"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?"

― Abraham Lincoln


Purgatory

Caroline could hear the sizzling blood in Kol's mouth as he fed on one of the beasts he had slain. The blood was toxic and tasted worse than vervain ever could but it was their only source of nourishment in Purgatory no matter how much it hurt or how weak it left them afterward. It was better than desiccating and becoming food for everything that sought to ravage them.

Caroline remembered when Kol had dragged her to a rotting carcass the first time. It barely had any drops of blood in it but he knew she wouldn't be able to withstand more than that anyway. She had to build tolerance. She was already too weak from breathing the sulfur and vervain fumes and from recuperating from the vervain lake he had thrown her into.

He had enticed her with his blood to revive her enough for her fangs to come out and her body to barely get stitched back together but his blood felt like poison and she chocked on it. Her hunger was awakened anew. It felt a thousand times worse in Purgatory and she tried to bite off her arm only for Kol to break her arm and push her to the thing he had killed for her.

She hadn't wanted it despite her manic thirst and she had managed to gulp only but a taste before she fell down and writhed in agony.

Kol had been there. He had been there when she had wanted to quit. When she could not take anymore torture. When he force fed her the black blood that hurt more than satiated any need. He was there when she cursed and screamed and cried and he was there taunting her and pushing her until she broke. Until she fought back. Until he taught her how to fight back.

He had left her then. But he had come back. And she had managed to live through his absence and survive because of what he taught her and it was a miracle when he had returned back to her.

Kol Mikaelson was here and she wasn't alone anymore but as she saw him withdrawing his fangs from the creature he savaged and hissed with burning lips she knew that this could be the last time they would be on the same side.

This could be the moment when everything they had fought for could have been for nothing. It was not the first time she was bringing this up. When she had first done it he had looked at her as if she was crazy before he had burst into laughter. The second time he was still amused. Then he became progressively annoyed. He even left her on her own for weeks and months only for her to continue making the same demand whenever he would return. They had fights. He then ignored her. He mocked her. He didn't take her seriously.

Today this ended. There would be no more repeat of this. Because today she didn't ask. Today she told him what he would lose if he didn't do what she was telling him to. Today she used leverage. Today there was a price to pay.

Would he turn against her? Would she have to go against him using everything he taught her?

"Don't be an idiot," Kol croaked as he slumped down to the blooded mud. The blackness of the blood he had devoured was smeared all over his face; despite the pain and the poison he was still a messy eater.

"They are off limits," she declared, tensing as Kol pushed his fingers further into the spliced chest of that monster he had just eaten and twirled them around pulling the guts out. He would skin that thing and keep the wrinkled hide for leather. He had taught her how to do that too.

"Like hell they are," Kol smirked and as she predicted started skinning that thing, that its smell made her want to vomit, with his bare hands. Pulling and ripping the skin. Kol lifted his gaze to meet hers and licked his bloody finger relishing in pain as it was a narcotic instead of torture, "Or better yet…they won't be."

Caroline didn't even blink despite the way she felt the tingles of terror spread through her body like wildfire. She wouldn't allow him to see her fear. But as she watched the streaks of veins under his eyes and as she heard the sounds of that creature's skin being torn apart like sandpaper fear settled in her stomach like a rock.

And the fear grew its wings and altered into terror when she faced the sadism that burned in Kol's eyes. There would be nothing stopping him. There would be nothing holding him back.

Caroline saw so much of Klaus in him at that moment that it shook her to the core. But despite the similarities, it was the differences that made Kol the real monster. Kol knew of no mercy once his mind was set.

And she knew him all too well to know that his mind was indeed set. He planned to torture them. Piece by piece. To send them in Purgatory and dance on the ashes of their ravaged corpses. To relish in what he would call exquisite torture.

Terror be damned she squared her shoulders and her fingers gripped the hilt of the handmade knife she kept at her side. Around the handle worn out leather was stretched and tied tightly. She knew how to skin monsters too. There would be no more fear. No more terror. She could become terror too if this was it would take. And she would face Kol Mikaelson no matter what it would cost her.

"It will never happen. Not if I have a say in it," she warned him and Kol's eyes narrowed when he glanced at her grip on the knife. He had taught her how to forge weapons here and how to draw them. He knew that despite her nonchalant stance she was ready to defend herself or strike at will.

He smiled dangerously and pulled one more time the skin before he pushed the corpse away and kept the pelt. His gaze never leaving hers.

"You don't have a say in it," he told her in a sweet voice. So sweet. So deadly.

Caroline matched his smile with one of her own. With her own brand of threat that could be just as fatal as his.

"That's where you are wrong," she softly said, "You need me Kol. You said it yourself. My soul on earth has marked more years as a human than a vampire. Makes me less corrupted doesn't it?" she taunted him and watched with glee how his expression hardened, "even with all your spells Purgatory will never let you out," she drawled amused pretending that this was a game and not their worst nightmare, "if it was possible you would have escaped already and you wouldn't need me. At least I stand a chance," she shrugged before her voice lost all humor and turned to steel, "And without me, you stand none."

"Is that so?"

Kol rose to his feet and Caroline had to admire the way he pushed back the pain and the weakness the poisonous blood had punished his body with.

The air around them shifted. Stillness settled. She was now facing an Original.

"I think you are confused. It is without me, you don't stand a chance, Caroline," he emphasized with a viperous tone, "you need me to get out of here."

She said nothing but forced herself to strangle all hope and longing and turn it into a mask of detachment and boredom.

The muscle in Kol's jaw twitched.

"You'd be nothing but torn pieces of mangled decaying flesh if it wasn't for me," he waved his hand around, "everything that moved would have feasted on you and torn you apart a thousand times over. You owe me," he reminded her with viciousness and she snorted.

"Don't play this card with me," she dismissed him entirely, "you didn't do it out of the goodness of your heart. You need me Kol," she insisted and then smirked, "but you see… the moment we cast the spell and I get to the gates you will be powerless and nothing but dead weight," she played with his fear, "I can even drop you half way. Hell," she exclaimed with a hollow laugh, "it'd probably be the smart thing to do to ensure I actually make it out alive."

She examined him carefully. His detached stance rattled her because she knew it was the calm before the storm.

"Isn't this what you taught me Kol?" she mocked him cruelly, "to put myself first? To trust nothing and no one. Each to their own?"

She approached him and saw how his eyes darkened more and how he followed her every movement sizing her up. He was weak from the blood. She could take him. They both knew it. This was why she had waited for him to feed before she made her stand.

"The tables have turned haven't they?" she asked with a calculating gaze, "all these lessons when we both know you have to trust me…despite not trusting anyone."

She braced herself when his lips curled to slow slanted smile.

"That's not a compelling case you've got here darling," he purred, " should I think even for a second you'll betray me I'd rather leave you to rot and make this hellhole my playground," he threatened and started circling her slowly.

Caroline didn't move. She kept her senses sharp and forced her body to relax. Tensed muscles didn't help when attacked or when attacking after all.

"You wouldn't have made it a day here without me," Kol said again his voice filled with arrogance.

"Debatable," she mused, "but what's not up to debate is that you won't make it out of here without me."

Kol stalked towards her and she snorted.

"I am not an idiot Kol. I know that none of the Originals, alive or dead, can be trusted and you are a nutjob!" she exclaimed, "way worse even than Klaus. Which I never thought it would be something possible but here we are," she babbled, mirth coating her tone and it intensified when Kol grinned.

"That must be the first compliment you ever gave me darling," Kol cooed fondly and she rolled her eyes.

"My point here is that if someone is in more danger of being betrayed by the other that's me and here I am still opening my cards to you and choosing to trust you."

Kol shook his head, smirk at place.

"Because you are naïve. Probably those pesky human years. A true Mary Sue vampire," he derided sarcastically.

Caroline sighed and her hand dropped from her knife.

"I am not naïve. I am honest," she told him tiredly, "and I am here telling you that our deal will be off unless you agree with me on this."

There was an unyielding metal in her voice that set Kol on edge. She could see it but she didn't relent at all. She wouldn't.

"Is this what you call negotiating?" he snorted, "if so you better have better leverage than this unconvincing bluff."

Caroline didn't blink. Didn't move. Her heartbeat remained steady.

"I am not bluffing Kol."

"You want to get out of this hell as much as I do if not more," Kol played with her desperation as if he didn't share it in the least, "You are desperate and you think I am going to play the chicken game with you?"

Caroline lifted her chin up defiantly and with two strides he was in front of Kol Mikaelson. The predatory glint in his eyes faded away as his prey stood its ground and his expression turned stony.

"Look at me straight in the eye and tell me what you see," Caroline challenged him, her gaze locking with his. She didn't bat an eye, "because yes I am desperate and I'd do right about anything to get out of here but some things matter to me more. More than even getting out of here," she whispered and didn't move at all.

Kol scrutinized her face and a sense of murder floated all around her. He finally worried. And with good reason.

"You lie."

His whisper matched hers and she smiled sadly.

"Here I am Kol," she declared, tone assertive and honest, "tell me again that I lie. I dare you."

