Title: The Apple of Discord
Rating: T
Pairing (s): Klaroline
Summary: The Other Side has been destroyed, rocking the lives of all those in Mystic Falls to their very core. Meanwhile, in NOLA Hayley and the Mikaelsons lost the first battle in a war for power, forcing Klaus and Hayley to send their daughter, Hope, away to ensure her safety. With Hayley learning how to live as a new hybrid, turning to Klaus in her time of grief, Elijah is losing any hold he had on the two distraught parents. Both parents are headed down a dark, scary path that there seems to be no return from. And with New Orleans under siege and their parents resurrected, what else is Elijah to do? He calls in back-up. Part one of The Fruits of Desire Saga.
Author's Note: My first foray back into fanfiction after an emotional couple of years, and I delve into a brand new genre. I know the producer of the show said that Caroline does not fit into Klaus' community right now, but have we not learned anything about Caroline Forbes? She fits in anywhere, and makes the best out of bad situations. My take on the events after the season finale, will most likely not go along with the shows once they return, and I've created a bit of my own back-story for my own purposes. I hope you enjoy. Reviews are greatly appreciated, but not required. Thank you. Enjoy!
Prologue: The Vampire in the Tower
Life goes on as it never ends
Eyes of stone observe the trends
They never say forever gaze if only
Guilty roads to an endless love
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was a boy. He was beautiful with long, blond hair and stunningly blue eyes. He was kind and compassionate. An artist, he spent his days whittling figurines out of wood for his siblings. His father, however, was a monster. He mercilessly beat his kind son for not having enough strength, not hunting well enough, and any other foolish reason he could come up with. He was embarrassed by his son, and refused to see him as a man, but as a burden instead. The father hated his son, and let everyone know, and his son carried with him always the shame of being a disappointment to his father.
One day, the boy was in the village hiding from his father and he met a girl. She was younger than he, and to him she was perfection. She had flowing red hair, the color of sunrise in the morning over the mountain tops, and vivid green eyes full of light. The girl was kind to the boy. Over the course of many weeks they developed a friendship, and even fell in love. One day, the boy confided in his love his deepest secret-the abuse from his father and how he often feared for his life. The girl felt for the boy, no father should ever harm their child in such a manner. She had little patience for cruelty toward others. Human life was always to be valued. She convinced the boy to flee, to run from his father and his home and to make a new life somewhere else, where he could be safe. The boy reluctantly agreed, but only if the girl would come with him and be his wife.
Together they pleaded their case to the village elders, and begged them to marry the pair. On the eve of the full moon, the two became man and wife. The boy knew his father would kill him for his act of betrayal, because of course the father would see it as nothing less than betrayal. But his love for the girl was too strong for him to deny. They hid their marriage from both their families, making plans to run away. They met in secret, sharing stories and plans, making love, being happy with one another. But in the backs of their minds they knew they only had a short time to live together like this in their home. If discovered, one or the both of them would surely die.
The boy's father was not the only threat in the village. The people of the village harbored a secret of their own. Many of them suffered from an illness that caused their bones to break and their bodies to reform to that of a wolf upon the full moon. Those who remained human knew to retreat to the caves during this cycle, to hide for their lives. Coming out of hiding would be a sure and painful death. The pair met in the evening before the full moon. They had plans of leaving as the sun rose while families were relocating from their hiding spots back to their homes. By the time their absence was noted, they would be long gone. With plans made, they embraced one another, kissed, whispered their declarations of love and went their separate ways for the night.
Upon the morning, however, there was a great tragedy. The boy, who was curious, had ventured out of hiding to watch the wolves, feeling a strange pull to them. His younger brother followed him. When the wolves attacked, they left the boy standing, sensing he was one of their own, but attacked the brother instead and killed him. The boy carried his brother's lifeless body back to his family, weeping the entire way. He felt he was a horrible son, a horrible brother, and wondered how he could ever be a suitable husband for his wife. He was inconsolable. He took his beatings without question. He spent little time with his wife, withdrawn as he was in his own grief. She knew not to push him, to let him mourn and he would return to her when he was ready.
It was early morning, a fortnight after the younger boy's death, and the girl was in the field picking wild berries. Her husband's older brother, a polite, noble gentlemen approached her. He had heard his brother calling out to her in his sleep, referring to her as his love, his life. She confessed all. The brother listened quietly to her confession and for a long moment he said nothing. She feared the worst, that he would go to his father and the boy would surely be killed. After what felt like eternity, he turned to the girl, his sister-in-law, and urged her to take his brother and run. He feared for his brother's life. Their father grew more unstable every day, and his brother's beatings were more frequent and more severe than ever. He begged her to take his brother and flee before it was too late. He promised to keep her secret, to keep them both as safe as possible until they could leave. The girl trusted him, she believed he would endeavour to keep his word.
