"Now go we in content to liberty, not banishment."
-William Shakespeare, As You Like It
Pairing: Klaus/Marcel (M/M) hand
Marcel knew Kol was still angry at him. He had apologized when he got back from the faction meeting, but nothing much had changed. Their fights always came down to Kol's jealousy that Klaus favored Marcel over Kol. When they had been fighting and Klaus sunk his venom laden teeth into his brother's neck as Marcel was attacking him, even Marcel felt like this was over the top.
Finally, after weeks of getting the cold shoulder, Marcel broke down and went to Klaus.
"Papa?" Marcel said glumly as Klaus was working in his study.
"Yes, Son? Come in," Klaus said pleasantly.
"I apologized to Kol but he still hates me for what happened when you bit him. I do not know what to do," Marcel said glumly staring at his hands.
"Son, look at me. My brother does not hate you, he is envious of you. Not because of how I treat you, but of how accomplished you are. I mean, look how far you excelled at your studies, your music, anything you put your mind toward. My little brother, though I love him dearly, only had one great love..." Klaus started.
"Magic," Marcel finished.
"Yes, he was a powerful witch even as a child. He's never found it's equal. I always had art, being a vampire improved my eye sight to see colors that a human eye cannot even begin to see. Elijah became Elijah, but for Kol, there is a dearth, an emptiness that he aims to fit with blood and mischief. I ache for him. I think in you, he sees the lack of ambition in himself. He cannot abide dull meetings or the fat, greedy politicians we deal with, but yet he wants the prestige. Marcel, I do not know how I can help," Klaus faltered.
"Papa, I know I will regret this, but if Kol and I have a disagreement, it may help if you didn't take my side so quickly. If Uncle Elijah is going to punish us, don't negotiate a lighter sentence for me. If I am wrong, let me bear the weight of it, no matter how difficult. When he sees you fight my battles for me, it enrages him. He feels like no one fights for him," Marcel reveals.
"That's poppycock! Marcellus, if you are in the wrong, I will take you to task. It is true, when you were human, I was reluctant to discipline you at times, but once I knew that you benefited from it, I improved, did I not?" Klaus asked standing and packing now.
"Oh, you have taken me to task, but probably only when I have vexed you or disobeyed you directly. I have indeed escaped punishment, when Kol has suffered more deeply, like when you have daggered him," Marcel said in a low voice.
"I only daggered him last because he put you in danger! Oh Marcel, I do see your point. Fine, from now on, you get no special treatment. Though, do remember that Kol is an Original and you are still quite a young vampire so some allowances need be made," Klaus proclaimed.
"Thank you, Papa. I just want him to forgive me so we can live in peace again," Marcel assured his father.
Kol felt his anger for Marcel simmer and then boil, but he, too knew that revenge was a dish best served cold. He waited for it and then when Kol found it, he used it.
Kol always keep that Marcel had a silly little habit of writing Rebekah love letters. He had seen Marcel writing them and he had seen Rebekah reading them, but he never knew where she hid the letters. When Kol had a chance, he sometimes searched her room, sometimes out of habit, sometimes out of pure boredom. He hadn't expected to actually find anything. But he did. Yes, a loose floor board finally revealed something even he was shocked to find: plans for a house. Yes, there were a few silly letters and pressed flowers thrown in there. The letters were so sappy that he almost gagged. But the housing plans, these were serious blue prints. Had they engaged an architect? Were Rebekah and Marcellus planning to run away and build a house together? There was only one way to find out. Kol had to let Niklaus and Elijah discover this without letting them know that it was from him.
The plan came to him. Now all he had to do was wait and let it all play out.
"Rebekah, make haste! We are going to be late again," Klaus thundered. The whole family was to go to the theater. They had tickets to the latest show and Rebekah was holding them up. He had warned her if they missed the curtain again, he was going to spank her soundly.
"Hold on, I'm looking for something," Rebekah called downstairs.
Elijah glanced at his watch in irritation. He did not like to be late.
Klaus was pacing. He was starting to roll up his sleeves, if they were to be late, Rebekah would be sitting on a sore backside.
"Niklaus, what you are thinking will just make us later. Give us but another moment please," Elijah pleaded.
Marcel said he would check on the cab.
