CHAPTER 13
Hey! I know, you're all shocked that I haven't actually wandered into Mystic Falls accidently and gotten myself killed! No, I'm perfectly fine and I'm sorry this took so long. Life got pretty insane for quite a while, and hile I can't promise updates as often as they were coming before, I'm going to do much better. No more giant Hiatuses, I'm going to finish this story and if that makes even one person happy then it will all be worth it! I will never stop loving Klaroline and I hope this story will help some of you feel that love as well!
Also, just a quick Previously on to remind you all: Klaus and Caroline realized the baby needed to be away from Kol so Stefan and Rebekah rode off in his sporty car taking Klara with them so she would be protected (just saying, I thought of it before you JP!). Kol had a very telling meeting with Bonnie where he realized that she was still taken over by darkness and wanted to kill all vampires, and in a shocking turn of events the most unpredictable original (and that's saying something!) decides that he wants to help the witch who brought him back, even if she doesn't know she needs help.
Caroline
I walk carefully up to Klaus' drawing room, lifting my hand to knock before letting it fall back down to my side. It's been three days since we sent Klara away and he's barely come out. I can't imagine how devastated he must be, I'm practically a wreck and she isn't even my real daughter. I just wish he'd talk to me, let me comfort him the way he always does me. Of course that's never really been Klaus' style. He much prefers to seethe or lament in privacy. I let out a sigh and lean against the frame of the door.
"You know I can hear you out there, right?" the slightly annoyed (but mostly miserable) voice comes from inside the room
"Yes, but I also know you've been able to hear me the last three days and haven't said anything, and I know you wouldn't let Elijah in. I understand if you need some space, I just… I wish you would let me in" I place my hand against the door and hear a heavy sigh from the other side before it creaks slowly open.
The moment the door opens Klaus turns back around so that all I can see as I enter the room is the back of his head peaking over the large Victorian chair he sits slumped over in and the bottle of whisky in his right hand. I take in the rest of the room, which is entirely different from the last time I was in it. Where there used to hang beautiful and famous works of art mixed in with a few of his own pieces is now just canvasses and canvasses of the same thing painted in his fine and detailed hand. Klara, over and over. Sleeping, giggling, playing, being held by Elijah or Rebekah, sometimes by Klaus himself (though his self portraits never have done him justice).
Though all the paintings are beautiful, one sticks out glaringly from the rest. It's considerably larger than the rest and looks very fresh, still sitting on the center easel is a rendition of the first time I held Klara. My hair is perfectly tussled in the most graceful way, my eyes alert and loving and blue as the ocean, my lips bright and colourful. It's so opposite of how I felt that day, lost and afraid, instead I look assured and strong staring down at the perfect bundle in my arms. Klara is barely visible in the painting and yet she steals focus entirely, a few thick strands of dark hair contrast with her bright, electric blue eyes, which seem to take up her whole face and illuminate the entire piece. I smile
"It's beautiful" I comment softly
Klaus' lips turn up in disgust "I hate it, it's the only one I can't finish. I've been trying for days but I just can't get it right. With all the practice I have rendering the two of you I can paint her or I paint you and it will come out perfectly, but I'm simply not capable of committing both of you onto canvass in the same piece, it's just too much light to fit in one work of art. They always turn out dreadful."
"Well I think it's stunning," I say moving closer to him "you see me so differently than I see myself"
In a flash Klaus grabs my wrist and pulls me into his lap, placing a hand under my chin he kisses me softly "You would have to be blind to think that painting does either of you even the slightest bit of justice"
I smile down at him "well, if you want we can keep talking about your blindness and refusal to see your own talent… or you can tell me how you're really feeling"
I can feel him tense up underneath me and he lets out a sigh "I don't really want to talk about it, Caroline"
"okay" I say softly, running my hand through his hair "we don't have to talk, we can just sit here"
"I'd like that" he says pulling me closer to him, and sit there we do. Not a word passes, the gentle feeling of his body pressed against mine is all the communication we need.
Rebekah
"I don't see what was wrong with my car" Stefan grumbles for the hundredth time as he buckles Klara into the car seat in the back of the perfectly sensible and safety rated Honda
"Oh quit your brooding Stefan, it's been three days. And it's not like you had to get rid of your car. I'm sure it will be fine in that garage"
"I just don't see why we had to replace it"
"Because it wasn't safe" she snaps at him immediately "and if you can't tell Stefan appearance is not what we are concerned about right now. This child seems to never sleep, and my hair is in a bun right now Stefan. A BUN!"
After clicking the final buckle Stefan stands back up and looks at the girl in front of him. Her eyes have dark circles under them from lack of sleep and seem to lack their usual brightness, her long blond locks are indeed bound up into a messy ball on the top of her head, and in nearly a hundred years of knowing her, Stefan doesn't think he has ever seen Rebekah in sweatpants.
