2 weeks later...
She was meeting them in front of an old cemetary an hour outside of New Orleans. Personally, she would have preferred for the spell to be done within the city limits, but apparently there is some No-Witchy-JuJu-Law hindering that from happening. So she had contacted Klaus and told him where to find her and the witch, graciously reminding him not to forget any of his precious siblings. It was noon, the air was humid. Nonetheless, she looked impeccable in her knee-length jeans and her black tank-top. Her hair was up in a messy bun, a green leather-jacket was casually draped across her shoulders. Her smile seemed like the perfect cheerleader smile. She seemed happy and content, and not at all like a person capable of killing over a hundred people in a fire. Appearances can be so deceiving Klaus mused as he got out of his black SUV, followed by a calm Elijah and an annoyed Rebekah.
"Great, you´re all here. Now how about we get this little blood spell ordeal over with?" she smiled, with cold eyes, turning to walk into the cemetary, not bothering to check whether they´d be following.
The Originals gazed at the witch, each of them wondering how Caroline had managed to procure her services. It was an old woman, the spell was most likely to kill her.
One week earlier
He´d been alone, when she had knocked. His familiar eyes had shot up in disbelief as they met again, for the first time in over 86 years. She had known all along that things would be familiar but different. Like the way he patted her shoulders, as she simply sobbed into his shoulders would not be quite right. Like he would be saying all the right things, but his penetrating gaze would, masked in friendly concern, search for something she was not sure about. He let her into the Salvatore Mansion, he placed her onto the couch. He made her hot cocoa. Stefan was everything a caring, guilt-ridden friend should be.
"Do you want me to call Elena?" he asked, sitting right next to her, holding her hand.
"No." She said softly.
It was after a long stretch of silence, that he finally had the nerve, the courage or at least the decency to speak up.
"Caroline, what happened... I am so... " he tried to speak, but she shushed him quickly. She simply placed a finger onto his lips.
"Can we please not do this right now?"
In hindsight, seducing Stefan Salvatore had been ridiculously easy. She´d inquired diplomatically but friendly about the state of his' and Elena's relationship, only to learn that Elena had chosen Damon 86 years ago, and she was still sticking to that stupid decision, just like Stefan still seemed to be sticking around for no particular reason. It seemed like he was still pining after Elena, but something about that - like so many other things about him - did not feel quite right. So she had offered consolation, first in words, than in a pat onto his shoulder... than in other ways. The sex itself was just like it should have been, with him being tender and caring and soft, and her being giggly and easy-going. It was just like she imagined it to be over 87 years ago, at the bonfire, when he had rejected so he could start courting Elena Gilbert. "So much to never-happening" she mused, while going for round 3 .. or was it already number four? Afterwards, when they had both been satisfied, they lay there, him stroking her back, she musing. He seemed content in a way that appeared to surprise even him. He spoke if the sex having been unexpected. She told him that this was the best kind there was. And the she had gotten up.
"What are you doing?" he asked, sensing a change in the air.
"Leaving... I have a busy schedule ahead. I still need to get even with one other Salvatore and a Gilbert... can´t spend all day having sex, can I? Though, I have to say, this was good. you know. Good in a good way, too bad, we won´t be repeating it anytime soon." she had said, caressing his cheek. Then she had snapped his neck and driven a vervain-soaked stake into his stomach, for good measure.
She left a note on his chest.
Dear Stefan,
I know, this was really bitchy of me. You know... I missed having friends. I missed all of you, which in itself already screams mentally-unstable, considering you lot were partially responsible for what has been happening to me these past 86 years. But I really missed you. Actually, I missed just you. I stopped missing Matt by the time I realized that he must have died. Elena. Damon... I don´t have any real reason to miss either of them. I am just angry at them. Majorly Angry. So I only really missed you. And I wish I could just say that all is forgiven, but what you did... or rather what you didn´t do... is just too big. So consider me seducing you and stabbing you and snapping your neck, my type of payback. Along with me telling Elena. And either you get it and choose to forgive me for not letting this go without payback, or you don´t. But you can´t ask me to not take some sort of revenge. Speaking of which... I won´t be as gentle with your brother or Elena... don´t worry, I won´t kill them... but yeah, I expect you to move past their punishments as well... you owe me that, after what you put me through.
Okay... this just came out wrong, but I have no better way of telling you.
Sorry.
Your friend.
Caroline
PS: I am stealing your motorcycle as well.
With that, she had simply left his room.
The spell had been fairly simple, but nonetheless it had killed the elderly witch. Her corpse had been picked up by a younger relative, presumably a daughter or a niece. Caroline and the girl had just exchanged knowing looks, which lead to questioning looks from all three Originals. Caroline had simply ventured towards Klaus' car and waited for him to unlock the doors, so she could go for the passenger seat.
"Oh... see that huge chest over there?" she said, indicating a large metal box with a lock in front of it. "Be a doll and put it in the trunk, I´ll need it for the show later". She chuckled, when Elijah was the one deigning to place the box inside the trunk.
On the way to his place in New Orleans, it occurred to her how surreal it was, sharing a ride with the people that sent her to hell. So she giggled. Rebekah wanted to know what the heck was so funny... and Caroline simply told her "Nothing."
When they finally entered Klaus' apartment, she immediately went for the liquor cabinet, like a third sense that was guiding her towards the booze. Elijah was the one carrying her metal chest.
