Chapter 11
Kol nearly walked a slump into the floor as he paced heatedly back and forth, grumbling to himself curses about his brothers.
Niklaus had thrown him and Marcel in the study like a couple of errant children and then left to go help Elijah calm down their guests.
Furious at being reprimanded like children, Kol paced. He considered leaving the room right after Klaus but at that point running away would've been seen as childish rather than an effort of self-preservation.
He was also curious to find out what Klaus's plan for Marcel was. He knew that by attacking him back, Marcel had broken the rules in his manual and Kol planned to demand the harshest punishment available for him.
"I'm going to tell'em to desiccate ya." Kol spat. "Then put you in the garden for a few hundred decades before finally putting an end to your treacherous life. That'll show ya."
Marcel sat quietly on the floor leaning against the bookcase across the room. His arms wrapped around his legs, his head resting against his knees. He could just barely hear Kol as he ranted because his attention was focused on the noise down the hall. He listened for Niklaus but he couldn't make out any distinct voice among all the party-goers.
"Do you hear me?" Kol yelled after realizing he was being ignored.
Marcel snapped to attention, his face hardened with anger at having his concentration broken.
"I hear you," Marcel growled. "You haven't shut up since we've been in here."
"We'll see how cocky you are with a dagger inside ya."
Marcel's arms tightened around his legs. He was afraid. He'd broken several rules by fighting Kol and Klaus had all but promised him death for breaking even one. That's why he was trying to eavesdrop. He had to know what Klaus's plans were – not because of his fear of the dagger, but of exile. It was his greatest fear.
"I'll probably get the dagger too. And it's all your fault."
"Wait, how is this my fault? You attacked me."
"You shouldn't have fought back. I was just in a bad mood. I would've calmed down had you not fought back."
Marcel jumped to his feet and stared Kol down. "If you think I'll ever just stand there and take a beating from you, you've got another thing coming."
"Oh yeah. That's not what you were saying when I had you down in the basement sobbing like a little boy."
Anger clouding his better judgment, Marcel's fist came crashing at Kol's jaw like a freight train. Kol's body went stumbling back across the room but he caught himself before he hit the wall. When he looked back at Marcel, the devilish grin on Kol's face made his skin crawl.
"Thanks," Kol jeered as he cracked his knuckles. "That's all a needed. An excuse to kill you."
Kol was in front of Marcel before he realized it. Two swift punches in the abdomen and Marcel had four broken ribs piercing him from the inside. Luckily from him, Klaus's thorough destruction of Freya's workshop effectively ended the spell she was using to suppress his healing ability. Unlucky for him, Kol had no intention of giving him a moment to start healing. He wanted to break every bone in Marcel's body before killing him.
Kol had the overwhelming advantage and for everyone hit Marcel miraculously landed, Kol had six. Marcel never knew the extent to which Niklaus held back on him when they fought until that moment.
When Marcel's body was sufficiently broken and he couldn't stand even on his knees, Kol grabbed him by the collar and slammed his body against the wall so they were seeing eye to eye.
The music from the party outside was loud enough to drown out any noise coming from the study so Marcel was sure no one was going to come to his rescue.
Blood dribbled down his chin as he asked, "Wh-why..."
"Why do I hate you? Why does the very sight of you send me into a blind rage? Because of Davina! I loved her…so much. But you tried to kill me over a mistake that wasn't even my fault. Then you come to my brother begging for forgiveness when mercy and understanding were the furthest thing from your mind that day."
Marcel didn't have the strength to argue. He gritted his teeth and shut his eyes, preparing for the final blow.
The door opened suddenly and Marcel opened his eyes to see Hope's shocked face. Kol immediately released the man after seeing his niece's terrified face.
"H-Hope. What are you doing?"
The young girl was frazzled by the scene before her. She wanted to answer him with the same question he asked her but she was too shocked for sass. "I-I saw the fight so I snuck away to check on you. Wh-what happened?"
"Hope, just…go. This is none of your concern."
She looked back down to Marcel lying supine on the floor, his limbs contorted unnaturally. The blood on his face brought tears to her eyes.
"P-please…" the words came softly from her lips, "D-don't hurt him…anymore. S-s-stop. Please…stop…"
The pain on the girl's face hurt Kol more than he thought anything ever could. He ran to her, pulled her into his arms, and hugged her tight as she wept.
As her tears began to quiet down, Kol said, "Hope, go back to the party and-"
"No!" Hope yanked herself away from her uncle's hold. "You're going to kill him if I do."
"Hope-"
"That's what you were about to do before I walked in, wasn't it?"
"No one is going to kill anyone." Kol begrudgingly promised. He'd waited twelve years for that moment and all it took was one puffy-eyed girl to ruin his moment of revenge. "Marcel here was just getting a bit insolent so I had to remind him who's in charge. Your family might be a bit nuts, love, but we're not monsters."
