2011 A.D.

January 20

Mystic Falls, VA

No one knew what had happened. In fact, no one wondered. To wonder about what had happened to Caroline Forbes, the daughter of their sheriff and former pastor, the child all of them had cradled at least once in their own arms, would have been to admit that Caroline wasn't perfectly safe up in Montreal, living her life happily with the boyfriend that had nearly caused her death but had managed to save her at the last moment. Well, he hadn't saved her, but no one in the town was ready to admit that the man they considered a monster could possibly be merciful, either.

It was snowing, of course, and the skies were a dark grey. Everyone remembered the day that Caroline had disappeared; her mother had cried out her name in the streets and sobbed when her daughter's lilting voice didn't respond. It had been a tragic day, a tragic scene to watch, as Tyler Lockwood looked at his mother as she embraced him, his expression lost and angry at himself.

They eventually stopped thinking about her. It caused too much pain. She was gone; there was no way she would ever return. And yet, she thought about them. She never stopped searching for them. That was, until she did.

1010 A.D.

Winter

British Falls, The Americas

The entire village had gathered around the woman in the center of the grass-covered street; she looked up at them with a mixture of confusion and terror. They murmured urgently to one another as their leader, Lord Mikael, approached them, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the woman who had just arrived on his land. She wore a torn, muddy dress, and her hair laid against her shoulders, a tangled mess. Rebekah, his daughter, stared at the newcomer with worry.

"Rebekah, hurry and retrieve your mother and brothers. The girl is obviously very ill," Mikael said softly to his daughter, who ran to do as he bid, the hem of her dress dragging against the ground. "Miss, what is your name?" he questioned the girl on the ground. "From where have you come?"

"My name is Caroline. My mother stayed home in our village, but I was unable to. My father died several years ago," she murmured, collapsing on the dirty ground as several women from the village struggled to hold her up.

"Father, what has happened?" Elijah, his eldest son, questioned.

"This girl is an orphan," he said. "We must find her a home," he murmured to his wife as she approached, and Esther nodded, her eyes focused on the woman.

"Yes, we must. It is too cold for her to survive out here, and our sons make it inappropriate for her to call our home hers."

"Mother, what about your friend?" Rebekah questioned, and Esther nodded.

"Yes, she will make a home for this child gladly. Now come, we must help to move her," Esther ordered her daughter, who again did as she was bid, her eyes full of worry as she helped the newcomer into the house.

"Will you care for her, Ayianna?" Esther questioned.

With Ayianna's nod, Caroline Forbes was no longer the girl she had been in Mystic Falls. She was a child born one thousand years earlier, in a time when the Original family roamed the earth as humans. She now lived in a time when Niklaus Mikaelson was capable of love.

A/N: Yes, it's very short, and no, I won't edit it to make it longer. I don't have time. I will, however, make sure that the next chapter is twice as long. Thank you for reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own TVD.