Sent Away: Chapter Twenty-One
Who is at my window weeping,
Weeping there so bitterly?
"It's I, it's I, your own true loved one
Arise, arise and pity me."
As the venom surged closer towards Caroline's heart, Klaus watched in vain as she struggled for breath. Had Katerina not run from him while she was human, he would now be able to save his love, but alas it was no use. He was not yet the kind of beast that bore both werewolf and vampire qualities—making his blood as useless as any other against werewolf venom.
"She won't last long." Elijah said, his voice heavy with grief, not just for his own loss of the sweet Katerina, but for Klaus's as well. Had Caroline been able to heal his heart, maybe then their family would have been whole again.
"There has to be a way." Klaus did not lift his gaze to meet Elijah's, just stared at Caroline as her eyes closed and her heart sped up.
"From what I can tell it has always ended this way. While you and Rebekah were acting like children I searched for more information on Ms. Forbes."
Klaus shook his head."There has to be a way, Elijah." he said again, this time with more conviction.
"Niklaus, seeing as the one key element of what seems to be linking Ms. Forbes here, you, has already been added to the equation we would be lucky if Caroline comes back at all."
Klaus stiffened. A few centuries without his love would be horrid, but a lifetime?
"What can we do?" Klaus asked, looking so much like the human boy who looked up to his older brother in times of need.
"The only option we have left, go to the source."
"Darling, go and ask your mother
If thou my wedding bride will be
If she says no, return and tell me.
No longer will I trouble thee."
Somewhere deep within what was left of Caroline's mind she knew that her death was near. Memories kept coming back to her, things she'd never experienced and yet were as a part of her as her mother and father had been.
Riding horses during the revolution to see where the soldiers hid, gathering lilies when the colonies first began, being a part of a small village that seemed so ancient compared to the life she'd just lived.
It is fitting, she thought, that at the end of one's life they should remember the beginning. It would not be fair for her to die not knowing who she truly was.
"Caroline," her mother—or at least her most recent mother called.
Meeting a pair of eyes so similar to her own, Caroline smiled. This may not be real but that would not diminish her chances of enjoying the moment.
"Hello, mama."
Caroline sat across from the woman who raised her and together they watched as the stream in front of them crashed around as it tumbled its way down the bend—a beautiful and chaotic sight.
"You know it is not yet your time." Her mother said, oddly sad for a woman who was telling her daughter that it was time for her to live instead of die.
Caroline shook her head. So much pain and loss how could she move on? Her physical body felt trapped so she hid in the meadows of her mind searching for peace. She was nearly ready to stake herself; if it were not for the glimmer of hope in Klaus's voice she would have likely done so.
"How can I possibly survive this, mama?" Caroline asked, dreading the answer. The last time she was faced with death she woke up a monster.
"Not survive, but you will go on." Her mother's voice reflected Caroline's own broken heart.
For a simple human girl she had lived so many lives and loved so many people—people who were now dead and forgotten. Living seemed more like a punishment than a gift.
"Will I start all over again?" She asked her mother in dismay.
"Perhaps," her mother sighed "it would be like none of this ever happened. You won't remember until it is too late to save you."
Caroline shuddered and held back her tears, "why am I not allowed to be at peace with the people I love? What retribution could I have earned in my first life to justify such hell?"
Every memory that Caroline retrieved, every moment was blissful, but there was a hole missing. A piece of her life in the oldest memories—the ones she deemed to be from her first life, her true life.
"It is those who are selfish who cannot let those they love be free, my dear. There is pain and love in human life, and though we know not for certain when, do know that you could rise again."
With a muffled cry, Caroline sank deeper into her subconscious.
"How can I go and ask my mother
For I'm her only child and dear?
Oh, darling, go and seek some other,"
She softly whispered in his ear.
Emily had watched her family fall apart and knew that her children would never be the same. She herself would never survive this spell. This was the one dreadful fact that she had been all too aware of since the very beginning.
It would be worth the pain of her death to secure the fate of her descendants. Her children may never fully know their mother, but they would never have to fear that which lurks beneath their beds. Upon the completion of this spell this spell and the death of Caroline Forbes, Emily will have supplied the ultimate sacrifice—her life.
To Caroline, who Emily now knew was fully aware of her trickery, the witch may seem like the villain, while to others she will be known as a hero. Such is the way with perspectives, the lighting changes ever so slightly and the devil becomes an angel.
In a few hours Caroline would die and Emily soon there after. The order did not matter, but their deaths must be close together.
