◤ 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖜𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖞-𝖋𝖔𝖚𝖗: ❛ strength
in bonds ❜ ◢

✧

          AS SHE STARED INTO THE MIRROR, SHE PUSHED ANY MEMORY OF THE NIGHT BEFORE OUT OF HER MIND. It was a disastrous nightmare, ending with her falling to her knees in weakness, unable to take anything more and leaning against Magnus for all her support, but it couldn't be real. If she allowed it to be real, she would fall again and be weak again, and that was not something she could afford at the moment.

There was a pregnant woman on the premise, vampires guarding her, and she had to be strong for her. Hayley didn't need a weak werewolf, she needed a rock who never wavered. So, Marisol refused to admit that she wavered and instead pretend that it had never happened in the first place. That was a silly little dream, it didn't have to be her reality.

She could pretend and live in a world where everything was fine and dandy with Magnus, where they never fought and he never turned his back on her and she never betrayed him to begin with. She could pretend that they were best friends and she could call him up at any moment even though she knew she couldn't in the back of her head. But she could pretend, and she was awfully good at pretending.

Turning away from the mirror, and away from her ever-young face that never wrinkled or withered, she went to her door. Her face showed no sign of the night before either, nothing about her appearance did, so it had never happened.

When she left her room, she could see Diego in the corridor. He didn't look at her, hadn't been able to, and whenever his eyes did seem to pass her all he could muster was disgust. Maybe at himself for ever liking her and sleeping with her, or maybe directly towards her for being a disgrace of a human being.

She was, she thought, and any reason he was disgusted at her was verified, but it still struck a chord in her. It shouldn't have, she never cared for him before, but now that all he could do was hate her, bitterness growing inside him at the sight of her, she wanted him to like her so much. But she was never good at keeping the good attention of others, one way or another she always destroyed it.

As swiftly as she saw Diego, he was gone, running downstairs and she could hear him almost arrogantly ask, "Going somewhere?" Marisol's eyes carried her downstairs where he was, seeing Hayley giving him a disgruntled look.

But the look faded quickly as well, because he fell to the ground limp with Elijah standing where he once stood. Marisol blinked, a little surprised although she was sure she shouldn't be. He always seemed to turn up somehow, especially for Hayley. But she hadn't seen him since they were in the bayou together and he dreamed of Celeste – a woman he actually loved – and resentment grew inside her.

He shouldn't have the power to twist her feelings and hold a little bit of her heart like he once held her entire soul, but somehow she couldn't let him go and fade away from her feelings forever. He always there, especially with how he cockily smiled at Hayley, as if proud of himself for being able to fool and kill Diego. The look shouldn't affect her as much as it does. Nothing about him should.

"Elijah, you shouldn't be here. Klaus has his guys watching me," Hayley immediately warned him, wanting to keep him safe before wanting to leave.

He shrugged, as if not worried at all about his brother. "I wouldn't worry about it."

Rebekah appeared as well, snapping the necks of more vampires waiting around the corner, so Marisol finally decided it was time to join the party. There was no use leaving them and wallowing somewhere else, sad at the world for cursing her yet again by destroying even more relationships in her life.

"Come, we mustn't linger. We'll get you some place safe," Elijah told her, because above all he cared about Hayley and the child she carried. Marisol knew she shouldn't be thinking if he cared so much about her the same way, if he would infiltrate a palace just to save her, but the thought crossed her mind.

"She's fine here, you know?" Marisol asked them, making herself visible although she was sure that they already knew she was there to begin with, "Klaus isn't going to let anyone hurt her."

Elijah looked like he wanted to argue that point, just a little at least, but Hayley nodded and spoke before he could formulate anything, "She's right. You don't have to worry about me. I'm fine. I've been deemed under protection by the almighty Klaus. It's the werewolves who need help. He ordered a wolf hunt as some jacked-up peace offering to Marcel's crew. You have to help them."

Marisol sent her a look. "You sound like it came out of nowhere, but it really didn't. It's simple: vampires hate werewolves and vice versa. He's being strategic."

"And that justifies it?" Hayley looked at her incredulously.