"So love.. .I think it´s time for some answers" Klaus grunted, taking a sip of bourbon himself. He had been waiting for 86 years for that talk. His patience was growing thin.
"Sure." she said airily, before sauntering towards the chest, like a girl skipping rope. When she opened the trunk, she pulled out a body, slamming it onto the floor in lightning speed. With a split second, she was straddling the brunette female, biting into her own wrist and forcing a few drops of it down the woman's throat.
"So Katherine, Klaus wants us to tell him a story... you´re ready to fess up?" she asked, looking down at the pale vampire. Then Caroline dug her claws into Katherine's throat.
Elijah was the first trying to tear Caroline off, who only shook her head, inclining her head knowingly towards her hand. "If you pull me off now, you´ll tear out her entire throat as well... now I know she's a survive-it-all kind of bitch, but I am pretty sure that this would kill her" she drawled slowly... "Don´t worry... she's still got plenty of room to talk."
Rebekah glanced at the scenario in a slightly impressed way, Elijah seemed concerned. Klaus only showed impatience. After all of these years, he just needed to hear her say it. He needed her confession, needed to know why she chose to have his brother killed.
"Now... where to beginn." Caroline mused.
87 years ago...
He had bitten her for a second time, barely healed for a second time as well. After that, she had drifted off into a quiet slumber, the exhaustion having wrecked her entire system. Saying it had been awkward waking up in his caressing and soothing arms, the morning after that. She had panicked. In a flash she had rushed out of his embrace and into the safe kitchen, but she had missed the corpse that had been lying in the hallway, so he had tripped.
This accident had lead to two things. A pretty embarrassing moment that wound up only getting interrupted by her phone ringing. The other thing she would discover later... after Tyler had been already forced to run for the hills, after Klaus had left her standing on the Gilbert porch, with a declaration that left her heart quivering. She had been wondering how loving one person would allow her heart to feel - even if it was just a tiny bit - for another person, as she had entered Elena's home. The sight of the corpse took her mind of it. She decided to give him a burial, as in a real grave with a tomb stone and flowers. She would clean up all signs of death from her friend's home. That's when she saw it... The phone that had miraculously survived his burning. The phone she had only found because she had tripped over his corpse.
There was a synapse in her vampire brain that had immediately called "leverage", viewed it as a way to bargain on Tyler's behalf. So she had looked through it. What she found, was surprising, scary and... mostly incredible.
By skipping through Kol Mikaelson's phone, she found a lot. Way too many game apps, a decent taste for modern music (considering just how little he has gotten to live in that era), but most importantly Caroline had stumbled upon a ton of text messages from... Katherine Pierce.
There were so many messages, constructing a plot much too rich for Caroline to grasp all at once. However, things became clearer. A lot of things, actually.
Like Kol only having joined all the craziness because Katerina Petrova had tipped him off about the entire Silas debacle.
Like the suggestion of cutting off Jeremy's arms being hers.
Like the warning of Klaus having turned an entire bar so Jeremy could stake them, coming from her.
All of Kol's involvement in this mess had been because of Katherine.
And Caroline found something else... A navigational map towards a motel room. Just outside of Mystic Falls.
Which was the point where Caroline Forbes chose to make the biggest mistake of her life... she chose to go to that motel.
"So what... " a bored Rebekah taunted from the couch. "Your sob story is that you stumbled upon our brother's phone and accidentally got yourself framed, and that Katherine just got my brother involved out of pure fun?"
"Miss Forbes, your tale so far is fairly hard to believe given the lack of proof." Elijah said calmly, his worried gaze on Katherine.
"She can´t proof it, brother." Klaus said nonchalantly. "Kol's phone burned along with himself when Jeremy staked him. All of this is just a bunch of rubbish..." he nearly spat the last words at Caroline. How dare she, beautiful as she may be, deny him his well-earned truth, his closure?
Caroline gazed at the three unimpressed Originals with an air of indifference, before focusing back on Katherine.
"Sadly, Katherine here disposed of the phone. But who says I am lacking proof?" she chimed with a tightening grip on Katherine.
From the corner of her eye, she noted Elijah's grip on his glass tightening as well. Klaus was growing impatient. Rebekah was growing intrigued.
"Actually, it took me years to figure that one out. Why on Earth would she bring Kol into all of this? From the diaries and notes I found in his motel, I am pretty damn sure he never wanted Silas and that damn cure to be found, so I spent ages wondering as to why. You know, her stupid motive is the only reason I did not offer up her phone in exchange for Tyler's freedom immediately. I figured, serving it up as a solid case would get me quicker where I wanted to get, but as is turns out, all of that did just waste a gigantic amount of time. 86 years of my time to be exact. But, well, I finally did figure out her motive." she mused, a dangerous look pointed at her captive.
"And pray, what would said motive be, love?" Klaus chimed, playing along in her game simply because he assumed she´d lose it in the end.
"She needed a distraction." That one got everyone's attention, and it brought fear to Katherine's eyes.
"Well, there was Team Klaus, looking for the cure, presumably to turn Elena human and create more Doppelgangers... but then it turned out all you wanted was to destroy it. Then there was Team Elena... looking to turn Elena back to human... and then there was Team Rebekah, looking for the typical human dream with the white picket-fence and an army of toddlers, how endearing. How soon would it have been before one of you figured out that there was another team?" she asked, shooting a pointed look at Rebekah. Caroline used to be best friends with Stefan Salvatore, and there was a point when he had kept her glued in, for instance, into drug-induced office searching events with Original blood sluts. And from the look on said blood slut's face, Caroline could see an ounce of recognition in Rebekah's face.
