21. The Constant

"All you need is one safe anchor to keep you grounded when the rest of your life spins out of control."
Katie Kacvinsky

"I'm not about to sweep in and save you, if that's what you think," Caroline muttered, fingers trailing over a collection of sketches on Davina's desk. They'd been running around Davina's revelation for a while: Caroline was adamantly choosing to disbelieve. "I'm not...I'm a small-town girl from an even smaller world that just happened to mixed up in all of this crazy shit. I'm not...meant for...crazy things - I'm supposed to graduate in like, two weeks, and then have the summer of my life and go to college - start a life! Not-"

"I want that too," the girl whispered - and in such a way, that it pulled Caroline up. It made her feel guilty. "You have no idea how badly I want to be normal." She rolled her shoulders back. "That's why I am helping you - to make sure that you don't help them-"

"If you feel that way, then why-"

"Because I didn't have answers in the first place, when I got...caught up...I didn't know what was going on." She let out a shaky breath. "And...I know how terrible that was. How horrible it felt - to be double-crossed." She began to fiddle with her duvet.

"What...," Caroline unsurely responded. "What happened to you?"

"I'll tell you the whole story some day," Davina answered. "But...I was used. My coven of witches wanted to use me for a sacrifice. I didn't. And now I'm...hiding. So they can't." She shook her head. "You can believe what you want," she added, eyes shooting to Caroline's - holding them. "But you did ask for answers; I'm just giving them to you."

"But none of it makes sense!" The blonde cried. "I mean, you suddenly tell me that I can move from one place to another, using the Other Side as a passage way; fantastic, but I want to know why I got stuck. Why you said that I was in pain? Why I can't remember! God, if you know, then just tell me," Caroline answered indignantly, hands splayed out. "What am I? What?"

"I don't know," Davina quietly answered, voice and eyes earnest. "I don't know yet. I'm asking; but it's not exactly easy. The spirits...the witches..." She closed her eyes, changing the track of conversation. "I am hoping, though, that if I can...figure it out, you'll...give me something in return."

Caroline folded her arms across her chest. "Like what? Saving you?" She shook her head. "Seriously."

"Look - the same people that are after me, are after you," she revealed breathlessly. "Difference is, they want to kill me, and I guess they want to keep you."

"Yeah, but why me?" Caroline demanded.

"I. Don't. Know," Davina snapped. The lights flickered. "Stop being rude."

Caroline stared up at the ceiling lights, shaken. "Do you use Expression?" She mumbled, trying to break the tense atmosphere.

Davina's face fell into dubious confusion. "No...what the hell is that?"

"It's...a dark form of magic. Very powerful."

"Well...my coven only uses ancestral magic, that's why..."

"Why what?"

Davina's eyes clouded; she realised that she'd said too much. Her mouth closed, lips pressing together in a tight line. Something in her dark orbs changed, however; and idea. She pursed her lips. "Different kinds power," she whispered, completely wayward from Caroline's question. It was as if she were musing to herself.

Great, Caroline thought. But it had worked: changing the subject, getting the girl's mind of it, had worked. She remembered doing it with Bonnie.

Keep them calm, keep them rational, she internally reminded herself. Then no one gets hurt.

Caroline couldn't explain it, but she could feel it. Davina's rage had settled down.

Davina moved to the edge of her bed. "Have your wounds healed?" She asked suddenly, breaking Caroline from her internal ponders.

Caroline paused and turned her head - frown plastered on her face.

Davina nodded to Caroline's torso. "How are they doing?"

Caroline lifted up the hem of her tee-shirt; surely enough, the bandages were there. On running her fingers over the area, she cemented that the wounds were too. She didn't know what she had expected; for them to heal? Thus far, it had been clear that they weren't going to do so on their own...

Her eyes flickered back up to Davina's. "What can you do?"

Davina shrugged. "Not me. You." She shrugged a shoulder. "You just said something about different power," she elaborated. "I just...have a theory, and I think we should test it."

Caroline regarded her strangely.

"Take off your shirt," the girl ordered.

