A/N: I'm so happy you guys enjoyed the prologue! Yes, that was an insight for the future, now the real story begins this chapter.

Songs included / Haunted by Beyonce, Ghost by Beyonce

18 Years Earlier from Now

Mystic Falls

Growing up in the Mikaelson family was considered a blessing, according to Esther Mikaelson, but Klaus always saw it as tortuous.

He was only six years old and he noticed how messed up his family was because of his mother, Esther. Yeah, he was very young to understand most things, but after being around a lot of stuff, it wasn't hard for him to learn a lot. He was actually rather smart for being just a kid and he loved to spend time with his brothers, Elijah and Kol.

Klaus has many siblings, however. He has two sisters and four brothers; Freya and Rebekah and Finn, Elijah, Kol, and Henrik. All his siblings shared the same father, Mikael, however Klaus was the only sibling that stood out in that department. His father was a man named Ansel, and he only shared the same mother with his siblings.

From oldest to youngest, it was Freya, Finn, Elijah, Klaus, Kol, Rebekah, and then Henrik. All of it sounded difficult to process, especially for Klaus. How could a woman give birth to that many children?

Even though Klaus was young and confused about all that stuff, he still loved his siblings no matter what.

After reading many books and visualizing things with his eyes, Klaus learned that his mother cheated on Mikael with a man named Ansel, Klaus' biological father. Because of her cheating on him, Mikael was having lots of problems with Esther, especially trust issues. When Klaus came into the picture, Mikael treated him differently and it was obvious he didn't like Klaus. Klaus sensed Mikael didn't like him because he was the son of Ansel and he was also Esther's favorite child.

Because Klaus knew Mikael didn't like him, the feeling was mutual.

Klaus didn't understand why his mother even bothered to go back out with Mikael and marry him. Mikael clearly shows he doesn't like her son, Klaus, so why doesn't his mother see that? Klaus sometimes believes his mother is only staying with that man because of the kids she had with him, so Klaus really couldn't blame her.

Klaus slowly walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge to find some food. He frowned slightly when he saw there was only milk, orange juice, and peanut butter and jelly jars inside the fridge.

One thing about having a big family is needing to have a lot of money as well. Without it, you're screwed.

Klaus felt his stomach growling as he closed the fridge and began to climb onto the counter.

He and his family were struggling, especially when it came to food and clothing. Every day, he always had to live off of a slice of bread covered in peanut butter and jelly along with a cup of orange juice or milk. But it really sucked because he was always starving, and he only had to take one slice of bread a day.

Klaus opened the kitchen cabinet and was startled when he saw the presence of Mikael stumble inside of the kitchen.

"What are you doing, Niklaus?"

Klaus gulped, not sure of what to say.

When he saw his two brothers, Kol and Elijah walk into the kitchen as well, Klaus sighed in relief. "I'm just… looking for a slice of bread, I'm hungry."

"Well, we're running out," Mikael said harshly. "Just have a few cookies,"

Klaus narrowed his eyes at the cookie jar sitting on the table and he frowned. He slowly jumped down from the counter and went to retrieve three cookies from the cookie jar.

"Hey dad, when are we going to have real food, like chicken or something?" Kol asked.

"When we find a job that pays us enough." Mikael murmured as he pulled out a mug from the cabinet and poured himself some coffee.

Klaus munched down quietly on his chocolate chip cookies, looking over at his brothers.

Kol gave a devious smirk at Klaus and tapped Elijah on the shoulder. "Come on, let's go outside and play." He said, looking over at Klaus. "Come on Klaus!"

One thing about Kol is that he loved to go outside and play, but he was always doing bad things as well.

When they went outside, they played soccer and basketball for a couple of minutes, but all of them were growing hungry, especially Kol.

"I think we should go inside now, I'm getting hungry." Elijah admitted, running his hand through his brown hair.

Kol groaned. "I'm tired of eating peanut butter and jelly. That's all we ever eat."

"That's all our parents can afford." Klaus pointed out.

"But don't you guys want to eat real stuff? Like chicken, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and stuff? That's real food." Kol pointed out.

"Yeah, but how exactly are we going to get that kind of food?" Elijah asked.

Kol stared at Elijah, a smirk forming on his lips. "I know this store that closes around this time, I know how to break in."

Elijah's eyes dilated slightly. "You know how much trouble we'd be in? No Kol, we are not—"

"But Elijah come on, I want to eat other stuff and I know you do too. Do you really want to live off of peanut butter and jelly for the rest of our lives?" Kol raised his eyebrow.

