#KCAUWeek2019

[howeverlongs]

kcau week’19 · Day 7 · Canon-ish

Another day, another drama in the Mikaelson-Forbes household 

[labime]

Day Seven | Canon-ish | Season 2. 

       Klaus find a newly turned Caroline before her friends do.

[just-orson]

“One Sunday night“ Caroline. I’m standing in one of my favorite places in the world, surrounded by food, music, art, culture and all I can think about is how much I want to show it to you. Maybe one day you’ll let me.

I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive And all my instincts, they return And the grand facade, so soon will burn Without a noise, without my pride I reach out from the inside In your eyes The light, the heat In your eyes I am complete Song: Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes

Just a little simple fanart for amazing #kcauweek2019 October 13th: Canon-ish ____________________ All sources

[witchergeralt]

klaroline au week 2019 ♡ canon-ish

what if caroline discovered klaus was using bonnie to unlink the mikaelsons from each other in 3x18?

[lalainajanes]

As One Wishes To Live (AKA Genie!Klaus). Read Part One here!

His new mistress – Caroline - had excused herself. Klaus hasn’t yet relaxed.

It’s a survival instinct.

Only two of his keepers had been awful from their first meeting. The rest feigned kindness only to grow into their cruelty once they realized just how much power they wield.

He expects Caroline will be the same. Oh, she seems sweet. Earnest. Stubborn too, enough to hold on to her principles for awhile. She’ll bend, like they all do. First, it’ll be little things, simple requests to save her time and effort. A “Klaus, could you mend this?’ followed by a please and a thank you.  

The requests never stay simple.

He’ll look for what weaknesses while he still has the freedom to.

He cannot hurt the one he belongs to, but he’s learned that rule is bendable. He can manipulate an owner into hurting themselves. He can do it with words, a hint here, an innocent observation there. Occasionally, the universe provides a lovely set of coincidences that Klaus merely can neatly steer a captor into. He’d once orchestrated a nasty carriage accident by keeping a whiskey glass full and producing a few coins to entice a barmaid into distracting a stable boy. Poor lad had rushed through his tasks, hadn’t noticed the wheel in desperate need of repair.

He’ll explore Caroline’s home over the next few days. Just in case. As long as he’s been locked in his lamp, all the objects he can’t name. It’s only logical that he be curious.

Caroline’s fairly young and obviously baffled by his presence in her home. She doesn’t seem stupid, which is a pity. The unintelligent are more demanding than the cunning but easier to manipulate.  She’d been flustered as she’d departed, her cheeks stained a bright pink. She’d promised she’d be right back, after she found him some clothes.

Klaus could have told her that if she wanted him clothed, he could conjure whatever she fancied. He’d served those who liked him to remain bare and accessible but most liked to dress him up. Some in clothing that marked him as a servant, others in finery that made him look like a prize. Klaus has long since stopped caring about what does, or doesn’t, cover his body.

He’d let her babble and flee. He’d wanted privacy to study his new home and he’d sensed Caroline had needed to collect herself. He could have denied her that, pressed his advantage, perhaps dropped the covering she’d insisted he don.

She’d fought it, kept her eyes on his, but she clearly finds his body appealing.  

He may have to use that but, for now, she hasn’t truly earned his ire.

Once she’d left Klaus had held still and listened carefully as she’d made her way up a single set of stairs. She’s rummaging now, still talking to herself. Exceptional senses are one of the perks of his curse. To cater to a master’s every whim he needs to hear calls when they are mere whispers.

Caroline’s home seems quite small and Klaus imagines he’ll be able to track Caroline’s movements easily. It’s nice enough, very clean and warm. There are an alarming number of objects that Klaus has never seen before, odd hums and beeps that he’s trying to ignore.

Much has changed in the ninety or so years he’d been dormant.

The chair she’d bid him to sit in had been plush and the fabric hadn’t scratched at his skin at all. A relief because he’s always more sensitive when he’s been stuck in his lamp, his skin feels thin and new each time he emerges.

Klaus eyes the window, squinting against the sun that’s streaming in. His head aches a bit. He takes a few steps, glancing behind him even as he reaches for the curtain.

Caroline had wanted him to be comfortable, hadn’t she? Shutting out the light will help.

If she complains, well, that will be a clue that perhaps she’s not as generous as she’s seemed.

Caroline’s got a stack of various pieces of men’s clothing – things stolen from exes or friends, even a random leather jacket that a disaster of a one-night stand had left behind. She knows exactly where the pile is, but she spends a solid ten minutes pushing things around in her closet, tidying and refolding to keep her hands busy while her mind whirls.

It’s useless because she’s not going to solve the issue of the genie she now apparently owns with a little stress cleaning.

It makes her feel better. Calmer.

Sort of.

When her hands have stopped shaking (and she’s done enough deep breathing that her face should be a normal color) she crouches and yanks out the plastic tote she needs. It’s been awhile since she’s had to add anything to it. Her extended period of singledom is the main reason Kat had so thoughtfully gifted Caroline the lamp (and Klaus, technically) but she’s reasonably sure she’ll find something that will fit her guest.

Whether he’ll like the clothes she’ll provide Caroline can’t guess. He’s been impressively inscrutable so far, not that Caroline can blame him.

It sounds like he’s known a lot of terrible people. The kind that won’t hesitate to pounce on a weakness and use it for their own gain.

She figures comfort is the way to go, digs a pair of grey sweats that had been Tyler’s from the very bottom of the tote. Klaus might be a bit taller but he’s leaner so hopefully that will make up the difference.   She grabs one of Stefan’s t-shirts that she hadn’t bothered to return (since he had about eight million, all identical and black) plus a blue hoodie Enzo has given up asking her to return.

She throws it all over her shoulder then snags a pair of the socks she uses for working out from her dresser. She makes a quick detour to the kitchen to grab her laptop and her phone off the charger before she returns to find Klaus where she’d left him. He’s pulled the curtains and he’s wandered over to the wall of shelves where she keeps her books and DVDs. He’s looking at one of the framed photographs that she’s got up, an old one.

“That’s the last family photo we took,” Caroline tells him. “I really hated that dress.” Black velvet, enormous lace collar. It had been a gift from Granny Forbes and Caroline had worn it exactly twice.

Klaus gently sets the frame back down turning to face her. His expression is just as smooth as it had been when he’d first greeted her, giving away nothing of his feelings. His eyes are on her though, not the floor. He’s sizing her up and Caroline can’t say she blames him.

She smiles, hopes he can’t tell that ten minutes away wasn’t nearly enough time for Caroline to stop freaking out internally.

None of the giant pile of what the fuckery they’re currently dealing with is Klaus’ fault. She doesn’t want him to feel like he’s unwelcome. It’s just good manners.

She sets her laptop down then holds out the clothing, “I dug these up for you. I know they’re not ideal but once your dressed we’ll look online and get you something a little more your style.”

“My style,” he repeats slowly.

“Yeah. I mean, if you’re a label snob like my friend Kat you’re going to need to embrace knock offs because my credit card can only take so much.”

He appears a bit mystified and Caroline wants to slap herself. “Oh, wait, sorry. How long have you been in…” she waves her hand towards the coffee table, his gold lamp. It’s entirely possible Klaus doesn’t know about the internet. Or even credit cards. Caroline has no idea when they became a thing.

His eyes follow her gesture and he takes a step back, so he’s nearly pressed against the bookcase.

She looks away, pretends not to notice. She studies the lamp, realizing that she’s only managed to polish a quarter sized spot on one side. That’s totally going to bother her.

Klaus doesn’t answer right away, doesn’t move much either. Caroline’s about to remind him that he doesn’t have to when he reaches for the bundle she holds. He pinches the fabric between his fingertips, tugging experimentally. “I can’t tell you exactly. It was… 1926, maybe. When my last mistress died. She called for me infrequently in the end. Her daughter thought to own me next. She was not happy to learn I cannot be inherited.”

“Is that the one who made her final wish on her death bed?”

“Yes.”

She’s really trying not to pry – he hasn’t had the chance to set his own boundaries for a freaking millennium so obviously she needs to reel in her curiosity – but it’s hard. What had the woman wished for? Could she have wished to not die? Can Klaus make people immortal? Would…

“Revenge,” Klaus murmurs, interrupting Caroline’s train of thought. “She had three daughters and her husband divorced her to get his male heir. He lied to get it, painted her as the adulterer then left her with barely enough money to live on. She wished that he would live to know his name would die with his son.”

That’s… wow.” Caroline’s a little impressed with the spite level. “Was she… good to you?”

“Better than most.”

With the switch back to vague answers, Caroline decides it’s best to change the subject. “Well, there’s going to be a lot of things we need to get you up to speed on. We’ll start with the practical.” She sits down, taps the top of her laptop. “This is a computer; it connects to the internet. The internet does a lot of things, some of them great, some of them super creepy. But it will allow us to get you a 21st century wardrobe delivered before the weekend.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

She shakes her head, tucking her legs underneath her as she boots up her laptop. “Look, I’m not going to make you go anywhere you don’t want to but I’m pretty sure eventually you’re going to get bored enough to want to go outside. And if you do it like that…” she wiggles her fingers in his direction, carefully not looking directly at the subtle ridge of muscle at his hips, “…questions will be asked. Cops might be called. We can’t rixk that until we’ve got a solid backstory and some supporting documents.”

She types “Casual Men’s Clothes” into google, figuring she’ll let him browse the images to see what he likes. Klaus clears his throat but it’s a theatrical kind of noise, an ‘ahem’ sound that’s never an accident.

Caroline holds in a sigh and looks up, mentally preparing herself to ignore all the distractingly bare skin, only to have her mouth drop open for an entirely different reason. Klaus is holding the clothes she’d given him but, on his body, he’s wearing something very similar. He’s switched up the colors – black sweats, dark red tee, grey hoodie – and everything fits like it was made for him.

Well. That’s handy.

“Oh,” she says dumbly. “You…”

“Am perfectly capable of clothing myself without assistance, yes.”

He’s smug about it and Caroline should find it annoying but, as it’s the first real hint of personality he’s shown, she’ll let it slide. “You weren’t kidding about the magic, huh?”

He grins, clearly pleased with himself. “Are you a believer now, love?”

The dimples are just as distracting as the hipbones, damn it.

Caroline focuses back on her laptop, tapping a few keys for no real reason. It’s not like he’ll know she’s typing nonsense. “I don’t think I have much of a choice.”

Klaus hums in acknowledgement, “Is this what men wear nowadays? I’ll admit it’s very comfortable.”

When she glances up she finds he’s adjusting the sleeves of the hoodie, pushing them up his forearms. “It’s a super casual example but yeah, you won’t get arrested if you walk outside like that. You’d get some looks if you tried to walk into a nice restaurant though.”

“I see. Can you show me?” he points at her laptop. “For when we venture out.”

“Sure. Internet window shopping is one of my very favorite things. Come sit.”

Caroline tips her head to the side and this time Klaus doesn’t need to be prompted further, settling down next to her. He jumps a little when she sets her computer on his lap and Caroline figures he hadn’t anticipated it would be warm. She points to the screen, “What do you like?”

He blinks at the twenty or so images for a long moment. He then leans closer. Caroline reaches over runs her finger over the trackpad. “Here, see that little white hand? If you want to see something close up just tap. Like this.”

He’s a quick study, his fingertip bumping into hers as he tries it for himself. She shows him how to scroll down and he mutters about how many choices there are. He glances at her every once in awhile, but Caroline makes it a point not to react.

Even if she had been paying for the clothes she wouldn’t have wanted to pick for him. Earlier, one oh his comments had made her feel a little sick to her stomach. His body, he’d said, so casually, was at her disposal. Caroline’s not naïve enough to think that had only meant he’d been treated like a life size Ken doll but she’s certain he’d been dressed up according to the whims of others for the bulk of his existence.

That’s over, Caroline’s decided. If he wants to wear cargo shorts and lumberjack flannel for the rest of his life that’s totally his call.

She touches his arm to get his attention. Klaus tenses, his body locking up so tightly that she can feel in even though a few inches of space separate them. She withdraws gingerly, easing over to give him more space.

She’s kind of a toucher. She’ll have to remember to curb the instinct with Klaus.

“I’ll just be in the kitchen, okay? I’ll order dinner.” And send a couple texts, plus an email to her boss. She’s so going to need a couple days to get acclimated but Klaus doesn’t need to know the details. “Come get me if you need anything.”

