Chapter Three – September 1950

Katerina woke with the strangest of feelings and a dream she couldn't quite remember. The dormitory was still dark, the sun had not yet risen. The alarm clock on her drawer read four fifteen, meaning she'd had little more than an hour of sleep.

The champagne was starting to give her a headache, but that was not what had woken her. She was shivering with cold and the sheets clung to her skin.

Katerina sighed and stared at the ceiling in the dark, pondering her dream that was slipping away from her and becoming clearer and blurrier and clearer again… There had been Carol Lockwood, Elijah had pointed her out to Katerina on a framed photograph in the Lockwood's mansion. She had watched her die… had watched Klaus and her fight, about the death of Finn Mikaelson, about a battle in France and an English interpreter...

Carol had pushed Klaus twice… and suddenly something in him had seemed to snap. He'd grabbed the Mayor's wife at both shoulders, his eyes a little glassy, and slammed her backwards on the oak desk. Lacking a better word, she would say he'd looked – terrified. An ugly, loud crack had filled the room, then the door had opened and Caroline, Tyler and Elijah had burst in the moment Carol Lockwood's limb body slid to the floor.

Katerina shuddered. Suddenly the images were back, sharp and clear and real as a memory, and her blood ran cold at how vivid they were. She could feel the draft from the door and the polished wood of the desk, taste the thick musty air in the study, hear Klaus's shallow, irregular breathing and the dreadful sound of Mrs Lockwood's head cracking open. She couldn't for the life of her say whether or not her dream had gone on from there, but the moment of Carol Lockwood's death was just as present to her as the dark dormitory and Caroline's and Bonnie's quiet breathing, even though she knew it was nothing but a product of her all too vivid imagination.

Shivering, she pulled the sheets closer around her and before she knew it, she'd gone back to sleep.

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~ö~ö~ö~

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When her alarm clock finally disrupted the darkness at five thirty sharp, she was feeling slightly dizzy and completely exhausted, but at the same time she was… happy, a strangely detached, sentimental kind of happiness and she just couldn't explain where that was coming from. She remembered some creepy dream she'd had during the night, but couldn't recall what it had been about.

Bonnie started firing questions at her and Caroline in turn before they'd even got out of bed, but none of them was in the mood to answer. They dressed and went down to breakfast in silence where Katerina's mind returned more than once to where the burgundy dress still hung in their wardrobe. Her friend, too, looked absent-minded, but there was an ever so slight smile on her face that Katerina could only guess was mirroring on her own.

"Seriously though, Kat," Bonnie said, snatching the coffee before Katerina could reach it. "I won't have all that silence like last year. Come on, how was it?"

"May I have the coffee, please?" Katerina asked in a strained voice.

"Not until you answer my question."

"Bonnie Bennettt, I've slept for roughly two hours, keeping the caffeine from me is nothing but blackmail," she gave back, motioning for the coffee pot.

"Not my fault that you came back at three in the morning." Bonnie pierced both of them with a sharp gaze. "Tell me. Come on, girls, tell me something."

"It was nice," Katerina gave back flatly. "Coffee, Bon. Now."

"Hilarious," she replied and handed the coffee pot over. "Details?"

"Well, it was nice," Caroline answered in a pained voice. "We danced, we had champagne, we… um, we met the Mayor."

Katerina threw her a look and she grinned back at her.

"That's all you have to say to that?"

"Yes, Bonnie. We're not all as talkative as you are, especially not with a severe lack of sleep."

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~ö~ö~ö~

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She got through the next weeks in a blur of training, lessons and conversations that she couldn't remember minutes after she'd had them. Her mind kept wandering off; even dancing couldn't quite ground her, though she got to stand in the first row in all of her scenes.

Mrs Mikaelson had given the role of Odette to Rebekah and had asked Caroline to dance Odile – well, in their world that meant she would be dancing Odile, because no girl at the Mikaelson Ballet School refused a role that was offered to her, least of all a lead role.

Katerina couldn't stop shaking her head at the thought – who in the name of Heaven would make Caroline, innocent, sweet, wonderful Caroline, dance the black swan? Sure, she did look like a beautiful, terrible archangel in the black costume, and Rebekah seemed to positively glow in the white one.

But still, she couldn't help wondering whether that wasn't some kind of bad omen.

"What is that, mother?" He waved the stiff white card. "We were never invited."

"This is your sister's first big role," his mother gave back without looking up from her needlework.

"No, it's not. She's had one last term and the one before. She wouldn't stop talking about it all for weeks and kept complaining we hadn't been there, and you said we wouldn't have appreciated it anyway."

"You wouldn't have."

"Oh, and now all of sudden we would?" It was absurd. He knew he was acting absurd, but if his mother changed her behaviour, he knew he had better find out what she was plotting. Esther Mikaelson did nothing without a reason. And somehow, those reasons tended to end badly either for Niklaus or himself.

