Hello, yes I am joining the update apocalypse of 5X01! Stick around after the chapter because I have a couple of things to say about the story!
Chapter 29:
Caroline feels her hand lift slowly to knock on the large wooden door in front of her. She chews on her bottom lip as she waits nervously for the occupant to answer her. Truth be told this is the last conversation she wants to have right now but after everything she feels it is only right that she try to make amends.
"I am not in the mood Niklaus" comes the glib voice from inside
"It is Caroline," the Queen says on a measured voice, unsure if that piece of information will make the youngest Mikaelson more or less likely to open the door. Tht question is answered quickly when the door opens just wide enough for a blonde head to peak out
"Caroline?" she says in confusion, as though she only opened the door to satisfy her mind that she hadn't imagined the voice
"I was hoping we could talk" she smiles, pushing her way in only to be assaulted by the view of several large trunks laying half packed on Rebekah's bed. She turns to face the other girl with a raised eyebrow "going somewhere?"
Rebekah sets her shoulders straight "not that it is any of your business, but yes actually"
Caroline nods slowly "I take it your brother does not know"
"I bid Elijah farewell after dinner"
"You know that is not the brother I refer to"
"Of course it is not, Elijah is kind and decent and would not force me to make off like a thief in the night for a chance at happiness. Niklaus is selfish; he would try to keep me here. You must promise not to tell him" she says, eyes wide
"I will not tell, but I think you underestimate him. He is… different"
"Only when it comes to you," Rebekah says in a clipped tone "he may let me leave if he believed I wanted to explore the world but he would certainly not approve of my… companion"
Caroline smiles "and who, may I ask, is your companion"
Rebekah answers with a sly smile, walking over to her desk she pulls out a letter with the word Nik scrawled across the front in her impeccable handwriting "if you promise to give this to my brother only after I am halfway across the sea then all will be revealed"
Caroline nods, unsure what to say "you really should tell him yourself, I know how close-"
"You do not know anything, Caroline" Rebekah scoffs "I do not say that to be cruel, it is simply the truth. You know a different version of my brother than I always have. I have lived with Niklaus for a century, he is a jealous, possessive, murderous, petty man and while I genuinely hope that he has turned over a new leaf as it were, I will not risk testing the theory with Ma-my lover's life"
Caroline bites her lip, unsure what to say. The strangest part of her wans to defend Klaus, to make excuses for him and insist that he deserves better than for his sister to leave without a trace, but a bigger part of her understands Rebekah. She will never forget the man Niklaus was when she first entered this castle, the man she made a deal with. She no longer believes him to be that man, but she understands why Rebekah does and so she simply nods.
"It will not be forever" Rebekah says, slightly guilty "the man… he.. he is human" she pauses, the air tense "and he has no desire to become a vampire. I imagine we will have a few good decades together at most and then I will be back. I could never leave Niklaus for good, he is a part of me" she whispers
"I have a condition" Caroline says
"A condition for what?"
"My silence" she says "I will say nothing to my husband, I will deliver your letter, I will try to assuage his anger and I will even speak well of your intentions in leaving, but I do have a condition"
"I am listening" Rebekah says
"I would like for us to part friends and to be kinder to one another upon your return"
Rebekah laughs "oh Caroline, we will never be friends" she says with a smile "I am shocked to be admitting that I do believe you will still be here in a few decades time, but I believe you will be" she says "however, you and I are destined to spend eternity jealous of each other, angering each other, annoying each other, and at times- confiding in each other" she looks up to meet the other girl's eyes for the first time "we will never be friend's Caroline. We are sisters"
Caroline smiles, not needing to speak as she moves forward, hugging Rebekah for the first time before nodding conspiratorially and leaving the room.
XXX
Elena sits awkwardly in the main study looking in silence at the men before her; it has been like this for several minuets now, ever since she asked them to join her.
