Her life seemed to flash before her eyes.
Honestly, she thought it was just a silly saying. That people simply reflected on their past intentionally when staring death in the face.
She'd been hurt many times before. Nearly perished in several instances. But it had never been this close. This brutal. At the hand of the last person she ever expected to hurt her.
The memories came suddenly, rapidly, striking her hard without warning. They were memories she didn't often think about. Memories she sometimes forgot even existed.
Holding Stefan for the first time after she was born. Toppling off of a tree and onto Damon's shoulders. Learning to sew while her mother praised her patience and excitement. The singular time her father had been kind to her and held her hand while he walked her to a store to buy her a special dress for her birthday.
She recalled when Damon broke Stefan's nose when he was teaching both Stefan and Maddy to throw a right hook. And the time she stabbed Damon's leg with a needle because he broke one of her dolls.
She even remembered the day that she'd convinced her brothers to try on her mother's dresses so that they could have a tea party. They'd been adamant that they didn't want to do it, but seeing the way their sister's face lit up at the prospect of having 'friends' at her party was enough to sway them to do it, just for a little while when Giuseppe wasn't home.
But not all the memories were pleasant. She remembered being beat black and blue. How Giuseppe had nearly broken her arm once when he yanked her out of the carriage, having forced her to attend an event she had no interest in.
"Mother," she had said, the first day her mother had started coughing before it was revealed that she had consumption. "Would you like me to fetch you some tonic and stew?"
"No, darling," said Lily, taking her daughter's hand. "It's just a little cough, it will go away soon. Why don't you run along and spend the day with your brothers?"
"I would rather stay with you, Mother." She helped her sit up. "You always remain by our side when we're sick. You say it helps us get better soon."
Lily smiled weakly. "Yes, for the most part, company does indeed help."
Maddy had remained by her side for two and a half weeks. By some miracle she didn't grow ill. At that point, they realized that Lily didn't have a regular cold. Giuseppe had forced his daughter to stay in her room while the doctor came to do his examination. Not long after, Lily was sent away. Maddy had never gotten to say goodbye.
"Madeleine." Giuseppe beckoned her to the front of the church, when they realized that Damon was not there, and would not be performing the eulogy. "Go on."
Holding her skirt, Maddy went to stand by the coffin, refusing to look at it. "Good afternoon," she said, her voice wavering as she acknowledged those who had come to the funeral. "Thank you for your presence today. I'm sure my mother would have appreciated it."
She wrung her hands together, glancing at Stefan, who was holding Giuseppe's hand and whimpering. "There are no words that can describe what my siblings and I feel today. As many of you know, my mother was a wonderful woman. She..." biting her lip hard, trying to figure out what else to say.
This wasn't planned. She wasn't supposed to be the one up here, speaking to people she didn't even know, who might not have actually known Lily.
Damon should have been there.
Giuseppe began to make his way forward, thinking Maddy was going to falter. Quickly, she continued to speak, not wanting her tribute to her mother marred by her father, who had made her miserable since they married.
"She gave me life, and I will never be able to repay her for it," said Maddy, causing Giuseppe to halt. "She taught me to be a lady, and ensured I would be as compassionate as her. I wish, more than anything, for her to still be here. However, that is not possible, thus, all I can ask of those present is that you remember her in all her goodness and grace. That you hold the memory of Lillian Salvatore in your hearts."
She turned to the coffin, placing her hand over it. "Goodbye, Mama," she whispered. "I love you."
She almost found herself bathed in a white light. As the memories zipped through her field of vision, she felt a brightness following her, ready to consume her. She almost moved toward it. She could picture her mother waiting for her just on the other side of it, her arms outstretched.
"Surrender," Alaric snarled to Klaus, snapping Maddy back into the real world, where her life was hanging on a thread. "Or I kill her."
Maddy was gasping, whimpering, keeping completely still, knowing that even the slightest movement would leave her without a heart. Rebekah could grow hers back. For Maddy, it would be lights out permanently.
Klaus didn't know what to do. Two of his siblings were on the ground, vulnerable to the white oak stake Alaric held. Stefan and Damon could be killed more easily, and they, too, were out in the open where Alaric could kill them in seconds.