"Well, I should expect you were all old enough to behave at a ballet performance now."

"So this is about Kol?" he gave back, brows raised, and in his mind added a we both know it isn't.

"Elijah, had I known you would throw such a tantrum I would have never invited any of you in the first place. I just thought you would all enjoy seeing your sister dance-"

Kol wouldn't-

"and besides, Kol told me you and Niklaus were both quite smitten with your dancing partners-"

Why, thanks a lot, brother dearest-

"I believed it would be nice, being there to watch Rebekah. Together."

Without Finn, Sage and our abusive father, you mean, and your third-oldest sitting at the far end of the room so you wouldn't have to see him-

"As a family."

As if we had been a family for the last nine years, mother.

"Of course. I for my part would love to see her dance, I was merely under the impression that you didn't want us there."

His mother threw him a scandalised look and said, her voice shaking slightly:

"How could I not want my sons to be by my side when I present the results of my work to the public?"

For a moment he could have sworn he'd seen tears of disappointment shimmer in her eyes, and he almost believed her.

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~ö~ö~ö~

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As October drew closer, he thought of her, from time to time. She'd be there, so he would see her, too, would he not?

He spent the workdays at the university in London and returned home on Friday where his sweet little sister would come outside and hug him on the stairs as if he'd been gone for months. And that would always remain the best part of his weekend stays, since things tended to go downhill from there on. There was Niklaus, either gone out or locked in his room; his mother, bossing everyone around, full of reproachful looks and accusing little side remarks and the house with all the empty rooms.

His mother and Rebekah soon had no other topic than their upcoming performance.

Caroline Forbes would dance Odile – Odile of all the roles, what was his mother thinking? – and Elijah knew that was the only reason Niklaus had agreed to come in the first place. When Elijah was "smitten" with Katerina, as his mother had so despicably put it, then his brother was completely infatuated with Caroline. He didn't tell Elijah, he didn't tell anyone – he didn't actually talk to anyone, to be precise; but Elijah knew it anyway. He caught his absent looks, different from the blank stares that Niklaus had brought home from war.

No, when he thought of Caroline there was life in his blue eyes and the faintest ghost of a smile on his lips.

It was next to nothing, and yet it was more than Elijah had dared to hope for since the tragedy at the Lockwood's.

October came and he thought of her, a little more every day. It made him smile, remembering her insolent questions and her tentative smiles, her excellent dancing. And God knew he could do with a happy thought every now and then.

He didn't tell anyone about it, but he caught Niklaus's understanding smirk one Sunday morning across the breakfast table and he wondered whether he'd gained an accomplice in all this mess.

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~ö~ö~ö~

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"Go and pick up your sister from school, Elijah, would you?"

Esther wore an exquisite woollen dress and a long pearl necklace. Her wedding band glistened in the lamplight and Elijah felt the familiar jolt of frustration at the sight of it. His father had died almost five years ago, yet she refused to take the ring off.

"What, from school?" he inquired irritably and glanced down at his half-finished essay. "It is less than a mile, she could just walk."

His mother threw him an appalled look. "You would have your little sister walk through the forest in the dark all on her own?"

What do you think could happen to her on our own property? Werewolves? he thought bitterly and slammed his book shut with a small sigh.

"I would never let any harm come upon Rebekah, mother, you know that."

She ignored both his reply and his irritable tone. "The Fells are coming for dinner at seven; I want Rebekah to be here in time. I don't suppose I can expect Niklaus to come-"

"And I don't suppose you would want him there anyway," he cut her off very quietly. "I'll take the car, then."

"Will you join us at the table, Elijah?"

He didn't turn back around so she wouldn't see how angry he was – he couldn't believe she had not even tried to deny she couldn't care less about her third-eldest being constantly absent.

"I think I'd better finish my essay," he replied stiffly and left the library.

The black Bentley had been his father's pride and joy, but Elijah didn't have all that much affection to spare for it. He was not a fan of cars to begin with, and especially not this one. Where his father had seemed to have driven it smoothly from the first second, he had struggled to drive the cursed thing for over three months before he had considered it save enough to take his family along. Even the short distance from their home to the school was a nuisance – Elijah wished he could have walked, but then Rebekah wouldn't make it in time for the dinner.

The school was situated in an old manor. On first glance, it was a splendid sight, but the building was old and had been empty for a long time before his father had bought it. There was white paint peeling off the window frames, the ivy had done some serious damage to the façade and chips of stone had broken off from the stairs. Some of the outdated windows didn't keep out the draft anymore and due to the old electricity, the power regularly went off. The good thing about his mother's school certainly was not the comfort of the students – it was the dancing. Most of the money was spent on the teachers' wages.

Elijah sighed, put his hands down his coat pockets and stepped through the tall door, once again feeling slightly relieved the school was reserved for girls – he wouldn't have liked to spend his childhood here.

