#klarolineauseason

[heatherstyles]

For @klarolineauseason

Week 1 - Canon Divergence

That scent. Even after decades, he’d still recognize that scent anywhere. Although he can’t quite pinpoint what is it made of, it belongs to her and only her. It awakens his wolf in ways even magic can’t explain. It's ridiculous, really. He's drawn to it like a magnet, to her.

After following the scent down the halls of the museum, he finally hears it. Her laughter. The way she throws her head back laughing makes him grin like a fool.

Oh how he misses her.

[itsmeimcathy]

{ klarolineauseason } - week 1: canon divergence

It's been one thousand years - Caroline has officially been alive for as long as Klaus had when he died, and yet, she has never forgotten him.

But a millennia is how long it took her to find a solution to her hybrid-less life, and now she's more than ready to go back and change the past. It turns out that an eternal existence without the warm comfort of Klaus' presence on the sidelines wasn't what she wanted - she had missed him for so long that his absence almost turned into an obsession, and Caroline was tired of dreams and memories.

So now, with the help of a few rare artifacts and some very powerful dark magic, Caroline is going to get herself back in time and prevent the tragedy from happening - no matter how much she will sacrifice in order to do so.

It's time for her to be selfish.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"The entire world is a dreadful collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her!"

[Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (chapt. XXXIII)]

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

She had died; when the old crone had pierced her heart with a blessed wooden stake, as her chanting became louder and louder and the words lost meaning, Caroline had unequivocally died. She had to, so that her soul could travel backwards, annulling the last millennia like a hand swiping across a blackboard.

One moment she was, the next she was no more - and then it felt like being everywhere and everytime, as the spell warped reality, undoing it, and dragging her back to the time in which she had anchored herself through the little bit of hybrid blood that she had kept all of this time.

It felt like being in the eye of a hurricane, until abruptly everything stopped.

And she felt like being in a corporeal state once again.

A hoarse gasp echoes in the deadly silent living room, and the vampire laying on the couch blinks her eyes open.

The tangy taste of blood still lingers on her tongue, a blood she immediately recognizes - centuries weren't able to delete that particular memory from her brain - and instinct tells her immediately when the spell has taken her.

It was the chosen moment - before everything started going downhill for him, and for her too.

She turns her head, slowly, barely allowing herself to hope - and there he is, sitting on the leather lounge-chair next to the window, the warm glow of the lamp casting morbid shadows upon his stony face.

He looks angrier and more dangerous than she remembers - or maybe time had simply allowed her to grasp a bette understanding of him to the point of noticing even the smallest of his expressions - even so, she couldn't be happier.

Before she has fully made up her mind - she should probably evaluate the situation, come up with a plan, try not to fuck up too much the timeline as the witches had repeatedly reminded her, but those thoughts come a second too late - she's already up and across the room, a knot closing her throat as she tries not to cry, and --

-- in his arms.

((It doesn't feel real to touch him, hold him, feel his breath against her cheek after all this time. It would be a lie to say that her every waking moment was spent thinking of him, yet there was always something - a word, an object, a place - that made the memory of him go off in her mind, feeding her longing, alimenting her obsession. Exacerbating the void left by his absence. And the feeling of their last kiss still seared in her brain, the bittersweet taste of a goodbye that they weren't supposed to say.

He had promised her an eternity, but was gone long before that started. It wasn't fair - he wasn't supposed to die, not after everything.

She had lived missing what they never were.))

Klaus is not privy to the whirlwind going on inside her mind - he simply found himself holding the trembling bundle of a distressed vampire before he had the time to blink her back into focus. His ancient instinct works faster than his mind, and his hand circles around her throat in a manner both harsh and delicate.

Yet, despite the grief and the rage still cursing through his veins, his voice is surprisingly soft when he calls her name, confused and wary. "Caroline…?"

Her hands hold on tighter on the lapels of his jacket, and a sound somewhere between a sob and a laugh comes from her lips.

"It worked," she murmurs, finally backing away to look him in the eyes. "God, it worked! You're alive."

That's when he notices it.

There is something different in the depth of her eyes, something that wasn't there only a few hours earlier - a weariness, a harshness that belonged more on one of his siblings rather than someone like Caroline - and it gives him pause, forcing to assess her, for the first time in a long while, as a potential enemy.

She doesn't look bothered by his hand around her throat, as if she trusts him, implicitly, not to overly harm her. Which is strange, considering that he bit her no less than twenty-four hours ago for much less than a potential physical threat.

Klaus frowns, barely noticing when his own thumb starts rubbing gently against her skin, lost in thought. The Caroline he has gotten to know wouldn't act this way, he is sure of it, even if she's apparently aware of his feelings - as she even told him earlier, in her attempt to coax him to save her.

If she was able to unleash this kind of gaze on him... He can almost taste her relief, see the yearning in the way she seems to physically restrain herself from - what? He swallows, his gaze dropping to her pale lips before catching himself - he must have given her more blood than he realized, if his brain has stopped working to this extent.

He almost calls her again to bring her back from whatever place her mind seems to have stuck, but in that moment Caroline backs away slowly, steel suddenly bleeding into her eyes.

"And I'm going to make you stay that way."

[ecoamerica]

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[certifiedceraunophile]

KLAROLINE: SIREN  X  PIRATE AU

There is a Siren in his nets, singing softly, softly. 

The wind changes course, returns the way it came, to cradle her melodies. The ocean, unmoving, silences itself to let her voice sweep the waves. 

His men, they are all but ready to throw themselves overboard, what for they do not know. 

His sails loosen, even as the wind picks up, they droop and sway as though they are here to flatten spines and bow in reverence amidst this creature and the sun—the sun can never keep to itself, it strikes down on her golden head as though to snatch a piece of her for keeping.

There is a storm coming, he knows this. Her song will bring it to him. 

There is a storm coming and he should flee but their story has always gone like this: One is the captor, the other the captivated.

She is tangled in his nets and he is bound in her symphony. 

And the ocean, their companion, thinks: Here lies a legend in the making—a Siren of the Mystic Sea and a Pirate with Ocean Magic in his veins.

@klarolineauseason

[morningstargirl666]

I just wrote the dialogue for the scene where Caroline is kidnapped in Into Eternity (but this time from Klaus' POV for this new chapter) and maaaaannnnn Klaus goes from paralysing, heart-clenching panic to I'm going to kill them and everyone they've ever met in the span of five minutes and it is GLORIOUS

[supremeuppityone]

Here are some of my favorite KC fic recs for @klarolineauseason​ Week 2: All Human:

Fever Pitch by xxredwineandambiencexx

Wedding Days by these-dreams-go-on

Skewered by UppityBitch

The Secrets That We Keep by RunningInThePouringRain

In Their Blood by accidentalrambler

Colored You In by LaLainaJ

Fallen by klarolineepiclove

Count Me In by iceSTEP

Quality Control by Eliliyah

Don't Remember Me by AddriannaDestiny

[bellemorte180]

When the Lone Wolf Howls

An old prophecy rings in the back of Caroline's mind as she keeps the promise she made to protect Tatia, a magic she did not believe in. Yet, when she meets a Viking warrior that shakes the very foundation of what she knew to be real and imaginary, she finds herself facing a destiny she believed to be impossible.

Or

Erica rewrites how the originals become vampires and makes them Vikings.

Prologue

Written for @klarolineauseason Historical Week

[galvanizedfriend]

Klaroline Fic Rec

For @klarolineauseason Week 1 - Canon!

