600 Years Prior

Klaus's P.O.V

"Miss! You lost your handkerchief."

I stood as close as I could to the beautiful blonde woman that had just dropped her handkerchief while rushing through the busy village. As her blue eyes met mine, I couldn't stop the shocked look that crossed my face as I realized she was terrified of me.

A part of me knew I shouldn't have been shocked. Since I had been changed into a hybrid and abandoned my siblings, there weren't many people in this village that would give me the time of day. Trying to strike up a conversation with anyone bordered on impossible; especially now that I had taken the position that was rightfully mine.

Of course, killing anyone who had gotten in my way hadn't won me any points.

"I—I'm sorry. I was in a hurry. I'm sorry if it got in your way on the—"

"Got in my way? Don't be obtuse, Ms. Goodwin. A beautiful maiden like yourself deserves to have your things returned back to you."

I saw her eyes grow wide as I realized I had used her name in a sentence; a name I should not have known.

If it were anyone else, I wouldn't have known. I also wouldn't have noticed the beautiful, darker blue flecks in her sky colored eyes, or the way the curls of her blonde hair contained four different shades of blonde when the sun hit the strands just right.

If it were not the beautiful, kind-hearted Caroline Goodwin, I would not have known.

I held out the handkerchief, and let her take a hold of it. Our fingers lightly brushed together as she did so. I knew the she felt the same pull that I did.

"Well, I must be going. Thank you for returning my handkerchief to me."

She quickly stuffed the handkerchief into the side satchel that she was carrying. I watched in silence as she seemed to run away from me.

I refused to ever see her eyes filled with that much fear again.

She needed to know that I would never let anyone, or anything, hurt her; including myself.

Present Day

Time stopped.

In all my centuries living in this world, there had only been two, now three, times that time had stopped for me.

The morning I first saw her at the village market was the first time since I had been alive that time had stopped. The second time was when I heard her heart stop, and saw her body go still as she refused to complete her transition, and now, the third time Caroline Goodwin, Forbes, had made time stop for me was when I had seen her ghost walk down the stairs; heading straight toward me. But, it wasn't her ghost at all. It was. . .her.

She was here. Alive, and. . .and perfect.

My mind couldn't process that she was here as I took Rebekah's hand and we began the walk out toward the back yard where Caroline was.

She was really here.

I quickly used my unoccupied hand to swipe at a foreign moisture coming from my eyes.

I could feel Rebekah's eyes on me as she leaned in and began to whisper,

"She's here, Nik! You were right. I'm so sorry I doubted you. She's really here."

We made it to the dancefloor, and joined the couples that were already lined up. I could not see Caroline, as she was near the beginning of the line.

The music started quickly, and we began the dance.

"Don't apologize, dear sister. For a few years, I doubted myself. I felt like I had gone crazy; letting a witch convince me of something that couldn't possibly be true."

"But it is true, Nik. I've seen it with my own eyes. You can finally live again."

"I can't wait to speak to her."

Rebekah frowned as I took her into a spin that would end the dance.

"Just remember, it's been more than a few centuries. Although you want her to be, she will not be your Caroline, Niklaus."

"Thank you for the news flash, Rebekah. You don't think I had considered that?"

I watched as she rolled her eyes but didn't respond. What did she know? She hadn't spoken to this Caroline. She didn't know this Caroline.

She didn't know this Caroline.

Neither did I.

I had spent so much time either searching or waiting for my lost love, that I had never even sat down to think about the inevitable. It was what Rebekah had been telling me the entire time; the thing that was pushed to the back of my mind: I didn't know this Caroline. She didn't know me.

Watching her as she glided down the stairs and set her eyes on me, I realized she had not recognized me. Was there something she may have sensed there? Probably, but there was not a realization that threw itself into her mind and heart. If a realization had been there, she would not have been a few feet away dancing away with some stereotypical, small-town jock.

