Klaus hangs at her bedroom door like a storm cloud, his face drawn and eyes unreadable. He watches as Hanne crawls from under her bed, her worn journals from her teenage years clutched in her hands. The room seems to stand still, every occupant holding their breath as the two stare at each other.
When he's had enough, he turns to leave without a word. Like a dog commanded by their master, Rebekah immediately puts her handful of clothes down onto the bed to follow him out. It's difficult to place her expression, her cornflower gaze refusing to meet Hannes. Stefan grabs her overnight bag and shuffles towards the door.
"You ready?"
Hanne shrugs.
"That's the spirit."
For a man who was immortal and perpetually in his late forties, Anders looked at his daughter with the eyes of a man who has lived much, much longer. The heaviness in them revealed how he truly felt about watching her linger about their front door. His arms hung around her like a shroud with one last hug, the pressure of his hands on her small shoulder blades feeling a lot like 'don't go'.
Hanne had to retch herself from her father's grasp before Klaus could inevitably ruin the moment. Her mother and brother stood off to the side, their pale hands clasped tightly together.
She let herself get one last long look at their drawn faces. Hanne didn't know when Klaus would let her come back, but she hoped it'd be sometime soon.
As always with Klaus, the 'home' he has built is more of a mansion. Ostentatious and dare she say a tad gaudy, the home was a declaration to the residents of Mystic Falls that a new evil has moved in. Already there is a lush garden being planted in the front of the estate. Dozens of brightly colored flowers create the illusion of a happy home, the cheeriness of the setting so at war with the ominous feeling in Hanne's gut that she snorts.
"It's like something out of a horror movie," Stefan murmured next to her.
"'All that glitters'," She quoted, indulging in a shared smile. It was true. As beautiful as the home would turn out to be, as unmatched and as unique it'd look amongst all the other beautiful homes, they both knew that living there wasn't going to be what outsiders would think it would be.
Klaus was their jailer at the end of the day. The king of their castle and the man behind the curtain- except, really, he never stayed behind the curtain for too long. Klaus loved the limelight too much, loved being the center of attention. It was even worse when he had specific people he wanted that attention from. He was greedy and easily bored, it made the little puppet dance they all danced for him all the more terrifying. Hearing Stefan voice her thoughts warmed her.
That was one of the things she loved most about Stefan. Their trains of thought tended to run in the same direction. What they chose to do about their thoughts was another thing altogether, she noted, watching Stefan trail after Rebekah as she sauntered right up to the front door. It left her with Klaus, who stopped next to her, his gaze locked on where Stefan and Rebekah could be seen through the window.
"What do you think?" Klaus finally asked after a few minutes of pure silence.
"I think it's a bit much. But," She was careful to avoid his sudden glance. "If anything, we should put a gate up. One like my parents have. It detects ill intent and keeps any enemies out, even if it's just the package delivery man who has a frenemy thing going on with my brother. If his temper is running too hot that day, he can't even pass the gates."
He all but preens under her use of 'we', his posture relaxing. "Does he understand why?"
"It's subtle enough that most people just dismiss it. They just feel repelled, and if they try to pass it, it alerts anyone in the house. There's a whole system to it, the darker the intent, the worse the effects. Some people have passed out from the pain."
"Who." Klaus posed it as a question, but it was clearly a demand. "Who wished to hurt you."
Hanne sent him a smile that struck him as predatory. For once, he felt on the receiving end of her hunter's gaze, a deep satisfaction filling her impossibly dark eyes that he wished he could tap into. "Doesn't matter now. They are long dead."
She moved past him, enjoying the way he stiffened as her shoulder bumped into his. He wasn't afraid, no. Klaus was a coward but he held no fear over someone as inconsequential power-wise as Hanne. But instead, he felt wary. The apprehension he felt as he watched her curls sway with every step was foreign to him.
Anticipation, sweet and heavy filled him. He waved away all thoughts of her former lives, of the paramour she'd left behind as she was reborn into the woman he trailed after. He may have had her past, but Klaus would have her future.
He'd licked his lips and followed her in.
She's in the forest.
Trees tower over her like old gods, making her feel small in a way that doesn't scare her. She feels safe amongst them, knows every path forged, and remembers the exact shades of green that mean she's close to home. Iona wields her bow proudly, her breathing steady despite the sweat of exertion on her dark brow. A twig snaps behind her and she changes positions, the hare disappearing from sight and her vision filling with the form of two men.