She enunciated every word and whatever Kol saw in her made his throat bob up and down and she knew he would retaliate.

The veins over the dark circles under his eyes became more pronounced as his eyes filled with black and blood.

"You dare to play this game with me little vampire?" he growled through gritted teeth and fangs.

"Not a game," Caroline shrugged gently. Her tone had the color of defeat and exhaustion, "it is a very simple deal Kol. Take it or leave it."

Kol grabbed her forearm and his grip was like a manacle. She saw it coming but didn't stop it. She didn't flinch from the pain. She took it all in.

"This wasn't what we have agreed upon," Kol hissed and Caroline yanked her hand away.

"Our deal was that you help me and I help you. And I have honored it till now," she swore, "and I even go further than obligation out of necessity. And all you need to do is accept what I am asking and I will go further still," she promised and focused on the infinitesimal widening of Kol's eyes. Should she have not knownhim for so long she would have missed it. But it was there. It was shock and hope and she clang to it for dear life.

She touched his forearm but didn't use violence as he had with her only a few moments ago. Kol peered down at her hand as if such a touch was unfamiliar to him. And Caroline knew it was, "I will never leave you behind," she gave him her word, "I will do everything in my power to get us out of here and I will carry your soul with me. I won't stop until I return your soul to your body even if it kills me. I give you my word and my loyalty when it comes to this. I'll stick with you to the bitter end even if my one-way ticket out of here leads me straight back where we started. If we fail we'll fail together but there needs to be a together, to begin with. We need to be a team. And I can't do that if I fear you. Trust needs to go both ways and if it does then know I'll never leave you behind no matter what. Never."

Kol stiffened. And Caroline didn't know if at this moment he wanted to kill her more than anything else in Purgatory.

"Has anyone walked the line for you before?" she asked him genuinely wanting to know, "because here I am! Ready. No matter what it takes. You have my word on that. And I wish I could give you this without asking anything in return but I can't. I can't," she cried, "I'll be your student, your teammate, your friend but only on one condition."

She gave him her pledge and Kol staggered back realizing the gravity of what she was giving and of what she was asking. Realizing that she meant every word. That should he not give her what she wanted it would be all over. There would be no escape from Purgatory. There would be no salvation. That he wouldn't be able to count on her. That he would lose her. He would lose his chance to get off this hell and… he would lose a friend.

Caroline stumbled back when Kol Mikaelson screamed in rage. He picked up the carcass he had left a few feet away from them and torn it to shreds before he threw it away.

Caroline refused to back down and feel fear and no matter how insane it was she pushed him even more.

"If we return," she announced with a steely voice and closed her eyes, "when we return," she corrected herself, "you will not seek vengeance on my friends. On everyone that had a part in your death. You'll never step foot in Mystic Falls again. Not for hurting people I care for," she demanded.

Kol's features bled with shades of manic madness. He closed his eyes and Caroline counted the seconds till he opened them again and she tensed at the calmness that now gripped Kol in an eerie embrace. He took a threatening step at her. Her breath quickened but didn't move.

"My mother. Bonnie. Elena. Jeremy. Matt. Stefan. Hell, even Damon. They walk free," she commanded, "you won't retaliate. You won't wait for decades or centuries to get back at them. You won't buy your time and you won't aim to hurt them in any way. No loopholes. No tricks. Clean slate Kol."

Caroline shuddered when Kol cupped her cheek with his hand. The black sticky blood left a handprint on her skin and it felt like a brand.

"They killed me."

He said it with such tenderness that it brought tears to her eyes.

"I know," her voice came strained. She had memories from his death too. She was the one that covered his burned corpse and taunted Klaus with his death once. And she felt guilty about it now. She wished she could have taken it back. She wished she could take it all back.

She covered his palm with hers and stared at him with pity.

"And you know you had it coming."

Kol watched her with undiluted gaze and she gripped his hand urging him to understand.

"Whatever your intentions were you were like a rabid dog that went in for the attack," she accused him and then pushed his hand away, "Klaus, your sister, your parents, even Elijah strode into Mystic Falls and killed and pillaged to get what they wanted. And so did you," she muttered, "you all acted as if you owned the world and we were nothing but toys for you to break…And look where it got you."

"Own the world?" Kol yelled, his patience running out, "I was trying to save the world from Silas!"

Caroline winced at that because she knew it was true but then she stomped her foot down.

"You were ready to let Silas drop the veil so you could come back world be damned!" she bristled not allowing him to guilt trip her into this. This was never about the world. If Kol had anything to gain he would tear apart the entire world and dance on the wreckage.

"What did you expect Caroline? To be the martyr after you lot staked me and set me on fire? And for what? For trying to stop Silas when all of you fools were so blind by your petty little needs you were willing to burn the world only to get what you needed! And of course when anyone else does the same is the villain of the story while you still stand on pedestals," Kol sneered before his eyes turned back to normal and traveled up and down looking at her as if she was the most miserable thing he had seen in his entire life.

"And you!" he gestured at her sparing her no mercy, "you didn't even want anything did you? Not the cure. Not mortality. You just played Elena's tune like a blind little follower."

"Like her friend!" Caroline shouted back, "because that's what friends do. They protect each other. The stand by each other through thick and thin. Through right and wrong!"

Kol's eyes gleamed until she felt her stomach filling with bile.

"Through how much wrong?" he wondered, "it wasn't just me. It was my bloodline too. And you knew it. You all knew it," he spat.

"It wasn't"-

"Wasn't what? Premeditated? …Genocide?"

His accusation left her shaken and she watched him aghast.

"And here you are pretending to be so better than me and making demands in the name of what? Friendship? Selflessness?" he bit out and laughed.

"I never believed I am better than you," Caroline mumbled, "Saner maybe," she admitted and Kol stared at her mockingly, "but not better," she breathed out and then armed herself with that confession and fire burned inside her, "because guess what? These people are my people! They are mine! "she declared, staking her claim on the people she had left behind," and no one hurts what's mine. Not if I have a say on it!"

"You talk a big game I'll give you this," Kol accepted ironically, "but your people should have been dead the moment that stake reached my heart," he grit out malevolently, "what my family failed to do I'll correct it," he vowed, "even if I have to bring down Purgatory to do it!"

"This is what I am talking about!" Caroline exploded, "you've died! You lost everything and despite all the pain, you've learned nothing from it. You are so consumed with hate and your twisted paranoia you can't see past the end of your nose!" she realized gesturing wildly, "your brother came and killed Elena's aunt. He killed Elena. He spilled her blood on a rock and sacrificed everyone and everything to serve his purpose," Caroline told him feeling a void in her heart as she forced herself to say the words. As she forced herself to remember every terrible thing Klaus had done which now didn't even seem so important anymore. Now that she had been sent to Purgatory because she was a monster too. Just as terrible. She was no better. None of them were.

"You were no better," she fumed, "you compelled Damon to kill Elena's brother. You were ready to cut off Jeremy's hands. All of you terrorized and destroyed us because you believed you were indestructible! Well newsflash," she screamed, "you are not! And you shouldn't be. Not when you destroy everything in your way and feel no remorse for it. Can you blame anyone for wanting to defend themselves and getting rid of you?"

"Oh, yes I can," Kol Mikaelson retaliated with conviction and Caroline wanted to pull her hair.

"No you can't," she incredulously denied, "because you would have done the same!"

"Would I? Are you sure?" Kol taunted her, "my body count is far lesser than the one your friends have. My bloodline and Finn's count thousands. Thousand upon thousands! How much remorse do your friends have now? Do you think they feel guilt? How do they repent? Do they stay awake at nights? Do you think they mourn for what they've done? …Or mourn… you sweet Caroline?"

Caroline swallowed down the unshed tears she refused to allow to fall.

Thunder boomed in the distance at the chaos that had taken over the sky and they both knew they had to find cover. The acid storm in Purgatory melted skin of bone but Caroline didn't care right now and neither did Kol.

"This is what it comes down to isn't?" she understood, "this is why you want to raise hell when you get out from here. To kill those that killed you. To hurt those that didn't mourn you. But you are wrong," she calmly said.

Their gazes battled and Caroline could smell the acrid scent that rose in the air. It would rain soon and mist was already rising and boiling the grounds.

"It was war and you were a casualty and …I know! I was there. I saw how your death affected Klaus," she told him and her eyes softened with pain when Kol scoffed, "it did Kol," she insisted, "it broke him. So much that he almost killed me because of it. So much that he ran away from Mystic Falls and never looked back. I was there and yes I knew that thousand of vampires from your bloodline died too. I knew it all and I stood by those who killed you. I know. I know everything. I know you want revenge. I know how you feel," she assured him and panted feeling every emotion heightening.

"But I am still asking you not to do this," she implored him, "Please."

She hadn't begged him before. Not like this. Not even when he tortured her. Not even when she screamed in agony. She never begged. But she was begging now.

Kol panted and when the first acid drops started falling he closed his eyes.

"You can't ask me this Caroline," he said quietly.

