a/n: ahhhh enjoy? This chapters v...something, remember to comment and vote x
- Bea <3

Pri's body was slightly frozen next to the sofa, her expression only growing more hurt with every minute. Finally, in the city with a friend she adored, unable to do anything to take her pain away. Just watch her dub herself as alone and not enough...

"Well," Ryos forced his eyes to the nearest clock, "That must be a new record."

Marcel grimaced, "Are you kidding?"

"Less than an hour," He mused, "I expected her to last three."

Silence.

"New record!" He cheered, "Go me!"

Josh's fists were clenching, "Oh my god."

"You do seem to revel in her torment," Elijah commented.

"Me?" Ryos lost the pep, "I enjoy it?"

Confused looks.

"Any thoughts, Vince?" He slowly shook a collection of spices into the left beaker, "Able to form a sentence yet?"

Vincent's expression turned sombre.

"I want the room empty."

Stillness.

The beaker began to stir.

Freya crept towards the circle's edge from her resting point against the bookshelf.

"All of you," Ryos ordered, "Out."

"No chance," Marcel stepped closer to Vincent, "What do you want?"

"A moment," He lamented, "With an old friend."

"Don't call me that."

"You'd think vampires would understand that desire."

"I am not your friend," Vincent was shaking, "Ryos – "

"Funny that you're the one denouncing me."

Vincent froze.

"Your sudden desperation makes your situation incredibly obvious," Ryos didn't blink, tone flat and words quick, showmanship gone, "So, everyone in this room is going to leave."

A step closer to the circle's edge.

"While you and I will share a drink," He traced shapes against the beaker glass, "And discuss what exactly you suddenly need to tell my baby sister."

"You are not dictating a word spoken to her," Elijah stepped inside the circle, "You are simply here – "

"Ooooo," Ryos clutched his heart, "Have I made the 'great' and 'noble' Elijah Mikaelson mad?"

The Original in question rolled his eyes. 

"You know," His head tilted, drifting closer, "There are a lot of stories about you."

About all of them.

"Though, I'm not sure I buy that those vintage jackets come with any real dignity."

Vincent was shaking his head, "Ry."

"Would highly recommend literally any other fabric."

"Ryos."

"Might make the 'good sir' less miserable."

Vincent turned to the foyer, "I need to talk to MJ."

"You will do no such thing."

Ryos's attention made him still. The young man he'd once known so well finally stared at him, not the vampire, telling him to not go. To talk. To share a drink.

Vincent knew it had to be a trap, but it was one he didn't understand.

Kol watching his elder brother, torn.

"You are staying right here."

MJ had told them not to enter the ring, but Kol had already slipped up in that regard, and Ryos didn't seem to be stabbing any needles into Elijah. Just smiling. Noting how Freya seemed ready to bolt in too. Desperate to keep them all safe. Desperate to get close enough to read whatever Ryos had written down while playing his sister.

"You understand?"

"You need to check your tone," Marcel scoffed.

"And you need to stay out of it."

"You're in our magic circle," Josh reminded him, looking at Davina, "You could send him – "

"If you want my help?" Ryos's arms came out, "You'll trust the process."

Klaus shifted on the stairs, glancing at Kol, seeing him equally intrigued, Vincent's breathing picking up.

"And you'll leave."

No one did.

"Face me, Vince."

He couldn't.

"Vincent."

"I'm a year late!" He spun back to the centre of the room, "I know."

Eyes watering.

"I was gonna tell her – I just..."

Nails scratching down his neck.

"Please," His fingers moved to his hair, "Let me – "

Marcel's hand made him jump, "Vincent – "

"I have to – "

Ryos's hand wrapped around a knife, "I have an Original vampire in here – "

"She deserves – "

" – If you don't shut up – "

" – to hear it – "

" – He will be dead."

" – From me!"

Freya only needed to hear the word to appear by Elijah's side, a protective foot closer, hand in her pocket, the action to actually make Vincent turn quiet. He didn't care about Elijah, but he owed Freya after Mystic Falls and didn't think she deserved to die.

Klaus and Kol locked in a stare-off, trying to plan.

Knowing the elder couldn't jump down while holding the sacrificial knife nor leave it for anyone to grab, but Kol couldn't intervene either when his first slip-up ended with a needle. And Kol couldn't risk it while carrying a Floare Stone on him.

They were lucky Ryos hadn't seemed to have noticed the first time.

And they both knew better than to underestimate the witch twice.

"...You don't want her to know?"

The knife was so clenched in his hand.

"Ryos..."

Vincent's heart almost slowed. Almost found relief. Until he was then met with everyone else's eyes on him, trying to piece together what was going on. Freya and Elijah, still in that circle, staring at Ryos, Kol and Klaus focused on him, Marcel torn between protecting and quizzing Vincent too.

Leaving Pria and Josh to share a look with Sam and Davina.

A sick feeling in their stomachs at the sight of Vincent starting to tremble again. His eyes welled up the longer he stared at Ryos's face – the face of a fallen friend. Of a teenager he'd once known. Terrified of what was going to happen next.

"She needs – "

"Peace."

Vincent's head shook, "This – "

"You had a year."

"Ryos."

"And you did nothing."

"And it's killing me!"

"Then die!" Ryos snapped, "Live in what you did - let it kill you."

"She deserves – "

"Dio mio!" Pri shoved up, "What the hell are you two talking about?"

"I'm the reason – "

Ryos threw the knife at enchanted speed, only to hit the circle's edge, Sam having sped forward, just in case he'd found a way to get through it.

" – Ana Ruiz is dead!"

Marcel's entire body froze.

"I gave the elders the Floare spells."

THE WITCHES
Family Business

"The siphon sacrifice?" Kol clarified.

Davina's defences were up, "That they led to The Harvest?"

"It's complicated," Vincent couldn't look at them, "Eva and I – we just wanted out."

Desperation leaked from his body.

"The elders knew we were friends," He gestured to Ryos, "They asked for the book. Said if we could get it, they'd leave us alone."

They all knew how the elders could torment people.

They all knew how witches got when trying to escape them.

The New Orleans ancestors had just possessed Vincent to create Lucien. Let four girls die to hex Finn. Taunted MJ with years of nightmares.

"We could practise however we wanted, wherever we wanted."

Kol looked at Ryos, "And you gave him access to it."

"You think I'd give away Floare work?"

"I don't think you care enough – "

Vincent's arms swung, "He's hexed!"

The man they'd always viewed as so put together and full of morals was suddenly lost. Unable to still. His mouth moved despite how much he looked like he wanted to shut up. Each new sentence adding a new pressure into the air.

A moment for eyes to really take the ghost in.

Mainly Cami, Finn, and Freya – trying to spot familiarities; as Klaus crept down another step, the knife slid into his jacket, Kol's form rigid.

"Even when he told us about spells," He stressed, "He never gave us the real deal. Only Creole rewrites he'd transcribed to keep us away."

"When you got your body back," Marcel was quiet, "You already knew he was dead."

The guilt had been all over his face.

"You hexed him."

A simple swallow was all Vincent needed to do to confirm it.

"You wanted the spells," His anger rising, "So you hexed him."

"To my understanding," Elijah spoke slowly, "A hex would have killed him years prior."

"Exactly!" Vincent nodded rapidly, "MJ told me his age – and – and I always knew he was good at what he did, so I thought – "

A sharp inhale.

"I thought you found a loophole."

Looking at his fallen friend.

"I thought you'd figured it out!" He pleaded, "And it was all okay."

It was like Marcel's life was flashing before his eyes.

"...Then MJ told me what happened..."

Pri sunk back to the couch, Josh's eyes jumping around Ryos's face.

"And I realised – the guy I knew?" Vincent turned the room, "There is not a thing in this world that could make him hurt his sister – "

"And how did you know that, Vince?"

Finally speaking, Ryos leaned against the sofa arm in the centre of the spirit circle, staring at the blue sky above, arms crossed.

"Because you're kind of leaving out the key bit of info."

Kol really looked at him.

His posture was different now that MJ was out of the room.

His voice sounded tired.

"If you're so desperate to spill your guts, spill all of them."

Rage bubbling under the surface.

"Or would you rather I outed you?"

Vincent's mouth opened, but no sound came out.

Whatever had been fueling him through the rest of the spiel was gone, leaving nothing but stress and fear.

An odd lingering on Kol.

"My mother's grimoires were hailed as the solution to this city's woes."

Vincent had grown up in the midst of dying witches and cocky vampires.

"No vampire would stand a chance if the elders had her magic," Ryos mused, "And he didn't understand why I suddenly stood against that."

Ryos had spent years chasing a coven.

Acceptance.

Someone to treat him as an equal.

"Why I cared so much about a 'stupid' book."

Especially when he'd seemingly shared a few other pages.

"So while I was writhing on the floor," His arms slowly uncrossed, "Eva trying to torture it out of me, I told Vincent that the victim wouldn't be me. Or Ana."

With Vincent outside the circle, he could do nothing to stop the information coming out. Nothing but ensure all of it did. Nothing but make sure they understood the full scope of the mess.

"That it would be my eleven-year-old sister."

The realisation of that spread through the room in a wave.

"And I begged him not to do it."

"We didn't tell the elders!"

"Doesn't change that you knew!" Ryos's nails were cutting into his palms, "You handed her over to die, Vince – you don't get to act like you didn't!"

The Regent's lips quivered.

"And then you walk around pretending to be her friend?"

Both of their hearts cracked the longer they stared at each other.

"You sent her to die, you got our mum killed – you're the reason I couldn't be in the same room as her – "

Each addition to the list pushed Vincent closer to throwing up.

"You could have just knocked me out," He loomed at the barrier's edge, "You could have hexed me to 'just' die – you chose insanity."

"Eva cast it!"

"YOU LET HER!"

Vincent's hands moved like he was about to claw his own eyes out.