It’s a useless offer because Klaus won’t ask for a single thing. He doesn’t trust her even a little bit.

Convincing him that he can won’t be easy. Good thing Caroline’s always liked a challenge.

Klaus had risen as soon as he’d heard Caroline stir. He hadn’t rested well.

The bed Caroline had offered him is very comfortable. Too comfortable.

He’d tossed and turned, tried both sides. He’d quickly given up on sleeping, had risen once he’d heard Caroline’s breathing deepen enough to indicate that she wouldn’t wake easily. He’s slipped out of the room and downstairs, paced the rooms and the halls, going over all that he’s learned to far.

Last night Caroline had chattered away while she’d changed the sheets for him, told him that her mother was the one who most often stayed in the room but that it always took a great deal of cajoling for Caroline to convince her to visit. She’d grabbed him a toothbrush and towels. Had pointed out that red on the taps meant hot water and then asked if he had any questions about the shower. He’d just managed to avoid rolling his eyes because he has seen one before. Caroline had sensed his annoyance and cheerfully confessed that she’d done a quick bout of research on the history of indoor plumbing while they’d sat together after dinner but that she’d just wanted to make sure. She’d said that a hot shower always made her feel better after a rough day.

Klaus had thought about that statement once she’d left him alone. He wouldn’t have classified his day as rough, exactly. Bewildering perhaps, but the first day with a new master always is. He’s yet to sense any sort of sinister intent under Caroline’s solicitousness so either she’s a fantastically skilled actress or she’s genuine in her disgust for the curse he lives with.

The shower had been fantastic though.

He’s waiting in the kitchen when Caroline wanders in. Her hair’s half up and half down and she’s wrapped in a pink robe that’s far too large for her. She’s rather lovely, sleep mussed and stumbling. She gives him a little wave, “Morning. I need coffee.”

She yelps when the cup appears in her hand, drops it immediately. The glass shatters against the tile floor, hot coffee splattering her bare legs.

“Ow, ow, hot!”

Klaus is at her side in a blink, stilling her when she makes to step back. “You’ll cut yourself,” he scolds and then concentrates, clearing the mess away just as quickly as he’d created it.

Her eyes are wide, fully awake now as she pulls away. Klaus bends so he can sweep his hands over the reddened skin on her shins and ankles, taking away the mild burn. “What the hell was that?” she exclaims, her arms flapping wildly.

“You needed coffee.” He’s not going to explain the rest. Caroline’s sharp enough to make the necessary connections.

Her fingers twist the ends of the belt that wraps around her waist. Her outrage quiets slightly, “And if I need something you have to get it for me?”

Klaus conjures another cup, this time a sturdier vessel. He offers it instead of answering. Caroline glares, refusing to take it. “It’s just an expression! I don’t need coffee I just want it. And I am perfectly capable of making my own.”

He’s not about to confess that his curse means he must fulfill her wants too. Caroline had claimed decent people existed but no one – mortal or immortal - is immune to temptation. To know that every whim can be satisfied? Awfully enticing.

She spins away from him, stomping across the kitchen. She yanks a slim canister out of a cupboard, tucking it under her arm when she looks over at him, “Just so we’re clear, if I say ‘I need’ followed by a thing you’ll just poof it into my hands?”

Klaus nods in confirmation. He has no desire to explain that if he doesn’t provide for her he’ll feel a small twinge. That the twinge will grow into aches and stabs and bone grinding, suffocating pressure. That it will build and build and build until he gives in. Or until he collapses and then gives in.

It’s been a long time since he’s fought a master’s will but he’d done it often in the beginning, before he’d realized that open rebellion is pointless. The pain isn’t something he’ll ever forget.

Caroline’s got her back to him, her hands busy, and she’s quiet. Contemplative, he’ll say, because her eyes keep flitting his way. “I think we’re going to need to set some ground rules.”

Ah. Finally, something familiar.

How disappointing.

He doesn’t move, is sure his expression remains carefully pleasant. Caroline, somehow, manages to sense the downturn in his mood. She sighs, shoving the cup he’d made across the table towards him as she sits down. “Not like that,” she insists. “We’re not even going to call them rules. We need to agree on a few things.”

Klaus stays silent, wary. The worst people often had a gift for spinning pretty words to cover their worst actions.

“You do have a say, here. I wished that, remember?”

She’s wished for his honesty, his true thoughts and feelings. Klaus isn’t yet sure if she deserves them.

Drink…” her teeth come together with a snap and she shakes her head. “Sorry, I think I almost did it again. If you happen to like coffee, please feel free to drink the one you made.” Her brow wrinkles in concentration, her mouth moving and forming the same words she’d just spoken. She nods briskly, satisfied. “Was that okay? Didn’t trigger any bad genie mojo?”

He can risk a taste of honesty. To test her.

Klaus grasps the mug, lifts it to his lips. He sniffs experimentally, “I don’t remember if I like it or not.” He’d drunk it often centuries ago. He’d lived in Hamburg with a scientist who feared failure more than he desired rest. Klaus had spent hours upon hours transcribing notes, drinking coffee when prompted because his master, like most scientific types of the time, had thought magic preposterous. He hadn’t understood that Klaus didn’t need to fight sleep with stimulants.

She watches him, a pleased smile curling her lips. “Good?” she asks, as if she’s genuinely interested.

“I think so,” Klaus replies. He tries another mouthful.

It tastes better than he remembers but perhaps that’s because each sip is a choice.

Caroline panics when she hears keys in the door. She's been taking advantage of the pile of banked sick days she has, to deal with the whole genie situation. She'd sent her boss an email with a sob story about a killer bout of stomach flu. She's never done it before, feels a little bad about lying, but her excuse hasn’t been questioned.

One of the perks of being a kickass employee.

The truth would have gotten her locked up on a twenty-four-hour psych hold, and Caroline does not want to deal with that. Even if Klaus could probably break her out with his freaky magic stuff.

She’s sprawled out on the floor, catching up on her YouTube subscriptions. Klaus is on the couch – so far he’s yet to let his posture be less than flawless in her presence – reading a book. He’s not a fan of the television but he’s yet to object to having music on.

She shoves herself up onto her knees when she hears the door open, her eyes sweeping the room for anything that might invite questions. There’s nothing, thank god.

"Care?" Bonnie calls, "are you okay? I brought crackers and Gatorade!"

Ugh. She hadn't counted on her friends, and their keys to her place, screwing with her plans.

"Hide!" she hisses at Klaus. His eyes widen, face going blank. He nods once, harsh and jerky, before he immediately does his wispy smoky thing, dissipating before her eyes (and seriously, that’s never not going to be weird) leaving his lamp rattling.

She feels a stab of guilt, because she'd meant for him to go upstairs, having picked up on the revulsion and wariness he seemed to feel for the little metal vessel that had been his home and prison. It still sits on her coffee table; he makes a point not to touch it.  She'd been asking questions for the last few days, carefully teasing out his story.

Sometimes Klaus grows cold, his answers becoming monosyllabic. He's never refused to answer her inquiries, but she’s quick to change the subject when his words become slow and reluctant. She’s told him he doesn’t have to do anything; she suspects he doesn’t believe her. That he’s waiting for her to flip and start making demands.

Once she’d worked out that he was forced to follow her orders she’d asked what happened if he didn’t. He'd gone stiff when he'd imparted that knowledge, the words clipped as he refused to meet her eyes. She imagines he's tested the limits of the magic that traps him thoroughly, as stubborn and prideful as he seems to be. That whatever the punishment doled out is unbearable if he dreads it so deeply.

She’s vowed he’ll never hurt that way again but pain isn’t always physical.

She’ll have an apology to make.

Thinking quickly Caroline ruffles her hair, wraps herself in her afghan and slumps down on the couch. She tries to look miserable and queasy, planning on getting Bonnie to leave as soon as possible.

She's under no illusions that her friends won't have to meet Klaus eventually. She's just planning on easing them into it. Maybe mention that she's looking for a roommate, interview a couple candidates for show.

It'll give her time to make up a reasonable background story. Plus, Caroline needs a little more time for Klaus to get acclimated to the world, so he won't make her friends suspicious. So far things from the twenty-first century are hit and miss. He'd turned his nose up at the coffee she made, has continued to conjure his own. Caroline has to admit his is way better then what he machine drips out. Klaus does seem to like the internet. After he’d thoroughly investigated men’s clothing she’d taught him how to google things and he seems to enjoy that he can find information for himself instead of having to pester her when he there’s something he doesn’t understand.

She's going to need to prepare Klaus for Kat. She’s sure he can hold his own, has seen steel nerves and an implacable will under the deference he’s trained himself to exude, but she can't help feeling protective. Caroline has seen Kat cheerfully crush weak men under her stilettos, with merely biting words and a toss of her hair, not exerting the slightest effort. Kat will actually try if she thinks she's vetting a potential roommate of Caroline's.

The least she can do is spare Klaus the worst of that. Since she'd unwittingly made herself his mistress.

Yep, that’s still creepy. And a tiny bit hot in a way that makes Caroline want to fidget in shame.

She makes a show of struggling to sit up as Bonnie approaches, really makes it seem like it’s an effort to lift her head.

Apparently she’s pretty good at the fake sick thing, something that might have been useful back in high school. Bonnie doesn’t stay long, insists Caroline rest as she goes. Part of that might be how distracted she is, her mind too focused on Klaus. She's not even sure how she can get him out of the lamp, knows she’ll have to coax and grovel, that she can’t demand.

She'd read the little flash of betrayal in his eyes clearly, even though he'd masked it expertly. She doesn't want to see it again.

Klaus has no form inside his lamp.

Caroline had shown him a few episodes of a silly television show. He’d found it offensive, had glowered through parts of it – did humans really think such incompetence would be allowed? Klaus is quite sure the magic that punished him for disobedience would have torn the tiny blonde woman apart for her antics. Afterwards he’d admitted that he could understand Caroline’s initial reactions to his presence. He wonders if she thinks his lamp is like the television genie’s, bright and comfortable and strewn with cushions.

In truth, there’s nothing inside. He’s nothing inside. He’s only thoughts and emotions. His senses leave him, except for his hearing, and it’s dark. The longer he spends inside the harder it is to keep from drifting. Only the call of his owner can pull him back.

Inside, he’s not aware of time passing. He’s completely subject to another’s whims and he hates it.

He can hear Caroline, one of her friends outside. He listens eagerly, clings to the knowledge that if they’re talking he’s losing only minutes, not years.

The friend seems concerned. He learns that Caroline’s been faking an illness. Had she not trusted him enough to leave him to his own devices in her home?

Had she not known that she could banish him, as she’d just done?

Caroline whispers his name. He can’t tune her out.

If he’s honest he doesn’t want to. He’d preferred his cruelest master to the nothingness of his lamp and even if Caroline’s a liar he doubts she’ll take that title.

“I don’t know if you can hear me.”

She must touch the lamp because he gets a brief impression of warmth.

Too brief.

“I’m sorry.”

No one’s thought him worthy of an apology since he’d been human. Even then they’d been rare.

He listens to her breathing, quick and anxious. “I didn’t mean to make you go away. I’ve been trying so hard to choose my words carefully. And trust me, I suck at that. I just panicked.”

He thinks of how she’d looked in the moment she’d told him to hide. Her eyes had been round, her body tense. Usually graceful she’s moved in fits and starts.

Perhaps she’s not a liar.

“I haven’t told my friends about you because… well, they’d think I’d gone nuts. Elena would tell her mom and her mom would call my mom and the whole town would be whispering about me within the week. People from high school I don’t even like would start sending me faux concerned messages on Facebook hoping for more dirt.”

She pauses.

Klaus hopes she hasn’t gone.

Only because he hates the lamp, of course. The lack of awareness, the inability to exert even the smallest bit of his will. Having to depend on another to tether him. Never knowing when, even if, they’d release him.

“I meant hide literally. Like, hide upstairs in your room or even in the laundry room. Just out of sight. Not out of the house. Well, I guess you’re still in the house. Which I’m really glad about, by the way. Even though I know you’re pissed at me. Which is totally okay.”

He hears her groan and then her next words are muffled. “God, I sound like a moron.”

“I get it if you don’t want to talk to me. And if you come out you don’t have to talk to me. I can go out for awhile if you really want some you time. And you don’t have to come out. But, if you want to… Well, I’d appreciate it.”

