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chapter forty-four ━ the road to forgiveness and control
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❝ i'll forgive you one day, but today is not that day ❞
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GETTING UP THE next morning wasn't as difficult as she assumed it would be. Melody had lied there for a moment, noticing that Regina was gone from her side, since that night when everyone had gotten back, her mother had stayed with her and cried with her until they both fell asleep. She guessed they wanted to give her privacy to make the choice on her own. And she did. The sheets were pulled off her body as she stood up, grabbing the outfit Rebekah had gotten her as an apology for her actions, and took a nice warm shower. She brushed her hair, putting it into a high ponytail before leaving the room.
The only time she hesitated was when she was on the balcony, looking down the stairs as she listened to the clink of plates and soft murmurs. From what she could infer, Klaus was cooking, Regina and Emma were drinking coffee and chatting quietly, and then Pan and Hook were arguing about what movie was better: The Proposal or The Lake House since the two males loved Sandra Bullock. Everything seemed perfect. So she took a deep breath and walked down the stairs.
When she entered the kitchen, all eyes went to her. Emma lowered the coffee mug from her lips, smiling at the older female despite the fact that she always called the brunette kid. Even Pan and Killian stopped arguing, eyes softening. Klaus turned his head and smiled at her, waving her forward. Her bare feet made tiny sounds against the floor, going to him as she saw that he was making cinnamon rolls: her favorite.
"Morning love," he hummed. And he went to lean down and kiss her cheek but Pan and Killian were pulling her away, making her sit at the bar in between them. She rolled her eyes at their childish actions. But the hybrid didn't seem upset, smirking at the two who glared at him back.
Then Pan paid attention to his daughter, involving her in the pointless argument he and his still-slightly-not as much-enemy. "Okay, Melody, which Sandra Bullock movie is better? The—"
"Definitely The Proposal." Pan laughed right in Killian's face, sticking his tongue out to which the pirate rolled his eyes just as his best friend had not even a minute ago. Melody pretended to debate her answer all of a sudden. "Well, The Lake House is pretty good too. It was a cool concept and it was romantic and different than the cliche romance movies out there. While The Proposal it hilarious and I love quoting it. Just depends really." She shrugged her shoulders and it was time for Killian to laugh in Pan's face.
Emma and Regina both were smiling behind their mugs, happy to see that Melody was making an effort to start the healing process. Both noticed how when the two archenemies started to argue again, the brunette's eyes drifted to Klaus as he finished up making breakfast, pouring the icing over the cinnamon rolls. Her eyes followed his movements as if he were painting. If it weren't for her family in the room she would have kissed him until she couldn't breathe.
A snapping of fingers brought her out of her thoughts as she realized her plate was in front of her with a cold glass of milk. Everyone looked amused besides Pan and Killian, the latter being the one who was snapping his fingers to earn her attention. Klaus was smirking quite smugly as he got Emma's and Regina's plate. If the situation were different she would have blushed. But not. This time, she looked fearful, her hands beginning to tremble.
"Did I blackout again?" she whispered shakily, eyes wide with fear as she looked down at her plate. She was thinking the worst of it but none of them could blame her. Who would? That's exactly what happened to her when she killed the hybrids. It was normal for her to be scared, worried, nervous.
Instantly the mood shifted as Regina went over to her and placed a gentle hand on her's, rubbing her skin with the pad of her thumb softly. "No honey, we promise you didn't. You're fine. Nothing happened at all. You just spaced out for a second that's all." She smiled before letting her hand go and taking her plate, sitting down with Emma at the dining room table since there weren't enough chairs at the bar.
Melody took a deep breath to calm herself down and she took her fork, starting to eat. She thanked Klaus for the food to which he responded with a smile and a kiss to her cheek. You can guess who didn't appreciate that, but they let it slide. The rest of breakfast went by quietly, no one speaking much as the brunette felt like she had ruined the morning by her moment.
Pan seemed to notice her thoughts, recognizing the expression on her face. "Hey." She turned to him. "You did not do anything wrong." If it weren't for their company, he would have said more than just that. But it was hard for her dad to break that habit of not being affectionate or caring around people. He preferred private conversations so no one could see how vulnerable he was when speaking openly.
