The following days were stressful for Beatrix.

It was a relief to know Marcel was not dead. She couldn't have been happier to know that he was still around and that she hadn't lost him.

But the problem was the way he was going about things.

Vincent, Josh, and Kol had helped disconnect the Ancestral realm from its connection to New Orleans, with Davina's help. This meant that the Ancestral magic that had been used to create the serum coursing in Marcel's veins was now inaccessible. Though Vincent had told Beatrix that this was good, because it meant her magic would be stronger, she knew the real implications were worse. For one, Marcel was practically undefeatable. Secondly, she knew that now, her magic would not be suppressed, meaning it could grow darker and unchecked if she didn't watch herself.

She hardly had the time to worry about her own health. Marcel had laid low in his loft with her for the days following his return, and she had been trying to convince him not to go through with his plan to destroy the Mikaelsons.

"Marcel, you're letting your rage go too far!" she insisted. "I'm incredibly angry with Elijah too, but this isn't how you should have gone about it."

"He killed me in cold blood," Marcel sneered. "Right when he saw I had the serum container. He hardly hesitated. I can't be killed, I have nothing to fear."

"Marcel, you've seen how cruel they can be, how dark I've been," she pleaded. "Don't make that same mistake. Do better— be better. Davina wouldn't have wanted this."

"It doesn't matter what Davina would or would not have wanted! She's not here because of them. And I don't know why you continue to back them up."

"Like it or not, we quite literally will always be tied to Klaus through blood, as his sirelings," she retorted. "And though they are a shitty family, they took us both in."

"And look how well that went. Elijah won't even acknowledge that you were probably the love of his life. Klaus is rude to you every chance he gets when he doesn't need something from you. Even Kol— that guy was an asshole, did you forget what he did in 1821?"

"I didn't forget. But it's been a long bloody time since then and he's been a better man because of Davina. I went to the Compound yesterday, remember, to vanish the rest of my stuff— Klaus especially is feeling terrible and I know he's still a prat but your ire is going to cause problems here in the French Quarter, Marcel, and I don't want you causing harm to innocent people just to get the Mikaelsons out of here."

He threw his hands in the air. "So Klaus speaks some shitty apology to you and now you're back to siding with them?"

"I never said I'm siding with them, damn it, I just don't want you jumping into a war."

"My bite will kill anyone and everyone who stands in my way," Marcel snapped. "Be it them or other vampires."

She frowned. "Even me?"

He looked away. "No, I don't want to hurt you, or Rebekah, for that matter. But you both just keep supporting Klaus like you owe him something. Neither of you owe him anything. He's treated you both terribly and you run back to him each time."

"Marcel, this is going to become a problem. I know you've been inviting vampires in. The Quarter will become a killing ground and no one will be safe. I don't want you to do something this cruel. This is the kind of thing Klaus would do, and the whole point is to not be like Klaus."

He scoffed. "I thought, of all people, you'd be on my side."

"As a friend, I am fully in support of this because I know more than anyone the damage the Mikaelsons have done. But as the woman who raised you? As the aunt of Hope? The best friend of Rebekah? This is wrong, Marcel. I made the mistake of letting my anger get to me when Kai and I demolished the Gemini Coven. We killed innocent people and that guilt tore me apart. I have only partially redeemed myself because I helped those siphon twins be born. But that pain I feel because of what I did— because of the monster I allowed myself to be— it's still there. That day, I was a beast. I was just like the Mikaelsons, and it was embarrassing and hurtful and just evil. I don't want you to do that. I don't want you to come to your senses later and feel any sort of guilt—"

"I won't feel any guilt," he snapped. "None at all. I'm sick of them getting away with things. I don't need to think any of this through. I don't want to hurt you but if you keep defending them, you're going to get caught in the crossfire."

She stepped back, arms crossed. "Is that so?" she said, glaring at him. "You would bite me for trying to stop you from causing damage to our city?"

"I don't want them here, Beatrix! Why is that so hard to understand? This is our home, we were born and raised here, we have ties here, not them! They've only wreaked havoc here since they arrived. They ruined so many lives and we can't let them get away with it. But fine. If you don't want to help, then stay the hell out of the way because mark my words— everyone who defends them is going down."

