"He wasn't there?" MJ asked Caroline as she walked through the streets of Hangzhou.

Her father's home city.

She'd spent another day with the Essí, realising just how many of her mother's 'hippie' magic tips came from her time with them. The overwhelming number of yoga techniques they used to teach focus were unnecessary, but MJ couldn't deny that they worked.

She'd felt relaxed and centred, and they'd given her another Grimoire.

MJ officially had a guide to explain how to shift her form.

She'd forced herself to read something that wasn't about magic/The Mikaelson's, only to end up picking up several plays.

They were easier to read when she was travelling, shorter and faster flowing, and...Kol had given her a list of recommendations following New York...she'd gotten through the list at a painfully quick pace.

Caroline loved that MJ was 'suddenly into theatre,' recommending things for her to watch, helping to hold off MJ's growing sadness about how much she'd enjoyed his list.

Though, talking about theatre was a momentary distraction from the real reason they were on a call.

"Stefan wasn't at the address," Caroline repeated, "He never even went there."

She'd finally gotten a moment to check out the address Stefan had sent MJ, only to find him MIA.

"I just think he's trying to avoid anything that might make him think about Elena and Damon," Caroline reasoned, "Right?"

"Nope," MJ glared straight ahead, "I have his blood in my collection at the Lockwood's. You're sending me a vial in the next wolf venom package."

After a moment of hesitation, Caroline caved, "Yeah, okay."

"It's not like I'm gonna force him to be our friend!" MJ defended, "If he seriously wants to leave Mystic Falls behind, then he can. It's just..."

She hated it.

"Why call me on his way out of town, offer a place to crash, then not go there?"

"Elena's been having dreams about him," Caroline rushed out.

MJ processed that announcement, "What?"

"Yeah," Caroline sounded guilty, "I've been telling her to ignore them. She's wanted to ignore them, but if something has happened to him..."

"We don't know something has yet," MJ didn't want to make her upset, "Just because I'm getting stressed doesn't mean something's happened."

"You were given a witch mind blast, and you saw his face and a message about Silas."

"Have you spoken to Bonnie yet?"

"Just a few emails."

"Then, send me the blood, and I'll track him," She decided, "And, hopefully, everything's okay."

"Will do," Caroline changed the topic a little, "How's your necklace stuff going?"

"Really good," MJ felt her mood lift, "Turns out, when my mum remade the stones, she actually upgraded them."

Comparing the new Essí Grimoire, Kol's and her mother's notes had caused MJ to notice a massive difference between the magic binding the original stones together and the remakes.

"She upgraded an ancient artefact?"

"She wanted to make sure the Travellers couldn't get their hands on them again, so she literally made it so they couldn't."

"How?"

"A hex embedded in the stone," MJ grinned, "If anyone under the Travellers curse touches them, they get burnt up with power."

"Ooh."

"Yeah..."

It was kinda cool, but also hella sketchy.

"She bound it with her blood too, only our family line can remove it."

"So you and your brother."

"Or, a distant cousin I don't know about."

"Could you have one of those?"

"My mum was an only child, so no?" She paused, "But like, I don't know about her parents, so maybe?

MJ shook her head, pausing at a road crossing to wait for the lights.

"There's always been two ways to break the Travellers curse; the Floare way or this one involving blood. It doesn't matter."

MJ hadn't explained the Travellers and their deal with doppelgangers to her friends yet, not really seeing the point of bringing unnecessary stress to their lives – and it was unnecessary.

Her conversation with Antoni had made it pretty clear that everyone thought the last living doppelganger had died in Klaus's sacrifice, so Elena wasn't in danger. Katherine could be though...

"And you haven't seen your brother since that half run-in in that cave place?"

"Nope," MJ confirmed, "Meaning my assumption that he was working his way through the same Floare route as me and up to something was wrong."

Which should've been a good thing.

"He was just...I don't know? At the same historical witchy spot to soak up culture?"

She'd expected to see Ryos at every location since that's what it seemed like the map she'd copied off him was implying, but he hadn't, and MJ didn't know what to think about it.

"He did say he kept up with the magical world even if he wasn't practising. Maybe the map was one of the ways he keeps up, rather than something he was following?"

"I thought, we thought, he did practise now?"

"I'm all kinds of confused."

"Okay," Caroline dropped it, "Are you excited to see your uncle again?"

The reason MJ was in Hangzhou.

She was going to see her dad's younger brother for the first time in years, and she was going to see what on earth he thought had happened to her.

"I'm torn."

"I'm sure it'll go well."

"He literally cut my dad off when I was younger."

"And your dad then lost his entire family and is allegedly being held captive in New Orleans," Caroline spelt out the insanity, "They might have made up."

"That's what I'm hoping for."

Caroline tapped the phone lightly, "Your family history is kinda insane."

"Tell me about it."

Her mum was some witch myth who'd abandoned and screwed over her community once she'd saved it.

Her dad's mother had cut him off after Ana had gotten pregnant young, and his brother had stayed in contact with him from China, but during a trip to visit him when MJ had been ten, they'd had some falling out, and he'd cut them all off too.

It felt incredibly overdramatic, but, at this point, what did MJ know about normal family dynamics?

"My Uncle went to an international boarding school here, and my parents actually met up in Hangzhou when my dad came to visit him."

"Do you know what happened to your granddad?"

"He died when I was like ten," She admitted, "My dad found out months later because our grandma decided he didn't deserve to know; my uncle snitched anyway – no world-changing family secrets on that side."

It was the only time she really remembered seeing her dad cry.

"I went to a breakfast place this morning...It's one we visited as a family..." MJ was trying really hard not to get too lost in her feels, "My parents told me it was where they'd go every morning. They spent a week and a half together in Hangzhou...and I did this memory spell with the necklace because I needed to see a glimpse of them..."

"And you got to see them meeting up?" Caroline sounded so excited for her.

"Not exactly."

