Rebekah wanted her death to be slow.
And painful, of course, because what fun would it be if it didn't hurt?
"He'd never forgive you for this," panted Maddy as Rebekah tied her down after beating her so savagely that she could hardly see. "When he finds my body—"
"Shut up," said Rebekah. "I don't give a damn."
"I'm sorry, Rebekah," Maddy wheezed miserably as she looked around the dark room where Rebekah had her. She figured she must have snapped her neck dozens of times to get her here.
This hadn't been planned. Rebekah had likely been coming to speak to Madddy when she overheard her admitting to Elena that she already knew. Rebekah had had to decide a location to torture her based on impulse. This could mean that there were escape routes that weren't taken care of. Maybe there was a chance for her to get out before Rebekah went on to deliver the final blow.
Maddy knew this was a fight for her life. She could have all the wild hopes that she wanted that Rebekah would just try to turn her against Klaus. That she'd let her live just to be a reminder to Klaus of what he took from Rebekah, and what she made him lose in retaliation.
"You're not sorry," Rebekah decided. No, she didn't want to believe that Maddy could possibly feel remorse, because that might influence her to not kill her. "You're just as awful as he is."
She gripped her head, forcing her way into her mind to bring forth the memory of how Klaus had admitted it to her. This only seemed to flare up her rage.
"Do you regret it?" Maddy had asked him.
"Some days," admitted Klaus. "Other days, I feel that I gave her what she deserved. Go on. You have my permission to tell me what a wretched man I am."
"Stefan killed our father. I was bitter for a while, but he had it coming. Anger... does things to us. Makes us do things we don't intend to. It happens and you can't take it back. You can only accept it and move on. I don't blame you. She never should have treated you that way. Nik..." she drew back, holding his face, "they were so awful to you. You didn't deserve that. You should have been loved no matter what. You were just a child. How could she have allowed your father to mistreat you so? For something that was her fault? I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
He could feel himself getting emotional, and he tried to force it down, but she reached her hand up, running her fingers through his hair. "It's okay," she said. "I don't judge. I will never, ever judge you for feeling. It's natural. There isn't anything wrong with it."
"You apologized to him?" sneered Rebekah. "Apologized to him for being so incapable of controlling his anger that he ripped out the heart of the woman who gave us life?"
Maddy gave a shriek as Rebekah punched her. "I'm sorry!" she sobbed. "I should have told you, I should have!"
"Yes, you should have. I thought you were my friend, but you didn't tell me. Go on. Explain to me why the ruddy hell you apologized to him instead of telling me. Or instead of scolding him for being a murderer."
"He's part werewolf," whimpered Maddy, trembling and not daring to look at her. "He can't control it... just like I can't change the past... he looked so miserable... I knew judging him would only make it worse..."
Rebekah scoffed. "You should have judged him. You should have told him what a monster he was."
"All of us have done things we regret," Maddy said, flinching when she sensed Rebekah lifting her arm. "All of us are monsters."
"Shut up!" snarled Rebekah. "He killed my mother! MY MOTHER!"
"I'm so, so sorry," Maddy sobbed. "I'll never be able to say it enough. I should have told you right after he told me; you deserved to know. I should have told you when the compulsion was undone and I remembered..."
"But you didn't, did you? You had so many opportunities and never once did you consider my feelings."
"I-I did. I did consider them. And I can admit I was so, so selfish. I knew I might lose him again if you knew. And I worried that when you confronted him he'd just dagger you."
"Don't bullshit me," said the blonde. "You weren't thinking about my safety. You just wanted to keep my friendship and his love when you didn't deserve either. You're just the latest whore he's interested in. He doesn't really love you."
The psychological torture had begun.
"If he loved you," continued Rebekah, "he would have either made sure you went with him to sire hybrids, or he would have stayed with you. But he's not here, is he? Those hybrids are more important to him than his family. He's making them just so he won't be alone because that's what Nik does. He makes himself end up alone when he daggers us for having different opinions. For feeling where he refuses to. Do you know how many boyfriends of mine he's killed? Go on, guess."
"A lot," hiccuped Maddy as Rebekah yanked her head back, forcing the younger vampire to look her in the eyes. "I'm sorry..."
Rebekah slapped her. "Stop apologizing! Those are empty words and you know it."
"They're not," pleaded Maddy. "I am sorry, I can never take it back and I hate myself for it. I'm not trying to get you to show me mercy, I know you're just going to kill me..."
Rebekah fake pouted. "Yes, that's right, I am going to kill you. But first I'm going to reveal all of Nik's secrets. All the things he's never told you about his past. We'll see how strong your love for him is then."
