Author's note:

Hope u like it, guys. I haven't slept for literally 3 days just to write it down. There's a lot of stuff here! Leave a comment; thanks 3

Infinite Dream

Camille was staring fascinated at the mysterious unfinished painting that a skilled street artist was creating in the center of Jackson Square, mixing together the colors on the consumed palette.

It was a night like the others, there in New Orleans. Music, parades, tourists, adorable confusion.

She stayed in town since a little while and she worked like a bartender from almost a couple of weeks at Rousseau's, in the French Quarter. That particular night she had to replace a colleague who'd preceded her, at the end, appearing without warning and regaining possession of her own turn.

"No offense, Camille" she said, winking at her. "You know, work is work."

"Of course" replied the blonde, smiling gently and opening the green eyes widely. "You need help?"

"Nah" Max shook her head, cleaning the counter with a dusty cloth. "There's no one, tonight. It's quite peaceful but tomorrow…wait a minute" – she murmured, reaching the two habitual costumers who had just been joined by a third person – "What can I bring you, guys?"

"Your oldest scotch. For my two friends here, love."

The new one, a man overexcited with a cute accent, delivered her a generous 100 dollar bill without batting an eyelid.

"Nice catch" congratulated Cami in front of Max's satisfied face.

"He's a tourist. He has to be. They're the most generous people when it comes to release tips."

"Right."

Camille.

Camille.

"Camille!"

Cami opened her eyes, slowly, finding herself lying on a bed. She felt numb, tired, as if someone had thrown her a huge, heavy stone. She blinked a few times, bending her head to the side.

Klaus was looking at her, worried, hesitant, raising his eyebrows.

"I had a dream" she said, with boiling and dry lips. "Or maybe was another hallucination. I can't understand."

"Let me guess. A hot night with a charming vampire named Klaus."

Camille laughed in a whisper, making a deep breath. "You were there. Actually, was the first time we met. At the bar. But I wasn't working, this time. You gave the 100 dollar bill to another girl."

"Shame on me" answered Klaus, with the usual impudent grin.

The blonde frowned, lifting up painfully her head. "How bad is it?"

"Don't worry" he assured her, making her lay on the pillow once again. "I'll keep you safe. I swear."

"Klaus…"

"You should rest and…"

"Klaus, stop. Lucien bit me and we know that not even your blood would save me this time. I'm dying."

"You're not going to die" the vampire shouted impetuous, showing all the anxiety and fear through his teary eyes. "I will not let that happen. Not again. I lost you once already. We'll find a solution. Freya is here, looking for a spell; Elijah and Hayley are headed to the Bayou. You'll be fine."

Camille nodded, wordless, relaxing thanks to the gentle touch of Klaus against her sweaty forehead.

"'I'll keep you safe, Camille."

"He's lying."

The girl saw Sean again, at the foot of the bed, shaking his blonde head. "You know he's lying."

"That's what a monster does" sang Kieran, leaning against the wall at the other side of the room.

"Go away" Cami said, exhausted and scared. "You're not real."

"Camille" whispered Klaus, taking her hand. "What's going on?"

"They…"

"Yes, Cami. Tell him what's going on."

A feminine voice froze Camille's heart; the blonde moved away from Klaus and turned to the right. "No…"

Aurora was laughing out loud, getting close to Camille.

"Hello, Cami."

"You. You are another hallucination. Stay away from me!"

"Oh, come on. What a crybaby."

"Camille! What's going on?" Klaus continued to ask.

"What the hell you want from me?"

"I'm one of your hallucination, darling. This means that you want something from me. Isn't it funny?"

"Get out of my head!" shouted Camille, angry. "I beat you, last time. I won."

"What, uh? Klaus's heart? War? Came on, my dear. You're dying. You failed Klaus. You are not the sweet and angelic little girl you wanted us to believe. You would never been able to save him from the darkness. You have his same shadow. He will never love you. This is pathetic. You know it too. "

"It's your fault."

"You're…quite annoying."

"For God's sake, Camille. Talk to me!" Klaus's voice was even more distant and incomprehensible.

"She is a victim" Sean said, getting close to the vampire. "Klaus Mikaelson's victim! It's only his fault. I already told you, Camille. You wouldn't have had to meet him in the first place. Like in your dream."