It is likely that history would retell Emily's story. Wiping away all pieces of the truth, after all this is what her kind is good at. If mankind knew the invulnerability of the Bennett line then they would become a target, every spell can be undone and the best way to protect her work is to sweep it under the rug.
So Emily would take on the persona of the caring matriarch. She'd bind her spirit to a simple locket, and look over the future witches who bore the Bennett name. If anyone were to look into her death it would seem like just another case of misplaced trust, and she would see to it that no one, not even her own family, would discover what really happened.
Emily Bennett was burned at the stake due to the accusations of Katherine Pierce.
It seemed so plausible no one would ever dare guess the truth.
"Darling, go and ask your father
If thou my wedding bride will be
If he says no, return and tell me.
No longer will I trouble thee."
In her mind Caroline was slowly unravelling her past, coming closer and closer to a truth she didn't realize she'd been searching for until it was just outside her reach.
Coming to a clearing she recognized a figure in the distance.
"Daddy?" She called out.
He smiled and continued on his way leading her down a winding path.
"Dad stop, where are we going?" She asked as she tripped over her skirts trying to keep up.
"You'll see." He smiled slightly and kept on.
After a while they came to a place without life. The air was still and the grass brown. Sitting on the remnants of an old tree William gave Caroline a look she knew all too well—a look of disappointment.
"Are you gone, too?" she asked, staring up at the bleak sky of her imagination, "like mother." she added.
Bill shook his head, "not yet, but soon."
He laughed at the look of concern that crossed his daughter's face, "no parent should ever outlive their child." He said, as though it were a law that he could not help but abide by.
She nodded. What else was there to do. She had been searching for something in her mind since the moment the venom took over, and yet she had no clue what it was. With every step she'd remember a fleeting moment from her past lives—sometimes a smell others a name or a person she once knew.
"Do you know what's going to happen to me?" Caroline asked, hoping her father would have all the answers—the way he always did.
"Whatever you want to, my dear." He said, sadness and disappointment etching his voice.
Caroline let out a bitter laugh, "you make it out as though I have a choice."
"Ah, but you do. You always have, and you've always chosen wrong."
None of this could have possibly been her doing. Would she ever allow herself to feel such pain, such loss, all over again? Whoever she once was she would no longer be. She did not want to return, and nothing could change her mind.
Her father gave her his condescendingly wise look. "You're wrong my dear. You always think you're stronger this time, that the past could not have possibly been you. That you did not know yourself then, but it's always the same. You'll remember everything the moment it's too late and will decide instead to start all over."
For years Caroline thought her father knew everything, that he was always right. Like he had some direct line to God that allowed him to see past all fallacies, but now she knew better.
"No father, for once it is you who are in the wrong."
He smiled, then began to transform, his hair grew longer and his face more narrow until he was no longer the man she knew, but rather a woman she'd never met.
"Who are you?" Caroline asked, fearful and disoriented.
"My name is Ester."
"My father's on his bed a-sleeping
With a shining sword placed on his breast
All for to slay my own true loved one,
To slay the lad that I love best."
Emily was preparing her death bed when she heard them enter.
"I expected better," she called, "especially from you Elijah." she said before the two men had her pinned against the small window that overlooked her favorite meadow.
"I always heard you were so punctual, and yet I've been expecting you for months and you wait until a woman is on her dying breath to call." she mocked.
Both the Mikaelsons stiffened. Emily's death had been apart of their plan, but never did they anticipate it to be a piece in hers as well.
"Ah, I see you originals are not a fan of your research," she smiled—if she was going to die she may as well lay all her cards on the table.
"No spell this powerful has ever been cast by one witch, I will be the first. It will take every ounce of magic in me but it will be worth it. To protect my family. Always and forever, is that not what you've always said?"
Klaus pulled out a knife, "you will spare, Caroline."
Emily laughed, "that girl was doomed the day she turned 17. All I did was stop the cycle, you should be thanking me, I set her free."
"You killed her," Klaus roared bringing the blade dangerously close to Emily's throat.
"It's all in the poetry of the lines. She's always chosen you, you know. You've met, once before, and that one meeting was always been enough to keep her coming back. Perhaps now that she has seen the real you, sweet Caroline will finally move on."
Klaus slit the witch from her sternum to her the top of her stomach, yet Emily didn't make a sound.
"What's done is done. Caroline will die, and it is not by the hand of the original spell that she will return." Emily smiled to herself.
