A/N:
*Many thanks to my most talented and patient beta. Anastasia Dreams.
*This story is partially inspired from the Star Wars universe.
*Klaus here is not a good guy. He is swayed by the dark side of the Force after all lol
* Warnings: Death, Death of children, Gore, Dark themes.
* Disclaimer: I own nothing.
* Have fun reading and may the force be with you!
We will burn the world only to dance in its cinders
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"A long time ago in galaxy far far away the guardians of peace and justice have fallen. Klaus Mikaelson, the Knight who succumbed to the dark side, is now known as the Hybrid King. In those dark times there is only one ostracized rebel slayer left. On the run, Caroline is set on exacting revenge against her old lover and the dark side."
"If you're going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill
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Part I/III : When the leaves are gone
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A long time ago in a galaxy far far away.
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War! Democracy has fallen. The Republic has crumbled as the Order of the Knights and the Circle of Slayers have been eradicated. The Heroes who preserved the balance on both sides are lost. Evil is everywhere.
The armies of the old known Republic now serve the Supreme Chancellor who has proven to be the last surviving Immortal of the Black Magic while the Queen of the Slayers has taken her last surviving apprentices who have escaped the besieged capital and hid into the shadows.
In a stunning move, Klaus Mikaelson, the Knight who fell to the dark side, renounced the Order and now known as the Hybrid, swept into the Citadel and the Chapel of the Order and killed almost all the leaders and the Knights. The few Knights that survived fled into exile, hiding in anonymity.
There is now only one ostracized Slayer. Left on the run, she is set on exacting her revenge against her old lover and the dark side.
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Caroline stepped up the old stairs and strode under the ancient archway through the ash and smoke. Even though she was careful of her surroundings, she could tell that this place was abandoned now that only death lingered. She could smell the blood and the burned flesh as she gripped the hilt of the saber she carried on her side tight. She could not stop the emptiness that engulfed her from head to toe at the loss of her own blade as she gripped her new weapon with so much force the knuckles of her hand turned white and her own bones verged on cracking.
She could sense the drowning souls and the remnants of horror that lingered through the seams of reality. Her senses were sharper now as her own bloodlust rose higher than ever before. Even though she was banished from the Circle, the killing instinct inside her still awoke as it was designed to.
Maybe it was her connection to him or her own nature but the moment he let go and dove into the darkness she felt it. She felt everything, as if it was her hands that ripped apart one victim after another with unshed tears and unrevoked wretchedness. She felt his hopelessness, his insanity and his pleasure and in that moment she knew she lost him. Along with everything she held dear.
Because of him, after a thousand generations, the Old Magic - the blackest sorcery ever known to the galaxies returned. The oppression of necromancy and of the dark arts began anew and this time it left nothing but ruination and death. Monsters were reborn once more and the shields of protection gone.
The Senate was dismantled as the Republic crumbled to nothing and the Order fell. And not just the Order. Her Queen's last act was to excommunicate her as the slayers found refuge in the shadows and the last of the surviving Knights went into hiding.
Maybe it was reckless of her or simply suicidal, but she did not care. In her moment of desolation, she knew that she needed to find the monster that did this and put an end to him.
She did not hide, nor run away. Every assassin of black magic that got in her way was slain by her blade and she relished the feeling of vengeance. More than ever before. It seemed carnal and euphoric as she forgot about balance and duty. A part of her warned her that she herself was now dancing way too close to the dark side but all she wanted was to unleash that blinding anger she felt. She enjoyed shedding the blood of her enemies and the thrill of the kill, but nothing prepared her for what she had to face now.
The silence all around her seemed deafening. The Chapel of the Order was in ruins. In front of her, endless bodies were scattered on the marbles. Boneless and lifeless. Mangled and without any breath left, their deformed and burned to a crisp limbs were the most grotesque sight she had ever seen.