"Did I say that it's justified?" she shot back, "No, I said that it's strategic. Stop putting words in my mouth."

"Let me get this straight: you want us to go out in the bayou? Like some bloody vampire-rescue-squad? I think you should be grateful we came to save you!" Rebekah exclaimed, and Marisol didn't blame her for not being on board to go back into the bayou.

Marisol herself didn't want to go back there, but that place was also muddled with Celeste and her gorgeous body and spirit and soul that Elijah loved when he just played her before. It wasn't fair. She loved Elijah and he used her, but Celeste had his love, and years later she still craved him.

She shouldn't, she didn't want to, but it was there and she was terribly weak now. She couldn't keep lying to herself about it. Celeste had his love, she just had his lies. At least Celeste died before she longed for him to look at her in another life.

Hayley's eyes trained on Rebekah intently. "Listen. Rebekah, all my life, I've wanted to know who my real family was, and just as I find out that they're out in the bayou, Klaus orders them killed. You wanna help me? Help my people. Please."

As her eyes turned to Elijah's, she knew that he was already on board to save them. Which only meant that he would somehow convince Rebekah to do the same, and Hayley would look so pitifully sad until Marisol agreed as well. That was the cycle, and Marisol already promised to help Hayley and be by her side.

✧

THOUGH SHE WAS beginning to really despise the bayou, having spent too much time in such a place during a short period, she didn't complain as she trekked on foot with Elijah and Rebekah. It wasn't like complaining would get much done, she made the choice to join them and help Hayley, because she would always help Hayley, and this was where that ended her.

"I don't understand her obsession with the wolves," Rebekah complained, her no doubt designer boots getting dirty.

"It's her family," Elijah reminded his sister, always the one to stress the importance of family. Marisol glanced to him, finding herself mildly surprised by how much importance he placed into family, though she shouldn't.

She was always surprised by Elijah and his actions even though she shouldn't be. To Elijah, it was family before all, even if his family included Klaus, who daggered him and then threw him out of the compound. It was a twisted sense of family, yet Elijah still would sacrifice anything for them.

It shocked it, but it shouldn't. This was him before, and this would be him forever, she shouldn't keep getting shocked because he does things so Elijah-like. Maybe it was because they were so different from her. While she would sacrifice anything for Magnus, her precious nephew, she wasn't sure she would do anything for Ophelia or Circe if they were alive.

No – she wouldn't do anything to Ophelia, the sister she loved and the one she sacrificed everything for to look after her son, only to be cursed. Ophelia could rot in hell for all she cared. Circe...she didn't know. Some part of her still loved her sister, even though it had been such a long time since they saw each other, but they were strangers.

Marisol left, and Circe lived a great life. She lived to be an old woman, confirmed when Marisol set out to see her sister one last time, to hold her hand, and Circe cried with joy knowing that Marisol was still living, though mildly confused by her youthful face.

Circe was blood, but she was also a stranger by that point. So Marisol couldn't understand why Elijah would give everything up for his family, because she wouldn't. For Magnus, anything. But for anyone else...

Rebekah huffed. "Of course you would do anything for her regarding family," she muttered and Elijah sent her a look. Marisol chose to pointedly ignore the comment.

"It's Elijah, what do you expect?" she smiled at Rebekah, even though she was the one surprised by his words before. But she could pretend, play along, tease him a little.

Marisol's head snapped when she heard a familiar voice yelling in the distance. "Hey, they're obviously here. Fan out, find 'em, and bring me some heads!"

Diego. Great.

Of course it would be Diego again, just her luck. Elijah and Rebekah locked eyes, and next thing she knew, Elijah's arms were around her waist and then she was looking at Diego. She jerked away from him, sending him a glare, but Elijah just shrugged.

"I'd rather you didn't," he then said, eyes now trained on Diego. For some reason, there was an extra fire when looking at the vampire.

"The hell are you doing out here?" he asked, looking at the Mikaelsons and then twitching a little in anger when his eyes landed on Marisol.

She crossed her arms, a cold look coating her features as she stared back at him, not one to back down. Elijah took a step in front of her, and her eyebrows briefly raised at that.