"I can," she pressed him more not caring for how her skin sizzled at every pungent drop of acid that fell on her, "cause, I know you now. More than you think. You are not a soulless monster. You wouldn't be and feel all that you feel," she passionately countered, "what keeps you going is not just your need for survival. Or your dream of reuniting with your family despite your declarations of hate," she heaved, "it is also your dreams for revenge and I won't have it. These people are my friends. My family!" she tried to make him understand, "I won't stand here and help you only for you to torture and kill them. It won't make you feel any better. It won't make it hurt any less!" she yelled.

Kol stood under the rain, the poison Purgatory threw at them peeling off their skins leaving lines of blood on their faces.

"I choose to differ," he said in a serene voice as if they were not standing under a fiery rainfall that was about to change to a thunderstorm.

"And I choose to see more in you," Caroline moaned, her hands turning to fists. It hurt to face Kol like this. The rain hurt. Breathing hurt. Everything hurt.

"Do you see the good in me, darling?" Kol laughed like a maniac that actually relished the feeling of burning under the chaotic gaping hole that swallowed the skies, "what's the next step? Redemption?"

Caroline tried to blink away the burning from her eyes. Blood coated her face. She smelled her skin roasting.

"I do see the good in you. I also see the evil and I know what you are capable of. This is why I made my choice and you need to make yours. It is a deal breaker," she didn't back down even an inch and faced Kol straight on as he walked at her and threw the pelt from the monster he had skinned over her head and shoulders like a coat. The smell was suffocating but the husk protected her from the falling acid.

Kol held the skin that stuck disgustingly on her skin not caring at all for how he had no cover from the rain.

"After everything that happened you'll sacrifice your only chance for freedom, as slim as it may be, for these people?" he questioned with disbelief, "when we both know they'd never do it for you."

Caroline shivered and stared back at him.

"Maybe they wouldn't," she barely managed to say the words.

Kol gave her a look.

Howling could be heard in the distance as the rain started to grow stronger and devoured every creature that stood in its way.

"They wouldn't," she agreed, "but in the end, it doesn't matter."

"How can it not matter?" Kol genuinely asked her. He didn't care for the pain. If anything he always embraced it. It wouldn't be the first time he would stand at the acid rain and even dance with glee.

"That's what friendship is," Caroline told him and Kol frowned when she gripped the edges of the skin and covered him as much as she could with it, "That's what loyalty is. Love is selfless. It is sacrifice even if you get nothing in return."

Kol watched her as if she was mad.

"It's weakness," he snapped and so did she.

Caroline ran.

She ran faster than ever before. She outran the pain and the rain and didn't care for how weak she felt or for how she carried Kol with her. Mud splashed under her feet, mist parted and she disappeared into the shadows and vanished from all view. She became a shade. The vampire in her emerged back stronger than ever.

The rain hit her harder and she ran faster than she had even run when she was alive. Thunders, vervain, acid. Everything chased her but she ran. She couldn't get away from Purgatory but she could outrun everything else. She held on to Kol, through wind and rain, and every memory she ever had pushed her to run faster.

She broke her speed limit here. She ran so far away, furthest than ever before and touched the speed she would need to so to run past the gates for when they would have completed the coin and the spell.

She used all her senses and ran; she felt as if she was floating on air and when the view of the dried out ravine appeared she pulled Kol with her and sped towards the narrow gorge with the steep sides. She jumped into a chasm in the earth and pushed Kol against the wall of a small cavern that barely could shelter them both.

Her hand wrapped around his neck and she held him back on the rock and glared at him while he watched her awestruck.

She had finally done it. With added weight. Him. She could do it. When the time would come she would get them past the gates. She would do it.

"It is strength!"

She heaved and could barely catch her breath as Kol eyed her with wide eyes. The thunderstorm raged above them as they found refuge into the hollow ground.

"Because this is the only thing that drives me," she gasped for air but the words flew out of her mouth in a flood of emotion, "the only thing I hold on to and makes me fight. Even here. Even like this," she cried, "YES! I wouldn't stand a chance here without you. You are teaching me how to fight. How to survive. But that's not enough. What makes me to want to fight has to be more than just survival. I won't leave my humanity in this place Kol and neither with you!" she ordered him.

"You don't know what you ask from me."

Kol's voice was raspy and his gaze was haunted. Blood was dripping from his face.

"I am not taking anything away from you," Caroline said, her tone a spark of light, "I am offering you a chance. I can even offer you my friendship. Should you want it."

At another time she would believe that his silence was rejection. Or that he was shocked by what she had just achieved but she knew him better than that.

Caroline knew Kol enough to know he would never voice it but the fact that he didn't mock her or rejected her friendship told her everything she needed to know and if she was being honest she couldn't offer him something he already had. Because she was his friend. But he had to also want it. He had to put her first.

She wiped off the blood from her face with the back of her hands and flinched at the burning sensation. She pushed back any revulsion and used the leather skin Kol had covered her with as a blanket.

She leaned back at the sharp rock next to him. The edges were like knives on her back but she slid down and sat on the cold muddy ground. She would never be able to wash away all this filth.

"You need to decide and fast what matters more to you. Deny me this Kol and we'll both rot here for eternity," she mumbled and closed her eyes. She was exhausted. She wanted to sleep. To rest.

The sound of the rain hitting the rocks above them was like a drum.

"Quite an offer really," Kol quipped and hopped down next to her. Sitting by her side like they were old pals that were just camping, "but no matter how you dress it up you are blackmailing me, darling. That's not a great foundation for becoming friends is it?"

The grin that appeared on Caroline's face was sharp. Every tense muscle in her body screamed in pain now. She was so hungry. She needed blood. Human blood.

"Take it or leave it Kol," she grunted, "because I've had enough death. I can't take anymore. And I can't bring this hell to the people I care for. I won't. No matter what it costs me. And I need you to do this for me," she sighed, "you said what my friends wouldn't do for me. They wouldn't put me first. I know this," she admitted with a certainty that carved away pieces of her heart Purgatory would never be able to touch. She knew how it was to not be a priority for anyone and Kol knew it all too well too. They had both lived it when they were alive. Coming second and even last to those they loved was something they have both felt. It had twisted them inside in so many ways they would never confess to anyone. Not even themselves.

She turned her head to the side and glanced at Kol. His penetrating eyes were already on her.

"What would you do for me then?" she directly asked and she was sure that Kol would do what others have done to do her before. He would use excuses. He would look away. He would even lie even if he didn't realize he was doing it.

Yet, he did none of those things.

"I am already doing more for you that I've done for anyone else outside my family," Kol confessed in the most sincere manner she had seen in anyone. And she knew he was saying the truth. As much as he could give he had already given it to her.

But it wasn't enough and for once she wanted more than just the bare minimum and she couldn't believe that it was Kol Mikaelson in the receiving end of that longing of hers.

"Because you need me," she faced him without hiding how much this hurt her, "not because you want to. And this is not enough for me anymore."

"It should be more than enough," Kol groaned almost petulantly.

"It isn't," she said simply, "It will never be."

"What will be then?" he asked her with genuine care and it felt almost hypnotic to see such a side in Kol. It made her feel as if Purgatory was not such a terrible place after all. Not when you had a friend with you.

"You will forever stay your hand," she stated once more and they both knew this would be the last time she would ask. If he turned her down again there wouldn't be any more to say. It would be over, "you won't hurt those I love. Not just because you'll owe me in any way or because of our deal. Or even because I am blackmailing you as you say. But because should you want my friendship then you'd know that if you do this it will hurt me. You will hurt me," she explained and Kol frowned as if he had never had to consider this before with anyone else. As if it was not just an inconvenience for him but completely unknown territory.

"What makes you think I care?" he dejected and tried to pretend to be above any kind of feeling but Caroline only smiled.

"You care."

There was no doubt in her statement and Kol grimaced before he let out a slow breath.

"Give me your word Kol Mikaelson."

Kol stared ahead. And then dropped his head back and cursed underneath his erratic breath. In this confined space she could feel his frustration like a blanket over both their bodies.

"Is it enough for you? Words are just that…just words Caroline. Words lie."

Caroline snickered at that and tried to make herself more comfortable to no avail.

"If you wanted to lie you would have and we wouldn't be going around in circles. The only reason you are afraid to give me your word is because you know that once you do you'll honor it," she surmised, "and I trust you enough to believe this too. I do trust you Kol. You are many things but never a liar."

Caroline rested her head on his shoulder.

"If you give me your word you'll keep it. Because you are my friend. Because you know that if you break it you will have to get through me to get to them," she warned him and felt how his body tensed at that, "and you'll have to kill me too. If death is what you want you'll have to start with me before you get to them."

Kol laid his gaze on her. For a long time.

"I can see what Nik sees in you," he pointed out impressed and grinned when her gaze turned to a glare. He became serious then and reached for her face. He held her chin steadily and his voice dropped an octave, "but this is the first and last time you force my hand. Ever try it again and I'll rip you to shreds," he vouched and Caroline waited for her instincts to fire up and try to subdue her fear but the fear never came, " I'd hate to do this to…you," Kol professed and Caroline beamed at him.

"Is this your screwed up way of saying we're friends now?" she asked him with something that actually resembled joy and giggled when Kol grumbled.