Unashamed, Caroline carefully did so - remembering what had happened the last time she'd yanked it off. Then a thought struck her. "When I was here last," she voiced, "I had my shirt on when I woke up - but if I remember correctly, before I...travelled...I'd just picked it up off the floor because I'd taken it off, so-"

"You had it in your hand when you got here - and I put it on you when you were out cold. Which was - credit to me, pretty difficult." Davina paused, lips pouting. "I wonder if that would work for people too, though;...whether you could travel with other people, by...holding their hand or something. You could probably take anything with you! You could go on holidays and not have to pay for airfares!" Davina's eyes lit up. "Ohmygod, that would be so cool!" When she registered Caroline's fright at the proposition, she waved a hand. "Or...not," she dismissed, laughing nervously. "Another time, then." She shook her head.

Davina's words had just reinforced to Caroline how young she was. The girl was beginning to remind her of Annabel; both caught up between the dark world they lived in, and their innocence. Amidst her own troubles, Caroline earnestly pitied her. She pitied both of them.

"Take off the bandage."

Davina's command broke her thoughts once more.

Caroline complied, grimacing as the action rubbed her injuries.

"Okay," Davina said through a breath. If Caroline didn't know any better, she would have thought that she seemed queasy. "Stand in front of the mirror."

Shrugging, Caroline did as she asked.

"Look at the wounds. Focus on them."

Her eyes quickly flickered to Davina's; she'd taken up a chair.

"Concentrate," the girl urged.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "This is ridiculous."

"You wanted answers," Davina reiterated. "Well, this is us looking for them; trial and error."

Caroline centred herself.

"Focus on your wounds," Davina coached. "Think about the tissue. How it's torn. Cut."

Caroline wanted to roll her eyes again, but she refrained. She stared at the wounds.

"I saw that vampire blood wouldn't heal you," the girl revealed. "But you're not human - which means that there's got to be a reason for - and a way around - your body not regenerating."

Caroline jaw stiffened. "And you think staring at them is going to make it go away?"

"Yes."

The blonde's eyes hardened on the two wounds.

After a moment, Davina said, "Think about the tissue healing. Think about it coming back together."

"This is so ridiculous," Caroline muttered.

"Focus!"

"Okay!"

Caroline closed her eyes. Recalled how she'd gotten both of the wounds - and rewound the situations. She imagined each weapon leaving her body in reverse, and the tissue coming back together. She imagined it intertwining, weaving in complex twirls and knots. Together. She focussed on it closing. She pictured the soft, metallic-cream scar that each would leave.

Somewhere distant, she heard Davina gasp.

Caroline's eyes fluttered open - and she started at her reflection, or rather, her torso. She could barely respond to what she saw.

It had worked.

Two cream, not-quite-circles had replaced the wounds.

"What the f...ruit," Caroline breathed. She spun around, craning her neck to look at her back.

Again, scar.

She turned to Davina. "Am I witch?"

"No," she mumbled, dumbfounded. "I...I can't believe it worked," she added under her breath.

Caroline turned back to her reflection. "Then how on earth did I do that?"

"I really don't know."

"But it was your idea-"

"Witches can ease pain. We can't get rid of injuries all together - just like...death." Davina's memory seemed to wander for a moment. "We can't reverse it, we can only trade; like, an eye for an eye. I thought that..."

"You thought that if it didn't work, you could cross-out 'witch' from the numerical possibilities, right?"

Davina subtly nodded. "Nothing lines up...but I'm working on it, I promise."

Caroline let at a long breath, settling herself. She reached for her tee-shirt, and pulled it over her head.

No pain.

"How do you 'find out' stuff, like you keep on say?" She then asked.

Davina sighed. "You know how I said that I practice ancestral magic?" Caroline nodded. "Well that's how. Dead supernaturals go to that Other Plane, right?"

Caroline nodded again. "Well, technically, it's 'The Other Side'-"

"They saw you there. The people on the Other Plane can see everything. They know stuff. It's...complicated. And hard, because they don't necessarily want to help me, because I won't help them."

Caroline head spun as she tried to comprehend. Davina's earlier words echoed in her head - 'I'll tell you the whole story some day' - effectively stemming her frustration. Deciding that there probably wasn't much else that Davina could tell her, Caroline reached for her shirt, and pulled it back on. She picked up the bandages, and turned to Davina. "You got a bin?"

Davina motioned towards a little cane wastebasket.

Caroline tossed it in, and then turned back to the girl. "How do I get back?

"Like you did last time; and like you did with your wounds; close your eyes and concentrate."

