I.


"Seriously?"

Caroline groaned, glancing down at her now muddied clothes and shoes. She yelled profanities after the car, calling the driver all kinds of names very loudly that if there was anyone else around, they would definitely had turned to give her dirty looks. Still grumbling, she rounded her car and walked towards her building, her eyes still fixed on her now wet Chanel top. It was one of her favorite and one of the most expensive pieces of clothing she had—she obviously didn't appreciate some dirty substance ruining it. She dusted it off once more, sighing in defeat and decided to just let it go for now.

Just as she was looking up, something caught her eyes. A little girl was standing outside the toy shop that was located right beside her building. She was pounding on the door, demanding someone to open it. The shop was definitely closed, though. Caroline had heard that the owner's daughter was getting married, and since it was a family-owned business, it was closed for the weekend. The girl kept pounding on the door, apparently not noticing the 'closed' sign that was hung right before her nose.

"Please open door!" she heard the girl yells in the pouring rain. Caroline could see her shivering from the cold. She raised an eyebrow as she took in the girl's appearance. She was wearing a dress that could only belong to the 1800s, and it was soaked in the rainfall.

"I am Princess Edlyn of the Mikaelson Kingdom, and I am commanding you to open the door right now!" the girl yelled again as Caroline approached her. Finally realizing that what she was doing was of no use, the girl then slipped onto the ground—and if she didn't look so miserable Caroline would have said she was doing it so gracefully—she had her hands covering her face, and Caroline could see her shoulders starting to shake and she could hear low sobs coming from the girl.

Caroline kneeled in front of the girl, putting a hand on the girl's knee. The latter jumped at the touch, and Caroline could see fear flashing in her eyes for a moment, but they were gone the second she saw Caroline's smile; she could feel warmth starting to envelope her already.

"Hi," Caroline said.

The girl looked at Caroline with a confused look, biting her bottom lip as she recalled the time when her father told her not to talk to any stranger.

"Hello," she replied in a small voice.

Caroline helped the girl up, but still held her hands even after she had stood up. Her hands were freezing, and Caroline's hands were warm enough. She hoped she could take the cold away.

"What are you doing out here?" Caroline asked, feeling pity for the girl. "Where are your parents?"

"I am lost," the girl answered, a tear rolled down her cheek. "My father's evil bride sent me here. I don't know where I am, but I saw this castle," she gestured to the toy shop, "and I thought the King of this kingdom can help me get back to my father."

"Castle?" Caroline frowned, "Toy Castle isn't a real castle. It's a toy shop. And we don't have a king in this here," she told the girl, and if it wasn't a polite sweet girl standing in front of her she would have laughed in their face for saying such delusional nonsense.

"If you don't have a king, then who rules this place?" the girl asked, now she was the confused one. Caroline could clearly hear her accent, and she concluded that the girl was not from around here—she must be a tourist who got separated from her parents during sight-seeing.

"The president," Caroline said, "Well, I can't really say the president 'rule' the country—he's uh, our leader. The people 'rule' this country and he leads us," she finished, trying to explain it in a way an eight year old could understand (she assumed the girl was about eight or nine, based on her physical appearances and the way she was carrying herself)

There were slightly visible lines formed on the girl's forehead. She was terribly confused now. She could feel her head started to spin. Everything in this foreign place was too weird.

"If it's not the castle, then can you please take me to the real castle? I promise you, my father, King Niklaus, will pay your for your kindness, once I am reunited with him."

"Wait, what?" Caroline shook her head, baffled by what the girl had just said. A thunder then clashed behind them, and the two flinched at the jarring sound. She sighed, bending down to the girl, half yelling because the rain was pouring harder now and her voice was barely audible, not able compete with the sound of thousands of teardrops hitting the ground.