"You can say it Elena, whatever it is just say it" Stefan says, preparing himself to hear her decision and Damon nods in agreement
Elena sighs "I do not know if I can. I am not even sure I know what I want to say" she takes a pregnant pause "when I was human I knew exactly what I wanted. I knew the life that I wanted and I behaved in every way to achieve that. Since my transition, however, I have realized that I no longer know what I want." She pauses, looking down "to tell you the truth I am not even sure I know who I am. I feel as though every day I find a new part of myself, discover a strength I did not know I possessed. I used to think of this as the greatest curse there was and I pitied you all for having to endure it. I see now how wrong I was. I have been granted a freedom I never could have imagined" Elena's eyes shine with hope and possibility as she looks at the men standing before her.
She pauses for a long moment, considering the men in front of her with a sad smile. She reaches for one of each of their hands "I love you both so much. I love you so much that it hurts me sometimes. But I cannot be bound right now. My death has not changed my decision not to choose. I need to discover who I am before I can imagine deciding who I want to spend an eternity with. I am learning every day that I am not the woman of convention I once thought I was, and so I am choosing the unconventional choice" she holds her breath, waiting for their response; sure she is about to lose them both.
"Becoming a vampire does not change you" Damon responds with a shake of his head.
"It only amplifies who you already are" Stefan finishes on a sad smile "you have always felt this way" he says, and it is not a question "it is why you refused to answer my proposal even while human"
"There is something greater out there for you" Damon says
"No" Elena immediately breaks in "no, there will never be anything greater. There is simply me. I am out there, somewhere and I need to find myself"
Stefan nods "I will be here" he says "when you find everything you are looking for. I will be here if you feel you are still missing something"
"As will I" Damon intones
Elena nods her head slowly, feeling beyond her indecision, beyond her love for both of them, beyond the feud she has caused between them, beyond the lives they have all been forced into. Everything seems as though a distant memory except for the knowledge that in this moment she is standing in front of true love.
XXX
Katherine moves to hitch one leg over Elijah's hips, letting the white bed sheet fall in a wisp of silk down to her waist. Her dark brown curls tumble over her shoulders and cover her chest for only a moment before Elijah sits up slightly, moving her lower down his torso as he does so. He reaches out a gentle hand to move her hair back and places a reverent kiss against her neck.
Katherine hums lightly "if this is what forgiveness feels like I think I like it"
Elijah looks up at her with a gentle smile "I feel as though we shall both spend an eternity learning what it means to forgive each other, Katerina"
She smiles "so what you are really saying is that you are glad I-"
Elijah moves to kiss her, silencing the beautiful woman in front of him "that is not what I was saying at all and you know it" as he speaks his lips move lower down to her neck to her chest, and Katherine lies back as he blazes a trail down her body.
She smirks a little "nevertheless, if this is what forgiveness feels like then I am going to have to keep being a very bad girl"
"You would have done that anyway," he mumbles against her navel
"hmmm, but now it is going to be even more fun"
Elijah pauses, pulling the sheet up around his hips as he sits up "do you want to stay here, Katarina?"
Katherine sits up in surprise "what do you mean?"
"Exactly as I sad. With all of our missions seemingly complete it appears everyone is moving on to greener pastures as it were. Kol and Bonnie have left, Rebekah is boarding a ship as we speak-" he ignores Katherine's confused face as she learns that piece of information "no doubt Elena and whichever Salvatore brother she chooses will leave so as not to upset the other and I am sure the remaining one will return to Italy for the same reason. That only leaves us and Klaus and Caroline who of course cannot leave nor would they desire to do so for obvious reasons, so I am asking- do you want to stay here?"
Katherine thinks for a moment, processing everything he says and letting the truth of it sink in. Her response is not what he expects "did you know that I was the one who hid Caroline?" Elijah's eyebrow raises a little, he was aware she had some part in it because of an earlier conversation, but not that it had been her alone. "Elena did not help me, she never could have handled it- not back then at least. I met Caroline at midnight the night her family died; I locked her in the rooms beneath my home and I refused to let her wallow. I helped her craft the plan that sent her straight into your brothers' arms. It was her idea, but I helped her the whole way through"
"Why are you telling me this?"