It had been a weird ghost blast.

"It was my mum, waiting for my dad to show up, running into some people trying to kill her."

It hadn't been fun.

"She looked so paranoid while waiting, turned them to literally dust in a panic, and then, my dad arrived."

Seeing their younger faces was a bit of a trip.

"And it was...she'd looked dead inside, but, suddenly, it was like she became a different person, all smiles and light energy."

MJ suddenly understood what her mother had meant when she'd said she needed her version of the relationship more than a real relationship.

MJ still didn't agree with it.

She still thought it was twisted and complicated, but she understood it.

Her mum had been living a chaotic and evil life, and she'd wanted something as far from it as possible, so she could forget that it was her life.

And then she'd ended up dying because of supernatural circumstances anyway.

"It'll be fine," MJ rubbed her arms, "How's packing going?"

It was August, about two weeks before everyone back in Mystic Falls would start at Whitmore.

"It's hectic – you set for when you get back?"

"Some stuff's at Ric's, some's at the Lockwoods, and then I've got the boxes for you to send to me once I've worked out where I'm living."

"If you figure out the whole bird shifting thing, you could just stay in a tree."

MJ laughed, "Yeah, well, getting to grips with it is taking me a hot minute, so maybe not."

"Is Floare shiting as painful as werewolf shifting?"

"Nope. It's transfiguration magic, not bones breaking. It only hurts when you do it wrong."

Which is what she'd been doing.

"And it involves loads of mental prep, which means I've been reading up on body jumping and mental projection and stuff, which is utterly bizarre, by the way."

"Because?"

"Because there's body jumping," MJ waved a hand even though Caroline couldn't see, "And then there's body jumping."

"What's the difference."

"The second one is way cooler and Floare-slash-Traveller only – like, body jumping hexes and reversals that are just a whole new level of magic."

It was cool yet terrifying.

"Multiple person possession where you hang into the heads of people while still being in control of your own body."

"So you're a creepy puppet master."

"Yep," MJ tilted her head, "It's a massive violation of human rights, but learning the ins and outs basically means you can reverse any complex curse based on body jumping."

"Body jumping curses?"

"Say we were still trying to kill Klaus."

The most straightforward scenario to picture for the Mystic Falls Gang.

"I could do a spell that would jump him into another body and lock him there with a hex that rips his mind to pieces the second he tries to jump back to his actual body."

Yes, MJ may have taken a note of that hex for the future. Not for Klaus, just for research.

"Or! Remember how the compulsion travelled with him when he was in Ric's body? Well, I could give him other tricks, like the immortality, or I could take them all away."

"Damn..."

"I mean, I don't know how to do any of it yet, but I'll get to it."

And the important bit, she'd recorded all the reverses.

To say MJ was a little stressed about Silas's mind control was an understatement. Mastering mind tricks was her preparing for him to show up and make her life hell.

If she could jump Silas's mind into another body, a hex written into the spell, she could make him powerless, and, since he was a Traveller, even if he wasn't a cursed one, he wouldn't be able to reverse the Floare-Only spells.

MJ heard Liz calling in the background, telling Caroline to go to bed.

She was eleven hours ahead of MJ.

MJ laughed, "You're free from my witchy ramblings."

"I really enjoy pretending I understand it," Caroline said with full sincerity.

Caroline wasn't stupid. Even if she didn't understand it, she'd remember it, and remembering information about magic was a useful skill considering MJ wasn't going to be in Mystic Falls as witchy guidance and Bonnie was still MIA.

Once she put the phone down, MJ started mentally preparing herself.

She was a street away from the apartment her Uncle used to live in, having performed a blood tracking spell to confirm that he was still alive and still living there.

She may have internet stalked him to find his Facebook for more information.

Just as she turned into the road, someone was in front of her.

"Please tell me you're not seriously about to visit shū shu."

Ryos.

MJ froze, wide-eyed, half-convinced that mentioning him to Caroline had somehow summoned him.

She'd thought his name three times, and he'd poofed into existence.

MJ went to say something, but no words came out.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," Ryos sighed.

"What are you doing here?"

"I always have a tracker on you," He answered a little too casually."

"Um..."

"To check you're alive, MiMi," He looked unimpressed by her discomfort, "And you went off the grid after Paris, which stressed me out."

MJ raised a confused eyebrow, "And you didn't think to just text me?"

"You know I'm not a texting guy."

Putting it lightly.

"I couldn't find you, which meant you cloaked yourself."

She smiled at that.

"So I tracked your magic instead of you."

MJ had deliberately left a way for him to find her because;

"Not practising magic, my ass!"

Ryos straightened up as she pushed past him, realising he'd officially outed himself.

"Okay," He rushed after her, "Maybe I practise magic."

MJ spun on her heel to stop and glare at him, "Why lie about it?"

"Because magic is the root of the bad in our liv – "

"I know, I know," She put her hands up dramatically, "You've only told me like a thousand times!"

"And I felt like a massive disappointment for starting to practise again."

MJ's shoulders dropped at the admission, "Why would I care?"

"I – I don't – okay," Ryos rubbed his face, "I'm not perfect, and I try really hard to be perfect for you, and I thought that if you thought I could give it up, for real, you might do the same."

He sounded so disappointed in himself, and MJ was begging her brain not to forgive him that easily.

"I wanted you to think that normality was a real option – especially when being a witch is so much worse for you than me."

He didn't have to deal with the siphoner hate and rejection.

"You deserve a break from this toxic shit, and if lying was a way for you to believe that it was possible, then I'd lie."

She was frowning, but it was impossibly hard to stay mad at him when his reason was all about her.

"I," Ryos looked around at the glass skyscrapers and bike lanes among the busy roads, "It was the first time I helped out at that witch kid house I told you about..."

"What was?"

"When I realised I needed to start practising again."

Ryos was opening up.

Ryos was telling her a snippet of information about his life.

