Klaroline one-shot based loosely off of Ladyhawke. I wrote this forever ago, but I'm pretty sure I never uploaded it, so here it is. (I apologize for my bad descriptions of fights. I tried to limit them).
Caroline Forbes had once been the desire of every man in her village. She scorned all of them, though, content to roam about as she willed. One man, Silas, pursued her despite the numerous times she'd turned him down. She never changed her answer, though, always giving a firm but gentle, "No."
Their village was a stop along the King's Highway. Every time the knights would come, Caroline would run as quickly as she could to catch a glimpse of them. Finally, one knight looked back.
"Have a drink with a weary soldier?" He asked her, brows raised.
She found that she didn't want to say no to him. "I can't. I don't even know your name."
"Well, that's easy enough to fix." He said with a smile. He took her hand, placing a kiss on it as he bowed. "Sir Niklaus at your service, but I think I'll let you call me Klaus."
"Caroline," she replied, taking his proffered arm as he straightened. They walked away together, smiling and laughing, all too unaware of the jealous gaze that followed them.
Ten years later
Klaus's fingers stroked gently over the wolf head laying in his lap. He watched with idle curiosity as the boy-who introduced himself to the whole tavern as "The Ripper"-tried to talk down the five soldiers who were there to apprehend him. Klaus sighed, felt the worried gaze of the wolf on him, and stood up, gently pushing her to the seat. "Stay hidden," he whispered imploringly.
"Gentlemen," he called out. "Aren't there better uses of your time then to pick on young boys?"
"Excuse-" the boy sputtered, but Klaus cut him off with a sharp look.
"Captain Niklaus?" One of the knights asked suddenly, recognition dawning on his face.
"Yes, Marcel, what of it?"
"You disappeared. We all thought you were dead."
Klaus saw with sharp precision that Marcel's hand flicked to his sword. "Well, you have your lovely friend the Duke," he spat out the title like an epithet, "to thank for that. Would you really fight your former Captain over it?"
Marcel didn't waste time answering, instead drawing his sword with a flourish. The other patrons started rising, shouting and yelling, either drawing closer to the dawning fight, or retreating to the safer outside. "You are a traitor and a deserter and for that you deserve your death."
"So be it," Klaus replied drawing his own sword. The two knights circled briefly. Klaus took stock of the obstacles in his way; there was a table between them, and someone would eventually have to get it out of the way. He was so busy noticing his surroundings, though, that he hadn't been paying close enough attention to Marcel.
He looked up in time to see Marcel's sword coming down, but it missed him. Golden fur streaked through his vision. "No," he yelled, horror struck. The sword came down, though, cutting into her leg. Her answering yelp was almost too much for him; he felt the cut like it had landed on his own body.
Quickly, he pulled the dagger out of his boot, flinging it at one of the knights. A calmness settled over him. With a yell, he raised his sword, slashing, twisting, dodging, until the only one's still standing were him and Marcel. "You will pay for that."
"You care more about a wolf than your own men?" His former squire sneered at him. "You disgust me." Instead of attacking, as Klaus had expected, Marcel turned, pushing overturning one of the tables, nearly knocking Klaus off his feet. He then made a hasty retreat.
Klaus made to follow him, but the whimpers stopped him in his tracks. He turned back towards the wolf. "Get your hands off of her," he roared at the stupid boy who had caused all this.
"I'm trying to stop the bleeding," The Ripper protested.
Klaus pushed him out of the way anyway, lifting the already soaked fabric off of her cut. She was breathing heavily, looking at him with such pain in her eyes. "Hush, love. It's just a scratch. You always did exaggerate," he joked, trying to calm her down. He was lying; the cut was bad. It was jagged, deep, and if he knew Marcel, the blade had been dipped in poison. He ripped some fabric off his cloak, tying it tightly before lifting her up. "We need to get her to the monastery, and you as well I gather."
"But-"
"Marcel will come back, and this time he will be here with more men. Now I suggest that if you don't want to go with him, you follow me. We need to get there before sunset."
The boy nodded, following him out of the tavern. He walked briskly to his waiting horse. He turned back to the Ripper. "Take her. I'm going to get on my horse, and then you will hand her to me. I trust you can get yourself your own horse?"
"Of course," he said, accepting the wolf. He handed her back to Klaus as soon as Klaus was settled on his horse, running for one of the fallen knight's horses.
Klaus spurred his horse on, willing the creature to go faster than he ever had before. "Hold on. Just hold on, love, alright?"