"You know what? My apartment is right over there," she pointed to the building next to the toy shop, and the girl threw a glance over her shoulder to take a look. "Let's just go inside, and we'll get you warm, ok? I'm a police officer. You are safe, I'm not a bad person. I will take you to your parents once we've got you dry. Come on," she took the girl's hand, leading the young beauty inside her building.

.

/

.

Caroline stared at the stack of clothes for a moment. She suddenly could feel a tingling pain in her chest, and she had to take a deep breath because her breath was hitched in her throat. Closing her eyes, she then shook her head, trying to clear her head. She quickly took a pair of clothes and shut the cabinet door. She turned around to where the strange girl was now seated, shivering in the little couch by the bed. Caroline placed the clean clothes beside the girl on the couch.

"You can wear these," she nodded towards the pile of clothes. The girl took one of the clothes, examining it for a second. It was a pink cotton shirt, and the girl frowned at this because back in her kingdom only men would ever wear something like this—but of course, it wasn't pink. And then she unfolded the weird-looking pants. She traced the fabric with her fingers, feeling incredibly foreign with the texture. Again, she thought that had something like this existed in her kingdom, only men would wear it. She then thought about how these clothes would no doubt fit her perfectly. They couldn't have belonged to the lady in front of her.

The girl looked up, her blue eyes meeting Caroline's. "Are these your daughter's clothes?"

Caroline swallowed the lump in her throat, and the girl could see the change in her face. "Yes," she croaked.

"Where is she, then? What's her name? Will she mind if I borrow her clothes?" the girl ask. But as soon as the words came out of her mouth, she instantly regretted it. She could see the way Caroline froze at the question—or well, questions—but the blonde woman quickly recovered.

"She's—" Caroline stuttered, "she passed away a few years ago. Her name was Lucy, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind you borrow her clothes."

"I'm sorry," the little girl apologized, feeling like she had crossed the line. Caroline smiled at her, shaking her head.

"It's ok," she assured the girl, patting her hand gently. "She was six at the time, but we were always told that she was tall for a girl her age. I hope the clothes will suit you."

"I'm sure these will suit me just fine," the girl replied, "Although, I must say that I feel quite intimidated by your daughter, since I am eight years old and she was my size. My uncle always say that I'm a midget—I just never knew that I am that small," she joked, and both she and Caroline laughed lightly.

"I'm Caroline," Caroline said, offering her hand. The girl stared at it for a good five seconds, as if she was afraid. But she then shook her head, shrugging off whatever it was that bothered her, and shook Caroline's hand.

Caroline had heard the girl screaming her name outside as she was pounding on the Toy Castle door, but the then girl smiled back at her, and still introduced herself. "I'm Edlyn."

"Alright, Edlyn," Caroline said, rising up to her feet. "I assume you would want to take a warm bath first?"

"Yes, please," Edlyn agreed. The thought of getting into warm water got her excited.

"The bathroom is right down the hall. But I'm going to set the water first, and then I'll call you when I'm done, ok?"

Edlyn nodded, and sat back down on the couch as Caroline headed for the bathroom. She looked around the room; it had pink wallpaper, and the headboard of the bed was the shape of a tiara. Her eyes then fell to the framed pictures on the bedside table. She walked towards it, and took one picture. There was Miss Caroline, and she was smiling very brightly. Her white teeth were showing, and her eyes held no sorrow, unlike what Edlyn had just seen a mere minutes ago. Beside Miss Caroline was a beautiful little girl, with raven hair and warm blue eyes—these blue orbs, reminded Edlyn of Caroline. Edlyn smiled at this. This must be Miss Caroline's daughter. She looked very pretty. And finally, beside Lucy—Miss Caroline's daughter—there was a man. He was handsome, and his raven hair was similar to Lucy's, so was his smile. Edlyn assumed he was Miss Caroline's husband and Lucy's father. She wondered where he was. The apartment was dark and the door was locked when Edlyn and Miss Caroline arrived here, and so far she hadn't seen anyone else in the place.

