't a win-or-lose strategy."

The games had been her way to frame magic.

"All this," Ryan nodded back to the papers, "Means everyone gets to live?"

"It's just my thoughts," Ryos stayed vague.

"And MJ's immune?" Ryan pondered, "From what I've been told, you made a very lethal werewolf bite, but your sister just happens to be immune?"

"Siphoner genes."

"What do you mean when you say that?"

Kol tensed by the sofa.

"I may be new at this," Ryan smiled innocently, "But, to my understanding, Floare magic is blood, ancestral is the body...Siphoners lack a natural store of magic; how does that affect immunity?"

Ryos narrowed his eyes slowly.

"Are all Floare immune? Because that would make slightly more sense, but I have a feeling the siphoner part is pretty key, which feels – "

"The wolf venom latches on to the vampirism and strips the magic from you," Ryos answered, "She's already permanently stripping herself every time she casts a spell as a hybrid. She's used to it – adapted."

Ryan didn't look convinced, "How did you make it?"

Klaus and Cami appeared on the balcony, having heard questions they couldn't ignore.

"No more easy cure, just death – except for MJ!"

"There's a siphoning element to it," Ryos added, "A lot of dark objects strip magic. There's a sword, special bullets, fountains – so many random things scattered around the world."

"And you used some of that magic in a venom injection?"

"God," Ryos looked at MJ, "You've really dragged him in."

"I read your mother's journals," Ryan clarified, "Funnily enough, I wanted to see your world."

"And you decided to become part of it?" Ryos called out, "You have kids."

He'd kept tabs.

"When you die, and they end up just like us – "

"I won't."

"Around this family?" Ryos countered, "Have you seen their track record?"

"I don't care about their track record."

"How can you not care?"

Pressing his knuckles into the table.

"Your daughter is dating history's biggest serial killer in a family of tyrants whose methods raised the guy who killed our mother."

"I'm pretty sure Kol didn't kill Ana," Ryan clicked his teeth, glancing back, "And I'm also pretty sure it's irrelevant to the current situation?"

"Has she just not told you who he is?" Ryos laughed, "I have a map tracking every kill – "

"I'm aware," Ryan put his hands up, "I spent a good few hours staring at it. Decent website design."

Ryos's words caught in his throat.

"Kol is over a thousand years old. I care a lot more about what he was doing looking at an eighteen-year-old than what his Viking upbringing acclimatised him to."

"In my defence – "

"We've already talked about it," Ryan glanced at the vampire, "A few times."

Kol perched on the sofa arm beside MJ, feeling her head rest against his leg.

"And I know history. I know his timeline. I know how society used to work," His tone was trying to stay light, "And I didn't know that his universe even existed until last February."

Officially, over a year.

"Why do I get to judge someone's actions when I have not, and will not, ever live their life?"

"Because," Ryos's tone was icy, "It's a parent's job to keep their kids safe."

"Have you seen him around children?" Ryan rolled his eyes, "He's incapable of upsetting them, and he'd never let anything happen to Alice or JJ."

Kol didn't let himself look at his siblings, MJ taking the snack bowl while pulling her legs into her chest.

"And I'm sure," Ryos looked across the room, "Ana said the same about Marcel."

"Thought you didn't wanna talk about your mother?" Ryan called out, "I'm ready when you are, but you keep running – "

"You wouldn't understand."

"You're refusing to answer the questions that would make me."

"Because you're not asking important ones."

"I think," Ryan gleamed, "You've forgotten that you get your mind from me."

"Whether I still play an instrument is so highly irrelevant – "

"Were you happy?"

Ryos's hands pressed into the table again.

"You picked your job because you wanted to be hands-on and save people. You broke that Traveller's Curse so families could be free. You went to active warzones to help – but were you happy?"

MJ had spent her whole life wondering that, letting her dad's jacket slide to the left of her legs as she started to feel too warm. She only needed the feel of Tyler's hugs and Kol's hand drifting into her hair to begin grounding herself.

She was in The Compound.

Elijah, Freya, and Finn were on one side of the room. Marcel was still tucked away by the doorway to the kitchen, trying to keep as much space between her father and himself as possible while Josh watched her from across the room. Cami and Klaus stood above, watching from the balcony.

"Because it doesn't seem like you were."

"I did my best."

"Then I'm proud of you."

Ryos looked ready to throw up.

"I am!" Ryan reasoned, "If you tried your best?"

Cami leant on the railing, Klaus keeping his form tight. Not wanting to get too close to anything, especially as the words kept coming from Ryan's mouth.

"If you lived a happy life doing something you love, then I am so proud of you."

So many things didn't feel fair to Klaus Mikaelson.

"But seeing you become your mother?" His shoulders slumped, "She never wanted that for you."

Mentioning Ana had his jaw clenching.

"You say I'm asking pointless questions, but they're not pointless to me," His hands on his chest, "They're proof of life."

And he wasn't about to stop.

"It's proof you remembered me."

The thing he couldn't let go of.

"All this rage, Ryos – gods, you and your mum used to argue every week," Ryan shook his head, "And now she's gone, and it's like every problem you had with her has to be taken out on everyone else!"

No allies, just people to use or people to remove.

"And back then, I used to sit with you, and we'd talk about it."

Cami watched Klaus, able to note how Elijah seemed uncomfortable. How he needed to look at Klaus or Kol. He needed to play his part as a big brother rather than listen to something that made his heart hurt, unable to tune it out.

"But you're not letting me."

Begging for his child.

"You wanna rewrite history and pretend there was ever a time I was not on your side."

"Pretended to be – "

He was exhausted, "Why would I have pretended?"

"You loved her."

"And?" Ryan almost laughed, "Yes. I loved your mother. But are you forgetting my actual life?"

Ryos had always known more about their parent's family than MJ.

"You think I wasn't trying to make sure you never felt the way I did?"

Every inch of him was shaking.

"My mother and I fled a country so my brother could be born – she gave up her entire world for us. Only to spend most of my life lying about my father because she'd rather pretend we'd see him again than deal with the fact he died pretty soon after we left."

MJ jolted up; that was not the story she'd been told.

"Literally driving my brother to leave and never come back."

There was a thin line between protective and controlling parenting.

"She's the woman who cussed me out for losing my accent – who refused to meet her grandchildren because they 'weren't what she pictured' – both times."

Updated information for Ryos.

"You wanna talk about a complicated relationship with your mother?" He stressed, "That feeling knowing you wouldn't exist without them, so you must owe them everything?"

Finn felt eyes on him, even though no one was looking anywhere but the circle.

"Even when it's killing you."

Pain in every phrase.

"Ryos, I would do anything to be able to just sit, and hold you, and tell you that it is okay to forget her," He pleaded, "The way she made you feel is not your fault."

To get him there at a far younger age.

"You don't need to spend the rest of your life trying to prove you're worthy of love."

Klaus's fingers wrapped around the internal balcony, eyes trailing to how Kol and MJ sat. How his brother let her hide her face further against his leg so she didn't have to think about the phrase. So she didn't have to address how many people that phrase made her want to look at.

The reminder he was on that list of people.

That scar they shared that he'd cut even deeper into her to avoid feeling it himself.

"You don't need to blame yourself because you lost one spell book."

Vincent's mouth almost opened.

"Or for joining a coven, or for hesitating when you were a literal teenager!"

MJ felt her shoulders slowly untensing.

"You're not evil, Ryos; Ana's issues raising you were entirely her."

"I think you're overestimating how much I let her haunt me."

"You want your anger to fester. You want it to kill you," Ryan dismissed, "And that. Kills. Me."

"I'm already dead."

"You're in Bardo," He corrected, "Not yet remade as something new. Because all that anger is still just sitting there."

"If I wanted your life lessons, I wouldn't have had you compelled away."

"You were a kid!"

Silence as he finally snapped.

"You fucked up," Ryan ranted, "You made a terrible, idiotic call – and it ruined your life. And your sister's. But fun fact?"

"You would've died – "

"There is nothing you could do to make me blame you for it."

Ryos had thought he'd finally have to defend himself.

"If I died, I died," He put his arms out, "But I might not have, and I would've been with you."

The young man curled his lips in, fingers twitching.

"Ana tried her best near the end, but she didn't know how to fix the cuts she'd already given," Ryan exhaled, "And I should've left her. I should've put you first."

Taking all the blame.

"But we were young, and we messed up."

"Mum did – "

"I was there," Ryan shut down, "We were both responsible for you, so if you hate her – "

Ryos's voice was low, "I could never hate you."

"I made just as many mistakes," He stressed, "It's part of being a parent."

