25 days of Klaroline + Favourite Parallel - Klaroline and Warnette (Shatter Me Series) Pic not mine but isn't it gorgeous?

This isn't a fusion as such (not this time anyway), mainly because I didn't want to copy either the books or TVD/TO themes, so I've created my own world in between with some Klaroline and Shatter Me touches. An angsty drabble that I think both Klaroline and Warnette could exist in, if that makes sense?

To me Warnette are Klaroline. The forbidden love aspect, their vast differences but at the same time their similarities, villainous father figures, the similar character traits (Aaron Warner and Klaus Mikaelson are pretty much the same person, right?)

The book's author, Tahereh Mafi, apparently said this is her Warnette song, hence the title. It is a stunning piece of musical genius by The Airborne Toxic Event.

Klaus and Caroline were once lovers until a dangerous threat forces them apart abruptly. Warning: Angst alert.

Sometime Around Midnight

And it starts, sometime around midnight. Or at least that's when you lose yourself for a minute or two.

His attention is focused on the amber liquid, swirling it around the glass. Nothing matters anymore. It hasn't for a year now.

12 months. 52 weeks. 365 days of dull, grey and lifeless existence. Life was vibrant before. Bathed in a rainbow of colour and filled with happiness and in a love so consuming he couldn't breathe at times. It was strangely comforting then but the suffocation he feels now, not so much. Being a vampire those statements say a lot.

Klaus swallows what's left, barely tasting it as it slips down his throat. He is as immune to its effects as he is to emotion these days. He pushes the glass across the bar impatiently.

"I'll take another whiskey," his voice is gruff, barely audible above the din in the hottest new establishment in Chicago. The barman doesn't respond just fills his glass without question.

365 days ago Klaus left her during the night. Cowardly, maybe, but necessary. His father didn't approve of his relationship with Caroline, said love was a vampire's greatest weakness and if he was going to lead the Original family against their circling enemies his human distraction would be his biggest downfall. Most families would quarrel but the Mikaelson way to deal with differences was much more violent and permanent. He was as frightened of Mikael as he was their enemies and what they might do to Caroline in a fit of anger.

He remembered that last night like it was yesterday. She looked so peaceful. She'd thrown off the sheet during the night, a sleeping trait he knew well. The only thing she liked to cover her for warmth was him she'd said once as she straddled his body and feathered kisses along the length of his collarbone. Klaus didn't think it was possible to be as happy as he was at that very moment. Klaus would gladly be her blanket as long as she'd have him.

Looking at her that night, Klaus felt bitter sweet. Bitter to be leaving but all the sweeter for knowing and loving Caroline Forbes. The moonlight spilled into the bedroom window, the silver shadows dancing across her bare skin as she slept. Her blonde waves were fanned out across the pillow messily. He leant down unable to resist, combing his fingers through the knots he'd caused. She pretended to hate it when he tangled her locks during their intense lovemaking but her ensuing and passionate moans told Klaus she didn't mind one bit.

Klaus remembers everything. He's stored it away in a compartment in the dark recesses of his mind but something escapes without warning every now and again. Whether it is the adorable way she pokes out her tongue or the sound of his name rolling off her tongue.

His hand stilled on her head, closing his eyes and concentrating on what he needed to do to make her forget him forever.

Klaus disappeared into the night with only a small bag of personal belongings. Photographs of her mainly, even though Klaus knew he would never forget the swell of her breasts or the creamy colour of her skin. Her leather bound journal found it's way into his bag too. It was filled with some of her most raw and vulnerable thoughts. He told himself it was so she didn't uncover the truth but Klaus knew he had a much more selfish motive. It was their story and Klaus needed to know it was real for all eternity, that their love wasn't just a figment of his imagination.

It is something he still reads daily, desperate to rewind and play back their love story. It is all he has left.

Tomorrow would be just another day. They would go their separate ways and Mikael wouldn't harm her. His father was not someone to make empty threats and the one against Caroline was all too real if Klaus continued to defy him. This was for the best. But why did it have to hurt so much?

A hush falls over the crowd. Klaus closes his eyes in preparation, steeling his nerves. It has been 365 days since he last saw her and tonight they will come together again. Just not in the same way as before. Swivelling his barstool to face the stage, his breath hitches in his throat. She appears, an absolute vision in white.

As you stand, under the bar lights. And the band plays some song, about forgetting yourself for a while. And the piano's this melancholy sound check.

Caroline Forbes always wanted to perform. While her friends were talking college courses she envisaged herself on stage singing. Her mom laughed off her ambition as silly dreams. Caroline, she chided, you need to earn good money and make something of yourself.

So, she'd dutifully studied and taken a finance job straight out of college. To say she was disappointed about how her life turned out was an understatement. Then one day, 365 days earlier, Caroline awoke from a vivid dream and suddenly craved a new life and direction. This time no one would stand in her way.

Standing here on stage in front of the heaving crowd, she is living her dream. After recently signing a record deal, she will be touring nationally next year. But as much as she loves her new life there always seems to be something or someone missing. Caroline just isn't sure what or who that is.

The bar is dimly lit while she performs but she can make out an intense pair of blue eyes from the bar watching her every move. He is handsome, that much is obvious, with deep, crimson lips and blonde hair. A white Henley fitting tightly across his chest, paired with dark, denim jeans. Neither item of clothing doing anything to hide his toned physique.

He seems oddly familiar but she can't quite place him.

To her smile and that white dress she's wearing. You haven't seen her. For a while.

Klaus isn't expecting the flood of emotions to engulf him. She is breathtaking. Even more beautiful than since he saw her last. Klaus didn't think it was possible. The dulcet tones of her voice evoking memories of happier times.