"I cannot leave, Elijah", she says carefully "and I do not believe I want to. Especially with everyone else going, I could never leave Caroline alone. Not right now at least" Elijah makes to speak but she silences him "I do not think Klaus will hurt her anymore, but everything is still new and fresh and the two of them are going to drive each other crazy in all of the best and worst ways. You cannot love someone the way they love each other without it driving you to the brink of insanity" Elijah is stunned because he has never heard it said allowed by anyone the way Caroline may feel for his brother. He has no way of knowing if Katherine speaks Caroline's secret words or if it is just an assumption but either way, it is hope for his brother after all this time.
Katherine looks up at Elijah finally "she is going to need someone to talk to, someone to vent to about all of the awful things your brother will no doubt do and-" she pauses "I do not believe you want to leave either, because Klaus will need someone to slap him upside the head and force him to apologize for everything he does wrong and I fear if anyone but you were to deliver that message they may find themselves without a head"
Elijah scoffs "even I may find myself headless for trying to tell Niklaus what to do"
Katherine smiles "but you love him and you want to stay with him"
Elijah nods slowly "he is my family"
"It is decided then, we will stay" she smirks again "besides, I think we all know that I would make an excellent Princess"
XXX
Klaus is waiting in a large armchair by the fire with a glass of scotch in his hand when Caroline enters their now shared chambers. She thinks for a moment that they had sat in these very chairs in front of this fire on their wedding night and smiles a little as she joins him.
"Is there something on your mind?" she asks after a brief moment of silence in which he simply looks at the fire
He sighs, his mouth quirking up into an almost imperceptible smile "I suppose I am wondering if my sister is oblivious or simply stupid" Caroline furrows her brow at him in question "either she is unaware that I am in the castle or she has forgotten that I can hear every conversation that happens within ten miles with a very small amount of effort"
Caroline immediately understands what he is saying and tenses up "you have to let her go" she says "she will hate you if you stop her now. You heard her, he is human, and she will come back"
"You were human" he comments dryly "we were all human once"
Caroline grits her teeth to stop herself from lashing out at his glib comment. He is hurt that Rebekah is leaving and does not know how to handle it.
"She will come back, you just… have to trust that she will come back"
"Well strictly speaking I do not have to." He shrugs "there is still time to charge down there and lock her away until she comes to her senses"
Caroline just looks at him disapprovingly and he shakes his head "you have everything you ever wanted" she says quietly "you got your kingdom, why do you want to stop your sister from being happy"
He looks up at her "I do not want to stop her from being happy, I just… I want her to be happy with me"
"What if I asked you to leave right now. To run away and never look back, to leave everyone and everything behind. Would you do it?"
"You would never ask me that" he scoffs "this kingdom means everything to you"
"Indulge me" she says "imagine I was asking. What would you say?"
Klaus sighs, gulping the rest of the liquid in his glass "we both know the answer to that and I see exactly what you are trying to do Caroline. Rest assured if I planned to stop my sister I would have done it already"
Caroline rolls her eyes "why do you have to do that?" she asks
"Do what?"
"Sabotage yourself. Act like you are going to be the bad guy when you have already made the decision to do the right thing! It is so frustrating!"
Klaus smirks, reaching for his wife's hand across the arm of their respective chairs "forgive me, I find that I am quite unused to 'doing the right thing'"
Caroline take a deep breath and fixes her eyes on his "yeah well you had better get used to it, or I am going to be the next one on a boat out of here, and I will not come back Niklaus, do you understand me."
Klaus smiles, knowing that it is a threat but hearing in that sentence only what he chooses to "so you really are giving me a chance? A real one?"