He had just started to lift his arms when Elena cried out, "STOP!"
They turned, and saw that she was holding a knife to her throat. "Let them go," she threatened, "or I'll kill myself."
Alaric definitely looked panicked. "Put it down, Elena."
"Why?" she asked. "Because you still need me alive? There's a reason why Esther used me to make you, isn't there? She didn't want you to be immortal, so she tied your life to a human one. Mine. That way you have only one life span to kill all vampires and then you'll be gone. So, when I die, you die too. That's it, it has to be!"
He shook his head ever so slightly. "You're wrong..."
"Am I?" she started to slice into her throat.
Alaric let go of Maddy immediately. "Stop, STOP! STOP! STOP!"
Klaus took the opening, throwing Alaric across the hallway and grabbing Maddy and Elena before speeding away.
Elena let out a scream when she realized they'd left the others behind. Maddy was recovering, coughing and holding her chest.
"No!" cried the doppelgänger. "Elijah's still back there! And Stefan, and Damon—"
"I will fetch them," said Klaus. "Stay here."
"Wait!" said Maddy before he could rush off. "Nik, no, you can't go alone!"
"I have to," he said. "Kol must remain with Bonnie, and I will not abandon my siblings. Alaric may have already killed them."
Maddy hung onto him, but he pushed her back, and gripped her shoulders, shaking her roughy without meaning to. "Madeleine!" he snapped. "I will get your brothers back, and I will get Elijah and Rebekah. You stay with Elena. Everything will be alright. I'll come back to you, love, I swear it."
He sped off, leaving the two women alone.
Maddy couldn't afford to break down, no matter how worried she was. She grabbed Elena's hand, speeding her to the Gilbert House, where Jenna waited anxiously.
"Stay here," she told her. "If Rebekah finds out that you need to die to kill Alaric, she'll come after you, and she will kill you."
"But—" Elena began.
Maddy wouldn't hear it. She rushed off, speeding into the forest where Kol, Bonnie, and Jeremy had not yet done the spell. They hadn't made any connection to Alaric's bloodstream yet.
"What happened?" asked Bonnie when she saw her.
"Alaric snapped their necks with ease," she said breathlessly. "Alaric, Stefan, Damon... well, Rebekah's heart was ripped out but she'll be fine. Nik— he went to confront him."
"Alone?" cried Kol.
"Yes. Come with me. Surely Bonnie knows the spell by now."
Bonnie looked at Kol confidently. "I know what to do. Go."
Kol and Maddy rushed into the school, finding that Alaric had pinned Klaus down, and was about to stab the white oak stake into his heart.
"NO!" Maddy tackled him, trying her hardest to get the stake out of his hand. Alaric growled, attempting to throw her off, but she held on tight, wrapping her legs around his waist.
"Hold on!" said Kol before Klaus could get the stake and stab Alaric. "Won't killing Alaric kill Elena, too?"
Alaric laughed maliciously. "Finally figured that out, have you?"
"No!" said Maddy, letting go of him. "That can't be true! Killing her will kill you, it shouldn't work the other way around!"
Alaric smirked. "That's the beauty of Esther's magic, isn't it?" He got to his feet, gripping the stake tightly, and disappeared.
"Damn it," said Maddy, rubbing her forehead, not realizing the way Klaus was staring at her.
"Are you mad?" he snapped. "I told you to stay with Elena."
"I couldn't just leave you here!" she said indignantly. "He would have killed you!"
"Now he's fled! Subduing him will be much harder! He will find a way to get us alone, even if he is perfectly capable of defeating us when we attack him en masse."
"Don't get mad at me for coming back and saving you! I care about you, and you forget that if you die, so do I!"
There was a groan, and they looked down as Elijah and Damon started to wake up.
"I'm guessing we were unsuccessful," muttered Damon as he shook Stefan, who blinked and winced as he sat up.
"Wildly unsuccessful," muttered Klaus.
Damon looked between him and Maddy. "What, you two are finally having your first lover's spat?"
"He's mad at me because I came to save his ass!" Maddy hissed. "He would have died if I hadn't shown up with Kol."
Klaus jabbed a finger in her direction. "You could have died! You said it yourself, if I die, you will as well."