She forced herself back into Maddy's head, zipping through every memory just to find out what Klaus had neglected to tell her.
"Let's take it from the top, shall we?" asked Rebekah. "Let's see... the year 1002. After we turned. After Nik first spouted that lie that Mikael had killed our mother. We ended up in Southern France, and with the help of a servant, gained access to the home of the Count de Martel. That servant boy, Lucien, became Nik's first sireling. He was his friend. A close one. And what did Nik do? He went after the Count's daughter, Aurora, knowing how much Lucien loved her. He began his affair, hiding it from Lucien, and was rather rude when Lucien found out about it. Lucien was actually tortured because of it. Nik fled from Aurora's side with ease, but Lucien could not, and was caught with her by the Count's son, Tristan. Oh... Tristan hurt Lucien quite savagely. And though Nik healed him, which later led him to be turned, I always knew that Lucien never forgave him. I later turned Aurora. Elijah turned Tristan. When it came time for us to flee, Nik asked Aurora to come with him. She refused. Said some nasty words and broke his heart. According to him, she and you are the greatest loves of his life. And given that he hates her, well... I suppose that makes you rather special." Her wicked grin widened, "It'll only make it more painful when he finds your corpse."
"Don't," whispered Maddy. "Don't tell me more, just kill me."
"Oh, no, darling, you need to know. When you die and end up on the Other Side, I want you to hate him. And when he learns of your death, I want him to feel ashamed of all the things you learned prior to having your heart ripped out. Or... maybe I'll lop off your head, I still haven't quite decided. Where to next? Ah, yes, Italy."
"We were in Tuscany for quite awhile. My brother got around quite a bit then. He was with a different woman each day. Sometimes multiple in one day. That was how we came to learn about the daggers. During that time, he killed a man I loved. Granted, he betrayed us, but Nik was quite violent, leaving his body there for me to find. He yelled in my face, shook me with rage, thinking it was all my fault that we were attacked. That day, I imagined he might strike me. He's hit women before.
"He was the first of us to really lose his humanity. Even my other brother, Kol, despite his psychotic tendencies, still cared more than Nik. He was a beast. And you know all about what happened with Katerina Petrova. Her life was worthless to him. When she betrayed him, he rushed to Bulgaria and slaughtered her entire family. Did you know that?"
Maddy was trembling. "I... I didn't know that."
"All for her defiance. I don't quite think that's fair, do you? I don't much like her but I do believe he took it too far. He's daggered all of us multiple times, as you know. Said rather cruel things while doing so. Ranted and raved about how much of a disappointment we all were. He killed the son of the Governor of New Orleans, when I was just wishing to turn him. He was responsible for the death of Elijah's love, Celeste, when he sold her out as a witch. And when I fell in love with Marcel, who he's told you about, oh... he daggered me for that, left me there for fifty-two years."
She went on to tell her about more atrocities. How he forced a man to kill his own wife as a new vampire solely because the woman accused Rebekah of witchcraft. How he forced another man to burn his village to the ground just to obtain land. How he turned a woman then forced her to watch as her mother was burned alive, all because her pneumonia left her coughing constantly, which annoyed Klaus. How he used a man as bait for Mikael by forcing him to kill his wife, child, and everyone in his estate.
Maddy didn't know what to say. She ached everywhere. Hearing about all the awful things that Klaus had done was making her want to hate him. But she couldn't. Because Damon and Stefan had carried out their share of gruesome acts too. Some just as bad if not worse. Even Maddy herself could not claim to be a saint. She'd killed for fun. Been cruel before.
"Well?" prompted Rebekah. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"All of us are awful," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut. "He's not good but neither am I and neither are you. I can't change what he already did. I just... I told him that I'm not okay with it and I hope he'll never do it again... Rebekah I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hidden it, just as he shouldn't have lied to you, it wasn't fair at all. He has to apologize to you. He has to, it was so wrong... so, so wrong..."
"Don't kid yourself," said Rebekah. "We all know you'll just go running back to him anyway. If I were to let you go, you would forgive him instantly."
"I had my time to process it," said Maddy hoarsely. "I was shocked, I was, but I couldn't hold it against him, I couldn't..."
"And what about the rest of it? Everything I just said? You'll forgive him for it, too."
"What do you want me to say, Rebekah?" spat Maddy. "I don't hate him. I don't. Ever since I was turned, I've been behind my brothers helping them back to their feet, cleaning up their messes, putting on a brave face even though I was sickened by what they'd done. I'm fine admitting that I'm just as awful as them for forgiving them for the majority of what they did to other people. Maybe we do have a toxic relationship. But you do with your brothers, too. All those things you mentioned... you forgave Nik for them, too. Otherwise you wouldn't have still been at his side. You would have run off. Or you would still be daggered. You can't claim to be an angel either, Rebekah. I bet there's something that you've done that you've kept a secret from him. Something that would destroy him."
