◤ 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖋𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓: ❛ split loyalties ❜ ◢

✧

          THERE WAS STILL A PIT IN HER STOMACH EVEN AFTER AN HOUR HER CONVERSATION WITH HAYLEY HAD ENDED. It was deep within in her, the guilt and the worry that something would go wrong, but she had already decided that Hayley was her friend and therefore she was going to help her with anything that would be the right choice for her.

She didn't want to think of how it could all go wrong, or how Hayley could end up dead or tortured, but the thought still continued to cross her mind and consume her. She was utterly overwhelmed by the possibility that she was sending Hayley to her death when trying to help her reclaim her life and live. To save herself from the fate that Klaus could have waiting for after she gave birth.

This was for Hayley, this was what Hayley wanted for a chance to save herself, and Marisol wasn't going to be the one guarding her from living after a meeting with the Mikaelsons. So she gave Hayley the name of the store she needed and witch to talk to who would keep it on the low even if she couldn't go there to be with Hayley when she got it or go and get some herself.

That would be suspicious, and currently she was helping the Original hybrid himself take over the city so the last thing she needed was suspicion from her good old friend that she was betraying. If one of the vampires heard her asking for wolfsbane, that could be indicative that she herself was a wolf hiding in sheep's clothes (which, to be fair, she was), and then Marcel wouldn't be all too trusting of her anymore.

No, that wouldn't be good at all, so she had to let Hayley go alone, but at least she had given Hayley safe information. She could have comfort knowing that.

She entered the small café, looking around before seeing her friend who she was trying to betray, not that he knew of course, smiling at him before taking a seat. "Mars," Marcel greeted her once she sat down, "I didn't see you at the party last night."

Marisol raised an eyebrow. "You mean your little feast for your night crawlers to try and earn a daylight ring? Yeah, no thanks. Don't want them getting any ideas with me."

"You know I'd never let any of them hurt you," he told her honestly, that little bit of Marcel charm and smirk in his voice as he looked at her, only that hint of compassion towards her.

"I know," she nodded, assuring him as she felt a little bit of internal turmoil going on inside her as she realized that he didn't want to harm her and yet here she was helping his enemy harm him. God, when had her life come to this? "But you can't control mistakes."

Marcel stared at her. "You're on my list of people who are off limits. They know that and they sure as hell know your face and now what would happen if they attacked you."

"You're really looking out for me, aren't you?" she smiled at him, knowing that he was a true friend and she wasn't. God, she was nowhere close to a true friend anymore.

"Course I am," he nodded, a small little shrug to go along with it, "You're one of my people. I protect my people."

"Thanks," she said back, hoping that it would convey everything else that wasn't escaping her lips. He tipped his glass of water towards her before taking a sip.

"You hungry?" he asked her.

Marisol shrugged. "Not really. I already had breakfast, but you know, I could go for a small snack as long as you're paying," she said easily.

"I see how it is. You're just using me, aren't you?" he teased back at her and she laughed. It was all very lighthearted and exactly how they always act with each other, but now that Klaus was back in her life and employing her to take over New Orleans with him, she didn't like what Marcel said.

She wasn't using him. Well, she wasn't before, but now she felt like she was and she hated it because he was her friend.

"Only for food," she joked back with him, having a little look at the menu before deciding on what she wanted.

"Hey," Marcel said in a low tone, leaning in and getting serious, "I want you to be careful for me. An old friend of mine came back to town and, well, he's not always the nicest. And when he gets angry, people end up getting hurt."

"You're talking about Klaus Mikaelson, aren't you?" she questioned and he looked surprised that she knew, "What? People talk, Marcel, and besides, I was there when he stormed in asking you about the witches at one of your parties. You know, when he bit Thierry."

Marcel hummed. "Yeah, not one of his best moments. He's complicated but he did come back and give Thierry some of his blood to save him from the bite."

"That's nice of him, I guess," Marisol shrugged, hoping that she didn't sound like she was trying to advocate for Klaus, "So what? You're friends with him?"

"Jealous?" Marcel teased and she rolled her eyes, "I'm kidding. Klaus has nothing on my relationship with you. Everything with him is complicated. Sometimes he's your friend and mentor, then he's your enemy. Right now, we're friendly and, hey, I don't want the past to dictate our future, so I'm trying here and so is he."