Mikael stands still, a tidal wave of blue crashing into deep forest green. He lingered beneath the shade of a great oak tree, appraising her stance and taking in the steely frown on her youthful face. Iona's grip wavered the second Niklaus stumbled out from behind his father, hands clasped tightly on his own weapon. It was a sword with a dulled edge, one worn down by years of practice in expert hands. Iona has seen it many times in Elijah's strong grip and now it seems to have been passed down to Niklaus.
Niklaus looked worn down, bruises and thin slices of red adorning his flushed skin. His chest was still heaving, and not for the first time, Iona felt a swell of empathy for the young man. Even now, he looked to his unmarked father, desperate for a scrap of his time and affection.
"Iona." Mikael greeted neutrally.
It hit her then that she could have shot either of them, and she immediately dropped her bow in horror. "Mikael, Niklaus, I- I cannot believe myself, I could have harmed you!"
"You would have done nothing of the sort, girl. You held that bow with more intent than most grown men I have hunted with. Do not trouble yourself. Niklaus, share your water with her." Mikael barked, shoving his son forward.
A spark of anger had to be snuffed out rather quickly, the sight of Niklaus stumbling reminding her of Mikael's much darker moments. Niklaus handed her his waterskin, a shy smile curling at the edges of his mouth. The anger retreated, overcome by a softness she saved only for her friend and his siblings.
"My thanks, Niklaus." His answering smile was brilliant, nearly blinding. She had to blink a few times to ensure that he hadn't actually blinded her. The feeling in her chest feels much like a warm embrace, her lips pulling into a shy crescent smile that could rival his.
His response is lost to her, the dream shifting and diluting like seafoam. His voice turns to a warble but the softness in his eyes sticks with her even as she wakes.
Hanne's skin crawls as her eyes flutter open. She stares unseeingly into the dark, unsure why the memory haunts her so. It's entirely too quiet in her bedroom, and it isn't long until she flips back the down-feather duvet to slip into her slippers by the bed. Her gloves are just as she left them, on the ornate nightstand made of agarwood, the buttery texture only a fleeting comfort as she pulled them on.
Her bedroom door swung open and she peaked into the dimly lit hallway. Moonlight streamed through gauzy maroon curtains, painting the floors with shades of threatening red. Klaus's door remained closed even as she crept into the unfinished hallway. For a few beats, she stood looking at his door, the fleeting half-baked thought of Bluebeard living behind it making her cover her mouth to stop the sharp laugh that wanted to come out.
She descends the stairs quickly as if to leave the sound of her laughter behind. The bottom floor of the giant house has a mess of plaster and clear sheets, and it takes her a moment to find the room she was looking for. The kitchen is nearly finished and well-stocked, the gleaming chrome of the fridge a beacon in the night. Hanne pulls out the half-gallon of milk, nearly dropping it when she turns around the light of the fridge illuminating a set of broad shoulders.
The light above the stove flicks on, and Stefan's apologetic face looks back at her. He has a delicate-looking cup that is dwarfed by his hands, a tag hanging down the side that gives away his drink. It's a brand of inexpensive tea, one so at odds with the clearly well-made cup in hand, and it's so very Stefan that the smile on her face hurts.
"You scared the shit out of me." She points a finger, unable to hide the smile on her face.
"Sorry," He says. It's too simple, not a single joke flying out of his mouth. His forehead is brooding in that familiar way that lets her know he has something heavy on his mind.
She skirts around him in the kitchen, pulling out the ingredients for hot cocoa as he returns to his thoughts. Stefan hangs about the sink, staring out the window and into the well-maintained garden. Hanne tries to see what he sees, stares deeply at every rose bush and every patch of cosmos, but the garden doesn't utter a word of advice to her.
"Okay, spill. Why are you haunting the kitchen?"
"Just thinking is all. Everything's been so..." He gestured vaguely.
"Stefan, you wouldn't be drinking cold tea and staring out into the moonlight if you were only thinking about things. You can tell me."
Stefan's mouth quirked. "How'd you know my tea was cold?"
He pleasantly surprises her when he finishes making her hot cocoa and pours a little bourbon into it. He doesn't need to ask if she wanted the mini marshmallows, he was already plopping them into the drink before she could even ask. Stefan presented it to her without a word, and for the first time since he traded her over, Hanne found herself smiling without a hint of resentment.
Stefan was a dangerous friend to have. Not for his vampiric nature, not for his Ripper tendencies. His most human qualities are what made him so hard for Hanne to hate.
"Same way you knew what I needed in my cocoa."
"Sometimes I forget we've only known each other for four years. I just look at you, and it feels like I've known you forever."
