The beginning bit in italic is a flashback obviously. So I hope you enjoy this one shot. It's in honor of Klaroline week day 6: AU. Also for Bex who made sure I actually finished this promised thing and for Giulia who I hope still like it although it's probably not half as fluffy as she would have wanted. I tried sorry.
Deathless
"No!" she yelled out while she could feel a force trying to tug him out of her grasp. He was hers. It was his time and no one could escape death.
She could feel the black tendrils of the dark force pull him back to his body but she refused to let him go. She had already lost his family to them while she was preparing to help him pass to the other side and they wouldn't get this one.
His family was regaining consciousness next to him and she didn't know what was happening but their fretting and worrying about their brother was distracting het so she tried to block them out.
It still astonished her. They were dead the one moment and alive the next. No one could be brought back. Death wouldn't allow it and reapers like her were supposed to make sure all souls were collected which included these ones.
She could feel the black tendrils getting closer, enveloping Niklaus Mikaelson in their embrace while they inched closer to her in the process. They grazed her hand and she automatically recoiled from their touch.
That one moment was all they appeared to need. Her grasp slipped and with their combined pull he slipped between her fingers. His soul lost to her. For now. She vows she'll get it back one day. After all no one can live forever and dead comes to them all.
The dreams had haunted him since the day his mother had cast her curse upon them. Eternal life might have been the gift bestowed on them, together with the power and fear they ignited in those lesser then them it also happened that he had gotten a different curse. Two as it appeared.
Firstly the revelation that he wasn't a true Mikaelson came to light when the first full moon came to pass. His mother had bound his true nature quickly, stopping him from ever turning into a werewolf until he broke it. It was something that he finally succeeded in doing only mere months ago.
The second curse he had were the recurring dreams of the mysterious blonde. Every night she haunted his dreams, calling out his name and reaching out to him but he was always pulled from her grasp. He was taken from her before he woke up.
The same dream. Every single night for a millennium she was a ghost while he slept but she never appeared when he was awake. Until recently that was.
Blonde hair framed in perfection around her beautiful face in a long white dress. Her sight was one that surprised him while he waited for his brother next to a fresh kill. But before he could react, before he could stop her, reach out to her or ask her what she was doing to him she had already disappeared into thin air.
He had been searching for another sight of the girl but it didn't matter where he looked or who we asked, he always failed. No one had seen the girl he showed in his drawings and with every passing day his family grew more concerned about his obsession.
"Nik, this is ridiculous. The girl doesn't exist, just let it go," Rebekah told him while she snatched the drawing out of his hands. "Besides she isn't even that pretty," she told him while she looked at the drawing with disgust.
"Now, now sister, don't pull that face. You'll get wrinkles," Kol chimed in and leaned over her shoulder to see the picture. "Well she certainly hasn't changed since you first started drawing her. Honestly I would have thought your obsession would have passed by now but I have to admit she looks delectable. When you're done with her, you should send her to me." Kol didn't flinch under Klaus glare or the push he received when Klaus flashed out of the room, taking the drawing with him.
His family didn't understand. It was one thing when he thought she was a dream, but now that he had caught a glimpse of her while he was awake? He had to know who she was. He had to know what she was.
Death. It sounds so ugly to so many, they fear it, run from it and even hate it but it's a natural part of life. A part no one can ever avoid, except one person it seemed: Klaus Mikaelson.
She knew who he was of course, had known since that spiteful day she lost his soul to the darkness but she had found peace with the thought that one day she would have the chance to recollect it. After all, everyone had to die. Apparently faith had other plans for Klaus however.
She had seen him plenty of times over the centuries since she was one of the main reapers responsible to collect the lives he had ended. He never changed. One of the benefits of the curse his mother had cast on them, she had gathered over time. His appearance stayed unchanged but his personality however didn't. He grew cruel. His soul wasn't the same as it had been when she had first tried to collect it.
With all the attention she had paid to his soul it didn't take her long to discover something else had changed. It was right after he broke his supposed hybrid curse which would grant him true immortality.
