Savior | Klaus Mikaelson

Chapter 35

Maddy wrote Bonnie a gigantic check.

It felt like the right thing to do. She didn't know what else to give her, to thank her for what she'd done. She figured the Bennett witch could use ten thousand dollars for something good. After all, she lived alone, and Maddy had no idea how the hell she was managing to pay any bills when she didn't work.

This caused a chain reaction of good deeds, though all from Maddy to other people. She knew that she was incredibly lucky to have Klaus sitting beside her at that moment. Had he not arrived when he did, she might have shut it off without worrying about teaching Elena anything.

She wrote Matt a check, too, so that he could take it easy for the rest of his senior year. He worked too much, and he seemed like a good kid. She helped Jenna pay off her college debt so that she could take a break from work to process her grief. Jeremy, Tyler, and Caroline all got smaller amounts of money since their families were better off.

Everyone was thankful. Stefan and Damon had been very confused as to why she'd done it, and worried that she was using it as a way to say goodbye. But when they saw Klaus standing beside her, they knew that she was just showing her gratitude for everyone she still had in her life.

Though their world was still a mess, being able to bury Alaric brought them peace. Jenna had been inconsolable, and had shut herself in her room after the service. Maddy spent the night at the Gilbert House to organize a bit for the family, making breakfast for them come morning before she left.

"Day one of your training," she told Elena the following day. "Elijah said he'll handle your fight training, which is good because he's an Original and knows more, but bad because that's probably going to lead to a lot of sexual tension that you're not used to."

Elena squeaked, and Maddy continued, "Which means that today we have to cover the basics before you get to sparring with a vampire who is like, fifty— almost sixty— times your age. First on the list, getting you used to your powers."

She pointed straight ahead, through the trees of the forest. "I want you to run as fast as you can to the edge of the forest and back. Go."

Elena hesitated for just a moment before dashing off. Maddy hummed, crossing her arms and tapping her foot as she waited. About a minute later, Elena was back, and not even out of breath.

"Good," said Maddy. "What did you notice?"

"Even when I barely start jogging, I move faster," said Elena. "Like... I can instantly reach my max speed when I think about moving as quick as I can."

"Did you run into any obstacles along the way?"

"A few logs. I jumped over them. Dodged some branches."

"Good. So, the only way to really understand your own heightened speed and agility is to play around with it. When I first turned, I would go to these really tough and unfamiliar terrains and just sprint through, getting used to reacting quickly and gauging my own limitations when it came to changing directions suddenly or stopping before I flew off a cliff. Though, if you fly off a cliff you'll be fine, you'll land, maybe ache a bit, but you won't die. Now, I want you to run, but I want you to change directions suddenly at one random point. Don't think too much, just give a hard right or left whenever you feel like it."

Elena took off. Not even thirty seconds later, Maddy heard a loud thump.

"You ran into a tree, didn't you?" asked Maddy, smirking slightly when she heard a groan.

"Nope... tripped on a rock. I can't believe I can hear you from over here."

"The heightened senses is pretty fun. Wait til you try one of those exfoliating body scrubs for the first time. It's so weird but so satisfying at the same time. Come on back."