It fell quiet for a few seconds.

"He's right, you know." Klaus spoke up, his stomach growling again. He really was tired of eating peanut butter and jelly, and he wanted something different.

Elijah stared at the both of his brothers for a long moment before letting out a sigh. "Fine,"

And that was how Klaus' criminal career began with his brothers, Kol and Elijah, stealing food.

They helped steal food from a store and they managed to get away at times, but then there were times where they were caught stealing, so they had to run with whatever they had.

As they were running, Klaus felt a nervous chill run through his spine this one day. He looked back and saw a man with a gun in his hand and he narrowed his eyes at Elijah and Kol, which were running ahead of him. Klaus continued to run, but he couldn't help but feel something bad was about to him and his brothers.

Klaus blinked, an image going through his head as he saw a bullet go through the back of Elijah's neck, his heart nearly dropping. The image faded when Elijah turned his head to look at Klaus, "Come on Niklaus, you can do this." Elijah breathed as he continued to run, trying to encourage his younger half-brother.

Klaus shook his head and began to run faster, pushing that vivid image out of his head as he continued to run.

Today

Always and forever, together, they stick together as one. That's the motto Klaus and his siblings will always live by.

Klaus placed his cigarette between his lips, bringing the lighter up to his mouth and lighting the end of the cigarette while inhaling smoke as he sat on the steps in front of his house. After putting his lighter away, he pulled out his sketchbook and a pencil as he began to start and finish up on the portrait he was making earlier that day.

The portrait he was finishing up on was a brief rough draft of New Orleans. Klaus always loved New Orleans for many reasons. He had never been there before, but after learning so much about it and seeing images, he fell in love with it.

It was a great morning that day. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing. The grass was covered in beautiful flowers and the trees were growing again. Klaus enjoyed the spring.

"Hey Niklaus!" Elijah shouted, watching as a very expensive red car drove by their house.

Klaus stopped sketching for a moment and looked up, quickly taking notice of the car driving by as well while smoke left his mouth.

Elijah walked over to Klaus as he kept his eyes on that car, reviewing it with his eyes. "Ever seen a car like that? That's a Ford Mustang EcoBoost Coupe. Four cylinders, leather backs, about three hundred and ten horses."

Klaus moved the cigarette from his lips. "I'd prefer it in black," he mumbled, watching as the car disappeared somewhere.

"Can you imagine how fast we can pull women if we had a car like that?" Elijah looked at Klaus.

Klaus smirked, "We would be womanizers." He placed the cigarette back in between his lips and inhaled more smoke.

Elijah chuckled, "Speaking of women, I hear there's a party tonight happening around the Lockwood Mansion. Wanna go?"

"And how exactly are we gonna get in that mansion if we're dressed like this?" Klaus raised his eyebrow, smoke leaving from his mouth.

The Mikaelson's weren't exactly wealthy like a majority of the family members in Mystic Falls. The other families were usually rich while the Mikaelson's remained poor.

Elijah shrugged, "We can go steal some clothes downtown or something. Or we can buy clothes with the money we saved for ourselves. I, for one, wants to get laid tonight. I haven't got laid in a while."

"Nik!" A female voice yelled. Klaus recognized it as his younger sister's voice, Rebekah. "Where the hell did you put my heels? I have a date in two hours and I need them like right now."

Klaus turned his head briefly and looked up at his sister, hardening his eyes on her. "I don't have them, but I'm curious to know who my younger sister is going on a date with?"

"That's none of your business," Rebekah huffed, taking a moment to look at Elijah. "And you better not tell him Elijah."

Elijah raised his hands in innocence.

Rebekah groaned, clearly annoyed. "Ugh, maybe Freya confused mine with hers." She turned around and walked back inside the house, closing the door behind her.

Klaus shook his head and narrowed his eyes on Elijah. "So who's the guy our little sister is going on a date with?"

"I'm sorry Niklaus, but I can't tell you."

"If you don't tell me Elijah, we are not going to this party and you can kiss your womanizing façade goodbye." Klaus threatened.

Elijah rolled his eyes. "Fine, it's Matt Donovan."

"The hockey jock?" Klaus made a face. "She could do much better."

Elijah shrugged, "He's actually not that bad, I think he's a good guy for her."

Klaus rolled his eyes. "She's too young to be dating."

"She's nineteen years old, she can do whatever she wants." Elijah explained.

"Guys,"

Klaus and Elijah turned their heads towards the front door as they saw their younger brother, Kol, exit from it.

