This had to be one of the worst birthdays ever.

Esmeray woke up in the morning, now twenty-three, and nothing was different. Their situation hadn't improved. Everyone was in a bad mood. She felt guilty for wanting to celebrate when everything was so shitty.

"Good morning, sweet girl," she said when she came down to find Klaus and Hope having breakfast. Klaus didn't look too happy, and judging by the footsteps she could hear in the next hallway, Elijah must have come to speak to him.

"Esme!" Hope giggled, reaching her arms out to her. The werewitch picked her up and kissed Klaus's forehead before sitting beside him.

"Happy birthday, love," he said, taking her hand. "I apologize... I haven't yet gotten you your present."

"It's okay, you don't need to get me anything," she said, digging into the beignets on the table.

"Birth," Hope said, sitting on Esmeray's lap and patting the table. "Birthday."

"Yep," said Esmeray, smiling down at her. "Your birthday is coming up soon, too. A little over a month, and you'll be two!"

"You're two," Hope replied, and Esmeray figured that she was inquiring about her age.

"I'm twenty-three today," said Esmeray. "But in reality, I'm one thousand twenty-seven years older than you, not just twenty-one."

Hope giggled, apparently finding this amusing. She flinched, however, when there was the sound of a thud upstairs, then rushed footsteps, before Kol bolted into the room. "We've got a bloody problem," he said worriedly.

"What is it now?" asked Klaus, exasperated.

"An apparent army of your sirelings are making their way to New Orleans as we speak."

Okay, so, emergency situation not long after Esmeray had finished her first and only beignet of the day. Fucking great.

The werewitch rushed upstairs to get Hope to Hayley while Klaus and Kol went to tell Elijah so they could assemble their weapons. Esmeray went to ask Freya what spell she was doing so she could know what else to help with. Since Freya was in the process of tracking each of the sirelings, Esmeray decided she ought to get started on a Protective Spell of the Compound.

She moved with her materials into the dining room, and had only just started the spell when another series of thuds sounded, and with her brows furrowed, she stepped out into the Compound at the same time as the three brothers, leaving them all surrounded as a horde of vampires flooded into the Compound, surrounding them.

Initially, all seemed fine. There had to be close to two hundred vampires there. But with the combined strength of Klaus, Kol, and Elijah, plus spells from Esmeray, this would have been an easy fight.

Wrong.

"Never thought it would come to this," came a familiar voice at the entrance. The four turned to see Marcel making his way up to them. "But as always, the Mikaelsons made my choice for me."

"Marcel?" Esmeray breathed, staring at him in disbelief. "But you—

Klaus looked like he'd seen a ghost. "How are you—?"

"How are we in your home?" he asked, looking around. "I've friends who can nullify a deed, foreclose on a property, like that." He snapped his fingers for effect. "Or did you mean... how am I not a rotting corpse?"

"I thought my friend was dead, and yet here you are," said the hybrid. "So send these fools away, and let's talk. You and me."

"Is that relief I hear?" asked Marcel, moving closer to his sire. "Really? If I hadn't been one step ahead of you, I would be at the bottom of the river."

Elijah stepped between them. "Marcel, your anger is with me. I'm the one that's responsible for this crime against you."

Marcel held up his finger as if lecturing a child. "One thing I learned sticking around this family, Elijah— you take on one of you, you are taking on all of you. These guys, Klaus's sirelings, they're here to bear witness today."

Kol scoffed. "Are you planning to put on a little show, Marcellus?"

"Damned sure I am," confirmed Marcel, spreading his arms. "The Fall of The Mikaelsons. And guess what, the show has already started." He looked at Esmeray. "This is your one and only chance to get out. Take it, or leave it."

Klaus looked toward her, as if trying to get her to leave, but she'd already said "No," before she met his gaze.

"I know you're hurt," Kol said, moving in front of her when he saw Marcel's jaw twitch, as if he'd been expecting her to run like a coward. "I loved Davina, too. And it would break her heart to see you like this."

"Don't mention her name," Marcel snapped, pointing at him. "If it weren't for you, she'd still be alive."

Kol angrily knocked his hand down. "But she's not. This is an insult to her memory."

If it wasn't already obvious to them that Marcel had become the same type of monster as Lucien, it was in that moment. Marcel moved with speed to match Kol's when their fight ensued, and within seconds, he'd bitten into his neck, making the youngest Mikaelson brother let out an anguished yell. Marcel easily snapped his neck and tossed him aside, his eyes blazing red.