Hold on.
Later that night
The first thing Caroline was aware of was the sharp pain along her thigh. She reached down, pulling up sheets and the nightgown, finding a long, stitched wound that ran from the top of her knee almost all the way up to her hip. She tugged the gown back down, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, trying to ignore the now searing pain. Her head swam.
Where is he? She thought frantically, "Hello? Where are you? Oh please be alright. Please."
The door swung open, and a bishop scurried in; his brows rose nearly to his hairline when he saw where she was. "My lady, you shouldn't be out of bed."
She fought down her annoyance, He's just concerned, Caroline, it's all right. "Where is he?" She asked breathlessly.
"The man who brought you-"
"Do not play with me, bishop." She said, pushing through her pain yet again; she hoped she didn't sound as weak as she felt. "I know where I am, and I know that-"
The sound of the door opening once more cut her off. "Bishop Saltzman, that will be all."
"Matt!" She exclaimed, happy to see her old friend; she didn't pay much attention to the other man that entered the room with him. The other bishop scurried out, and Caroline let Matt lead her back to the bed.
"He's fine, Caroline. Worried about you, but he is fine."
She breathed out in relief. "What happened?"
"You don't remember?"
"Vaguely. I remember we were traveling, and I remember going into that blasted tavern he likes so much…. There was another knight. He wanted to hurt Klaus. I jumped in the way."
"Um excuse me, but who is this girl? And a wolf saved Klaus, not a woman." The stranger's voice drew Caroline's gaze to him.
And she couldn't help the horror struck gasp that came from her lips. "Matt? He-he looks exactly like-"
"Caroline, let me introduce you to Stefan. Lord Silas' son."
Her questioning gaze fell back on Matt. She read his face, searching for any lies. "Well then why is he here?"
"My father wasn't very happy when he found that I'd been working with the rebels against him." Stefan said with a small grimace. "Not very happy at all."
"I didn't even know that Silas had a son."
Again that grimace. "Yes, well, I wasn't legitimate."
She nodded. "Fine. As long as you're not with your father. I was the wolf."
"That's not possible," Stefan replied with a grimace.
She glared at him. "I think you know very well what your father is capable of."
"What does my father-wait. You're that girl? The one who promised to marry him but ran off with the knight?"
"Promised to marry him? Is that the lie he's spinning these days?" She laughed without humor. "Yes, I ran off with a knight and we were married, but I turned your father down every time he asked to so much as court me."
"Ah. He didn't much like that, I gather."
"No. He cursed us, me and my knight."
"To what? I'm not sure that I understand, my lady."
She sighed, sinking into the bed as Matt pulled the covers back over her. "Matt, can you explain please," she asked, throwing a hand over her eyes.
"Caroline is cursed to be a wolf during the day-"
"Well that's not that bad," Stefan interrupted, "They can just be together at night."
"We all know your father is much crueler than that. Caroline is a wolf during the day from dawn until dusk, and at dusk she turns back into a human woman. But at dusk, Klaus changes from a human man into a wolf. The two never meet, and they can never truly be together. They can only glimpse each other for a split second." He paused before continuing, "Always together, eternally apart."
She shuddered at those words.
"Klaus is a wolf?" Stefan finally asked, breaking the silence. "God, this doesn't even seem remotely possible."
Caroline peeked through her fingers, watching Stefan's face and his reaction.
"There must be some way to break the curse?"
"Of course there is," Caroline answered. "In two days time, if, and only if, we both appear to your father in our human forms. But that's impossible."
"It might not be," Matt broke in, "I've been looking into it, and I know, I know there will be a day when there is no night and a night with no day. It will happen in two days time. Don't give up hope, Caroline."
"Oh Matt," she said, "Don't give me false hope. I know you feel guilty-"
"For what?" Stefan interjected.
Matt sighed heavily then. "I'm the one who married them. And I'm the one who revealed it to your father. This is all my fault."
"Matt," Caroline said sharply. "It is in the past. What's done is done, and I know you didn't tell him maliciously. I don't blame you."
"I think his plan is worth a try," Stefan said after some time. "We can get you both into the castle, and just see what happens."
"If it doesn't work we'll die."
"Do you really want to keep living like this? This is a chance to bring my father down. If the people see what he's done, if they know the truth-if their hero is returned to them-"
"Are you talking about Klaus? What has he been doing all these years if not protecting the people," She turned her questioning gaze to Matt.