Cami jumped immediately, remembering her dream where Klaus had spoken to another girl.

"It was you? What are you doing to me?"

"We are helping you" Kieran comforted her, conjoining his hands. "You will die far away from the sin."

"You will forget him" murmured the twin, sweetly.

"No…"

"Who's the craziest, now?" asked Aurora, laughing again.

This time, Camille started to tremble, shaking under the covers. "I don't want to. I can't. Stay away from my head. Help!" she yelled loudly.

She perceived two new arms pushing her against the bed. Freya's arms.

"It's the poison" Klaus's sister said, trying to stop Camille. "She's having hallucinations."

"Do something!" screamed the man. "Help her!"

Suddenly, the blonde's head became heavy, cloudy. Freya's spell, of course.

Little by little, the hallucinations disappeared, sparkling, muffling marvelously the room.

"Camille; can you hear me?" Klaus called her, whispering kindly.

Cami breathed heavily, in the grip of spasms.

The last thing she saw was the face of the man she loved. And then, nothing else.

...

"Tell me something" Klaus demanded rudely, looking at Freya. "Tell me you found a solution."

Freya blinked, sighing heavily. "Maybe."

"Enough with maybes" said Klaus, with his curls falling disordered off his head. "I want assurances."

"This…is the only word I can give you now."

The man touched lightly Camille's cheek, watching for a moment the obvious scar on her arm, caused by Lucien's bite.

Then he stood up, leaving the room, followed by the witch.

"What's this maybe?" he asked, visibly exhausted.

"I spoke with Vincent – "

"Oh, what a fortune; another incompetent joining the gang. Who else wanna come? There's only Camille's life on the knife-edge!"

"Klaus" his sister scolded him, visibly tired too. "We are all trying to help Cami. I lost Finn, did you forget?"

The vampire bowed his face, taking a breath. "Pardon me."

"Yes" answered Freya, placing a hand on her brother's shoulder. "We can make it, if we'll stay together."

Klaus nodded, clenching his jaw. "What about Vincent?"

"We may have found a temporary solution. To buy some time before Cami..."

"What is it?" asked Klaus, in a whisper.

"Well…something about Camille's dark objects."

...

"What are we searching for, exactly?" asked Marcel, looking around.

Cami's apartment was still upside down, full of rubbish and overturned furnitures.

"Something small. Like a watch" Vincent said.

"That's really helpful" the vampire joked.

"Yeah. That's all I know, man. It's like some kind of compass. Quartz, circular, with golden hands. "

"All right."

The two went to work, examining the room and digging among the dark objects of the O'connell's family.

"We will save her, won't we?" asked all of a sudden Marcel, nervously.

Vincent sighed loudly, continuing to browse the dark objects. "I don't know. This...is a temporary escape. A dangerous loophole, okay? But if Klaus's sister will be able to channel the compass with Camille's life, we'll have more time to find a cure for Lucien's poison."

"How does it work?"

"We halt time" explained the wizard, gesticulating as always "Camille's lifetime, actually. Magic will preserve her body, preventing her to die or getting worse. It's like a magic coma, more or less."

"Hey."

Vincent turned around, recalled from Marcel. "What?"

The vampire was paralyzed, with a serious look, holding on his hands an object smaller than he would had thought. It really looked like a compass, with covering of hyaline quartz, nearly transparent with a darker background, protected by a glass envelope, with long golden hands and strange runic symbols.

"Oh…here we are" murmured Vincent, nodding.

"What about her mind?"

"Mh?"

Marcel squeezed tightly the compass, staring at his partner. "You spoke about the effects of the spell on Cami's body. What will happen to her mind?"

Vincent licked his lips, turning behind.

…

A new wave of color attracted Camille's attention, suddenly founding herself in the center of Jackson Square.

She tried to collect her thoughts, furrowing her forehead.

She had left the bar; she was lost on the street, chasing a strange and probably crazy guy; she stopped, studying the beautiful picture in front of her.

Here, yes. That's how it went.

The painting portrayed a face. A simple, anonymous face. It could have been the expression of a man, or the face of a woman. The particular contours of the picture told a complicated story; more than complicated. One side of the face was clear, bright, with the complexion born from the harmonious marriage between pink and white. The other parts, on the contrary, become darker, gloomy; it showed a shady and mysterious profile.

