a request by acronymed/the lovely caitlan on tumblr! prompt: "dig up her bones but leave her soul alone/boy with a broken soul/heart with a gaping hole"

timeline would be around the time the veil to the other side was down.

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I want to take you somewhere so you know I care

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Her toes scrape dust and ash into a pile and she puffs her cheeks out, blows it away, watches it twist and fade with the wind. The sky is a dark velvet that seems to have swallowed the moon whole, but her eyes see everything.

Caroline doesn't know why she's here, in a graveyard of burnt shoes, twisted swing sets and bricks melted into ash instead of being at home, or maybe joining Rebekah's pity party of one at the Grill. Caroline doesn't know why she's picking through the rubble to gather the remains of what used to be wind chimes made of painted glass she and Elena had made back in eighth grade. She brushes soot off of a piece of coloured glass, holds it up, squints one eye and peeks through another: even without the moon light, it seems to glow.

Through the glass she sees an eye peek back at her and yelps because it's not her reflection. She steps back hastily and nearly stumbles, but a hand catches her arm.

"Kol," she spits, one part repulsion and two parts fear, but shakes his arm off. She doesn't tremble. "What are you doing here?"

"Just thought I'd see what this decrepit little town has got to, maybe take a walk—visit the scene where I died," Kol says airily, stepping around her to survey the ruin. "Not bad."

Caroline frowns and starts to take a step back, but Kol's harsh voice scratches at the tranquility of the night. "Watch your step. You might be trodding on my face."

She's about to retort, when he adds: "Or Jeremy's."

Caroline swallows, and pales. Her voice fails her and she almost winces. Kol's right, of course—and her stomach turns at the thought of stepping over the cinders and ash of what remains of her best friend's brother, and she all but vampspeeds her way to the clean, soot-free pavement across the street.

Kol scrutinizes her from where he stands. "I was only joking." He sounds almost exasperated.

Caroline shakes her head, curls swaying. "You weren't."

He smirks. "You're right, I wasn't." He walks to the fallen oak tree, his feet never quite touching the ground, and perches on a charred branch. "So why are you here, instead of scampering about trying to seal up the veil with the rest of your mismatched gang?"

Caroline doesn't answer. She contemplates walking away (she doesn't owe him an explanation, doesn't owe him shit), but then the alternative - Stefan hugging Lexi, his fingers digging into the small of her back; Damon all but burying his face into Alaric's chest, alcohol already in hand - doesn't seem so hot either. So she stays.

Kol narrows his eyes. She almost rolls her eyes at how lame this is: the two of them just standing there, sizing each other up from opposite sides of the road.

Thankfully, the silence doesn't go on for much longer.

"Don't get me wrong, this has been awful fun—" the curl of his lip suggests that it's the total opposite, "—but I've got to run. Mayhem to stir, vengeful plots to thicken, tequila to be had. They just don't make it like they do here, the Other Side." And there it is, that same flippant way he'd said Jeremy's name. That same flippant way that makes Caroline want to shut her ears and scream.

But she doesn't, because Kol's already turning his back on her, and she doesn't know why she calls out to him when she does. "I'm looking for someone—I mean, I know he's not supernatural, and it's just - I thought it was worth a sh—"

"I'm afraid that's not how it works, darling," Kol says, almost scathingly. He looks like he wants to say more, but she supposes the way she looks at him - so earnest and so blue - makes him swallow down his words hastily. Her expression falls, and he has the gals to smile.

Monster, she thinks, and quickly turns away, boots thudding against the pavement. The night has etched something hard and throbbing in her chest, and she wants nothing but to sink into her bed and scratch it out.

And then she's whipped back, Kol's grip crushing her wrist. "I'm looking for someone too," he says in a rush, not letting her go. She's not going to melt into the dark, she wants to tell him, but doesn't get a chance to because— "and it's not what you think, the Other Side, it's not some ghostly party, it's entirely…" He swallows. "…Different. Anyway—my brother. You know him. Tall, miserable looking chap, constantly looks like he needs a drink." He looks right into her eyes, and shakes her when she doesn't respond. "Have you seen him?

"No," Caroline manages to choke out. Just chill out, God.

Kol's eyes darken. "Then there's really no use for you." She remembers the way he leans close, remembers how his lips tilt just the slightest, and then she remembers no more.