"Every bad thing that has ever happened to us comes back to that choice."

Quite a few people in that courtyard were trying to work out how they were meant to feel about that.

"And you've let it come out!" He clapped sarcastically, "Well done."

A room full of people; Marcel, Josh, Sam, Davina, Pri, Kol, Freya, Finn, Klaus, and Elijah.

Ryos's eyes met all of theirs as he tried to regain composure.

Control.

"No one tells her."

Vincent shook his head, "She needs to – "

"She murdered me."

Suddenly, Ryos Jung's voice was catching...

"She ever finds out what actually happened?"

That so much of the torment had come from a hex?

Dark magic infesting her brother.

Vincent and Eva?

"She's already killed herself over me once."

Every inch of his body was tense, like every light might explode.

"You wanna risk telling her I'm not the monster of her story?" His head shook, "You wanna see what happens when her brain goes, 'You might've been able to save him?'"

A strange quiet filled the air.

"Mira would have felt it."

Ryos let himself face Kol.

"She can sense hexes – "

"And yet she can never identify me," He exhaled, "Curious – isn't it?"

Silence.

"When our mum died, MJ siphoned the city and the Aonso Necklace," Ryos reminded them, "She couldn't sense a thing beyond all that ghost magic."

And even if she had, she'd been too young to know what a hex felt like.

"Our mother had died in front of her."

Marcel's eyes were so distant.

"She was never going to see our father again."

Sam incredibly tense.

"And every time she'd reach for me?" His words quicker, unblinking fear, "The big brother who was meant to hold her tight? Tell her 'everything is gonna be okay?'"

Vincent's eyes shut.

"I couldn't even hug her goodbye without causing agony."

Pri knew he'd never stayed at the witch house.

Knew Gina had barely got a look at him when he'd been explaining their situation to her parents for the log.

That Gina had said, 'Something was off in the air around him.'

"And we all know that if she'd had even an inkling something was wrong, she would have spent every waking second trying to siphon it until it killed her too."

Kol had experienced that dilemma just over a year prior.

"Funnily enough, my priority was removing that possibility."

Back by the table, Ryos summoned a pen out of the air, starting to mark the beaker up.

"In the early years, I tapped into the familial link between Floare witches to project her own power back at her," He tapped each symbol, creating an orange glow, "But that was always limited. One day, she'd learn to distinguish between us."

"So you created your 'anti-magic,'" Kol assumed, "The absence of power that sets her alight upon siphoning."

"A variation of my solution," He confirmed, "It's still magic, only revealing its difference when siphoned. And, draws on the hex, converting it to else, so no 'red alert' gets projected at her."

Holding Kol's look.

"My goal has only ever been to ensure that she lives."

A careful move of his hand, back to tap his chest.

"Every second, I knew we wouldn't have ended up like this if I'd just stayed away from the covens," He lived with guilt, "But I was a kid. And we lost everything. And I refused to let MJ die because Ana and I were selfish people."

"But you're not going to tell her," Vincent wasn't sure how to feel, "Ryos – "

"If thinking I'm the worst thing to ever exist means she forgives herself?" His arms came out in exhaustion, "None of you are taking that from her."

It was a threat.

A powerful one.

The lines around his body were such a dark black, steely determination in his eyes that reminded them just who they were dealing with. Hex aside, Ryos Jung had almost destroyed the magical world, and his spells were behind Lucien...

"In the Salvatore House," Kol stared at his arms, "Caroline asked about your tattoos. You called them permanent runes."

"And back to your little stalking me romp – "

"You said someone gave them to you, intending for them to kill you," He pointed between the pair, "And you bound it to your body, living off its eternal nature."

Ryos almost smiled, "Exactly."

"But dark magic isn't meant to be lived off of," He crossed his arms, "Every time you drew on its power, the hex came back to chip away at you."

His clear understanding of the magic left Ryos slightly stiff.

Curling his lip in to think through his options.

"I thought I could control it," His honest answer, "Not using magic is harder than it sounds. Especially when people are after you."

"And now?"

"What do you think?"

"That with death," Klaus remembered MJ's rambles, "The hex momentarily clears."

"Fake death makes it momentary," He countered, "Real death?"

"The mind is free," Kol finished.

Ryos raised his eyebrows like he was asking them if they believed that.

Trusted the show he was putting on, even on a stage.

MJ had always talked about Ryos's performances as the only time she could truly see him. Holding an instrument, looking at a score, so lost in a melody that his defences evaporated, exposing each chamber of his heart.

And now?

Chemical sets, different types of instruments, covering the table, playing his part to get his baby sister clarity on their actions.

"I know what spell we used," Vincent was quiet, "You would've lost all sense of reality after a few weeks."

Ryos focused on the glowing symbols on the glass beaker.

"People try waiting the hex out only to start ripping their skin off."

"Then maybe Eva wasn't as strong as we thought."

Moving his left hand through the air like a dismissive wave, Freya and Elijah were still inside the circle. Telling them to get out. Neither backing down.

No one was sure how to act.

"You're insane," Sam decided, "I don't care if a hex was involved. If you weren't an asshole, you'd be trying to make it all up to her – telling her – "

"Telling her only clears my conscience."

A shrug.

"It's not what's best for MJ."

Sam looked disgusted.

"Gods," Ryos rolled his eyes, "What is your problem?"

"I know your dad."

Davina and Kol tensed.

"Best person I've ever met," Sam shook his head, "And looking at you?"

"I always was my mother's son."

There was an inherent sadness in his eyes.

"She used to jump at her own reflection."

"Your mother did everything to save you," Marcel murmured.

"And is that not what I'm doing?" Ryos pulled a vial of blood from MJ's store, adding it to the mix, "I want magic gone."

That hadn't changed, using his pen to write symbols across his knuckles, eyes meeting Vincent.

"It ruined everyone I ever loved."

The man, so familiar to them, let his eyes close slowly once more, causing a few questions to fill the air as Josh and Kol instinctively glanced at each other. Expecting the other to have some explanation but finding none. Suddenly, realising just how often Vincent would make a quiet comment whenever they insulted Ryos's magic or his love for MJ.

Because Vincent knew Ryos in a way they didn't.

Because he knew he was behind their hatred.

Even when he'd met MJ in Rousseau's and told her that people didn't just cure hexes, he'd spent the previous few days adamant Ryos had found a way out.

"And yet," He placed his hand between the flame and the beaker, "Here I am."

Kol narrowed his eyes, trying to understand how he could have bound the hex.  

"Working on a way to save all of you."

Able to work without making a mistake despite talking to them.

"The man my mother was cheating on our family with."

Metaphorically.

"The guy who sentenced us to a witch hunt."

One MJ had spent the rest of her life fearing.

"And The Mikaelson's. Whose legacy created the justifications for the first two."

The witches acted out in response to Marcel, who was trying to be bigger than The Mikaelsons. In the end, it was all coming back together. Chances to correct mistakes or make them worse.

"Because I want my sister safe."

"You murdered two of her friends," Kol reminded him, "To force her hand."

"I made my choices," Ryos stared at the liquid, the back of his hand starting to blister with the heat, runes glowing gold, "And I stand by my goals."

No taunting phrasing, just truth.

"Maybe I should have reached out more," He turned the hand round, "But when half the words coming out your mouth aren't your own?"

They'd seen Kieran's insanity hex...

"The only way to stay sane was to surround myself with strangers."

People his mind couldn't weaponise against him.

"If I left the magic alone?"

It wouldn't have trickled into every aspect of his life.

"But once you touch power like that..."

A fog over his eyes.

"You can't just stop."

The flame went out.

"And I didn't want to." He almost laughed, "I could change the world."

He fastened a lid to the beaked.

"After nearly a year of nothing but death in every step I took – of tearing through hotel staff because it was the only way to keep my body alive?"

Every bloody body he'd awoken to, sobbing through the hallucinations until Papa Legba swooped in to set him free...

"I had the power to give life."

To every child he'd stumbled upon, reminding him so thoroughly of his sister until he could no longer remember his sister. A series of dreams. Haunting visions – videos attached to emails from thousands of miles away. Trying to save everybody often costs you the things that matter most.

"I could make sure no one could hurt her ever again – that no one would need to."

"By killing every vampire," Pri reminded them.

"Like I said," He knocked on the lid, the gold of his knuckle melting into the liquid, sparking before settling into a dip crimson before all of their eyes, "I'm selfish."

Such a complicated word.

"And you're lucky I am," He picked it up, "All my choices mean I know how to save you."

He tossed it to Kol, the vampire staring at the swishing liquid cautiously.

"You drink that, you isolate yourself for three days – no blood, no food, no water, and you're free of ancestral meddling."

Kol stared at it, "What?"

"It'll flush your system," Ryos explained, "You'll feel like you're being set on fire as each cell expels the ancestral magic, and you might throw up a little as your soul is unbound from the Lifeblood Stone – maybe even desiccate. But then? You'll wake up all better."

"...In three days."

"Three days. No more, no less."

Kol put it down, "I don't believe you."

"I don't care."

Stepping away from the coffee table, Ryos offered a smile, looking to Klaus on the stairs, Elijah and Freya still loitering in his space, and Kol holding the potion tight.

"I will force it down your throat if that means you can't be used to kill her."

Klaus's eyes were wide at the prospect of Ryos's magic anywhere near Kol.

"I find people who think they know better than witches interesting," Ryos mused, "You don't want to listen to me even though I'm saving you from murdering someone you claim to love."

Kol stared at the vial.

"And they ignore MJ's very clear instructions," He motioned to Elijah and Freya, "I mean, she gave you one rule."

The pair shared a look.

"Don't step in the magic circle."

As Ryos lifted his hand, they both felt a rush of power, two Floare stones appearing between his fingers, Freya desperately yanking her pocket out in panic, Elijah patting himself down with the same wide eyes.

"Don't give me a way out."