Kol just kept his expression neutral. He has hidden all her gloves and some other items from her wardrobe to slow her down. He also had fiddled with a lantern to explode. It wouldn't really hurt her, but it would cause a bit of a fire.
Boom!
Kol, Elijah, and Klaus all vamped up to Rebekah's room. Black smoke was billowing out and the curtains were aflame.
"Oh my god, what happened?" Elijah asked putting out the curtains. Klaus threw the exploded lantern out the window.
"I have no idea. It just blew up," Rebekah screeched pointing at the lantern. The bottom of her skirt was on fire, she brushed it off.
Kol stomped on a spark on the rug that was on fire and swept away the floor rug. As he did, he loosened the floor board and it made a loud clang.
"That's odd. What is that?" Elijah said looking at the floor. Kol stepped back and feigned innocence.
"Oh nothing. Just a squeaky old board. Shall we go?" Rebekah said quickly. I'll just change quickly.
"No, I know that sound. That is hollow," Klaus said going over to the floor. With two taps, he had the floor board secret stash opened. Klaus looked at Rebekeh a long moment and looked down. Her breath caught in her throat, there was nothing she could do. On top of the letters and pressed flowers were the house plans.
"What is this?" Klaus asked lightly picking up the blue prints.
"Oh, that's a surprise for you, Nik. Give it back!" Rebekah all but shouted.
"'Our Dream House', it looks like an architect drew these up. Sister, you wish to build us a new house? Hmm, no offices for me or Elijah, oh, there's one here for Marcellus. A sitting room for you, a room for a maid, a large closet, a balcony as you like overlooking these lovely gardens. And these rooms? A nursery? This bathroom is decadent. Brothers, I don't see rooms for us here. Perhaps we are to reside in the woodshed or the attic? My, what a lovely wine cellar, though, very grand. What wine goes well with treachery?" Klaus mused tossing the plans to Elijah.
Klaus vamped to Rebekah and grabbed her arm hard, "What are you up to?"
"Nik, stop. You're hurting me!" Rebekah groaned, jerking out of his hold.
Marcel vamped in, he had heard something from outside and came in to see what was keeping everyone.
"Papa, what's going on?" Marcel said seeing Klaus grabbing Rebekah.
"Ah, my Son, you would not know anything about these obscene house plans would you? I know that my son and my sister would not be plotting to abscond! Right under my bloody nose!" Klaus thundered.
Kol slipped out of the room, as long as the door was open, he'd be able to hear. So much for the theater.
"Papa, it's for...the future. Not now. It's just something we talked about. Please, do not be angry at Rebekah, it was my doing," Marcel confessed.
"Marcellus, I think you best go to your quarters now," Elijah said gravely.
Klaus looked shattered. Rebekah's dress was no longer smoking, but she looked paler and ill.
Elijah put a hand on Klaus, "Brother, let's retire to the study and discuss this. You need to calm down."
Klaus shrugged off his hand.
"You made a vow, Rebekha, always and forever! Did you forget that when you fell in love with my son? No more, I've looked the other way now for years. It's over. I mean it, over," Klaus said with dead eyes.
"No, Nik. We weren't going to leave you. I swear it, do not do this again," Rebekah begged.
Elijah looked at her with pity, "Sister, go change. Let us forget the theater tonight. We have had enough drama. Go to bed. We'll talk in the morning."
"I need to have a word with my son," Klaus said giving Rebekah a hard look.
"No, Nik. Do not blame him. It was my idea. Don't punish him for loving me," Rebekah wept.
Elijah held her and threatened firmly, "Stay in this room, little Sister. All will be well. I'll see to it. If you interfere, I'll give you such a hiding you haven't had in a century."
But Rebekah was watching Klaus walk out and not listening. Elijah shook her a little.
"Rebekah, my dear. Stay in here. It will be fine," Elijah promised.
Kol felt a spark of guilt. He hadn't really been angry at his sister, but she was now the one suffering. This on and off love affair with Marcel was tiresome. Even when you thought they were off, they were on.
Kol heard Klaus's boots pounding down the hallway to Marcel's room. Kol took off his jacket and picked up a book in case Elijah came in to check on him. He sat down on a couch near his door and tried to look like he was reading. He did not want to get another long lecture on eavesdropping. Kol cringed to think if Elijah found out he was snooping again, he had been caught a few months back and got a through chat about other people's privacy and respect. A second, (or was it third?), offense would not be met with a lecture.