It was at the first moment she saw him again that she was confronted with his aura. It was completely void of death; she couldn't touch it like she could humans, vampires or like she could do to him in the past. He was out of reach for her, forever now and somehow it saddened her. He was her failure. A wrong she had tried to fix but now couldn't and she hated loose ends.
The vampire race was her fault, her responsibility which was why she had made it her mission to rid the world of them in the only way she could. She collected the souls of every passed vampire and returned them to where they should have been all along.
Death admired her devotion but never understood her reasons. No one ever did. They saw her mission as an obsession. Saw her focus on vampires as a focus on Klaus and she knew she had to proof them wrong.
In retrospect her first action after that thought shouldn't have been checking in on Klaus. She had felt the tug of a life-force ending near him and knew he would be responsible. She did that regularly; check in on him. She excused her behavior with the fact that death seemed to follow him around so there was plenty of work for her but no one that knew her truly bought that excuse.
She appeared in an old cellar and found Klaus with his hand deep in the other vampire's chest. She recognizes him, the vampire: she was supposed to have his soul ages ago but another vampire had snatched it away by feeding him his blood. In the end all souls return to her however and he was the reason she appeared.
She could pinpoint the exact moment that the vampire realizes his time was truly over while she noticed Klaus tearing out the heart with a gentle precision. She didn't know how he did it, she still remembers witnessing his first kill and it was hard to link that boy to the man in front of her now.
It's a good kill. It's clean, quick and didn't cause the vampire much pain which makes her wonder to their story. Maybe she could ask him before she let him pass.
That was another thing that worried the reapers among her. Caroline's interest in the stories of the souls she collected. More importantly, the stories they had about Klaus. She called it knowing your enemy, they didn't. Still it was valuable information and if it sated her curiosity then what was the harm?
She waited a moment for the vampire's soul to be released and when she saw him appear in front of her she drew her strength, making herself visible to the death around her.
The man took a startled step back when he saw her appear and she had to control the urge to roll her eyes; it didn't make a good first impression. A gentle approach was key or he would never go with her, choosing to haunt the after-life instead.
"You're her!" he stammered and she noticed his eyes dart to Klaus for a moment. She had heard that reaction before but she knew there was no way there were actual stories about her. They probably confused her for an angel in her white gown with the blonde curls framing her face. They couldn't be more wrong.
"I'm me," she replied and took a step closer, satisfied when he didn't appear to move away from her again. "Do you know what happened to you?"
"Considering I see my body lie there, it's not hard to figure out," the vampire scoffed and she rolled her eyes freely this time. She hated it when they had an attitude.
"Well that makes my job much easier," she clarified, "It's not my favorite part of the job to have to tell people they just died."
He looked at her like she was crazy and started talking to her but was distracted by an odd action behind him. Klaus hadn't left. Even weirder; he was looking right at her.
For a moment she let herself believe it was just a coincidence, until he moved closer to her that was. Alarmed she looked at the dead vampire next to her. She had to get out of here. Now.
"Choose. Peace at the other side or haunting over earth," she interrupted his talking. He looked at her surprised and she glanced back at Klaus who she could hear questioning who she was. He could see her. He could actually see her. Well that was new. "Choose now!"
"Other side," he rushed out and with a relieved sigh she wrapped her hand around his wrist and released the energy she was maintaining, transferring herself back to the other side just as Klaus had moved in front of her.
With a blink Klaus looked at the empty cellar. He hadn't just seen her this time, he had heard her speak, but to whom? There had been no one with her….
Caroline knew she couldn't keep this a secret. He saw her. That shouldn't be a possibility and it frightened her on one end but on the other… it opened so many possibilities.
Her mind thought over the possibilities. The questions she could ask him, the things she could say to him and the stories he could tell her. Because after all those years only catching glimpses of his life she wanted to know what had changed the gentle human boy into the feared killer she witnessed now.
She shook the thoughts out of her mind. She was only around to collect the dead, not to have conversations with the living. That was the only reason Death kept her close and she couldn't risk her job –her life- for a trivial conversation.
She knew what she needed to do and focused her energy on Death's office. Appearing in front of the large dark doors and knocking twice before they opened for her.