"So what was my brother supposed to do in all of this?" Rebekah consequently felt compelled to ask.
"Do what he does best, cause havoc. He only meant to stop or at least stall all of you. Katherine here had sold him quite the sob story. She told him, that Klaus might think of turning her instead of Elena if he ever were to get his hands on that cure, and hence got Kol all concerned about Silas. By the way, Kol had it right all along, and he´s still very upset that so far none of you ever said that out loud" Caroline smirked, ignoring the puzzled look her last statement had earned her from all three Originals.
"What do you mean... IS upset, our brother is dead." Rebekah asked.
"Sorry," Caroline smiled. "I only tell one tale at a time... "
"Your tale does not make any sense though, sweetheart... Kol tried stopping us from getting that cure... Katherine here was trying to get to the cure and with Kol's attempt on Jeremy's life, that nearly did not happen to all of us. Without the cure, Katherine would have had no leverage, sweetheart. So your theory is rubbish." Klaus argued, getting more annoyed by the second.
"Nearly being the imperative word here, sweetheart. Katherine was not stupid, she knew Kol would hinder the search for the cure, for a short time, but with three teams beside her desperately trying to find it, she was quite confident that Jeremy would be safe... at least until he had served his purpose. However, Katherine did not bring Kol in ONLY to make everyone not notice her own hunt for the cure, she also brought him in to solve one vital problem in the hunt for the cure."
"Which problem would that be, love?" Klaus asked.
Caroline exhaled, her eyes for once leaving Katherine's, her grip never faltering though. Her gaze met Klaus straight on.
"How many vampires do you all reckon Jeremy would have had to kill if he hadn´t conveniently killed off Kol and his entire bloodline?" The question was as calming as it was startling. And Klaus' poker face vanished in the face of her theory sounding eerily plausible. The implications of her proven innocence crawling towards his mind.
One week earlier
The last thing Elena Gilbert had expected was to bump into Caroline Forbes as she entered the local college's ladies' room. For a second she wasn't sure if she was encountering a ghost or if this was the real, living, vampire.
"Hallo, Elena" Caroline said in a kind voice, as she brushed her blond curls in front of the mirror.
"Caroline..." Elena sounded lost. What could she possibly say after all this time... after all that has happened. After all she´s done.
"It´s been a long long time. I heard your humanity is back on." Caroline commented casually. "I heard a lot has happened since I ... left."
To Elena, it must have felt similar to being a fish leaving water, she had trouble focusing and mostly, breathing.
"The last time I saw you... you were talking to Rebekah on Prom night... " Caroline added.
"Yeah... I know, her and me, we had a Thelma-and-Louise-thing going back then, but.. now, with my humanity back on, let me make one thing clear... her and me are not friends... especially not with what her brother ... " Elena never got to finish her nervous rant.
"What about us? are we still friends?" Caroline asked. It was the heaviest question of them all. "All of those things you said when your humanity was off... is that how you really feel?" And for a second, Caroline did show that ounce of vulnerability. You´d think, she´d had faked it when she had sobbed in Stefan's arms before seducing him, you´d think she´d fake it now. But it was all real, the real vulnerability to whom the people that had betrayed her were still a piece of home. They were more than just names on her payback list... they were memories and feeling and past and home. Mostly, they were home.
Elena evaded her eyes, focusing on her purse, that contained lip gloss and eyeliner instead. "Caroline, I don´t feel like going down memory lane." She knew it was a pathetic thing to say after what she had let happen to Caroline, she knew, but she couldn´t focus on that. Even 86 years later, she was still not ready to handle that.
"Well, what about, when you said - and I quote - "You´re a repulsive, blood-sucking control freak monster... did you really mean those things?" and a sadness crept into Caroline's voice. Even a hint of desperation, a desperation she forgot Elena and her troubles could instill in her.
"If you´re waiting for an apology, you´re not gonna get one. I can't let myself feel bad, course if I feel bad than I feel everything... and", she sighed "we´ve all seen how I handle that."
Caroline sighed as well, before going over her own make-up again. As she sprayed an ounce of a French perfume, she just discovered in a store, she turned an offered the bottle to Elena. "Here, try this.. it´s magnifique...Totally magnifique..."
"You don´t have to pretend to be nice to me, Caroline... I know there are things you want to say to me... I know that you´re mad..." Elena said exasperatedly, wanting to get to the point of this encounter, wanting to evade the awkwardness.
"You´re already done with your make-up? Or why did you come in here, I mean you barely did anything with your mascara... " Caroline just said, "And seriously, try the perfume. It´s good."
Elena, in truth, hadn´t come in to the ladies' room for anything other than a breather. 86 years since she last saw Caroline Forbes and to her nothing had changed. After turning her humanity back on, Elena had still been unable to handle all of her emotions. So she chose to focus on one emotion. Hate. Hatred for Katherine Pierce. The two girls had had two encounters after Caroline's disappearance, the first ended with her nearly killing Katherine, only Katherine had been linked to Bonnie at the time and Stefan had stopped her. The second time, Katherine nearly had her killed, but she had managed to force-feed her the cure instead. That fight ended with girls lying on the floor unconsciously, and if Katherine hadn't woken up first and made a run for it, she´d be dead by now. Elena has been trying to kill her ever since, but Katherine, albeit no longer a vampire had first managed to evade her successfully, before managing to get herself turned back into a vampire. So ... except for the only dose of the cure getting entirely wasted, nothing had really changed. Elena was still angry, Katherine was still alive. Elena thought the situation to be frustrating and sad. Caroline was calling it pathetic.