Into the Woods by @jinxedwood

Summary: It's all Hallow's Eve and Caroline is looking for answers. The problem is, she's not too sure of the question…

Why you should read this:

"But Yokan, how would you like to see Klaus' part in Legacies play out?"

Like this. Exactly like this. This story accepts the finale we were dealt in The Originals, and then makes something absolutely amazing with it. I love the premise, I love the mythology involved, I love how unique this take is, and I love how even though it's poignant and bittersweet, it's still brings everything about Kc that made me love this ship so much.

Caroline has been in Europe for years trying to find a way to help her daughters with their Gemini situation, and then she ends up stumbling across something else entirely. While she thought the thing she most wanted to see on a brief stint on the Other Side would be gemini witches, her heart betrays her by taking her to who she really misses the most.

Honestly, it's 2.8k words of absolute perfection if you're in the mood to embrace canon. In these pre-Legacies finale days, I can't imagine anything that would be better suited. @jinxedwood's writing is incredible! She manages to build up a scenario we're not used to seeing in TVD by bringing in different supernatural folklore into it with so few words, packing tension, emotions and MY WHOLE HEART into this short one-shot. Such a fantastic writer!

Please join me in crying over this story and singing praise to this incredible writer! 💖

[cupcakemolotov]

A Lupine Sky

Written for @klarolineauseason Week 3: Creatures. Managed to crank this out in two days, which is surprising enough. A big thank you to the every lovely @kirythestitchwitch who had to deal with my madness over the past not quite 48 hours of trying to get this thing put together with something that looks like coherency. No smut in this one (I am not a miracle worker in two days!) but some back and forth anyway.

Warnings: Alternate Universe - Werewolves, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Canon-Typical Violence, Threats of Violence, Werewolf!Klaus, Mythical Beings & Creatures

Synopsis: The hunt for Sanctuary leads Caroline to the last place she'd have thought to run: North. Into the territory of wolves.

Link: A03

                                                            -

“This is wolf territory, little girl. Whoever your gods are, I’m quite certain they’re no longer listening.”

Caroline’s breath whooshed out of her in shock at the softly menacing words. She opened her eyes, swallowed at the softly sputtering candle in front of her, not quite daring to turn. Her spine itched at the gaze she could feel burning into her, and it took teeth gritted effort not to bolt to her feet. Only the fact that in the South, it was considered a rare taboo to kill someone in prayer that kept  her in place. Hopefully whoever was behind her, acolyte or monster, would have a similar approach to murder.

Because he was right, she’d left the gods of her childhood behind, had tossed them aside and if he decided to kill her, she’d find no help here in this forsaken place. Around her, the old remnants of the temple were covered in dust, the occasional spiderweb web shimmering out of the corner of her eye as the mountain wind cut through the broken windows. The altar she knelt in front of had been worn smooth by time or weather, but it wasn’t abandoned, not entirely. 

As the voice behind her had proven. 

Outside, the rain was now a soft patter of sound against the still standing walls, splashing faintly in the puddles on the stone floor, and so unlike the unforgiving storm that had drenched everything around her as she’d staggered up the wickedly dangerous steps outside the temple for what had felt like hours. Even inside the mostly intact ruin, the chill was bitter. There was no snow on the ground, but it felt like there should have been, the sticky spring heat of yesterday a distant dream.

Six hours into her escape and Caroline already knew she was going to hate the weather of this place. She’d prepared for it, planned for every unpredictable weather pattern, but she’d never felt this kind of cold and if not for the charms tucked into her tunic, she'd be so much worse off. But the magic she’d brought with her  could only do so much, with the last of the magic straining against the chill of the stone, her hands trembling first from cold, and now fear, the only reason her teeth weren’t chattering loudly was because of how tightly she’d locked her jaw. 

Fear, because this was a risk and for all her meticulous planning, the one thing she had not accounted for was the temple she’d been dreaming of for years being so absolutely abandoned. The shock of it had nearly paralyzed her, but for all the temple had been clearly left to rot, power lingered. It sat in the foundations, glittered in the cracked pews, and twinkled oddly in the corner of her eyes on the patched roof. Behind her closed eyelids it sparkled like the sun in this land of moon and shadows. 

It had been that deep well that she’d sensed that had galvanized her into moving. Something compelling had been here once, and the promise of it was a ghostly shimmer in the air. Somehow, this place felt more familiar, more welcoming than all the temples her father had dragged her to when the first anomaly had appeared. It had to mean something, she just needed to survive long enough to figure out what. 

Because it had been an inexplicable promise in her dreams that had drawn her here, kept her going across all the miles she had staggered through broken roads along the bitter mountain, the itch down her spine and at the back of her neck telling her to hurry, to climb faster. Her family might have no way to guess where she’d run to, but there were ways to track her, even with the precautions she’d taken. The moment she slipped from her room and risked burning every magical reserve she’d hidden so carefully for five years for a portal, the countdown had started. 

But what was behind her, metaphorically and now apparently, physically, wasn’t the only danger she faced. In this frigid hell, it was entirely possible that the only deity lingering who might have heard her was the moon, and she wasn’t known for her kindness to Caroline’s people. The cold, half-frozen realm she’d found herself in was a harsh land, and the rules favored the strong, the ruthless. Traits the moon’s favored children held in abandon. 

Caroline could be ruthless when necessary, but her strengths weren’t blatant. The moon has seeded the wolf among her people, given them the means to hold their territory with tooth and claw against the oil slick of the south. Her knowledge of this land’s people was limited to the nightmare stories from her childhood, of raiders and pillaging, of horrors that were birthed in the jagged peaks that so dominated the landscapes here. What little she could find buried in journals of deceased diplomats and faded in old musical tomes. She’d memorized all of it, but facts could only take her so far. She was so out of her depth, but what choice did she have?

Under the long sleeves of her tunic, her arms burned, but it wasn’t the same warning she’d grown familiar with in her life. This broken temple lacked the greed, the sly oil residue that had always tried to stick to her skin like bruises after her appointments. This? It felt clean, old. Where the heart of the power of the south was a black, mangled thing that grew in the damp heat like a cancerous growth, this rain washed temple felt like her dreams, albeit a lot colder and wetter than she’d hoped. To think, this was spring. 

Caroline held in a shudder at the thought and firmed her spine. She was certain that what was here, sunken deep and waiting was what she had come to bargain with. Now she just had to figure out how to convince its caretaker to let her stay. That whatever still existed had called her.

Her mouth twisted. A Northerner, trusting the word of a Southerner. It wouldn’t be easy, but nothing worth fighting for ever was and she wasn’t ready to die just yet.

Whoever was behind her must have grown bored with her silence, because he moved forward on footfalls that were deliberately loud. Such a strange, mocking threat to hear in mere footsteps and she laced her fingers tightly together. She wanted to tell herself that she was imagining it, that soft coat of menace behind her, but against her hyper aware senses, he felt like the snap of sharp teeth, and shards of moon bright magic. Magic, there was so much magic in this man, and unlike the coiled power beneath her feet that lingered as it waited, this magic carried intent. 

How could such a man be bound to a place of such disarray? Taking a careful breath, centering herself, Caroline waited with nerves strung tight as the shadow slowly coalesced into a shape clad in a thick fur and that hid the true size of him, a cloak she strongly envied, and her stomach dipped to her toes. Young. He appeared young, but that meant nothing in this Northern Land of Monsters and Men. That he was handsome shouldn’t have meant anything to her, but as the curve of his lips caught the dim glow of her candle, the crease of dimples caught her by surprise. 