This seemed to give Damon an idea. He rushed at Klaus, forcing his hand into his chest. Realizing what he was doing, Stefan went to hold him down.
"NO!" cried Maddy in disbelief. "What are you doing?!"
"Bonnie will desiccate him instead!" said Damon, forcing Klaus to stay against the lockers. "We can't die if we put him in a safe place for the time being."
Kol, of course, couldn't pass up the opportunity for some slight revenge. He started to help the Salvatores, pushing Maddy back when she tried to rip them off of Klaus.
"STOP IT!" she screeched. "BONNIE ONLY GETS ONE SHOT AT THE SPELL!"
"And she's gonna use that one shot to keep us all safe while we figure out what to do!" yelled Damon.
"STOP!" she cried, feeling Elijah was now holding her back. "STOP IT!"
Desiccated grey veins were rising onto Klaus's neck. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn't break free of Elijah's grip, which meant she was powerless when it came to stopping the spell.
Klaus went completely rigid, and sank down the instant Damon removed his hand from his chest.
As soon as Elijah let go, she rushed to Damon, and started to punch anywhere she could reach, pounding her fists angrily into his body. It was Stefan who had to hold her back this time.
"Maddy, stop it!" he yelled. "STOP!"
"HOW COULD YOU?!" she spat. "WE NEED HIM! WE CAN'T DEFEAT ALARIC WITHOUT HIM!"
"We're all safer this way!" snapped Damon. "Even his brothers agree. Klaus isn't thinking straight right now, he came on a suicide mission all to keep you safe and almost took us down with him. As admirable as it is that he'd do anything for you, this isn't how teams work!"
"Madeleine," said Elijah calmly. "Niklaus is not the best when it comes to group work. Right now, we need time to find another way to incapacitate Alaric without it hurting Elena. The only way to ensure all our heads are together to solve this problem is to keep everyone alive and able to pitch in ideas. It will only be for a little while."
"Or maybe a long while," suggested Kol. "Teach him a lesson. It's like we've finally daggered him. I could enjoy this for a few decades."
Maddy glared at him. "So what, this is all to keep us safe? Taking out a key player? Where, pray tell, are you going to put Klaus so that Alaric can't get to him?"
"I may have a few ideas," said Elijah, looking down at Rebekah. "It will take her a bit longer to resuscitate while she regrows her heart. In the meantime, perhaps there is something we can do to unlink Alaric from Elena?"
"Not possible," said Kol dejectedly. "She's a doppelgänger. Extra special. Transferring the link to a different human wouldn't be possible."
Maddy's phone started to ring, and she stepped away to answer it, feeling far too frustrated with the conversation at the moment. "Jenna," she murmured. "What is it?"
"I'm at the hospital with Elena."
"At the hospital? What happened?"
"She just started to feel really sick and she collapsed. She didn't say anything, but I guess she hit her head pretty badly when she was in Alaric's classroom."
"I'm on my way," said Maddy before hanging up. "All of you, figure out where you're going to put him so that he's safe."
She arrived at the front desk of the hospital, and was pointed in the direction of Elena's room. Before she arrived, she ran into Meredith.
"How is she?" she asked. "How bad was it?"
"She's gonna be fine," said Meredith. "Don't worry. She got a little banged up today, just a slight concussion, nothing to worry about."
"Oh, thank god," said Maddy, putting her hand on her chest. "Does she need to stay for observation?"
"No, she can go home now and rest. She needs to take it easy for a few days, but she'll be alright soon enough."
At least one good thing had happened. Maddy tried to remain calm as she went to get her car and brought it back to the hospital to drive Jenna and Elena home.
By that time, Bonnie and Jeremy were back. Bonnie wasn't happy to learn that Klaus had been desiccated instead of Alaric, but the spell couldn't be undone unless they fed him blood, which meant her efforts would go to waste. She made it clear that she wasn't going to muster another one of those anytime soon.
Maddy was no longer motivated to find a solution. Alaric might as well finish killing her off. She already knew he wouldn't hurt Elena, and his main targets were the Originals, not her or her brothers or their friends. Obviously, the others were going to keep Klaus desiccated and protected for the time being to ensure the majority (also known as those who were nowhere near as strong as an Original) survived long enough to find a solution.
