Drabble #10

For the KC AU WEEK (#KlarolineAUweek)

Title: Rogue Assassin

Rating: T

Warnings: References of murder and torture but nothing direct.

Status: Complete.

Summary: He had chased her to the far ends of the world and back and now he finally caught up with her. Klaus wanted her back but Caroline's heart could no longer bear the weight of all the blood they had shed. From the moment she ran she knew that war was coming; so she whispered the words on his lips first. Game on.[Assassin's Trope _ AU/AH _ Loosely inspired by Arrow]

Many thanks to Anastasia Dreams for helping me edit this drabble.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

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Hope you got your things together.
Hope you are quite prepared to die.

I see the bad moon arising.
I see trouble on the way.

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The old café in the middle of the small town was buzzing with noise. Caroline usually loved the warm rustic atmosphere and the bright colors but there was nothing warm to surround her now. The air had turned cold as she sat against Klaus who was looking at everything around him with distaste.

Of course. The Prince of the Order, the high and mighty Hybrid considered places like this to be beneath him. He preferred luxury and the best life had to offer. And if life was not offering, he would take whatever he wanted anyway.

She managed to dodge him for almost two years and she had found refuge in a small town in Spain. She didn't know Spanish before coming here but after a few months she had learned how to communicate and slowly she made friends and a home. She was reluctant to create ties with people at first but then she realized that she didn't leave the order to bury herself in misery and solidarity. She wanted a normal life. She knew she could not return back to her old home in the US and Klaus would of course search the countries he knew she could easily survive in first. He was aware she knew Latin, French, Russian, Arabic and Chinese and of course having English as her maternal language meant that she had a lot of ground to find refuge in. He also knew that she surely had a back up plan in order to go underground and create a new identity and this was why Caroline chose to go to different places all together and not use any of her old contingency plans.

She started with Japan and didn't stop. She went to Korea, Baghdad and Nepal Klaus almost caught her in Cambodia so she fled to Egypt and from there to Greece. She went to Northern Europe later on and she didn't stop until she was sure that her trail had gone cold. After Germany she finally reached Spain. And then even though logic dictated to keep moving she decided to finally stop. She changed her name and her style and settled for a small apartment.

However Klaus was an excellent tracker. It was expected that sooner or later he would find her.

The moment he stepped into town she felt his presence. The shivers that went down her spine and the goosebumps that covered her whole body were enough of a sign to let her know that Klaus was close. She always could sense his presence. Her first instinct was to run but Klaus loved the hunt and she realized that she didn't want to give him the pleasure. Most of all she didn't want to allow him and the Order to take away from her the chance to finally settle down and have a normal life.

If they wanted her dead, then so be it. Let them come.

And so Klaus came. No others followed so far. Klaus started stalking her and the real game of cat and mouse began. Until he finally came at her doorstep demanding an audience.

Caroline was ready to fight and die fighting if she had to but Klaus claimed he didn't want to kill her for her betrayal. He only wanted her back.

For he was not only her mentor but also her lover. And yet she would rather die than go back. Because no matter how much her body longed for his touch, being with Klaus meant dancing with death and destruction and her soul could not bear it anymore.

They had now reached an impasse. Klaus wanted her to come back to him and by extension to the Order and the only thing she wanted was to cut ties. For good. She asked him to go away and pretend he never found her, but of course, Klaus was not going to give her that respite. If anything he made it clear that if there was one person inside the organization that wanted to restore her back to their leagues it was him.

Caroline had agreed to meet him in the café today. She already knew his tactics and his stalling methods and she understood that her time was up. Klaus was going to strike. If not her then the people she had grown to care for. Her neighbors and friends. Her coworkers. He would call them collateral damage. And he would push until she would be unable to pull anymore.

Right now both of them had made sure to case their surroundings. Caroline had installed cameras and hidden weapons to several places inside the town including this café. Some of them Klaus had surely found and disabled. She was sure that Klaus had also taken his own precautions. She could already tell he was carrying a blade at his side and more in his boots. He also carried a gun under his jacket. She had opted for the blade in her thigh and for darts. She only hoped that Klaus would not make her use the lethal ones.

When the waiter came with their orders Caroline plastered a smile on her face and thanked him politely. To the outside world both she and Klaus looked like two friends hanging out together.

Once they were alone again she turned to face him with a glare.

"I have built a life for me here Klaus. If you think I'm gonna let you take it away from then you have another thing coming," she declared and Klaus rolled his eyes at her bravado.

"Come on now, sweetheart. You can't possible expect me to believe that you would actually miss this. A dull life between commoners? This absurdity is beneath you," he said with distaste as he gestured to the small square around them dismissively.

"While slitting people's throats and torture is what I am made for? Maybe I am. Maybe it is your throat I need to snap," she sarcastically bit out and Klaus leaned back to his chair. His fingers tapping the surface of the table rhythmically.