MJ had been waiting eight years to learn anything about him, and she'd be lying if his exhausted tone of voice didn't have her heart warming, stepping closer to him in case he needed support since it was clearly an emotional memory for him.

"It was in between the first and second year of Uni. I'd made a friend who practised magic and medicine," His eyes were distant, "He invited me to visit his family in Brienno 'cos I mentioned that I was doing a bit of travelling, and I met this kid...His parents were Travellers, and they'd left him behind, and he was crying."

The quick throat clear was to hide a slight voice crack.

"So much," His shaking head was a mix of furious and upset, "And he was underfed and sick, and there was something magical about it. He'd been exposed to something...I couldn't help him."

"Ry," MJ reached forward to touch his arm, "You're in a field where people are going to die."

"I know," He let her keep the contact, "But there's a difference between the stuff I live through when I'm with the army, and that."

He seemed to sober up a little.

"Out there, I do what I can to help, and if people die, it's out of my control."

MJ wished she could detach herself from situations that much.

"He was a kid, in a closed environment, suffering just like we had, and I couldn't heal him because I didn't know the magic."

"What about your friend? His parents?"

"Basic healing magic wasn't enough. It had to be – " His voice caught again, and MJ thought he might start crying.

She'd never seen her brother cry before.

She was the kid who'd had breakdowns and emotional outbursts, not him.

"It had to be stronger," MJ finished the sentence, "Floare magic."

Barely a whisper, "Yeah."

The bitter part of MJ's brain was still resenting him, conflicted and snidely remarking about how he'd set himself up for a moment like that by not practising from the get-go.

But then she remembered her own life.

She'd stopped practising for all her time in New York, and she'd gotten buried alive because of it.

If he'd set himself up for the failure, so had she, but if someone told her that in response to her traumatising experience, she'd dub them heartless and cruel.

She had to give him the same kind of understanding treatment she'd want.

"Wanna take a walk?" Ryos managed a smile, "Properly catch-up."

"I'd love that."

A breakthrough!

One she'd been begging to have with him for years.

2002

Ryos was sitting on the roof of their apartment building, feeling the optimum of creepy. He was fourteen, watching a group of Tremé witches arguing in the alley beneath him.

Ryos didn't understand why the Tremé witches were always in the Marigny area, but Vincent said it was something to do with riling up the elders, getting their noses out of their business, so they could learn 'actual' magic.

What he'd recently learnt was, that sentence was code for something.

'Actual magic' was offensive magic his mother was teaching the French Quarter Coven.

Magic that had caused a showdown between a teenaged witch and three vampires; all participants bar the daywalker now dead.

'Actual magic' was code for magic the Regent had told the covens to stop practising.

Ana Ruiz was no longer allowed to teach magic – even though she'd only been teaching them offensive magic because they'd all been desperate to learn it.

Because, suddenly, someone else had screwed up, and the Floare was the problem, not the ancestors encouraging the in-fighting.

Ryos had seen just how dangerous New Orleans witches could be. It was why he'd chosen to learn from the Tremé.

His mother dubbed them twisted, but they said the same thing about her, and he needed to learn how to use magic. Not the magic his mum taught him, the magic she'd teach them. Powerful magic. Ryos refused to believe that he couldn't wield just as much power as them just because his dad was human.

He didn't care what Floare history said.

He knew himself, and he could do it if he was taught properly – like a witch instead of a first child.

The Treme witches Ryos had started hanging out with didn't care about danger. They cared about testing their limits, experimenting with magic the ancestors didn't necessarily like, which was his way in.

It was easy to trick them into thinking he was strong by showing them Floare spells they couldn't understand.

They were all older them him, and they'd let him tag along, teach him tricks if he taught them some.

Since they were all beginners with non-ancestral magic, they hadn't noticed how easily he got winded yet. They just saw spells they didn't understand and welcomed him with open arms.

The witches in the alley had been arguing about the best way to channel.

Ryos wanted to see if he could channel the ancestors.

If he could, well, that would prove him right.

It wouldn't matter that he was a Floare; he'd been born in New Orleans, he had a right to their ancestors, and their ancestors had nothing to do with the defect enchantment on his blood that made him weaker because his dad wasn't a witch.

He drew a simple chalk circle, a little away from the edge so no one would see anything strange going on, and set up three candles.

He also had a tattered notebook in front of him.

He'd memorised the pages of the Grimoire the Tremé referenced, rewriting it for his own collection.

It had taken him a while, there were so many random details, and he didn't want to risk missing the one that might hold him back – but he'd done it, recreating the flamboyant witchy diagram in its entirety.

Then, Ryos knelt in the middle of the circle, a Sanguinum Knot under his hands as he closed his eyes.

He knew it was a demanding spell, but he had faith.

Faith in the ancestors and a belief that he was more resilient than Quarter witches.

Sure, his Floare magic was weaker, but he still had their blood. He had the healing factor. If he could combine the best of both his worlds, he could be the best witch the city had ever seen.

"Phasmatos Omnio Ligor Coldate Sangorium," Ryos tried to keep his focus, "Phasmatos Omnio Ligata Soluto...Phasmatos Omnio Ligata Soluto Vingulia Cordit."

He adjusted his kneeling stance, tripping over a few of the words.

"Phasmatos Omnio Ligor Coldate Sangorium...Phasmatos Omnio Ligata Soluto...Phasmatos Omnio Ligata Soluto Vingulia Cordit."

The knot began to lift.

He'd tied a pen to a plant stem, and the second the spell had been cast, the leaves had withered. If he could channel the ancestors, he could use representative magic to unlink the two, and the leave would return to their healthy state.

"Phasmatos Omnio Ligor Coldate Sangorium...Phasmatos Omnio Ligata Soluto...Phasmatos Omnio Ligata Soluto Vingulia Cordit."

The knot had lifted, but it wasn't undoing, just floating there to taunt him.

