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[season four || episode seventeen]
Because the Night
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kalon:
(n.) beauty that is more than
skin-deep
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Sunlight peering in through the window, Madeline was back in the Gilbert home with a neutral expression on her face. She just finished clambering down the stairs and began ransacking the refrigerator. Making her heart drop, she felt someone's presence emerge. She closed the door, met with a familiar face.
Jeremy.
"Run."
"Jer, what are you talking about?" She hadn't realized it was a dream yet, believing she was still in real life — believing that her younger brother was still alive.
"Run, he's going to kill all of you."
"Jer, who? You're not making any sense."
"Silas."
Her body stiffened at the name. Memories of what happened on the island returned, acting as weapons against her heart. She pondered how she could avoid someone when she didn't even know what they looked like. She imagined him to be horrifying and possess piercing eyes that made people tremble in fear.
"I miss you," Madeline whispered.
Jeremy smiled sadly. "I know."
"Stay."
"I can't."
"Please." Desperation laced the redhead's voice, tears swelling up in her eyes. Jeremy's brows furrowed as his face contorted with melancholy.
"I'm sorry," Jeremy said, just as heartbroken. He hated being able to watch his sister grieve his death. He remained incapable of doing anything to ease her pain. "Be careful, Mads. All of you."
✧
Awakening with a confused expression, Madeline groaned, struggling to remember her dream. All she knew was that it was about Jeremy. She hated it slipped out of her memory in an instant, dreading the day when she would forget what his face looked like — what his voice sounded like.
She carefully detached herself from Stefan's arms, planning to make a sneaky getaway to the kitchen. Failing terribly, she smiled as he tightened his grip on her, pulling her back to bed. "Where are you going?"
"Going to see my other boyfriend. He misses me, you know?" she lied. Not believing a word she said, Stefan hummed in amusement, pressing kisses onto her neck.
"You wanted strawberry ice cream, didn't you?" Stefan questioned, already knowing her habits. She had an unhealthy obsession with having ice cream for breakfast. Why? He had no idea.
"I'll bring you some this time. I swear," she whispered. The last time she obtained the delicious dessert, she failed to provide him with his own bowl and spoon. To say he was disappointed was an understatement.
"Okay," he said, his lips finally connecting with hers as he released her.
She smiled deviously as she revealed she had crossed her fingers, indicating that he would get none of her beloved desserts. "More ice cream for me." she taunted, heading out of their room.
"You do that and we're breaking up!" Stefan threatened. He smiled when he heard her groan and mutter profanities under her breath. It's safe to say he got ice cream that morning and had his girlfriend muttering a boatload of threats that made it seem like she was placing a curse on him. In other words, he was content.
✧
Damon took Elena to New York, the worst place for a vampire to be when their humanity switch is turned off. It gave Elena access to hundreds of people. New York had an immense population. Therefore, people didn't worry if a few people turned out dead here and there.
Although Madeline hated the idea of Elena running around and feasting on whoever she could get her hands on, she tried to get her mind off it by cleaning the leftover party mess the brunette left behind.
She paused at the sound of footsteps she didn't recognize. Eyes blazing a scarlet red, she pinned whoever was sneaking up on her to the wall, earning a pained groan from them. She tilted her head as she went to examine who the intruder was.
"Klaus," Madeline said with a smile.
"Is this any way to treat your friends?" Klaus said, patiently waiting for her to drop him.
Realization sparking in her eyes, she said, "Right. Sorry." She gently dropped him before remembering that she was supposed to be mad at him. "Wait, no. I take that back. I'm not sorry."
"I'm sensing you're angry. What did I do now?" Klaus asked as she stormed off, collecting more red plastic cups with her powers.
"You really have to ask that?" Madeline scoffed.
"Is this about Tyler?" Klaus questioned.
"I don't know. Why would I be mad that you scared away my best friend's boyfriend, leaving her utterly heartbroken?" Madeline asked sarcastically, eyes narrowed. "I fucking wonder."
Speeding in front of her, Klaus met her gaze. "Love, he tried to kill me." Anger was an emotion Klaus was familiar with. However, he never wanted Madeline to feel it toward him.
"We all have but you didn't force us out of Mystic Falls." she contended, waving a finger in his face to express her turmoil. With each step she took forward, he took one backward, amused and smirking. "And let's not forget you killed his mother, killed him, and treated him like a little servant."
"Madeline, come on." Klaus reasoned, grabbing her wrist gently and setting her arm back at her side. "You know how I am."
"Murderous?" Madeline mentioned. "Downright insane?"
"More like passionate about getting my messages across," Klaus said, not taking any of her insults to heart. He knew that deep down, they were still friends.
"Why are you here?" Madeline asked, continuing to gather the garbage adorning the couch. "I know you didn't come here to get scolded by me."
"Stefan called me. We wanted to discuss the little Silas issue." Klaus contended, not mentioning that he cherished her scoldings more than he thought possible.
