When he arrived at her door, hollow-eyed and panting, he was praying for a miracle. His miracle came in the green-eyed Aphrodite standing in the doorway. He opened his mouth, ready to explain himself, and his miracle promptly slammed the door in his face.
All the others were gone. Elijah had left almost immediately, probably off to reconcile with Katerina, who he still loved after all these years. He felt sorry for his brother, the poor, hopeful fool. Petrova women were what had gotten them in this mess all those years ago.
Kol and Rebekah had left together quietly, walking hand-in-hand to the car and driving off. He wondered where they would go. You couldn't escape Death, no matter how far you ran. Paris, maybe. Bekah had always loved Paris, and he had killed Kol long before the City of Lights became anything impressive.
Finn had holed himself up somewhere, far from the wrath of his siblings for bringing this upon them all. He felt a treacherous twinge of sorrow as he remembered his brother's cold expression when he refused a vial of blood to heal him. Our time is over, he had said. When I go, you all go with me. Finn had always had a strong will, and there would be no chance of changing his mind over this final decision. He had condemned them all, and would go to his death without regrets.
And so he was alone again, just as he had been when this mad plan to secure the Doppelganger had begun. He leaned against the doorframe for support, eyes scanning everything from the neatly manicured lawn to the two cars sitting in the garage. Stereotypical suburbia. In another life, his girl probably would have grown up and gone to college, married and had two-point-four children. He took a moment to thank the universe for small mercies, because Caroline Forbes had not been born to be a stereotype.
He felt it coming before it happened, a painful roiling in his stomach as the edges of his vision turned fuzzy. There was a brief moment of clarity before he was doubled over, vomiting up blood into the Forbes' bushes. He stayed like that for a moment, bent over with his eyes closed. Oh. So this is what dying feels like. You think I would have gotten used to it by now. He stood, wiping the frothy red liquid off his mouth. He felt like someone had run him through with a sword, and his head pounded.
He turned when he heard the door open, and he once again thanked the universe for small mercies as his miracle pulled him inside the house.
"He can't stay here, Caroline," Liz told her daughter firmly. For the thousandth time, her eyes flickered back over to the hybrid sitting at her kitchen table. At any other time, he would have smirked at the look of consternation on the sheriff's face, but as another wave of pain plowed into him, he decided it wasn't worth it.
"Mom, just listen." The baby vampire's voice was low, barely a whisper. "I know that it sounds crazy, but I owe him this. He's an Original, so he'll probably be healed in a few hours. Just let him stay here for a while. I promise he won't cause any trouble."
That made him chuckle quietly. Did she think she could make him behave? His face twisted in a grimace as the pain rushed through him again. His thoughts drifted briefly to his siblings. Were they going through this too? He tried to imagine it. Kol's face twisted in agony as little Bekah threw up blood. Elijah staggering down the streets of Chicago, barely able to stand as wave after wave of pain broadsided him. A trace of a smile on Finn's face as he watched the dark rash appear on his skin, a stigma that signaled his success. It was too much, and he returned his attention back to the conversation in the hallway with some effort.
"...but he's Klaus, honey. Think about what he's done!"
"You mean how he saved my life?" Caroline asked. "He's going through the same thing I did, maybe even worse. Just let him stay for a while, Mom. I owe him that much, and I don't think he'll cause any trouble."
She trusted him. And just for that, he would gladly take on the whole world.
There was a sigh. "Fine. He can stay until he's healed, but he'll stay in the guest bedroom. I'm going to the station to check out some new evidence. I'll be back tonight...Care, just be careful, okay? I don't want you to get hurt." He watched as the sheriff hugged her daughter and walked out, closing the door behind her.
They were alone. The last time they had been alone together, she had yelled at him and thrown the bracelet—and his kindness—right back in his face. He stood shakily, holding onto the table. "Hello, sweetheart," he murmured weakly.
"Where's the bite?" Cold. Clinical. Not his Caroline at all. She folded her arms over her chest, obviously waiting for an answer.