Klaus concentrates, presses against the boundaries of the lamp. Leaving always burns a little but the relief of having a physical body again is greater than the discomfort. He rolls his shoulders once he’s upright and solid, waiting for Caroline to notice him. She’s got her eyes closed, her head in her hands.

His fingers twitch.

He cannot remember the last time he’d felt the desire to touch another person but Caroline tempts him.

Klaus reaches out, looping one of her blonde curls around his index finger. She gasps when he tugs, her hand grabbing at his. She’s quick to stutter an apology, to pull away.

This time Klaus chooses not to let her. He wraps her hand around her wrist, tugs until she stands. “Thank you,” he says. “For apologizing.”

Her throat moves, a nervous swallow that he easily hears. She seems to be having trouble looking at him, her blue eyes flitting away, landing on the lamp. “What if… can you destroy it?”

Oh, how he’s tried. Klaus shakes his head, “No, I can’t. It’s immune to my powers.”

Caroline’s eyes narrow, her head tipping to the side, “What if I wish for it?”

Klaus can only laugh, too startled to bother hiding his derision. “You’d waste another wish?”

He can’t see how she could possibly want to.

“Would getting rid of it hurt you?”

Not weaken him or take away his power. She’s worried about him hurting.

“Caroline. I think you fundamentally misunderstand the concept of wishes.”

She glares at him, “I’m going to ignore the fact that you kind of just called me stupid.”

“I didn’t phrase it quite that way.”

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re kind of annoying?”

It’s not a condemnation. She might even be teasing him.

“Not for a very long time.” His siblings had once expressed such sentiments. Rebekah sually in a pitched shriek of outrage, Kol with a shove that generally led to a scuffle.

“That’s a no, then? Destroying the lamp won’t hurt you?”

“Not if you wish it.”

“Good.” Caroline steps away, shaking off the light hold he’s maintained on her wrist. Klaus finds that he’s not overly fond of the distance between them now.

She’s still in a bit of a temper, carefully straightening her clothing and enunciates carefully, “I wish for this lamp,” she pauses then, reaching out to pick it up, cradling it in both hands, “to be destroyed, for it to never be remade or repaired, and for it’s whatever magic it holds to die.”

“Thorough,” Klaus murmurs. He hadn’t been wrong; his Caroline is clever.

She bends her knees, dipping into a brief curtsey, “I’ve been researching.”

“Are you sure this is your wish? Once made…”

“A wish cannot be unmade. Blah blah blah. Just freaking do it.”

He takes it from her, the first time he’s willingly touched it. He grips it tightly, until it burns his hands. It fights him, he shakes, but a master’s will cannot be subverted.

He’s panting when he’s done but the lamp is gone.

He’ll never lose himself inside it again.

He laughs again, this time with genuine joy.

Caroline fusses over him, drags him into the kitchen and turns on the cold water. She holds her hands under the stream.

He doesn’t tell her it’s useless, that he’ll heal well enough on his own.

He remembers wanting things once. A toy sword, bread his mother had just baked. Pigments from a travelling merchant. The heart of a girl who couldn’t decide if who deserved her love most.

Klaus had thought he’d forgotten how to want.

He hasn’t.

[honestgrins]

The Worst || Klaroline

Caroline's always looked forward to finding her soulmate, only to find him while dying on her birthday. He's just...the worst.

.

“Hello, Earth to Caroline!” A pretzel landed on her textbook, shaking her from her zoned-out stare. She found Bonnie watching her with concern. “Are you okay? You’ve been acting weird since your birthday. Brooding, almost.”

Bristling, Caroline couldn’t help the wave of alarm rolling down her spine at the mention of her disastrous ‘funeral’-turned-near death experience. “Um, I think I’m still processing the whole thing,” she shrugged. “Post-traumatic stress or something.”

With a cant of her head, Bonnie didn’t seem convinced. But she just reached across the table to squeeze her hand. “Tyler’s a dick for biting you and running away. Maybe he and Jeremy can go off on an adventure together,” she joked with a sad smile.

Caroline was grateful for the easy excuse and almost let herself play along. Holding back the truth wasn’t exactly helping, though, and she probably needed to talk to someone. A witch who could help her brainstorm magical solutions certainly seemed as good an option as any, especially when it was her best friend. “It’s not that. I’ve got this...problem, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“What kind of problem?”

The kind felt like lead in her stomach, she wanted to say, dread scratching at her nerves until she shoved a handful of pretzels into her mouth. Eating her feelings was a lot easier than facing the biggest disappointment of her human life, no matter how short it was or the fact that it was officially over. She forced herself to swallow, but couldn’t manage to meet Bonnie’s eyes. “I think I found my mate.”

Bonnie blinked at her, clearly not expecting that. Worse, she didn’t seem to know how to react. “You don’t look happy,” she finally said, which explained her hesitance. “You’ve been dreaming about your soulmate for forever, and you look...” She trailed off, pity thick in her voice. 

“Scared,” she finished hoarsely. “I’m scared, Bonnie.”

Their hands grasped for each other over their forgotten textbooks, high school midterms suddenly less pertinent than whatever hell had just descended on Mystic Falls. “Tell me.”

Biting her lip, she was terrified of what saying it out loud might mean. Bonnie could hate her for it, Damon would probably kill her as soon as he heard. But pretending it wasn’t real, keeping this secret might kill her all the same. Eyes wide and pleading, she silently begged her friend to love her anyway.

As it turned out, she didn’t even need to say it because Bonnie could read the pain and fear in her face. There weren’t that many new people floating around town, and only one could inspire such a visceral horror.

Klaus.

She used to dream about her soulmate. All kids did, to a point, but it became something of a project for in elementary school. What they would look like, how their hugs must have felt, no detail was too silly for a young Caroline to consider as she methodically listed traits that made her perfect match. They’d listen to her - really listen - and care what she had to say. She’d love cooking them dinner and watch lovingly as they did all the dishes, like her parents did.

Her dad found his soulmate just after her twelfth birthday; the divorce happened not much later. While some figured she’d be put off the whole concept, it only reinforced her belief that love was best meant for the other half that existed somewhere in the universe. She may have learned to be slightly more flexible in the possibilities, but she wanted it more than ever. Finding a mate must be an incredible, undeniable experience. Her dad never would have left her behind for anything less than that, right?

Growing up was a lonely time, made more so by her mother’s promotion and the empty house that remained. She threw herself into school and clubs and every conceivable opportunity in Mystic Falls to keep herself busy, maybe around people who wanted her around. Bonnie and Elena would always be the nice girls, more popular and generally well-liked in a way her abrasive personality would never allow. But Caroline could be useful. She liked being useful.

That, however, often led to being used. Her soulmate could never use her, she thought. They wouldn’t want to, they just wouldn’t.

She’d read every self-help book about soulmates, scoured advice columns, and all but interviewed every mated couple she knew. Caroline wanted to know how they knew. What made a soulmate, and how could they be recognized? For most, it was the first brush of skin, a handshake or a hug. Others claimed there wasn’t one moment, and they couldn’t quite remember when they realized a friend was a soulmate - but it was absolute and they never looked back. Some knew on their first date, others after having sex for the first time. Bonnie’s Grams said she found hers just by meeting his eyes from across a crowded party; she kind of wanted to chalk it up to the Bennett magic, as romantic as the story was to little Caroline.

Whatever the set-up was, the punchline was always the same for human soulmates: a hole in their chest, one they never noticed or worried about, felt full and warm and right.  And she’d felt that lying in Klaus’s arms, his blood staining her lips. She’d been scared, achy, and livid - she also felt right staring up at this beautiful monster, promising her a thousand more birthdays like they were a gift. Like he hadn’t just held her life in his hands and gambled with the outcome.

Her soulmate had tried to have her killed. That should have been the horrifying part of the story, her mate being a thousand-year-old wolf-vampire hybrid with the power to compel her, all while he made her friends’ lives a living hell. Despite the supposed bond they were meant to share, she had no doubt that he would use her for whatever he wished and toss her away just as easily. But there was more. 

“Bonnie,” choked out, “I don’t think he recognized me as his soulmate.”

.

Klaus scrawled the note as an afterthought, having originally planned to drop the dress and his mother’s invitation on the doorstep with nary a word otherwise. But he had hesitated before ringing the doorbell. She’d looked tired as she arrived home, a little wary - far from the fighting spirit he’d met on her birthday. Plaguing his thoughts since, she would suit the dress well. He wanted her to know it was from him. 

So he left his note and flashed away, content to let the matter settle in the back of his mind until the ball that night. 

That was his plan, anyway. In truth, he spent an hour or two sketching details of her obstinance. Another hour wasted away with him focused on the curve of her mouth as she fought against sleep, something like awe in her expression. That face had haunted his own dreams, and he couldn’t understand why. Baby vampires were a dime a dozen, and he’d killed hundreds - thousands - just like her in his life. She wasn’t even the first one he’d saved with his new, uninhibited blood. 

Yet, she lingered, and he didn’t quite know what to do with that. Caroline Forbes had intrigued him. With the new era of peace his mother supposedly wanted, perhaps he could while away the days seducing the sheriff’s daughter into her new life beyond mere mortality. 

Klaus found he quite liked the idea.

.

She never meant to tell him. The ball had been a disaster, pretty dress or no, and she’d ended up tossing the diamond bracelet at his feet. For someone so adamant he couldn’t possibly have a soulmate, he’d worked pretty hard to appeal himself to little, old her. 

And he’d seemed so wistful about being a product of his mother’s soulmate, how Mikael had hated that love and punished him for it all those years. She thought...maybe... But she wasn’t going to tell him. Naming herself as his mate would just sign away her freedom, if he didn’t kill her outright. The guy was nuts and always looking for his next power trip, and Caroline refused to just hand it over in the form of her stupid, fated heart. 

Curiosity had always been her hallmark, though, and she asked one question too many. 

He seemed sad, even when he was flirting with her. Heart pounding, she kept her arms tightly crossed to keep from reaching for him. It was a stupid impulse, yet it felt so natural to want to lace her fingers through his and give a comforting squeeze. But he was just so aggravating, and she wouldn't let herself feel sorry for him - and she told him exactly what she thought about siring hybrids for his own amusement.

"You're making assumptions," he said in a soft voice that belied the danger in his expression.

"And you're lonely," she accused right back. "So you compel yourself minions and cart your family around in boxes, or you try to buy people off." She unlatched the bracelet like it had burned her wrist and let it drop between them. "Life doesn't work like that, Klaus."

A smirk clawed up his cheeks as he looked at her like prey. "Life works however I wish it, sweetheart. You're young, likely still hoping to fulfill all those human dreams you've yet to let go. College, a career, maybe even a happy marriage with a soulmate meant just for you."

Warning bells sounded in her head, but she forced herself to seem unaffected. "Why not? Being a vampire doesn't have to change that."

"Best of luck, sweetheart." His tone dripped with disdain, anger bright in his eyes. "If you don't find them in this lifetime, you'll be spending those birthdays I promised alone."

"Are you sure about that?"

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Caroline wasn't thinking, it just fell out of her mouth, bitter and pained. She could feel him watching her closely, and she needed to leave before she did something worse. "Never mind," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. " You don't connect with people because you don't even try to understand them." Though she dearly wanted to sprint all the way home, she kept her pace steady and tried to find peace in the haughty clack of her heels.

But she wouldn't find peace, not with Damon and the rest throwing her to the hybrid as the little, blonde distraction. Once more, she found herself surprised with the effort he put forth. Not surprising at all was how charmed she felt by his attention, and she hated herself for that. He'd been so earnest, though, daring her to get to know him and looking up at her with those big, hope-filled eyes. Whatever game he was playing, he had all the right moves to keep pulling her in when she should have known better. Her ignored instincts were proven right when his whole persona turned on a dime, gripping her by the arms and staring her down with pure rage.

He was the soulmate of her nightmares, and she felt doomed to love him anyway.

.

Burning the half of his sketchbook he'd already filled with her likeness felt like an empty gesture, but a necessary outlet for the chaos of emotions she seemed to inspire in him. He ran after her, pulled beyond comprehension to follow her confident stride - passing cars and better judgment be damned. The thrill of victory as Caroline sat with him was familiar and yet new, and he was wary of what it all meant. 