Ana's slips a lot higher stakes, but at its core?

"You fight, you make mistakes, and sometimes your kids hate you," Ryan smiled fondly, "But you keep trying. And you do it together."

Ryos tried to stare him down.

"We were young, and Ana had a million other demons to deal with, but we loved you," He spoke with conviction, "And, we would've done anything and everything - so yes, I would've preferred to have been there. Even if it meant I died – you would've had me for just that little bit longer."

Coming to the table once more, forcing Ryos to focus on him.

"And then you might actually listen to a thing I say."

"I grew up," Ryos said slowly, "You let your parents go eventually."

"You don't have to," Ryan shook his head, "You're never too old to need people who love -"

"Ana didn't love anything."

"She loved you," Ryan repeated, "We can talk about her mistakes, but don't you dare imply that she didn't."

MJ and Ryos both shifted, eyes wide.

Ryan Jung didn't do angry.

Ryos straightened up, "She lied to you about everything."

"And?"

"And!?" Ryos looked gobsmacked, "You don't need to defend her."

"I do."

"You couldn't control her – "

"It's not about control!" He mocked, "I screwed up by putting her above you. I know that. But it's a hard line to walk – the minute you have kids, you are a team."

So, if Ryos was blaming one, Ryan would take the blame, too.

And he would acknowledge the bad.

But he would die on the hill of the good just as much.

"Nothing can be allowed between that team; no pride, no argument, nothing but that kid."

A highly complicated topic in the Mikaelson Household.

"You don't fight in front of them," He listed, "You have each other's backs."

Rather than plots and plans and curses.

"You force yourselves to have difficult conversations, but you don't let yourself be disrespectful."

"Your teammate sabotaged you by not letting you really know her."

"I knew her better than anyone," Ryan defended, "Ana Ruiz – 'a loaded gun' – the strongest witch of the age!"

His tone was sarcastic and dramatic.

"That's not who she was."

"That's exactly who she was," Ryos lorded, "She was violent, remorseless, self-centred, and she passed all of her damage on to us, then died so she didn't have to deal with it."

"You are not that stupid, Ryos!"

A second silence.

"You want to know about your mum?" Ryan nodded rapidly, "Because, honestly, allowing yourself to view her as a person might be the only way to let her go."

To stop her ghost from shaping him so thoroughly.

"She was passionate. And brave. And she never thought anything through!"

So much love and hate in one phrase.

A laugh in a memory.

A tear just as close.

"Every choice she made, she made with her heart. She cared about everyone and everything, and you can tell me that I didn't know her, but that's so inaccurate."

"I gave him the journals," MJ whispered.

"I'm not talking about any of that," Ryan stopped her, "I was nineteen when you were born, Ryos. She was twenty. That's nearly half her life, so yeah, maybe I didn't know about all the childhood witch murders, but guess what? That's not who your mother was."

The true hill he'd die on.

"That was a fraction of her."

"The most important fraction. "

"Your damage does not define you!"

The phrase seemed to echo, latching into every wall, book, and painting like it might be unleashed back at The Mikaelson's at any second. For a moment, it was just a father and his son, no onlookers. Because Ryan didn't care about onlookers.

He just cared about his kids.

He cared about them, knowing they were loved – that they could be more than what came before them. That a memory could be a million different things.

That a legacy was not one story.

The sentence that allowed Kol Mikaelson to fall in love.

The questions MJ asked that opened a crack in his heart.

Not the power from her mother's family but the mentality she'd inherited from her father. The light that drew moths to flames, sometimes setting them a light, but other times, showing them what it was to be alive.

"You do. Your actions."

Ana Ruiz had picked Ryan after one day of knowing him.

"That chip on your shoulder controls you," Ryan lifted his head, "But I taught you better than that."

The point of all of Ryan's questions...

He understood Ryos's rage; he really, really did. But he also didn't want to stand there slagging Ana off like she hadn't loved her children. Like he hadn't had the chance to make different choices.

Like he hadn't spent so long trying to help Ryos growing up.

"You take the rage, and you put it anywhere else."

Even when Ryan was loud, there was a warmth to his voice.

"Anywhere but other people."

The antithesis of Mikael's lessons.

"You play music, you write - our apartment was a work of art because you two knew we would never stop you from feeling everything you needed to."

MJ's wall of painting.

"You've closed yourself off."

His fingers trailed over the writing like he could read without looking down. The shape of his son's handwriting against his skin. How it changed. How he thought so easily displayed as he created something that changed the universe.

"This unforgiveness has kept everyone but you in control of your life."

Asking over and over about what support he'd had, why he'd chosen things, and if he still played music. If he'd made those choices. If he'd remembered. If he'd tried to. Or if his identity had been lost entirely.

"You deserve better than becoming your mother."

A true parent would only ever want their kid to be better.

"She deserves better than that."

MJ looked down a little.

"The supernatural chaos is just another label. Pressure that neither of you needs or should even worry about," Ryan grabbed his son's hands, "You were so talented, Ryos."

And Ryan knew he'd spent so much of his childhood telling his son that.

"You were amazing at music, and you worked so hard at school, and you loved your sister."

MJ didn't want to hear about that.

"You can't judge your mum for doing exactly what you did," He pushed his hair back roughly, "You took yourself away from me. You erased me and by doing that?"

Ryan was staring at him, tearing up, Ryos's eyes just as watery.

"If I'd been there, you would've been loved."

Mikael had learnt the truth, and his children had spent the rest of time running from his rage.

"You wouldn't have had to do it alone."

Their vow to stick together, a desperate attempt to glimpse what Ryan would have automatically given his kids.

"And that's the problem, Ryos," He begged, "I see you. All of you – even the bits you don't want me to."

The love he'd seen in Ana. Her attempts to be better.

Even when she hadn't seen it, Ryan had been there to beg her to fight harder.

And Ryos was now older than she'd been when she'd finally stuck to that fight.

"And all that love? It doesn't go away just because you make a mistake."

No matter how much easier that would make things.

"I see everything that was so good about you. And you think you don't have that anymore because you were alone."

Not taking any other explanation for it.

"Because I wasn't there to tell you, you could change your mind."

For every day MJ blamed herself for Ryos's death, it was clear Ryan blamed himself more.

"That you didn't need to go that far."

No one said a word.

Just Ryos slowly pulled his hands away from his father, watching as his eyes dropped back to the coffee table, once again taking in all the words he'd slowly written since being summoned to the world of the living.

"I remember the first time I saw you play on stage."

Wistful.

"We got to sit and clap, and you were so proud of yourself, and I just thought, yeah...he's gonna be okay," Ryan's smile was longing, "He's gonna grow up and join some international orchestra, or he'll start learning production...you were both...just so creative, and I loved it."

He'd always been a jack of all trades type of person, capable of doing everything, but never a master, watching the only people who mattered to him become those masters.

"And I remember how upset you'd get, but then you'd sit at the keyboard while Ana cooled off, and you'd play, and I'd get home, and I'd hear each note, and I'd know exactly what happened, and you'd reach the end, and breathe out, and have energy again."

MJ knew precisely what days he was thinking about.

"Ana screwed you up, and I let her, and I am so sorry, Ryos."

"I'm a grown-up," His voice was a whisper, "I screwed up all on my own."

"...Ryos..."

"God," Ryos tried to play off his expression, "Were you always this emotional?"

"Yes," He didn't even try to mask it at the attempted dig, "And even if I wasn't, my son is in front of me, refusing to let me help him. Funnily enough, that upsets me."

It felt like they were watching part of Ryan die.

"One day, Ryos, when you actually want to talk about this," Ryan looked at the bracelet again, "You might not be able to."

The young man swallowed slowly.

"But my front door will be ready and waiting."

Dying, but a glimmer of hope.

"With three tiny bonus people inside," He wiped his eyes, "But still. It'll be there, and I will still be this emotional, telling you I love you at every opportunity."

"Three?" Ryos noted, "You're having another kid?"

Ryan smiled to MJ, "She's pregnant."

Kol was instantly between the two siblings as Ryos honed in on her like a laser.

"You're what?"

"Sorry," Ryan spun back and forth, "I assumed he would've sensed it?"

He marched out of the circle, "You're what?!"

"What are you – "

Ryos shoved Kol out the way, pulling a metal stick out of thin air and shoving it in MJ's mouth, forcing her to whack him back, on her feet too, arm stretched to keep distance between them.

"Pregnant?" He shook her stick lightly, staring at it, "Are you serious?"

"What's it to you?"

"Were you pregnant before or after Lucien bit you?"

