Warning: Spanking of a Minor (Forgot to put this warning on previous chapters, oops. I'll go back and fix it at some point)
Chapter 20
Marcel woke in his bed to the smell of freshly cooked bacon. Klaus's blood had healed him of his wolf bite and of his perpetual exhaustion and he slept only for a couple of hours before waking fully refreshed and nightmare-free for the first time in days. When he woke to see his father sitting in the chair by his bed eating breakfast, he smiled. His smile broadened at the sight of Hope fast asleep at the foot of his bed. She fought her father tooth and nail for the right to stay and wait for Marcel to wake up but half an hour after she won the argument she fell asleep.
"Good morning," Klaus smiled back at the boy. He held the plate closer to Marcel and said, "Bacon?"
Marcel took a crispy strip and sat up to talk to Klaus.
"You really had me scared this morning," Klaus admitted. "When we couldn't find you, I was afraid...something terrible had happened."
"Sorry, poppa. We were just...trying to have some fun. We didn't expect to be attacked."
Niklaus smirked. "Most attacks are done in surprise," Then his mood suddenly became dour. "But when we say you shouldn't leave the Compound without us, you shouldn't leave the Compound without us. If that seal had broken last night without Freya around to help you...we could have lost you."
Marcel remembered the phantom that followed him last night and the horrible things he was saying about Klaus. He couldn't believe it. Even now Klaus seemed so sincere in his love for him. He didn't want to believe the man could ever hate him.
Staring down at Hope's sleeping figure, Marcel muttered, "Poppa...did Uncle Elijah...ever try to kill me?"
Klaus blanched. "What would make you ask that?"
"I had a dream that he did. I've been having these horrible nightmares that I couldn't tell you about because I thought they were just bad dreams and I had to deal with them on my own but I don't think they were just dreams. Poppa...I dreamed you hated me."
"That was certainly a dream, Marcellus," Klaus grunted. "I have never and I will NEVER hate you. You are my son."
"But not really. Not like Hope is your daughter. I'm just a boy you took in, not your real son."
Niklaus put the plate of food on Marcel's nightstand and climbed into bed beside the boy. He wrapped his arms around Marcel and held him close against his chest. Marcel couldn't help the tears that started down his face and Klaus was unashamed of his own watery eyes.
"Family is not determined by blood, Marcel. Family is those that you love, those that you fight for, and those who fight for you."
"But you didn't fight for me," Marcel cried. "You let him pull my heart out. You left me alone in that cold river. You abandoned me. You banished me."
Klaus listened brokenheartedly to his son's words. He knew. Niklaus was filled with contempt for himself. His son suddenly knew the egregious acts his family committed against him and all he could say in return was, "I'm so sorry, Marcellus. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Marcel's tears were heavy enough to speckle his sheets. "You were supposed to protect me always, but you didn't...because I'm not your son."
Klaus lifted Marcel's head so the boy was staring into his tearful green eyes. "Don't you ever think that again. I am your father, your poppa. I made a mistake, an appalling mistake, but I am so sorry, Marcellus."
"He said I was broken," Marcel mumbled. "The man in my nightmares, the 'me' from before. I think he's right. When I was little Momma was the only person who cared for me. Then she died and for a long time, nobody cared about me. Until I met you. But I...can't stop thinking about the time when I was alone. The time when nobody cared. The time...when my own father...despised me. I don't ever want to go back to that time, poppa. Please, don't...don't ever stop loving me again."
Klaus squeezed Marcel tighter. Though the physical scars were apparent when they met, Marcel had never spoken about his past emotional trauma, though Klaus always knew. He suffered a similar childhood so he knew from the moment he met Marcel that the boy was 'broken', like him, though he did everything he could to try to fix him. But as he sat there now, thinking about how he still fought every day to escape the effects of Mikael's abuse, he wondered if Marcel too had walked brokenly into adulthood behind a mask of prideful self-reliance. It would explain a lot.
He wanted to reassure the boy that he had never stopped loving him but his past actions surely said otherwise.
Unsure of any way to convince Marcel unequivocally of his love, Klaus said straightforwardly, "The man who raised me was not my biological father but in a thousand years I never stopped thinking of him as my father. He was...a horrible man and I grew up thinking that as long as I wasn't like him, I would be a good father. It never occurred to me that I would someday have a son who required me to not only be unlike Mikael but also so much better than myself. That's a lesson I learned regrettably late but from now on, I'm going to be what you need, Marcellus. In a thousand years, I will still think of you as my son. In a thousand years, I will still love you and a thousand years later I will love you even more. This I promise, always and forever."
Marcel held on to Klaus until he was out of tears. As his sobs quieted, his stomach grumbled.
"C'mon," Klaus chuckled. "Let's get you downstairs to this delicious Brunch Elijah cooked. Who would've known he was such a capable chef. We should make him cook every meal from now on."
All the movement on the bed as the two climbed out stirred Hope awake.
"Marcy," She jumped out of bed and ran over to her brother, hugging him as if he'd been gone forever.
