Wicked
Disclaimer. neither tv show is mine.
Rating. T
A/N. every time i rewatch Coven this comes to mind so here we are.
The supernatural rumour mill had been going off for weeks. The Mikaelsons have returned, they said. They have come back to take what was theirs, they said.
Frankly, Caroline Forbes thought it was all a bunch of bull. This may have been because she was currently in the midst of studying for her final exams at Tulane, but no one would have mentioned it. After all, Caroline Forbes was the goddamn Supreme.
-o-
A brief look into the life of Caroline Forbes:
Since she had been very young, Caroline Forbes had exhibited the curious, decisive nature the New Orleans Coven favored in its witches. Her parents had doted on her up until the age of eight, when her magic had begun to run so wild they no longer knew what to do with her. The strain her magic put on her parents marriage only added to the already-tense atmosphere. Eventually, her dad (her daddy) came out as gay, left their home, and established a completely separate life in Los Angeles.
(What Caroline later found out was that her dad was, in fact, a witch hunter, and recognizing the signs of latent magic in his young daughter he had chosen to flee instead of being forced to watch her turn into the very thing he killed, lest he have to kill her himself.
Caroline thinks its cute that he was so worried, even if that worry was completely misplaced. She would have wiped the floor with any potential witch hunters, even back then.)
Her mother, at a loss for what to do in the face of her husband's abandonment, threw herself into her work. For several years, Caroline and her mother were practically strangers living in the same house.
-o-
Caroline did well in school and made friends despite her family drama. She aired out the Forbes dirty laundry as if it were nothing more than a curiosity, and joined in the teasing of other kids. All she wanted to do was fit in, and maybe be the one wearing the crown at the end of the day, because she knew she was special. She could light fires and make things move, all with her mind and some concentration.
(She had learned early on not to tell the other kids this, because they would make fun of her and the adults would look at her weird. Her mom had also stopped comforting her whenever she cried because of other kids, and instead got this really funny look on her face that Caroline couldn't place.
Year later, in Lafayette Cemetery, her mother would have the same look on her face and Caroline would realize, oh, it was fear.)
So Caroline threw herself into being the best kid in class, the most prepared and the prettiest girl around. She was the first girl to kiss a boy, as early as when she was ten years old, on a dare, because if Caroline was anything, it was unafraid.
(After all, if you knew you had the entire world at your fingertips, you wouldn't be afraid either.)
One day, when she was twelve, a new girl came to the class. Her name was Bonnie Bennet. Caroline didn't think much of her, until one day they ran into each other and Caroline nearly choked at the sensation. Bonnie Bennett's skin was humming with untapped magic, magic that was not being used and was desperately trying to claw itself out.
It's in pain, Caroline realized as she took heavy breaths. The other girl looked at her, visibly uncomfortable.
"Are you okay?" Bonnie Bennett asked.
"Yes, yes I'm fine," Caroline responded. She made a note to be careful around the Bennett girl in the future.
That afternoon, as Caroline was heading out of school (her mother had long ago stopped picking her up), she felt someone watching her. When she turned around, she saw Bonnie Bennett talking to two older ladies. One was clearly her grandmother, and was doting on the girl like a good grandma should. The other was old, very old. Caroline didn't know how she knew, only that she did, and she trembled slightly but could not tear her gaze away. The woman staring at her was tall, and carried herself with a regal elegance Caroline desperately wished she could emulate. As controlled, as her outward visage seemed, however, one look at her eyes and you could see the barely controlled maelstrom within.
Caroline shivered, stared for a moment longer, long enough to see the woman smile with razor sharp teeth at her, before she sprinted all the way home, and didn't calm down until she had locked the door.
(That was the first time Caroline Forbes saw Marie Laveau. It was not the last.)
-o-
And that was when the Letter arrived.
The Letter was the first contact Caroline Forbes had with magic that was not her own or Bonnie Bennett's. The parchment was practically vibrating with the amount of magic that had been poured into it.
To her mother, it was an invitation to one of the most prestigious schools in New Orleans. Her tuition was covered by her scholarship, as was her room and board.