The entrance hall was deserted and Elijah's heart sank. He'd hoped his sister would wait for him here. When he walked down the corridor, feeling a little lost, a group of younger students passed him by, whispering to each other and staring after him. Men in general were not exactly a common sight at the school. He continued down the long passage, staring at the black and white tiles on the floor and trying to remember the way to the dormitories. Within minutes, he was completely lost.

"Elijah?"

He stopped when he heard the familiar voice and felt a relieved smile creep on his lips when he spotted Caroline at the far end of the corridor.

"Miss Forbes, thank God. I was starting to think I'd never get out of here again."

"It's Caroline." The blonde grinned. "There's only the kitchen down there. Guess that's not where you wanted to go."

"Well, no, it really wasn't. I'm looking for my sister," he replied with an apologetic smile. "You wouldn't happen to know where she is?"

"Probably in her dorm," Caroline answered with a shrug. "I'll take you."

"Thank you." He followed the young woman, thinking it was odd how different she looked. But then again, he'd only seen her four times so far – twice at the reunion for the dance, twice at the Lockwood's dance itself. At the reunion, she'd worn the festive version of her school uniform – basically the same as the everyday one, only with a stiffer skirt and a tie. He supposed it was the hair, he hadn't seen her in that trademark ballerina bun before. Niklaus would hate the hairdo, he thought fleetingly, then wondered where that ridiculous thought had come from.

"So, a lot of training for the performance, I would imagine," he said conversationally, just to fill the silence.

"Yes, of course. Extra lessons with your mother and your sister, and the guy who'll dance Siegfried, I keep forgetting his name," Caroline replied with a chuckle. "It's weird, right? I mean I'm supposed to seduce him, and I just can't keep his name."

He smiled. "Well, you don't actually have to seduce him, so in the end, it won't matter."

"Oh, I know that. I'm glad I don't actually have to seduce him." She rolled her eyes and pushed a door open. "He's boring. I mean, he's a brilliant dancer, flawless, but well… you can't talk to him for longer than two minutes without going completely insane."

The comment made him laugh – however he couldn't help worrying about the intelligent blonde. She had been able to converse with his brother for far more than two minutes, after all, and as happy as he was for him to have someone, anyone, who genuinely liked him, Niklaus was a danger.

And Elijah was starting to like Caroline.

"Odile is a great role. You got very lucky."

"Oh, come one," she replied with a little scoff, "we both know Rebekah would have been much more convincing." Suddenly she paled and added hastily: "That… that doesn't mean that Rebekah's evil or anything, I just meant that… well, I'm not a good actress and…"

"I wondered about that too," he cut her off to keep her from apologising even more. "But I don't see why my mother would give out the roles the way she has if not to challenge you. There is nothing more important to her than her performances. She would never try something if she wasn't perfectly certain it would all work out."

Caroline gave a small sigh and opened another door. "You're probably right. Maybe it's just nerves, I've never been in anything this big before."

"Mother thinks highly of you, therefore you can't be anything but excellent."

She shook her head, smiling, but didn't reply and led him up a staircase. They arrived in a vast room lined with desks where the girls sat doing their homework or chatting to each other. He tried to make out his sister but couldn't find her anywhere.

"April, you seen Rebekah?" Caroline asked, turning to a petite dark-haired girl. From what he could glimpse she was busy doing maths.

"In the bedroom," she answered slowly and added with a glance towards Elijah: "She said she had to be home at eight."

"Seven," he answered, offering her a little smile. "The dinner's at seven."

"I'll go get her," Caroline said and disappeared through another door.

The dark-haired quickly returned to her graphs. He felt oddly alone, standing there by the door with all the girls avoiding his eyes. They probably thought he was some kind of spy for his mother.

"What are you doing here?"

He froze for a moment, then turned around slowly, supressing a smile. He couldn't for the life of him let her see that he was glad to meet her; he didn't know why, he just couldn't.

"A very good evening to you, too, Katerina."

She rolled her eyes, visibly annoyed by his chastising, and he fought down another smile.

"I'm to pick up Rebekah, but apparently, she's forgotten all about me."

"Oh, really? Poor you," she gave back with a faint smirk and only a tad of sarcasm in her voice.

"Oh, it's really not the first time," he replied. "I daresay I'm more of a nanny to my siblings than a brother."

She laughed and pushed a stray curl out of her eyes that had escaped the tight bun.

"Well, I must be keeping you from your homework," he said with a faint grin. "How rude of me."

Katerina groaned and leaned back against the wall. "Oh God, don't remind me. You are so lucky to be over it all."

"By no means, I have a twenty page-long essay to write until Monday."

She grinned. "And here I am, complaining about five pages for English class."

"University did quite humble me, too, yes. You don't seem to enjoy your lessons very much."

