A/N: So I left the last chapter on quite the cliffhanger and I was glad to see everyone's interest in the story and whole new bunch of followers. Thank you! And as always, special love to those who took the time to review, they mean so much to me!

Quite a few things happen in this chapter and I can't wait to hear what you all think. Heads up, there's some level of violence in this chapter (nothing beyond what's been seen on TVD but nevertheless I felt like I had to put the warning out there).

I'm super sleepy so pardon any weird typos and surprise words that appear in places for no reason XD

Disclaimer: TVD/TO/Legacies none of it's mine but I'm just writing my version of TO season 6 anyway.

17

Long Term Consequences

Both Caroline and Klaus turned towards the direction of the voice to see a group of people glaring menacingly at them – three men and one woman, Klaus observed. He immediately shifted into defense mode, moving closer to Caroline.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Klaus asked in a low, dangerous voice, addressing the person who had spoken. He didn't much appreciate being interrupted while spending time with Caroline much less putting her in a dangerous situation.

The man stepped forward, not taking his eyes off Klaus. Physically he was the lankier one of the lot and looked like he was in his mid-forties. He was otherwise unremarkable with dull brown eyes and unkempt dark hair but based on his tone of voice Klaus could sense that he was in charge. His appearance did not ring any bells but the general scent of the group was unmistakable.

Werewolves. They were a pack…or at least they felt like what was just a small part of one that was much bigger; it was just something Klaus could sense from being part-wolf.

His senses also told him without a shadow of doubt that the man up front was the Alpha. He stopped a few feet in front of Klaus and spoke.

"All that matters," he drawled, "…is that you die tonight at my hands," the man responded. Klaus chuckled lightly in response.

"You'll have to get in line for that I'm afraid." He calmly clasped his hands behind his back and flashed a sarcastic grin at the Alpha. "And I have to warn you, it's going to be a long wait. You'd be surprised by the astounding number of people who want me dead." Klaus took a few steps forward, further closing the distance between him and the Alpha.

"Who are you? And don't make me ask you again," Klaus growled. He caught a flicker of fear in the man's eyes but it was gone as soon as it came.

"The name's Gus. But like I told you already, it doesn't matter."

"I only asked so I know what name to etch into your gravestone after I've killed you. It's the least I can do." Klaus sneered at him and his eyes flickered golden. He felt a soft touch on his arm; Caroline had shifted to stand beside him.

"Gravestone?" Gus' eyes widened in mock surprise. "Wow, that's mighty generous of you considering you left all my friends out in the open just scattered around the forest floor with their hearts ripped out."

Klaus narrowed his eyes, briefly picking up on the hints he was dropping and trying to piece together who these people really were. "You do realize I am who they call the Great Evil Klaus Mikaelson." He tilted his head at Gus. "You're going to have to be a little more specific than that if you want me to comprehend what it is you are planning on taking revenge on me for exactly."

"You know when I heard last year that you had killed yourself, my first thought was, 'too bad I couldn't have done it for you," the Alpha commented.

"Clearly you were too slow. And fortunately for me, I am a little hard to kill," Klaus said, more confidently than he felt. His hands trembled slightly behind him and for a fleeting moment he weighed what his chances of dying in the process of un-siring himself were against a lackluster death at the hands of a random wolf.

"Actually," Gus said, taking a step closer, "…seeing you here right now, I like to think of it as fate handing me another chance to do what I couldn't get to the first time."

"Okay nobody needs to die tonight; maybe we can work something out." The contrasting sound of Caroline's bright voice seemed to crack the brick wall of tension that had been building up between Klaus and Gus. The Alpha then turned his attention to her; observing her very carefully, his scrutiny of Caroline making Klaus want to pull out his eyeballs out of their sockets.

"Well hello there," the wolf's voice drawled as he shifted to step closer to Caroline instead. "The pretty one talks." Klaus immediately flashed in front of her.

"Caroline, get out of here now," he ordered her, not taking his eyes off Gus.

"What are you, crazy? And leave you with these lunatics? I don't think so."

"I'm starting to think it might be more lucrative for us to kill her first and then you, Klaus Mikaelson," Gus said smugly, now looking Caroline up and down.

"Seriously?" Caroline scoffed at Gus, who didn't have a chance to respond as Klaus had already flashed to him and strung him up by the neck against the wall of the building.