"Before – "

They were teleported into the centre of the circle, the sofa dragged with them as her body landed softly on it, the coffee table reorganising next to them, herbs flying out of her container and mixing themselves.

"What are you – "

"Sh," Ryos started to tap water across her face.

"Get your hands," Kol was back in the middle, "Off her."

"Multiple choice time!" Ryos called, "When a mother gets sick, what do you do? A) Take her to a hospital? B) just hope it goes away? C) Assume her immune system reflects the baby's?"

Kol bit his lip.

"She got bit by a mystical thing that can kill your bloodline, and this baby is yours?"

MJ's heart started to panic, not even considering that the venom might still be in her, just in her unborn child.

"I.E. Prime candidate!"

Ryos shoved MJ's shirt up, rubbing a paste over it, forcing the top of her shorts down slightly.

"At least tell her what you're doing," Ryan's eyes were wide, "You – "

"Witch version of all your basic checks," Ryos dismissed, "We'll know the size, heartbeat - "

"It's been a week and a half," MJ tried to protest, "It's a clump of cells."

"And we're enchanted," Ryos reminded her, "I can tell you it's gender, middle name, and life expectancy if you really want me to, but I figured the 'vulnerable to wolf venom' part's a bit more important."

More things started to move, mixing in beakers, and Kol tried to tally the ingredient list to understand what he was making. A hand waving like he was trying to stop it, unable to. His mouth just opening and closing, looking at MJ, biting his lip, and then starting the cycle again.

She could've sent him flying through a wall, so she clearly hadn't sensed anything off about the paste.

But her senses were also fried.

"You're not surprised," Elijah noted, "Your vampire sister is pregnant with another vampire's baby – "

"A deity told our mother they had an investment in our family line," Ryos revealed, "I'm gay and dead, meaning the option for biological offspring is pretty well limited to her."

MJ's mind raced.

"Plus," He shrugged, "I've read the Balkan mythology."

Ryos mixed two beakers together while the paste hardened on her stomach.

"And even if they weren't tied to Floare – "

"A deity told our mum, what?"

Facing her with the drink, glancing at their father, "You're reading mum's journals?'

He nodded.

Back to MJ, "Have you read 'em?"

"Most of them."

"Then you know about what Papa Legba told her."

MJ pushed up on the sofa as Kol and Klaus tensed.

"Or not?"

No response.

"The day I almost died?" Ryos looked at his dad, "I don't remember it, but you took me to the hospital – "

"I didn't feel like fully reliving the day I almost walked out," Ryan admitted, "I know she went to some spirit place and found out she was pregnant."

"Yeah...Okay," Ryos clicked his teeth, "So there's a part of my story I left out."

"Unsurprising," Freya sighed.

"When I left you in New York," He put a hand on a hip, slowly pouring his mix into his paste bowl, "I was struggling. So, I looked into people who might help. Ended up learning voodoo."

"The Voodoo Queens said mum made a deal with Legba," MJ glanced at Kol, "But it was you?"

"I think they misheard," Ryos suggested, "Their spirits are hard to contact. Sometimes you hear multiple conversations and can't even hear the full things."

"But it was you," MJ stood up, "Our family line owes him something because you – "

"We don't owe Legba anything!" Ryos turned defensive, "I summoned him because he's the protector of children."

His slumped posture showed he felt embarrassed to admit he'd needed that protection.

"Mum screwed up, and he saved me when I was a baby," He sputtered, "She was trying to banish spiritual voices and accidentally threw me into a river of them."

MJ looked at Kol, "Wait, wait – "

"Yes, that is why we see spirits."

"Pause!" MJ waved her arms, "No. The revelation of the hour was that you were summoning them, so I saw them. And I was summoning them, so you saw them. Through our freaky Floare family magic line."

"No Floare just summons the dead," Ryos reminded her, "We have a weird amount of power because Ana held onto the keys for so long."

All lies were based on truth, and that part of Ryos's cover story had always been genuine.

"It latched onto the dead, not animals or healing because when I was little, I fell into the bridge between life and death."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me!"

"I didn't know!" He'd only learnt it after travelling, "And if my first thought upon learning it was to try summoning the guy who fished me out – obviously you'd do that too!"

Her mouth gaped, "I thought I was a curse!"

"You helped spirits find peace!" Ryos grabbed his hair, "How on earth were you ever the curse?"

A round of looks was exchanged as they all noted the weird tunnel vision of helping Ryos had entered despite his claims of determination to make her hate him.

"That was the siphoner hate talking – and spirit's being bitchy – never you."

"I'm still quite interested in this whole deal?" Kol spoke nervously, "Considering it's motivated you to actually do your profession?"

Ryos exhaled, looking down and flicking his wrist to mix the paste remains with the liquid.

"To help me out of a sticky situation," Ryos kept vague, "I said he could use my body for a few tasks on the mortal plane."

Vincent's eyes widened, "That's..."

Filling in the blank of how he'd made it to his mid-twenties.

"Ry – "

"Not the point," Ryos had only explained it for context, "He did that out of his need to protect. He let Ana bring me back to life for a similar reason; he didn't give her a deal but a warning."

MJ swore the air felt colder.

"Once she stepped into the river of spirits, she must live with the consequences of it."

"Two children who can see the dead," MJ realised.

"Two children uniquely susceptible to spirits."

But she did it to keep them both alive.

"And a permanent tie to the realm of the Lwa."

"Hence why you could summon him," MJ realised, "While the Voodoo Queens struggle."

"But MJ has that too?" Kol murmured, "Or less so because she wasn't born?"

"Possibly more."

With the clap of a hand, his table and sofa were pushed to different sides of the room, creating a large open space for him to work.

"I don't know everything," Ryos admitted, "But I do know he told Ana that he had an investment in our family line."

Stillness.

"Considering it was made clear, the investment wasn't either of us, that leaves your baby the possible winner."

Kol started to panic, "MJ – "

"Summon him," She demanded, "Right now!"

A spiritual diety wanted something off her?

"Whatever you wish," Ryos dramatically bowed, "As long as you both give me some blood and spit samples."

"No chance."

"Do you want to know what you're giving birth to?" He justified, "Be grateful I'm not asking for your boyfriend's sperm."

Klaus wanted to laugh at the bluntness.

But he also wasn't sure if that would make MJ madder or reminisce.

'Cos god, was he reminiscing.

"MJ," Kol shook his head, "It's just a baby."

How far they'd come.

How was Kol Mikaelson the calm one about this?

Oh, right, he loved her, while MJ was riddled with anxiety and facing down her psychopath brother who'd tried to cut her face up and left her homeless – no regrets about it. Now, asking for a DNA swab?

HAHAHAHahahahahahhahaha.

No.

"You don't have to let him near you."

MJ was only pregnant because the ancestors had messed with Kol –

They were still messing with Kol.

The skin of his chest was like paper to touch, thick veins around it, her magic only doing enough to stop it from spreading. And now she was pregnant. And there'd been chanting possessed witches screaming about a baby that needed to die.

"M – "

"If we're really gonna follow through with this..."

He bit his cheek.

"I know it's a baby," She didn't blink, "But like...witch, vampire? What?"

And even if MJ could run tests, her brother was a doctor.

Seemingly the best in the game, considering how everything supernatural came back to him.

MJ didn't even need that justification; it was Ryos. She knew he was the best in the game - the only reason Esther couldn't possess her.

"You need to eat before both the spit and blood," Ryos added, "And may I remind you that your Floare window has a time limit?"

And that wasn't even factoring in the 'Lucien roaming the city' timer.

"I'm calling Tia," MJ decided, "If you're bringing one of their Lwa here, she gets to see it."

The Mikaelsons all looked like they wanted to protest, but the odd calmness in MJ's body stopped them. It was eerie. Oddly scary – to them, anyway. Most of them hadn't even seen MJ properly talk about the baby, and now she was looking at her older brother and putting faith in his science experiments to get the answers she craved. The stability of knowing. And if someone got in the way of that?

~***~

MJ sat on the kitchen counter of The Compound, holding the bowl of snacks to her chest while Hayley checked on pizza in the oven, Josh pouring them drinks. Her dad had opted to stay with her brother, which MJ was trying not to overthink. Kol was lingering in the doorway to the kitchen, one eye on what they were doing in case his family were stupid enough to try anything.

MJ was incredibly lucky that Sam was on a hybrid body hunt because she knew he'd flip out when he found out Ryan was there.

"First comment," Hayley watched her fidgeting, "How old is your dad?"

MJ laughed.

"He's ridiculously hot."

"Right," Josh added, "Been waiting for someone to say it."

"Guys!"