His body turned into pure energy, white lightning dissolving into the night with a clap before anyone could stop him, free of the circle.

~***~

Lucien Castle was in a park. Lafayette Park, stringing up two corpses in trees, blood staining his face, feeling something in the air change that he didn't understand. He straightened up to watch as sparks of electricity wrapped around the body closest to him and let his eyes flare red in anticipation.

Only for the power to vanish.

He stepped back slowly, letting himself turn.

Taking in the place he'd soaked with sacrifice since arriving in New Orleans, shirt tight against his skin, rolled up to his elbows, stained red, cufflinks on the ground.

"You do realise they're using you?"

He spun back to the bodies, Ryos Jung inspecting the carved-up faces.

"Don't you?"

"Ryos," Lucien couldn't look away from him, "You're..."

He snorted, "Did you not think MiMi would phone me?"

Lucien stilled.

Scanning his familiar wrap trousers, their rusty orange colour so clear against the greens of trees yet the perfect pallet for the blood, white shirt light, arms as exposed as always, stretching back, hair just slightly floppy.

"You're dead."

Ryos raised an eyebrow, "Am I?"

"You – you went to Mystic Falls," Lucien pointed at him, heart beating faster, "Everyone said – "

"Did you ever see a body?"

People were always watching MiMi Pasare from afar.

"Or," He grinned, "Did you simply lack faith?"

Lucien marched forward, "I have been calling you for months."

Poking his finger into his chest, a mix of relief, grief, and panic battling it out on his face.

"You – "

"Needed a minute," Ryos put his hands up, smiling, "That was not permission to use my work."

Lucien's defences went up, "My work."

"I made it," Ryos's pep vanished, "Adhering to our deal."

He leant closer, ensuring Lucien could see precisely how his expression shifted.

"You did not touch my sister."

Lucien found himself unable to blink.

"Then I get a phone call," His voice was low, lips close, "About an Upgraded Creature trying to get his fangs in her."

"She healed herself," Lucien murmured, "You succeeded."

"I shouldn't have had to make that variant!"

Hand gripping his shirt tightly.

"You never should have risked testing it."

"I thought you were dead!"

"So our promises go out the window?"

"Look," Lucien batted his hands away, "My deepest apologies."

Placing his own on Ryos's shoulders.

"But she put herself in the way."

Ryos grimaced, "She does tend to do that..."

"Our goal was always The Originals," Lucien reminded him, "Nothing has changed."

Ryos let his eyes jump over the man's face.

"If you wish to return to the game," The vampire rubbed his shoulders gently, "Keep her out of my path – "

"Play better."

Lucien slowly forced his hands to drop, staring at his supposedly dead ally almost nervously. Not sure what he was meant to say or how to interpret that declaration. Especially when Ryos finally stepped back, bringing some space between them.

Glacing to the side like he was nervous.

He rubbed his eyes as a weak smile appeared on his face.

"I guess some congratulations are in order?" He tried, "Nice to know it worked."

Lucien bobbed his head, "I had to change a few things."

"All the venom balances," He assumed, "Now you finally found some Malruax."

"Oh," Lucien laughed, "They were a nightmare."

"Rarest strand," Ryos rubbed his cheeks, "But you did it."

He let his eye twinkle, "Wasn't the same without you."

"If I'd realised you'd gotten more samples, I would've picked up," He joked, "It was just...A weird year and a half."

Lucien let his shoulder drop, "You saved her."

Ryos let himself smile again, looking at him in the clearing of the park.

"I heard rumours that she died in your spell," He drifted closer, "Yet both of you stand here today."

Ryos almost laughed, staring at the blue sky overhead.

"Quite the achievement."

He let his eyes close, taking in the sun on his face, hair catching in a slight breeze.

"Not unexpected when it comes to you..." Lucien watched him, "...I know you did not wish to return here – "

"It's not my first time," He massaged the back of his neck, "Though, the first time being around the supernatural while back."

And fresh out of one complicated confrontation.

"How much Malraux did you end up needing?"

"Double what we anticipated."

"Double?" Ryos whistled in appreciation, "That's what you get for being the purest line left."

"Indeed."

"Heard MiMi killed Levi."

Lucien made a disapproving noise, tugging on his shirt sleeves.

"Also heard The Strix had hybrids."

Lucien fell silent.

His eyes opened, "Wanna explain how they ended up with my spells?"

"Ryos."

"The test subjects were for you," He grimaced, "Not to throw about willy-nilly."

"The Strix found our research facility – your protective magic, nowhere in sight," Lucien defended, "I led them astray with the implication it was all to create a cure."

"And they believed that?"

"In its entirety."

Ryos looked at the two bodies hanging from the trees once more. Scanning their features and memorising exactly where each cut had been made. Letting his fingers twitch out to feel the air of a city he spent his life trying to forget.

The dead always had more power in cities fuelled by consecration, plus – not to mention the hints of Floare protection and voodoo spirits in the air. Energy bounced through his form with so much power it was almost like being alive.

A whisper in his ear.

A tugging in his gut, as Ryos tried not to feel the heat of the Floare stones against his wrist, a bracelet reformed in place of the protective necklace he'd once hidden in. Begging for that layer. That in between. Each carving on it was made to keep the noise out; no idea how MJ had been walking around with hers so exposed.

Every inch of skin around it was like sandpaper, begging him to tap in, and only a warning. The starting gun he'd allowed to go off again, and again, and ag –

"They weren't able to recreate your work."

"But they still gave you exactly what you needed."

Lucien raised an eyebrow.

"You make such an obvious spiritual sacrifice," Ryos gestured forward, "And The Strix Hybrids have been stripped of magic post-death – "

"Are you accusing me of something?"

Ryos blinked slowly.

Ice formed in his joints, begging to be cracked into deadly shards at a moment's notice until Lucien was left more a cheesegrater than a man.

"You have twenty-four hours, Lucien."

Letting the coolness travel up his wrists, smile cruel.

"Consider this a courtesy call," He stared him down, "I'm not actually in town yet."

He let himself flicker before him.

"Meaning you can still run."

Lucien's face went slack, starting to feel his own skin itch, blotches of blood forming in the corners of his eyes.

"And I still have some respect towards our history."

Blood rolled down the ancient vampire's cheeks, a perfect crimson stain against his pale white skin.

"But I am not the guy you screw over."

"Ryos – "

"And even when you run?" He gleamed, "I will find you."

"This is bigger than us – "

"The spirits always say that," He lifted his chin, "And then they always screw you over."

Lucien couldn't stop himself from grunting, brushing the red away, only for his skin to start to boil with each touch of blood.

"Do not finish whatever they've gotten you to start."

"The ancestors – "

"Are liars."

There was only one spirit Ryos trusted.

"Do not pick them over the man who gave you this life."

Witches were creators.

"Who is trying to save it now."

"They gave me life," Lucien hissed, still flinching with pain, "While you hid in shame."

"Twenty-four hours," Ryos bit back, "The Ouroboros will not save you."

A meeting for a threat. For a warning. For answers he'd been given without any real pushback, Lucien expecting the man he'd watched grow from teen to adult, not an enemy.

"It only destroys."

And he sparked away, more like daylight than lightning; Lucien was left ripping nails through each damp spot of skin, only for more blood to cause more pain, gritting his teeth and roaring. Red eyes trying to reach the spirits meant to heal him...

~***~

Hayley approached the street cautiously. Not because of who was down it but because they had all spent the past few days on high alert, knowing Lucien would be watching, waiting, and desperate to pounce on the first Mikaelson he found. It was an odd hour of the day, streets slightly empty as work hours and school were still in full swing. Leaving Mira Jung Floare-Ruiz to sit on a painted bench, staring at a flower shop across the road.

Her knees were pulled to her chest, still just in shorts and her boyfriend's shirt, the golden plaque as polished as ever.

Not even flinching as Hayley's arms wrapped around her, standing behind the back and leaning down. Burying her head into MJ's neck and feeling as her legs dropped, sobs rolling out free so sharply it left her squirming out of place.

Desperate to throw herself to the pavement, only kept back by Hayley's touch.

Her gentle squeeze.

Her brown locks were soft against her neck, hands on either side of MJ's ribs, rubbing up and down until the tears caught against shirt and flesh alike.

"I – I – "

How to explain it.

"I just – "

"I know," Hayley whispered.

"How?"

Finally able to pull her arms back, pushing over to join MJ on the seat, her friend falling into her side.

"Just..." MJ didn't know what else to say, "How?"

Something about the multiverse theory had never sat right with MJ. So many people called her a good person, but she didn't like thinking about the multiverse because she got jealous. Because she couldn't help but think she was in the worst timeline. There was a version of her out there who'd never left New York and had ended up meeting Kol after he was undaggered and went looking for Maci.

A version of her who'd never lost her mother.

A version where Ryos –

"There is no universe I could ever do that to someone."

And she'd done some bad stuff in recent years.

"Where I could live with myself – "

She'd barely been able to live knowing Traveller kids out there, free of their curse but orphans. She'd spent so long searching every online magical site she could to make sure people were looking out for them. Building MiMiPasare so the second they needed help, she'd be there.

"It's just..."

No energy was left in her bones, sinking lower, arms wrapping so tightly around her stomach it was like she might cut herself in half.

A position Hayley lingered on.

"You don't want the baby," She spoke carefully, "Do you?"

MJ forced herself to sit up, "I don't know."

Her least favourite phrase.

A state of existence she hated being in.

For a moment, she'd been so settled, her talk with Kol actually easing her worries, able to listen to him joke about a Floare-Mikaelson without having a panic attack, only for Ryos to send her spiralling.

"It wouldn't have your life, MJ."

"I couldn't promise that."

For all of Ana's faults, she'd sacrificed herself for them. The exact same way MJ would have in that situation. She would lie through her teeth, make every declaration, and start any war if it meant the thing in her body wasn't prosecuted for being born.

