If I never see you again: Chapter 9- In the end

Disclaimer: The characters and other things from The Vampire Diaries don't belong to me. Credit goes to the rightful owners

A/N: Took a while but here's the latest chapter (second to the last…I just have the epilogue left) and I hope you enjoy. Btw, in this version, the finale didn't happen so Bonnie is alive and well :)

Beep.

"Where are you, Caroline? Need I remind you it's unsafe for you to be gallivanting around New Orleans. I would appreciate if you walk through the front door in the next ten minutes to explain to me why the hell Katerina Petrova is sitting in my living room looking bored instead of fearing for her life."

Beep.

"Whatever you do…do not kill her. I mean it, Klaus. As much as I also want to rip her hair out, we need her. I'm on my way…just had to pick some things up."

Beep.

"Sweetheart, now is hardly the time for shopping."

Beep.

"Please. I'm not that shallow."

Beep.

"Then what on earth is so important that—."

Klaus wasn't able to finish his message. Caroline walked through the door and stopped about a meter away from Klaus and crossed her arms.

"A Bennett witch, three vampires and a pretty resilient human—that's what I picked up and that's what's so important. A little trust, sweetheart."

Klaus fought a smile as he took a step towards her and raised his hands in surrender. "You can't blame a man for being protective of the woman he's in love with."

"Overprotective." Caroline said as Klaus took a couple more steps until he was just a foot away from her.

"I'm not used to being on the defensive, love." Klaus said, his tone losing its playfulness. "Forgive me?"

Caroline's eyes were still narrowed but she nodded and Klaus closed the distance between them, his arms wrapping around her. She relaxed into him and breathed in.

"Awww, the big bad evil hybrid actually has a heart," Katherine said from her seat, "I think this calls for a round of applause."

Damon rolled his eyes and went directly to the liquor cabinet to pull out the most expensive bottle he could find. "I think this little reunion calls for an explanation other than 'Please leave your lives behind and risk your life for my new boyfriend.' You're lucky there's an incentive for me to be here or I wouldn't save your sorry ass."

"My death means the lot of you will perish as well," Klaus said with a steel edge to his voice, "Of course, I can always kill you now and be done with it. I wouldn't want you worrying that my fate is tied with yours."

"Or I can always find a way to undo that link." Bonnie said glaring at Klaus.

"If you had the power, you would have done it already, witch. By all means, try." Klaus said. "Let's see if that spell doesn't kill you."

"Enough!" Caroline said standing between Klaus and her friends. She turned to Bonnie and Damon. "Can you please dial down the snark and just back off?"

Klaus smirked and Caroline rounded on him. "And you…will you please bring down your walls and let these people help you? You're…we're in some serious trouble, mister. You and I don't get a happily ever after unless you accept that we need them on our side."

Elena stepped forward and looked Caroline in the eyes, "You really love him? Not the hearts, candy and roses kind of love but the it-can-end-tragically-but-it-doesn't-matter kind?"

"Yes." Caroline breathed out.

"You really believe he loves you?" Stefan asked. "That he's truly capable love? That this isn't just a fleeting attraction? You think he can love you for a thousand more years of his existence?"

"I love him and that's enough for me." Caroline answered.

"He killed Tyler's mom, Caroline." Matt said quietly. "Would you put our lives in his hands? After all he's done?"

"Caroline." Klaus said in a low voice. "I only mean to keep you safe and I can do that all on my own, without them—"

"Shut up! Just shut up, Klaus." Caroline said angrily, "That is not an option. Handing you over is never going to be an option. What? Do you think that losing you will not hurt me?"

"I can compel you to forget me, all of this—us." Klaus said.

Caroline slapped him. The sound reverberated through the room, casting it in complete silence.

"You are not dying. Shove your pride in a corner and accept the fact that they are here to help. I don't need a hero, Klaus. I just need you." Caroline turned to address everyone else. "I get it—you guys don't trust him and you don't think he's worth it. But I'm asking you to do this for me."

"He's not just broken, Little Miss Sunshine," Katherine snapped, "He's the very definition of 'beyond fixing'. What good will be saving a murderer if the very next second he will turn around and take away our bright futures when he has no use for us?"