His fears, as always, were well-founded considering the attempt on his siblings' lives, and he'd thought to kill her for her part in the scheme. It should have been a simple task, and she would have had no chance at deflecting his attack. She floundered when asked, looking around for someone to save her yet resigned that no one would. 

Klaus didn't like that, and he didn't know why. He'd physically recoiled at the terror on her face, instead distracting himself with pursuing the more immediate threat. With the Salvatores momentarily put off, however, Caroline appeared to be a more sinister presence in his life than he anticipated.

If only that didn't make her so damn intriguing, then he could finally be rid of her. A part of him wondered recklessly whether there was more to the young vampire than the sudden infatuation of a hybrid set free of both curse and father. Then he'd quickly discard that line of thinking; it simply wasn't possible.

.

They were going to kill him.

Bonnie was the one to tell her about the storage locker, warning her not to do anything rash. With Damon and Alaric gunning for him, though, she only had so much time to debate the pros and cons of letting Klaus die. She was in her car before Bonnie had even hung up, half-formed plans running through her mind as she drove.

Parking behind a large truck in case Damon was still lurking about, Caroline didn't let herself hesitate to find the coffin he had hid her soulmate in, the dramatic ass. Luckily, the building was deserted as far as she could tell, and she flashed to the unit where Klaus was supposedly stowed. Her heart clenched at finding him in chains, only to jolt in surprise at finding his eyes open and watching her. "Hi."

He just blinked, and she could just see the gears turning in his head. "You're...the worst," she sighed, looking down to break the lock. "You are a power-hungry control freak who takes his daddy issues out on everyone who dares to make their own choices," she continued, moving onto the loosened chains. "Compulsion, sire bonds, straight up murder, none of that is good. I'm scared there's no line you won't cross, and I'm scared that it still won't be enough for me to leave."

It looked like a gargantuan effort for his desiccated forehead to crumple in the shadow of a frown. Gritting her teeth, she blew out a long breath. "But I'm more scared to lose my soulmate before he even knows." Caroline bit into her wrist and shoved it against his mouth, daring him to fight her claim when he tasted her blood for the first time.

Eyes wide and alarmed, Klaus dutifully drank until his skin gained back some color and his veins began to recede. When she made to pull away, his hand suddenly circled around her arm and held her still. He retracted his fangs from her skin, but left his tongue to tease the slowly healing cuts and clean any remaining blood. 

Shakily, she stepped back and he let her go, though he quickly stood to follow her. "Caroline," he said, voice low with awe. 

"Not now." She shook her head, flashing out to the car, confident he wouldn't be far behind. "We have to get going before anyone notices you're gone. We're gone," she corrected.

Klaus slid into the passenger seat, seemingly unable to look away from her with a small grin on his face. "Rome, Paris, or Tokyo, sweetheart?"

Rolling her eyes, she put the car in gear and sped away from the storage center. "Wherever we go will just be ruined if you come back and kill my friends," she pointed out. "I know you weren't really looking for a mate, but I won't be controlled, Klaus. And I won't let you hurt the people I love."

"And you won't let people hurt me." Her mouth fell slack at the implication, and she slid her gaze to find him watching her intently. "Intriguing," he said, almost to himself. "You are certainly more than meets the eye, Caroline Forbes."

"Yeah, well." She gave a helpless grin, completely unsure of anything other than the fact her life would never be the same. "Good luck with that."

[goldcaught]

kc au week → day 3          ¬ fashion house co-founders  

[klaroline-fantasies]

KCAUWEEK Day 7- Canon-ish

An Originals Poster of what Canon should have been.

[klarosims]

Another Set of Daughters

KCAUweek2019 for @klaroline-events

Day Seven: Canon-ish

I’m a little late but I would never forgive myself for missing out on the last day. So here’s a rushed little drabble about one of the scenes in TVD that really disappointed me.

Summary: What if Klaus was there when Caroline came to New Orleans with her daughters. But he was already Marcel’s prisoner.

“Hello? I’m looking for Klaus Mikaelson?”

The woman at the St. James Infirmary stared at Caroline and her two daughters. “Why would you be looking for Klaus Mikaelson?” 

Caroline could sense she was a witch but felt safe enough to be honest in the pub that was devoid of magic. “I’m a friend and I’m told he often comes here.”

“Klaus has friends?” 

Caroline whips her head around to find an army of vampires by the entrance. The one who spoke was a tall and dark handsome man Caroline has never met before but it felt like he already had it out for her.

She holds her daughters tight behind her.

“Easy,” he says with his hand raised above his head. “I’m not going to hurt you or your kids. I can take you to him.”

Caroline purses her lips. She turns back to the woman but finds that she’s gone, making Caroline even more paranoid. 

“What about Elijah? Or Rebekah?” At the sound of the blonde original’s name, Caroline saw him tense. 

“They left,” he grits through his teeth. “It’s just Klaus now.”

Caroline glares at him now because even after such a short time with them, she knows how much family means to all of them. They would never leave Klaus behind, “You’re lying.”

The man laughs. “I can prove it to you. Let me show you to Klaus.”

“Mommy,” Lizzie tugs on her pant leg, “I wanna go home.”

“Mommy? A vampire compelling herself children,” the man laughs, “now I’ve seen everything.”

Caroline snaps, “They’re my daughters. I gave birth to them.” That silences Marcel. “We’re only here to see Klaus, so if you so much as lift a single hair on my--”

“Hey woah..” he raises both of his hands, “I would never hurt kids, alright. I can promise you that no harm will come to them.” 

Caroline turns away from him and lifts both Lizzie and Josie. She lets them snuggle against the crooks of her neck while she followed the man out into the streets of New Orleans.

***

“Illusions, Marcel? Really?” Klaus struggles against the chains holding him back. “Do you not think Tunde’s blade is enough?” Klaus glares at the woman standing in front of him and the children hiding behind her legs. He growls in anger, “How do you even know about her! Who told you!”

“Klaus...” Caroline’s voice came so soft that he almost wants to reach out to her. 

“You’re not real,” he growls.

Caroline frowns and then quickly snarls at him, “Can’t you tell the difference? Honestly!” Klaus’ eyes widens and he has no choice but to listen to the voice he hasn’t heard in such a long time. “Telling me you can wait however long it takes like the arrogant jerk you are and now I’m standing in front of you after 9 years and you’ve already forgotten who I am!”

He blinks at her twice. “Caroline?” he whispers weakly. “It can’t be...” the blonde woman only glares at him. “What are you doing here! It’s not safe!”

“It’s not safe anywhere!”

Caroline can finally feel all the life-threatening stress get to her. She left Texas to take her daughters to safety, away from Rayna Cruz, but now she’s found herself in a worse situation where even the original hybrid is chained up like a common prisoner in his own home.

“Rayna’s back and-- she almost got me--” 

Klaus feels the pain in Caroline’s voice and he understands that her fear for her life was nothing compared to how frightened she is for her daughters.

“I’m truly sorry, love,” Klaus whispers.

“No,” she shouts at him and marches forward, “you do not get to be sorry right now. You’re the big bad wolf and you’re the only one who’s strong enough to help us. Please, Klaus.”

Klaus stares at her pleading eyes but a cough from the entrance reminds him who else is in the room.

“I’m impressed, Klaus. I never knew you had such a ‘friend’ you’ve been hiding from the world. And from the way she believes in you, I can only guess how much you mean to her.”

Carolines snaps her head toward Marcel, “You!” She points her finger at him, “I don’t know who you think you are but an immortal vampire hunter is on the loose and if we’re gonna have a chance against her, we need Klaus.”

“Caroline...” Klaus calls out to her.

“Caroline. Caroline. Caroline. You don’t seem to understand how much more dire this situation is. How about I demonstrate it for you?” Marcel bares his fangs but before he could sink them into her neck. Caroline grabs his jaw with her baby vampire strength and stares at him straight in his blood-red eyes.

“I didn’t come here to get in the middle of you and Klaus’s alpha showdown. I’m here to keep my daughters safe.” Lizzie and Josie reach out from behind their mother and grab onto Marcel’s legs. He can feel them slowly siphoning his strength like greedy little children. “But that doesn’t mean we’re helpless, Marcel-was it?”

Marcel quickly steps back and leans against the wall, his legs almost giving out beneath him. The two girls raise their palms up toward him, making him flash away out of the dungeon.

“Caroline--” 

“We don’t have enough time,” she quickly leans down to her daughters. “Can you girls siphon the barrier around Mr. Mikaelson?” 

Josie nods but Lizzie crosses her arms, “And then what?”

“Then,” Carolines bite her lips, “I’ll let you burn a lot of stuff on our way out. Does that sound like fun?”

The two girls yell excitedly at the same time. They run to the barrier and start sucking the magic out of it.

Klaus stares at the two little girls in awe. He stands straighter now, almost losing the feeling of Tunde’s blade inside of him. “How could I ever repay you, Caroline?”

Caroline crosses her arms, standing between her daughters and the entrance to the dungeon. “You can start by helping me keep them safe.”

Klaus smiles at her and then grins. “You need not ask, love. I’ll protect them as my own.”

[howeverlongs]

kcau week’19 · Day 6 · Trop x Trop

“Hello and welcome to my channel! My name is Caroline and if you’re new here, let’s do a recap okey? I’m from a little town called Mystic Falls, I’m mayor on marketing and communications and while I find a “real job” I’m here to tell you my fails and weird things that happens in my life. Talking about weird things, I’d received and invitation to join The Originals on their tour this summer. I you don’t know who they are, let me introduce to them...”

[labime]

Day Three | All Human | Best Friend's Brother. 

-How did Rebekah talk you into this anyway? 

                     -She didn't need to. I wanted to see you. 

[The one where Rebekah's older brother who Caroline used to have a crush on offers to help out with Sexy Suds Carwash and Caroline can't figure out why until it appears her crush wasn't quite so unrequited after all.]

[lynyrdwrites]

Changeling

I managed to get it done!  Here is my contribution for Day 1 of the AU week put on by @klaroline-events. I did the Fae. Because. Cross posted to AO3.

---

She was running about five minutes late for class, and it was irritating.  Not because she worried it might affect her mark; this professor didn’t care about attendance, but even if he had, Caroline had learned how to use her particular brand of charm to get around things like attendance grades.

              She just didn’t like to run late.

              Sort of like how she didn’t like clutter.  Or poorly planned events.  Or anything that required her having to work with other people as equals.

              She had an ex boyfriend who had once called her a neurotic control freak.  Caroline preferred natural leader, but Tyler hadn’t been entirely wrong. She just liked to make sure things were done right.  And that everything was in its proper place.

              And today, she was late.  It made her grate her teeth as she slid into the lecture hall. She took a seat in the back, a row she never liked.  She was always in the center, where the view was the best, but she didn’t come across a teacher’s pet.  No one, including teachers, liked the teacher’s pet.

              But the back?  That was reserved for the slackers or the late ones.  Sitting there made her skin itch, and she gritted her teeth. Caroline had never liked interruptions to her routine, and this interruption was going to throw her whole day off.  She found herself scowling at the front of the class and not hearing anything the professor said.  Everything felt wrong, and it had since her alarm had failed to go off that morning, forcing her to cut her morning routine short.

              And someone was watching her.

              She ran her tongue along the inside of her mouth, over her teeth.  It slipped over a sharpened canine, the sharp tang of bloody metal hitting her tongue, while her fingernails – painted a metallic pink that didn’t detract at all from their abnormal sharpness – tapped out a staccato on the desk next to her laptop. Her gaze darted to each side, but the others in the class were all focused ahead on what the professor was saying, or not focused on anything at all.  

              None of them paid attention to Caroline, except for the girl in the seat right next to her, who glared when Caroline’s unrest disturbed her from staring blankly at the YouTube video she was watching. Caroline gave a sugary sweet smile in return, one that showed just a few too many teeth… and how abnormally sharp they were.

              The girl paled and turned by to her screen. Caroline continued to shift, even as she tried to pay attention to the professor.  

              The feeling of being watched persisted throughout the whole class, and when it ended, she was on her feet, whip fast, looking at the back wall of the class, certain she would come face to face with her observer.  

              There was no one there.  No matter how long Caroline continued to stare, ignoring classmates as they moved around her, heading for the door, no one looked back at her.

              Yet the back of her neck continued to itch.

