A/N: I'm not really fan of pop music, but somehow Christina Perri new single "Thousand Years" gave me inspiration to actually write a fanfic. It's random, right? I never thought that I would actually have a new "muse" to write a vampire diaries story and here I'm; I had another story about Delena, but I couldn't really bother to finish it since I lost the inspiration. Besides that I think writers need feedback for the stories that they write and one of my friends read the other and didn't really like. So for all the fans of the other story I'm terribly sorry, but right now I'm just working on this one and on my Merlin story. They were good stories I guess, but right now I can't continue them so maybe one day I will go back to them. Right now let's just focus on this one and don't forget that I like to know what my readers think so please tell me what is going on in your head. If you want to share with me some ideas, you will be welcome too. Actually for the beginning of this story I really need your help. Let's write this story together and not individual and a 'hell' of a story. ;)
First I want to say that this is just the introduction so this chapter will probably be small (I don't know, because I still didn't write it haha). Just don't forget to take your full attention at the dates, because in my head this story will have four important timelines and the integrity of the story is based on them, especially the beginning. The introduction will start with the part that I think it's more important, but obviously there are more stories behind that I'm not going to write about. However, if you feel the need to know what happened before, so maybe I can write a 'one chapter' story about it. I just don't think there is a need to talk about it when it won't affect our main couple in this story so you decide what you prefer.
I want to apologize for the spelling mistakes. I'm Portuguese and I'm trying my best here. Google translate does not always help me with some words and drives me crazy. If someone knows a beta reader that is available to help me with this little or something like that, you know where to find me so message me privately to my fanfiction, tumblr or youtube.
Don't forget that your opinion is important, SO READ AND REVIEW as a good reader.
INTRODUCTION: The moon and the sun.
I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I love you for thousand years more
"Thousand Years" by Christina Perri
November 25th, 802 AD.
"Sie ist so schön.*"
A younger woman was holding carefully with both arms a very tiny baby that was born only a few minutes ago. The room around her wasn't too crowded, just a middle-aged lady holding a bloody white cloth and trying to clean the blood remaining on the sheets where the girl was lying.
"Isn't she beautiful?" The girl asked, raising her eyes to the woman in front of her.
"Óµoρφ." The woman simply said in a native language before she smiled motherly at her. "Beautiful." She translated to english and ran her thumb on the babies forehead, 'drawing' with her finger a small star. "She needs all the help in this world."
A dark shadow of sadness crossed through the young woman eyes as soon as the other woman mentioned that. Nine months had passed since the last visit of the wise witch from the 'Black Hill Cascade' and nothing had happened until then. Not that they wished that something had happened; actually it was more like the opposite. The Fell's were a Greek family who lived in those lands of the New World for just only two years and despite thinking that it was a holy land, they were sadly mistaken. It all started with a dream that Esther Fell had when they were still in Greece and suddenly the whole family was on a wooden raft paddling toward an unknown land that only Esther had dreamed of. They had lost their youngest son, Henrik, in an unusual situation and they were desperately searching for a new direction to their life. Ayana was the one who gave them this new direction with a few 'real' memories that Esther interpreted as mere dreams. So not true and the misfortune was always knocking at their doors.
"Do you think she will come back, mama?" The young woman asked, holding her baby more tightly against her chest.
Esther looked down at the baby for one a few instants before she looked up at the young woman in front of her with a sad smile on her lips. "She always comes back, my Charlotte."
She always comes back.