"Not for a thousand years I hope."
Stefan smiled, gentle green eyes crinkling at the edges. "Sometimes it feels even longer."
"Then you should have no trouble telling me what's on your mind. You're clearly troubled, Stef."
The two of them stood at the window, shoulder to shoulder, gazing out at nothing in particular. Moonlight softened the edges of Stefan's face, making his already princely features take on a noble air. He really was the prince to Klaus's king, with Rebekah the lovely princess rounding out the little royal family. But what did that make her? She smiled wryly to herself. She wasn't going to be a princess or a queen. If Hanne could choose, she'd be the dragon.
Maybe then she'd be able to free Stefan from the castle and take things back to the way they were before.
"I'm thinking about Elena." Stefan's soft voice breaks through her thoughts, a glossiness overtaking his somber gaze that made Hanne uncomfortable. "I'm always thinking about Elena."
"What about Rebekah? I thought you were with her now."
It was so strange, feeling a part of herself rear its head, angry, as if ready to tear Stefan down at a moment's notice for the blonde vampire sleeping soundly upstairs. The suddenness of her own loyalty to someone so new, and yet not new, felt foreign to her. It went against her very nature, and yet there it was.
Stefan turned the sink on, letting the water run. He brought a finger to his ear and then pointed it towards the roof, only speaking again when Hanne nodded her understanding. It'd obscure his words enough to keep Rebekah or Klaus from listening in, though she doubted it would soothe their anger if they had any. Both were temperamental, almost childish in their quickness to rage.
"I love Rebekah. It doesn't make sense, since I've only just remembered ever knowing her. But I love her. It'd pain me to be away from her. I even feel like I might love Klaus- he's family in a way I don't understand. It's all a mess in my head, I feel like I've just gotten done dancing for hours and the room is left spinning and it won't stop. Elena…"
"Elena was someone you could be your ideal self with," Hanne supplied. At his small nod, she continued. "She allowed you to be the sensitive, romantic knight. Her hero. You two completed each other in a way that is so rare, I don't blame you for still loving her and wanting her."
"I think I'll always love Elena. But my loyalty isn't clear-cut anymore. It's like I knew my life's path- I'd marry Elena, watch her grow old if that's what she wanted, or turn her so we'd live together forever. But I look at them, at Rebekah and Klaus, and I just don't know anymore. I'm scared of things changing even more than they already have."
Hanne took a sip from her spiced-up hot cocoa, letting the bourbon linger on her tongue before swallowing it.
"I think that ship has long set sail, my friend. I'm just at a loss as you are when it comes to this." Admitting it felt like treason. She shifts, uncomfortable with the sad understanding glance he gives her. "The longer I know them, the more I feel untethered. I'm not sure of anything at the moment. I love Rebekah, though I hardly remember her. Klaus...Klaus is his own breed of torture, I do not love him but I understand him in a way that bothers me."
There was a truth that she clung desperately to, clutching at it with white knuckles. The boy from her dreams, the version of Klaus that she saw- that, she could love. Him, she could damn herself for. And while Klaus seemed like a monster now, weren't all monsters men once? It wasn't far-fetched for her to think of what glimpses of the man he could be for her would do to her. It was unfathomable and yet all at once, it felt jarringly all too real.
She could love Klaus if he'd actually let her. She didn't know if that scared her or if the thought of him never actually letting her, dooming them both to whatever limbo they lived in now, scared her more.
Hanne busies herself with taking another sip of her hot cocoa and laying her head on her friend's shoulder. Like this, she could pretend they were in their coffee shop, talking about Philosophy and sharing secrets. Like this, she could pretend.
It'd have to be enough.
Klaus inevitably breaks their quiet watch of the sun-rise, the sound of jazz music beginning to play upstairs from his room. It's her sign to scuttle back up the stairs, not bothering to be quiet as she breaks for her still open bedroom door. Stefan looks on in amusement, drinking the rest of her hot chocolate and slowly following her up the steps and towards his own room. Unlike Hanne, Stefan isn't lucky enough to evade Klaus.
"There you are!" Klaus smirks, kicking open his door which was conveniently across from Hanne's, in the midst of putting his shirt on. "I need you to do a few things for me."
Stefan bits back a sigh. "What do you need, Klaus?"
"I need you to stay behind for the contractors. Rebekah has decided she wants to enroll in school while we stay here, and Hanne...well," Klaus smirked. "Hanne is coming with me today."
A muscle twitches in Stefan's jaw. "So I'm stuck with babysitting a crew of humans? After the nice little human only diet you have me on?"