"My family has been living a cycle of two thousand years of blood."

Of being used for love, not receiving it yourself.

"The Floare-Ruiz curse ends with me."

As a teenager, MJ hadn't been able to picture herself over eighteen, let alone as a mother, and if she was being honest? She'd had to make peace with the realisation no one could ever love her that way. She couldn't be honest with anyone, and if she couldn't be honest, she couldn't be in love.

But now there was Kol....

With all his gifts. And the light in his eyes every time MJ laughed at his jokes. Or how his hands lingered on her hips when she painted. Somehow, standing by her through every insane choice she made, no matter how much it stressed him out.

How did he still love her?

He deserved so much better –

You are not difficult to love.

The phrase that had kept her going. That stopped her from stripping the compulsion to turn it off. Some newfound confidence had appeared as a voice in her head post-transition, reminding her that it would all be okay. That it wasn't always her fault. If people truly loved her, they'd forgive her – and they'd find that forgiveness easily, no matter what Ryos had trained her to believe.

"Weren't you the one," Hayley kept one arm around her, "Who said that we aren't our parents?"

"What if they're not like my parents," MJ whispered, "What if they're like me?"

"This isn't about being like you. This is about being like him."

"Hayls..."

"The entire city was tearing itself apart trying to find you – "

"They find me because they need me," She choked, "I don't want my child to be needed; I want them to be loved."

Hayley's expression softened again, holding her tighter.

"I thought I'd started to want it," She almost sobbed, "But now?"

"You are not allowed to change your mind because of your brother."

The sternness had something in MJ instinctively perking up.

"Ryos is not allowed that much power," She scoffed, "No way."

MJ almost laughed.

"If you want the baby, have the baby. Screw him."

"I don't know!" She breathed out, "And this shouldn't be about the baby – "

"Reliving your worst childhood moments is one hundred per cent gonna make you panic about having a baby," Hayley rolled her eyes affectionately, "MJ."

The heretic slowly wiped her tears away, gazing at the flower shop, remembering each display she'd helped her mother make.

She'd walked past Marcel once without even realising it.

Sat on that same bench to finally get her father back.

"Whatever happens," Hayley held her gently, "We're your family. And we've got you – so who cares about him."

"Not sure I get to claim family anymore."

"You'll always be mine," She rephrased, "And you'll always be Rebekah's. Not to mention that Kol would let us all die for you – So who cares about the rest of them."

MJ actually laughed.

"...Unless you're ready to talk about Klaus?"

MJ didn't respond.

"After being trapped with him for our wolf investigation – "

"Not yet."

Hayley reluctantly nodded in acceptance, unsure how to feel. For the first time in a long time, she was in a great place with Klaus, and she hated it. It felt wrong to be in a good place while MJ wasn't. But, then again, it was somewhat balance for the summer. Because their friendship had never been dictated by him, and it never would be.

A breeze in the air.

A new person, their defences jumping up until they realised it was Cami. Looking like she wanted to pant, her curly hair frizzing, still not entirely used to how her body worked post-transition.

"Not to call you predictable," She tried to lighten the mood, "I know your mother's at peace – "

"I'm not summoning her," MJ knew where Cami was going, "No chance."

"I think she'd enjoy tearing your brother to pieces."

"Which is the last thing I need to see."

Cami sat on her other side, gently taking her hand.

MJ swallowed, pushing away the memories of her younger self sitting on the opposite side of the road, staring at the sun while her mum reorganised a business started by her father's mother. A woman who refused to speak to them. To meet them. To ever view them as her family because she knew in her gut that Ana was unsuitable for her son.

The prejudice was clearly the real reason if Serena was anything to go off, but still.

"I also don't think her advice would help."

Hayley's arm around her waist, Cami holding her hand so tight.

Her body may crave Cami's blood, but the other side of that coin? Her scent? Her presence? So comforting and full of power that simply being near her, having taken drops of her blood every day to ease the cravings, meant MJ couldn't help but feel safe.

"She knew I was going to end up turned, but she wanted humanity for me."

"How do you know that?" Hayley asked.

"At my graduation," MJ's throat was scratchy, "She said she couldn't wait to hear about my life. Implied it would be centuries before I saw her again."

"And the humanity bit?"

"She used to hide spells from me. Try to get me to move more. To run from the supernatural before it destroyed me."

"To being human," Cami murmured.

"She hated wolves," MJ rambled, "Indifferent to vampires. Detested covens."

"Did you ever find out what Jackson knew about her?" Hayley asked.

"Haven't had the time."

And she wouldn't until Lucien was dealt with.

"She'd probably tell me that having a baby was the worst choice she ever made, but I'd be better than her."

"Which is true," Cami reminded her.

"My mum doesn't really know me, though."

"Your dad has an opinion?"

"We've talked about it," She confirmed, "But he also doesn't really know me..."

Hayley and Cami shared a look at her trail off.

"....My dad's only seen about half my life..."

Carefully, MJ pushed out of their hold to stand up.

"I think I have an idea."

~***~

"Why the hell," Kol's expression was dark, "Did you two touch – "

"They're weapons to kill us," Elijah reminded him.

"They're how Floare to live past thirty!"

For once, Kol hadn't intended to make a weapon against his family. It had been for Dinah. It had been for magic. His humanity had been within reach with those stones, and now?

Now! They made it possible for Ryos Jung to run free.

"And! They needed to be kept away from the sociopath – "

Vincent's eyes were closed, "He's not a sociopath."

Silence – eyes on the stone still in Kol's possession.

"He's just observant."

None of them had noticed Freya and Elijah swipe them. None had even questioned the pair's odd movements towards the bookshelf and kitchen doorway. But Ryos had. And Ryos had summoned those stones the minute the pair had stepped into his realm, without them noticing...

Sam was very still, "Is that all true?"

Vincent was too scared to move.

An answer in itself.

Why would he lie about that?

"...Were you ever gonna tell MJ?" Josh was quiet, "Like..."

Staring at his hands. 

"That's her entire life."

"When we first met!" Vincent promised, "I went to – "

"But you didn't!"

Most of them had never seen Josh angry, Kol's argument with him over the sire line the closest he'd ever gotten. He was usually too scared to just yell at any of them. Similar to Sam in that regard, though, the wolf had been pushing the boundary since MJ's return from the prison world.

"You had a million chances – "

"Man," He was shaking, "How the hell do you start that conversation?"

"Hello, you may remember me as a friend, but I actually handed over a spell that would have gotten you killed, led to your mother's death, and hexed your brother," Klaus mocked, "But I was possessed by Finn Mikaelson, so we now have a mutual enemy. Please don't kill me."

No one reacted.

"Not the time?"

"It's rarely the time for your jokes," Finn shuffled.

"I'm telling her," Josh was shell-shocked.

"You are not," Elijah countered, "He has a point."

Josh's eyes bugged.

"We lost Mira once."

Kol started to laugh in disbelief.

"She never truly quits – she'll be back, and she will forgive herself," He reminded them, "If she believes there is even a slither of redemption in that man?"

"There isn't," Pri declared, "I don't care if he was hexed. He should've told her."

Eyes moving as many had forgotten she was even there.

"I saw everything she sent him – he had every opportunity to go, 'hi, I'm hexed, but I'm working on it,' and none of the rest would've happened, but he didn't."

Vincent started to look sick all over again.

"Do you know what he said when we phoned him after the Muller Vampires?"

While her family kept MJ warm.

"His sister was drained of blood, buried alive, and accidentally killed four people – and his response was," She put on a voice, waving her hands, "'Well, you've never been able to keep yourself in check, MiMi.'"

Finn's eyes couldn't help but jump to his younger brother.

"He painted everything she did as bad – he talked about her like she was on the brink of insanity for being smart – he kept her from her roots by intervening anytime she was near magic – "

Klaus and Elijah were staring at each other again.

"We should be thanking the universe MJ didn't just fucking snap under his pressure and go, 'If I can never be good enough, I might as well make a mark as the worst,' because she could've been history's biggest serial killer, and it would have been his fault."

After so many years of only ever seeing Klaus and MJ as the same, people started to click something else. How multiple things can be true. How Kol Mikaelson, in all his hell of a history, had connected with her so intensely, so quickly.

"He tormented her."

No forgiveness was in sight for Pria Yadav.

"Ryos Jung is the bad guy; knowing this stuff doesn't change anything."

"He was hexed." Vincent repeated, expression firm, "None of you know him – "

"And none of you were there!" Pri's hands were fists, "When she couldn't even speak!"

Her body trembling.

"She would sit in class, and her mouth would move, and she'd look ready to throw up because he told her she couldn't trust anyone!"

It was slightly more complicated than that.

The witch voices had screwed with MJ's ability to communicate long before Ana's death.

And, well, her mother had died...

"He told her everyone would try to kill her. Or hate her. And I was the one who held her through every nightmare, and unreplied emails, and false hope birthday present – "

"He loved her."

"He's trash."

"He was keeping her safe!"

"By cutting up her face?"

"He found another way – "

"It's not our choice!" Josh shoved up, "None of us know him!"

Looking between Vincent and Pri.

"...But MJ should get to," He defended, "Come on."

He hadn't expected it to be an argument.

"Are you all really gonna let her keep thinking he hates her?"

As her roommate, he'd seen how low she could get.

As her friend, he thought they all knew how MJ felt about herself.

Most of them knew, but there was a difference between knowing and understanding.

"After seeing all that!""

A literal meltdown about never being enough.

"She killed herself," Klaus's voice seemed to echo.

Not because he'd yelled.

His voice hadn't gone up in the slightest.

The phrase just seemed to pull all the universe, a daunting truth.

"You wish to ease her mind? She phoned me," He revealed, "Begging for just that."

His reaction to her death suddenly shifted in Elijah's mind.

"And when I gave it to her?"

Kol was the only one who knew what they'd spoken about that day.