The Mikaelson had played right into her grand scheme, from Nathaniel on down everything had been leading to this very moment. Sure Caroline's death would protect her family forever, but in a few hundred years her life would be needed again for a different reason. The spirits could have killed Emily long ago, but this one provision is what allowed her to continue on.
"My brother is not a patient man, Ms. Bennett, I would suggest you speak plainly if you wish to escape with your family intact." Elijah was puzzled, for years the Mikalesons had been surviving on nothing more than threats and manipulation it was rare that someone else would obtain the upper hand.
Emily shook her head, "you still have no clue why your young Caroline has to die, do you?"
She laughed when Klaus shook her, "I am shielding my kind from yours. My family will never suffer by the hand of your people, as long as Caroline does not roam the Earth. I created the perfect spell; I will die for my cause and as soon as I am gone you won't be able to touch my children, or any other Bennett witch, ever again."
Her laugh was bitter and Klaus was at a loss.
"You didn't think you could beat me, did you?" Emily said wiggling free of the Mikaelson brothers when their grip on her weakened, "I know your fears better than you do, I have magic at my disposal more powerful than even that of your own mother. I've been in your minds from day one, causing confusion, making you walk in a daze. Hell, the mention of Mikael—the mere possibility of his presence brought you to your knees."
"All magic has a loophole." Klaus yelled.
Emily nodded, "That it does. Thank you for providing as much."
Before Klaus could utter another threat Emily melted away, bringing herself somewhere peaceful to wait for the brothers to make their exit.
No, the spirits would never allow a perfect spell to be cast, not unless someone else had already laid out the ground work to undo all of her hard work.
It had never been Rebekah's idea to cast a blood binding spell, but rather the witch whom Rebekah though she had under her control, but whose loyalty truly belonged to Emily. Together they schemed of a way to send Caroline forward to a time where she would be more useful. They'd always known the spirits intentions, to bring Caroline and Klaus together at this point in time, to make it their final stop, which made manipulating their timeline all the more practical.
As soon as Klaus realized all he needed to do was break a simple promise, Caroline would be forced to wait until the next time a human doppelganger resurfaced. At that point in time Caroline's presence could protect those who needed it. She would serve to bring Klaus back to the human state he'd abandoned long ago.
This had always been Emily's plan. Yes, Caroline Forbes needed to die, but when she came back this time, more than any other, history would repeat itself. The ending in store for Klaus and Caroline was entirely of their own doing, but now Ms. Bennett was giving them a chance, a chance to have the ending that their idealistic young minds still thought they could achieve.
When the idea finally hit Klaus, and he and Elijah went to go betray their sister, Emily returned.
The linens would need to be changed, she noticed, as they were now speckled with blood from Klaus's attack. She sighed and went back to work. Her death was coming and she wished only to die in peace.
Then William took the shining sword
And pierced it through his aching heart
"Adieu, adieu to all false loved ones.
Adieu, adieu, we both shall part."
"Ester?" Caroline asked, noticing the woman's familiar presence.
"Yes, child it is time for you to make a choice—for one last time."
Caroline shook her head, but before she could ask for clarification, she remembered.
It was an usually hot summer that year and she was off in the woods collecting berries for her mother who was about to meet an untimely death.
"Caroline you should know better than to go out alone" her father scolded and she cringed.
Caroline's father had never been kind to her or her mother. He seemed to blame the two of them for all that was wrong in the world. He wanted to hunt the monsters of the night, but knocking up an un-triggered werewolf that belonged to one of the worlds most powerful pacts had never been a part of his plan.
In all reality Caroline's mother probably didn't even have the gene. The only relation she had that was able to trigger it was an uncle generations back. Still her father only saw Caroline and her mother as monsters—monsters that he'd have to protect if he valued his life.
He was a cruel man and the moment Caroline's mother fell ill he did as little as possible to help her. If she died of natural causes then he could not be blamed, he could marry Caroline off and be free of this village forever.
"I know father." Caroline said keeping her head down.
A commotion in the village drew his attention, "be back before sunset." he demanded halfheartedly, and ran off towards the scuffle.
She sighed. A lifetime of being unwanted would probably leave her scarred forever.
As she continued walking on, Caroline knew the chances of making it back in time would be slim, but she had to reach the meadow where wild lilies grew—they were her mother's favorite flower.
On her way there she heard the cries of a man. Hiding behind trees she watched as a blue eyed man took the lashes from another—a man he called father.
