This is kind of a 'what if' story. Though, I really hope Klaus doesn't turn into a human in the show (what would we do without daddy hybrid after all) this is my thought on what it could be like :) Anyways, this story mainly focuses on Klaus, Caroline, and some Rebekah. I hope you enjoy my theory of sorts ;)

This had actually been running through my head for a while, and I finally thought that this would be a good to write it out, what with hiatus and all.

Disclaimer: I do not own TVD.

Beginnings

Part I

Rebekah hardly had time to think as she restrained her brother. She knew she would not be able to hold him for long, despite the fact they were around the same age. He was the hybrid, after all; more powerful than any of them, any of her siblings, including herself.

She managed to take him by surprise, however – her only advantage. She jumped him from behind, wrapping her arms around his torso and pulling him away from where he was threatening Stefan and the others, in an attack stance. She threw him into a brick wall, not waiting to watch as it crumbled under the force of the blow. She blurred forward pressing her forearm to his throat, shoving him back against the wall as he tried to orient himself.

Only a few seconds now. Less. This wasn't just some vampire. This was Nik.

Klaus.

But she couldn't resist.

"Now you'll know how it feels." She whispered, tears filling her eyes unexpectedly, before she punched his stomach as hard as she could, causing the air to be forced out of his body and his mouth opened as he gasped involuntarily. Without another second to spare, Rebekah thrust her hand forward and tilted the small vial that held the cure, pouring down Nik's throat.

It seemed to take him a minute to realize what was happening, and by the time he did, it was already too late. That did not stop his anger from surfacing, however, and Klaus broke free from Rebekah's grip, his hands immediately flying to her throat. He lifted her off the ground with a growl and squeezed. Hard.

Rebekah's hands went up to his, trying to pry him off of her. His grip was as iron tight as ever.

It wasn't getting any weaker. No, why isn't he weaker? He's supposed to be…

It seemed that in that moment, her brother realized the exact same thing. A triumphant gleam overtook the anger in his eyes and he smirked widely.

"Well, little sister, it seems your little cure was just a farce." Suddenly fury was back in his blue eyes and Rebekah felt fear, real fear, for the first time in a long time. His grip around her throat tightened impossibly more, crushing it. She was sure that in a mere second the force of it would snap her neck.

Only just as she saw his killing intent, his grip abruptly loosened even as the rest of Klaus' tensed. Rebekah fell to the floor in a heap, gasping, her throat badly bruised, though she knew it would heal in only a moment.

Klaus staggered, his hands clutching at his chest, clawing at it as if trying to rip it apart.

"No." He growled. "No!" He was shaking his head profusely. A shudder ran through him before he went completely still. Then, suddenly, he fell to his knees and screamed. It wasn't a scream of fear of terror; it was much worse than that. It was a guttural cry of agony. His hands were clutching at his head, pulling at his hair and still he screamed. As his cries continued, his skin seemed glow from within, almost as if all of that power that made Klaus was being forcibly pushed out.

Finally, the scream stopped, the scary glow fading and Klaus keeled sideways, falling onto his elbow, head hanging weakly. He was breathing heavily, silent and his other hand went to his chest, resting over his beating heart.

Everyone stood still, unsure about what was supposed to happen next. They all observed Klaus quietly, warily, wondering if the cure really worked.

When Klaus lifted his head, Rebekah was surprised to see his eyes were wet with tears. They conveyed confusion, shyness… and, strangely enough, they seemed… innocent.

His hand clutched at his shirt, pain crossing his face, and he let out a small groan. Still seemingly confused, his eyes flicked around the room, searching.

Finally they fell on his sister, where she lay on the floor, the bruises he had given her already fading.

Rebekah expected anger, murderous intent, disappointment… Looks she had grown used to receiving from him over the years just as much as a look of fondness. But Rebekah could see none of that in his expression. She, as the one who had stayed by his side the longest, prided herself on being able to read his every expression, his every mood.

But the way he was now… No, that's impossible…

"'Bekah?" He asked, his voice hoarse, concerned, of all things, whilst his brows furrowed. He reached out to her, trying to pull himself to her only to collapse into himself, his body weak, mind foggy. "Sister?" He sounded so confused. "What is going? Where are we?"

"Nik?" Rebekah felt herself say, her eyes still fixed on her brother. What was going on? He should be trying to kill her.

Then it hit her like a punch in the gut. She finally realized what the look on his face was.

It had been the same look he had worn when he was human, before all the darkness had swept over their lies. The look he wore now was that of her beloved brother Nik, not the cruel hybrid Klaus he had become.

In that moment Rebekah knew that the cure had worked, in more ways then one. It had purged him of his sins, of his darkness.

When she saw him trying to move, trying to move towards her, disoriented and almost helpless, she couldn't help but to shift until she was right next to him. She found herself steadying him, grabbing his arm gently to help him sit upright. The way he was looking at her, pride mixed with fondness, tore at her heart. When was the last time he was like this?

"'Bekah, love, you're crying." She was only vaguely surprised at his statement, barely noticing the tears running down her face. "Are you hurt, sister? What has happened?" When she didn't answer, he cupped her cheeks, ignoring the pain that rang through his body at the sudden movement. "What's the matter?" The concern and borderline panic in his voice and expression was obvious. Rebekah grabbed his wrists, holding tight, afraid to lose her Nik, her brother, again.

It was with that action that she knew she couldn't allow the others to go through with their plan. She wouldn't let them kill her brother. Klaus had deserved to die, but Nik didn't. Not when he was harmless like this.

They had spent weeks planning this attack with the utmost secrecy, for once they were one step ahead of the other Original. Rebekah herself had been the pivotal part of the plan. But, things had changed. This was unexpected, unprecedented.

