CHAPTER XX
❝ Don't pout, Blondie ❞
Normally Klaus would've loved to rub the words 'I told you so' in the face in someone else's case, but he felt no such desire in Lucy's case, even though he had actually told her that Bonnie's reaction won't be exactly what she was expecting.
And the situation was only getting worse as Rebekah re-arrived and was not exactly thrilled to see someone else, or more specifically Lucy, torturing her prisoner.
"What is she doing here, Nik?" asked Rebekah snarkily as Lucy flicked her hand, a wooden spike embedding itself in Damon's stomach, a low groan of pain leaving his mouth.
"She is here because I called her here, to break the link, which she has quite successfully already done." said Klaus as Lucy paid no mind to the Original Hybrid's sister.
"But that's my play thing." said Rebekah stubbornly, pointing towards Damon. "She doesn't get to do anything to him."
"Don't pout, Blondie." said Lucy boredly. "It's just a matter of a few minutes. Then I'll be done."
"Oh, really?" scoffed Rebekah. "I thought you don't hurt the people your friend cares for. Especially his brother."
"Well, it's not my fault that my friend's brother killed Lexi." shrugged Lucy. "He at least deserves a little payback."
"Don't you, Demon?" said Lucy loudly, standing up from where she was sitting on a solitary chair; and picking up a bloodied dagger kept at the side (probably the one Rebekah had already used on Damon), and embedding it in his stomach with great force and making a loud groan of pain erupt from the oldest Salvatore brother's mouth.
"Does it feel like you did to Lexi?" gritted Lucy, stabbing him on the right side of the chest as he groaned yet again. "'It's part of the plan', isn't this what you said to her when you killed her? Do you get deja vu? Feels like how you did it?"
"Oh no," she laughed humorlessly "how would you? The stake was in the heart, right? Not the other side."
She pulled out the stake fiercely and made to stab right at his heart but stopped it mere centimetres before it touched his heart.
"But, don't worry, I won't kill you." said Lucy as Damon let out a relieved sigh. "You know why? Because I'm not like you. I won't hurt Stefan like you did. Because I care. I live up to be the little sister he calls me. Not like you, who is hurting him so damn much and still has the nerves to call yourself his brother."
The room was dead silent, and unfortunately Stefan chose that exact moment to enter the room.
"Lucy!" said Stefan in shock, his eyes set on the dagger in her hand which was still right above the heart of Damon. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like, Stefan?" she said in anger. "I'm teaching him a lesson."
"By killing him?"
Her jaw clenched in anger. "Well, it's upon you to decide. Considering how he is the one who killed Lexi, in case you forgot."
"I didn't forget anything." he said firmly. "But I guess you are forgetting that he is my brother."
"Did you ever ask him why he did that?" said Lucy, dropping the stake to the ground with a loud clunk. "Or did it stop bothering you altogether?"
"Let's keep the emotional family chat for later on, shall we?" interrupted Rebekah making Lucy scoff as Stefan took a deep breath, the tension still high in the room.
"Why are you here, Stefan?" asked Klaus.
"I'm here to make a deal. Eight stakes, made of white oak. The part of Wickery Bridge that you forgot to burn." offered Stefan as Klaus looked at Lucy and Rebekah accusingly.
"That's impossible." said Rebekah.
"Not possible" added Lucy.
"Actually it's not," said Stefan. "Finn's dead."
"You killed my brother?"
"Damon in exchange for the last eight weapons that could kill you." said Stefan, looking directly at Klaus, not paying any kind to Rebekah's accusation.
"Let's be certain, shall we?" said Klaus, heading to Damon and prompting him to to leave but he repeatedly denied, so he restored to compulsion.
The excessive bleeding had drained out all the vervain in Damon's system and he had to comply, the effects of compulsion taking place as he began trying to pull his hand out of the animal trap it was encased in with immense effort, his actions only hurting him more.
"Wow, so you could finally be compelled." smirked Klaus, moving forwards to compel the answer out of Damon. "Minus the stake that's in my brother, how many more stakes are out there that can kill me?"
"Eleven." croaked out Damon with loads of effort as Klaus turned back to Stefan.
"Eleven!" he exclaimed sarcastically. "Really? So not eight, then."
"You really shouldn't have lied." commented Rebekah.
"I'll get you the other three." said Stefan.
"Oh, that would be nice. Or since you lied, maybe I'll just compel your brother to chew out his own tongue."
