He had never had a problem following an order before. He was Niklaus Mikaelson. He did as he was told. It was known from following orders without question. He had learnt from the best. His father the best hunter in town before himself, but this order was different.
Esther wanted him to kill and not an animal. A girl. He had to kill a girl. He was a hunter that was his job. That was what he was good at. He was good at the kill. He almost wondered if he enjoyed it.
That's when he saw her. She wandered silently through the forest. It was an odd concept; A girl walking around in the woods by herself. He followed after her.
At first he only got glances of her as she moved. She was like a doe, wondering innocently with no acknowledgement of his presents. Her white dress made her stand out perfectly like it was planned.
It would be easy. He loaded an arrow onto his bow as he followed after her. She moved through the trees as he lined up his shot. She was the most breathtaking thing he had ever seen. He stopped for a moment, taking in her beauty. He had never seen beauty in things, definitely not in the things he had to kill.
He held up the bow.
"I'm sorry," he breathed, taking perfect aim at the small space between her shoulder blades. The girl stopped and he almost smirked at how prefect a shot it was. He inched closer, pulling the bow back when her eyes shot up.
"Hello," she called out, looking up. Her eyes and her voice sounding like the pureness of her bloody heart. He had the perfect shot. He could take it and it would all be over. "Is someone there," she asked; her eyes finding him through the trees. They landed on him like a ton of bricks, staring straight at him through the trees.
There was such beauty in them, like someone had carved them from jewels. Then he saw it. The panic. The horror in her eyes as she knew what was coming. She knew her life had come to an end as he pulled back the bow.
He didn't say anything but his bow dropped. He couldn't. He couldn't kill such a beauty, standing so innocently in front of him.
The two looked at each other. The moment could have stretched on for hours but it only lasted seconds. The distance between them felt like centimeters instead of meters. It was such a small motion anyone could have missed it as Caroline nodded her head to the Hunter. No words were exchanged and yet they both knew.
In another world, Klaus would fight tooth and nail to marry a beauty such as her. Now though, in this world he could only give her one thing. He would give her the simplest of gifts. He would give her life, because no one could kill a beauty such as her. The world, all worlds needed a beauty...a light such as her. The world needed Caroline.
"Thank you," she mouthed before turning from her savour and Klaus watched as his beauty disappear into the tree because a Hunter could not kill one such as Snow White.