Klaus shrugged. "If you eat a few, it's no matter. Simply compel them. Or eat them all, I don't really care." He turned back to his room but stopped, a pointed look on his face. "Actually, leave at least one alive so progress is actually made on our little home."
He left without waiting for Stefan's reply, and Hanne sighed to herself from the other side of her bedroom door. Running errands with Klaus sounded like absolute hell.
By the time they'd finished with their errands, Hanne was exhausted. Klaus had driven them both all over Mystic Falls, picking up orders of all sorts. She would have thought he'd have their furniture sent straight to the home, but he'd surprisingly wanted her opinion on the most ridiculous things. Hanne didn't care what kind of couch they got, or what silverware would go best with the dining room table he was having made for them.
When he brought up what color curtains the living room should have, Hanne wanted to scream. "I don't care, Klaus! I really don't care. Make them puke green, a nauseatingly bright magenta. What difference does it make?"
A beat of silence and Klaus pulled the car over. Luckily, they were on one of the backgrounds and nobody would get concerned if they were about to have a spat.
Klaus took a deep breath in and turned to her, his teeth gritted. "I just want things to be nice for us- for you. I want you to feel at home, because you are home. Is it so wrong, to want to build a home with you Hanne?"
He reached for her hand and Hanne snatched it away before he could touch her. "I will never be at home there and you know it."
"I'm trying, Hanne." He said quietly. Looking at him now felt like looking at a shadow of the boy she knew long ago, and it stung to see such familiar eyes look so tired. "If you were in my position, what would you do? You are too much like me to have ever let me free. You are angry, fine. You can pout and sulk and spit venom in my face all that you want. But I will never stop trying to get back to where we were a thousand years ago. Where we should have been right now, had you not passed on."
There's something so desperately lonely about the way he speaks. It gets her to look at him, to truly see him for the first time. Beneath all the haughty power and tucked away behind his cruel nature, Klaus was just a man. A terribly lonely man who was trying to actually build himself a family, because the one of his blood couldn't stand to look at him. It was so easy when she could just pretend he was her nightmare. The idea that he was any more complicated than that wasn't one he had entertained before.
But looking at him now, it all made sense. Hanne found it rather...pathetic. It almost made her feel bad for him.
"Were we together?" She whispered hoarsely. "Is that why you are so demented about all of this? Were we married?"
Klaus stared out in front of him, his mind far, far away. It became clear he wasn't going to share that truth with her. He restarted the car, his knuckles gripping the wheel so tightly that Hanne thought he would break it. Whatever thoughts have been consuming him, they finally came tumbling out by the time they pulled back up to the house. The sun had already started to go down and the two of them sat in the long driveway bathed in its orange light.
She made to get out of the car, but his sudden voice stopped her. "When you first came back to life, where were you?"
The question threw her off, and it took her a while to respond, let alone even remember. "I was reborn into my second life somewhere a little east of what is now called Belgium. Some small village or another."
"Do you remember anything of your life there?"
"No. I don't even remember my name from that time."
"What was the next place?"
And it went on like this, with Hanne trading a few of the secrets she could remember. Some were worse than others, but they were hers all the same. It took him an hour to offer any information about himself, something that surprised Hanne since Klaus loved to talk. Even then it was some of his more miraculous accomplishments, such as being the true artist behind several famous paintings. He'd even made a joke about Elijah, the poor daggered bastard, having been behind Chopin's Nocturne in C-Sharp Minor.
"You were a witch?" Klaus blinked incredulously.
"No, I was just tried and killed as one. Another nobleman saw me weak with fever and talking to ghosts and reported it to the church. I was burned the next week, along with two other children and an elderly woman."
"You were a child?"
"Of only eleven, yes. They already disliked me because I was a little strange. I tried hiding my affliction for the dead, but I was too sick that day to even attempt at pretending. My parents of the time couldn't do much to save me, the fear had already set in. Even my father was afraid of me by the time I burned. They now refer to it as the Trier Witch Trials, last time I checked."
"I had just left that area, not too far when those trials were happening."
He'd been just out of reach as she'd been murdered once more. It really was a repeating pattern in her story, every life was soon snuffed out violently. What disturbed him more was how close she'd been during her more heinous murders.
"Did you fear being found out by them as well?" Hanne's brows pinched together, the idea of Klaus fearing a group of humans at five hundred years old struck her as unlikely.
"No, no I left for an entirely different matter," He said with a scoff. "As if I'd ever run from a bunch of humans."
"But were you running?"