He sat in his chair; waiting patiently before she told him the reason she intruded his domain. There weren't many that would dare to visit him without proper reservations but she had certain privileges. After all, she had been one of the souls he gathered herself, offering her the job as a reaper when he noticed her calm accepting nature, even when confronted with death.
She hadn't dared to refuse and had been in his service for over two millenniums, leaving her human life behind. She had never lost her heart and compassion to those in need and it made her unique among reapers. Still she knew where her loyalties lay and that she had to alert him of what had happened.
"Klaus Mikaelson," she started and she could see him sigh when she brought him up again, "He could see me."
This alerted him, getting up from his chair and walking towards her. "Are you sure, child?" he asked her. It was an impossible accomplishment. No one could pierce through his veil and see into both worlds, not unless he granted them the gift like he had his reapers.
"He saw me. Looked right at me," she confirmed and turned her head down.
"You won't see him again," he ordered and her head snapped back up.
"But-"
"If he can see you, he might try to harm you and we're not risking you Caroline. One of the others can take over but under no circumstances will you see him again."
She nodded; she couldn't deny his orders even when she didn't think she would be at risk. There was no danger when he saw her, more… curiosity.
Klaus had told Elijah about what he witnessed and his brother provided him with a theory after hearing how she talked about moving to the other side. A reaper, a bringer and collector of death living in a universe that paralleled their own.
Klaus had scoffed at the idea at first. He had lived for centuries, how could their still be creatures in existence that he had never seen before? Elijah had quickly pointed out however that death was far older than time itself. It wasn't part of this world and there for couldn't be seen by them, only experienced.
He looked at the body in front of him. Well if Elijah's theory was right, this would lure her right back to him.
Instead of the blonde, a dark haired man appeared in front of him. Just like the girl, he started talking to someone he couldn't see. Still his attention wasn't focused solely on that person since he noticed him glancing at him multiple times.
"Where is she?" Klaus asked and noticed the reaper turning so his back faced Klaus while resuming his tale. If he thought he could ignore him he thought wrong.
With a growl he ran in front of him, facing the reaper and growled out, "Where is she? The girl, the blonde. What did you do to her?"
"Caroline?" the reaper let slip. Realizing his mistake he focused back on the soul, he apologized and tried to continue his conversation but the hybrid proved to be a great distraction.
"Caroline," he let the name roll over his tongue and was relieved to finally put a name to the face. "I want to see her."
"I can't do that," the reaper replied and turned back to the soul who expressed his desire to stay on earth. Normally he would have been able to explain why the other side would be a better option but with the hybrid breathing into his neck he lost his focus.
"I know what you are. Reaper, right? Well I can make your job a whole lot more difficult if you don't do as I say."
The reaper rolled his eyes. "I serve death. You honestly think you scare me?" he turned around, getting ready to leave.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," Klaus hissed before the reaper was out of sight.
Time passed until Caroline was approached by Death again. She was assigned to Europe for the time being and hadn't been made aware of the problems that they were having in New Orleans.
As she was told that day, Klaus was on a murder bender until he saw her again. While that normally wasn't the biggest problem since it only meant more souls for the other side there was the small detail that they were all bestowed on them at the same time.
With so many souls and only a limited time to stay visible it was already a lot of work to get all souls to pass. Add in the mass murdering hybrid that kept dropping bodies and wouldn't stop talking and distracting them and the reapers lost more souls then they could explain to death.
"We're reinstating you to the area of New Orleans," Death begrudgingly told her.
"But what about Klaus?" she asked and she would have sworn he sighed.
"If he desires to talk to you, we can't stop that. But we do expect that you'll continue your business like you normally would."
Caroline nodded but was concerned. Death didn't change his mind and he wouldn't have liked Klaus forcing his hand. Klaus Mikaelson just made a powerful enemy.
Death had no explanation for Klaus' ability to see his reapers. He shouldn't have been able to and in all him millenniums of ruling over the undead he had never witnessed anyone breaking through his veil. The dead and undead were separated by him but somehow Klaus had pierced through it by seeing his reaper.
He had defied him too many times. The hybrid had grown too dangerous and couldn't be allowed to roam around the earth much longer.
He went to the one person that had the most experience in hunting Klaus down and he did the one thing Death had never done before. He asked for help.
