Chapter 5- Get Out Of My Head
"You want to what?"
Kurt sighed, biting his lip lightly. "I want to fake my own death. I forgot that I've been gone for a while now. There's probably some kind of search party in Lima and New York looking for me if my Dad has anything to do with it."
Klaus appraised him curiously. "Are you having second thoughts about joining me on my mission?"
Kurt shook his head, perhaps a little too quickly. "Absolutely not! I want to help you see this thing through until the end, Klaus. As long as you want me around, I'll be here. I promise you that. I just think we need to be taking precautions about my conspicuousness. If I'm away from Lima, there's going to be somebody looking for me."
Klaus had an idea. "You don't think that they've simply given up? Assumed you're dead and gone or maybe they simply don't care?"
Kurt hesitated. "I don't know. Most of Lima would be glad to assume that I died in New York without anybody knowing. But even though me and my dad weren't the closest, he'll know that I'm alive. Some parent thing, apparently."
Klaus tutted. "It's been a week, now, Kurt. Nobody has tried to get through to you. The sooner you accept that, the better."
Kurt accepted that with a nod. There was a part of his being that was filled with sadness at the thought of nobody caring, nobody looking to find him. But part of him relished it; it meant that he could move on with his new life as a witch. That still felt weird, even in his head. "So…no faking my death?"
Klaus shrugged. "It might be a good idea, just to keep the humans off our backs. Then again, it could backfire. You could choose to abandon this life altogether. A lot of witches grow resentful of their abilities and choose to live life as humans who conceal their magic. There are more of them than you would even believe. Then what would you do? You'd have to go back to Ohio."
Kurt frowned. "Why? I've left that life behind. If there was a price to pay for joining you, it's leaving everything I've ever known. Why would I think about going back there?"
Klaus shook his head. "Where else would you have that you could go, Kurt?"
Kurt mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "New York".
"New York? Who do you know in New York? I thought you were only there for a school event."
Kurt slapped his hands against his sides. "Well, then I don't know. I guess I didn't think too much about the long term. I didn't think about what would happen when you break the curse and when you don't need me around anymore."
Klaus frowned. "Though I would have thought the implication was obvious, Kurt."
"What implication?"
"That you would stay with me, even after the curse is broken. I thought that was a given."
Kurt blinked harshly. "The way I saw it, you needed my help and nothing more than that."
Klaus sighed. "Kurt, there are a dozen other witches I could have chosen for this mission, willing or not. Do you remember what I said when you asked this question before?"
Kurt leaned back in his seat and thought about it. "Uh, you said that you saw something of yourself in me and that's why you wanted me around, so that you could expand my powers."
Klaus nodded. "Exactly. As much as you're helping me with breaking the curse, I'm helping you too. Helping you to realise your true potential. We need each other."
Kurt didn't want to admit how much that was true, but he suspected Klaus already knew. He was astute and possibly a mind reader, Kurt rather thought.
"We'll take it a day at a time for now, okay? But if the situation arises where attention is drawn to you, we'll deal with that when we need to."
Kurt shrugged. "Okay. That sounds logical."
"You hate it so much when I'm right," Klaus smirked.
Kurt gaped. "Because it happens literally all the time! You know, I'd love to be right. Just once. Is that too much to ask for?"
Klaus chuckled. "If you say something that proves me wrong, I'm happy to concede being right just once."
Kurt winked. "I'll work on it."
"You want to what?" Elijah gasped.
"Why is everybody reacting this way?" Kurt asked, exasperated.
"Because it's a ludicrous idea, Kurt."
"Okay, fine, it's not one of my best, but I recently abandoned my entire life to follow a proven murderer across the world to help him with a seemingly ridiculous mission. I think I'm due a good idea."
"You would think," Elijah smiles, though not unkindly.
"I say do it."
"Katherine!"
"What? I think it'd be fun. I've faked my death before. It's nice to see how people would really react. Gives you a better sense of yourself. And plus, it's really, really fun to cause of all that mayhem over something that isn't even true. It's lying and suicide at the same time and everyone gets so up in arms about suicide."