Hope wanted to believe Kol's ostensible lie, however, she still wasn't ready to leave. She couldn't leave with Marcel so obviously in pain.
"Can I help him? I know a spell that will make him heal faster."
"He's fine. We're not quite done talking yet."
"But-"
Kol began slowly closing the door on her as she tried to protest. "Bye, sweetie. See you at midnight for the bonfire."
When the door shut, Kol sighed. "It's a Christmas miracle. My love for one little girl is enough to keep you alive another day. When you can walk again, go to your room. I don't want to see your face for a few days."
"Klaus put me in here. I'm not leaving until he says so."
"Fine," Kol jerked the door open. "I'll go." He slammed it shut behind him.
Once completely healed, Marcel began leisurely cleaning the study as a way to take his mind off his current situation. When the door to the study opened again it was for Klaus.
Nodding to the mess of books under the fallen bookcase that Marcel had yet gotten to, Klaus asked, "What happened in here?"
"Uh…it fell."
"I can see that. How?"
"I, uh…got into a fight."
"With Kol? Another one? Where is he?"
"He left a few minutes ago."
Klaus took a deep breath to keep himself calm as he started helping Marcel with the cleanup. After a while of silence, he finally said, "The party's over, everyone is going home. Seems we lost a few potential adherents due to that little spectacle of yours."
"He attacked me first," Marcel quickly defended. He'd been waiting for Niklaus to mention the fight. "I was only defending myself. You can't expect me to not defend myself. I'll follow that damn manual to the letter but when provoked I have to be allowed to defend myself. And-and if you exile me, you have to exile Kol too. He started it. It's unjust to exile me when he incited the fight. I've done everything I'm supposed to do for weeks without giving anyone any problems. This one mistake can't be the reason I lose everything. I was defending myself. It's an instinct."
He prattled off the words without thought. He just wanted to convince Niklaus not to exile him, it didn't matter how pathetic he sounded doing it.
"Your instinct could end up costing this family its kingdom."
"It wasn't my fault! Your brother started it!"
"Did he start the fight in here too?"
Marcel's reply was a heavy huff. "Look, I'm sorry you lost some people tonight but I swear…if you let me stay I'll do whatever I can to get them back."
"I had no intention of exiling you for this." Klaus had no idea how much of a relief those words were for Marcel to hear. "And you will not be going to any of the faction leaders. We will handle this. You will do nothing but learn to stay in your DAMN PLACE!"
Marcel angrily threw the stone bookend in his hand across the floor. His chest heaved with rage but Klaus remained unruffled.
He waited for Marcel to calm back down before demanding he pick it back up.
Marcel didn't move an inch.
"I said. Pick. It. Up."
With a sigh of resignation, Marcel walked over to the discarded, and now chipped, bookend and sat it on the coffee table.
"Don't ever make me have to repeat myself to you again."
Those words ate at Marcel. He was so used to being in charge, to being the one making the demands. He held so much anger at his current position that he didn't even think about his next move before he picked up the coffee table and threw it at Niklaus in anger. Klaus had only a moment to react but he managed to dodge the table and let it smash against the wall behind him.
It was only after the deed was done that Marcel began to regret it.
He stood silently and wide-eyed. Klaus couldn't believe it himself. Attacking Klaus was treason and according to his manual, treason was grounds for automatic execution. Marcel knew that but he wasn't thinking about the rules when he acted. At that moment he was fueled only by rage.
"I…I'm sorry." He said. "I don't know what came over me. I-I wasn't thinking."
"Were foolishness admissible no man would face the gallows. You've just made a mistake that you might not live long enough to regret."
Klaus began to saunter towards him and Marcel took slow, careful steps back as he did. Not feeling up to the chase, Klaus sped to Marcel and slammed him against the wall.
"I should kill you right now," Klaus stated, his forearm across Marcel's chest holding the man to against the wall. "That's what your manual says you deserve!"
Ashamed of being ashamed, Marcel stared past Klaus at the floor. "I was just angry. It wasn't an act of betrayal. I'm used to fighting out my anger with you. I was just trying to blow off some steam not...not turn on you."
Klaus lifted his arm and released Marcel from his hold. Marcel stared at him in confusion, certain he was about to lose his life. To his dismay, Klaus walked over to the liquor cabinet that miraculously remained untouched during his and Kol's fight and grabbed a bottle of Scotch and crystal glass.
He watched silently as Klaus proceeded to pour himself a glass of the liquid.
After taking a sip, Klaus finally said, "I have done you a great disservice."
Confused, Marcel waited for him to continue.