"Don't you dare touch her," Klaus growled. The others in the group immediately surrounded them, their teeth bared and ready to attack.

"Go ahead, Klaus, kill me," Gus choked out, "Kill me like you killed thirteen of my friends all those years ago in Mystic Falls." Klaus' grip wavered slightly but he didn't let go.

"The Expression Triangle." Klaus heard Caroline whisper in realization behind him but he continued to maintain his air of indifference.

"Well to be fair, they were the ones conspiring to kill me. I simply responded in kind," Klaus coolly stated. "My, you must really be a slow lot if it took you this long to react to something that happened almost two decades ago," he taunted as the wolf struggled to move under Klaus' palm. Gus sneered at Klaus.

"Hayley was the one we wanted dead since she was the one who betrayed her own," Gus spoke shortly as he tried to catch his breath. "Unfortunately her ancestry led her to have strong ties within the werewolf community and we were forbidden from harming her."

Klaus felt a surge of defensiveness towards the late mother of his child and his grasp tightened, making the Alpha cough.

"Klaus…" Caroline warned him and turned to Gus looking annoyed. "I don't know if you missed out on a few issues of Werewolf Weekly but Hayley died, almost a year ago. And unlike Klaus, she is resting in peace. Death sucks enough as it is and there's no need to rub your nose in it…so why are you here?"

Gus glared at Caroline but didn't speak. Klaus tightened his hold a little more.

"Answer the lady." Gus sputtered a bit under Klaus' increased pressure around his throat before he spoke.

"Hayley's death denied us our closure but Klaus was next on our list, being the one who actually carried out the act," he addressed Caroline before turning back to look at Klaus. "But we're not idiots…you said it yourself that you can't be killed. So you can imagine our disappointment when we heard that you had managed to do the deed yourself. Guess you aren't so un-killable after all." Gus tried to escape Klaus' grip but Klaus didn't budge, his eyes trained unwaveringly on the Alpha's.

"That's fascinating considering this unsolicited attack on me and my friend here just proves the contrary…you are idiots," Klaus said, a self-satisfied grin spreading across his face.

"You deserve to die!" The wolf began to shake his head violently in an attempt to get out of Klaus' hold as the other assailants came closer. Klaus needed to be sure Caroline was safe. Grasping the wolf's neck even tighter as he struggled to break free, Klaus slightly turned towards her.

"Caroline, get out of here."

"I'm not leaving you," she scoffed.

"Kill me and your pretty friend here is sure to get attacked by at least one of my friends," the Alpha choked out at Klaus. Caroline looked at him in disbelief and let out a dry laugh.

"You know,' she said, crossing her arms in front of her, "I'm getting really tired of your chauvinistic underestimation of me, Wolf man." Klaus chuckled at her and turned to fully face Gus again.

"Guess I'll take my chances," he smirked, his eyes glowing yellow as he proceeded to squeeze the life out of the wolf by crushing his throat.

But his hand froze.

He couldn't bring them to close around the Alpha's neck.

Klaus' eyes widened in confusion for a second and that was just enough time for Gus to pull out of his grip and throw Klaus off him.

"Klaus!" he heard Caroline's voice scream from what now sounded further away from him.

Klaus was up in an instant but two of the other wolves had leapt to grab him while he saw the Alpha and the female go for Caroline. He saw that Caroline's fangs had dropped and one of them managed to throw a punch at her.

Rage filled his body and his eyes went deep golden as his Hybrid fangs dropped as well. He felt a pair of arms on him but pushed them off easily while the other wolf came at him and he simply ducked out of the way. He turned to rush to Caroline's side only to see she had already thrown the one who struck her to the side and was now facing Gus, her sharp teeth bared at him.

She's been training.

This wasn't the same Caroline back from when he knew her from Mystic Falls. She was faster, stronger.

More powerful than ever.

In his moment of admiration the female of the group had now come to tackle him and he instantly grabbed her shoulders to bite her in the neck.

Once again, he froze. He couldn't bring his jaw to close around her throat and she took that moment of hesitation to push him away. Klaus stumbled backwards looking awestruck.

"What kind of trickery is this?" He hissed through gritted teeth at her. The wolf looked straight at him, arrogance coming off her in waves.