For the first time in her life she was faint. She might have been forged in war and accustomed to bloodshed but right now her legs trembled and she knew that these images would be etched upon her nightmares for the rest of her life.
She had failed to protect them. She had failed in the worst way imaginable.
Endless bodies were scattered ahead but those of the children were the ones she knew she would forever commit to memory. Only a savage monster would be able to do…this. It was…inhuman. A soulless act of depraved brutality.
In the stairs that led to the main hall where she once used to confess and pray, the shredded remains of a boy were callously thrown.
She reached the broken body of the child laying in the midst of its own blood and stared at it with vacant eyes. The now cold crimson liquid slowly descended towards her feet and she had to take a step back. She would never be able to wash it away if it touched her.
Tears filled her eyes when she heard the faintest movement and she drew her vector sword.
One year ago
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She covered his bare chest with her fingers as his own danced on her nude back. The friction from his cooling fingertips, all enticing and seductive, was reigniting the same firestorm that claimed her body when Klaus held her close and cherished every inch of her. Caroline had done the same with him and wished for the moment to not end while she delayed their separation just a little bit longer. Only one more moment of serenity before her guilt immersed.
She caressed his sternum with languid strokes and she felt the power thrumming just underneath his flesh; she could feel the heat that shimmered and raced through his veins. As if flames were dancing in his bloodstream. She tangled her legs with his and let her body rest upon his just for a little while longer.
The last months had not been easy. Returning to her former physical state had been a struggle and she had missed Klaus' presence terribly while she was recuperating. The healers took great care of her, but in the end all she wanted was to regain her strength and go back into battle and into Klaus' arms again. So many things had happened while she was unconscious and yet it was his absence that was the deepest cut for her.
They had been forced to keep up the pretenses. So aside from a few stolen moments when he snuck in the medical quarters of the Circle – a task nearly impossible for any other – she had not seen him at all and that drove her literally insane.
Ever since she woke back to the land of the living, she seemed to crave him more. To want him more. With an intensity that scared her. Now that she was finally in his arms again, she did not want to let him go. She closed her eyes and let the memories flow in her mind. Their past intersecting with their present and defining their future.
She still remembered the night she first saw him, when the Order found him half dead in the meadows of Arcadia. A cast away of the Royal family. Declared an abomination by the Emperor himself and left for dead after the Empress' demise. When Esther drew her last breath, Mikael finally released his entire wrath and hurt pride to the son that was never his and yet threatened his crown just by existing and having more power that anyone could imagine.
The night the Order found him, Niklaus Mikaelson was broken and damaged. Most of his nature bound by the maternal hereditary curse, his body bruised and battered. Her healing touch grew at his sight and she had helped nurse him back to health. She found herself smiling as he grew stronger and as he eventually got accepted into the Knighthood.
Their connection grew with each passing season. He challenged her with his unrelenting charm and massive ego and she found herself falling deeper and deeper into his web.
Klaus Mikaelson was always trying to prove his worth but she always felt that a part of him was still lost. Every time Mikael would send an assassin after him, she saw how he would fill with darkness and something so destructive that she could not name. But, no matter how much he would bend and snap, in the end he always came back. He was corrupted but not beyond saving and she felt as if what they had was partially what anchored him back to sanity. She knew that he loved her and anyone capable of love could not be lost and beyond saving. He was after all a Knight of the order. His light was still battling the darkness and that battle was not lost.
She let her hand fall from his chest as his lips grazed her neck slowly. She exhaled the breath she kept trapped in her chest slowly as she fell to her back, her heart constricting underneath her ribcage.
They were reckless. After the way Elena died the Circle was in disarray. The Knights were on alert and even the Senate was growing more fearful by the day. No one knew who would dare to murder a Slayer. Especially since Elena was also a Senator and the Queen's sister. There were whispers from every side claiming the supporters of the Old Magic were once more awakened and the Queen was now suspicious of everyone. Until the murderer of Elena was found and met their end on the Queen's sword everyone was on edge. More disciplinary measures were invented every day. Everyone was walking on eggshells and ready to attack.