"I should've never treated you like a brother, I should've never even thought of you in that way. When I see Hope in 15 years I won't think of her as a sister or as an ally to my family. She will still be my little girl. It should've been the same way for you, but it wasn't. I aim to rectify that. Come here."
He walked cautiously over to his maker. Klaus picked up a knocked-over end table and placed it before them.
"Bend over this and hold on tight."
Marcel stared nervously down at the table. "Klaus, c'mon, man. Just…just hit me. Punch me in the face. Hell, throw a table at me. Anything but this."
Finishing off the rest of his drink, Klaus said, "Not anymore, mate. I'm going to remind you what it means to be my son."
Apprehensive, but reminding himself that he agreed to this when he returned to the Mikaelson household, Marcel obeyed.
While he was bent over the table, Niklaus walked around the room until he found the meter stick that was thrown off the desk.
"Don't get up," He ordered as he stood back behind Marcel. "Or we're starting over."
Marcel clenched his teeth and anxiously waited for the first strike.
The glass of Scotch had done its job and calmed Niklaus. He took his time laying into Marcel, each lick more thought out and deliberate than the first. Marcel was handling the pain well but it was the excruciating wait between the spanks that was unbearable. But that was Niklaus's plan; to humiliate him. To remind him of Klaus's control.
There was a pause in the spanking that was suspiciously longer than the others and Marcel mistakenly celebrated to himself thinking his punishment was over.
"That was for disrupting my party with your quarreling. Now, drop your pants."
Marcel was in no hurry to obey but he did. With his pants around his ankles and his navy boxers exposed to the room, he resumed his position.
With his bare hand, Niklaus covered Marcel's entire bottom in harsh, stinging smacks in rapid succession. It was then that the tears began down Marcel's cheeks but he steeled himself not to scream out. He fought a hard battle but in the end, he lost. His face reddened at the sound of the small yelp that escaped his lips. He thanked God that Niklaus stopped right after.
"That was for attacking me. Let it never happen again or this is how I will choose to 'blow off some steam'. Pull your pants up."
Marcel was more than happy to obey. Shudders of broken sobs shook his body as he fastened his belt. As he turned to face Niklaus for further instruction, he was shocked to be pulled into the man's embrace.
"I care…so deeply about you. It breaks my heart to I live in fear that everything you do is likely part of a grander scheme to reclaim my throne."
"Niklaus, I-"
"Shh, don't say anything. I wouldn't believe it anyhow."
Niklaus brought his hand up to the back of Marcel's head and held him against his shoulder for a moment they both wished could've lasted longer.
"Clean up this room," Klaus ordered as he broke the hug. "And then go to bed."
Marcel glanced up at the clock still hanging on the wall. "But, the bonfire starts in half an hour."
"And you won't be attending it."
"But-"
"Rule 3, obey every order! I will not be entertaining any more questions. Clean this room and go to bed. That's all you have to do. Is that clear?"
Failing to conceal his contempt, Marcel barked, "Yeah, everything's real clear," before returning to cleaning the room, this time in haste.
Niklaus buried the intense feelings of disappointment bubbling forth inside him and left to find his youngest brother.
Kol's bedroom door was locked when Klaus made it there. He knocked and was surprised to see Elijah opening the door. He was missing the jacket to his tuxedo and his shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.
"I was hoping to find Kol in here."
Elijah smirked knowingly and nodded to the changing screen at the furthest corner of the room.
"In the corner. He asked me to put the screen up in case anyone was to walk in and see him."
Amused, Klaus crossed the room to the screen and moved it aside. He almost laughed at the sight of his younger brother with his nose against the wall and his pants at his ankles showing off his bright red behind.
"Well isn't this a sight?" He mocked.
"Shut up, Nik." Kol sniffled, still fighting back tears after his recent spanking.
"Ah, I think the lad's embarrassed, Elijah. Having his bum exposed to the world like this."
"Perhaps," Elijah said as he rolled down his shirt sleeves. "But not as embarrassed as we were trying to convince our guests that the Mikaelsons are not as barbaric as he and Marcellus made them believe."
"That was a tad bit more embarrassing. Especially for the few that told us to sod off. That was just downright humiliating."
With his voice rigid from crying, Kol strained, "I said I was sorry."
"Sorry. That's the second time I've heard that tonight but, you see, I don't think you understand what tonight meant to us. We are trying to build an empire," Klaus took Kol's jaws in his hand and forced his brother to look him in the eyes as he spoke. "Your juvenile antics are working to destroy it before it hits its prime. Should you do anything else to hinder the progress of our kingdom, I will live with the sole purpose of making you regret it."
Klaus then took Kol's head and slammed it into the wall, breaking his brother's nose. Blood rushed down Kol's face as he let out a breathless scream.