"So biting Thierry counts as him trying?" Marisol asked, a good amount of skepticism in her tone. She knew it was probably counterproductive to try and cast doubt on Klaus, but depending on his answer to her question would sum up his true feelings on the hybrid.

Marcel sighed, looking down as his glass before meeting his eyes back with Marisol. "I'm trying to focus on the fact that he also saved Thierry's life. Look, I don't trust Klaus and neither should you. No one should trust him at all, really, so just watch out. I know that he's trying and I can appreciate that. I mean, he gave me something invaluable."

"Oh, pray tell," she leaned in before blinking, "I mean, unless you don't want a human to know about your vampire business. I understand if you don't wanna trust me with it."

"Hey, Mars, it's not like that. I keep things from you sometimes because it'll only put you in harm's way, I trust you," he told her and, well, there's that guilt again. He sighed for a second before leaning in closer, "If people are talking, then you also know Klaus' brother Elijah came to town. He wants me to trust him, so he gave me Elijah's body."

Marisol blinked. "Klaus willingly gave you his brother's body?"

"Like I said, Klaus is complicated. Everything in his life – including his relationship with his family – is complicated, so why not?" Marcel shrugged, "So now I have an Original in my care and leverage over Klaus. As long as I have that, Klaus won't hurt you if he cares anything about our newfound friendship, but just be careful. For me."

She nodded, mind churning knowing that Marcel was keeping Elijah's body somewhere. She knew that she should tell Rebekah immediately, but that would mean the woman would try and get Elijah away from Marcel and take that stupid dagger out of his chest. Then she would have to deal with her old manipulator and, honestly, she did not feel like doing that.

It was bad enough to stay with his family, the last thing she needed was for him to be in that house as well. And, well, if Klaus gave Elijah to Marcel then he obviously wanted Marcel to have him. It's not like Rebekah was the one threatening her.

✧

MARISOL ARRIVED BACK to the Mikaelson house well after dark. It wasn't home, dear God no, but it was the place where she was staying at the current moment. That didn't mean she had to label it home or the house she was staying in though. Calling it the Mikaelson house sounded like the best way to phrase it so that's what she called it.

When she got to the house, she already saw the three other people staying there outside and a pile of bodies giving off the worst scent ever. Getting into the driveway just in time to hear. "This is why I told you never to leave the house," Klaus obviously directed it to Hayley, who was supposed to be on house arrest, "Werewolves are banned in the Quarter. I had a plan, and your little nighttime stroll put it all in peril."

Rebekah walked up to her brother as Marisol took her place next to Hayley. "Leave him!" Klaus yelled at his sister who was about to kill one of the people in the pile of bodies who was still alive, "You've done enough, don't you think? Leaving a trail of bodies like a road map to my door?"

"If I hadn't overheard this lot bragging about werewolf heads, everyone here would be screwed," Rebekah defended herself, "And don't give me that crap about having a plan. You've had all the time in the world to execute a plan, and no one's seen you do a damn thing!"

She took a pause before continuing, "Elijah made a deal to protect your child so that he could save you from your selfish, rotten self. You obviously don't give a damn about the child or Elijah because what have you done to honor it?"

"I have done everything," Klaus answered, "Let me spell it out for you, shall I? From the day I arrived, Marcel hasn't trusted me. From day one, he's had his vampires ingest toxic vervain, which as you know, little sister, protects them from my mind control. I need a spy, someone on the inside with me who Marcel would never suspect."

"Um, not to interrupt, but I thought that spy was supposed to be me," Marisol raised her hand, drawing attention to herself.

"Yes, but you only go so far. Like you said, Marcel doesn't trust you with all the information he would give his vampires, now would he?" Klaus questioned her and she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," she muttered back to him.

"Since I couldn't compel his vampires, I created a Day Zero and got there first. Marcel had just lost six vampires thanks to your little murder spree, Rebekah, and he needed new recruits, so I made the new one mine before he'd had even a drop of vervain.