There was something deeply fascinating and horribly scary in all of that. Cami's mind worked freely, catching her old psychological reminiscences.

It showed the human nature in all of his parts: light and darkness, good and evil, yin and yang. The man and the beast.

With the corner of her eye, she noticed someone getting closer to the painting and God knows why, she was aware she knew him better than anyone else in the entire world.

She wanted to talk to him. Or not?

What the hell was going on?

She had the feeling she already lived that moment, but in a totally opposite way. Then, she realized that the man with the cute accent was leaving, walking away.

She jumped ahead, placing him side by side, trying to have a casual conversation.

"The 100 dollar guy."

The man turned to her, clearly astonished, opening lightly his lips and flaunting immediately an impudent smirk. "Do I know you, love?"

Camille shook her head. "I saw you at Rousseau's. You left a really generous tip to my colleague."

"Well…Camille" – he began, reading her name over the blonde's working nameplate – "not many girls would approach a stranger on purpose – an handsome one, I'll grant you – maybe dangerous, at night. You are quite brave; with a delicious French name."

"I…" she said, blinking. Damn, he was right.

"Yes?" he continued, with a satisfied smile.

"I can take care of myself, thanks. Sorry for bothering you. Good night" the blonde answered touchy, stopping and turning towards the painting.

"Oh, not at all, love. That's probably the best moment of the day. So, Camille, you were quite absorbed by the picture over there."

"So you did notice me too, after all. Right?"

"Guilty" he said, this time gently.

Cami smiled, pleasantly surprised by the man's attention.

"Call me Cami. Grandma's name" – she confessed, looking up the sky. Then, she turned again towards the picture. "And yes; it's amazing, isn't it?"

"Do you paint?"

"No…but, I admire" she answered, happily at ease. "Every artist has a story, you know?"

...

"Klaus?"

Camille woke up after the very same dream\hallucination, finding herself close by the original vampire.

She still felt weak, sick, with her body painful and her mind cloudy.

Klaus, on the other hand, did not seem to feel better. He was pale, troubled, with his full lips tightened into a worried face. He smiled softly, sitting down on the bed next to her.

"You awake."

"I'm sorry. It's not really cute, wasting my last moments just sleeping."

"Camille."

Cami smiled, making fun of him. Not that the last moments story was a lie. But, anyway.

"I – "

"Let me guess again; another hot dream?"

"Ha ha. Well, yes. But I need to talk to you about something different, this time."

Klaus's eyes sweetened and his cheekbones rose up. "Whatever you want."

She observed him, painting with her mind his clean profile.

"I'm sorry, Klaus."

The vampire watched her confused, furrowing his forehead.

"I've been a truly bitch, lately. What I told you last time – that the part of me that loved you and hoped for your redemption was gone – I lied. I was angry. And scared."

"That – "

"But I do love you, you know? Human or not. And I still…see your soul. The same of the painting's face. Remember? The Jackson Squares painting. A part of light and a part of darkness. I've figured it out immediately. You are alike. And...despite that, I stayed and I watched it; because it was beautiful. And you...you are beautiful."

Klaus fell silent, with his eyes wet. Then he tried to talk opening his mouth, but became silent again. He touched her cheek with his knuckles, as he always did. "It's all my fault" he finally said, with his voice trembling. "If it wasn't for me, if I'd just left you alone, out of this dirty and devilish world, you'd still be alive. Healthy. That night – "

Suddenly, Cami felt drag down. She perceived her blood become hot, burning her meat. She opened her eyes wide, staring at the man.

"Camille!" said the vampire, holding her between his arms, frightened.

It all happened in an instant.

Cami's body was shaken by violent hiccups that shattered her chest and stopped her breath.

The room around her started to turn, making her hard to focus on the vampire.

"Freya! Vincent!" Klaus shouted, going crazy. "Camille, don't do this. Don't leave me now. Fight!"

Camille felt tears in her eyes, looking Klaus's wet cheeks.

She was dying, right?

The room was suddenly filled with familiar faces: Freya, Vincent, Hayley (such a strong and amazing woman), Elijah. Even Marcel.

Klaus still shouted in the distance; then was the turn of a strange music comparable to magic spells.

Something cold got stuck between her hands, vibrating and pulsating. She heard a weird noise, like broken glass. And the pain stopped, dragging her inside an infinite dream.