Caroline is, to say the least, pissed. Beyond belief. And the reason for her being incredibly pissed and also kind of really upset (oh, and nearly had a panic attack just a few minutes ago) is, of course, Klaus freaking Mikaelson. Duh. She knows that technically they have bigger fish to fry right now with Elena being a complete homicidal psycho bitch with her emotions turned off and all, and the possible threat of Silas being unleashed into the world, and they really had to do something about Bonnie because Caroline is ninety percent sure that she's being like mind-controlled by Shane or something, because there is no way Bonnie would risk bringing down the veil to the other side just to bring Jeremy back to life. But even with all these Bigger Fish, Klaus has always been (as long as she's been a vampire, anyways) been a Pretty Big Fish, as in a pretty big pain in their ass that they've never quite managed to drive away or kill or even desiccate for long.
And now he's done something—she's not sure exactly what it is, but he's done something to everyone, he's compelled everyone or, oh, she doesn't know, he's messed with everyone's minds, or maybe just hers, and somehow he's convinced everyone that Caroline is with him.
As in with him with him, not just with him as in in the same location with him. But, like, dating him. Which, please, he knows he thinks they're "the same, Caroline" but he drove Tyler away after killing his mom, and that was just the cherry on top of all the other horrible things he's done to everyone in the town, herself not excluded—hello, hybrid bite anyone? Not once but twice? And now with this.
"Klaus!" She yells, stomping into his mansion, determined to find him and make him undo this, she doesn't care if it kills her, he has to make this freaking stop!
She could have thought—before he killed Mrs. Lockwood, you know—that there was hope. That, you know, because of his situation and his age, just being a thousand years old had to do stuff to you, right? And maybe he wasn't that bad, because she thought she'd seen some other side of him, maybe a side of him that came out too rarely, but if she'd seen it then it must be there, and maybe he, she doesn't know, could be saved or something. Of course, she was wrong. He's just a terrible, terrible person, and she doesn't know how she could have ever thought that someone who could do something like this to her, who he supposedly "fancies" or cares about could be—
no one has any idea who she is.
Her mom, her best friends, even her boyfriend (who isn't even supposed to be in town, what the heck, Klaus? Is this supposed to be some kind of punishment for her? What did she even do?) have any idea who she is. Well, most of them seem to think they do, but they think she's some kind of evil Caroline. Klaus' girlfriend, please. Like that would ever happen. But, no, they think she's some kind of evil bitchy Caroline who came to town a year back and helped Klaus with sacrificing Elena and tried to use Tyler for the werewolf sacrifice. They're all quite clear on it, except for her mom, who has absolutely no idea who she is at all.
It's horrible, and it hurts to hear that, and all she wants to do is just curl up in a ball and cry, except she can't, because she doesn't even have a home to go back to because according to her mom she was never even born, and her mom never even had kids, and there's probably an extra guestroom or a storeroom where hers is supposed to be.
"Caroline?" He all but breathes her name, appearing in front of her quite literally out of nowhere, his face in a perfectly happy smile (how dare he), looking like he's done absolutely nothing wrong, when clearly he has. He immediately moves towards her, and she immediately takes two steps back.
"What did you do?" She tries not to growl at him, but he frowns in confusion—fake, of course. He's a thousand years old, he must have picked up some lying skills somewhere in between, and it's not like evil murderous manipulating psycho original hybrids like honesty, right? He moves towards her again, looking slightly confused, and she steps back again; his face falls just the slightest, before he grins again. What.
"Very nice to see you, too, sweetheart, but if you'd only told me you were coming I could have made arrangements. The house is a bit neglected seeing as it's been just me for a while, but I suppose that'll be fixed soon enough?" He asks, and then gives her a big grin, a big happy one like she's seen on the day of Miss Mystic Falls, and she notices it. His frame is completely relaxed, and he doesn't look at all on edge. In fact, he looks like he expects her to start laughing and kidding about with him about her cleaning his house, if she's not misunderstood him. Almost like he'd be with a girlfriend or something. Also, what is he on about, why does she even care about his house and why would he make arrangements for her to—wait. What does he think this is?
"I'm serious, Klaus. What did you do?" She asks, and he raises his eyebrows at her, looking genuinely confused, except, of course, he's not. He's just that good. She glares at him and steps back when he tries to move towards her freaking again.