---

              Caroline could not recall a time when she wasn’t aware she was different.  Her teeth just a bit too sharp, her nails dark and even sharper.  The only one that hadn’t been at least a little afraid of her had been Bonnie Bennet.  That had made her Caroline’s best friend, even though others assumed it was the town sweetheart, Elena Gilbert.  

              No, Elena had been too nervous around Caroline. Always wary of those sharp nails. But Bonnie had shoved Caroline down for not sharing her ball on their first day at pre-school, not caring that all the other children kept a wary distance, and that had earned Bonnie her eternal loyalty.

              She had become ever increasingly aware of the fact that she was different and her parents didn’t like it as she grew older. As Bill Forbes began to spend less time at home, until he disappeared entirely, and Liz put in longer hours at the station, and when she did come home, it was reeking of cheap whiskey.  Maybe Caroline should have felt guilt over it, but she’d never been inclined towards self-loathing.  Instead, she had simply felt distaste.  

              Bonnie Bennet could accept that Caroline was a little… weird.  But the people meant to parent her couldn’t.  Caroline decided at the age of fourteen – when she found out her dad wanted to marry another man and had e-mailed Liz the divorce papers instead of calling either of them – that their weakness was on them, not her.

              She was meant to be spectacular.  She wouldn’t force herself into some narrow hole just because they didn’t like that her teeth and nails and entire character were too sharp for Mystic Falls.

(If part of her, the part that was a lost girl, cried over this… well, no one but Caroline and her pillow needed to know.  The world had no right to know her heart’s secrets)

              She had survived Mystic Falls.  She had graduated.  She had left her father with his new family, and her mother in the bottom of a bottle.  She had hugged Bonnie.

              And then she had left.

              She had a whole, huge world to explore after all.

              And it all started with college, and a journalism degree.  Because journalists got to see things and people in a way no one else did.  It was their job to truly understand, and Caroline wanted to understand everything.

              But now she had an itch on the back of her neck, and a feeling in the pit of her stomach that said a storm was coming. Caroline’s instincts had always been right.

              And now they were screaming that something – someone – wanted to ruin her dreams, and that couldn’t be allowed.

              Yet for all her instincts and careful attention to the world around her, a week passed after that first class, the one where she was late, without Caroline identifying who it was that was stalking her.  She knew they were there, but couldn’t see them.

              It might drive her mad.

              It might drive her into a bottle, just like Liz.  

              That one was particularly annoying.  Caroline had never wanted to be her mother, not even before she had realized how much the woman feared and disliked her own daughter.

              “You seem out of it.”

              April’s voice interrupted Caroline’s rattled thoughts, and she almost snarled at the other woman.  But April didn’t deserve that.  She was a bit boring, and probably didn’t deserve much thought at all… but she definitely didn’t deserve one of Caroline’s snarls.  Not when she put on a brave face and pretended not to notice the fangs or the nails, even if she was terrible at pretending anything.  

              At least she had invited Caroline to the study group for their shared English course.  It had taken several sessions before the other members of the group became as adept at hiding their fear of Caroline’s abnormalities as even April was.

              But since her studies were important, Caroline kept her smiles that bared her teeth to a minimum, and made sure she painted her nails in bright, cheerful colors, to ease the way.  Now they hardly ever shivered in fear, unless Caroline wanted them to.

              Her paranoia made her want to make them shiver. Those that feared her wouldn’t dare to mess with her.  

              “I’m not in the mood for studying,” Caroline said shortly, pushing herself back from the table they had claimed in the library.  Her chair screeched across the floor loudly, and for a single second, paranoia was forgotten when Matt Donovan winced and hunched his shoulders, and Caroline allowed herself a pleased grin that showed off her fangs.

              Matt whimpered, and Caroline chuckled, even as her neck itched again and she stalked away, swinging her bag over her shoulder.

              As she headed for the exit, a shadow detached itself from the shadows of a nearby book shelf.  She continued to walk, but breathing was suddenly easier.  

              She hadn’t just been paranoid.

              The shadow followed her, as she weaved across campus. Other students moved out of her way, instinctually sensing that she was not one with whom they should mess.  She travelled quickly between two buildings, taking shortcuts that only a well-established student would know.  The shadow followed the whole time.

              It was finally in the agricultural sciences building that she led it into an empty room.  She had taken a communications course in that room, and had learned that it was always empty on Tuesdays and Thursdays from one until three.  She had often used it to study.  The agricultural science building tended to be relatively quiet. Theirs wasn’t an agriculture school, so the students and faculty that frequented the building were relatively low in company.  

              “What do you want?” she asked, moving to the front of the classroom, so that the professor’s desk was between her and the shadow, and one of the exits was to her left.  

              “I am here to take you home.”

              The shadow was a man.  Dressed entirely in black, which made Caroline want to roll her eyes.  Apparently her stalker was a drama queen, when he wasn’t getting her paranoia ramped up to extreme levels.  

              “I don’t need someone to take me home.  I know where my home is.  I even have the keys.” She considered tugging them out of the pocket of her jacket, but then decided against it.  This mean, this shadow, there was something off about him.  

              Caroline recognized it, because it was the same off people sensed about her.  

              He eyed her curiously, and cocked his head to the side. After a moment, a slow smile curved his lips, cutting dimples into his cheeks.

              He had fangs.

              They weren’t like hers – dainty points on her canines. No, these were larger, twinned fangs that turned that smile, that should have been charming, into something monstrous.

              His eyes glowed amber.  They hadn’t been before.  Just a second ago, they had been blue; but now they were amber surrounded by black.  Caroline should likely be terrified, but she had never meant someone else that was so clearly other.

              Despite her better judgment, she found herself curious.  

              “Who are you?”

              The man stepped towards her, and it took all of Caroline’s considerable stubborn nature not to take a step back.  Even before the fangs and the eyes, something about the man had screamed predator.  Now that she could see it as well, all of her instincts screamed at her to run.

              But those were the instincts that had been created before her parents had begun to loathe her.  The one formed on hunting trips with Bill.  Those were the instincts of a human.

              The Other in Caroline was fascinated.  She want to run a claw down the man’s neck, and see what color his blood was.  

              Caroline’s was red, but not the usual red.  It was a red so dark it almost appeared black. She still remembered the way here parents had turned so pale, when they had seen that blood.  More than her fangs or her claws, it had been that blood that had made them hate her.  

              She wanted to know if the man’s blood was almost black as well.

              He stopped on the other side of the desk, just inches away from it, so the wooden surface was all that separated them.  He still watched her, and Caroline tensed. Her fascination wouldn’t get her killed. If he made a move, she would go for the door.  If he tried to get in her way, there were chairs she could use as weapons.  

              Instead of attacking, he suddenly gave a flourished bow, as though he had stepped out of one of the stupid fairy tales Caroline had once sighed over, before she’d realized the Other was always the villain and always lost.

              She had lost her taste for princesses and castles and happily ever afters after that.

              “They call me Klaus,” he said, glancing up at her with that wicked grin and those inhuman eyes.  

              “Okay,” Caroline replied slowly, contemplating him with narrowed eyes.  “And who are they?”

              “The Fae, of course.  My people.  And yours.”

---

              When Klaus had come to the Realm of Humans to find the Lady Caroline – the real Lady Caroline, not the fool of a child that had been brought to replace her – he had imagined it would go rather simply. The humans were weak, simplistic creatures.  What Fae would toss aside the promise of Faerie to stay amongst those that would shun them?

              No one.

              So he would find her, swoop her back to their home, and the plans he had been putting into play would allow him to claim the power of the Fire Fae, just as he had already claimed that of the Shadow Fae.  

              And all seemed to be going perfectly.

              “The Fae, of course.  My people.  And yours.”

              And here was where she would fall into his arms, believing him the savior, and he would gain all he wanted.

              And then she laughed.

              Right in his face.

              Not a little chuckle, or the delicate titter of the ladies of the Courts.  No, this was a belly laugh, one that made Caroline bend in half, tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes.  She stumbled back two steps, until she could let the wall at her back take on her weight as she continued to laugh.  

              “You… my… oh my God.”

              Klaus failed to see what she found so humorous.

              “Surely,” he said, his voice taking on a cold undercurrent, one that made everyone within Faerie shiver and fear his wrath, “you didn’t believe you belonged here.  You, who are so clearly inhuman?  I had thought you an intelligent woman after observing you this past week.  Perhaps I was mistaken.”

              Caroline was still chuckling, even hiccupping a little, but her laughter had calmed somewhat as she wiped tears from her eyes, careful not to smear the kohl that she had lined them with.  She wore it daily, that dark kohl; in their Realm, such things were usually only worn for special occasions.  

              “I mean, no.  It’s pretty clear I’m not exactly normal by the standards of this place,” Caroline stated once she’d wiped the tears away.  “But why the hell would I go anywhere with you?  Much less to a place that didn’t want me.”

              “Didn’t want you?” Klaus asked, puzzled by this new roadblock in his way.  

              “I mean, obviously.  Liz and Bill believed I was theirs.  You’re telling me I’m a Fae.  I can put two and two together pretty easily, Klaus.”

              She sauntered out the door to the room, and Klaus had to follow her, feeling as though his world had tilted.  This wasn’t at all how this was supposed to go.  He had thought there might be some confusion, that would quickly give way to relief, when she realized she would get to leave this wretched place.  But instead of being adrift, Caroline seemed entirely too comfortable in this place, even with the knowledge that it wasn’t hers.  

              “And what is it that you’ve put together?”

              “I’m a Changeling.  A Faerie child left in place of a human one.  What happened?  Did my counterpart die, and now my birth parents want a replacement?” Her smile was nearly as sharp as Klaus’ own, her fangs bared in a way that made him feel near instant lust.

              There was nothing so attractive as a woman that knew how to use her fangs.  

              “Your parents were unable to conceive again after you,” Klaus said after a moment, still trailing after her.  She paused, her eyes glancing over a board that had papers attached to it, but he had the distinct feeling that she wasn’t really seeing what they said.  “Some say it was because the Gods turned their backs on them, for discarding their heir so easily.”

              “A bunch of superstitious religious quacks,” Caroline murmured darkly.  “Because that’s totally what I’m into.”

              “I doubt the Gods would bother themselves with such things,” Klaus continued, ignoring her mutters.  “More likely they were just unlikely.  But the human child, even if humans were allowed to inherit, is foolish and selfish.  She can’t rule her own emotions, much less a kingdom.”

              “Well,” Caroline tapped a finger on a paper, her expression contemplative.  Finally, she shrugged and turned to him with a bright smile.  “Sucks to be them.”

              Then she turned and all but bounced out the exit of the building.  Klaus remained in her wake, wondering if this was what it meant, to feel flabbergasted. It felt as thought someone had planted a fist in his stomach.  

              He rather didn’t like it.

              He stood there for what must have only been a handful of seconds before charging after her, determined to explain to her that this was her chance to return home.  To be welcomed into the loving arms of her family.  

(To win him a kingdom)

              Outside, there were several students walking along the sidewalks, but none of them was blonde, dressed in a cheerful dress.  

              He had lost her, and it made him snarl.  

              Then it made him smile.

              It had been… far too long, before he actually had to work to get what he wanted.  Perhaps it would be a novelty.

---

              She considered ditching Klaus in the Agricultural Science building to be a win.  Of course, she hadn’t expected it to last long, so when that persistent itch at the back of her neck began again in her Rhetorical Criticism course, she wasn’t really surprised.  

              What did surprise her was when Klaus slid into the seat next to her, lounging and looking around the room with distaste, as though he were some sort of prince.

              Perhaps he was.  Apparently that was a thing among the Faeries.

              “If you’re going to take up journalism, we should likely discuss internship options,” she murmured as she added a notation to her online notes.  “I’d rather you not try to compete with me for any.  Losing might destroy your ego.”

              “You underestimate the size of my ego, Love,” Klaus murmured in reply.  He glanced at her laptop screen, and sneered.  “The people of this realm are far too reliant on their technology.”

              “Parents that abandoned me and no wifi… wow, you’re doing such a good job of making me think I really want to be a Fae.”

              “You’re a Fae whether you live in Faerie or not. There you would simply be amongst your own kind.”

              Did he know? She had to wonder for a moment. Did he know about those nights, when she had cried into her pillow.  Before she had decided her fangs and sharp nails would become her armour.  Back when her parents’ distaste and her classmates’ fear made her desperate for just one person who understood her.  

              She had given up that dream so long ago, yet his words still managed to make something in her chest pang.  And it made her grit her teeth and flash a fang at him.

