Marcel had called me over to his place to talk to me about a new development.

"So, what's the issue?" I asked.

"Some vampires tracked Hayley to Austin, Texas, where she was attacked while visiting one of the locals," Marcel answered. 

"Well, it's not the first time someone's tried and failed to take down Hayley," I told him.

"True, but this time she wasn't the only one they were tracking," Marcel told me. "The other target, whoever she was with, she must have been important. So I did some digging. Does the name Malraux ring a bell?"

I nodded. "The Malraux pack was wiped out by Lucien over five years ago."

"So everyone thought," Marcel told me. "But the woman Hayley met with is in fact the last of the line."

I realized where he was going with this, chuckling in amusement. "If Hayley found the Malraux, she could have the venom from all seven packs. Which means there's a chance she could have the cure for your bite."

"And if she does, she could wake the Mikaelsons," Marcel told me.

"They could be on their way right now," I told him. "Which is more than likely."

"Just don't tell me you told me so again," Marcel told me. "You already said that yesterday. I just wanted to warn you in case they're already here."

I nodded, rolling my eyes, amused by the fact that we already knew they were coming for Klaus, and I had told Marcel that they would come for a while now.

****

I walked into my own loft, walking toward the table, pouring myself a drink, hearing something and recognizing the presence of Rebekah and Elijah, knowing that they were already here, sighing. "Please, help yourself to anything you'd like." I turned around to see them walk in. "I got bourbon, blood."

"Thank you for the offer, Noah, but we are not here for drink or food," Elijah told me.

"Besides, we just ate," Rebekah told me.

"Oh, that's too bad," I told them sarcastically. "If you don't want blood, I have some welcome back waffles." Rebekah chuckled in amusement. Elijah gave me an unamused look. I smirked, rolling my eyes, taking a drink. "What do you want?"

****

Rebekah and Elijah were arguing while I was drinking.

"I can distract him, Elijah," Rebekah told him. "I'm the only one Marcel won't kill on sight."

"Don't talk to me about some ludicrous diversion," Elijah told her. "You are walking into a lion's den."

"I'll be fine," Rebekah told him. "I just have to convince him that I've come alone, and all I want to do is talk."

"You are placing yourself in tremendous danger," Elijah told her. I sighed, turning away to pour another drink, rolling my eyes. "Wouldn't you agree, Noah?" 

I turned to face them, nodding. "Yeah. But we both know you're not gonna talk Rebekah out of this, Elijah, so, Rebekah, when you see Marcel, tell him that I told him this is exactly what would happen."

"Yes, I am aware that you didn't agree with Marcel's decisions as of late," Elijah told me. "Even if you are one of his most trusted friends, almost like brothers. He listens to you."

"Yeah, but there are some things that even I can't talk him out of," I told them. "I tried to talk him out of going after you guys. Didn't work. So, if you two came to me hoping that I could talk him into releasing Klaus and setting you all free, I'm sorry, but that's not gonna work."

"Well, we had planned on learning everything you know, and then using you as collateral," Rebekah told me. I nodded sarcastically, smirking, taking a drink. "But since Marcel has told you so little because of the fact that he knows that you don't approve of what has happened..." Rebekah looked at Elijah. "I would like to try my plan."

Elijah turned toward Rebekah worriedly, protectively. "Please don't do this. I want you to consider the risk."

"And I have," Rebekah told him. "I won't allow my family to face that risk." I looked between them, sighing in boredom. Elijah's phone buzzed. He took it out, looking at the text. Rebekah looked at him knowingly. "Freya found Nik?"

"Yes," Elijah answered.

"You get our brother, I will handle Marcel," Rebekah told him.

Elijah still looked worried and unconvinced of this plan, though Rebekah still refused to be talked out of it.

****

I was clearing out Rousseau's under the orders of Elijah, Freya, Hayley and Kol, and even though I didn't like taking orders, I also didn't want anyone to die. "All right, sorry, folks. We'll, uh, we'll get that gas leak fixed up, and we'll get back tomorrow with two for one hurricanes."

A man handed me a glass. "Here you go."

"Thank you," I told him. "Great. Just don't steal the glasses." Once everyone was gone, I walked inside, closing the double doors, turning around to walk toward the bar, calling out. "Everyone's out. Place is yours." 

Elijah, Freya, Kol and Hayley walked into the room.

"See?" Kol asked. "Wasn't that easier than having us try and kill everyone?"

"Yeah," I answered. "So, what now?"

"Would you be so kind as to move that freezer unit so that we might have access to the tunnels?" Elijah asked.

"Time's ticking, Noah," Hayley told me. "Come on."

I sighed, walking over to the freezer to move it.

"Are you absolutely certain we're looking in the right place?" Kol asked.

"You know that tunnel runs the length of the city," Freya told us. "Marcel must have carved out a section to serve as his personal dungeon."