All she did was nod her head slowly, going back to eating. He didn't seem to be convinced by her nod. Because he knew better, he knew how her mind worked. Killian had gone to sit with Regina and Emma so it was only the two with Klaus cleaning up silently as he let the two talk though it wasn't much of a conversation anyways. Suddenly he left and then returned not long after, slipping a piece of parchment to her before he exited once more.
The immortal leader, ever so nosy, peered over Melody's shoulder to see what it was. She pushed his face away with her hand, making him groan in irritation. Then she opened it up with one hand, seeing a sketch of the kids playing in the show. Instantly she felt her heart warm, her hand falling. It was from their conversation at the Charity event where she had used her magic to make it snow for the kids. Pan saw it and stared, saying absolutely nothing. He didn't look angry, his expression rather calm. And she knew why.
Pan could tell that Klaus loved her.
———
Despite the pleas and the good solid evidence as to how her idea was just plain stupid, no one could change her mind on what she was thinking. She was still stubborn no matter what was going on around her, no matter what happened to her. Emma was the one who said that this could be good for her if she went out on her own to talk to Stefan, focus on finding the cure. The unspoken were words there: Maybe if Melody finds the cure, she will finally focus on herself.
Stefan was coming out of the shower when she appeared in his bedroom. Thankfully he was dressed, throwing his towel onto his chair to dry off. He didn't notice her until he turned around, her presence giving him a bit of a stare as she laid on her side, reading his journal which Rebekah suggested for her to check. "I know you were, uh, born in another realm, but, uh, knocking is a thing."
The female hummed in reply, feeling how on edge he was because no doubt he was recalling her outburst the day previous. "I don't really care. You have walked in on me and Klaus without knocking before, consider this little-bitty payback." She flipped the page to the next. "I'm surprised, I'm not seeing any doubts about our alliance. Though I'm actually not that surprised given the stunt that brat pulled. Wouldn't worry since she will be dead anyway."
She closed the diary and got up, swinging her legs over the side before she stood, tossing the item onto the covers. Then she leaned against the foot of his bed with her arms crossed. He didn't respond at all, pouring himself a drink which was his sign to her that he was unbroken. And she felt for him, knowing how much he had loved Elena.
"Look, I don't mean to be rude or anything but we're at a bit of a disadvantage in this whole race for the cure. Our team has Jeremy the hunter but team Shane has Bonnie the witch. And I, unfortunately, can't do the spells that are needed—"
"If you're here to remind me of our last place status, I'm very well aware," he told her, downing the entire glass before he leaned against his desk.
Her expression brightened as pride took over, moving towards him swiftly before stopping three steps in front of him. "Actually I have a plan." Stefan gestured for her to continue and at that moment she was glad for Rebekah catching her up. "The cure is buried with Silas, the ancient magical evil guy Kol is scared out of his pants about. Shane was so eager to prove his existence like the nerd he is, that he gave away that he has one of the keys to resurrecting him which is his tombstone."
When she finished, she beamed proudly, hands on her hips as if she were posing for him. Stefan smiled at that, nodding as he realized what she was hinting towards. He could tell that she was putting some faith in him and this time he was determined not to fail her, proving to her that he was sorry what he had done to her in the past. Just maybe they could be as close as they used to be.
"Let me guess, you wanna steal it?"
"Yes, and then Team Shane will have to join Team Melody, and Team Whiny Brat will be left out in the cold where she belongs." Then she linked arms with him and waved her hand. Within seconds they were in the Professor's office thanks to her magic. She smirked at his surprised expression, having not expected her sudden teleportation. "Now let's get to work before he comes back."
They started to rummage through the things he had in his office but they couldn't seem to find anything that resembled a tombstone anywhere. And they didn't bother to cover their tracks either. Both threw things behind them as they stayed silent, more focused on locating the object than bonding to heal old wounds.
"Well," Stefan scoffed, tossing a tiny glass box behind him. It smashed against the floor, shattering into tiny pieces. "Headstone's not here."