"Guess you're just weak," she sneered and pounced to attack Klaus and he barely managed to dive out of the way. Almost immediately, he was tackled by the other two who were back for more and once more he felt helpless to fight back.

Bloody hell, Klaus began to get frustrated. Did they have a witch on their side that put a spell on him, rendering him weak in a fight against his attackers?

"Klaus, hang on!" He heard Caroline's voice and in an instant she had flashed towards him and broken the necks of the two wolves that had been trying to pin him back. The female immediately charged at her and jumped on Caroline's back. Caroline immediately flashed out of her jacket and whipped it to the side, taking the wolf with it. Klaus stared at her in awe and she threw him a little smile, her arms still raised in defense mode.

"We need to get out of here," she spoke with urgency in her voice and Klaus feeling frustrated by his helpless state, simply nodded at her.

"Leaving so soon, blondie? We're just getting start –"

Whoosh. Something – Klaus could have sworn it was a shoe – went flying in the air and the Alpha's head ripped straight off and bounced off the pavement, his body following as it slouched to the ground, dead. Klaus' eyes widened and he slowly turned to look at Caroline.

Standing barefoot on the footpath, Klaus could see her vampire veins still dark and pulsing beneath her dark eyes as they looked back at him. Her beautiful floral dress had not only been tattered in some parts from all the commotion but had taken on a whole new pattern from being peppered with blood spatter. Her stance was firm and her visage was still but for the swaying of her skirt in the cool night breeze that kept in rhythm with the flutter of her short blonde waves. As she stood there, holding her other shoe in hand – one that had not been used as a deadly weapon – Klaus was struck speechless.

She was glorious.

Before Klaus could continue to appreciate her form, he heard a woman scream. He turned and saw the lone surviving wolf was now up and shaking her head in disbelief at the Alpha's headless corpse lying in a pool of blood. Her panicked face spun towards them, fear in her eyes. She took one last look at them before she made a run for it, the pattering of her footsteps echoing through the alley. He idly wondered if they should have let her go when Caroline's voice came through to him.

"Come on Klaus, we need to –"

"Did you just kill the alpha of a werewolf pack with your footwear?" Klaus interrupted her, genuine surprise in his eyes and the blonde vampire hesitated.

Caroline looked slightly uncomfortable now that she was facing the fact that she had just killed a bunch of werewolves in cold blood but maintained a straight face. "Well I couldn't really fight in these shoes and he was talking too much, okay? Besides, I was a little short on graduation hats," she said, flaunting a humorless smile as she picked up her other shoe – which now had blood all over it – and stuffed the pair into her bag that she had tossed to the side during the fight.

Klaus had a knowing look on his face as that particular memory from when he had visited Mystic Falls for her graduation came back to him. He watched as she began to meticulously clear the three bodies away from public view into the alley next to the building. He let out a low chuckle and shook his head in wonder as she grabbed her soiled jacket off the ground and proceeded to lead him away before passersby noticed a bunch of dead bodies on the side of the street.

"You let that girl go," Klaus pointed out.

"Yeah well, unlike you, I don't really enjoy any of this," she scoffed. "If she got away then good for her."

"Smart move, actually," Klaus smirked. "I always liked to leave one survivor who could live to tell the tale; it helped ensure others didn't attempt to make the mistake of challenging my authority. If you continue at this rate Caroline, don't be surprised if you start hearing stories of the fierce new Vampire Queen of New Orleans." Caroline rolled her eyes as they rushed towards his car and came to a halt in front of it. Klaus looked at her with a hint of pride.

"You are incredible, Caroline. I hope you realize that." Caroline scoffed.

"I really hope killing someone is not what a girl has to do to get your attention. Keys please, I'm driving," she added, holding out her palm towards him. Klaus took the keys out of his pocket and tossed it at her and she caught it with ease.

"You always have my attention, love," he shrugged as she huffed out a dry laugh. "It just took me by surprise that you chose to take a life rather than –"

"They were trying to kill us!"

"I'm not complaining, sweetheart. I'm just pleased that you decided I was worthy of you getting your hands a little dirty for this time. You definitely seemed to know what you were doing."

Caroline glowered at him and unlocked the car doors. "Yeah, well I've had training. And what exactly happened to you out there?"