To her mother, it was a way to distance herself from her reminder of her failed marriage and failed motherhood even further.
To Caroline Forbes, it was the first steps into her future.
-o-
The Letter had been an invitation to the New Orleans School of Learning and Finishing for Young Ladies. This had been its name since its beginnings, and despite having changed its curriculum to fit more modern sensibilities, Caroline had a feeling it would forever be the name it bore.
The Headmistress at the time was a woman by the name of Genevive. Since the moment she saw her, Caroline knew that, like the lady she had seen with Bonnie, she was much older than she looked.
Caroline Forbes was, however, unafraid before all, and she faced Genevive head on.
-o-
From her thirteenth to her seventeenth birthdays, Caroline lived in the school. It was not so much a school as a reformed mansion from the plantation period, in the Garden District and away from any possible distractions one may find in the busier areas of the city. The girls learned all of the modern sciences, read all of the tomes of literature and spoke several languages. At night, however, they also learned how to brew potions and how to raise the dead.
"It's our own miniature Hogwarts," Caroline's fellow classmate Elena told her brightly one day.
"Ugh, no, we are way deadlier than Hogwarts, how are we supposed to protect ourselves if a witch hunter comes, they're teaching us to kill, you numbskull," Elena's less forgiving twin Katherine rolled her eyes.
Elena pouted, but Caroline smiled brightly at her and distracted the brunette by asking about an assignment.
(Privately, Caroline agreed with Katherine.
Privately, Caroline also hated Elena just a little bit, because no matter what she did, Elena was always better at magic than her. But then Genevive would inexplicably be really mean to Elena, and Caroline would feel awful.
Years later, gazing down at the corpse of their Headmistress, the two girls would discover why she was always so mean. And while Elena would act appropriately aghast and disturbed, Caroline would simply stare down at the much older woman at her feet, before smiling.)
-o-
Caroline first met Enzo when she was fifteen. She doesn't think he was much older than her back then, no matter what he says. He was her first run-in with a witch hunter, although he didn't seem to take his job too seriously: Caroline had disarmed him and pinned him to the wall with his own knives in seconds.
"Easy, Gorgeous, I'm not here to fight, just doing some reconnaissance work," he held up his hands.
Caroline sniffed, and aimed his own crossbow at him.
"And exactly how do I know that? Do you think I'm just gonna believe you?"
"Of course not, but do you really think I would jump into witchy territory to kill one of you off willingly? It's a death sentence, Gorgeous," he reasoned.
Caroline raised her eyebrows, snorted and let him fall after kneeing his gut. She dumped the crossbow at his feet and turned around. Before she left, she wiped her head back and threw the crossbow away from his hands and into the wall. Struck dumb by the turn of events, Enzo flailed for a moment before realizing she wasn't going to hurt him. With a mischievous grin, Caroline left the building. Enzo didn't even bother picking up his discarded weapon, and followed her out.
(Thus, their relationship began.)
-o-
When she was sixteen, Caroline made her first kill.
Enzo had warned her that a group of witch hunters was roaming the area, trying to find a weak spot or young witches to kill. When one of them tried to attack her, Caroline cut his throat with a knife Enzo'd given her. By the time he got to the scene, Caroline had been calmly sitting next to the corpse for hours, amazed at her own lack of reaction to what she had done. Enzo's arrival finally prompted a response, and as they were cleaning up she realized, belatedly, that there were tears running down her cheeks.
Ashamed, Caroline hastily left after clean-up and threw herself into the Mississippi. The cold water served as a reminder of her situation in life, of the fact that she had been given a gift and that they had no right to punish her for it simply because they were afraid. It was the first and last time she cried because of her own survival.
-o-
Predictably, because the girl was so gullible, Elena was taken by the amateur witch hunters. Katherine may have greatly disliked her sister, but she was still her family, and raised hell when Genevive did not let them go find her.
(Privately, Caroline thought there must be another reason why the redhead wouldn't let them try and find Elena, as she was all too happy to send the young girl off to die. She was right.)
Predictably, Katherine did something drastic.