Elijah rolled his eyes at Kurt's interested expression. "Sure, take advice from the she-demon."
Katherine smirked. "You love it when I'm a bad influence on impressionable teenagers."
Kurt tilted his head. "You might not want to make that a regular occurrence."
"It's more fun than it sounds. Especially whenever I see Elena. She sees what she could be if only she'd turn."
Kurt frowned. "You want Elena to become a vampire?"
Katherine sighed. "Well, no. If I ever need to kill her, it's easier if she's human, but it's also exhausting to look at her and see her wasting her potential."
"We're getting off track. Kurt, the main point here is that as long as nobody comes looking for you, you'll be fine. You shouldn't strike first if it's not necessary. That would just draw attention to Klaus, to us, to every supernatural creature in Mystic Falls. We'd all be and risk and for what? So that your fake friends in Lima can mourn you? They haven't called you, Kurt. I'm sorry, but it's true."
Kurt nodded weakly. "I guess I knew they never really cared," he whispered, checking his phone just in case. "I guess you're right. There's no point in stirring the pot if I don't need to. And I wouldn't want any of you to get hurt."
"What if we fake your death and pin it on Damon?"
Kurt paused, pointing at Katherine whilst looking at Elijah. "I like that idea."
Elijah smiled crookedly. "As much as I love the thought of Damon Salvatore rotting away in a maximum security prison cell, there are still too many variables. Somebody has already identified Stefan from pictures of 1864. It's only a matter of time before they spot you too, Kat."
Katherine shrugged. "So we just compel them."
"That can't be your answer to everything," Elijah retorted wisely.
Katherine looked back to Kurt. "So no suicide, Kurty. Okay?"
"Yeah, okay. Guess I'll have to find other ways to cause chaos." Kurt had meant it as a joke, but was encouraged by the wide smile that appeared on Katherine's face.
"Now that's more like it."
Kurt travelled through the narrow halls of Mystic Falls High School, groaning at the signs that said "GO TIMBERWOLVES" and "SCHOOL SPIRIT FOREVER!". He had not missed small town high school life and it had only been a couple of days.
It had been Klaus' idea.
Instead of him dying, Kurt would be able to enroll in high school and still keep up the appearance of a normal teenage boy. He could make friends around the town as well as keep up with his studies. For all the feeding on humans he did, Klaus Mikaelson was rather insistent about a good education level. He knew Kurt knew it all anyway, but the diploma was something that Klaus knew Kurt wanted. Proof that he survived high school when sometimes he hadn't thought that as an option.
"Kurt!"
Kurt spun around, instinctive nervous energy taking over him. When the blonde blur of Caroline Forbes ran over to him, he instantly relaxed. There was something about this girl that calmed him. She wasn't a typical vampire and he wouldn't have even known that fact if not for Klaus. Her human movements were down to a science.
"Caroline Forbes, hello there."
Behind her was a gorgeous brunette boy, who looked like the epitome of a jock type. His brooding bone structure reminded Kurt of every sports magazine he had ever seen. Which didn't add up to a lot, but he thought that every detail mattered in this new town.
"How are you doing? I didn't know you were enrolling. I figured Klaus would've had you running errands all day or something equally as tyrannical."
Kurt smiled because Caroline just got it. She was easy to talk to, made jokes where appropriate but also conveyed kindness in her tone and word choices. She was everything Brittany had been, but in a more self-aware kind of way. "Shoe shining is this evening, actually," Kurt joked back. The boy in the background smirked at him.
Caroline frowned before spinning back around. "Oh! This is my friend, Tyler Lockwood." Kurt offered his hand to shake and the boy accepted it firmly.
"Nice to meet you. Even if you are Klaus' new toy."
Kurt narrowed his eyes but Caroline stopped him.
"Easy, Kurt, Tyler and Klaus have a weird history. It's nothing personal, well not in your case anyway."