Elijah was the next one to attack, and Klaus made to shield Esmeray, but she thrust her hands out, sending Marcel flying into the nearest pillar. This should have kept him down at least long enough for her to think what to do next, but faster than she could react, he was charging toward her, and had sent her flying so high that she hit the bottom of the balcony above, and crashed to the ground with a whimper.

Klaus growled, his eyes flashing a furious golden as both he and Elijah lunged at Marcel at the same time. Marcel, of course, had been expecting this, and moved to send them crashing into each other before yanking Elijah's arm behind his back and biting into it, tossing him aside where Kol and Esmeray lay, one temporarily dead, the other wheezing and trying to catch her breath.

Just before Klaus could jump back into the fight, which surely would have left him bitten, a blur of red stepped between them, yelling, "STOP!"

Everyone was surprised to see Rebekah.

"Hayley has Hope and Freya," said the blonde to her brother. "Take our brothers and Esmeray and go now. Marcel will not hurt me." She faced her lover. "Not if he knows what's good for him."

After only a brief moment of hesitation, Klaus sped to pick up Esmeray and Kol, grabbing Elijah's hand before speeding them all away. They came to stop at the street corner where Rousseau's was, and Klaus immediately fed Esmeray his blood as she yanked, from her pocket, another copy of a Louisiana map.

"Give me your blood again," she panted to Klaus, slapping the map to the ground. He bit into his wrist once more and dripped it over the map. Quickly, she started to chant, still not breathing as steadily as she usually did. After a few seconds— "they're at Lucien's penthouse."

Klaus picked them up again, and sped them the rest of the way to the penthouse. They stumbled into the lobby, and Esmeray helped Elijah and Klaus with Kol, her hand waving over his head to wake him up as the elevator doors opened to take them to the top floor.

"That was insane," she said shakily, seeing the oozing bites on Kol and Elijah. "He moved faster than I could react, and my senses have been heightened tenfold since before..."

"He's faster than us," Klaus said unsteadily. "It's no wonder none of us could keep up with him."

The elevator doors opened, and Elijah bellowed, "FREYA!" as Esmeray sped forward to open the doors so that the two elder brothers could carry the youngest one in.

"I'm going to die," Kol moaned out as Hayley and Freya helped lay him on the sofa.

"You're not going to die," said Klaus.

"Now that sounds familiar," Kol chuckled breathily. "Isn't that what you said to Finn?"

"There is a cure, no matter what Lucien said," Esmeray told him, rubbing the back of her head and trying to think. "The key is the seven strains of venom. I still have contact information for people from each of the six other Packs, I can call them, and—"

"There's no time," Freya said, and Esmeray only just realized how ill the eldest sibling looked. "I'm poisoned, Rebekah's hexed, my brothers are bitten, we need three different cures to three different ailments and it's only a matter of hours before we all succumb to it."

"Here," said Esmeray, putting her hand in front of Kol's mouth. "My venom was used for the serum, maybe a bit of my blood can slow the process down slightly."

Kol didn't hesitate to bite into her arm, and the werewitch winced as he started to feed, growling and gripping onto her tightly.

"Enough, Kol," said Elijah, who was starting to sweat quite a bit. "You'll kill her, and then, we will never be saved."

"Just put me out of my misery, then!" Kol yelled out, holding his head. "At least put me to bloody sleep!"

"I can do that for you, if you want," said Esmeray, her arm already healed up. "It won't make it go away, but it will keep you from being in pain."

He nodded, and with a simple wave of her hand, she was asleep again.

There really wasn't any time. Elijah and Klaus moved off to the side to try and find a solution, Esmeray tried to heal Freya, but it wasn't working.

"I've just been on the phone with Rebekah," said Klaus, coming toward the group after briefly stepping outside. "Marcel and my sirelings wish for me to stand trial for my sins, as she put it."

Elijah stared at him in disbelief. "It's not a trial. This is suicide. Take Hayley, Hope, and Esmeray, and get the hell out of the city."

"No," said Hayley and Esmeray at the same time.

"We won't leave here," said the younger hybrid, shaking her head as she clutched her daughter closer to her chest.

"There is something we can try," said Freya slowly, wringing her hands together. "There may be a way to save them."

"Then I will move the world to make it so," Klaus replied.

"I need time..."

