a/n: This chapter is about to be controversial lmao - let me know what you're thinking with comments and votes mwahaha
Love Bea <3

Elijah and Freya carried the writhing Finn into The Compound, MJ vamping around like someone had given her a shot of adrenaline. Vincent had instantly fallen asleep in the car, body desperate to heal, and she'd carried him into his apartment, left him on the living room sofa with a potion to drink, and then rushed to meet the siblings back at the house.

"Don't leave me in here," Finn begged, "Please."

"Put him down," Elijah instructed as they lay him across the sofa.

"Hey, hey," Freya perched beside him, "You're not alone, Finn."

MJ was zipping about so quickly that it caught the attention of Kol upstairs, going to call for her, only to watch her grab boxes of ingredients and return to the courtyard.

"I'm here."

Elijah went to pull back, only for Finn to grab his arm tightly, "Don't leave."

If MJ was being honest, she hadn't actually witnessed that many werewolf bites. She'd worked on her cure for Rose from afar, she'd stayed at her apartment during Damon's potential episodes, and Caroline had always kept herself in bed to lower the risk of hallucinations ending in bloodshed.

Even when Klaus bit Elijah, she'd popped through the siphon the bite, but she hadn't watched.

After her own experience, she didn't want to watch Finn screaming for someone. She'd been screaming. She'd been violent. She'd been so out of it she hadn't been able to tell Esther from Klaus. And now, this man? This person who'd hurt her so profoundly...

Who she'd admitted to seeing as a ghost.

To leaving him to suffer once already.

MJ's brain desperately wished to go back and help him then. Seeking him out – waking him out without Esther – might have just saved them from everything else.

Back then, he'd been mouthing the exact same words.

"I – I – "

Freya was tearing up, "Why is he talking like this?"

"It's hallucinations of our betrayal," Elijah shifted in his suit, "His nightmare."

MJ tipped her ingredients onto the table, and Kol walked down the stairs.

"Well," He took in the discomfort, "He looks awful."

MJ pulled two of her ancient notebooks out of thin air. Two that usually lived at The Cauldron, flipping through the pages, daring the universe to give her a paper cut.

"Werewolf bite," He flopped onto the next sofa, leaning back, "That's got to hurt, mate."

Every word dripped with false sympathy as his hands went behind his head, stretching his arms in a way that usually would've caught MJ's attention.

"Can't imagine what you're going through."

Instantly moving on.

"So, Lucien's a bloody hybrid – "

"We don't know what he is!" Elijah corrected, pushing against Finn's body, "His venom seems to work twice as fast."

"Meaning," Freya tried to have hope, "Maybe it'll work through his system twice as fast."

"Or!" Kol sat up, "It's twice as lethal."

Pushing to his feet cheerily.

"Now – whatever shall we do if Niklaus doesn't get here in time?"

"Kol."

The sharpness of MJ's voice surprised them all.

"Siphoning didn't work."

Stillness.

"It worked on me, but it didn't – I didn't – "

Kol raised an eyebrow. He'd assumed MJ's lack of involvement was a choice. A stance she was taking to get a little salt in the wound of Finn's actions towards them, knowing she could risk doing so with Klaus on his way back to them.

"Lucien bit me."

Kol froze, "What?"

"A prick," She clarified, tying her hair up, "I siphoned, and look."

Nothing.

No marks.

No pain.

Just gone.

"So," Kol laughed, "He might actually die?"

Freya practically lept at him, palm straight across his face, "What is wrong with you?"

"Behave yourselves!" Elijah rushed to his feet, "Both of you."

Staring at them, it was a strange sight. Freya was still on the brink of collapse, hair a deranged mess, face too pale for a human, eyes bloodshot and exhausted, Elijah's panic from both the fight and the bite held in every move he made. Then Kol. Relaxed and revelling in Finn's pain, remembering every second of his hex so clearly.

Now slapped by his sister.

Turning to MJ, laying her two notebooks down, fidgeting like she might explode.

Elijah clocked her, too, "You have a theory?"

"Nope!" Her voice strained, "I have no fucking clue!"

What was the difference?

"Being a hybrid makes me more durable, but nothing that can't kill me should be able to kill you guys other than white oak, and I know you said the spell involved white oak, but – but – "

Kol's eyes jumped between her, Freya, and Elijah.

MJ spun, snapping her fingers, turning the wall on the left side of the courtyard into her display at The Cauldron.

During the summer, her ramblings, theories, and history of tracking wolf venom had all been grouped together on one wall she could stare at. Rubbing her eyes and trying to think. Trying to understand the wolf venom ripper virus.

Lucien may have recovered fast, but she'd held her own better than Elijah had.

"Even if it includes white oak," She continued, "You guys can breathe in white oak. You guys can be stabbed and still heal. It has to be direct to the heart, and he bit him in the neck, so I don't – "

"Isn't this a familiar sight," Klaus strolled in, "Not necessarily one I enjoy, but quite the scene."

MJ pushed her fingers through her hair, turning her back to the foyer.

"Interesting reorganisation of teams," Klaus raised an eyebrow, "You have a cure here."

"It didn't work."

Klaus stilled.

MJ let herself face him, their eyes locked.

Watching as he tried not to let anything change on his face. MJ wished she couldn't read him so well. Couldn't see him processing her declaration. Couldn't see him flashing with concern for her, swallowing it down to be replaced with intrigue. Eyebrows lifting to goad.

He was trying to play with the part of her that he knew couldn't handle failure.

He was trying to make her hurt.

Bait her into biting back so they could hold a conversation again. Because they both knew that even if they hated each other, they craved each other's voices. Each other's minds. The balance they technically were, as the two cures. The two hybrids.

Left unresponded to, his cockiness faltered.

Forced to face how scared she was.

Elijah stepped in their eyeline as he registered the shift.

Swallowing, "Our brother needs us."

Turning to the groaning Finn on the sofa, eyes far away from them, water pouring down his cheeks as his skin grew paler. Klaus's shoulders dropped at Elijah's shaking tone. Freya's entire state...Nearly all his family in one room, in agony, lost for an answer.

He walked to Finn, rolling up his sleeve, biting so his eldest brother wouldn't have to, feeding him the blood.

Kol narrowed his eyes, Freya letting relief hit her like a truck, Elijah torn in the middle.

MJ was unable to stop the sinking in her gut. Watching as Finn rested back, eyes fluttering shut and the mark starting to heal. So it was just her?

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kol asked her.

Moving all attention back to MJ.

"M?"

"I feel fine," Her voice high, "Maybe he didn't get any venom in me?"

She'd felt fangs.

"Just a graze?"

Eyes back on the notes. On the scribbles now pinned to the walls. Taking in every annotation she'd ever made to spells and research documents. So much of MJ's work on werewolves had started from Klaus. From learning, he was a cure. He'd been the one to get her tracking wolves. She'd just turned that into tracking venom and family lines. Devising a way to separate the strands – reactions that told her which strands came from where and how to classify them.

How much reading she'd done on dementia.

On the nervous system.

On genes and how minuscule differences could make so much difference – like how ginger hair affected your pain relief dosage. How different ethnicities caught different diseases at different rates. It felt unrelated, but it meant something. It helped her identify just why different strands couldn't be treated the same when purified.

Different species...

In the box MJ had brought down was the vial Pri had given her as a sample for Lucien's cure. There was a vial of it at her apartment, too, and she knew Pri had the rest of the sample stored somewhere for safekeeping, but MJ hadn't had time to actually work out what was cure versus Pri's blood.

"Thank you," Finn slowly reopened his eyes, "Brother."

Freya was back by his side, "How are you feeling?"

"I feel..." Finn lifted his head, "Strangely euphoric."

Klaus grinned, "I've been known to have that effect on people."

"Name one person," Kol was glaring at them, "Who has ever said that?"

"Your girlfriend," He snarked, "When her specialist diet gets the better of her."

"Because your mother had an affair," MJ spoke flatly.

Any bonus energy rush came from him being The Original Hybrid, not because of some stupid universe connection. That whole narrative needed to die. MJ had practically killed it! She'd betrayed him! She'd done the big bad, awful thing!

"Nothing to do with you."

Kol's hand found her side, hyperaware of Finn's eyes on them, Freya joining him on the sofa. 

"Time to head home?" He pressed a kiss to her temple, "Rest up?"

MJ let her arm loop with his, but she couldn't look away.

"Darling?"

"I – "

Before the thought could leave her lips, Finn fell into an intense coughing fit, lurching towards the other side of the sofa, the smell of blood hitting the air – smelling sour. Old. Out of date. Black veins moved like a snake under his skin, wrapping around each limb, then vanishing after reaching his cheeks; Klaus forced to hold him steady.

"Finn."

"What's happening?" Elijah's hands were on his shoulders, "What's wrong with him?"

Rage overtook any thought of sense left in Finn's mind, wound reforming on his neck.

"His body," Freya's heartbeat filled their ears, "It's dying."

"Not possible," Klaus declared, "I cured him!"

Finn's hand shot to Elijah's hold, clawing at it, "Freya – "

"Siphoning didn't work," Kol's bravado dipped, "And, it seems...neither do you."