Caroline breathes out heavily in frustration "yes, I suppose I am; because despite my absolute best efforts it would seem that I have somehow made the grave mistake of falling in love with you"
Klaus smirks "your sentiment is shared, sweetheart, I assure you"
Caroline laughs and shakes her head "this is not exactly what either of us planned was it?"
"Where is the fun in a life that is planned?"
Hello friends, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Apologies for the lack of Klaroline but I really wanted to wrap up each of the other story lines (if you have questions about how those finished I will explain below this by couple!) and yes you read that right, wrap up. This is the final chapter, there will be an epilogue set many, many years in the future and then Royal Sacrifices will officially come to an end! Thank you to everyone who stuck by me on this years long journey :)
My thoughts on the couples/ why I chose what I did:
1.) Kol & Bonnie- Kol and Bonnie have always been such a crack ship that everyone just kind of jumped on during the originals mania and I LOVE it. I think they fit so well into the vampire diaries world that I wanted to create, but I also wanted to keep them sort of distant from the action. In my head them being the first to leave and Kol always wanting to leave just reflected their canon characters. They were so fun to write because you could really do anything with them since there's very, very little canon interaction which was fun! I hope everyone is happy with how I wrote them :)
2.) Rebekah & Matt- I know some of you may feel like this was just thrown in there and that I played with Rebekah and Stefan and then all of a sudden it was just Matt and they were gone, but I genuinely believe that is very reflective of the show. Stefan did essentially use Rebekah when he was unhappy with Elena in season 4 and just in my opinion, I think the show did kind of just throw Matt and Rebekah together somewhat inconsistently (in much the same vein that I believe klaroline would have been handled had it not become so insanely popular) but I always loved that dynamic and I love the idea of them being together while Matt is human and living it up and then Rebekah just goes back to being Rebekah and loving too easily because I think that's a core part of her character. It's what makes her so fun to write, she just has so much love in her and I truly believe that her eternity will be about love in so many different ways
3.) Elena/ Stefan/Damon- Ok so clearly I am team no choice. I loved Elena as a character in pretty much every scene she was ever in except the ones about the love triangle. I genuinely hated it so much- an love triangles, but I tihnk that it took something from Elena's character and I wish that she had gotten the time to just explore herself and find herself because between 15 and 22 you change so much as a person even if you don't go through the crazy shit everyone on this show goes through and I think that Elena deserves that time. Also just a personal thought- I don't particularly care about the outcome of the love triangle and this isn't shade to Delena fans in any way but I genuinely believe that no fandom has ever been as royally screwed over as Stelena fans. Like... they were the show, they were the couple, it was "always going to be Stefan" and then ol' smolder holder comes in and BAM bye Stelena let's never talk about that again. It's just unfair and I wanted to end this story in a way that respected her love for both Salvatore's.
4.) Katherine and Elijah- I TAKE IT BACK. No fandom has ever been as royally screwed over as KATHERINE STANS! I don't care what anyone says I will say it until my dying day I stan the hell out of Katherine motherfucking Pierce. Homegirl is smart and strong and resourceful and why is it ok for every other character to be a selfish mass murderer but her? Oh they're redeemed by love? KATHERINE LOVES! She has SO MUCH LOVE. She doesn't have the best way of showing it but neither does my main man Klaus (#TheyBothStabbedTheOnesTheyLove). People who rag on Katherine or think she deserve what she got quite frankly have no room in my TVD fantasy world. I loved writing a human to vampire Katherine so much because she's still conniving and selfish but she's also caring and I really do think her and Elijah would be the ones to stay. Anyway I love Katherine and Elijah and in current canon I want her to be alive again and sit her cute little ass down at Elijah's piano and wake him the fuck up (sorry if you don't watch TO- I didn't either before this Wednesday I am trash). Anyway yeah I wanted them to end up happy but to go through shit because Katherine always causes problems for herself and anyway yeah my number 1 ship is Klaroline and my number 2 ship is Katherine Pierce and being fucking alive.
Ok I'm done wow that got ranty see you all at the epilogue :)
