"C'mon dad," the not-so-little-anymore blonde fifteen year old tossed a yellow throw pillow at her father, "You said one day you'd tell me the story and here we are, 10 years later."
"Maybe we should wait a bit longer until you're a little older, sweetheart." The glare she threw at him brought him back all those years ago when her mother was fed up with his lack of modesty and overly confident stature. "Alright, alright. Just stop with the face. You eerily look a lot like your mother."
She squealed, picking herself up from the center of her bed, she crawling towards the headboard and made room for her father. The sight of him leaned against her many pink and blue throw pillows and stuffed animals made her wish she had her mother's camera.
"So where do we start?"
"Mom said it started off the coast of Panama."
"I'm sorry, I believe I was telling this story?"
She shrunk into her pillows, "Sorry," she muttered, pulling a blanket up to her chin, "continue."
With a roll of his eyes, he settled back into the clutter of pillows, "As I was saying," his daughter's big, cornflower blue eyes gazed up at him. The sight clutched at his heart, his little girl was so grown, it made him wish she stayed five years old forever, asking numerous questions and getting into endless trouble with her little "adventures". He cleared his throat, "So, back to the coast of Panama…"
Klaus brought a crowbar to the coffin, Sir Francis Drake's coffin to be exact, prying the box open, "Are you sure you want to be defiling your ancestor's remains like that?" Caroline said warily as she lowered her camera.
Klaus chuckled as he wiped the sweat and seawater off his brow, "There's not much to defile," she raised her camera into view as he made one last push until the lid on the coffin made a loud thud, the vibration echoing off the boat, only to reveal an empty coffin with a small, rusted iron box at the bottom, "if the coffin is empty. Am I right, love?"
"What the hell?" she approached Klaus as he picked up the box and opened it to reveal a small notebook, "What's in there?"
Klaus brought his hand over the lense of her camera, "Sorry, sweetheart. The deal was to see the coffin."
"Seriously? You're gonna pull specifics?" She lowered her camera again and jabbed at his chest, which was clad in his wetsuit, "If it weren't for my show funding your little expedition, you wouldn't have even found this coffin on your own!"
"Hey," he took a hold of her hand, "easy, love."
She pulled her hand away from his grasp and glared at him, "It's Caroline. Not love, sweetheart, or any other pet names you have in mind."
"My apologies, Caroline," the way his tongue curled around every syllable of her name made her shiver, "but you've got what you wanted."
"Look here, Mr. Distant relative of Francis Drake," he raised a brow at her, "we had a deal, a contract was signed! I have a right to film-"
A gunshot pierced through the air and a bullet ricochets off the coffin the two were standing near. Klaus pulls Caroline behind a crate and grabs a walkie talkie from atop the crate, "Looks like we're gonna need that getaway, Alaric."
Caroline looked at Klaus, dumbfounded as he spoke into the walkie, "What the hell is going on?" He pulled out a case from an unknown place to Caroline, which made her uneasy, "Hello? Did you not hear me?"
He sighed, "Of course I heard you." he opened the case to reveal two identical handguns, "Let's just go with the short version. Those guys are like modern day pirates, leave no prisoner alive kind of thing and-"
"Wait, wait, you don't expect me to believe this, do you?"
Another gunshot fires and Caroline's actually starting to believe that this man has had his run ins with the wrong side of the law, "Would you like me to sugarcoat the situation for you, sweetheart?" He loaded up one of the handguns and held it out for her to grab, "You can handle one of these right?"
Caroline stares at the object in his hand, wary of her next decision as she snatches the gun out of his hand, "My mother is a small town sheriff and proud gun owner. What's your guess?" She swiftly pulls the slide back and in goes the round into the chamber.
Klaus stares at her in awe, "There is absolutely nothing more attractive than a woman that can handle a gun."
She rolls her eyes, "To be fair, my mother practically forced one in my hands on my sixteenth birthday, telling me it was for self defense."
"Smart woman." Another shot fires and Klaus readies himself for a standoff, "Glad there's no fear of you shooting my foot."
Caroline ignores his sarcasm and spots a couple boats in the distance, "So what's the plan, then?"
"We hold off until Alaric gets here."
"And until then?"
"We have a little fun. Get ready for the time of your life, love."
