Unbeta'd territory. Anyhoo, just like to say that this story is of the same universe as Story 4 (Falling) in this drabble series and it slightly follows the 4x10 canon.

FLUFF AND ANGST IN A BUNDLE

FATED

Each with their own supernatural ammunitions, and noble and/or not-so-noble causes, never before did the gang of Mystic Falls became so divided as the quest for the cure finally turns to a full-on race.

Leading the hunt is the "team" (for a lack of better term) that could rival the holy trinity of Mystic Falls except that there are four of them—Klaus, Damon, Matt and the newest hunter Jeremy whose tattoo maps the trail to find the cure. All of them are keen on making the doppelganger turned vampire, Elena, human again. For different reasons, of course.

Likewise, different reasons have also led the team up of the ex lovers from once upon a time. But more than just finding the cure, it is the hatred of their very own brothers that fueled the mysterious (but sexy) pairing of Stefan and Rebekah.

Professor Shane, on the other hand, is on a league of his own. Like abso-freakin-lutely. Because he's not actually aiming for the cure. He's aiming to free the oldest immortal who had walked this world, and who would soon bring "hell on earth" as a petrified Kol puts it. Yeah, no one's rooting for this guy.

And since her boyfriend is still grieving and her best friend/mentor has again walked on the dark side (with evil blood slut this time), Caroline finds herself working to find the cure with Bonnie who had long quit helping Professor McCreepy after she learned of his motives. The Bennett witch is currently experimenting with her new stone necklace juju and, well, Caroline again ends up serving herself as a guinea pig to another one of her friend's time travel spells.

First order of business as she felt her feet land on a level ground (not some body of water this time) is to check her clothing. She's definitely going to give Bonnie hell if she sends her again anywhere butt naked. Wrapping her arms around herself at once, she feels the fabric of her tank top against her skin and her lips twists into wide grin. God bless clothes.

Second order of business is to check if she arrived in the right place but a quick survey of her surroundings—tall trees as far as the eyes can see—tells her that this is definitely not Italy. Or at least she thinks it isn't. What does 12th century Italy even looks like? Walking around, she tries to look for some sort of building or anything that has a semblance of medieval-ness in them, but come across nil. Worse, no signs of civilization at all but the vast labyrinthine forest.

Okay so spying on five very alive and not to mention very lethal vampire hunters on the loose in this time might be the stupidest plan ever but Bonnie promised no one can touch her. Yeah, no one can touch her alright because right now she's freakin lost in a jungle. Ugh. Her life.

"Damn you, Bonnie Bennett." Caroline hisses under her breath when, all of a sudden, an arrow comes flying out of nowhere and shoots past her almost grazing her cheek. Her mind is going for a hundred miles per hour, as she stands frozen in utter fear until she hears a rustle from behind her. The blonde vampire crouches to a fighting stance in an instant, ready to jump on anytime to her attacker, when a boy emerges from the shrubbery. He stares at her with his curious blue eyes and Caroline hastily straightens herself on her feet.

"Buon giorno...?" She tries to say after a beat. And yep that's about the only Italian that she knows.

The boy looks about five or six years old as she guesstimates and she's pretty sure he can talk right now if he understood her. But the boy doesn't respond so Caroline switches her game.

"Hello." She tests unsurely and as soon as she uttered it, the most adorable dimpled smile graces the boy's face. Caroline mentally squeals, wanting nothing more but to pinch his chubby cheeks. There's something about his prominent dimples, his cute face perfectly framed by his dark blonde curls, that feels so endearing and also, vaguely familiar...

Oh, no.

No fucking way.

"Niklaus!" A voice bellows from somewhere around them and the boy bobs his head hearing his name thus confirming Caroline's greatest fears.

This boy. This cute and huggable and innocent-looking pint-size human being is the very same guy who tried to kill her and everyone else she cares about.

She has half the mind to slap herself out of total disbelief.

"Niklaus!" The voice calls again and this time Caroline almost faints, like she literally feels her knees go jelly because a younger version of Mikael—yes, creepy papa original in the flesh—comes stomping toward little Klaus.

"I told you not to run." Mikael barks and for a while she thought he's going to lash out on the boy when he drops on one knee and yanks the child's arm. Holding it close to his eyes, he turns the limb with the gentlest of hands and Caroline then realizes that he is inspecting the boy for injuries.

"You're mother's going to be mad if you had another scratch on you." says Mikael with a fatherly humor that makes Caroline cringe and go 'aww' at the same time. Her perception of both of them is so messed up right now.

The father has not noticed her presence yet but her plans to sneak out as quietly as she could has been thwarted by little Klaus who raises a hand to point towards her.

"Ah, she's leaving." He murmurs and Caroline swears the boy smirked—smirked—at her.

"What are you doing here, miss?" Mikael then inquires, eyeing her and her strange clothing with intense scrutiny. "We were hunting. We could have hit you."

"No, I'm fine."

"Are you alone?"

"Yes."

"Are you lost?"

"No."

"Do you need help?"

"No."

Obviously not amused of her monosyllabic answers, Mikael frowns. And by the protective stance he takes before his son, she's pretty sure the father thinks she's a downright weirdo.

Ugh, too bad compulsion is not an option.

"It will be dark soon. It's not safe to be here."

"Exactly." She replies with her biggest cheerleader smile. "Which is why... I have to go now."

"The next village is a week's worth of journey from here."

Caroline nods her head. "I can manage. You guys should head home too."

Before he can argue further, she turns her back and walks away. She perks up her hearing, listening for any signs of them leaving so she can already vamp speed her away out of there.

"Is the pretty lady a Vanir?" She hears the son's query.