Klaus frowned as he thought back and tried to make sense of what had happened. "I'm not sure," he said, looking up at Caroline. "It was the strangest thing…no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't fight back or even cause harm to any of them in any way."

Caroline frowned and they got into his car. She smoothly pulled the vehicle out of the space and started to drive towards the Abattoir.

"I wonder if it was a wolf thing," Caroline thought out loud as she drove. "But then I remembered you never had trouble hurting werewolves before," she said, glancing pointedly at him.

"I don't understand, I just…" Klaus began, "I wanted to hurt them…and when I saw that man hit you it was the last straw, I wanted to murder him at that very moment but it was like there was this invisible force holding me back from–" Klaus stopped as realization dawned on him.

"What?" Caroline asked.

"Hope's phone call," he said turning to Caroline, "I'd spoken to her just before we stepped into the club and she told me…" Klaus shook his head as it all came together, "Well, she essentially told me not to fight or kill anyone."

"Oh my God… the sire bond…"

"…works in mysterious ways," Klaus pinched the ridge of his nose in irritation. "This is ridiculous; I need to get un-sired as soon as possible." Caroline snorted.

"You're already on a tight deadline, not to mention all the weird side effects you seem to be having. Do you really want to aggravate that further?" Caroline spoke casually but Klaus didn't miss the undertone of worry in her voice.

"I just need to get through this week and be done with it," Klaus said with finality. Caroline simply nodded, knowing that patience is not exactly a virtue of Klaus' and continued to drive. They didn't speak for a few moments until Klaus spoke up.

"I noticed you had a few new moves up your sleeve."

"Wow, I think I'm starting to understand why you really couldn't fight. You were too busy ogling me –"

"Have you really been training?" Caroline sighed.

"If you must know, yes…I have been training. Maybe if you'd paid more attention to Hope's school curriculum you would have seen there's a self defense class that's mandatory for all students," she chided him. "Just because one has powers it doesn't mean hand to hand combat isn't important."

"Ah."

"Hope actually has private lessons with Ric at the lake and she's really good. I've heard more than enough complaints from my own daughters that he spends more time training with her than hanging out with them." A smile spread across Klaus' face on hearing that and Caroline continued.

"Training actually helped Hope channel her anger and frustration in a healthier way after both Hayley and you died. She was mature enough to dispel all those negative feelings in a productive way and it really makes me wonder…how did the apple fall so far from the tree?" She glanced at Klaus with a playful laugh and Klaus couldn't resist rolling his eyes at her.

"Laugh all you want but at the end of the day she's still my daughter and she continues to make me prouder every day," he said smirking and turning to look out the window. Caroline simply smiled.

They drove in silence for the rest of the way till they arrived at the Abattoir. Caroline parked on the side and they stepped out, halting in front of the gate. She began to return Klaus' car keys when he shook his head.

"It's not safe right now. Take my car tonight and drive straight to your hotel."

She shrugged, "Okay."

For a moment they simply stood there. Klaus looked at Caroline, her short blonde strands and her blood stained skirt still getting caught in the light breeze while the city lights bounced off her smooth skin giving her face a beautiful glow.

He would remember this for a painting later. Without giving it another thought, he walked up to her and put his arms around her, wrapping her in a hug. Taken aback, she stiffened at first but responded almost immediately.

"Thank you, Caroline," Klaus breathed softly into her hair and broke away. He reached out and wiped a stray spot of blood on her cheek and she gasped, her lips parted in surprise. Klaus cleared his throat and nodded at her, turning to walk up to the Abattoir gate as thoughts of temptation began to run through his head.

Klaus had always taken great pride in his decision-making skills. With over a millennium of experience walking the earth, he was always unabashedly clear on what he wanted. Once he made up his mind about something, he stuck with it no matter what. What other people saw as his stubbornness, he considered to be steadfastness and sharpness of the mind.

This was precisely why his dithering thoughts when it came to Caroline was something he felt ill-equipped to understand or deal with. He had concluded months ago that he would let her go and any plan she had to be with him would be completely up to her. And yet, here he was still pondering over 'what if's and maybes like he had something to gain out of the pointless exercise. His behavior surprised him so much he went so far as to wonder if perhaps the time he spent as a human again might be partially to blame.

