Hello, Cruel World

Klaus did not realize the car had stopped until it started to move again. He had been too lost in thought to even notice what was happening. Stefan was glaring at him in the rearview mirror, looking furious. Rebekah looked worried and Caroline...Caroline looked sick. He studied her at length: she was pale and seemed to be swallowed hard. Her face seemed to have gone slightly gray-green and he did not like it.

"Are you okay?" he asked, placing a hand on hers. Not that he cared, of course not, but because he could not allow Stefan to suspect anything. And it was obvious that the strange Klaus of this world was in love with Caroline.

"Yes" she sighed, pouting and closing her eyes. Klaus felt the urge to roll his eyes and tell her to stop being a crybaby. Again, he could not do that. He just entwined his fingers with hers and shut up.

Rebekah did not speak the rest of the drive, which was great because he had no patience for it.

The Salvatore stopped at a white house. "We're here" Rebekah said, as if that was not obvious. She got out of the car with a big smile on her face.

Caroline stood up, using one hand to steady herself as she left the car. "So...umm...Kol is coming from where?" she asked, trying not to make it too obvious that she knew nothing about what was happening.

"Los Angeles. He was there for work, but is back now. Jeremy picked him up at the airport."

"Jeremy Gilbert?"

"Uh huh. They are dating. It's been a year and a half." Rebekah rolled her eyes. "I know. Who would expect that , right? My brother, straight as day but completely in love with Jeremy Gilbert..." she did not pay much attention to the shock that spread across Caroline's face. Rebekah spoke too fast, her thoughts focusing from one thing to another in quick succession. She was not paying attention to Caroline's strange behavior.

"Hey, you have arrived! Finally!" Elena's voice invaded Niklaus' ears. He took his eyes off the ground just in time to be hugged.

"Elena..." he started, confused, but she let him go hurriedly.

"Go inside, Damon is there with Miranda."

"Miranda..."

"Go!" the brunette pushed him towards the house, rolling her eyes. Katherine, who closely followed her sister, gave him a cold, suspicious glance.

"Care!" Elena then turned to hug Caroline.

The blonde closed her eyes, relieved at being hugged by someone who really was her friend. Elena released her, smiling. "You were right, it is perfect! Thanks to your style and all your OCD this party is just so beautiful!" she smiled from ear to ear.

Stefan and Rebekah waved to the sisters before entering the house, whose door was wide open. Immediately Elena's smile disappeared.

"Caroline, you can start talking about what happened." Elena ordered, crossing her arms over her chest and raising her eyebrows in an arrogant way.

"There's nothing to talk about." said the blonde, sitting on the hood of Stefan's car, looking at the ground.

"Bullshit!" Katherine's voice was sharp. "You were in a panic this morning! Panic!"

"Look, guys..."

"Did he hurt you, Care? You needn't be afraid to talk. We are your friends and we know that Klaus hasn't the best temperament in the world."

"He did not hurt me." Caroline interrupted before Elena's words sent her to tears. "I...I don't know what happened today. I had a panic attack and... and I had a nightmare..." The lies curled in her mouth, choking her.

"I...him..." she stammered, her eyes filling with tears. "Kl...Nik did nothing." she corrected herself before calling him Klaus, after all, it had to look convincing.

Katherine still seemed suspicious, but not as much as before. Elena's dove eyes were full of tenderness and concern. "Shhh...I know how it is, ok? I know how it feels to wake up and panic. This happened to me too, before I married Damon." she hugged her friend. "But in the end you will realize that this fear is silly, Care. We know you love each other and you know it too, don't you?"

Caroline froze. She did not love him, didn't even like him. Actually, she was afraid of him. Absolutely terrified. The blonde wanted him to burn until he was in agony. So much worse than simple pain.

"I know. I know I love him." she lied, the words sounding empty and cold. Elena smiled. "That's all that matters." Elena said, kissing the top of her best friend's head. "Well, let's go! Jer will be here soon and he will get pissed if any of us spoiled Kol's surprise." She joked.

"Oh, Jer is a faggot!" Katherine scoffed, laughing and followed the two into the house.