His sister was pleading. Said it was her fault, that he should not be punished at which the man with the whip laughed bitterly.
When it was over the boy with blue eyes stumbled to a near by river.
"Need any help?" Caroline asked, not being able to bear seeing another person in pain.
The boy nodded, his agony was too much for him to refuse.
Caroline crouched behind him, and used the pieces of shredded cloth he handed her to help clean out his wounds.
"My name is Caroline." She said, trying to make conversation.
"Hello, Caroline." he sighed, as he focused again on how Caroline's skilled hands mopped off the blood that painted his back.
She chuckled, "Usually this is the point where you would give me your name in return."
"And ruin my mysterious wounded demeanor?" The boy asked, feigning shock and disgust.
They both laughed. Being together felt natural, like nothing mattered but the two of them.
"My name is Klaus," he said turning to face her.
When he looked at her the world froze. She knew he felt it too, that they were meant for one another. In her village they called it a true bond—a mate.
"You're a werewolf." She said, taking a step back.
Klaus just laughed, "not to my knowledge."
Caroline smiled, she knew he had to have the gene, but if he was uncomfortable with his heritage that was his affair.
The two spent the rest of the afternoon together, Caroline forgetting all about the lilies she planned to get her mother. When the sun set, he asked if they could meet again tomorrow evening.
"Tomorrow is the full moon." Caroline reminded him and Klaus nodded. She knew better than anyone exactly what happened out in the woods during the full moon and she did not wish to face the wrath of her kind.
Giving Klaus a kiss on the cheek she made her way home. She spent all of the next day trying to figure out how to tell her father that she'd been mated. Unsure of whether he'd be thrilled to rid himself of her or enraged that she would become a breeder for purebred werewolves, Caroline decided to keep this piece of information to herself.
Late that night from deep within the woods Caroline heard the familiar screams of a man—Klaus. The threat of what lurked behind the trees no longer mattered to Caroline, she had to reach him. The instinct to protect one's mate is feral—it cannot be ignored.
By the time she reached him it was too late. Klaus was on the floor in pain, crying out.
"They took it." he said, as he tried to stand on weakened legs.
"Took what?" Caroline asked, relieved to find him alive.
"My werewolf side, they've cursed me."
With his heightened emotions Klaus could not bear the look of Caroline's pity and so he ran, leaving her in the very meadow she'd been heading towards to find the lilies for her mother.
Soon the members of her village—shifted into their werewolf form—sniffed out the smell of a distraught blonde, circling around her, without Klaus Caroline had no chance.
When they attacked, she said a quick prayer to those she loved and prepared herself to die.
Her death was quick, but the pain in her heart made it excruciating
"He could have saved me." Caroline whispered, knowing that this would have been the beginning of his vampire curse.
"Perhaps," Ester said walking around the dead meadow that Caroline now recognized to be the place she died.
"We barely knew each other, how can you expect me to make a choice that's in his favor?" Caroline asked.
"My son lost what little sanity he had left when he found your body. With the last pieces of my power I gave you a choice—a chance to be reborn. I wiped Niklaus's memories and made sure that you would come back each time until the two of you met again and were able to be mated the way you were originally intended."
"Then why am I here? Shouldn't the spell be over now? Emily won."
Ester shook her head. "That spell has run its course, but you now have one last chance. The choice is up to you, as it has always been."
"I don't want another life of pain." Caroline whispered.
"And that is solely up to you. My son has lost the kind man that he once was. He has lost everything that makes him who he is. You are his only hope, but if this life is too much to bear then that is a choice only you can make."
Then Esther too disappeared, leaving Caroline alone in the the barren meadow.
She could feel her heart beginning to slow. It wouldn't be long now. Somehow she could feel Klaus's touch telling her that everything was going to be okay.
"It's all up to you now love," he whispered, "I will wait for you, however long it takes."
It was then that Caroline knew where her heart truly lies, and when her undead heart stopped and her body ran cold she had made her decision.
History has a way of repeating itself, but this time she hoped that wherever she was sending herself, it was to a place where they would have a better ending.
Then Mary took the blood-stained sword
And pierced it through her lily white breast.
"Adieu, adieu to my cruel parents.
Adieu, adieu, we both shall rest."
Author's Note:
I was inspired by the song Who is At my Window Weeping. I do not have any rights to it, the song was collected by Malcolm Laws and Vance Randolph. The epilogue is now up as well, I hope you enjoy.
-ShakespearianNerd