"This is a dangerous game you are playing Caroline. If you do not return with me the Head of the Order will send more assassins after you. It is only a matter of time before they turn up on your door and even I won't be able to protect you. They will not show you the same mercy as I do. They will come after your head," he warned her. He didn't miss a bit as he simply presented her the facts.

Caroline gritted her teeth before regaining her calm composure. Her voice held steel and her eyes held fire. She was not girly little Caroline anymore. She was not going to be intimidated by Klaus or any other ever again. She could handle herself and it was time to prove this to him and to everyone that would come after her. If they wanted blood then blood they would get.

"Let them come," she resolutely told him with a bitter smile that made Klaus cork up an elegant eyebrow.

"I've never pegged you for suicidal," he said in a disappointed tone that was meant to make her see how stupid she sounded. It was the same tone he was using whenever she was failing at his tests during her training.

"More like homicidal," she snorted and Klaus smirked.

"And there I thought you were so tired of all that death; and here you are ready to make a stand and make heads roll," he remarked with satisfaction and Caroline rolled her eyes annoyed.

Then Klaus' gaze changed. It became serious and urgent.

"You can't change who you are Caroline. The old girl you used to be died and the new one is fearless and bloodthirsty. A picket fence is not going to make you happy," he promised her with a knowing look.

Caroline titled her head to the side and looked at the people that passed by them. People that laughed and had lives and a future.

"I'll decide what will make me happy," she mumbled under her breath. Klaus was right. She was not happy right now. Her old self had indeed died at the ship accident. She was not happy because her heart was broken. Because she had forgotten how happiness without guilt looked like.

"You were happy. In my arms," Klaus reminded her in a low voice full of emotion. An alluring seduction that made her heart beat faster. She remembered how he had become her only moments of laughter. How his hands roamed over her body. How she could sleep soundly in his arms. She knew that his body count was far bigger than hers and his methods far more gruesome and yet the storm in her heart would cease only when he was near. It seemed as if his darkness always ignited the light in her.

She gazed at him and saw how intently he was looking at her. Taking in her every reaction. She shook her head breaking the spell.

"Klaus, I am not doing this with you," she breathed out tiredly.

Klaus leaned over forward, crossing his hands over the table.

"You won't survive a direct confrontation with the Order. They will keep coming for you and in the end you won't get the simple life you desire anyhow. You will fall," he hissed, his eyes blazing with anger. She could see how tense he was. How his eyes conveyed the rage that roared inside him and how he was finding her stubbornness grating.

Caroline smirked and raised a mocking eyebrow at him.

"I have survived you have I not?" she provoked him sweetly.

They locked gazes as their history and their memories unfolded inside their eyes.

Yes, she had survived him, knowing all too well that she would not have survived without him and he knew that. He never let her forget it.

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She still remembered the waves that crashed on her. The burning sensation of salt in her throat as she choked on the sea water. She remembered a lot of water and cold. The sun and the birds.

She remembered how a long time ago she had been so excited to travel and that innocent voyage had turned to her worst nightmare. A sea storm wrecked the cruise ship and she was the sole survivor.

And she didn't think she would survive. She faced starvation and exhaustion. She succumbed to hallucinations and hypothermia and when she finally let go, two strong hands brought her back to life.

A deep voice with an accent that made her feel safe.

"Shh…you are safe. I have you." were the words that had managed to pierce the darkness. And then she saw blue. Not the blue of the sea she grew to hate but the deepest blue she had seen in a man's eyes. They belonged to the man that had saved her after being endless days stranded at the far ends of the Indian Ocean.

His name was Klaus. He took her in. He nursed her back to health. And he took her under his wing. He taught her everything he knew. How to fight. How to kill. How to maim...how to love.

The first time she saw him fight she giggled and clapped. She laughed as he bowed theatrically at her and she enjoyed seeing him fight and always win against his opponents. It was a rush of adrenaline and soon she got to experience it first hand.

What she didn't know at first was that Klaus merciful benevolence came with a price. His mercy put Caroline in his eternal debt.

It was much later she learned that he was part of an ancient caste of warrior assassins. It was the night she asked him to let her call her mother and tell her she was okay. He refused as he had also refused to let her go. Her anger was soon replaced with an incredulous emotion of disbelief as Klaus revealed to her that the hidden in the mountains city was not just a place far away from civilization but also an old Order that existed in the shadows. Their existence nothing but a lost legend in time. And since she had been brought to their city and since she was saved by them she would never be able to leave.

She tried. But, it was pointless. Klaus kept her close and trapped inside the guest room he had turned into a prison. And so he had given her a choice. She could decide to remain a prisoner or she could become one of them. And Caroline became one of them with the hope that maybe that would give her a chance to escape but once she tasted true power she realized that she did not want to escape or go back. She found she enjoyed her new abilities. She liked being strong and able to take down an army on her won.