"She killed herself."

Josh looked at Sam, then Kol, Marcel, and Davina, but everyone just seemed lost. Locked in an impossible point. Ryos Jung was a terrible person. He was rude, and he made assumptions, but they'd also been warned many times by MJ that he was rarely wrong.

"We need to find him," Kol tried to change the subject, "If he's got that power?"

"Is he gonna hurt her?" Sam whispered, "If his problem was magic fucking him up – "

"We won't let him," Marcel seemed entirely zoned out, "How far could he get?"

"The entire world," Kol didn't hide his resentment, "Two Floare keys could get him anywhere he desires."

"MJ must have some of his blood," Freya tried.

"He's a New Orleans witch," Vincent reminded them, "On New Orleans soil. As a ghost."

"You're not gonna be able to track him," Davina realised what he was implying, "His signature will be everywhere."

Sam gritted his teeth, "Why have we been in a week's worth of witch hunts?"

Eyes pinned on the Mikaelson's.

"All of which could've been avoided."

"I can find him," Vincent's hands were still shaking, "I can – "

"You're not meant to be outside St James," Davina reminded him, "Or using ancestral magic."

"I'm the only one who – "

"Gods, it's easy to throw you all into a frenzy," Ryos walked out of MJ's magic room, "No need to lose your heads."

Everyone was still.

The stones were on his bracelet, hopping two stairs at a time, a journal in one hand, a bottle from Kol's absinthe collection in the other.

Flipping pages carefully.

"Just wanted some fresh air."

Kol marched at him, "What did you just do?"

"Nothing," He ducked as the vampire's arm swung out to grab the bracelet, "Now – now..."

Reforming in the centre of the circle.

"That mad I've nicked your booze?"

"Give the keys back."

"You want me to help? I need them."

"Incorrect," Kol spun, "You can draw on your spirits alone."

He ignored him, pointing the journal at Davina, "Would you mind grabbing one of the bodies? A hybrid?"

Davina's eyes were wide.

"I think I know where the magic's gone," He put the books on the table, looking at MJ's wall of rambles, "These maps..."

Kol crept closer, glowering.

"I can get it myself, but that seems to freak you out – "

"I, uh," She rubbed her arm, "Sure?"

"Mr Jung," Elijah interrupted, "Unless this is to do with an antidote – "

"Mr?" Ryos scoffed, "I did not work myself dry for you to call me 'Mr.'"

With a flick of the wrist, he opened the absinthe, pouring it into an empty glass. 

"Dr Jung."

"Changed my mind," Kol grumbled, "Give my booze back too."

"For all you know," He smiled again, "It's the secret ingredient."

"Doubtful," Freya lifted her brows, "You're working on two things at once again."

"One of which is healing your brother," Ryos defended, "Why do you have such an issue with it?"

"I don't trust you not to poison him."

"Very fair," He lifted the glass, "May I direct you to the truth candles for the second time?"

"You can be telling the truth and still trick us," Elijah reasoned, "Words can have two meanings."

"You would know."

"You don't know a thing about me."

Ryos turned from the wall to smile at him, "I created an upgrade of you."

Hexed or not, his ego was unchanged.

"You think that's possible without study?"

The Jung family knew how to do their research.

"What do you think that means I can do when I'm in a mood? What do you want me to demonstrate?"

Klaus inched towards his brother.

"Two of your siblings already know – and that was when I had mortal form."

The city itself now charging him up, downing the end of his beaker.

Pushing it away.

Topping it up.

"And if you think you can stop me?" He pouted at Freya, "You're a first-born Mikaelson, so you must be the best in the world?"

Her lips curled in.

"Your family is only considered 'great' because your mother twisted our magic into something that wasn't even as powerful as the original spell."

Finn lurched into the circle as Ryos walked towards Freya.

"First-borns?" He just seemed to find the action amusing, "You think that means shit to a Floare-Ruiz?"

Around each of his own steps, the floor shifted.

It didn't crack. It wasn't poking with weeds and flowers the way the world reacted when MJ was supercharged and mad. Instead, it was simply changing. Morphing from stone to a shiny surface, like a mirror spreading across the magic circle like ice. The walls flickering the way his face had earlier.

No longer familiar, but bone, and ash, and translucent – all of them translucent. Water against their ankles, ripping at flesh, as voices of screams and last laughs and last words ravaged their minds -

"In the great grand scale of the universe..."

Freya's heart slowly picked up.

"You think you mean anything at all?"

"MJ thinks everyone means something."

A pause as they realised no one inside the circle had spoken. Freya hadn't bitten back. The water and the voice vanished, flesh once again the way it was meant to look, Ryos and his tattoos, black and smooth before them. Brown intelligent eyes rather than empty hollows pulling at their souls.

All turning to face Josh, watching his focus on Ryos.

"It's why she loves people like me," He didn't like the sudden attention, "We're all important somewhere...to someone...or, at least, she makes you feel that way..."

Ryos let his head bob.

Let them try to work out how to feel about him.

Pri's anger grew as he proved her right – as rude and condescending as ever.

Finally, he took a long sip, and responded, "She always was a Doctor Who fan."

"Where did you go?" Marcel spoke.

Ryos's amused smile came back.

"You want D to grab some bodies for you? Sure," He challenged, "But to go that route? You went and saw something that you think's a threat."

"I think this family is self-centred."

A clap and he was back by the wall, staring at the seven maps MJ had made marks across.

"I simply wanted to make my threats in person."

"Threats?" Sam rubbed his thumb across Davina's knuckles.

Ryos's magic had caused her skin to pale, her eyes a familiar sight. The same fear she'd held that first night back from limbo, terrified it would come back to claim her, now facing a man who could make it just appear?

"Lucien," Ryos spelt it out, "I'm not good at being stabbed in the back."

A smile to Vincent.

"I wanted to tell him that his days were numbered."

"He knows you're helping us?" Kol wanted to throttle him, "Are you – "

"He thinks MJ phoned me and that I'm on my way to obliterate him and then take you all out myself," He corrected, "Which is far more realistic than what's actually happening."

"And then you wonder why I don't trust your cure to Kol's ailments," Freya defended.

"Look," Ryos rolled his eyes, "I just want a failed hybrid body. Some peace and quiet. And if you're feeling useful, someone could measure out those – "

Waving a finger to get a journal open, showing numbers.

" – with each of the venoms MiMi's been collecting – "

"Ryos," Vincent's voice made him still, "What are you thinking?"

Ryos just gave him a look.

"You don't care about Lucien's venom – so what are you doing?"

"Figure it out."

A smug floating voice.

"You're meant to be the best, Vincent. Tell me what I'm doing."

"You were always better than me."

"I was always smarter."

Strength had come with the stones, and the hex, and the voodoo.

"And I was always looking at the big picture."

The absinthe was topped up as his fingers started to tap.

"People always say that wisdom comes with age," He pressed into the table, "But I think everyone in this room is proof that's not true."

"This isn't funny, Ryos," Vincent came closer, "People are dying."

"Exactly," He gripped the glass, "And you're all so stressed about a family of vampires?"

He was exasperated.

"Why now?"

Silence.

"Why create Lucien now?" He repeated, "Why not when the hybrid curse was broken?"

"We weren't in New Orleans," Klaus answered.

"Then why not when you came to New Orleans?" Ryos corrected, "Lucien has been in my life for years – he's been looking into this for decades. I had a version of this spell that involved no New Orleans witches, and yet?"

"It makes him more powerful," Freya revealed, "They protected him."

"Why?" He repeated, "What do they have to gain?"

Vincent let his muscles loosen, eyes slowly taking him in.

Eyes caught on the line of Ryos's jaw, following it up to his ears and into the wave of his hair, hand gracing to push it back. Constantly battling between long enough to flop around his forehead and short enough to be pushed away from his eyes, 

Letting himself stare was the only way to return to his youth – to the days they could read each other.

"They hate vampires, yet create a creature worse than?"

"To wipe vampires out," Finn tried.

"It's a lot easier to deal with only Lucien than all of us," Kol hated that he agreed.

"Why does it have to be about any of you?"

"Because he is trying to kill us," Elijah reminded him.

"And he is working for the spirits," Ryos agreed, "But that doesn't mean it's about you – it means you're bargaining chips."

Stillness.

"Or..." He stared at his glass, "...Potential ingredients."

Freya was biting the tip of her tongue.

"Why dump all his human kills in one park?" Ryos continued, "Why are you dealing with mock hybrids? Who, if your dissection is correct?"

Referring to Davina.

"Have no trace of magic left in them."

"Why don't you tell us?" Marcel huffed, "Oh-Great-Knowledgeable one."

"I have a theory," He finally looked at Vincent again, "Doesn't mean I'm right. Hence why I want a hybrid body to properly investigate."

"Eva died last year," Vincent shook his head, "She was out of it."

Ryos shifted as Vincent realised what he was implying.

"But whatever was in her got wiped out."

"That magic's been 'wiped out' every century," Ryos flicked his glass, "Doesn't mean it's gone."

"And you two have another secret," Sam sighed.

"Not a secret," Ryos rebutted, "This city has been running from something for a very long time."

The vampires all shared a glance, expecting one of them to know what was being referenced.

"Sometimes it's a whisper in an alley."

Davina felt the hairs on her neck stand up.

"Sometimes it's a woman drowning."

Kol paused.

"Sometimes it's a snake, trying so hard to stop itself from causing the destruction of all, it rams its own tail down its throat, unable to ever remove it."

"The Ouroboros," Pri named, looking from Marcel to Sam.

Their conversation while hunting for MJ a week earlier.

"You saw it, Vincent," Ryos was only looking at him, "We all did."

"I didn't."

"You felt it, I heard it, Eva saw it."

"Exactly!" Vincent waved his hand, "It's different."

"Two of us are dead, Vince," Ryos let his hatred flicker for a second, "Did you really think it would leave you out?"