He wasn't oblivious; he had never denied his feelings for Caroline – feelings that were very present what with everything he had witnessed in Mary Alice's vision and most importantly, the time jump that he hadn't accounted for, leaving everything currently as fresh as ever in his mind while Caroline appeared to have long since moved on.

Klaus remembered having a better handle over his emotions the last time he was alive but now, no matter how hard he tried to push down his thoughts and memories of Caroline, they just kept floating back to the surface, his restless mind coaxing him into entertaining the idea of being with her and forgoing his resolution to set her free.

And now after spending a beautiful evening with her – albeit one with its own adventurous turn of events – he decided he needed to know; he needed some semblance of proof or incentive that he was doing right by her in letting her be.

Maybe that would put an end to all the doubts in his head once and for all.

Perhaps that would set him free.

He turned around to see her standing at his car. "Caroline!" She instantly turned to him, a puzzled look on her face as she came walking back up to him. "Are you sure you don't want to stay? A change of clothes at the very least…"

"I have a jacket," she said with a hint of impatience. "And Klaus, I already told you why it would be weird for me to stay here…"

"Do you love him? Klaus asked suddenly.

Caroline frowned, her eyebrows furrowing even deeper. "What?"

"The human," Klaus clarified, taking a step towards her. "Do you love him? Does he treat you well?"

Caroline crossed her arms and shook her head, "That's none of your business, Klaus."

"I just need to know –"

"No Klaus, that's exactly my point. You don't need to know anything. My relationship with Cory has absolutely nothing to do with you!"

Klaus kept a straight face and nodded, pressing his lips together and moved still closer to her.

"Why are you here, Caroline?" he asked slowly, not caring that his voice had turned slightly bitter and that he had now stepped into her personal space. He couldn't help but notice the fleeting look of uncertainty in her eyes and the fact that she didn't bother to step back from him. On the contrary, she scoffed and took another step forward seemingly to make her point that she wasn't going to back down from a fight.

Their faces were now mere inches away from each other. Klaus had to make an effort not to be swayed by her essence, her scent, the fact that he was close enough that he could really appreciate the bright blueness of her eyes…

"You know why I'm here…" Her lips were twisted in anger and her tongue flicked across her lower lip. Klaus scowled at her.

"So you're saying that the fact that you stayed in the city longer than you intended to has absolutely nothing to do with me? You're saying you didn't take this as an opportunity to spend some time away from the human and see if you still care for me more than you let on –"

"How dare you –"

"I know you care for me, Caroline. You still do," Klaus cut in. "Whether you like it or not you can't deny that –"

"Klaus, I've MOVED ON okay?" Caroline snapped at him. "I told you I finally got to move on from all the drama and confusion associated with whatever I was feeling for you and lead something resembling a normal life. And I am perfectly happy with the way things are."

"Normal won't be enough for you," Klaus grated out, narrowing his eyes at her as he did the last time he had pointed this out to her. "I said it before and I'll say it again if that's what it takes for you to understand." Klaus was aware that he was being insensitive but the flood gates had opened and he couldn't seem to help himself.

"Just let me BE Klaus!" Caroline said angrily, her voice rising.

"Fine!" he yelled back at her, "If I'm such a bad influence on you and your so-called normal life, then let's just never make plans to meet again; perhaps that would be the easier route for both of us."

"Great!"

"Glad that's settled then." And with that Klaus flashed towards his house, leaving Caroline stomping back towards his car.

"Bad Date?"

Klaus looked up and scowled at his sister Freya as he shifted back into human for the tenth time in a row, his body shaking.

"It wasn't a date," he growled at her as he sat on the floor to take a breather before he went through it all over again.

"I think you know what I mean, Brother," Freya said gently from behind the barred window where she sat in a chair reading through an old grimoire.

She was met with a long moment of silence. Freya was about to look up to see if Klaus had morphed into his wolf form again but he finally spoke, his voice a low whisper.

"Well I asked for absolute proof and I got it – Caroline has completely moved on and I just have to accept it like I planned to. It was ridiculous to give in to the hopes that my human side had engraved into my head in the first place." He spoke firmly but Freya could have sworn she heard a slight tremble in his voice. Her brother was accepting defeat for the sake of Caroline's happiness and Freya could do nothing but sadly smile at him.

"I'm sorry."