So the reason Elena had escaped to the ladies' room was merely for a breather. It was nerve-wrecking to pretend to be all bubbly in her college classes and all happy in her free-time, at least in the part she spend with regular humans, when alls she wanted was to rip out Katherine's heart. It was an image that consumed her, even more than her love to Damon. So Elena was simply here for a breather.
"I get it... you´re mad and angry... even after all this time. You´ve probably spent the past decades wondering what you´re doing and how you can keep on playing this part that you´re playing for all of those people out there... but that´s only how you feel now... once you get through this entire Hating-Katherine-phase..." Caroline explained. Stephan had managed to fill her in on that one as well. A smirk nearly crept up her features, but she managed to keep it down.
"Wait... Do you know where Katherine is?" Elena asked alertly.
"Why would I know where she is?" Caroline asked quietly, sensing the predictable signs of paranoia in her former friend.
"But Caroline, if you did, you would tell me where she is, right?" Elena asked urgently. Yes, Caroline realized, to Elena all of this was still as fresh as the day Jeremy had first died. She had thought after hearing about Bonnie's final miracle - his resurrection - the anger would have quieted down, but it was still fresh... and raw. It was a wound waiting for Caroline to put some salt in.
"Ugh" , Caroline exhaled slowly. "Elena, you´re obsessing."
At that, Elena grabbed Caroline's arm. "Caroline, listen to me. If you know, where Katherine is, you have to tell me." That was the moment in which Elena opted to finally lock gazes with her former friend, the one she had abandoned to hell, the one who still owed her a major anger break-out.
"Fine. She was in Salem, Oregon until not so long ago, until I came along, suffocated her with a pillow, cause you know, payback really is a bitch, stuffed her in a metal-chest and that´s where I have kept her for the past couple of days, letting her slowly desiccated so by the time I need her for a special show I have planned, she´ll be ready to sing like a canary." Caroline spat out, her anger finally creeping through.
Elena's first reaction was a horrified kind of awe. "What...?" Before Elena could finish her question, Caroline had her pinned against the bathroom door, kneeing her in the stomach before spraying the vervained perfume all over her face. After that she grabbed her, and flung her across the room against the mirrors, causing her to crash down. Quickly, she pinned her former friend's knuckles to the ground using two mirror shards, before hovering over her. "Do I still fight like a girl?"
"Caroline... I can explain." Elena uttered.
"Not necessary. I already know the story. Your humanity was still off when Klaus had asked you, right? So you simply confirmed Katherine's lies, just because you wanted to prove to your Salvatores how far off you were... and then, by the time you got your so far utterly underused humanity back, it had already been too long. Klaus would have had your head if he had found out that you lied and confirmed another lie, sentencing me to whatever you imagined Klaus had done to me... did you ever wonder what that was, by the way? Did you?" Caroline asked in a dangerous quietness, before slapping Elena hard. " So you three decided to keep quiet"
"Care... things were just plain crazy back then. "
At that, Caroline just bowed down to her and pressed a hand to her mouth. "And guess what, they´re about to get crazier. So here´s what´s going to happen. I am going to snap your neck. Then I am going to steal your jacket, your top and your jeans... you know, being stuck in an asylum for 86 years kind of leaves a lot to wish for in the fashion department. Then I am going to stuff you in a toilet booth and leave you here. Without your daylight ring. So, since it´s only ten, I recommend you prepare yourself for a few hours of down time. Oh and just to make sure you get plenty of sleep, I´ll stake you... you know, like you nearly staked me at one point? Just beneath your heart... so far enough away from it to not kill you. ... Then I am going to a very secluded place just outside of town, where I have your boyfriend tied up and vervained. Want to guess what I am going to do to him?" At that, Caroline bend down to whisper in her ear "The same he did to me once. The exact same thing." At that, Elena tried to scream only for her panic to be muffled by Caroline's grip.
For a second, Caroline just gazed at her former friend. "You know, a part of me missed you... you know the old Elena, the one that could be trusted... I really did miss you at one point. You know, when the torture became too much, oh... yes Elena... there was torture, lots of it. How do you think I managed to become immune to vervain to the point where I managed to put it into my perfume?... anyway, when the torture became too much... I thought of some of our friends... you know, eventually, after Jeremy died for a second time, I finally managed to see him. Just like Ric, so whenever the torture really drove me out of my mind, I called them to me and asked them, how do they feel knowing that your lies brought me here. After a decade, Jeremy finally admitted it... he´s beyond ashamed of whom you´ve become." At that... Elena`s eyes widened with tears.
"Isn´t it refreshing, to finally feel something that is not a kill-Katherine-emotion? Good for you, because I´ll be taking Katherine to Klaus and when I am done ... he might have taken your revenge from you. ... Oh and one more thing... I slept with Stefan. I slept with him completely consensually by the way, snapped his neck, staked him and then I went to your room and took about 90% of your wardrobe as payback for prom. Like I said, 86 years away from shopping has left my wardrobe quiet empty. " she smirked, seeing the utter shock at Caroline´s admission of having slept with her ex. "You look exhausted, Elena. You need rest." And with that she just snapped her neck.
