Bonnie stood relatively close to the hole in the ground as Elena's coffin was slowly lowered down below the surface. The preacher had said some fair wells, talked about Elena's life, and wished her a "pleasant death." The whole time, Bonnie had managed to keep it together. But as she watched the closed casket rest gently in the hole, all she could picture was Elena's dead face being buried.
This wasn't supposed to have ever happened. Elena was supposed to find a normal guy, have kids, get a job, grow old, live an actual life. But instead she was sucked into this sad fairy tale of Mystic Falls and die before she could even have the relief of being with the man she loved. She was dead now. Just because of some stupid game the Originals had tried to play. Elijah had filled her in on how it was his fault because his family had thought they could break the vampire's curse.
They were idiots. Over two thousand years of the same routine, and they thought they could just change it all. And what would have happened if they had succeeded? They were vampires for a reason. They were demons. They couldn't just shut off their monstrosity.
But apparently they hadn't thought it all through. Because they'd done the ritual, and Elena was dead, but everything was still the same. Vampires still fed on blood, and they still killed everything in their path. The only difference was the population of Mystic Falls now. Klaus had gone away with Caroline. Rebekah had taken Matt. Elena was no longer breathing...
Bonnie looked up into the distance, ignoring the other mourning people around her. She didn't care about them right now. They all felt horrible, they were sorry for her loss, it was such a terrible happening. Blah blah blah. Not one of them cared about Elena. They just cared that someone had died near their homes.
Off away from the newly engraved gravestone of Elena Gilbert, Bonnie saw Elijah standing by a tree. He was in his usual tux, all black this time, and was watching the scene from quite a ways away. He would most likely pay his respects when the foolish humans were no longer hanging around to give him odd looks.
And he was most likely staring at Elena's ghost. He didn't have to stare at a coffin. He had the real deal in front of him. He just couldn't access her.
And that was Bonnie's job. Fix Elena's death, or die herself.
.
"Finally!" Caroline exclaimed as she took the charger from Klaus quickly and jumped off the bed, looking around for an outlet.
Klaus shook his head and sat down on the bed. "A thank you would be appreciated," he spoke up. Caroline was on her knees now, having torn the package open and was now trying to plug the charger into the wall beside the bed. "We've been gone for nearly three days, and you act as if you haven't been able to contact anyone for three years."
"Girl's gotta text," she mumbled. She plugged the phone into the wall while she watched the screen with wide eyes, praying that it would turn on. But, of course, because it had been out for so long, it was going to take a while. She slumped her shoulders in disappointment. "It's completely dead. Like, beyond the grave. It's in the deepest depth of hell right now," she exclaimed. She climbed onto the bed while she continued watching it, holding down the power button as if that would work.
Klaus had a corner of his blood bag in his mouth as he rolled over next to her, draping an arm around her waist as he laid down on the bed, happily sucking out the contents of the plastic bag. Caroline ignored him as he moved closer to her, trying to snuggle, but she was too upset with her electronic romances to pay back much affection.
Klaus closed his eyes and rested his head on her arm, watching the cellphone with her. She exhaled loudly and dropped her head back. "It's taking forever to start up again!" she complained.
Klaus rolled his eyes and stretched his head to look up at her. "Your definition of 'forever' is impeccable," he said sarcastically before kissing her neck and laying back on the headrest.
Caroline gave him a sassy smirk back. "You would know."
Klaus busied himself with his blood bag while replying to her. "Now, now. Just because you're an adolescence doesn't mean you need to bash me because I'm mature."
Caroline rolled her eyes and dropped her phone into her lap, giving up. She leaned forward and grabbed her abandoned bag from the end of the bed. While she was reaching, she muttered under her breath, "Well at least I haven't been around forever to make my head the size of Mars..." She pulled back and bit into her bag.
Klaus crossed his legs and leaned his head back as he raised his eyebrows at her words. "What was that, darling?"
Caroline smiled at him like she was admiring him. "I said you're so sweet," she lied in a girly voice, rubbing his knee.
"Mm-hmm," he hummed his sarcastic agreement with her, taking a drink of blood.
Caroline genuinely smiled to herself at their perfect play off one another. He just got it. Tyler would have started questioning whether she was really angry with him or not. But Klaus just went with it - because he would know when she was angry.
They sat in silence for a while, Klaus leaning on Caroline with his arm behind her, and Caroline sitting crossed legged, not really paying attention to anything but her thoughts. When she was about halfway through her bag, she stopped and frowned. "Where'd you get the blood?"
