4 years later
Maddie Salvatore sits on the couch in Kai's apartment reading a book. The man himself walks into the room groaning as he had just finished that day's torture routine. His eyes find the love of his life instantly and soften at the sight of her, though he was well aware that this was just another one of Cade's famous hallucinations. The only thing that kept him going was the few moments of bliss he would have with her before she would say the most horrific things to get him to break. However, he continued to stay strong hoping that maybe one day he could see her in real life.
"Kai" she says happily
"Yes demon who pretends to be the love of my life every day to torture me how can I help you?"
"Do you really think that you'll be able to escape this place?" She mocks placing the book down and staring at him innocently. He walks over to her and places his hand on her knee gently
"I know I'll be able to escape this place and when I do I'm gonna live the rest of my life happily with my girl"
"Wait another few years and she'll be joining you here then it'll really be a party" the girl says before standing up and walking over to the curtains pulling them open, she looks down at her hand and turns to him before fiddling with her daylight ring.
"I don't know how she kept this on everyday is tacky"
"Well you're a literal demon I wouldn't expect you to understand current fashion trends"
"Aww Kai that hurt my feelings, now look what you've made me do" she says staring up at him grabbing her daylight ring and throwing it on the ground. He instantly stands to his feet and reaches out to her but it was too late her body engulfs in flames and she screams bloody murder.
"No!" He screams falling to the ground along with her burning body. This had gone on every day for nearly four years and he could still never get used to the sight of her dying. He sighs waiting for his apartment to fade into the dark flames that were hell but he is greeted with a bright light and hops to his feet walking towards it, he reaches his hand through and nods before hopping through altogether. He looks around and realizes that he was in the Mystic Falls Grill, he could always tell what was off about the hallucinations whether it be the color of Maddie's hair being slightly off or a piece of the decor in the wrong spot. But this was real, he was finally back.
-
The years seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye once she found peace with the love of her life being gone forever. The first year was the hardest, every day at noon she would go sit by Kai's grave she dug for him and talk about her day and anything she had on her mind. She had no idea if he could hear but she went anyway, as time went on they got busy and she went to school, gradually she went from going every day to once a week, then once a month, and then every few months. As of now, it'd been about a year since she'd visited his grave, though she still thought about him every day the pain had lessened, she now appreciated the memories they had, and the love he showed her in the year they spent together. Time stopped moving as quickly when they ran into the cure for vampirism, in an effort to save her from a werewolf bite Stefan had Bonnie link his life to hers so as long as he was alive she would be too. This was amazing until he took the cure, they both became human, it was an adjustment but not too hard for her as she was a human not too long ago, however for Stefan it was like starting over. With this new blessing Maddie had decided to take this opportunity to start over and make a new life for herself, she no longer wanted to be a part of the supernatural world after everything it had costed her. She moved a few towns away and distanced herself, trying to figure out how to live without another by her side.
After a few months, she had forgiven Bonnie and Damon for their involvement in Kai's death, she couldn't spend the rest of her life hating them when they were two of the most important people in her life. She needed them to help her heal and become herself again, it was hard to truly forgive them, especially Damon but after several long conversations and breakdowns she was able to say that they were gonna be ok. Things were different now, everyone was ok, more or less, Caroline and Stefan are going strong, Bonnie was dealing with the loss of Enzo by communicating with him through her powers, and Damon was patiently waiting for Elena. They were all doing ok, but not great, they hadn't been 'great' since the night Kai attacked the wedding changing everything. The current situation with Cade was very frightening considering she was now a human along with Stefan, Damon was trying his absolute best to keep her out of it so she could remain safe. She agreed and made sure to keep her distance. She was currently in the middle of teaching her fifth period about the civil war. Maddie's attention is turned away from the black diary when her phone buzzes several times, she ignores it and continues speaking declining the calls, she apologies to her class before another buzz appears. Her eyes read the next one and it's a tweet and she frowns not even remembering the last time she had tweeted or even looked at the app. However her heart stops as she reads it
@CobraKai1972
'Red I'm home please come to the Grill ASAP'
Her heart stops and her breath quickens, she attempts to dress her class however her mind was racing. She apologizes for the distraction and dismisses them before collapsing onto her chair running her eyes over the message. There was no way this was happening, was he really back after all these years? But that was impossible, she tried for years to figure out a way to bring him back but everyone she spoke to informed her that it was not possible. Was she even ready to see him again? She had spent an ungodly amount of time crying herself to sleep at the thought of never seeing him again but somehow as time went on it got easier and though she missed him it was no longer a living hell. She moved on and had a fairly happy life living a few towns away from Mystic Falls, she'd been on her own for quite a while, only helping when the group absolutely needed her. After Kai she told them she was done, however they continuously roped her back into their issues, there was no way out. When she wasn't helping her brothers she had a stable job as a high school history teacher which she loved. She stands to her feet and grabs her keys before running to her car and speeding all the way to her old home, she runs into the living room shoving her phone screen in Damon's face and watching as it falls when he reads it.