Caroline closed them - but only for a second. "I don't want to get stuck for three months again."

"You won't."

"How do you know?"

"Because this time you're going to focus on something; a harness. Last time your mind was all over the place - I saw it. I felt it." She smiled sadly. "So, focus on something - important. Just a theory; but if you do, it should take you there."

"But how do you know that it will work?"

"I don't; we're gonna go with trial and error again." When she saw Caroline's distress, she added comfortingly, "But I know this; when you figure out how to get a grab on it, you're going to come back one day soon and tell me how."

Caroline smiled gently. "So I will see you again?"

"I don't really have any other...friends, so I'm counting on you to come and find me when you're back in town. Which will be very soon. Okay?"

Caroline nodded once, standing tall.

She closed her eyes.

There was one thing that she could centralise her thoughts on.

The one thing that she could concentrate on returning to.

A target.

Her constant.

- TVD -

| Mystic Falls |

Caroline woke with a gasp, feeling ice-cold from head to toe. Her eyes darted around her surroundings. His room. She was in his room. It was just like last time. Only this time, different.

Because she remembered. She remembered her. She remembered everything. Their conversation. Frantically, Caroline grabbed the bottom of her shirt, and pulled it up.

The two scars.

A floorboard creaked.

Caroline turned her head.

Klaus's crystal blue eyes stared back at her. He stood opposite of her on the bed. Shirtless, and in jeans. Feet bare. He looked natural. He smelt clean. Fresh. Coupled with his distraught, he looked more human than Caroline could ever remember him looking.

"Klaus," she breathed - and without thinking, rose to her knees, and collided into his chest, wrapping her arms around him. She felt his chin rest on the top of her head. His hands immediately caged around her form. His fingers tightened on her back. He buried his face into her neck. And she let him. She relaxed with relief into his embrace.

Because he was real. And she knew where she was.

Which meant that she had come back.

"Thank God," he moaned into her neck. His voice sounded thick.

After what felt like hours, she at last murmured, "How long?"

He drew back, hands falling to his sides. He regarded her with a mixture of pain, and relief. "An hour, sixteen minutes and twenty-odd seconds."

She couldn't decide whether to be stunned by the shorter length of her absence, or touched that he had cared so much to count down to the seconds of it. Unable to decide, she answered in jest, "You weren't counting that closely were you? Because I-"

She couldn't finish, because his hands slowly lifted to cup her cheeks. His head tilted towards her, until his nose bumped hers. "I thought you weren't coming back this time," he barely breathed as she almost trembled in his hold. "I watched it happen."

His hands dropped.

Caroline closed her eyes, and tried to steady herself with a breath.

"You said something about 'memories' before you disappeared," Klaus reminded her, stepping back. "What were they?"

She sat on her heels. "The ones I clearly remember now, are where I...went, last time. The rest of them...like where I got stuck...they're in there" - she pointed to her head - "but I just need to be able to be confident enough to...draw them out. Because...they'll hurt. And right now..."

Klaus sat down, and reached out towards her, cupping her cheek, gently forcing her to look at him.

"...A-and," she continued shakily, trying to mask the effect his touch had on her, "i-if I...get scared, I'll travel again. According to" - she went to say Davina's name, but halted herself - "...it's...something that I do...that I will continue to do, when I'm scared. It's like a defence mechanism." Her eyes welled. "This time...I travelled because I was scared. I wanted to run away from the pain." Her gaze dropped to her lap. "I was such a...a-"

His other hand lifted, and his thumb swiped underneath one of her eyes, removing a stray tear. "I ran for a thousand years," he murmured. "I am in no position to judge." The fingers trailed down her cheek, and then fell away completely.

She stared into his round, sincere eyes for a long time. She got lost in them.

But eventually her conscience won over.

She looked away, and then so did he - breaking the bond.

"What did you mean, by 'travel'?" He asked. "What was it like?"

Caroline - relieved for the quick change of topic, stared straight ahead.

He waited.

"This is going to make me sound like a maniac-"

"One sits right next to you; as I stressed - I am in no position to judge. Proceed."