"Hospital," Klaus replied slowly.
"The hospital just handed the blood over to you?"
"Compulsion," he mumbled another one-worded response.
Caroline narrowed her eyes at the room. "Can you do anything impressive without compelling?" she asked. It had just then crossed her mind that he might only be all that powerful because he could compel people to do whatever the hell he wanted. "I mean, you compel everyone," she said her thoughts aloud while watching a couch from across the room. "I'm honestly surprised you haven't compelled me yet. That would have made getting my respect a lot easier. You even compelled Stefan in the past! Or, you know, you put people under your sire-bond. I don't think you've actually done anything miraculous just out of your 'badassness.'"
Klaus zoned her out as he closed his eyes. He could feel himself drifting off as he ignored Caroline's obvious attempts to get him rallied up. He let his empty bag slide out of his hand as his head turned to the side in limpness.
"Wait, you might have compelled me, and I just don't remember it... That is so something you would do. So did you?" She finally turned to look at him for the first time her entire monologue. "I mean you easily could have- Oh my God! You're not even listening!" she exclaimed, awakening him.
He frowned as she hit his stomach. "I'm exhausted, love," he told her with his eyes still closed.
"Did you ever compel me?" she repeated her question.
Klaus took a deep breath. "No. I won you fair and square."
Caroline laughed humorlessly. "Says the man that made a deal with me to start the relationship off," she retorted.
He only moaned in response, slipping away again.
Caroline smiled at his sleeping form. He looked so peaceful. So innocent. It was obvious at that moment that he was a person. He'd been human at one point. And Caroline could just never wrap her mind around that fact. This murderer used to laugh wholeheartedly and go through depression and long for certain things.
He didn't show any of that now. His depression had kind of taken over his entire life almost. He was only happy when she made it obvious she was having a good time. He was only happy when she was.
Caroline grinned cheek to cheek at that thought and had to fight to keep her excited squeal down. But she ended up not caring because he was practically asleep anyway. So she screamed lowly with the back of her throat, chuckling at the end and scooting down. She curled up into Klaus' side, and he subconsciously draped his arm around her in return. She bit her bottom lip in joy as she wrapped an arm around his torso, hugging herself to him. Klaus wanted her. Actually wanted her. This incredibly sexy man chased his tail trying to impress her, and her only.
She closed her eyes as she thought about them being together. She tilted her head and nuzzled it into his shoulder, moving his arm around her shoulders. She tried to ease her mind so she could drift into sleep just as Klaus had, but the feeling of him breathing next to her kept her mind racing. He loved her. He'd said it to her over and over again as he held her on that boat. He'd cared enough to compel hundreds of people just to give her one amazing evening. He'd even worn the bowler hat for her.
She looked up at his shut off face. His eyes closed, lips closed as he breathed steadily through his nose, arm limp around her while the other rested behind his head as another pillow. She leaned up and gently kissed him. When he didn't respond at all, she knew he was completely asleep and felt comfortable speaking to him.
"Klaus?" she whispered.
No response.
She bit her lips together in hesitation as she twiddled her thumb over her index finger. She opened her mouth to say something, but then shut it, suddenly not completely sure he was asleep. "I'm taking my shirt off..."
No response.
She barely chuckled and smiled at him. She rested her chin on his shoulder, looking up at him with raised eyebrows. "I love you, too," she whispered to him before kissing his cheek and resting her head right under his chin.
.
"I do hope you've managed to achieve something in the day I've allowed you to work," Elijah said as he trailed his fingers over Bonnie's desk.
Bonnie was getting angered with him; and she might have even shown it if she wasn't so exhausted. "Yes," she sighed. "I was up reading about it all. Apparently you can see her because she died with someone loving her." She looked down to the open book in front of her. "The reason a lot of people go crazy when they lose a loved one is because they see them just like you can see Elena. There's no cure. She'll go away sooner or later."
"Then why had Damon seen her and I hadn't? He had to trade me information in order for me to see her-"
Bonnie shrugged lamely. "Because he actually believed that she might come back. You just went on a killing rampage."
Anyone else would have ripped her throat out for saying that to his face, but he didn't care. He just stood there waiting for more information.
"So you're stuck with her memory - that's essentially what you're seeing. There's mention of a way to make her more realistic, but it takes a lot, so I think you're not going to get anywhere. You either stick with seeing her, or you try to forget her." Bonnie looked up to his face hesitantly, not knowing what to expect.