Ryos repeated the words again, perfectly, ignoring the dampness under his nose and the way his eyes couldn't stay shut, rolling around the roof.

"RYOS!"

The knot dropped as he jumped.

"Ryos," His little sister was running, skidding on her knees and wrapping her arms around him, "What's going on?"

"Oh," He ruffled her hair, "It's nothing."

"Nothing?" She pulled away from the hug, looking at his face with big eyes.

Slowly MJ touched his ear, fingers instantly picking up blood.

"Ry..."

He put a hand to his face.

The red liquid was dripping from his nose, around his eyes, and out of his ears.

Ryos hated it.

No.

He just needed to try harder. He could do it. He'd felt the magic, the boost he'd gotten from the spirits that haunted the streets. He'd been right. He could channel more magic; he'd just chosen a spell that was too complicated to start his practice with.

"Honestly, MiMi," He tapped her nose, "I've been doing magic all morning, hit my limit, I guess."

She didn't seem to believe him, looking at the notebook page.

That made her smile, "You wrote this?"

"Yep," He cleared his throat then grabbed a tissue to wipe himself down, "Ish – it's a spell I was told about."

"And you figured it out from just the description?" She seemed to forget all about the blood, getting wrapped up in scanning the words.

"Totally."

Maybe Ryos wanted his sister to think he was cooler than he actually was, able to create magic that easily.

And it wasn't like she'd ever find out he was lying about its origins.

"Ry!" She clapped her hands in excitement, "Teach me how to do that?"

"Not a chance!"

"Reeeeeeee – "

"Nu-uh," He grinned, "Mum would kill me if she thought I was teaching you magic."

"Mum's going to kill you the second she finds out your doing city magic anyway."

"Which is exactly why she won't be finding out," He pointed at her, "Right, MiMi?"

She nodded furiously, "Lips are sealed."

"Good," He relaxed back, taking in the midday sun.

Her puppy eyes somehow got bigger.

He sighed, "Don't tell me you suddenly feel guilty? No random mood swings – "

"I don't have random mood swings," She grumbled.

"I say it with love."

"Hm."

"I do! You need to think through how you present yourself, or people will think you're crazy."

She looked away.

"This is mum's whole thing, remember," He softened his tone, "Magic's a fun little family game that doesn't include dad, and this sub-section of it doesn't include her."

"I'm not worried about mamí," MJ rolled her eyes, "I'm worried about you."

"I'm all good," Ryos smiled, pulling her into the circle to put an arm over her shoulder, "Promise. This spell's nothing. I've just had a long day."

"Ry."

"Would I lie to you?"

"No."

"Exactly."

She picked up the sheet again, reading through it one more time before closing her eyes.

"Phasmatos Omnio Ligor Coldate Sangorium...Phasmatos Omnio Ligata Soluto...Phasmatos Omnio Ligata Soluto Vingulia Cordit."

Ryos felt the tug in his gut as the knot began to float again.

"Phasmatos Omnio Ligor Coldate Sangorium," Her words flowed smoothly, "Phasmatos Omnio Ligata Soluto...Phasmatos Omnio Ligata Soluto Vingulia Cordit."

There was no way MJ would be able to do it if he couldn't...

She'd never even channelled the ancestors; she had no way to learn how to since there was no way their mum would teach her and not teach him.

Their mum didn't teach MJ real magic in case it got her outed as a siphoner to the covens.

"Phasmatos Omnio Ligor Coldate Sangorium...Phasmatos Omnio Ligata Soluto...Phasmatos Omnio Ligata Soluto Vingulia Cordit."

Nothing was happening.

Then Ryos felt his hand burning.

He flinched back, arm pulling away, MJ's eyes still closed, as the knot undid, the plant coming back to life a metre on their left.

She opened her eyes as the rope dropped to the floor and beamed, "I did it."

"You did!" He grinned, rubbing his hand.

She hadn't even clicked that she'd siphoned him.

That was the reason.

Ryos had to think that was the reason – the only reason.

She'd taken his power, which just proved that he had the potential to do it himself.

He held the hand up, "High five?"

She hit it firmly, and he felt woozy.

"Told you it wasn't a hard spell," He repeated his lie, "I'm just tired."

"Yeah, yeah," MJ rolled her eyes, "When I said I believed you, I meant it!"

"Clearly," He teased.

She wasn't even tired.

She'd done the spell, and she was fine.

"You're gonna be such a good witch when mum starts actually teaching you."

"Where is mum?" MJ asked slowly.

"Another outreach thing with that Josephine lady."

"Oh," She nodded, "She's been there a lot recently."

Ten-year-old MJ wasn't wholly unaware – even if she hadn't clicked that Jo-Jo LaRue (the name she'd dubbed the older woman) was a witch. Ryos could tell that she'd realised their mum was up to something.

"I think they're organising some kids section at Jazz Fest."

Another complete lie he was telling her.

They were having a massive inter-coven meeting – the witches had been having a lot of them.

"Do you think I could play?"

"Totally," He nodded, "Piano, not fiddle, though. I'll never get fiddle music."

"It's fun!"

"It's certainly jumpy."

He'd successfully gotten MJ to stop thinking about their mum; it didn't matter if the discussion was based on a lie because MJ couldn't know what the covens were meeting to discuss – Ryos wasn't even meant to know.

2011

"I forgot how much I wanted to be in a coven after we left New Orleans," Ryos was saying as they sat, eating.

They'd been doing a mini-tour of the city, her taking photos before Ryos revealed he still had all the ones from their family trip.

They'd decided to stop for lunch so she could look through them on his phone, picking a few to go with the only one she'd kept with her since they left New Orleans.

MJ had no clue how he'd been able to get them, but she was too excited to ask any questions.

There were so many photos of the two of them running around Hangzhou, their parents using a polaroid camera to record wonderfully blurry memories, all at odd angles – perfect in MJ's eyes.

Even selfies of the four of them by the lake, along paths – the Leifeng Pagoda and Buddhist temples in the background.

