A/n: Edited on 11/9/2015.
Disclaimer: I don't own TVD.
Chapter 10: Illuminated
Mystic Falls
Present - February 6,2011
Rebekah paced back and forth contemplating on the outcomes of her future decision. She had wanted to see her brother, but she was aware of the fact that she wasn't on his favorite list of people at the moment. Rebekah had no idea of how the Salvatores, plus her, and Elena had managed to get away unscathed so far. Glimpsing at Stefan who was still asleep in bed, she can concur that he would always be the better one of the Salvatores in her eyes.
Going through her bag of clothes she had always kept as backup, she slipped on a pair of black stiletto pumps, dark gray skinny jeans, and a silver sleeveless top. The blonde also picked a brown leather-like jacket to battle against the cold, but she would look fabulous as usual. Immortality was one of the perks of being a vampire.
"Where do you think you're going?" Stefan's voice pierced the silence as she had hoped to use as a way to sneak out, but to no avail.
"Out."
Rebekah walked up to one of the windows unlocking it, but was stopped by a certain broody Salvatore. It was obvious what his intentions were. "Get out of my way, Stefan."
"No, it's crazy out there right now, especially when Klaus is on the warpath." Stefan reasoned with Rebekah, trying to hold her back.
"Why stop me? I do what I please, and I'm not telling you again. Get out of my way." Using her strength, she pushed him aside not enough to hurt him, but to let him know to give her space.
"Wait! At least listen to me." Stefan pleaded, grasping her hands.
Rebekah huffed an exasperated breath and shrugged away from him. "Listen to what, Stefan? Some lecture on how if I go, I would endanger everyone and your precious Elena? You're lucky I haven't staked the trollop in her sleep. And frankly, you should thank me for it too."
"This doesn't have anything to do with Elena," Stefan explained. "What I'm about to say has nothing to do with her. Just give me a couple of seconds to say what I need to say."
"You've got a minute. Starting now."
"I know the situation has been screwed up and-"
"Really? Those are your words for it. 'Screwed up?'" She cut him off.
"Okay, it's beyond screwed up. But look, we're caught in a net. He wants us to be paranoid every second, and what we need to do is to be calm and resourceful." As much as Rebekah appreciated Stefan's concern, it was too sweet in her opinion. Maybe she should compel him to turn off his emotions. Rebekah loved the Stefan she knew back in the twenties, but on the bright side, she did love the Sassy Stefan.
"As much as your concern for my welfare is very well touching, I'm in no mood for it." She pecked him quickly before leaving, already rushing out of the bedroom to the outside of the property.
Deciding to take the scenic route, the female vampire took her time through the old forests of her old home. Clouds shrouded over the sky, blocking the sun's rays, withholding any ability to make the shadows present. The leaves under her feet crunched with each step she took in her high heels. Smelling the ozone in the air, it gave an early warning to her of a storm approaching. Not wanting to get wet, she walked at a faster, human pace hoping to avoid the heavy rain coming. Within minutes, Bekah had made it to the Mikaelson property. As she went for the doorbell, hesitancy gripped her and wrapped its coils around her like a python. Deep down, that humane part of her wanted her big brother back that she knew. To be a family again would be something else. The one with no drama and no dagger threats. Reality is sad. They were broken a long time ago.
Rebekah wrung her hands pointlessly as she attempted to calm her nerves. 'Just bloody knock! It's not hard,' she commanded herself and knocked on the door, hopeful it wasn't Klaus who would greet her.
Not too long after she knocked, the door opened blatantly proving to Rebekah that no one gets what they wanted no matter how much you wish for it. Life's a bloody bitch.
"Little sister," Klaus acknowledged her presence leaning against the threshold. "I'm pleased that your trek here finally came to a success."
"Nik," she began, but she couldn't find her voice.
Her brother watched her with curiosity. He guessed that Rebekah was hiding her true emotions of seeing him again. Rest assured, it wasn't her he was targeting. He had other plans.
"Come on in. No need to stand there like a fool." He got out of her walkway, and she strode on in with her heels clicking the hard floor.
"Don't play games with me, Nik. We don't have time for that." Her natural words slipped out before she could stop them.
Nik smirked at her knowingly, his eyes drifting to the staircase upon hearing an individual who'd his sister never thought to see again.
"Elijah…" Her voice croaked.
Elijah stood there at the foot of the staircase shocked, but relieved to see her again alive and well. "Rebekah…"
She rushed over to her older brother and embraced him to her tightly. Her floodgates opened as her emotional walls crumbled, happy to see him again. She cried silently as her eldest brother held her close to his chest, gently shushing her to calm down. No words were needed to be spoken between them. Rebekah was just so thankful that she still had one more sibling left in the world.
