Save Me From Who I Am: Chapter One
Klaus jolted awake from sleep, his eyes wide open and his whole body on alert. Something was wrong, he could sense it. His head was pounding, 'normally' he didn't get headaches because of his hybrid nature. He could feel a soft surface underneath him, a bed or a couch, his arms weren't restraint, his entire body was free.
"Nick?" A soft voice called softly. He looked startled at the figure, not expecting someone to be besides him. "Are you having one of those nightmare again?"
It was clearly a female, from her soft voice and blonde hair he could in the dim light coming from the ajar door. The bed creaked as she leaned on her side to open the light. Caroline.
"What are you doing here?" Klaus wanted to growl but the sound didn't come out. This was definitely a part of the Salvatores plan to kill him and his family, using the only bait they could think of, the girl he loved as she loathed him.
"Calm down." Caroline sighed, lifting the covers to scoot over closer to him, he couldn't help his eyes from wandering to her almost naked body, she was wearing her panties and a men's henley shirt-one he recognized as his own. "I guess that one was intense, huh?"
She laid her hand gently on his chest, a gesture he wanted to savour and run away from at the same time. She connected her icy blue eyes with his, concern flashing through her.
"Caroline." His mouth suddenly tasted of acid. He ran out of bed to the bathroom, he didn't stop to think how his instinct directed him to it. He retched into the toilet for a few times, vile burning his throat as he vomited.
He flinched when a hand rubbed his back. "What's happening to me?" He mumbled to himself. Why wasn't his super healing kicking in? He couldn't remember the last time he threw up.
"It's a first." Her voice reminded him that Caroline was here. "You normally just wake up in cold sweat."
"Why do you care?" Klaus said gruffly. Caroline tried to kill him, she wasn't supposed to care about his general health.
"Because I love you." Caroline continued to rub his back lightly. "And I'm your girlfriend-" She said in a lighter, joking tone. "Fiancee." She corrected. "Sorry, I keep reminding myself. I still can't believe it."
This is mad. Klaus thought. He knew he was slightly insane but never to this extent.
"We're going to get married?" It came out more of a question than a statement. He forced his sore body to stand and walk to the sink, he washed his face. His hands instinctively knew which toothbrush was his. When he finally looked at himself in the mirror, he knew something was wrong. It wasn't exactly visible, but somehow, he changed. His cheekbones appeared not so sharp anymore, his hair was slightly longer. It was different looking at himself.
It was like looking at a more human him.
He realised with a jump that Caroline was talking. He observed her from the mirror, she looked just as normal as her remembered her to be. Blonde hair, blue eyes, thin body with curves, pale skin. Nothing was wrong.
Then why did it feel like everything was?
"Can we go back to bed?" Caroline asked. "I know you're hungover from Elijah's party last night-"
"Elijah's party?" Klaus interjected. Elijah didn't throw parties, period. Unless maybe a ball, or a something classy and fancy.
"His bachelor bash," Caroline said slowly. "You threw it for him."
"I planned Elijah's bachelor party?" He didn't like feeling uncertain of himself. Everything the blonde beauty said made complete sense and none at the same time. Elijah wasn't even interested in women currently, except maybe Hayley-
"Hayley." The werewolf girl that came with Tyler from his trip to break his sire bond.
"Yes, Hayley." Caroline rolled her eyes. "I know you have like this short attention span, but focus, please?" She moved directly behind him while maintaining eye contact in the mirror, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his back. He tensed when she did so.
"The wedding's tomorrow and we have to get up early." She said in a tone like she had repeated the phrase to him a hundred times.
"Hayley and Elijah's wedding." Klaus mumbled. "Tomorrow."
"It's actually today." She leaned over him to open the drawer of the counter and got out a hair tie. "It's four o'clock in the morning. I usually like waking up early, but not this-" She was cut off by Klaus slamming her against the counter, his hand gripping her wrist tightly enough to cause bruises.
"What is this?" He hissed.
"Nick, you're scaring me-"
"You're playing some kind of game." He felt the familiar anger take over. The first familiar thing he felt since he woke up. And he revelled in it because it felt like the only thing similar to home in this wretched hallucination. "You and your friends." He forced a bitter laugh, feeling insane. "I bet it's Damon's idea."
"Damon's in Spain," Caroling finally grunted and pushed at his chest with force. He was surprised to find himself stumbling back. "With Rose. What's wrong with you this morning?" Again her eyes were filled with concern, not pain or fear or insincerity he was used to receiving from people.