Tyler looked immediately apologetic. "Yeah, I, uh, sorry. It's just messed up at the moment. But I'm working on it."
Kurt nodded. "No problem. Everyone has their things."
Caroline smiled. "I'm glad you know that right off the bat. Because this town is truly batshit crazy. You think you've seen things already? Think again, because Mystic Falls is just one big cauldron of fucked up shit.
"Take this for an example: I'm a vampire, right? So my mom is the police chief in this town and also the lead vampire hunter. And little does she know one's been living under her roof for the past seventeen years."
Kurt gaped. "Yeah okay that is weird. I thought Lima had its issues."
"You'll have to fill me in sometime. I'd love to hear about it," Carole said, enthused, in a way that Kurt perceived as her genuinely interested and wanting to hear about his life. "So how are things at MFHS so far?"
Kurt shrugged. "Not terrible. I haven't been verbally or physically abused yet, so it's already better then Ohio, but I haven't really taken to anything just yet. You guys don't have a lot of clubs here."
Caroline shook her head. "It's really just cheerleading and other sports stuff. There's History Club and some academic options, but they're not really that well organized. History Club is run by Alaric, Mr. Saltzman, who is a wonderful teacher. Are you a History nerd?"
"I get good grades, but I wouldn't call myself a nerd for History."
Caroline smiled kindly. "We'll find something for you, I'm sure. You seem to have potential."
"Thanks, I guess. Wait, did you say Mr. Saltzman?"
"Yeah, why?" Caroline frowned.
"Nothing, I just have him first period. I guess it's good that he's a good teacher."
"He's also a good friend. Clued in on the supernatural stuff. He'll probably sniff you out before the class is done."
Tyler smirked. "He's also a hot piece of ass."
Kurt raised his eyebrows.
"Tyler's bi," Caroline filled him in, "but he doesn't flaunt it."
Tyler shrugged. "Why should I? I like banging girls and I like banging dudes, it's no big."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "You say that as if you could get either of them to bang you."
Tyler deflated a little bit, but Kurt noticed his lingering stare. He immediately felt unnerved, something pulsing through him that he definitely didn't like. He exhaled, flustered.
Caroline paused. "Kurt, are you okay? Your heartrate is through the roof." At Kurt's nonplussed gaze, she added, "I can hear your heart. Super vampire hearing."
Kurt thought this explained a lot of Klaus' perceptions over the past few days. When he was nervous or admiring the other, Klaus would pick up on it through listening to his heart. And wasn't that just the essence of romance?
"And now it's beating even faster. Kurt, what is going on?"
Kurt shook his head. "I don't know. I'm gonna hit the bathroom before class and try and calm down."
Kurt took off for the boys' bathroom, which was luckily down the hall from him. He burst through the door and straight into a firm body. He looked up slightly, seeing a blond boy looking down at him.
"Oh god, sorry about that."
He waved it off. "No need. This two way door situation was never a good idea."
Kurt couldn't help but again realise that this boy was impossibly beautiful. "Apparently not."
"You're the new guy, right? Kurt something?"
"Hummel," Kurt finished, smiling.
"Ah. I'm Matt. Donovan. Elena was telling me about you."
Kurt faltered. "What exactly did she tell you?"
"It's cool, man, I know about all that stuff. I'm not anything, but most of my friends are in some form or another. I just kinda tag along. If you ever need anything, just let me know, okay?"
Kurt nodded as Matt left the bathroom with a quick goodbye. Hoping to not run into any more boys in the bathroom, Kurt stared into the mirror.
His eyes had flecks of red in them now that were not present before. He looked demented, haunted by something he knew not. He didn't really recognize himself anymore, something had snapped within him.
Whether it was his inner dark side expressing itself through Klaus' presence or his inner magical potential thrusting itself onto his exterior he didn't know, but they were his best guesses.
Whatever was happening, he wasn't sure that he hated it entirely, it was just different. A lot to accommodate himself with. But one thing he did know was that high school was going to be a lot easier.
And it was everything else that was the hard part.