With Klaus' guidance she turned into the most lethal assassin the world had ever met. Time passed and she became his best student and stepped up in the ranks of the Order. At first the thrill was enough to blind her with pride and excitement but as her body count grew she started seeing in the eyes of her victims, the eyes of the people she once knew. The eyes of her mother and of her friends. Suddenly her targets became people with feelings and potential and she was ending their lives as if they were dolls for her to break. The more she killed the more she was going numb inside and soon enough Klaus' love was not enough to take her mind away from the pain. Pain she inflicted on herself and others. She became more bloodthirsty and she lost herself completely.

Klaus' initial 'kindness' had turned into a blade forged in flame she got to yield. But it was much later on that she realized the weight the blade carried.

At first it was so easy. Effortless really. Nights of silk and pleasure followed endless days of training. Pain became her closest acquaintance but in the nights it was Klaus that would take care of her wounds. Wounds he inflicted as he trained her with blades and guns. Her body turned to a weapon and Klaus took great pride in creating a warrior out of her. It took time, years and a lot of blood until she became his equal.

After that, it was only the passion that bound them as both of them took separate assignments and would miss each other for months at a time. And there were times she longed to talk to him. To make him understand the emptiness she felt inside and how her soul was rotting. She wanted to make him understand. To make him see past his own conviction and murderous ways.

But she never did talk to him. Until it was too late. Until she could take no more.

The memories of her old life would not allow her to rest at nights. The blood on her hands burned. The death she carried haunted her in her every waking moment and so she ran. Far away. Far away from all the death. Far away from Klaus. She had pledged obedience, undying loyalty to the Order and to Klaus but she had broken her vows. She knew it would be only a matter of time before they would come after her. Before he would come after her.

And so it happened. He found her and their war started.

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Klaus looked at her now, sharing the same memories and he pushed back his head and narrowed his eyes at her.

"Do not make me your enemy, sweetheart."

His threat was engulfed in menace strong enough to tear down nations. Caroline simply smiled at him.

"From the moment you taught me everything you knew, you had to know this moment was coming. Either let me be or make your move," she challenged and Klaus stared at her seriously. He assessed her statement and Caroline saw the exact moment when realization dawned on him. She would not back down. Not ever.

"You believe you can face me and win?" he incredulously asked her before sending her a sharp look full of danger. "You can't."

Caroline beamed at him.

"You know what happens when people tell me I can't do something, don't you? I always prove them wrong," she reminded him and Klaus leaned back at his chair shaking his head.

"You think you can kill me, sweetheart?" he dared her with a bemused voice. And yet his question held more layers than simply the sarcasm he was letting out.

Could she kill him? Even if she could match his skills, would she be able to deliver the final blow?

The thought of killing Klaus was making her feel empty and even the idea was provoking a sorrow she never felt before. One that reached deep down into her heart and pulled on the few strings that were left so hard and so harshly it was as if the muscle turned into an organ of fire pumping acid to her veins.

And yet, she also knew that she felt that way because she would. She would push a bullet into his brain or a knife into his heart if she had to. Maybe, that would be her mercy. Maybe this was how their story would end. And maybe, if he was the one to win he would show her the same compassion and take her life instead of letting her drown in a life that was killing her.

She looked at him and gave him a nod that made him still.

"You once said you are I are the same so you already know I can. And maybe I even will," she whispered and raised up her walls. There was no point in continuing this debate. Klaus got the answers he looked for. If he ever returned her to the Order, it would be only in a coffin and only if she did not kill him first.

She dropped some dollars on the table and got up. She anticipated his move, but even like that, Klaus was extremely fast and stealthy. He jumped up and got in her way. His body too close to hers. Their chests almost touching. The moment he grabbed her upper arm was the exact moment she grabbed hold of his wrist. Both of them not relinquishing their holds. They stared at each other and Caroline held her breath. She had missed this. She had missed him.

She shook her head and pushed down every fond memory she had of him. She had made her choice and she was not going to return. Not to him. Not to the Order.

"I am never coming back, Klaus," she evenly declared and Klaus pursed his lips before he let go of her arm. She let her fingers uncurl from his wrist too.

"We shall see about that sweetheart," he threatened and Caroline smirked. She took a step closer and noticed how Klaus reached for his blade under his jacket.

Caroline's lips touched his and slowly she placed her palm over his. Klaus's gaze darkened and she could feel how every molecule of his body was on edge. She gently pushed his hand down, sheathing his blade back to its leather case.

She let her mouth seductively whisper two words onto his lips. Letting him swallow them and taste their bitter finality.

"Game on."

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I hear hurricanes ablowing.
I know the end is coming soon.

Don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.

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Lyrics: Mourning Ritual - Bad Moon Rising