CHAPTER FIVE

Nyx walks into the weight room at Mystic Falls High School, and looks over at Matt, who's currently working out. She and Jeremy got back a few days ago because she didn't want him hunting anymore after he and Sam were kidnapped. She doesn't care that they didn't get hurt.

"I did not miss this place." Nycole says, and Matt looks at her and laughs.

"You mean the school or this room?" He asks.

"I was referring to the school."

"How many times​ did I catch you and Tyler making out in here?"

"Too many." She chuckles. "How's your arm?"

"Not too bad." He says. He finally got his cast off so he's been trying to build up the muscle again. "You just came from your doctor's appointment, right?"

"Yes, sir. Twenty-seven weeks, and going strong." She smiles as she rubs her belly. Her bump now definitely extends past her breasts, but she's still rather small compared to some others. "Dean now calls them our cabbages. I'm sticking with Gremlins."

"Nice." Matt chuckles.

They hear a noise outside the room, and both look in the direction that it came from. They start walking, and he keeps Nycole behind him. She gets ready to take her gun out, but doesn't pull it quite yet.

They get to a classroom, and he opens the door after looking in the dark window. The two of them hear what sounds like something snapping repeatedly,​ and Nyx then quickly turns on the light. They see their friends surrounded by a bunch of snapping rat traps.

"Oh, come in!" Caroline yells as she looks at them. "Seriously?!"

"Matt did it." Nyx says, and he looks at her.

"Thanks​." He says, and she smiles.

"Do you know how long it took for us to set all this up?!" Caroline questions.

"Forgot about senior prank night, huh?" Tyler asks.

"Clearly." Matt nods.

"How could you forget? We've only been waiting for this since, like, freshman year." Caroline says.

"Yeah, Matt. If I'm doing this, you're doing this." Elena says. "What are you doing here, Nyx?" She asks her sister, confused.

"I met Matt in the weight room. We were gonna get something to eat after his workout." She tells her.

"Isn't the weight room where you used to meet Tyler after his workouts?" She asks, and Nycole and Tyler look at each other, glance at Caroline, and then quickly look down. "Sorry."

"Awkward." Matt coughs, and Nyx hits him.

"Is it awkward, Matthew, is it?" Nyx questions. "Is it awkward that my ex-boyfriend and your ex-girlfriend are now dating?"

He clears his throat. "You know, I'm kinda surprised you guys are even doing this."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Caroline's making us." Bonnie says.

"We're about to be seniors." Caroline starts. "These are the memories that stay with us forever, and if we don't—"

"And if we don't create these memories now, then what's the point of it all?" Elena cuts her off, and Nycole laughs.

"Go ahead and make fun, I don't care."

"You're all lame. And I've got ten more classrooms to prank." Tyler says as he stands up straight.

"Yeah, he has been talking about senior prank night since at least the summer before freshman year." Nyx tells them, and her ex-boyfriend laughs as he walks past her and Matt.

"Hey. Where are you going?" Bonnie asks Elena as she starts to leave.

"To superglue Alaric's desk shut." She says, and they all laugh. "I'm making memories."

"I love you!" Caroline calls after her as she walks out of the room.

Nyx sighs and rests her forehead on the back of Matt's shoulder as she leans into him, but then quickly backs away. "Dude, you reek. Maybe you should take a shower before we eat." She tells him, and he looks at her.

"Oh, you don't like this?" He asks, and she shakes her head.

Matt grabs her arm and pulls her back to him, wrapping his arms around her, and she laughs as she tries to get out of his grip. "Get off of me! You stink!" She complains, and their friends laugh at them.

"Alright, well, we're here." Matt says as he lets her go, and they look at their friends. "Let's prank someone." He says, and Nycole smiles.

Nyx, Matt, and Bonnie get rolls of toilet paper from the bathroom, and TP the room with the pool. Nyx laughs as Matt throws one over the pool.

"This is fun, right?" Bonnie asks.

"You sound like Caroline." Matt tells her.

"I'm embracing her philosophy. You should be more into this. You should both be more into this."

"I know." He says. "Where's Jeremy tonight?"

"I haven't talked to him all day. We're having, um..." She starts. "He, uh, he told me about seeing Vicki."

"Oh, good. I'm glad that you know." He says, and Nyx nods.

"Me too." The oldest Gilbert says.

"I'm sorry. Is it weird talking about your sister like this?" Bonnie asks Matt.

"No, I— I just kind of want to see her myself, you know?" He says, and Nyx looks down. "I mean, I never got to say goodbye​ to her."

"I'm sorry, Matt." Nycole says as she puts her hand on his arm.

"Do you realize that just last summer, you and I were lifeguards at the pool?" He asks as he looks back at Bonnie. "And the only two problems I had in my life were that Elena was breaking up with me, and I sucked at CPR."

"Everything was so different then." She agrees.

"Last summer, Dean and I were at my family's lake house, and he was teaching me how to be a hunter." Nyx says.