"You couldn't do that over the phone?"
"And I wanted to offer my condolences," Klaus added quickly, making her heart clench. "I would've been over earlier but I was trying to locate Katherine for you — wanted to give you some sort of closure."
Swallowing down whatever grief was resurfacing, she faked a smile and cleared her throat. "Well, considering you have been chasing her down for hundreds of years, I'm surprised you haven't given up by now." Seeing right through her facade, he didn't mention it, reciprocating the smile. He knew better than most people that she didn't want to talk about how her loved ones seemed to drop faster than flies. "Thank you for trying, though."
She quickly changed the subject back to Silas, knowing that if they lingered around Jeremy's death, tears would soon spill like fresh rain.
✧
An explanation for how Silas schemed to bring back every dead, supernatural creature from the other side intrigued the Original hybrid. He couldn't have past enemies coming around to bite him in the ass. That was how Madeline, Stefan, and Klaus ended up in Professor Shane's office, searching for clues.
"Why didn't we bring Caroline? I'm third wheeling now." Klaus muttered while the redhead examined the professor's desk, looking for anything regarding his plans with Silas. "Not to say I don't enjoy the trio being back together again."
"Have you forgotten that she hates you?" Madeline remarked, leafing through a journal and finding nothing but lore she was already familiar with.
"I was trying to, actually. Thanks for nothing." Klaus stated, rolling his eyes.
"You two act like bickering children." Stefan declared. In disbelief, Madeline sent him a glare, prompting him to correct himself. "Sorry. Klaus acts like a bickering child, not you, Leine. Never you."
"That's what I fucking thought," Madeline muttered jokingly under her breath. "It's bad enough I had to share my ice cream with you this morning. Now you have the audacity to call me a child."
"I apologized," Stefan remarked. Scoffing affectionately, Madeline shook her head as she wandered toward the bookshelf, wondering what kind of novels the professor read during his free time. Grinning, Stefan knew just how to gain her forgiveness. "We'll go to Barnes and Noble on the way back home. How does that sound?"
"It sounds like you're forgiven." Madeline smiled, excitement rushing through her almost as if she were waiting for the big drop of a rollercoaster.
"Is that all I have to do to get you to forgive me over the whole Tyler matter?" Klaus asked. Thanks to his eternal life, money was not an issue. He was sure he could purchase more books than Madeline had in her current library in the Salvatore house.
"Nope." Madeline smiled innocently before grabbing a book off the shelf. "I found something. 'Symbolic Figures in the Dark Arts'. Bonnie talked about Expression Triangles." Madeline flipped to a specific page and displayed what the Bennet witch had talked about in extreme detail.
Stefan read from the page. "'In some schools of magic such as Expression, human sacrifice can be used as a focus for power. It's rumored that the addition of two supernatural sacrifices compounds the mystical energy creating an Expression Triangle.'"
"Doesn't that sound lovely?" Klaus hummed.
Pointing to each vertex of the triangle, Madeline listed, "Humans, that's the council fire. Can't believe I helped do this without even knowing. My bad."
"That's all you're gonna say? 'My bad.'" Klaus teased.
"You're in no place to talk when you literally helped with a massacre too, and the council was annoying. They had it fucking coming when they came into my house and tried to kill me. I was already on my way out of Mystic Falls before they attacked me." Madeline defended, still feeling slightly guilty for the number of lives she took that night with a match, a couple of gallons of gasoline, and a single flame.
"Fair enough." Klaus nodded. "The second?"
Stefan answered, "The second one would be demons, Klaus' hybrid failure."
"I wouldn't exactly call it a failure." Klaus contended with his usual smirk.
"I would." Madeline declared, shrugging. "What do you think, Stef?"
"Definitely a failure." Stefan agreed, pleased to see the annoyed look on the Original's face.
Klaus ignored the pair. "And the third?"
Analyzing the illustration, Madeline furrowed her brows. Silently, she prayed something suddenly fucked her vision up and made her see things. "Witches. They need to kill witches."
✧
As much as Madeline wanted to give the blonde a break from all the vampire drama (Klaus), the second they deciphered the possible locations for the next massacre, she knew they needed backup. After calling to check up on Bonnie, Madeline was met with a shocking surprise.
Apparently, according to Bonnie's father, Professor Shane had been keeping the witch company. However, that was inconceivable. The professor's rotting corpse was proof enough.
Therefore, it could only be one individual, Silas, who was appearing as Shane to convince Bonnie to go through with merciless carnage. Much to Caroline's disappointment, she was paired up with Klaus. The two pairs split up to scour the two locations.
Stefan and Madeline were the ones at the right location, currently struggling to get the witches to stop.
"It's not what you think." Stefan reasoned. He planned to get the full story out, but before he could do that, the witches looked at the two with a loathing glare.