She didn't think they'd be telling her where they would put Klaus. Kol was all for leaving him to rot, since desiccation kept him conscious enough to suffer as his siblings did whilst daggered. Even Elijah was in agreement that this might be a smarter play. Getting Klaus out of the playing field so that he'd behave.
She had no idea who she ought to call for an update. Damon had the brilliant idea to desiccate Klaus instead as a 'safety precaution.' Kol and Elijah had helped, and so had Stefan.
Thankfully, Elena called for her. Elijah was honest to the both of them.
"What we need is to take that stake away from Alaric," he said. "Once he's been disarmed, the weapon in our possession, my family will scatter to the ends of the Earth and Alaric will follow us. It is nothing we have not done before. Niklaus and Rebekah spent the better part of a thousand years evading my father. What's another half century while Elena is able to live out the rest of her natural life? In several decades, she will die naturally, and so will Alaric. Then, we would wake Niklaus, and all could be as it was.
"Another idea," Elijah continued, "Kol suggested we trap Alaric. If we could lure him into a building, we could have a boundary spell that would keep him inside, unable to flee. With the help of a witch, we could either desiccate him or subdue him long enough to weaken him, and study just how deep his connection to Elena is. No doubt my mother linked his life to hers fully to keep Niklaus from making more hybrids even if he is successful in subduing Alaric. It would buy us time to find a way to remove or change the link."
"One question," said Maddy, "how would you lure Alaric anywhere?"
"Kol believes we could use Niklaus as bait."
She snorted. "I'm sorry, what? No."
"Hold on," said Kol on the other line, apparently having snatched the phone from his brother. "Now you know as well as I do that Alaric will not fall for anything other than the real Nik, desiccated and creating a hotspot for whichever witch is going to help him. He does not have a daylight ring, but chances are, he went to get one, which means he will be able to hunt at all hours of the day. Presumably, this witch would also locate Niklaus for him. What we could do is lure him in, then others rush off with Nik's body before Alaric can get to him. He'd be trapped, we'd have the advantage, and Nik would be just fine."
"How are we going to get a boundary spell set up? Bonnie said she's exhausted, she went to spend the night with Caroline, Jeremy, and Tyler at the Lockwood Mansion where Alaric can't get in anymore."
"I've got a few contacts that can help. Now, are you going to be part of the plan or will you continue to sulk?"
Maddy frowned. "I don't trust you, Kol. I don't know what happened that made Nik dagger you last time but this feels like you're just doing everything possible to get your revenge. This is risky."
"I wouldn't get him killed, love, don't be absurd. We'll contact you with the rest of the details and you can decide if you'll participate or not. If you decide to sit back, then at least do us all a favor and stop being such a baby— Nik does this to us all the time, desiccating him for a few moments is nothing compared to being daggered for years. Your loyalty to him is almost concerning."
"If you don't like the way he treats you, then why would you do the same to him? You're just making it worse."
He hung up, and Maddy growled.
"You don't need to stay here and watch me," said Elena. "Jenna and I can go to the Lockwood Mansion. Carol's been lonely ever since her husband died, she'd be happy for the company. Plus, aside from Liz Forbes, she's the only one that understands the situation. If you want to help..."
"I do want to help. I just don't like this. I have a really bad feeling about it. We couldn't subdue Alaric when we were all working together. I don't think it would have made much of a difference if Kol was there."
But no matter what she felt, she knew she couldn't just let the others handle it. Thus, when they let her know that they had had a witch friend of Kol's do a boundary spell on a storage facility near Route 12, Maddy volunteered to go with Rebekah (who was now awake) to get Klaus's body out of there once Alaric was in the building. Damon had taken the coffin with Klaus into one of the containers, and would distract Alaric while Rebekah and Maddy rushed out of the building with Klaus.
The two women set their differences aside, walking side by side into the facility, and going into the elevator to the third floor, where Damon and Klaus would be. They knew, due to a singular text with an 'A' that Alaric had already arrived.
The two vampires moved quietly toward container 1020, straight ahead. They could hear Alaric down in another row, presumably having searched there already and found nothing.
