Disclaimer: I'm upset by how much I don't own The Vampire Diaries
Rosi Golan - "Can't go Back" - Some things you can't go back to, cause you let them slip away.
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"Elena! You can't miss the Decade Dance!"
"I don't want to, Care" Elena sighed as she leant against her locker, "But I'm starting to wonder whether it's a good idea , what with Klaus on the loose"
"No Lena, he's wreaked so much havoc, he is not going to get away with ruining our dance" Caroline slammed her locker shut and folded her arms, ready to roll out one of her famous speeches, "It is the sixties. The sixties! Mini skirts, go-go boots, Marilyn and Jackie O. He is not taking it. I won't allow it"
Elena laughed, "You're pretty excited, then?"
"Things are going great. I won't let them be ruined by some psychotic jackass" Caroline said with determination. Things were going great. There was a brief moment when Matt found out she was a vampire, but the issue had been compelled away and things were great between them. She'd found her mind wandering to her mysterious savior when she felt low, but not now. Now she had everything she wanted.
Her Knight in Shining Armor was her special secret. She liked keeping him immortalized in her private thoughts.
"All good with Matt?" Elena grinned.
"Great with Matt. And my Mom. It's all falling into place, y'know?"
Elena smiled and wrapped her arm arm around her shoulder, "I'm glad Care, you deserve it. Especially finding 'the one'"
"I don't know if we're as epic as you and Stefan, but..." Caroline shrugged with a smile.
"And what are we so happy about, ladies?" Alaric appeared from nowhere walking alongside the two girls with his hands behind his back.
"Caroline's doing her best to sell the sixties" Elena smiled, "Although you didn't seem so keen in class?"
"Cold War sends the students to sleep" Alaric rolled his eyes, "It's insufferable to teach"
"But you agree Elena should go the dance?" Caroline asked.
"Absolutely" Alaric smirked.
"See? Just cause Klaus is being a giant douche, that shouldn't stop you"
Alaric laughed, "I shouldn't condone such language, Miss Forbes"
"Sorry Mr Saltzman"
He shook his head, chuckling to himself as he wandered off to his classroom. He settled in his chair, feet on the desk. It was not long after he had rescued her, he had realized her link to the doppleganger. He hadn't been too surprised until he learnt she was the vampire Katerina had turned for the sacrifice. That had given him pause. She hadn't deserved to be tortured, so did she deserve to die for the curse?
It was necessary. Collateral damage. He had to become a hybrid, fulfill his potential. He had to ignore the guilt that clawed at his insides. He was the Hybrid. He wasn't boy who rescued the girl. He wasn't a hero. He couldn't be.
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"Tyler? Tyler! Tyler, wake up" Caroline whispered frantically, desperately trying to see an escape in the darkness. She tried to pull the chains from the wall, but the metal was too strong and she only achieved a few specks of plaster falling away. She stared around the cave, seeing nothing to aid her. Including Tyler, who was chained across from her. "Tyler" she tried again, but she felt secure when she heard his shallow breathing. She tried a few more futile attempts with the chains, before leaning back against the wall, waiting for the wolf to stir.
Her attention shifted to the doorway where Klaus appeared, dressed all in black, with a blood red shirt peeking out of his jacket. He looked just as she remembered - tall and mysterious, with his slightly unruly curls framing his face like a halo. He was here. She was safe. Relief washed over her as she exclaimed breathily, "Nik!"
Klaus flashed forward to crouch in front of her as she shifted to a kneeling position, their faces inches apart, "Nik, quick, I don't know when they'll be back" She looked around for her unknown attacker, though she was pretty sure she knew who was behind it - Klaus.
He sighed, picked up her chained wrists and gazing at them as if they were a puzzle he couldn't quite understand.
"Nik?" she lifted their intwined hands to prompt him, "A little help?" Her little smile began to fade as he hesitated to act.
He opened with mouth and then snapped it shut, all the while holding her hands. He began to trace a soothing pattern across her wrists with his thumbs. The skin was flamed angry red from rubbing of the metal cuffs, and he seemed intent on soothing her.
"Nik, help me" She stared at him, confused. Tears began to prick at her eyes as she recognized he wasn't here to save her. She was once again abandoned to torture.
"I told them not to make them so tight, sweetheart" Klaus murmured, as he continued his ministrations on her wrists.