"Don't you dare leave us again. You hear me?" Rebekah threatened, but it was empty.
"I promise." Elijah swore. Klaus came up to his two siblings he had left as a family, watching with interest. He didn't join in the embrace, but he patted Elijah's back in small brotherly affection. For a moment in all of the almost never ending darkness, all three of them felt like family. Always and forever.
Their moment ended when a small muffled boom erupted from the basement.
"Did you hear that?" Rebekah asked.
"Sister, I wouldn't recommend you snooping around where you shouldn't be." Niklaus warned to his sister, not needing any peering eyes.
Rebekah ignored him, though. Like that wasn't much of a surprise.
"I informed you before that she would look." Elijah commented to his brother.
"Oh bite me, Elijah." Niklaus barked.
"NIKLAUS MIKAELSON! YOU GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!" Rebekah's voice echoed throughout the mansion.
Elijah and Niklaus followed their sister to the basement smelling herbs and other unknown substances protruding the bottom floor.
Rebekah stood in shock. There in front of her was a witch she never thought she would see again. "You? You're here?"
"Hello, Rebekah. It's been awhile." The witch stated as she tried to clean up the mess she had made making some healing remedies.
"Why are you here?" Rebekah questioned, confused about the witch's appearance after all of these years.
"Klaus didn't tell you? I thought everyone was on the same page." The witch said as she saw the female Original's eyes blazed with fury, turning to her brother.
Rebekah stood stunned, but furious nonetheless. The whites of her eyes turned red and black as her anger fueled the transformation, her white teeth clenched into a furious scowl, and black veins appeared under her eyes as she spun seeing her brothers. She broke a wooden leg off an old wooden chair, ready to use as a stake.
"Someone better have a good explanation for this unless you want a blood bath on your hands!"
{Louder Than Thunder}
Outside of New Orleans
Past - January 27,1910
Caroline didn't know how long she slept, but it felt like she'd been dead for a week. Maybe even longer. She never knew these days. As her body began the process of taking everything in, a sharp whistle awoke her from her sleep with a hell of a start. Wisps of her blonde hair were caught onto her lips, making her sputter them out of the way with her mouth. Moving her hair out of her face, the hybrid already could tell that her hair was a rat's nest.
Shocked to see that she was back to her original form again, Caroline brought her hands to her face almost expecting fur, but instead it was only smooth skin. Hands instead of wolf paws. There was no tail. She was standing on two legs rather than four. Caroline was normal again...at least now for the time being.
Inspecting where she was and from the noises, Caroline saw the outside moving away from them. That's when she realized where she was. She was on a train.
Voices were heard behind her not too far away from where she was. Craning her head, she recognized Adelaide from the back, but there was someone else lying out across the red seat a couple of rows from her. Adelaide murmured a few words to the tired individual that was now sleeping soundly with a pillow and a blanket.
The elder witch strolled over to Caroline. "Hello, child. It's about time you had awaken."
"How long was I out?" Caroline asked still trying to grasp the reality around her.
"Two days, but you're not the first one who'd passed out for that long. It happens to every first timer. Turning usually comes with a heavy price, especially if you shift into your wolf form for the first time." Adelaide handed her a brush and a mirror. "I thought you could use this. No one wants to look like a rat's nest."
"Thank you." Caroline expressed her gratitude. Using the silver brush, Caroline worked her way, struggling to get through the knots and tangles. She glanced at the young woman sleeping in the row of seats wrapped up in a blanket.
"Do you remember anything from last night?" The witch asked, noticing Caroline looking the young brunette sleeping a few feet away from them.
"A little bit, yeah. The only main thing I remember the most was fighting the werewolf. It was massive, and then I heard something. I thought maybe I was hallucinating. It felt like just a very bad nightmare." Caroline answered, only drawing up a few empty blanks in her memory.
Adelaide frowned at her answer. There was a lot to going on, and she was determined to find out.
"You weren't hallucinating. It indeed happened, and it might occur again too if we don't get a few things out into the open." Adelaide placed herself in the seat next Caroline and waited for her to finish. After Caroline finished, being under the witch's solemn stare was enough for Caroline shift uncomfortably in her seat. In fact, she looked rather fed up and was towards the end of her rope.
"Where are you from, Caroline?" Adelaide repeated the question that had been asked times before.
"I'm from Mystic Falls. You know that already," she answered Adele, afraid of the witch's reaction.