Caroline wrung her hands. "I can move from one place to another," she said quickly. "To do so, I have to go through the Other Side: I think because it's sort of like a world between worlds, maybe? Like it's in the present, but not really." She let out a sharp breath. "Last time, between leaving a place, and coming back here, I got stuck on the Other Side - because I wasn't concentrating. I was...freaking out. It was kind of like...I left a destination but didn't put coordinates in for the next, so I...got lost in the middle of nowhere."

"You were stuck on the Other Side for three months?" His face did not even begin to express his commiseration at this new information.

She nodded, biting her lip. "The more I think about it...I suppose, it was kind of like I was in a passageway, and the doors shut on me before I could get from one end to the other." She pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes closed.

"How do you know all of this?" Klaus murmured after a long moment. "I would never discredit your intelligence...but you didn't just figure it all out on your own, did you?"

His question visibly made her halt - in both track of mind and the line of speech she would have proceeded with.

Could she say her name?

Davina had asked her to keep her safe.

In telling Klaus, was she exposing her?

Of course she was.

In telling him, were they closer to finding out her own truth?

Possibly.

"I can't tell you," she heard herself say.

He started at her for a moment.

And then he stood in a flash.

His temper had turned.

"You cannot tell me?" He demanded, voice rising. "Are you serious?" He dryly laughed. "Do you not trust me? Do you want to be helped?"

She scrambled off the bed, standing before him, ignoring the weakness in her legs when she did. "Of course I want to be helped, but Klaus...I promised. Exposure would kill this person. I made a promise that I wouldn't let anything happen to her, and I have to keep it: you may be okay with putting people's lives in danger for me, but I'm not."

"Her?"

Caroline felt sick. Dammit! She angrily scolded herself. Dammit, dammit, dammit! You idiot.

"Caroline?" He pressed, seeing her irritation. "Do you trust me?" He repeated through his teeth, jaw stiff. "Because if you tell me, I will keep it safe."

"I...don't believe you," she barely mumbled. Her gaze dropped. "I don't want you to hurt anyone. Least of all the person who's trying to help me through this."

"I am the person helping you get through this!" Klaus roared. "You've seen this person twice! I am the person who compelled, lied, arranged, fought and searched all for you! But is that it? Am I to become nothing to you? A means to an end - because I failed you? Because I don't know the answer?" He stormed away a few steps, and turned back, pointing. "Am I - in sacrificing for you - to be nothing more than a resource to be used? And because I could not produce you with an solution, you cast me off?"

"K-klaus," Caroline trembled.

He flashed to her, finger a centimeter from her face. "I will not be used-"

"Klaus, I'm not using you, I swear," Caroline intercepted, daring to move forward an inch. "Why this sudden loss of faith in me? I'm only asking you to respect my wishes-"

"Your wishes? Your wishes?" He laughed dryly. "Oh sure: go back to school, sit your exams, graduate, go to college, get your diploma - live a normal life," he shot at her, words laced with sarcasm. "When are you going to realise that it's not going to happen the way that you want it to?" He threw his hands up, and when they fell, his eyes narrowed, his lips thinned, and his voice dropped. "You are a vampire. Your life isn't supposed to be normal, Caroline. This twisted fantasy of normality is crippling you; you're so busy mourning a non-essential life that's already over!"

"It isn't non-essential to me!" She argued. "It is my life. I wasn't born to be magnificent; I was born to live, marry, start a family and die in this town-"

"But that's not-"

"My life anymore?" She snapped. "Oh really? Well what am I supposed to do?" She demanded. "Slaughter? Embrace evil? Perhaps I'll ruin a few lives in the process." She balled her fists. "Let me tell you something, Niklaus. That isn't who I am, and you know it. Maybe you should let go of your twisted fantasy about me 'turning to the dark side' and implementing malice with you-"

"Don't be drama-"

"No," Caroline cut him off, before her tone dropped darkly too. "You may love having control of everything in your life, but you do not have control of me. You do not have the right. I am not yours." Around them, the lights on the wall began to flicker. "I am not your 'girlfriend'." One of the bulbs popped.

Something in Klaus had changed by this moment, when the weather and entire atmosphere had. He understood what was happening. He'd seen it happen before. "Caroline." He reached out to her, wary.

She moved away from him. "No, because that's what you want, isn't it?" She backed away. "How is it, that through all of this, you're the only one that I can turn to for help? How do I know that you're not orchestrating this?"

"Caroline," he repeated calmly.