Marcel was pacing in his room. Those house plans were a gift for Rebekah's birthday. They had always planned a life together. They wanted a family of their own. Klaus had taken in Marcel. Couldn't they take in other children in need? Marcel wanted Rebekah to adopt a baby, that was why he added that nursery to the house plans. He longed to see her rocking and singing to their child. A child they would love and cherish, in time. The door opened breaking into his thoughts.
"Papa, I can explain," Marcel interjected.
"Go ahead, Marcellus, let's hear it," Klaus entreated.
"It was a gift. For the future. We weren't planning to leave anytime soon. I swear it," Marcel exclaimed truthfully.
"The thing is, Son, that always and forever, means forever. I do not understand why you think it is fine for you two to leave us in the future. It is not safe out there for you, ever," Klaus insisted.
"Papa, you cannot be serious! Surely, one day, when I am King of New Orleans, you will give us your blessing to live on our own and do as we please," Marcel protested.
"You know that extra coffin we keep in the crypt? The plain one covered in dust?" Klaus probed, picking at a thread on his sleeve.
"Yes, your brother, Finn. Correct?" Marcel answered.
"Yes, the reason we keep him there is that Finn never learned that the bonds of family far outweigh anything else. He wished to leave us. To separate. With our mad father on the loose and enemies at our gates, to split up is to die. Do you understand that, my son?" Klaus pleaded.
"No, Papa. You are being paranoid! Your father will not find us here. And if he does, you have an army of vampires and even wolves to defend you. I cannot believe that you still do not trust me nor Rebekah to be able to live our lives. It is an insult!" Marcel said with passion.
"Son, you have never spoken to me as you just did. I am going to give you a chance to correct yourself before I correct you. Now listen to me closely, we need to stay together for our safety. It is what family does, always and forever," Klaus repeated.
"No, it's your fear talking! You are afraid Rebekah loves me more than you. Papa, she can love us both. I am not taking her away and she is not taking me away. We are adults. You cannot hold on to us like prisoners forever and call it love and family," Marcel scoffed.
"I can and I will. And you do not tell me what I can and cannot do, young man," Klaus said vamping over to him and grabbing his arm.
"No! Papa, you cannot mean to...be serious," Marcel choked out as Klaus dragged Marcel to the tufted-leather bench at the end of the bed. This was where Marcel put on his boots this morning, it didn't occur to him that it would be used as part of a spanking this evening. Especially, with him being the one spanked.
Klaus sat and pulled down Marcel's trousers and drawers to his thighs. Marcel fought hard, but Klaus grabbed his hands with his left hand. Soon Marcel was immobile. Klaus had throw Marcel over his left thigh and trapped his legs with his right leg. Marcel thrashed and tried to get away, but he could never match the strength of the hybrid. Klaus' green eyes flashed in anger.
Marcel's shouts of protest fell on deaf ears.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The first four smacks were dead center on Marcel's backside and covered both cheeks. He gasped at the strong swats and cursed himself for making his father so angry. Marcel wondered how Klaus had found the plans which he and Rebekah had so carefully hidden. The thought was jerked away by four more hard smacks to the same area. That floorboard did not squeak.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Marcel bit his lip now, determined not to give his father the satisfaction that his was hurting him. He hadn't done anything done!
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
But after four more swats in the exact same spot, tears were forming. Marcel squeezed his eyes shut. He would not cry.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
"Papa! P-Please," Marcel entreated against his own will.
Klaus lowered his leg and began to spank the center of each cheek firmly from side to side. Marcel could not move at all to alleviate the sting. All he could do is let the tears drip down to the floor. Soon a small puddle was forming on the expensive oriental silk carpet. Marcel felt the blows as a continuous pain that he could not escape. He panicked thinking that it would go on forever and he couldn't stop it.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Klaus was not going to let his family fall apart. If he had to put Marcel over his knee every night to keep him here, he would. Marcel's backside was getting red and sore looking. Klaus knew he was healing, but he could also hear the hitched sobs and cries his son was making. He wanted to stop, but decided he had to drive the lesson home.
"Do you understand that you cannot leave? Ever!" Klaus said finally pausing.