"You don't think I already know that, child? Don't play the ignorant one with me. You're too honest to do that. Now, tell me what's going on before I have to go through measures I don't want to take with you. Tell me the truth." She demanded, her face set in a grim expression.
Caroline bit her lip before she hesitantly came clean. "You're right. I'm not from here, but not in the way you might think of it."
Meanwhile...
"Honestly? Are you really that daft?!" Magdalena snapped as they headed towards Adelaide.
"Don't blame me for the situation! It's no one's fault!" Charlene barked back at the other witch, following at a brisk pace to keep up.
"I'm so sick of this. I'm sick of vampires. I'm sick of werewolves. And now these stupid hybrids running about. It's all shot to hell!" Magdalena shouted as her temper became harder and harder to curb.
Charlene glared holes at Maggie's back, ready to send a bit of a hex spell just to piss her off, even more for her leisure. She didn't know how much it would be before she would explode with Maggie droning and complaining.
"Well, I suggest that you calm down before Adelaide hears you. She certainly doesn't have the time to deal with your temper. Just like I am right now." Charlene warned, not energized enough to deal with this early in the morning.
They came to Adelaide's cabin on the train noticing the inscriptions above the door threshold. Adelaide had warded off any vampire or werewolf within the outside of it except for the girls. Maggie opened the door and almost slamming it in Char's face. Adelaide arose from her seat, taking note of Maggie's unpleasant behavior. Maggie was lucid.
"There better be a good explanation for what's going on." Maggie stated angrily.
"Maggie, has it ever occur to you that I don't always have the answers? I had to deal with the situation. What else was I supposed to do?" Adele questioned the younger witch, her voice tired and filled with worry.
"You weren't supposed to make a deal with the devil!" Magdalena hissed. Witches weren't supposed to lower themselves to a vampire or any werewolf's standards. They were better than them in Maggie's view.
"I did what I had to do." Adelaide argued as she reared up frustration. "So, stop being so childish for once and be quiet!"
"BOTH OF YOU, STOP!" Charlene screamed. Her body shook and trembled with emotions hard to contain. All of them had little sleep since that night, and arguing wasn't going to change anything. Both of the arguing witches relented, forever sorry for upsetting Charlene. Caroline got up from her seat and placed a hand on Charlene's shoulder, hoping that would help somewhat.
"I'm sorry. I just can't stand it when you two argue. I just hate fighting." Charlene apologized tiredly, running a hand through her hair. She was surprised to see a woman sleeping in one of the seats still not woken up from the hot and loud words spoken between them.
"Who is she?" Charlene asked pointing to the brunette.
"It's the werewolf that Caroline dealt with two nights before. We had to take her aboard." Adelaide explained curtly, not wanting to say any more about it. It was enough.
But, Caroline caught the longing look in Adelaide's face before the elder witch had time to hide it. That same regretful gaze when Caroline listened to Adelaide spoke of that family she worked for. Putting two and two together, she took an educated guess.
"She's the one, isn't she?"
Confusion settled in everyone else's faces except for Adelaide's who looked away from the girls. "What are you talking about?"
Caroline ignored Maggie and kept going to Adele. "She was who you were talking about the other day. You told me. She's the daughter of the family you worked for."
The other witches turned to their teacher as they waited for her to respond. Charlene didn't have as much trouble comprehending as Maggie did. Her teacher? Werewolves? No way, it couldn't be. No way.
Maggie's breath hitched as she backed away from Adelaide as if someone replaced the woman she knew. Her head lurched forward with her hair curtaining her face hiding her shock of the truth.
"No, it isn't true," she said in denial.
Adelaide bowed her head. "I'm afraid it is true."
"I…I don't even know you anymore." Maggie swiftly turned around, walking away from them, slamming the door behind her on the way out.
"Maggie!" Charlene called running after her, but to no avail. The other witch didn't reply.
"Leave her be, Char. I'm going to have to explain it to her soon enough." She placated the blonde witch.
"Who is she, though?" Caroline wondered as she watched Adelaide make her way to the werewolf. Caroline saw the motherly gaze that she held often to her and the girls, but this was a whole new level. It was personal. In a tender manner, Adelaide brushed back the brunette's short hair that had fallen in her face.
Adelaide answered in a soft voice. "Her name is Jean. She was under my charge. I guess you can say that I practically raised her."
A little while later...
"Time travel?" Adelaide muttered astounded, her hand against her chest to try to steady speeding heart. Still, time travel complicated things this time for sure. "You did say you traveled through time, right?" She asked again, still unable to believe that this happened.
"I'm not lying." Caroline repeated.
