all you readers who skim... you guys are sly!

WARNINGS: GRIEF AND THE MENTION OF DEATH AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE

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Sunday, March 26th, 1918

AN agent of chaos was still at large.

The carnage they had caused catalyzed the eldest Lumière to fall into a deep depression. He would consume any substance he could get his hands on until he couldn't remember his own name.

Drowning in his sorrows wasn't enough, especially when each drop of booze sept through his system, all he could see was her.

His Mira.

She was his escape from reality and now he needed an escape from her.

His guilt for not saving her eventually numbed, leaving him to feel nothing and everything at once.

His daily visits from his sister became unbearable and he stopped taking note of the Mikaelons, who tried to force him out of the house or whenever his friends made him eat.

He didn't want their kindness, because he felt like he didn't deserve it.

Hadeon knew what he was becoming... his father. Fortunately, he wasn't blinded by devotion or delusion, as he and his sister would say. Confined to his room and barely leaving only to acknowledge that she would not be returning home was the harsh truth.

He slept alongside the clothes that she wore, clutching the jewellery she cherished and crying whenever he saw the box that contained the ring he never got to present to her.

And now she was in a coffin, readied to rest in peace for all of eternity...without him.

It was pathetic, he thought he was a pathetic bastard and she paid the price for the sins that he committed.

His karma.

And it was truly a bitch.

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Adrienne stood in front of her brother, fixing his tie and attempting to mend his heart.

It was Mira's funeral today.

All expenses had been paid for and the people who were in attendance were more than expected, nevertheless, everyone was waiting for Hadeon to descend the stairs so they could finally start.

Clarence's brother was a priest and he was doing the service.

Mira used to be a devout Christian and only visited the church out of respect for her late mother, but when she came to New Orleans, her beliefs slowly faded, nevertheless, Hadeon knew she would want her funeral to imitate her mother's.

Despite his prior convictions about religion, he would carry out her wishes.

"Deon," Adrienne's voice sounded quite frail, because of the weak she spent crying for her fallen friend.

She was still having nightmares because of how she found her brother. Bound and bloodied. He looked so vulnerable... so weak. It scared her.

"Yes?" his voice was just as hoarse as hers and he could barely maintain eye contact with her.

Luckily he stopped drinking for the day, but he craved anything that will put his mind at ease. Unfortunately, he could not find something that powerful, though, that wouldn't stop him from looking.

Adrienne took a step back and swatted away the fluff that rested on his suit, then cupped his face.

He barely reacted to her touch, still numbed by his lover's execution.

"I'm here for you."

He hummed, trying to acknowledge her words, "I know."

"There's plenty of room at the Abattoir, all white and excessive, you know how they are," she offered.

Niklaus had insisted that he moved in upon each visit, as did the rest of his siblings, but he didn't care.

Hadeon snapped his eyes shut, "I don't wanna leave the house, you know that."

"I don't want you to be alone," she weakly argued, not wanting to overstep, but refusing to let him be.

She and her witches had taken up camp outside his room for the past couple of days, leaving food outside and knocking on his door to check if he was still alive or if he had drunk himself into a coma.

"I'm not," Hadeon paused, "She's here, with me."

Mira was everywhere he looked, she was with him with every breath he took and dream he dreamt.

He had informed her family about her death, claiming she was taken by influenza (the disease was swarming the city). Whether they believed him or not wasn't his concern, but the promise of an annual payment of 30 dollars would hopefully shut them up and prevent from them coming.

"I never told her y'know?" he murmured, tiredly pressing his forehead to his sister's and grabbing her arm.

"Never told her what?"

"That I loved her," he painfully admitted in a whisper.

He could not feel the tears streaming down his cheeks nor did Adrienne make the effort to wipe them away.

"I was scared that if I did, I'll end up like dad, hopelessly devoted and blinded by someone. I couldn't do that to myself because look what it did to him," he croaked, heart clenching with every beat.

Adrienne just listened, letting him continue.

"He left us, after everything."

His words dripped with hurt and betrayal.

They both knew that their father was still alive, otherwise they would've felt his death, but his whereabouts are unknown.

It took them months to deal with the fact that they were orphans despite him still being on earth.

"She knew Deon," Adrienne whispered, "She knew you loved her."

"But she didn't hear it from me," he groaned, pulling away from her, "Instead the last thing she ever heard me say was that I loved Melinda!"

Adrienne flinched at his words instead of his raised voice, "What?"

Hadeon sobbed into his hands, "We were messing around...not like that, never like that. We both said it, well Melinda joked and so did I, and Mira overhead us and that's why she stormed away and that's why she's dead."

Adrienne swallowed her disbelief and chose not to comment on his ill-fated words, instead choosing to step closer as he continued to wail.

"It's my fault."

She shook her head, "It's not."

"It is," he cried, running his hand over his outgrown hair.

Grief has prevented him from cutting it, as well as his beard, even though, it was well-suited.

"No the person whose at fault is the cowardice bitch who won't face us," Adrienne hissed, coiling her fingers into her fists.

Someone had betrayed her and she needed to find out who and do it carefully; scared about risking them escaping her grasp.

The Lumières would not fall nor would they against a traitorous force.