Caroline forced herself to ignore the pretty planes of his face and tempting lips, to take in this unexpected threat as this was no acolyte. No acolyte she’d ever seen before carried such menace. He’d be taller than her if she stood, though he wouldn’t tower over her, but even that knowledge didn’t dissuade the sense of strength to him. The clinging sparkles of magic. This man was dangerous, and he did nothing to hide it. Around his shoulders, his cloak fell nearly to his feet, a thick fall of fur and leather, and her stomach twisted as it occurred to her what she was looking at.

Her father’s favorite story of the barbarianisms of the North was how the shapeshifters would kill their rivals, turning their pelts into cloaks as a warning to their rivals. Licking her lips, she watched him study her. Caroline didn’t read her impending death in his face, but she’d been wrong before. 

“You’re a wolf.” Her numb lips stumbled over the words.

“So I am.” A mocking smile tilted his mouth. “And you are perhaps not quite a girl. How surprising. Here I thought the Southerners liked to lock their women up long before they reached child bearing age.” A flash of teeth, white and straight, with canines that looked slightly sharper than she was comfortable with noticing. “Too afraid of raiders coming to steal their daughters.”

If only raiders were the reason she had spent her life behind walls. Her life would have been far simpler. Adrenaline warmed her blood, and she narrowed her eyes. “If that is the extent of your knowledge, you know very little about my people.” 

There was a flash of something potent in his eyes, and then a shift of muscle with enough speed that she flinched, and he was suddenly crouched in front of her. He was nearly eye to eye with her, but somehow still managed to give the impression of looming, and the hand gripping the edge of the altar was precariously close to her best source of light. This close, and she could catch that faintest hint of something wild and indefinable in her nose.

Metal glinted along his fingers, caught at a chain at his neck. In her homeland, each piece of jewelry would have had a specific meaning, a clue to power and wealth, to his rank within his society. She had no idea what secrets he wore, no idea what warnings he cared to offer his enemies and assurances to his friends with his choices. 

That hint of mocking laughter disappeared between one blink and the next, and the razor blade of his gaze threatened to cut her wide open. “Tell me. Is there a reason why I shouldn’t take you outside and execute you under the moon's watchful gaze for trespassing? Your kind is not well liked here, and I don’t think She’d mind.” His jaw suddenly tensed, and his head lifted to glance behind her. “Particularly when you are being followed.”

Caroline swallowed, something inevitable echoing through the hollow of her bones. So soon. They’d found her trail so soon. “I have broken no treatise by being here.”

“We have no treatise with your people,” he murmured in a soft taut, fingers reaching out to pluck a curl from her shoulder, tugging. She swatted his hand away, and his wolf rumbled in a noise that locked her muscles, and his eyes glimmered. “Hard to break something that does exist.”

“Do you murder everyone who comes through here?” The words held more bravo than she was feeling, and he snagged that curl again, eyes daring her to slap his hand away a second time. 

“Of course. This is my territory, my lands. Your people carry a rot, and my wolf doesn’t like the stink of it.” He brought the curl to his mouth, breathing deeply, and she narrowed her eyes at the blatant disregard for boundaries. He continued, unbothered by her ire, though a wrinkle briefly appeared between his brows. “There is no law here that can protect you, no magic that can be called to your aid. Here, my people are god, and I rule.”

“The moon might disagree with that.” The words held little bite, and no confidence, but something about his expression goaded her.

“The moon has chosen silence for many years,” he mocked. “I don’t think She’ll break that silence for you.”

“I have harmed no one by being here,” she continued stubbornly, refusing to let him cower her. He tugged on her hair again, but then let it slide through his fingers to fall against her shoulder.

“Your very presence brings harm,” Klaus said. “But those who follow you are still a ways from here, and why chase them when they will come to me? Now or later, they will die by my hand.”

She swallowed. “Is that why you followed me here? To kill me?”

“I considered it when I first saw you, but you were such a pathetic sight, staggering up the cliff dripping water and cursing.” He flashed those dimples, and they did nothing to remove the sting of the word pathetic. “It has been a long time since I watched someone with such determination, as foolish as it was. My wolf was… let’s call it curious, and a lack of anything else particularly amusing tonight. Then you made it here.”

“Amusing,” she repeated flatly. 

“Most.” Another flash of something jagged and sharp behind his eyes. “Perhaps you should count your blessings, though I’m certain you won’t find many more here.”

“And why is that?”

“Usually my wolf would be more interested in the crunch of your bones, your screams. But you moved as if you knew exactly how to find this place, which is impossible. This particular trail is well hidden even from my people, this temple faded to obscurity. I want to know how someone like you found it.”

Disbelief had her huffing out a breath, something wildly amused and desperate catching in her throat like a laugh. “It is still quite well hidden, I assure you.”

Those strikingly intelligent eyes narrowed. “A pilgrimage then? How strange. There are easier deaths to court. But here you are, so I will give you this chance to amuse me.” Widening his arms, he smiled at her, boyish, and somehow all the more murderous for it. “Give me the pleas you planned to convey to our dread goddess, and perhaps I’ll be merciful.”

Caroline’s lips parted at the sheer arrogance of him. “You must be joking.”

His laugh was low in his throat. “Who else could possibly be around to listen to you beg in this land? Surely not Her, not a Southerner.”

“I do not beg,” Caroline said scathingly. “Particularly not to wolves.”

The slow, dangerous curve of his mouth. “And what does a soft, summer girl like you believe she knows of wolves?”

Her heart was thudding in her chest, and if the way his gaze dipped to her pulse said anything, he knew it. Enjoyed it, from the uptilt of his mouth. Annoyance flashed through the fear, and she shrugged a shoulder. “What is there to know? I believe the word savage is most commonly used.”

He paused at her words, finger tightening on the edge of stone beneath his palm. The silence between them was broken only by the sputter of her dwindling candle for a long moment. “Such a brave little thing. I find it’d be a pity for you to die without a name.”

“I have a name.”

“Give it to me.”

Her spine went tightened, at the power in those words, the wolf she could almost see threaded through that demand. It took grit, to control the surge of fear, the compliance Caroline found herself fighting. “Names have power.”

A shrug, “so they do.”

Underneath her knees and shins, her bent toes,  the power stirred, a sensation not unlike watching a creature slowly rise from the depths of the ocean. It gave her the confidence, false though it might be, to push back. “So tell me yours first.”

His lashes hid his eyes in a slow sweep, and when they lifted again, there was no mistaking what sat beneath his skin this time. Hot gold, his eyes were moon bright in the dim light, she could feel the cold press of the jagged moonbeams of his magic. “Brave of you, to make demands. How surprising. Most of your people have so little spine.”

“You don’t know my people,” Caroline rebuked softly. The lack of spine was so they could coil around you so much tighter, so their slithering magic could sink into the hallow of your bones. “Many of us are far braver than you would know, and we are also stubborn.”

His gaze was unblinking, and she watched him choose to be amused by her defiance. That he felt so secure in his ability to kill her left her fingers flexing against her palms. Irritating. This wolf was irritating. 

“I’m Klaus.”

Her breath caught in her throat, and something niggled at the back of her mind, a cautious warning she couldn’t recall. That he was waiting for her to know him, to remember, had her hand clenching in a fist. “Caroline.”

“Well, pretty Caroline. You are in my territory and I will have my answers, one way or another. Why are you here?”

Her gaze snapped to his, and Caroline found that his amusement no longer lingered in the creases near his eyes. The iris of his eyes caught the candle strangely, more gold than belonged in human eyes, and she felt her insides twist. 

“If there is no one here to hear my prayers, why does it matter?”