Klaus faltered. "You think I should stand trial before that death-dealing mob?"

"Well, that's the easy part. In order to save your family, you need to come out of that trial alive."

Klaus nodded, despite having gone slightly pale, and Esmeray moved toward him. "I'm coming with you," she said.

He sighed. "Love, no—"

"Don't say I can't go. I can hold up against regular vampires with my magic. Marcel may be strong, but his bite won't hurt me. I won't let you go through this alone. The only one who'll be there to advocate for you is Rebekah and it won't be long before she goes mad and starts spouting out all the things she hates about you. It is my choice, I'm making it, and you can't stop me."

Klaus knew this was true. "Fine," he told her quietly. "I will be glad if you accompany me." He turned to the others. "I simply need a moment." He sped into the other room, and Esmeray could see him grabbing a pen and paper, along with an envelope.

Minutes later, he was ready. He came to Hayley, who brought Hope to him so that he could kiss her forehead. "Some time ago," Klaus whispered to Hayley, "I refused to trust you with our daughter. I took you from Hope. I was wrong. Take care of her."

If someone had told Esmeray how her birthday would end, she wouldn't have believed them.

They found the Compound was already severely trashed when they arrived. The angry mob was everywhere, and something was on fire. From what they could see, they'd raided some of the rooms and thrown several of their things away. Esmeray felt a pang in her heart when she saw the two paintings Klaus had recently made for her— the one of their baby and the one of her mother— in a pile off to the side, the canvas torn beyond repair.

"Are you ready?" asked Rebekah, coming to meet them before they moved into the courtyard.

Klaus took his sister's hand, letting his fingers run over the skull mark on her wrist. "Are you?"

Rebekah nodded. "For Freya's plan to work, I can't go mad and you can't die. What are the bloody odds of that?"

Klaus half-smiled. "Wasn't it you who once said I could talk my way out of hell?"

The two embraced before Klaus turned to Esmeray, pulling her in for a kiss. "Please, love, stay back as long as you can. I do not wish for them to hurt you."

"I'll speak when the time is right," she promised, letting her hand run through his hair before she kissed him again.

The three walked into the wrecked courtyard, where Marcel sat on a chair in an elevated platform, slouched back like a king on his throne. "The great Klaus Mikaelson has decided to grace us with his presence," he said, causing the crowd to go temporarily silent.

"I have nothing to hide, Marcel," said Klaus. "You wish to put me on trial for my many grievous sins. Well, go on. Have at it."

The crowd started to cheer. Rebekah and Esmeray remained near one of the pillars as Klaus was pulled to stand on top of a box.

"Klaus Mikaelson," said Marcel, staring beadily at the Original hybrid. "Sire to a thousand years' worth of angry faces. How does it feel to be this hated? Go on. Look at them." When Klaus didn't immediately glance around, he snarled, "I said, look at them! They're all yours, after all."

He pointed at a man near him. "Do you remember him? 1694. His wife accused Rebekah of witchcraft. So you turned him and then compelled him to drain his wife dry." He pointed to another vampire. "Or this man. He was a simple farmer. In 1745, he made the mistake of owning land that you wanted. You could've easily taken it. Instead, you turned him and then made him burn his entire village to the ground." He stood, and gestured to one of the female vampires. "Or this woman. 1891. Her mother had pneumonia. Coughed all through the night. You got annoyed. So you turned them both, and made her watch as you burned her mother alive."

"Yes, yes, yes," Klaus shot back, "my sins were terrible indeed. But they taught the world to fear me, and that fear protected my family."

"Don't preach to me about family!" Marcel yelled. "I was your family once. Or so you said. And where did that get me?"

"I could've left you nameless and alone, but I didn't," Klaus spat. "I took you and I made you all that you are."

"I guess you made everyone here," Marcel noted. " Made us all in your image. Angry... paranoid... merciless. Why? Why even bother siring us? Were you afraid to be alone? Was that it? Did you want to make something so vile and disgusting, like you? In the end, the reason doesn't matter. You made us, you abandoned us, and anyone who dared stand up for themselves, you took away everything that we loved. Because that is what you do! And for that you must pay."

The crowd cheered appreciatively. Esmeray's fists were shaking, and Rebekah decided it was time for arguments in Klaus's favor to begin. "Enough!" she yelled, and the vampires were silent. "You will not condemn my brother before I have had a chance to speak on his behalf."