Caroline looked around, frowning. The house was a bit smaller than hers…theirs, but it was much cozier. The room was painted purple and had a picture on top of the shelf of Damon and Elena cuddling. It made Caroline smile. Although she disliked Damon, this strange version of him appeared to be a very nice guy.

"You always loved this photo, right?" Elena sighed, stopping beside her. Caroline didn't have to lie to agree. After all, it was a very beautiful photo. "Damon had just left the clinic that day..." her friend whispered.

The blonde frowned. "Clinic?"

"The Rehab Clinic. He still regrets what happened between you two."

Caroline did not expect their relationship to have been shaken in this world. She thought, as everything was so utopian, that they would just be friends. Apparently not. "Really...?"

"Yes" Elena sighed. "He feels guilty for what he did to you... in his dark past... And that's why I'm so glad you are friends now, you know? Although you had no reason to, you forgave him and it made him so happy, so relieved..."

"It's true, Care."

Caroline jumped, startled. Damon smiled at her. "I… Err..." she stammered, blushing. He realized that the Salvatore carried a little girl.

She was about three years old and had his blue eyes and Elena's brown hair. "'Lena, would you carry Miranda for a bit?" he asked, handing his daughter to his wife.

"Sure. I'll call Bonnie again, she has to stop this tantrum and be here soon." said the brunette, sneaking away from the two of them.

Caroline bit her lower lip uncomfortable. "So..."

"Kat said you have temporary amnesia." he said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Katherine is a gossip." Caroline complained, blushing when he laughed at her comment. "What's Bonnie's tantrum about?" she asked, trying to change the subject to Bonnie.

"Ah! Well, Jeremy was her boyfriend, remember? Bonnie was very offended when he asked for a time off and then fled to Denver and started dating Kol."

"Oh, right." The image of a homosexual Jeremy hadn't entered her mind yet. The younger Gilbert had been many things: emo, angry addict, suicidal, a good brother. But never gay!

"It's...Well, I can not exactly blame Jer. Bonnie can be quite unbearable."

"Hey!" Caroline cut him before she knew what she was doing. "Bonnie is my friend, in case you forgot!" she warned. Damon looked stunned at her reaction, but rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"Relax, Barbie, she is a friend of all of us. That doesn't mean I adore her." He explained himself. "I do not know how Donavan married her."

"Matt?!" Caroline's voice rose an octave. Damon narrowed his piercing blue, suspicious eyes but nodded. "They were the first of us to get married. Everyone thought it would be me and 'Lena, but they went to Vegas and…what happens in Vegas usually stays in Vegas, but Bonnie and Matt came back with a ring, so it ended up being kind of impossible..."

"Damn, this is new." she murmured in surprise.

"They weren't even dating. You almost had an outbreak when heard they got married in Vegas." Damon smiled smugly. "After all, the expert in such events is you."


Klaus was pushed into a child's room.

Stefan had an angry expression. "What's wrong with you?" Salvatore growled, crossing his arms. The other just blinked confused. He didn't know if he was a friend or not of Stefan's. He didn't even know the reason why the man seemed so angry.

"You're acting like a jerk! I thought we were already past this stage!" complained the man. "Elijah has already told me what he saw this morning. Katherine told me of all the accusations that Caroline made. If you laid a finger on Caroline I swear I'll kill you." Stefan was almost growling.

"Save some for me, bro." Damon's voice made Klaus's blood boil. "Caroline seems pretty shaken, Mikaelson."

"I haven't touched her!" the Original screamed angrily. Well, it wasn't exactly a lie. Yes, he had bitten her in the other world, but his slate was still clean in this world.

"Okay." Damon's tone dripped of sarcasm. "Then why the hell is she not wearing her engagement ring?"

"And why did she get sick?"

"And why is she panicking all the time?" The brothers completed each other, angry beyond measure.

"Look..." Began Klaus, trying to control his anger. He felt the brothers begin to get under his skin, but he was only human and couldn't do a thing about it. "I have not touched her. Caroline woke up in a frenzy today. She tried to stick me with a spoon and when Elijah and Katherine met us, I had finally managed to take the spoon from her hand and she began to panic." Again, he was not lying.

"The ring?"