"You tell me, love. What did I do?" He asks, but he doesn't even look worried, or irritable, or anything. He's smiling again, looking more like he's humoring her than being serious, but this is serious. He's done something to the memories of like everyone who knows her (except himself, of course) and no one recognizes her and that, obviously, is to make sure she's left with no one but him who really knows who she is. And he's not treating it seriously, which is just so freaking frustrating, what is wrong with him?
"Are you kidding me right now? Because no one here has any idea who I even am!" At his incredibly blank expression, like he really doesn't know what she's talking about, his open mouth like he's about to interject, she raises her hand. "Everyone. Stefan, Elena, even freaking Damon thinks I'm, I don't know, your girlfriend or something. And my mom keeps saying she doesn't have a child, and Tyler thinks I tried to sacrifice him—when did Tyler even come back to town, Klaus? Did you bring him back just to punish me or something, because, let me tell you something, it's working. I don't know what you did or why you're doing it, just, please, stop. Okay? It worked. Take it back."
No, no, no, don't cry, now is not the time to start crying, angry is good, as long as she's angry she's fine, she just really shouldn't start crying right now—no, she's okay. She's fine, she's got it under control. She won't give him the satisfaction of seeing him cry on top of the satisfaction he'll probably get from admitting that, yeah, whatever he'd wanted to do worked, which has left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth which is almost worse than the actual saying of it. Of course, when she looks up, he still, he doesn't look smug. He doesn't look satisfied or smug or he's not smiling.
He looks concerned.
Like he's not the one who did it anyways.
Don't get her wrong, she knows that it's possible (not probable, but possible) that this is not on Klaus. On the other hand, though, who else could it be? There is no one in town who has a problem specifically with her, or whatever his deal is—she knows he says he fancies her, but considering the events of the past couple of nights, everything he did, she rather feels that his "feelings" for her are wreaking havoc on her life, and, yes, it sucks. He may think he's shown forgiveness in letting Tyler be on the run for the rest of his life, but he's not. And she's still lost her boyfriend; except, apparently, Tyler is back, he just hates her, as does everyone. (And she'd thought he'd never hurt her. He said he'd never hurt her.) It just makes most sense that Klaus would do this, in an attempt to isolate her from everyone else, or something.
Except, right now, it doesn't look like he did.
"Klaus." She snaps, trying not to let her voice shake. He looks very confused, and very concerned, and why does he look like that? Did he not do this? And if he didn't, then who did, and why has it only happened to her?
"Caroline," he starts, and then sighs, looking, just, confused. "I really don't know what you're talking about."
She opens her mouth, then shuts it again, then sighs. Okay, she can handle this. She can explain it to him, because he's the only one she's seen all day who hasn't tried to attack her—she can figure this out, and if she has to do it here, she'll do it here, and if he's done this then when she makes him undo it, she will find a way to freaking hurt him like he's hurt her. She will. "Okay, one thing at a time. Why does everyone think I'm your girlfriend?"
He frowns. "Would you prefer lover?"
Dammit, Klaus, what is even—
no, deep breaths, calm. She's going to handle this, and she can't be panicking if she wants to be in control.
"When did you let Tyler back in town?" His frown only deepens, and he looks extremely confused, which isn't really a look she's seen on him before; and, of course, because so far she has put him in the to-blame position this is confusing the heck out of her, even more than before she got here, which (she didn't think was possible) is just great.
"Tyler Lockwood?" He asks, like he's confirming, but which other Tyler is even in town? She nods, trying not to be impatient (except, of course she's impatient). "I wasn't aware that he'd left town." He says, and she bites her lip—okay, what? He was there when he forced Tyler to leave Mystic Falls forever until Klaus finds him and kills him, and she was there, too, and it was just the beginning for one of the worst points in her life; AKA, right freaking now, but according to Klaus Tyler'd never even left?
What the hell is going on here?
"You ran him out of town." She clarifies, enunciating slowly, and he raises his eyebrows.
"Why would I run one of my hybrids out of town, Caroline?" He asks, and her mouth, she kids not, her mouth falls open, because what the heck is he talking about? A. Because he's a vengeant bastard, which is why he killed all the other hybrids—wait.
"One of your hybrids? What do you mean one of your hybrids? You killed all the rest." She snaps, and he just looks more amused now.
