Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries
A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter and to everyone who has been reading! Seriously, I love reading over your reviews and it gives me so much motivation to keep writing! IrishBeauty294 guessed the song from last chapter which was Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men (great song btw you should check it out). Hope you enjoy this chapter :)
Chapter 7: Infiltration and Termination
I nodded my head. "You're going to tell me about Tatia," I demanded.
"I suppose I have no choice now. You're going to want to sit down."
We sat in momentary silence. Klaus was staring at the ground, but I knew his mind was elsewhere. I was about to nudge him to continue, hoping he didn't back out. I needed to hear this.
"Tatia…" Klaus began but then closed his mouth.
"Tatia…?" I urged.
"I was her mentor."
I continued to look at him, unfazed. I expected that much.
"Ok," I murmured nodding my head.
"Tatia and I… well we knew each before all of … this."
"What do you mean?"
"Tatia and her family were good friends of my family. My siblings and I knew her since we were children. When we got involved with The Wolves my mother decided she didn't want them near any of it. We all agreed of course, we didn't want them in danger. But then they killed her mother," Klaus whispered.
"She was just a child. Still, we refused to get her or the rest of her family involved. We thought it was best. And then her brothers were sacrificed. We were idiots honestly, turning a blind eye. We should have just told them the truth. Tatia still had her father. She still had family. My mother considered telling them, they needed our protection. But we were too late. Her father was killed the next month."
Klaus's hands clenched together and he looked away. He breathed out a ragged breath. "It's a list really than a book. A list of people. They check them off like a grocery list. It's sick."
Tears formed in my eyes as I quickly wiped them away. They were tears for my mother, but also Tatia and her family, along with the families of all the recruits here.
"We couldn't delay any longer," Klaus said turning to look at me. "It became ridiculous. We had let what was happening to her family stretch out for too long. She was the only one left. My family and I took her in and trained her. We expected her to be hurt, betrayed that we hadn't told her sooner. But she wasn't any of that. Tatia was strong-minded. Perhaps I should have seen it coming… her death. I was her mentor after all, I should have known what she was capable of."
"You blame yourself," I said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.
Klaus stared me straight in the eyes. "Who else?" he murmured.
He was different in this moment, I realized. He always appeared to be in control. Yet as I stared at him I only saw pain and guilt.
"The Wolves," I replied, simply.
Klaus shook his head, denying what I was saying.
"No Klaus listen," I began. "You can't blame yourself. The Wolves are the only ones at fault. You didn't kill her, they did. They killed my mother. They killed your brother. And they killed the families of all these recruits. Not you, them. And we will stop them. No matter how long it takes." I put my hands atop his, and he didn't remove it like last time.
He smirked and lightly laughed. "I thought I was the mentor here."
I grinned, happy to see him not upset anymore.
"It's been a long day. You should get some sleep, I'll have dinner delivered to your room," he murmured after awhile.
I nodded but I didn't want to get up. Our hands were still intertwined on the sofa. He was the first to break them apart as he got up.
Klaus walked me to my room and left. But not before adding, "Don't punch any more walls."
I laid in bed for the next couple of hours. Dinner was delivered as promised and I ate in silence, thinking about Tatia.
She was a fighter. Her family was killed off, one by one, yet she was determined. Meanwhile I punched a hole through the wall. I'm nothing like her. I needed to be like her. For my mom. For everyone else The Wolves had sacrificed. I couldn't be weak. I needed to focus on what was important. And right now it was training to stop The Wolves. And I will. I will stop The Wolves.
I turned in bed, frustrated. I was anything but sleepy. After a few more minutes of tossing and turning I decided I couldn't be in my room any longer.
I walked down the halls looking around. I was sure to get lost but I knew I was bound to bump into someone. I walked past the many doors hoping one of them would open when an alarm started ringing. I jumped up at the sound. Red lights started flashing through the hallway. Something was wrong.
I started to quicken my pace, trying to retrace my steps back to my room. No one was in sight. The alarm kept going and only muted down when someone started speaking through the speaker in the hall.
"We have an infiltration, all guards go to their posts. Repeat we have an infiltration, all guards go to their posts."
Something was definitely wrong. I panicked running down the halls trying to find my way back to my room. I started breathing heavily, scared out of my mind. What was happening? I turned down one corner and turned on another entering a new hall. Or was it the one I was before? That door looked familiar. No Caroline, all the doors look the same you idiot. I kept turning and running down the hallway. I was in a maze. The alarm continued and the red kept flashing. My head was spinning, everything was spinning.