THE WITCHES
One Day, MJ Will Get a Day Off

"It's going to be alright," Freya pleaded, "Brother – we'll fix this."

MJ's bones were ice. She'd been given a minute to breathe and read. To believe Klaus had been able to cure him, but now there was no freedom to think. Now there was just brown battling red for control of Finn's eyes, and Elijah's breathing heavy, trying to keep him down before he could lash out and hurt somebody.

"Okay," Freya trembled, "Someone fetch my pendant."

"It won't work," Kol rushed out, "The ancestors."

"They locked him in the body," MJ realised, "And not in the nice way I did."

So he couldn't body jump to hide from them.

"They did a full binding of body and soul."

Freya spun, rising from his side to them, "We've got to try!"

The expression on her face was one MJ recognised. Crazed and unblinking. And she didn't even blame Freya for looking that way. The ancestors had brought him back, hexed him, then created Lucine to bite him?

It didn't make sense!

Well, actually, it confirmed MJ's earlier point. He'd been revived like a cattle for slaughter. A test subject for a grander scheme, her entire posture turning sharp. They'd killed four witches to create a test subject. They'd killed four witches to scare them. Four people. To fearmonger.

"There's no Other Side," Her glare cutting, "And the ancestors won't accept his spirit!"

MJ agreed.

"Undo it," Klaus turned on MJ, "Your witches locked him in. Undo it!"

MJ's breath caught.

"You've broken a hex before."

"Very different circumstances!" Kol stepped closer, "Or have you forgotten she had to slit her throat."

"I don't even have that magic anymore," MJ reminded them, "I'm not a host! I can't force it to do that."

Even if the stone still hung from her neck.

"And with Cami's uncle, I wiped all magic from his body!"

And he'd still ended up dying.

"If I do that to Finn," MJ spun back to the wall, "He dies."

There had to be a way.

She vamped to the box, pulling out Pri's blood, "Try this."

"What is it?" Freya snatched.

"Lucien's cure for a normal bite."

It was instantly tipped down Finn's neck, only for him to spit it back out, red pouring out his eyes, the rabidness growing that much worse – Klaus shoving his wrist back into Finn's mouth for the momentary release.

"No," Finn fought back, teeth tearing, "Freya."

Looking around desperately.

"Don't leave me!"

The siblings all shared a look as he flopped into the fabric. Waiting for something worse. Waiting for the scale to tip back towards violence, only for Finn to throw himself to his knees, yanking his hair like his tears burnt.

"I don't want to be alone."

Freya was with him. Left of the floor. Crying as she took his hand, pressing into his side. Elijah took the other a moment later, Klaus standing behind, watching on. Watching Kol and MJ, MJ's heartbeat was loud in all of their ears as she tried not to stare at Klaus's bleeding wrist. She hadn't eaten. She'd healed everyone, and she'd had the car journey to rest, but she was hungry and stressed, and the blood – and the werewolf bite – and Klaus –

He walked towards the trio, a hand on his eldest brother's shoulder.

A brother who was going to die.

"Finn," Freya sobbed, "We're here."

He started to see them, some part of Klaus's blood giving him momentary clarity.

MJ's eyes jumped to Kol, watching as he refused to watch. As he wished himself to enjoy the suffering. To return to the mentality of 'the solution is only a few minutes away' rather than face real death. Real loss. A loss that might actually mean something to him.

That might put him back on the balcony or Roussaeus, trying to understand what humanity actually meant. How could you hate someone and still be hurt by them? How could you feel guilty? How could the stinging of Freya's slap be such a stark wake-up call when the man had literally hexed him to die!

He didn't deserve Kol's mourning.

But there wasn't a solution.

There wasn't a path that didn't end with a mourning household.

A mourning family.

Her family.

MJ's family.

MJ's mind. MJ's work. MJ's projects were nearly four years in the making. She'd been ready to break the Crescent Curse; Davina had just gotten there first. All those summer projects had taken months, but they'd been ready! Her dummy threat about breaking the sire line had worked the second she'd gotten the final ingredient, but those weren't the only two things she'd been doing – the blood – Rebekah and the sire line and Ryos's research, and all the witches and their spells and their documents she'd needed to study – but Rebekah –

Klaus's bleeding wrist.

It wasn't her exhaustion that kept her staring at it.

A bleeding wrist.

"We are here," Freya held on tighter, "I'm here, brother."

Family.

Finn's eyes met Kol's, "Please..."

"You are not alone," Freya spoke with ferocity, "I am with you. Okay?"

MJ begged her body to move.

"I will always be with you."

The tip of her tongue.

A week of thoughts on the tip of her tongue never fully realised, staring at Klaus's bleeding arm and thinking about every time she'd ever been bitten.

"Oh my god."

She vanished, leaving the siblings in a rush of confused emotions, Finn's mobility gone. Still watching Kol. He stared at the wall of writings, no idea what Lucien had done to create his new bite, but knowing his girlfriend.

He raced up the stairs after her, MJ rooting through a door, chucking things behind her.

"M?"

"They don't get to win!" She pulled two pages out, "They don't get to do this to people."

Her spirits, killing four just for the chance to kill another.

Screaming at her about how she didn't understand!

That stupid Creole phrase telling her that the baby needed to die.

"I – I – "

Her shoulders locked.

MJ found the specific vial she'd been looking for, rushing back to her feet.

"Mira – "

"I think I can save him."

Kol stilled.

"I – I – " Her breaths quick, "I have an idea."

One she'd been working on all summer.

"But Kol," She lowered her voice, "I won't."

His entire face went slack.

"If you want him dead – "

"What are you planning?"

"Nothing deadly," She promised, "And it might not even work. Or I might not be fast enough – but if I am, and if I'm right?"

Silence.

The charms on the room only let the bare minimum of street life drift in, none of the sobbing downstairs, the cries of pain, or anything to let the group hear their conversation. That's why MJ had left. She could've summoned it, but she needed them alone and protected.

"...Mira..."

"I won't do it," She steadied, "Kol."

For the first time, MJ felt an odd amount of clarity.

"He has done nothing but hurt you."

The memory of his daggered spirit begging for help while she turned away.

"You were in just as much, if not more pain, and now – "

"Save him."

MJ's lips parted in surprise.

"If you think you can – "

She was back in The Courtyard, Freya buried in her brother's chest, too scared to let the rest of the world exist because that would mean it wasn't a dream. That she hadn't been given her brother back, only to watch him die.

Hold him in her arms, unable to do anything to stop it.

Reminding MJ just how often she'd been in that position over the years.

Elijah and Klaus tensed as MJ summoned a large rock, slamming it into the table, six pages floating around her, scanning for specific words as she pulled more ingredients out of nothingness. Letting a grinding bowl work as the vial she'd grabbed was opened and poured.

Its shimmering was the only thing making it clear it wasn't blood.

Holding the massive rock in one hand over the bowl as it turned.

"Pouvwa Domini Nostri."

A spell she'd meant to have ready for Christmas, only to be distracted by everything.

"Pouvwa Domini Nostri."

Stepping back, the rock floated over the bowl.

MJ pulled a string of beads out of her box, wrapping it firmly around her hands, not letting herself look at the distraught expression on The Mikaelsons' faces as Finn's breathing slowed.

As they started to see paper-white appear around the neckline of his top.

A colour that had invaded Kol.

A mark still over his heart, making him hyperaware of every sound and smell, MJ letting that rage fuel her. The ancestors had hurt him. The ancestors had made Lucien. The ancestors had possessed Vincent to mess with her –

"Phasmatos Kleidí Tis Zoís Veras."

Finn was wearing a top.

She was calling it a top.

It was definitely a jumper, but he'd worn it as a top, and he was dying –

"Anaírese To Aíma Mageía Desimo."

Because he didn't know better!

Because he's still been shivering, with a hoodie over it, freezing! Because he didn't know what food to eat or what to drink, he'd practically only been a vampire in their era for a week. Dead before they discovered things other than blood to keep them warm.

Because she hadn't let herself talk to someone asking for help.

"Phasmatos Kleidí Tis Zoís Veras."

Kol was at the bottom of the stairs, feet slowly at the phrases, trying to place them.

"Anaírese To Aíma Mageía Desimo."

As her fingers drifted into the bowl, turning red themselves, cuts started to form across her wrist, dripping her own blood into it. Pressing her palms into the metal, turning cooler as she chanted, head tilting back like a force was holding it there – pulling on magic threaded into her bloodline.

Part of her history.

Burnt into nature after two thousand years, rewritten in languages to merge each family strand.

"Phasmatos Kleidí Tis Zoís Veras."

"Mira – " Klaus watched her eyes bleed, "Stop."

"Anaírese To Aíma Mageía Desimo."

The bowl burst into gold fire, raging loud enough to drown out all of their panic, then vanishing. The beads in MJ's hand melted into something new. A uniquely crafted piece of jewellery, shaped from the rarest ingredients, often thought to be lost in time, found after a series of complicated emails from MiMi Pasare, Rebekah collecting and mailing to her.

