Hello, everyone! I hope you enjoy this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it. This idea was presented to me by perse-phones (on tumblr), who also made me this GORGEOUS cover.
Thank you, Mimi (padmcdala on tumblr), for being amazing and beta-ing this for me and for cheering me up along the way.
The title comes from "Breath of Life" by Florence + the Machine.
A few warnings before the story: this will NOT be friendly to the magical children or to the existence of The Originals, in general. Or most of what happened in the TVD-universe past S4, truth be told. So, if you enjoyed those plotlines, this might not be the story for you. If you, like me, hate them... I think I can make you very, very happy, haha.
Enjoy!
In the end, he didn't look back at his life and felt peace.
No. In the end, all he could think of was about how a thousand years on this Earth were simply not enough. He could only think of all the things he would leave behind. All the unfinished business.
Caroline, sweetheart… He would have chased you for as long as you had wanted him to. If only he had more time.
You now may laugh and appreciate the sweet irony of his thoughts. Because the moment that stake was thrust into his chest, the moment that all life was supposed to leave his body in ragged breaths as the smell of his own burning flesh clung to his nose…
That thing inside of him reacted.
Ancient, powerful, untamed magic felt itself crumbling and decided to do something about it. And if he held on tight to that feeling, if he was weak for a moment as he thought of his beautiful blonde vampire crying as she drove back to her dreadful town… So what? What was the harm of holding onto hope?
Oh, you may laugh at that irony, too.
The girl with the optimistic name, destined to bring her family together… She managed to bring down the world's oldest dynasty without even trying. Never doubt the power of destruction of a Mikaelson.
His little wolf. He had loved you, you know. But the broken love he could offer you had never been quite enough to drive away the feeling of regret whenever he looked at you.
And what kind of father had these kind of thoughts about his daughter in his last moments? Well, The one who was never meant to be a father in the first place, he supposed.
If he'd just had the time, perhaps he could've loved you better. If he'd had the time, perhaps you could've been a family.
Time.
The creature inside of him seemed to only understand that single word.
Yes, they needed more time, because theirs was running thin. But perhaps… Well, perhaps it wasn't only a matter of more. Perhaps they just needed something different, something else.
Klaus's world went black, but death was not waiting for him in the darkness to complain about his much delayed arrival.
The first thing he thought when he woke up in those familiar woods was — of course his personal hell would take the form of Mystic Falls.
There would be so much to explore there, wouldn't it?
Being reminded over and over again of how weak he was when Mikael showed up to take his anger out on him. Being haunted by the memories of Tatia choosing his brother over him, remembering how it felt like to know that he was never the one. Seeing his mother's corpse and being tormented by what he had done. Being greeted by Henrik and his tears and his questions of why didn't he protect him.
Would he see little Bekah and the disappointment in her eyes, would she tell him about how he just wasn't good enough? Would Kol show up and tell him he had failed him?
… Would Caroline be here? Would she laugh and mock him? Would she cry and accuse him of breaking all the promises he'd made her?
He was so sorry, love. So sorry.
He had never meant to disappoint you too, but he couldn't seem to help himself.
Klaus closed his eyes and waited.
What horror would come first? Which ghost from his past would make its first attempt to punish him for all of his sins? If he was to pay for every crime… Well, they would be here for a long time.
Except…
Was anticipation part of the torture?
Because he waited for hours sitting on the grass, his back resting against a tree. Was solitude to be part of his sentence?
How boring. Perhaps he could teach a thing or two to whoever was in charge of coming up with these methods.
Deciding that the fact that patience was a virtue couldn't mean much when he was already supposed to be experiencing eternal damnation, he got up and started walking, his feet carrying him out of the forest.
He started to realize something might be wrong when he reached the road. Why would any hell bother to make irrelevant people exist and drive cars from over a decade ago?
Something stirred in his chest… He wasn't sure if it was dread or happiness.
Had his lovely Caroline truly not given up on him? Had she done something to stop him? Oh, sweetheart...
He was a lost cause there was nothing you could do.
Except… Something felt wrong. Caroline would never put his child — and the rest of the world — in the danger just like that. And she wouldn't have abandoned him in the woods alone. Plus, that wouldn't explain the older cars.
And yet, the creature inside of him seemed not to be there. Well, no, that wasn't exactly true. He could feel the echo of its existence, but not its power consuming him. When he looked at his arm, the veins that had been showing up were nowhere to be seen.
Caroline, what had you done?