"Caroline, sweetheart," Klaus says, and she jerks away when he reaches for her, tries to ignore his confused (confused, confused, confused, which is all he looks like, and she doesn't freaking get it) frown. "Why would I want to do that?"
She feels lost. And confused. And upset because of the previous two, and just everything else that's happened today, and what is even going on here, she wants to know, because this isn't even Klaus pretending; why would he even pretend about that? The hybrids? Because she doesn't actually give a shit about those hybrids, they broke her wrist (over and over) and they seemed really happy to keep her captive, so, no, she doesn't care that he killed them except that it proves that he's a class A asshole—so what is the point? "You killed them." She says, but feels like she's floundering. "You massacred them because they broke the sirebond and tried to kill you, and then you killed Tyler's mom. On the night of the Winter Wonderland."
His face falls, and when did his hand come to rest on her arm? How did she not notice? She tries to jerk it away, but he keeps it there this time, and he looks so worried for her, like something's wrong with her. Something is wrong with her, because clearly no one else remembers any of this happening. She swallows.
"Why don't you tell me everything from the beginning?" He asks, voice low and soothing—he's pacifying her, she realizes, keeping her from having a full-blown panic attack or something of the like. She's too tired to be pissed or thankful or anything; she's also too scared. Where is she? What kind of freaky alternate universe or bad dream or what has she stepped in, and how does she get out? Is it everyone else who's mind has been messed with, or hers?
She shudders as he leads her to a couch, and she sits down, noticing that her phone's ringing in her pocket. She picks it up feeling dazed, then notices that it's Klaus, holding a phone up to his ear as well. Oh. He's calling her; why? Why is anything happening today, though? (Of course it's him, though. Who else would it be? Her mom, calling to tell her that she'd suddenly remembered that she has a kid, or Elena suddenly realizing that Caroline is her best friend?)
"What?" She snaps, and he hangs up.
"Tell me everything you remember." Klaus is saying, and she swallows, suddenly unsure of herself. Maybe it's her that's been compelled. Maybe it's not Klaus, it's Rebekah, or something. Rebekah doesn't like her much, so it's possible she did this to her just out of spite. Besides, Stefan was shacking up with her, and it's also possible that Rebekah felt uncomfortable at how close they are, and compelled her to forget who she is—no, wait, Rebekah doesn't have that much of a problem with her. Besides, if she is Klaus' girlfriend or whatever, then Stefan hates her, so she really doesn't see the point.
Dammit.
"I'm Caroline Forbes." She says, and he nods. Well, then. At least she's kept her name. "I'm a vampire, I'm eighteen, except I'm not, because I died at seventeen." He frowns at this (why?), but motions for her to continue, so she does. "I was born in Mystic Falls, and I've never really left this town, even though with all this stuff happening I kind of want to sometimes. I'm dating Tyler, except you ran him out of town. Oh, and he hates me now because he thinks I tried to kill him. Elena's my best friend, but apparently I tried to sacrifice her. My mom, Liz Forbes, the town sheriff, doesn't remember ever having kids. Everyone thinks I'm your girlfriend or something, but that would never happen. You're a monster." She says it to his face; he winces.
"You're not Caroline, are you?" He asks, and she glares at him.
"What do you mean? Of course I'm Caroline!" She snaps, and he gives her a tight smile.
"The Caroline I know was born in 1882 in New Orleans. While her name, too, is Caroline Forbes, she's over a hundred years old and we've been together, or dating if you'd prefer, since the turn of the century; the twentieth century, that is. And as far as I can remember, you've—she's never particularly liked the doppelganger, she was indeed present for the sacrifice; honestly, love, she helped me with it. And as far as I can remember, Tyler Lockwood has never been anything but a conveniently placed werewolf to her. Now, you're clearly not her, but when I call her on this wonderful technological marvel called a cellphone, it's your phone that rings." She suddenly realizes where he's going with this, oh shit. His face turns upwards into a smirk, but this isn't the laughing kind, it's the mocking and downright scary kind—"So here's what I'd like to know; who are you, and what have you done with Caroline?"
So, not even sure this is a thing I'll be continuing or writing or whatever, I've just had overwhelming feels today, and, yeah. This is the result. Um, review? Maybe? I guess? Also, whoops, not beta-ed or proofread, so there are mistakes.