"I have not the faintest idea where my ring is and I doubt she knows where hers is." He admitted. "And I do not know why she got sick, maybe she got carsick." Frankly, he did not care.

Damon seemed suspicious, but did not judge Klaus. Not after all that he had seen his friend go through. Stefan, meanwhile, though he seemed angry, had been convinced that Klaus was innocent. He knew his friend. After all, they were best friends, and did not think that Niklaus would hurt Caroline.

Nik had the temperament of a madman. He had been arrested twice for getting into fights, but Stefan remembered those occasions well and both knew that Klaus was not looking for a fight. He just didn't take insults in stride. Salvatore also knew that his friend had never been so calm, so stable. Caroline had done this to him and Stefan did not think Klaus would hurt her.

"Okay. Damon, I don't think Nik would hurt Caroline." said the younger Salvatore. Damon looked at him as if he were crazy, but agreed with a disgusted snort and left, stomping.

"Stefan..." Klaus began, but the other interrupted.

"Nik, I know you, ok? And I believe that you wouldn't lay a finger on her the wrong way. But Caroline isn't fine. And we all care about her, you know. Katherine is furious with you. She is so sure that you hurt her. Elijah thinks you're unsteady and that Caroline was panicking too much for this to have been just an ordinary fight."

"What do you think, Stefan?" Klaus noticed that his friendship with Salvatore, in that world, was preserved.

"I...I think you're crazy for your fiancée and that you would never hurt her. But I also think something happened to her and that you are being insensitive. Did you guys fight again?" he questioned.

Klaus frowned. "Again?" he echoed.

"Well..." Stefan looked a little embarrassed. "You have been fighting a lot lately. Since the engagement, I'd say." Stefan explained.

"We didn't fight. She was just a little hysterical and my memory seems to be fucked these days. I'm nervous, you know? This wedding story is messing with my nerves."

"Well, I didn't get engaged recently." Stefan joked. "But I can imagine what you are dealing with." He shrugged, smirking. Klaus smiled, it was easy to relax near Stefan, as they had been friends in another world.

"I better go upstairs." Stefan said. "Before Rebekah throws a fit."

"You and Bekah, huh? Who would've thought, Stefan."

The Salvatore frowned, thinking it was strange that Klaus forgot his relationship with Bekah, but let it go. Nik was going through a lot.

"It's been about three years since we've been together." he elucidated. "We started dating at Damon and Elena's wedding. At about the same time that Elijah asked Kat to marry him."

Klaus sighed. "It seems we all tied the knot, didn't we? Me and Caroline." His words had a strange taste. "You and Bekah, Elena and Damon, Elijah and Katherine..."

"Kol and Jeremy."

"Umm...Right. Kol and Jeremy." Niklaus thought it was hilarious that his brother, his brother who had always claimed to be the straightest sibling, ended up dating a guy.

"Bonnie and Matt."

Klaus did not know about this couple, but he really did not find them interesting enough to even have a reaction. He just nodded in agreement. They went downstairs and left the house, heading for the garden. Elena was talking on the phone in the kitchen, and Katherine was talking quietly with Damon, who had a little girl in his arms. Elijah was talking to Caroline and Rebekah. In fact, his fiancée was not talking, but listening to her brother-in-law talk.

"Hey honey..." He heard Stefan whisper, hugging Bekah from behind and kissing her cheek. Caroline smiled at the two, making Klaus want to roll his eyes. It was amazing how she could be impressed so easily.

"They're here!" announced Elena, coming to the garden. "Everybody quiet!" She ordered animatedly, leaving her cheeks flushed. Klaus walked quietly to Caroline's side, who looked a little lost.


Kol waited while Jeremy opened the car door.

"Gilbert, can you explain to me why you're kidnapping me?" He asked, feeling hands on his shoulders. He was blindfolded.

Kol Mikaelson had awakened on a plane, feeling completely lost and disorientated, realizing that he was human. He did not want to admit it, but he might have overreacted a little. Finally, he had enough time to recover before landing time. Imagine what his reaction was when Jeremy Gilbert attacked him without any embarrassment as soon as he stepped onto dry land. Around this time he realized he was gay. And then he was blindfolded and dragged into the car .