Without taking any time to even think about it, Klaus sped towards the Salvatore Boarding School, needing some answers.
Imagine his surprise when he reached that place only for there to be no plaque with the school's name, no children… Just a house. He strained his ears, trying to listening in.
Damon… Stefan.
How could that be possible?
If he were to watch Caroline and Stefan together, had to watch all the ways he would hurt her and diminish her. Yes, that would definitely be hell.
But something fell off about this idea. He somehow doubted this reality was so simple as him paying for his crimes in the afterlife.
And if Stefan was alive, then maybe…
His feet began to move on their own accord, needing to test his impossible theory. Surely he would not he so lucky; the universe would never be this kind to someone like him.
And yet, the more he saw of the city, the more he convinced himself he was right. Mystic Falls looked exactly the same it did 15 years ago.
And her house, the place where it all had started… He caught her scent, her mother's scent. How could this be? How was this possible?
Too many questions, not enough answers.
It was in his nature to be on edge when such a situation was thrust upon him. A thousand years could leave a man a little paranoid, surely you can understand that.
And yet, despite the feeling of uneasiness that settled in his stomach, it all disappeared when he realized that Caroline was inside.
He heard her laugh.
God, the things she could do to him.
Caroline, love, sweetheart.
Despite all the uncertainty, despite the utter confusion he felt, despite everything… Klaus smiled.
Everything he wanted was waiting for him just inside.
He had climbed in through the window of her bedroom.
Klaus smiled tenderly at the place, at the memories that filled his mind. The dying girl lying on her bed, the feeling of her fangs piercing his arm… The way she was sleeping so peacefully when he came back to give her her Birthday gift…
Something tightened in his chest. The Portuguese would call it saudade.
And, hell, how could that woman make him feel like a bloody teenage boy? How dare his heart betray him so and accelerate inside his chest just at the thought of seeing her again?
Screw "one more look, one more moment". He was selfish and desperate and he wanted them all. He wanted an eternity of moments with her, the visions he'd painted for the both of them to become true.
And he had no idea what was happening or how, but he was willing to thank whatever deity had made this possible. He was willing to pray and make sacrifices at Their altar. No price They demanded would be too high.
And the seconds it took for her to climb up the stairs and reach her bedroom door… Many of his centuries had gone by faster than that. But it was okay. He would've waited there for her no matter what. However long it takes, and all that.
Just take the last step, love. Just reach out for the door handle. He was here. He wouldn't have to break any of the promises he had made.
The door opened ever so slowly.
And there she was. Beautiful and fierce and strong.
Hell– How exactly did breathing work? In and out and repeat. That was it, right? Can you see what you do to him, sweetheart?
A thousand years on this Earth and you made him forget how to breathe just by existing.
He wasn't sure if his heart could remember how to beat, if the magic in his veins could remember how to work and keep on making an immortal out of him if you were to offer him one of your sunshine smiles.
But happiness was not the emotion that greeted him as he stared at that beautiful face.
Surprise clouded her features for a moment as she saw him standing there. And if he had waited just one second, he would've seen it turn to burning rage. But in his relief and happiness to see her there, Klaus didn't waste a single moment before he closed the distance between them.
He pulled her into his arms, holding her so close, burying his nose in her hair as he breathed her in… Klaus couldn't say he pictured a specific place when he thought of home, but her scent very much felt like it.
And, if he could, he would've stayed a good few decades trapped in that moment.
But Caroline didn't relax against his arms; she did not hold him back. No. Instead, she pushed him away with all the strength of a baby vampire, and, while it usually wouldn't be enough to so much as tickle him, in his surprise, he stumbled back.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled at him.
He saw it now. The anger in her eyes.
It almost made him laugh, in a desperate or exasperated kind of way.
Had he truly traveled back in time? Was he actually fifteen years into the past in Mystic Falls? Did Caroline simply not remember everything that had happened? Everything that would put in perspective any petty fight they might be having at her present time?
And yet, just the fact that she was there… God, that could be enough to drive all these confusing thoughts and worries to the back of his mind.
Make no mistake — he was still very much planning his next move, still trying to understand how all of this could even work. He didn't think he could just make the most calculating sides of him simply shut up, but Caroline was there with him. And if he was indeed back, and if this was permanent, well, he could make sure it stayed that way.
"Caroline," he said her name with such tenderness she frowned. Oh, sweetheart. He had thought he'd never be able to say it again, to speak with you again. "I… What day is it?"