Elijah was watching her with a very strict expression on his face. "There's always a way to cheat death. This is one of those ways. You will find a way to bring her back," he said threateningly.
"There isn't a way," she said strongly.
"Why would I see her if I wasn't able to bring her back from the hell that she's in?" he demanded, taking a step closer to Bonnie's chair she was in.
"It's called a curse for a reason, Elijah. It's not meant to be broken, and it's not meant to bring you hope." She watched him as he turned away from her in distaste, not wanting to hear her words. "It's meant to bring torturing upon you," she continued.
"Well, let's just say it's run its course with me and I've lost patience," he said in a deep voice. "Fix this, Bennet. Of you will be the last Bennet of the witch line."
Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Threatening to kill me isn't going to continue to work, Elijah. As of right now, I don't care about anything. Killing me would kind of be helping my case."
Elijah turned to give her a disrespected look. "Is that so?" he asked, giving her a chance to change her words. "You have nothing to still care about?" He straightened his tie and gave her a farewell smile as he turned to leave.
Bonnie felt her stomach tighten in dread. "Where are you going?" she demanded in a panicked voice.
Elijah reached the door and pulled it open as he answered her. "I believe I have more useless mortals to kill. Say, for instance, Tyler Lockwood."
And then he was gone, before Bonnie could say anything. Gone to kill the remaining people in Bonnie's life.
.
Caroline hadn't been able to sleep at all, even though she'd been laying with her eyes shut for nearly twenty minutes. She's slept the previous night, unlike the intelligent Klaus who was now going to waste the day with his mind in a different realm.
But she didn't have to try to nap any longer because her phone beeped at her, and she almost threw herself off the bed trying to get to it. And somehow - Klaus still didn't wake up.
She got her phone in her hand and then frowned at Klaus. "You're really out," she commented with chuckle. She silently laughed a little more when he just went on sleeping. She went back to her phone, clicking the power button and watching as the screen lit up and took it's sweet time loading.
But when it did finally load, and she saw she had new texts and voice messages, she almost yelled out "What?" in confusion. Twenty five voice messages, and thirty texts. What the hell? She'd been gone for three days; had hell broke loose?
She scrolled through her missed calls. A ton from Bonnie, a few from Jeremy, some from Stefan, one from Damon, and almost ten from an unknown caller. Her first thought was that she was being stalked by the unknown caller and that everyone else was trying to warn her. But her thoughts changed as she brought the phone up to her ear to listen to the most recent voicemail by the unknown caller, hoping to recognize the caller by their voice.
"Hey Care." Instantly, Caroline frowned. That sounded like - "It's Tyler again." Her mouth slowly fell open. Had Klaus let him go without telling her? "I just got back in town. Where are you?" Back in town? Where are you? He should be telling her that Klaus had had him locked up. That he was sorry he just disappeared all of the sudden, but that it was all Klaus' fault. That he was coming to rescue her.
But instead, he was questioning where she was. No mention of Klaus, his kidnapper. He would never do that. Normally, he'd be playing the blame game. Unless there was no one to blame. But of course there was. Klaus had taken Tyler and hid him away. Klaus was to blame. Unless...
Unless there had never been a kidnapper. Which would mean Tyler left at free will - which would explain his 'getting back in town.' But that would also mean that Klaus had nothing to do with it. He didn't take Tyler. He never tortured him when she denied him of anything. When he told her that she better do something or he'd take his anger out on Tyler...there was never a Tyler to take anything out on.
"I don't know if you saw the news, but El-"
Caroline stopped listening and tore the phone from her ear. She quickly took the pen from the stand next to the bed and wasted no time to think as she threw her arm out and slammed the pen into Klaus' chest.
Instantly, Klaus was awake, groaning in surprised pain, and Caroline was off the bed, staring at him with a look of pure hatred and betrayal. "You son of a bitch."
Klaus struggled to breath with the pen in his chest as he frowned up at her. "What have I done?" he questioned. He took hold of the inch of pen still visible and pulled it out sharply, gasping in air as he quickly mended and was able to breath completely again.
He tossed the pen to the side as Caroline started talking. "It's what you didn't do!" she yelled. "Tyler was out of town this entire time!"
Klaus' breath stopped once again as he looked up at her in hatred for the boy that was causing so much trouble. Yes, he'd known this was coming, that Caroline would find out sooner or later, but he'd been hoping that maybe he'd be able to put together an excuse that she would listen to. But, of course, he wasn't going to get that chance. Now he had to just hope she didn't try to kill him. "So you'd have preferred I did lock him up in a cage?"