He seemed reluctant to tell her, but he pushed on, knowing she should be aware of the full picture. "My father has been hunting me for a century. He wishes me dead."
Mikael had always been a cruel man. She innately recalls countless times that Klaus had been beaten by an enraged Mikael, his body torn apart by one who should have protected it instead. Though she couldn't remember any of it clearly, she simply knew Mikael had been a monster in his own right. The faintest of memories shows her that the older she'd gotten, the more he had hated seeing the two of them together.
It's not a far jump to theorize that he could have wanted her to marry one of his other sons. He seemed neutral of her in her dream from last night, which might as well have been him giving her his approval. Or maybe any glimpse of happiness from Klaus had been enough to irritate him. Hanne couldn't fathom it, hating a loved one so much.
"Why would he want that? I know he was a vicious asshole, but to kill you? You're his child." She hadn't realized it, but she'd taken off one of her gloves with her rising temper, clenching and unclenching her freed hand as if angry she didn't have a throat in reach to crush.
"Not by blood. Turns out my mother hadn't been entirely faithful. That's why I am a hybrid, and my siblings are not. She locked away my werewolf side to hide her infidelity, despite that it only made Mikael hate me more as a child. The first time I'd killed as a vampire, my curse proved her betrayal and he's wanted me dead ever since. It's why we hate her so."
Despite the warm Virginia air, a chill ran up Hanne's uncovered hand. The fear Klaus couldn't hide from his voice, the look of terror that spoke of years of abuse on his face, it was all too surreal. Here she'd thought he was the thing to be wary of, and now she knows she's been dead wrong. Klaus sees her hand shiver and reaches over, clasping her hand in between his. She forgets how much warmer he is than Stefan, his hybrid nature allowing for his body to rise above the typically second-hand heat vampires held.
He brings her fingers close to his mouth and gently blows on them, his focus on her small hand in his. It's such a strange sight that she stiffens with shock, unable to tear her hand away. She waits for him to throw her a flirty glance or a smug smile, but Klaus does neither. Instead, he simply keeps blowing on it and rubbing it with his hands.
"I always forget that vampires can be warm," She murmured to break the stillness in the air. "They radiate cold air, but you have both."
"You would have been my first vampire, had you not gone a year after I turned. I spent decades wondering what that would have been like. Are you warm now?"
She nodded mutely. Hanne wasn't willing to tell him he'd gotten it all wrong- it'd make things even more awkward. Klaus gently drops her hand, his own clenching tightly in his lap.
"You were the one who started that little trend," He said lightly, still not looking at her. "It was on a cold winter day and my father had thought to bring out the bullwhip. You had yelled at him to leave, to let me be, and stayed with me until you were sure he was gone. Having patched me up quite a few times by then, it hadn't taken you too long to get me bandaged and sitting next to the fire.
My hands, they wouldn't stop their quaking. You had thought it was from the cold, but I'd been overrun with emotion, seeing your kindness towards me. You took my hands just like that, breathing on them and trying to warm them. I remember looking at you like you'd hung the moon in the sky just for me."
"I remember."
"I was sure then that- what? You remember?" Klaus looked at her with a kind of fearful hope that felt too cruel for even her to crush.
"I remember stepping in front of Mikael when he came back, the back of his hand sending me to the ground after he'd seen how close we were sitting together."
"Because you had stepped out in front of me," Klaus whispered. "You'd taken the hit for me. That is one of the million reasons why I can never let this go."
Hanne sits with that uncomfortable truth, the searing knowledge that Klaus isn't just under the impression that he won't let her go. He thinks he can't. That's a whole different kind of creature, a deeper kind of feeling that slicks through her arteries like molasses. For a moment, she almost cares .
She shuts that feeling down before it can ever fully form, putting it away in a neat little box and shoving it into the darker recesses of her mind to examine in the safety of her room later. The seed of connection taunts her from where it's been planted, and she wishes she could burn it down, raize the ground where it now rests.
What a dangerous line she straddles. She can only walk the tightrope of indifference for so long before she tips one way or the other. She just hopes that if she falls, her inevitable death is a fast one.
The Mikaelson siblings finding out about Stefan's lie leaves her imagining standing too close to a bomb when it goes off. Parts of the dining room table Klaus had picked out earlier scatter through the air, literal wood chips falling to the floor as his fist smashes it to smithereens. Vases go flying, a window breaks. Rebekah is screaming and hurling insults at Stefan while trying to hold back her brother from killing him for good.