Klaus had no idea how to explain this to her. He wasn't even sure he should tell her about any of it. The Caroline from 15 years ago wasn't one he could always count on, and she could very much just run to her friends and tell them all about this mess. And who knows what sort of idiotic plans the Salvatore brothers would come up with based on those informations.
But call it sentimentalism, call it weakness or foolishness… The thought of not telling her, of not sitting down and explaining to her everything that had happened… It didn't sit well with him.
He was so used to having all the cards up his sleeve. And yet, with her, he wanted to lay them down on the table.
"What are you talking about? Did you go on some killing spree and just forget what day it is?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her body as she huffed.
Oh, love, if only it were that simple…
He shook his head, not knowing where to begin. But she was looking at him expectantly and he never enjoyed to keep her waiting. He sighed.
"We need to talk."
Reluctantly, she had allowed him to sit on her bed as she gave him a chance to talk. By the way she was looking at him, Klaus was relieved that she was willing to listening to him at all. He had a feeling he already knew when exactly he had gone back to.
A small "fuck you" from the universe in comparison to everything else, but it was still rather annoying. Of course irritation didn't manage to linger on his mind. Not when he was feeling so relieved.
He supposed she thought it was strange and alarming how he kept staring at her, but it was impossible to look at anything else. He had thought that last glimpse at her back as she hesitated to walk away from him was the last he would ever see of her. And now he was getting all the extra minutes.
It seemed too good to be true.
Still, it was hard trying to figure out what he should or could tell her. How would he even begin to explain Hope to her? And how would he explain her role in all this, the turns her life had taken? He didn't think Caroline would take well to learning she would be the forced surrogate to her high school teacher's children.
"I'm from the future," he said bluntly. He knew there was no easy way to tell her that, no words he could to prepare her for such a revelation.
His words were received as he thought they would: she — who remained on her feet, leaning against the opposite wall — began laughing at him.
It took her a full minute to regain her bearings, to stop the chuckles that slipped out of her lips.
"Seriously? After everything you've done, you expect me to just believe that?"
"What motive would I have to lie about this? What exactly would I gain, Caroline?" he tried reasoning with her.
She just shook her head, looking rather irritated. "I don't know, but you are… You. There's always a reason, a motive. Maybe you want to get back at me or at my friends or… Or probably at Tyler! Because killing his mother, nearly killing me and driving him out of town was not enough, right? God, I'm so tired of playing these games with you!"
That almost made him smile. It was a lie and he knew so. You loved playing with him, didn't you? He wanted to ask, but stopped himself.
Still, he grimaced a little as his theory about when he had been sent back to was confirmed. Having to relive the aftermath of his worst moment when it came to her… It was far from ideal. But if it gave him the chance to fix things, to make sure she understood how that day had broken him, how it had made him realize that he could never hurt her.
He shook his head.
Klaus forced himself to focus on the matter at hands, so he sought her eyes, wanting to be holding her gaze as he said, "I promise you I am telling you the truth, love."
And he could see it, the beginning of her doubts arising. He had committed so many crimes, but lying to her wasn't one of them and she knew it all too well, even if he could see her trying to reason with herself that he might as well have started now.
"Caroline. Please, listen to me. I woke up today in the woods of Mystic Falls in what I believe to be 2011. My last memories are of New Orleans, in 2026."
She hesitated, staring at him for a few moments that seemed to last a few centuries.
Please, love, just take this one leap of faith and believe him on this. He knew he asked too much, but please. You always read him better than other people. Please see that he's telling you the truth.
He could almost see the engines turning in her brain as she desperately tried to decide if she should or could trust him now.
Perhaps she saw the desperation in his eyes, because hers softened just a bit. Slowly, as if she was fighting it.
"And how exactly did you travel back in time?" she asked, her tone of voice trying to indicate that she didn't actually believe him, but something in her features told him a different story.
"I… I'm not exactly sure, if we're being honest. But if my guess is right then-" he sighed, fighting the urge of burying his face in his hands. "It's a long story."
Caroline scoffed. "You are trying to convince me you're telling the truth and that is the answer you have to give me? 'It's a long story'?" She made an airquote motion with her finger and he could see how annoyed she was.
Klaus knew she would never take that for an answer, but Christ, how the hell was he supposed to tell her the whole thing?
"Well," he began hesitantly, "it is a long story. And I'm not sure how much I should even be telling you about it… I never quite learned the rules for time travel, you see," Klaus said, his tone attempting to be humorous, but it fell flat.
She narrowed her eyes at him threateningly. "You're stalling."