"Phasmatos Kleidí Tis Zoís Veras."

A spell meant to be a Christmas present for a very different family member.

"Anaírese To Aíma Mageía Desimo."

Every light in the room exploded, the ground around MJ's work cracking in a spiral as her eyes turned purple, grabbing the rock before it could crash into the mixture.

Her arms were traced with orange and gold, hair almost floating.

She was channelling the dead, but she wasn't channelling the ancestors. She'd never needed them. It was what made MJ so terrifying to them. Mira Jung Floare-Ruiz could let her blood carry her. Drawing so directly on one woman she was practically possessed – blessed by her.

Given her grimoire – allowed to carry her knowledge.

MJ gasped back to reality, free of the blessing the minute she moved, snatching her concoction from the table, sending the siblings flying back with a look, holding Finn up to tip it down his throat herself. Watching as desiccation travelled up his neck, eyes rolling in his head like it was too late.

"What are you doing?" Freya screeched, scrambling back, "He needed us – "

MJ stepped back as his body thumped to the floor, two fingers up to silence her.

Panting.

Staring at the body.

Watching that paper white.

Watching as his eyes shut.

"He's..." Elijah tearing up, "He's actually dead."

"Wait for it."

Klaus and Kol pinned on MJ's unmoving body.

Directly over Finn's body.

Staring like she couldn't see the shattered glass and exploded candles around them, the cracks on the floor, or any of the mess. Only Finn's body.

"It was ready."

His closed eyes.

"It had to be – "

His paper skin regained colour, hitting MJ with a rush of energy, the smile of a madman as she dropped to her knees, hand over the bite mark, the smell in the air changing. Not sour and sickly, but tempting. Full of taste. Bleeding even faster, nothing inside of Finn fighting to stitch it up – just a tear in his throat from a vampire-wolf imitation.

"Yǎoshāng Yùhé."

Fingers pressed into it, watching how his body flinched under the pressure.

"Yǎoshāng Yùhé."

Watching it close up.

"Mira," Kol spoke, "What did you just do?"

"The cure to the bite," Klaus stared at her wall of sheets, "You'd always been looking for an alternate."

"I didn't cure it."

Freya's face was locked in shock, more tears forming, feeling that it was a fake-out about to be revealed by the woman who'd destroyed Klaus's sire line.

"I would need a pure sample of his venom to cure it."

Everyone was too scared to move.

Still just staring at the body.

Not sure what to do.

"Do you know what makes a wolf bite deadly?"

"The venom," Elijah answered.

"No."

Spinning in her rash state caused the wind to shove them all back, Kol by the stairs behind her, the trio even further from the huddle of love they'd momentarily created. Family together to ensure that if this was Finn's last moment alive, he would feel loved.

Fuck The Mikaelsons and how impossible they made it for her.

How much she'd craved that.

"The sun, the white oak, the bite of a wolf, the invitation to a house," MJ listed, "Esther replicated the life of the sun, so the spirits weaponised it back at you."

Seventeen and trying to prove the Aztec Curse was fake.

"She channelled the white oak, so it became what could kill you."

Her seventeen-year-old self so aware of the universe.

"She was trying to protect you from werewolves!"

Of how changing nature came with consequences.

"So their bites turned to venom!"

Every puzzle piece since she'd met Elijah was falling into place.

"I started collecting venom like my life depended on!"

Because she'd made a deal with Damon.

Tyler got to live if she could give Damon a way to survive a bite.

Because he'd lost Rose, and for a second, there might have been someone he would've been happy with who wasn't Elena, and now he'd locked himself in a coffin. And Stefan was travelling the world without Caroline. And Caroline had babies who needed a mother – who couldn't die on them. No new upgraded Original was about to take that away from them!

"And how did I do that?" She faced Klaus, "As the person there to watch me."

"You cut their mouths," Elijah answered.

"Of the ones you killed," She was still looking at Klaus, "How did I get venom from the hybrids?"

"You let them bite you."

Freya was still trembling.

Finn was still unconscious, but they could see his chest moving.

They could hear a heartbeat. Not the mimic of one, but a firm beat.

"They bit you," Klaus repeated, "Because you were human."

"And humans are immune."

With a snap of MJ's fingers, Finn gasped awake.

"I didn't cure the bite."

Facing the man.

His hands grabbed the uneven stones beneath him, taking in each of their faces as the world spun. He could see Kol walking closer – MJ's back – arms lifted, body turned to Klaus, forcing her eyes to acknowledge Freya and Elijah. To let them see her panting. Her frail arms, body almost shrinking now the ghosts guiding her were gone.

What had seemed like a simple spell had drained her more than the rest of the day.

"I cured the vampirism."

The massive rock? Silas's headstone, containing Qetsiyah's calcified blood.

The vial? The sample Bonnie had given her.

The necklace? The ingredients that didn't exist anymore were crafted that way to preserve them by an ancient tribe who refused to convert to modern standards.

The pages surrounding her ripped from her summer work and Qetsiyah's Grimoire.

Qetisyah's spirit had found her. Helped her one more time.

"Happy human lifetime, Finn Mikaelson."

Arms out to bow.

Like she was still on that driveway the night of The Mikaelson Ball.

Staring right up at him on that balcony.

"Do. Not. Forget," MJ stood straighter than ever, "You owe every second of it to me."

Watching as he reached for the nearest knife to cut through his own hand.

Staring as it didn't instantly heal.

Everyone's eyes on MJ.

Watching as she was overcome with laughter.

It had actually worked.

She'd actually done it.

The ancestors had sacrificed four people to use a man as a test subject, to scare them into submission, and then he hadn't even died! She'd figured it out!

"That's what I'm talking about!"

Bouncing as she yanked her ponytail down.

"Ooohhh, they wanna make this a fight?"

Shaking the roots out and continuing to giggle.

"Let's go!"

Spinning, prideful, and glaring at the sky, knowing how many people were watching.

"You think I can't outloophole anything you throw at me?"

Forcing the energy-zapping across her skin to still as she faced the trio again.

"Let this be a reminder," Her tone dark, "Never doubt me."

Within a week, MJ had performed two spells considered impossible.

"Ever again."

"Bloody hell," Kol laughed himself, "You're brilliant."

Hearing his voice sobered her up.

She'd won.

She'd done it.

They hadn't gotten some sacrifice. They wouldn't be able to use the death of an Original to boost some other attack or plan. They'd been thwarted by her –

MJ's hands whacked out, a ripple rushing through the air, batting any New Orleans spirits from the house.

Making sure they couldn't hear.

"I need to phone Bonnie," She panicked, "Mierda – shit."

"What's wrong?" Elijah pulled himself together the fastest, "Mira – "

"I can't do that again," She admitted, "I mean, I can, but some of those ingredients?"

A pop caused the family to jump, Finn entirely speechless as he processed what had happened. Only to be even more freaked as a second MJ spawned off the first, kneeling by the coffee table to write out exactly what she'd done, used, and said, leaving the original to keep talking.

"Bonnie gave me a sample of the cure before Elena took it," MJ-1 explained, "She has one too."

A third MJ splinted, the original tossing her their phone as she started to dial.

"I just used mine, meaning I have nothing to use as the base anymore."

No answer; MJ-3 tried a different phone number.

Bonnie had been weirdly M.I.A. since Damon's letters, and MJ *jazz hands* didn't like that.

But she was also a bit occupied.

"I need hers, as many of the ingredients my supplier is still willing to offer – "

Getting the beads had been a summer-long process!

"And I need a ton of Bennett blood," Hers included, "To create a literal pot. So I can make vials. 'Cos, right now, until Bonnie answers her phone and agrees to send me her sample, we're screwed."

MJ-2 moved her paper to the left, appearing by the wall of ramblings to start picking pages off.

"And assuming you all don't want the cure to be the result here," MJ-2 spoke, "We still need an actual answer to the bite."

"Exactly," MJ-1 agreed, "I mean...technically, I can now use Finn's blood to find something to use as the base for a human cure, but that means shifting other ingredients."

The cure was now in him.

If someone drank from him, they'd be cured, and he'd die.

"Warnings!" MJ-2 pointed, "Vampire blood will no longer work."

They all knew what had 'killed' Katherine.

"If you are drained entirely of blood, you will wake up, but the next week or so will end with your body ageing to a thousand rapidly."

"The cure to the bite," MJ-1 snapped her fingers, "Focus."

MJ-2 rolled her eyes and returned to the board, trying to find anything she'd written on a scientific werewolf cure. If Lucien had used science to make his cure, MJ could guess what he'd done to upgrade himself using anything Freya or Vincent remembered about the spell, combined with her science –

"There we go."

"Oh my god," Freya's eyes widened. "What is happening?"

"I've died and gone to heaven," Kol was giddy, "Mira."

"Keep it in your pants!" She pointed at him, "I'm trying to keep track of things."

MJ-3 finally got someone to pick up, "Enzo!"

Walking out of the room and into the kitchen.

"There are three of you," Finn was swaying, "What – "

"You need to go to bed," MJ instructed, "You're human. You need rest."