So many spots she wanted to revisit.

Revisiting them with Ryos basically made her forget all the resentment she'd finally let herself feel during her Senior Year.

It was just the two of them, back in their dad's city.

Finally, talking about it.

"It was like, none of those witches helped," He shook his head in disgust, "It was a massive wake-up call."

He was talking her through Ana's death from his perspective.

"The dream I'd had? Where I could be in a coven and experience what it felt like to be a witch? It just makes me feel sick now."

"You still feel like that?"

"Kinda," He pulled a face, "At the moment, what I'm doing, it's better."

"...How come you didn't ever join the coven?" MJ rushed her words out, "I know mum wouldn't let us but you were already sneaking around with Tremé, and it's not like they ask for a parental permission slip – "

"I considered it," Ryos admitted, "I was offered it..."

"But you didn't?"

"No," He relaxed in his chair a little, "Wanting to be in a coven was about talking to other witches, actually joining? Nah, Nah."

"Why not?"

He bit his lip, "MiMi...."

The pause wasn't appreciated.

It had MJ panicking.

"What is it?"

"Well," He caved, "Mum told me that joining was sentencing you to death."

She couldn't do anything other than blink, "Um?"

"She said she wasn't teaching you proper magic because if you knew proper magic, you'd get discovered," He recited, "And if you got discovered, they'd kill you."

"Because I was a siphoner?"

"That's what she told me," He nodded, "'NOLA witches are dark and way too happy to sacrifice children.'"

His impression of their mum's voice was unnaturally good.

"So if I interacted with the community, I'd be the reason you died."

"But you did interact with the community."

"Because our mother was a massive liar and a hypocrite."

MJ straightened up.

"Listen," Ryos shuffled awkwardly, "The first time they learnt I had magic, it was a complete accident."

Everyone had magic outbursts.

"I nearly had a panic attack because mum had filled me up with this idea that if anyone in town knew I had magic, you'd get killed. I couldn't sleep that entire week, and then one of them came up to me, was completely chill, and thought you hadn't tapped into the power."

MJ wasn't following, "And?"

"Mum told me stories to guilt-trip me into hiding in the shadows, so I'd only do magic her way, and she used you - she used family to manipulate me."

Given all the recent information MJ had learnt about her mum, she couldn't just say that Ryos was lying. She had wanted to control their supernatural and non-supernatural lives.

"What type of person does that?"

"So she was trying to control you?"

"That was part of it," He nodded, "The other part? Well, she knew that if I joined a coven, you'd wanna join a coven, and you could never join a coven, 'cos they'd never accept you. So, she wanted to keep me from even trying to join so you wouldn't feel left out."

And her nervousness turned to guilt.

Part of MJ really wanted to accuse Ryos of lying again, she didn't think her mother was that manipulative, but Ana had been a master story-teller when it came to preserving the world she wanted to live it.

"Hanging out with the witches made me see just how much they didn't like siphoners," He added, "But just because they didn't like you didn't mean they'd kill you. It just meant they wouldn't want you in their coven."

She was going to have to work on that.

MJ had to hope that killing Marcel would be enough to gain her favour with the witches because, as much as she wanted to live in New Orleans, she wasn't prepared to play little bitch to make the covens accept her.

She could kill him, avenge her mother, and gain acceptance.

"Yeah, I – I – thanks?" She focused on her drink, "And sorry? I guess...Sorry you couldn't just be a witch and be happy and stuff."

"It's not your fault," Ryos rubbed her wrist, "It's the rest of the world."

And didn't she know it.

"I mean," He smiled affectionately, "You were like a ball of sunshine growing up - doing shit for you has always been worth it."

Her dad had always called her sunshine too.

Ana had called the pair of them, and their dad, her light in the darkness.

"I was actually super conflicted about helping the Traveller kids until I met them," Ryos sat forward, like he'd been jolted full of energy, "I'd met a Traveller in London once, and oof."

He shook his head while frowning.

"You know your necklace? Mum gave me a bracelet with one of the stones on too; that's part of why I've known stuff about it."

MJ was such a traitorous little bastard, "She did?"

There Ryos was, being honest and open, bonding, and she was lying and covering up the fact she'd taken it.

"I lost it," He looked sick, "I'm not sure when and it's so powerful that I haven't been able to track it, which is super nerve-racking – like, all the magic in it..."

She was the worst sister on the planet.

"Plus, you know...it's that last connection to mum."

SHE WAS THE WORST.

"And it's gone."

"Sorry," She mumbled, hoping it seemed like she was sympathetic rather than at fault.

"It's fine," Ryos tried to stay on task, "This Traveller guy I met, he was a nightmare. Not friendly. Tried to possess me, realised I was a Floare, and thanks to the bracelet, I managed to trick him into thinking I was a siphoner."

"The glowing thing you did in Italy," She remembered, "It's what I look like when I take in too much power."

"Exactly," Ryos smiled at her, "He thought I was a siphoner, got some of his buddies on my trail, and I had a wonderful time showing them their place."

She smiled a little.

"And, I don't know what happened to them – I didn't kill them, but it did help me understand mum. Why she was so set on not letting you near a coven."

"You let them think you were a siphoner?"

"Better they try to kill me than my little sister."

MJ instantly forgave him for a million tiny things.

They finished up eating and headed out, spending the rest of the day not talking about the past, just catching up on the present.

She listened to Ryos explain how he's been trying to combine medicine and magic, experimenting with different pain medications to see if he could make versions that'd work on supernatural. Like versions of morphine and tranquillisers, sleep medication variations that wouldn't be cancelled out within minutes by healing factors.

He was trying to do good, and MJ couldn't help but adore him for it.

So much so that the tiny voice in her brain that was incredibly confused about why he'd want to knock a supernatural out got ignored.

There was also the story about making juiced-up medications to combat supernatural variants of diseases that didn't even exist – since, to MJ's knowledge, the supernatural couldn't really get ill.