"I'd have preferred you didn't lie to me to get in my pants!" she exclaimed at him.
Klaus' eyes slowly got bigger in confusion and disbelief. "You think this - all of this -," he stood up, "was about bedding you?"
Caroline chuckled. "Well if you'd wanted something real, you would have tried to win me over the correct way," she retorted with so much sass Klaus had a hard time not letting himself get angry at her.
"What about last night?" he reminded. Caroline scoffed and walked down her side of the bed, and Klaus kept in step with her, so when she was no longer blocked from the door by the bed, she was blocked by him. "Was my confession of love just another way to 'get in your pants'?"
Caroline looked taken back by his words, but then quickly categorized them into her mind as she humorlessly laughed. "Oh yeah, how much of that was a lie?" She pulled her hand up and threw her phone right at him with as much force as she could, catching the voice of Bonnie coming out of it as it flew by her ear.
Klaus caught it in air and tossed it to the side. "None of that was a lie, Caroline. How could you think that?"
"How could I th- Because you lied to me from the start!" She clenched her jaw shut and literally started shaking in anger.
Klaus quickly spoke up. "Tyler was the only lie I made up, love," he tried telling her.
Caroline frowned at him like he was insane. "And how much was based around him!? He was kinda a huge part of this!"
She went to take a step towards the door, but Klaus, nearly seven feet away, mirrored her actions to stop her. "What about the first time you kissed me? You decided Tyler didn't matter and that it was just you and me."
"And that was your chance to tell me the truth, Klaus." She shook her head at him. "You're still the asshole you were three months ago," she sneered as she walked forward, hitting his shoulder with hers as she stormed past.
But Klaus caught her arm and turned her around. "I may still be an ass," he said to her in a low voice, "but everything we've been through was completely and utterly real."
Caroline made a disgusted noise and shook her arm from him viciously. "You seriously think that's going to make this better for you?" she snapped. "You're a little dead to me right now."
"I'm dead to a lot of people, love."
Caroline held up her finger, pointing at him. "No. Do not call me that!"
Klaus tilted his head up to look at her, the way he always did to people he was trying to calm. "Caroline," he sighed. "Think about what you're doing. You're going to walk out that door and throw everything away. All the good times I've given you, all the words shared between us-"
"All the bullshit you've been feeding me," she added onto his list. She looked from the wall to his face, her lips in a straight line. She was seeing him like she'd seen him before all of this started. Before he made her feel like the only thing on the earth that mattered. She saw him as the Original Hybrid. Nothing special. He was just playing her. He had been from the start. "I'm not going to throw it away, Klaus," she hissed. "I'm going to translate it for what it really is."
Klaus licked his lips in a sudden rush of irritation. "Tyler was just a way to get to you," he said in a voice a little louder than before. "Everything from there was me having affection for you. A great deal of it, too-"
Caroline interrupted him and brought her hands up to empathise. "You don't have emotions!" she yelled at him. "You've been around for way too long! You're drained out of emotions. Nothing left but hatred, Klaus." She exhaled a laugh. "And I don't know what the hell made me think that you could actually want me!"
She turned again to leave, but Klaus flashed in front of her, on the verge of being angry with her. "I will compel you to listen," he threatened. But his threat was empty. He could never tell her what to do or say or think. But he said the words before he thought about what he was telling her.
"Do it," Caroline dared. "Prove just how much of a bastard you are." She breathed deeply through her nose. Her chin quivered as she felt too many emotions try to force their way out. Her eyes fell to his chest. She struck out and hit his shoulder. "Do it," she told him again.
He stood in front of her, not touching. He heard her breath quaver for a moment. His heart dropped. She was taking all of it the wrong way. She wouldn't listen to him, either. All he wanted to do was tell her that he loved her again, somehow tell her everything was pure and white. But as she lifted her eyes back up to his, looking at him through overwhelmed tears, he knew there was no going back to where they'd been just ten minutes ago, sleeping on the bed next to one another.
She hit his chest again. "Do it!" She was trying to make him mad. Trying to get a reaction out of him. But he didn't react. He just stood still, watching her. He took another shove. Another hit. Another violent lash by the breaking woman in front of him. And then suddenly she couldn't control her hands as she hit him and banged on his chest aggressively, tears threatening to fall.
"Just do it!" she cried at him, looking up at him finally and dropping her hands. "I'm just another pawn in your disgusting games. So play me, already! I obviously don't mean anything to you."
