◤ 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖜𝖔: ❛ her cruel fate ❜ ◢

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          AS THE SEASONS CHANGED AND INTERMIXED, THE TWO SISTERS STOOD TOGETHER AGAINST THE WORLD. Everywhere they went, they were met with strange looks and coldness from the inhibitors of the town, with a pregnant woman and another – her sister – yet no husband for the one burdened with child. Clear to all who saw, they were running from something or someone, and while they helped the two who were willing to pay and work, they did not extend to them much kindness as they would to other visitors.

Yet, the sisters did not retaliate or ask for such niceties, only taking what was given to them without a struggle. They did not need kindness from the world now since it had shown it was a cruel figure. Every night of the full moon, one would go into the woods alone and fight the changes that occurred inside her without victory, breaking again and again until her bones were morphed into ones of a hideous beast with no recognition to its human nature. She would gallop through the woods, wind against her fur, free from the cage that her human life gave her, and awoke in the morning alone in the woods. Sometimes there would be blood upon her and others she would be free from the liquid.

The two protected each other until the ninth month of Ophelia's pregnancy came and a boy was birthed from her. A precious boy, who cried when he came into the world, tears because of him coming from the two sisters. He was perfect, so utterly perfect. While the circumstances in which he was born were not, they were wicked, he was pure.

The younger sister bestowed him with the name Magnus. But it was after his birth that she would have to depart and return to their old life. Marisol could never return, she was a beast now and would never be welcomed back, but the family did not know about Ophelia's pregnancy and now they never would. She would be allowed to return and soon everyone would forget about this.

The story was concocted two days after Magnus entered the world. Ophelia would return and tell their family Marisol had kidnapped her after triggering her werewolf gene, not wanting to be alone, and finally she had been able to escape and return back to them. It would seal her fate as the beast, but it was at the cost of allowing her sister to return, so she would pay it. At least one of them could return.

Marisol would pay forever for her wickedness, for the sin she had done, but Ophelia could return to her normal life.

Two weeks later, the sisters said goodbye and Marisol watched as her younger sister took the journey back to their hometown. She was envious, sad, and lost. Envious that she could not go with, sad to see her go, and lost because now she was truly alone. While she had Magnus in her arms, Ophelia entrusting her to take care of her son, he was only a baby and could not comfort her as Ophelia had.

Six months later, Marisol and Magnus left and went to England. She knew it would be best to wait at least a year before traveling anywhere with Magnus and truly starting a new life, one where no one knew of the sisters' secrets, that way Magnus could walk, but the people where they had been became increasingly unwelcoming as time passed so she had to move.

England would not be a safe haven for the two, the looks and prejudice would still remain, but it would be far away from her room and their sins, so it would be much better.

As Magnus grew, so did his magic. Constantly throwing things around the room, igniting and blowing out flames, blooming and killing the flowers Marisol brought him. It was apparent that he would be a strong warlock when he grew older, Marisol just hoped she could do enough to teach him, seeing as her magic had been lost when she killed the man.

Years passed and Marisol was no longer the young teenager betrothed to Nathan Bridges, or a witch for that matter, but the woman pretending to be a mother out of wedlock in England, transforming into a beast once of a month. She worked tirelessly through the day, paying an elderly woman to take care of Magnus as she did to make due, taking any job she could. In her position, she could not be picky, so she took what was given to her.

She cleaned the houses of the rich, being their maid but for a lower price, which allowed her to be informed of all the gossip the city had to offer her. In these places, she heard all the tales of the young women invited to the Mikaelson Balls, thrown by two extremely rich brothers who only invite the most wealthy or beautiful of people to attend. Of course, Marisol never had the pleasure for attending herself, not that she would have anything nice enough to wear if she somehow did manage to get herself an invitation.

Still, she couldn't help but want to attend, for then maybe she could seduce a rich man and marry him, allowing for everlasting safety and wealth for her and Magnus.

And at night, she would return to the room she rented in the building a young wealthy man owned. Magnus would be there waiting for her, babbling away, sometimes forming coherent sentences which only made her heart blossom. He was her darling, her only saving grace in this town. On one of these nights, as she walked into the building, she saw a new woman who had never entered there before.

She was terribly young, around the same age Marisol had been when she had first come to England, and instantly she felt a surge of sympathy flow through her. "Just moved here?" she asked the young girl, watching as the brunette quickly turned around, frightened. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"That's alright," the woman assured her, swallowing, "I guess I'm still a little jumpy. Do you live here?"

Marisol nodded, "I have for years now. Are you a new tenant?"

The younger woman nodded, "Yes. Sorry, I'm Katerina Petrova. I just came here from Bulgaria."

"Marisol Bigora," she returned with a smile, "I'm from Italy myself. Any special reason as to why you moved?"

Katerina drew in a breath and froze, causing Marisol to move in and comfort the girl. "I did not mean to offend you, I'm simply curious. We don't have many young girls around her, I think I was the first one to move into here, and others did after me but they all left quickly. It's unusual, mostly only young men rent around here."