"Perhaps," he uneasily murmured and Caroline squeezed his hand.

"Your word then," she insisted.

Kol rolled his eyes at her persistence but said nothing. She knew this was a steep price for him to pay. It went against everything he was. Against his very nature. Even against his personal code of honor no matter how screwed up it was.

Caroline waited for hours. She waited till the howling stopped. Till the rain stopped.

She waited for hours on end. Hours that seemed like forever. It felt like days and nights to her. Maybe it was less. Maybe it was more.

She sat next to Kol into that cold hole in the earth and waited. She waited for him to make one of the hardest decisions he had ever made in the thousand years of his life.

She waited for him to show mercy. To show mercy to her. To show mercy to others for her.

It would be hours later when his voice would break the silence deep into the darkness of the pit they were sitting in.

"My word."

Caroline almost jumped up. Feeling as if she hadn't heard him right. She fixed him a gaze and he nodded.

"You have my word, Caroline Forbes. Now and always."

Caroline rose her eyebrow in surprise at the use of that particular phrase and Kol snorted.

"Always and forever is outdated anyway," he told her with a smirk.

"Friends then," said said, the words bringing in her mind the memory of Klaus too more alive and vibrant than ever before "Now and always," she whispered before giving in to exhaustion, finally falling asleep knowing that nothing would disturb her sleep with Kol next to her. And just maybe, just before she let go and fell into a deep slumber, she caught a hint of a soft smile in Kol Mikaelson's eyes.


Crack, snap, pull.

Three moves all in between one heartbeat and the next.

Caroline Forbes didn't have time to debate what she should do. The sound of battle and the smell of blood made her move faster and instinct took over. When she ran into the compound and watched the gruesome sight of destruction and what Kol was about to do she realized there was no time.

She blurred at them, swiftly cracked Hayley's neck and then did what Kol had taught her in Purgatory. She supported Hayley upright with her body just as she snapped Kol's wrist. One more crack and the right nerve on his hand was pinched and the tendon was severed. Everything stilled. Hayley's heart was no longer pumping blood and Kol's hand was limp in her grip.

Caroline held Kol's hand just as he yelled in pain and tried to pull it only for him to realize that she had made him lose control of his fingers and had paralyzed his hand.

Kol's eyes flared in rage but Caroline ignored him and before he could advance at her with his other hand she snapped his wrist again into an unnatural angle making sure that his fingers would uncurl from Hayley's heart. Kol had no time to react when Caroline pulled Hayley swiftly away from his grasp while she still kept a vice hold on his broken his wrist.

The wet sound of Kol's bloody hand popping out from the gaping hole in Hayley's chest didn't affect Caroline as it would have years ago. She remained indifferent as she watched Hayley -with her heart intact in her bleeding torn chest- fall lifeless to the floor next to her and Kol.

What gave her pause, however, was Kol's maniacal gaze. If she hadn't intervened he would have ripped Hayley's heart out.

Kol didn't move at all and Caroline kept a hold of his wrist. He was still as a statue with his arm extended and Caroline didn't even breathe. The world seemed to disappear between them and Caroline felt as if they had returned to Purgatory and she knew Kol felt the same. More and more the sensation was building up and hell was rising.

The moment stretched between then and only when Kol slightly tipped his head Caroline felt the world return to its normal colors. He let him go but made sure to step between him and Hayley's body.

Kol watched Caroline with sharp eyes as she towered over the unconscious hybrid. Caroline stared at Hayley and realized that Kol had taken his time torturing her. She eyed Hayley's battered figure apathetically. It would take some time but she would be revived and healed.

Caroline lifted her gaze and saw Hayley's bite at Kol's arm. That would have to sting. She could smell the rotting flesh.

"For real?" Kol breathed out barely containing his anger as he pointed at Hayley on the floor.

"Step back Kol," Caroline said calmly.

Kol cracked his wrist back to place.

"Don't tell me you do not want the wolf dead Caroline," he rasped but Caroline just shook her head. Kol's impulsivity would only earn him a dagger in the heart and centuries in a coffin and she wouldn't allow him to make it seem as if he was doing her a favor.

"What I want is not for you to decide," she told him quietly and saw the frustration that appeared in Kol's expression.

"Well I want her dead," he declared and tried to move past her only for her to take a decisive step and shield Hayley's unconscious body with her own more.

"Back of Kol!" she warned him but she could see that he was already beyond reason. She knew him well enough to know this would escalate in seconds. She had to somehow fix this before it would become a much bigger mess with all the Originals. She almost flinched at the thought. How did she manage to always find trouble with the Mikaelsons?

Kol got in her face but Caroline didn't move. Kol narrowed his eyes into slits.

"Get out of my way," he panted and Caroline tensed knowing that in the next moments she would have to hold back his attack. And it was his quiet fury that was far more dangerous than his insane dramatics.

"Calm down," she tried to reason with him but he only repeated the same command.

"Get out of my way!"

"Or else what?" she asked him arching her eyebrow at him in challenge.

"Or else… I will have to remove you myself," Kol hissed and Caroline watched him impassively before she smiled and jerked her chin at him.

"Go for it!" she shrugged knowing that it would be for the best if he was too get out some steam with her than to keep it all in and unleash it against Hayley or his siblings.

Kol's face twisted in a grimace of rage and cracked his knuckles as he turned his palms into fists. Caroline's followed his movements with sharp eyes but the smile never dropped from her face.

Kol threw the first punch but Caroline wrapped her fingers around his curled palm. Kol grunted. His hand had not healed from the damage she had inflicted on him and she held on tightly shuttering the bones more. Less than a second later they repeated the same pattern with their other hands and Caroline's heels slid on the floor as Kol pushed her back and she gripped his fists in a power of wills. Kol was an Original bur Caroline realized that Hayley's bite and Kol's hurt wrist were in her favor. At least long enough to stall him.

But this wasn't training or fun and games. She didn't want to think of advantages against Kol. She didn't want to hurt him. And she didn't want him to become one of the people that could hurt her either. She didn't want his name on that list.

She grumbled when Kol's crazed gaze fell on Hayley's body and Caroline saw how manic anticipation made the veins underneath his eyes throb.

Damn it! She should have broken his neck instead.

"Pull yourself together!" Caroline seethed and tried to get through to him, "get your mind straight Kol, before it's too late," she breathed out and rooted her legs harder on the floor.

Caroline pushed him back until his back hit the wall. Kol snarled at her and tried to dislodge his hands from hers. She let him and his hand surged up for her throat only for her to maneuver both of them around and throw him away from her.

Kol landed gracefully on his knee and watched her with a gruesome smile and she froze. She had seen this before. She had felt it before. This was not just Kol. This was pure bloodlust. This was Purgatory. This was how she felt when she tore apart those humans in the alley and how she felt every time she got into the ring and trained with Marcel's men. Kol was losing control and Caroline's heart broke for him.

"Don't make me fight you Kol," she mumbled and retrieved a broken piece of wood from one of the broken furniture on the floor without taking her eyes away from him. If she couldn't reason with him then she would have to incapacitate him and probably get him out of the compound.

Kol jumped up to his feet and licked his lips. He watched her as a predator would his prey and she got into a defensive fighting stance pointing the stake at him in warning.

"Are you going to hurt me too now?" she dared him, disbelief in her voice, and Kol blinked; some of the madness finally washing away until the natural color of his eyes returned.

"Has now and always been cut so short?" she asked him gently, her voice wavering and Kol staggered back.

He held on to his bite and blinked again. Hayley must have shot him with loads of venom and it was already affecting him. Combined with his volatile nature it was enough to rouse the monster inside him and make it take over until Kol recognized no one and felt nothing but the need to destroy and maim.

"This is not about Hayley. This is about you. So if this is what you want…then here I am Kol. If you want to get to her you have to get through me. If it is death you want then start with me," Caroline's words were spoken with softness and determination.

The moments stretched. The promise and stench of death set in every second that passed.

Kol watched Caroline as thousands of demons clashed inside him. Caroline gripped the stake but observed him silently as he stumbled back and stared at her and Hayley.

"Caroline."

Her name fell from his lips in a heartbreaking whisper that seemed more like a cry to her. The savageness was pulsing in his lips but Caroline had heard him calling her like this before. In Purgatory. Screaming her name in his nightmares when he called for his brothers and Rebekah too. Distraught and broken. Dead like her. Stranded in hell.

"I am here," she hushed and Kol heaved and shook his head as if he couldn't tell if she was real or where he was.

"We made it back. You and I. We are not there anymore," she told him with urgency and saw the shudder that passed through him, "we made it," she repeated again like a chant.

"Kol?" she carefully tried to reach to him; he watched her and took an unsteady step towards her only for Klaus to suddenly send him flying at the other side of the room and get in front of her as Elijah ran to Hayley's unconscious body.

Damn it! She was so focused on Kol she hadn't heard Klaus and Elijah coming in. How could she have been so careless?

"What happened here?" Elijah demanded angrily as he surveyed the destruction all around him and held on to Hayley's body. Klaus's sharp eyes traveled from Hayley to Kol and straight back at the stake Caroline was holding. His eyes darkened and Caroline immediately threw the piece of wood away.