"Mourning is the best way to describe it. He thinks that he's lost you."
"So he stopped doing his duty? I thought that was what was most important to him."
"Obviously, you are the most important to him," Stefan replied. "We have a fighting chance here. It might be our only chance."
Caroline mulled over his words for a moment. "You're right. Klaus isn't going to like it though." She paused for a moment. "I want to see him, Matt. Will you bring him to me?"
Matt walked quickly to the door, opened it, and they all waited. Before long, they heard the steady padding of feet on the ground. A black wolf stepped into the room, large and imposing. Caroline let out a happy laugh when she saw him. With that, he bounded across the room onto the bed.
He sniffed her as Stefan looked on with awe and Matt with affection. The great wolf proceeded to lick her face. She laughed some more. "Alright, alright. I'm fine, see? I'm fine."
The wolf and the girl slowly settled in, the wolf resting his head across her stomach as she fell asleep. "Matt," She said sleepily as the two other men made to leave the room, "Let him know that it's what I want."
"I will." Were the last words she heard.
Two Days Later
"I don't like this," Klaus said through his teeth for the thousandth time. He could have sworn that Caroline rolled her wolf eyes at him. "It's not worth it. I don't-I can't lose you."
She pushed her head into his leg, trying as best she could to comfort him. "I know, I know. I'll do it for you." Together, they pushed farther into the crowded chamber. Klaus saw Stefan do the same across the room. They were almost to Silas.
"Ah," A voice cut through the room, and everyone stopped, moving out of the way so that Klaus and Silas had a clear view of each other, "If it isn't the little knight. Come to try and break your curse." Silas laughed as he finished. "You should know it is impossible." He fixed his cruel gaze on the wolf at Klaus' size. "If only you'd had the foresight to choose me, my dear. You could be living in luxury."
As he'd talked, Caroline's ears had gone down more and more, so that they were pressed nearly flat against her skull. She was growling lowly in her throat. Klaus felt an innate desire to get her out of there, to safety.
What's he talking about? Klaus heard the crowd murmur around him. What's going on?
At least the boy's plan was working.
"If you knew her at all, you'd know that she didn't care about luxury."
"I'm sure you think you deserved her more than me, but you're wrong. You are poison for her." Silas smiled proudly at his barbs.
Klaus smiled too. "Don't you get it? I don't deserve her. No one deserves her. She chose me, and I will eternally wonder at why. I did nothing to deserve it."
"You are a fool."
"No, you are father." Stefan said calmly, drawing his dagger to his father's throat.
"You would betray me in this way, boy?"
"I would."
"You think you can save them? My curse cannot be broken, there is no way out-"
Klaus would forever be happy that the thing that cut the duke off was the sudden darkness from outside. He would have been happy then, but he was too busy fighting off the pain. He'd gone through many shifts in the ten years since Silas had cursed them, but it had never been this painful. His body was torn between man and beast, and he looked down to see Caroline on her knees, switching with rapid succession between wolf and woman.
Fighting through the pain, he loosened the cloak from around his shoulders to drop it over her, and he fell to his knees next to her as they fought together to be together. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, it stopped. They were both breathing heavily, but Caroline's human face looked into his human face, and broke out into a heavenly smile.
He almost reached for her, but Silas' voice stopped him. "What? This isn't possible!" Silas fought against his son, but all he managed to do was gain a deepening cut along his throat.
None of them had counted on Marcel. With a thump and a groan, Stefan went down to reveal the knight behind him, the hilt of his sword still raised. "My lord," the knight said, bowing to Silas.
"Ah, good. Give me your sword, Marcel. Caroline Forbes-"
"Mikaelson," She spat.
"Fine then. Caroline Mikaelson I sentence you to death. You will be executed immediately."
"No." Klaus said with deadly calm. "You will not."
"Oh, I will, and you will watch. And then I will throw you into a cell to know that you can never have her."
He didn't think. Klaus just pulled his sword out and threw it. The sword pierced the still laughing Silas through his gut.
Chaos erupted as the duke breathed his last. Klaus nearly lost Caroline in the crowd. But there she was, smiling at him, and everything was right for a moment. They strode toward each other, dodging other bodies and fights.
She threw her arms around his neck when she reached him, and he crushed her to him. "I never thought I'd get to hold you again." Klaus said.
"I never want to let go of you." She replied. They each pulled back to look at each other, and finally, for the first time in ten years, the tilted their heads toward each other, and their lips met.