"I thought Cami would cave," He shook his head, "But no!"

"I know he had you guys young," Hayley smiled, "But damn."

"He's forty-four," She leaned back, "And happily married."

"Just looking," Hayley teased, "I also have a bit more sympathy for Caroline now."

Kol pulled a face, "What does that mean?"

"If a guy," Hayley leant against the oven, "Who looked like that - "

Gesturing to the door.

" - Rocked up and told me he was trying to save his sister's life?" She reasoned, "I'd be a little inclined to believe him too."

MJ almost dropped the drink Josh was handing her, "Okay, okay, no."

Hayley's turn to laugh.

"You can joke about my dad, but do not imply Ryos is – "

"He's gay," Josh pointed at her, "You never mentioned that."

"Hm?"

"He said he was gay and dead – "

"I swear, Joshua," MJ looked to the ceiling, "If you say you're into him – "

"No!" He defended, "You told me a lot about him. Like, the normal stuff about him."

They'd lowkey been living together that first year, too.

"You never mentioned that."

"He came out when I was, like," MJ thought back, "Ten?"

Part of why she'd been able to list so many queer shows when Gina had her sexuality crisis.

"And gay marriage isn't even legal in this state."

"I'm pretty aware."

"So we just didn't really talk about it," She admitted, "It was all very...him? Just announcing it and moving on. And, like, my mum wasn't Spanish Catholic like your family."

"But isn't, like," He was poking for a reason, "A huge part of being a Floare trying to keep your population up? Biologically. That's a recipe for shit."

MJ shrugged in agreement, "My mum didn't teach or practise Floare beliefs later in life, and my dad's my dad."

"Do you think he and Vincent..." Josh's voice trailed off as MJ almost laughed, "...'Cos the way they look at each other... a bit...you know..."

"Real question is him and Markos," Kol played along, "They did have a house together."

She officially lost it, letting the laugh fall.

"Considering your interest in dating the deceased – "

"Yeah, yeah, probably a family trait," She amused them, "Let's just hope his interests never swung to Lucien."

"MJ," Josh's eye met Kol, "You know...it's not bad to think about his positive traits..."

Kol shifted, watching MJ's eyebrow raise.

"That reaction to you being pregnant?"

Probably the most open Ryos had ever been.

"...He's, uh...clearly good at his job..."

So quick to summon precisely what he needed to run tests on her.

"...Or cares about his job..."

"Josh, if you think he's hot – "

"I think he's smart," Josh rushed, "And I think you guys are similar, and I think you shouldn't have to feel guilty about him, and – "

A long exhale, eyes jumping anywhere but Kol's face.

Though Kol had zoned out slightly. Thinking about Josh's words, Ryos's recent actions, his points, and his admission. And MJ. Watching them both, his girlfriend incredibly confused about where Josh's ramble was coming from, Hayley just as lost.

"I think," Josh tried again, "That coming away from this conversation...the only thing that matters is that none of it was on you guys."

Implying both of them.

"I mean, we're about to summon some spirit who made a deal with him and your mum?" He tried to backtrack, "There's clearly a higher power – "

"Josh," MJ pushed off the counter, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," He blubbered, "I just don't think you deserve to hate him."

MJ blinked slowly.

"You feel guilty because you loved him, and you don't know why you loved him, but – "

"He left her on the street," Hayley's eyes narrowed, "I was joking about getting the sympathy earlier – "

"Hayley," Josh stared at her, "I think it's allowed to be both. And I think you're allowed to talk about him without us telling you he's evil."

What everyone had been doing post-prison world.

"And I think you're allowed to not blame yourself and still miss him. You just..." He winced, "You don't have to hate him to feel okay about what happened."

Kol felt sick.

Not in the way his body had been experiencing recently, but something deeper.

It went against everything inside him to hide something from her.

And it was clear Josh had been a moment away from telling MJ about the hex, and part of Kol wanted to save the poor vampire from his spiel by just saying it too, but –

In a way, it was Vincent's call to make.

And, for a moment, as much as Kol wanted to tell her, Ryos was running checks on their unborn baby. MJ needed to be relaxed. She needed to be thinking about that. The timing wasn't right to start the 'maybe your brother wasn't insane' discussion.

MJ blinked slowly, "I promise I'm okay."

Josh bit his lip.

"I was upset, but it's not upset in 'that' way – "

"I know, MJ," Josh's tone softened, "I've seen you when it's 'that' way. I just..."

Deep down, MJ could feel that something wasn't right, but she was also exhausted. She was a blank wall with a million emotions yet to be painted on, but she didn't have the energy to paint and find her peace. How could she ever make peace with some of the things Ryos had done?

"I just..."

With how he treated her like dirt, then seemed to explode with life at the prospect of her baby.

"Think about it?"

At least MJ was finally about to get some answers about her family's relationship with the Voodoo Lwa. Papa Legba using her brother as a host? Was that what Josh was trying to imply. If Ryos had been a human host, how many times had he not written back or called – or he had called and been sharp and cruel, had it not been her brother at all?

~***~

"Is your favourite colour still yellow?"

Ryos crouched to watch wax melt down from a tall candle he'd poured into a golden metal bowl.

"They made a Percy Jackson movie in 2010...you probably hated it."

"I did."

"But you saw it?"

Ryos glanced at him, "You really want me to have had a life."

"Did you watch Scott Pilgrim?" Vincent asked instead.

Perched on a sofa arm, hands resting over his knees, face somehow looking older. Like being back and out in the city, exposed to the ancestors, was ageing him. A flash of his youth so in his eyes, but all he wanted to do was be as far from that version of himself as possible.

"Ooh," Ryan pointed to him, "You would've loved Scott Pilgrim."

This time, Ryos didn't bother answering, just turning. Staring at his father like the statement was some deactivation code. Or acceptance that Ryan wasn't about to stop. Seeing how long it would take him to give up when faced with blankness.

But he didn't.

He didn't speak; he looked unblinking back at his son.

Vincent shook his head, "Ry – "

"I am sorry," Marcel broke first.

Ryan's expression shifted.

"I am – "

Ryan's disinterested eyes touched him briefly, "I don't accept your apology."

Elijah had moved to pour himself a drink while Freya had scanned all the things Ryos had pushed to the edge of the spell.

"And if you meant it, you'd stop trying to make me."

Finn's eyes were on the kitchen door, Kol's back now to them as laughter came from the other room. A conversation he could no longer hear as a human. No longer the only human there, but listening to Ryan Jung, he felt like a different species. In a way, he was. A witch. But the man was the thing he'd watched while dead, questioning whether humanity and life were that much better than vampirism and death, finally thinking he had an answer.

"Then again, one day, maybe every single terrible thing that happened to my children following your choices won't hurt," Ryan was looking at Elijah's drink, "Maybe, one day, I'll understand you genuinely are doing everything in your power to keep MJ safe now."

Eyes back to Ryos.

"I do know you do things for her."

But he was looking at Ryos.

"But do you really think this is what Ana would've wanted for her children?" He questioned, "That you've done enough to make her sacrifice worth it?"

Because she hadn't turned to Ryan for help.

She'd run to Marcel.

She'd put her heart in his hand, trusting him to ensure it would all be okay.

"Because both have technically died while you've just been here."

For MJ, multiple times.

"You ask for forgiveness, but those are just words," He lulled, "Do you always prioritise words over actions, or is that just with my children?"

While Ryan had let MJ avoid questions about the Mikaelson's and the darker corners of her life, he had quizzed her on Marcel to the end of the world. He had not let himself skip a chapter of Ana's memories that involved him. Trying to understand why she'd cared so much about her double life. Why she hadn't just left him, or let him leave her, if it offered so much.

But that was the asterisk, and they both knew it.

Something about Ryan mattered more than the rush of the supernatural.

Marcel's lips parted like he wanted to respond. Defend himself. Apologise again. But he couldn't. Not with Ryos standing right there, once a fifteen-year-old reading him to filth and begging for his father to get to live.

Now, a dead man.

Someone who'd been a few seconds away from successfully wiping out all magic.

Klaus pushed up from where he and Cami sat on the steps, her eyes on Kol's back too, waking up as he moved like she wanted to grab his arm, only for him to stop by Ryan.

"Hello."

His voice had Kol spinning around, MJ barging right after him, holding a slice of pizza in panic.

"It's nice to finally meet you," He cleared his throat, "I'm Kol's older brother."

"Klaus," Ryan offered a hand, "Nice to meet you...though I have been here nearly an hour now."

MJ nibbled her pizza slice, and Josh and Hayley watched from the doorway.