"There's no point in maths and physics, history is boring, biology doesn't interest me at all and don't get me started on English."

"Why not? I always liked it."

"I hate reading," she replied with a shrug and a defiant smile. "I'm here for the dancing, really."

"Perhaps you're looking into the wrong topics," he said softly. "I admit there is little of interest in a school book."

She scoffed and answered: "I don't think there is a book I would enjoy."

"I could find one." He didn't know what made him say that, he felt reckless even as he did, and he just couldn't get that smile off his face.

A spark lit up in her chocolate-coloured eyes. She crossed her arms and shot back: "What are we betting?"

That made him laugh. He shook his head at the young girl; suddenly realising he'd mirrored her position. "Make an offer."

Well, now he was feeling really reckless.

"A bar of chocolate," came the immediate response, served with a challenging smile.

A small price, he thought, but then he started wondering whether Katerina had ever had much access to such a luxury item – her family did not seem to have money for such things.

"Fine. But whatever I pick, you'll have to read it all the way through."

"Less than a thousand pages," she bargained.

"Good."

She held his gaze for a moment – a moment too long, perhaps. "Deal. But I assure you, you won't find anything."

"Finding a book for such an intelligent young woman is not that much of a problem," he said with a small smile and she laughed, even blushed a little.

"All those compliments, did you take lessons when you were a kid?"

"Not exactly lessons," he replied with a shrug and a small smile. "But you have to remember that I wasn't born into a world of war. Other ideals, people weren't quite so pragmatic and outspoken."

"Born into a world of war," she repeated with a sardonic touch to her voice. "You really do read a lot, don't you?"

"If the alternative was spending time with my parents, you would take to reading, too," he answered without thinking. A second later, he was downright shocked about what he had just said. Something about this girl made him dangerously careless.

"She doesn't seem –"

"Sorry, Elijah," came a voice from behind him. He flinched for no actual reason and spun around. Rebekah stood behind him, Caroline a few feet behind her. "I really thought the dinner would start at eight, I-"

"It's fine, Bekah," he muttered and threw her a smile that felt slightly strange on his lips. "Come on, Mother'll be upset if you're late." He threw a look over his shoulder at the blond girl. "Thanks a lot for your help, Caroline. Katerina," he added, hesitating a little to look her in the eyes. For a reason he couldn't quite fathom, he even felt a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Goodbye," she said quietly, glancing down at her shoes, too.

"Good luck for your performance," he added, feeling like he should say something else.

"Thanks," Caroline replied with a grin, Katerina just smiled for a moment but said nothing.

He put a hand on his little sister's shoulder and directed her out of the dormitory; from there on she had to lead the way – he would never understand the architecture of this goddamned school.

On the short drive back, Rebekah chattered on and on about how she'd mistaken the time and how she didn't want to go to that dinner anyway, but he couldn't quite bring himself to listen. His mind was on their private library and all those books he'd read during the years.

Their mother greeted them on the steps with a disgruntled look on her beautiful face. "You don't really mean to attend dinner with that hairdo, Rebekah dear, do you?"

She said things like that countless times every day. The only thing remarkable was that for the first time, he didn't feel the urge to scream.

*Author's Note* First of all, thank you all so much for your wonderful reviews! To those who asked for more Klaroline - there will be some in the later chapters, however they are supporting characters and therefore the main focus lies on Katarina and Elijah.

I am doing my very best to do everything as historically accurate as I could. I am very interested in history, but I'm by no means an expert and at school we only learned about my country's view of the war.

I did my research – okay, yes, on Wikipedia, but I did – and Bentley had a new model that came out early in 1946, so Mikael would have been proud of it. Brand new model and probably bloody expensive. I'm not so sure about how much driving routine a young upper-class man would have in the early 1950's, but since Elijah grew up on the countryside and spent almost two years at war, I guess if he doesn't have all that much experience it's not completely illogical.

The story behind the swan lake-thing in the really, really abridged version: there's Odette who was turned into a swan by an evil wizard and Siegfried, a prince who falls in love with her. The wizard sends Odile (in some versions she's his daughter, in some she is Odette's evil twin) to seduce Siegfried. There are various endings, in some Siegfried, Odette and the wizard all die, in some the two lovers live happily ever after, in some Siegfried dies and Odette remains a swan.
Usually, Odette and Odile are danced by the same dancer, but as Mrs Mikaelson's students are not of age, she would probably consider that a little too exhausting or as putting too much pressure on just one of her girls. Plus, Rebekah and Caroline look pretty much alike, so from a little distance they might pass off as twins anyway ;)

By now you might have noticed I'm not painting the nicest possible image of Kol – sorry if you like him, but I did need a few "mean" characters – elsewise I'd only have Mikael and he died four years prior to the beginning of the story so he's not much use in that department…

Please be so kind and write a little review!