Later that night as Rebecca sat by his side while he slept, he was plagued with strange nightmares again that manifested itself so violently, he had woken up to see his sister and Marcel pinning his arms down on the bed so he wouldn't hurt himself. He went back to bed almost wishing he could remember those bad dreams when he woke, just so they'd at least have something to go on in terms of understanding what it all meant.

Caroline sat in the hotel bed after a relaxing shower, blindly surfing through the channels on the television. Ever since the drive back home she had been unable to stop rethinking the events of the night and how what was actually a lovely evening had needlessly escalated into this.

The nerve of the guy. Caroline had been fuming when she left in Klaus's car.

And here I thought Klaus had changed. Who was I kidding?

Maybe they really weren't meant to be together, she thought bitterly. If she had been looking for a sign, this would probably be it.

It was really late but she needed to hear Cory's voice after the long day she had. She opened her bag to dig out her phone when she spotted a small envelope with her name on it in a very familiar script tucked in there.

What the hell?

Caroline carefully opened it, almost getting a sense of déjà vu from the first time Klaus had sent her an envelope inviting her to the Mikaelson Ball all those years ago. Only this time it contained a sheet of what looked like a page pulled out from a very old book with someone's handwriting filling the page.

…and then he pronounced the act not to be a tradition but a curse whereby the dark magic within each one binds together leaving the other without a chance at life. Should one find a way to expel the very dark magic every Gemini is burdened with or bond them remotely and clear of the hosts he makes claims that this may rid of the need for a Merge...

Caroline's breath caught. She read the page again. And again. Her eyes widened as understanding slowly dawned upon her.

This piece of paper was basically telling her that the Merge wasn't a Gemini tradition, it was actually a curse.

And the thing about curses?

They could be broken.

"Oh my God," she gasped softly, unable to believe what she was reading, cautiously ecstatic at the glimmer of hope this valuable piece of information provided her.

She was stunned. This could change everything. She flipped the page over to see if there was more but it was empty. She opened the envelope again and spotted a piece of card paper with the Mikaelson logo embossed on it and below it she saw what was unmistakably Klaus' scrawl on it.

Thought this might help. You should talk to Sylvia again.

Ugh, she groaned, setting down the paper and card in front of her. She probably owed him an apology; he was only being half an ass than he usually was.

She looked at the time again. It really was late but she didn't care – she needed to apologize to Klaus before she changed her mind about it. He might be in the middle of transformations to break the sire bond but she figured she should try his number anyway.

No answer.

"Seriously?" she snapped at her phone as if it were somehow responsible for Klaus' lack of response.

Barely a few months back from the dead and Klaus with his wide reach of resources had already managed to provide her with the first viable piece of information that could help her with her daughters. For a moment she wondered if she really needed to rethink her network of contacts and the way she was going about her search, despite how obsessively organized it already was.

One thing was for sure, she needed to stop pushing Klaus away on the grounds that he would just be a distraction and start focusing on the fact that he had over a thousand years of knowledge and life experience that was at her disposal; this worn out piece of paper was evidence of it. It may have seemed like a small gesture on his part but this was a huge deal for Caroline.

Damn it, she definitely owed him an apology.

And this was not something she wanted to 'leave at the tone'. She kept her phone aside and decided she'd talk to him directly tomorrow.

And with that in mind she went to bed, her plan to call Cory forgotten.

A/N: Phew! I realized I enjoy writing action sequences (it's my favorite movie genre) so that fight scene was definitely fun to verbally choreograph.

Poor Klaus just wanted clarity and Caroline gave it to him all right...don't be sad guys, you know he's still on his mind.

I was waiting for ages for a better understanding of the whole Gemini Merge situation but two seasons into Legacies and we haven't gotten all the information yet so at this point I'm going to be taking things into my own hands and get creative with it (of course I'll be sticking to canon as much as I can irrespective, that's the fun!)

Over the course of this fic you may have noticed my style of writing is quite dialogue-heavy rather than 'painting a scene with a thousand words'. This is intentional because as is mentioned in the story summary, this is literally my version of TO S6 and how I would direct it. That being said I do like to use descriptions now and then to set a scene so I hope there are no complaints with the narrative style I've chosen - it is designed to be visualized easier in the reader's minds like the show.

Anyway, stay safe everyone. See you next week! In the meantime, reviews and thoughts please :)