Seeing how excited he was also snuffed out the voice in MJ's head, questioning how he could find a cure to something without a disease to test it on.

MJ was brushing it all off as something they had in common.

If she could look into werewolf venom without getting anyone bit but herself, she had to assume that's what Ryos was doing too. Theoretical research.

At the end of the evening, it finally looped back to New Orleans and their parents.

"Have you ever thought about how screwed up it is?" Ryos was asking, "How much mum rewarded lying."

"I mean," MJ snorted, "Helped us in the long run."

He laughed too, "Yeah, I guess it did."

Him more than MJ.

Ryos had created an entirely new life for himself, a new version, just like their mother had.

"So, are you going back to Mystic Falls before you go off to New York?"

Another thing she was lying to him about, "For a few days, yeah. To pick up stuff and say goodbyes."

"You really like your crowd there, then?"

"Some of them."

He pulled a face, "That's a pointed answer."

"Tyler Lockwood, best friend – kinda family," She summed up, "I feel weird saying that to you, but he is."

"That's nice," Ryos encouraged her, "I'm happy you found someone you care that much about...That girl on the Skype call, Caroline? She seemed nice too."

"She's amazing," MJ nodded, "I love them both a lot."

"Then there's...Bonnie, Stefan, Elena, and Jeremy?"

She nodded, so surprised that he must've actually watched all the videos she'd sent. That was the only way he could've known that.

"And Matt!" He added.

"Yep," She grinned, "Matty-Blue."

"And Elena is the doppelgänger one?"

"Yep."

"There all just sticking around town?"

"They're going to the next town over. A place called Whitmore – for University."

"Ah," He nodded, "Uni towns are nice if you suit a campus Uni. You suit cities."

Ryos said it with a lot of conviction for someone who didn't know her very well.

"I agree."

He wasn't wrong, though, "And, what ended up happening with the cure?"

She'd forgotten how involved he'd ended up getting near the end of the quest.

"If Silas rose, I'm assuming you guys got it."

"We did, but we lost it."

Not technically a lie.

"That sucks," He knocked into her lightly, "And everyone's not still going after it?"

"Getting involved with it once was enough for me," MJ waved a hand, "At the end of the day, we all end up what we're meant to be, right?"

He nodded, somewhat reluctantly, "Yeah."

They reached the place she was staying, pausing outside the doors.

He inspected the fancy hotel sign and gave her a look, "How are you affording this?"

"Nicked a vampire's credit card."

He went to tell her off, then really thought about, "I approve."

She grinned.

"As long as you aren't now under the vampire's thumb."

"Nope."

LIAR.

Well, no, she wasn't under Klaus's thumb, but her brother would interpret any Original family interaction as MJ being under their thumb.

"God," Ryos surprised her by initiating the final hug, "I'm really happy we did this."

She let herself be swallowed up in his arms a little, "Me too."

MJ had to ask something else.

"That last day."

After their day of catch-up, she had to hope he'd just answer her question honestly.

"Marcel just made a deal with you?" She clarified, "We stay gone, we stay out of his business, and our dad gets to live?"

"Yep," He confirmed, "Dad and I were getting in the car when Marcel and two vampires showed up."

MJ stilled, processing the extra details she was finally getting about that awful day

"Dad panicked, I started demanding answers just as one of them went to kill me, but Marcel stopped him and offered me a deal. It meant we all got to live, so I took it."

She nodded.

A tiny voice was still calling lies, but the rest of MJ remembered the other thing he'd told her in Paris.

The story of Siphoners killing their siblings, stealing their power because they were paranoid and sociopathic.

She wasn't going to let that be her story.

MJ would not hurt her brother – she'd never hurt her brother.

Not when he'd spent so much of his life trying to keep her safe, without even telling her.

He hadn't done anything just to go 'look at me' - it was because he'd wanted her safe...

She headed into the hotel, ready to crash, completely forgetting that her reason for being in the city was to talk to her uncle, and now she didn't have the time too given her early morning flight.

Did that matter, though?

She finally felt like she'd made some progress towards finding peace about her family, progress that hadn't involved murdering anyone.

And Ryos was opening up.

Why poke holes when all she could think about was how much she'd loved him growing up?

2003

Ryos had opened the car door, only for it to be slammed shut by nothing.

Then his dad was smashed through the window on the driver's side, and he froze.

Magic.

His breathing picked up as he skidded to the pavement, scanning for the source and panicking. He wasn't good with witch fights - especially not after the week he'd had with the Treme, and someone had attacked his dad.

Bastianna Natale, a French Quarter elder, was standing there, holding her hand forward, choking his father against the steering wheel.

Blood trickled out of cuts, and Ryan Jung's eyes were terrified, body unable to move as she tried to kill him, lips moving as he tried to whisper for his son to run.

Her concentration faltered at the sight of him, "Ryos..."

His skin crawled as she said his name.

"I thought I told you to leave them alone," Marcel Gerard came out from the shadows.

She turned her harsh gaze onto him, giving Ryos a chance to reach his father's side, checking his pulse and relaxing.

He was still alive.

Alive and processing the insanity around him, trembling.

"What – what's hap – I – " He seemed like he was building up to a panic attack, and the only thing Ryos could think to do was lift his own hand up, "Ryos – "

His dad's eyes glazed over, staring at the palm as the air shifted – a trance spell calming him down.

Almost dying was one way to learn about the supernatural.

"You killed Ana Ruiz," Bastianna stated bluntly, narrowing her eyes at Marcel, "You were supposed to leave her for me, so now I get them."

"You were there," Marcel said bluntly, "You were losing. Why does it matter who ripped her heart out as long as it came out?"

Even when describing a murder, he managed to radiate charisma.

"Hm," Bastianna just crossed her arms, "Why do I feel like you know exactly why it mattered?"

He just smiled, "Are you trying to accuse me of something?"