"You're all a lot quieter than I anticipated," He noted, "Then again, I guess that makes sense for the situation."

"You're all confused about how I'm accepting the magical mystical baby," Ryos mused, "Not quizzing his ease around it?"

"It's a baby," Ryan grinned, "I love babies."

Gesturing to MJ.

"My baby's baby – double the amount of adoration instantly."

MJ took a proper bite, her lips twitching as she looked at her dad.

"Slightly awkward that my youngest will only be a year and a bit older than her first," He winced, "But it just means we still have all the supplies needed for a newborn."

"Oh my god," Tia was in the foyer, Kaleb tightly holding her hand behind her, staring at the centre, "Is that a ghost circle?"

She was wearing an oversized maroon hoodie and loose black jeans, large pockets on the back, hair pulled back, tight ringlets spinning out from the satin material to grace her neck. Her boyfriend's hair was shorter than the last time MJ had seen him, but still curly, the light eyes nervous, but less sleep-deprived. Holding his head higher, shoulders pressed back, reminding her just how tall Kol had still been while in that body.

"A useless one," Ryos confirmed, "Given I have a have way to be on this plane."

MJ needed to get the stones back.

"But yes."

"Oh my god," Tia rushed in closer, "That's so cool."

The Mikaelsons were all staring at Kaleb, lingering by the foyer.

"Sorry," She cleared her throat, "I know you said to come alone, but when you're invited to the house of people who body-jumped your boyfriend..."

"I had another dream," Kaleb added, "No dead Harvest girls in this one."

"That's an improvement," MJ walked towards them, "I think? Was I dead in it?"

"Not dead, but something."

"Finally willing to let me in your head to see?"

"...Maybe," He surprised her, "Here."

Pulling out of his bag, another collection of drawings.

"If they helped last time."

MJ accepted them slowly, offering him an even kinder smile.

"And if this now involves T – "

"It won't," MJ promised him, "Not really. More?"

Everyone slowly faced Ryos as he stood in the centre of the now cleared-out circle.

"...Meet my brother."

"The Witch Doctor," Tia crossed her arms, "And to think."

She was taking in his face, tilting her head at the black markings wrapped around his shoulders, watching how he tapped the cover of the nearest book on the table.

"We really thought you might've been one of us."

"Sorry to disappoint," He smiled, "Though I wouldn't speak so certainly."

"He made a deal with Legba," MJ prompted, "Not my mum."

"I didn't make a deal about you!" Ryos glared, "I saved myself."

"As usual."

"You made a deal with a Lwa?" Tia repeated.

"He was a friend," Ryos defended, "He did much more for me than anyone else."

"So also funded your bank account?" Hayley sniped.

"In a way," Ryos looked at her, "I wouldn't have been so sort after if people hadn't seen me doing acts only a deity could perform."

"Back-up," Tia's mouth was open, "You're not joking?"

"Nope," MJ didn't know, but she still answered.

"I was a child in need of assistance," Ryos put his hands in his trousers pockets, "He protects them."

Tia's eyes almost seemed in awe.

"Over time, he gained a soft spot for me."

"And you're summoning him," She pressed onto her toes, "He answers?"

Ryos raised an eyebrow, "You guys really need to work on re-anchoring your spirits."

"We're trying – "

"Not just you," His voice went up, "The city as a whole. The Lwa being so inaccessible is probably part of all the other problems, like...the ancestral realm, The Other Side, the Lwa, they all need each other."

"You survived the collapse," Kol pointed out, "But you're not at peace – have you seen what's been going on?"

"Spirits at peace floating into places they shouldn't be?" He bobbed his head, "I've been stuck managing them."

MJ narrowed her eyes.

"Do you have any idea how far the spirits trying to escape are getting themselves?"

"And you're letting them."

Ryos's crooked grin was back, "Let's go with that."

Elijah put his glass down, a sign that he was starting to grow impatient again, even with Freya attempting to continue the work Ryos had dismissed to the side the minute MJ's pregnancy had been brought up.

"Regardless," Ryos put his hands to his chest, "The only reason I can do so?"

Lifting his left arm forward, he twisted his wrist, feeling the wind wrap around his fingers and spark into a new form. A long wooden staff, shaped into a flat circle at the end, painted and carved designs decorated the slab as he slammed it into the circle's centre, chipping the stone to lodge it there.

Instead of cracks – familiar outbreaks they'd seen MJ create, colour popped into their world.

A fully designed magic circle beneath their feet, running to the edge MJ had created but erasing the design she'd drawn.

He did not vanish with it, the stones on his wrist gleaming.

"Because Legba picked me."

"How the hell did you do that?" MJ was staring, "This – this is a – "

"We are not repeating our mother's mistake," Ryos slowly pulled the staff out of the ground, "You are not going to his realm; we are calling him to ours."

"This is a full circle!"

"Yeah?"

"How did – you – what?"

Ryos stared at her, "You didn't know you could just snap 'em out?"

"You don't need to draw them?"

"I mean," Ryos looked at the staff, "There are benefits to drawing them?"

Her eyes wide.

"A stronger connection between the caster and the spell, giving them slightly more control?"

Which might've explained her weird moments of being able to fight back in the Floare gate when her magic shouldn't have worked.

"But it takes forever when it comes to the big spells."

"I know!" MJ snapped, "My wrists wanna kill me!"

She enjoyed it. She found peace in making her designs as bright and flowing as possible, but that didn't change the fact they sometimes took hours. So many spells she'd rewritten to not need a circle, making them less powerful and more temperamental because she knew she'd never have the time otherwise.

"You can just – " She motioned to him, "Tap?"

Ryos's baffled expression made her wanna kill him.

How would she have known?

Kol's book on the Essí didn't cover shortcuts –

He was the only way she would've learnt!

"You just need some enchanted stick that stores them all?"

"I mean," Ryos winced, "You can just use your body."

MJ's mouth opened again.

"Pick a point, channel the power, and stomp or snap – and the world turns into the circle you need based on what power you're channelling."

There was a buzz around her fingers.

"When casting in a group, The Floare summoning dances activate it. Their steps create the hit points to build the circle – "

"Die." She glared, "Actually, jump off a cliff."

"The stick means it drains you less," He passed it between his hands, "Has amplification magic inside – also means the spell isn't dependant on your life force. Unless someone burns the stick up, this spell ain't going anywhere."

If only she'd known that when she'd been using Kai to try and rescue Bonnie.

"You basically bend reality when you do it physically as well. Instead of drawn art, you grow grass and create etching in the stone," He added, "The minute you finish, it all just vanishes like it isn't a sculpture that would take years of eroding to destroy."

She could've just tied it to some fucking twig because she was a Floare and had the Traveller Stone working for her, so her link to nature would've gotten rid of all their stupid pain.

"Very fun. Very magic."

"You're going to write lovely instructions," Ryan clapped, "On how Mira can make her own one."

"I don't have to share shit."

Ryan gave him one look, and Ryos's arms went up extra high with his staff in his hand.

"Being the eldest child sucks!"

"The child your mother taught stuff to," Ryan countered, "This isn't sharing a toy. This is being fair."

Ryos sighed, rolling his eyes and turning to everyone else.

With his free right hand, he wiggled a finger, raising the metal bowl into the air and letting it fly around the room.

"Take some on your forehead," He instructed, "A dab of wax to protect your being."

"We're good," Tia lifted her wrist, "Got my own."

A fully wax bead bracelet on herself and Kaleb, matching the birthday gift she'd given MJ. If Ryos was messing with them, they would be okay; everyone else was forced to make a choice. Trust the insane man, especially now most knew his hex had been cleared in death or suffer the consequences.

Hesitantly, Kol was the first to cave, dabbing two spots of warm wax on his temples.

"If you don't," Ryos taunted, "The spirits can sneak in."

"We don't need any more possessed family members," Hayley sighed, doing it to Josh a moment later.

"If you're feeling extra helpful," He nodded to the woman, then Klaus, "You'd both make me some samples, too."

Empty vials appeared before them.

"Cross-reference with the ones MJ and Kol will be making me."

"This is insane," Tia picked up a book from the table, "This is, like, deep-cut stuff."

"Joys of being able to go to Haiti," Ryos's energy lifted as he turned from the Mikaelson's, "Real teachers. No ancestral stuff mixed in – not even the Spanish or Irish influences."

"Neph still spells it Vodou," She picked up one, "Says her mother would shun her if she didn't."

"Voodoo and Vodou only get cooler when you look into their differences," He waved a hand, opening the book for her, "Has MJ not shown you these?"

"They didn't look like this."