Klaus' jaw clenched and he forcibly pushed her behind him and shielded her with his body as she had done with Hayley not long ago.

Kol straightened up and glared at his brothers but Caroline only shook her head behind Klaus' back as a signal trying to stop him from saying the wrong thing. She could see that he was not as confused as before but this was not a guarantee of what would follow next.

Kol however as always would say not just the wrong thing but the most terrible Caroline realized so before he even spoke she pushed away from Klaus' protection and stepped up.

"Hayley and I had some old score to settle," Caroline told Elijah, taking the blame and glared at Kol clearly telling him with her eyes to shut the hell up for once, "but Kol just had to come in and ruin my fun. As always trying to make it all about him," she muttered annoyed.

Kol and Caroline stared at each other tersely, communicating a thousand words per second just with their gazes, as Elijah watched Caroline with a flabbergasted expression.

Caroline felt Klaus' eyes boring holes at her back and when she turned around to face him she realized that he didn't quite believe her.

Klaus narrowed his eyes unconvinced and Caroline gave him a seething glower in response moving further away from him. She braced herself knowing she would drive a wedge between them now but it was necessary. For Kol's sake. She couldn't let Klaus dagger him.

"She had snapped my neck in the past," she reminded Klaus, "and well...I just had to give her a taste of her own medicine," she snorted but Klaus only tilted his head indicating that he didn't believe even a word that went out of her mouth.

"Caroline-" Klaus started but she interrupted him with a gesture of her hand.

"Or have you forgotten everything she had done back to Mystic Falls?" she accused him angrily, "I haven't! Because the last time I checked you wrecked my relationship! You were ready to ruin Tyler's life and mine but you let her," she pointed at Hayley with so much resentment that prompted Elijah to hold the unconscious girl tightly in his arms, "walk away unscathed when she was the one behind everything Silas orchestrated. I wonder why really?" she mocked and Klaus' puzzled expression turned to out of displeasure and ire. She knew she had him there. His anger could distract him. Enough to take his attention away from Kol and straight into her.

"Enough," Klaus warned her and Caroline saw how he was trying to hold back from lashing out at her. Reminding him of Tyler and insinuating that she had not forgotten anything because she still had feelings for her ex-boyfriend distracted him.

But a part of hers couldn't help but feel that this distraction was not entirely a lie. There was a part of hers that had to admit that Kol had been right. She was angry with Hayley and saving her was the last thing she wanted to do.

She was so angry with Hayley Marshall for everything she had done in Mystic Falls. Because she didn't forget and she couldn't forgive. Hayley was getting away with everything she had done and everyone was treating her as if she was a decent person without fault. The rest of them paid the price but not her. Klaus had bitten her and drove Tyler out of town. He retaliated against everyone but Hayley. He let her walk away. And Klaus not only allowed it but he kept Hayley close like family and that made her furious. She knew that Hayley was the mother of his child but it still hurt. It was irrational but it hurt. And the more it hurt the angrier she was becoming and she didn't care if it was right or wrong. She wasn't that evolved and she knew how to hold a grudge! And just maybe if things had turned differently back then maybe her life wouldn't have taken such an ugly turn for the worst. It was like a domino. The other side wouldn't have fallen. She wouldn't have ended in Purgatory.

Klaus was right. Enough was enough!

"Exactly!" Caroline finally exploded and saw the raw conflict in Klaus, "I've had enough!" she spat and with the corner of her eye saw how Kol watched her too. With painful understanding. But she couldn't take it any longer. If Kol asked for trouble then so be it. Let him have it.

She left not caring for what she left behind any longer.

She had come to apologize to Klaus and instead for every step she was taking forward she was forced to take ten steps backward. Everything was a mess. Klaus, Kol. Her heart and mind. A tangled mess and she had no way out it.

The only thing she knew was that New Orleans was a hell trap and the more she tried to get out of it the more she was sinking.


Kol watched Caroline stride out of the Abattoir feeling for the first time in his life guilt. He wanted to apologize to her but a glance at his brothers had him recollecting himself.

"Bummer", Kol sighed licking the bite mark Hayley gave him, "I hardly had enough," he taunted feeling the burn of the wolf's venom coating his tongue. His skin was blistering but he invited the pain.

Kol watched as Elijah's eyes darkened at his gesture. His older brother stared at the bite mark on his arm and from the corner of his eye, Kol saw Klaus tensing.

Elijah gently placed Hayley on the ground again. He could also smell Kol's blood in her mouth. She was bruised and was still bleeding out despite the fact that her heart was not beating. Elijah felt as if he had no control over his body as he slowly rose to his feet. Hayley wouldn't have bit Kol unless she fought for her life.

Elijah hissed, his vampire features blooming on his face and then every ounce of his vampire strength propelled him forward. He barely heard Klaus' voice trying to pacify him as he attacked Kol with an aggression he had never shown him in ten centuries. Brotherly vows be damned he slammed Kol to the ground and started punching him with everything he got. All that rage was enough to ambush the younger Mikaelson for a split second before he fought back.

Both brothers drew blood and aimed for the most damage before Klaus got in the middle and tried to separate them.

"Enough both of you," Klaus growled and his body became a wall between Elijah and Kol, "we can't fight amongst ourselves too!"

Elijah and Kol tried to attack each other once more but Klaus pushed both of them back again.

"Stand down both of you! Now!" Klaus bellowed. He shoved Kol back to the sofa with one hand.

"Get up and I'll tie you there by your intestines!" Klaus warned Kol that rolled his eyes upwards and wiped the blood out of his nose but it was Elijah that surprisingly enough was out of control. And Klaus understood that this was the real reason as to why Kol obeyed him and stayed put for once in his life. He had never seen Elijah like this before and he knew he had crossed a line.

Klaus gyrated his body and took in Elijah's blow before he held on to his brother's face with both hands forcing him to look at him.

"Elijah. I need you to calm yourself down," Klaus reasoned with a steady voice and held on to Elijah tightly that struggled and snarled against him.

Klaus watched his brother with a pained expression and understood for the first time how hard it must have been for Elijah to stand in the middle and separate him and Kol when they fought.

"Yes Elijah calm yourself down," Kol taunted and Klaus pointed a lethal glare at his ypunger brother telling him to shut up.

"Brother. Hayley is still here. She will be fine" Klaus quietly said and Elijah locked his bloodshot gaze with Klaus' before he glanced at Hayley on the floor and finally took in a deep breath and reigned over his anger.

Klaus supported him until Elijah recollected himself and his face turned back to normal.

Elijah gave Klaus a curt nod, stepped back and straightened his jacket refusing to even acknowledge Kol's presence any longer.

"What? No more defending the damsel's honor?" Kol chuckled and this time it was Klaus that was ready to teach him a lesson when Elijah rose his hand gesturing that it was no need.

Klaus turned around to face Kol.

"You thought I wouldn't find out you attacked Hayley a few nights ago?" he asked Kol that despite his disheveled appearance and the festering wound on his arm he simply made himself comfortable on the sofa.

"So what if I did?" Kol scoffed and Klaus approached him with eyes agleam with a dangerous amber hue.

"She is off limits," Klaus commanded and Kol lifted his brow.

"Really? Because you say so?" the youngest Mikaelson drawled making it obvious he didn't care for any orders they would give him. Klaus stiffened when Elijah took a step towards Kol again but this time the eldest Mikaelson stood by Klaus' side as he studied Kol with what seemed to be an endless disappointment.

"Hayley is family Kol. Don't force me to choose between you and her," Elijah whispered, his tone making it clear that he would abandon Kol if he had to make a choice.

"She is no family of mine," Kol replied in a low voice, stood up and walked until he stepped into Elijah's personal space. The three brothers created a circle of tension and Klaus was ready to intersect and stop one more bloody confrontation but this time Kol and Elijah had an unwavering quietness that unnerved even him.

"Don't force my hand brother," Elijah beseeched Kol and both of them remained in a standstill until a slanted smile appeared in Kol's face.

"Don't pretend this was ever a choice for you …brother. For any of you," Kol countered.

"Stop with the nonsense already," Klaus sighed but Kol only shrugged.

"History has said it all Nik. Outsiders and freeloaders will always matter more in this family that always puts me last and treats me like a nuisance," Kol accepted bitterly and laughed at Elijah's stricken expression. Klaus closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead tiredly.

"You are my brother. You will always be my brother," Elijah muttered and tried to reach Kol only to have his hand pushed back.

"As long as it is not inconvenient," Kol pointed out and faked a step in Hayley's direction only for Elijah's hand to grab his arm.

"She is the mother of Niklaus' child," Elijah defended Hayley as if that would make any difference for Kol.

Kol shook Elijah's hand before he became serious and eyed both his brothers with undiluted hatred.

"Of a dead child that doesn't exist anymore and yet Rebekah is still alive but in exile!" Kol roared and Klaus and Elijah exchanged a complicated look deciding to continue keeping their lie and cover.