"Y-Yes, P-Papa, I am s-sorrry," Marcel wailed. He didn't understand, but the stinging and burning were raging and he couldn't take more. All he wanted was an end to the spanking.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Klaus dropped his hand lower to the tender crease below Marcel's backside and swatted there for a few moments. He heard Marcel howling for mercy.
"Will you give up these foolish notions of leaving for good?" Klaus asked again.
"Y-Yes, I s-swear," Marcel wailed louder.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Klaus smacked down hard on Marcel's sit spots.
"Will you end this foolish affair with Rebekah?" Klaus added.
"W-What? Papa, no, please," Marcel cried.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
"Maybe we need to march you down to the study for a session with your uncle's cane? Now again, will you stop this foolishness?" Klaus asked now rubbing Marcel's backside tenderly. Klaus had no intention of whipping Marcel and wasn't sure if Elijah still had that cane, but was ready to get his son to bed.
Marcel was trying to catch his breath. To give up Rebekeh, again? It wasn't fair. They weren't hurting anyone.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
"Fine! We'll stop," Marcel wailed. She would forgive him this, would she not? His backside was on fire. He couldn't take a whipping on top of it.
Klaus immediately stopped spanking Marcel. He pulled out his handkerchief and gently brought him up to a standing position. Klaus stood and embraced him. Marcel tried to pull him away. His pants were now at his knees and he almost stumbled. Klaus steadied him. Marcel looked at Klaus as Klaus wiped his face and saw that his father was scared, terrified that they would leave him. That the family would truly be destroyed by Mikael and their enemies.
"We won't leave you, Papa," Marcel promised. At that moment, he meant it more than anything. Klaus gripped him tight again. Then, Klaus helped him remove his boots, trousers, and drawers. Klaus got out Marcel's nightshirt and helped him dress.
Marcel's backside and thighs were throbbing and burning like a fire that no bucket of water could put out. Klaus put him in the bed on his stomach and eased his light nightshirt over his backside. It hurt despite his vampire healing ability.
Klaus pulled up a chair and sat by the bed, rubbing his back.
"Marcellus, if anything happened to you, I couldn't go on. You have no idea how much you changed me, Son. I hadn't cared about anything in centuries until I saw that brute whipping your back raw and you fighting back on the day of your half-brother's funeral. Yes, Emil, whom I tossed to his death like a flea and didn't think a thing of it... My little warrior...you made me feel again, without you, I am a demon lurking in the shadow, don't abandon me," Klaus begged.
"I won't, Papa," Marcel promised.
"Now go to sleep. I want you to feel that sting in your backside to remind you 1/100 of the pain I'd feel without my family. Tonight you'll sleep and you'll dream of a world far better than this one. A world where there is no evil, no demons, and all people desire only to be good," Klaus said wiping away a tear of his own. He hated himself for what he had done to his son. He had hurt him. But he couldn't let them go, he wouldn't. No matter if they ended up hating him, at least they would be safe.
"Kol? You're still up?" Elijah said coming into his room.
"Yes, Brother. Just reading," Kol said turning the page.
"You didn't have anything to do with this little fiasco tonight, did you? I know you've been angry with Marcellus since the wolf bite," Elijah asked leaning against the wall.
"No, Brother. I do not know what you are referring to. I'm not angry at anyone," Kol said innocently.
"Kol, just tell me now. Rebekah is in her room crying herself to sleep. Klaus just-," Elijah started.
"You don't have to tell me, Elijah. I could hear it from over here. I mean, in Nik's defense, they shouldn't have been plotting to leave," Kol suggested.
"Kol," Elijah warned.
"Anything else, Brother? I think I'm going to turn in," Kol said yawning.
"Good night, Kol," Elijah said as he turned down the lights.
For once, Kol got what he wanted, revenge. But it didn't feel like victory. Elijah was on to him, Rebekah was sad, Marcel had gotten a good and proper beating, and Klaus had his family tightly in check.
Kol couldn't sleep. Would Rebekah know it was him? Would Marcel figure it out? Would Klaus thank him? Kol wondered why he couldn't have just taken Marcel's punch and not fought back the day Klaus bit him. Then, Klaus would have had to punish Marcel and he would have deserved it. Now, Kol felt like all he had done is make things worse.
It was too late for regrets and the truth, Kol would just have to move on, he thought to himself, as he finally fell asleep.