"By that logic, I should snap your neck right now," Rebekah said as she entered the room, followed by Elijah and Sophie.

"Rebekah." Elijah said with warning as he walked over to stand behind Katherine. "Katerina is not an enemy."

"She's a walking doppelganger blood bag." Rebekah said. "And that's about the only thing relevant about her. But I'd watch my back if I were you, Katerina. I just might change my mind about playing nice."

"Careful, careful, Becks," Katherine said, wagging a finger, "Your brother's life hangs in the balance. What's that you keep saying to each other… always and forever? You're going to play whatever game I want you to because I'm your only hope right now and I'm not doing this for free."

"Are we back to that doppelganger blood thing again?" Damon said throwing up his hands in frustration. "Is someone going to actually explain what's about to go down or are we going to trade quips all night until the last minute and I end up having to save all your sorry behinds?"

"Sophie, if you please." Elijah said as he gestured towards the witch who stood by the corner.

"You are extraordinarily lucky, Klaus." Sophie said as she looked at each face in the room. "The witches of New Orleans have been under the control of Marcel for about fifty years now. He managed to blackmail a witch to perform this spell that tied our magic to his life, a form of a sire bond that was passed on to every witch born since then. It's how he knows if we use magic or if we disobey. This was all supposed to change with the child—his child."

"Hold the phone. You're saying the big bad Klaus was a baby daddy?" Damon said incredulously.

"And Hayley was the baby mama." Katherine added with a malevolent smile. "Where is Hayley anyway?"

"Dead." Klaus said flatly. "She's dead. The baby is dead. They're both six feet under, Katerina. It would serve you well to keep your mouth shut tight unless you would like to join them."

Elena cleared her throat, "How was the child supposed to change things?"

"It always goes back to the blood. That child was to have life and the blood of the most powerful Original hybrid—it would have been poison to the spell that tied the witches to Marcel and his darkness. And that is why Marcel made sure it was never born."

"But that's not his endgame." Stefan said. "I take it he's found a way to take things to a doomsday scenario."

Sophie nodded, "He's discovered that he doesn't need the bond. He can take the magic as his own and be the first in a new breed of vampires, a new kind of hybrid if you will. Vampires cannot practice magic but he found a way…and nature will not stand for such an abomination."

"Let me guess, the power from Klaus' blood can be harnessed to at least stop that transition," Bonnie said. "You can't cleanse the bloodline without the child but at least you can keep Marcel from making things any worse."

Sophie revealed a dagger, small with a thin blade, "This will cut any vampire, even an Original, even Klaus and the cut won't heal, allowing the person to bleed out and once the last drop falls the corpse will burn."

"Enlighten me why we can't just kill this guy with that thing?" Damon asked.

"Because you kill all the witches in the same breath," Sophie answered.

"So we give the witches some hybrid blood. Big deal." Damon said but slowed down when he connected the dots, "But let me guess—we don't need some but all of his blood. And Vampire Barbie is very much against that. Is that why human Kat is here? We're gonna make another hybrid and offer it up in place of Klaus? Harsh. But that's still a flawed plan seeing as our little rag tag group here is short of a werewolf and Tyler isn't an option."

"That's why I'm here," Bonnie said standing beside Sophie. "I can use the doppelganger blood to do the same binding done on Klaus before to suppress his werewolf side. We clamp down on Marcel's bond and he won't be able to control you…but it won't be enough to destroy the link completely."

"It's enough for now." Sophie said.

"So we are against draining Klaus of all his blood but we're okay with doing that to li'l ole me? Explain to me why his life is worth more than mine. Bon-bon, are you really capable of taking a human life?"

"I'm going to turn you." Elijah said quietly. "If you truly meant what you said before…that you love me as well. Then take this chance and prove to me you can make this sacrifice. Spend forever with me."

"Now that's a proposal." Damon said with a smirk.

Katherine stared at Elijah, eyes narrowed to slits. She growled and turned to Bonnie, "If you screw this up and I stay dead, I will haunt you until I claw my way back to this world to end you Bonnie Bennett."

