Last Breath - Ben Hargreeves

20 || the french catastrophe

Maggie rushes downstairs after Klaus's outburst. Klaus yells after her, but it falls on deaf ears. Once she reaches out towards the doorknob, a voice calls her name. She turns to see Allison in a short, red dress.

Once Allison sees Maggie's bright red eyes, she asks her, "Hey, are you okay?"

Maggie nods with a sniffle. "Yeah. I'm just tired of all the lies."

Allison thinks for a moment before saying, "Is it okay if I rumor you?" Maggie is taken aback by this. "I'm tired of all the lies too," she explains. Maggie nods, and Allison leads her into the living room where they both sit down on the couch.

Allison takes a deep breath before saying, "I heard a rumor that you remembered the woman who kidnapped you." As soon as the words leave her mouth, Maggie is plunged into a long-forgotten memory from when she was six.

A younger Maggie runs out the doors of the mansion after being released from her quarantine that she was held in for the past month. While running down the sidewalk, she bumps into a woman. A woman in her early thirties with long brown hair and a pale complexion.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Maggie's squeaks.

The woman lets out a breathy laugh. "It's quite alright. Where are you off to in such a hurry," the woman asks in a french accent.

"Nowhere in particular."

The woman glances behind Maggie to see the six children running towards the young girl; a light goes off behind her eyes. "You're running away, aren't you?"

"Maybe."

The kids are getting closer, yelling at Maggie to come back. The woman shakes her head with a chuckle. "Well, you better not keep your friends waiting, Maggie."

Maggie looks up at the woman with wide eyes. "How do you know my name?" The woman gives her a knowing smile before walking off.

Seeing this woman becomes a weekly thing for Maggie. They talk about the academy, Klaus, and her powers. The woman is strangely intrigued by Maggie's twin, but she changes the subject whenever questioned about it.

Maggie shares a lot with the woman, but the woman hardly shares anything about her. The only thing Maggie knows is that she is French and has an apartment nearby. And, if the French accent wasn't obvious enough, the woman also takes the time to teach Maggie some French during their meetups.

After a few months of their encounters, the woman shocks Maggie by asking if she would like to move in. Maggie's answer, however, is unexpected because she promptly agrees.

That night, Maggie hugs Ben, Klaus, and Diego goodbye - not telling them where she is going and for how long. Instead, she tells them that it isn't goodbye, rather a see you later.

Maggie is lead by the woman into the apartment. As soon as she shuts the door behind them, she says, "Welcome to your new home, Magnolia." She flips on the lights to reveal balloons and streamers. A cake with the words 'Welcome Home' is nicely displayed on the nearby table.

Maggie looks around with wide eyes and says with a smile, "Wow. Dad never would have allowed this."

The woman pouts her lips. "Please don't talk about that awful man. You're here now, with me." The woman reaches out and strokes Maggie's hair as if she were an animal. "How about you go to bed? I bet you're tired. It's your first door on the right."

Maggie nods, too tired to respond. The open door reveals a pale pink room full of stuffed animals and dolls. She grimaces at the sight but quickly hides it as to not upset the person who so generously took her in. Maggie climbs into her new bed and immediately nods off to the soft smell of lavender.

Maggie wakes with a start after a few hours of dreamless sleep. The soft bed under her has been replaced with hard, cold concrete. She opens her eyes and finds herself in a cage in the corner of the living room. Newspaper covers the bottom, and two measly bowls of water and some nondescript food lay in the corner.

A sob comes from her chest, which causes movement over by the couch. The woman stands up and gives Maggie an evil smile. "Didn't your father ever teach you to not talk to strangers?"

Maggie crawls towards the bars and shakes them. "Let me out. Let me out of here! Let me out!"

The woman lets out a tsk. "No. Girls who don't appreciate what I've done for them go in the cage."

"I'll- I'll be good! I promise," Maggie says with a shaky voice, "Please let me out."

"No."

Maggie roars, "Who do you think you are?"

The woman leans down and gets right up to Maggie's face. "You don't know, dear?" She laughs. "I'm your mom."

So there Maggie stays, in a cage with her demented mother. Every so often, Maggie gets taken out so her mom can beat her into obedience. She would fight back but dealing with Hargreeves only taught her that fighting back will only make things worse.

A few months of this slowly pass a beaten and tired Maggie by. However, it being a few months also means that she hasn't used her powers in a few months. This is not a good thing because her powers tend to go haywire if not used.

Her mother takes her out of the cage with a sadistic smile. Once out of the tiny quarters, Maggie bends over while holding her stomach. The woman slaps her across the face and says, "Stop being dramatic."

Maggie opens her mouth to say something but instead, a wave of poison gas pours out. The woman doesn't even have time to scream before she falls over dead. Maggie stares at her body with an expressionless look on her face.

The door slams open. She slowly looks up with dead, non-reactive eyes to find Diego. He rushes over to her and puts a hand on her shoulder, but there is no reaction.

All she does is stand there like a statue mumbling over and over, "Qu'est-ce que j'ai fait." Diego practically drags her from the scene.

Once they enter the doors of the mansion, they are bombarded by the rest of the academy. Klaus runs up and hugs his sister, but she does not react to it. Her arms stay pinned to her sides as she mumbles, "Qu'est-ce que j'ai fait. Qu'est-ce que j'ai fait."

Sir Hargreeves clicks his tongue. "Are you done being foolish, Number Eight?" When Maggie doesn't respond, he continues, "That wasn't even your real mother! Your mother lives in Germany, and she doesn't care about you. You are only a bad memory." Maggie turns and walks upstairs, followed closely behind by a concerned Ben and Klaus. "Where are you going? You haven't been dismissed."

She walks into her room and climbs onto her bed. Ben and Klaus join her by sitting on the end. She slowly looks up at them with tears in her eyes. Her voice is quiet and shaky when she finally says something in English, "I thought someone finally wanted me." The two of them reach out and hold her as she sobs.

Maggie looks up at Allison and asks, "Why? Why didn't I remember?"

Allison gives her a sad smile. "You refused to come out of your room. Dad started saying you had become useless if you didn't train. He forced me to make you forget."