"That's for the weeks of torment you put Marcel through. Do it again and you shall never know a day without pain again."
"Elijah!" Kol sobbed, cradling his broken nose gently between his hands.
Elijah sighed in frustration at the sight. "Stay in the corner, Kol. Your nose will heal before your ten minutes are up."
Kol cried angry tears as he stood in the corner with a throbbing nose and backside.
-M-
The Mikaelsons stood around the burning pile of lumber in the cool night air with slips of paper in their hands. They all scribbled their wishes down before the party in anticipation for the bonfire and when the time came, they threw the wishes into the fire together.
"What did you wish for?" Rebekah asked Kol who still wore the sour look on his face from earlier.
"Can't tell you or it won't come true."
"I sincerely hope it doesn't. In fact, my only regret is that my wish wasn't to wish that your wish doesn't come true."
"Well someone's a bit bitter."
"You're a jerk, y'know that. I saw what you did to Marcel."
"He deserved it. And more. He tried to kill me."
"I hope you get exactly what you deserve. And shame on you, dragging Freya into your misguided plot for revenge. Look at her, poor thing. Doesn't know what she's in for."
Across from them, Freya stood quietly watching the fire dance. Niklaus and Elijah had yet to confront her for her part in Marcel's torture so she spent the entire night on edge, waiting for one of them to approach her and give her, her first-ever Mikaelson family punishment.
"She knew the risks when she got into it. Besides, she hates Marcel as much as I do."
"Is that so." Rebekah made a note to keep an eye on Freya too. She first thought that Kol had tricked their sister into using the spell against Marcel but if Freya too had a grudge against Marcel, that was one more threat against him that Rebekah felt she had to protect him from.
Overlooking the bonfire was a balcony. Leaning against the railing of that balcony, staring wistfully down at the Mikaelsons was Marcel. He watched Hope and envied her joy. When he was a boy he too used to feel so loved with the Mikaelsons but it was different now.
He was so focused on Hope that he didn't notice Niklaus's presence beside him until the man began leaning over the railing with him.
"I thought I told you to go to bed," Klaus said calmly.
"Doesn't look like you sent Kol to bed."
"Kol was punished. It's none of your concern how."
Marcel stood up straight, infuriated at Klaus's statement.
"Well that's just…it's not…it's…it's not fair." He hated himself for how childish he sounded but it was how he felt. "You've never treated me like him and you never will."
"That's because you two are not the same," Niklaus growled. "I thought I made that clear. You are my son; he is my brother."
Marcel was left awestruck when Niklaus swiftly had him bent over the railing.
"I raised you, I punish you harsher because I expect more from you. Having high expectations for Kol was Mikael's problem. Too bad for him. Lucky for you, I'm still around and I'll still be around for a long, long time. Now, do you understand or should I use this position to my advantage?"
"I-I understand," Marcel whispered, hoping no one on the ground would look up to see him in such a vulnerable position.
Niklaus effortlessly stood him back on his feet. "Good. Now, go to your room before I change my mind."
As Marcel turned to leave, he was stopped by Niklaus's hand in his jacket pocket. Niklaus spotted the small slip of paper poking out the moment he got on the balcony.
"Wait," Marcel panicked, thinking Klaus was about to read it. "That's my-"
"I know what it is. Don't worry. I'll be sure to toss it in with the rest of them."
Marcel gave a halfhearted thanks because it wasn't the same. He wanted to throw his wish in. He wanted roast food over the open fire and lie in the grass staring up at the sky looking for shooting stars with the rest of them. He was missing out on a holiday moment he'd been looking forward to for weeks and he hated Klaus for it.
Flashback:
Klaus sat in bed with young Marcellus as the boy finished the last of his Christmas cookies and milk before bed. It had been a long day for him with the surprise party he set up for Marcel's first holiday and the family bonfire that night. It was all worth it though to see the look of joy on his son's face all through the day. It was Marcel's first holiday with the Mikaelsons and Klaus was determined to make it one he'd never forget.
"All done?" He asked as he took the empty plate and glass from the child.
Marcel nodded tiredly and laid back on his pillow.
"All tuckered out? The holidays will do that to you."
"Hm-mm, but it was so fun. I loved it. And I love you, poppa."
Those words warmed Klaus's heart. He kissed Marcel's temple and said, "I love you too, Marcellus. Good night."
"Good night, poppa."
Klaus turned down the lantern by Marcel's bed and slowly crept to the door. Looking back into the room before he made his final farewell of the night, he saw that Marcel was fast asleep. It was a deep, peaceful sleep unlike the ones the boy had when he first arrived. Now Marcel knew he was home, he was safe, and he was loved and at that moment Niklaus promised to make sure Marcel felt that way every night from then on.
End Flashback