Caroline inhaled sharply as she remembered how she awoke in a completely different world. It was not just the war that still raged on. This was a new world that seemed darker. A world without her best friend in it. Caroline woke from her coma and had to face this loss and part of her blamed herself. If she had been more careful she would not have been fatally wounded in the battlefield and maybe somehow she could have prevented this. If she were awake, maybe she would have been able to protect Elena and Queen Katherine. But now it was too late.
Klaus did not seem to feel her anxiety, nor understand her guilt, but she knew they had to be more careful. A Slayer and a Knight having a dalliance was not something either the Circle or the Order would ever accept or tolerate and both her and Klaus knew it. It was forbidden from the beginning.
"This is wrong," she said again with a sigh as she abruptly rose from the bed and wrapped herself with the covers. She realized how ridiculous she sounded. She always said this once her body was sated. No matter how many times she would say it, in the end she still fell into his arms every time he was near. Consequences be damned, he was like her narcotic. The only thing that dulled the pain. Her body betrayed her sanity each and every time and so did his. But now, it was more dangerous.
If the Queen knew about this, she would be exiled from the Circle. Her calling would be for nothing. And so would his. The repercussions would not stop only at her and they would probably be more grave than anything she could ever imagine. They would make an example out of them.
Klaus still carried the Mikaelson name after all. The word treason lingered in her mind and tainted both her duty and what she felt for him. It felt like a disease.
Caroline went and stood in front of the window staring at the fading rays of the sun. Soon night would fall.
Klaus did not bother moving or objecting to what she said. He was used to her ramblings by now. He was unmindful of his nudity as he stayed sprawled on the bed. His back resting on the headboard.
They both knew that being together was forbidden but the pull between them was stronger than gravity. They had decided to hide their relationship from the world a long time ago. Maybe she should stop objecting since this was her conscious decision but lately something felt so out of place. So…wrong.
Caroline sometimes could not help but wonder. What they had was based on secrecy and lies. Could they survive this? What they got themselves into was not normal and nothing that started with lies could ever prosper. That much she knew. Nonetheless, she still could not keep her distance. Not when her body craved his with an intensity that scared her. Not when she felt hollow when he was not near her.
"All those righteous rules. Aren't you ever tired of them?" Klaus asked her with a tired voice that somehow created unpleasant somersaults in her stomach.
She turned around and looked at his pensive eyes. There was an edge to him she did not like lately. Every since she woke up, he seemed different.
"Are you?"
"Those rules you are so fond of, no matter how much you break them, do not even work," he harshly said as he got up and put on his pants.
"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked him curiously and she felt his frustration wash over her.
He came near her and looked at her as if he was searching for something she could not explain.
"You almost died," he whispered with a sigh as he traced the scar on her shoulder and she shuddered. His concern was overwhelming. She could feel his fear and it was putting everything into perspective.
Klaus now seemed both fearful and detached. Sometimes he treated her as if she was made of the most fragile material and she would break at any moment.
But now, he seemed so angry. Tired and angry. A dangerous combination.
"Slayers, Knights. The Senate; your Circle, my Order. The peacemakers who fail in keeping the peace. Nothing works, Caroline," he confessed with a flat tone and Caroline blinked confused. He sounded so resolute and even though she could feel his worry she could not help the rivulets of anxiety that trickled down her spine.
His eyes were vacant and she had seen this look on his face more times than she would have liked lately. He seemed so stressed and haunted all the time and she realized that she was the reason behind his change. Her accident had changed him even more than it had changed her. She still had some glimpses from the time before she fell into the coma. Back then it was as if she was fading in and out of consciousness. Klaus had saved her on the battlefield, but he was not fast enough, that much she remembered. She had shielded Elena with her body and the tip of the arrow that went through her shoulder was poisoned and had sent her into a comatose state for weeks. She hardly remembered anything after that.