Rebekah gulped, and Maddy knew she was right.
"That's it," muttered Rebekah. "I'm done talking. Your time is up. Go on, I'll give you a choice. Would you rather I cut off your head, or rip out your heart?"
"Which will cause me the most pain, hmm?" muttered Maddy quietly, looking down at her hand and seeing that her ring was missing. "Maybe you should burn me in the sun. Take my ring— wherever you put it— to my brothers so they have something to bury. Or you could dismember be so I bleed out and die slowly, in pieces. I don't care. Just kill me." When Rebekah didn't move, she yelled, "KILL ME! I'll accept death, I know I did something wrong and I have to pay for it. I don't care, Rebekah, just—"
Rebekah let out a loud scream, holding her head in her hands. As she sank down to the ground, Maddy saw Bonnie, with her palm hovering over the blonde's head. Behind her were Elena and Klaus.
There was a slicing sound, and Rebekah was daggered. Her skin turned grey as desiccated veins rose over her face. Bonnie stepped back as Elena rushed forward to start to untie Maddy.
"Move," said Klaus roughly when she wasn't able to cut the ropes. In one clean swipe, he removed them. Elena and Bonnie came to stand on either side of her, helping her remain upright. They started to lead her out of the building, which appeared to be a sort of warehouse. But when the sunlight burst in from the main door, Maddy leapt back with a whimper, her skin having been burned when she looked up.
"Remain here with her," instructed Klaus, who was carrying Rebekah. "I'll be back shortly."
"My ring," said Maddy, massaging the dent in her finger where her ring usually was. "I don't know where she put it..."
"We'll find it," promised Bonnie. "If not we'll wait here til it gets dark to get you home."
"H-How long has it been?" she asked. "I lost track of time..."
"I went to your apartment two days ago," said Elena quietly. "I woke up with a massive headache in my car and I knew something was wrong. We couldn't narrow down where you were. Stefan called Klaus and he came right away. Deduced via smell where Rebekah was keeping you. Maddy... you need to feed."
"No," she said, turning away as Elena held up her hand. "Not gonna feed on you, no..."
"But you need to."
"No... no, I'll wait for a blood bag."
"You're hurting."
"This will heal. The majority of the pain it... it isn't physical." She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to keep tears from pouring out. "I'm a horrible person. I should have told her. I should have..."
"Maddy," said Elena gently, "yes, you should have told her, but that isn't a reason to deny the blood. Maybe the pain isn't really physical but you need to get stronger. Feed. Please."
She continued to turn away, and Elena stopped trying.
They didn't know where Rebekah had tossed her ring. Which meant they'd had to wait until evening, when the sun was gone from the sky. Klaus had carried Maddy to her apartment, while Bonnie and Elena went to get Stefan's ring to try a locator spell on Maddy's.
The Original hybrid didn't know what to tell her. He'd made sure to close the thick curtains she had, and had drawn her a bath, but was otherwise at a loss. Maddy had gone into the bathroom and hadn't come out for hours. When she was back in the main room, she just crawled into bed and didn't poke her head out.
Klaus knew he should have told Rebekah sooner. Scratch that— told Rebekah, period. He hadn't even had the courage to admit to her what he'd done. He'd allowed Maddy to carry the burden and she'd made her own choice to not tell her, either, which only made things worse.
"Love," he said, putting a blood bag at the edge of her bed, beside the blanket. "You've got to eat."
She reached her hand out and took the blood bag under the sheets with her. He heard her gentle slurping for a good several minutes before she pushed the empty bag back out.
"We must discuss this," said Klaus, who was far too eager to know what all Rebekah had told her. He already had a sinking feeling that his sister had been more than generous when it came to sharing his past. The things he hadn't been ready to tell Maddy.
"There's nothing to discuss."
"There obviously is something."
"There isn't."
"Madeleine, come out from under the blanket."
"No."
"Do you worry I'm going to hurt you, love?"
"It's not that."
"Then what is it?"
"I'm not good enough for you."
Klaus frowned, and lifted the blanket, revealing her tear-stained face. "Madeleine..."
"I shouldn't have kept that secret," she murmured. "I was a bad friend. An awful one. And I'm an even worse sister, just perpetuating my brothers' bad behavior by constantly covering it up. By forgiving them when they don't deserve to be forgiven."
"Many are incapable of forgiveness even with those closest to them. I find it admirable that you can hold your head high and continue to love your brothers, so much so that you would die for them, even if they have hurt you and others."