Unbeknownst to Caroline or Elena, Katherine had been hanging around vampires. Vampires and witches in New Orleans were not unheard of. They all understood each other, knew the rules, and so long as Marcel and Genevive maintained the truce, it was all fine. However, Katherine had been hanging around out-of-town vampires. And it was to them to whom she went when her fellow witches refused to help.
The Salvatore brothers were certainly fine poster-boys for vampirism, was Caroline's first thought when she met them.
They didn't have much time to talk however, as the Elena-retrieval mission went bad, fast. Enzo couldn't help them out and Caroline was unwilling to share him, so they were unprepared for the sheer amount of amateur hunters who had taken Elena.
Neither the brothers nor Katherine seemed to be against killing them, so it was Caroline who headed over to free Elena from her chains. As she took the cloth away from her friend's mouth, Caroline had mere minutes to act on Elena's, "watch out!"
The man behind her spontaneously combusted, in a way Caroline had only managed to do with small objects before this moment. Before her first kill earlier that week.
(She had not hesitated even slightly this time, and her eyes did not shine with unshed tears.)
"Nice job, Blondie," one of the Salvatore brothers commented appreciatively.
Elena, once she gave Caroline a once-over to make sure she was alright, turned to them and her twin. The brunette was very obviously trying to ignore the mass of bodies surrounding them. She narrowed her eyes, and opened her mouth, but Katherine beat her to the punch.
"Don't even Elena, we just saved your ass," Katherine flipped her hair over her shoulder, before studying the two girls before her, "I've been saving your ass since day one, little sis, but it looks like you don't need me anymore, so I'm leaving this town,"
"What? Katherine you can't just-"
"I can, and I am, and there's nothing you can do about it," Katherine winked at Elena's pout, "I'll see you around, little sis,"
With that, Katherine turned around on her stilettos and left. The older vampire watched the two girls for just a moment longer before following after her, while the younger one hesitated a bit longer. In the end, Caroline and Elena were left alone in the wear house, surrounded by the dead bodies of former witch hunters.
(Elena finally realized the mass murder she had witnessed and retched. Enzo cleaned up.)
-o-
When Elena and Caroline returned, Genevive's ire, which had previously been restricted to Elena, now also included Caroline. This had been predictable, especially given the fact that Katherine, who usually served as a buffer, was now gone.
But something else was happening that was very strange. Elena's magic had always been a bit stronger than Caroline's, but now it was slowly getting weaker. Or, more accurately, Caroline's powers were growing.
-o-
(She would not find out why until a confrontation on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, when she walked into a room late at night only to find Genevive about to kill Elena. Acting on impulse, Caroline grabbed the nearest object and chucked it at Genevive's head. She had not expected the redhead to drop dead, or the sudden burst of feeling in her mind.
Caroline was floating, above, below and through the city, the city that had always been hers and always would be, something which she had always known in her very bones but she was just starting to realize what it actually meant, to recognize the magic, the potential and the might that was and always had been within her. While Elena puked once more, Caroline stared at the corpse of their former Headmistress, completely devoid of emotion, and thought ah, this is it, here I am, finally, right where I was always meant to be and smiled.
In that moment, Caroline had become the Supreme of the New Orleans Coven.)
-o-
Today, at twenty years old, Caroline is well-established not only as the Supreme of New Orleans, but as the president of her sorority and the top student in her year. Something that she would be able to maintain if the rumors about the Mikaelson's would just stop getting thrown around.
"Marcel's going to hear me complaining about this tomorrow night," the blonde hissed as she made her way out of the library.
Being the Supreme of New Orleans meant a strong connection to the city itself, particularly the supernatural community. And with the arrival of the Mikaelson's, said community was all a-flutter.
But Caroline Forbes didn't care. She was the goddamn Supreme of the city, the one-woman army who had finally brought some planning and coherency to the supernatural council despite her young age and appearance, the reason the city continue to function as it did, and no Mikaelson was going to stand in the way of her perfect marks, not if she could help it.
It was time to work.
don't know how or if i will continue this, it's just been in my mind for ages so here we are. of course, this is only a brief glance at Caroline's past and her climb to power, probably more will come through as time passes but idk.
comments always appreciated.