"This isn't about me."

"It's about the city," He faced Kol, "Lucien rocks up, systematically killing humans and leaving them hung up in a park. Then, the ancestors imbue him with their power?"

"He created a link," Kol realised, "The deaths were sacrifices for the spirits. Giving them more access to our side."

"Exactly," Ryos breathed out, "But which spirit?"

"All of them," Freya answered, "Seemingly."

"But why?"

"To kill us," Elijah repeated.

"Not everything is about you!" Ryos groaned, "The Strix knew I made Lucien a cure."

Marcel scanned him.

"Or well, The Sisters did – so why were they making hybrids for Aya under some claim that's how I made mine when it was widespread knowledge I just drain venoms from packs."

"They heard voices," Davina revealed, "MJ quizzed them on it, and they all got really freaked when they couldn't tell her why. Just...something in them."

"Lucien's one," Ryos had met her before, "She was from New Orleans."

Sam moved to grab the files Pri had bought holding research, "We couldn't find a home."

"She left when she was a kid," He added, "Mum died. Was in this trading group before Lucien found her so had been all over without anyone."

Pri hated that she was noting that down.

"He got me to teach her to tap into an ancestral plane."

"Meaning, The Sisters could hear whatever she did," Davina confirmed, "They tried using my head to hear the voices too."

"So we got him killing humans, and his witch causing hybrid creation – why?" He pointed to Elijah, "And if you imply it's just to kill you one more time – "

Met with a glare but no words.

"Why now? Why external witches? Why Lucien? Why not Marcel?"

The air turned icy.

"They just wanna kill you guys, a walking resentful potential enemy who has a history of chasing their witches? Why not him?"

"MJ," Kol finished, "She's got more sway over the living than they do nowadays."

Ryos bobbed his head, "And she's restoring things."

"You've really just been watching her?" Klaus prompted.

"When I can," He shrugged, "Living in the gate between living and dead means I've been somewhat forced into helping nosy Floare commune with their ancestors."

But he'd seen enough.

"It's quite fun," He waved a hand, "I'm meeting all types of people – not the point!"

Taking another long sip, the glass was placed down firmly.

"The ancestors don't like the Voodoo Queens."

It was magic out of their control.

"She's bringing them back into the fold. Celebrating life. And making young people question their judgement."

"So," Sam crossed his arms, "They're doing all this to mess with her?"

"I'd say it was that before I'd dub it simple revenge against one family," Ryos reasoned, "If they can't rely on the covens to do as they ask? They might just fade away."

Vincent and Ryos shared another look.

"Or find themselves defenceless to the void."

"You two can't just do that," Marcel gestured to them, "What?"

"The ancestors have always feared losing control," Ryos's voice was soft, "But this is that on drugs."

Swishing the glass slowly.

"Something has scared them."

"It's gone," Vincent repeated.

"What's gone?" Kol narrowed his eyes, "What is The Ouroboros to you?"

"The living fear the dead," Ryos spoke, "So what do the dead fear?"

In his wrapped trousers and loose shirt, the young man twisted the small braid at the front of his hair around his finger, the beads next to his left temple engraved with symbols of spirituality. Spiritual protection.

"What drives them mad?"

"Hell," Kol answered.

"Being forgotten," Finn countered.

"The voice," Davina finished, "The woman in the alley."

"The blue light," Ryos confirmed.

Any tension he'd been able to form vanished.

Well, vanished from everyone except Vincent and Davina.

Kol was stuck in a loop as he thought through everything that had happened.

"Waiting to burn the universe down, viewing it as fuel and nothing more."

"MJ heard it."

Ryos stilled.

"When we were in the spirit plane," Kol continued, "There was a voice in a cupboard trying to talk to her. And she was stopped by another spirit who told her it was a trick."

"She didn't see it?" Vincent checked.

"No," Kol paused, "Not that I know of."

Sam looked to Davina, "Did you?"

"During my communes with the spirits," She shook her head, "They were always warning me about something, but they'd never just tell me what."

"Because they don't know," Vincent answered, "The only people who've dared to look into it..."

Ryos stood back up, "They all died."

"So I stopped looking."

Kol looked at him in disbelief, "You just stopped?"

"You have to!" He argued, "You give it a second of your time, and it latches on to you and everything you love until there's nothing left."

Kol felt a hand trailing up his spine.

"And," He focused on Ryos, "If you think this is to do with that?"

"I don't know!" Ryos repeated, "I don't spend my days just following you all around – but if someone's telling me that all the power's been stripped from a hybrid body – and that the siphoner isn't why?"

At the end of the day, everything came back to the witches.

"Lucien jumped ship from me for them, thinking their power was more protection than my upgrade," He was clearly taking it slightly personally, "Only to turn himself into a pawn."

Finally, addressing Elijah.

"I don't think you should be fearing his bite. That just kills you."

"How lovely."

"You should be scared of what your death could be used to do."

Eyes, trying not to look at Finn.

Knowing MJ's working theory for his resurrection was literally that. Bring him back to test run a way to kill an Original – not just to see if it works, but to see what specifically happens with an Original. And they hadn't stopped her from breaking the sire line, meaning they weren't on a quest to wipe out vampires.

This was about their lives and what that meant.

"Sorry to anyone who likes cruelty-free products, but going from human to hybrid is a testing process. Rats to pigs."

"And the last jump is Originals?" Davina hesitated.

"The Original Hybrid," Sam was looking at Klaus, "You guys found our missing pack bodies in Lucien's experiment basements. What about the vampires?"

"No one's gone missing," Marcel assured them, "We've had no 'test subjects.'"

"Vampires are easy, though," Ryos countered, "Lucien has about a hundred on a payroll willing to be tested on."

"Do you think The Ancestors are trying to end it?" Vincent's voice carried a level of quiet in it, "Sacrifice The Original Family and have enough power to finally get rid of it?"

Ryos shrugged, "If I was allowed to get the hybrid body..."

Gleaming at Elijah.

"I might be able to tell you where the magic went," He smiled falsely, "How it was used. What MJ can run around the city trying to sense."

Why were their deaths suddenly so needed by the universe?

"Only if you allow, that is," He was taunting them, "We witches are just your servants, right?"

His eyes met Kol.

"Left to the darkness."

"MJ didn't see it," He repeated.

Ryos looked back at Davina.

"We'll be quick," Sam declared, not about to leave her alone with Lucien out there, "If that body's gone, there might be a few more with the police."

"I'll head there," Pri wanted out, "More bodies to check, the better."

With that, Ryos took a second map out, pinning both to the top of the table, looking through the box of venom MJ had left. He cross-referenced her notes with his own to match symbols. To slowly start writing a spell out on a fresh page in her book.

Elijah, Freya, and Finn were by the bookcase.

They clearly wanted to talk but weren't stupid enough to risk doing it with him in the room, watching as Klaus sunk back to the steps. Marcel was slightly too still, leaning in the doorway to the kitchen, watching the courtyard. Josh could not sit properly, fidgeting across the sofa as he rested back. Kol and Vincent were the only two left near the circle.

Vincent was trying to read the map like something in his brain might start to work, while Kol kept at the edge, gripping the one Floare stone Ryos didn't have.

"MJ's safe."

He glanced at Kol.

"She didn't see anyone. With no help from you."

Ryos snorted at the implication.

"Your magic," He called out, "Blue."

The ghost's eyes seemed to gleam.

"You made a type of magic that was unsiphonable."

Ryos set up a drip, watching as venom started to feed into a beaker.

"And when MJ tried to, she went up in blue flames."

He wrote in marker up the plastic tube, watching it flash orangey-gold.

"Voodoo," Kol vamped in front of him, "Is it the voodoo?"

A move that called his bluff. That gave him access to a third power point to determine why he hadn't snatched it when he took the others. To test how he stared at Kol's hands, opting to top up his drink instead.

"You realised it acted against – "

"Bit more than that," Ryos flicked his wrist to get one of his journals open, "Based in voodoo, sure."

Starting to write certain bits of information on the clean page.

"But that's not why my magic was blue."

"The hex," Vincent revealed, "Whatever spirit is on our ancestral plane? It told us the hex."

Eva's first time using its magic.

"And my solution had that magic bound to me," Ryos confirmed, "So, no matter what Floare Key I had on me, I was always the blue light."

"You should never have bound a hex to yourself," Vincent sounded broken, "Ry..."

He just kept writing, "It needed to survive somehow."

At only fifteen, with limited time and resources.

"The spell could not die. Therefore, if I was one with it..."

"You could not die."

"But you did," Klaus spoke.

"I was not immortal," Ryos agreed, "I simply took what made it impossible to heal and engineered it to always be healing me. But no one can truly live forever."

"You say in the room of vampires," Josh reminded him.

"Vampires can be killed."

Their eyes met.

"Not a threat," Ryos's lips twitched at him, "Just a fact."

Josh shifted, torn between looking away under the pressure and not wanting to give him the satisfaction of being intimidated.

"Even the true immortals had a cure," His voice lifted, "It's beautiful, really."

The story may have been full of betrayal, but its results appealed to him.

"Life has meaning because it ends."

Said the dead man.

"The real gift of immortality isn't the gift of life," He pitched, "It's the gift to choose when you want to move on. To either continue in bliss or find a new kind."

Josh's lips parted slightly.

"The peace we are all promised."

Vincent swallowed, "Are you at peace?"

Ryos raised an eyebrow.

"MJ said peace was acting up. Spirits from its side were showing themselves – "

"I am the in-between, Vince."

Silence.

"It's a type of peace."

"It's not," Kol tried not to glare too obviously, "It's an insanity of nothing."

"For you," Ryos shrugged, "For me?"

He pulled a different vial from MJ's stores, inspecting the label.

"It's the first time I've felt quiet in years."

Vincent's shoulders slumped.

