Forever Original | Alaric Saltzman

Chapter 35

Once Hilda had let her anger out, the sadness settled in.

"I've never seen her like this," said Hayley, looking terrified when Elijah and Klaus explained what'd happened. "She's... she's completely silent. I peeked into her room and she's just trembling and staring at the wall."

"Whenever her anger is not overtaking her, the guilt does," said Elijah. "Most times, our sister is not very remorseful. Other times, the remorse hits very hard. I assume she feels that she could have done something to help Kol. It's a complicated thing that we still don't understand. Only she and Kol were ever afflicted with this condition. Their vampirism brought it to an unbearable level. Perhaps, Hayley, you will never understand why we have daggered the twins so often, but there is an immense level of danger when they get like this. Kol and Hilda have slaughtered entire towns after psychotic episodes and they don't realize until much later. And once they do, they almost never feel remorse. Hilda, more often than Kol, has felt that guilt and it has eaten her alive. You might think it cruel but we only ever sought to help them."

"Don't give me that bullshit," said Hayley coldly. "That's not how you help someone. You don't just put them down. You have to help them work through it. You don't treat mental illness by shoving it aside and pretending it isn't there. Hilda can't just take pills and be okay, her vampirism won't allow that. She needs someone to be there for her." She scoffed. "No wonder she never wants to be around you. None of you have ever even remotely tried to be there for her unless she's like this. That's ridiculous."

Klaus and Elijah remained silent. They knew Hayley was right.

"I've already spoken to Alaric," muttered Hayley. "Jo's been texting me tips on how we might want to deal with this. Hilda's not okay. She might never be okay. Twice now she's lost the only person who understood her. No one should have to go through that pain two times. She's unstable and she's been unstable for a long time and daggering has never made it better. She's traumatized for several reasons and her mind continues to attack her whenever it gets a chance. Can you imagine how she feels?"

The brothers, once again, couldn't find words to say. Hayley looked livid. "All you can do is stare, hmm?" she said, glaring at them. "That's it? Alaric was someone who understood her, someone who made her feel like she could overcome her mental illness. And she gave him up because you terrify her."

"Hang on, now!" snapped Klaus. "We never threatened Alaric Saltzman!"

"You might as well have! Everytime she acts out, you dagger her. Rebekah wanted to be with Marcel and you daggered her. You demand she stays here because you want her help, and if she were to try to leave, you would dagger her. And if she were to be happy with literally anyone but you, you'd make her miserable. It's one thing to be a protective brother who makes clear to her partner that you will back her up no matter what. It's another thing to make her feel too afraid to even let loose and feel happy with someone because she thinks you'll retaliate against her. All you've done is make this worse, Klaus. Is this how it's gonna be, when Hope starts dating? Is she going to feel like she has to hide it from you? I don't want our daughter to grow up feeling like she needs to be secretive because she's scared how her dad will react. So I suggest you check yourself before you even think of going near Hilda."

It was clear neither Elijah nor Klaus knew what to do. Klaus had consulted Cami, at least, to learn what he could about how to help his sister, while Elijah and Rebekah had gone to speak to some doctors outside of the Quarter. All those who gave advice said practically the same thing as Hayley— they needed to show Hilda that they were there to support her. They needed to limit criticisms. They couldn't demand too much of her. They needed to understand when she needed to take breaks. They needed to make sure that they didn't overwhelm her.