As in a dream, she remembered Klaus' desperate voice begging her to stay with him. He was holding her in his hands when she fell to the ground. He had been screaming to Elena that it was her fault and to stay away. She learned later on that it was Klaus that had brought her back to the healers but he was not allowed to stay by her side as she struggled to survive.
When she finally came back, she learned that it was Klaus that took charge after that. He was the one that saved her and the one that returned back to the enemy camp and killed everyone in rage. Everyone now talked with awe and worry about his berserker fury. So many gossips and conflicting rumors. They told her how Klaus had lost control and she had even heard some accusing him of genocide. He had even faced the council of the Order for his actions. Genocide. A word that made her heart stop and an accusation Klaus had rejected once she asked him of what had truly happened.
'I did what I had to' he told her and refused to discuss it further, no matter how much she pressured him to.
"You do not mean that," she whispered as his hand left her shoulder.
He turned his back on her and she furrowed her brow.
"The world is in chaos. The war never ends. We win battles but it makes no difference. What makes the Republic in the "free" lands better from the Empire?" he wondered out loud and Caroline's eyes widened.
"Democracy does," she exclaimed, unable to understand what was happening in his head right now.
Klaus turned around and watched her with dark eyes. She blinked and for a moment she thought she saw a golden hue creeping underneath the clear blue of his eyes. He seemed menacing and she gripped the sheet around her body tighter. She felt exposed and vulnerable and for the first time in his presence she missed her blade. Her palm was itching to cradle the handle of her dagger. Her Slayer instincts seemed to be more aggressive ever since she woke up and Klaus' attitude right now somehow triggered that within in her.
"And yet, people are never happy. They need firm guidance. Peace. And they constantly reject it," he groused dryly.
"It is called free will, Klaus. You cannot force people into peace," Caroline reprimanded.
"Yet we are forced to defend that free will by putting our lives in jeopardy every day!"
His voice was a whip of condemnation and she almost jumped at his anger.
"No one forced us to do so. We chose it," she carefully said.
Klaus smiled ruthlessly and now she felt as if spiders were crawling over her skin.
"What if we would choose to use our power for actually installing peace instead of simply waging endless wars?" he wondered as if he was talking more to himself than her.
Caroline shook her head and let her breath out in harsh huffs.
"That is Mikael's way," she mumbled and she saw him flinch.
"You know I hate him with every fiber of my being but maybe his objective is not that flawed," he murmured.
"It is tyranny!" she yelled at him and Klaus looked at her with dark eyes. She could swear that specks of gold adorned his orbs but that would be impossible. It was a trick of the sunset's light.
"It is effective," he said unemotionally.
"You do not mean this," she replied in shock and she took a step back.
Klaus shook his head. Her reaction seemed to be the only thing that brought him back to reason.
"Of course, I don't," he admitted and sat on the edge of the bed. He looked tired. So tired.
She followed him and knelt on the floor in front of him and he ran a hand through his hair.
"What's going on?" she asked him as she placed her hand on his knee and gently squeezed. She was genuinely concerned now.
Klaus looked at her with a pained expression and his hand cupped her cheek.
"I almost lost you Caroline. You were half gone and I could not even stay by your side," he said with a hoarse voice. She carefully got up and sat on his lap.
"I am here," she whispered and kissed his forehead, "I am right here."
She held him close to her. Trying to use the connection of their bodies to make him understand that she was not going to go anywhere.
"I would do anything to keep you safe, sweetheart," he admitted as he wrapped his hand around her waist possessively, and buried his face in the crook of her neck "And I will. That I promise you."
A shiver ran down her spine. Suddenly the air felt even colder than before.
"I do not like it when you talk like that," she said with a low voice.
"And yet it is so tempting is it not? A world of our own…where we would not have to hide. We could be free," he suggested as he pushed a stray tendril of her hair behind her ear tenderly.