Those were so desperate and wise words, but unfortunately there was nothing that they could do against it. The curse had been made and Ayana wasn't a woman who would forget her enemies or her promises. Everything was changing already, they could feel it. Throughout the nine months that they waited for the birth of Charlotte's family, the Fell family was constantly fighting the natives of the New World for survival. All had begun on Christmas Eve when an unexpected visitor had knocked at their door. That was the day that they found out that they weren't the only inhabitants of the land that they so lovingly called Fell's Church. The witch who lived only in Esther's dreams was very real in front of them and she was accompanied with a group of humans dressed in animal's skins. She commanded them to give her Charlotte as a sacrifice for her to be able to fulfill her destiny, but they refused to do it because their son Niklaus was in love for the German young woman and they didn't want to separate them. Charlotte, completely in love with Niklaus, told the witch that she had found what she was looking for and what Ayana had promised her to her in a dreams when she was suffering in her old home. She had found a home and the love of her life. Although much gratitude from the young woman, Ayana revolted against the girl saying that it was now her turn to fulfill her part of the treaty that she made with her in her dreams. Suddenly Charlotte's memory was revived in her mind and the young girl remembered that she offered anything that she could give to give to Ayana for her to take her away from the disaster that was her life. From that moment the brunette understood that her love for Niklaus was forbidden and that she unknowingly had given her freedom on a platter by wishing happiness in her life. Now Ayana was there to claim what she promised to her, but she couldn't give it to her because she couldn't live without Niklaus. In an attempt to save the woman of his life, Niklaus tried to attack the witch with his bare hands; it didn't work because as soon as he touched Ayana the man closest to the witch came to her aid. His dark brown eyes turned into a yellowish colour, shining with anger and he raised Niklaus from the floor with an inexplicable force, tossing him against the stone house's wall. The words 'you are not welcome here' echoed in the forest and that was the moment that they realized for the first time that those lands weren't happy at all, they were just lands full of magic and they had stepped the boundaries of believable when the first stepped on that land that was unknown by the civilized men until then. Death and life went hand in hand in this land and no one wanted to live in a land like this; unfortunately now it was too late. Ayana, furious with the collapse of her plans to give some piece to her magic land, cursed the lineage of Charlotte and Niklaus's family. With all her black magic strength, the witch magically conceived a baby in Charlotte's womb who would continue with the painful life of the women in her descendent and from three hundred years to three hundred years they would be hopelessly in love with one of the members of the Fell's family, but that love would lead to their death and the banishment from generation to generation. The descendents of Niklaus wouldn't go unpunished, because they would suffer by losing the love of their lives as well as Niklaus would suffer for the loss of Charlotte. The werewolves proclaimed revenge and decided to fight against them for the lands, because they believed that those magic lands belonged to them for living there for longer than the Fell's. The skies turned darker and darker with the days and Ayana left with the promise that one day she would be back to finish the curse and give misery to everyone who tried to stop her purposes.
"I don't want to lose her." Charlotte broke the silence, kissing the forehead of her baby. She was so young and already with a so bitter fate.
"Everything is going to be okay, mydarling." Esther murmured. She didn't want to give her any promise; she couldn't give it to her since she didn't know what was going to happen. Ayana could be a very vindictive witch after all. "Do you want me to call Niklaus?"
As soon as she heard the name of her love, the brunette looked up at her only motherly figure and nodded her head. Her chocolate eyes shone slightly with a different feeling in them. Love. "Thank you."
The older woman smiled softly at her and nodded her head in understanding, walking out of the room in search of one of her oldest sons.
"You are going to meet your father." Charlotte whispered, looking down at her newborn baby. "He may not be your real father, but he will be the only father that you will know." She told her with a softly tone of voice. It wasn't like she could tell for sure who the father was, because it was Ayana who created this small 'seed' in her so it wasn't like she had a real father. Maybe it was God? She laughed to herself at the thought of that. It wasn't like anyone could compare God's kindness with Ayana's perversity.
"If you are happy, i will be happy." She told her, stroking her rosy cheek with her thumb. "Even if i don't see you growing up and if you don't remember me, just never forget that i love you and i will always love you in thousand years or in thousand years more." Two single tears slid down her still pale cheeks and they fell on the baby's chin. The small child opened her dark eyes to look up at her mother and Charlotte could swear that her daughter was smiling to her. "Aren't you so beautiful?" Charlotte asked, already knowing the answer as she leaned down to kiss her baby's forehead gently.
"Just like her mother, my love." A manly voice pointed that out, showing that she wasn't alone in the room anymore.
The german young girl looked up at the familiar voice and smiled lovely at the young man in front of her. "Come closer, Nik." She said to the love of her life.
The tall man walked toward the bed and sat down on the edge of it, looking down at the tiny baby in Charlotte's arms. She was so small. "Are you feeling okay?" He asked, obviously worried with her.
Charlotte nodded her head at that before she looked sadly at him. "You know, it's okay to love her. It doesn't mean you don't love me."