"Shhh! Be quiet." Jeremy whispered, although Kol could hear the smile in his voice. "We're almost there."

"There?"

"Shhhh!"

Kol would have rolled his eyes if he could. He couldn't believe his human version actually had an affair with Jeremy Gilbert. He could not even envision such madness! And Jeremy was proving that their relationship was one out of a badly written novel.

"Ready?!" said the boy, bringing him to a stop.

"SURPRISE!"

The Mikaelson blinked, dizzy. They were all there with silly smiles, walking forward to embrace him.

"What do you think, Kol?" Jer questioned in a whisper, one arm around his waist. Kol looked at him, dumbfounded. "This is for me?" he asked weakly.

Gilbert smiled. "I knew you'd like it." He spoke just before Kol were pulled into a hug, Rebekah's sharp voice piercing his eardrums.

It took time, but the boy was finally able to breathe after being embraced by everyone. He could not remember how it was to feel so loved. After being nearly strangled by Katherine (he had to bite his tongue to not to call her "The Fucking Petrova Doppelganger") who apparently was a great friend and also his sister-in-law, Kol found himself face to face with Caroline.

"Blondie!" He would still have to get used to that. She looked pale, shocked, but hugged him too. "Kol..." sighed. "We missed you so much." she pointed towards Niklaus, who was standing beside her as a post.

Kol immediately knew that they remembered and they were as lost as he was. Caroline smiled at the young Mikaelson in front of her. He was very handsome, she knew he was, although they only saw each other a few times.

Tell me you cannot hear her blood flowing in her veins, Caroline… That your whole body isn't burning with desire to taste it. That you aren't dying to sink your fangs into her soft skin…

The last time being when Klaus had bitten her.

"Can I...can I talk to you?" Kol asked, a sardonic smile spreading over his face. The blonde froze. "Us?" questioned, her voice cracking.

"Sure you can. Come on, love." Klaus answered for her, holding her hand. Caroline let herself be guided to the living room.

"Well..." Niklaus motioned for his brother to speak.

"You are human."

"Very obviously, brother, thank you for your insight." mocked the elder sibling.

"You understood me, Nik. Yesterday we were vampires, you…" he pointed to Forbes. "were being bitten by my brother...there was a redhead girl...and fire...And then I woke up on a plane." He explained.

Caroline felt nauseated, remembering the scene he described very well. "Yes. We woke up at our house."

"And Caroline had a panic attack and now everyone thinks I'm an abusive boyfriend who was trying to hurt her this morning." Niklaus explained, his voice acidic.

Kol wanted to laugh, but he had more important problems. "We have to pretend, you know? Pretend, otherwise we can cause a collapse between the two realities. I do not know what could happen, maybe a crack in space and time. After all, one reality cannot exist without the other, but neither should know that the other exists." he was wandering, but Nik did not need to know. Maybe, it's a chance to start over. He could not let Niklaus fuck everything up. Maybe it's was a blessing.

"What would happen if they found out?" Caroline's voice was shaky.

"I do not know, Blondie. Maybe people would start to die, to preserve the realities. Or vampires begin to plague this world too."

"There you are!" Jeremy's voice made Kol suddenly stop his speech about the horrors that could happen. He turned to his boyfriend, struggling to bring a smile on his face.

"Come on you three, we'll have lunch!" Jer said, smiling and putting an arm around the shoulders of the Mikaelson. Caroline gulped at the thought of food and placed a hand over her mouth. "I..."

"Caroline?"

"I'll be back" She gasped, before running to the bathroom next to the kitchen.

Klaus blinked in astonishment.

"What's wrong with her?" Jeremy questioned grimacing. Niklaus shrugged. "I do not know, I'll see if she's okay." He said, unhappily. Not wanting to have to babysit the blonde, he wished she wasn't sick.

"Caroline?" He knocked the bathroom door. "Are you okay?" He questioned. His mind pondered on about what Kol said. His younger brother was used to pretending to be ignorant, but he wasn't stupid. And Kol was probably right.

"As if you care!" Caroline moaned, opening the door. She'd washed her face, but could not hide the fact that she had just thrown up her last meal.