"So we're only a hop and a skip away-"
"From finding El Dorado." Klaus flipped the notebook shut, "Ric, we're so close. We're literally on Drake's heels and nothing's stopping us from finally reaching that finish line."
"Except for one small problem…" Alaric gestures to an overly excited Caroline, who's talking animatedly on her cell phone.
Klaus turned towards the blonde, he wouldn't lie if he was to say that some less than pure thoughts have crossed his mind with this magnificent woman as the starring feature. But something inside him knew that even if he was able to charm her into his bed, it wouldn't be just a one time thing. She was something else, "You should've seen her, Ric. She can really hold her own out there."
"That may be, but are you willing to let this," he gestured to the notebook, "get out to public consumption and we lose it all? I'm not planning on letting the world know that the lost City of Gold is really out there." Alaric notices how his eyes linger on the blonde, "Hey," Klaus' head snaps back in his direction, "Either we cut her loose, or we lose."
Klaus let's his head hang as he grips tightly onto the wooden table in Ric's boat, "You're starting to sound like the little devil on my shoulder."
Alaric makes his way to the head of the boat, ready to take off, "You'll thank me once we've found El Dorado."
Klaus booked it after the explosion. So many things ran through his mind as he made his escape. After finding out they were no longer looking for a lost city, but a golden statue, things started to get interesting. Finding a German U-boat in the middle of the jungle with further direction to El Dorado was a surprising twist. Being ambushed by an old "friend" of Alaric's was another surprising turn of events. But Ric's death wasn't supposed to be another twist.
With that diversion, Klaus did what he does best. Run. As the chaos seemed like it thinned down, another unexpected guest made it's way into the jungle.
"What the hell?!" he looked up at a seemingly pissed of blonde, who had just sucker punched him.
"That's for leaving me behind like a couple of goons!"
Klaus rubbed at his aching jaw, "You really shouldn't have come here."
Caroline scoffed, "Why? So you two crooks can continue your sketchy endeavors?"
He dropped to the floor, leaned against a large boulder, "It's just this one crook now. Ric's dead."
Caroline's anger left as fast as it came, she slid to the floor right next to him and listened to his run down of what has happened since they left her on that dock. "Alright, I've heard enough," Klaus' eyes followed her as she stood up, "Come on. You're no use if you're just sitting there, wallowing in your self pity."
"And what exactly am I going to be of use to?"
"You and Alaric were trying to find El Dorado, right? Now get off your ass and let's get to searching."
She started walking off, determinedly, "Just like that?" He stood up, "I just lost my partner in crime."
"And now you've got a new one." Caroline turned to face him, "Look, I'm no professional, and I know I can't replace Alaric, but you two set out to find this hunk of rock and I'll be damned if you just let his death be for nothing. Besides," she pulled out his handgun from earlier and tossed it in his direction, "You owe me for leaving me on that dock."
Things have gotten a bit rocky since they left the Amazon. Jumping out of a plane wasn't on Caroline's bucket list. She didn't consider herself that adventurous. Or not until she met Klaus.
After rummaging through the wreckage of their little freefall, Klaus was able to pick up Caroline's trail from where she had jumped. He only hoped that she didn't run into too much trouble. But over the years, he found that to be completely opposite of what she was capable of.
Once Klaus finally set eyes on the fierce little blonde, he found her running around old ruins of what appeared to be a fort, capturing all that she could on her camera. He only hoped she didn't run aimlessly into any traps as she enjoyed the scenery.
As he reached a tower on the other end of the large property, he stood before a vast body of water with quite the shipwreck. And of course, not too far way, was Caroline with her camera. How was he supposed to get her attention without drawing too much attention? Searching around for something that could capture her attention, he failed to notice the approaching figure behind him.
All that came after that was darkness.
Klaus groaned as a small rock hit his backside, stretching his locked limbs on the cold, concrete floor. His eyes cracked open, taking in his new surroundings. Behind bars again. He needed to stop making this a habit.
"Well, hello there sleeping beauty."
He turned his head towards the window, squinting at the bright light from midday. He noticed the golden halo of hair, now pulled back in a tight, now slightly messy, ponytail, her cornflower blue eyes looking down at him, dancing with mirth, "Caroline?" He moved himself in an upright position, "Where the bloody hell have you been?"