"And that brings us to this point." Klaus said. He turned to Caroline, stared into her eyes as he addressed everyone else. "For Caroline's sake, I offer all of you a choice. I will not threaten you or bargain with you. I won't even stop you if the witches find a way to keep you from dying if I do. Whichever way this goes, I will make sure that Marcel does not get any power that will make him a threat to Caroline or anyone else she cares about. So tell me now how we will play this out."

The room was cloaked in silence until Elena stepped forward.

"I'm in." Elena said placing a hand on Caroline's arm. "I don't trust him but I want you to have a chance to see for yourself if this will work out between you."

Bonnie walked over to stand next to Elena. She turned to Klaus, "Break her heart and I will not stop until you're safely tucked away in the other side with no way of coming back."

"This is crazy." Matt said with a sigh. "But I'm in. I don't think he's good for you, Caroline, but if this is what you want… I'm here. I've got your back."

Klaus turned to Stefan and raised his eyebrows. Stefan merely shrugged then nodded.

"So where is this Marcel's evil lair and let's get this done with." Damon said rubbing his hands together.


"Can someone explain to me why all of these rituals happen in the woods or some cemetery? Why can't it be in the middle of a street or a hotel lobby?" Damon whispered in a low voice to Elena as the stared at the scene before them—Marcel in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by about a dozen vampires and witches, closed in by a ring of fire.

"For once can you just stop being a smart ass?" Caroline hissed.

"I will…if you can stop being a bossy, control freak." Damon shot back, earning him a glare from Elena.

"Hush. All of you." Rebekah said moving to crouch at the front line, blocking Matt from view. "Marcel is a vampire. Meaning he can hear you."

"And heard you he has," Marcel called out. "I've been expecting you, Niklaus. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist. I invite you to watch firsthand what your old student surpass your greatness. Come out here. You all deserve a front-row seat to history."

Klaus straightened up, jaw set, eyes blazing with fury as he walked out calmly into view. Caroline followed suit and stood shoulder to shoulder with him. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, trying to tell her that she could still walk away. But Caroline shook her head almost imperceptibly.

Klaus sighed, "In case I don't get a chance to tell you when this is over...I've never seen you as beautiful as you are now."

"Focus." Caroline hissed and pointed him forward.

"Very touching." Marcel said with a hollow laugh. "How the mighty has fallen…at the feet of an ordinary woman. Boy, you are whipped. If I had known your weakness for blondes, I would have paraded them in front of you until you became my willing slave. Is that why you have a soft spot for that brave bartender? What was her name? Didn't you used to whisper it when you were drunk?"

Caroline's eyebrows shot up, "You mean Camille? She's nice. A little bit weird but I get her. You're going to have to do better than that, Marcel. I don't scare easy. And I don't get jealous."

The corner of Klaus' lips turned up. "I wouldn't push her, mate…just a piece of advice, for old times' sake."

Stefan and Elijah stood a few steps away, each of them counting the vampires in the clearing. Nothing they couldn't handle. They exchanged a look and silently divided the task amongst them. Damon and Elena stood side-by-side, making sure they shielded Rebekah who kept watch over the humans.

Marcel caught sight of them and chuckled to himself. "Making friends, Klaus? Are they compelled? Fed them your usual lies? Or is it the classic one where you threatened their loved ones? I mean how else would you convince anyone to fight for you."

"You're talking a whole lot more than you should for a man who has already won. Gloating too soon or are you buying time, Marcel? Stop this now and I'll give you a head start before I hunt you down."

"Arrogant even in the face of defeat." Marcel said mockingly. "I am King! You are in my world. Watch my greatness unfold."

With that Marcel spread his arms and faced the full moon above. Beams of light shot from his fingers as the witches around him slumped forward, each one guarded by a vampire.

"Bonnie? Sophie?" Caroline said as she stepped. "You about ready?"

Bonnie and Sophie moved to clasp their hands around Katherine but Marcel turned to them, his eyes pure black, and pointed a finger towards them. "Get the doppelganger."