              “I prefer being one of a kind,” she said, expression sweet and completely fake.  “But please tell mommy and daddy that their little girl is doing well.”

              Klaus chuckled low, the sound making her shiver, just a bit.  Caroline had messed around with a few boys, in high school and in college.  The brave ones, who would dare her inhumanities because she was otherwise beautiful.  But none of them had made her shiver, or feel any real desire.  They had reeked of fear, and while the hunt could be fun, it tended to ruin bedroom games.

              But that chuckle made her shiver, and so did the finger he ran up her arm.  He didn’t have claws, and with his lips closed and his eyes blue again, he could almost pass for human.

              Except there was no fear.  There was only lust and the wild glint of a challenge accepted.

              “I’m not a messenger, Caroline.  I’m afraid if you wish your parents to receive that message, you’ll have to pass it on yourself.”

              Caroline paused in her typing, as though contemplating the thought.  Next to her, she felt Klaus’ gaze on her.  Disappointing him, she decided, was going to become a delight for her.  She gave him another bright grin and shrugged.

              “Then I guess they’ll never know.”

              He let out another low chuckle as Caroline turned back to her laptop, fingers flying across the keys. He leaned in close, and Caroline’s fingers stopped, and her breath caught in the back of her throat. He was far too close.

              He wasn’t nearly close enough.

              She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, gaze catching with his, and those dimples made another appearance.  A monster shouldn’t look so cute, yet somehow Klaus did.  

              Monstrously cute.

              “You’re a challenge, Caroline,” he murmured, her name rolling off his tongue.  She wondered if everyone in Faerie had an accent like his.  Would she have, if she hadn’t been abandoned in favor of that bright, but useless, human?  “I like a challenge.”

              It sounded like a warning.  

              But Caroline had always liked a challenge, too.

---

              She was clever, his little Fire Princess.  Clever and wicked and not at all afraid of him. That was a unique experience for Klaus. The King of Shadows was feared across Faerie.  Caroline’s own parents were terrified of him.  The little human that she had been exchanged for?  She couldn’t even speak to Klaus, much less meet his eyes.

              Yet Caroline grinned at him to show of sharp fang and refused to even hear him out.  Since he had started to claim whatever seat was next to her in her classes, she had even begun to type him sweet nothings on the screen on which she took notes.

              If I told you to go to hell, how long would it take you to get there?

              “I was under the impression I was already there,” Klaus muttered, because while Caroline might be charming, the rest of these humans weren’t.  One had tried to touch him, with what he supposed she had believed was a seductive smile.  She had been blond haired and blue eyed like Caroline… like the human that had replaced her.

              The scent of her fear had been thick when she had fled, when he had bared his fangs, let his eyes go amber.  

              “God, you are such a drama queen,” Caroline muttered in reply, erasing her comment and replacing it with whatever nonsense the man at the front of the room was lecturing about.  They all spoke too much, these people at the front of the room.  It irritated Klaus.  

              “I’m a drama king, if you must use a title,” Klaus replied, giving the slightest of sneers, which made Caroline’s lips quirk rather than making her fear.  

              He was… okay with that.  If she had been anyone else, he would have torn out their liver to make them see that he was a thing to be feared, not mocked.  Only Caroline was allowed such freedom.  It made her unique, even amongst the Fae.  

              “Really?” she had done such a good job of keeping any curiosity about Faerie under wraps that the glint of interest in her eye actually caught him by surprise.  “That’s the closest thing to something personal you’ve told me.”

              It was, Klaus realized with some surprise.  He didn’t tend to tell others anything about himself, if he could get away with it.  His siblings knew far too much, and liked to use it against him whenever they could, and at least they shared ties of blood with him.  Sharing with outsiders was dangerous.

              And it also might be the way to getting to Caroline. He could keep it surface level. Make her believe he was baring his soul, when really he was simply telling her what would be common fact about him.  

              “I got the throne by killing the man I had believed to be my father.  Everyone believed it because I am hungry for power; truly, I just didn’t want to fear him anymore.”

              Caroline blinked at him, her lips pursed in surprise.

              Klaus blinked back.

              Well… that wasn’t at all what he had meant to say.

---

              “Okay, so your mother had an affair with, like, a werewolf?”

              Caroline was perched on a bench next to Klaus, actually finding herself fascinated by the whole thing.  It was way more interesting when she was learning all the gossip about other people’s dramas.  Then it was just learning about Faerie, instead of hearing about the people that had decided she wouldn’t be nearly as fun as a random human kid.

              “A Moon Fae,” Klaus corrected.  

              “Yeah, but they can shape shift into wolves.  So werewolf.”

              Klaus rolled his eyes, but his lips kicked up, just a bit, at the edges, and Caroline grinned back widely.  She knew it left her fangs bared, and Klaus’ eyes darkened at the sight.  He reached out, and it should have been weird, to have someone stroke her tooth like that.  But it wasn’t.  

              Instead, it made her breath catch.  

              “What kind of Fae am I?” she found herself asking.

              Shit.  She didn’t want to ask that.  She didn’t want to know.  It didn’t matter.

              “A Fire Fae,” he said before she could take her words back. “A creature of heat and flame, who thrives in the sun and has an… admirable temper.”

              Caroline didn’t say anything.  Instead, she looked past his shoulder, trying not to listen. Not to think about parents that had left her with humans that had… stopped caring.  Because Caroline wasn’t what they wanted.  They wanted a human.  Just like her parents had wanted a human.  

              “Why do you even care?” she finally asked, looking at Klaus, who seemed to be the only one that actually wanted her, and even then, it wasn’t actually her.  It was the throne that should apparently be hers.  “If I’m here or there.  You said you’re a king, so my parents couldn’t have hired you.”

              Klaus considered her thoughtfully, twirling a twig he had picked up at some point between his fingers.  

              “I had intended to use you,” he said at last.  “To gain access to the powers of the Fire Fae. I would take you home, and you would be so thankful you would give me access to the sanctum of your kingdom, and I would take it for my own.”

              “What?  World domination?” she asked, giving a bitter chuckle.  “I guess I ruined all those plans.”

              “You did,” Klaus agreed, still twirling the twig. “Although I find myself surprisingly blasé about it.  You should know I’m rarely blasé about anything.  My siblings wouldn’t recognize me.”

              “You mean the crazy, murderous siblings you mentioned?” Caroline tugged her knees up to her chest, rested her chin on them.  “So, my parents don’t really care that you’re here?”

              “They need you,” Klaus replied after a beat.  “They’d send someone.”

              Eventually went unsaid, because they hadn’t, not yet. Or maybe they had, and that someone wasn’t as good at finding her as Klaus.  

              “You should go home,” Caroline said at last, dropping her legs and getting to her feet.  “Return to your kingdom.  I can’t give you that power, because I don’t want to go there.” They don’t want me? Well I don’t want them.  “I’m happy here.”

              A lie, bitter on her tongue.  At least those old stories weren’t true, the ones that said Fae had to be honest.  Caroline’s life would suck if that were the case.  She made it through far too many days by lying to herself.

              “No,” Klaus said.  “You’re not.”

              Caroline shrugged uneasily, and began to walk away. Then, her hand was in his, and he was twirling her around, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into his chest.  Her hands rested against it – warm and solid beneath her hands – and she stared up at him in surprise.  

              “Marry me.”

---

              “Marry me.”

              Saying things he hadn’t intended to seemed to be becoming a habit around the Lady Caroline.  But though it had been a sudden demand, Klaus realized he didn’t regret it.

              Some events were meant to be.  Fae were raised on fate and destiny, and Klaus was no different. And he fully believed he and Caroline were destiny.  It would gain him the power of the Fire Fae, but more importantly?

              It would gain him that clever, clever mind as his partner.

              “You’re insane,” Caroline said after a beat of silence. “We don’t know each other.  I don’t even want to go to Faerie.”

              “No,” Klaus corrected, “you don’t want to go to being that don’t want you.  That’s not what you would be doing.  I want you. And I want to tear power from your parents’ hands, and take it for our own. Don’t you want the same?”

              “No,” Caroline denied immediately, but he knew it was a lie.  She knew it was a lie, too, and her gaze didn’t meet his.

              “Really?” Klaus purred, leaning down towards her. She looked up at him, and he brushed his lips over her own.  Once, twice, thrice.  And then he kept a careful distance between them.

              Her move.

              “No,” she said again, and he wasn’t sure if it was an answer, or a repeat of her previous denial.  But she followed his lips, claiming them for her own.

              Claiming him for her own.  

              “No?” he asked when they finally broke apart.   She pulled him in for another kiss, fierce and hungry and commanding.

              Only by Caroline, would Klaus allow himself to be commanded.  

              “Yes,” she said this time, when they broke apart. And at first, Klaus dazed and confused, and didn’t quite understand.  But then he met her gaze, which was fierce and direct.

              “Yes?”

              “Yes,” she said again, with a sharp nod, and yes, he knew they were fated.  Because he could hear the rest of her words.

              Yes, I will marry you.

              Yes, I will take power away from my parents.

              He kissed her again, already plotting the wedding they would have, once they destroyed the entirety of the Fire Court.

[witchergeralt]

klaroline au week 2019 ♡ mythological creatures

“to become a true immortal one must simply obtain the heart of a descendant of Helios”

In a world where myths and nightmares are real, Mystic Falls was a quiet and boring town. The most exciting thing to ever happen occurred when Bonnie Bennett opened her occult shop in the towns main square three years ago. The sighting of a phoenix over the falls changes things.

Caroline Forbes believed herself to be a normal over achieving, neurotic blonde (with an all powerful voodoo queen as a bff) up until the car crash that killed her a year ago.... or so she thought. Having finally adjusted to her change, thinking things can finally go back to normal, she agreed to look after the Bennett shop while Bonnie took a trip south. Which is how she manages to get herself hired to hunt down the phoenix that supposedly made the falls its home by a man called Klaus.

Klaus Mikaelson is one of the most feared creatures on earth. The emergence of a phoenix brings him to Mystic Falls and the door of an all powerful voodoo queen. With time running out, Klaus hires the feisty blonde occultist to help him find the key to his immortality before his enemies (and more importantly Mikael) get to it first. 

a.k.a klaus is a dragon and caroline is the phoenix he’s unknowingly hunting au! 

[cupcakemolotov]

A Broken Shield

Posted for Day One: Mythological Creatures of Klaroline AU Week. Not particularly mythological in this one, but did a bit of a role swap with Klaus as a witch and Caroline as a werewolf. Very AU, and not sticking to any TVD Canon. A tiny smidge of angst, but not romantically.

The bar was filled with smoke, the low voice of a witch touched with magic singing to the crowd. Not a siren, Caroline decided as she threaded through the swaying bodies, but perhaps a few drops of fae blood. Her voice was sweet if not strong, and her face was engagingly human. It was a song that invited you to stay, to drink, and probably why she had this gig. Once upon a time Caroline would have had a quiet word or five with the owner, given them a nice little fine. Mood magic was illegal when mixed with alcohol unless expressly agreed to and she hadn’t seen any of those warnings.

But she wasn’t a cop anymore. She had no authority and, Caroline supposed, no real inclination to involve herself in this small racquet. She’d only ducked into the bar to make use of its backdoor into an alley. It was a familiar shortcut, and her feet had followed the path without much thought. 

Evening was starting to fall over the city, the softly falling snow pretty.  She knew somewhere in the city a body was cooling and a detective was cursing the snowfall, the way it would ruin the lingering scents. A werewolf nose might be inadmissible in court, but no one was quite willing to dismiss what it could find, either. That forty-eight hours ago she’d been both detective and wolf had been an assist.

Now, she’d been striped of her badge and her wolf was angry. Pausing to let her eyes scan the room, she tiredly rolled her neck. She’d left the quiet seclusion of her apartment in hopes that a long walk would smooth the jagged edges of being so unceremoniously thrown out of what she’d considered her pack. The way her partner had watched her with a set expression.

Matt hadn’t been surprised. 

That had hurt the most. An unexpected betrayal from the one place she’d stopped looking for it inside a department that had slowly turned from home to a false sanctuary over the last decade. Police Chief Mason Lockwood was thinning the ranks, cutting his losses and she’d ended up on the chopping block. 

