Disclaimer: I don't own the vampire diaries.
A/N: First of all, I just wanna say thanks so much to anyone who reviewed my one-shot; "Hazy", I really appreciate it. And for everyone who have this fic on their favorite and alert list, thanks too :) if it wasn't for you guys I wouldn't have found inspiration to continue :)
So, I finally wrote it! Yaaay! I'm sooo happy and really proud of this chapter, I waited way too long for inspiration, but it finally came ^_^
Oh, something else; this fic is an ALL HUMAN fic, I realized I wrote in the one-shot about un-daggering Fin, for that I really am so, so sorry, it's an AH story, I promise this mistake just skipped my editing, sorry again…
This fic happens in a completely imaginary universe, we'll have lords, ladies, kings and queens, princesses and princes, kingdoms… I'm not a history expert and since I'm not even from a western country (I'm Arabian from Jordan) I have no idea how the noble ranks and these stuff work except from what I see in movies, so if I screw the titles and these things up, I'm so sorry but it's a fictional story so…
Sorry for being long, Enjoy :)
Epilogue
Hazy
Caroline felt everything around her just go into daze; nothing made since. What was she doing here? She didn't know, everything around her was pitch black, she was holding something with all she was…
Focus, Caroline! What are you holding? She ordered her mind to focus. It took a few minutes but then she realized; the handrail, she was holding the handrail; this was the only thing that gave her some sort of location now. But, what was she doing?... She focused and listened. Screams, that's all what she could hear... Screams came from everywhere... Yes; screams, her mother, she heard her mother scream, that's why she was here. She needs to get to her mother, but where would she go? How long has she been there? And where was there anyway? She felt like she was standing for hours, but it couldn't have been... And then it got to her, the smoke, smoke was everywhere now around her. Is there a fire? She wanted to scream, but she couldn't find her voice, she couldn't even breathe…
And then she heard her name; someone was calling her, she couldn't figure out from where exactly, but she could perfectly hear it. They were going to save her, she felt relieved. But what about her mother? Caroline tried to look around, to have an idea of where she was other than the she was on the stairs, but, like earlier, she couldn't see anything further than the few stairs that were left for her to reach the second floor. The calling voice was silenced for a second and she could hear the screams again, this time they were a little muffed, they were from the outside; have they given up on finding her? She tried to scream for whoever was calling her earlier just when the panicked voice came back again, it got closer, whoever it was; they were getting nearer. As the calling came closer Caroline could figure the voice clearly, it felt somehow familiar, but she shock the memories that were threatening to come to the surface, it couldn't be, she knew it… but it was his voice... The voice she hadn't heard in five long years, a voice she heard every night in her dreams, yet now seemed so real. His voice screamed her name in panic...
Caroline looked around again trying to see anything at all with no use, and suddenly, she screamed, she just screamed finding her voice as the smoke caught up to her now and she coughed, she wasn't going to burn alive here! Caroline screamed louder, "Here! I'm here!" she tried to raise her voice over the coughs, "Please! I'm here!"
"Caroline!" the voice picked up not panicking this time but acknowledging, "I'm coming! Caroline, stay where you are!" they found her; she thought with relief and closed her eyes trying to regulate her breathing, she was saved... But her relief didn't make the feeling of familiarity go away; everything in her kept telling her it was him, but how could it? He's dead! And then a more frightening thought came to her; am I dead too? She didn't have time to think of an answer, she just felt strong arms surrounding her waist. She wanted to speak, but nothing came out, the arms of whoever was calling her circled her tightly and pulled her towards him, he was pulling her out, away from the smoke... She tried to fight him but she couldn't, he was too strong... No, no, she has to find her mother, her mother was screaming, she has to find her...
"No, no, no! My mother! My mother is in there!" She found her voice at last, but the man wasn't listening to her though he hesitated a bit and then flipped her to face him. She was pulled directly to his chest and then she looked up to his face, she had to know if it was him, if it was, he'll understand, but she couldn't see anything, the darkness filled the whole place.