A rumble of sound that should have never come from a human throat. “Because it’s been two hundred years since someone was foolish enough to seek Sanctuary here, and you should not know of this place.”

Two hundred years. Her magic rattled in her chest, and it was difficult to think through what that could mean. The certainty of her dreams gave way to unsteady footing, and Caroline dug her nails into her palms. “Why should I believe you?”

A tip of his head, the motion so canine, a silent threat that left her pulse hammering in her throat. “Are you calling me a liar?”

“Are you?” She lifted her chin. “A liar?”

A hint of that damnable dimple, but nothing in her chest eased at the sight of it. “Do you think you’ll live long enough to find out?”

“If you’re going to try to kill me,” Caroline managed after she gained control of her pulse. “Do it outside.” While she wasn’t above haunting a man for the purpose of vengeance, something she couldn’t articulate told her that to commit another death here would break something fragile. Her ghost might tip the balance to something terrible.

Klaus’ brows arched high and he leaned a little closer, nose nearly brushing hers now. “So many demands. Perhaps you should be more worried what it will mean if I don’t kill you.”

She held his gaze, so close to her own she could see the individual striations of color, the way the gold didn’t blot out the blue, not entirely. It was like studying the surface of a clean flame. “Nothing worse than what awaits me if they catch me.”

The muscle in his jaw ticked in her peripheral vision. “Desperate indeed is the Southerner who runs to these lands for Sanctuary. What has sent you scurrying to this place, Caroline?”

“Does it matter?”

A humorless curl of his mouth. “It does. Particularly if you wish to keep your head attached.”

Caroline swallowed, reading the truth in his words easily enough. It wouldn’t take those following her long to find the same path she had taken, would likely take them less time to march those endless, endless steps now that the storm had eased. She supposed what few choices she had left started and stopped with this wolf. Even if this temple was forsaken, there had to be others, and there had to be someone who could explain. The problem was she would have to ask and hope she’d find answers.

No one had ever helped her once they knew, and this wasn’t likely to be different but she would rather die here. In this clean, cold air than for all the humid heat full of rot that she’d known all her life. Leaning back, keeping his gaze so he wouldn’t think this was a retreat, Caroline shook the sleeves of her tunic back. 

In front of her, the wolf made a little rumbling noise, and he glanced down. Caroline braced herself, for the disgust, or worse, for the thoughtful greed that had crossed so many faces as Bill Forbes had told his daughter to share her shame. But none of those emotions appeared on Klaus’ face. For a long, long moment, there was silence, the only moment of his body the slow exhale of his breath. 

“I don’t know what they mean,” Caroline finally said into the silence, her nerves finally catching control of her tongue. “No one will tell me.”

Slowly, as if he was afraid she’d pull her arms back, Klaus lifted one hand and traced the faint markings that ran from wrist to elbow, the gleaming symbols that made no sense to her mind. His touch burned, the markings glowing faintly as his fingertip skimmed across them. 

“Do you dream, Caroline?”

His gaze met hers, and she swallowed harshly at the intensity of the wolf. “Yes.”

A slow glide of his fingers, his voice dipping low and coaxing as light shimmered across her skin. “And in those dreams, what do you see?”

She pulled her arm back. “That doesn’t concern you.” 

Klaus studied her face, the shape and bone of him human, but every other part of him reading as wolf to her senses. As if the wolf had lunged you and lingered, just beneath the delicate barrier of his flesh. Her pulse started to pound, something drawing taut and terrible between them.

“Well,” he murmured, “perhaps She would mind if I killed you beneath her gaze after all.” Something like wonder touched his eyes briefly. “Perhaps we need the reminder that She chooses her words with care.” 

Caroline blinked at him. “What?”

Instead of answering her, Klaus’  gaze shifted to the back of the temple, head angled as if he was listening. “How many people know of these, love?”

The endearment was jarring after his litany of threats. “Too many. My father believes them to be a curse.”

“Not an uncommon superstition, I’m afraid, but less common here, though that matters little since you were drawn here.” A flash of teeth. “To me.”

Her stomach dipped. To him? “What does that mean? What do these mean?” She’d torn apart her father’s library, snuck into the palace stacks on numerous occasions, at great risk to herself, and not once had she found so much of a hint of what they were. “How do you know I dream?”

When his eyes returned to hers, they burned. “You're a moon witch.”

Caroline stared at him blankly. “What?”

A shake of his head, hands lifting to the ornate clasp at his throat that sparked with power. “You must have an ancestor from the North, there is no other possible explanation. Even Her sense of humor is not so terrible as to cast her own into the clutches of your gods.”

Before she could make sense of that, the complete impossibility of what he was suggesting, Klaus pulled the heavy cloak away from his shoulders and swung the warmth of the furs around hers. Blinking in shock even as her hands came up to catch the edges of the cloak, she froze as his palm settled along the curve of her jaw. The feel of him seared against her skin, and she could feel the pulse of that heat racing along her forearms.

Her breath stuttered in her throat as he leaned into the fall of her hair, his inhale soft, the warm dampness against her ear as exhaled pricking goosebumps across her skin. “It does explain this, doesn’t it? Stay here. I will deal with the ones who wish you harm.”

A scoff caught in her throat, even as she tried to wrench the flush of heat under control. “It explains nothing, particularly your sudden change of heart. Now you want to help me?”

He moved, so she could feel the puffs of his breath across her lips. So that his eyes, tangled up in wolf and man, met hers. The sudden heat of him did more for the chill in her bones than the warmth of the furs, and she felt her cheeks flush. “Yes.  Consider your request of Sanctuary heard. I will grant it. For now.”

Then he was gone, his hand quickly snuffing out the candle in a single movement. The shadows swallowed her with the moon still hidden behind the clouds. A long moment later, those shards of moonlight magic flared with that potent intent, and she knew with a bone deep knowing that the man was gone. Squinting at the shadows, all she caught was an impression of size, the click of nails on the stone, and then it was quiet. 

Caroline tried to bring her pulse back under control, shifting the warmth around her shoulders closer. Outside, the rain fell in soft waves, but inside the furs Klaus had wrapped her in, she felt safe. It might have been a mirage but her shattered nerves would take it. 

Though she wasn’t sure what it meant, that he had claimed he would give her sanctuary. Wrinkling her nose at his proclamation, I will grant it, as if he was the decider of such a thing, she blindly pressed her hand to the stone in front of her. If anything deserved her thanks, it was this temple, not an arrogant wolf. 

She gasped as she found the stone warm, the power beneath sluggish, but aware. And as her finger gripped at the cloak even tighter, a beam of moonlight broke through the clouds to illuminate a single, stylized character she had never seen before on the floor. 

It looked like a wolf. 

[klarolineauseason]

The FINAL Masterlist

7 Masterlists

25 Recs

23 Fics

22 Edits

45 New pieces of new content!

Thank you to all who participated in this year’s AU Season! I hope you’ve all had a great time. Below you’ll find the final masterlist, or contents if you will, of everything that’s happened this season. Go send the writers and artists some love!