"What's wrong with this dream?" He grabbed his head in frustration, tugging at his hair.
"You think this is a dream," She whispered. Boldly, she placed her hands on his shaking shoulders and looked him directly in the eyes. "This is reality, Nick. Snap out of it."
"This isn't real life!" Klaus shouted.
"Then tell me what this feels." Caroline pressed her lips against his with, making him fall silent. Kissing Caroline was something he imagines, under circumstances. She would finally fall for him and leave Tyler. He pictured her smiling and telling him how she truly felt, that she had hidden her tried emotion in fear of them, but she accepted them now. He would take her traveling around the world as he promised her before. Anywhere she wanted to go. Anytime. Any place. Anything. He was going to make her happy. He began to kiss her back.
"See?" She said with a teasing smile. "Now that wasn't so hard." She pecked him one last time before stepping away. He almost reached for to come back to his arms.
"Come on, I don't think I can go back to sleep." She grabbed his hand and tugged him back to the bedroom, the normal playful skip in her steps. "We have more than enough time to have a little fun before we have to go outside the room." She stopped in front of the bed and sat down on the soft mattress, laying her back on it. She brought him closer until he was on top of her, their noses almost touching.
"A wedding," Klaus spoke. He felt like a fool repeating her words. "You said there's a wedding." He could see the confusion in her eyes from their closeness.
"Yes," She said. "Elijah and Hayley's wedding."
"And we're a part of it." He guessed by chance. If it was his older brother's wedding, he had to be there by association.
"Well, of course we are," She answered with a slight chuckle. "I practically planned the whole thing. And you're the best man."
"Kol." His other brother's name struck a rare cord in his heart. Caroline's expression turned sad, she sat up, pulling him with her, he was still resistant.
"I wish he was here too." She said softly. "I know Elijah wished that too." She sighed. "God knows how much Bonnie's devastated by now. He was going to be her date."
Bonnie Bennett and Kol Mikaelson. They were enemies, she helped kill him with the white oak stake. She gave vampires numerous aneurysms, she defended her friends from the original family. In what universe would she possibly grieve his brother's death?
"Bonnie and Kol." He felt like a child repeating the words after Caroline. But he needed this, he needed explanations.
"They were so cute together," she gushed. "I could tell they were hiding something in the first few weeks. They wanted to keep it a secret until the wedding but I guess fate came in the way." His jaw clenched, fate wasn't the one who came in they way. Jeremy and Elena Gilbert killed his brother, and that was the end. No excuses.
"On a lighter subject," Caroline continued, smiling softly. "I have to make last minutes preparations." She shuffled from the bed to the closet. "Why did they decide to have their wedding so early? It's not like it's even outside. This could've been so much easier if it was at night."
Play nice. Klaus reminded himself. If something was happening to him, some kind of magic or whatever, he'd go along with it until he figured it out.
"When does it start exactly?" Klaus called to her. He needed to do something. A plan was forming in his head.
"You're the best man. So you have to get there around nine or so." Caroling peaked her head from the wardrop. "Don't stress, okay? Everything's gonna turn out just fine."
"If you're planning it. It has to be." There. Now he sounded semi-normal. Even playful.. "The event won't fail even if it tried to." She threw a mock glare at him, making him think he said the right thing, before disappearing and returning in a pale pink sundress and flats.
"Alright." She threw her hair messily in a ponytail. "I will see you in a few hours on the aisle." She lowered her head to peck his lips since he was still sitting on the bed.
"By the way," Caroline called, making final adjustments to her appearance in the mirror beside the room door. "Don't comment on Hayley's baby bump."
A cold, dreadful feeling settled in his stomach. Another reminder that this wasn't real. Hayley was pregnant with his child, not Elijah's. Maybe if this was an alternative universe. But this wasn't.
"Caroline?" he said quickly before she got too far. "Where's Bonnie's room?"
"Why do you wanna know where's Bonnie's room?" She asked, suspicion in her eyes.
"Something about Kol." He thought of the first excuse that came to mind.
The sympathetic look came back to Caroline. "Room 246. One floor up." She slammed the door after her.
Klaus thought for a minute, scenarios running through his paranoid head. Bonnie was a vindictive witch out for his blood. She definitely had something to do this-but why? What was the outcome of putting him a hallucination? Maybe it was to kill him while he slept in a coma. Or for them to lock him up somewhere to live their lives away from him and not have to worry about their sire line.