"And regardless of that," He tipped two drops into his mix, "I will always be a witch."

Spoken with resentment.

"We are meant to pass on. Let our power become someone else's."

"If you wiped out all magic," Klaus realised something, "You would have died."

"The thing keeping me alive would have been taken away," He agreed, "But MJ would be happy. My mind would have been cleared. And if it had killed me? I would have been able to find peace."

Elijah rephrased, "You like being dead?"

"I think my time ended, and there is no point trying to fight that."

"You've successfully changed the topic," Kol huffed, "How did you make magic that MJ couldn't siphon."

Ryos almost smiled, "Really want me to just tell you?"

"If we had time, I'd have more fun with it," Kol agreed, "While Lucien walks around with that ability melding into him – "

"I wrote my spells to be biological and life-bonding, ancestral magic written into a voodoo song. I'd then banish the ancestral magic using a Traveller spell – nature would do its thing to make balance and 'fill the void' since, you know, 'Travellers bad.' Bonding with the subject like a hex, but full of voodoo and void instead."

There was a different energy in him when he was explaining his work.

"And by void – they didn't fill the gap with magic, they just put enough in there to mean the thing, whether it's a potion or a person, is 'alive' – anything with magic is alive, if you don't understand that, that's a whole other lesson."

Why MJ could make slight chips in the power before the blue flames kicked in.

"Allowing the spells to harness the nothingness between nature, magic, and humanity in a new way. Almost...Like," He waved a hand, "Think about a siphoners store."

A normal siphoner.

"While a regular witch dies if their store is empty, siphoners survive off that nothingness. Their biology is already doing a version of what I built."

It was how he'd gotten the idea.

"They don't use voodoo; that's my added layer, not the point. They are living magical beings with no magic in them. What I've done is found a way to give that gift to other things."

MJ had always described the feeling as anti-magic.

"Can't siphon nothingness, now can ya."

And voodoo was already something different. The rules on what MJ could and couldn't affect still very much in the discovery progress, combined into mad scientist magic, that Kol couldn't help but respect.

"Everyone I ever spoke to about the concept thought I was insane."

"Creating a new way of casting spells is always hard to get your head around," Vincent tested.

"Because it's not as simple with spell casting," Ryos admitted, "I can do it because of how I transformed the hex. Most people could only use it in potions or enchanted objects."

Kol's favourite things...

His favourite thing, the man's sister.

Who he was now expected to keep a secret from. Because telling MJ the truth might send her spiralling in a way none of them knew how to save her from.

"And he's got two stones," MJ walked in, as if on cue, Hayley and Cami just behind her, "Exactly what we need!"

"Thought you quit," Ryos teased.

"I have," She smiled, "You're not my problem."

"Yet you're here," He sang.

"I knew you for eleven years," She declared, "Well, technically nineteen, but only eleven of them counted. And you're twenty-five...or you would be if..."

"You hadn't killed me?"

"Eleven out of twenty-five," She pushed past the comment, "Is forty-four per cent."

Less than half.

"Fifteen out of twenty-five?"

Ryos stilled.

"Sixty per cent."

Cami and Hayley hovered by the door, letting MJ face The Mikaelsons.

"Let me make myself clear – Ryos had three of those things, I had one, and I still beat him," She was numb, "I am that powerful."

More motivated to let him burn than ever before.

"You touch my father?"

The figure in the foyer had enough protective jewellery on him that he couldn't be heard, smelt, or attacked without a mountain of witchy interference.

"You think he's a way to manipulate me?" She dared, "Or you use him to piss Ryos off?"

Stepping out of the shadows, an uneasy look on his face, the sun so bright in the sky that Ryos's expression turned slack.

"You will be erased."

A promise, not a threat, as everyone took the older man in.

"...Ryos..." Ryan spoke, hands coming to his face, "Ryos"

He was in uniform. A walking reminder that the world didn't stop just because they were in a supernatural crisis, having been on his way to work, calling in sick on the bus ride over. MJ had needed the bus. Needed his arm over her shoulder, trying to understand what she was telling him.

"Wǒ de tiān a, Ryos."

"Get him out of here," Ryos hissed, "MiMi – "

Ryan stepped closer, scared to blink.

"Mira – "

"He has form," MJ revealed, "Dead, but here."

"Mira – "

Before Ryos could say another word, Ryan had passed over the barrier, throwing his arms over Ryos's shoulders, gripping his head into his chest and openly weeping. Not letting Ryos push him away when he tried, just pressing kisses into his hair like he was nothing more than a child.

"RJ," Ryan whispered, squeezing even harder, "Ry."

Ryos was trembling as Ryan let go, opting to simply hold his face instead, not looking away in case doing so caused him to vanish to dust.

Voice cracking, "Wǒ yǐwéi wǒ zài yě jiàn bù dào nǐle."

Unable to stop himself from pulling him in, arms locked so firmly across his back that Ryos could do nothing but fall into the hold this time. He let his hands slowly drift up to latch onto his father's back. Squeezing at the pilot's jacket like he thought it was fake.

"You were – " His hold tightened, "We were – "

A ploy by MJ to mess with him, as much as he'd messed with her.

"Ryos, I – I – "

But it was all just real...

"I love you so much."

"Stop it!" He shoved away, staring at him, "You..."

His breath picked up the longer his father's face stayed before him.

"You – you – " Ryos barrelled towards MJ, "What did you do?"

"Me?" MJ sunk to the floor against a table, "I'm not here right now."

Stretching her legs out.

"I'm still processing the fact my brother had the means to save me from assault, loneliness, and starvation but chose not to!"

Curling her knees in again.

"You're his problem now!"

Ryos spun to Ryan, "You need to leave."

"You don't get to make that choice for me," Ryan spoke flatly, wiping his cheeks, "You never did."

Ryos went silent.

"I don't care if you thought you were saving my life," He marched at Marcel, "He never should have been allowed to make that choice for me!"

"He's right here," Marcel spoke lowly, "And you're still gonna blame me?"

"Ah yes," Ryan's eyes burned with rage, "I wonder who's at fault between 'fifteen-year-old learning his mother was killed' and 'two-hundred-year-old trying to fuck her?'"

Silence.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"He wanted to keep you alive!"

"And you should have known better!"

"What!" Klaus shoved to his feet, "Is going on?"

Staring.

Silence filling the space.

Silence and his own rapid heartbeat.

"Who are you?"

Kol wasn't sure where to focus; half his attention was on how MJ sat, and the other half was unsure what was about to happen. Ryan was right there. In his house. Introduced quite clearly. Surrounded by his family.

Klaus, still asking who he was.

Klaus, needing to believe he'd heard MJ wrong.

"Ryan Jung," He calmed himself, "Apologies for the rude intrusion."

MJ felt herself curling up more, hands going over her ears.

"I was hoping to make a better first impression on Kol's family, but..." He gestured about, "...I was not aware Marcel would be here."

Klaus pointed at him, "If you were their father – "

"It's him, Klaus," MJ's voice was low, "Ryan Jung."

Forcing herself to meet his look.

"Marcel broke the compulsion the night you killed Mikael."

Kol inched closer to her father.

"Half the time when you assume I'm at work, I'm at his."

Klaus's hand gripped the stair railing.

"I didn't tell you about him because I didn't trust you not to kill him."

Silence.

Locked in each other's eyes.

Her hands were still over her ears, her chin rested on her knees, tucked into her chest, no energy or passion or love in any of her words. Ryos had joked about how long it would take him to break her. To get her to the point where she didn't care about the consequences of her phrasings, speaking like she wanted a bite back.

Klaus's frozen expression forced back to the man.

Taking in the shape of his face, the kindness in his eyes, and the red tint to his dark hair. All representing a person he adored so thoroughly.

The hybrid turned so fast that the railing was pushed out of place, storming up the stairs.

MJ letting him go.

Listening to the creak.

The squeak.

The metal snapped out of place completely, hitting the courtyard floor with such a clang she couldn't help but wince. Heart stinging like it had been used to stab her. Still not able to rise to her feet.

As MJ's face dropped back down, staring straight ahead, fingers tugging against her hair, Cami couldn't stop herself. Following up the stairs with an expression none of them could quite place.

"You know, xiào xiào," Ryan stood over MJ, "There is a big comfy-looking chair right there."

"But floor."

"Is very dirty."

She buried her head further into her knees and flopped to the side so she didn't have to look at him.

"Okay," He crouched, taking off his jacket, "You get ten minutes."

Placing it over her shoulders.

"Then I'm moving you."

"Okay."

Ryan glanced back, and Kol shifted, drifting closer to her, her father giving him a curious look at the hesitancy.

"So," Ryan patted Kol's arm, pointing around, "Elder sister Freya."

All of them just stared at him.

"Man who murdered you, therefore not on the Christmas list."

Moving to.

"Elijah."

Oddly calm.

"Buyer of violins, but also snapper of necks."

MJ sat up.

"And then I know everyone else."

Hayley's lips twitched slightly. The bus over had been her first time meeting him, but watching them all shoot her a panicked look was funny.

"It's really nice to meet everyone," He beamed, "I'm really sorry it's under these circumstances – I have some wine in my bag, but I was also warned it would be too cheap for your tastes, so I'm not going to get it out until my son is less motivation to kill me."

Kol watched MJ.

She was pulling at her dad's jacket and frowning. Lips almost quivering. Chest moving like it was about to explode as she searched for any signs of comfort, the words encircling her like a hurricane of hell, instantly regretting every choice she'd ever made.

Something was wrong.

"And the one who went upstairs – "

Kol vanished, reappearing with a red jacket over his arm, the Timberwolf design clear on its back, MJ's body freezing.

Staring at it wide-eyed.

Cautiously sitting up as Kol offered it further forward, sinking to sit with her. MJ pulled it on, wrapping the familiar and ageing fabric around her body, her dad's jacket draped over her exposed legs.