"I've come to suggest you seek other hunting grounds," he said, perfectly amicably as ever but with an underlying notion that he would hurt Diego if it came to it.

"Suggestion noted," Diego shrugged it off, not one to be intimidated even though he probably should be. He tried to move past Elijah, but Rebekah took a step forward behind him, calling out to him then.

"Oh, Diego, it would be such a shame to have to rearrange that pretty face," she then swung her arm to hit him, but he caught it.

"What the hell do you care about wolves?" he asked them before he looked at Marisol, "Besides her, of course."

The bite in her voice only made her take a step forward. "Got something to say?" she asked.

"A lot, actually," Diego snapped, "But I'll wait."

She rolled her eyes. And again, Elijah moved to face Diego until the younger vampire's attention was solely on him. "Generally, I don't care about them. However, there are a few exceptions, including this particular clan. They are not to be touched."

The threat was clear in Elijah's voice, and when Rebekah's sweetly intimidating bye in his ear, Diego took a step back. "Nothing here anyway," he grumbled, whistling and calling off the hunting party before speeding away.

"Ah, great. I think as well our job here is done," Rebekah said after a moment before turning to Marisol, "What was going on between you and Diego there, eh?"

Marisol rolled her eyes. "I slept with him, I guess he's a little peeved about the whole lying thing now," there was more annoyance in her tone than she actually felt.

Diego's opinion of her never mattered, he barely knew her and looked more at the surface than any other part, and she did lie to him, so he had the right to be mad at her. More than anything, she was still just upset about Marcel.

"I don't think we're quite done yet," Elijah muttered, eyes trained somewhere before he again grabbed Marisol by the waist, and suddenly they were by a tree.

"Stop doing that," Marisol hissed at him after they stopped, swatting his hands away from her.

"I apologize," Elijah said with a little smile before his eyes met someone else's, "We're not to harm you. Hello, again. Eve, was it?"

Marisol turned, seeing the blonde-haired woman from before who Hayley sought after. Rebekah, who followed after them, asked, "One of Hayley's litter-mates, I presume?"

"Hayley sent you here to protect us, didn't she? Tell her we appreciate the concern, but we've been looking out for ourselves for a while now. Nobody finds us unless we wanna be found."

"Well, we found you, so..." Rebekah trailed off.

Eve gave her a look. "Like I said. There's something I thought you and your family should know about."

Then, without another word, she turned and began walking along a path, and in her hands Marisol could see a stake and a map in her hands. She said nothing about it, because carrying a weapon was always a good choice, and began to follow her. Elijah stood beside her, and Rebekah trailed a little behind, and she tried not to think about how Elijah's hands felt around her hips before.

Eve said nothing as they walked until five minutes passed and they stopped by a lake. "Surrounded by 20,000 acres of swamp, the ones born here, who now know it like the backs of our hands, will be fine. But here –" she pointed to her map, "– newcomers from out of state. Not of Hayley's and my kin. But, word's spread about that baby of hers. A lot of werewolves wanna see this miracle pregnancy for themselves. Only now, the vampires are out looking for blood, and all these werewolves new at the bayou might not know where to hide."

"You say that like we're supposed to care," Rebekah rolled her eyes.

"Believe me, you're gonna want them kept alive," Eve looked at them before her eyes trained at Marisol, "Especially any other wolf."

Marisol blinked. "I'm very detached from my kind, honestly, so please, show us why this is so important."

It seemed like Eve had a strange disappointment for her, like she expected Marisol to be the first one on board solely because of the fact that on a full moon she turned into a wolf, but that just proved how little she knew about Marisol. For five hundred years, she clouded herself with humans and vampires, having very little contact with other wolves, and never belonging to a pact herself. Any feeling of comradery that was there before had been torn away through the centuries.

Eve nodded, continuing to walk, and they continued to follow her. Conversation was few and far between, Eve not looking particularly interested in carrying much conversation with any of them besides what was strictly necessary, but Marisol couldn't fault for it. They weren't exactly the warmest bunch ever.

Besides, she was sure she offended Eve but not fawning over helping werewolves. Too bad, it wasn't like she had ever had a pack, unless you count Magnus – which no one would.