She gritted her teeth and scoffed. "Well, good thing I've been flirting with Death for awhile now. I'm disappointed, Marcel. I didn't raise you to be like this. The little boy I took care of—"

"Is gone!" he spat.

"I see that now," she fired back. "This— all this? The attitude and the revenge plans and the unbridled cruelty? That's all Klaus."

She stormed out. She heard Marcel leave in a blur behind her, likely already wanting to get his plan underway so that she wouldn't be able to warn them. Not that she had been planning to.

She made her way to the Compound. All around her she could sense movement— vampires heading at Marcel's beck and call to aid in tormenting the Mikaelsons. Though a part of her felt no sympathy for them, she certainly was worried.

Klaus's words had been ringing in her head the past days. He sounded like he genuinely meant it. In fact, it'd been a long time since she heard such sincere words from him, and he had actually apologized this time.

She loved him. And it would be difficult for any love of that sort to just fade instantaneously. She was furious with him and his family, but she definitely still had feelings for him. That wouldn't change overnight or even over the course of a few nights.

When she got to the Compound, a massive amount of vampires was inside the building, and she lingered at the back of the group, not yet wanting to be seen by Marcel.

He was in the center, addressing the three Mikaelson brothers.

"Never thought it would come to this," said Marcel. "But as always, The Mikaelsons made my choice for me."

Beatrix could barely see Klaus's face, but he was clearly stunned. "Marcel... how?"

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

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

Marcel hummed. "Is that relief I hear? Really? If I hadn't been one step ahead of you, I would be at the bottom of the river."

Beatrix saw Elijah step forward. "Marcel, your anger is with me. I'm the one that's responsible for this crime against you."

"One thing I learned sticking around this family, Elijah, you take on one of you, you are taking on all of you. These guys, Klaus's sirelings, they're here to bear witness today."

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

"Damned sure I am," answered Marcel. "The Fall of The Mikaelsons. And guess what, the show has already started."

Kol stepped forward next, but closer to Marcel. "I know you're hurt. I loved Davina, too. And it would break her heart to see you like this."

Marcel jabbed a finger in Kol's direction. "Don't mention her name. If it weren't for you, she'd still be alive."

Kol slapped his hand down. "But she's not," he snarled. "This is an insult to her memory."

Marcel had had enough. With speed to match the three brothers, he knocked Kol back, and the Original retaliated trying to snatch away a blade in Marcel's hand— Papa Tunde's blade. However, Marcel caught his hand and yanked him forward, biting into his neck and making Kol let out an anguished yell of pure pain. Beatrix clapped her hand over her mouth as the crowd roared in approval. When Marcel had disconnected his fangs from Kol's neck, he snapped it, and threw his body back against the wall, dead, for the time being.

Elijah and Klaus both leapt at Marcel, and Beatrix shoved her way into the front, listening to punches and kicks being thrown. With ease, Marcel was keeping up with the attacks of both brothers, and he grabbed Klaus, throwing him back at the same wall that Kol had hit. Elijah was left fighting him alone, and out of impulse, Beatrix jumped in. Marcel's eyes glowed red as he dodged her strikes, and with a flick of her hand, she sent him back, but he recovered quickly and tore forward, grabbing both her hands and bending her wrists back, making her scream. His head moved down, and he was about to bite her arm when Elijah's hand shot out in front of Marcel's mouth.

The Original let out a loud yell as he was bit instead, and growling, Marcel grabbed him and Beatrix like they were rag dolls and tossed them back beside Kol and Klaus, who had gotten to his feet, his eyes glowing yellow. Just as he launched at Marcel, a blur of red came between them, and yelled, "STOP!"

"Rebekah," breathed Marcel in surprise.

Rebekah turned to her brother. "Hayley has Hope and Freya. Take our brothers and go now. Marcel will not hurt me." She turned to face Marcel. "Not, if he knows what's good for him."

Klaus sped back as Beatrix helped Elijah up. Grabbing a hold of Kol and the other two, Klaus sped off, and they didn't stop moving until they reached the familiar penthouse of Lucien Castle.

"Why are we here?" Beatrix panted as she put her hand over Kol's forehead, reviving him so that she could help him along easier.