As this was my first time hosting an event, I’ll have to thank you all again for making this season such a wonderful event. I may do it again next year (with less weeks though, now I know which AUs are most popular) so if there’s anything you’d like to see next year, or areas in need of improvement, don’t be afraid to send a DM or ask to the blog. Until I see you next time,

Your host, 

Morningstar ✨❤️✨

RECS

The Starting Line Rec by @galvanizedfriend (Fic by @definedareasofuncertainty)

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/galvanizedfriend/686365074873630720?source=share

The Stubborn Grace of Being Love Regardless Rec by @galvanizedfriend (Fic by @helpless-in-sleep and Edit by @certifiedceraunophile)

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/galvanizedfriend/686431608008572928?source=share

Til I Tasted You Rec by @certifiedceraunophile (Fic by @kirythestitchwitch and Edit by @certifiedceraunophile)

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/certifiedceraunophile/686471027628425216?source=share

Wolf Club Rec by @galvanizedfriend (Fic by Radioactive59)

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/galvanizedfriend/686525815760044032?source=share

light years Rec by @galvanizedfriend (Fic and Edit by @definedareasofuncertainty)

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/galvanizedfriend/686612798088888320?source=share

Into the Wood Rec by @galvanizedfriend (Fic by @jinxedwood

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/galvanizedfriend/686710649912442880?source=share

Week 1 Rec List by @morningstargirl666

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/morningstargirl666/686814649527795712?source=share

the edges of things Rec by @certifiedceraunophile (fic by @little-miss-sunny-daisy)

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/certifiedceraunophile/686925714614812672?source=share

Week 2 Rec List by @supremeuppityone

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/supremeuppityone/686862435167141888?source=share

Quiet Light Fic Rec by @galvanizedfriend (fic by @definedareasofuncertainty)

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/galvanizedfriend/687133635384623104?source=share

Until the Break of Day Rec by @galvanizedfriend (fic by @little-miss-sunny-daisy)

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/galvanizedfriend/687148683918278656?source=share

Lessons in Diplomacy Rec by @galvanizedfriend (fic by @misssophiachase)

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/galvanizedfriend/687224192777764864?source=share

Wanderlust Rec by @galvanizedfriend (fic by @bellemorte180)

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/galvanizedfriend/687314852922933248?source=share

All Those Friendly People Rec by @galvanizedfriend (fic by @highgaarden)

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/galvanizedfriend/687409169373020160?source=share

Week 2 Rec List by @morningstargirl666​

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/morningstargirl666/687437978954498048?source=share

Week 3 Rec List by @supremeuppityone

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/687518826366156801?source=share

Lucifer AU Manip Rec by @morningstargirl666 (manip by @certifiedceraunophile)

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/morningstargirl666/687857316199071744?source=share

Week 3 Rec List by @morningstargirl666​

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/morningstargirl666/688117228578701312?source=share

Week 4 Rec List by @supremeuppityone

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/688137848291049472?source=share

Week 4 Rec List by @morningstargirl666​

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/morningstargirl666/688753517034389504?source=share

Week 5 Rec List by @supremeuppityone

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/688771983880683520?source=share

Week 5 Rec List by @morningstargirl666​

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/morningstargirl666/689384317319839744?source=share

Week 6 Rec List by @supremeuppityone

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/689473770373709824?source=share

Week 6 Rec List by @morningstargirl666

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/morningstargirl666/689971935037259776?source=share

Hollowed Sun Fic Rec by @morningstargirl666​

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/morningstargirl666/690490089003958272?source=share

FICS

meraki by @kirythestitchwitch

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/kirythestitchwitch/686240345175080960?source=share

Chapter 8 of The Other Side of Sacrifice by @queencarolinemikaelson

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/queencarolinemikaelson/686537187517448192?source=share

Chapter 2 of Into Eternity by @morningstargirl666

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/morningstargirl666/686683189380530176?source=share

Bad Moon Rising by @kiaraalexisklay​

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/kiaraalexisklay/686818715447312384?source=share

The Price of Dignity by @supremeuppityone

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/supremeuppityone/686861761533607936?source=share

Urban Legend Drabble by @galvanizedfriend

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/galvanizedfriend/687177708031131648?source=share

Coincidence…?(I Think Not) Drabble by @kiaraalexisklay

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/kiaraalexisklay/687178212080566272?source=share

Centerfold by  @heatherstyles

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/heatherstyles/687367135023005696?source=share

Echoes of Sorrow Chapter Update by @bellemorte180

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/bellemorte180/687390498417262592?source=share

flightless birds by @helpless-in-sleep

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39722655

The Main Course by @supremeuppityone

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/supremeuppityone/687495012087365632?source=share

Stellar Flare by @kirythestitchwitch

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/kirythestitchwitch/687532886119841792?source=share

A Lupine Sky by @cupcakemolotov

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/cupcakemolotov/687806149602443264?source=share

Songs of the Sea by @morningstargirl666

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/morningstargirl666/687978483739164673?source=share

The Tart With Bite by @supremeuppityone

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/688141525004238848?source=share

When The Lone Wolf Howls by @bellemorte180

Prologue: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/688133963445862400?source=share

Chapter One: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/688207472788406272?source=share

Chapter Two: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/688434647312498688?source=share

Chapter Three: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/688677585808490496?source=share

A Good Bet Chapter 14 by @supremeuppityone

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/688768160337477632?source=share

The Machiavellian Chapter 3 by @bellemorte180

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/689119208894840832?source=share

Captive by @recklessnesspersonified​

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/recklessnesspersonified/690122161341530112?source=share

The Lies We Need by @supremeuppityone

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/689485396069040128?source=share

The Dark Descent by @lynyrdwrites

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/lynyrdwrites/690044585243705344?source=share

My Unofficial Lover and Edit by @popqxeen

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/popqxeen/690179796886519808?source=share

Slaughterhouse Sneak Peak by @morningstargirl666

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/morningstargirl666/690413002430775296?source=share

EDITS

Caroline Travels The World by @bellemorte180

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/bellemorte180/686233613869662208?source=share

✨Damon Murder✨ by @bellemorte180

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/bellemorte180/686413723164983296?source=share

Edit and Drabble by @itsmeimcathy

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/itsmeimcathy/686506949614911489?source=share

Edit by @heatherstyles

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/heatherstyles/686595255301275648?source=share

Into Eternity by @morningstargirl666

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/morningstargirl666/686683196496150528?source=share

no easy love could ever make me the same by @davinasrebekah

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/davinasrebekah/686710215426621440?source=share

Edit by @itsmeimcathy

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/itsmeimcathy/687141957602050048?source=share

Edits & Lyrics for Centerfold by @heatherstyles

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/heatherstyles/687417557395881984?source=share

Edit by @davinasrebekah

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/davinasrebekah/687433132981551105?source=share

Edit by @kiaraalexisklay

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/kiaraalexisklay/687805369620234240?source=share

Edit & Drabble by @itsmeimcathy

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/itsmeimcathy/687687085792067584?source=share

Siren x Pirate AU Manip by @certifiedceraunophile

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/688058172207923200?source=share

Beauty & the Beast AU Edit by @rebekahmikelsons

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/688062629114200064?source=share

Ancient Rome AU Manip by @certifiedceraunophile

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/certifiedceraunophile/688708208344301568?source=share

Married Thieves Manip by @certifiedceraunophile

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/certifiedceraunophile/688984421142020096?source=share

Mafia Edit by @oliviaspencers

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/oliviaspencers/688982044612624384?source=share

klaroline + the folk of the air by @oliviaspencers

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/bakerolivias-archived/689520708226793472?source=share

klaroline + marvel au by @popqxeen

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/popqxeen/689634626809053184?source=share

The Good Place AU by @itsmeimcathy

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/itsmeimcathy/689756282480164864?source=share

Mr & Mrs Smith AU by @heatherstyles

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/heatherstyles/689943655552892928?source=share

seasons: i. summer by @definedareasofuncertainty​

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/definedareasofuncertainty/689993202066948096?source=share

Edit and Drabble by @itsmeimcathy​

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/itsmeimcathy/690046718105075712?source=share

WEEK MASTERLISTS

Week 1

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/686852814919663616?source=share

Week 2

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/687507372520964096?source=share

Week 3

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/688129923496476672?source=share

Week 4

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/688754242941517824?source=share

Week 5

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/689387229456596992?source=share

Week 6

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/690018925356924928?source=share

Week 7

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/klarolineauseason/690663860131299328?source=share

[lynyrdwrites]

The Dark Descent

For the final week of @klarolineauseason.  The prompts for the final week made me want to write a Future Diary AU.  So here it is - quick and dirty, but written!