The sun fell and the moon rose, and only then did they reach the camping area for the wolves. Trailers, trash on the ground, a dirty disarray of things causing Marisol to wrinkle up her nose a little, though she couldn't help but sympathize just a little. She had practically lived the same way before.

"All these wolves really travel in style, don't they?" Rebekah judged, a distasteful frown coating her features.

"They're doing the best they can," Marisol shrugged, her tone a little sharper than necessary, but she couldn't refrain herself.

Elijah, who had got up to one of the trailers, opened the door before calling out, "Empty."

"Behind on their payments, perhaps?" Rebekah jeered.

Marisol shot her a look. This was the best they could do, living in the bayou with these trailers, because it wasn't like Marcel was going to let in just any werewolf into the city. She was lucky because her curse masked her scent, but others weren't so much.

"So, proceed then," Elijah looked to Eve.

"Let's not, and tell Hayley we did," Rebekah countered, "Then, you get to impress the girl, and I can go home. You know how hovels depress me."

Elijah scoffed at his sister as Marisol looked to the ground, a pit in her stomach growing. Of course Elijah had an interest in Hayley, who wouldn't?

"I'm not trying to impress Hayley," Elijah told Rebekah sternly, "I want to unite our family, and Hayley is the key for that."

Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Oh, right. I forgot that you can't let go of the foolish idea of uniting us."

Marisol's head then snapped when she heard someone cry out in pain. Elijah didn't waste a second before grabbing onto Marisol again and speeding to the location of the noise before setting her down and tearing Diego from the neck of a stranger.

"Darling, we need to stop meeting like this. This is how rumors begin!" Elijah sarcastically noted before pushing Diego again, "You can go now. Perhaps I'm not making myself clear here. This is a threat. In precisely three minutes' time, your little hunting party will become prey. Now, based on your recent failure to subdue my baby brother Niklaus, despite a better than 100-to-1 advantage, I recommend you heed my warning."

Diego glared at the three of them before speeding off again, and Marisol crossed her arms again. Out of everyone, why did it have to be him who kept showing up?

"Impressive!" Rebekah complimented her brother with a proud smirk.

"Well, I thought the situation demanded something a little dramatic," Elijah gave a little grin, eyes fluttering over to meet Marisol's before flickering away again.

A cry came from the stranger on the ground again, who was clutching his bleeding neck. "Who are you people?" he asked, eyes wide with fear.

Elijah began to approach him before stopping suddenly, as if in shock. Marisol frowned, turning herself to get a better look at the wounded werewolf. She saw nothing that would startle Elijah, he looked like a regular man, just afraid for his life, and she thought that was justified.

"I would say the better question is, who are you?"

✧

SHE WOULD LIKE to say that she wasn't one to drink, but in reality when life got a little too hard, she leaned on alcohol and the small euphoric feeling it gave her. Just for a second, she would be able to disappear for a second, be something other than herself, and forget about the world.

Elijah had been brutal with the werewolf from before, asking questions about his necklace before eventually taking it. She didn't understand, it was a pack name, but she had never heard of it before, though it wasn't like she knew all of the werewolves in the world. She barely knew about her own, and she wasn't sure if there were any others who hailed from the same pack as her.

She sipped at her beer, leaning against the counter, closing her eyes. She could hear people talking, laughing, and letting go, and all she could think about was how she wasn't letting go. She should be, this was her moment to let go, but it never came. That sweet relief never saved her, and she was still so terribly present in the moment.

Still with her eyes closed, she heard as someone moved to sit next to her, so she opened one eye, seeing Marcel there. In surprise, she opened up the other and raised an eyebrow.

"There are other open seats," she said, looking around the plenty of other spaces for him to seat, because she was sure that this was purely accidental.

Marcel sent a look her way, still one of wariness and unresolved anger, but calmer than it had been the night before. "Then it would be harder to talk to you."

She made a noise of surprise and sat up straighter. "And here I thought you were just going to ignore me forever. You were pretty clear last night that we were no longer friends."

"And I've been thinking," Marcel quickly said after she finished, "You said you didn't have a choice. Why not? What did you do?"

She laughed humorlessly. "Now that's – that's a long story, from a long time ago."