The feeling of lost souls called her to his place in New Orleans and like she expected she was greeted by Klaus with a dead human lying on his floor. What she hadn't expected were the dozen or so corpses added to that all. It was a bloody spectacle.
Of course she had heard the stories but to witness it herself… why had he done all of this?
"Caroline," he breathed out her name and she looked up surprised that he knew it. He walked towards her and paused in front of her. "You came."
"She scoffed and looked at the bodies surrounding them and the souls that were already around her. "Well you didn't leave me with much of a choice did you?"
She looked at the souls walking aimlessly around and whistled. "Okay can you all gather around because this will go a whole lot faster if I don't have to rehash the story-," she counted all the souls, "-Thirteen times."
She glanced at Klaus and noticed him still looking at her. "Can I help?"
"I need to know something," Klaus started but Caroline cut him off.
"Oh I'm sorry that me doing my job is inconveniencing you but since you decided to kill all these unfortunate people I first have your mess to fix before I can do anything else. So would you mind?" she glanced at him and he walked aside, letting her pass but didn't leave the room. Observing her from the corner of the room.
She told the group what had happened to them and what their options were and moved to shorter individual souls to discover what they chose to do next. He could see her passionately try to convince someone to go to the other side but from what he gather they wouldn't budge. She seemed to accept his choice however and moved to the next. She continued like that for a certain amount of time before she turned to him.
"Okay they're all where they're supposed to be," she told him and sighed. "Was that really necessary?"
"I needed to get your attention one way," Klaus admitted and she rolled her eyes.
"Well you got it. Now what is it that was so important that you had to ask me?"
"What did you do to me?"
"I'm sorry?" she must have heard him wrong.
"I said: What did you do to me," he flashed in front of her, trying to grab her arms but going right through her.
"Oh," she let out surprised, "So you can't touch me. That's where it all ends."
"Why can't I?"
"No clue," she shrugged, "I mean you're not even supposed to be able to see me. You haven't been able to for the past thousand years but now you can. None of it makes much sense to me."
"I did see you," Klaus said and observed her reaction, trying to figure out if she truly didn't know.
"You couldn't have," she denied, "If you had I would have noticed you looking at me before."
"Not during the day, but every night you visited me," Klaus clarified with a passion in his voice that surprised her.
"Every night? I don't know what you mean…" This conversation wasn't at all turning out the way she expected it.
"In my dreams. Ever since I turned I've seen your face. You haunted me every night and I need to know why."
"I don't know," she honestly told him. "You shouldn't have been able to. I mean you never truly saw me…"
"Never truly saw you when?"
"When you died. Or turned or whatever you want to call it. I was the reaper tasked to collect your soul but you were taken from me before I could transport you to the other side. The darkness-"
"Grasped me," he finished and realized it fitted exactly with his dreams. "I know. I think I remember."
"You shouldn't be able to," she told him and shook her head, "Then again you shouldn't be able to do a whole lot of things."
"Like seeing your kind you mean? I noticed Kol couldn't when he helped me out with your little friends."
"No living or undead creature can. You were never able to either. I mean you have never seen me in all those years while I was always close by."
"Keeping your eyes on my love?" Klaus asked, letting the term of endearment slip before he could stop it.
"Just making sure you weren't causing too much trouble. After I lost your soul I felt responsible," she admitted and looked back at the lives he had shed, this time all for her name.
He realized her though process, "Don't worry love, my actions are my own. No one is responsible for them but me."
"While that may sound comforting, I've seen your actions over the years. Not always the best ones." She glanced around, realizing it was getting harder to focus her attention to him and realized the energy she had gathered from the souls was running out. "Look I can't appear in this world for a long time. I have to go but I would really appreciate it if you stopped killing extra people just to make our job more difficult."
"Will I see you again?" Klaus asked just before she disappeared.
"Yes," she said and released the energy. No longer being seen by Klaus but still seeing him. "But not before I see you."
She still checked in on him every single day but since he didn't kill anyone she couldn't exactly show herself either. She noticed him glance around however and she wondered if he was looking for her. She bit back a smile at the thought.