People always crashed after wolf bites, even once they were healed.

"Klaus needs to tell us what he found out about Lucien. Elijah can get The Strix on the hunt for him, and Kol will help me figure out how to do that again."

"Mira," Elijah was still staring at the second version of her, "I...This..."

"This is what it's like in my head," She summarised, "I realised I could keep track of things better during a crisis by just...letting each train of thought do its own thing.

Leaking power again.

That realisation almost made her hesitate. Why had she dropped so much power out of the city? Surely the ancestors would be trying to weaken her? Was the baby doing it? Was it so tied to New Orleans it only boosted her within it?

Whatever, for now, the power boost was useful.

"Like literally. This is an oddly accurate version of my mind," MJ let herself relax slightly, "Three projects going on, one tied to phoning Mystic Falls, one in research mode, the other dealing with all of you."

She snorted, really taking in the room.

"It's even got," MJ pointed to the relevant brother, "The Kol monologue that reminds me I'm awesome."

And that she could just kill all her problems.

"And the Klaus voice listing off all my flaws."

Phrasing them as praise, you could make them all kneel.

Until she did something he didn't like, and suddenly, she wasn't welcome in the household!

...She'd broken his sire line.

"Make one for me?" Kol hopped over the back of the sofa.

MJ drifted to him, "That wouldn't be helpful."

"I think it would be brilliantly helpful," He wrapped his arms around her legs, resting his cheek against her hip, "I'd be entertained for days."

"And I'd lose my concentration," She brushed his hair back, "Look."

MJ-2 had frozen like a video game character failing to load.

Kol released her, hands up cheekily, watching as it started to move again, pilling the pages MJ had wanted neatly onto the table and then popping out of existence.

MJ winced slightly, Kol back on his feet to still her.

"You need rest," He realised.

"I'm fine."

MJ-3 returned, vanishing into nothingness.

"Enzo is passing the message on to Bonnie."

Blackspots filled her vision as her high died. Making a cure hadn't been easy. She'd been riding adrenaline and fear and her deep-rooted issues with failing, but now?

"Um..."

"An hour," Kol decided, "Minimum."

"Until we have a second way to save you – "

"We won't be leaving the house," Elijah cut her off, "And Lucien can't get in."

That was technically true.

Still, MJ looked at Kol, unsure.

She'd used her Hail Mary solution on Finn...

If any of them were bitten, she didn't have the ingredients, and who knew what would happen then.

"Rest, Mira."

Her eyes met Klaus once more.

He held the look for a second before his lips turned into a thin line, turning to watch Freya inspect Finn instead. Running a hand over her brother's face, scanning for any trace of vampirism, venom, or anything that meant the solution was too good to be true.

"Okay," MJ didn't want to look at him.

She didn't want to have to acknowledge that Klaus now hated her or that part of her hated him.

"An hour."

She couldn't investigate much until Bonnie or Vincent got back to her anyway.

Kol took her hand to lead her away.

"Thank you."

Her heart jumped at Finn's voice.

"I am going to assume," He was quiet, "You had that on hand for someone who deserved it a lot more than me."

Rebekah.

Stefan.

Aaryan.

MJ cleared her throat, "Just a little bit."

"Thank you."

Kol swallowed, looking between them, MJ wanting to disappear. They'd been raging about how they wouldn't let Finn jump into another body, they wouldn't let him get to have it all, and then she'd cured him?

"Today," Finn held Freya, "I saw a glimpse of your coveted 'Always and Forever.'"

Klaus and Elijah so close to his side.

"And..." He didn't know what else to say, "Thank you."

Five Mikaelson's in one place, for the first time in god knows how long.

If only Rebekah was there.

At least, now, there was a chance MJ could actually see Freya reunited with her whole family one day.

"All of you."

"What a precious family moment," Kol's tone flat, "Pardon me while I gauge my eyes out with a hot poker."

Marching up the stairs in a huff, instantly breaking the bubble.

Not that his siblings were surprised, watching MJ follow after, straight into his bedroom, clearly wanting space. The magic room was their happy place – where they'd go to be nerds together. Kol's room a place of rest and slight emptiness. Not enough items littered about to let either of them feel an inch of claustrophobia.

His body landed on the oversized puff chair in the corner, staring towards the balcony doors.

"God," MJ groaned, falling into his lap, "I missed you today."

Fingers slipped around the buttons of his shirt, undoing the two centre ones so her arms could slide under the fabric and feel his skin. Brush away the slight scratch of the mark on his heart and bring heat to the surface.

"I'm sorry for going without you."

Kol's arms settled around her waist, lips against her forehead. Letting her hear how a panic seemed to spread through his body, heartbeat picking up, hitting a peak, then carefully slowing down the longer he looked at her sitting there. Entirely okay.

"I'm sorry I saved him."

"Mira," His eyes softened, "I told you to do it."

MJ would never done it without that 'okay.'

Shuffling up to place a hand on the nook of his neck, gazing gently.

Not needing to ask why but reminding him that she was there.

"Freya's mourning would've destroyed you."

"Don't make this about me."

His hand lifted carefully, running a finger down the centre of her face.

"Kol..."

"You never should have asked me," His thumb rested on her chin, "The old you would have just saved him."

"The old me also thought leaving you in Mexico was the right call."

"She was incredibly stubborn."

"She also saw right through you."

He lifted an amused eyebrow.

"Maybe the rest of the house will start to see it too."

"Darling," Kol dropped his hand, "Can I make you a vow?"

Her lips twitched, "A vow?"

"I refuse to ever become the person who chips away at your humanity."

The thing making her question her actions against what she did to please his family. 

"Switch compelled or not," He rubbed her side, "I'm never going to ask you to do something that might make you feel empty."

"Avenging you wouldn't feel like that."

"Freya's face afterwards would have."

"So," She tested, "We're really gonna pretend this isn't because you didn't want your sister to be in pain?"

Kol started to tap two beats against her hip.

"I'm sorry she's...they're like this..."

He smiled, "I don't need their 'always and forever.'"

A genuine Kol smile was still such a rare sight when they weren't alone.

"I have ours."

"I will always be yours," She repeated, "Forever."

"And they can gain sympathy for him while judging me as much as they want," He shrugged, "I'm winning."

MJ laughed.

"There is no better way to be avenged," He repeated her points, "Than to prove everything they have ever said about me wrong."

"And here I thought you'd die telling me off for that attitude."

"I think there's a middle ground to letting witches mistreat you versus ignoring their attempts to play family now they realise they have no one."

MJ raised an eyebrow.

"MJ," Kol chuckled, "This entire city was looking for you."

If she was honest, MJ didn't believe that.

It didn't feel real.

She'd been in that basement, and it was hard not to imagine the same 'she can handle it' conversations taking place.

"Three people cared about Klaus."

She buried her face into his chest.

"I know how that realisation feels."

Dying and only seeing two people care.

"And while they panic, I get to say you're my girlfriend?" He gloated, "I've won!"

"As much as I want to joke about the day you get to say your wife."

Ko's eyes widened in panic.

"We both know you don't want anyone in your family to actually die."

He exhaled slowly.

"You don't want to live in their pockets, but you enjoy knowing they're out there."

If he wasn't going to say it, she would.

She would scream it from every rooftop until his siblings realised how lucky they were to have him.

How kind he truly was underneath the chaos and sarcasm.

"Something funny," MJ half-changed the subject, "I'd lowkey forgotten how different a human heart sounds."

"Making you question your title?" He teased, "Should I switch to calling you mi alma instead."

My soul.

"Because you're right," Kol liked being honest sometimes, "It wasn't about you."

Words easier to say when he could pretend she'd forced it out of him.

"Looking at you reminds me what I want, and, as much as I hate them all."

The little scene was too close to his almost death for either of their liking.

"I didn't want to be his murderer."

MJ kissed his cheek lightly.

"No matter how much he'd deserve it."

Brushing her nose over the spot.

He looked disgusted, "Help me hide from that admission?"

"What do you wanna think about instead?"

"I want to think about how, one day, we're going to live in a place with a skylight," He pitched, "So we can lie in bed, and I can talk your ear off about all the stupid stories I know about stars."

MJ kissed him properly, then tilted her head back.

"Preitori Speculo."

The ceiling above them turned see-through, revealing the night sky. The fact she'd somehow been between Mystic Falls and New Orleans twice that day felt impossible. But there they were, day to night, cradled with the love of her life.

"Talk away."

~***~

Elijah stood in his bedroom. It didn't feel particularly lived in, perhaps a family trait. Maybe something left over from their life of fleeing. The few personal items spotted about almost taunting. Maci's spare clothes, a few bangles on the side table, a book she'd brought back to the city with her, leaving it on the side for him.

It wasn't as intricate as the scrapbooks MJ made Hope, hence his hesitation to use the word.

It was more like a diary.

She carried a book with photos of them from the eras post cameras, dated and named, to help them track the universe. Important memories were written out, Elijah seeking her out in every moment of conflict, knowing his mind only stilled in her presence. With her voice.

In front of his window, phone to his ear, staring at the apartment across the road.