She shook her head. "I'm just a bad person. I shouldn't be so eager to forgive you for all the things you did. And yet I am. I want to... I want to still be with you despite knowing all these awful things you didn't tell me before."
"I'm the one who is not good enough," said Klaus. "I do not deserve for you to forgive me."
"I don't want to change you," said Maddy, eyes shining with more tears. "I know that's hard and I don't wish to alter your entire being just to fit what I want. But you can't do any of those things ever again, Nik. You have to place a certain degree of value on people's lives. Obviously nothing will change the fact that we're vampires. But I can't be with someone who would slaughter so, so much... who would make people hurt their own family members just for distractions and because they bother you. It's okay to care. There is nothing wrong with having a connection to humanity.
"As for your siblings... you can't just shove them into boxes because they disagree with you. It's not fair to them. You said your brother Finn has been neutralized for nine hundred years. Kol for the past century. Now Elijah and Rebekah. That's why you're alone, Nik. Not because you lacked the company of hybrids. But because you think it's okay to control your siblings, and by default, because you give yourself permission to punish them, when it isn't your place to. You can't just assign yourself the role of family patriarch. If their actions have consequences, they will need to deal with that.
"Daggering them does nothing. It makes them more bitter. And it wears away any chance of your family being whole again. You can't dagger them just because they bother you. You wouldn't like it done to you. And you're damn lucky they don't have a way to do it back. They deserve to have their own lives. If they want to leave, let them leave, because it doesn't necessarily mean they'll be gone forever. It just means they need time to breathe on their own and be happy. They could come back. And they will if you loosen that awful leash you have on them. But the more you dagger them the more you risk that they'll exit your life and never enter it again. You're their brother. They shouldn't be afraid of you and they shouldn't feel such hatred for you."
He was too ashamed to look at her. But he knew she was right. The daggering had to stop.
"I apologize, love," he whispered. "I apologize for not being a better man."
"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to the people you've hurt. Better yet, undagger your siblings and apologize to them, and let them come and go as they please. It'll be better to let them go than to force them to stay."
"I won't undagger Rebekah."
"Even she deserves to be undaggered."
Klaus stared at her. "How could you say that?"
She shrugged half-heartedly. "Because sometimes I forgive too easily. And because I know I did something wrong to her. Her anger was more than justified. I was okay with her killing me, I knew I deserved it. She needs to be free, Nik."
"I cannot wake them yet. I'm still attempting to settle in. There is much that I need to do."
"Wake them up before the month ends. Please. Mikael is dead. They're safe, even if they were never in danger to begin with. There's no reason for them to stay in their coffins."
He continued to come around for the next two weeks, spending time with her indoors despite the fact that Bonnie had found her daylight ring, and she could have gone outside if she wished. She was unmotivated. Everyone but Damon had called at least once to see how she was. Klaus kept saying he could go and talk to him. Maddy knew that wouldn't end well, and told him he was forbidden from doing so.
The hybrids came by to bring her food. She knew all of their names. And she was hearing from everyone just how annoying it was to have the hybrids everywhere, feeding on people. Granted, people not on Elena's 'To Be Protected' list, but still, innocents that Stefan and Elena in particular didn't want to see hurt.
Klaus tried to hear out their requests. The hybrids were made to feed from blood bags unless they left town, which meant anyone was free game. They'd stopped hovering around Elena, though they did protect her from a distance.
This wasn't enough for Damon.
"What do you want?" asked Maddy coldly on Homecoming night, when she'd decided she would still stay in while everyone else went to the dance at Mystic Falls High.
"Is your creepy boyfriend there?"
"Why do you care?"
"I want to talk to him."
"He's listening," said Maddy, eyeing Klaus from across the sofa. She handed him the phone.
"Damon, mate," said Klaus, holding the device to his ear. "Finally come to your senses about that chat I requested regarding your treatment of your sister?"
"Yeah, nope. See, we've asked time and time again for the hybrids to go away. You've done everything but send them off. Everyone else may be fine with it, but I'm not. First, you rip away Stefan's control. Then, you start shacking up with my sister, who you've basically corrupted."
"Are you approaching a point?"
"Yeah, so, I went to that new house you're apparently buying, and found your five little coffins... five, right? Rebekah, Elijah, two brothers, and one that won't open... and I took them. Heh, took them right out and no one stopped me."
Klaus nearly snapped the phone in half. "I will kill you for this."
"No, you won't, because no matter how much my sister and I dislike each other right now, you'd lose her instantly if you hurt me. Besides, killing me will mean losing your family forever. Get the hybrids out of town and then we'll talk. Toodles."
He hung up, and Klaus unintentionally crushed Maddy's phone.