Charlene had trouble processing all of this information. First the secret of Adelaide's past, now the prospect of even time travel even existing. She didn't expect her morning to start like this.
"Adele, do you know anything about this?" Charlene's voice inquired, etched in confusion.
Adelaide slumped into one of the rows of chairs. She pinched the bridge of her nose with her hand, heavily sighing to herself.
"Unfortunately, I do." Adele answered in a mournful tone.
"So, it's possible to do a spell like that?"
"Yes, but with a high price. It's forbidden for a reason. Time travel is very dark, and it calls upon something that shouldn't be given for a spell to work. The only ones capable of orchestrating spells of that magnitude are the spirits of dead witches." She explained plainly, waiting for the words to sink in. It was good practice of precaution on her part that Adelaide had used a privacy spell before she came in here. "More importantly, the only ones who are able to conjure a spell like that are the Gate Keepers. They are a special counsel on the Other Side."
Caroline's eyes widened.
Charlene's face expression turned disappointed. "Care, did you lie to me?"
Caroline didn't know what to say. With herself wrapped up in guilt, she only came up with a blank face.
"She didn't, Char. She had good reason to withhold that kind of information. Just think of how Klaus could use this information. He'd be in for a jackpot." Adele clarified. That was the last thing they needed. Klaus up to his ears in greedy information to use as tools for his plans.
"Care, just tell us the truth. Why are you here?" The blonde witch questioned her, having enough of being kept in the dark. "Adelaide, did you bring any moonshine? I could use some after these past few days."
"Child! This is not the time to ask me that. I allow you enough to underage drink as it is. If your grandparents ever find out, they would have a heart attack." The eldest witch scolded her apprentice. She didn't need a drunken underage witch on her hands right now.
"She's right, though. I can't keep this to myself, and I can't no longer." The blonde hybrid stated, needing to get this off of her chest.
"Just start from the beginning…" Adelaide encouraged her.
Caroline let out a heavy breath before speaking. "I wasn't lying when I said I'm from Mystic Falls. What I didn't say was that I'm not from this time period. I'm from the year, 2011."
"How did you die?" The question was sprung out at Caroline.
A cold chill ran up Caroline's spine.
"How did you…?" She couldn't finish the question.
"Time travel requires a sacrifice to be made. That's why it's forbidden. The only magic that uses sacrifices is Expression, and time travel is a form of it. I take it that you died, and that's how you came here."
"Yes." Caroline responded to Adelaide.
"What was going on to have made you die?"
Caroline had enough of the questions. "Look! You want to know?! I'll tell you. Thanks to the stupidity of my friends, they're going on some crazy quest for a cure that may or may not work! Another thing, he warned us! He warned us about Silas! And next, I died protecting his psychopath of a brother I felt so stupidly sorry for! Then I gave him…Dammit!" She ranted through all of the stuff she had been hiding all this time. It became too much.
A frustrated cry escaped her throat, making her lurch forward, her hair falling in front of her face. Charlene sat beside her in Caroline's row and began to rub her back. Char didn't say anything, but she was sure the silence wasn't good. Adelaide kept running a hand through her hair, her brain wracking on what she would have to do to come up with a plan.
"So, it's come down to this," she mused. "I think I wished that I didn't ask you about that."
"What's going to happen now?" Charlene asked as she tried to comfort her friend.
"That's the thing. Time travel is very tricky and unstable. That's why only the Gate Keepers use it. This is the first time in a long time they've pulled this off, even a witch like me can't do a spell of that magnitude." Adelaide paused, wondering if she should even continue, but she went along with it. "And, time travel is very unpredictable. It can happen at any time. There's also a more specific reason why it's forbidden."
"Why?" Caroline asked.
"Because each time the spell begins, it's no ordinary sacrifice that's made. It doesn't just call upon random human souls. It doesn't matter what kind. The price for the spell to work is the bond of the souls that's with others. When you're bending such a complicated thing as time, there is a cost. Each time the spell is performed, the spell will call upon a greater sacrifice...a deeper bond than the previous sacrifice whether it could be a bond of equal love, friendship, or even one of a parent. It becomes more taxing each occurrence."
Later in Klaus' cabin...
"Oh, Adele. I see you've finally calmed down," Klaus commented with his feet propped against the other chair and his infamous smirk plastered on his face. The Creole witch's eyes darkened at the Original Hybrid. The other one who was present with Adelaide was Caroline, who Adelaide decided was best to stay with her.
"You have no right to call me that. I still have a bone to pick with you." Adelaide retorted and glaring at him directly. "Now, you and I have some business. Don't you think we should get on to it then?"