Marcel was just as happy to see her alive and well. As she pulled away from him, though, Marcel noticed the rip in her blouse. She was still wearing the same clothes from the party and seeing that rip in her shirt reminded Marcel that he'd put his hand through her chest. His smile faded and the light in his eyes grew dim.
Hope brought her sight down to the hole Marcel's eyes were fixated on.
"It's okay," she mumbled. "I'm fine."
"I'm so sorry, Hope."
"Don't be. It's my fault. It was my idea to go to the party. None of this would've happened if it weren't for me."
"Finally, something we can agree on." Hope spun around to see Hayley standing in the doorway, her intense eyes showing all of her emotion. "Are you okay, Marcel?"
Marcel nodded yes timidly. He didn't have any strong memories of Hayley from his past but in the past week he had gotten to know that look very well and he hoped that he was not the reason for it.
"That's good," Hayley said genuinely glad. She considered Marcel a friend once and now he was family. "I'm happy to see you up and about. Elijah's finished cooking."
"We were just on our way down," Klaus said. "But first, Marcel, I think we should go see Freya and see what she can do about these…'dreams'."
"We'll meet you downstairs," Hayley said. "Hope and I need to have a little talk of our own first."
Niklaus shot a pitiful glance at his daughter but he didn't try to intervene. Someone could've died last night. He knew she deserved whatever Hayley was going to do to her even if it hurt him to agree with it.
Hope followed silently behind her mother to her bedroom.
"Do you wanna take a moment to explain yourself?" Hayley asked as she sat at Hope's desk chair. "Or should I start?"
"I didn't know that there would be wolves out looking for us."
"That's beside the point, Hope. You're not in trouble for being attacked. You're in trouble for leaving the Compound in the middle of the night. Especially since you're already grounded."
"In my defense, if those stupid wolves would've never shown up we wouldn't have got caught," Hope mumbled off to the side to herself but Hayley heard every word of it.
"Keep the attitude if you think I won't get the Brush."
Hope straightened up immediately. Hayley had a wide, flat-backed wooden hairbrush that she'd picked up at a strip mall in Texas a few years before. She originally bought it to use on her hair but after finding out the sting it could leave on an upset upturned bottom she retired it from use on hair and used it exclusively as an attitude adjuster for Hope whenever needed.
"Do you realize how grim last night could've turned out? You left without telling anyone. If those men took you no one would've known." Hayley suddenly reached out and pulled Hope into a hug. "You are my little girl. If someone..." She fought to keep her voice from cracking as she thought about something happening to Hope. "I don't even want to imagine."
Hope was not used to seeing her mother so emotional and it brought tears to her eyes as well.
"I'm sorry, mom."
Hayley sat up straight and quickly pulled herself back together. "Okay, let's get this over with. Pants down,"
"B-but mom-"
"Now, young lady. You know what you did wrong and you know how I feel about being disobeyed."
Hope slowly undid the button of her jeans and took her time getting her pants around her ankles. Hayley knew the girl was being intentionally slow and she aimed to make her pay for it during the spanking.
She grabbed Hope's arm and guided her across her knee, pinning the girl's legs between her thighs because Hope was a kicker and Hayley had no patience for it.
Hope yelped as her mom brought the palm of her hand down over her bottom half a dozen times in rapid succession. Hayley remembered a time when Hope's spankings were just a performance to get the girl's attention. Now she actually had to put force behind each smack to leave behind a stinging bottom that would hopefully teach the girl a lesson.
After fifteen of her best Hayley had Hop in unabashed tears. She landed four more slightly harder smacks just above the girl's tender sit-spot to drive the point home.
"You are not an adult," Hayley scolded as she stood Hope back to her feet, the girl still sniffling back tears. "You do not just go wherever you want whenever you want and you do NOT disobey me, do I make myself clear?"
"Y-yes ma'am."
"And don't you dare use your magic to relieve any of that sting. I want you to remember this."
Hope groaned as that was exactly what she intended to do. She decided to rub as much of the pain away as she could before leaving to sit at one of the hard dining room tables for Brunch.
-M-
Flashback:
New Orleans, 1914
Marcel scowled as he listened to Niklaus's lecture on why he shouldn't leave New Orleans to go on a spontaneous trip across the country alone. He had never left the city by himself and he was pushing a hundred years old, much too old to be so sheltered by his father. Klaus begged to differ.
Still, Marcel listened and nodded when necessary.
He hated Klaus for being so overprotective but he was that way with all of the Mikaelsons. Rebekah had to check in with Klaus almost as much as Marcel did and that consistency made him feel like a true Mikaelson brother.
When Klaus finally stopped lecturing, Marcel went roaming around the Compound in search of Rebekah. If there was one Mikaelson he was sure could cheer him up it was her. Unfortunately, he ran into his old friend Kol first.
"Marcel," Kol sang as he came drunkenly down the courtyard stairs to Marcel. "I'm feeling a bit peckish. Let's go for a bite."
Marcel knew the man was not referring to food but rather blood.