The other side must have been destroyed before Hope's birth and Kol stopped watching them through the veil any longer. He had been stranded in Purgatory when they faked Hope's death and sent her away with Rebekah. And now Kol must have searched for their sister but Rebekah had covered her tracks well.

Elijah and Klaus swallowed down at the same moment but kept their impassiveness.

Kol was hurt but that only meant that he was more unstable than ever and none of them could risk Hope's secret with a brother that had ties with witches but couldn't control his rage and hatred for their family. It was a risk they couldn't take. For all of their sakes and for their family.

"Why is the wolf here and not our sister?" Kol asked fervently and glowered at his brothers, "Rebekah is family and you cast her aside. Both of you. And for what? For whom?" he demanded and both Klaus and Elijah knew that Kol was too close to the truth. Despite his shortcomings, Kol had always been a mad genius and it wouldn't be long before he would connect the pieces.

Klaus' face twisted into a blend of cold fury as he pushed his worry back and confronted Kol.

"Rebekah betrayed me in the worst way," Klaus viciously whispered, "she brought our worst nemesis in New Orleans. We barely managed to flee New Orleans alive all those years back. We lost everything! I lost everything!" Klaus yelled covering his lies with the truth that deep down still hurt him. Rebekah's betrayal was a wound that would never close.

Kol stood his ground and their battling gazes clashed as Klaus prowled closer to him accompanying his movement with a harsh glower that matched Kol's. Klaus knew that if there was one person on this earth that loved Rebekah more than him was Kol. Kol that adored his little sister and was ready to go down fighting for her. Kol that was ready to kill her and cry over her grave for all eternity. Kol that was ready to fight tooth and nail for his sweet Bekah that when she asked something from Kol he would turn over heaven and hell to hand it to her.

"I should have killed her for what she did with Mikael," Klaus hollered and Kol's face morphed into a sight of worry and loathing. So much that it brought peace in Klaus' mind knowing that Kol believed him, "instead I wrote her off. I will kill her on sight if I ever see her again," Klaus vowed so convincingly that even he believed it and felt the blood in his veins turn to acid, "she is no family of mine but it is just all the same for her. Our treacherous sister is free as she wanted," Klaus grit out with disgust that rivaled Kol's.

"Rebekah is safe and free Kol. That's all that matters," Elijah said with a pained look knowing all too well how much Kol missed their sister and how much he was struggling. But this had to be done.

Kol shook his head and stared at his siblings detached.

"Would you have rather I daggered her?" Klaus asked him with a soft mockery that carried a threat in its depth, "Maybe I should dagger you."

"Maybe you should," Kol gave up in a seriousness he had never shown before and Klaus backed away confused by the lack of anger in Kol's tone. Only defeat was there but one blink later and the scorn returned back in the youngest Mikaelson's face.

"And you?" Kol sneered at Elijah, "preaching about family when you drool over the wolf girl. How pathetic can you be? With the mother of your niece?"

Elijah wavered and stumbled back as if he was slapped and Klaus pressed his lips.

"Enough Kol," Klaus warned Kol, "I won't say it again."

Kol straightened his body. Slowly. Lethally.

Terrifying calm spread all around them.

"What happens if you do?"

Klaus felt every molecule on his body urging him to lash out but he stopped himself. Kol was provoking him but this could not go on for much longer. The more they pushed each other the more damage they were doing and he had to distract Kol from his quest to find Rebekah. He had to stop asking questions. He had to stop inciting disorder in the Quarter and fanning the winds of war.

Klaus locked his gaze with Kol's and knew that time was running out. Caroline and Kol would hate him for it. He would hate himself for it.

But maybe Kol was right and there was never a choice to make. Giving Kol a dagger time-out seemed more unavoidable by every passing moment.

Klaus took in a deep breath and instead of giving in to his most base instincts he went and took a glass instead of taking Kol's bait.

He ripped through the skin his wrist with the sharp edge of his fangs and watched Kol through amber eyes as his blood dribbled in the glass.

He then prowled closer to Kol that examined him with a curious look and gave him his blood to cure the bite in his arm. Kol's eyes widened in surprise and Klaus waited for him to accept his offer.

"Go after Caroline and make sure neither of you does anything stupid," Klaus told him calmly despite the spite he felt at saying this. And Kol despite his speculative stare he took the glass from his hand.

"I wasted enough time as it is anyway," Kol grumbled annoyed and gulped down the blood feeling its healing properties rush into his blood burning Hayley's venom away.

Kol smashed the glass in his palm dusting away the shards carelessly before he grinned at Hayley. Elijah tensed and Klaus straightened his body ready to charge but Kol rolled his eyes at the protective sight his brothers were displaying.

"I was always fond of the witches here," Kol drawled and faced Elijah that watched him with slit eyes, "so you may have to keep your precious wolf in a leash if you don't want me to rip out her heart and… force your hand brother," Kol warned Elijah Mikaelson and gave his brothers a slight bow before he sped away.


Klaus watched Kol dash away and felt exhaustion washing over his body. His fingers flexed and then relaxed at his side as if he was wrapping them around the imaginary hilt of the silver dagger.

He wanted to dagger Kol but for some reason, he realized he couldn't. And not just because his brother had already instigated a witch revolution that his daggering would for sure spark into a full-blown rebellion now. Kol's followers, even if they were not that loyal to him, were already searching for a reason to rise against their family and Kol had given them that and more. And if things were different Klaus wouldn't care for the chaos that would ensue. Kol would incur his wrath even if it would rain blood but things were now different.

Kol was in pain and Caroline would do anything for him. It was as clear as day. Klaus closed his eyes trying to force himself not to care. But he did. He cared. He cared and it hurt.

Caroline was struggling but so did his little brother and he couldn't help them. Every time he was having a breakthrough with Caroline something happened and there were back at square one and on top of that, it would seem that Kol had also changed so much that there was nothing he could do to get through to him. Maybe he hasn't tried but he was afraid to do so. It was as if Kol was a stranger to him and he didn't know how to act around him or how to treat him. And it was the first time in millennia where he feared that if he used the dagger on him whatever sanity was left in Kol would be forever lost and despite their differences, Klaus didn't want to keep his little brother in a box for as many centuries as he had kept Finn. It would not be a solution. It would ruin him. It would ruin them.

Klaus watched with a blank expression as Elijah placed Hayley on the sofa and gently put a pillow under her head. His older brother brushed some hair away from her face and watched the state she was in with sorrow. They both had seen the signs and they had done nothing to protect her. Kol was unstable but he was also predictable when he aimed to hurt his family. They both should have seen this coming.

Elijah turned around and faced Klaus.

"Caroline was protecting Hayley because of Kol wasn't she?" Elijah came to the conclusion easily and Klaus nodded.

Kol and Caroline shared a bond. As strong as blood. As strong as family. And Klaus envied it with every fiber of his being and knew he wouldn't be able to break it even if he tried for a thousand years.

"Yes," Klaus confirmed for his older brother before he turned around to leave feeling a burning sensation in his heart.

He let out a shaky breath and touched his lips. Almost feeling Caroline's lips on them. An almost kiss. One he hadn't dared to take.

And one she may deny him forever now. One more wrong step and they would become enemies once more just like when he had broken his curse in Mystic Falls.

Caroline was protecting Kol with all she had. She was becoming a shield for him as she recklessly used to do with her friends in her hometown in the past. Caroline had given Kol her loyalty and she was capable of standing between his body and the dagger if it would mean she could keep him safe and that knowledge was eating Klaus alive from the inside out.

He envied his brother. He hated Kol for what he had and didn't deserve.

Klaus craved the same loyalty from Caroline. The same devotion. And that rascal brother of his had the one thing he truly wanted the most. And he was certain that Kol didn't appreciate it as he should because if he did he wouldn't put Caroline in such a position in the first place and for that alone, he would dagger him a thousand times consequences be damned!

Damn him! Damn Kol and Purgatory and his fate that was nothing but a curse that tormented him throughout the centuries taunting him with all he wanted and he could never have.

He would dagger Kol for that alone but he knew that should he do it he would lose not only his brother but also…Caroline. And the thought alone was unbearable to him. He knew it could come to this. He had planned this for days. He had already declared to Hayley he would do it. And maybe if he had done it what happened tonight wouldn't have happened. His daughter's mother wouldn't have almost died in the hands of his lunatic brother. But he hadn't daggered Kol. He hadn't because Caroline would hate him.

She would hate him always and forever.

He already knew he couldn't live in a world where she didn't exist but a world where she hated him forever would be just as bad.

His lips burned. The thought of Caroline hating him while she cared for his brother instead left in his lips the taste of ashes.

"Brother," Elijah interrupted his thoughts and Klaus realized that he hadn't moved at all. He turned around ready to snap at Elijah but he saw in his brother's eyes the same torment he felt. Elijah was watching Hayley with such a haunted gaze that could probably rival his love and longing for Caroline.

Klaus stood still when Elijah watched him pleadingly.