He laughed, the sound bitter and humourless as he shook his head. "I suppose I am. This isn't… If you don't believe me now, I do not think my story will make you change your mind. In fact, it may convince you that I've lost mine."
"Newsflash: everyone already thinks that."
Klaus sighed amusedly, knowing better than to rise to that bait. "I suppose the most unbelievable part of all this began this year. Apparently there is a magical loophole that I triggered once I broke my curse, and it made me able to produce heirs."
He took a moment to let her sink in that information. He watched as her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she tried to understand if he could possibly be saying what she thought he was saying.
"I impregnated someone," he continued, thinking it would be better to get it all out without giving her the chance to interrupt him. "And I had a daughter. Hope. I moved to New Orleans because some witches were threatening the woman who was pregnant with her, and Elijah thought we should do something about it… We ended up getting involved in a supernatural war and… A lot of things happened.
"We did a lot to keep my daughter safe… Those were certainly some very strange 15 years of my existence. There are too many details for us to go over right now, but the point is: there were a lot of people after Hope. And this creature, this demon, it wanted to possess her, and it would've killed her. So I did what I had to do."
Klaus paused. This time more for his sake than for hers.
Hope. She didn't even exist yet. He shouldn't feel any relief at that, should he, little wolf? He shouldn't feel like a burden was lifted from his shoulders.
But he did.
He would have and he had done everything he could for her. For her to have a family. But he had always wished… He had always wished it wouldn't have been necessary. That there would be no need for pointless sacrifices… or for him to act like the father he was never meant to be.
Look at what happened to Marcel, little wolf.
He was so sorry.
"We were running out of time," he said, looking down. He couldn't bring himself to watch her face as he told her this last part. He wasn't sure what would break him more: the happiness that took over her face as she came to know that he could be killed, or the pain that would have him realizing that she hadn't wanted him dead even now.
"And the demon, the Hollow, had to be stopped. I forced it to possess me, so that… So that it could be killed when I was. My theory is that this creature refused to die so easily, and when Elijah staked me through the chest, it found a way to survive. And now here I am."
Klaus waited impatiently for her reaction, still unsure if he wanted to look up at her. Though, when seconds went by without her saying a word, he risked meeting her gaze.
He couldn't read her well enough in that moment to tell what she was thinking, though he suspected she was about to kick him out of her house.
But — and it was probably just to spite him and confuse him — she began laughing almost desperately. He felt genuine surprise when she pushed herself from the wall and walked towards him, sitting by his side on her bed.
The fury in her eyes dimmed a bit, giving place to a child-like curiosity.
"Alright. I believe you."
Klaus frowned. "You do?"
She rolled her eyes impatiently at him. "If this was one of your plans, you would've probably had the decency to come up with a plausible story for all this, but what you're telling me doesn't make any sense at all."
Oh, sweetheart, you don't know even the half of it.
"Will you help me, then?" he asked impulsively. "To figure out exactly what happened and a way to sort this out?"
He had once told her, though she still wouldn't have that memory for many years, that there should be another way. A secret buried somewhere, in a language long-forgotten… A key to having everything he wanted, all at once.
He knew what he wanted.
And if he would now have the time to search for this miraculous solution. Oh, he wanted her by his side, where he could keep her when the time came.
Klaus watched her carefully. She was still so uncertain, so reluctant to trust him. He understood why, of course, but it was still a little frustrating. He had gotten used to the Caroline who would look at him without putting on a mask.
It didn't matter. They would get there with time.
"Fine," she said, her eyes calculating. "But I have questions."
And, in the end, it was always so easy to be around her. So easy and instinctive to offer her a charming smile and lean in to say, his voice dropping, "And I may have some answers."
He knew this would be difficult. That she was still processing the things he'd told her and that she wouldn't deal well with any of it as soon as the information had truly sunken in. These questions she was already planning on asking him… He knew there would be a full interrogation and that she would resent him for some of the answers.
But, God, he was alive. He had Caroline Forbes sitting by his side.
He could deal with whatever else came his way.
So... What do you think? Did you enjoy Klaus's thoughts? His feelings on being sent to the past and getting to see Caroline again? Did you enjoy their dynamic? How awkward it is that he's used to an older Caroline, but has to deal with the version of her that still feels the need to pretend to hate him? Alsooo... Next chapter we'll get to see her reacting to some of the things he told her and some of the things he will tell her, and we'll also be getting some answers as to why/how this whole time travel thing happened.