Melody rolled her eyes at his words, finding it annoying that he was giving up so easily when they were clearly getting towards something. And plus, they had no other choice but to find the tombstone so they would be in the lead. Damon and Elena were still convinced they were working to find the cure for the doppelganger. Clearly, they were doing something right. "Don't be a quitter Stefan. We'll find it. And stop being so tense, you're suffocating me."
She opened a desk drawer and moved a bottle to the side with an uninterested hum. Then she lifted up a stack of random papers to reveal Shane's herbs. A smirk appeared on her face as she withdrew it from the drawer, almost skipping over to him. "This should do the trick. Exactly what you need." She held it out for him. "The professor's stash of herbs."
"Not interested."
The fairytale woman lowered her hand and clenched her jaw. She could feel her temper rise so she took a deep breath, thinking of Alec who she missed dearly. Pan had given her that tip actually: to think about someone she cared about dearly, someone that she loved. The reason she didn't think of Klaus was that he distracted her too much, made her bad feelings radar all whack.
"Look, I get that things between us are rocky right now. But you agreed to be on my side. You'll benefit in the end because all Elena does is ruin your life. She chews you like gum and then spits you out before walking away. Just like yesterday, how she confessed to loving Damon and instead of talking to you, she ran to him." She gave him a tired look. "I'm trying to help you, Stefan."
He stared at her for a long moment, not sure what to say in reply to that. Eventually, he reacted, grabbing the herbs from her and nodded with a sigh. "Alright, fine." Then once she started to smile, he pointed a finger at her. "Only because you are stubborn and won't leave me alone."
Melody laughed at that, going back to the desk to start searching through it again. "You got that right."
———
Hours passed and they were still searching. They had closed the curtains so the room was dimly lit, and smoke hovered over the desk. Melody was sitting in a chair, legs crossed as she was taking a break from searching for so long. Her family had texted her more times than necessary, checking up on her to make sure that she wasn't dead or killing people. She was getting irritated and so she had to start taking deep breaths again to cool herself down. Thankfully Stefan never mentioned anything about it.
"So much random crap in here," he spoke up for the first time in an hour.
The female shrugged, twirling a knife in her fingers since it helped her relax. It was actually something Pan taught her. "Crap, definitely. Random, no. All this stuff looks too well placed to be random. I mean look, he obviously has some kind of culture fetish. You got feathers, and strange vase, and that looks like a sacrificial knife." He held up the knife she pointed out, both of them making a disgusted expression at how odd it looked.
"I'm going to have to agree with you that one."
Melody grinned teasingly, sighing dramatically. "Oh my, Stefan's agreeing with me. See, I told you we were soulmates." She batted her eyelashes as if she were trying to seduce him in a very overdramatic way. He shook his head with a chuckle, always amused by her antics. Now, this was going much better than he expected.
Not even five seconds after he thought that, her facial expression fell into a guilt-ridden one, observing the knife she was messing with. She sighed, for real this time, remembering how they used to be back when she first arrived. And she did miss it. But she would never admit to it. Because he helped fill the gap Rumple created when he left, along with Killian. Stefan was another brother to her. Yet he was willing to kill her.
He noticed and set down the artifact he was currently holding and turned towards her. "Melody I'm. . ." he trailed off, making her look up at him, curious as to what he was going to say and what he stopped. "Apologizing doesn't change anything. But if it's one thing I've learned is that if someone like you can forgive someone like Klaus, then there has to be a shred of hope that you can forgive me. And I'm sorry that I treated you the way I did. You were only trying to find your happy ending and I should have supported you."
She was quiet for a moment, thinking about how to respond to that. "You should have supported me." Then she stood, making her way over to him. "But you're right, there is a shred of hope. And honestly what you did doesn't compare to how my brother leaving affected me. Because with you, I made up an excuse, I tried hating you. With Rumple. . .I couldn't hate him or find reasoning for why he left without saying anything. I'll forgive you one day, today just isn't it."
Stefan nodded understandingly, knowing how asking her to excuse what he did would be wrong of him. Because forgiveness takes time, as did learning control. That was something they could relate to. While Melody was learning to control her dark magic, Stefan had to learn how to manage his bloodlust. Perhaps that is what made the road to them becoming friends again paved and smooth.