Warnings: Main Character Death, Sanity loss, general all around not happy ending.

---

“Don’t worry, my love. Next time, I’ll save you.  I swear it.”

--

Klaus Mikaelson.

Family black sheep and outcast.  Art protégé on his university campus.  Utterly enthralled by Caroline Forbes, a political science major, all but guaranteed to be the next student union president – and girl who had no idea that Klaus even existed.

Until she did.

It was a simple thing. It started with a hello, as they passed in the hall.  Klaus couldn’t recall Caroline being in the art building so often before, but it seemed like she was there all the time now.  Those hellos became small talk, which became getting a coffee together that turned into hours, sitting and talking, and feeling as if she understood him in a way that no one else ever had.

Then the world went to hell.

It started with a sketch pad, and pictures appearing that he had never drawn. Dark predictions of the future, he would discover.

And then there was Caroline, slitting the throat of the man that would have killed Klaus, not seeming to care that it splattered her face and clothes with blood.  

“What the fuck?” was all he could ask, and it felt wrong, to not know what was going on.  Klaus had made it a habit, to always know what was happening around him, ever since he was blind sided by the truth of his paternity and getting disowned.

“Don’t worry,” Caroline replied, with that brilliant smile that Klaus thought he might foolishly follow into hell.  “This will tell us everything that’s going to happen to you.  I’ll keep you alive.”

This was a cellphone, that detailed Klaus’ every action.

Except they were actions he hadn’t yet taken.

The Future Diaries.  Twelve of them, each made specifically to suit their owner’s purposes.  Klaus’ was the Art Diary, sketches of things he hadn’t yet seen, but would.

Caroline’s was the Klaus Diary.

He should have known then. He should have walked away from her then.

But that brilliant smile drew him all the way to hell.

---

“She isn’t who she says she is!”

Klaus stood between Caroline and Stefan, his friend – the only friend he’d ever really had – pleading for him to walk away from the girl who had sliced and diced through anyone that would have harmed Klaus.  She had kept her promise to keep him safe.

They now stood on a pile of corpses.  

“That corpse that was in her house?  It’s Caroline Forbes, Klaus.  I don’t know who this girl is, but-”

Klaus stared, as Stefan fell to the ground at his feet, gurgling.  Caroline stood over him, knife in bloody hands, no emotion on her face as she watched him die.

“He was my friend,” Klaus said, though the words sound weak and meaningless.  He’d already let Caroline create a graveyard in his name, after all.  What was one more dead body?

“He would have separated us,” Caroline replied.  “And then you would have died.  I won’t let you die.”

Another long pause, as Klaus looked at the corpse.  The body of his first friend, no longer gurgling, now truly dead.  He wondered if his expression was as blank as Caroline’s. He felt as empty as she looked. Except when she stepped into his space, cupped his face with her bloody palms, and then kissed him.

He felt alive then. He always felt alive when they touched. It was the only thing keeping him tethered, the more they fell into the twisted game to become a God.

“Who are you?” he asked, when they lay in her bed, just rooms over from a dead bodily that was supposedly Caroline, even though the girl he held in his arms looked identical to her.

“I am Caroline Forbes,” she replied, and there was no lie in her expression.

But Stefan wouldn’t have been lying either.

Klaus didn’t understand.

---

Klaus understood.

He understood the terrible, horrible truth at last.  But it was far too late.  

He held Caroline’s body in his arms – the body of the girl he had been enthralled with.

He looked up at the girl that had kept him safe, and she looked back, knife in hand, the blood of her own double splattered across her face.

“You’re already a God,” he breathed out, and for a moment, her blank expression broke.  For a moment, she looked like the shattered girl who had lost everything.

“I couldn’t bring you back,” she said, and she looked as though she might collapse.  As though she might give in.  

But then her broken gaze landed on her own dead face, and it hardened once more. She held up the knife, looked at the blade, and then at Klaus – unarmed and cradling a corpse.

“Don’t worry, my love. Next time, I’ll save you.  I swear it.”

---

Caroline Forbes.

Brilliant student, small town beauty queen, head of almost every student group she could be.

God.

She had to keep her nails painted.  Her own blood – not truly hers, but the blood belonging to that of each version of herself she had killed – had created a permanent stain beneath them.

This time, though. This time, she would be successful.

This time, she would finally, finally, create a world where Klaus became the God.  And then she would return to whatever remained of her own world to disappear with it.

She didn’t even have to plan it anymore.  She knew exactly when he would appear.  Exactly where he would appear.

I love you.  

A broken body that she cradled, his last words to her, even after she had failed to follow through on their pact to die together.  Instead, she had become a God, had planned to bring him back.

Some things, even a God could not do.  At least not in that reality.

Caroline would simply keep making new ones, until she succeeded.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” she said, stumbling into him, wishing she could curl into his arms when he reached out to steady her after their collision.  But it was too soon for that.  Still, she smiled into his eyes – his so very loved eyes – and her heart glowed when he looked back at her a little dazed, a lot infatuated.  She would make sure he didn’t lose that look this time.  “You’re Klaus, right?”

In her pocket, a phone vibrated.

“Klaus and I ended up talking for ten minutes before his class! It was perfect.”

[kirythestitchwitch]

meraki (7290 words) by KiryTheStitchWitch Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Vampire Diaries (TV), The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson Characters: Caroline Forbes, Klaus Mikaelson Additional Tags: Caroline and Klaus See The World, Museums, Modern Art, pure fluff, a lot of bickering, This is like 80 percent Caroline roasting Klaus, he is charmed he is enthralled, Teasing as a Love Language, Caroline has Opinions about art, Klaus has Opinions about art, Art Theft Series: Part 2 of lost in the right direction Summary:

meraki (greek) - to do something with passion and love

Klaus and Caroline visit a museum in Athens and have Opinions about art while feeling out the depth of their new relationship. There is one (1) lunch date and one (1) theft of a painting.

Written for @klarolineauseason 's Canon AU week!

[ecoamerica]

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

[heatherstyles]

for @klarolineauseason

Week 6 - Crossovers/Fusions

Klaroline x Mr and Mrs Smith

Mr and Mrs Mikaelson, a couple in a stagnating marriage, live a deceptively mundane existence. However, each has been hiding a secret from the other: they are assassins working for adversarial agencies. When they are both assigned to kill the same target, Damon Salvatore, the truth comes to the surface. Finally free from their cover stories, they discover that they have been assigned to kill each other, sparking a series of explosive attacks. On their quest to kill each other, they learn a lot more about each other than they ever did in six years of marriage.

[itsmeimcathy]

{ klarolineauseason } week 7: dark

[insp. by "The Conjuring"]

Nik and Caroline Mikaelson are a couple of demonologists whom have recently become infamously known for having investigated a possessed doll called Annabelle.