I turned another corner and bumped into a hard chest. I screamed as they grabbed me. They quickly covered my mouth with their hand, spinning me around. I was pressed into their chest trying to get free.
"Shh, it's me. You're okay," the familiar voice said, whispering in my ear. Klaus.
I was shaking as he pulled me into a room.
"What's happening?" I exclaimed. My breathing was frantic and I couldn't return my heart beat back to normal.
"Caroline, Caroline listen to me," Klaus said as he put both of his hands on my arm trying to steady me. "Breathe, just breathe. Everything will be okay. But I need you to calm down."
After a couple more seconds I finally managed to calm down.
Seeing that I was okay, Klaus pulled out his walkie-talkie.
"Anything?"
There was crackling through the walkie-talkie. "The intruder has been terminated."
Terminated. One word. Yet it managed to send chills down my back.
Klaus let out a sigh of relief and put the walkie-talkie back in his pocket.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"I'll explain everything later. I'll take you back to your room. I don't know why you left in the first place," he muttered.
"I couldn't get any sleep," I defended.
"Oh you couldn't get any sleep? Of course." Klaus sarcastically replied.
He walked me back to my room and practically shoved me inside.
"Now you're going to stay inside this time. Do you understand?"
I nodded my head feebly but still waited in the threshold.
"You're safe now Caroline," Klaus said, understanding why I still stood there. "The intruder has been terminated."
"Killed." I said, staring blankly at him. "You mean killed. You might as say what you mean Klaus. No need to sugar coat it."
Klaus sighed. "I will explain everything tomorrow. Now go rest. The guards are patrolling the halls, you are safe."
I reluctantly lay back in bed, pulling the comforters up. I tried focusing on sleeping but it was pointless. Every time I closed my eyes I only saw the red flashing. The ringing remained in my ears.
The intruder has been terminated.
The Wolves killed people. That everyone was aware of. But so did the people at the Mikael Organization. However they used the word 'terminated.'
So when it came to The Wolves is was "sick" murder but here it was called termination. But no matter what words they used it was all the same underneath. They've killed. And the way Klaus seemed so calm over the matter makes me to believe it hasn't been the first time.
Staying here I was under the misconception that there was the good side and the bad side. I was on the good side. But was there really any good here? What made them so different? Killing was killing. There was no good.
I thought over everything and before I knew it, sleep had finally come.
"But mommy, I don't like the other kids," I whine.
"And why is that?" she asks leaning towards me. I'm only up to her knees. I'm not that tall, the other kids tower over me. My daddy says that I'll grow up to be strong and soon other children will be looking up to me. Soon, he says. I wonder when that is.
"Because they don't like me so why should I like them? I want to go home!" My mommy pats me on the back and shushes me. She pushes me towards the swings where everyone is.
"I'll be over there by the benches, have fun." She walks away and I stare, watching as she leaves me.
"Hey!" shouts someone. I turn around and see a girl my age. She's wearing a pink dress, laced at the bottom and her hair is in pig tails. I look at her face and notice the pearl earrings hanging from her earlobes. My ears aren't pierced yet, I know it'll hurt. "What your name?"
"Caroline," I whisper.
"I'm Katherine! You want to play tag Caroline?"
I look back at my mom and see she's sitting on the bench talking to the other adults.
"Ok," I whisper.
"Yay! You're hit!" she starts off running, headed towards the slides.
I run after her but trip on the sandbox in the process. I fall to the floor and feel the pain immediately in my right knee. I lift it up, already crying. Blood oozes down my leg and I cry even louder. My mom rushes over, soothing me and telling me it's just a little boo-boo. But it hurts. And it's bleeding. I don't like the blood.
"Am I going to die mommy?"
She chuckles and quickly reassures me. "You are not going to die Care-bear. It's just a little cut, you're going to be fine."
"But there's blood!" I wail.
"Just a little." She reaches into her purse and pulls out a tiny first aid kit.
We sit by the benches and she patches me up. I look by the slides and see Katherine playing with the other kids. They're running after her trying to tag her. And they do. But they don't fall.
Like I did. I'm always falling.
A/N: I've added Katherine into the mix, but just in Caroline's dream. She may or may not be brought up again ;) Tatia's whole story has been revealed, like I said, nothing romantic. Also, I'm planning on including other ships into this fic so keep an eye out. The rest of the Mikaelson's will make an appearance very soon.
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