"Tonight, we're going to the tobacco store downtown and we're stealing some loud kush and maybe some money. I'm bored and I need something to do." Kol suggested.

"Says who?" Elijah raised his eyebrow.

"Says me," Kol confirmed. "Come on, guys, we always do this kind of stuff. Don't you guys want to get high?"

"Well, we're actually planning on heading to this party at the Lockwood Mansion." Elijah confirmed.

"That rich people place?" Kol made a face. "We can't even get in with the way we're dressed. We don't even look rich, we look like we came out of a dumpster."

"That's why Niklaus and I are going downtown to shop."

That same look remained on Kol's face. "With what money?"

"The money we saved," Klaus placed his cigarette back between his lips and closed his sketchbook as he slowly got up from the steps he was sitting on.

"I want to get laid," Elijah admitted. "So I'm going to this party."

"And I want to find a girl that I might like at that party. I been single for far too long and it'd be rather good for me to have a beautiful rich girl to keep me occupied occasionally." Klaus spoke as smoke left his mouth.

Kol sucked his teeth. "You two are idiots, you'd rather mess around with a bunch of rich girls than get high?"

Klaus and Elijah both said in unison, "Yeah."

Kol shook his head.

"We can still rob that store, but after about three hours into the party. That would give me enough time to get laid." Elijah suggested.

Kol thought about it for a moment and then sighed, "Fine, whatever."

Klaus slammed his money in front of a woman behind the counter of this clothing store downtown. He picked out a nice leather jacket with a white shirt and gray jeans. He never usually could afford clothing unique as that, but since he actually had some money to buy clothes, Klaus took advantage and he also wanted to look different.

Elijah placed the outfit he picked on top of the counter too, deciding to buy a gray dress shirt with a tie and black pants.

The woman they were standing in front of was looking at them like they were crazy, she was staring at Klaus from top to bottom, looking closely at what he was wearing.

He had on a light brown newsboy cap on the top of his head, brown pants with a striped dress shirt tucked inside his pants and brown suspenders.

She then narrowed her eyes at Elijah, seeing that he wore something similar instead without a newsboy cap and suspenders.

She looked down at the money Klaus put down in front of her and made a face. "Can you mind putting my silks back? You guys seem more like cotton kind of people anyway."

Klaus raised his eyebrow at the woman, realizing the woman had been stereotyping them because of the way they looked. "Well… today we're feeling kind of silky."

The woman looked wealthy, and she gave Klaus a look. "Come on. Don't you think silk's a little pricey for fellas like you two?"

Elijah was taken aback by that comment. "Well we have the money right here miss, it's not that pricey." He pointed out.

The woman narrowed her eyes at Elijah, looking a bit surprised. "You getting fresh with me?"

"No, ma'am." Elijah said in innocence. "I sure as hell wouldn't get fresh with you."

She hardened her eyes on Elijah. "You know what? Why don't you two just go back to whatever hole you got your fingers so dirty digging out of?"

Elijah raised his eyebrow and so did Klaus. They looked at their hands and then Klaus let out a soft chuckle, realizing that she saw his hands were dirty. It was because he was sketching out his portrait all morning and he forgot to wash them.

"Alright," Klaus spoke up. "But, before we climb into a hole you're talking about, could we buy the clothes we picked out? I got the money right here." He grabbed the money from the counter and moved it closer to her.

She hardened her eyes on Klaus too. "Get out of my store and take your stupid money."

Klaus blinked, and Elijah stared at the woman like she was insane.

"Go before I call the police."

Klaus let out a soft chuckle and placed the money back inside his pocket. "You mark my words." He said in a serious tone at the woman. "Continue judging people from their appearance and karma will come for you."

He turned his head to his brother, "Come on brother."

Elijah gave the woman a mean look and soon followed Klaus out of the store.

Because of the incident that happened earlier, Klaus was upset and he wanted his clothes. He was going to get it either way.

Night soon came over Mystic Falls and Kol decided to drop off Elijah and Klaus at that clothing store they were at earlier.

Klaus punched his hand through the glass door and watched as the glass shattered before sticking his hand inside to open the door from the inside. As soon as it opened, him and Elijah stepped inside the store and grabbed the clothes they picked out earlier.

A loud bell rang throughout the store, signaling that someone broke in. The two quickly looked around to see if there were any cameras in sight, but surprisingly there wasn't.

"Get the clothes and let's get out of here." Elijah demanded.

Klaus searched to find his clothes that was behind the counter and grabbed them in his hands. His eyes also fell on the cash register, so he opened it to retrieve some money and shoved it inside his pockets.