"At what cost?" she asked him as she noticed once more how haunted he seemed to be as he once more gazed intently into her eyes. The glint in his orbs felt so wrong. Still she tried so hard to push that alarming feeling away.
"I would give anything to be with you, even if it meant burning the world. If being with you is forbidden, then I would rather fall and join the assassins," he confessed a note of mirthless amusement crept into his voice.
Caroline stared at him and held her breath. Silence fell and surrounded them. Dread washed over her even at the idea of it.
"Never say that again, Klaus," she seriously told him as she found herself shivering again despite the warmth of his body.
Klaus laughed and held her tighter.
"I am just messing with you, love," he conceded as his lips found hers.
She held him close and refused to give life to that nagging traitorous whisper in her mind.
'Was he just messing with her? Really?'
The man that approached her lowered his hood. The familiar eyes of Stefan Salvatore gazed upon her with sorrow and she lowered her sword and pushed it back in its sheath. The scraping of metal on leather resonated against the high walls as she turned to look at the sight of the massacre once more.
He had killed even the younglings she thought with despair. The acid taste of rage and agony swept over her tongue. She swore she could taste the ash as it snuffed the air from her lungs. She wanted to scream.
"How could he do that?" she whispered and Stefan came to stand next to her. He tried to reach for her, but she refused to let anyone comfort her.
She did not deserve it. She had seen all the signs but ignored them. She was equally responsible for this.
She pushed herself forward, swallowing down the bile in her throat. She crouched down in front of the corpse of the dead child. The blood soaked her clothes as she closed the eyelids of the young boy. She kept her palm to the child's face saying a prayer for his soul in her mind and then looked around once more.
The destruction did not stop to the living. Everything was destroyed. The books with the spells and the incantations that could be used against the assassins and their masters were burned to ash. Centuries of knowledge now lost. Their entire legacy torn apart. Every spell, amulet and weapon that still held a chance against the old magic was destroyed.
She knew that the swords of the dead Knights with the embedded crystals in their blades were melted to iron and now adorned the collection of the traitor Chancellor.
The Slayers had not relinquished their blades with their carved metals that carried the old blood of the witches, but as the forced connection to the other side was broken, so was the lethal edge of their blades. Not that it mattered in her case since Queen Katherine had taken her own blade away when she was banished her from the Circle. Leaving her feeling bare and bathed in shame.
She inhaled sharply as she looked at the sight of devastation, pulling her hand away from the child and her gloved palm turning into a fist.
Stefan stood behind her and she could feel his gaze following her movements with caution. Stefan Salvatore was the only person that stood by her side when the Queen and the Circle found the truth about her indiscretion. Klaus was the one that revealed everything about their relationship to the Order and Stefan was the only person that stood between the wrath of the Order and of the Circle and her.
Stefan who silently adored Elena but never broke the rules. Stefan who understood, even though he didn't approve.
Caroline could not understand back then why Klaus would go and reveal everything behind her back, but now she knew. It was in order to make people look away from what he really planned. He turned her into his diversion. He left her to fend for herself as he brought chaos and destroyed everything he had once sworn to protect.
"He is lost Caroline," Stefan finally said. His tone grave and absolute.
Caroline closed her eyes in pain but when she opened them again she saw nothing but red. The point of no return seemed so far away now as Klaus had not only passed it but pushed her over it as well.
She stood up feeling determination and an icy emotion she never felt before that swept away everything good inside her. She felt no more pain, no more despair. All she felt was the need to do something. To act. To avenge.
"I need to find him," she said in an unfaltering tone.
"There is no saving him anymore," Stefan lamented but she straightened her shoulders and looked at him unemotionally.
"I do not need to save the dead Stefan. Klaus Mikaelson has fallen," she surmised. Her tone was cold and borderline cruel.