Hayley moved back into The Compound, the road between them still feeling like the gut punch it had always been. Yet craving Maci's voice.

"Elijah?" She sounded surprised.

"You didn't wish to drop the White Oak off yourself?"

"If this is an accusation," She mused, "I am the one who extracted Lucien's name from Soyfa's lips. And Pria informed me of what Niklaus and Hayley discovered – "

"Oh, it goes beyond Niklaus and Hayley."

Maci didn't respond.

"Today, Lucien kidnapped my sister and used the Regent to create something new," He was listening to her breathing, "His bite is so lethal that Niklaus's blood no longer heals it."

"What?"

Trying not to feel too relieved at her reaction, "Mira pulled a solution together, but it was potentially a one-time achievement."

A deep breath.

"Lucien now walks as a living way to end my family."

"And where is Lucien?"

"You would know before I."

Quiet.

"Lina..."

"Elijah," She stopped him, "Why are you calling me?"

A beat.

"To double check, I am not the traitor you know I never would be?"

"I feel like I am losing a part of myself every day."

The lights in the theatre she slept in were off, moonlight illuminating the space between the stairs where Maci stood, Elijah watching the street lights below. There was a difference between quiet and silence. Both could be confused. Both could be filled with something else. But quiet was soft, while silence was scared.

After spending the day with Finn? Realising his theories about Kol's humanity had been correct? MJ's rage the reminder that he'd chosen to do nothing. Finn's voice was a smack in the face.

He didn't resent Finn for wanting to leave. He resented him for being more honest than he had ever let himself be.

"...Niklaus is so close to something beautiful."

"And what about you?"

His voice broke, "I don't know."

"You do."

His eyes shut, listening to her, pure comfort in the proof of her existence.

"I can't tell you how to act."

She'd technically sent him back to Klaus.

To Mystic Falls.

She'd carried the hope he'd lost surrounding his family.

"What happens next? Who you choose to be? Is entirely on you."

"I don't want, Hayley, Lina," He declared, "I learnt of your actions, and my heart was pulled in two. And no matter how hard I try to hate you, I look at the love in my life – the pure love. And you are the only person I can think about."

She looked around the theatre.

A place she'd technically invested in for them.

So they could stay with his family but still be surrounded by something they loved.

"The only person I have ever simply loved as me."

So many lovers tied to Klaus, history, or to make himself feel big. The Strix and Aya were so tied to a version of himself who thought he could hand-pick people to make the world better. As if their accomplishments would fill the growing emptiness in his heart. As if that was real love.

"You are the one thing I am sure of."

"Am I?"

Elijah's eyes opened.

"Have you been together yet?"

No response.

"Do as you need, Elijah," Maci exhaled, "Chase every love that comes to you. Because Elijah Mikaelson, in love, is the best Elijah Mikaelson to live."

She had lived through the Katerina era.

"And that man might remember who I believe him to be."

Hearing his point?

Maci didn't want to be the only stability he had.

She wanted him to be happy.

"Not who he thinks he must become to enable everyone else."

They'd been in that position before. Maci bidding him off to live his life while she lived hers.

Pretending that their choices wouldn't affect each other.

Since returning to the city, she'd been more open with her feelings concerning him than in any previous century. He'd heard her cry for her family, love strangers, and fall into a million passionate things –

"Elijah – "

"And if we are to die?"

She'd asked why he'd called.

"I will not pass on allowing you to believe you are not what I dream of," Elijah needed her to know, "When I hold onto my hope for humanity and everything curious and beautiful about being alive."

Because Maci was wrong.

He wasn't saying it in a spiral of panic.

Determined for her to see, she had never been the second choice.

"I do not want anything in response; I simply needed you to know that."

Hanging up.

Still paranoid and scared and unable to stop himself from falling down the hypocritical rabbit hole. But needing Maci's voice to remind him that there might be light at the end of the tunnel. That she was out there, to be found and adored, once he'd figured out who he was meant to be when Klaus no longer needed him.

Proof that, if he wanted to, he could just be happy.

~***~

MJ had let Kol doze off, always finding their sleep patterns funny. Despite when he deliberately woke up to sort breakfast after a long week, their typical pattern was him falling asleep after her, MJ waking up, kissing him on the cheek, whispering what she'd left for him, before slipping off to work. He would always be a night owl, a faithful creature of the dark, while she would always need to see specific hours of sunlight, or she'd become a crazy person.

Yet, that night, he'd fallen asleep, and she'd left him in the chair, moving the blanket over his cold arms, and performed a few checks.

While her potion was making it possible for him to drink blood, Kol still had a mark on his heart. Everything seemed to be manageable. But there was white paper skin over the section of his chest protecting his heart, tiny black veins visible in the skin, not growing, but not going away. No spell she could chant to hide them. A taunting threat.

Knowing that he was hypersensitive to heartbeats because of it.

Once he was tucked in, MJ crept downstairs, most of the house quiet.

Was there any point in working?

It wasn't work! MJ was just converting the space, ready for her the following day. She wouldn't be able to sleep unless she had a direction to go in despite the very vague text from Bonnie saying her sample was on its way.

Technically, that was the only information MJ needed, but after their recent closeness, it felt off.

She and Enzo were apparently learning more about The Armory, Tyler messaging her about some weird basement vault full of power. Something she didn't want him near, and something he wasn't about to try messing with without her, handing the task over to Bonnie – his words, Bonnie being vague.

MJ had dragged the kitchen table into the room, positioning it in front of the wall, a map of New Orleans over one spot, the lower coffee table on her left, chemistry set out, starting the long process of venom separation. Boxes of samples she'd never analysed because it was easier to simply track its origins on a map without the complete dissection.

"An hour," A male voice caught her attention.

Finn had showered and changed, now holding a cup of something creating steam, standing in the kitchen doorway, watching her set it all up.

"Almost exactly."

"An hour fifteen," She corrected, "I got my rest."

He didn't seem to buy it.

"I'll sleep in a minute."

Summoning a pen to start marking spots on the map. Wanting to look at the pentagram Sam and Pri had pointed out. They'd theorised Lucien had been working with at least one witch, but the entire ancestral plane? Why? What could he give them?

Killing The Mikaelson's was too small.

Especially without one of the sire lines. The goal to destroy all vampires was officially pointless, and while revenge probably was enough motivation, it just felt...underwhelming?

The pattern of things since October was 'think bigger than The Mikaelson's.'

Levi Ajan targeting her over them. The Strix being obsessed with MJ, targeting city witches, not city vampires, for potential memberships. But Lucien's motivation was The Mikaelsons. He wanted to kill them – so what did the spirits get from that?

"I just wanted to repeat my earlier thanks," Finn approached her cautiously, "You were quite dismissive."

"Some advice," Her pen was a purple glitter one, "No one has to accept your apologies or thanks."

The Kai Dilemma.

"You mean it? You'll prove it."

"Is it fair for me to be slightly surprised," He watched how she scanned, "That you did it?"

"I've said this enough times recently," MJ clicked her lips, "We don't know each other."

While she'd let Kol make the choice, was it out of character to save him?

"Saving people I hate to prove that I am better than them is lowkey my move."

#DamonSalvatore.

Though, he had started to do it back in places.

People could probably write books on the complexities of the pair's love-hate relationship.

"Don't think it means anything."

He just held his mug tighter.

"No offence."

What was she meant to say to him?

"I mean," MJ couldn't stop herself, "I made myself clear earlier."

Finn let his head bob.

"Everyone deserves to have heaven and earth moved for them at least once."

"You said you could've made that about me."

"I'm surprised," She retorted, "You haven't already asked the obvious."

"My first death."

"I would've stopped it."

"When you came back," Finn stepped away from the table, "You walked in and announced you got stuck on The Other Side because you went looking for Kol."

"And you," MJ leant on the table, "I said that aloud."

Her words had been about more than just Matt.

She'd always been smart enough to hold two conversations at once.

Often three.

"I went looking for both of you."

He shifted, "You were going to offer me the choice to come back."

"Let me guess," MJ smiled, "Esther left that part out?"

Finn had clearly known about Esther's original plan for her body. He'd also played along with her tactic to use her death to manipulate Kol against Klaus, meaning MJ could assume Esther had told him about their run-in.

"There was this woman called Antonia," MJ stretched her neck, "She was my local librarian."

Finn's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

His almost permanent state around her.

The late-night energy of The Compound was strangely light without all the accusatory looks or scanning panic.

"I couldn't afford books, and the witch house I grew up in was so loud," MJ hated talking badly about it, "So I went there every day to do my homework...to think about anything other than my dead parents."

Lost in the shelves and coloured covers.

"She saw me struggling, and she made it her duty to get me back into reading," MJ admitted, "Everything I read for four years was dictated by her taste. Her advice based on my reviews of what she'd recommend..."

Shoulders falling back.

"Everything was so personal; it was like she had a view into my brain."

"And?"

"She died the day you did."

A light tap, MJ's nail against the table.

"Maci Roux was the first vampire I actually had to acknowledge was a vampire," MJ wasn't giving him all the context, but he didn't need it, "Antonia was the first one to just be a person to me."

