Valor | Marcel Gerard

Chapter 5

"Marcel, wait."

He came to a stop in the ballroom, but didn't face her. Andra halted behind him, hoping she could help him somehow. "I will see what I can find out but in the event there is no other way, you need to prepare yourself. You have to be realistic."

He pointed an accusing finger at her. "Don't say that. Just because you think death is a game doesn't mean that's the case for everyone. You can joke all you want but some of us actually do still have people we care about that we don't want to lose."

She stared at him. "I will let that slide because you are worried for your daughter. But you have to accept that some things cannot be changed. I don't want her to die, but if she's going to die anyway, ripping herself apart from the inside... wouldn't the mercy of a quick death be better? Maybe the Harvest is real, apparently something was working. If she dies as she is now, I don't think there's any chance she can come back to life. But if she dies as part of the Harvest... well, I'd be willing to take that chance if I were you. Not everyone can be saved but you'll be even less likely to rescue her if you delay the inevitable. Stalling is causing her physical pain. Again, if I find another way, I will tell you. But we're crunched on time. She's running low on it, Marcel. Do you love your daughter enough to do anything to give her a chance of a healthy life? Or will you continue to destroy her by loving her too much? There is such a thing as that."

He rubbed his chin. "You can either help me or you can get the hell out of my way, Andra."

"I'm not helping you abscond with her if that's your plan; in which case I won't be getting out of the way, either."

He lunged at her, and she ducked, reaching into her boot for a knife and turning on her knees to stab him in the back of the leg, right in his femoral artery. She twisted the knife hard within him, pivoting one foot out and tucking it back in once she caught his leg, using his same momentum to knock him face-first onto the floor.

"You will kill her with your own stubbornness!" she said, ripping the knife out and crawling onto his back, holding it to his throat. "If you leave with her, you are giving up. And you are leading her to certain death. You can either brave through the unknown like a warrior and take a chance to save her or you can run off with her in defeat and end up having to bury her yourself. Don't let your pride kill your daughter, Marcel, she deserves better than this."

Rebekah ran in, having heard the noise. "She's right, Marcel," she said as Andra got off of him.

"I promised her I'd fight for her!" said Marcel, getting to his feet. "I'm not breaking that promise."

"No one is asking you not to fight. You're the only family that this girl has. You owe it to her to fight for her to live."

Andra didn't accompany them to the cemetery. She didn't think she'd be welcome. Through the rain and wind, she made her way to the Jardin Gris, holding up there until the storm passed.

And when it did, there was only silence in the city. She had a bad feeling even before she learned that the Harvest didn't work.

Rebekah contacted her (presumably having received her number from Klaus) to let her know that Davina and the other Harvest girls hadn't come back, even after the Mikaelsons agreed to let Sophie Devearux use the bones of their mother, Esther, to help her be the Elder needed to complete the ritual.

'All that power went somewhere,' said Rebekah in her last text. 'We just need to find out where.'

She mulled it over as she walked through the streets, wondering where Marcel might have gone at a time like this.