"Right, well, I think I'd rather not say," Katerina decided on and Marisol nodded, respecting the girl's decision, "I suppose I should get used to people asking now."

"You never have to respond," Marisol assured her, "Mine usually takes care of itself, being more apparent than most, but you can always lie. It's what I do when nobody knows the truth already."

"You do so easily? Lie, I mean," Katerina peered at her, as if she was her mentor and she had to soak up all the information Marisol proved her.

The Bigora woman shrugged, "You have to learn to do so when you're on your own. I suppose it did not come naturally at first, but now I find it my protection against others almost."

Marisol turned towards her room as she heard Magnus cry. The door opened to reveal Pearl, who had been kind enough to watch Magnus while she was gone. "He can hear your voice, dear," Pearl told her nicely, "He wants you."

"Just one second, Pearl, and I'll be there," she assured the woman, who nodded and closed the door.

Katerina tried to peer inside the room before returning her gaze to Marisol. "Who was that?"

"Oh, that was Pearl, she lives around here. Poor thing's been alone since her husband died, she babysits children for the other families in town," Marisol answered.

"Does she take care of yours?" Katerina asked her, staring at her.

Without shame, Marisol nodded, lying to the woman. This was her protection, not only hers but Magnus'. She promised Ophelia she would take care of Magnus and raise him as her own, which meant telling all she met that Magnus was of her own blood, of her own womb. She would lie and bear the shame if it meant allowing Ophelia to turn to their old lives.

She was sure by now that Ophelia was married, probably to a wealthy husband, maybe even Nathan now that she was gone and erased from the village. Maybe she had another child, maybe more. Circe was probably also married, leaving their mother alone in their childhood home, or maybe she moved in with one of them as she had planned to do with Marisol.

All these questions yet she would never receive an answer because she could never return. Marisol was silently exiled from them, she had started a new life here and she could not return to her old one, no matter how much she longed for it somedays.

"Yes, his name is Magnus," Marisol told Katerina, waiting for judgement. Everyone who knew the truth gave her judgement, looked at her as if she was different from them, locked in a bubble which she could never escape and they could never enter. Truly and utterly different and alone.

Yet, Katerina surprised her. Instead of a grimace or moving back to distance herself, she only nodded. "You raise him alone?" she asked, which was a question she had received many times. Again, it was different with no judgement in her voice.

Marisol blinked in surprise before nodding. "I've been alone since before he was born," she lied again, a flood of memories pooling in her brain of Ophelia, of the two of them alone, of her holding Magnus, of her kissing his head before she left him.

He would know the truth, only him. She would not lie to Magnus and call herself his mother to him when he was old enough to understand. He would know the truth, but he would never be able to see his mother. All he would ever have of his blood would be Marisol and her alone. They would have each other through all the years when everyone else was gone.

"That's brave of you," Katerina said after a moment, looking almost sad and longingly at the door behind Marisol.

"Thank you," Marisol told her, "I like to think of myself as that."

Katerina looked up and smiled at her, as if forgetting for a moment before that they had been engaging in a conversation. "Well, goodbye then, Marisol. Go be with your son."

The young girl turned around and went into her room, leaving Marisol alone in the hallway. She went into her own and brought Magnus into her arms, kissing his face as he giggled, paying Pearl for her service and watching the old woman leave.

Less than a month later, Katerina had been invited into her home and met Magnus, who adored her and she the same. The three of them would go around the market and Marisol gained something she thought she wouldn't see until Magnus was grown; a friend.

In the middle of the night, Katerina had pounded on her door once to announce that she had been invited to the Mikaelson Ball. A nice dress was even sent her after meeting one of the brothers, Niklaus, while she was out the day before. Jealousy had surged into her chest but she smiled for her friend, helping her prepare for the ball.

And once she returned, she regaled Marisol with all the details of the event, painting the picture so clearly that she could imagine herself there. "Oh, Marisol, it was beautiful. I wish you were to see it – you would love it," Katerina had told her.

Her dreams were vivid, recreating a ball where she danced with a wealthy man who entranced her and she the same. She would fall into his arms and he would kiss her, ask for her hand in marriage, and then she and Magnus would move into his castle. They would never have to worry about money again, they would never have to worry, and life would be this beautiful picture.

Yet, cruelly, she would always wake up to reality where she still had to work herself to the bone for Magnus. She still had to hear all the tales about the ball from Katerina without experiencing it herself, she would still go out once a month to the woods nearby and contort into a beast. It was her cruel fate.

For Marisol Bigora was a murderer, and mother out of wedlock in the eyes of the town, so no niceties were given to her, and nothing was ever picture perfect before her. She was bestowed a cruel fate, so it was only right that after all her mistakes she would be forced to live this life of nothingness and death, a killer without mercy once the full moon hit in the sky.

She just hoped that her fate would not follow Magnus.