Hanne isn't too far from Stefan when Klaus finally rips away from his sister and flashes towards him- only to be met with a hissing Hanne, her arms curled behind her as if she can actually shield him from Klaus' wrath. Klaus wavers in the face of her, her dark eyes gleaming viciously as if telling him to try it. It only enrages him more and he howls with fury. He holds a thousand years of fight in him, and he appears behind Stefan in a blink.
His hand winds around Stefan's neck, lifting him into the air. Stefan sputters, his toes dancing across the floor, his hands clawing at Klaus's arm. He's serious, she realizes with a lurch to her stomach. Klaus will end Stefan's life, right here, right now, if she doesn't come up with something and fast. It's the first time Hanne feels true terror in the presence of Klaus.
"Klaus," Hanne warns, gritting her teeth.
"Do not attempt to save the liar," Klaus snarled. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill him now and be done with him!"
"Your sister loves him!"
Klaus scoffed. "My sister knows fully well that her whims of affection are misplaced. It is the status quo, she will find another fool to love."
"Klaus," Rebekah begged. "Do not kill him. Please do not take me from him a second time, I love him more than I can bear."
"He's my best friend Klaus. Killing him won't help you," Hanne urged. She licks her lips and does her best to persuade him the only way she knows how- by manipulation. "And we've just had a bit of a breakthrough, haven't we? Please don't ruin this. I'm asking you nicely, spare him for me."
"I have done a great deal for you already," Klaus poises his free hand like a striking snake above her best friend's heart.
"I'll stop!" She blurts out. "I'll stop fighting you and I won't attempt to leave. I'll stay here, by your side, just like you want. Let him live, Klaus, and I'll stop. You can hurt him, run him ragged, just don't end his life."
The words are acid on her tongue. She hates the way he pauses, his stormy blue eyes pinning her in place, a curl on his lips. A look flashes across his face that takes a moment to process, but when she does, it feels like a sucker punch to the gut. It looks a lot like conquest.
He drops Stefan like he's nothing but a ragdoll, sidestepping him and sauntering over to Hanne. Rebekah goes to him, not helping him up like Hanne expected but snarling words too quiet for her to hear in his face. Klaus's hand, the very same that had been threatening the life of her friend moments again, is steady as he holds it out to her. Hanne places her hand limply in his, shivering as his thumb brushed across her knuckles.
Klaus gathers Hanne in his arms and like a whirlwind, they are gone. The world blurs around her as he takes her to his car, setting her down in the passenger carefully. Klaus says nothing as he drives away, fingers tapping incessantly on the steering wheel. Mystic Falls High School is lit up from within by the time they arrive. It's dark out, past curfew for many of the teenagers sneaking into the building, and Hanne has no idea why these kids are haunting the halls.
"How did you even know she'd be here?" Hanne frowned, letting Klaus help her from her seat. She wipes her hand on her jeans before pulling out her discarded glove, slipping it back on and tucking her hand close to her thigh.
"She's my doppelgaänger. I always know where she is."
Klaus leads the way, the two of them passing through the halls as students run around giggling. Hanne thinks it must be Senior Prank Night, though she wouldn't know for sure seeing as she was never invited to hers. She turns her nose up at some of the rooms they pass, sniffing at how stupid some of them look. Briefly she wonders if he actually knows for sure if Elena is here.
That idea shrivels away when the door in front of them opens up, a smiling Elena looking over her shoulder. She turns and gasps at the sight of them.
"There's my girl," Klaus smirked. Elena makes a run for it but Klaus appears before her, anger coating his words. "You are supposed to be dead. What are we going to do about that?"
Elena looks to Hanne as if Hanne will help her, her eyes wide with fear. Hanne raises an eyebrow and lifts a shoulder. There isn't much she can do, not now, not when she promised she'd behave to keep Stefan alive. Klaus grabs hold of Elena and drags her with him, Hanne trailing not too far behind as he curses Elena for living.
"If you're going to kill me, just do it," Elena hisses.
"Not until I know if I'm right. But I have ways of making you suffer." Klaus shoves pushes the door to the gym open, the sound of music playing as teenagers keep preparing for their pranks. His creepy American accent is back, a smile on his face as he tells everyone to go home. "The gig is up, Senior Prank Night is over! I repeat, Senior Prank Night is over."
Hanne kicks a few plastic cups that are in her way, frowning at Klaus' back. He pays her no attention, dragging Elena towards the center of the room, calling forward a couple who had just been leaving. His accent is dropped, pupils blowing as he compulses them both.
"I remember you two. Dana, lift your foot. Chad, if she drops it, I want you to beat her to death."
