Rebel Just For Kicks: Kol Mikaelson [1]

76: Feeling Alive, No Complaints

a/n: An inappropriate content warning <3

Kol was pulling MJ towards the riverside, slowing to a walk once they were on the promenade.

A few people were sitting around tiny metal tables, drinking coffee from cafés across the road, a boat moving from one of the docking to the land on the opposite side of the lake. MJ took a picture. She'd been keeping her camera in her side bag, and when she felt satisfied with her landscapes, she took a few of Kol pulling faces at her before putting it away.

"Do you take your camera everywhere then?" He asked, looking at how carefully she handled it.

"If I can - Ty packed it for me because I was unconscious for the start of this little trip."

Kol went tense, "Klaus hurt you?"

"I threatened to un-dagger Rebekah."

"He hurt you?"

"I'm fine," She assured him, "It was just a quick knocking out. Hardly the worst he's done."

He didn't look happy, so she changed the topic.

"I usually like getting to sketch when travelling but I'm low on sketchbook pages at the moment."

MJ needed to go supply shopping at some point because she was spending so much more time in the art department than she used to given how few classes she had in her senior year.

He still seemed on edge.

"So, what was that bowl?"

A better subject change.

He hesitated, "A dark object."

"Kol!"

He put his hands up, "Did it hurt you?"

"...No."

"Things can have more than one purpose."

"Good and bad," She thought about the balance of the universe debates.

Everything was a mix of good and bad, and life was about finding the purpose you wanted something to have. Accepting both sides.

Their shoulders brushed, and she could feel so much magic – like the summer sun had come back out to shine on her arms.

"A dark object that works to amplify power," He explained, eyes darting to a cafe table nervously, swallowing, then focusing back on her.

"What's the dark part of it?"

"Since it amplifies magic, it can double a witches power without draining them, allowing them to create potions and poisons that would usually require multiple people to make."

"How?"

"Pre-existing magic saturated into the metal of the bowl," Kol itched under his ear, "From the witches who made it, bound by their blood."

"Like how diamonds amplify magic."

"But more specialised," He nodded, "It's about amplifying something specific to create another thing, diamonds are stronger boosters and more general."

MJ took that under consideration, "I didn't say any spell, so what was it amplifying?"

"You, darling," He grinned, "The magic tapped into your being."

Kol liked seeing how her eyes sparkled while she looked at the water.

"Which is why, when we were finished, it was safe to pour it over the plants."