She paused, her head pulling back from him. Nik ordered them? Why would he? She thought Klaus was behind this... realization dawned even though it broke her heart in two. "Klaus?" she whispered uncertainly.
His eyes snapped to hers and she knew. It was him. Her Knight was The Monster. It felt as though the world had dropped from under her. Her head swam and she felt she may be sick. The blood ran ice cold in her veins. Her mysterious man she'd been idealizing was the vampire who wanted to kill Elena and sacrifice two innocent...
The sacrifice.
It all fell into place. A vampire and a werewolf. Caroline and Tyler. She pulled her hands from his and backed away as far as she could, pulling her knees up to act as a protective barrier.
"Caroline-"
"Don't! Don't talk to me! Don't look at me. Just don't"
He kept staring at her, trying to get her eye contact back. She stared resolutely at Tyler's unconscious form. How could Nik and Klaus be one in the same? How was it even possible? Nik had saved her. Klaus would kill her. Caroline felt her breathing quicken as she struggled to understand. It didn't make sense.
"Did you save me to kill me?" Caroline spat angrily, whipping her head sharply to meet his gaze.
"No" he replied honestly.
She stared into his eyes. He was still Nik. It unnerved her and left her flustered at the same time. She shifted her eye line back to Tyler. it was much easier to see him as Klaus when she couldn't see him. Not that it made any sense. None of it did.
"I had no idea Katerina had intended you to be my vampire when I met you" Klaus broke the deafening silence.
Caroline bristled, "She turned me for you? She ruined my life for you?"
"Ruined? Here was I thinking I'd opened your eyes to all vampirism had to offer" Klaus gently mocked.
Caroline felt like a burning poker had been pushed in her gut. She felt her whole body flush with anger. He dared to mock her? To laugh at her? To take that beautiful moment with Nik and ruin it forever? She wanted to hit him. She needed to hit him, but her chained arms prevented her. Without thinking, she spat in his face.
She pulled back, afraid of his reaction. He sighed and wiped his face, "You forget who I am, Caroline"
"Oh well that's shocking, isn't it?" Caroline snapped sarcastically, "It's not as if you've been lying to me, is it? And for you're information, I know all about you"
"Oh really?" Klaus smiled darkly, sitting back, "Pray, do tell"
Caroline threw her shoulders back. If there was one thing she could be, it was a mean-girl, "I know the Sun and the Moon curse is a load of crap you and your brother cooked up"
Klaus inclined his head to signal she was right.
"I know that you really want to break an ancient curse placed on you. Because you're half and half. A freak" he didn't seem as deeply cut as she'd hoped. She wanted to claw at his eyes, tear out his heart. She just had to find the right words. "I heard it was because your Mom was a slept around"
"Are you trying to upset me, love?"
"Is it working?"
"No"
She threw her head back against the wall with a sigh, "I know that breaking the curse involves a sacrifice. A werewolf and a vampire. You're going to kill me"
He stared at her, his eyes soft.
"Is it all true?" She asked, willing herself to be wrong. Please be wrong.
"Yes"
She nodded and she bit her lip to hold back the tears. He leaned forward, capturing her with his eyes, "Aren't you going to beg for your life?" he asked darkly.
She glared at him, "No"
"Really?" Klaus seemed genuinely surprised, but the overarching emotion seemed to be disappointment.
"I'm sure you'd love me to grovel, but no"
Klaus breathed in deeply. He needed to be careful how he worded this, "I need to break the curse, I don't love that you're involved, but the curse needs to be broken"
"By killing innocent people?"
"If I remember correctly, the wolf had a part in your abduction and torture"
Caroline eyes narrowed,"Don't bring Tyler into this. What happened before, it doesn't matter. I forgive him"
"Awful protective of him, aren't you? I was laboring under the illusion that Matt was 'the one' "
"How do you know about Matt?" Caroline demanded.
"I know everything love"
"Doubt it" she scoffed.
"You believe Elena and Stefan to have an 'epic love' and I was apparently a douche for potentially ruining the dance. That was your eloquent terminology, was it not?"
"How did you...?" Caroline frowned, and then remembered her conversation with Alaric. Or at least who she thought was Alaric. "Oh God, ew, when you were in Alaric?"
Klaus smiled a smile that wasn't like Nik's. Caroline hated it more than words. Tyler shifted and groaned, so Caroline's eyes flickered over to him, concerned.