And then there was Viktoria, a girl from her class, someone she'd known since she was twelve.

"I left a voicemail for everyone I knew. I told them not to touch any of you, but...imagine listening to the witch who's never wrong!"

It was laughable.

"Imagine hesitating when hundreds of lives are at stake!"

"Which I guess explains why you'd break the sire line."

"And you've been caught up," MJ turned back to her map, "It's complicated."

"Probably the right thing to do."

"Because I'm just soooooo desperate for your approval."

He was still just standing there.

Not getting mad at her dismissal, just watching.

MJ swallowed nervously, "What?"

"If I am alive," He reasoned, "And mortal."

"You are."

"I might be a witch."

MJ HATED EVERYTHING.

How could she give the one thing her boyfriend craved to the guy who'd almost ruined them?

It was just unfair.

"Is there anything I can do to help your endeavour?"

"Not likely," MJ tried to sound kind, "You need to learn to tap in while I'm trying to reverse engineer the supernatural order of life."

"Which you seem to achieve regularly."

"You're really trying to kiss my ass," She called out, "You don't need to overcompensate, Finn."

She didn't want that.

"Not that it isn't a pleasant upgrade from what I normally get off the people I help."

Other than Enzo.

"This is four years of my life's work," She gestured to the scribbles, "I don't think anyone can help me other than Kol."

However, his knowledge of werewolves was pretty limited to Marie Ajan and her theories.

"If you do want to go down that path?"

A quick clap to land a plastic-looking folder in her hand.

"Here you go."

He pulled a face, inspecting it like she'd slammed slime onto his dinner plate.

"Baby's First Magic Book," She grinned, "Finish that, and I'll consider letting you in on the secrets to rewriting the universe."

"Are you jesting?"

"Do I have to remind you that your only power was Vincent's?"

It didn't mean a thing about his actual body.

"You're starting from square one," MJ gloated, "And that's the book my mum used with me."

Snatched from The Prison World.

"It doesn't go that in-depth, but look at me now!"

Rubbing her hands together, seeing how that reveal made him tense.

Considering how much of Esther's stuff she used, it would've been unfair to gatekeep her early learning books.

Plus, she'd left it sitting in a cupboard, for if Sam's dad ever decided he wanted to properly get the half-siblings on the magic grind beyond growing plants. And well, she might need it for her baby. So...Finn was a great way to see if it still helped people learn anything.

"You good?"

"How are you so casual with me?" He was baffled, "As much as I appreciate – "

"Dude," She rubbed her forehead, "If I can be around Elena, I can deal with you."

Kol was the one he needed to work on.

Kol was the one he'd actually hurt.

Kol was the one he clearly had a million things to talk about with compared to the others.

"I mean? If you're actually willing to do better, that is."

The clause.

"When I said you owed every second of this mortal life to me, I didn't mean follow me around and ask if I need favours," She clarified, "I meant that you were going to spend every second making it up to Kol."

Because that was her happiness.

"If you can't be arsed?" MJ scoffed, "You can leave."

If he did, she'd be so mad.

"Run fast and far before I tell Rebekah you've stolen her ticket to a human life."

He rubbed his neck.

"If you chose to stay?" She shook her head, "I don't care. Just do better."

Her mind on how clearly Elijah and he had been listening to her and Matt's argument.

"Even in your second life, I made it very clear that I just wanted you all to be happy."

"How the hell is someone like you happy in this family?"

"You felt it today," She reminded him, "Your family isn't as bad as you think it is."

A flicker of worry in his eyes, "Isn't it?"

"I've got to watch Klaus Mikaelson become a dad."

Even when they weren't talking, it was true.

"The way he loves that little girl?" Her voice was distant, "He's so close to breaking the cycle of hatred your family's built up. And I really think you all deserve that."

Kol had.

"Maybe my bar is just incredibly low," She mocked, "I mean...I'd die for my brother to have even a fraction of the love your family shows."

As toxic as The Mikaelson's were, MJ seemed to crave it.

"Finn," Her expression softened, "I'm the one person here who actually knows what it's like to reach the point you did."

To want nothing more than to die.

"Well, Kol does."

And Finn now knew that.

"But I doubt you're ready to talk to him."

And she highly doubted Kol would talk about that experience with anyone but her.

"To be so done with existence," She rambled, "You are willing to do every worst and unimaginable thing to the people around you."

Without even questioning how bad it was.

"Maybe I wanted to give you a chance to realise how awful you should feel," She joked, "Maybe I want you to have the chance I was given to feel better."

MJ had been emailing her therapist a lot over the past week.

"Maybe it's hard to hate someone when you see yourself so clearly in them."

His eyes jumped around her face in the candlelight.

"Or maybe I'm just smug," She played it off, "I cured the hex you put on Kol, and I cured you. I'm just that good."

Harking back to her original defence.

Who she was fundamentally, even if she'd started to lose touch with that recently. All the lies and scheming, and confusion, and fear.

"Which answer was it?"

Her turn to pause.

"You wanted us to deal with Niklaus?" He recalled their first conversation, "Or you didn't like unknown variables?"

She snorted, "That stuck with you?"

"You seem to stick with everyone."

"And I think," She slowed, "You can figure it out."

He blinked slowly.

In a way, she'd already said the secret third answer to that question. 'Why would you undagger beasts?' Why would you waltz into their home with a bleeding shoulder, ready to fight the hybrid and braid Rebekah's hair?

So welcome among a family...

"What happened to Kol?" Finn asked, "I saw him while in Freya's necklace."

"The ancestors are having fun," Her expression bitter, "The only thing keeping him from getting worse is Flaore magic, mixed with Floare blood."

"Yet you're not running for the hills," He sipped the tea.

"There's no point running," She reasoned, "Magic always finds a way."

The universe needed balance.

"If this is some elaborate plot to get him craving my blood – god, just make a bigger sacrifice and kill me yourself – "

A sacrifice like an original?

"The ancestors want to run me down?" She gestured up, "I'll bring them down with me."

"Quite the declaration."

"They've taken every opportunity to torture me for making hybrids possible."

It was the thing the screaming always reverted to.

"Then they make an upgraded Original?"

Rage bubbled within her.

"They kill my people to do exactly what they've refused to stop punishing me for?"

The glass of the lights she'd broken earlier dragged across the floor to rebuild around them, electricity sparking until the glowing candles were a supernova in the dark night.

"I'm not letting anyone else die on my watch."

The feeling of siphoning the ancestral well, watching the fear in their eyes as she did it...

"No chance in hell."

As if on cue, two people walked in cautiously, eyes on Finn, Davina, wringing a strand of Mardi Gras beads between her fingers, Vincent quiet and nerve-y. Rested up enough to be there but not processing who Finn had been earlier. How scared he could have been.

"We got your message," Davina glanced at Vincent, "You figured it out?"

All eyes on Finn.

"I did something," MJ countered, "I'll be making an actual cure to Lucien's bite tomorrow."

Sam, Cami, and Davina had been working with Kol in The Compound, Sam giving her a power source to amplify, Cami trying to help Kol even if she still wasn't sure where she stood with Klaus.

"We have a different problem to discuss."

"And he's a part of it?" Vincent eyed him up.

"He is a witch now."

In a way.

"As open to our possession problem as anyone else."

Finn tensed.

"Yeah, maybe I should've mentioned that," MJ played off, "If you choose to start practising magic, our ancestors are a bit all over the place right now."

"I did notice."

"Problem for tomorrow."

"MJ," Davina was staring at Finn, "What are you talking about?"

"I found a way to cure vampirism," She announced, "Meet Witch-Finn-Mikaelson."

Both started to panic.

"Not the time!" She shut down, "The Ancestors brought him back as a test subject."

She spelt it out.

"They wanted a massive death."

"If they wanted a boost of power," Davina shook her head, "Why not use the sire line Nexus Vorti."

"Because no one died," MJ had considered it, "Nothing gives the dead more power than a sacrifice."

"You think they're using Lucien to create the biggest sacrifices they can," Vincent realised, "The oldest vampires in history."

"The only people we know who are older, I've already killed."

"To do what?"

"No idea," MJ admitted, "Maybe they're trying to kill me. Maybe something else."

The two voices battling in her head in the hurricane.

"But we're gonna figure it out."

A determined quiet.

"You know," Vincent spoke to Davina, "I'm not sure what's more surprising: you answering my beacon of help today or walking in with me right now."

Davina glanced at the floor.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Exactly," MJ pulled at her skirt, "What witchcraft is meant to be."

People helping each other.

"MJ," Vincent shook his head, "Outside of St James – I can't be trusted."

Hence why he expected to be knocked out at any second.

"The ancestors can't hear or see anything in here," She assured him, "They might be able to influence you slightly, but they'd need a lot of power to do that."

She couldn't just use the St James spell without wiping magic from The Compound, and she couldn't do that.

"Right now, they know they can't get to me," She reminded them, "So they're gonna do everything in their power to get to everyone around me."

Part of her genuinely believed Finn's death could've been some sentence for her.