"But we all know the real way to a man is through his heart, so...I used his already existing affection on a pretty, little blonde to my advantage," he continued to explain himself before pointing to the last living vampire from the pile, "And this one, I'm gonna drain him of vervain, compel him to believe his mates found religion and moved to Utah so that he can explain to Marcel why he lost three more vampires tonight."

He dragged the vampire from the pile and into the house, a look of sheer determination and anger in his eyes. Marisol looked at Hayley for a second, eyes contacting, before she squeezed the younger girl's hand and led her inside the house.

"Does anyone have any more questions?" Klaus opened up the discussion to them, but Marisol couldn't say a word. This ran deeper than she originally imagined. "No? Good. Because I have a question, Hayley. What were you doing in the bloody French Quarter in the first place? Answer me!"

This was going south very quickly and, well, her first instinct was right. Telling Hayley where she could find some wolfsbane was most certainly doing more harm than good.

"Leave her be," Rebekah said in defense of Hayley but the young werewolf moved forward to meet Klaus.

"You know what I was doing? I was buying poison, so I could put your little baby out of its misery," she told him, staring straight into his eyes.

Klaus looked at her in anger and a bit of betrayal, so he grabbed her by the neck and rushed her to the wall, holding her against it. "Nik! Nik!" Rebekah tried to tell him to stop but he wouldn't listen, so she grabbed him and forced him away, "Keep your hands off her. She is pregnant, for God's sake!"

Marisol immediately went to Hayley's aid, trying to help her breathe and calm herself down after the attack, and boy did she know how that felt from one of them.

Rebekah looked at him in disbelief. "All of this bluster about not wanting the child, and then the second she tells you she's ready to get rid of it..." she trailed off, letting Klaus' eyes wander to Hayley, "It's okay to care. It's okay to want something. That's all Elijah was trying to do, all he's ever wanted for you, all we've ever wanted."

Klaus sat down, tears gathering in his eyes. Rebekah sat down next to him and there was a beat of tense silence before he broke it, saying, "I gave Elijah to Marcel."

Well, at least now she didn't have to feel guilty herself for keeping the information when Klaus willingly gave it up to Rebekah. "What?" his sister asked quietly, though thanks to all of their supernatural hearing it was as clear as anything else.

"Marcel was nervous. It was bad enough one Original returned to town, but two? His crew was getting antsy. He wanted Elijah gone, so I gave him a peace offering," Klaus explained himself.

Marisol looked away in shame, holding her hand over her mouth to cover up that Marcel had told her and her own selfish desire to want to keep Elijah locked away.

"You bartered our brother," Rebekah turned to him with a look of betrayal.

"I have a plan," he said if it was supposed to assure her, "Gain Marcel's trust, dismantle his empire, honor Elijah's wish that that baby be born."

Hayley looked away in her own shame at the mention of that, and Marisol was quick to hold her hand in a sort of comfort. Even though she was trying to push that man out of her mind and all the memories that swirled around inside her head, she couldn't help but wonder if Elijah would've been so supportive of Magnus.

If he would have taken to the news of Magnus as he was taking to the news that his brother was having a child, but quickly she had to stab herself in the heart with the knowledge that none of that relationship was real to begin with. It was all just a trick even if some part of her hoped that it was real and thought it was real at the time. Elijah wouldn't have cared about Magnus, but he did care about Hayley and the baby.

"I am executing that plan the only way I know how," Klaus told her, "If you don't like it, there's the door. See if I care."

Then, he stood up and walked away, always one to have the final word and let everyone believe that some part of him cared before reminding them that he didn't. It brought her back to when he said that Elijah wouldn't care about her being a werewolf because, once a long time ago, he was one too and his brother didn't mind. She thought that Klaus had honestly cared at her for one second – cared about his brother – but then he whispered that Katerina meant nothing to him and all those promises of marriage between them were lies.

Marisol didn't want Klaus to destroy Marcel. She didn't want anyone to destroy her friend, and right now, even though she was threatened by Klaus to work under him, all she wanted to do was break that deal and go running back to her friend.

Yet, as she looked at Hayley, she didn't see that as an option. The girl was so young and naïve, so involved in this and unlike with Marisol, there was no escape. She couldn't escape and Marisol wouldn't leave her, so she stayed and had to stomach all that was Klaus Mikaelson because of it.