For a second, she just looked at her old friend, and all the emotion she could muster up was ... pity. That girl was almost the same as she had been before all the Klaus-craziness had started. Only consumed by anger. Elena Gilbert had spent the past 86 years hating and hating and hating Katherine... other than that, there´s been zero character development. Caroline had never heard of anything more exhausting than being stuck like that. It was truly and utterly pathetic.
When Elena awoke, she was only clad in her underwear, a bloodied stake lay next to her. She was locked in a cubicle in a ladies' room and all she could think about was Caroline's threat concerning Damon. And for the first time in a very long time, she felt something that was not hate, it was genuine fear.
"So, Miss Forbes, you´re accusing Katerina of intentionally setting up my brother to get killed so Jeremy's tattoo could be completed quicker." Elijah repeated, a dubious look on his face. Caroline was not sure whether the doubt was aimed at Katherine or herself.
"Well... yes. You really know how to pick them, Elijah. But thank you, I really appreciate you turning her back into a vampire... It would be impossible for me to squeeze any sort of testimony out of her if she´s a ghost. Well.. technically not impossible...but way too much of a hussle."
"You were talking of proof... how about you show it to us, as in right now." Rebekah said.
"Fine. Klaus... be a darling and go through my purse please." Caroline said, without taking her eyes off Katherine, once more.
Klaus begrudgingly followed her command, taking stacks of paper out of her purse.
"I took some of those files from the archive at Whitemore college... some of them I retrieved from the attic at the house of Prof. Shane's descendents. They´re the most important pieces of correspondence. If you go through them, you´ll find that a certain K.P. had passed on information towards Shane. Like the file of a certain orphaned werewolf willing to do about everything in order to obtain information on her deceased parents. Like information on how to become the successor to Sheila Bennett's college position and hence accessing her former office. She´s been planning that one since way before you broke the curse, Klaus... as a back-up plan in case something went wrong during the sacrifice. And when that did not get her the freedom she wanted... she passed on more information. Mostly about the Bennett line. But also about you... Shane did get a little information on your hybrids from Haley...but most of it came out of Katherine's big mouth. She was also the one getting him in touch with Connor. It´s all in those files. Every letter, every secret email and what I suspect to be written down copies from old texts. I assume with Katherine thinking my fate to be more or less sealed, she no longer needed to invest time in destroying Shane's office, which would have been a risk on its own, putting unwanted attention onto her. Read the files, it´s all in there."
In disbelief, Klaus scanned through the stack, finding evidence of most of the things Caroline had said, even more than that... His stomach twisted at the revelation. No.. no.. this can´t be right... that would mean I...
"Do these documents also prove that you were never involved in her plot, love?" he asked, angrily.
"No... " she admitted calmly.
"Now, if all of this is true, why would Katherine implicate you out of all people." Rebekah said. Sensing the catastrophe that was to unleash, dreading it.
"I found the phone, I was planning on telling on her, so I could free Tyler. So she figured if she´d frame me first, I´d be too busy running to explain my side of the story. She was right about that, wasn´t she? It all happened pretty fast, the way I remember it. I came home from prom to find my room ransacked. Kol's phone was gone. Then you walked in and without so much as a word yanked my heart out. It´s a shame really, that dress you gave me and ruined was beyond lovely."
With that, she gave Klaus a hard look, and for a second, she thought she could determine an ounce of guilt.
86 years ago.
He had come home from watching Caroline and Tyler to find a letter stuck between his bourbon canters.
Klaus,
I hear Elijah has refused you the cure and in return you´ve refused my freedom. Shame on you both. But while you boys sort out your problems I have two last things to offer you. Firstly, I´ve caught wind that there´s a witch in New Orleans named Jane-Anne Devereaux, plotting a move against you. Hunt her down. What she has to say will rattle you too deeply into your core that chasing little old me will be the least of your concerns. And if the way to New Orleans is too much of a bother for you, try hunting down Caroline Forbes. She´s been part of the plot to kill Kol and the DVD enclosed shows her ransacking through Kol's motel room, trying to get rid of any evidence that might implicated her part in his death. Hunt her down, too.
It´s been fun five centuries, Klaus, but I´ve worn down too many good heels running from you. Love, and hate.
Katerina.
The next thing he knew was himself ransacking the room. Before he had sped off to the Forbes' home. Where he did not immediately bump into a Forbes... but into a Gilbert. Elena Gilbert.
"Miss Forbes, there´s still no proof as to your lack of involvement in this." Elijah said, avoiding any eye contact with Katherine.
"It hurts, doesn´t it, Elijah. Knowing that you spent almost 600 years loving this bitch and she goes and gets your brother killed. You´re grasping for straws. But as for evidence proving me innocent, yes, I can´t really give you any. I mean, there was a tape from the motel, but I suspect Katherine here got rid of that along with Kol's phone, so no... I do not have evidence. "
86 years ago
It was early morning when Caroline woke up with pain in her chest. The first things she remembered were Prom, the dress Klaus had given her, Tyler showing up and .. then Klaus tearing out her heart. In her still ransacked room. As she got up from her bed, she caught her reflection in the mirror: the beautiful silver dress all bloodied. There was a sober smell of bacon in the air. Numbly she made her way downstairs, to find Bonnie there, cooking.