Sending Kol a particularly grateful look.

Her eyes said it all.

Pleading for forgiveness for what she'd said about his life and family.

His expression answered even faster.

No apology was needed – Kol didn't care. In a way, he agreed. He'd given the same rant to Elena once, pointing out that they'd never know the pain MJ had lived through – and he'd also seen how avoidant she'd been surrounding the topics since. In Kol's mind, the rant she'd done simply added fuel to his fiery determination to ensure she had everything she ever wanted for the rest of her life.

" – would be Klaus."

Seeing MJ sit up allowed Ryan to breathe out, too.

Turning to his son.

As he walked closer, Ryos backed away, like he thought another touch from the man would cause an explosion.

"...Did you keep playing?"

Ryos blinked rapidly, almost tripping over the coffee table, "What?"

"Did you keep playing?" Ryan shrugged, "We were prepping you for a music scholarship, and – "

"Yeah," He leant against the table instead, "I got one."

"Then you studied medicine?"

"At King's..."

"Why?"

"Why?"

"Why'd you pick it?" Ryan tilted his head, "If you're talking King's College – "

"Cambridge would've been research – King's College was more practical," He spoke slowly, "I didn't want to just read about people dying..."

"You wanted to help," Ryan nodded, "Did your school give you the right support?"

Another long pause.

One that allowed Ryan to look around the room, counting the pages of rambles, beakers, and vials, venom still being separated out across the low-lying coffee table.

The chess board just sitting their, still in check-mate.

Ryos shook his head, "What are you doing?"

"...Talking to my son?"

"Your dead son," Ryos straightened up, "Who tried to kill your daughter, only to be killed by her."

"Working for The Travellers," Ryan continued, "Because you wanted to break a curse that separated families."

Ryos's eyebrows twitched.

"One that your mother tied to your bloodline."

"Could say that the universe likes to be ironic."

"Did you have good teachers?"

Ryos's eyes bugged.

"Did they let you do what you wanted to do?" Ryan drifted towards a chair, "Or did they want you to science?"

"Why wouldn't I have wanted to do – "

"You were always good at science," Ryan continued, "But you wanted to be a composer."

Resting there.

"...I still have all the books."

Ryos wasn't blinking.

"You'd fill up those music sheet notebooks in what felt like minutes," Ryan couldn't stop himself from smiling, "And we knew you hated asking for more, 'cos you didn't want Ana to know, but she always bought extra just to hide in your drawers for you."

"Don't make this about mum," Ryos's voice was low, "She doesn't – "

"I wanna talk about you," He shut down, "But you're not answering."

He tried to laugh, "Who cares what I liked when I was fifteen?"

"I do."

Such a simple shrug, the hint of upset still in Ryan's eyes, but played off as casual conversation so quickly. Like they didn't have an audience. An audience of horror stories and complicated relationships...no, they didn't matter.

"And I care what you liked when you were sixteen, and eighteen, and twenty-two."

"We're not having this conversation – "

"What conversation?" Ryan shut down, "A conversation involves two people actually contributing, and you are doing everything in your power to not."

"Because it's pointless!"

"What is?"

"You're trying to save me when I'm already dead!"

"I don't care if you're dead."

After nearly a year of calm, joyous energy, Josh, Cami, Kol, and MJ were slightly enrapt in watching Ryan lose it. Or maybe 'lose it' was the wrong phrasing. He was flipping between upset and anger. Adoration and fear...

"Nothing in this universe will stop me wanting to know my son."

"I left you behind."

Ryan leant forward, "Were you able to keep writing scores?"

Ryos's jaw just dropped.

"Did you have the money for that? Or did your school help – or – "

"I was fine," Ryos tried to keep his voice steady, "I did orchestra. I played. I practiced. I did it all."

"Good."

Ryos swallowed, hand starting to tremor, grabbing the absinthe to stop it.

"With money from this other vampire?"

"Let's go with that."

"Did Lucien know he was just funding your life?" Kol had to prod, "Or did he think it all went to science?"

"Lucien thought he was funding a subsection of Augustine, then paid my regular fees," He took a short sip, "Augustine thought they were funding Kingmaking Land Development."

"But it was all just going straight to you," Hayley called out.

"Exactly."

"No one needs that much money."

"I was funding an entire coven of people," He defended, "And there were a lot of Travellers. Something Lucien wouldn't have invested in without the trickery."

"And anything else?" Ryan called out, "Because I'm pretty sure there's something else."

Ryos rigidly placed the glass back on the table, "What are you talking about?"

"You have your mother's hair."

MJ straightened up, staring at the pair in confusion.

Trying to understand the edge in Ryos's eyes.

The phrase had only ever felt like a compliment in the past. People who'd met Ana saw her beauty and dubbed her children as just like her, both in audacity, power and looks. Ryan didn't speak it as a good thing, though. Ryan saw something else.

"You may not be truly alive," Ryan considered, "But if this is what you looked like when you died?"

Carefully standing up again, really looking at the hair.

MJ trying to understand the point. Staring at Ryos, then at her own locks. Feeling them in her fingers, thick but soft. Flowing easily, and honestly, kept quite controlled. She'd always been about fashion and looks, she knew how to treat her hair, and she didn't see anything immediately wrong; Ryos's just seemed fluffier than hers.

Then again, she'd always had a blind spot with Ryos.

"I'm sure I don't need to tell the doctor how substance abuse can dry your hair out."

Fluffy was the wrong word...

Frizz.

Dry frizz that you only noticed if you stared at him too long. Too intensely. The naturally pretty features of their entire family almost hid it, lost in the style choices and crooked smile.

"Or how your skin's changed."

"I grew up – "

"An excuse that would work if I wasn't the gene donor."

A quick click of his cheek.

"I know exactly what your skin looked like growing up. I know how it would have changed as you got older, whether you inherited Ana or me, or a mix of both," His finger waving through the air, "And I know your neck is too thin, and the veins on your wrists are that little bit too thick because you're dehydrated."

If MJ was being honest, she thought her dad was pushing it.

Ryos looked healthy.

He'd always looked healthy – they were witches. They didn't just look sick unless they'd drained themselves doing a spell, and yet? MJ's perception of normal health was pretty damn warped. She'd just ranted about how she hadn't known what being healthy felt like, let alone what it resembled.

Maybe that was why she'd always been slightly obsessed with beauty. 

Fashion shows, runways, and people who seemed to glow gold in the sun.

"And," Ryan winced, "You chose to chug absinthe?"

The glass just sitting there.

"How bad is it?"

Ryos tried a smile, "I'm not an addict."

"Then why did you take the keys?" Ryan nodded to his wrist, "MJ has Ana's – I know what they are."

He'd read her journal entries, from the insanity of the power rush to the mad ramblings when she'd momentarily given them away.

"I know you're dead and making a powerful antidote, but why do you need to wield them."

"They're mine."

"They're Floare," Ryan spoke firmly, "And they're dangerous."

"You don't know – "

"I know a lot more than you think," He stood tall, "If I'm wrong? Take them off."

"I need them for the spell."

"You don't," Ryan stood his ground, "This is not your battle. The only thing you need to do is write instructions for your sister."

MJ felt Kol shift closer to her on the floor.

"Yet you claim to be uninterested in helping her," He added, "So why do you need them at all?"

Silence.

"Take them off."

"No."

"They're not worth it – "

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"I lived with a magic addict for sixteen years," He reminded him, "You think I don't know the tells?"

Expression so firm it barely moved, tongue pushing words past teeth.

"You think I don't see her when I look at you?"

Standing in that apartment the day he'd threatened to leave.

"You think I'm not reliving every night she couldn't even remember," His voice shook, "Where I held her over a toilet to keep her from choking to death in her sleep, as her body turned itself inside out."

A shine in his eyes crept back in as he stood inside the circle, staring at his son in the centre. A man in his twenties. A man holding a magical object that had torn someone he loved top pieces. Someone he had fought so hard for.

"She'd scream and cry and yell some names I didn't know, begging them to make it stop. Like she hadn't done it to herself. Like she was trying to get better when, in reality, she fought me every time I begged her to try."

Because, in a way, it hadn't been her choice.

It was the voices in her head.

The emptiness in her stomach couldn't handle even the slightest hit of joy because then she'd need to chug it so fast before it was taken away. Leaving her too sick to heal herself. So out of it, Floare healing couldn't save her.

"I lasted every argument until she admitted she had a problem. I guarantee I can last longer in this one, too."

"I was destroying my body with magic," Ryos glanced at the candles, "Funnily enough, things like my hair are after-effects of that."

"I don't believe you."

"MJ's made it so I can't lie – "

"And I have a pretty strong feeling that candles in the real world don't do anything to a ghost," Ryan looked to Kol as MJ froze, "Why would they? Surely, he is being suspended in a different realm."

Everyone who'd lingered while MJ, Hayley, and Cami had been gone were all staring at each other. Everyone except Vincent. Vincent was still looking directly at Ryos in confusion. Watching how his old friend plastered his Cheshire Cat smile back across his face as they all began to question everything he'd revealed...

"They work," MJ defended, "They're within my realm, which is your realm – "

"He looked at them," Ryan noted, "He was checking they were still burning."

Back to his son.

"You think I don't know what you look like when you lie?"

"You never did."

"I always did," Ryan corrected, "I always knew when you were lying."

Realising how much he'd known had been hard for MJ to get her head around.

"Especially when it was for your mother."

Still, watching that same panic creep around Ryos's features was almost satisfying.

"I was just stupid enough to hope it was a sign you were bonding over something."

It was almost enough to make MJ feel less sick at the idea that the truth magic might not work.

"Alas," Ryan put his hands out, "Now. Are you going to be honest?"

MJ let her head rest against Kol's shoulder, eyes closing, a sense of peace finally gracing her mind.

"Or am I going to sit here all day, seeing right through you?"

The way only a parent who truly loves you can.