"Right," He laughed, "Yeah, I used a cloaking spell to scramble the language and keep 'em preserved."

MJ inhaled slowly.

"Only real way to keep prying eyes out."

"Does that work on spirits?" MJ poked, "Truth magic doesn't but a jumble spell?"

"Yep," He held her look, "The truth magic can work."

The candles were still burning.

"Just gotta be the right kind."

"Which isn't this."

"It could be," He jested, "Sometimes, when you tell so many lies, you forget the truth."

MJ hated that he'd regained the upper hand.

"You know those spells work on maps," He nodded to the ones he'd pulled off while she'd been away, "Would highly recommend using them."

MJ hadn't noticed that he'd grabbed them.

She went to walk to them but paused.

What was he trying to tell her? And why wasn't he just saying it? And why did he suddenly seem so desperate to help? What made being pregnant important?

Oh, right, he didn't care about her, though he did seem to care about Papa Legba, and Papa Legba seemed to want something from her unborn child!

Of course he was suddenly playing caring older brother!

"Your friends?" Ryos prompted, "The ones getting hybrid bodies for me?"

Kol and Josh had told MJ that while waiting for pizza.

"They've been gone a while."

MJ hated that her heart jumped, pulling out her phone to send a mix of 'Are you okay' messages and 'If you're on your way back, please do not just barge in. We're summoning a Lwa.'

"And you," Ryos pointed to Kaleb, "You mentioned dreams."

Kaleb glanced between Tia and MJ.

"You're not here to talk to him," MJ shut down, "He's from my coven."

"That you're the elder of, yes!" Ryos repeated, "Why is he important enough to send dreams to?"

"That's, uh," Kaleb looked awkward, "Kind of what we've been trying to figure out."

Ryos made an unhappy sound, "Noooooooo."

Looking up like he could taste something in the air.

"You were possessed," He pointed, "Byyyyyyyy – "

Spinning until he hit Kol.

"You," Ryos straightened up, "Interesting."

Josh cleared his throat pointedly at MJ.

"We've got murdered humans, tested on hybrids, possessed witches, and a post-possessed one getting dreams of Harvest deaths..." He glanced at the magic circle beneath his feet, "And maps needing cloaking..."

Tossing his staff to his other hand.

"We'll get to it – we'll get to it," He decided, "Papa Legba."

Before their eyes, Ryos twisted his staff, making a clicking sound as the circle head popped off, revealing a sharp silver blade beneath it. Using the tip of the dagger, tilting his head forward as he stuck out his tongue and sliced down the top of it.

Spitting the blood into the centre of the ring before making a new mark.

Over the back of his arms, cutting a shape. A story. A circle by his wrist and one by his elbow, a line connecting them both, and a slice through the centre of the circle at either end to make two crosses. Then arcs. Curved elongated 's's and woven hils all through that one line. Not bleeding. The blood he'd got from his mouth was the only thing spilt, as the new marks instantly scarred.

MJ trying not to question how a ghost could bleed.

She'd stabbed some in the Ancestral Plane, was it truly that hard to just accept?

"Stand inside the circle," He instructed.

"No chance," Kol stepped in front of MJ.

"He'll want to check it's true."

The pair looked at each other.

After a split second, they stepped into the ring together, ignoring how Klaus opened his mouth to argue. No sound came out. Just a panicked look at Cami, who curled her lips in and forced a nod.

Tia followed an instant later, Vincent jumping right behind, and before anyone else could panic-follow –

Ryos used the other end of his staff to hit the ground.

"Manje Legba sou dife, l ap boukannen."

And again, voice projected and singing, something about his arms seeming to relax, skin tone warmer. Like he'd finally found a moment to sit in the sun, the slight curl of his hair gentle against his forehead, the tiniest hint of red amount the black-brown.

"Sèvis la pral konmanse o."

The outer ring flicked up with fire, crackling in time with the beat he'd created, whispering a word; Bilolo.

"Manje Legba sou dife, l ap boukannen."

The flames were small, only ankle height, yet seemed to hold smiles, and eyes, and lips, and dreams. Battling to create a small breeze that could caught against the looser parts of his orange wrap trousers. The lines of his tattoo just as black as before, not darkening, or glowing, but sitting there, part of the story. Because every song told a story.

"Sèvis la pral konmanse o."

The stick moved on its own, keeping time, as Ryos pulled the dagger out the top, carving a second version of the symbol into his other forearm.

'Bilolo.'

Coloured lines of the circle seemed to melt into the floor as the air smelt of sea salt and burning. A candle was the only light in a tall building on the cliff face as ocean waves crashed around them. Not yet storming. Not even promising to. Attacking the world just enough to leave its citizens questioning. Scared. Captivated in wonder.

"Devan baryè a se la m trase vèvè m."

Ryan couldn't help but look emotional as Ryos sang so softly.

So swiftly moving, to let the blade be dropped aside, turning with the rhythm he'd created, watching as the lines bent into each other, colours switching. Different in each watcher's eyes – though one thing was clear.

The choir underscoring him was not the chanting of the ancestors but the screaming of the lost.

"Ane a pou m fè sèvis lwa yo."

Flapping wings countered the beat, two ravens appearing from nothing, only to be caught in Ryos's hands and held forward. Squeezing their throats silent. Eyes black and empty, their sole purpose? Death. Staying in that loop of movement, heads pulled off, bones tipped out like a toy, bodies still somehow moving.

"Nan pwent baryè a se la m trase vèvè m."

Scattering white bones crushed under Ryos's feet as he strategically stepped with certain words.

"Ane a pou m fè sèvis lwa yo."

'Ayayay.'

"Papa Legba, kouvè a pare."

Tia's phone was in her pocket, sitting out just enough to record, so still, not a second would be missed, partly out of fear of what moving might do to her. What those teeth in the flames might try to eat or the fingernails might try to touch. Yet in love. So close to touching something the ancestors had spent so many years trying to stomp out.

That they practically had erased.

That had left them empty, while Ryos had been able to flourish a million miles away.

"Atibon Legba, kouvè a pare."

Everything went still.

"Èzili Dantò, kouvè a par."

Despite the sun rising, their sky was now a dark red. Clouds created black and grey smears overhead that Klaus's hand could not help but drift towards. Like he might grow tall enough to touch the ceiling given to his house and find an escape. An answer. Wake up months prior before any of their mistakes could be made.

Ryos dropped the birds, now still.

Now dead.

Birthed from nothingness, by his own power, and snuffed out just as quick.

"You do know," A man was before him, "If you wish to see me."

He is wearing a straw hat and a black walking stick with a metallic top, pushing up in his right hand. His eyes seemed to flicker between pure black and clear. Reflecting back at whoever he was looking at. An oversized brown coat over his shoulders, long enough to reach the floor, picking up hints of colour from each line he passed over when he moved. Not wiping it away, but becoming part of it.

"You merely need to ask."

Ryos smiled at him, "It's slightly more complicated when I'm not the only one trying to talk."

Legba followed his eyeline.

Seeing MJ and Kol behind him.

Scanning her face, he walked slowly, like he could see gaps in the floor that they couldn't. Eyes so gentle, yet features so sharp.

"Hi," MJ tried, "I'm – "

"I know who you are."

"Who doesn't," Ryos mused.

MJ glanced around. They hadn't been transported anywhere; that was the point of the circle. They hadn't risked going to his realm. The Mikaelsons, her father, and her friends could see everything, but only Tia and Vincent were in the loop with her. Tia, Vincent, and Kol – gripping her hand, taking a half-step forward when Legba came to rest before them.

"It is nice to meet you," Legba smiled, "Mira Jung."

She swallowed, "Wish I could say the same."

He laughed, the fires growing slightly, flicking from just red and orange to include green and blue.

"It was you," Tia spoke, "I sensed someone watching her, and it was you."

"Indeed."

"I thought," MJ looked at her brother.

"I was always there," He agreed, "But I was never so sloppy as to be sensed by a stranger."

"It wasn't just me," Legba defended, "Samedi is almost far more intrigued by your existence than I."

Tia stilled, going through stories in her head.

"You're a talented woman," He noted Tia, "Waking us up."

When MJ had read stories about gods and monsters growing up, she'd always struggled to picture them as strangers. She'd try to fit the book rules into the rules of her own universe, who was a witch, what they practised, and how the gods played into them. In film and television, Legba always seemed scary. Making deals and stealing babies, but the way he spoke?

So gentle and calm?

Yet tied to her baby?

"It was nice to be back in the city."

"You came back plenty," Ryos joked, "I know half your jobs were here."

Legba winked at him.

"Okay," MJ put her hands up, releasing Kol's hand, "You possessed him. Now you're buddies."