While Elijah went to retrieve his clothes from the counter, Klaus also noticed a trilby hat sitting on top of the counter and he smirked slightly, taking off the newsboy cap he had over his head and replaced it with the trilby hat.

The trilby hat looked much better anyway.

"Alright, let's go." Elijah said.

Klaus left his newsboy cap on top of the counter as a signature so the woman can know he was there and he soon left out of the store with Elijah, running towards the car Kol was waiting in.

It only took a moment for Klaus and Elijah to get changed into fancier clothing, Elijah had his hair slicked nice and he was wearing a gray dress shirt, black tie, black pants with black dress shoes.

Klaus had his hair cut short and nice and he was wearing a white shirt with gray pants, black leather jacket, black shoes, and a nice silver chain over his neck.

Both brothers felt good and Kol wondered if they even got him anything to wear as well.

"Hey, what about me? When do I get a makeover?"

"If you go out shopping," Klaus laughed.

Kol rolled his eyes.

The car shook slowly until it came to a brief stop in front of the Lockwood Mansion. They were currently inside of a Mercedes Benz CLA 250 that Kol had stole from somewhere.

The boys were staring at the mansion in shock, seeing how big and beautiful it looked. It was a gigantic mansion, and they believed it was the biggest house they've seen in Mystic Falls. From what Klaus and Elijah knew, a woman and man by the names of Carol and Richard Lockwood owned the house and their family was known as one of the richest families that lived in Mystic Falls.

"Wow," Klaus said in surprise. He's been around Mystic Falls for years and he's never seen a house as big as the Lockwood Mansion. It looked absolutely gorgeous and Klaus was thankful that him and Elijah were wearing appropriate attire.

"Alright, so here's the plan, we all meet here together at 11 o'clock, you got me?" Kol looked at both Klaus and Elijah.

Klaus narrowed his eyes at his brother Kol whom was sitting in the driver's seat, Klaus was sitting in the back and Elijah was sitting in the passenger's seat.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Elijah took off his seatbelt as he began getting out of the car.

"I have to go pick up some equipment, we can't rob a small bank without equipment." Kol pointed out, his hand gripping the wheel.

Klaus made his way out of the car, ignoring his younger brother. "Come on Elijah, while our brother is getting some equipment, we can keep ourselves occupied and find ourselves some girls to fool around with,"

"Don't get drunk you guys, I expect the both of you to be sober when we do this thing tonight." Kol said.

"Okay," Elijah rolled his eyes as he closed the door as well as Klaus.

When Kol began driving off, Klaus smirked and turned around briefly to get a better view of the Lockwood Mansion. They could hear the loud music playing from the inside and they could already tell there was a lot of people inside considering all the cars that was parked in front of the mansion.

Some people were outside, but a majority of them were inside having the time of their lives.

"Thank god we're dressed for the occasion, Niklaus." Elijah smiled and patted Klaus on his shoulder as he began to walk towards the mansion, Klaus now following behind.

As Klaus and Elijah walked inside, they were surprised to see the amount of people there were inside and they were all dressed up very nice.

"My haunted lungs, ghost in the sheets. I know if I'm haunting you, you must be haunting me."

The two of them stood at the doorway, studying everyone from every direction.

Klaus searched with his eyes to see if there was some alcohol they were serving. Kol did say that they couldn't drink, but Klaus didn't care. He didn't remember Kol being the boss of him.

"I'm gonna go search around to see if I can find someone to sleep with," Elijah assured him as he now brushed past him and went deeper inside the party.

Klaus smirked as his brother left and he now turned his attention back to the people and the scenery inside this gigantic house.

He slowly began walking deeper into the party past a few people while still studying them with his eyes. From what he noticed, a lot of young teenagers were at this party, teens from the only high school every teen goes to, Mystic Falls High School.

Klaus expected to see many grown-ups, considering the mansion was owned by Carol and Richard Lockwood. He was curious to find where they were, but his thoughts weren't really on them at the moment. He needed a drink.

"Slap me! I'm pinned to the doorway. Kiss… bite… fuck me.

My haunted lungs, ghost in the sheets. I know if I'm haunting you, you must be haunting me."

As Klaus found his way to a table filled with many drink bottles and cups, Klaus found the vodka bottle and poured himself some in a cup. He brought the cup to his lips and sipped on the vodka for a few seconds before removing it from his mouth.

He narrowed his eyes at his surroundings again, noticing that there was a large staircase settled in the middle of the living room. He assumed it must have led to several rooms upstairs and he was curious to find what was up there.