She had to go back, she had to... "Please… my mother… please," Caroline pleaded as her voice faded with her coughs; she couldn't breathe, the smoke choking her again, she felt like she was falling, but the man's arms went to her knees and he held her in his arms this time. "Caroline, your mother is safe, do you hear me?" the familiar voice shouted over the screams around them that were getting louder now, "your mother is safe."
Caroline felt her tensed body relaxes in his arms after hearing about her mother, her mother was fine… She felt so tired; her eyes were shutting on their own…
The voice spoke again, "hey, hey," it was panicking again, "Caroline, Caroline, stay with me. Keep your eyes open for me, love, come on, we're almost there, come on, sweetheart…" the pit name; no one called her that except for him. Caroline snapped her eyes open with force, and looked up at her savior now. She wanted to see his face; she had to know if it as real or she was really dead. But she couldn't be dead, how could she? Isn't death supposed to be peaceful? Maybe that was her own peace; with him…
Caroline waited impatiently to see his face; darkness around them was interrupted by a few glimpses of light by the flames that seemed to be consuming everything, but they weren't enough, she couldn't concentrate and his face didn't seem to show for more than a few confusing seconds each time. She wondered how he could pull her out like that for… how long was it since he started running with her in his arms? Time didn't seem real to her right then, it only seemed to her that seeing his face was the only thing keeping her eyes from closing and surrendering at last.
Caroline shivered in his arms as she kept gazing at him, the cold air hitting her hard as they approached the exit. A second later, the cold was the last thing she felt; for light came and lit the man's features and she saw them; blue eyes. The blue eyes she kept dreaming about for years; it was him. He was alive and he saved her. All that she felt was an urge to cry, to weep in his arms, to look into the blue eyes she loved the most, but she couldn't feel anything. She knew they had the rest of their lives to do that, right now, she just was so tired… So, after realizing who saved her, her body seemed to lose all its strength and she surrendered to her unconscious seeing nothing but blue eyes…
Caroline closed her eyes and let her hand fall from the grip she didn't realize she was holding his shirt with. And for the first time in five years; Caroline allowed herself to dive into memories she kept locked away, she let it all come back, and she found herself drowning in pictures…
She was sixteen… She was upset; why wouldn't her mother let her stay late at night like all the other girls? "You're still young, sweetheart, when you're a bit older you will.." was Elizabeth's reply to her daughter's pleading not to go home early from the Lockwood's ball… she remembered how much she hated that pit name "sweetheart"; she wasn't five; she was sixteen, girls in her age got married for God sack! But her mother didn't listen and she was sent home…
Caroline remembered crying in the carriage on the way home with Matt; her brother, Matthew was her eldest brother; the only sibling she had, he was her best friend; but she was upset and not even Matthew could help cheer her up… she remembered that that was the last thought she had before it happened…
It all happened too fast… the carriage flipped… she didn't know what happened till she opened her eyes to blue ones… blue ones that stared with concern into her own… she remembered feeling safe in his arms… she didn't realize that she'll be dreaming about those blue eyes for the next five years of her life… the eyes of her savior; Klaus Smith.
Caroline remembered the next day too, she was hurt and she had to stay at home. People came to check on her, and, for the first time in her life, Caroline heard the name Klaus Smith; the new bachelor in town. No one knew who he was or what he was doing in their little town. He was rich and handsome and that seemed enough for the simple people of their town. Plus, saving her and Matthew the day before seemed to highly recommend him among the families of Mystic Falls…
Klaus' images holding her went back for seconds and she felt safe again… too soon… the images of her in Klaus' arms faded and were replaced by an image of them by a lake; they were having a picnic. She remembered that day very clearly, nobody knew about them but she couldn't feel safer anywhere else in the world; she was with Klaus, her Klaus; her suitor; her lover.
