persephone's orchard : k.m.

persephone's orchard - chapter 72

'Enough! I'm disappointed in you, Marcellus. Using my poor, impaired sister to propagate your vitriol. It's hardly the mark of a true leader, wouldn't you say?' Nik yelled over the crowd and Marcel gestured for him to take the floor, 'Oh please, you want the last word? Take it. Then we can finish this.''Look at you. Outraged over the loss of Davina. She who routinely betrayed my family... in the end, defied even you.' Klaus jumped off the box and calmly walked toward his son, 'Perhaps...you should have warned her what befalls those who cross me. Maybe....what happened to her was your fault.' He turned to face the crowd, 'No matter. Davina's death did help defeat Lucien, so I suppose you could say the little witch did finally prove herself to be of some minute worth. And as for you lot...yes... I murdered your loved ones! I killed your harlot. I rid the world of your slum. And I freed you from your decrepit mother. So, what of it? Each and every one stands here today, because I willed it to be so. This mockery of a trial is allowed only because of me. And your very immortality is a gift...from me. A debt that you can never repay. One that far offsets all my supposed crimes. I...owe..you..nothing. So, go on! Kill me! I welcome the peace of death as a reprieve from this tedium. I will die suffering but a taste of the agony I have inflicted upon all of you. The scales remain in my favor. And in the end, you will all know that I won. You will remember me.. the both of us in fact.. Klaus and Astrid Mikaelson...your makers.'

Marcel sarcastically applauded before walking away to look Astrid in the eye, 'Is there anything you would like to say.. mother?'

'I refuse to entertain your parade, Marcellus.' Even on a smaller throne, Astrid's power was still overwhelming, 'I will speak to you and only you.' She stood up, walking down the mound as her husband and sister in law watched nervously.

'This act has done nothing but prove the type of boy I knew you to be. You were content when Niklaus had left because you had me to yourself, you had the attention you so desperately craved from a mother. You are a deprived little boy who has thrown his teddy in the corner.'

Marcel went to turn away but she pulled him back, 'Yes. I murdered you. I ripped your heart out and let you fall off that bridge.. you wanna know why? Because when dogs get this senile, they need to be put down.'

Marcel had almost froze at Astrid's bitterness as Rebekah came back round, trying to fix the situation.'Death is too good for them! You have the means to make them suffer. Let that be their fate!'

'Torture him! Torture him!' Could be heard from the crowd as Astrid's legs felt weightless. She hadn't seen the Compound this full in years. This may truly be the Fall of the Mikaelsons. Marcel looked as if he was contemplating his next words, 'Well, you see. I have far too much respect for my mother to allow her to endure this fate.. however'

He turned to Klaus.'Justice..for Klaus Mikaelson...should be a fate worse than death. This blade is imbued with dark magic. It will cause unending agony. All the pain that we have felt at the hands of this man will pale in comparison to what he will soon feel for as long as I decide to let him live.'

Astrid stepped back with wide eyes as the crowd grabbed her husband before attempting to run to him through the crowd that had formed, only to be grabbed by two of her sirelings, the scream that left her lips broke Rebekah's heart as the sister could only watch. The hybrid broke out in a pale and cold sweat as she thrashed around, pleading before more vampires held her back.

Marcel walked towards Nik as the crowd held up their sire, 'For Davina, Diego, Thierry, Gia and the boy I used to be. The one you once called your son.'

Astrid watched as she lost her husband once more, the Tunde blade pierced his chest as he cried out her name in agony. The Persephone still thrashed in the arms of her Orchard as her son approached her.

'My dear mother.' He grinned as he traced a finger down her tear stained face, 'I didn't know how to get my revenge on you. You can't be hurt by much. But then it hit me.. what else do you love more than Klaus? Or this city?'

The fires still raged all around them and it reflected off of Marcel's face, she had created the villain that stood before her.

'I hereby banish you from New Orleans. From this day forward your position as Queen has been revoked, you loose your privileges and your right to the city.' He came close to her face, 'From this day forward, you are nothing to the people of New Orleans. You are nothing to me.'