"This is no place for vampires." the lead witch declared. She sat in the middle of a pentagram with Bonnie, her hands resting on the Bennett witch's temples as she performed the purification.
"I understand how you feel toward vampires, but she is working with Silas," Madeline explained.
With a hint of dread in her voice, the witch asked, "Silas?"
"He brainwashed her to kill you," Stefan added. Looking down at the Bennett witch, the leader of the coven retracted her hands and yanked out a blade.
"What the hell are you doing?" Madeline asked, eyes widening.
"If Silas has her, she's lost." the witch explained. "We can't save her."
"Wait," Madeline said defiantly, using her ability to remove the weapon from her hand. Nonetheless, her retaliation was not appreciated. Anguish commenced relentlessly staining her veins. She watched as Stefan stumbled onto his knees, experiencing the same thing.
As Madeline fought to keep on standing, the witch declared, "I have the power of 12 witches. You don't stand a chance." Pissed and in pain, Madeline felt her eyes flare. The head witch was no longer on the ground. She was pinned against a tree, a tightening sensation slithering around her neck like a snake. It kept her from breathing properly, her eyes looking for her fellow witches for help.
"I don't know about you," Madeline said through her gritted teeth, finally crumbling to her knees. She didn't release the witch. "But I would like to chat like actual adults now. Please. I'm literally too tired for this. I'm sure you are too."
Drawing more power from her coven, Madeline screamed in agony as the torture intensified. She was forced to drop the witch. "Oh, come on. I thought I was being nice." Madeline complained. Coughing as she returned to the pentagram with her retrieved blade, the witch intended to continue killing Bonnie.
Madeline felt immense fear obscure her thoughts. Losing Bonnie would send her back into a dark pit that she was still trying to get out of. She focused on accumulating her power to save the Bennett witch before she underwent another fight to keep her humanity, but someone beat her to it. Caroline gave the leader of the coven no time to react as she plunged the blade into her, overhearing Klaus' objections.
Madeline felt the anguish disappear unhurriedly, her limbs aching. Rather than preventing the Expression Triangle from being completed, Caroline finalized the last massacre required, the twelve witches going limp as they took their last breaths. Recuperating, Stefan used a tree to get himself back on his feet and went to Maddie's side. "Leine, you alright?" he asked, breathing heavily as the pain subsided.
She nodded, keeping her eyes shut momentarily. "Just gimme a sec," she whispered. Stefan sighed in relief at the sound of her voice. She leaned her body against his. "That bitch killed a fuck ton of my brain cells."
"You had brain cells?" Stefan joked.
With a smile, she hummed. "You're sleeping on the couch."
✧
Sitting next to Bonnie, Madeline waited for her to wake up. Her knee bounced anxiously as she pondered how to go about the conversation.
Bonnie opened her eyes and lifted her head, the sound of ruffling bed sheets making the redhead pivot her attention. "Hey, Bon. How are you feeling?"
"Mads. What are you doing here? How did I get here?" Bonnie asked, confused.
"You don't remember? Stefan and I brought you home after the witches tried to kill you." Madeline questioned, brows furrowed.
"What witches?" Bonnie asked.
"The witches must have messed with your memory." Madeline theorized, an unsettling chill rushing up her spine.
"How did I get off the island?" Bonnie asked, sitting up fully as she looked at Madeline for all the answers.
Trepidation consuming her, Madeline asked, "Bonnie, what's the last thing you can remember?"
"I remember being in that cave and... Jeremy was trying to pry the cure out of Silas' hands." Bonnie retold, her eyes squinting as if she had trouble roaming through her muddled memories. Madeline felt her lips part, havoc obliterating her brief equilibrium as she recalled the events that transpired on the island. "Please tell me we got it."
Madeline didn't want to say it out loud. She had been trying to avoid it, to ignore it in order to save herself inexhaustible affliction, but she now understood it was impossible. Whether she ignored it or not, Jeremy's death happened, and he wasn't coming back.
Being able to read her like a book, Bonnie answered the question herself. "We didn't get it, did we?"
"Bonnie..." Madeline said. Her voice wanted to crack and articulate her own woe, but she didn't let it, wanting to be calm and collected to comfort her friend properly. "Something happened to Jeremy when we were on that island."
"What do you mean?" Bonnie questioned, concern blaring like a siren.
"He was killed. By Katherine." Madeline whispered. She was about to repeat herself just in case the witch didn't hear her, but she knew Bonnie did the second she started denying it.
"You're lying." Bonnie chuckled humorlessly, tears forming in her eyes.
Madeline's eyes softened, her own tears surfacing. "You know I wouldn't joke about this, B." Her heart felt like it was being repeatedly impaled with a wooden stake laced with malignancy, taking her life and ruining it with ease over and over again.
Madeline didn't leave Bonnie's side that night, the two struggling to make sense of why the youngest Gilbert had been the one to suffer a cruel fate.
pls tell me if there is
any spelling or
grammatical errors :)