Marcel dared to laugh. "You want to speak? All right. Go ahead."

Rebekah swallowed hard, looking down at her wrist, before gazing around at the crowd. "You accuse my brother of unjust retaliation. Of killing your loved ones. But how is he any different from any of you? The strong fight to determine who is strongest, and my brother is strong! Yes, he fights for power, as do all of you. But his first instinct is to defend his blood, as you act to avenge yours. You say he is guilty, but I ask you, would anyone here do any less?"

"That's your argument?" scoffed Marcel. "All's fair, in defence of the family? Hmm. Thing is, Rebekah, I seem to recall he punished you, his sister, for no other reason than fear that you might love someone more than him."

Rebekah looked uncomfortable. "We have been together for a millenium. We were bound to have a few tiffs."

"Was it a 'tiff' when he daggered you for loving me? Was that justice? Or when he exiled you from the Quarter? From your family? From me?"

"Marcel, stop," said Rebekah quietly, holding her wrist.

"You hate him," Marcel egged her on. "You hate him as much as anybody here, maybe even more, given how long he has made you suffer."

Esmeray knew it was too late to try and intervene. "You know what, Marcel, you are right," said the blonde slowly.

"Rebekah," said Esmeray, trying to pull her back. The Original swatted her away.

"You see," she told the crowd, "I haven't been entirely honest. Perhaps, it's time to tell the brutal truth about my dear brother Klaus Mikaelson." She let out a creepy giggle. "Yes, he is my brother, and I have loved him through the ages. But no one has felt the blunt end of his ire more than I. He claims that his actions are in defense of his family, but he lies!"

"Rebekah, stop it!" hissed Esmeray, looking at Klaus worriedly. "The hex is making you—"

"LET HER SPEAK!" Marcel bellowed, making Esmeray flinch and let go of her.

"Yes, I would like to speak," Rebekah said, smirking malevolently before facing her brother. "Although, when I speak out of turn, I often end up with a dagger in my chest." The vampires tittered around her. "You see, my brother, he cannot handle the brutal truth that he destroys everything he touches."

She glared at Klaus so hatefully, that someone with no knowledge of her curse would be convinced she truly despised him. "You murdered our mother, and both of your fathers. You dagger your siblings and leave us in coffins for decades! You break our hearts, you forbid us from finding love, all because you've only found love of your own in a girl that you kidnapped and manipulated repeatedly!" She faced the sirelings. "I am envious of all of you. You have broken free from him. But I have had no such relief. Chained to him, not because of a sire link, but because of a foolish pact that we made to each other, when we were nothing more than children. What if he could suffer the way I have? The way that we all have!"

"Okay, Rebekah, seriously, you're getting on my nerves," said Esmeray, yanking her back and not about to be gentle anymore. "Hi. The girl who's been kidnapped and manipulated repeatedly would like to speak now."

"No, I don't think you need to speak," said Marcel, who seemed to be slightly worried she'd convince the vampires to be lenient. "We've heard enough."

"No, you haven't," she snapped. "Interrupt me again and I'll have everyone watch as I sew your mouth shut with my magic."

"You're only proving why I'd rather you not speak," Marcel sneered. "You're just as crazy as him."

"Really?" she said, crossing her arms. "Well, thank you for noticing." She looked around the courtyard. "Yeah, maybe I am a little crazy. Maybe because I was kept confined in a laboratory, where I was tortured, and abused physically, verbally, mentally, and sexually, by someone named Lucien Castle."

This seemed to make the vampires go far quieter than they had before. Clearly, they had not known this.

"Some of you might know Lucien," she said, not letting her voice waver. "He was Klaus's first sireling. And, off his own accord, he chose to torment me, even though I never hurt him. Because of him, I had a horrendous miscarriage. Because of him, I'm going to be traumatized forever.

"Rebekah said something earlier that I think you all need to reflect on. How is Klaus different from any of you? All of you have become wicked. All of you are vile. All of you have killed innocent people. But tell me, is there an evil hierarchy, or something? Is Klaus really at the top of that? I could show all of you the memories of what Lucien did to me. I could show you how the father of a good friend of mine told Klaus that not even he, Klaus bloody Mikaelson, was cruel enough to sexually assault someone for over a year. Clearly, Klaus can't be the worst of the worst. So tell me... which one of you is the least evil? Which one of you isn't a sinner?"