His blue eyes turned to look up at her for a few instants as soon as he heard her saying that before he looked away. "You don't know what you are talking about."
"I do." She quickly said, refusing to forget this conversation like they did so many times before. "Just think and look about all the things that we survived together. You and me." Charlotte whispered the last words, trying to catch his attention to her. "There was no food to survive in this desert country. Then Ayana showed up and tried to push us away. Werewolves attack us every day, wanting our lands. We suffer and survive, because we are together. This is not you and me, it's us. We are going to survive this too."
"You don't understand!" Niklaus snapped at her, not really wanting to talk about this. She was just pushing him to the edge and this was never a good thing. "When i think about my life without you, i want to stop thinking because i can't live my life without you. I don't want to live a life without you, even if this baby is here. She doesn't matter, not like you do. Why can't you understand that?"
The baby stirred in Charlotte's lap in reaction to Niklaus's words. The brunette looked up at her daughter for a moment before she shook her head, not wanting to believe in those words. He couldn't be serious. "She has no father, but she is yours and we are a family."
Niklaus looked down at the baby before he turned his attention back to her. This was just so complicated. "I will be her father." He promised her and Charlotte smiled at his words. "But don't ask me to love her."
Her smile faded away with the weight of those words. "You love me. Why can't you love her?"
"How am i supposed to love the child that took you away from my life, huh?" He quickly asked, stepping away from the bed and looking out of the window. The sky was slightly tighter today, that couldn't be a good signal.
"She won't. Ayana will. My love for you did." Charlotte told him, sitting up uncomfortably on the bed. "I chose you and that's why i have this destiny. But you know what? I don't mind, because i have you. If this is my fate, i won't do anything against it because love conquered all. We were meant to meet and live this love story; i was meant to die in the end to show other love stories that love is possible and happiness is right behind the corner. All you have to do is take a chance and don't regret your actions. We are going to be the future and our baby will going to change the world."
"Other love stories are going to die, because of this baby!" Niklaus exclaimed, pointing at the baby in front of Charlotte. "She is going to destroy us all. Kill the future. Do you want me to understand that? That i have to live my life without you? Because i can't, i had nine months to think about this and i can't." He concluded, stepping around the room.
Charlotte placed the baby on the sheets behind her legs and she tried to reach for his hand when he passed near her bed. "The witch is not here so maybe nothing is going to happen. And if something happens, you will survive. You have your family and they are going to happen; you can raise our baby on your own."
He paused when he felt her cold fingers wrapping around his hand. His blue eyes looked down at their hands together before he looked at her. "I don't want to lose you. Our story can't finish like this; it's not fair after everything that happened with us."
"This is the best ending ever." The brunette told him softly, pushing him toward her. "Because there is an 'us'and we are together."
"Σ'αγαπώ." Niklaus said in Greek, his native language. "I love you."
Charlotte smiled softly at him. "Ichliebedich auch. I love you too."
Niklaus leaned closer to her to press his lips gently against hers like he was searching for something to make him forget about all of this, but when she pulled away from him it was like all the reality fell on him. He was going to lose her. "How can you be so calm?"
The brunette in front of him looked into his light eyes when he asked that. This time she couldn't stop the tears from forming in her eyes and sliding down her cheeks. "Because I'm scared." She finally admitted, wrapping both of her arms around him as she cried into his chest.
"I'm here to protect you. I'm going to do everything to save you from this curse." He told her, holding her tightly against him as he couldn't help but cry with her. He wasn't going to do everything and anything to save her form this unfair fate, even if he had to lose his soul and body for that. "But i promise i will take care of this baby. Our baby."
"Frieda Esther Fell." Charlotte told him as soon as her tears stopped. "Like my mother and your mother."
Niklaus smiled softly at that and looked down at her. "Such of a beautiful name like her." He said honestly, kissing the top of her head softly.
The german girl smiled at his words. "We will have a long and happy lif-" She stopped talking suddenly and her chocolate eyes widened with the difficulty of her words.
The young man quickly pulled her away from him and rested her back against the headboard of the bed. "Charlotte? What is going on?" He asked, worried once again. The brunette started to move her legs slightly and he carefully slid the baby away from her legs afraid that somehow she would kick Frieda or something like that, not on purpose of course. "Talk to me!" He ordered.