She couldn't believe that a small part of her was hoping he would just kill someone so that she could see him again. That wasn't her but still there was that part of her that longed to continue their conversation, she still wasn't close to figuring out how he was able to see her.
When he did kill someone she materialized right away, Klaus already waiting for her but he politely stepped aside so she could do her duty first. When she helped the soul move on first she got back to him. "So did you want to see me or was he just annoying you?" she quipped.
"Both," he told her, "He was annoying and I needed to kill someone for you anyway."
"Kill someone for me… You know I might be part of Death's inner circle but that doesn't mean I'm a fan of murder okay. All those people that had their life ripped from them-"
"You care about them," he concluded.
"Yes- No. I don't know. It's part of life and I'm aware of that, it's just not my favorite part of it."
"Well then we're having a problem."
"We do?" she asked and sat down on the couch next to him. "What is that problem exactly?"
"Well I'm not planning on saying goodbye to you just yet. But to see you, there needs to be a dead person for you to draw your strength from. See my issue here?"
She ignored the tiny flutter she felt at the thought that he wanted to see her again. He wasn't at all like she had expected him to be but he was wrong if he thought killing people was the only way to see her. "Well you could always visit a hospital," she offered, "People die there all the time. No killing needed."
"You want me to go to a hospital to talk to you?" he stated in disbelief.
"Well you're the one that wants to see me so badly," she teased, "And I'm definitely there a lot of the times anyway."
"Okay… no killing for you," he accepted and he smirked when he noticed the smile on her face. "So tell me, how did you become a reaper?"
"Hmm," she mused, "That story is too long for the time we have left. I'll tell you another time if you can answer this question for me. Why did you find it so important to see me again?"
"I don't know," he admitted and when she looked at him with disbelief he continued, "I just felt a pull to you ever since I had my first dream. It's like ever since you touched my soul it has been yours."
She was stunned and didn't know how to reply to him. What if they were connected after she touched his soul? There was no one that had been this far into the other side before they returned so it wasn't like they could compare cases…
"Now I would like you to answer a question of mine, love."
"One more, than I have to go," she conceded.
"You mentioned last time that you kept your eyes on me. Why?"
"I- For the longest time I've felt it was my fault the vampire race roamed over this world. It threw the balance and if I had just hold on to you better…"
"You wanted me to stay dead," he concluded.
"Well… yeah," she admitted. "It's like you said, I touched your soul. I know the person you were back then so I saw the changes vampirism did to you and your family and I think a part of me felt like I disappointed that person back then for letting the darkness warp you in the person I saw after that."
"You think I'm evil?"
"I think you can be. You definitely showed it in your past and those are the only moments I've witnessed. I never thought you could be," she glanced at him with bashful eyes, "Like this."
Klaus considered her words and knew she had hit her mark. He had changed and he didn't pretend to be better than he was and neither did she. She saw him for who he truly was and it scared and thrilled him at the same time.
"Your time is up, I'm guessing," Klaus said while she got up from the couch.
She nodded, "Yeah I should get going," she hesitated for a second, looking back at him for one more second before she left, continuing the rest of her tasks.
Over time it had become their thing to meet in the hospital. Between duties she conversed with him, they confided in each other and after some time she even told him the tale of when she was human. Well what she remembered at least.
In all that time Klaus had asked only once why she thought he could see them. She had thought about it long and hard and she finally had a theory. "You're deathless," she stated.
"Deathless?" he asked, liking the title but wondered how that linked in.
"You turned into a hybrid, killed your father- the only person with knowledge of the weapon that could even possibly kill you. You can't die. You basically defied Death which means his laws no longer apply to you."
He laid his hand over her, going right through it. "Not all laws."
"Not all laws," she acknowledged. With every passing moment the hindrance of touch had become a bigger issue. When they shared their past and couldn't console the other or even offer a hug or hold a hand and that didn't even start the other touches that had crossed their minds as well but that wasn't in the cards for them.
"So what you're telling me is that if I had broken that sodden curse a couple of centuries sooner I would have been able to see you all along."
She shrugged, "Possibly. I mean Mikael would have still been alive and if he had a way to kill you that would have reversed the effect."
"So what you're saying is shut and be happy with what you got?"