"Every elder who helps us teach people how to block them out. Every friend – hell, who knows what hold they still have on Kol currently. And Lucien..."

The bite that should've sentenced her to die.

"He practically told me he'll be waiting to jump me. And our Ancestors are going to help him murder everyone who stands against him in this city."

"You want war," Vincent realised.

"I want to burn them down," MJ rephrased, "I want this to end."

No more Harvest.

No more possession.

No more sides to pick, turning witches on each other.

"You know how much I used to respect them," Vincent spoke lowly, "But the more I see?"

Not only in himself but those poor bodies piling up.

"Using people for their own needs?" His eyes couldn't look at them, "Tossing them aside like trash when they're done?"

MJ felt the burning in her stomach grow.

"Disobeying them being a death sentence?" He shook his head in anger, "A shunning? Crippling us."

"They're gonna kill us," MJ agreed, "Every last one until they get their way."

"They need to be stopped," Vincent agreed, "Whatever it takes."

Davina nodded in agreement, "What do you need us to do?"

"We're gonna write a spell to untether them."

They shared a look.

Vincent hesitated, "Is that even possible from our side?"

"Their book is the anchor," Davina agreed, "Right?"

"Yeah," MJ nodded, "We're gonna prep a spell so big, I'm gonna kill Lucien to create a power surge, then I'm gonna use that power surge to find the book."

It had shown itself to her.

"And burn it to pieces."

Burning their realm down with it.

"And while I do that," She decreed, "You're gonna get as many covens on board. Teach them protection spells. Power manipulation. Freedom charms."

"The covens aren't gonna like this," Vincent stressed, "It's gonna need more than a few days."

"So will I," MJ reasoned, "I need to find a way to kill Lucien first."

"If we get every witch in the city," Davina pitched, "Using magic at the same time, targeted at him, would that overpower him?"

MJ felt her mood lift.

"Like, it must?"

"It's definitely a start," Vincent grinned, "It's just a matter of which spell."

"Suspension," MJ decided, "Or power manipulation, draining him and redirecting it into the earth. We have to get the ancestors fighting back, so not something that instantly kills."

A distraction so she could slip in and find Lillian and Tom and the anchor to the ancestral realm.

"Kill him to get the strength to burn the book."

"That's gonna be a massive spell," Davina almost laughed, "The city has a lot of dead to keep busy."

"And I can't help write or share," Vincent reminded them, "I can only get the witches in the right place. Tell them they have to learn it and trust us. But they're already too rooted in me."

"I can do it," Davina stepped up, "Or, at least, start it. While you work on the way to kill Lucien."

MJ nodded, "We'd have to combine eventually if the spell does use his death."

"But it's something," Davina, brimming with readiness, "I can't do another year like this."

"No one should have to."

Finally, MJ felt like she could sleep. There was structure. A team working on the magical side, Vincent may not be able to write it, but he could run tests to see if anyone else was already too tightly held by the ancestors. Get all of them drinking as much mental clearance and banishment tea as possible to keep them free and planning a secret revolution beneath the sky of a thousand eyes.

"We thought they were doing this because the realm was disintegrating? That doesn't require Lucien. They're being selfish, which means I'm cutting them off."

~***~

The next morning was a strange one, MJ heading downstairs in pyjama shorts and the old white shirt of Kol's she still kept in her wardrobe, colour slightly faded after all this time, as soft and smelling like him as ever. Sitting on his lap, a plate of beignets on hers as he munched away, two coffees on the side table, his spiked with his potion and her blood, hers filled with her usual stash.

Her stomach was hungrier than normal, biting into the final beignet as he lifted it for himself.

"Mira!"

She pecked his cheek, leaving the second half for him, flicking through the old Lockwood journal. Trying to get the names of people to contact. After so many years, after a period of being trapped in a prison world, all her spells in the mortal world temporarily faltering, she'd lost a lot of healthy venom samples, now stuck trying to work out how to get more.

"Lucien did this to become like his maker," Klaus was sitting on the stairs, "And yet, my bite cannot kill an Original."

Mikaelson Family breakfast felt odd.

Kol and MJ were in their chair, Klaus was on the stairs, Freya and Finn were on the sofa, the couple awkwardly turned away as they ate. Rebekah, hidden away somewhere, daggered, MJ missing her voice immensely.

"Technically," Elijah swished his drink in the doorway to the kitchen, "He hasn't succeeded in doing so either yet."

"But it clearly can," Klaus pressed his wrists into his knees, "What are we actually up against here?"

"I don't know," Elijah let himself admit.

Eyes drifted to MJ the way they always did.

All accept Klaus's, who almost did, then glared at the wall instead.

"Two rows of teeth mean wolf. The venom does too," She listed, "But no yellow eyes..."

The image of the irises clear.

"...Honestly..."

"He looked like you," Freya said it, "But red, instead of golden orange."

MJ didn't like that she agreed.

"But human features nonetheless."

"Elijah," Klaus looked to his brother, "Could you please remind Mira that her ancestor has made it clear she has no loyalty to us."

Kol rolled his eyes.

"Meaning The Pethane could have easily helped Lucien craft this spell?"

"Elijah," MJ exaggerated his tone, "Could you remind Niklaus not to act like a child?"

"You know I gave up with that reminder centuries ago," Elijah mused, "You chose to take it back up."

"And I regret it more every day," She closed her book, "If it were Flaore magic, they would've needed a Floare to cast the spell."

Facing Klaus from Kol's lap.

"As much as family reveals seem to be the trend with me recently, Vincent is not a Bennett. Or any other kind of secret long lost Traveller or Floare."

"And neither are we?" Freya double-checked with Kol.

"Sadly, we're nine months away from a Floare-Mikaelson," He chirped, "Doesn't it sound glorious?"

"Floare-Ruiz," MJ flicked his nose, "We're not married."

He batted her away, hand sliding under her shirt to rest over her incredibly flat stomach. It was still too early, and she still hadn't officially said the words 'we're keeping it,' but still. The action caused Klaus's foot to start tapping against the stairs.

"And Clio seems pretty focused on me," She reminded him.

Klaus didn't respond.

They all knew he didn't mean the accusation; there was no secret power, just the ancestors, yet he'd still mentioned it.

Because bringing it up gave him an excuse to say MJ's name.

"I'm gonna need your shirt from yesterday," She pointed the journal at Finn, "ASAP."

He just looked confused.

"As soon as possible," She corrected, "Assuming you haven't already thrown it in the wash?"

"I haven't."

"Then it might have some trace of something useful on it," She sighed, "If I'd been more with it, I would've gotten a sample of the venom before giving you the cure."

"We all make mistakes," Klaus pushed to stand, "Including yourself."

"Oh my god – "

"Given your recent ones," He walked to the sofas, "We should be murdering you."

MJ stood too, crossing her arms, "Uh-huh."

"However," He stilled behind Freya and Finn, "You also saved my family yesterday."

MJ rolled her eyes.

"Consider this an offer of a formal pardon."

MJ scoffed, "Are you kidding me?"

Klaus narrowed his eyes.

"You leave me for dead," She reminded him, "Compelled to not siphon or move – and you're not even going to try and say sorry?"

"You broke my entire sire line!"

"You're lucky I waited this long."

After years of being too forgiving, a voice in MJ's head refused to let her back down.

Klaus was not Ryos.

If he wasn't Ryos, he'd man up, apologise, and mean it, and they could make up like normal best friends who loved each other but screwed up sometimes. If he wasn't Ryos, he'd stop pinning it all on her, making her feel like a crazy stupid siphoner bomb waiting to destroy them all.

"I'm not apologising first," She huffed, "Until you do – "

"You had a cure on hand," Elijah spoke as Klaus's mouth opened, "Why?"

MJ sighed, "Rebekah can never find out."

Klaus tensed even more.

"It was meant to be a present, but I hadn't had time to check my work."

Kol was the only one aware of her progress before the reveal, putting their plate on the side table.

"Whatever, I'll figure out another one before she feels too slighted."

"And isn't this a sight for sore eyes?" Hayley walked through the foyer. "No one is trying to kill each other."

"Give us a minute, love," Klaus joked, still behind the sofa.

The way Hayley smiled at his comment had MJ glancing between the pair, an odd satisfaction in her chest.

"Hope – "

"Still with Mary," She wrapped her arms over MJ's shoulders, "You're going to love this."

MJ breathed out as Hayley lifted a thick file into her hands, squeezing before letting go to step back, a second file still in her hold.

"Pri and I were able to cross-reference a bunch of the information Klaus and I found to fill in both of our blanks."

MJ opened the first folder.

"We found Lucien's R & D lab full of werewolves."

MJ's eyes jumped to Klaus's attempt to mask his upset at what they'd seen.

"He's harvesting venom," Hayley explained, "But not to find a cure."

"Where's Pri?"

"Sorting through literally every other document," Hayley admitted, "These – "

The two files.

" – Are what we dubbed 'most important.'"

"But there's more?"

"There's so much," Hayley confirmed, "All out of order and confusing."

"And Pri's gone journalist getting it timelined and grouped?"

Hayley nodded, "So many people have died just to make a more lethal strain of venom."