"I have time," he said, not breaking eye contact.

She stared at him, waiting for him to break, and when he didn't, she relented. "Fine, you wanna know? I'll tell you. It all started when I was young, I had just moved to England and I befriended a girl named Katerina Petrova. I'm sure that Klaus has mentioned her."

"Not nicely," he agreed.

"Yeah, so you know why he wanted her. Well, while Klaus pursed Katerina, Elijah pursed me. I fell for him – foolishly, I might add – but Katerina was my friend. When she came to me one night, telling me about how Klaus was going to slaughter her in this ritual, I remembered this one night I was eating dinner with them and Klaus told me a story about a cursed werewolf. The only way to reverse the curse was with the blood of the doppelganger, a vampire, and a werewolf.

"Well, realizing that it was the same ritual, and the fact that Klaus knew I was a werewolf, I knew that I was another part of the equation. I didn't want to die, so I left the same night Katerina did. I never ended up helping her, though, but Klaus still thinks I did."

"Why didn't you help her?"

Marisol shrugged. "There was this other vampire who was in love with Katerina, and he came to help her before I could do anything. I didn't stop them and then I began to pack my bags. It looked like I helped her escape, so Klaus assumed I did. So, when he found me here, he was angry. I didn't have a choice."

Marcel was silent for a moment. "Neither do I, if I want to protect my people," he muttered, "Even though Rebekah wants me to leave."

"You have to do what you have to do," she said, not knowing what else to say. Marcel and Rebekah was not something she had thought of, but oh well...

"If Klaus only wanted your help to take over New Orleans, why are you still here?" Marcel asked her suddenly, staring at her again.

"Hayley," she didn't hesitate before answering, "I'm here to protect Hayley, and I will stay here for her until she no longer needs my help."

Marcel studied her. "Why does she matter so much to you?"

Marisol bit her lip, leaning in and whispering, "Can you keep a secret?" he nodded and she leaned away again, "I have a nephew. I raised him as my own – he never knew my sister; his mother. But because I 'betrayed' the Mikaelsons, he got killed when one of them found us. I was supposed to protect him, but I couldn't. I failed, and a child died – my child. I won't let Hayley go through that pain."

It was silent between them, and Marisol took a long gulp of her beer. She hadn't told anyone else about Magnus, but now Marcel knew. He knew her greatest secret, and she could only hope that he didn't betray her and tell the others. If anything happened to Magnus...

"I'm sorry," Marcel broke the silence and her head snapped to him, "I was caught up in my own anger of losing to Klaus that I didn't consider why you sided with him and why you continue to stay there with him."

"I'm not with him," she corrected him, shaking her head to double the effect, "I'm with Hayley. I do as she asks and what's best for her, not for Klaus."

"Still, that's what I thought, and I'm sorry," he apologized again.

"Thank you," she breathed, smiling at him, "Are we okay?"

He nodded. "We're okay."

✧

ABOUT AN HOUR later, she arrived back to the Compound, feeling lighter than before. Marcel and her were alright, they had an understanding, and she had someone to lean on now when her life crumbled again. At least, out of everything, she had one person.

However, she blinked in surprise when she saw Elijah standing in the middle of the Compound. "Here I thought you were banished to the old mayor's house," she commented.

His lips twitched upwards and he shook his head. "Niklaus and I have settled our disagreements, and he has allowed Rebekah and I to stay here now."

She nodded. "That's good – I think. You're closer to Hayley and Klaus, everything you want, right?"

He nodded, eyes trained on her in a way that she couldn't describe. "Closer to you, too," he added.

She raised an eyebrow. "And why would you want to be closer to me?" she laughed a little, because the thought of that was preposterous, so she had to chuckle at it.

"Right," he nodded again, looking at her almost in disappointment, like she had something wrong, but she wasn't sure what it could be. She was only stating facts that they both knew, because Elijah had used her before and they were friendly now. Though something about him made her flutter, it didn't mean anything.

"Well, it doesn't matter, I'm glad you're here," she let out, unable to stop herself. He looked at her, in another way she couldn't describe, and a small smile appeared on his face.

"I'm glad I'm here, too."