Before either could say anything, the door opened suddenly. Stefan grabbed Melody speeding them to the corner of the room out of sight. A male entered the room, looking like he knew exactly what he was doing as he started to remove books from one of the shelves, tapping the wall. He found what he was looking for and opened a part of the wall to reveal a door. Once he opened the door, a large stone sat there.
Melody went wide-eyed, dashing to stop him as her dark magic flared. But the Salvatore brother beat her to it, knowing it wouldn't be good if she got to him before he did. He grabbed the man's neck, making her stop in her tracks. She took a deep breath instantly and cleared her throat afterward as if she hadn't thought of killing the man.
"I told you we should have pulled a Scooby Doo move and took the books off the shelf." She flicked a piece of her hair out of her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "Now we just need to figure out who this guy is. He certainly looks like a man on a mission."
———
Stefan had sat the man in one of the chairs, Melody's magic holding him down which was risky since she was having trouble keeping herself from choking him to death. Yet she stood strong, her expression clear of any indication. This was good practice for her and if he did survive without him killing her, she would feel accomplished.
"Okay look, buddy, I have not been having a very good week so if you could tell us who sent you, that would be great. And clearly, you are on vervain since this guy over here already tried compelling you." Thinking about made everything make less sense. Who would send this guy to steal the headstone? Did Damon find out where it was from Shane and compel some random guy? She come up with an answer yet.
The vampire next to her was trying to help but it was clear that he was stuck too, not sure who this guy was and why he was here. "Or maybe somebody compelled him before he ingested it."
Melody shrugged. "Either way he was after the headstone. We need to know who sent him before who did send him comes back looking for him." She straightened her back, unclenching and clenching her fists to keep calm. "Okay, new plan, we take him back to my place, wait till the vervain is out of his system, and then compel him and get whatever information we want."
"That's not a bad idea."
They spoke too soon. Because right after that, the man grunted and spat out blood onto the ground. Melody went wide-eyed, gasping as she recoiled back, having not expected this turn of events. Stefan grabbed his chin, opening his mouth before he realized what had happened. "He just bit off his own tongue."
She looked disgusted, her nose scrunching up. "Wow, this guy had some guts to do that to himself. But you know what that means, he knows something which leaves one option: we have to sift through his mind to find the information ourselves."
But then she spoke too soon again. The man grabbed the knife Melody was still holding, stabbing himself with it. She threw her hands up in disbelief while Stefan attempted to save the man but it was too late. He bled out and then died, falling to the ground without the brunette's magical grip on him.
"Well, at least we know he was compelled," Melody finally said as she clicked her tongue, shaking her head. Now she was figuring out what was going on. Stefan seemed too as well as he stood up again, beside her as they stared down at the man. "I think we both know what this means." She paused as she sighed. "There's another team in the race."
Another outside occurrence put their mission to a stop. And this time, it was not Melody's phone. Right before he went to answer it, she answered it for him, snatching the phone from his hand and placed it against her ear. "Hello, Elena."
The doppelganger's voice was echoing from the sounds of it. So she clearly was somewhere else. "What did you do to Stefan?"
Melody laughed at that, making sure to keep her anger in check as she still kept her fists clenched. She was doing good so far. It was progress she was happy with. "And why must you assume that I did something to him? Maybe he came over to talk with me since you stole his brother and broke his heart. Again. He doesn't want to talk right now so I suggest you hang up."
"Then he can listen." Melody rolled her eyes for what felt like the twentieth time that day already, holding the phone away from her ear. "I know you might not care about me right now, Stefan, but Kol compelled Damon to kill Jeremy. They're somewhere in the tunnels, and-it's one giant maze down here, and I can't find them, so if you still care about the cure or about Jeremy, then maybe you can come help." She looked up at him, expecting a reply but Stefan was silent. "Okay." And then she hung up.
She scoffed, shaking her head. "What a bitch." Then she placed a hand on his arm. "Don't worry about this, even if we lose our chance of finding the cure, Elena is dying. You have my word."