Lying on the tartan, picnic rug in the park, her head resting in the crook of his neck. He ran his hands through her hair as they watched the clouds. It began with some humming and ended in the sweetest song, just for his benefit. Klaus told her she should sing professionally but she always laughed it off. She jokingly asked if he was going to use his vampire powers to compel her a record deal. He replied that she didn't need any vampire intervention because her raw talent was just that good.

The song finishes, Klaus is too deep in thought to notice the music has stopped. Only the applause breaks him from his trance. She bows slightly to the crowd by way of acknowledgment.

But you know that she's watching.

Then her eyes are on him from across the room and she holds his gaze, almost as if she's trying to solve a puzzle. Klaus freezes. He should leave but her searching, blue eyes cause immediate paralysis.

She's laughing, she's turning. She's holding her tonic like a crux.

Her set has long finished. Klaus lingers, unable to move still. He wants to drink in every inch of her flawless presence while he has this brief chance. She is popular with the patrons, everyone offering to buy her drinks while simultaneously praising her performance.

He's jealous, his knuckles white as they rest on the bar. His desperation to catch a glimpse of Caroline after so long, his undoing.

It was twenty one months earlier. Klaus had fought with his father again over family business and he and his younger brother had ventured to a local bar to blow off some steam.

"I think I've died and gone to heaven," Kol sighed, his gaze focused on the entrance. Klaus didn't bother to turn around, Kol fell in love with a pretty girl every five minutes.

"You have died and you certainly never went to heaven," Klaus groaned. "Are we playing darts or not?"

"I'm a little busy here, Niklaus," he murmured, through gritted teeth. "There's nothing like some fresh, attractive, human blood to liven up the evening."

Klaus turned, still disinterested until his eyes rested on her. Her golden waves cascaded down her back and her peaches and cream complexion intriguing him immediately. She looked so angelic but at the same time there seemed to be a mischievous and ambitious glint in her eyes.

"So, your friend is promising a round of drinks when we beat you at darts," she said, her floral perfume bringing him to. Klaus looked over at Kol thinking he certainly worked fast.

"When? Someone's certainly confident. Oh and he's my brother but don't hold it against me, love." He baulked, unable to help himself. People would describe him as cocky but this girl seemed to be challenging him in those stakes.

"I'm highly competitive and extremely driven no matter the challenge," she winked, taking off her jacket and revealing a lithe figure clad in black. Klaus didn't doubt her talents, she'd certainly disarmed him and he was supposed to be the most powerful creature on earth. "And don't call me love."

He walked towards Kol, noticing his dreamy state due to her dark haired friend who was preparing for the challenge.

"No compelling," he hissed.

"But where's the fun in that?" Kol whined.

"It's not about winning, it's how you play the game, little brother," he recited. He was sure he'd win anyway but for some reason his conscience decided to make a rare appearance.

Famous last words. She'd beaten them convincingly. Kol had skulked away to lick his wounds and he'd sat at the bar with Caroline, falling in love with her then and there. She was refreshing, she challenged everything he believed in and Klaus was hooked. Now to make her fall in love with him without using his powers.

"Another one," he barks, trying to ignore the way men are attempting to paw her unnecessarily. The barman can sense his ire and raises his eyebrows curiously. Before he can compel the idiot again, she speaks.

The room suddenly spinning, she walks up and asks how you are. So you can smell her perfume. You can see her lying naked in your arms

"Don't you think you've had enough?"

"I didn't realise my mother was in the room," he growls in response. Not exactly what he's planned to say to her after all this time. Klaus decides to blame it on his burgeoning feelings threatening to spill over and betray him and their past. The fact she is wearing the same floral perfume isn't helping to maintain his composure either.

"Unfortunately she's not," she shoots back, hands on delectable hips. "It's actually a great pity because if she was, I'm sure she could teach you a few manners." There's that sexy sass he remembers so well.

"Touché," he chuckles. "Actually, I was just about to leave so probably don't need that drink after all."

"You can't leave." Hearing those three words is enough to render him momentarily speechless. "Who is going to teach you those much needed manners if you go?"

"I'm sure I'll manage," he offers. "Anyway, it seems like you have plenty of people to keep you company this evening, Miss…"

"Forbes, Caroline Forbes," she murmurs, her hand unexpectedly finding his. It's supple and warm, just like he remembers. "And maybe I'm not interested in plenty of other people."

And so there's a change in your emotions. And all of these memories come rushing like feral waves to your mind. Of the curl of your bodies, like two perfect circles entwined.

Klaus doesn't expect their first touch to affect him quite so much. Every single memory comes back, like a slideshow racing through his mind. He can't stop them if he tries. The way she used to caress his stubble while watching a bad television show of her choice, that possessive look on her face when he dared to steal a French fry from her plate and the way her bare skin felt against his. Two lovers so tightly bound in their passion, they were one.

And you feel hopeless and homeless and lost in the haze. Of the wine

"And you are?" She asks, that sweet, melodic voice doing nothing to ease the knots in his stomach. She regards him earnestly; he knows that particular expression intimately.

"No one important," he murmurs. "I really need to get going."

"Past your bedtime?" She deduces, cocking her left eyebrow.

"Something like that, love."

"Maybe you can come see me sing another night?" Her eyebrows are raised in his direction curiously. Klaus knows that dogged persistence all too well.

You just have to see her. And you know that she'll break you in two.

"Maybe," he mumbles, shrugging his shoulders while remaining stoic and non-committal.

He gives her a small smile and walks away, too scared to give a backward glance. He knows he will see her again. In 365 days to be exact. Once a year is all he can handle in her presence.