What the hell is a Vanir? She mentally asks but all the while ignoring the fact that he called her 'pretty'. No she wouldn't blush over a comment of child. Of a child Klaus, no less.

Peeking over and shoulder, she sees them walking away with the father carrying his son on a piggy back. The sight doesn't fail to tug a few strings in her heart for she knows this wouldn't last.

"Why?" Mikael then questions and she doesn't miss the utter mirth in little Klaus' voice when he answers.

"Because she appeared out of thin air."

Mikael gulps nervously but before he could turn to look back at the girl, Caroline flashes away, leaving the trees rustling with the wind behind her trail.

Three hours later, the blonde vampire is back at her own house, soaking in the tub in peace.

Tired doesn't even cover half of what she's feeling right now.

Resurfacing to the present time in a highway outside Mystic Falls, she was forced to walk her way back to town and then to her witchy friend's house. That is after she had already done almost two hours of aimless trudging and trekking amid the forest in the past as she waited for the spell to send her back.

Bonnie apologized to her like crazy and, as if to make up, promised to do someday that hair color spell she has always wanted to try.

Anyway, Caroline recounted meeting mini Klaus and a very paternal Mikael in vivid details and well, Bonnie was weirded out. Yes, weirded out is a legit reaction but somehow she expects her friend to feel... moved, in a way. Just as how she felt then.

After all, there is possibility that Caroline herself is the only undead individual (aside from the rest of the original family) who could say that she witnessed such a poignant scene between the two of them. The present world only knew of the spiteful patriarch of the Original bloodline and the bloodthirsty bastard son yet there was a time, even though it has long been forgotten, that Mikael and Klaus were just simply father and child.

Somehow, it's a bittersweet thing how one could never relive those times again. How they will only remain as memories tucked away in the recesses of the mind and will cease to exist along with death.

Sighing, she shakes herself out of reverie and focuses on the matter at hand. The Bennett witch seems to think that she has some weird transcendental affinity with the hybrid that's why, when touched by magic, the blonde vampire always finds a way toward him. Great.

Not only does it seem that fate is not on her side, but it's like it's actually telling her to fuck off.

"Of course." she groans in frustration when she emerges out of the bath. There on her tiny bed lounges the Original hybrid himself, cocky grin plastered on his face. Of course, he'll show up at the worst possible timing.

"Hello, love." He murmurs, taking up her appearance with his eyes. She has her fluffy bathrobe on but her skin is still lusciously moist as her curls and he cannot help himself.

"Skip with the foreplay, Klaus. Why are you here?"

The smirk falls off his face.

"I don't appreciate you and the Bennett witch dabbling again on time travel magic, putting your noses where they don't belong." He tells her and she hears everything he doesn't say: he already got the memory of her in the past.

"We're looking for the cure." Caroline replies nonchalantly as she sits on her dresser. As much as possible, she is keen to sidestep the issue of their, uhm, encounter. "And since the cure concerns the whole of the vampire race, I'll say our noses are pretty much on the right place."

She sees the hybrid's face darken at her answer. He then pushes himself to stand on the side of the bed and crosses his arms.

"We both know I'm not talking about the cure, sweetheart."

She sighs. She's not really in the mood for this right now.

"Well, I don't remember you having a problem when I time travelled the first time."

Klaus narrows his eyes. "That's different."

"Is it because I saw you with your father?"

In a flash, she finds herself pushed back against the wall, Klaus pinning her with a forearm on the throat.

"What the hell, Klaus?" She croaks indignantly and a low growl comes out of his lips in response.

"What you saw there means nothing." He then hisses, acid dripping in his voice.

"It's not 'nothing'. It was real. I saw you. You're human and-"

"And what, Caroline? What was I as a puny human?" He questions as his hold of her tightens. "Don't think for even one second that you are free to form these opinions about me just because you happen to catch a mere glimpse of my past."

The pool of his eyes glow gold and green and veins start to protrude on his skin but she boldly raises her chin, ignoring the fear creeping underneath her skin.

"I don't really understand what's with all of this rage but if it makes you feel any better, compel me." Meeting his eyes with willful defiance, she continues. "If you think erasing the memory will undo the truth then by all means do it. Make me forget the sliver of humanity that I saw in you. Because you always seem to know when to push people away once anyone gets too close in trying to understand you and, you know what? Maybe someday no one would bother to try at all."

Her words leave him in a stunned silence and she could see the fury crossing in features. He could kill her so easily right now and she truly believes that he would. But then he pulls back. He withdraws his forearm only to lean a hand on the wall beside her head. The veins and his hybrid eyes disappear and he stares down at her with his piercing blue ones.

"Pull another trick like that again behind my back and I swear you'll not live for another day." He breathes grimly. "Both of you."

If there's one thing Caroline learned from that vengeful wench who turned her, it is to always wear your bitch face. Always.

Maintaining eye contact she leans forward until they are almost nose-to-nose. He stiffens at once and her lips quirk into as smile as she whispers. "Game on."

Breath mingling and lips touching but not quite, they stay like that for a while until he pulls away wordlessly and heads to the window to leave.

"What the hell is a Vanir?" She asks after him but he just stares at her for moment, a smirk as playful as the one he wore as a child graces his face, and then he's gone.

Caroline rolls her eyes and yells. "Ugh, whatever! I can google!"

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A/N: Vanir - collective term for old norse deities

UGH. RANDOMNESS ALL OVER.

Thanks for reading, btw! And I would just also like to thank those who have read my Klefaroline fic, Almost.

One word for all this spin-off/possible ending of all Klaroline, Klefan and Klefaroline goodness/Hayley or some Camille person being Tatia 2.0 between Elijah and Klaus drama: UNFAIR

(edited for some corrections)