"Basically," she chuckled and leaned against his shoulder. She went through him for a small bit but it was the closest she could get for now and she was happy.
"She's distracting him?" Mikael asked Death while he showed him where he hid his weapons.
"She's proven useful. He likes her and she doesn't suspect my intentions for the boy so she won't intervene."
Mikael nodded and while he handed Death the dagger, the last weapon capable of killing Klaus Mikaelson. The room was spelled so no one could enter without him but luckily Death had some loopholes for that. He didn't care he wouldn't be the one killing the bastard, he was just grateful that disgrace would no longer roam the earth.
The next day Caroline appeared in the hospital in their usual place right in front of him. A chill went through her when he looked right through her but she figured it was a fluke so she drew her strength again. The souls around her were trying to get her attention but she solely focused on Klaus who was still not seeing her.
Defeated she glanced back at the souls, helping them first and hoping that whatever was blocking her contact with Klaus would be reversed the next day.
It wasn't. No matter what she tried, how loud she screamed and how many times she walked through him he didn't notice her. Even worse, he wouldn't leave. It hurt to see him waiting for her and the disappointed look he sported when he realized she wasn't coming to see him.
She was wondering what he was thinking. Did he think she just abandoned him or did he realize something was amiss?
It was on the fifth day that she couldn't push the creeping thought away any longer. If she was right and the fact that he couldn't die allowed him to see her, than him not seeing her meant… that he could die.
She didn't know how she felt about that. If anyone would have told her years ago she would have been ecstatic. But now? She just wanted to warn him. He was in danger and he didn't know about it. Unfortunately she had no way to reach him.
After a week of no contact, the bodies started to drop again. Maybe he thought she was being held from him again and another reaper would appear to take over but no matter what he tried, he could see no one.
She wished he didn't go back to killing just to see her but he knew he was growing desperate. At least she was happy to notice he quite the actions when he still had no result after a week. Instead his final murder came with a message.
"Caroline, I don't know what's wrong but if you're here. I l- I really want to see you again."
"I'm right here, idiot," she yelled at him from her side but knew he couldn't hear her.
Death was acting strange. She didn't know what it was exactly that first alerted her but something was off and she had the sneaking suspicion it had something to do with Klaus. She should have known that he wouldn't have taken the blatant challenge that Klaus had thrown him when he had forced his hand kindly but she had never seen him take life and death in own hands either.
It was when he had shown up while she was guarding Klaus that she vowed not to leave him again. "You can leave here Caroline," Death told her.
"Not yet," she told him and he gave her an exasperated sigh. It wasn't a secret that the situation between Klaus and Caroline had grown out of hand but this had been the first time she had blatantly refused one of his orders.
"You have to leave him some day," he told her before he left.
"Not today," she muttered while she sat down on the floor beside Klaus. She couldn't leave him. Not now, not ever.
After a month Death grew impatient. Caroline or not, Klaus Mikaelson was going to die. He would have preferred to keep his reaper in the process but they all had sacrifices to make.
When he had accepted his decision he didn't waste time. The hybrid would get the honor to get killed by Death himself. It was a worthy death, one that wasn't granted often.
He took Mikael's dagger and went to Klaus' Mikaelson's manor. He couldn't see the man right away but he felt Caroline's presence so he had to be close.
He rounded the corner, spotting Klaus in the living room, creating a painting of a woman he quickly recognized. Caroline. Whatever had passed between them had been more then friendship. He was sure about that on Klaus side and by the reaper sitting on the coach before him he was sure it wasn't that one sided.
Caroline looked up in surprise when she noticed Death enter the room but he waved her hand, paralyzing her for the time being. He really couldn't use the distraction right now.
Klaus turned around when he heard Death halt behind him. "Who are you?" he asked the intruder.
"Oh I'm sure you have heard of me. I go by many names but the one you're probably most familiar with is Death."
"Death," Klaus breathed out before he growled out in rage, "What did you do to Caroline!"
Death chuckled, "Oh you should be far more concerned about yourself. Caroline is fine, she's right here actually, probably wishing she could stop me but she can't." He glanced over at the blonde that was throwing daggers at him from her place.