Perhaps Miss Caroline's husband had passed away, too? Edlyn sighed, suddenly feeling very bad for her Miss Caroline.

.

/

.

That night, Caroline found Edlyn sound asleep in Lucy's room after they had dinner. Caroline had originally wanted to take the girl to the station right away, as she knew there might be distressed parents outside, looking for their daughter. But as she walked closer to the sleeping girl and heard her light snoring, she decided to just take the girl to the station tomorrow. She didn't have the heart to wake the girl up from her sleep. So she took out her phone and dialed Katherine, her friend a fellow detective in the NYPD, instead. Katherine would still be at the station since she had a night shift that day.

"Pierce."

"Hey, Kat. It's Care," Caroline said to the phone.

"What's up, Care?"

"Can you do me a favor and look up the name 'Edlyn Mikaelson' in the missing person section, see if anyone had reported her missing?"

"Whoa, what's wrong?"

"Well, I found a girl standing outside Toy Castle in the rain."

"Toy Castle, as in the toy store beside your building?"

"Yeah. Tell me when you got a hit, ok? And if no one had reported her missing, please file in one."

"Got it."

"Thanks, Kat."

"Anytime, Care."

With that Caroline ended the call, and then slipped the phone back into her pocket. She leaned against the door frame, crossing her arms as she stared at the little girl sleeping in her late daughter's bed. Her blonde curls were covering almost half of her little face, and she looked so serene.

There was something odd about the young girl, but Caroline still couldn't quite put her finger to it. Maybe it was the fact that she kept referring to herself as Princess Edlyn and her father as King Niklaus. She had thought it was only Edlyn's imaginations—that the girl had seen too many Disney movies and read too much fairy tales. But the way Edlyn kept insisting that she was in fact telling her the truth, and with such determination in her voice, Caroline started to doubt her theory. Still, everything Edlyn was saying just simply didn't make sense.

Like how she mentioned that she came from a kingdom called Mikaelson, and when Caroline had asked if it's located in Europe, the girl only stared at her, stupefied. She instead asked Caroline what Europe is. Caroline had told her that Europe is the name of a continent—thinking perhaps the kingdom was in fact located in Europe, only the girl was too ignorant to know in what continent she resided. A voice in her head kept telling Caroline that she knew there was no Mikaelson Kingdom in Europe. She had gone to a summer school in Cambridge when she was in high school, and she had never heard of such kingdom. But yet, she still wanted to hear Edlyn's story. She just needed to know at least something about the girl, so it would help them to get this girl back to her parents.

'Oh,' Edlyn had said, 'Well, the Mikaelson Kingdom is not located in Europe. It's located in the Fairytale land!'

Caroline had buried her face in her hands in desperation, finally coming to the conclusion that the poor girl was probably shaken after a recent trauma, and it let her to believe in the things that she was saying.

Edlyn started to stir in her sleep, and Caroline could see the change in her face. Her breathing was erratic. She kept saying the words 'no' and 'help' as if she was begging someone to save her, and as Caroline reached the bed, she could see the cold sweat forming on the girl's forehead. Caroline sat down on the bed, running a hand to stroke Edlyn's cheek gently, in hope to calm the girl down.

"Edlyn," she called the child. Edlyn's eyes snapped open, and Caroline could see the fear in them.

"Edlyn," Caroline called again, now cupping the girl's face, "Sssh, it's ok," she said as the girl sat up in the bed. She then embraced Edlyn, enveloping her in a hug as she rubbed circles on Edlyn's back. "It's just a dream. It's ok," she kept whispering, trying to drive away the child's fear. "It's ok."

.

/

.