Klaus dropped his head and looked at her seriously. "You're not listening to me, Caroline."
"What is there to listen to?" she demanded. "You know, I finally thought I found someone who would do anything for me. Absolutely anything for me..."
"And I will." He took a small step closer to her, his chest barely touching hers. "Ask and I will provide," he tried to convince her everything was in good intentions.
Caroline shook her head. "No," she whispered. "No, if you cared you would have actually tried."
Klaus leaned down to look straight into her eyes. "I did," he said painfully. "You just don't seem to understand." He brought his hand up to cup her neck while he tried to catch her eyes, but she held them down. "Caroline, I'm obsessed with you," he said with force. He rested his forehead on hers. And finally, he felt her rage turn into sorrow. Now she would listen to him instead of acting on anger. She was letting go of her aggression and replacing it with vulnerance. "Please don't leave me after all we've built."
Caroline looked up to him. "And what did we build?"
Klaus looked back and forth between her eyes, shaking his head gently. "You built and gave me a sliver of my humanity back," he whispered. He exhaled a small chuckle. "I've let myself feel things I've been warding off my entire life... You're the one person I want to be with all the time."
Caroline bit her lips together as she shook her head. "I don't believe you," she said with little energy left. She felt like her heart had literally been turned to rock and was freezing her chest. She hadn't felt that since her dad left.
But Klaus wasn't leaving. She was. She could save herself from all of this if she just forgave it all and moved on. He really hadn't done anything. He'd done something she didn't approve of at first, but now...she was incredibly relieved to be with him. He adored her, and she loved that. And if she went and disposed of all of it, it wouldn't just be Klaus left with a broken heart. She most likely wouldn't get over it for a long time.
And when she went back home, what would she be leaving him for? Tyler? The boy she'd grown to just see as her high school sweetheart, and nothing more. Klaus was real. He gave her everything. And Tyler had left without feeling the need to tell her. And that was why she was with Klaus now, because of Tyler.
Now that Caroline was breathing regularly, she was quick to check her emotions and admit to herself that she couldn't just leave Klaus. So, she took a deep breath, swallowed away her tears, and-
"...was buried today. I put your name on the guest list because I know you would have wanted to be there. And I don't know why you weren't." Caroline frowned, as did Klaus, when they both accidentally listened to Bonnie's voice on the still going voice message. "I'm really starting to think Klaus did make you come with him. And maybe he stole your phone, too. I don't know. But...if he made you miss her funeral, then I really don't think you know what you're getting yourself into." She sniffled, and it was obvious she was crying. "It was his family who did it, too. He most likely took you out of town as part of the plan."
Caroline pulled her head from Klaus' to look at him with concern. "What is she talking about?" she asked in pure fear that he knew.
But he shook his head. He took himself from her and walked to her phone. Caroline watched him as he pressed buttons, followed the phone's instructions, and was able to play the message previous to the one they just witnessed. This one's date was stated to be left the day before.
"Caroline, I don't know why you're ignoring us, but it's enough. I understand if you lost your phone, but I know you, and there's no way in hell you went a complete day without finding some way to check your messages." Caroline was watching Klaus' face. She knew something bad was about to be revealed, and she was absolutely terrified he was behind it. She felt like she was in the middle of one of those cheesy chick-flicks where something dramatic happens and all the girl can do is stare at the man in heartbreak.
But this wasn't a chick-flick. This was happening. These were her real emotions and her real heart that she could foresee being shattered. And there was nothing to do to stop it.
Klaus face stared at the floor. He felt it too. Except he probably knew what it was. That was why he wasn't looking at her. He was afraid to face the look in her eyes.
"I know you're alive, I did a spell. So just stop ignoring us…" Bonnie sniffled into the phone again. More crying as she thought about the problem.
Caroline curled her fingers into a ball, her stomach jumping around in anxiety, her palms sweaty, her eyes wet. Klaus finally looked to her, hearing her breath suddenly halt. He took in her closed eyes and her pale face. He knew from her frown that she was already regretting listening to the voice message just as much as he was. But he knew, that if there was any chance she would forgive him for everything, he needed to let everything be laid down now. Including this death that he was almost completely sure was-
"Elena's funeral is tomorrow… Please don't miss it."
I hope this wasn't too...whatever you think it was too much of. Review! Please! Make it your New Year Resolution - to review my story and tell me what you think X) haha
Love you guys for sticking with me this far!