As her friend noticed her presence, she rushed to hug Caroline. "Care...thank god you´re ok."
"Bonnie... what happened?" Caroline asked confusedly, the bacon's aroma somehow sickening her.
"Klaus was here, he killed you. He... " Bonnie cried.
"Hold up.. he killed me.. I mean, I remember him yanking out my heart..oh my God ... how come I am still alive?" After silence from Bonnie, Caroline repeated her question. "Bonnie... what did you do?"
"The same spell I did for Jeremy when your Mom accidentally shot him... I brought you back. ... I struck a deal with Katherine, and part of that linked me to her... and I saw parts of her memories and I saw what she told Klaus, and I figured he´d do something. But I was too late to warn you... so I brought you back." At that... Caroline started to hyperventilate... the thought of her heart having left her body mere hours ago, freaking her out. "Listen, Care, you need to get changed... and leave. I found your father's old Journal in your mom's office, you need to take this and leave. I read Katherine's mind, I know you found something valuable in Kol's journals, and I know that you burned them because you planned on using this information. I need you to take your father's journal, go to Tibet and learn how to not be compelled. You need to take this information and keep it inside your head. Because once Klaus learns that you´re still alive, he´ll learn about that missing piece of information soon enough as well... and then he´ll come after you with all he´s got. I can make you untraceable by any witch, and I can help you get on a plane...but you need to leave. Now."
It was all too much to process for Caroline. Last night all had been fine and now.. she had to leave. Only she couldn´t just leave like that.
"What about my mom, Bonnie... I can´t just leave her in danger like that..."
At that, Bonnie stalled, and her expression turned even sadder... "Caroline... I ... I could only bring back one of you..."
"What?.." with that Caroline turned, to find a body covered by a blanket on the couch. Hesitantly she started walking closer, towards it, mumbling "no", sobbing it out.. until she had pulled away the blanket... to find her mother, with a hole in her chest, lying there... a scared expression forever stuck on her face.
After that she had broken down crying, and Bonnie had left her in peace for about thirty minutes, before ushering her to change. Ushering her into her car, telling her to get on a certain plane and only take her father's journal with her. A morning later she awoke in Tibet, to busy grieving for her mother to realize she had finally left Mystic Falls.
"I have that tape from the hotel... I have seen it many times, it clearly proves Katherine's accusation."
At Klaus' words, Caroline's eyes shot up. "You still have that tape?"
In a flash he had fetched the tape from his room, and thrust it into an old video player. He was modern but also ancient, so his room contained modern entertainment devices as well as old video recorders and record players. When the screen lit up, it clearly showed Caroline ransacking through a room that presumably was Kol's.
"See love, that is you... trying to hide your guilt." Klaus chided. Suppressing an ounce of relieve, for he did not know how he´d react if he´d find out all of those years, he had thought her guilty when she´d been innocent.
For a second Caroline stared at the screen in bewilderment, confusion circling around her eyes...before a dawning expression came about. "Did you ever rewind any further than that scene?"
Her tone was calm, but there was an eerie quality to it.
"What do you mean?"
" I said did you ever rewind the tape further back, like a day earlier?"
Before Klaus could respond, Elijah had grabbed the remote and pressed the rewind button. When the tape started again, Kol`s room was still on display, with him walking around the room... and then he seemed to have heard something... a knock maybe... and he went to open the door, letting none other than Katherine Pierce in.
After that... the whole room was silent. You could hear a pin drop. Rebekah just sat quietly on the couch, knowing that the ramifications of Caroline's testimony were not nearly as painful to her as they were to both of her brothers. Elijah held on tightly to his glass, causing it to shatter in his hands.
Klaus... he took longer to react.
"You really are a joke, you know? Nothing but a 1,000 year old joke. You´ve had that tape all that time and you simply never bothered to press rewind long enough for the truth to appear. Just hilarious." Caroline stated drily.
"You really are innocent." Rebekah finally uttered.
"Have been for the past 86 years, but your brothers chose to believe that one here." she hummed darkly, gazing at Katherine, who finally managed to speak.
"You were supposed to just die. I did not mean for you to get tortured, I thought he´d just kill you and that´ll be it..." At that Caroline just yanked her up and threw her across the room, before pulling her up by her throat again in a flash.
"Too bad that´s not how it happened." And for the first time anger was smeared across her face.
She was close to ripping out her throat for real this time, when a quiet, British accented voice murmured: "But she told me... she told me you had been part of this?" Klaus mumbled, trying to comprehend the onslaught of new information in his mind.
"Who told you what?" Caroline snarled, glaring at Katherine.
"Elena... she said... that Katherine was telling the truth. I asked her."
"You mean the Elena that at the time was without any form of humanity, playing friends with your bloodslut sister and stealing prom dresses left and right?" And with that, she dropped Katherine and walked over towards Klaus' extensive whisky collection, pouring herself a glass.
"But she regained her humanity back shortly afterwards... why on Earth would they not have told us then?" Rebekah asked in disbelieve, feeling a sense of disappointment in Stefan and partially in Elena as well.
"Well.. it might have been shortly after Klaus placing me in that hellhole, but damage had already been done, hadn´t it? They probably thought that if they were to tell Klaus that Elena, no matter what state of humanity she was in at the time, had lied to Klaus, leading him to lash out at me the way we all know he did... he would not be so forgiving." she said indifferently.
