Originally Published: July 9th, 2014
Collection
Just a story that was plaguing my mind whilst I was trying to do other more productive things.
An invitation covered with lacy black print arrives at the door of a manor in New Orleans. A piece of paper containing sorrow and regret. An announcement that best goes unheard—a death. The demise of the only woman who ever held the heart of Niklaus Mikaelson.
It takes Klaus hours to understand the words. There would be no more years or centuries for Caroline Forbes. First came the grief, then the rage, but even at his darkest Klaus couldn't bring himself to collect any hearts or steal any lives. In the back of his mind was a chipper blonde scolding him for not having better self-control.
He knew she wouldn't blame him for her death, even if it was his fault. It was he who promised to leave and never come back. It was he who let her stay in a town with a death per capita that rivaled even New Orleans. And now she was gone.
Caroline lived, and died, the way she wanted to. Surrounded by those she loved, Caroline was never alone, yet she was in a state of perpetual lonesomeness. That was why she had started calling Klaus.
At first the hybrid thought he was dreaming, but even his artistic mind could never replicate her tinkling laughter, her sarcastic tone, or her daring wit so perfectly.
She'd call late at night, when everyone else had gone to sleep, or sometimes early in the morning before the birds even had a chance to start their daily song.
They could talk for hours. Caroline would tell him about her dreams—about trying to find new hopes.
"Being a vampire means I have to change my perspective, right? I mean after all I have an eternity, might as well make the most of it."
There would be no eternity for Caroline Forbes.
Klaus could remember every word she'd ever told him. Even when her words were heavy with sleep, he held them close to his heart. In the past year he'd seen more of Caroline Forbes than he had dared even hope he would discover.
Caroline loved sunrises, and summer. She hated people that spat their gum on the sidewalk, saying that "they only spent a quarter on it, but I spent a couple hundred dollars on my heals!" She never stopped dreaming, she leapt from one hope to the next and tried to stay true to the woman her parents raised her to be, even if it went against her vampire nature.
As Klaus prepared for her funeral, suddenly his usual black wardrobe didn't have the same appeal. Though he believed Caroline looked stunning in any color, she deserved the lovely pastels of the world; the dark dreary grays and blacks would never fit her bubbly personality.
The service was long, and the weather reflected the mood of the town as they came to bury the former Ms. Mystic Falls. The sky mourned the world's loss, shedding its tears and protecting the people in a blanket of gray clouds.
The pastor talked for a little too long, and Elizabeth Forbes eulogy was far too short.
Later Klaus would ask the sheriff why she'd notified him, and she would reply "I think Caroline would have wanted you here."
Walking around Mystic Falls, Klaus felt a new kind of hatred for the small town. The same town that stood on the ground where his father once beat him, his siblings once left him, and now where the girl he loved had been killed.
Seeing the Bennett witch had been the hardest part. If Klaus hadn't truly loved Caroline he would have ripped the witch's heart out in an instant—how did she deserve to live when Caroline was buried in a grave covered with cheap flowers and false sentiments?
A life for a life—that was the balance, and Caroline had made her choice. Bonnie was more important in her eyes. One day, after she made her decision the blonde had been drunk from drowning her own sorrows, so she'd called Klaus—if only he'd known the meaning behind her words.
"Maybe seventeen years was enough. I'm living on borrowed time anyway." She'd mumbled into her phone around two in the morning merely a week before she died.
"Perhaps, but you're here. There's a whole world out there Caroline, don't deprive yourselves of living just because this is not the kind of life you would have asked for."
"I know you're right Klaus, but I hurt people. I cause destruction and death, maybe it would be better for everyone if I did sometime positive with my life."
Do something positive with her life. If he had known she'd meant giving it up for one of her friends, Klaus never would have encouraged her. She was the only thing that kept him grounded and now with her gone, for the first time, he was truly empty.
The pain of Mikael's lashes, his mother's rejection, the hunter's curse, none of it compared to the ache that he felt due to the loss of Caroline Forbes. Klaus was forever changed by her death, and it disgusted him how quickly his love's home town moved on.
The children still laughed, the cars still drove recklessly over Wickery Bridge, and the town business still sold simple items at inflated costs. Within a few days it was like Caroline Forbes had never existed. Her friends picked up the pieces of their lives and continued on, even Caroline's mother returned to work. There was not a single person who could share Klaus's grief, and the only one he wanted to talk to was dead.
That was when he begun to plot. Perhaps it was illogical, but if it worked for the Bennett witch, it had to work for his Caroline.
Going through town it was not long before Klaus made it to the cemetery. Reaching Caroline's grave, he smiled and brushed away the flowers that were blocking her tombstone.
"Hello, love." He said, kneeling down in front of her.
In his mind's eye he could see her rolling her eyes at his dramatic antics. She would pretend like she would rather be anywhere else, but after a few glasses of champagne or a few moments of his charm she'd melt, and then Klaus would get to see a glimpse of the real Caroline Forbes. He could listen to her laughter, battle with her wit, and be in awe of her genuine beauty.
As he reminisced over the memories of his love, Klaus began to dig. Displacing all the dirt until he reached the case that held his Caroline.
He would bring her with him, as he had with his daggered siblings for all those years. He would keep her safe and protected. When he got her back she'd be ready, Caroline would know that it was he who dedicated years to reviving her—not her friends who she clung to so tightly, or even her mother whom she loved dearly. The man she thought was her worst enemy ended up being the only one willing to give up the world for her.
As Klaus lifted the casket out of the ground, he thought of what it would feel like to look inside and see the vibrant Caroline Forbes laying lifeless. Seeing her so empty when she was once full of light would be the final straw—whatever sanity he had left would surely not survive.
For now Caroline Forbes was trapped somewhere beyond his reach, call it Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, none of it matter except for the fact that she was not by his side. For now all she was was another coffin to add to his vast collection, but he would change that, no matter how long it takes.
Author's Note:
I am going to take all of my drabbles off my tumblr page—in no particular order—and upload them here. You'll probably notice a varying quality amongst them, which is to be expected. I will try to edit them more thoroughly than I had before I originally posted them, but no promises. Thank you for reading, I promise they won't all be this sad, actually I think most of them are fluff.