A/N I've had this story in the works for a long time. It was originally plotted out with DarkGhostLight, who has since left the fandom. Big thanks go out to her. You should check her out if you're into The Witcher. I'm publishing it now for Klaroline AU Week 2020, Day One: All Human AU. Let me know if it's worth continuing! It's very different than any of my other stories, but I love it. I hope you do, too!

Prologue

"My name is Rebekah Mikaelson. I am a liar. I am a bully. And today, I am a survivor because those I hurt the most were able to find the truth behind the lies."

Caroline Forbes-Mikaelson clapped along with the crowd as her best friend smiled at her fans. Her husband took her hand and squeezed it gently, pride exuding from his face at his little sister's unending bravery. She looked over at her brother-in-law and rolled her eyes. Kol had one job: keep his niece from running on stage. She would have to remember to yell at him after her eyes stopped rolling. Sometimes it was hard to tell who the adult was with those two. The bright blonde six-year-old broke out of his grasp, raced up to the podium and tackle hugged her aunt around the knees. The short one. Definitely the short one.

"Auntie Beks! Pick me up!" For a first grader, Ella Mikaelson was awfully demanding, but the author only laughed.

"Say hello to my friends, darling." With a chuckle, she settled the little girl on her hip.

"Hi people!" She dramatically waved at the giant bookstore full of people welcoming her with bright smiles and cheerful applause. "I'm Ella. This is my Auntie Beks and those are my mommy and daddy!" She pointed at her parents as though the entire world didn't know them. Klaus smirked arrogantly at her showmanship, but Caroline groaned and shook her head. Such a little drama queen. With a conspiratorial whisper, the child told the crowd, "They're very famous. My mommy is a princess and my daddy is a prince. That makes me a princess, too." She proudly pointed at the tiny tiara atop her sunshine curls and waved her arm at her Rapunzel dress.

Klaus rolled his eyes and whispered in his wife's ear, "God, she's never going to get that we were only acting, is she?"

"Probably not," the on-screen princess agreed with a laugh.

Ella was a very nosy child and uncommonly gifted. She snuck a peek at the words on the first page of her aunt's memoir. "Auntie Beks, what's a bully?"

Klaus placed a warm hand on his wife's arm to keep her from interjecting. "Rebekah's got this, love. Have a little faith." Caroline shot him a sideways glance and hoped he was right. She'd been wrong about her before. So, so wrong.

"Well," the former bully sighed with an awkward smile, "it's what I used to be. It means someone who isn't very nice."

"But you're the greatest!" the princess complained loudly, throwing her arms around her aunt's shoulders. "You're not mean at all."

"Not anymore, no; but I used to be."

"Why?" Of course, Ella would ask that question in front of a hundred people.

To Caroline's surprise, Rebekah's smile stayed firmly in place as she answered gracefully, "That's a very long story, sweet girl. I'll tell you one day when you're older." The little girl huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, the crowd laughing at her ire. She held up six fingers, but her aunt wasn't deterred. Like the warrior she was, she continued reading her story to Ella's great annoyance.

Klaus couldn't help but smile at her antics along with his wife and family. Rebekah's happiness had been a long time coming. His wife didn't have to ask what he was thinking; she knew. Caroline always knew. At least, she did now. It hadn't always been that way. Their past was rife with lies and betrayal. Anger and passion. Heaven and hell. It had all started back in high school. It had been only seven years, but it felt so long ago when she thought back on those dark times.

Caroline's mind began to wander. She reflected on how far they'd come and how different their relationships were when they were children. The youngest Mikaelson sibling hadn't been just any bully. She'd been Caroline's bully. They were friends once, but then everything changed and she had no idea why. It took her years to forgive because it took years to learn the story; and there were so many stories. Lies. Betrayals. Accusations. Misunderstandings. Secrets. Oh, how there were secrets.

The blonde actress was no angel herself. She'd made terrible mistakes. They all had. Keeping Ella from a father who loved her had been unforgivable, but she had found absolution in the eyes of her husband. He was hardly perfect, and her forgiveness was hard won. In the eyes of a saint, he was a stranger. A playboy with a bad attitude, he'd cast her aside after giving her the best night of her life. What she didn't discover until years later was that it had been the best of his.

Klaus tried to be a decent man; be better than the man who raised him. But then the darkness came and swallowed their entire family whole. At the time, he thought ditching her after one night was the right thing to do. He wanted to protect her as he protected his baby sister. What Caroline didn't know was that he'd loved her all along, not that she believed it when she'd told him the same thing when they were teenagers before he slept with her. He didn't even believe in that kind of love back then. None of them did. All he had was his little sister and the demons she couldn't face, the monsters he couldn't vanquish.

Rebekah truly was a warrior. She was the only woman Caroline knew who not only battled the devil himself but managed to claw her way out of hell kicking and screaming. Of course, that had taken a long time, too. The monster that went bump in the night haunted her every waking moment, leaving her with nightmares that just wouldn't let her go. She'd been a bully and a liar; it was true. Caroline had nearly died because of her reactions to that bullying, but she knew now that she couldn't hold Rebekah responsible for her decisions.

For so long, the pop princess had blamed everyone else for what she really did to herself. It was remarkable that she still had friends like Davina and Stefan cheering her on. Caroline smiled as he took his pseudo niece from her aunt. She wrapped her tiny hands around his neck and demanded a grape juice with a pink straw. Everything had to be pink with her. Klaus had spoiled her rotten when Caroline finally let him be a part of her life. Three years later, he still struggled to set limits for his daughter. She had not only one bedroom in their mansion in Rye, New York: she had three. One for sleep, one for play, and one with two beds for when her favorite people came to visit.

Some people had a family. The princess had a kingdom. She had a mommy and a daddy, Grammy Liz, Nana Esther and Grandpa Ansel, Aunt Freya, Auntie Beks, Auntie D, Auntie Lex and Aunt Kat, Uncle Kol, Uncle Steffie, Uncle Marcel, Uncle Finn, Uncle Elijah, and of course she had Grandma Lils. Lily Salvatore was a force to be reckoned with when it came to her surrogate granddaughter... but God help anyone who reminded her that the Ella wasn't her blood. Stefan was her favorite son by far and his best friend was like a daughter. When Caroline had turned up pregnant at sixteen, Lily had relocated to New York along with her son when Liz Forbes chose to help her daughter start over. He'd once been Ella's surrogate father and still loved her as his own. He always would. He had a child of his own on the way now, but Caroline and Ella were part of his family, too. It had taken him a long time, but he'd eventually accepted Klaus, too.

They were a funny thing, relationships. There were those that turned into something new and exotic. Those that were old and familiar. Those that led somewhere unexpected. Those that ended far from where they started. And there were those that brought them back. Caroline looked around the room at everyone she loved and who loved her; it was hard to imagine how things had been that day in the hospital. Stefan had punched Klaus in the face and broken his nose as she lay dying.

Yes, things had changed. So many things could have been prevented if secrets hadn't prevailed. Klaus didn't keep secrets anymore, nor did his baby sister. No, they were honest now; and they stood by each other, always and forever. Caroline and Ella were a part of that vow... now that they'd found the truth behind the lies.