"Please, you don't need to hurt them."
"Oh, come on, love. Of course I do."
"It's kind of his M.O.," Hanne supplies, holding herself.
His attention flicks over to her as if he can't help himself, gesturing for her to come closer. Hanne bites the inside of her cheek to stop herself from cussing him out, hating feeling like she's a dog under his command. He doesn't bother touching her when she steps up beside him, but she feels him all the same.
Dana's leg almost falls and Klaus gives a low whistle. "Come on now Dana, keep it up."
"Where's Stefan? What'd you do to him?" Elena asks, a frantic lit to her voice.
"He's alive," Klaus glances at Hanne with a smirk. "For now. Think of it as a time out."
The door opens and two people that Hanne concludes must be Elena's friends come in, laughing as they chatter on. Elena bristles, spinning towards them, moving to them even as Klaus' hand grips her shoulder.
"Bonnie, Matt, get out of here!"
Hanne knows Matt from Stefan's stories; knows him to be Elena's first love. It's almost a pity that he's here now, all too human, all too vulnerable. Her stomach grumbles hungrily at the sight of him. Bonnie is the unknown, obviously, she's someone Elena loves if the fear in her voice says anything. A flare-up at the back of her neck alerts her that Bonnie is also a witch and a powerful one at that. Hanne makes a note to keep away from her, eyes refocusing on who she hopes to be a late-night snack.
Klaus disappears behind Bonnie, capturing her attention. "I was wondering when you'd show. We can finally get started."
He releases Dana and Chad from his compulsion, his focus entirely on the little witch. Hanne takes the moment to slip next to Matt, her hand naked and gripping his face in her hand with a crushing force. She inhales, eagerly taking from him what is by right his, the taste of his lifeforce settling on her tongue and fizzing like bubbles. It reminds her of summer, of sips of warm soda, of bare feet on wet grass.
Elena screams for her to let him go, sobs wracking through her frail body. Strength bleeds into Hanne's skin, a lushness returning to her hair that she'd been missing. She pays no attention to Klaus and his conversation, too focused on the way Matt's lips begin to turn blue. She drops him before he can pass out, the football player falling to the floor in a useless heap on the gross gym floor. The door slams open once more, an annoyed Rebekah pushing a dark-haired guy with a killer jawline right into her brother's waiting hand.
"Who the hell is this?"
"My brother's wolf." Rebekah sneers.
"Ah, just in time! I'd like you all to meet my sister, Rebekah. Word of warning- she can be quite mean." He smiles at Rebekah, who only rolls her eyes.
"Don't be an ass." She tosses the boy in her grasp towards Klaus, who easily takes hold of him.
Anger lances through Elena, her teeth gritting as she demands Klaus to leave him alone. Klaus ignores her, speaking directly to Bonnie as if Elena were nothing more than an annoying gnat. "I'm going to make this very simple for you."
Hanne leans over to Rebekah, her brows furrowing. "Where's Stef?"
"Taking a bit of a nap, I'd assume."
"Every time I attempt to turn a werewolf into a vampire hybrid, they die during the transition. It's quite horrible, actually. Very ugly." Klaus's teeth pierce the soft flesh of his forearm, making a show of his dripping blood. "Find a way to save my hybrids, or your friend here dies."
Without warning, he shoves his bleeding wrist into the boy's mouth. The wolf struggles in Klaus's hold, trying to pry himself free. His struggle is in vain, the sound of his neck snapping echoes through the gymnasium, making a savage song as his friend's horrified screams follow. Rebekah tugs at Hanne's hand, leading her over to the bleachers where they can sit and watch Klaus hold court.
"Tick tock." He waves his hands at them in dismissal, taking a seat next to Hanne.
Bonnie takes a hold of a weak Matt, his glassy eyes taking in the sight of his crumpled friend. The two flee as fast as their mortal legs can take them.
"You know," Rebekah starts, leaning forward from her seat. Her voice bounces off the room, the tone positively vile as she stares down Elena. "The original doppelgaänger was much prettier."
Hanne watches the two with disinterest, vaguely remembering Tatia. Elena is her carbon copy, down to the way her mouth is shaped and the number of lush lashes she has. The only difference is that she was dressed in modern clothing and had access to a hair straightener. Well, and Tatia had been happier looking of course.
"Enough, sister. Take my wolf boy somewhere other than here. Hanne, you go with her."
Rebekah jumps down from her seat, making a show of how uncaring she is of the wolf by dragging his limp body across the floor. She sends Elena a look that could rival Klaus's, both haughty and angry all at once. Hanne sighs, rolling out a kink in her neck before jumping down to join her.