Charlotte shook her head at his order and placed both of her hands around her neck as she opened her mouth like a 'goldfish' like she was trying to find some air to breath. Niklaus's blue eyes widened in realization of what was happening and quickly placed both of his hands on her cheeks, holding her closer to him. "Listen to me, my love. Breath slowly, it's just a panic attack." He whispered to her in a very softly voice.
"I c-" She managed to say before she stopped once again. Her cheeks were turning red with the lack of air and her brown eyes were even darker now as she was fighting to find some way to breathe again. Slowly she was suffocating and there was nothing that Niklaus could do against that.
"No. No. No." He repeated countless that as he looked down at her. Everything was so great only a few minutes ago and now she was dying in his arms. It has to be Ayana. A few tears slid down his cheek in desperation as he screamed for her name. "Charlotte!"
The brunette looked up at him when she realized that she couldn't find air; it was her end. Both of her hands moved to his upper arms as she grabbed for him with all her strength. With difficulty she tried to say a few words to him at least to calm him down, but she wasn't able to say anything more. A strong pain in her chest only made her hold even tighter on his arms as her life was slowly dying. Suddenly Charlotte stopped to move and her head leaned to the side like a puppet without movement; she was now dead in his arms.
Niklaus pushed her a few times, trying to make her response to his action. He knew that she was dead, but he didn't want to believe that he had lost her. This time he lost her for good and there was nothing that he could do against it. His promise was in vain, because after all he couldn't fight against the death or against Ayana. This was his fate; their destiny.
A few steps were heard and Esther rushed into the room, but stopped as soon as she saw what was happening. His son was holding a very dead Charlotte in his arms, crying against her chest as the newborn baby was crying for her own on the end of the bed. The old woman looked sad at the scene and walked toward the end of the bed, reaching for the baby. She kissed the top of her head, rocking her slightly at least to calm her down a little. "It's going to be okay sweet." She whispered to Frieda and reached for her pocket, taking out a necklace. A few days ago, Charlotte gave her a small jewel that was in her family for years. It was a black necklace with a round metal pendant and in the middle there was an elegant gem. It was a lapis lazuli gem. "You are going to take good care of it." She whispered, placing the necklace around the baby's neck. Frieda stopped crying suddenly and she opened her eyes to look up at the older woman who just smiled at her. Esther wrapped a small grey blanket around the baby to keep her warm as she kept rocking her around the room.
After a few minutes some noise caught Esther and Niklaus's attention. The young man was the first one who pulled away from Charlotte's dead body and looked up at the direction of the noise. It was coming from outside.
"What is it, Nik?" Esther asked, holding the baby closer to her as she tried to protect the newborn somehow.
Her son made a small signal with his fingers to make her stay quiet as he walked around the bed toward the only window of the room. Niklaus got closer and closer to the window and peered outside. He frowned slightly as he noticed some shadow in the distance. Something wasn't right definitely. The shadow started to be more clear and clear with the seconds passing. The figure started to be more defined, but it wasn't only a figure; it was a lot of figures. "Mom, stay here." He warned her as he took a step away from the window.
Esther looked startled at her son and rested her back against the wall. "What is going on?"
"Just stay here." Niklaus told her more harshly this time and turned his blue eyes away from the window to look at his mother. "The werewolves are here."
"What happened inside?" Niklaus's father asked as soon as his son walked into the main room.
The tall young man looked up at his father and shrugged his shoulders slightly. It wasn't time for that, because they had a worst situation in hands. His eyes roamed around the room for a moment. "Where are the others?" He asked when he realized that only his father and Elijah were there.
"Kol and Finn are protecting Rebekah." Elijah told him, standing up from the chair where he was sitting. "What is going on, brother?"
"The werewolves are closer. I saw them from the window." Niklaus told him, looking for a moment at him before he turned his eyes to look at his father.
Mikael picked up the handmade knife that was on the table. "It's fight that they want; so let's give them fight."
Somehow they managed to keep Rebekah inside of the house, but they didn't find a way to keep the werewolves away from the house or from wanting revenge. They were at least ten werewolves, a lot more than last time actually and that just made them wondering how many were they for real. It was a scary idea, but it was everything that they wanted to know right now. It was like they were multiplying with the days or something like that.