Damon opened the door for them, and it surprisingly made no noise. They yanked the coffin out, and Damon shut the door before speeding off to confront Alaric. Maddy and Rebekah started to run, heading for the back exit. Outside, a car was waiting to take them back to Elijah and Kol, who were waiting in the woods for them.
Maddy had a wild hope that they'd make it to the door without Alaric hearing them. But they heard a loud cry of pain, followed by a loud snap, and Maddy went rigid, knowing it was Damon.
Alaric zoomed in out of nowhere, slamming Rebekah's head into the lid of the coffin, leaving her dazed and unable to help Maddy as Alaric hurled her into the door, promptly tossing her out of the building. Faster than they could react, the lid of the coffin was opened, and Alaric stabbed the white oak stake into Klaus's heart.
"NO!" Maddy and Rebekah screamed at the same time.
Flames burst over Klaus's chest, and began spreading to the rest of his body. Alaric slammed the lid down, and turned to Rebekah, who had fallen to the ground, sobbing. "Next," he said, gesturing for her to come forward.
Maddy knew that if Alaric killed Rebekah, too, hundreds, if not thousands of vampires would die all on the same day. Watching Klaus's body burn, she knew she would be dead soon enough. So, she did what any sane person would do and got between Alaric and Rebekah. The blonde seemed to figure that Maddy was buying her an out, and she took it, rushing out of the warehouse. Alaric made to follow, but slammed into the invisible barrier in the doorway.
"No," he whispered. "What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything," she said shakily.
He advanced toward her, seizing her by the throat. He entered her mind, and saw flashes of the conversation informing her of the boundary spell being in place.
"No," he growled. "No!"
"Just kill me," she said miserably, slowly sinking down. "I'll be dead within the hour anyway."
Alaric scoffed. "You give up so easily. Absolutely pathetic. I expected that the girlfriend of the Original hybrid would be braver. But you're a weakling. I suppose that's why he liked you. You were so easy to control."
She glared at him. "Did you kill Damon, too?"
"Not permanently. Doesn't matter either way, does it? You'll both die soon. As will the rest of Klaus's bloodline. I may be trapped in here but that... is something to celebrate."
He walked to the storage container behind them, ripping it open, and smirking when he found some bottles of tequila. "Let's drink to it, shall we?"
Maddy watched as he popped the top of the bottle off, not sure what he was planning.
Then, he opened the lid and poured the tequila on Klaus's face.
Something inside her snapped. Ripping the bottle away from him, she smashed it into his head. Alaric swiped his hand out, smacking her across the face and sending her crashing to the ground.
She let him beat her. She probably could have stood her ground better, but instead, she went limp on the floor, staring blankly at the wall, tears and blood now mixed on her face.
"You're not gonna fight back?" asked Alaric with a light sneer.
"Nope," she murmured. "Just kill me and get it over with, Ric."
"Don't call me that, we're not friends." He kicked her in the face so hard, she almost spat out a tooth.
"You're right, we're not," she said lowly, sitting up and spitting out the blood that'd accumulated in her mouth. "You killed him."
"If you really think about it," said Alaric, pressing his foot into her chest, "I did you a favor. He would have killed you anyway."
"Just kill me," she pleaded. "KILL ME! You've been kicking me around for half an hour already, I'm not going to last much longer."
There was a coughing sound on the other side of the storage facility. Alaric smirked as Damon sped to them, freezing when he saw Klaus's charred body, and Maddy bloody on the floor.
"Now the other one's here for his beating," said Alaric, punching him and knocking him down beside his sister. "Nothing you two want to say to each other in the face of impending doom?"
"Mads," said Damon, his eyes wide. "This... this wasn't supposed to happen."
Maddy couldn't meet his gaze. "You got what you wanted, Damon. Klaus is dead. And we'll be—"
Alaric stumbled. Which was odd, because no one was trying to knock him off-balance. The white oak stake fell to the floor as Alaric sank to his knees, holding his chest.
"What the hell?" said Damon, grabbing onto him. "Ric? No— no, no! Ric!" He held his friend's face as he started to desiccate. "No! You are not dead. You're not dead!"
Maddy covered her mouth and stifled a sob as reality hit. "Elena's dead."