"You're right, I don't." He said, his voice cold, shrugging. The young girl shot him a death glare, keeping carefully away from him as they walked back to the garden.

Klaus was pushed by Elena and quickly found himself between Damon and Stefan. Caroline was trapped between Katherine and Kol.

"How was Los Angeles, Kol?" Elijah questioned. Caroline saw the way Kol's jaw tightened, but the lie easily passed his lips. "Oh, you know, Elijah. Sunny, shallow… delicious!" he joked, making the blonde roll her eyes.

"You took a lot of pictures?" Katherine questioned.

"Yes" Caroline smiled at the mocking way that he was dealing with the whole situation. "A lot."

"That's good, let me see them later." Replied the brunette, smiling.

"What about you guys? When have you set the wedding?" Jeremy asked, looking curiously at Caroline and Klaus.

Jeremy had been out for a while, for almost as long as Kol had been travelling.

"I...err...when did we decide, love?" Klaus smiled at her, causing Caroline to feel the urge to strangle him.

"We wanted it to be by the end of the year, but we're not sure when exactly certain…"

"The end of the year?" Matt's voice made Caroline turn around to face him."Why wait so long?" he asked, smiling when everyone stood to hug him and his wife.

Bonnie was more beautiful than ever. Her long black curls were flowing freely from a tiny tiara. She wore black jeans and a red blouse. The brunette hugged Caroline, smiling. "Sorry for not answering the phone yesterday. I just got your message at dawn." She said, sporting a guilty expression.

"No problem." The blonde had no idea what her friend were speaking about.

"Well, what did you want to tell me?" Bonnie asked, smiling.

"I..."

"You said it was important!" Caroline froze, wondering what her human self so urgently wanted to relay to Bonnie. "I forgot." She said, blushing. Bennett's smile vanished.

"Forgot?"

"Yes."

It was clear that Bonnie didn't believe her, but she also didn't try to dig out more information from the friend. She glanced at Klaus. "You stopped fighting?" She asked, lowering her voice.

Care blinked confused. "Yeah…Yes." It was to be a statement, but sounded more like a question. Bonnie sighed. "Thank the Lords! You were quite nervous with all these discussions." She murmured. "Klaus was also more explosive than ever."

"We're better now." She lied to her friend, smiling.

Caroline sat down, watching everyone interact. Bonnie and Matt looked very much in love, but it was clear that the brunette did not feel comfortable around Jeremy. It was weird because her husband seemed to be Gilbert's best friend. Jeremy kept his fingers entwined with Kol's throughout lunch. The Mikaelson cast glances of panic and sarcasm sporadically at Caroline and his older brother. Klaus was a great liar. He did not look as lost as his bride nor did he make a fool of himself as was expected of Kol. He even managed to engage Stefan in a conversation!

They only left when it was dark out. Caroline's mouth was dry from speaking so little, but Klaus wore a satisfied smile as he had managed to trick almost everyone. Rebekah fell asleep as soon as she entered the car while Stefan was quiet, thoughtful.

The blonde leaned her head on the glass, closing her eyes. She felt Klaus's lips on her neck, growling against her skin, and she was on fire. His arms squeezing her waist so hard, she was certain it would leave purplish marks. His fingers dug into her pale skin making her blood drip to the ground, poison filling her mouth...

"Caroline." His voice made her open her eyes in shock. The blonde was breathing heavily and her hands were shaking. "Love, we're here." he said, his English accent weighing his words.

She nodded, feeling Stefan's eyes on her. She staggered out of the car, while Niklaus said goodbye to his newest friend. She walked into the house still feeling numb, panicky now that she realized that she would be alone with the Original for the rest of the night.

"I will take a shower." he said, entering the bathroom and closing the door. She nodded, sitting up in bed. She looked around and only then realized what the king-size meant.

"Let him think that he will sleep with me!" She hissed, grabbing a pillow and a blanket, leaving the room. "Go sleep in the living room!" she growled, furious with such a silly thing.

Her nerves were on fire. She did not know what world they were in. She was stuck with Klaus of all people. She was tired of lying to everyone all day. To make things worse, she was sick. They should probably be focusing their energies on finding a way back home. Or focus on fooling people better. She ran up the stairs and entered the room where she had seen the boxes earlier. She thought of finding a photo album, something that would shed light on their new predicament. That would indeed be useful.