"Hanne, sweetheart, do be careful. Dear Elena has very tricky friends from what I recall."
"Yeah, whatever you tyrant."
They wander through the hallways, Hanne's eyes on the dead wolf the entire way. "Did you ever catch his name?"
"What, getting soft are we?"
"I can't very well keep calling him 'dead wolf boy' in my head."
"It's Taylor. Or Tyler. One of those two." Rebekah opens another door, revealing a blonde girl lying dead on the floor. Cold races up the back of Hanne's neck and she knows at once that this girl is another vampire, though presumably much younger than any she's ever met.
"Your work I take it?"
"It's his little girlfriend. Here, I'll even drop him over by her." Rebekah gives him a little shake before dropping him entirely.
"I'm going to go to the bathroom. You watch Cujo and his little girlfriend."
"Don't be gone too long, or Klaus will think you ran off," Rebekah warns, bending down and digging through the blonde girl's pockets. She pulls out her phone with a triumphant shout, taking a seat against the lockers to look through it.
"I wouldn't dream of it," She says bitingly.
The bathroom is blessedly empty when she finds it. Hanne stumbles towards the sink, eyes bloodshot despite her earlier snack break. She grips the knob and in her hurry, rips it off completely. She's staring in mute shock as water begins to pour incessantly, already beginning to fill the cheaply made basin. "Well, fuck."
Her mirror image has nothing to add. To distract herself, she splashes water on her face, wishing momentarily she could stick her head into the basin and drown. But she remembers her promise to Klaus, and knows that even if she could drown, it'd only end with Stefan's death. So she ponies up and marches back to where Rebekah was.
Or where she should have been.
Only the blonde and her wolf remained, the Original vampire far from sight. Hanne peers at the wolf, an itch at the back of her neck letting her know that he is going to come back to life soon. It's weak, barely there, but she can feel the hint of cold flaring up right alongside his searing warmth. Interesting.
"She killed him. She killed Tyler." The girl whimpered, brushing away a stray tear.
"His soul is slowly coming back to him. He'll be like Klaus soon if your witchling Bonnie can find the missing piece to the spell."
She says nothing about how she knows exactly what Tyler needs. It wasn't her problem if Tyler died. But watching as the girl cried for him, her hand gently cupping his face if only for her to look upon it, it wiggled something loose in Hanne that she'd rather kept tightly bound. It's not guilt that makes her speak and try to fill the silence, it's uncomfortableness.
"You really care about him, don't you? What is your name?"
"I know it's a foreign concept to you, but yeah, I do." The blonde sniffles. "My name is Caroline."
"Well, Caroline, I've been in love before."
"Klaus is a literal serial killer, he doesn't count."
"Okay, ew, not him. I had a husband, his name was Oliver." Oliver's brown eyes, his artistic hands- she swallows thickly, blinking back the sudden moistness in her eyes. "Oliver Gilbert."
"Gilbert...like...like Johnathan Gilbert?"
Her heart seizes in her chest and Hanne can barely stifle her painful gasp. Her attention lasers in on Caroline, eyes flashing white. "How do you know that damn name?"
Ever since she'd remembered her last life, the life as the wife to Oliver Gilbert, she's tried so hard to purge herself of anything she could. But a part of her, one that she recognizes now in Klaus, had held on tightly to every single moment. Every kiss, every glance across a crowded room. Their wedding, the birth of their first and only son.
The birth of Jonathan Gilbert.
She picks Caroline up with ease and slams her against the nearest wall. Hanne presses in, her forearm pushing against the girl's collarbone. "Tell me how you know that name!"
"It's Elena's last name! She's Jonathan Gilbert's descendant!" Caroline spits, trying and failing to remove Hanne's arm.
"She's what?" Hanne whispers, face screwing up with pain. "She can't be. No, that'd be too much of a coincidence. You're lying!"
"I swear I'm not lying! Why would I lie about that, I'm not a monster like you!"
"No...no, I guess you're not." She's calm. Too calm. Hanne drops Caroline, letting her crawl back to her still dead boyfriend, the blonde's eyes venomous. "This changes everything."
AN: I really wanted to write more about their new house but there was so much ground to cover in this chapter that it'll have to wait and be sprinkled into the next few chapters. I honestly love writing about their past together, it's easily one of my favorite parts, alongside her friendship with Stefan. Obviously, I'm starting to divert from canon a little more. Some things are still the same, they just happen differently. But eventually, there will be totally new plot points- I hope you all don't mind.