Marcy

Nightmares

Sorry about this late chapter. I'm definitely gonna try to have the next one up much sooner.

Chapter 19

Marcel dragged his feet into the dining room. He was exhausted. His nightmares plagued him all night, first with Elijah killing him and then with him killing his own family. When he woke the second time that night he was afraid to go back to sleep. If those were the dreams he was now doomed to have he was determined to never sleep again.

"Why the long face, Marcellus?" Niklaus asked as he shoveled a stack of buttermilk pancakes on the boy's plate.

Ashamed of the contents of his dreams and the fear they caused him, Marcel simply answered, "Nothing, poppa. Yesterday was just...very long."

"Perhaps you could use a few more hours of sleep," Freya suggested. "You don't need to put any additional strain on your body. You're being held together by a string as it is."

Marcel stiffened with fear at the thought of going back to sleep but before he could oppose Freya's suggestion, Hope spoke up.

"He's fine. All he needs is a little air. Coming to school with me and Sebastian should do the trick."

"Marcel isn't going to school with you, Hope," Hayley said bursting the girl's bubble. "He doesn't need to be too far away from Freya in his condition."

Hayley didn't want to tell Hope just yet because she didn't want to start the morning with an argument but last night, after Kol's emergency family meeting where he told them that one of his 'contacts' believed Travis and his wolves were going to make a move soon, the Mikaelsons decided that they would need to keep the children under their own supervision, seeing as how Hope could so easily lose Hayley's wolf bodyguards. Since Hope was grounded and would be coming straight home after school, Niklaus agreed there was no need in telling her of this new threat. As an extra precaution, Rebekah agreed to walk them to and from school every day. Hope didn't suspect a thing. She just assumed it was her Aunt wanting to spend more time with her as her family often did.

"Maybe you should take a nap, Marcellus." Elijah insisted. "You look exhausted."

"I'm fine!" Marcel snapped, to everyone's surprise, even his own. "S-sorry, it's just...I don't need to go back to sleep." Turning to his father with pleading eyes begging for Klaus to take his side, Marcel repeated, "I'm fine. Honest."

Niklaus put a calming hand on Marcel's shoulders as he took the seat beside him.

"You know your body better than we do," Niklaus said. "You don't have to go back to sleep if you don't want to. You can just spend the day with me."

Hope couldn't help but feel slightly jealous of her father showering Marcel with all the affection that, just weeks ago, he had reserved totally for her but she reminded herself that she was just being selfish and that not being the only child anymore meant she would have to share Klaus too.

-M-

In the course of three days, Marcel had gotten a total of four hours of sleep. Everyone could tell the boy was having a rough time getting to sleep but he refused to come to anyone for help, not even his father.

Kol entered the kitchen with his pants hanging low on his waist. Elijah had given the servants the morning off and was busy cooking the large family breakfast himself when he saw his brother come in. He noticed Kol's disheveled dress before he noticed the scowl on his face.

"Forgot your belt, brother?" He asked while kneading the dough for their breakfast pastries.

"More like someone stole it. Every belt from my closet is gone. Bet it was those mangy wolves."