"Now Elena's dating a vampire, you're a witch, you're a hunter, my sister's a ghost, and..." Matt sighs. "I'm— I'm just a guy who's wondering how life got so screwed up."

"It's crazy, Matt. I— I can't imagine what it must be like for you." Bonnie says.

"It just, uh, kind of explains why I'm not that into senior prank night." He says, and Nycole sighs as she looks over at him. "I'll go grab a couple more rolls. Then we hit the gym."

He gets back a couple minutes later, and the three of them start for the gym. Nyx laughs as Matt accidentally kicks the door, stumbling as he walks through. He looks at her, amused.

"Get out of here!" Elena yells suddenly, and they all turn to look at her. They see Klaus, and Nyx grabs Matt's arm as her heart sinks into her stomach.

"I was wondering when you two would show up. Now, we can get started." Klaus says, and Matt keeps Nyx behind him. "Dana, why don't you relax? You and Chad sit tight." He says, and they sit down on the gym floor.

Nyx's grip on Matt's arm tightens, and he pulls her closer to him so that her chest's against the back of his shoulder.

"I assume you're the reason Nycole's still walking around alive." Klaus says as he looks between her and Bonnie.

"That's right. If you want to blame someone, blame me." Bonnie tells him.

"Oh, there's no need for blame, love." He says. "Just your witchy interference seems to have caused some undesirable side effects. And since you caused the problem, I'm going to have you find the fix."

"Get off of me!" Tyler yells as a blonde girl drags him into the gym.

"Hush now." She says and looks between the twins. "You weren't kidding about there being two of them this time."

"I'd like you all to meet my sister, Rebekah." Klaus says. "Word of warning, she can be quite mean."

"Don't be an ass." She says as she looks at her brother and then pushes Tyler at him.

"Leave him alone!" Nyx snaps, and Matt keeps her behind him when she tries to move.

"I'm going to make this very simple. Every time I attempt to turn a werewolf into a vampire hybrid, they die during the transition. It's quite horrible, actually." He then bites his wrist and forces Tyler to drink his blood. "I need you to find a way to save my hybrids, Bonnie. And for Tyler's sake..."

"No!" Nyole screams, and he snaps Tyler's neck.

"You better hurry." Klaus looks at them and smiles.

Matt and Nyx look at each other and then back at their friend who's laying dead on the gym floor. Tears fill her eyes as her gaze settles on Tyler. She's afraid that this means she dies, or he does.

Klaus walks over to sit on the bleachers and his sister leaves the gym, claiming to have found something else that's interesting. Matt moves away from Nyx for the first time and walks over to their friend who's still on the floor.

"He killed him." Matt says as he kneels down beside Tyler.

"He's not dead. Klaus' blood will turn him into a vampire." Elena says.

"If Bonnie's successful, he'll live through his transition." Klaus says as he walks back over to them. "Go on, then. Go fetch your grimoires​ and enchantments and what-not. I'll hold onto Nycole and Elena...for safe keeping." He grabs their arms, and Matt stands up and looks at them as well.

Bonnie looks between the twins, and Nyx nods. "Go. Take Matt with you." She tells her. Bonnie grabs his hand, and they run out of the gym.

Rebekah walks back into the gym then, and she pushes Dean and Sam in front of her. Dean's eyes immediately find his girlfriend, and she sighs.

"Damn it." Nyx shakes her head, and they look between the twins. They were on their way back to Mystic Falls from Illinois, but she was starting to hope that they wouldn't get in until much later.

"Ah, yes. And here we have the hunter unfortunate enough to love a doppelganger." Klaus says, amused. "It really is tragic, isn't it? Loving someone that you're destined to lose."

"You're a dick." She says as she looks at him.

Rebekah moves past the boys and walks over to the twins. "So, this is the latest doppelganger and her identical twin. The original one was much prettier." The blonde says.

"Enough, Rebekah." Klaus says, but then she seems to notice something as she looks at Nycole.

Rebekah hates the doppelgangers, so she was distracted by the fact that there's now two of them. Plus, Matt was blocking Nyx before, but there's nothing obstructing her view of Nyx now.

"You're pregnant." The blonde says as her gaze falls to Nycole's stomach.

"I'm aware, thank you. Actually, it was your brother who told me, after he heard their heartbeats." Nyx says as she places her hand over her bump protectively. "And then, well, he killed me in a ritual sacrifice, so..."

Rebekah looks at Klaus. "You didn't tell me one of them was pregnant." She says accusingly.

"Yes, well, I couldn't have you going soft on me before I get what I want." He says, and she glares at him. "Take the wolf boy elsewhere, would you?"

"No. Don't touch him." Nyx tries to move toward Tyler, but Klaus tightens his grip on both girls.

Rebekah smiles at Elena as the brunettes clench their teeth, and she walks over to Tyler. The blonde grabs his arm and drags him past Sam and Dean, then out of the room.

"Just ignore her. Petty little thing." Klaus says, and Nyx shoves him off of her.

"For your sake, Bonnie better say that I have to die." Nyx says as she looks at him. "If he dies, I will spend every day​ of the rest of my life looking for a way to kill you."

