Lights Flicker And Fade : Kol Mikaelson [3]

284: To Be The Beast

a/n: too much has happened to summarise why this chapter took this long. Happy holidays to you all, remember to comment and vote, love you all for baring with
- Bea x

Elijah couldn't help but pause in The Compound, taking in the dusty air and green patterns; vines traced up the staircase, hooked around the brittle metal balcony, the fluff of moss sneaking through the cracked floor as it tried to mimic the earth's crust. Magic had splintered out, he could still remember watching it happen, leaving a bloodied sofa in its centre.

None of them had been able to tidy in the aftermath of MJ's death, yet now...completely overgrown? It wasn't just moss – three thin trees cut through the cushions, cherry coloured bark splitting out to form flower buds, bushes at the base, encasing everything they'd left behind.

"Hrynja Brjota Okeypis."

They'd stood in that room, surrounded, the floor making it oh-so-easy to see where his family stood with each other.

Elijah blinked.

He breathed in.

In his memory, it hadn't looked so identical to a ruin, but the complete lack of anything in the air made it clear the mess was theirs. No one had decided to smash it up any further. They'd heard MJ's scream as the ancestors burnt her up, and now their house carried that agony in every stone, pouring into anyone dumb enough to visit.

The Mikaelson crest had a fissure.

Watching over all that greenery like it knew the plants would eventually eat it alive.

"Hrynja Brjota Okeypis."

As the footsteps stilled, Elijah faced the foyer, eyebrows lifting, "Marcellus..."

"Hrynja Brjota Okeypis."

"Surprised it's me?" Marcel took that to mean they hadn't seen Kol yet, "Never trust someone else to take out your trash."

Kol had told him to stay out of it.

Kol had claimed to have it handled.

So where on earth was he?

"Congratulation," He almost clapped, "You found a way to survive my bite!"

"Hrynja Brjota Okeypis."

"But, then!" Marcel's chat with Rebekah had only made him madder, "You have the audacity to come back?"

He moved fast enough to surprise the near-desiccated Elijah, tossing him straight into some old forgotten candelabras.

"What happened?"

Elijah was back on his feet, taking a step forward that Marcel mirrored, leading them to circle each other.

"Immortality just got boring?"

Elijah stopped, "I've come for my brother."

"Then I'm gonna ask you the same thing I asked Rebekah," He rubbed his hands, "Which one?"

The Mikaelson instantly tensed, "If you have Kol – "

Marcel just smiled, trying to play into their paranoia the way it had been used to kill him.

"Enact your revenge, but do not – "

Marcel didn't need to be told twice, darting to punch up, then down, smacking through Elijah's jaw before kicking him into the base of the sofa. Then, he stamped down, cracking abandoned glass in two, kicking up a perfect shard to his hand.