Another bulb popped.

"Am I just another tool in your grab for power with Marcel?"

"Caroline, calm down-"

"No! I have had enough! You just can't trust people-"

"Because they use, then leave me - which is exactly what you're going to do!"

"How do you know?"

"Because you hate me-"

"Don't be pathetic-"

"You've given me no other-"

"I am not using you, for God's sakes! I am with you by choice!"

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I could have stayed here to begin with. My friends could have helped me - Elena drama aside, we look out for one another. Yet I chose to come with you-"

"Because of my resources. My power!"

"What power? The power that you're trying to steal from your own protégé?" Caroline demanded. "God, you know what? I feel sorry for you." She turned towards the door.

He flashed in front of her. "Don't turn your back on me!"

"I should've turned my back on you ages ago!"

Suddenly, all lights exploded. There was the splitting crash of glass downstairs.

They were enveloped in complete darkness.

Breathing rapidly, loudly with fright, Caroline turned to Klaus, "I did that," she barely breathed. "But...but...she said that I wasn't a witch. And...it wasn't...Expression...I...I'm not a witch. I'm not a witch." She held his eyes, full of tears. Her breathing became more rapid.

She was hyperventilating.

Klaus moved quickly to her, and grabbed her arms. "Hey - hey! Sweetheart." He caressed her forearms with his thumbs. "Magic feeds off heightened emotion. You need to relax." He lifted a hand to her neck. "Brea-"

"What do you know?" She barely whispered. "You not a witch. You don't know."

"I grew up around very powerful witches - I even had one for a mother." His other hand lifted to her shoulder. "Trust me," he murmured, gaze settling more deeply into her eyes, catching the. Holding them. "I love you. I will protect you. If you do not trust me, then at least trust that."

She stared back at him, eyes unfathomable. They had filled with a different kind of moisture.

But she slowly began to breath in his arms, as he coached her with his own.

"Davina," she whispered at last, with an exhausted numbness, eyes breaking from his grasp.

Klaus' whole form stiffened - attention peaked. "Davina who?"

"She knows, Klaus," Caroline revealed breathlessly, eyes full as each internal revelation further dawned on her. "She knows. She's trying to find out. She can...help me."

Klaus' lips fell open, as he tried to understand. He stepped forward.

"We need to find her," Caroline implored.

- TVD -

Marcel caught the scent right away. Stepping into the old church, stained with blood, the new addition was particular - though faint, distinctive.

He flashed upstairs, and knocked on the door.

Davina lay out across her bed, book in hand. She looked up. "Took your time," she mumbled. She eyed the bag of groceries in his hand. She spied the chocolate. Her stomach growled.

He entered. "Davina, who was here?"

Her face fell into an unfathomable mask. "No one."

Marcel's eyes narrowed. He inhaled. His eyes shot to the waste basket. He strode over.

"What are you doing?" Davina called, sliding off her bed.

He knelt down, and retrieved the bandage. "This?" He lifted it into plain sight, brow furrowed with question.

"I cut-" She began to say, but he cut her off.

"This wasn't just a cut," he said calmly. "And it isn't yours; I have a nose, sweetie." He dropped it into the wastebasket, and walked to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "What's goin' on? Who are you protecting?"

Davina deliberated a long time. "My friend," she eventually answered.

"Your friend?" Marcel's eyebrows rose. "No one comes here - and you know why, honey."

"Doesn't matter," she answered, turning away. "I can't...tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because I need to keep her safe."

"From who?"

"From them; they've done something to her - they're after her, just like they're after me." Davina folded her arms across her chest.

Marcel dropped his hands. "Where is she? I'll find her. We'll help her," he promised.

"Marcel, you can't."

"Why not?"

Davina closed her eyes. "Because...she's with Klaus."

AN: And the plot thickens...while the burning question remains: why do the New Orleans witches want Caroline? Oh, the dramatics... ;)

Thank you so much for all the feedback and support so far! I'm so sorry for not individually emailing my thanks to reviewers like I normally do - the school year is nearly over, so I'll be back to normal in 5 days! :)

As always, if you have any questions about the story/chapter - I'm happy to answer; I love talking to you guys! Sound off your theories/thoughts and suggestions in the box below x

Next chapter has already been started, so the update should come within the next couple of days!

G xx