Bonnie's POV

"Hey, Bonnie! How was the pageant?"

I smiled as the woman who looked just like an older version of me took me into her arms in a tight hug and dragged me into her warm home.

Sheila Bennett was the closest thing I had to a mother, as my own had abandoned my father and I when I was eleven. My dad, however, didn't appreciate the time I spent with my Grams as he knew the old, Bennett family secret, and it was the one secret he had hoped that with my mom gone, I'd never discover.

We were full-blooded witches who had escaped being burned on the stake back in Salem merely because the townsfolk were too busy prosecuting the human settlers that had pretended to be ones of our kind.

I couldn't help but feel that my dad wished those townsfolk had more sense and had gotten rid of the real ones.

"It was great, Grams. Patricia Stark won."

"Pattie the Preying Mantis? Oh, Lord. Let's not discuss that. Have you been practicing, Bonnie?"

I tried to overlook my over-informed grandmother while I rolled my eyes, sat down on the couch, and placed my hands in hers. I knew what was coming next. We were going to try and light the same candle that sat unlit on the coffee table every Saturday.

"A little. I get a little frustrated. It's like I tell my mind to do something, but it's met with silence."

"Bonnie, that's how it always is when you're new. You just discovered your magic. Rome was not built in a day. Give it time."

"Grams, it's been, like, three weeks now, and I haven't sent a flicker of anything to that candle."

Grams smiled softly at me.

"Well, now it's the fourth week. Let's try again."

I sighed as she closed her eyes, and let a somber aura surround her. I closed mine, also, but something was different. My whole body felt like it was burning in flames, but had somehow been tossed in a snowbank. What was happening to me?

I felt something.

I felt someone.

There was suddenly a mirror that I was gazing into, and in it, I met my own hazel-green eyes; except they weren't mine. They were different. Full of fire, but ice was not close behind. I could feel them both racing toward me; pulling me into a decision that I didn't think I was ready to make, but it was like I had no choice—

"Bonnie!"

The sharp sound of Grams' scream broke me free of the arms that I hadn't noticed had grabbed me.

There were candles all around us, and they were all wildly burning. The candle on the table was fighting with its flame so hard, that most of the wax had already burned away. Had I shut my eyes for that long?

I let my eyes move up, and they lingered on my shocked Grams as she seemed to almost be afraid of me. She had moved to the edge of her sofa and lightly covered her mouth with her hand. I noticed that, as I stopped concentrating on the magic, all the candles extinguished themselves.

"I—" My voice trembled. "I have to go."

I quickly secured my satchel onto my shoulder and almost ran out of the door. I could hear my Grams calling after me, but I couldn't find the strength to look back.

..

Caroline's POV

I casually ran my fingers over the accessories Elena left splayed about on her dresser. It felt good to be here. Her room had been a safe place for me for a while now. Even after her parents had died in that car wreck a few years back, her room never felt any different to me. I could practically hear the ghosts of our laughter, and Elena's mom's stern instructions to start on our homework as we all clamored in here after cheer practice in middle school. Everything was so much easier then.

"So are you going to talk to him again or not?"

Elena's question made me roll my eyes.

"Elena, he pretty much cringed away from me the entire night. If anything, just be happy I was there to distract his sister from ripping your throat out."

"So, that wasn't just in my head? I knew there was some animosity there but, damn."

"First rule of womanhood: Anytime fashion is involved, there will be animosity. Your dresses were pretty much identical."

"I didn't do that on purpose."

"You may as well have."

"Why can't Rebekah just take it as a sign of comradery or something? I'd be flattered that someone had the same, amazing taste as I do."

"Well, we can't all be like you, can we, Elena?" I tried to keep my tone light; even if I was serious. She seemed to be oblivious.

I turned on my heels and walked to sit down beside of Elena on the bed.

"Is anyone here?" Bonnie's voice rang through the house as the front door closed behind her. I could hear Jenna tell her we were all upstairs.