———
It had been quite a while since she had seen Kol, the two not having a close relationship since they didn't have enough time to bond with all the drama going on. Even now it didn't seem like they would because Melody was going to try and convince him to un-compel Jeremy. Thankfully her family was on the other side of the mansion when she snuck in, blocking the entrance the Original was about to go through.
She put her hands on her hips, giving him an expression that told him that she wasn't budging until she got what she wanted. "It's been awhile, Kol, how are you?" He smirked and went to respond. "Oh wait I don't care." He shut his mouth, not looking upset at all. "You need to stop all of this. If Jeremy dies, believe me, Rebekah will not be happy, and I will not be happy."
Kol smiled at her. "I told Nik I wouldn't touch the kid. I didn't."
In her anger, she couldn't help but speak sarcastically to him. "Wow, you are such a genius, shall I give you a cookie?" she snapped, her chest rising and falling quickly. She caught it before it got worse, taking deep breaths but this one conversation was testing her. Because the fear of letting Rebekah down loomed over her menacingly.
He had heard of the story of what she did to the hybrids and Silas. So he knew that if he didn't leave, who knew what she was going to do to him. Making the smart move, he went around her, trying to leave before she whipped out the white oak ash dagger, pointing it firmly at his back. Instantly he went still.
"You'd really dagger me?" he questioned.
Melody looked guilty for having to do so if he didn't do what she wanted. "I don't want to, believe me. But this cure is going to Rebekah and I am determined to get it for her. If you don't fix this I will dagger you to end Damon's compulsion. I'm giving you a choice Kol."
Kol didn't turn to her, speaking with his back facing her. "At least your better than Niklaus in that respect. But I ask you Melody to look at what my family has become. I mean, Elijah won't even show his face, he's so disgusted by our bickering. This cure has ruined us, it hasn't even been found yet, and it doesn't matter who is getting it. Just imagine what would happen if it is found."
She felt her temper rising and clenched her jaw tightly. "Kol, I'm telling you right now, if you don't fix this I will dagger you, I swear it. Please don't make me do this. Let your sister have the freedom she has been longing for, for centuries."
But she should have known it wouldn't be that easy. "Then I'm sorry Melody." Kol spun around on his heel and got ready to stab her with the white oak stake. Klaus vamp-sped to him, throwing his brother to the wall before he could lay a hand on her. The hybrid was seething.
"You lay a hand on her and I will make sure you stay daggered until the end of time!" He growled, watching his brother stand up. Melody took a step back, in shock of what Kol had almost done to her. Was he truly that afraid of Silas? "Enough of this foolishness. Put it down, Kol."
Without an answer, Kol sped out of the mansion before anything else could happen. Klaus relaxed his shoulders and turned towards her, going over to her as she put his hands on either of her shoulders, looking her dead in the eye. "Are you alright?"
She nodded slowly, taking deep breaths. "I'm fine, thank you." Then came silence before she realized that this entire time, it was him who had been helping her recover. He had called her family, he had held her when she needed it, he had made sure that she keeping up her health. Klaus Mikaelson had taken care of her and she hadn't thanked him enough for it.
So she didn't say anything verbally, not knowing how to express her thankfulness through words. What she did do was wrap her arms around his neck and kissed him like he was going to disappear. Tears fell down her cheeks and he tasted it on his lips when he returned her affection. But neither cared. He would gladly take care of her when she needed it. Because as each day went by, he trusted her more, he cared for her more.
And he loved her.
———
Usually, I hate it when authors replace canon character plotlines with their ocs. And in this episode, it was Rebekah who helped Stefan look for the tombstone. But instead, it was Melody because I wanted to start establishing their friendship again. Also, I truly think that Stefan would be one who would understand her better than anyone else since they both struggled/struggle with control: Melody with her dark magic, Stefan with his bloodlust. And I think that would help Melody trust him again. But she doesn't forgive him in this book, I will tell you that.
And I'm kinda freaking out because um...that VERY IMPORTANT chapter is litteraly only a few chapters away. So here comes the big question most of you have been wondering. . .
Will Melody have Klaus's child?
Or will he sleep with Hayley?
DUN DUN DUNNNNN
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( credit : @pepperronys )