Or maybe- the helpless, human part of his brain supplied- she could help. That idea was almost as ridiculous as her dating Kol.
He went back to the bathroom, something caught his attention. He carefully kneeled down in front of the toilet.
It was black blood instead of vomit.
Now he was sure of his theory, his body or subconscious was resisting was happening to him. With determination in his step, he walked back in front of the mirror, his hands gripping the counter where he slammed Caroline earlier. He focused on his bloodlust that was so deeply carved into his core, in every part of him.
The rage, the need for revenge, the prideful werewolf part of him, the hate.
Fueled by that, he opened his eyes, expecting fangs and features people usually called him demon for. Instead, his normal reflection stared back at him.
No said veins or red eyes. Not sharpened teeth made for violence. Not even a slight shift in his face.
He tried again. This was supposed to be easy. He could summon his vampiric side as easy as breathing, sometimes more. He punched the counter in anger, pounding his fist in the hard marble several times.
Fuck! He gritted his teeth through the pain, startled at the sharpness of it. His entire arm hurt like hell.
"No healing too?" Klaus murmured to himself. On another try, he tried to reach into his werewolf nature. He growled before opening his eyes to see if they were auburn. Nothing, just plain blue.
He cracked his neck before walking out of the bathroom, more determined and desperate than ever. Because, really, this was ridiculous. He threw on a random shirt and jeans before leaving the room. Even his phone and wallet weren't the same ones he had in Mystic Falls.
For God's sake, he had a health insurance card in his wallet. And apparently, he kept receipts as well. Most of them were from Target and fast food places. His lips curled in disgust at the amount of Taco Bell he'd ordered in the past week.
Disgruntled, he marched towards Bonnie's room, knocking on the door frantically.
He vaguely heard the witch's voice yelling out, "I'll be right there!' She opened the door, nearly stumbling.
"Nick," Bonnie greeted coldly. Ah, there was that familiar hate. "What can I do for you?"
He pushed past her. "What did you do?" His voice was venomous.
"What?" The witch had to nerve to sound bored.
"You did something to me."
"Is this about your nightmares again?" she sighed. The same understanding look Caroline got earlier flashed across her face. Understanding? No, he didn't want to be fucking understood. He wanted bloody answers and some goddamn normalcy. "You know, you should really see a doctor about those."
"I will not see a bloody doctor, Bennett," he gritted out.
"Of course not." Bonnie shook her head like his response was expected and gestured for him to enter the messy room. Clothes were thrown everywhere; on the floor, the beds and the chairs. "Of course not. Nick, you went through a traumatic experience. It's perfectly normal for someone to have nightmares and paranoia after something like what happened with Mikael."
Mikael. The taste in his mouth turned sour. How ironic was to have killed his father only for him to come back and taunt him from beyond the grave. Now there was another suspect. He must have Esther's help from the other side with the rest the witches.
"What do you know about what happened with Mikael?" he asked, mainly because he didn't know what happened with Mikael. He guessed in this reality he hadn't killed him with a white oak stake after Katherine, posing as Elena, tricked him.
"Is that a trick question?" Bonnie questioned.
"It is not-" he closed his eyes in frustration. "It is not a trick question. Just answer it."
"He-"
"Lay off her, Nick." His head snapped to the newest occupants of the room.
Elena Gilbert was drying her long brown hair with a towel, another one wrapped around her body. "I know you have wedding jitters. Even though-" She actually pushed him to get to the vanity. His jaw fell open with the audacity. He could easily snap her neck with his little finger. How dare she-
"-they're for those who're about to get married. Not their siblings." She sent a smile in his direction to show she's kidding. "But whatever. I won't blame you."
Elena was talking to him as if they were friends for years. Like he hadn't tried-and succeeded in sacrificing her in his ritual to unlock his full hybrid potentiel. Like Stefan's humanity wasn't gone because he compelled it out of him. Her aunt was dead because he killed her, along with Isobel and Carol Lockwood and countless other people. He had turned her and her friends' lives around for the worst. And there she was, smiling.
"Hello?" Elena drawled. "Are you still here?" She snapped her fingers in front of his eyes.
"Stop that," Klaus snapped. Before he strangled her to death.
"Hey, Bon." She turned to face the other girl. "Where's Kat? I know Hayley will probably go insane if she pulled a stunt today."