"I am going to kill them." Klaus hissed.
"Don´t bother... I already exacted my revenge... it´s been taken care of."
One week earlier
He was tied to a crappy bed in a warehouse, his arms and legs held down by ropes soaked in concentrated vervain. A stake lodged in each shoulder for good measure. She´d been gone for hours, but Damon knew his tormentor would return. When he had first woken up in that warehouse, he had been smug, he even had quipped a line or two about her. Him refering to her as Blondie has finally caused him to snap. After that, things had gone pretty fast. His clothes had disappeared, her teethe lodged into his skin over and over again. He was covered in bite marks, the vervain reducing his healing abilities to the point of them almost having vanished. The first time, he tried to speak, she slapped him. But not like a girl, more like a monster. The time he finally managed to utter an apology, she just broke his jaw. And then she had at him... forced herself on him over and over again. At one point she whispered to him: "You know Damon, you raped me 14 times, fed off me like 25 times... This is me returning the favor." It was degrading, the enjoyment of an act you don´t enjoy and don´t want to engage it, the humiliating control she had over his body. The pain of her vicious bites. Blondie was gone, this was someone new...someone Damon had no longer any control over. And he had spent the time she´d been out pondering over that.
At one point, she told him that he was better under force than he had ever been when she was still human. He responded by finally, in all agony, asking her if she was going to kill him. She only hummed. "Mmm... but not know... you still got some use".
Hours after leaving him to contemplate that, she returned, wearing clothes he was all too familiar with.
"Hey stud. I had a run-in with your girlfriend. You´ll be pleased to hear that I did not stake her...at least not mortally... though it´ll be a few hours before either her or your brother will come for you. But that´s fine...that still gives us a little more time, doesn´t it?" she just smiled at him airily. Pulling out a stake from her pocket, a bloodied stake, and placing it on the backside table. Her final time she raped him was different from all the others. Less wild and enraged, more slow and deliberate, almost intimate to a degree where he felt like a cheater. Even those final bites she inflicted upon him, they were no longer beastly, but seductive and deep. They made him groan out, tears of more joy than grief in his eyes. And afterwards, she cuddled against his chest, tracing random patterns on it with her stake.
"You realize, you´re my sire, right? You should have stood up for me, you know." she said sadly. The sadness was as sincere as his guilt was.
"Caroline... " he whispered hoarsely. "I am so sorry... we didn´t think Klaus would truly hurt you. We .. just." But Caroline just placed a finger on his still bruised lip.
"Ssh... " she spoke, softly kissing up his chest. "You make me crazy, you know that? " she whispered as her lips moved towards his neck, while her stake slowly made its way to his heart. He exhaled in anticipation, fearing her for the first time since he´s known her. "It´s okay, I forgive you."
"Caroline, I swear I didn´t mean..."
But her kisses only grew softer, and her shushing became only more tender, somehow quieting him. For a second he got lost in the ecstasy of her, as her free hand intertwined with one of his shackled ones. He caught himself humming in pleading delight, hoping for her to not kill him. "It´s okay... Unfortunately... I am so over you now..." And with that she dug her teeth into his neck like she had never done before. And only when he was nearly drained, she moved her stake.
When Damon Salvatore woke up hours later, naked and humiliated, he found a note. "The only reason I spared your life this time is because you once saved me from a werewolf bite... don´t forget that. By the way, you still suck. Caroline. " After that his life was never the same as it had been.
At the eerie smile gracing her features, even Rebekah was taking aback. "What did you do to them?" she asked tentatively, trying to find an ounce of the old, familiar Caroline inside that girl.
"I seduced and temporarily killed Stefan, then I staked Elena just below her heart after which I went to steal most of her wardrobe and then I raped, bit and staked Damon. Don´t worry, they´re all still alive, just not as merry." she quipped without any sign of remorse. "By now, Damon should be sulking and trying to pretend like he´s okay, the threesome should be awkward as hell and Elena should finally have some other emotion to focus on that hatred for Katherine. I mean, seriously, that girl spent the past 86 years solely focused on one emotion... if that isn´t pathetic, what is."
The vampires surrounding her couldn´t help but stare at her, bewildered, guilt-ridden, shocked.
"Miss Forbes, it appears we have made a grave error." Elijah started but Caroline calmly but authoriatively cut him off.
"Save it, Elijah... we all know how this one is going to play out. You´re going to be indignant about Katherine´s actions, for, I´d say a century or two... you´ll avoid her like a plague for a while and then you´ll move on to go looking back to find that innocent peasant girl you think Katerina Petrova to be, and then, like nothing has happened, you´ll go back to advocating for her absolution. And all of this under the guise of being the chivalrous one amongst the three of you... you know what I think. There is no such thing as a chivalrous Original. Hell.. there´s not even such a thing as an Original of purpose. You three are nothing but purposeless immortals trying to pass the time. ... You hide behind your so called principles, and don´t get me started on how often Katherine has managed to bend those until they break. Rebekah is hiding behind her quest for... oh,yeah, right...love and... don´t even get me started on the sob story your other brother is hiding behind."
Elijah was seemingly out of words, for he couldn´t deny the blonde vampire's words. Neither could Rebekah.