Images faded again, they were kissing in the stables; her very first kiss. Klaus was showing her a horse he bought and when they pumped into each other on the way out, the next thing she knew she was having her first kiss. Klaus held her in his arms as she leaned against him… she was so in love; she loved him so much… he let her go at last before looking into her eyes and whispering "I love you,"… it was the very first time…
The next day images came, she was sitting in the living room, pacing nervously back and forth; Klaus was with her father in his office, he proposed to her earlier in the day and now he was asking her hand from her father officially… she didn't know why she was nervous; her father knew how much she loved him and Klaus was the most eligible bachelor in town according to everyone…
The door was opened at last; Caroline practically ran to it; it was Klaus. She was smiling to him, but suddenly she felt all her hopes crash; Klaus was angry, he held his hands in fists and the blue eyes she fell in love with were filled with nothing but rage… Klaus always had a problem with his temper; she suddenly remembered thinking that random thought… he didn't even spare her a glance; he was out the door before she could even speak…
Caroline ran to her father's office, what was happening? She didn't remember half of the talk she had with her father after that; she just remembered hearing the words that shattered her life and killed all her chances in happiness with the man she loved…
"We don't even know who he is!... This man came out of nowhere and he's expecting me to give him my daughter?!... We don't even know who his parents are let alone his family!... I don't care about his fortune… you're a child and you don't know anything about the real world!... He could be a killer or a thief for all we know!" her fathers statement came back to her in pieces… all she could feel back then was anger at everyone and everything…
The next thing she saw was herself in the stables, she was sitting on a haystack, she was crying… Klaus was gone… he had left her… and all she could feel was her anger pilling up and she just wanted to scream… she did… she screamed for too long… she cried and wept… she blamed everyone… her father… her friends… everyone… she even blamed herself… but nothing brought him back, nothing she could do or say or think of brought him back, she was alone and abandoned… but Caroline wasn't weak, she knew that even something like this won't break her; even in her helplessness, she knew she would survive it…
The images jumped a few months forward; to the day that she decided to shut away everything, to the day Caroline knew that she will never know happiness and this time it wasn't her father's doing. Klaus was gone, but this time he was gone for good. He was dead… news came with the man who came to deliver Klaus with his carriage that night he saved her. The man said that Klaus Smith had died… simple as that… the only man she ever loved was dead…
And with this, Caroline suddenly wasn't able to fight it any longer, she was strong, she knew that, but back then, the thing that seemed to be holding her together was anger and hope, the anger she pointed at her father. And the hope that seemed to get her through the day, it was just a thought, the thought of Klaus somewhere, anywhere in this world. She'd often imagine him thinking of her, she would think that he might be thinking about coming back to her again, that he'll explain all of this… that they'll be together again. She dreamt about what was the first thing she'd tell him, the words she'd address him with angrily, maybe even pretend to be upset and not talk to him for a while, but with time, that quickly changed to just a wish of seeing his blue eyes again, seeing his sweet smile, hearing his laugh… now, she had no one to blame and nothing to hold on to anymore, hope was gone and anger was gone and she surrendered; she shut it all out… she shut her memories of Klaus out of her life…
But what Caroline couldn't shut out were the blue eyes. The pair of blue eyes that will hunt her dreams for five years till the night of the fire that burnt her town and brought the love of her life back to her… but at what cost?
A/N: Okay, so, next chapters will be a bit longer, I already have the next few written but my muse wouldn't help me with the beginning. I was planning to put all of this in at least five chapters, but then I thought; what's the point? lol… this way we can jump directly to the juicy stuff! Muhahahahah *evil laugh*
Anyways, hope you enjoyed, please, let me know what you think… Any suggestions are much welcomed, I still don't have everything planned out so any suggestion will be good to hear… :D
Sorry about the long author notes, I don't usually do that, so no worries! ;)
Next chapter: Caroline faces Klaus and... Klaus' point of view? Stay tuned ;)