She saw that no one stepped forward. "Go on, tell me. I'm not one to quote the Bible, but I propose this— whichever one of you is completely pure and good, should step forward now, extract Marcel's venom, and inject it straight into Klaus's heart. Come on, why aren't you moving? Surely one of you is a model citizen. I won't be able to tell if you're lying. Someone, step up."

She knew she had them with that. "That's right," she said, when no one moved. "Because all of you are murderers. All of you are rotten. Some of you have sexually assaulted innocent people. Some of you have been just as heartless as you claim Klaus to be. None of you are any better. If anything, your fixation on his crime against you has made you worse than him. Rather than using that as motivation to be a better person than him, you've let the idea of revenge consume you, and here you are, in my fucking house, on my birthday, tearing through my things and ruining two of the most beautiful paintings that Klaus made for me so that I could cope with a loss so great, that my level of pain is around the same level as yours.

"I ask you, do you really think someone so evil could do that for me? Sit in a room and paint for hours on end just to see a smile on my face when the painting is finished? Do you think I'd let someone that evil be the father of my child? He has a heart, just like all of you. He's helped me through grief, just like some of you have with your loved ones. He's saved me from death, just like some of you have with your loved ones. He's been there for me when I'm crying myself to sleep. He's kept me feeling safe after being completely violated. Do you think someone without a heart could do that?

"All of you have suffered. And that suffering turned you into monsters. He suffered, too. His childhood left him feeling that violence was the answer. A lot of you feel that way nowadays, don't you? I don't excuse what he did. I've seen every last memory. I recognize all of you. I've seen the things he compelled you to do. I've seen how he relished in your pain. And he knows that I'm not supportive of that. I've called him out on it several times, and would you look at that, he hasn't hurt an innocent person in years.

"Does he have a lot of apologizing to do? Yes, he fucking does. And he and I talk about it often, because he wants to be better. He wants to learn to be good, because good is inside of him. But who benefits in the process of killing him? Will that teach him right from wrong? No. Will that give him a way to make amends? No. Will it teach him to be respectful? No. It'll just leave him being a bitter man in Hell. It won't make you feel better, either. You know why I know that? Because when I killed Lucien Castle, it didn't take away my pain. It amplified it. I became a cold-hearted murderer in that moment. It's going to take a long time for me to feel completely safe again.

"All of you are terrible. And maybe he's worse than all of you put together. That doesn't mean he deserves to die. None of you deserved what he did to you. And I know he's sorry, even if he's too stubborn to say it. I can show you all that he felt remorse. He knew he shouldn't have done it. He wanted to apologize. And he won't get to if you kill him. None of you will get proper closure. You won't get to see him hang his head in shame and tell you that he was wrong. I would think you'd prefer that to seeing his rotten corpse."

She faced Klaus as she started to cry, then turned to Marcel. "Please," she said weakly. "I lost everything already. I can't lost him, too." She allowed herself to sob. "My venom was used to create the serum that flows through your veins. I've helped you countless times even after you had Anya killed. You owe me, Marcel. You fucking owe me."

"Death is too good for him!" Rebekah yelled, and Esmeray was thankful that even in her crazed state, she was able to find a way to keep her brother alive. "You have the means to make him suffer!"

Marcel seemed to decide what he wanted to do. "Fine then," he said, staring at Klaus. "Justice... for Klaus Mikaelson... should be a fate worse than death. So I know what I'll do. I'll take you away from those you call family. And..." he brought out Papa Tunde's blade. "I will leave this inside of you, a blade imbued with dark magic to cause you unending agony." He spoke to the crowd, "All the pain that we have felt at the hands of this man will pale in comparison to what he will soon feel for as long as I decide to let him live."

The crowd surged forward, and Esmeray bolted to Klaus, pulling him into her arms and shielding him as she felt Marcel approaching them. "I love you," she whispered as Klaus hugged her back. "I love you, I love you so much and I'm going to fix this, I promise you."

Marcel yanked Klaus away from her, and Rebekah pulled her back as the crowd restrained the Original hybrid, giving Marcel an opening to hold Papa Tunde's blade over his chest. "For Davina, Diego, Thierry, Gia, and the boy I used to be. The one you once called your son."

Esmeray gave a gasp and looked away as Klaus let out an agonized scream, the blade slipping into his chest. Rebekah started to pull her away, and she stifled a sob, watching as Marcel dragged Klaus's body away.

"I'll come back for you," she whispered. "I swear it."