"As of now? Saving your ass." Klaus scoffed at her as she came out of view, hearing her receding footsteps. As he pushed himself off the dust-infested floor, Caroline appeared again, but this time, with the winch off of, what is most likely, a stolen jeep.
"What are you-"
As Caroline disappeared again, it only took a couple seconds until a good chunk of the wall came flying off the foundation and onto the small courtyard where the stolen jeep and Caroline stood. "You mind getting your ass in the car?" Shouting was heard in the distance, "If it isn't obvious enough, we're running low on time."
"Do I want to even ask?" Klaus shouted over the sound of gunfire as he climbed into the jeep and Caroline sped off.
"Nope!" She beamed.
As the two went on to continue to find the lost treasure, they ran into many more hitches along the way. Driving off cliffs to keep themselves from a bunch of mad men with oversized toys, more goons getting their own shots in. The biggest surprise of all? Seeing Alaric very much alive and kicking. Who knew Drake's diary would be one to take a bullet for someone?
Caroline went through a little loss of her own as she had to discard her camera just to keep her and Klaus alive. (She may or may not still hold a tiny grudge against him to this very day. And boy, will he never live it down.)
After reuniting with Alaric, nothing else changed. More run ins with said goons from earlier and the race for El Dorado still continued. With Ric detouring the goons holding him as a puzzle piece, the trio were back on the trail and this time, they were reaching that finish line.
All detours, gunmen, and strange zombie-like creatures aside, the trek to finding the gold of El Dorado turned into a mission to keeping an unbelievably large (not to forget, cursed) statue of gold from leaving the island. Anyone to open the statue would be inflicted with its virus and turned into those monsters they've encountered.
With the statue now at the bottom of the ocean, every trace of El Dorado and the death it's caused are all behind them, but still plagues their memories.
"So now what's Mr. Distant relative of Francis Drake?"
Klaus chuckled, "Sarcasm noted." The two stood at the stern of the boat, watching the sunset reflect its beautiful shades of orange on the ocean, "The whole things going back to normal cliche just doesn't cut after all this, does it?"
"Not even the slightest." She sighed, finally getting that long awaited breather.
Klaus looked over her peaceful features, her eyes locked onto the ripples in the still water, the warm glow of the sunset teasing her fair skin, "Sorry you didn't get your story, love."
She casted a gentle gaze his way, their eyes meeting, finally being able to really see each other without consistent madness and fear following them, "There will be others." For the first time since they met, Klaus got to see a genuine smile on her face, "You still owe me one."
"I am a man of my word, and let's just say, you'll be thoroughly pleased." He teased with a wink.
"Wait, that's it?! What about the sappy moment you realized you were in love with mom?"
"Well sweetheart, you asked for how we met." Klaus sat up from his resting position.
"Yeah, but-"
A voice interrupted all train of thought and brought their eyes to the doorway, where Caroline stood with her arms crossed over her chest, "Adalene Mikaelson, you're still awake?"
"Well, dad isn't the best storyteller so I would put the blame on him if I were you." Klaus' head snapped in her direction, his daughter giving him the mockingly innocent puppy dog eyes.
He slumped his shoulders in defeat, "I suppose I trailed off time to time…" shooting his daughter a teasing glare as he stood from the bed.
Caroline chuckled, she didn't know whether to be proud that her daughter took after her, being able to play off her father's soft side, or offended that she was actually stealing her techniques, "Either way, it's late. You both know better."
Adalene shrunk back under her duvet, "I know, I know," her curly blonde locks in a messy array on her pillows, "And mom?" Caroline gently pushing Klaus out the room, she turned towards her little teenager, "Can I get the story of how you guys fell in love from you?"
"I think your hopeless dad covered that story already." Giving her a wink before gently shutting the door behind her.
So how'd I do?! This was my drabble for the Klaroline Vacation Gift Exchange and I had so much fun writing it! This was heavily inspired my the Uncharted Series. If you haven't played it, I strongly suggest that you do! One of the funnest, enjoyable, challenging and funniest games ever! The characters are amazing and the story is such a joy that you just jump right into it! Well, if you enjoyed it or have any constructive criticism, please review! Any other questions, or prompts you'd like to see me write, or you just wanna talk, shoot me a message on tumblr to klarolunatic! 3
- Serena xo