"It's my understanding that there's one gun with one bullet that can kill any supernatural creature. And when those boys find it, they'll use it on the demon that killed their mom and one of their precious girlfriend. What exactly does that leave you with?" Klaus asks, and Nyx clenches her teeth as he looks between her and Dean. "But you've already thought of the gun to kill me, haven't you? It's too bad there isn't just one more bullet."

Dean looks down then, ashamed that he'd never thought about using the gun on Klaus, especially when it's obvious that Nyx has. She just never said anything to him because she couldn't ask him to make that choice.

"You're not invincible." Nyx says, sounding so sure of herself. "A witch's purpose is to maintain the balance of nature. Immortality isn't natural, therefore you can die."

"Is this because I killed you while you were pregnant?" He asks. "Or is it because I'm threatening to kill you again, and you're still pregnant?"

He rests his hand on her stomach, and she grabs it and breaks his arm. He groans in pain as he then fixes it. He backhands her across the face, and she falls to the gym floor. Dean and Sam run over to her, and they quickly help her up.

"I'm gonna kill you because you're a monster and you deserve to die." She says as she looks back at Klaus. "You are the reason that everything​ is so screwed up."

"I may be your villain, but I was the victim once." He says as he walks over to them. Dean tries to move her behind him, but she won't budge.

"Well, congratulations on being part of the statistics on the cycle of violence." She says, and he moves her hair away from her face.

"You have quite the temper. You should be careful with it." He says before walking back over to the bleachers.

Elena then goes over to check on Dana and Chad, and Nyx looks up at Dean and Sam. Dean pulls her to him, and she sighs as he rests his hand on the side of her face. She turns her face toward his palm as she closes her eyes.

The door opens then, and they all turn to see who's walking into the room. Nyx sighs when she sees the familiar face.

"Stefan..." Elena breathes as she stands up, and Nyx walks over to her sister; the boys stay close.

"Klaus." Stefan looks at him.

"Come to save your damsel and her sister, mate?" Klaus asks.

"I came to ask for your forgiveness." He says. "And pledge my loyalty."

"Well, you broke that pledge once already."

"Elena and Nycole mean nothing to me anymore." Stefan says. "And whatever you ask of me... I will do."

"Fair enough." Klaus says as he stands up. "Let's drink on it. Kill them." He then points at Chad and Dana, and Nyx pulls her gun out and aims it at Stefan.

"Don't touch them." She says, and Klaus looks amused.

"Well, this just got more interesting." He smirks. "You would shoot your sister's boyfriend?"

"Nothing comes before an innocent person's life." Nyx tells him. "I won't let my friendship with Stefan allow him to kill them in front of me."

Klaus looks at Stefan. "What are you waiting for? Kill them." He tells him.

"No. Stefan, don't. Nycole, put the gun down." Elena says. "Klaus isn't gonna hurt us. He already said—" She screams after Klaus backhands her, and she falls to the floor.

Stefan runs at Klaus, and he quickly grabs Stefan by his throat. "She means nothing to you?" He questions. "Your lies just keep piling up."

Nyx then aims the gun at Klaus and cocks it. "This may not kill you, but it'll still hurt like hell. Let him go!" She yells.

"Go ahead. Pull the trigger." He says, and she shoots his wrist. She'd shoot him in the head, but she has a feeling more people will die if she does that.

He lets go of Stefan and digs the bullet out of his arm. The next instant, the gun's knocked from her grasp, and Klaus has his hand around her throat.

"Didn't​ think I'd do it, did you?" She questions, unfazed by his actions, and he then lifts her off her feet before throwing her backward.

"Nycole!" Dean yells.

Instead of hitting something hard like she's expecting, she lands on top of Stefan on the bleachers. He looks at her as he sets her down beside him.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asks, and she nods. His eyes flicker between her face and her stomach.

"Yeah. I think so." She tells him.

He looks back at Klaus. "Let them go. I'll do whatever you want, you have my word." He tells him.

Klaus runs over to them in a blur, and pins him to the bleachers with his hand around his throat again. "Your word doesn't mean much. I lived by your word all summer, during which time I never had to resort to this." He looks into Stefan's eyes. "Stop fighting."

"Don't do this. Don't do this." He begs.

"I didn't want to. All I wanted was your allegiance. Now, I'm going to have to take it."

"Don't​. Leave him alone." Nyx tries to push him off of Stefan, but it's no use.

"You will do exactly as I say when I say it." Klaus compels Stefan. "You will not run, you will not hide, you will simply just obey." And with that, he lets go of him.

"You son of a..."

"Stefan." Elena mutters, and he looks at her.

"Now, kill them." Klaus orders. "Ripper."

Klaus motions toward Dana and Chad, and Stefan runs over at vampire speed and feeds on Dana until she dies. Then he kills Chad.

Nyx watches the scene unfold with tears in her eyes, unable to look away, but Dean can't take his eyes off of her. He's too afraid that the second he does, it'll be the last time he sees her alive.