"Not while you're drunk," Marcel said. "Last time we went out with you like this you drank a whole saloon without touching a drop of liquor."
"Oh, yeah…wasn't that fun."
"It wasn't. Klaus was furious. I had to beg him not to dagger you again."
"Can't say I'm surprised. You're always begging my brother for something or another. I must say for a man, and a vampire, he certainly has you under his thumb like a little boy."
Marcel's nostrils flared as did his anger "I've told you to stop calling me a boy."
"Hey, I know you're not a boy, and you know you're not a boy, but I wonder if Klaus knows. I heard your little trip got canceled. What's the matter? Poppa doesn't want his little Marcellus getting too far out of his sight?"
"If only he could treat me more like you. He doesn't seem to care where you go, though maybe he should. I wonder what he would do if he knew you were sneaking around the Quarter with witches in the dead of night."
"Do you catch me leaving at night as you're sneaking into my sister's bedroom?"
Marcel's mouth dropped as Kol revealed his knowledge of Marcel's illicit relationship with Rebekah.
Kol smirked slyly at the man's surprise. "See, I've got dirt on you too and if you don't want Klaus to find out you'll keep your mouth shut about me and the witches."
At first, Marcel didn't suspect Kol was doing anything felonious with the witches but Kol's willingness to expose him and Rebekah invited his curiosity. He made up his mind to expose Kol before he could expose them.
End Flashback
Freya's diagnostic spell had revealed what Marcel's hallucination had said as true. Although her spell was able to stop Old Marcel's spirit from taking over, she didn't catch it before some of his memories flooded into Young Marcel's mind.
"So you mean to tell me he remembers everything?" Niklaus fumed. He stood outside of Freya's workshop with his older sister and Elijah while Marcel waited patiently inside.
"I can't be sure," Freya said morosely. "He definitely remembers some things but I can't tell you what exactly."
Recalling his last interaction with Marcel, Elijah muttered under his breath, "He remembers the basement."
"What?" Niklaus asked, urging him to speak out.
"Yesterday, I found Marcel's drawers full of Kol's belts. I...I thought he was just behaving erratically because of his lack of sleep but...he remembered what Kol did to him in the basement. He...he was afraid. And the way he looked at me. It was as if..."
"He remembered you killing him?" Klaus said knowingly.
Elijah cringed at the thought. "I think it's best if Kol and I spent a little time away from Marcel for a while. Just until he's returned to his proper self. I don't want to be the subject of any more of his nightmares."
Freya thought it was a good idea but she knew Kol wasn't going to like it. "Let me tell Kol," She insisted. "If either of you do it he might take it the wrong way."
"I don't care how he takes it," Klaus growled. "He shouldn't have put Marcel through that hell to start with."
She sighed, "I know, just...let me talk to him."
"Fine," Klaus gripped the handle to the workshop but didn't yet open the door. "But I want him out of here immediately. Marcel will not suffer a minute longer."
-M-
Freya caught Kol just as he was about to enter the dining room and pulled him into another room away from curious ears. When she told him of Elijah's plan to move the two of them to a hotel until Marcel was back to normal, Kol flipped out.
Standing in the middle of the living room, he picked up the crystal glass bottle containing some of the most finely aged whiskey West of the Mississippi and smashed it against the wall.
"I told you," he screamed. "This is how it starts. They always choose him over me! Always!"
"They're not choosing him over you," Freya said trying to calm her brother down before someone else overheard the racket he was putting on. "Marcel needs to be away from you for a little while. He remembers the torture you put him through and he's terrified. Elijah's leaving too."
"See, the difference is that Elijah will come back. Elijah always comes back. Elijah, Rebekah, and Klaus. They can spend a few months apart, maybe even a few years, but in the end, they always come back together. Not me though. They can get rid of me for decades, centuries even. No one mourns the loss of the duplicitous Kol! But they conveniently forget that the only reason I'm so untrustworthy is because I can't trust them to look after me like they do each other. They're always the ones turning against me! I thought that since Marcel betrayed this family things were gonna be different but it's all still the same. Marcel gets a seat at the family table while I am left out in the cold."
Freya suddenly smacked Kol hoping to snap him from his self-pity.
"You're not being abandoned, you fool. It's for one night. Just so the kid can have one good night's sleep. Tomorrow night you'll be sleeping in your own bed again, I promise."
"No, I won't because tomorrow Marcel is gonna be back and Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah will have no need for me now that they've all just suddenly forgiven him! As if he didn't try to kill me!"
"Kol, just calm down. You don't know what Klaus has planned for Marcel when he's back to normal. I don't even know."
"Because you're not a part of their circle either, sister. That's what I'm trying to tell you. You and me, we're nothing to them."
"Kol-"
"No!" He boomed. "They want me gone, fine, I'm gone. No one's gonna miss poor untrustworthy, deceitful...unwanted Kol Mikaelson."
Before Freya could stop him Kol sped out of the room and out of the Compound.
If you're Following this story let me know if you got notification on the last two chapters. I think the website is having issues.