"What is wrong with you?"
"What is wrong with you !?!" exclaimed Klaus in anger. "Do you really have no appreciation for me? I have given you someone to hate, to loathe. A target for all of your anger! So you don't have to turn it on yourself. I have given your life a purpose, as your friend."
Klaus' words held the bitter truth behind the last few months of Stefan's life. And everyone knew and understood that every word that came out of Klaus' mouth was true, Stefan knowing it more than anyone else.
"I really think you should be thanking me." said Klaus, a humorless laugh accompanying his words.
Stefan's anger got the best of him as he sped towards him, slamming him against the wall, attempting to embed the ninth white oak stake in Klaus' heart but Klaus kept the stake away from his heart, his hand gripping Stefan's wrist tightly as anger swam through his eyes.
"Step down, or you both die." he warned as Stefan contemplated his next move and finally decided to give in, handing the dagger to him.
"There. Now you'll only have to get me the other two."
"This is ridiculous." interrupted Rebekah, heading to Damon and freeing him.
"What are you doing?"
"I brought him here. I get to release him. My rules now." said Rebekah. "Bring us the stakes and you both live. Take your brother as a sign of good faith."
Rebekah just gave her declaration, marching out of the room along with the bag containing all the white oak stakes, and Klaus also left after giving his usual threats, leaving the two of them and barely conscious Damon alone in the room.
"Why are you with the Mikaelsons in the first place?" asked Stefan, his eyes shifting to Lucy's whose eyes were fixated on him only since the very beginning.
"You killed Finn, knowing very well it will kill me as well. Why did you do that?" she counter-questioned.
"Lucy, I-"
"Oh no, don't even answer that, I already know it. 'Cause I'm just collateral damage. Isn't it?"
"No, Lucy, no-" he tried to explain himself but his words fell on deaf ears.
"I get it, you were determined, very determined to end Klaus who destroyed you. But I never thought that you would give me up as well in the process. If you were so dead set on killing him, then why did you give up the only weapon capable of killing him?"
"Lucy, it's not like this-"
"Just answer me." she said firmly. "Why did you give up the only weapon capable of killing him?"
"To-To save Damon." he said unsurely, not understanding why she was asking such a question.
"Why did you want to save Damon then?"
"Lucy-"
"Just answer me."
"Because he is my brother."
"He is your brother." she laughed mirthlessly. "Your family, right? Then who am I Stefan? Am I no one to you?"
"Lucy, what are you saying-"
"I'm just collateral damage." she shrugged. "And he is family. Of course. The same person who killed Lexi. This person is family. And I am just collateral damage. The person who stuck by your side since the very beginning; who you so proudly call your little sister; is just collateral damage. Nothing else."
"Lucy," he looked at her pleadingly, "you know it's not true. You are not collateral damage."
"I was with you all those times." she continued, looking afar, not focusing on what he said. "Lexi was. Not your brother. But at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is family, blood-related family. No matter what you say, I was never part of that family. Because the only thing that matters in this world are blood relations. No matter how much you say to someone, 'Hey, you're my family. Why does it matter if we are not blood related?'; you also know deep down that they'll never be your family truly. Because real family is real and namesake is just for namesake."
"I made sure you were unlinked, Lucy." said Stefan quietly, the reality of what Lucy thinks about all this ordeal setting over him, her words tearing through his heart like pointed sharp arrows.
"I asked Bonnie to do a spell to unlink just you from the Originals." he continued.
"There is no such spell." she scoffed. "Either you link all of them or you unlink all of them."
"That's what you think." said Stefan. "But she did it in front of my eyes."
"And you did an experiment to see if it worked?"
"Yes. But we don't know if it did or not, because you had already unlinked all of them. Bonnie called to tell this, but it was too late" explained Stefan.
"Why would Bonnie lie?"
"She didn't lie. She also thought it worked. For all we know it would have worked, we just don't know for sure."
"And Lucy, you're my family." he added. "No matter what you think, you are my little sister. And I care for you as much as I care for Damon, perhaps even more."
Lucy stayed silent for a moment, not having enough courage to meet his eyes. She just went to Damon, crouching in front of him and by weaving her hands in front of him in the air a few times, she made him heal completely.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, "but I won't say sorry for what I said. It's-It's just the truth. He's your brother and he always will be. And I'm just a friend, not family."
Word Count : 1770