"Which he must've added to the spell," Freya's face snarled, "He kept boasting about having something that would make him better than an Original."

Kol and MJ shared a minuscule glance.

"Klaus is descended from one of the seven original wolf bloodlines," Hayley reminded them, "I'm from another."

As incestuous as pack purity felt to MJ, it certainly was about to help them out.

"Lucien's venom," She faced MJ, "Is derived from all seven packs."

"Giving him a bite," Klaus murmured, "That not even I can cure."

Most venom only contained three strands maximum; Lucien had seven...

"And we continue to be so lucky we know you," Hayley spoke pointedly, "Only been studying the seven lines for how many years?"

"Four," MJ snorted, "Yeah..."

She placed her file on the Lockwood journal on Kol's lap.

"Still, until I know how much of each he used?" MJ admitted, "And how he bound it together?"

There had to be a spell somewhere.

"Pri is looking for contacts," Hayley waved the second file, "See if there's a witch we can trace it back to."

MJ let herself nod hopefully.

"It's mainly just emails," Hayley opened her file, "A few phone numbers."

"Different problem," Freya had half-zoned out, "There were two vials."

It had been quite a traumatic kidnapping, and MJ knew that sharing all the details at once wasn't the best path to take, so they'd all left her to let small details come out through the morning.

"Lucien only drank one."

"I destroyed the rest," MJ reminded her, "Shattered it."

"He'd hidden it," She whispered, "It's out there."

"Maybe the spell wears off," Kol thought aloud, "Or maybe it's like vampirism. We had to drink drops of blood before, then feed after."

He might've downed it after running from them.

"He might've simply been in transition while you faced him."

If that was the case, they were screwed.

"Or," Klaus's face fell in realisation, "He made enough for two."

Elijah and he snapped to look at each other.

"Aurora."

Klaus bolted for the door, only for Freya and MJ to catch him in a spell.

"You cannot race off!" MJ reminded him, "We don't know how this affects you yet."

"If Aurora – "

"I'll message Cami to stay safe," Her phone was out, "And I'll send Sam."

They had to think hybrid wolves were safe, but it didn't mean they should just fling Klaus out there. His blood had slowed the effects, so as long as it took MJ to find a cure, he needed to be on call to buy time with any potential deaths.

"He's on his way," She assured them.

Looking at her phone.

"Did Pri recognise any of the numbers?" She asked.

"Half of them are from her," Hayley admitted, "She's been trying to trace them since she met Lucien."

"You try messaging any of them?"

"Figured that was more your ballpark," Hayley scanned the list, "MiMiPasare might give us right away, but it's better than any of us randomly reaching out to some potentially psychotic witch."

"I mean," MJ hated to say it, "Curandero email on there?"

"Surprisingly not," Hayley smiled, "Pri and I both searched for it last night."

Klaus forced himself to retreat back into the space with the rest of them.

"Lucien said he'd used a coven," Freya added, "Reverse engineered the spell for him."

"Covens don't usually have emails," MJ considered it, "None I've met anyway."

And she had travelled.

"What about the phone numbers?"

"No names," Hayley grimaced, "And the numbers were encrypted. Pri got me this list but is still working on the rest."

Hence it being a second folder.

"Most frequently used one?" Hayley spoke like it was a prize, "An international number!"

"We have left a trail of witches with ire against us in every continent," Elijah sent Kol a look.

His hands went up, "We all know their problems were almost always with Klaus."

"You guys phone it?" MJ watched Hayley wince, "You didn't?"

"If we reach out," She reasoned, "Who knows what Lucien's told them. Or what they'll then tell him."

"What's the number?"

Kol didn't look pleased. "MJ – "

"I'm MiMi Pasare," She joked, "If he's using it that much, it might just be Aurora and Tristan."

"And if it isn't, you have enough people targeting you."

"And wouldn't it be nice to put a voice to the eyes?" She jested, "Means you'll know who to kill."

"...Fine."

"+44 7700," Hayley read, "900962."

MJ's heart lurched, "What did you just say?"

Her tone created a ripple of caution.

Any semblance of stability or calm researching vanished so quick, it was like it had never really been there.

Kol as confused as the rest of his family.

"0-7-7-0-0," Hayley spoke slowly, "9-0-0-9-6-2."

MJ's body shook, laugh shrill, only one second of it coming out, her hand slammed over her mouth. Really hearing the numbers. Open-mouthed breathing against her palm, unable to blink, nails cutting into her cheek.

"MJ?"

"07700," She repeated, hand pulling her mouth down, "900962."

"That's what I said – "

"That can't be what you said, Hayley – "

Elijah shifted, "Mira – "

"Because 0-7-7-"

Each number sliced through the air.

"0-0," MJ's arms twitching, "9-0-0."

Saying the collection far too smoothly for someone who'd only heard it twice, almost singing the final part.

"9-6-2!"

The lights she'd fixed formed red whisps about them.

"Is my brother's phone number!"

Asking about the email had been her way to cover her bases – the email was Ryos's professional persona – it was what he used to trade magic –

"And if that's my brother's phone number!"

Cutting herself off, MJ dialled, putting in the relevant bonus numbers, having erased the number from her contacts during the summer, speaking everything allowed as she typed.

"0-7-7-0-0 9-0-0-9-6-2."

Each beep matched the cadence she spoke the number in.

"Rinnngggggggggg," MJ started to pace, "Rinnnnggggggggggggggggggg."

Her hand started to crush the device's edges as Kol rushed to his feet.

"Riiinnngggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg."

Chucking it across the table, directly into the centre of the couch, between Freya and Finn, both jolting apart in panic, listening to the speaker play the sound against her own half-scream at the noise.

"Hi!" MJ spoke with the answering message, "You've reached Ryos Jung!"

Her arms moved wildly.

"Sorry I can't come to the phone right now; try again later!"

His voice was the last thing she needed to hear.

"Or, send me a text!"

The casual tone – the warm suggestion!

Perfect for a colleague or friend or abandoned little sister forced to listen to it on repeat.

"I'll get back to you as soon as I can!"

MJ actually screamed as the record a message beep filled the room.

"LLLIIIIIAAAAAARRRRRRRRR."

Dead silence.

Staring at how she'd crouched to the floor while screeching, arms wrapped around her knees, rocking back and forth on her feet, like a tiny human mushroom, face hidden by the ruffles of her hair as her deep breaths were never able to fully finish or start.

Shoulders curling up even tighter.

Biting in her knee to scream again.

Eyes jumping between Kol and her, Hayley was the only one brave enough to move.

Only for her footstep to trigger MJ back to her feet, as straight as a log, arms flat against her side, looking at all of them, eyes dead.

"Looks like this reunion special will be lasting a little longer."

As a plastic smile took over her face, it was like she'd been transported to a kid's television network, perfectly cast and playing her role as a bubbly presenter.

"Jung Family Edition!"

She marched straight to the door.

"MJ," Kol chased after her, "You don't – "

"He's working with him," She spun, losing the pep, "I burst into flames when I siphoned it!"

The words on the tip of her tongue.

"Last time that happened, it was blue flames and his stupid Augustine ripper virus!"

Standing by the foyer, looking back at them.

"I got thrown off because it wasn't blue, but guess what!" She wanted to punch something, "He had three other Floare stones on him when he died! One of which is bright fucking red."

She hated that Klaus's point about The Pethane had actually been close.

If only it was The Pethane.

If only it was actually Clio behind it all.

"And sitting in The Cauldron."

"How can your brother be involved in this?" Elijah reminded her, "He's dead."

"And yet!" Her arms swinging out again, "That number?"

Instantly recognising it.

"I heard it. Every week. For seven years," She hissed, "Before I finally gave up expecting him to answer."

Elijah's lingering look at her made it all hurt more.

He already knew that.

He knew they'd started talking far more regularly once she'd gotten his number.

"That's his voice."

Like MJ could have ever forgotten it.

"Lucien's most frequently dialled contact!"

Whatever the hell that meant.

"And he had a coven of witches at his disposal!" She felt like crying, "The Travellers did everything Ryos told them to, without question."

And?

"When he came to Mystic Falls, he looked for white oak!"

Caroline's intel.

"The only thing Lucien needed from us."

Every long look he'd given her, like he recognised her face.

Since the night at Klaus's art show, scanning her, prodding her, poking her with familiarity.

Knowing he was walking around with the last pieces of her brother, she hadn't been able to reclaim post-death.

"Lucien has Monster-fied himself; my brother was The Witch Doctor."

Doctor Frankenstein.

Experimenting with second life.

It was so obvious, and MJ hated herself for not jumping to that conclusion sooner.

"If he didn't make this serum?"

Which she highly doubted.

"He sent Lucien to the witch who did."

After putting it off since her return to reality, MJ was going to summon Ryos Jung.

Not out of choice. Not out of readiness to let go, or peace, or confrontation. Nothing about it was about MJ or her feelings. Just the freaking Mikaelson's. Their situation. Her need to save the day. His involvement, still managing to screw with her from beyond the grave.

'Did you really think it would be that easy?'