"Ingenious and sadistic," Elijah told us. "Well done, Marcel."

"Save the compliments for when he comes to kill us," Kol told him. "Your flattery might give him pause."

"Okay, you're all set here," I told them. "So, uh, good luck, break a leg, and I'll just be on my way."

I started to walk away.

Elijah grabbed my arm to stop me.

"What, so you can rat us out to Marcel?" Kol asked. "Not bloody likely."

"Oh, just snap his neck," Freya told them. "We'll be done by the time he wakes up."

"And if he wakes before that?" Elijah asked.

"Then kill him," Kol told them.

I raised my hand sarcastically in annoyance. "Right here, guys."

"We're not killing him," Hayley told them.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Elijah told her. "He's of value to Marcel." He looked at me. "And despite our differences, you have helped our family quite a bit in the past."

"So I'm one of the friends that you don't turn against, huh?" I asked. "Nice to know."

Elijah rolled his eyes, turning to his brother. "Kol, would you..."

"Happy to stay and have a drink and eviscerate anyone who tries to follow you," Kol told them.

"Good, then," Freya told us. "We're wasting time. Let's go."

"Splendid," Elijah told us.

Hayley, Freya and Elijah walked through the tunnels to get below.

****

I was pouring drinks for me and Kol, handing him a drink. "Here's to nobody dying today." We both drank. I noticed that he was looking at a picture of Davina and Cami, regretting what I said. "Or was that premature? Tell me, what happens when Klaus gets out? What are you guys gonna do? Massacre this whole city?"

Kol turned away toward the bar. "We just want to get our brother and leave. I, for one, hope I never see this filthy city again."

I knew what his problem was, sighing. "I wasn't as close to Davina as you were, or as Marcel was. But she was still a friend. I looked after her. Helped stop the Harvest that wanted her dead the first time. We looked out for each other. Losing her felt like losing a sister."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Kol asked.

"Because if you can forgive yourself for what happened to Davina, and if you can forgive your family, maybe there's some tiny amount of hope left that you can salvage what your family had with Marcel," I answered. "I'm not saying that it would be easy, because he loathes all of you right now, but if you can be forgiving, maybe sometime down the road Marcel will be, too. Trying to broker peace is better than all of us dying."

Kol thought seriously about this, slightly impressed. He picked up my buzzing phone to see a text from Marcel, turning to me. "Since we're such good friends now, perhaps you could explain what 'Teutoburg' means." I realized the complications of what this meant, sighing, annoyed. "You might not want to be apart of this fight, Noah, but you are, whether you like it or not. Especially when you're like a brother to Marcel, receiving coded messages from the man who's holding my brother captive. Now, listen very carefully. If something has happened to my sister, or if something is about to happen to another member of my family, this city and everyone in it will burn. You, your friends, this bar, your home. Shall I continue, or do you want to set an example for the rest of us and actually try to settle things between the fight like you just talked about?" I gave him a look, though he knew what my answer would be. "Now, tell me what 'Teutoburg' means."

I sighed, annoyed with being dragged into the middle of this, but giving in. "It's a battle where the bad guys caught the good guys off guard. Marcel is warning me that you're all here so that I can spread word to the rest of our guys."

"So you can keep us busy and Marcel will kill us?" Kol asked.

I shook my head. "You're right, Kol. I don't want to be apart of this. I'm just trying to keep myself and the people of this city alive."

"You want out of it?" Kol asked. "Wish granted. You're lucky my family likes you, and if I killed you, Marcel would certainly want us dead all the more."

Kol snapped my neck, knocking me out, which surprised me, but not by much.

****

I woke up after dark, after everything was already done, sighing, sitting at the bar, drinking.

Marcel walked in. "So the Originals got to you, huh?"

"Yeah, today was not a fun day," I told him. "But they left me alive, so..."

"If you're trying to get peace between us, it's a little late for that," Marcel told me.

"Why?" I asked boredly. "What'd you do?"

"I ran them out of town," Marcel answered. "All of them, Klaus included. I let them go and told them to never come back because I decided to show them mercy."

"Because of your history with them, or because you don't want to be like them?" I asked. Marcel gave me a look. "Good, it's safe to say that the answer is a little bit of both. You might hate them, Marcel, but the truth is, they made you. Just like they made me. They made everyone. I'm not gonna say that I approve of your plans, and I'm sure as hell not gonna take their side, but I just want out of the middle."

"They're the ones that dragged you into the middle, and they would have killed you, except knowing that if they did, after Davina and Cami, I would've killed them all," Marcel told me. "They showed you mercy today, so I decided to show them the same."

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Yeah. I'm just trying to make sure that the rest of the people in this city stay alive. In case you've forgotten about them in your rage against the Mikaelsons. Someone has to remember them, right?"

Marcel looked annoyed but like he knew that he deserved that, and like he knew that I had a point.

I gave him an annoyed look, standing, walking away, leaving him alone.