The first picture she found was one where she was dressed as a cheerleader, an arm around Elena's waist, smiling. Her friend looked so happy. Caroline could not remember the last time she saw Elena's carefree smile.

That was followed by a cute photo, a slightly blurred one of Damon, Caroline and Elena. The blonde sighed. It was strange to see the way that Damon held possessively around her waist, as his blue eyes seemed lifeless, empty. The Caroline of this photo seemed sad, scared. And Elena looked troubled, not looking at the camera and her smile was fake.

Forbes allowed her eyes to remain on the face of her best friend. She compared this photo with the previous one and only then realized: Lately, she only knew the Gilbert of the second photo. A human being devoured by worry and grief. She wondered briefly if the second photo's Caroline would be her. Had she became so cold and empty as she seemed in that image?

The next photo was of a much younger Klaus laughing and pushing a happy version of Stefan away. That was such a strange version of the psychopath she knew. Caroline desired that Klaus could be that carefree young man he was in the picture, but knew he never would be like that again. Because this world was different, it wasn't cursed like hers. In this world people were happy, people recovered. In her world they were all buried under words and unspoken feelings until they went mad.


Klaus frowned at the bed. Pillows and covers were missing. He sighed, not expecting anything too mature from Caroline anyway.

He finished dressing for bed after spending a good amount of time trying to figure out where his clothes were located in the massive closet, and left the room in search of his "fiancée". Ugh, the word disgusted him, altogether with the idea of sharing his days with the same person until the death do them part.

Caroline could be interesting. In the other world it had seemed interesting how she had clung so desperately to her humanity, interesting how she could transform into a monster at times, interesting how she could be so complex even though she a vampire baby. However, Caroline wasn't interesting enough to make this heinous idea seem desirable. Also, in this world she wouldn't have to worry about losing her humanity, wouldn't have to be afraid of being a monster and wouldn't have to ponder about the complexities of being a baby vampire. In this world, she was just a pretty face with no content. And he was stuck with her.

He found her in a messy room, festooned with boxes. Caroline looked thoughtful at a photo album, her shoulders shaking as she cried softly. He leaned against the doorway, watching, amused at the pale skin he could see. That fragile curve of her neck and the glow that her blonde hair had. She was so beautiful, delicate as a porcelain doll.

"Why don't I have a pillow?" he questioned, causing her to let out a gasp of surprise and turn to look at him.

"Because you will sleep in the living room." she said, rolling her eyes, as if this was more than obvious.

"I will not sleep there." She replied, smirking, seeing his jaw stiffen.

"You will. I won't share a bed with you! You're…"

"Too handsome for you to behave yourself?"

"A monster." she spat, blue eyes full of anger. He smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder. Caroline flinched under his touch.

"You have to broaden your vocabulary, dear, because, guess what? In this world..." he leaned down to whisper in her ear. "I'm only human."

She pushed him, irritated by their proximity. "You will sleep on the couch. This has already been decided." She explained, leaving the room.

Klaus threw an evaluative look at the album she had been perusing. The Caroline of the photograph was kissing him on the cheek. She looked flushed and struggled with a smile. He smiled and his hair was wet. He looked ridiculous. Pathetic how human emotions yielded so easily. Probably their future would prove best if they could be more rational.

"I will not sleep on the couch!" he growled, leaving the photo behind and climbing into bed. She glared at him and stood up.

"Okay, I will!" exclaimed angrily.

"If you could be just a little bit more childish..." he mocked, but she grabbed a pair of pajamas in the closet and went out of the room. Klaus rolled his eyes, getting up to turn off the lights and laying in bed. Caroline could sleep on the couch if she wanted, he did not care. Niklaus just wished he could get a good night's rest before he had to get back to the madness.


N/A: Thank you all for the support and a huge "thank you" to my amazing beta: Colourful-Dystopia! Also, a special thanks to HowlingForKlaroline, who left one of the most beautiful reviews I ever received! Hope you like it, reviews are always appreciated. ;D