"You shouldn't look at him like that when Matt's in the picture" Klaus advised, recognizing her soft concern. It was the way she'd looked at him when he was Nik.
Caroline scowled at him. She wouldn't do that to Matt, and he shouldn't be commenting on anything to do with her. Full stop. "Look, he's innocent in all this. Tyler didn't do anything. It was all that Jules bitch"
Klaus smiled so darkly at the mention of the woman, Caroline's heart froze. His voice was soft, "I know"
Caroline cleared her throat uncomfortably. It all felt too real, suddenly. He was most definitely the Big Bad, there was no doubt in her mind. She tried to be braver than she felt, "When do you plan on killing me?"
"The sacrifice takes place when the moon is at its apex" Klaus answered automatically. He'd been saying it for over five hundred years - it was ingrained on his brain.
"Well, I've still got a few hours to live and I'd rather not spend them with you, so if you wouldn't mind, kindly piss off" Caroline's mean-girl voice was firm, coupled with an arched eyebrow that made schoolgirls scatter. Apparently it wasn't as effective on Original vampires.
He smirked and checked his watch - by his estimations the Salvatore brother would be here soon on his mission to buy Elena another month. He couldn't leave her before he had made Caroline forget, had wiped the slate clean. He couldn't have her telling anyone about the rescue. It was weak of him. He couldn't be weak - not now he was ready to expose his full potential and build his army. "Just a few things to clear up, and then I'll be on my way"
"What else is there?" Caroline snapped, "You've ruined my memory of the kind vampire who came to help just because it was a nice thing to do. You're going to kill me and my two best friends. What precisely do you have left to do?" She was hysterical now, but she couldn't stop, "Do you need some puppies from the sacrifice too? Need to kick a nun?"
"Caroline, I didn't know who you were, or what you were linked to when I saved you" Klaus stated, ignoring her outburst. Why did he need to make sure she knew this? Neither of them knew.
"Well it doesn't matter now, does it? Going out in the big wide world is a bit tough with a stake in your heart"
Klaus felt a flash of sadness. She'd ignore everything he said? Everything she seemed to cling onto when he was Nik? It wasn't as if she'd remember when he was done, so why did it bother him?
He moved forward so that she was backed up completely against the wall, with just a few inches of space between them. She stared down at her hands, playing with her daylight ring.
"Look at me" he murmured gently. She stared down with determination.
"Caroline. Look at me" Klaus said more forcefully, placing his index finger gently under her chin and lifting her head.
Her eyes were wide and glistening with unshed tears. He took a deep breath, "Caroline"
His pupils widened and she realized what he was about to do. She jerked her head back, "Don't compel me. Not again"
He frowned slightly at this declaration, but he really didn't have the time. The werewolf's breathing was becoming steadier and he was going to come around.
He placed his hands on her wet cheeks to steady her head. His pupils widened, "Don't move" She had been rigid, but she immediately relaxed, "You won't remember our conversation tonight. You just woke up, you were here with Tyler and he was unconscious"
"I woke up and Tyler was unconscious" she repeated lifelessly.
"You don't remember-" Klaus paused. Did he really want to wipe her memory, lose her Nik? There was a vain part of him that enjoyed the fact she had kept him her special secret, hid him from the world. He just couldn't let that go, "What Nik looks like. You don't even try to remember. All you know is he saved you and you were inspired to see the world. But you will not tell anyone about him. He is your secret"
"I can't remember him. I felt safe. He's my secret"
Klaus smiled sadly and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "Time to break the curse, sweetheart"
Caroline opened her eyes wearily, seeing nothing but the dark. She then saw a form across from her, stirring. "Tyler? Tyler! Tyler, wake up" Caroline whispered frantically, desperately trying to see an escape in the darkness. She tried to pull the chains from the wall, but the metal was too strong and she only achieved a few specks of plaster falling away. She stared around the cave, seeing nothing to aid her. "Tyler" she tried again, but she felt secure when she heard his breathing, which was getting stronger and stronger. She tried a few more futile attempts with the chains, before leaning back against the wall, waiting for the wolf to stir.
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Aaaand then the rest of the episode happens as canon! Damon rescues them, Klaus takes Elena and reveals his plan B. Or was he always using Jules as plan A?...
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