Elijah moved to shield Katherine and the witches but the beam of light that emanated from Marcel hit him squarely in the chest and he dropped to the ground, writhing in pain. A vampire came from nowhere and grabbed Katherine and snapped her neck as Marcel targeted each of the vampires with his emerging powers.

Caroline watched in horror as the fight broke out, her world slowing down as she watched her last hope lifeless on the ground as her friends fought off the pain. Klaus pulled her roughly to him, placing both hands on her face and kissing her hard, as if it were the last, putting every emotion into that brief moment.

He pulled away, "Time for Plan B, love."

In a flash, Klaus had grabbed Bonnie and was in the middle of the clearing with Marcel.

"Shouldn't be too hard to kill me. You've wanted this for so long so I say make this count, Bonnie." Klaus said with a maniacal grin as he pulled out the dagger and sliced his wrists. "Make sure this bastard doesn't come near her. Ever."

Bonnie nodded and grabbed his bleeding wrist in one hand and Marcel with the other.

Caroline screamed as she watched Klaus fall to his knees beside Bonnie. Marcel's light flickered as he tried to wrench free of Bonnie's grip, howling as he did.

"Get her!" Marcel growled but Bonnie was quick, she had put a shield around them that his minions could not go through.

Caroline rushed forward and tried to reach through to Klaus but it was as if she hit a wall. Somewhere in the distance she heard the fighting, her friends working their way through Marcel's lackeys. She heard Damon snap someone's neck, Elena break the arm of another vampire and even Matt's hiss of pain as one vampire tried to drink from him.

Klaus' eyes opened briefly and they locked with Caroline's. He mouthed two words and Caroline's heart shattered— I'm sorry.

"Do I have to do everything around here?"

Caroline turned to see Katherine fighting her way to them, one hand battling vampires and the other firmly gripped on Sophie.

"Show me what you've got witch." Katherine said in a low voice. "Give me something to work with."

Sophie started chanting and a small tear appeared in the shield around the three.

Katherine turned to Caroline, "Are you absolutely sure you can control Klaus? Get him to stop hunting me down. Let me be with Elijah."

Caroline nodded without hesitation.

Katherine's face split into a malicious smile, "Then I'm looking forward to being your sister-in-law."

Katherine picked up a rock and hurled it towards Bonnie, hitting her and breaking her concentration to cut off the spell. In a second, the entire shield dropped and Marcel broke free of Bonnie. He was weak as he crawled on the ground, stopping when he got to Katherine's feet.

Katherine picked up the dagger and kept her eyes on Marcel as she spoke to Sophie. "Hey, witch, say your goodbyes to your friends quickly because I gotta do what I gotta do. Three, two…one."

Katherine reached down and slit Marcel's throat then reached into his chest to pull out his heart, stabbing it with the dagger then throwing it to the side. Seven witches fell forward, lifeless with eyes wide open. Sophie was the eighth.

Caroline watched it in horror but a moan of pain broke her trance. Before she could register what was happening, Klaus fell into her arms, barely conscious and paler than she had ever seen him. He was still bleeding.

"No, no, no, no, no." Caroline said over and over as she tried to hold her hands over his wrists, trying to stop the flow.

Klaus tried to smile but he didn't have much strength in him, somehow dying much faster than a human would.

"Car…Caroline." Klaus rasped out.

"No, don't speak." Caroline said as tears streamed down her face. "Just hold on, okay? We just need to get Bonnie to wake up and she will fix this. She has to fix this. Oh God, she has to. You can't…I can't…lose you."

"Caroline." Klaus said gasping. "I don't want to say goodbye."

'Then don't." Caroline said firmly, her hands wound tight around his wrists as he lay on her lap. "I don't ever want to hear those words from you."

Klaus nodded, his eyes fluttering until they closed. "I won't. I won't say them."

"Please stay awake." Caroline pleaded. "Come on…I'll tell you a story. Just stay with me. Try. Please?"

Klaus whispered weakly but kept his eyes closed, "Okay."

"See there was this girl…uh…Cara…yes, that's her name." Caroline said cradling him.

"Not Caroline?" Klaus said trying to smile but blood simply trickled down the side of his lips.