"I need to see them burn. To see them hurt as we do," Hadeon stated, trying to regain his composure.

Adrienne reached out for his hand, "And we will."

"All of those black fucking cats. Those three judases', we'll make 'em beg for our forgiveness as we ruin their worlds."

Their eyes darkened, almost as gloomy as their true sight. Vengence would come, but first, they had to mourn their lost ones.

"Your sins are my sins," she promised.

Hadeon darkly hummed, "Your sins are my sins."

They would always fight for each other.

To the end.

Sending each other one more nod, they turned to the door after hearing a few people walk up the stairs.

Klaus entered the room, with Kol and Kali by his side, the latter hid her disgust as it was not the time.

The hybrid cleared his throat, before uttering, "It's time."

─────── •✦• ───────

Klaus, Kol and Elijah held one side of the casket, whilst Hadeon, Marcel and Emerson held the other.

The roads were long and narrow, and the atmosphere grey and bleak.

The Équilbre witches stood behind, all clad in black and lace gloves, in tow with Rebekah and a few of the other Saints workers.

With each step, a flower was left in its place.

For a city that was so lively, death came very easily.

Burying a friend was never simple. Whereas, burying a lover, felt like losing a part of yourself that could never be revived.

Six feet deep. That's how Mira would remain until the earth grew and changed with time, a time she couldn't witness.

The wolfs and vampires already buried their dead and due to Mira's kindness that she always showed them, they stood silently, listening to the priest's sermon.

Melinda kept her sobs very quiet, feeling guilty about her and Hadeon's moment that Mira witnessed. She kept her gaze on the ground and ignored the glares she received from the blonde original.

Adrienne blinked hard, to process what was happening, the wound from her friend's death was still gaping and she doubt that it would heal soon.

Rebekah let her tears flow, as Elijah held her close. The noble stag rarely showed his emotions, preventing his siblings from being overwhelmed by theirs kept him busy. He too was saddened by Mira's death, but he didn't believe they were close enough confidants to display it.

Kol remained stoic, not knowing what to do with himself. The last act of kindness he received was from her and now she's gone.

The priest chose his scriptures carefully, knowing that they were used in vain to commit atrocities.

Valerie's eyes stung from the tears that threatened to spill, still, remembering the process they had to go through to sew Mira's head back to her body so she could be buried respectfully. It was vile as it was necessary.

Choked-back sobs from Hadeon caught everyone's attention.

It felt like everything was being taken from him, his chance of happiness, a part of his soul torn away.

Breaking away from his family, Hadeon screamed, "No!"

Klaus and Marcel were quick to hold him back, preventing any chance of him from reaching the coffin that was being lowered into the earthy hole.

"Mira!"

His agonising cries didn't cease.

They all stood, motionless as they watched the broken man fall to his knees and cry in the arms of his friends.

"Mark my words, whoever did this will pay. In blood and fire, they will pay!"

Klaus and Marcel kept a hold of him as she was buried.

"I need Adrienne," he whispered to Klaus, who nodded and carefully guided him over to where his sister stood surrounded by her witches.

She quickly engulfed him in a hug, tearily whispering in his ear and running her hand down his back.

He drowned out the sounds of Kali's wails and Clementine attempting to console her, but she seemed too distraught and overwhelmed.

Klaus and Valerie both rolled their eyes at the Sinclair witch and went back to grieving, not wanting to be near the scene she was making.

Hadeon slowly pulled out of his sister's hold after hearing the last of her reassuring speech, feeling a familiar presence as he turned around to see his mother.

Marie slowly approached with a dozen followers behind her. The sight of the Voodoo priestess came as a shock to many. But for once she didn't revel in the attention, because she was there for the girl she fed and spoke with every other day.

And more specifically she was there for her son.

After throwing a handful of earth over Mira's grave, Hadeon joined his mother before everyone else mirrored his actions further cementing her death.

Many Haitians tended to believe in life after death, resurrection or the fact that the dead remained part of the family, visiting them in dreams or visions, but Hadeon didn't want all of that.

He wanted her.

Marie sent a reassuring look to Adrienne, mouthing I've got him before taking him away.

Many supernaturals were there to say goodbye to the dear human, some were stunned to see the inscription, whereas the main group knew what Adrienne had done and smiled sadly as they turned away and began to leave.

Mira Lumière
Daughter, Friend, Wife
"May the angels guide you home and the music be there wherever you roam."
My sweet girl.

August 14th 1897- March 18th 1918

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a/n:

i did warn you guys that it would be a sad chapter. again, my girl mira was never supposed to be a big character, but she did leave her mark and will change a lotta things for the characters around her, one being my boy hadeon. he will be going through it.

i know a few of you wanted him to stay with the mikaelsons but he needed his mum. lets be real, he's needed his mother for a while and she will help him.

three cats. three traitors. any clues on who? i enjoy hearing theories, bear in mind, they will betray adrienne in a variety of ways, all have reasons and all are spiteful. *hint* one will be revealed next chapter as for the other two, towards the end, but i promise it will become clearer as we reach the finale.

thoughts?

this was the shortest chapter of the book so far and also a filler, next will be crazy, be prepared.

it won't be what you think.