Then again she seems to be doing a lot of things lately that she never used to. Stefan smiles and tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear
"I like your hair back"
Rebekah puts her hands on her hips and gives him a 'nice try' look "let's just go see this witch"
The two slide into the car and Rebekah leans her head back against the head rest
"So who exactly is this?" Stefan asks pulling out of the driveway of the perfectly average suburban home in the perfectly average suburb they'd decided to settle in for the time being
"Who knows, some woman Elijah met while I was locked in a coffin" the original says bitterly "She's the leader of a coven and apparently pretty old. My brother says she has experience with… unusual children, though I am certain nothing quite this unusual"
"Honestly, do you originals just have witches in every corner of the world ready to do whatever you want?"
"Pretty much" Rebekah shrugs with a coy smile "honestly I'm surprised Elijah hasn't taken Klara to a witch before, there are so many questions… but he says this is the only one he would trust"
"I don't understand why you didn't consult that witch in New Orleans Caroline was telling me about- Sophie?"
"We could never trust her. She just wanted help to take out Marcel, as soon as he was gone she retreated back to the witches"
"I think we're here," Stefan says pulling up in front of a tacky looking little hair salon with a big bright neon pink sign that reads "Sylvia's Styling"
"ugh, looks perfectly dreadful. Leave it to Elijah to have a witch in the most absolutely gaudy place on earth. Honestly who would get their hair done at a place like this," she grumbles unbuckling Klara from the back, causing the infant to erupt into tears once again
"Classic Rebekah, you'll trust a woman to check a baby but not to do your hair" Stefan rolls his eyes
Kol
The youngest living Mikaelson has been pacing back and forth outside of his brothers' house for what feels like days, angrily weighing his options. He knows that if he's going to help Bonnie he's going to need his family's help, but he still can't even fathom having to run to his family and ask for help. After a thousand years he's still just the little brother who no one notices. The annoyance, always forced to watch from the sidelines as the great Niklaus and his noble brother Elijah went on epic quests and courted the village ladies. Well not this time. If Kol was going to help somebody else, he was going to take the lead. For once, his brothers would be backing him up. And with that thought he started towards the large door with a determined expression.
"Ah Kol, I was wondering when you would come up to the door instead of just pacing back and forth like some salesman" Klaus says with a hand wave as he opens the door. Kol just narrows his eyes and steps past his brother into the living room where Elijah sits with a book in hand
"Ah Kol, to what do we owe the pleasure"
"Yeah, pleasure" Caroline scoffs walking into the room
"Oh c'mon darling, you can't still be mad at me about that little neck snap. You're a vampire love, it's going to happen a lot," he says with a wink
"Actually it's not Kol" Klaus glares
"oh, sorry brother, I forgot you were going through this whole white knight hero phase" he waves his hands around dramatically
Klaus opens his mouth to retaliate, but Elijah cuts in "just say what you came to say Kol"
"Yeah, and then get out" Caroline snarks
"You know, if you keep being so unwelcoming I might just decide not to tell you all about the witch's plot to kill you"
"Wait, what witches? I thought we dealt with them already" the blond groans
"Not witches, witch. Just one, a powerful one; I think you know her quite well" he teases
"Wait, Bonnie? That's ridiculous. She's my best friend, there's no way she would plot against us"
Kol laughs, "You see, that's what I love about the younger generation. So naïve, so beautifully optimistic and trusting" Kol smirks "is that how you got her Nik? Appealed to that desperate part of her that believes people can change"
"Shut up" Caroline says furiously
"No. I've been shutting up for a thousand years, it's my turn to talk now. It's my turn to tell you all what to do."
"What do you want us to do Kol?" Elijah says sternly
Kol takes a breath "The Bennett witch never escaped the darkness, It isn't just Silas that had a hold over her, it's the other dark spirits. She let them in when he was alive and now she wants to destroy all vampires. She isn't herself, we need to help her to help her"
Klaus narrows his eyes "and you didn't just kill her because…"
"Klaus!" Caroline shrieks
"What? I'm not saying it's right, but Kol isn't generally one to spare someone who is a threat to him."
"Not this time" Kol shakes his head "I don't want to kill her; that's why I came to you. You've been whipped into non killing vampires and it was my bet that you'd want to help the witch without killing her"
"And what, we're supposed to believe that you just all of a sudden had some giant epiphany and you want to do the right thing? Yeah right" Caroline scoffs yet again
"She brought me back" Kol says looking serious "I owe it to her to do the same"
Caroline looks him over, not sure exactly how to interpret the glint in his eye, but in the end she decides to trust him "okay" she says quietly "Okay, I believe you"
"Good, then let's get our witch back"
Caroline chooses not to comment on his use of the word "our".
So there it is, sorry it isn't as good as it should be considering that giant break, but I'm writing my best and I hope you guys are still with me and will still like the story. Let me know what you think and what you want to happen in this story's future! (Also, sorry about the lack of Katherine, she was getting her nails done. A girl's gotta stay on point!)