"I think she's in Stefan's room," Bonnie replied, not looking up from her phone. "She snuck out last night. I honestly don't see the point of hiding it." There was a taste of bitterness in her tone that everyone heard as she spoke. "Everyone already knows they're hooking up. Caroline blurted it out as soon as they slept together the first time."
"I know, right?" Elena said, nodding along. "Not that I'm not happy for them, but I would've liked if they were the ones who told us."
"If there's gossip and Caroling nearby…" Bonnie trailed off before looking up from the small device, startled, as if she forgot Klaus was in the room with them.
"Nick." She walked up to him. her green eyes inspecting him. "You should shave. Caroline likes clean shaven guys."
He almost snorted, ignoring that comment. "Who else is in the hotel?"
"Umm." Bonnie glanced at Elena for backup. He could practically see them communicating with their eyes. "Hayley and Elijah. That's obvious. Us, Caroline, Katherine and Stefan. Oh, and Sophie and Camille."
"Jeremy and Tyler and Matt are staying too," Elena offered helpfully.
"No, Tyler's not invited," Bonnie said. Elena appeared surprised at the news. "Remember? He flirted with Hayley and the thing with Car-" She swallowed hard, then cleared her throat "Elijah's definitely not letting him in his wedding."
Tyler's absence was alarming. But at least he wasn't an immediate threat. "Where are they?" Klaus demanded.
"Now?" Elena unlocked her phone to look at the clock casually. "Probably at the restaurant for breakfast." He was out of the door as before she finished her sentence, he could pick up on one of them saying 'weirdo'.
Klaus froze in the hallway. Where was he anyway? He stopped in the lobby to pick up a newspaper. The New York times. Great, he wasn't even in New Orleans. He didn't recognized the hotel he was in. It was small and cozy. Not at all what he prefered, his family always had much more flare than others. If by any chance one of them were to marry, he figured a grand wedding would have taken place, not with people under fifty.
"Nick!" Someone called his name. Sophie Devereaux stood at the end of the hallway, her head poking out of a room. "I need your opinion with something."
"Now's not the time," he said.
"I know, I know." Sophie rolled her eyes. "Come on anyways." She went back in, leaving the door open for him to follow. With an aggressive change in his step, he went inside the room. It was bigger than Bonnie and Elena's and the one he woke up in with Caroline.
"I need you to try this real quick." She held a small plate with a piece of white cake. "The chef said something about the frosting."
"I don't-" She shoved the cake in his mouth. He almost snarled at her, but instead he was forced to chew.
"Good?" Sophie raised her eyebrows expectantly.
"I don't give a s-"
"Answer the question," She pressed. "Too sweet or not enough? I could always put a little more chocolate. White of course-"
"Sophie, I already told you it doesn't matter what the backup cake tastes like." Hayley's annoyed voice came out of the bathroom. The brunette swung the door open and sent an apologetic look in Klaus's direction.
"It's your wedding-" Sophie started in a disbelieving tone.
"Yes, my wedding." Hayley rolled her eyes. "I get to make the choices. Now get out of my room and tell the caters to go to Elijah if there another pointless problem." She stared down the witch until she left.
"You should really thank me," Hayley said after the door shut. "She would've made you try the shrimp after."
"Where's my brother?" Klaus kept himself from growling.
"Don't know. His room probably," she said. "Can you help me with this? Zip me up." He realised for the first she was wearing a wedding dress.
His feet moved without his consent, his fingers were shaking as he unsteadily zipped the white gown up. It was a little tight. Caroline's words came back to him.
"Your bump's showing," He remarked. So this part was real, she was really pregnant.
"Did you tell anyone?" Her tone was snappish but held nervousness.
"About?" Klaus didn't step back when she turned around and stared threateningly at him. Now that was amusing.
"Our baby." She hissed in a low voice, looking around the room as if to make sure they weren't heard.
"Ours," he repeated. "You're getting married to my brother."
"It's your fault too," she said harshly. "It's not exactly a one man job. Besides-" She breathed deeply. "It was just a one night stand. Didn't mean anything."
"Sure about that?" He felt like he had to ask.
"Just zip me up and let's get this over with."
Hey, guys. So another story 'nervous laughter'. It's just that I've got a lot of ideas bouncing around in my head and an inability to complete them past that new story excitement. I really like this idea as Klaus Mikaelson is one of my all time favorite characters and I thought it'd be interesting to delve into his mind and see how he'd react in a situation like this. I just thought it was a fun idea to write and I had fun writing it. Hope you enjoyed it and tell me what you thought.