"I saved his life," Legba corrected, "And was then forced to watch as he destroyed it."

"None of that was on you."

"I should've offered better guidance."

Ryos shook his head, "And I would have ignored you the way I ignore every figure of authority."

"I should have held myself better in your form."

"What exactly does a host do?" Vincent found his voice, "Because my family has stories."

"It varied," Ryos crossed his arms.

"Sometimes I needed to retrieve souls who thought they could escape mortality," Legba gestured to the eyes in the fire, "Sometimes I work to balance the scales. Sometimes, I rescue those in need...Sometimes, I complete revenge for innocents lost too soon."

Kol froze, "Oh."

MJ looked at him.

"This isn't about your family," He panicked, "I – "

"I assure you," Legba smiled, "This is about both of you."

"Innocent souls, the universe needing balance," Kol repeated, "All my – "

"It is never that simple," Ryos stopped him, almost sympathetic to the admission, "Trust me."

"And you let him use you to do this," MJ called out, "Just to feel more powerful?"

Legba lifted his chin, almost amused, giving Ryos a very clear look, as the fire returned to just orange and red.

"Or something else?"

"He needed me to survive a hex."

MJ straightened up, "A hex?"

"How do you think I found out The Travellers thought I was the siphoner?" Ryos spoke as Vincent's mouth opened, "They hexed me."

Suddenly, each edge of the stones beneath their feet started to shift.

"Papa helped me cure it."

Kol was ready to punch him, only to look down and feel water.

Not much - none spilling beyond the circle's edge, but still enough to squelch the bottom of their shoes. Not yet touching skin. Papa Legba looked at it cautiously, then at them. Waiting for their reaction. MJ not even batting an eye.

Because it didn't burn them. It didn't grow higher. It just sat there, like an outline in a pop art painting.

"I summoned him because I knew he'd helped Mum."

"Now," Legba gently took her hand, "The last time I saw you, you were nothing but a spec of energy inside your mother."

MJ pulled her hand back, "Lovely."

"And now you have the energy," He seemed in awe, "I thought your mother doomed you when she chose to step in the river...but look at you."

Her eyes couldn't look away from his.

"Beautiful."

"And incredibly well spoken for," Kol glared.

Legba just laughed again, "Indeed."

"An ancestor said someone was cloaking Ryos spirit," MJ tried to feel in control, "So they couldn't piece it back together – that was you?"

"Yes."

"Why?" She demanded, "So he could help you spy on me?"

"So he could know peace."

"This isn't peace," MJ looked at her brother, "This is lingering."

"This is being the gatekeeper," Ryos shrugged, "I spend my days talking to Floare worldwide. Why would I want to be anywhere else?"

Vincent played with his jacket, "Happy, but deceased."

"Exactly," Ryos spoke around them, "I am exactly where I am meant to be."

MJ wasn't sure how to feel about that.

All that guilt drove her mad.

Only to find out that not only was he not worth her love – that he'd never cared for her the way she cared for him, but that she didn't need to feel bad? He was happy? Killing him had sent him to a new form of peace?

"Legba is our family friend."

"Investment," Kol spoke sharply, "The word used is investment."

Legba just smiled.

"MJ is pregnant with our child; you call it an investment!"

"Because it is," Legba grabbed her hand again, not letting MJ pull away, "It is something this universe needs."

MJ's eyes raged, "What are you talking about?"

"Think about it, MiMi," Ryos pointed to his analysis table, "How much has been destroyed in the past three years?"

She stilled, letting Legba's fingers run up her arm like he was testing something.

"You broke the hybrid curse, and the fabric of nature has been collapsing ever since – "

"I get it!" She pulled back, hand forward to shove Legba to the other side of the circle, "I'm a witch criminal. What about it!?"

"Clio," Kol hesitated, "She said this was the balance."

"It's more than that," Ryos reasoned, "When The Other Side collapsed, there was no trail, there was just execution."

He knew what his spell would do.

"Portals in the sky ripping you into the unknown."

As they breathed out, mist started to form, the water sinking back below the stones as the temperature started to drop.

"For two thousand years, there had been a holding cell for all supernatural. The only people who avoided it were those guided directly to peace, those so evil they were thrown to hell, Floare, or ancestral planes."

MJ let her eyes jump between Legba and Kol.

"Every concept of the afterlife exists if someone is alive to believe in it. But no amount of belief could overrule a spirit's place on The Other Side. Now it's gone?"

"What's that got to do with the hybrid curse?"

"You created new life," He spelt it out, "Sure, Heretics have clearly existed at other moments in time, but wolf-vampire hybrids started with you and Niklaus Mikaelson."

A man on the edge of the ring, looking ready to jump in.

"A crack in nature."

Finally, MJ heard his tone. Looking past Ryos's features and his usual way of talking to her, to the light he was trying to make.

"Then, you. The same witch blows up the afterlife. Did you not think it would come with consequences?"

In MJ's mind, she'd had the consequences.

Her body had been in physical agony, her mind on the edge of a cliff.

But that was all about her. That wasn't about the world. Her justification for creating hybrids and viewing vampires as natural had always been that if nature allowed it to happen, it was okay. It would also have a balance. But what was the balance?

"Life is held together like a homemade blanket," Papa spoke, "Everyone sees it differently, and everyone makes their own stitches. But part of that string gets pulled out?"

"It all unravels," Vincent murmured, "The Other Side collapsed."

"And this ancestral plane was created on a spell based on it," Ryos reminded them, "Most ancestral planes were."

"And if one plane is shaking," Legba continued, "The people in it try to escape."

"Poking a million holes in a million other places."

"Meaning Lwa like yourself," MJ realised, "Can be brought into the collapse."

"We are all weakening. We are all at risk."

"And you knew it was coming," Tia called out, "If you knew it all came back to her before she was even born – "

"When a family carries this much power?" Legba reasoned, "There is no way to know how one person's life will flow."

"But you knew mine," MJ's voice was low, "You always knew."

"I made a bet," Legba corrected, "When a soul was as tied to this family – "

Esther felt that as long as MJ was alive, she would fall into them.

" – As yours was?"

A family that now had two accidentally supernatural conceptions.

"With your bloodline's history?"

"You aren't just the woman who blew up The Other Side," Ryos kept calm, "You are a descendant of the person who made it."

Qetsiyah.

"The person who locked it to an immortal anchor, stabilising its creation into what already existed."

"What have you already figured out?" Kol threatened.

"Nothing for certain," Ryos defended, "You two haven't given me samples yet."

"But you've done guesswork," MJ sighed, "The same way I do."

"I think you'd figure out what your baby is if you let yourself think about it."

The sentence alone called MJ out in a way she'd never quite felt before.

She'd always been smart.

She'd always connected the dots and been two books ahead of everyone else, and the one time she wasn't? The one time it was about her? It was because she'd been as wilfully ignorant as everyone she'd ever criticised.

Who was she becoming?

"Do you want me to spell it out?"

"Yep," MJ hated how grating her voice was, "There's a massive gap in nature because I destroyed The Other Side, so spirit realms are collapsing in on themselves, and they need something to fill the void."

"There is also the death of two immortals," Ryos inched closer to her, "Silas and Amara were cured and killed."

"Also by me."

"Indirectly, but yes."

Silas had been pretty direct.

"Leaving another massive gap," He reminded her, "Pure immortality may have been the first big sin of witchcraft, but two thousand years later?"

"It's just part of it."

"And now it's gone."

MJ's brain started to tick.

"You're biologically connected to the woman who first broke the universe, you created two two-thousand-year holes in nature, and you're still a practising Floare, meaning, even as a vampire, you hold on to magic, as a living loophole."

"And," MJ realised, "I chose to date the son of the woman who created the next load of immortals."

"Soon to complete the circle," Kol's turn to still, "Lucien's prophet – "

"Prophets are stupid; don't listen to them," Ryos waved, "Though this time she may have had a point?"

He looked like he hated saying it.

"Your genetics, MJ, and your actions, basically mean that any kid you have is going to become the universe's fix to the sinkhole it's been trying to block since you and I last saw each other."

So much had been going wrong, and it felt like it all came back to that day.

The day Hope was born.

The day the Other Side died.

"Esther's Immortality," Ryos spoke slowly, "Meets Qetsiyah's bloodline. Trying to find a way to seal up the holes created after The Other Side and two immortals died."

"Por Dios," MJ could barely speak, "Am I going to give birth to the new anchor?"

For months, she'd known the spirits were acting out.

Hell, she'd pointed out to people how the New Orleans ancestors seemed to be panicking because of a fragile tie to the world.