However, that was a promise he couldn't keep. Not that he knew that. Their mother was a powerful witch. Consumed as she was by her own grief, she concocted a spell to turn her children into something that could not die. She fed a potion to her children, and then their father slaughtered them. Word of the massacre reached the girl's family and sent her running through the village toward their hut to see for herself. Surely, no one would be so mad as to take all of their children's lives. No matter how consumed with grief one was, they would never go to that length. But when she arrived, she found that was exactly what had transpired. She lay her head on the boy's blood soaked lap, and wept for hours.
The boy's father awoke from his death first, and bore witness to the girl's grief. He saw her crying over his son's lifeless body, crying "my husband, my love" over and over again. Rage filled him at the discovery of what his son and this woman had done behind his back. He struck at the girl and meant to kill her. She bit at him, trying to escape his wrath. His blood filled her mouth even as he broke her neck and let her drop to the floor lifelessly. The boy's mother showed compassion to the girl, and when she woke from her death, her body having been moved to one of the caves, she fed her blood and let her transition into a vampire. One of the firsts of her kind, the others being her beloved husband and his entire family. The mother then locked the girl in a tower and cast a protective spell over it, to allow no one entry, and tied it to the vampire's life. It only broke a century later when she fashioned a wooden stake and drove it through her own heart.
"It was nearly five centuries that we found her body in this very tower," Elijah whispered reverently.
Caroline jumped, nearly dropping the book she had sitting on her lap, the tear she was wiping from her eye forgotten. She hadn't even heard the Original approach her. She hadn't known that they were back in town. Of course they were, they seemed to ride the skirt tails of her every tragedy and amplify it times one-hundred every time. She should have expected this.
"So, the story of the vampire in the tower is true?" She asked.
"Indeed. Some of the more distasteful events were left out, of course, but the general premise of the tale is accurate," he sighed. He really loathed remembering this time in their lives.
"What happened to the boy?" Caroline couldn't help but ask.
"You already know the answer, Ms. Forbes. He turned into a blood thirsty beast, a monster by all rights, and committed reprehensible, irredeemable acts upon thousands upon thousands of innocent and guilty parties alike. Have you ventured to guess boy's identity?"
"It was Klaus, wasn't it? It's hard to imagine it, Klaus in love, Klaus weak and vulnerable, human, even. Capable of being hurt in this way, of loving someone this way," Caroline sighed.
"You are correct, the boy in the story is indeed my brother, Niklaus. The girl's name was Rosalyn, and I'm sure you recognize the character I play, and that of my mother and father, Esther and Mikael," Elijah began.
He sat down on the stone bench next to Caroline in front of the tower that was now a historical monument in the town of Mystic Falls. He handed her a fresh handkerchief to wipe at the tears that were still falling, unbeknownst to her.
"We calculated that she lived on in this tower you see before you for a century before she took her own life. Feeding on rats and other forms of wildlife that managed to venture into her imprisonment. It was nearly 500 years later that we found her body in what remained of the tower. Niklaus took and buried her in the wild flower garden where he proposed marriage to her so long ago. And with her, I believe, he buried what little was left of his humanity. We never thought she survived, you see. My father was a cruel man, and boasted to my brother of his act of killing his wife. He took her life because my brother dared to believe he deserved to love and be loved in return.
Niklaus attacked my father, and he meant to kill him. It was only our mother's magic that was able to separate the two. Niklaus was murderous in his grief, and upon his first murder, he transitioned, and my mother bound his wolf gene. You can see in all the ways I have failed him," Elijah continued.
"Elijah, no..." Caroline started. She wanted to tell him that how Klaus was, was not his fault. To not blame himself.
"That is why," Elijah interrupted her, "I cannot fail him again. Against all odds, Niklaus has fallen in love again. You remind me so much of her, the goodness, the light. I see why he loves you so. And my brother, he is suffering. I know that you have just lost your friends and your mother, and you too are suffering. I believe you feel something for my brother as well. That is why I have come here today. You two need each other now, more than ever. " He turned to face her. "Come with me to New Orléans, Caroline. Help me save my brother, our family, before it's too late."