She’d known it was coming as soon as she’d seen the faces around her when she’d walked in, had braced her wolf with a stubborn will when she’d wanted to use teeth. Better to go now, when she still had her dignity and her pride than to let a man who would never be her alpha try to wear her down. 

It would be hard to find short term work in the city. No private agency would be willing to take her so soon, and even her nearly impeachable record wouldn’t mean much in a place where human and supernatural no longer blended quite so seamlessly. Something dangerous was brewing in the streets, but those were worries for another day. Tonight, she needed to burn off enough aggigitation that she could sleep. 

Ignoring the little tug of suggestion to continue to linger, her wolf brushed the magic easily aside, Caroline stepped back into the softly falling snow. Shutting the door quietly, she turned let the fresh air clear her nose. The snow was sharp, and underneath it were the lingering hints of those who’d walked the alley before her. The wind shifted, and her hair slid across her face just as another, more familiar scent caught her attention.

Stiffening, she bit down on a growl of frustration as the witch she had been hoping to avoid until she got her emotions under control turned and walked down the narrow alley. He paused for a moment, clearly not expecting to find someone already in the alley, before his mouth curled into a familiar, pleased smile.

With tumbled curls and entirely unfair lips, Klaus Mikaelson skittered along the edge of being almost too pretty. He played his natural charisma very well, oozing charm and enough heat to make the even the most devout of grandmother’s take notice. Caroline wasn’t devout and over the years she’d had cause to be thankful that he didn’t have the same sense of smell that she did.

“Detective,” he murmured. She had been braced for the familiar greeting, but flinched anyway. His smile flattened, gaze turning diamond hard. “So it’s not just a rumor.”

Caroline shoved her fingers into her jacket pockets to hide the way her nails curled into her palms. Forcing herself to ignore the flutter of happiness that coursed through her at his obvious temper on her behalf, she sidestepped his words. “Mikaelson. What are you doing here?”

His gaze narrowed at her deflect, and Klaus moved closer, until the familiar bite of his cologne and his intriguing personal scent overpowered everything else. “I own this bar.”

She blinked and looked over her shoulder at the dipilated sign, the scarred wood and slightly outdated exterior. It didn’t surprise her that he owned more real estate than the Department knew about, she just hadn’t expected this location to be one of them. Brow arching, she turned back to him, voice dry. “Did you know you’re employing someone with siren blood to sing without proper warnings?”

“Am I?” He shrugged. “Resumes are so hard to trust these days.”

Half-tempted to smile at his blasé tone, she shook her head and made to move further down the alley. Klaus shifted, blocking her path with his body. “Let me buy you a drink.”

Caroline blinked and then frowned. “I’m not in the mood to be interrogated.”

Her firing was still to new, too bloody of a cut for her to be willing to discuss it. That Klaus even knew about it confirmed her long held belief that he had eyes and ears inside the Department. It wasn’t much of a surprise, she’d spent years trying to get a mole inside his organization. It did suck that he’d been better at it than her. 

“Just a conversation, Caroline,” he coaxed. “We are something like friends, are we not?”

Her lips pursed as she considered his words. The thing between her and Klaus was complicated. He was pushy at his best, murderous at his worst. But much to her chagrin, her wolf had liked him from the start. Klaus, with his charm and his playfulness that acted as such a thin veneer for the violence that lived beneath his skin. It had taken the cop much longer to be so accepting, so willing to acknowledge the attraction he’d had never once tried to ignore. 

Today, heart sick and bruised, she wasn’t sure spending time with him was such a good idea. But then again, Klaus had never betrayed her and she’d given him ample opportunity for it. Maybe some company, familiar as he was, would ease her wolf enough she could sleep.

“One drink,” she agreed finally. Shoving her hair back, she glanced at the bar and shook her head. “Something quieter than here, please.”

His lips curved, dimple a shadowed tease. “I know a place.”

“When I said quieter, I didn’t necessarily mean empty.” Caroline’s words echoed around the room, and Klaus chuckled as he walked around the bar. His boots were surprisingly soft on the wood, and she absently wondered if he’d spelled them.

Witches. 

Giving herself a moment, she admired the feel of the newly renovated bar. If she remembered correctly, the location had been run by a witch twenty years ago and the premise had been badly damaged by a gang fight, and it had shut down shortly after. It had sat empty and rotting for a long time.

She glanced back to find him watching her, his eyes shadowed in the low light. He seemed content to watch her, but she hadn’t been looking for echoes of her own heartbeat, and this place was an old memory. “Do you own this one too?”

Klaus’ laughter was soft. “Not exactly.”

Caroline wondered what that meant. Shaking her head, she let her gaze sweep over the changes. “The update is lovely.”

His gaze sparked with curiosity. “Did you know it before?”

Unwinding her scarf, she finally walked towards him. “I used to live in the area.”

His brows arched high and he tipped his head towards a stool. “I didn’t know that.”

She gave him credit for only allowing a hint of disgruntlement to leak into his voice. Klaus had never taken kindly to her secrets. “Should you have?”

The look he gave her was flat and she laughed. Even if she hadn’t been the cop who butted heads against him and his people the most frequently, she thought that he might have still dug through her life with a fine tooth comb. She didn’t know what it would mean now that they were no longer technically on opposite sides. 

“It was a few years before I decided to be a cop again, and long before I’d have been on your radar.” Caroline murmured, answering his unvoiced question as she finished shedding her outer layer. 

Klaus considered her words with a little frown, but his face quickly smoothed over. “Perhaps.”

Rolling her eyes, Caroline pointed at the wall lined with bottles. “I was promised a drink.”

He glanced at the collection of booze. “Gin, if I remember correctly?”

She snorted. “Tonight is definitely a tequila night.” 

His brow arched but he obligingly hunted for a shot glass, movements sure and easy. Caroline wondered how much time he’d spent behind a bar. Picturing him with rolled back sleeves, the hint of the tattoos that were only partly visible when he bared his forearms, left her feeling a little flushed.

Pre-cop Caroline would have flirted hard.

She’d have to decide what post-cop Caroline wanted. 

“Lime?” His voice cut smoothly through her thoughts, and she shook her head.

“Not tonight.” Caroline braced her arm on the bar, studied him as he moved. “When did you work behind a bar?”

His lips curled as he poured her a shot and then set the bottle next to her. “Here and there, as needed. It’s a bit of a rare occurrence now.”

Klaus didn’t give her a chance to respond, lifting  his own bottle of choice, some fancy bourbon, and saluting. Tipping her head, Caroline downed her shot, and she let the burn of it ease the knot in her chest. It didn’t touch the grief, but the tight muscles in her neck eased a hair. Maybe she’d consider getting drunk after all. 

When she was alone again.

“I am sorry, Caroline,” Klaus said once she’d poured herself another drink, his voice low. She looked up to find him watching her, mouth set in a hard line. “The city will miss you as a detective.”

There was a wealth of meaning under his words. She and Klaus had worked against each more often than their goals had aligned, but he’d never let her chosen profession get in the way of what he claimed he wanted. He’d always done his best to push past the shield she wore, figuratively and literally, to find the woman, the wolf, behind the badge. But in his pursuit, he’d never ignored what she was trying to accomplish or how good she was at her job. It’d been the reason she’d never been able to fully shake him. He’d been as frustrated as he’d been fascinated by the cop.

But she didn’t feel up to picking through those layers. Not tonight. “Thank you,” she said simply. 

Klaus’ head tipped and his gaze moved along her face. “I am somewhat disappointed that Donovan has chosen to abandon you so fully.”

Caroline’s fingers curled a little tighter around her glass, and she frowned at him. “You’re fishing.”

“I don’t need you to tell me what happened in the precinct, sweetheart. It’s all over your face. For all that you’ve chosen to disavow the packs in the city, you’ve always been a creature that seeks bonds.” Klaus took another pull on the bourbon. “Lockwood is a fool.”

Caroline set her teeth, because she agreed. “Putting a wolf in charge of other wolves is never a good idea.”

Not without a clear cut dominance already in place. Human laws required that they avoid inconvenient things like dominance fights, and she hadn’t been the only wolf to disappear from the force. Mason was strong. But he wasn’t quite strong enough to leash the city. Caroline wasn’t sure he understood that. Her ex-captain was a political beast, and his vision was short sighted. 

Her wolf hated him.

Klaus licked along his lower lip, eyes probing. “Rumor has it Lockwood considers himself the Alpha, that he is trying to organize the packs.”

Caroline reached for the tequila. Her hand didn’t shake, but the hot spike of her wolf burned through her in a visceral rejection of such a move. When she glanced back up, Klaus was watching her with eyes gone calculating. 

“Mason Lockwood is no one’s alpha. He isn’t strong enough.” Her words were curt. 

The curve of his smile was dangerous. “Not for you.”

She shook her head. “He shouldn’t be strong enough for anyone.”

“Why?”

Scowling, Caroline took the shot. “Didn’t I say I didn’t want an interrogation?”

He made a low noise of derision. “This is hardly an interrogation, love. Merely… a conversation. I’d say one between friends, but we’ve never quite managed that, have we?”

“That’s because you’re a delinquent.”

His laugh was loud in the empty bar, the faint creases near his eyes doing unnecessary things to her chest. Dimples flashing, he shrugged. “Be as that may, that is hardly a current impediment.”

“You want to be friends?” The disbelief in her voice wasn’t faked. Caroline wasn’t sure either of them would easily be friends. The casual intimacy of it, the level of trust required for such a thing, it would always try to bleed into more. It was why she’d never let herself interact with him as anything but the cop.

His eyes brightened with the familiar witch fire, irises turning incandescent for a dozen heartbeats. “No.”

They stared at each other, the unspoken heat burning between them. Her wolf wouldn’t let her back down and Klaus had never given her an inch when he could take ground instead. Gaze narrowing, she let a hint of her wolf bleed into the open, the strict restraints of the cop gone. “Why bring me here?”

Something hot moved behind his eyes, a bright flash of the temper he hid behind the thin veneer of charm. “Your pain isn’t for public consumption, Caroline. It’s a private matter, with teeth. I don’t plan to share it.”

Her breath caught in her throat at the rage beneath his words. Her wolf liked that he understood. “I’m not yours to protect.”

He set his bottle down and pressed against the bar. “Not yet.”

Caroline’s gaze narrowed. “Arrogant.”

His dimples creased his cheeks and he shrugged. “Perhaps. But not entirely unfounded. We’ve known each other for ten years now, give or take. And neither my more… suspect activities not your previous profession has managed to cool the draw between us.”

Klaus was right and it was infuriating. There was something about him that tempted her, no matter what she told herself. Letting her wolf out to play, to challenge him, might have been a mistake. But it was no easy thing, to cage what lived beneath her skin. “I’m not even sure I’ll stay in the city.”

It was as close as she’d ever come to lying to him, and the angle of his jaw turned to stone. They stared at each other, tension a near violent thing between them, and she watched, fascinated, as he visibly unlocked his shoulders.

“Where would you go?”

Bemused at his iron restraint, Caroline shrugged. “I don’t know.”

He gave a short nod, the muscles in his jaw jumping. “Why leave at all?”

“If I stay, I become a direct challenge to Mason’s authority. He’s been systematically edging out any wolf strong enough to challenge him. And now, with a police force at his beck and call?” She shook her head slowly even as her wolf stretched its claws beneath her skin. 

“If your concern is his influence in the city, that’s easily handled.” A curl of his lip, gaze intent on his face. “You could work for me.”

Caroline snorted, derision clear on her face. “You can’t be serious.”

Both of his brows arched, Klaus seemingly unbothered by her disbelief. “Why not?”

There were dozens of reasons. Working for Klaus would be a risk in more than one area, and she wasn’t sure if it was smart. “You cannot possibly want the extra scrutiny such a move would bring to your... business. Mason already hates you, helping me would not improve things.”

Klaus’ magic sparked across his eyes in tiny, golden starbursts. “Lockwood is going to have enough trouble now that it is clear he’s using the humans to build himself a tiny fiefdom. Picking a fight with me will not be in his best interest, but I do so hope he tries it.”

He meant it. 

Staring at him, all Caroline could find was that dangerous calculation that had always fascinated as it had repelled. Fascinated, because Klaus had always been far more comfortable with the monster he’d become than she’d ever dared. Repelled, because the cop, her mother’s legacy, had always demanded she cage those instincts. 

Agreeing to his offer would be dangerous. 

“Klaus…”

“Caroline.”