It was also everything Rebekah had wished for. She had wished desperately for her big brother to be returned her. And now he had.

Rebekah had been ready to kill Klaus, she had, but Nik?

She couldn't. She can't.

"It'll be alright, brother." She whispered, her throat clogging. She pulled his hands from her face and held them within their own. She felt his grip tighten around her fingers, and his face revealed relief. She found herself noting the fact that the hold he had on her hands was nothing like that he had had on her throat before.

It wasn't exactly weak. But it wasn't hybrid strong either. He really was human now.

Suddenly, he coughed harshly, lifting his hands away from hers and to his mouth to try and quell it. His coughing began to worsen and Rebekah could hear his struggle to breath. Then he abruptly paled and blood began to drip from his mouth. Nik pitched forward with a pained groan, falling into his sister.

"Nik!" Rebekah panicked, grabbing her brother by the shoulders and holding him upright against her. He was shuddering in obvious pain, still coughing blood. His blue eyes were distant, cloudy. "Nik. Nik!" The Original shook her brother hard, trying to keep him with her.

"'Bekah." He groaned. "Hurts." His head lolled as the consciousness seemed to fade in and out. His heart stuttered.

"No!" She screamed.

Then she heard the chanting and Rebekah felt anger overtake her devastated panic. She turned her head to see the Bennet witch with her eyes on her brother, chanting under her breath. She was completing the mission.

Rebekah wouldn't let her.

Always and forever. The vow sounded in her head and she knew what she had to do.

She stood, using the speed she had gained with age against her former allies. She blurred forward, too quick for any of them to catch and shoved Bonnie, hard, sending her flying across the room and into the wall opposite. The witch's distraction broke the spell she had placed on her brother, but Rebekah knew that even whilst weak, Bonnie wouldn't stay down for long.

She saw Stefan and Damon's eyes widen in her periphery, as if they just realized what she had done. They thought I was distracting him, following the plan. Elena screamed out Bonnie's name and made her way over to her friend, the Salvatore's automatically following behind. Caroline, for her part, merely stood there, shocked into stillness. Her eyes were on Nik, observing him silently.

The girl didn't make a move to stop her as she blurred back to Niklaus.

"It'll be ok, brother." She whispered to a barely conscious Nik as she grabbed his arm and pulled it over her shoulder. "You'll be alright now."

She looked up and met Caroline's eyes, vaguely surprised to see understanding there. She stood slowly with her brother, holding his weight for him.

She kept her eyes on the other blonde vampire, knowing that if the girl decided to call out to the others, they would immediately turn away from Bonnie.

Again, all the biggest decisions of her life were to time span of a few seconds.

Unlike her brother, Rebekah could not read Caroline. The girl was still staring, glancing between both Originals, whilst the only Mikaelson sister held her breath, waiting. She returned her eyes to Rebekah for the final time and did something that greatly surprised the older vampire. She nodded.

Rebekah was quick to get over her shock, however, and simply returned the nod, before blurring away, taking Nik with her.

Always and forever, brother. It seems like we both forgot about that day.

Not anymore.

Caroline watched as Rebekah carted her very human brother away from them. She wasn't sure what had made her just… let them go.

No, that's a lie. Of course she knew why she let them go.

She tried to tell herself that it was because she stood no chance. Rebekah was much, much older than she was, making her much more powerful. She tried to convince herself that she couldn't have done anything.

She told herself that this was why she let them go.

But that was a lie too, because she probably could have stalled long enough for the others to help her.

No, it was because of him that she let them go. Because of Klaus. She'd told him once before that she had seen the humanity in him.

"Anybody capable of love is capable of being saved."

It was like, when he took the cure, well, when he was forced to take it, what she had seen had been amplified. Caroline liked to believe humanity had always been there but seeing it for real… it was different somehow. He seemed so young. The Klaus she knew was ambiguous, you could never know with him.

Human Klaus made Caroline pause. He took her off-guard. She had assumed, they all had that he would still be the same Klaus, just a lot less powerful; like Superman and Kryptonite.

It hadn't work out that way.

"What is going? Where are we?" His words rung through their head. It had taken her a moment to understand that maybe, just maybe the big bad Daddy Hybrid had forgotten who he was.

She wasn't sure, of course. Caroline knew Klaus could pull off an act if he wanted to. But, she could've sworn that he was being sincere, honest.

Maybe he just forgot that we attacked him. Maybe he was just confused about what happened because he was in so much pain before.

Caroline remembered the feeling she had had when he was screaming; it had been guilt, and… remorse.

Maybe he'll remember and be the same PMS-ing Original we're all used to.

Yet, somehow, Caroline doubted that. She was almost sure that Klaus wasn't who he used to be. The way the cure had almost lit him up like a glowstick. The way his eyes were hybrid yellow and then it seemed to melt away permanently. The way those same eyes that had looked so old so tired suddenly turned gentler, younger.

No, Caroline was sure that this wasn't the Klaus any of them knew. This was the Klaus that belonged a thousand years in the past.

That was why she let them go. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to deal with this Klaus. She had seen him, how much he cared about his sister.

Maybe… Maybe this is his salvation.

"Anybody capable of love is capable of being saved." She thought again.

Caroline knew what it was like to lose yourself; she also knew what it was like to find yourself again. Everybody deserved that chance. Even Klaus.

"Blondie, where'd they go?" Damon asked suddenly as he turned away from Bonnie and the rest, his voice trying to convey annoyance but coming out only as defeated.

"They got away."

Originally this was going to be just a one-shot but it got WAY too long and I thought I would best just make it a three-shot to give me some more breathing room. Plus, the way the story line is working is basically in three parts so… :D Next up: How Nik adjusts to his new life and a few moments with Caroline ;) (it should be up soon as I am already halfway through it)

Thank you for reading and let me know what you think!

RW