"What Caroline said about Hayley-"

Klaus laughed at Elijah's bafflement and realized that even though his brother had investigated Hayley's past her involvement in the Hybrid massacre for the expression triangle was something Elijah had probably sugarcoated and swept under the rug so to keep Hayley's image untainted in his mind. And it had been easy. It had been easy because no one from Mystic Falls was here to contradict that image. Because Tyler Lockwood had barged in New Orleans as the villain of the story exonerating Hayley's sins and it was easy for Elijah to paint only him as the villain for all the death and darkness that rained in Mystic Falls. In his brother's mind, Hayley was probably one more of his victims.

Elijah was not unknown to darkness and he tended to watch women like Katerina Petrova, Celeste Dubois, and Hayley Marshall through rose-colored glasses hoping for the light to win over the darkness. Always the optimist savior that saw the best in people like Hayley. In people like Katherine. In people like him too. And truth was that if he didn't Elijah would have abandoned him ages ago instead of trying to save and redeem his soul. A delusion that served both of them for centuries and as it would seem it also served the mother of his child. Because Elijah always tried to fix what was broken maybe because then there would be hope for all the parts of himself that were equally if not more broken.

"Hayley is not the innocent you believe she is," Klaus taunted Elijah but as he stared at the unconscious woman in his brother's arms his shoulders' slumped and the urge to lash out to Elijah evaporated. Especially since he had just seen the toll the confrontation with Kol had taken on him.

Klaus watched Hayley with a tired expression instead. If she had been an innocent she would have never been tied to their family in the way she did. And Hope would have never been born. So may darkness could make light too. But that didn't make the darkness any less dark.

Just days ago he had promised Hayley he would dagger Kol and she had tried to turn him against Caroline. It was a laughable attempt but he had not given it a second thought. A part of him couldn't help but think that the reasons Hayley did that were not only for Hope's sake but ran deeper and were rooted in the past she also wanted to forget. The past Caroline reminded her simply by being here. The past where she wasn't the innocent heroine of the story Elijah had fallen for. The same past where she was one of the monsters long before she had fangs and a blood thirst to go along with her darkness. Long before she was a mother. Because that past reminded her that she was never innocent.

"She never was," Klaus sighed, "But you already knew that."

"Niklaus-"

"Don't judge her. She grew into a different person and in the end we have all done terrible things," Klaus sighed effectively silencing Elijah and then smiled sadly and took in Hayley's broken body knowing that she just like them had an immortal body that would heal but also carried a broken soul that wouldn't, "Hayley came here to make a new start. We of all people know how that is."

Elijah opened his mouth to say something but Klaus shook his head.

"Let it go, Elijah," he advised his brother and left him with Hayley.


Kol ran down the streets and reached Caroline that didn't even spare him a glance.

"What do you want?" Caroline hissed and marched past him angrily.

"Your white knight wanted me to keep an eye on you," Kol quirked.

"Klaus? A white knight?" she blurted out, "as if!" she visibly shuddered but her reaction was far too intense for what she intended to show. She grimaced at the way her body language and her very language betrayed her.

"See how you immediately knew who I was talking about though?" Kol sassed and Caroline glanced at him with angry eyes that immediately fell on his arm.

"He healed you," Caroline realized feeling lighter somehow at the knowledge. The first emotion was gratefulness and it was all somehow directed to Klaus. The second was directed solely to Kol and was blinding anger; she turned around and pushed Kol back with both of her hands.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she shouted, "why do you do things like that?" she demanded an answer and gripped Kol by the lapels of his jacket. The same jacket she had chosen for him a few weeks ago when they had gone out shopping. The jacket was, of course, was ruined now. Like everything else. Because Kol ruined things!

She shook him not caring at all for the fact that they were in public. Even though the street was empty she knew that in New Orleans someone was always watching but right now she was so angry she didn't care.

Kol, on the other hand, made no attempt to break free from her hold. His hands remained limb by his side.

"This is who I am," he simply said and Caroline threw him a glare full of disdain and disappointment.

"No it is not," she muttered and let him go. Kol stumbled back and exhaled in a way that made it clear that he knew he had let her down, "I spent enough time with you to know that it isn't but I can't and won't turn into your babysitter because you have a bone to pick with your brothers!"

Kol said nothing but his eyes had that kind of gleam that covered all the pain under the lunacy. The pain she had seen and felt in Purgatory.

Caroline sighed and her shoulders fell. She looked around, grabbed Kol from his arm and guided him to the back of an alley where they would be hidden from prying eyes.

"You can't keep doing this. You know you can't," she started when they were away from people, "I do not want to see Klaus daggering you Kol," she mumbled and felt so tired and numb.

Klaus daggering Kol was something she didn't want to even think about. It would be something she wouldn't forgive Klaus for and she would lose both Kol and Klaus at once. And she couldn't handle that. She didn't want to have to handle that. She couldn't deal with any more loss.

Kol's face became a mask of cold resentment and she scowled at him when he loomed closer to her with intimidating intent.

"I have warned you a long time ago to never stand between me and what I want Caroline," Kol said with such a low voice that the only loud thing it had in it was its menace.

Caroline pinched her lips to stop herself from screaming.

"Or what? You'll rip me to shreds?" she provoked him and Kol at least had the decency to appear distraught, "I am not afraid of you!" she declared and Kol's eyes turned to slits.

"You should be," he warned her looking like he was afraid of his impulses and volatile rage too. Caroline threw her head back and let out a frustrated sound that resembled a growl.

"Well, I am not! I am afraid for you, you idiot!" she lashed out and Kol blinked, "Do you think I care for what happens to Hayley? Or for playing referee with your brothers?" she incredulously questioned, "Klaus will dagger you! And I won't be able to stop it!" she cried out desperately, "how will I get through him and Elijah to get you back then? What do you want me to do?"

Kol's expression dulled. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it back again realizing that whatever it was that he wanted to say it wasn't something he would be able to actually say out loud. Or something she would want to hear.

Caroline gave him a pleading look and the hard edges around Kol's eyes loosened up a bit momentarily.

But it didn't last long. Kol covered up what he always perceived as a weakness and regained his composure fast, and with it, his ego made a fast reappearance.

"Glad to know you care!" he mocked with so much condescension that it made her bloodlust skyrocket again.

Kol didn't have time to react when her fist connected with his face. Caroline punched him. Hard! She punched him so hard she sent him flying back. The wall that took in the impact cracked and Kol rubbed his cheek to ease the pain before he spat out blood.

He groaned and doubled over with pain trying to catch his breath. He pressed his hands to his knees shaking away the discomfort and for once he actually kept his mouth shut.

"You psychotic son of a bitch! Is this what you want?" she screeched as she towered above him barely stopping herself from kicking him, "For me to get caught in the crossfire? Will that make you happy?"

Kol rolled his eyes and staggered back up. He fingered his broken nose and pushed the bone back to the right angle.

"Klaus won't hurt you," he told her as licked the blood from his mouth and dusted his clothes, "neither with Elijah. Klaus won't allow anyone to hurt you," Kol pointed out feeling secure in this knowledge.

Veins appeared under Caroline's eyes and she took a threatening step forward.

"Don't you dare go there!" she snarled ready to punch him again. Her relationship with Klaus was off limits.

"Not in the face!" Kol retorted when he saw her fingers curling into a tight fist and her face twisted into utter contempt.

"Keep on joking Kol," she chagrined, "but if there's anyone that's hurting me here is you. Because this," she waved her hands as if her gesture could show the mess they were in, "is not right. What you are doing hurts me," she let it out in a breath and before Kol could protest she pointed her finger at him.

"And you know what? You are right. Klaus won't let me get hurt. Because he actually cares for me enough to show some restraint," she acknowledged and glared at Kol, "you go on acting like a child and moaning about how your family doesn't care but when someone cares what do you do? You hurt them. You hurt them because you are afraid to let them hurt you or to let them see how much you are hurting. At least Klaus, even at his worse, has the decency to not play such games with me. Which is more than I can say for you," she let him have it holding nothing back.

Caroline knew that Kol was struggling to not to retaliate. He stood frozen, furious and hurt and she knew that her words cut him deep. He was already damaged but she couldn't let him walk all over her like this. Coddling any of the Mikaelsons was as good as enabling them. Especially Kol. And she just about had it with the justifications and the excuses. She knew what he was doing. She knew what his quest was all for. It wasn't just so he could hurt his brothers. He wanted to make the pain stop. He was too old to turn it off and all he wanted was to numb the pain with chaos, slaughter, and savageness. He even wanted to force Klaus to dagger him so to make it all go away but this didn't make it right. Nothing of what he was doing was right.

Caroline turned her resolve to an impenetrable armor. She saw the hurt in Kol's expression but this madness had to stop and if it couldn't then she had to find a way to take some distance from it.

"I am your friend but I won't support you when you are set on destroying yourself and everyone around you," she drew the line and didn't waver from it, "Do you understand me?"

Kol prowled closer and nodded seriously. Caroline watched him suspiciously and as expected it didn't take long for him to revert to detachment and withdraw to cold maniacal apathy.

"I understand perfectly well…I just don't remember ever asking you to do any of that, darling," he shrugged and Caroline stared at him before she huffed a breath and called it quits.

"Have it your way Kol," she resigned before she threw her hands up, turned around and walked away.

