persephone's orchard : k.m.

i'm a mikaelson.. you knew that - chapter 31 part 2

Aya had gathered her soldiers for a meeting and rose a toast to their departed leader.

'To Tristan de Martel.'

Marcel joined in, raising a glass.

'Though we grieve his loss, I will not allow that defeat to hamper our cause. We will stand united in the face of this tragedy-- of singular mind and of singular heart. To that end, I've asked our witch Ariane to conduct an assessment.' A blonde witch with a black hood approached the table.

The same one that incapacitated the Original Hybrid.

'Tell me, Ariane-- when you looked into their hearts, what did you see? Was it loyalty? Or something else?' Aya beckoned her to speak.

'Before each of you lies a card. A divination of your truest self. If your intentions are pure, you should not fear what it shows.'

Marcel grimaced. He'd only been acting of course but the idea of being caught out with multiple men to help with the execution gave him shivers. As the first card turned, the vampire smiled.

'A loyal knight.'

The man who sat across from Marcellus looked angsty, his eyes dotted around the room as Aya and her witch approached him.

Mikaelson Compound.

Astrid's home was blissfully quiet that morning. The ivy that climbed the walls had begun to show the first signs of coming back to life after a long winter. She whistled a tune as she walked up the stairs, 'Tom's Diner' by Suzanne Vega.

Her ears pricked up.

Shuffling encased her ears as she pressed herself up against the brick wall adjacent to the study. Peaking round the corner, her hair fell over her face slightly as she slipped her burgundy Kimono cardigan off her shoulders, deciding it would be an obstacle should she need to fight.

Another black hooded figure could be seen rummaging through the boxes Hayley had brought through from her apartment but Astrid had no idea of their owner.

The hybrid clicked the door open slowly, stepping inside with light feet as the witch was seemingly distracted. Creeping up to her, she quickly grabbed the unnamed figure in a chokehold only to recognise the face.

Flashback.
2000.

'Marcel please. She needs a place to stay and I don't have long.'

The Abbatoir was relatively quiet that day. One of those peaceful days that Marcel and Astrid had to themselves, until Rebecca and her daughter showed up.

'I keep telling you, I can't do anything.' Marcel was stubborn as his hybrid companion stayed distracted in the study, reading a book on Greek mythology. Rebecca's daughter pouted before running away.

'Madison!' She called but the young girl ignored her mother and quickly found herself standing in front of Marcel's counterpart.

Astrid looked up from her book in confusion as the witch backed away. 'Hey it's okay.' Mikaelson stood up as the witch whimpered, 'You're.. you're the hybrid.'

'And I'm nothing to be scared of.' Astrid put her book down and crouched down to her level, 'What's your name love?'

Flashback Over.
Present Day.

'Madison?'

Astrid let go of her as the witch took down her hood in shock. 'She told me it would just be Klaus here.' Madison looked away back to the boxes as it seemed everything processed.

'You're involved in this.'

'Of course I am. I'm a Mikaelson you knew that.' Astrid crossed her arms, 'Now what are you doing in my house?'

Over the years, Madison had grown to learn to be heartless, exhausted of what the Strix had done to her. She'd taken a deal with Aya to help her sick mother but by the time the girl had completed Aya's tasks, she was 18 years old and her mother had died.

She didn't know what to do.

Flashback.
2000.
3 months later.

'Astrid!'

The party at the Abbatoir was over and Astrid was making her way back to her apartment, the one she brought after a dodgy row with Marcellus over his ideology about the opposing factions.

The hybrid turned around to see Rebecca frantically running up to her, 'What did you say to her?'

'To who?'

'To Madison? What did you say?'

'Why?'

'Someone took her.'

Flashback Over.
Present Day.

The witch ignored the question and carried on rummaging through the hybrid's home, Astrid crossed her arms in annoyance.

'We stayed looking for you. If I had known you were involved in the Strix...'

'You would've done what? Huh? Killed Aya? Saved me?'

Astrid grew angered by the girl's attitude and vamped her up against the wall with a hand around her neck, 'You're an adult now Madison. We can discuss this civilly right?'

The witch carried on struggling in her grip.

'You've been compelled?'