Caroline met Nik back in university, when she moved to New Orleans to study at Tulane - although the Psychology program was more of an excuse, since the main reason for her choice was her interest in the supernatural and ritualistic culture of the Crescent City. Nik, who at the time was already working at his Anthropology Ph.D., took an immediate fancy in the eccentric student who went around asking weird questions and collecting even weirder objects, and couldn't help but offer his help when she needed it for one of her various researches. She was still preparing for her Master degree when they eventually married.

Although Nik understood barely half of Caroline's stories and experiences, he did come from a family whose roots were imbedded deeply in the city's folklore - his own mother was a true believer of Voodoo and various superstitions - and soon enough he was accompanying the young woman wherever her instincts brought her.

Eventually they left their professional jobs behind after having come face to face with their first, true demonic possession, something that put their actual lives and maybe even their immortal souls in danger: Caroline, who has had psychic abilities ever since she could remember, is relatively shocked by the event, while her husband Nik comes out utterly changed from the experience - he then decides to devote his life to protect his wife to the best of his capacities, thus starting their new career as demonologists, authors and lecturers.

Their travels following various supernatural and paranormal events have brought them all over the world, from United States to Europe to Asia, and they have acquired quite the large, creepy collection of artifacts and objects more or less possessed or demonic. The danger of these entities latching onto them and following them back home is an inexcapable one, but Caroline can count on the help of her best friend Bonnie - a Voodoo practitioner who keeps her safe through blessings, rituals and amulets; Nik was wary of her at first, as if witchcraft was somehow less believable than demons, but he quickly had to change his mind when the amulets Caroline keeps hanging from her neck and around her wrists prevented her from being possessed during one of their interventions. He then started to wear them as well.

Now, they've been back in Virginia for merely a week when they're contacted by Damon and Elena Salvatore, whose house seems to be haunted and is making their lives a living hell...

*****

The old Salvatore boarding house lay nested at the outskirts of Mystic Falls, half hidden by a forest and worringly close to a graveyard which stopped being used at the beginning of the past century. Its stern exterior with the black roof and the dark brown bricks and the ancient wooden fixtures certainly didn't help with the grim reputation of being haunted - which tended to be quite the norm in that corner of Virginia, if a building had the misfortune to date back to the Civil War - but Caroline and Nik had seen far worse.

"You know, I knew Elena back in high school," Caroline murmurs in case Mr. and Mrs. Salvatore are close by, starting to sprinkle salt and red brick dust on the windows sills. "One of those girls who just love playing with an Ouija board, you know? She never believed me when I told her it wasn't safe."

Nik snorts soflty, stepping near her. "And this is what happens when people don't trust you - their house gets haunted."

She elbows him, smirking. "That's not very nice."

"I'm not very nice," he says agreeably, curling his arms from behind around her middle section. "Do you think that's enough?" He then asks as a second thought, nodding towards the window.

"I doubt this will help us, specifically," Caroline replies frankly. "It's to ward off evil and protect the house, but if the evil is already inside... I'm not sure. In any case, it can't hurt to try."

"Maybe you should try burning some sage, too," he suggests, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Well, look at you! My very own expert on cleansing rituals," she turns her head to kiss his stubbled cheek. "I'll do that later."

Nik leans forward to press a more proper kiss on her lips before stepping back with a long-suffering sigh. "Well then, I should go and check the basement. Whatever thing we're facing, chances are it developped in the creepy cells they have down there."

She frowns, not even bothering to hide her worry. "Do you have your crucifix? Good," she nods when he pulls it from under his sweater. "Be careful, try not to touch anything."

"I'll leave everything as it is for your viewing pleasure," he teases with a bow.

Caroline watches her husband as he disappears down the hallway, still limping slightly from their last misadventure - something that still gives her nightmares, with dreadful visions of Nik's bleeding body and a house burning against the pitch black sky. Her eyes turn cold as she sees the lights in the vintage sconces flickering at his passage - too softly to be actually noticeable - almost as if the presence wants her to see, to acknowledge the threat.

She whispers a prayer, and in a blink the lights stop trembling. But her pulse becomes erratic when a sudden chill starts lapping at her fingertips, slithering up her arms, and Caroline brusquely walks back in the living room, grabbing a handful of salt and throwing it behind her shoulder.

She's sure, now, that tonight they'll have a visit.

[certifiedceraunophile]

KLAROLINE: ANCIENT ROME AU

In which Klaus is a gladiator recruited by the commander general of the Felix Legions, Caroline Forbius to join her ranks after he showcases his deadly intelligence in the art of tactical combat in an arena tournament.

Basically a 100 layers of forbidden romance set in Ancient Rome between a commander general and a slave turned gladiator turned warrior.

Or the Weird Reverse Gladiator AU I’m kinda sorta obssessed with. @klarolineauseason 

[morningstargirl666]

Morningstar’s Rec List

Part 1 - Canon Divergence

To celebrate @klarolineauseason I’ve piled together all the fics I know and love into one place, to share with y’all. I’ve tried to include the well-known classics in the fandom that I adore, but also some more obscure ones. Hopefully there are some you haven’t read!

Deal of a Lifetime by Anya-Paradox

One-shot. Caroline meets Klaus when she’s still human, while on vacation with her father. They have a summer fling while she’s still sixteen, and a few years later after going their separate ways, she finds out ‘Nick’ is actually Klaus Mikaelson, the same guy who’s trying to kill her friends. I loved reading this fic, as it captures all the innocence of Caroline at sweet sixteen and falling for her first love, but also the character development that comes in their years apart, and how Caroline is a little older, a little wiser when she meets Klaus next. She’s in love with Klaus, but she’s not about to let him walk all over her. She’s worth being put first. And she knows it.

O’Holy Night by BelleMorte180 / @bellemorte180

One-shot. Another ‘Caroline meets Klaus early’ au. However, this time she’s a freshly turned vampire, confused and alone, forced to relive everything Damon did to her as the compulsion slowly wears off now she’s no longer human. Klaus finds her before her friends do, and it changes everything. At first, Caroline is aware she’s just a pawn in Klaus’ game, but as they spend more time with each other and Caroline learns of what Klaus wants - and he of who Caroline Forbes really is - this begins to change. It’s a beautifully crafted fic, and I loved how it slowly had them fall for each other, even though it’s only around 30k. And hey, because it’s one of Erica’s fics, you know Damon will get his due in the end. 😈

Their Nightly Ritual by bellyamywinchester

Multichap. Complete. Now this? This has to be my favourite canon divergence fic EVER. Dear god, it’s so good. It’s quite an old fic now, and it may not be a 500k enemies to lovers slowburn that you read at 3am, but it gives just as much serotonin for your brain. Set right after 5x11, Caroline is at college and Klaus has kept his promise to walk away and never see her again. But we all know Klaus - he’ll find a loophole if there is one. And fortunately for us, the loophole turns out to be he promised she would never see him ever again - he never specified about never hearing his voice again. And so, begins an exchange of nightly phone calls where Klaus asks Caroline about her day. Both of them are never even in the same room throughout the entire fic, but somehow this author has captured every nuanced aspect of Klaus and Caroline’s relationship, the insecurities on both sides, the struggle Caroline has in allowing herself to love Klaus and the easy love Klaus bestows her in contrast. It’s just a masterpiece. Go read it.

like a wedding dress needs dirt by coveredinthecolours / @definedareasofuncertainty

One-shot. This is so beautifully written, honestly fills me with joy. The concept and ideas behind this fic are so original too - it’s certainly nothing I’ve seen before. Fresh from leaving Stefan at the alter, Caroline spends her wedding day in a graveyard, burying her past life of make-pretend. Klaus is there, simply because she asked him to be, like always, and the fic ends hopefully, promising a new beginning for our favourite otp.