The drawl of her name was a challenge. Setting her jaw, she pushed loose tendrils of her hair away from her face. “I’m not saying yes, but what on earth can you possibly expect I’d do?” 

Opening his arms, Klaus smiled. “Work here.”

She blinked at him. “You want me to wait tables?”

“I want you to run the place. It needs a manager.”

He really couldn’t be serious. “I thought you didn’t own this bar?”

“A mere technicality.”

Exasperated, Caroline looked at the ceiling for patience. “I’m a cop. That skill set doesn’t exactly translate to managing a business. Much less a bar.”

“Nonsense,” Klaus dismissed. “You’re more than capable of anything you set your mind to, love. Running a bar is hardly the challenge of hunting a killer, true. But perhaps you owe it to yourself to give yourself a breather before you go headlong into your next adventure.”

He meant it. The tense set of his jaw, the way his full lips pressed briefly together. It was mostly impossible to hide a lie from her wolf, and she was cop trained. More importantly, she knew Klaus. 

He’d give her this. A reprieve. A moment to find her feet. And maybe he’d even let her walk away. This terrible, fascinating man who held his people and his territory in an iron fist. 

For the first time, Caroline wanted to kiss him. To taste that unflinching belief in her on his tongue, to see if he felt as good as he looked. Flexing her fingers against the wood, she forced herself to ignore the burn of want in her veins and think. 

She’d loved this city. Caroline had lived as a lone wolf for too many years, watching her human mother age. She’d become a sheriff for her mom, had become a detective because it’d been familiar when she’d needed it. After her mother’s death, she’d walked away from her roots, her life and drifted for a decade. New York City had given her purpose. Klaus was part of that. But now she was cut loose from those ties, all her old human expectations, she knew her wolf would not so easily be pushed aside a third time. 

Caroline had no desire to surrender another inch to Mason. Not of her life. Not of her city. And her wolf wanted Klaus. It always had and maybe she owed it to herself to discover why. 

Something inside her chest settled, and she huffed to herself as she realized she’d needed this. To know that she wasn’t on her own again and beneath her rage and grief, she could see the start of a plan.

“Are you sure?” Caroline said slowly, glancing at Klaus from beneath her lashes. “I’m pushy. I’m likely to take over everything and claim it as mine, and don’t even get me started on the mess behind you.”

His slow curling smile was satisfied and devious in all the best ways, but he obligingly glanced over his shoulder. “Mess?”

She sighed heavily. “I thought you said you worked in a bar? Who organized the liquor, Klaus, and why did they think this was a good idea?”

A low sound of amusement. “I’m sure you’ll set it to rights.” Caroline rolled her eyes, but her grumpy response was cut off as he braced a hand on the counter between them and leaned forward. His eyes were witch-blue, sparks of gold glittering along his iris. “As for the rest, claim what you will, love. Claim everything, if you like. But don't be surprised if it claims you back.”

Her lips caught his before she’d thought the motion through. His unspoken warning that walking away would be no easy thing mingled with the promise his eyes made every time his gaze caught hers. The taste of his magic on his lips, the low rumble of surprise and want as his hands reached for her, was heady. Pulling away before he could tangle his fingers in her hair, she leaned back just enough that he’d have to follow her over the bar counter to kiss her again.

“Caroline.”

The edge in his voice, the glint behind his eyes left her lips inexplicably curling. Swiping her scarf from the counter, she didn’t bother hiding her amusement. 

“Klaus.”

He didn’t chase her, though the slow drag of his tongue across his lips told her he was considering it. Gaze finally narrowing in a clear warning, he tipped his head to the side. “Is that a yes?”

Dragging her teeth along her lower lip just to watch his eyes chase the motion, she shrugged. “It’s a ‘have your people send me their best offer’ and I’ll think about it.”

His dimples teased his cheeks with a smile that was all danger. “I like a challenge, love. Are you sure you want to throw down this particular gauntlet?”

Buttoning her jacket, she shrugged. “I’ll guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

Spinning on her heel, Caroline didn’t let herself turn back, even when his laughter followed her into the snow. Smiling widening, she turned her face up into the falling snow. For the first time since she’d left her precinct without her badge, she could breathe properly. 

She should probably avoid letting Klaus know that any time soon. 

[sunshineandfangs]

The Long Way Home

Day Five (October 11th - Friday): Different Time Period

Klaus and Caroline in the 1920′s? Klaus and Caroline as Originals and their adventures throughout the centuries? Is Caroline sent to the past and has to deal with a Klaus from that time? Is Klaus sent to the future and sees himself with Caroline? Royalty AUs? Regency Era? So many possibilities!

This is always something I thought about so I decided to write the snapshot version. Some angst again, though not Klaroline related.

---

Caroline watched her fellow blonde from the shadows. She was beautiful and vibrant and so achingly young. Physically of course, Caroline did not look a single year older than the other girl. Both of them appearing an eternal seventeen. However, the discerning would note the differences in their eyes, their demeanor.

That girl didn’t walk with an edge of lethal grace, always one move away from being able to attack or defend. She didn’t carry a confidence built over ages, the kind one gains when they had to fight for their right to exist and came out on top. There wasn’t a weight in her eyes that came from the slow build of weariness, from that near constant fight.

So, the two of them could hardly be more different for all that they were once the same person. She supposed that’s what over a thousand years of separation did to a person.

---

To be quite truthful, Caroline almost didn’t return to Mystic Falls. The people, the events that had once been the entirety of her short life were now little more than vague memories. They were strangers with familiar faces, as if remembered from a dream. And she would be the strangest of them all, an entirely different person from who they knew.

The worst moments of this younger Caroline’s life were waking confused and hungry in a hospital. Her mind reeling from what felt like PMS on hyperdrive and then an influx of what couldn’t be memories. Almost dying a second time to her rapist and the pain of her friend’s rejection, for all that she hid it with snark and flippancy. All terrible things to befall anyone let alone a teenager.

But she had yet to experience the stunned horror of waking to a village being devoured by flame. Of having the rancid, acrid scent of burning corpses so thick in the air she could taste it in the smoke. Or the dawning realization of where she was, when she was. The denial that she had dearly wanted to sink into when she spotted a familiar river with no bridge, a waterfall surrounded by several dozens more trees.

And yet she had not been able to afford such a luxury as panic. Not when she realized she could not understand a word anyone spoke to her. When she had to use her superior strength and speed to fight off men that wanted to kill her, rape her, enslave her. And even those that may have had good intentions, but whom she still couldn’t understand. Everything felt like a threat when she was so lost and clueless.

The next blow came later. For it had truly broken her heart to feel relieved that compulsion transcended language barriers. To have to rely on a tool that once decimated her own mind just to survive, to have the chance to fit in and find a way home. 

Fortunately or unfortunately, desperation was a cruel but effective teacher. High school Spanish had been half-remembered vocabulary and grammar rules, a middling grasp on the written and spoken word. In comparison, the languages of the few settlers that remained came quickly. Even as she tried not to think about how one sounded vaguely Norwegian or Icelandic, how she suspected it was Old Norse. Or how the tongue of what she came to realize were the natives, didn’t have a modern equivalent to her knowledge.

Then, just as she was finding her feet, she learned the harshest lesson of them all. There was always something worse. Hope could not die faster than when a powerful witch confirmed all her worst fears. When they sensed the magic of their descendant in her ring and the magic of her monster in her blood. 

Ayana spoke to her just long enough to tear the last remnants of her denials to shreds. And then achingly remind her of home as familiar features twisted with familiar disdain. She had refused to aid an abomination, telling her instead to pray for a quick death.

Caroline harbored no shame for the way she fled in tears. Decades later she would feel only disgust that an adult would let prejudices blind them to the plight of a child. But she was proud of the way she rallied. How she determinedly moved from tribe to tribe across the ancient Americas, learning dozens of new languages and making both friends and enemies. Painstakingly building trust and learning of new magics all in the hopes of home.

It failed.

She spent weeks, months, filthy and near starving to travel across the sea to the Old World. To do it all again. To fail again.

It wasn’t until somewhere in her fifth century that Caroline stopped trying so hard. Such an idea would have once been unfathomable, but truly all she was doing was making herself miserable. Fighting so hard to return to people whose faces grew blurrier by the decade. To people whose mental labels were “best friend,” but who had been long supplanted in her mind by centuries of other companions. Some whom had long died and she had mourned. Some whom she had turned and met up with every so often. So, why look back when she could look forward?

Another five hundred years would see her “home” anyway.

---

Caroline witnessed the precise moment when her past self was whisked away in a storm of magical energy. She read the startelement and fear on her face and felt something in her own chest twist, not quite in pain but also not quite in happiness, knowing as she did exactly what that girl’s next thousand years would be like.

A thousand years, and she supposed this place still had an effect on her after all, for she didn’t immediately try to take the place of her other self. Instead, she lingered in the shadows, watched with another odd pang that no one made a fuss about her disappearance. 

They got a pass when she spotted Elijah in town. Though she had never personally met any of the Originals, wanting to stay well clear of their mess, she hardly lived under a rock. She knew who they were, knew their reputations. Even saw most of them from a distance once or twice. 

It wasn’t worth the energy to hold grudges against strangers for their prudence in priorities.

---

A few weeks later, Caroline found herself drinking in a bar. Not the Mystic Grill. Some other establishment she hadn’t bothered to remember the name of, one on the outskirts of Mystic Falls.

The alcohol burned as it raced down her throat, her glass emptying far quicker than she would like. She frowned down at it as she traced the rim with her finger, not sure how she should feel. Elena was sacrificed. Elena was resurrected. All without Caroline needing to lift a finger. Her involvement or rather lack thereof made her feel guilty. Or perhaps her lack of guilt made her feel guilty. Should she be feeling conflicted in the first place?

She had called them strangers with familiar faces. And...and it was true. She looked at them and felt a startling lack. Only the memory of a memory of their once importance elicited any emotion for them at all. So perhaps she should treat them like strangers. Build new bonds should their paths cross, but otherwise go about her own business.

Tension she hadn’t realized she had been holding left her shoulders. A weight she had long carried lifted as she, at last, truly let her past go. It only took another five hundred years…

“Caroline Forbes,” an accented voice mused behind her, startling her from her thoughts.

She turned, admonishing herself for her carelessness. When her eyes fell on the person behind her, his blonde curls and deceptive dimples, a true litany of internal curses rang in her head.

Always something worse.

He likely noticed the way her eyebrow twitched a fraction, but that was all the reaction she allowed to slip.

With a polite nod she returned his greeting, “Klaus.”

There was a curious expression on his face and he didn’t wait for an invitation to step closer, invading her space.

“I rather delighted in Katerina’s misery when she learned you had so thoroughly slipped the noose she had placed around your throat. I even had a fond thought or two for the baby vampire who managed to vex her so.”

He cocked his head as he looked at her, eyes dark and assessing. Humans might have thought his demeanor casual and friendly, but the predator that lived in her veins knew better.

“Yet somehow you’re not a baby vampire at all, are you, love?”

There was no point in lying. Not when he could surely feel her age as she could feel his.

“No,” she said simply.

He made a soft, contemplative noise. “Katerina is not nearly foolish enough to mistake a human for a vampire. So, however has this come to be, hm?”

Caroline didn’t bother to smother the light laugh that erupted from her chest. “It’s a long story.”

“I always have time to learn of curiosities, love.” Threats, she heard unspoken. “And this is a rather unique time for curiosities. Why don’t you join me for the summer?”

She knew it wasn’t a suggestion. And the only thing worse than being noticed by an Original is angering one. Besides, she could use the time away from Mystic Falls, the last remnants of her attachment left at the bottom of a shot glass.

With an easy shrug she stood from the bar stool, setting a few large bills on the wood.

“Lead the way.”

A smirk crawled across his face. One she didn’t flinch or cower from, and only lightly tensed when he guided her out with a hand to the small of her back.

“I rather think we shall have fun, you and I, love.”

---

So Caroline accidentally time traveled just after Elena was rescued post-masquerade. Therefore, due to time travel shenanigans with her arriving just as the Originals were leaving technically Caroline is older than them in vampire years lol. By a few weeks but still, that’s hilarious. Though she’s not stronger since I headcanon the Originals have more strength than normal vampires even when matched for age. Fights could still go either way though of course. She certainly closest in strength to them than any other vampire.

[mydarlingklaus]

Who Is This Boy? I’m Going to Kill Him.