"Stop you from what?"
"Killing you of course," Death spoke the words slowly while he revealed the dagger.
Klaus rushed forward, ready to tackle him and take the dagger but Death only laughed at his attempt. He was swifter then light and Klaus was no match for him. Still he entertained him for a moment, making him believe he was on the winning side.
"Don't you know no one can conquer death," Death laughed while Klaus had him pinned at the wall. With an expertise ease he slid out of Klaus' grasp and pushed him at the floor. He hovered over him, keeping him steady on the ground and pierced the dagger through his heart. "Mikael sends his regards," he whispered before Klaus closed his eyes. Finally moving to the other side.
He released Caroline from his hold and she fell on the floor. He crouched down next to her and she flinched away from his touch. "I'm sorry Caroline. I never meant to hurt you but I know you won't work for me any longer."
"Like Hell I will! You- you killed him."
"Something you have desired for even longer than I have," Death reminded her and she looked down in shame.
"I know better now."
"Well it's too late for that," he noticed Klaus soul appearing next to her. "You can help him cross over and then your work is done."
"What will happen to me?" Caroline asked with a hint of fear in her eyes.
"You'll cross over like everyone else or you can choose to stay stuck here of course. You'll still have your choice. You deserve that much in return for your services."
She nodded and broke away from his stare. "Well it seems I have one more job to do," she hissed and raised herself from the ground. She heard Death sigh before he left and she braced herself for her reunion with Klaus. At least she got that much.
He slowly materialized in front of her and she couldn't help but respond to the smile that grew on his face when he spotted her. "Caroline?"
She hurries to him, running her hands over his face to see if he's not still hurt and it isn't until he grabs her hands in his that she realizes she could feel him. They can touch.
She doesn't know exactly what to do with the information in light of everything that had just happened so she just stands there, staring at their hands wrapped together. "So what's next?" she asks him and he actually laughs.
"I don't know Caroline. You're the expert in this realm. Why don't you tell me?"
"Well you get to make a choice. Do you want to stay in the inbetween or cross over to the other side?"
"Where will you be?" he asked genuinely and smiled at the blush that colored her cheeks.
"I'm not sure. I think I'll be staying here. The other side has nothing to offer me. No one to reunite with."
"What about your mother? You told me about her," Klaus tried but she shook her head.
"It's been over two thousand years, I no longer belong there. I'll be staying here," she turned around, looking over at the realm that she would now call home. "What about you?"
He walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, enjoying the way she felt in his arms before he whispered in her ear. "I'll stay here. With you. If you let me."
She turned around, facing him and was surprised at the lack of contact between them. She could feel his breath mingle with hers, his nose graze hers and his arms still locked around her waist. Still she wasn't close enough to him.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her and capturing his mouth with hers. She kisses him to show him that she's sad he died. She kisses him to show him she's happy he's here with her again. She kisses him to show him she's happy they can finally touch and most of all she kisses him because yes she would let him stay.
They had always been a part of each other's life even before they could see or touch each others. The past year had only made it easier on the both of them. They parted, their foreheads resting against each other while they chuckled. "Well if this is how the inbetween looks like, it doesn't look bad at all."
Caroline smirked, "And you haven't even showed me your upstairs bedroom."
"I don't think I have the patience to bring you there," Klaus growled when he felt Caroline's lips ghost over his neck. He felt her chuckle in the crook of his neck.
"You sure you won't regret this?" Caroline asked.
"An eternity with you? Never," he said with conviction. "You?"
"Maybe tomorrow," she teased and winced when he elbowed her softly, "Never," she corrected and grabbed him closer again. "Who would have thought, you and I?"
"Well I did dream of you every night for the past 365.000 nights or so," Klaus reminded her and she laughed, leaning into him a bit more.
"Shut up and kiss me," she told him and pulled him against her.
"As the lady commands," he pressed his lips against her, holding her close and refusing to let go. He died and that was something he would have to deal with eventually but right now he was with Caroline and that was all he needed.
So that was my attempt at a Caroline!Reaper story. This isn't beta'd so I hope the mistakes weren't too bad.
Either way I hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you thought- or not and have a great day xD