"I'm trying to make sure that vermin's legacy dies."

"Vermin?" Marcel raised an amused eyebrow, "Have some respect for your dead – I thought you were meant to be an elder."

After a second more of glaring at each other, they turned back to Ryos, holding his dad up against the car.

"Especially rude in front of her family."

"Dead?" Ryan's voice was a whisper, trying to work out what was happening, "Dead – who's dead – "

Ryos's legs started to shake too, "My mum's dead?"

And Ryan froze.

"She needed to go," Bastianna stated calmly, "But you, now you've been helping us."

His mum was dead.

His mum had been killed, and if the comments meant anything, his mum's heart had been ripped out.

"I, no," He shook his head, furiously, "This wasn't me!"

He'd never meant for it to get that far.

"She – she was – you were – the Tremé forced – she was one of you! You should've protected her."

Bastianna was a French Quarter elder. His mum had joined the French Quarter Coven. And now Ryos was left, desperately trying to stay on two feet as his dad turned somewhat catatonic, collapsing into the seat of the car, blood still covering his face, glass in his hair.

"Ana...Mira – but – " His hands were still moving, searching for his phone, "MiMi."

"You sold her out to the vampires!" Ryos could barely process his dad's panic, wrapped up in his own, "You watched her die!"

It was like someone was stomping on his lungs, cracking them.

"You – you – you all wanted her to die!?"

"Hey, look," Marcel took a step towards him, "You gotta calm down."

"CALM DOWN."

The car lights exploded, and Ryos realised why Marcel had been saying it.

He hadn't even noticed the wind blasting down the street.

"This is – I – "

Inhale. Exhale.

"It's not – " Ryos had been the last one to touch the spellbook the elders had been after, "You should've – it was – "

He'd thought the covens would keep his mum safe, and then his mum could keep all of them safe.

"Kid," Marcel's fangs were in his face, and Ryos woke up.

The in-breath was sharp, marked by fear and shock from being so close to murderous pearly teeth and red eyes, but it had done the trick, scaring him back to sanity.

"See," Bastianna beamed, "That is a child with potential. That is a witch."

The phrase echoed in his head.

"His mother was a monster."

"She was a witch in over her head," Marcel rolled his eyes, "She did you all a favour – and this is how you treat her kid?"

"She was a siphoner."

Ryos froze.

His mother wasn't a siphoner...

His sister was.

How –

Why –

What?

Why would the witches think his mother was a siphoner?

They'd thought she was a siphoner? And then they'd killed her?

The Tremé coven knew his sister was the siphoner – the marks on his back assured him of that, and yet – but – he didn't understand how the covens could've gotten it so wrong!

"Siphon – vampire?" His dad choked out, gripping the smashed car door to pull himself to his feet, "Ana – what's happened to her? What have you– "

Marcel took a step towards him that time, still looking at Ryos, "What's his deal?"

Ryos swallowed, "He didn't know."

Marcel froze.

Bastianna used the reveal to twist her wrist, aiming to snap his father's neck, only for Ryos to retaliate quicker, pushing both his hands forward and blasting her back.

"No!"

She slammed into the wall next to the pavement, trying to overpower his spell as Ryos wrist began to heat up.

The bracelet.

The stone his mum had finally let him wear, using it as a bribe to stop him from hanging out with the Treme Coven.

A choice that had backfired on them both majorly.

A bracelet she'd stolen because Ana Ruiz was a survivor – because she knew the stones would keep them safe.

She was dead.

His mother was dead.

No.

No one was dead unless you saw the body, and he had to have faith.

His mother was too smart to die – too powerful to die at the hand of a vampire, even if he'd had back-up.

"Ryos," His dad's terrified expression was now there because of him, "What's – MiMi – "

He turned his fingers, knocking Bastianna and his father out.

It was him and Marcel.

His voice broke, "My mum?"

Marcel looked away, almost ashamed, "I had to kill her."

"You had," His face curled up, tears brimming, "You had to kill her!?"

"We had a deal. It went wrong. It was the only option."

"THE ONLY," Ryos shook his head, "No. No, no, no, no, no, my mum – my mum can't be – "

He refused to say the word.

"She would've killed you first."

Ana Ruiz did not simply die.

Death came to her, she told it to f-off, and it did as instructed - he knew enough about his mum's past to know that.

"Kid, I'm so sorry," Marcel looked like he was trying not to cry too, "Okay, the witches, there's a lot going on with them – "

"You think I don't know that?" Ryos snapped, "You think I don't see the fighting?"

Every witch saw it.

"The vampires ripping out spines and dripping in blood because the witches dare to want more of a say in their city."

"My city."

"Theirs."

Ryos may have been young, he may have presented himself as the stable family member, but he had just as much rage inside of him as his sister – more, in a way.

Mira had always been more like their dad, while Ryos was his mother's son.

"Witches built this city."

"Vampires built this city," Marcel may have had a soft spot for kids, but that didn't change his defensive nature, "I did it with my bare hands."

"And vampires wouldn't exist without witches."

Marcel couldn't help but respect the kid for taking a challenging step forward.

"You can walk in the sun thanks to witches."

Another step.

"Half the cities celebrations are witch festivals that the locals commercialised, giving you your tourist blood store."

All facts.

"Graveyard tours and jazzfest," He kept listing, "This city belongs to them. You've forced them into doing shit like this, and now – now my mum's dead!"

He couldn't cope.

He couldn't think.

His mum.

MiMi.

His sister had been at home.

Their dad had been repeating her name because he'd known she would've been with their mum, and – if their mum was dead –

"They want a siphoner?" Ryos'a words picked up, "They want one because they think killing one will give them power."

A sacrifice only he could perform.

"Because you've made them feel powerless, this – this is you!"

Marcel realised he needed to stop his pride.

He wasn't dealing with some brat drinking witch kool-aid. He was staring at someone with a lot of grief – powerful grief, that Marcel didn't really know how to help with since Ryos clearly knew more about the situation than he did.