It was a little dark outside, and Edlyn couldn't see the sun anywhere as it was covered by the thick grey clouds. She quickened her pace, fearing that the rain would fall soon. She had been out in the garden to pick some flowers as she usually did. She loved to place some fresh roses and carnations in her room. But she was disappointed when she reached the garden this morning. Her flowers were dying. Gone were the colors, gone was the beauty. All Edlyn saw were the drying dead plants. She had wondered what had caused the death of her flowers, and she decided that her father's bride had done this. Sure, it was fall season, but in their land, flowers still grew beautifully until winter came. Only in winter, Edlyn couldn't have fresh flowers to lighten up her chambers.

It wasn't a secret that her father's bride—Princess Tatia of the Petrova Kingdom—was a witch. Now Edlyn had known good witches, such as Lady Sheila and Lord Luka from the Mikaelson Kingdom, but Princess Tatia was nothing like the both of them. She had overheard the guards talking about how Princess Tatia had killed one of her guards mercilessly just because he couldn't get her the stone she needed to perform a ritual. And it wasn't the only stories Edlyn had heard. There were more bad things Princess Tatia had done, but no one dared to punish her because she was King Petrova's only daughter—thus, making her his precious possession. And no other kingdom dared to mess with the Petrova Kingdom, because they were a very rich kingdom with a very strong army.

Edlyn's father—King Niklaus, was marrying Princess Tatia because their kingdom was in trouble. All this time they had been depending on the gold mine for their living, but the miners had reported that they were running out of gold. King Petrova promised to help their kingdom once Edlyn's father is married to his daughter. King Niklaus hated to depend on others; it made him feel powerless and it infuriated him. But he had to do it for his people.

Edlyn pulled her skirt up, allowing herself to run as she could feel a raindrop on her shoulder. But she stumbled on a small stone, sending her to fall flat on her face. She hissed in pain.

"Are you alright, child?"

She looked up to see the source of the voice, and Edlyn saw an old lady with dirty cloak covering her head standing right in front of her. Edlyn wondered how she had gotten here.

The old lady offered a hand to Edlyn, and she took it hesitantly.

"Thank you," Edlyn said after the old lady helped her up. The lady just smiled, and Edlyn couldn't help but noticed that something was off with her smile. She still held Edlyn's hand, and suddenly she was gripping it very hard, and then she pushed Edlyn into a well behind her.

Edlyn clawed at the wall of the well to keep herself from falling, but the old lady kicked her hand. She let out a shriek as she felt herself falling down. She shut her eyes, tears started to fall from her eyes. She screamed and screamed for someone to help her, but after a while she gave up. She was tired. She was still falling, but yet she was still not hitting anything. She kept wondering how deep the well was. She was tired of the darkness and the anticipation. She was going to die anyway when she hit the bottom, better it be quick then. She opened her eyes, thinking that her end was near, but instead she saw lights, and she noticed she wasn't in the well anymore. Her brows knotted in confusion, and before Edlyn even had the time to think, her back hit something with a thud. She looked around, and realized she was now lying on an asphalt road. There were strange buildings around her; buildings she had never seen before and she knew she wasn't in her kingdom anymore. The rain was pouring and she felt so alone, she was cold…she was scared.

"Edlyn," she heard someone call her name. She turned around to see the person, but she couldn't see anyone.

"Edlyn."

.

/

.

And then she saw a blonde head and a pair kind blue eyes.

It was a dream, Edlyn realized soon after her eyes snapped open. She stared at the ceiling for quite a moment, still adjusting after being abruptly waken up from her sleep. She blinked a few times, and droplets of tears fell to her cheek. The next thing she knew she was in Miss Caroline's arms.

"Ssh, it's ok," Miss Caroline had said, rubbing circles down her back. "It's just a dream. It's ok," she assured the girl in her embrace. Edlyn relaxed in the woman's touch, but there was one thing that went on in her head. If only Miss Caroline knew.

'But it wasn't just a dream,' she said silently in her head. 'It wasn't.'

.

/

.

Tbc…


A/N: Thoughts? Love it? Hate it? Good? Bad? Let me know what you think, even one word has a significant impact on someone ;)

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