"Speaking of Katherine.." Caroline´d head shot up, her face displaying her vampire features. "Katherine, I don´t think you have anything to fear of Klaus and Elijah at the moment, because they´re just too stunned by your depravity... but you do have to fear me, so listen closely. You´re going on the run, but not from me. Back to Elena and the Salvatores. Should I ever stumble upon you anywhere else but within a twenty miles radius of these three, I´ll rip your head off and feed it to an alligator. They deserve you. No go... run along and just be your annoying self, or do you want me to ship you in the crate again?" she snarled, causing Katherine to run with an regretful glance at Elijah, who avoided returning it by staring into the pit of his drink.
For a while none of them said anything, Klaus had seemingly sunken into the a mental abyss, staring into the fire as he leaned against the mantelpiece.
His siblings just stared at his back, worrying about his mental health. They knew that despite all the outside austerity, the idea of Caroline's betrayal had eaten away at him for all those years. They could only guess at what he´s feeling now.
It was Caroline that finally approached him. She simply walked up to him, placed her glass next to his' on the mantelpiece. "You are awfully quiet." she chirped. His face, as he finally turned to face her, took them all aback. The devastation hiding behind his eyes drew out the air from the room.
"Caroline" he whispered. "Why didn´t you speak up sooner." he roared, grasping her arms.
"I did" she yelled back." But after a month in that hellhole I realized that this was not what you wanted to hear, the truth wasn´t getting me anywhere. So I stopped talking altogether."
"If I had known... I ..." he tried to explain, trying to find something he could hold onto her with. Anything. His mind came up empty.
"You could have known. All it would have taken was a pressing down on a button on your remote control, yet you chose to remain willfully ignorant." she retorted, her face turning into a wall of ice.
"I swear, I´ll make this up to you... I.."
"Stop it.. .we both know your promises are empty, just like your emotions. Invalid currencies." she shrugged.
The indifference bore to his core quicker than anything else he had heard the entire night. "I will find a way to make this up to you. Please... anything you want... it´s yours, just tell me." he whispered, begged her.
And for a moment, she was vulnerable. For a brief moment, she turned back into the girl to whom he had once promised a thousand more birthday, the girl that had had tears in her beautiful eyes when she proclaimed that she did not want to die.
"Actually... " and she almost seemed like a shy little girl when she said that..." There is one thing. Can you please give me back my mom. Please?" And she looked up at him with an expression of ill-fated hope.
But not even an Original can bring back a human corpse that has been gone for over 86 years.
"I am sorry love" he said, trying to man up enough courage to face her. His instincts telling her that he owed it to her.
And the moment had passed. In a flash she was at the door, her mask of eerie smiles and indifference back on her innocent face. "I thought as much... well now that this is all settled... I´ll be gone. See you in about 25 years, then I`ll tell you what Kol had on Silas in his diary."
She was about to head out of the door, when Klaus yelled after her. "So what was all of this for? Why this display if you´re not going to give any of us a chance to redeem ourselves... was this all to torture us? Payback?"
For a second she just stopped in her tracks, exhaling, sighing, before turning back towards him. "First of all, this conversation was part of your terms of the agreement. Secondly, you´re to consider this a warning. Because, just so you know, should I ever... ever... ever stumble upon another piece of white oak, you´ll be losing another sibling. And believe me, I´ll be looking for it."
She had spent lot of years picturing his death, but since that ultimately would have led to her demise as well, she only saw it fit to take from him family, like he had taken family from her. She didn´t particularly care which one of the two. Killing Elijah had the extra bonus of hurting Katherine, killing Rebekah, on the other hand, felt more rewarding. She wouldn´t pull another Elena, she wouldn´t dedicate her life to that search, like she had, but she would search. Just in case there was another piece of white oak floating around somewhere out there.
After that, she just left.
"Talk to you in 25 years".
She left them all... stunned. Him broken as well.
One week earlier
The blonde girl stood in front of the grave, shaking visibly. The peonies in her hands barely surviving her anxiety. She had waited 86 years to visit this grave. 86 years of wondering if anyone had ever gotten around to organize a funeral.
"Hey, Mami" she whispered, as she slowly placed the flowers onto the tomb stone. There were so many things she wanted to say. She wanted to tell her dead mother how much she´d missed her, she wanted to tell her that it´s okay, that she never got to see her, she understood completely. She even wanted to tell her how sorry she was for becoming a vampire and dragging her into all of this mess. But all that came out was a stutter. And then a sob. And then another.
Finally, Caroline broke down sobbing and crying on her mother's grave. Her strength and her plans gone, as she was finally left with an opportunity to grief and do nothing but that. She had spent 86 years for moment in which she would be able to peacefully mourn her mother' s death. So she kneeled there, sobbing until every ounce of sarcasm and mischief in her broken spirit had faded, until she was too weak to get up again. At least for the time being, she permitted herself to be that weak. To grief.
"I missed you, mama".
So... that was the hugest update I ever did, and I ... am not entirely happy with it. I never am.. but this time I feel like I did not do it well enough, but I doubt I can do it any better and I am sure most of you are running out of patience with me... so this is the update... I briefly considered chopping it in two, but felt it better to have the backstory (most of it at least) all out in one go. I know this is like a lot of stuff to take it, but I hope you at least like some it. The next arch will feature Caroline during her 25 year hiatus, but don´t worry... Klaus will pop up every now and then. Please don´t hate me too much, should you find this update is a let down.