"No, no, this is just a story." Caroline said wiping away the blood from his face, "See Cara had a pretty perfect life. She was practically a modern princess. She had a good boyfriend, loyal friends and a whole future ahead of her. But trouble followed her around and guess who walked into her life."

"I don't know." Klaus said faintly.

"William," Caroline said pulling him up a bit against her chest, whispering the rest of the story to him, "Remember him? See, he was heartbroken after Rosaline died so he focused on being powerful and closed himself off. Somehow it led him to Cara's world. He was everything she hated. He was selfish and arrogant, not to mention manipulative. William did everything wrong. Cara wanted him out of her life. She wanted him gone."

Caroline traced his face and placed a kiss on his forehead, feeling his undead life slip slowly from him, "But one day, she got into trouble—William had something to do with it actually. And he was the one who saved her. He told her things she always kept at the back of her mind. He pushed her to realize something—that she was made for something more than to be a small town girl, living a small town life. He kept saving her over and over, putting her life in danger just as many times. William was the one person who kept pushing her to learn things about herself that she never would have even bothered to try and understand."

"Klaus?" Caroline said, "Are you still with me?"

"Barely," he answered weakly, his voice more broken than his body, "but I'll listen on…I want to hear how this ends"

"Cara went away. She couldn't get past his sins and it was easier to walk away than try and forgive him. She thought she'd somehow forget William and the insanity he brought to her life. She thought she wanted the stable kind of love and not the crazy, lives ruined, epic kind of love. She wanted an easy life. But you know what? It was harder without him."

She pressed her face to the top of his head as she held him, "So she went to him. They were happy for a day. But then it all came crashing down. William…she realized it too late that he was always her hero. He saved her again but this time…Cara realized he might not make it. She's so scared, Klaus. She doesn't know how it's going to end. She loves him and she's losing him. I don't want to say goodbye either. But you're slipping away."

"I'm sorry…I owe you a happy ending but…William…doesn't look like he's getting one." Klaus said, his voice already so faint. "For what it's worth, he did fall in love again…Caroline…I love you."

And then he fell completely silent. Caroline sobbed over his body, shaking as she held him. She felt all her friends watching her but she didn't care. Nothing mattered.

She felt a hand on her shoulder trying to guide her away but she refused to let go.

"Let me help, Caroline." Bonnie said softly. "Please. Give him to me. Before it's too late. You'll all die if he does."

Caroline turned around, "Don't let him die. Please, Bonnie. Don't let him. He's not so bad. I…he can…he can be good. Please."

"Okay. Okay." Bonnie said as she slowly pried Caroline's fingers away.

"I love him, Bonnie." Caroline said tearfully.

Bonnie placed her hands over Klaus' wounds. She closed her eyes and started the spell. Her eyes flew open after a few minutes, "Caroline. He's no responding. I'm going to try something but…I need to be sure…do you really love him? Enough to spend an eternity with him?"

Caroline nodded through her tears.

"Then I'm going to tie his life to yours. It's the only way to save him now."

Bonnie held Caroline's hand and placed it over Klaus'. Caroline watched but nothing was happening.

"It's done."

"But he's not moving. Bonnie…he's not moving." Caroline said once again pulling the body to him.

"Wake up." Caroline whispered, "Wake up. I'm not redecorating that house alone. I could but who will argue with me? I'm right here, Klaus. Didn't you say that if I let you… you're going to show me your favorite places in the world? I'm holding you to that. Wake up, dammit!"

Caroline gasped when his hand flipped over hers and gripped it tight. Klaus opened his eyes and blinked up at Caroline, his eyes focusing on hers slowly.

"You don't give up do you?" Klaus said in a low voice.

"No," Caroline said with a small laugh, her eyes still sparkling with tears.

"I don't deserve you." Klaus said with a smile as he slowly sat up, ignoring everyone around them.

"Yes. I'm too good for you," Caroline said deadpan as he pulled her into an embrace, "But I love you and you're stuck with me so you're going to have to deal. You're not going anywhere."

Klaus smiled and kissed the side of her head, "As you wish."

Damon looked around and whispered loudly, "Katherine, I think that's your cue to start that round of applause."