We are not frightened anymore
It was over. Done. Esther's spell over her children had worked. The stake in Finn's heart was felt by every other Original vampire as they all turned a sickly shade of blue before decaying into dust.
"For you were made from dust and to dust you will return."
Caroline isn't really sure where the comes from. She doesn't focus too hard on most of the thoughts running lightning quick through her mind. All she notices is the dust that rises in the air and lights into the night sky. Even her sensitive vampire sight can't follow the dark ashes of the Originals.
Elena is sobbing, somewhere, because she never wanted Elijah to die. And Stefan, brave, noble Stefan eternally devoted to the doppleganger, even feels some remorse at the death of Rebekah. He had, after all, once loved the selfish, blonde Original. Damon is solemn. Not because he is mourning, but because it's the respectful thing to do.
Ric, well, he's dead and if Caroline does the simple math and connect two and two together, she can understand why Damon is so solemn. She could realize he is, in fact, mourning the loss of a friend. But she doesn't do the math because there are other, more important things on her mind at the moment.
Like Bonnie. Bonnie who channeled the power of her ancestors to bring back Esther. Bonnie who aligned herself with the Original witch to kill her children. Bonnie who had held the stake of white oak until Esther commanded her to drive it through Finn's heart. Bonnie whose heart was now lying a few feet from her body. Kol had been the one to rip it out. He'd been too late though and his body had still turned to ash. Ash that fell over Bonnie's corpse. If Caroline read into it, she would see the makings of a star-crossed lovers' tale. Like Romeo and Juliet. But she didn't read into it because there were other more important things to think about.
Like how every Original vampire was now dead. Every. Original. Vampire. She's pretty sure Esther forgot one of her children was a hybrid. A hybrid who couldn't be destroyed as easily as his siblings. A hybrid who was lying at her feet now, looking up at her, waiting for her reaction.
Would she alert her friends to the fact Klaus, the one they'd wanted dead all along, was still alive? Would she let them kill him, or deliver the fatal blow herself?
His heartbeat was fragile. Fluttering. He was weak and if she left him at the mercy of her friends, he would die. Die when she could save him.
She carried his body away with her. Her friends didn't stop her and she liked to think she was only doing this because he had saved her life once before. If she read into it, she would see she was actually doing it because some still, small part of Caroline Forbes' undead heart actually cared for him.
But she didn't read into it because there were more important things to think about. Like getting Klaus to safety.
They told us not to fight
But we'll fight it till we die
"Would you stop fighting me!" Her voice reverberated off the sparsely decorated walls of the cheap motel she'd booked a room in. Klaus was being difficult, trying to get out of bed before his body could handle it. He was weak, but he wasn't dying, and Caroline wondered if his mother had somehow just killed the vampire in him and left the werewolf alive.
Would he live forever? or would he age and die? Would his bite kill her? Would his blood still save her?
"Just stop," she whispered, pressing her hands against his chest, "I can't have you dying on me. Not yet."
He allowed her to push him back into bed, wrapping a hand around one of her wrists. He refused to let go, so she joined him, resting her head against his chest as she cried. Cried for her friends. Cried for her human life she'd never get to live. Cried for being seventeen forever. Cried for her mom. Cried for her dad. Cried for Klaus.
She fed him her blood until he healed. He let her sleep in his arms until she healed is well.
And they fought hard, but somewhere fighting failed
"Elena died."
It was a simple statement, one that was as obvious as a neon Vegas sign amid all the other letters, words, comments that made up the letter Caroline was holding. Klaus didn't care so much about his doppleganger and her blood and his hybrid army anymore. He hadn't cared much about anything as he tried to understand the world without his family with him. They weren't in coffins this time, he had realized. He couldn't undagger one and run about Rome causing mayhem. They were gone. Dead. It was a definite, finite thing. Like him. The hybrid who couldn't be killed.
"How did she die?" He didn't care. He didn't care but he knew Caroline did, so he asked because she cared and he… if he admitted it, he cared about her.
"An accident," Caroline said, "But she had one of the Salvatore's blood in her system."
"She didn't transition?"
"She didn't like the idea of eternity." She crumpled the letter and tossed it away from her, not caring where it landed. They'd be leaving this place soon enough. They never stayed anywhere long and she wasn't sure when it was decided they would stick together. It was as if one day they both woke up and accepted the fact where one went the other would follow. Like their souls had been stitched together as they slept.
"Do you like the idea of eternity?" he asked. She stared at him from across the room and remembered the nights he held her while she cried and the nights she had held his hand as he cried. They never mentioned those nights.
"Sometimes."
We stood up, we stood up
"Rome, Paris, Tokyo. Remember?" She smiled at him as he dropped the travel guides in her lap. They were essentially useless when he had lived history in all those places, but he knew it would make her happy and that was his only concern at the moment, making Caroline Forbes happy.
"Could we add Greece to the list?" she asked. He dropped a Greece travel guide in her lap and her smile grew. They left in the morning.
Their first night in Greece, she slept in his arms even though she wasn't crying. He held her because he liked the idea of never letting her go.
There are two of us there will be many more
[song fic inspired by "Stood Up" by Ingrid Michaelson]