Stefan the ever known pacifist looked at her almost horrified. He obviously did not like what he was seeing in her eyes. But, she did not care. She cared for nothing aside from her goal now.
No more rules. No more holding back.
"Caroline-"
"You need to stay and bury your dead Stefan and to send a distress signal to anyone of our kind that might still be out there. Make sure they do not return and then you need to run. And hide," she grimly told Stefan, knowing all too well that she didn't need to give him instructions. He would do his best as he was one of the elite of the Order but somehow she needed to keep him under her own control. Organizing her thoughts and giving commands helped keep her mind level and calm.
But it was not enough. The shimmering wrath underneath it all was like molten lava running through her veins, scorching her from the inside out.
"I need to find the Hybrid," she simply announced in her most detached voice and she started walking away from the massacre. She pronounced Klaus' new title with resentment and distaste, as if it was a curse.
"No one knows where he is. If Klaus does not want to be found then no one will be able to find him," Stefan tried to reason with her. Stefan had trained along with Klaus in the Order. They used to be like brothers. Comrades in arms. And somehow, she felt that Stefan shared the same guilt as her. He must have seen the signs of change in Klaus too but willfully chose to ignore them.
However, Stefan was the honorable one. He still followed the ideals of the Order. He would not raise his sword without provocation. He would not attack. He would only defend.
Caroline could tell by the tone of his voice that he feared of what would happen once she confronted his old friend. She did not know if he feared more for her or the Hybrid.
"I am not no one and that creature is not Klaus anymore," she spat with a fury that knew no rival.
As a matter of fact she knew exactly where to find him. Her journey ha just started and she needed to make haste.
Klaus Mikaelson was no more. But his nightmares still haunted him. Or at least haunted the ghost that was still left in the atrocity he had turned himself into. He had joined the Assassins and he had let his gift be corrupted. He had condemned himself as the servant of the devil, binding himself to the old magic. His bones were now filled with iron and the gold in his eyes filled his veins with the bitter blood of the dead. He was now more powerful than ever. He had descended to the darkest part of his nature and unleashed the monster he hid inside. He had turned himself into one of the monsters she hunted her whole life. The worst one yet.
But she had held that sleeping monster at bay in the nights of their shared passion. She had lulled the demon into the shadows and she learned its secrets all too well. There was only one path for him now. His pride was reigning over him and he craved to kill those that were unjust to him before. Klaus Mikaelson would return home. He would reclaim the Empire by challenging and killing Mikael.
She had to find him before that. Because if he were to rise as the new Emperor there would be nothing in the world that would be able to stop him.
He would set everything on fire. He had already started and she was already burning. His voice now taunted her. A haunting memory. It was driving her mad. A mockery so violent it felt as if a reckoning.
"I would give anything to be with you even if it meant burning the world. If being with you is forbidden then I would rather fall."
As the darkness rose and surrounded her she realized that deep down in his deranged mind Klaus believed that everything he did was for them. For her.
"I will find him. Even if it is the last thing I do," she swore as she walked away.
Stefan's voice sounded now further and further away as the wind bellowed around her.
"And when you find him?"
"I will do what a Slayer does best," she vowed as she covered herself inside her black cloak and got lost inside the night.
There was no more time for pain or indecision. Now it was time to hunt.
She was going to kill him. No matter what it would take, she would kill the shade that wore the face of the man she once loved. She would not mourn or rest until she found him and then she would not stop until her blade reached and tore apart the heart she once loved.
Maybe the heart she still loved.
Chapter title : Lyrics from "Zella day : Sacrifice"
A/N: I have to admit that I did not appreciate the Star Wars prequels originally. But I came to love them as I love all things Star Wars. Klaus' role here is in a somewhat parallel to Anakin's origins as you can see. But Caroline's story differentiates a lot from Padme's as she is a born and bred warrior with her own calling and mystical ties like Klaus has and not a Senator.
I hope you liked what you read. Let me know :)