Bringing the drink back up to his lips, Klaus quickly found his brother talking with a gorgeous brunette with curly hair. She was wearing a blue tank top with long black jeans and some heels on. Klaus was surprised to discover how beautiful the girl was, considering Elijah's taste in women isn't all that great.

Klaus smirked as he took another sip of his vodka. So it looks like Elijah's wish on getting laid will most likely come true.

"I know if I'm onto you, I'm onto you, onto you, I'm onto you, onto you, you must be onto me."

Now that he's thought about it, he searched again with his eyes to see if there was a girl that might interest him. So far, there wasn't any girl that seemed worth his time in that room, so he sighed and decided to walk up the flight of stairs that was settled in the living room.

Maybe there would be more girls upstairs, maybe he'll be lucky enough to find the girl he's been looking for.

Klaus took a moment to look around and he discovered a room that was revealing a bright blue light from the inside and he was wondering what it was coming from.

As he slowly walked into the room with the mysterious blue light inside, he listened as the music that was playing inside the house change into a more smooth song. He was surprised to find a unique room that contained a gigantic fish tank built into the wall.

So that was where the blue light was coming from.

"And I've been drifting off on knowledge, cat-calls and cat-walks, man these women getting solemn. I could sing a song for a Solomon or Salamander. We took a flight at midnight and now my mind can't help but wonder, how come?"

He narrowed his eyes at the scenery within the room, seeing that there was a nice couch along with a fireplace inside. He was curious why there wasn't a bed included, noticing there were picture frames along the walls with art and stuff.

Klaus brought the drink up to his lips and slowly motioned over to the large fish tank that was built within the wall on the left side of the room. He was a bit fascinated to find something as nice as this in the Lockwood Mansion.

There were many fish inside the tank, many of which he couldn't name. But he did recognize most fish from that movie Finding Nemo, seeing a clownfish that resembled Nemo, and seeing a blue tang fish that resembled Dory. There were many other similar fish from that movie and some that he just wasn't familiar with.

Klaus hardened his eyes slightly to take a closer look inside the tank, taking a long look at everything inside.

"All these people on the planet working 9 to 5 just to stay alive. The 9 to 5, just to stay alive, the 9 to 5, just to stay alive."

It sure was a beautiful tank, and Klaus wish he owned a tank as big as that and that many fish at his home. He liked looking at stuff like this because he was an artist, he liked to draw many portraits and would love to draw something like this.

A small smile formed on his lips as he brought the drink back up to his lips and took another large sip of his vodka.

"All the people on the planet working 9 to 5 just to stay alive, how come?

What goes up, ghost around. Ghost around, round, round, round."

When he narrowed his eyes back onto the tank, his eyes dilated just a little only to find a girls face from the opposite side of the tank. She was also looking into the tank, amazed with its features. Klaus slowly brought his drink down from his lips and took a closer look at the girl.

The girl wasn't only looking at the scenery within the tank, but she was staring at him, and she was staring at him as if in shock to find another person observing the tank like she was.

It wasn't until a second later Klaus realized how drop dead gorgeous this girl was. She had wavy blonde hair that reached a little past her shoulders with mesmerizing blue-green eyes. Her make up was done lightly with natural eye shadow and light lip gloss coloring her light pink lips. Klaus felt a nervous chill run through his spine just by looking at her.

He watched as she stared at him back for a short moment and she looked down shyly before looking back up at him.

Klaus took a step closer towards the tank, his nose hitting the glass. He saw the girl giggle lightly at him from the other side of the tank and just by seeing her smile, he knew he had to have this girl. It was like love at first sight.

"Caroline,"

The girl turned her head towards the voice that called for her.

Klaus furrowed his eyebrows together, seeing another male from the other side of the tank. He instantly recognized the face as Tyler Lockwood, the son of Carol and Richard Lockwood.

"Come on, let's go dance." He heard him say.

She stared at Tyler in shock and then narrowed her eyes back to Klaus.

Klaus stared back at her and watched as she was being pulled away from the tank and taken somewhere else.

It was like fate brought them together and Klaus wasn't about to lose her that easily.

Licking his lips, Klaus brought his drink back up to his mouth and chugged down the rest of the vodka before tossing the plastic cup elsewhere and following after them.

A/N: I admit, that last scene was inspired by that one Romeo and Juliet movie, but honestly I thought it would be cute for Klaus and Caroline to first notice each other from the fish tank. Reviews would be very much appreciated! Let me know your thoughts on this chapter.