"I'll take care of this" he says grabbing his keys
"ok lets go" she agrees following after him, he turns quickly and stares down at her angrily, he wasn't about to let Kai Parker destroy his sister once again after she'd gotten her life back.
"absolutely not, we don't know what he is or why he's back. You're human now and I need you safe"
"Damon this is Kai he won't hurt me"
"I don't care you're not leaving his house until I make sure everything is safe. I mean it" he says
"Damon this is ridiculous I love him"
"after what he did you still love him?" Damon asks
"yes"
"thats exactly why I'm not letting you come with" he says dragging her to her room as she fights against him but of course he's way too strong for her. He ignores her pleas and locks her in the room before leaving the house. She screams in frustration and tries to find something to pick the lock, but has no luck, she begins to pace around the room for a few minutes trying to figure out what she could do to get the hell out of here, and it suddenly hits her, the window. She notices that Damon put a lock on it from the outside as well and she groans, knowing what she will have to do. She takes a deep breath and uses her elbow to break the glass and carefully climb down the house knowing she wouldn't just heal if she fell. She makes her way over to the Grill and runs in to find it trashed with employees cleaning up the mess, her guess is that Kai did not go without a fight. They must of taken him to Ric's place, so she hops in her car and drives over. She creeps through the building careful not to make any noise so Damon could hear her, by now she's cracked the code on outsmarting vampires. She follows the voices and finds Damon and Ric talking to a figure tied up on a chair. Damon moves to the side of the room and she's able to get a good look at him, he still looks the exact same as the day she lost him and she covers her mouth trying to keep herself together while trying to also stop her heart from beating so loud. By now she knew that Damon has figured her out due to the rapid heartbeat and is well aware that she's here but for some reason, he doesn't come to get her.
"isn't that weird I mean I can still touch stuff, i'm between dimensions one foot in hell the other in Cades world of dimensions the run off the grid." He says his voice sends chills down her spine, she never thought she would hear it again.
"So Damon I tweeted Maddie and she knows I'm here so where is she?" Kai asks turning deadly serious
"I don't know"
"well I'm gonna go find her" Kai states, Ric rushes towards him and places his hands on his shoulders shoving him into the wall pointing a stake at him
"you murdered my wife"
"well fiancé mid-ceremony" he smirks, then Ric lets him go feeling defeated
"ok gents if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go find my girlfriend who I haven't seen in 4 years and 28 days"
"she knows you're here, if she wanted to see you then she would come" Damon taunts him, as her heart clenches as Kai's face falls. He stares up at Damon with pure pain in his eyes as his body deflates.
"she doesn't want to see me?" he asks sadly
"it's been four years Kai"
"does she have someone else?"
"yes she found someone who prefers normal activities such as golf rather than murder"
"Damon that's enough" Maddie interjects, finally getting enough courage to walk into the room and as soon as she enters Kai turns around his face brightens up and he opens his arms waiting for her to hug him but instead she slaps him in the face he holds his jaw, the act taking everyone by surprise including Kai himself who stares down at her in shock.