I gave Rebekah one final twirl as the music came to a soft close. The pageant girls began their treks up onto the stage that had been set up near the back stone patio as I filed in with the rest of the crowd. I watched as some nameless redhead stepped up to the mic and began answering the mediocre questions that the spineless judges were assigned to throw out at all the girls.

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

A voice I hadn't heard in what seemed like a millennium comes from the right of me. I turned my attention toward the direction of the voice, and for a moment, I questioned if I were dreaming. Even for an immortal, the world could not be this small.

Ninety Years Earlier

The sounds of our dress shoes echoed throughout the empty night as we wandered down the newly paved street; street lamps eerily glowing as the feel of dawn approaching seemed to rile us on.

"I can remember in the years before I was turned just how much I loathed the thought of change, but I must say these new roads are welcomed with open arms. I can now take a midnight stroll and not dusty up my Oxfords." I spoke the words casually as images of my house keeper glaring at me while she thought my back was turned as she scrubbed at my muddy shoes flashed into my mind. I'm sure Tatia was pleased with this new development as much as anyone was; especially now that I seemed to take midnight strolls quite a lot.

There was a brief pause as the man to my left seemed to be in deep thought before he muttered his next statement.

"It also helps that blood seems to just soak right into this material."

I stopped and turned to my partner of the night. He stopped, also, and casually placed his hands in his pant pockets as he leaned back on the heels of his cap toe shoes. I felt a laugh escape my body as I stumbled on toward our destination.

We had left a ticking time bomb of bodies behind us as we made our way to the ferry that would move us on to the next city.

On to the next clueless, young woman who wanted to get a taste of darkness as a way to rebel against society around her.

"You know, I've always had a thing for brunettes. They're quite feisty, which makes the taste of their blood all the more energizing." My partner seemed to be full of reminisce as he made his remark. I could only smirk as I shook my head.

I knew it was wrong; encouraging him. But for some reason, I couldn't stop. I had met no other man like myself during my long life, and my intrigue had been peaked. He was ruthless, sarcastic, unapologetic. . .

But he was also an inhumane menace to society who ripped off his victims' heads, then repositioned them back onto their bodies.

He and I were kindred spirits; lonely sociopaths looking for the moment we would no longer be alone. The only difference was that he had a choice. He could simultaneously flip his humanity switch to the upright position and go right back to being the kind, charitable poster boy that I knew he truly was.

My humanity had died out long ago.

"Just last week you mentioned red heads were your delicacy, mate." I teased him as he let out a boisterous laugh.

"Klaus. Here's a word of advice. In a time like this, having a Flavor of the Week is never a bad thing. Keeps things fresh. Keeps things. . .alive." He gave me a forceful pat on the back as he laughed again, then took off down the street at vampire speed.

Little did he know, I had been dead for years, and until I could look into her eyes again, I would remain that way.

Present Day

"Stefan Salvatore. I barely recognized you with that air of emotion you have floating about."

A grin spread across his face as we shared a quick one-armed hug.

"Niklaus Mikaelson. It's been. . .decades. What the Hell brings Gatsby to Mystic Falls?"

I smirked at Stefan's old nickname for me. I did have an eye for parties back in our prime.

"She's here, mate." I could barely contain my excitement.

"The girl you were looking for? You finally found her?" Stefan's eyes lit up as he turned his head back and forth; searching for the woman I had been waiting on for centuries.

I firmly clasped my hand onto his shoulder and directed his attention to the spot where Caroline Forbes stood on stage.

"There she is. After centuries of waiting and searching, I've finally found her, Stefan."

Stefan's eyebrows quickly shot up.

"Care?" Stefan's question was so loud that it caused several people to look in our direction; including Caroline. Stefan merely gave her a small smile, to which she quickly smiled back, then focused her attention back onto the judges.

"I take it you know her?" I asked.

Stefan blinked quickly, and paused a moment before answering.

"I do. We're classmates. She's. . .she's one of my, uh, girlfriend's best friends." Stefan nodded toward the long-legged, tan, brunette that stood a few girls down from Caroline. It was the same girl that Rebekah had noticed earlier.