"Hey!" Elena laughed. "Don't try to turn this conversation on me. Are you going to try to talk to him again or not, Care?"

"Elena, do I have to repeat it again? He cringed away from me all night."

"Are we talking about Mr. Smooth Talker?" Bonnie asked as she flopped down onto the bed so that she was facing us.

"Niklaus Mikaelson? Yes!" Elena quickly responded

I tried keep a straight face as Elena giggled, but I couldn't help but smile a little. There was something about him that I couldn't deny an attraction to, but I had Tyler.

Tyler.

I hadn't heard from him since before the Miss Mystic Falls pageant. Even then, it was a simple "Good luck, babe" before he ran off with his uncle.

I was here, trying to get acclimated to a life that wasn't even one of my own choosing, and he was in Colorado; embracing the one thing on this earth that seemed to make him complete.

As he became a werewolf, it was odd to see, but Tyler became happier. He started to love his life more. He became so alive that he, at times, scared me. It was almost as if he was the werewolf, and Tyler Lockwood was just a part of him.

"Bon, please tell Caroline how amazing Klaus and her looked standing side-by-side the other night."

The corners of Bonnie's mouth slightly turned up.

"Well, yeah. . ." She trailed off as she looked at me. "You two did look great together, Caroline."

"Gee, thanks, Bon. Maybe I should call Damon and ask when he's finally going to ask you out?" I watched Bonnie's eyes go wide as Elena laughed.

"Anyway." Bonnie quickly switched subjects. "Remember the candle at my Grams' house that I've been trying to light for a month now?"

"Yeah?" As Elena questioned Bonnie, I noticed Bonnie dig around for something in her bag, then pull out a candle.

"Well, watch this." Bonnie closed her eyes, and I felt a slight chill settle over the room. I wasn't even aware I could get chilly anymore.

I felt my eyes go wide as the candle in Bonnie's hands ignited. It was one thing to realize that all the creatures in the bedtime stories you were told as a kid were real, but it was another thing to see those creatures in action.

I heard Elena's sharp intake of breath as she seemed to realize exactly what I had just thought: what in this world still remained innocent?

Bonnie's eyes opened and she let a small smile grace her features.

"Wow, Bon!" Elena quickly gave Bonnie a hug. "I'm glad you're finally discovering you."

"Me too." Bonnie's smile grew, and I smiled lightly at her when she looked in my direction.

I couldn't help but think how much better I would I feel if I could discover myself, too.

..

Klaus's POV

"I don't want to be one of you, Niklaus!"

The venom dripped from her voice as she turned her back and began to walk away from me. I used vampire speed to run up behind her and spin her around so that she was facing me.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I saw the slight fear in her eyes as I kept my grip on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. I made myself relax. I was practically baring my fangs. I loosened my grip.

"I—Caroline. I apologize. It's just. . .you're sick, love."

She jerked away, and tried to hold in body racking coughs.

"I'm not sick!" She weakly yelled as her coughs subsided.

I could feel the unshed sorrow in my eyes as she denied it yet again. Caroline, my fiancée, had numbered days on this earth.

I could smell the death radiating through her veins.

Before I could respond, she quickly walked away from me; turning her back on the one thing that could save her life.

Me.

"Excuse me if I'm missing the point, but isn't this what you wanted all along, Nik? An indestructible, immortal Caroline?" My sister looked over from the sofa she was lounging on as I stood watching the embers of the modest fire in our fireplace float away.

"Yes, Rebekah! I did. But. . ."

I felt my mouth go dry as my reality hit me. The Caroline I yearned for. . .the Caroline I dreamed of meeting again, she was nowhere to be found.

I would never hear the way her heart beat as she lay against my chest. I would never see the way her blood rushed to her face as she blushed after I paid her a compliment.

I would never know how my human Caroline truly felt.

It was like I had come all this way, hoping over and over again for the sun, but instead, I've been met with the moon.

One could only wonder if the moon was good enough.