But how did that translate to her baby?

"Hope can heal, she has a wolf gene, and she can do magic – our baby's just got two doses of vampirism, i.e. immortality? Two different types at that!"

Ric's tied to Elena's life, now snipped, and Esther's.

And a link to Qetisyah.

The person meant to drink the first potion with Silas. The universe righting the wrongs. Bringing it back to that original witch and what was stolen from her.

"Which doesn't even touch the mountain of witch legacy. Silas still had telekinesis!"

"I mean," Ryos joked, "Not to be tongue in cheek about it."

Kol was ready to punch him.

"Some say a witch's role is to serve nature," He gleamed, "But I always preferred the version where it was our job to create."

"And thus," Legba answered, "We have a way to survive."

After so much destruction, there must be life.

But Clio hadn't mentioned the immortality aspect. She hadn't mentioned the ghosts collapsing – she'd just implied that it made sense that it happened, not that it might actually be a child's fate to hold the realms of the dead together!

MJ backed away, letting Kol plant himself in front of her.

"The Ancestral Plane is breaking apart," Legba revealed, "And they are burning us down with them. Your baby is the way out."

"No!"

"You think we'll just let you entomb 'it' somewhere to avoid fading?" Kol scoffed, "You'd have to kill us."

"No," Legba looked offended, "Never."

The parents shared a look.

"They will grow up. Into their fate."

MJ paused, "But that doesn't solve your problem now."

"No," Legba agreed, "Once they are born, we can be bound to them, but they would not need to be one with us until later."

"Or never," MJ suggested, "No, no – and did I mention, no!"

"Someone has to be," Ryos looked to the side, "Unless you want every spirit to go to the Hellmouth in the sky, they need to be grounded."

"I'm not making another Other Side."

"You do not need to," Legba agreed, "You simply need to let it be born, and it will all already be bound to her. It is a natural immortal."

"Kol," MJ spun to him.

He went to speak, but then her hand covered his mouth.

They needed to be away from anyone who might try and stop whatever they decided.

Kol kissed her forehead instead, looking at Legba over her shoulder, "It's not because of the ancestors, then."

MJ's panic slowed at the hope in his question.

"The New Orleans's ones?"

"Partly," Legba reluctantly admitted, "Who knows exactly what they were thinking when they attacked you, but it would certainly give them a new place to rest."

"They want a new plane," Vincent realised, "Everything you were saying about Lucien."

MJ had clearly missed a conversation as he focused on her brother.

"Whether he's their new anchor, weapon, or a way to kill The Mikaelsons and banish the power we know they're scared of already in their realm."

"Lucien's the weapon, the baby's their way out in case they need to burn the world down."

Silence.

MJ could hear a buzz in her ears.

A power the ancestors were scared of, using The Mikaelsons as sacrifices for a spell to end it...sounded believable enough. And made so much sense with her questions surrounding Finn's resurrection. She'd been so close to the point so many times, but with everything happening?

"No," Ryos crossed his arms, "They don't get to just jump ship like that."

"Not to mention that we know how this story ends," MJ couldn't stop thinking about their baby, "Amara was a safe anchor because she was stone."

Hidden away and unable to be found for two thousand years.

"Even if you're saying you wouldn't do that," She looked at Legba, "The spirits of this city would."

"A baby can't guard the afterlife," Tia agreed, "That's ridiculous."

"Perhaps," Legba agreed, "And yet it is their destiny in almost every reading of the cards."

"But no future is set," MJ would die before it was, "There's only zero point zero zero zero one per cent of timelines where that doesn't happen? Fine. That's this one."

"We can keep it safe," Legba didn't argue with her.

Like he knew something she didn't.

Because, in the stories, if something was written about, he knew it.

"We would not let it see harm or hate."

"I grew up with ghosts," MJ gritted her teeth, "My baby will not."

"You grew up alone," Legba countered, "With my watchful eyes, they never would be."

"And what about Samedi?" Tia challenged, "Tricksters who use. You're not always gonna be the one who shows up."

"I think you'll find his love for Brigitte will give him pause."

"Pause doesn't mean safe," Kol hissed.

"You are not prepared for this conversation," Legba looked disappointed, "I am trying to help you, Mira."

It didn't feel like it.

"You have been forced to bear the weight of it all for so long."

She just didn't understand what he was talking about.

"You don't have to anymore."

Why did he have to sound so kind?

Why did Ryos look almost betrayed over his shoulder?

Why was a strange spirit offering her a hand while the living in the room slowly turned on her?

"Work with me."

"Not if doing so means our child will owe you anything."

Tia had thought she'd heard a deal. She'd listened to the spirits, heard about investment and her family, and warned them, but the deal hadn't been made yet. The deal was up to MJ. For once, she was in control of where her family legacy went next, and even if Papa Legba seemed surprisingly kind...she couldn't say yes.

No more death kissed Floare-Ruiz's.

Legba slowly stepped back, "Where did the bodies go?"

MJ blinked.

"The humans are in?"

"Lafayette Square."

"And the hybrids?"

"...All over."

"The humans were murdered all over too," Legba turned, looking at Ryos, "Left in the same spot."

Moving on before they could ask what he'd noticed.

"You need to finish what you started if you want her to be safe."

"I'm aware."

"Showing your heart is not a bad thing, Ryos."

Finally, he settled on Tia before either sibling could react.

"When she figures it out, know you may summon me for assistance."

And before they could ask any questions, the fire vanished, and he was gone.

"Brilliant," Ryos groaned, "He's upset."

"He wants my baby!"

"He wants to not be ripped into oblivion," Ryos rephrased, "I don't like it either, but..."

"But what?" Kol marched at him, "What has your hell brain conjured up to justify that!"

Shoving him in the chest.

"If the dead are falling to pieces," Ryos pushed right back, "How long before that affects the living?"

MJ tensed.

"I don't like it, but unless you have another unkillable thing knocking about that's got enough magic to fill the void of two, two thousand-year-olds – "

"Three," MJ realised, "Qetsiyah – To kill Silas, she let me siphon her to death."

"You did this," Kol reminded Ryos, "You lit the fuse that she exploded."

"Hence why I'm freaking out a little!"

"By god," Klaus mocked, "There's finally something he doesn't know the answer to."

"Why can't it just be me?"

As MJ spoke, everyone turned to her, silent.

"I siphoned her, I helped kill Silas, I watched Amara die. I blew up The Other Side, and I'm immortal. The only things that can kill me are the head or the heart; why can't I just be the new anchor?"

"Bonnie was in pain," Kol reminded her, "She felt every death."

"I don't care!" She didn't blink, "If it's me or the baby – "

"It wouldn't be like that," Ryos was quiet, "It's not for The Other Side. We're not remaking it. It's just to ground what's already out there. Already functioning without that side of it."

"So what's the consequence?"

"You don't know which side you'll end up on," Vincent spoke, "Right?"

Ryos met his eyes, then nodded.

"MJ," He reminded her, "Our plan."

When she'd called Davina and him there after saving Finn.

"You said you wanted to burn their realm down."

"And now I have even more reason to."

"But to do that, you'd have to go into the realm and grab the book."

The one Lillian had momentarily given her.

"That's what holds it together," Vincent explained to the non-witches, "If we're just destroying it, then sure. Pull it out, and they get torn to nothing."

'The Hellmouth in the sky.'

"Replace it?"

"It's on their side," Ryos agreed, "You'd be filling the void of The Other Side. You know, a thing that wasn't in this realm?"

Not replacing the anchor but the place itself.

"That's only something we need to think about if making it someone else is even an option," Ryos added, "The way Legba's talking? It's a birth rite."

'the baby will save us'

"It'll only work with this baby."

Her baby.

Her – her –

A naturally created immortal, fated to the spirits to balance out everything she'd done to alter the universe through her life – being punished because of her actions –

Because –

Because –

MJ spun at Ryos, launching every light in the room straight at his face.

He was telling her that there was nothing she could do to change its fate when the only reason the realms of the dead were in peril was because he fucked up the universe.

Kol was right.

He lit the match.

There wouldn't have been an Other Side to collapse if he hadn't already smashed the window!

Her fucking brother, who she'd spent her life doing everything for – letting him call her crazy, and talk her into thinking she was bipolar, and unlovable, and a wreck, while he was the sun that kept the world going. The man who'd let the Voodoo Lwa now trying to take her baby into his body and into their lives! The man who had Vincent trembling, Kol uneasy, and had made her watch as he killed Tyler –

"Ventus."

Ryos slammed into the staircase.

She was actually going to erase him.