"Protect the house, Niklaus. Don't let anyone get closer to it for the sake of our family." Mikael yelled at him as he was trying to fight with two werewolves who were armed with sharp teeth.
Niklaus took the chance of the distraction of the group of werewolves and ran toward the house, but as soon as he reached the door Niklaus noticed that the door was opened. Rebekah closed it. Slowly and carefully the young man walked inside of the house and looked around the room. His only sister Rebekah was on the floor. The only wooden table in the room was upside down on the corner and a few papers and food were scattered on the floor. Panic invaded his heart and soul when he saw the condition of the house. He rushed toward Rebekah and reached for her hand. It was so cold. His blue eyes widened in surprise and shock at the sign of his dead sister. He just wanted to hold her closer and yell for his father help, searching for some way to get around to the death and to save his little sister. However his blood got colder when he remembered about his mother and Frieda hidden in his room.
"My baby…" He despaired when he remembered about them and ran toward the room. From the hallway he could see the door opened. Oh no. Slowly Niklaus walked closer to the door, resting his back against the side of the wall for a moment before he took a deep breath and walked in. There was a body on the floor near the bed. He couldn't see the face, but he knew that it was his mother. A few tears formed in his eyes as he walked toward her, falling down on his knees and rested his hand on the top of her head. His mother was dead too, just like his sister. He pushed her body slightly to the roll her backward, thinking to see her face. It was when a loud baby cry echoed in the room and Niklaus saw the small baby that Esther was holding protective with her arms. His Frieda.
"My baby girl." The young man murmured sweetly as he reached down to pick up the baby from his mother's arms. Holding him closer to his chest, Niklaus rocked her slightly as he tried to calm her down and whispered a familiar Greek lullaby that his mother used to sing to him when he was a baby too. "Everything is going to be okay. Your father is here and I'm going to protect you." Like I promised your mother. He added in his mind as two single tears fell on the top of his daughter head.
Suddenly Niklaus felt a sharp pain behind his head like something or someone just hit him or something like that and he just held his baby even more tightly with his arms not wanting any harm to come to her. With some difficult and pain he looked at the source of the violation, but he couldn't see who did it. There was just darkness behind him and no signal of the intruder.
"She is mine." A strong but familiar voice whispered closer to his ear. That movement caught him off guard and he almost lost the balance, leaning slightly to the side. With a quickly motion a sharp knife stabbed him on his back and Niklaus let out a painfully scream, placing one of his hands on the floor. He had to protect his daughter no matter what. Another stab came, but this time it was closer to his heart. "You are going to suffer like the worm that you are." The voice whispered once again, stabbing him on his back for the third time. This time Niklaus fell forward, resting his forehead against the chest of his mother. He was going to die like his sister and his mother. Maybe like my brothers and dad are dead already. The thought crossed his mind as he felt his blood, soaking his clothes. He felt his life being taken away from him very quickly and there was nothing that he could do against it. At least it was a happy thought to him, because he would be able to be with the love of his life was again. Was that so selfish of him to want to die instead of stay there to take care of Frieda? Maybe, but it was how he was feeling in that very moment.
The young man raised his head slightly to be able to look at the side at the figure. It had a green emerald cloak and he couldn't exactly see the figure's face. However it wasn't like he needed to see the face to know it was Ayana. She was back to finish her curse. Charlotte was dead, his family was dead and now it was his time. He wanted to fight her, but he had no strength to do it. It was his end. "Please…" He begged for the first time in his life, searching for some escape to save the baby girl in his arms.
The figure stepped closer to him and bent down, running her fingers across the baby's cheek. Frieda started to cry hysterically like she was feeling the fear coming from that simply touch. "It's too late for that." The voice whispered with a slightly irony in the voice and with a fast movement the figure stabbed him right in this heart. It took him less than an instant to close his eyes, because it was instantaneously and he couldn't even think straight as his life was pulled away from him. In only a second he met the greatest fear of the humans; the death.
"She is going to destroy us all. Kill the future. Do you want me to understand that? That i have to live my life without you? Because i can't, i had nine months to think about this and i can't."
"I don't want to lose you. Our story can't finish like this; it's not fair after everything that happened with us."