"Hayley was going to be here, she had told me," said Klaus, looking as though he didn't know what to tell her about her presence. Obviously, he looked surprised to see that she was helping.

Beatrix looked up at Elijah as she and Klaus dragged a now barely conscious Kol into the elevator. "Thank you," she said softly, forcing back tears. Marcel had been about to bite her, and now instead, Elijah was hurt.

"Anytime," he panted as the elevator ascended.

When the doors opened again, they stumbled into the foyer. "FREYA!" yelled Elijah as Klaus kicked the door open. Kol let out a grunt of pain as the three dragged him in. Hayley was before them, her face covered in blood, while Freya approached, looking pale. Beatrix and Klaus pulled Kol to the couch as Hayley ran to Elijah, seeing the wound on his arm.

"I'm going to die," gasped Kol loudly, making Hope cry from the other room.

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

Kol chuckled darkly, and hoarsely. "Now that sounds familiar. Isn't that what you said to Finn and Cami?"

"Lucien engineered his venom from the seven werewolf packs," said Baetrix. "That's the key to the cure. We just need to find out how to make the cure."

"Oh, great," said Freya breathlessly, "that's the first piece in a puzzle none of us will be alive to solve. I'm poisoned, Rebekah is hexed, and our brothers are bitten. We need three different cures to three different ailments, each of which could take years to find, and none of us will make it through the day.

"Let me just try to slow the progress of everyone's ailments down," said Beatrix, taking Freya's arm. "I can siphon from the three of you now that the Ancestors can't hold me back. It will slow down the progress of the poison on all ends."

She started to siphon from Freya, closing her eyes when she felt a very strange tug in her gut as she did it. For some reason, even though the Ancestors weren't fighting back anymore, she was feeling pain. A very bizarre pull in her abdominal area. She had to fight the urge to wince, not wanting to disappoint the others.

"That should help a bit," she said as calmly as she could to Freya, who looked less dizzy. "Here, Kol, you next." She put her hand on his neck near the bite and closed her eyes once more as she started to siphon.

Pain, again, but she was thankful to be facing downward so no one could see that her lips had pursed, trying to keep from gritting her teeth too audibly. She felt a looming sense of dread over her figure, and her arms seemed to feel heavier as she sucked in some of the dark magic that was threatening to hurt Kol. She hadn't siphoned this much darkness in awhile, and her body wasn't as resilient as it used to be. She knew, consciously, that this was hurting her, and it had nothing to do with the Ancestors. Her body was wearing out, unable to tolerate much more darkness that already existed within her since her birth.

"Elijah, now you," she said as Kol slumped back weakly. She put her hand on his forearm and this time, she did wince, and they noticed, but she held her hand up to encourage them to remain silent.

She had been a vampire too long. She had a different nature and the magic no longer gave her sufficient outlet. There was too much black magic inside of her, and she knew, in that moment, that this was a sign that her body couldn't take much more. She was meant to have died long ago so that the symptoms would never come out. But the mania and the tantrums and the pain were showing their faces as a warning. She would need to cast a massive spell sometime sooner, in the next eight years, at least, to keep it from consuming her. It was worse that she couldn't understand it— no one could. No one knew the specifics behind her birth and no one would know how to save her. It was a disease she had been granted since her creation, that would eat away at her as the years progressed. In her attempts to help the Mikaelsons, losing and taking back magic, her body had begun to magically decay.

She stumbled back a bit when she had finished siphoning. Klaus caught her, and immediately tilted her head to face him. She looked fine, just a bit out of breath.

"What was that?" he demanded. "You've never been weakened by siphoning."

"It's the lingering Ancestral magic," she lied. "It just caused a bit of pain."

No. It was not that, and she knew it. It was her vampire body rejecting her magic and unknowingly killing her. Her hybrid nature would eventually be the death of her. Physically or mentally. Either one could happen first. She could lose her mind and grow excessively violent, as could anyone tainted by dark magic (though she could withstand more, naturally) or she could lose her life, her body decaying and unable to continue with so much inside.

No creature could survive with such darkness. Though her aptitude and tolerance was higher, it would still be her downfall.

"Rebekah called," she heard Klaus say not long after. She'd zoned out, just thinking of what she had been feeling. "My sirelings wish me to stand trial for my sins. If I do not, they will hunt me down, and destroy anyone and anything in their way."