He sighed. "That's a very long story, and I don't really feel like I can explain it well. Your mother said I was supposed to stay in a certain room?" He can feel the pain growing, spreading out from his chest to the rest of him.
The infuriated glare she gives him would count as one of the highlights of his day. She sighed, her annoyance giving way to exasperation. "Come on, then." She turned and walked back down the hallways, and he followed.
He's been in her house three times before, once to save her life and twice to leave her gifts. Neither had given him much time to look around, and he took advantage of the situation. The walls were covered in pictures, a few cheap paintings in antique wooden frames. His favorites were the photographs, though. There was pictures of the happy family everywhere, some with the father and some without. There seemed to be a few of Caroline at every age, and the photograph of a blonde toddler with birthday cake smeared all over her face made him smile.
"This one," Caroline said, turning his attention back to her. He walked into the room, glancing around. It was small and neat, with white walls and a single gray bed. A few chairs were scattered throughout the room, and it could have almost passed for a home. A good place to die, he decided.
"Okay, this is it. Now explain." Caroline was watching him closely as she took a seat in one of the chairs. He sighed and sat down on the bed, the obnoxious creak of the mattress springs filling the otherwise-silent room.
"There is no bite," he replied. "Not on me, anyways. My mother cast a spell to bind my siblings and myself as one, and Finn got himself bitten. When he dies, all of us will. Mother sees it as her way of fixing her mistakes." There was a bitterness in his voice, an old anger he had buried centuries before. He had always been Esther's mistake, and her claim of wanting them to all be a family had never changed that.
Caroline stared at him, wide-eyed in surprise and disbelief. "But Originals are immune," she argued. "A werewolf bite can't hurt you."
"Not a werewolf bite. A hybrid bite. Finn tracked down one of the hybrids I had let go and picked a fight with it." Klaus' expression darkened as the pain rushed through his body again, and he let out a weak hiss through gritted teeth. "Dammit, this hurts."
"How long do you have?"
The question was asked so quietly, so innocuously, that it took a moment for the real meaning of it to sink in. "Not very long. Three days, maybe less. I hope it's over quickly." That was a lie. He was terrified. Terrified of the pain and the loss of everything that made him Niklaus. Terrified of death and what would lay beyond it.
"Then why are you here?" Caroline asked. "Why are you still in Mystic Falls if your days are numbered?" She looked nervous, wringing her hands, and he knew that she wanted nothing more than to get out of the room. Does she think I've come to hurt her? His heart dropped to somewhere in the general vicinity of his feet.
Klaus opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it when he felt his stomach twist. He clamped a hand over his mouth, and Caroline immediately understood, jumping to her feet and pushing the trash can over to him. He doubled over, grabbing the sides of the trash can as he retched. His head was pounding when he finally sat back up, and his throat burned like fire. He closed his eyes as the pain surged through him like an onslaught of tidal waves, one after another.
He felt the hand rest on his shoulder, light and hesitant, ready to jerk back at any moment. He opened his eyes and looked at Caroline. Her expression was blank, unreadable. "I'll get you a couple of blood bags," she said softly. "You need to rest." She moved her hand away and turned, casting a final glance over her shoulder at him before walking out. The door closed behind her, and Klaus took a deep, shuddering breath as he tried to get the pain under control.
Klaus hesitantly laid down, head resting on the pillow. He could feel the place where her hand had been, like a brand burned into his skin. "Caroline?" he called.
"Yeah?" Her answer was distant. From the other side of the house, maybe.
"Will you care when I die?"
There was silence. Earsplitting, heartbreaking, oh-so-deadly silence. It was the most terrifying noise Klaus had ever heard. Then, "I don't know." Quiet and simple, her answer shattered the silence. She didn't know whether she will be glad to see him dead or not. She didn't know if she would enjoy seeing him in pain. She didn't know anything, just like him.
Once again, Klaus appreciated her honesty.
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