"I'm here to protect you. I'm going to do everything to save you from this curse."
"I promise i will take care of this baby. Our baby."
Our baby.
"Our baby!" Niklaus cried out loud as he woke up. Quickly he took a deeply breath and sat down on the floor; it was like he was breathless for an eternity and the air was refusing to circulate in his lungs. What is going on? He thought to himself as he placed both of his hands on his hand, trying to focus on what was going around him. Charlotte died, he remembered that and then the werewolves attacked them. His little sister was found dead and his mother was dead too, holding the baby Frieda in her arms. There was a sinister figure there too; it was Ayana. His blue eyes roamed around his room for a moment, but there was no one at the door. Where is she? The question was playing in his head, but he has no answer to that. The room was empty and there was no signal of Frieda either. He lost his baby and broke his promise to Charlotte. His heart squeezed slightly at his feeling, but he tried to ignore it as he looked around again like he was searching for some hint that everything happened like that and that it wasn't only a dream from his mind. "My mama…" Niklaus remembered, looking over his shoulder and saw his mother on the floor dead. That was the proof that it wasn't just a dream and it was unfortunately very real.
Niklaus rested his hand down on the ground as he tried to gain some balance. For some reason he was feeling so sick and it was like the room around was spinning around in circles. "What is goin-" He stopped talking suddenly when he started to remember the answer to that question. "I'm dead." That wasn't a question; it was more like an affirmation. Slowly he started to remember the way that Ayana stabbed him on his back with cruelty and no heart, only wanting to make him suffer. In that moment he only wished to be with his Charlotte, but the Gods had another fate for him or he wouldn't be there.
For a moment there was something else that caught his eyes. It was a small wooden box that was on the edge of the bed. With some difficulty to stand up, Niklaus held tightly on the bed's leg and rose from the floor, standing on his knees to be able to reach for the box. Slowly he opened it and found five rings inside of it. "Lapis Lazuli." He murmured to himself, recognizing the gem that Charlotte liked so much. It was in her family for generations, but he couldn't exactly why there was a box with rings for him.
His blue eyes turned to look down at the box once again, hoping that he would find some 'miracle' inside that could help him out with this hard task. There was a small note on a paper already stained with the time. He picked that up and read that out loud:
Life forever and for all the eternity.
That's your fate and punishment. – Ayana.
A/N: So I said it was probably small and I was wrong. On my word file its like TEN PAGES so I'm so sorry, but I felt like I needed to write everything for you to understand what was going on in this story and this start is going to be important in the next chapter.
I know this is my second a/n of the chapter, but I always like to make two just in case. Besides I wanted to point out a few facts in this chapter.
First: I didn't know what last name to give to Klaus's family so I used the Fell's name. If you read the books, you will know that the Fell's founded the city so it made sense in my head all that idea.
Second: I know that in this time everyone talked latin, but I thought it would be easier for everyone to understand their backward story if we used the languages that we know nowadays. So the Fell's were original Fellakis and they came from Greece (Eastern Roman Empire actually!). Charlotte's parents died in their way to this magic land and they lived in the north of Italy; however they were a german family, and they were running away from the barbarians to save their lives.
Third: I talked about Fell's Church in this chapter and I know that it's not the 'Vampire Diaries' city. Well depends actually. Fell's Church is the original city and is the one that is mentioned on the books so I thought it was interesting to use it as the original name for the city, but obviously it's going to change to Mystic Falls in the future.
Fourth: Not all the story is AU. The storyline is going to change a LOT and I'm not going to lie. But I'm not making them all humans now since I knew from the started that Klaus was going to end up being a vampire and one of the originals. So my question is; do you want Damon and Stefan to be vampires too? Or do you want them human?
Fifth: Another question and the last one. I said that there was four important timelines and this is one of them. The other one is Katherine and the number three is Elena. So do you want to know what happened to Katherine or so you want me to jump to Elena's time in the next chapter already? Because if you want to see some Delena interaction, I can just talk about Katherine's story in the future and YAY the bitch is going to be back on the future chapters! Katherine 3
(*) She is so beautiful. (in german)
So I think that I said everything that I wanted to say. If there is something that you want to ask me, just ask because I don't bite much. ;)
Anyway HAPPY REVIEWS. :)