"Look," He sighed, "Your mum made a deal."

As simple as that.

"I'm getting you guys out of town before anything else can happen with the witches," He looked at Bastianna's, "She's gonna kill you for going against her."

Ryos started to shake.

He didn't wanna die.

He was staring at the vampire, finally noticing the colour of Marcel's hand.

The fact it still had his mother's blood on it.

He choked on the tears.

"Hey," Marcel knelt down, "I just wanna help – I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen."

Ryos took another long breath in, coming to a conclusion in his head that he didn't particularly like.

His mum was dead – his sister might be too.

It wasn't Marcel's fault.

It wasn't the witches either.

It was just the magic.

If magic didn't exist, none of the awful things that ruined their family would either.

He couldn't look at his father's face in the car, pain evident despite being passed out, and Ryos knew – he knew more than he knew anything else, that if his dad was anywhere near magic, that pain would only get worse.

"No," Ryos looked at his father one last time, then to Marcel, "That's not the deal anymore."

His eyes were still and focused.

His mum had told him to stay away from the covens, she'd told him the covens would want to kill a siphoner, and he'd been supplying the Tremé witches with magic.

He'd ignored her.

He was the reason his mum had died – because they'd got it wrong and thought she was the siphoner rather than his sister.

His mum had died to cover up his sister's identity, and Ryos refused to lose his dad too.

Marcel wasn't sure how to react to the change in attitude, "What?"

"You're gonna get me out," He spoke clearly, "You're gonna get my sister and me out – but first you're going to compel my dad."

Marcel scoffed.

"He's human," Ryos stressed, "He didn't know."

He stepped away from the car, not allowing himself to look back.

"You're gonna compel him to forget us, and my mum, and everything."

"I get your upset, but you don't wanna do that," Marcel shook his head.

"Why wouldn't I?" His voice was scratchy, "His life was better when he didn't know."

Their mum had obviously been convinced that their dad couldn't handle knowing.

"If he knows, he's part of this world, and he'll end up dead too," Ryos almost started to cry, "So do a good thing for once. Take it all away."

"He's your dad."

"People can be better off without their parents."

Unknown to Ryos, if he was going to say that line to someone and have it work, it was going to be Marcellus Gerard – his daddy issues still going strong despite the centuries.

"He's human. He'll slow us down."

"You'll regret it."

Even if Marcel thought he was better off with out his real father in his life, and better off since he'd lost Klaus, he needed to remember that the kid was emotional.

"You made a deal with my mum," Ryos called him out, "And you screwed it up by killing her."

Marcel looked ready to argue, but Ryos just kept talking.

"And if you feel bad about it, make it up to her by making sure the guy she loved gets to live."

An emotion Ryos couldn't place flickered over Marcel's face at that comment, the young witch able to watch the odd intensity on the vampires face as he stared at Ryan's passed out body.

"If he knows about this world – if he knows about me, he'll never get to live again. He'll just be scared and stressed and running for the rest of his life, and then he'll die. And he'll do it all while looking at his kids like we're bombs."

The witches were looking to kill a siphoner, and Ryos couldn't let them just kill MiMi, not when they clearly didn't understand the Siphon Sacrifice and what it was meant to do. It would be a waste of a death. And it was his sister.

They were going to have to disappear, and his dad shouldn't have to.

Not when he was a human who deserved to live.

Marcel considered it, then he nodded.

"Wake him up then."

Ryos closed his eyes and focused, lifting both his hands, hearing his dad shoot up, but still not daring to turn around.

He'd never seen compulsion up close, and he had no desire too.

"Ryos," Ryan called, "RJ – what's going on?"

The nickname falling out broke his heart.

"MiMi – we need to find – what happened to your mum – and MiMi – "

Marcel's hand went on his shoulder, and Ryan's instinct was to punch him, only to break his own hand in the process, freezing as Marcel's eyes became hazy and hypnotising.

Ryos closed his eyes and covered his ears as Marcel started to talk.

He didn't want to acknowledge what he was doing.

He couldn't hear the way his dad pleaded for Marcel to stop as he talked about forgetting his family.

He was doing the right thing.

Ryos had to believe he was doing the right thing.

Once it was over, his dad was just staring into the distance, and Marcel looked back at Ryos.

"If you ever regret that?"

"I'll come knocking on your door," Ryos nodded slowly, starting to think through everything he needed to do.

His sister was somewhere, potentially dead, and they needed to run.

"I – I," He didn't know what else to say, "I need to get – "

"Get whatever you wanna take," Marcel finished the sentence for him, "Fair warning, your home ain't pretty. I'll get your dad somewhere safe, he can start over, and I'll make sure no witches get to him – he'll be under my protection as long as he's in the city."

Ryos wasn't about to thank him.

No way in hell.

Marcel had killed his mum 'because a deal went wrong!'

Bullshit.

Marcel Gerard was the self-proclaimed King of the Quarter, and the only reason it was 'the only option' was because Marcel knew she was a threat – Ryos had to believe that.

The witches and the vampires were at war, and that's what his mother was.

Ana Ruiz of war, one that somehow got the two sides to work together in order to kill her, even if it was reluctantly.

In a way, Ryos had to think her death might have momentarily caused a ceasefire.

a/n: congrats to MarleyElona for commenting that she thought the dad was compelled. You wrote a lovely long message but it got flagged so I couldn't respond to it <3

I'm sure a lot of you saw it coming but it's satisfying seeing theory comments 😂

This flashback means you guys officially know more of the real story than MJ does. Take everything Ryos says to her with a grain of salt.

Not all of it's a lie, not all of it's true, most of it's complicated.

Ana/Marcel's side of events will come soon enough...

P.S. In B1 C16, MJ heard a female voice in the flashback of Ana's death - that was Bastianna from TOS1 (I would recommend reading the flashback chapters in S1 if you haven't)