The Way Back by Cupcakemolotov / @cupcakemolotov

Two-shot. Complete. Another treasure. Having spent a near-distant future with Klaus only for it to end in tragedy, Caroline ends up sent back into the past by Bonnie to fix things before they go so very wrong. Little does she know, she wasn’t the only one sent back in time.

the guilty ones by grim grace

Multichap. Complete. Probably one you’ve already read as its a fandom classic, but amazing all the same. Caroline falls in love with Klaus without knowing he’s Klaus, and as always, things spiral from there.

Give Me Love and it’s follow up Love Interruption by idiot-wind89

Multichap. Complete. A classic canon divergence au in the sense it diverges directly from canon, Caroline and Klaus becoming endgame. To this day, I still vividly remember a scene in this fic where Klaus takes Caroline horse riding, when she’s supposed to be distracting him from her friends’ plots. Which is why I blame this author entirely for my obsession to read as many fics with these two interacting with horses, or riding together once more.

Til I Tasted You by KiryTheStitchWitch / @kirythestitchwitch

Multichap. Recently completed! Bonnie completes a spell to find Caroline’s mate, both of them expecting it to be Tyler and well - you already know how this goes. There is a magnificent quote from Klaus in this fic that honestly had me swooning: “As if I could be jealous of a boy who has no concept of what it is like to touch the sun and then spend a millennium looking for daylight in every strangers’ face.” Like. Take a moment to let those words sink in. Like dear god. Klaus you smooth motherfucker - thank you Kiry, for forever ruining my expectations for men, I hope you’re proud.

Blood and a Quick Murder (and isn’t this how it always is?) by KS_Caster / @ks-caster

One-shot. Has to be one of my favourite one-shots in the fandom, due to its originality and the utter brilliance of it all. Through magical hijinks, Caroline ends up human again and goes straight to Klaus, asking for his blood and a quick murder - hers. This fic showcases the differences between Caroline and her friends, how they always hated vamprism while she never regretted becoming a vampire, despite it not being her choice. It also sees Caroline finally arrive in New Orleans. What more could we ask for?

Red Queen by KS_Caster / @ks-caster

Multichap & Series. Part 3 of the series is still a WIP, but parts 1 & 2 are complete and waiting to be read. This was probably one of the first klaroline fics I read, and it still holds up now, years later. I love it immensely, mostly because it explores so much with the characters. There’s some in depth lore of the author’s own making, Klaus doesn’t shy away from his werewolf side which I ADORE OKAY and Caroline is pretty badass too, seeing through Silas’ lies. Klaus also puts Caroline first, seeking The Cure for her in order to save her from dying, rather than for his own ends. It’s an amazing series, highly recommend.

not for him a watery grave by MyLadyElise

Multichap. Complete. This is a lovely what if au for 3x21. The Mystic Falls gang succeeds in dropping Klaus at the bottom of the ocean, and while her friends celebrate the victory, all Caroline can feel is a paralysing wrongness to it all. So she calls Rebekah, and then she plans a rescue. Absolutely love the idea of this one, go check it out.

The Stubborn Grace of Being Loved Regardless by perfectpro / @helpless-in-sleep

One-shot. I will scream about this fic til the end of my days and then I will scream some more because it’s too fucking perfect, seriously Jenn. How did you come up with this piece of pure perfection? Unlike in canon, Caroline doesn’t become a vampire in this fic and instead becomes sidelined from her little group of friends, kept out of the loop about supernatural drama. Which is probably for the best, as there is no way in hell I could see this Caroline Forbes spending any time in close proximity with Damon Salvatore. This fic explores the full extent of what he did to her while she was human, and at it’s heart, the one-shot is about Caroline’s trauma and recovery. Along the way, she falls for Klaus yes, and - slight spoiler here - there may even be some Damon murder involved offscreen, but’s it’s Caroline’s story told here, first and foremost. And it’s beautiful, so bloody beautiful. Never have I read a fic so beautifully crafted with such fine detail and respect. Honestly, leaves me lost for words.

Wayfarer by perfectpro / @helpless-in-sleep

One-shot.  The perfect little fic to cure the woes canon bestowed us. Years in the future, Caroline is travelling the world. But travelling alone isn’t what she expected it to be, and Paris certainly isn’t wowing her either. Almost deciding to call it quits and leave, her mind is changed when a familiar face appears. Perfect for solidifying these two are endgame, this fic is short but packs a great hit all the same.

she’s a rainbow by sunnydaisy / @little-miss-sunny-daisy

One-shot. Original!Caroline. The relationship built between Klaus and Caroline in this just incredible. They’ve been a couple for centuries, but like all relationships, this one has its struggles, and they work through it and come out stronger than ever. The fic is also so much fun. The Mystic Falls gang are oblivious to who Klaus and Caroline really are, which leads to some great moments.

Wisteria by sunnydaisy / @little-miss-sunny-daisy

One-shot. Another ‘Caroline meets Klaus early’ au, and probably my absolute favourite of the trope. This fic is packed with so much fluff and make-you-smile moments you’ll be grinning madly by the end. Carolines flees to the coast to escape Mystic Falls for a few days, saddened by Matt’s rejection and still coming to terms with being a vampire herself. In a bar, she meets Klaus, unaware he is also a vampire, and they hit off from there. It’s so cute guys, I just can’t. She tries to compel him and Klaus goes along with it because you can tell he finds her adorable, this blond baby vampire full of sunshine and- god. Just read it before I start crying again over the perfectness of it all.

Ghost by sunshineandfangs / @sunshineandfangs and it’s sequel Help me, please!

One-shot, or technically a two-shot if you count its sequel. This is my other favourite one-shot of the fandom. IT. IS. AMAZING. Like seriously, drop dead, scream into your pillow a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Go read it. Caroline dies when still human, killed by Damon. She watches as Elena softens to her murderer, as Bonnie helps him and Stefan turns into a similar monster. Hate and anger festers and grows, until she’s strong enough to interact with the world she’s barred from. As a ghost, she meets Klaus, and with any loyalty she held for her friends lost the day they left her to die, she helps him break his curse. Spooky, rife with betrayal and thus revenge, this is a great read for fellow chaos demons like myself.

Pet Wolf by these-dreams-go-on / @these-dreams-go-on

Multichap. WIP. Come for the klaroline, stay for the wolf!klaus who is a menace and an absolute delight. Seriously. The chapters where Klaus is stuck in his werewolf form and Caroline unknowingly adopts him as her pet is pure genius and the true highlight of this fic. He chews her dad’s shoes. He growls at boys. He watches freakin TV, fur and all. Asdfghjkl- It’s amazing go read it.

Wicked Schemes by willowaus

Multichap. Complete. A classic. Caroline inherits some badass powers from a forgotten relative and is pulled into the supernatural political shitstorm that is New Orleans. Looks like the city finally has its new Queen.

...My god that was a lot of recs. You can tell canon divergence is my favourite au, heh. Now go forth and devour them!

[supremeuppityone]

Here are some of my favorite KC fic recs for @klarolineauseason​​ Week 4: Historical:

Fire, Fury and Flame by: Eliliyah

The Hyppolytan Warrior by: klovec

Destiny is All by: MissRaichyl

Only Human by: peaceful village

Let's Go Back by: Sam0728

En Garde by: meet_the_girl_who_can

A Beautiful Symmetry - Chapter 40: Redcoats and Blue Ribbons by: UppityBitch

Vice & Virtue by: Yokan