"Girlfriend?" The word seemed to crawl up my throat. This was not The Ripper that I once knew.

"Yeah. My Elena. She was the first person I met when I decided to come back to Mystic Falls. I guess you could say that she saw the good in me when I couldn't even see it within myself. We've been inseparable ever since."

I merely nodded my head in acceptance as I turned my attention toward the competition unfolding on stage. An empty hope invaded my mind; a hope that Stefan had never mentioned our days in the early 1900s to his human companion. I never wanted Caroline to know that side of me because things were different now. I was different now, and I refused to make the same mistake twice. I would not lose her again.

..

I popped an olive off of my hors d'oeuvre sandwich and into my mouth as Stefan continued his riveting tale of what he had been up to for almost the last century.

As he kept talking, I couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Although it wasn't until twenty years after leaving our budding friendship that the faux death of his brother, Damon Salvatore, made Stefan switch on his humanity, he had still used the last seventy years to do everything that I had merely dreamed of. Even standing next to him, I could feel the…goodness…wafting off of him. In some odd way, Stefan Salvatore had plotted his own path to redemption, and unlike myself, he had reached his destination.

Here he was in this small town with a normal life. He had the friends, the family…and the girl. Elena Gilbert was Stefan's Caroline. She was the one thing on this earth that made Stefan believe that somewhere out there, there was some ominous power that still put its faith in us, that somewhere out there, there was something that thought we were good.

I wasn't.

Somewhere along the way, I realized that I was bad. I was some wicked, twisted monster that had nothing better to do with his life than terrorize those around him, but the moment I saw Caroline looking through the market vendor's items in the village, I felt something I had not felt in a long time.

I felt alive.

"Oh, hey! Damon. Bonnie. This is Niklaus Mikaelson. We hung out together back in the twenties."

I watched as a dark-haired, blue-eyed male who had his arm slung over a caramel colored woman with green eyes' shoulder sauntered over to us. Oddly, the woman's presence almost sent chills shooting down my spine.

She was a witch, and a very powerful one at that. I mentally put myself on guard.

The man I now knew as Damon dropped his arm from Bonnie's shoulders, and for some reason looked mildly embarrassed. I shook it off as he took my hand firmly in his own.

"Klaus." I said.

"Damon Salvatore. Nice to meet you." He answered casually.

He let go of my hand, and Bonnie's warm handshake replaced his simple one.

"Bonnie Bennett." She smiled, but if my heart were beating, it would have sped up. She was a Bennett witch. Her power was otherworldly.

But as I took her hand into mine, I tried to keep my face friendly as I realized that, although she was clearly one of the most powerful witches in present day, she had no idea. Her magic was locked up tightly, and I could only hope that it remained that way. I let go of her hand as Damon turned his attention to his brother.

"Hello, brother." He said, then smirked.

"Hey, Stefan! Elena was beautiful, tonight. Not sure how Pattie the Preying Mantis won, though." Bonnie laughed as Stefan's eyes went wide, and he tried to hold in the laugh bubbling up from his chest.

"Pattie the Preying Mantis?" I curiously asked.

"Patricia Stark. Preys on any man that isn't hers. Tragic they chose someone like that to represent our dear Mystic Falls."

Bonnie doesn't speak the sentence that comes from my far left, but the voice that does I know so well that it may as well have been my own that had uttered the words.

I turned just in time to see her, Rebekah, and Elena Gilbert coming to a pause beside of us.

"Hi! I'm Caroline Forbes!"

The stranger held her hand out, and I reluctantly took it. I could see Rebekah's eyes drop to the ground in silence as my discovery was made.

This was not my Caroline at all, yet here she stood. Her blonde hair still reflected in the setting sun just as I had remembered it to have done. Every dark blue fleck in her light blue eyes resided in the same location, and her smile also lit up the world around her.

But she was not my Caroline.

Her hand was cold, and I could not count the beats of her heart like I had done in the past.

There were no beats.

This Caroline was a vampire, and in that one, single moment…she had destroyed my entire reason for existing.