"Yes, you're absolutely right." He got up from his chair and sauntered over close to the two ladies.
Adelaide has seen things in her years as a witch, but she had never seen such thick sexual tension between Caroline and Klaus. Klaus may not have spoken directly aloud about his interest in Caroline, but any idiot with eyes can see it. She wondered if anything had transpired between the hybrid and the Original vampire before Caroline had traveled back in time.
"Where's Kol? You said he wouldn't be harmed. You know that was part of our agreement." Adelaide stated, reminding him before he could use a loophole to his advantage.
"Remind me what the terms of our agreement are again." He said with the corners of mouth turning into a sadistic smirk.
Adele's poker face was still in place. She remained unfazed by his tricks. "You let me help Jean, and she gets to stay with me. Kol remains unharmed and not in a coffin daggered. My apprentices still stay under my care."
"And here are my terms: you and your students will become my personal witches. Kol stays with me and my family. That werewolf of yours stays out of my way. And, you know the rest."
"I understand." Adelaide agreed to it begrudgingly, her eyes never straying away from his every move.
"Now go." Klaus dismissed the elder witch. "Except for Caroline. She stays."
Adelaide became silent as she walked out, but not without looking to Caroline in one last glance. Before they went to meet up with Klaus, Adelaide made Caroline and Charlene swear not to say a word of this to anyone. The less number of people knowing, the better.
Then it was just left with Klaus and Caroline. The past Klaus was different than Caroline had interacted with. Darker. Harder. Tougher. Her mind flooded with endless questions of why she was sent here. It didn't seem to matter. He held her life in his hands, and even as a hybrid, she was still off her game. New rules. New ways to play.
"So, love...I'm sure you've had a couple of rough days. Could I interest you in a drink?" He offered to her by holding a glass of amber liquid in his hand.
"No, thanks. Drinking was what got me into this mess. It's the last thing I need." The last thing Caroline needed was a drink from the big, bad wolf though he was still a vampire. "And don't call me 'love.'"
"You're certainly a feisty one. You've caught my interest, even more as you speak."
Caroline glared at him disgustedly as she crossed her arms. "Seriously? Don't you have anything better to do than use the fake charm on me? It's pathetic."
Caroline didn't see it coming when a large, calloused hand grabbed hold over her windpipe. He squeezed the trachea, making it almost impossible for Caroline to breathe. His sudden violent effort to make her suffer was evident, his gray blue eyes blazed with anger. "I'm warning you, love. If you want to remain alive for the time being, it's best you hold your tongue. I'm not as merciful as you might think of me to be in some other life."
Klaus carelessly dropped her to the ground. Caroline coughed with the precious air coming back to her lungs. Klaus had his own reasons for what he planned. Always a step ahead in his plans. A secret motive to the motive.
"And you know what surprises me?"
"What?" She growled as she struggled to get up from the floor.
"That somehow your blood is calling to me yet I've never met you before. And it even seemed that it's been here before you even came to New Orleans. I don't even have a name for this." Adrenaline pumped through her veins as he treaded closer. He took a knife and quickly sliced his wrist making, a quick cut. "By the way, when someone offers you a drink, you're obligated to do them that favor."
"What are you-" She didn't have time to finish her sentence when he brought her mouth onto his bleeding wrist. Her mouth caught taste of his blood. She kept fighting him to get away, but it proved futile.
"Drink!" he ordered.
Then as Caroline drank, the blood became more appealing. The only time she recalled tasting his blood was when she was saved by Klaus on her birthday. The memory of that came to her full force now sending the memory of the taste. The taste sent her on a high she knew she would probably have a hard time coming down from. The beast inside loved it. It savored the taste of his blood. Her blood kept calling for it.
With finally some fire-filled will, she wretched herself away from him like he was the plague. Klaus just stared at her in astonishment. Caroline had enough. "You got what you wanted! Just leave me alone!"
"I can't, Caroline. Not anymore. And, I have to congratulate you. You've done it or rather it confirms what I've been theorizing." Klaus's infamous smirk just made Caroline tear out his throat.
"What?!"
"That's for me to know, love. Regardless, you can't shake it off, sweetheart. Your blood calls to me just like mine calls to you. You know what this means? You're mine." He purred cruelly.
No. No. No. No. No.
She saw red. Caroline's eyes darkened and transformed to black and gold. Her canines revealed themselves with a furious snarl coming out of her mouth. Onyx spider veins expanded around her eyes.
She attacked him, ready to tear him limb from limb. He became her next target.