"It's not a trial," said Elijah. "This is suicide. Take Hayley, take Hope, get the hell out of the city."

"No," said Hayley. "We won't leave here."

"No!" yelled Kol suddenly, thrashing on the couch. "Davina please! No, don't leave me!"

Elijah, Hayley, and Freya rushed to hold him down. Beatrix was too weak, and she looked up at Klaus. "You can't go," she said, grabbing the couch arm to get up. "You can't..."

Freya stepped toward the two of them before he could answer. "There may be a way to save them."

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

"I need time," Freya said.

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

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

"Let me come with you," said Beatrix immediately. "You can't go alone."

"Don't be absurd," said Klaus. "You and Hayley need to stay here— the others need you."

"But—"

He leaned down and held her head in his hands as he kissed her. She was already feeling so dizzy that her knees buckled, and he had to catch her as he pulled away. "If I die," he whispered, "I do not wish you to see it, my little witch. And I am no fool. You're not well. Rest. Help Freya."

"Klaus," she whispered, bringing a hand shakily to his face. "I don't want to lose you..."

"You won't," he said, though he sounded uncertain. "I will still be around. After all, I have a lot of things to make up to you." He pulled her in again and kissed her forehead gently. "It's alright. Stay with our family. I will find a way to stay alive."

She had been too fragile to argue or to follow after him. She had forced herself to ignore how her head spun. She tolerated Freya's explanation of her plan, using the spell her Aunt Dahlia had utilized to keep them alive for so long. The one thing Beatrix fixated on was that she could fuel the spell with quite a bit of the dark magic currently making her feel sick. That would be enough to slow down the symptoms, but for the first time, she was becoming self-aware of how serious her predicament had been all these years, something she had never really let herself focus on.

She wrote as Freya dictated, her hand shaking but the pencil remaining remarkably still. She did not dare try to siphon more, even when she saw Elijah and Kol were beginning to hallucinate. She couldn't bear it— she was paranoid that any more would kill her. At least, her siphoning had benefited Freya the most, which was the most important piece in completing the spell.

It felt like an eternity later when Hayley's phone began to ring, and she came over to Freya and Beatrix to answer it. "Rebekah, is it over?"

"Nik found a way to stay alive," Rebekah panted on the other line. "Now it's up to you, Hayley, and Trix. Make his sacrifice count."

"We will," promised Hayley. "Hang tight, I'll come for you soon."

She hung up as Beatrix went to bring Elijah and Kol to sit at the table. Freya smoothed out the parchment in front of the two witches which had each of their names written out. Hayley took Kol and Elijah's hands while Beatrix linked both of hers with Freya's to aid her in the spell, since it would be dangerous for her to attempt the entire thing alone.

"Rebekah's dagger, with her blood," said Freya, looking down as she disconnected one of her hands to put it on top of Rebekah's name. Together, the two began to chant, "Phasmatos inta grum, vin callus nova samem. Phasmatos inta grum, vin callus nova samem. Phasmatos inta grum, vin callus nova samem. Phasmatos inta grum, vin callus nova samem—"

Freya, Elijah, and Kol gave out loud gasps as their heads fell back, the three now unconscious. Beatrix let out a shaky sigh, feeling a weight lifted from her. Her mind cleared, and she was glad that for now, her worries could be channeled elsewhere.

"Go get Rebekah," said Beatrix to Hayley. "I'll get them in coffins. We can vanish them until we get somewhere safe, then have them appear."

"Watch Hope for me, will you?" said Hayley before speeding off. Beatrix nodded, even though the hybrid couldn't see her.

Calmly, she leaned down and reached into the air, bringing out one handsomely polished black coffin she'd vanished years ago, for herself, saying that it was what she wanted to be buried in. Holding her hands out, she channeled more of the magic. "Effingo rakev yahmi, duplikat nesh praesidio, mukarar arca chranit."

Three identical coffins appeared beside it. Slowly, she opened each lid, and started placing Freya gently in the first, closing it. Then Elijah, then Kol, and when Hayley arrived, Rebekah was the last to be put in hers. When all the lids were sealed, she put her hands over each, vanishing them one at a time.

"They will be safe," Beatrix said quietly. "Time for us to go."