It didn't take long before Kol was once more walking next to her. His way of having a truce even if they didn't resolve anything; Caroline wanted to tell him to leave her alone and even cut all ties just to show him she was talking business but she knew it wouldn't solve anything. If anything it would make everything worse. She knew that isolating him completely would be like condemning him and turning her back on him and she just couldn't do that. Not to him.

God! She needed a lot of booze to get through this night. To get through her life!

"Where are you going?" Kol egged on.

She shoved him away with her elbow only for him to link his arm around her elbow.

"So," he tried again, "where are we going?"

"I am going to get drunk!" she snapped at his pestering and Kol gave her an impressed nod.

"Finally a great idea!" he applauded, "and I happen to know the perfect place!"

"Who invited you?" she bantered and Kol chuckled.

"Come on darling. Let bygones be bygones," he drawled, "you can't have a party without me."

Caroline blew away her hair out of her face and kept walking with Kol by her side.

"Watch me," she indignantly riposted.

"That's the sober you talking. Give it some time."


The jazz notes from the CD player soothed away the tension Camille O'Connell felt. Breaking up with Marcel Gerard, as friendly as it may have been, was not without pain but it was a chance for a new start. She stared at her books on the table. Ever since she had been wrapped in the supernatural side of New Orleans she had put her life on hold. And it was not healthy. She had to move on from the pain, the heartache and the things that held her back. She had to start focusing on her studies again.

She wanted to help people. She wanted to help people like Caroline Forbes who seemed to be struggling with what seemed to be a severe case of PTSD. Working with Caroline and becoming friendlier with her gave her an insight to her behavior. It all started after Elijah Mikaelson asked her to spy on her but it was more than that now. Caroline was suffering. The signs were there. She was barely holding it together and Camille knew that in a vampire this could be catastrophic but in comparison with all the vampires she has met so far Caroline seemed to actually care not to hurt others. She has seen her trying to keep her control at Rousseau's and she has seen her caring for people. It made her feel guilty for ever agreeing to what Elijah asked her. Which made her reconsider many things. How far gone was she that she willingly allowed herself to be caught in the games of the Mikaelsons like this? To take their side against people she didn't know and have never harmed her or intended to harm her. What happened with Francesca Guerrera scarred her but this wasn't her. She had come to New Orleans searching for answers and she found her fair share of them but maybe she had lost parts of herself in the process. And this had to stop. She had to return to her roots. To fight for what she believed and sure as hell that wasn't what the Originals had in mind.

She gazed at the photograph from her graduation. Her uncle Kieran and her brother had been there and she had been so happy. Ignorant about the darkness of the world her uncle lived in but happy nonetheless and now she felt as if she had wasted that happiness away for all the wrong reasons. Her uncle protected the city. Her brother was meant to follow her uncle's footsteps. She was meant to honor that. To help people that needed her help and she couldn't do that without studying hard and learning how to be of help.

She was good at giving advice but someone should advise her too. Maybe if she had been more willing to ask for help and actually find a friend in the midst of this chaos she could confide in them and have a support system too. Because she felt so alone. How long has it been before she had a timeout like the one she had with Caroline? Even so, to paint walls, eat pizza and drink booze?

Caroline made her laugh and she was funny and energetic. And Camille realized she needed and wanted this. She wanted this without having at the back of her mind suspicions about what Elijah Mikaelson's motives were when it came to Caroline Forbes.

She should have never agreed to become Elijah's spy. In a way, Elijah was using her in the same way Klaus had used her when he had first come to New Orleans and compelled her to spy on Marcel Gerard. Elijah didn't even need to compel her. She fell into that trap on her own.

Camille rubbed her tired eyes.

Caroline seemed to be a genuinely good person. Even Marcel that didn't seem to trust her or even like her believed it.

Klaus seemed to believe it too and for some reason, Camille knew that his judgment over Caroline was on point but was also driven by more than just familiarity and friendship. She recalled the times when she was writing his memoirs and their sessions. He had given her every detail about his life but omitted Caroline's name and yet his reaction to whenever Caroline was close to him seemed to be viscerally fierce. She didn't need to have a major in psychology to see what was going on. Both Caroline and Klaus knew each other all too well. It was not a centuries-old connection since Caroline was young. Younger than her in human years actually. No, it seemed to be a bond that was based on deep feelings. And that realization made her understand that Klaus had more layers than she originally thought. He couldn't be this closed off if he was able to…care and love.

Camille inhaled deeply and bit her lip. It was love, wasn't it?

And now the pieces were connecting. The missing details in Klaus' memoirs. The hints. The reason as to why Elijah Mikaelson was actually so worried. Klaus Mikaelson was in love. And it was not something even Elijah could control. And this was why he was using her to spy on Caroline. Because he knew that she was also close to Klaus. Close enough to influence him against Caroline Forbes should the need arise.

Elijah Mikaelson was taking precautions because he knew that his brother was in love and he wanted to ensure he hadn't fallen for the wrong person or at least someone that could hurt their family.

Camille wondered why she felt that pang at the bottom of her stomach at that realization and it only made her see even more clearly. Had she accepted to spy on Caroline out of petty jealousy without even realizing it? This had to stop. She had to start detaching herself from the Originals and Klaus especially.

Her life had turned toxic. How had her life turned so toxic? How could she advise people to heal and fight all that was toxic in their lives when she couldn't follow that principle?

The knock on her door was soft but steady and put a stop at her spiraling thoughts. She stared at the door and wondered if there were things left unsaid between her and Marcel but when she went and opened it the last thing she expected to see was…Klaus Mikaelson.

"May I come in?" Klaus politely asked even though she had already given him an invitation and could enter in her house even uninvited now.

"I thought our appointment was for tomorrow afternoon?" Cami replied, her fingers gripping the doorknob a little bit harder.

A smile tugged at Klaus' lips.

"Am I not allowed a social visit then?"

Cami cleared her throat but didn't move.

"Speaking strictly as your therapist I'd say it would be best if we were to keep our interactions on a professional level."

The humor dimmed from Klaus' eyes.

"Speaking as my friend?"

Cami sighed at the gentleness of his question and moved to the side pushing the door to open more and after a few moments of sizing her up with serious apprehension, Klaus stepped inside her house.

"Long day?" she wondered, softly closing the door.

"Long century," Klaus gruffly said and Cami hummed amused.

"Family issues I gather?"

"Let us say that sometimes I wish I was an only child," Klaus snipped.

Camille laughed heartily.

"No you don't," she responded with certainty and went to the tall table with the bottles.

Klaus smiled at her and shrugged.

"Scotch?" she offered as she fixed herself a drink.

"Neat."

"Neat," Cami noticed impressed, "What a sophisticated guy."

Klaus laughed as she poured him his drink and gave it to him. They clinked their glasses and drank. The silence somehow felt heavy and uncomfortable to Cami so she put some distance between them. She drained her glass relishing at the burn she felt in her throat. Klaus watched her but said nothing.

"So?" she questioned, "did you come all the way here to talk about your day?"

"I actually came to give you this," Klaus said and put his half-empty glass on the table before he retrieved an envelope from the inside pocket of his jacket.

Cami frowned as she took it and realized that it was an invitation. To the Mikaelson Ball.

"I wanted to invite you personally," Klaus admitted as Cami stared at the elegant and yet impersonal formal invitation, "my family has arranged for a Ball this weekend and we have invited representatives from all the factions. I would like you to consider coming as one too."

Cami's brows furrowed.

"I am not part of the factions," she shook her head, "more so a representative of one."

Klaus said nothing for some seconds that seemed to stretch out more than Cami would have liked them too. He was looking her up and down. Assessing her.

It unnerved her.

"You could be," Klaus finally said, "should you wish it. You are your uncle's heir after all."

Cami pressed her lips.

"Klaus-"

"I know I have told you to stay away from this in the past," Klaus calmly said reminding her of the time when he had tried to compel her to leave New Orleans, "but here you are still and your name alone makes you a part of the human faction. It is a legacy," he stated but his voice was cold, "It draws attention. Danger. And since you decided to stay in New Orleans it would be for the best if you stepped up and at least claimed the protection the O'Connell influence can give you."

Camille's mouth went dry at the warning that was lacing the words of his advice.

She turned her back at him and focused her attention on the invitation and what it meant.

It meant danger.

And she knew it. So why was she staying here? For whom was she staying here?

"It would be a dangerous endeavor but I would stand by your side and support you," Klaus offered, "And this city…this world…needs people like you."

Klaus' words were coated with honey but Cami felt as if the clock of time had turned back. She could tell that Klaus was back in soldier mode. He was planning strategy and she was once more caught up in the crossfire of his scheming.

She did believe he had every intention to keep her safe but the road to hell was paved with good intentions after all and Klaus had a long time told her that he was the Devil in disguise.

Caroline's warning from the other night echoed in her mind.

"We may have the best intentions but we always bring darkness everywhere we go. Especially to those we care for the most. We bring darkness and we draw darkness in. And Klaus has a thousand years of it. His darkness may seem seductive and I am not going to lie…it is. But it is also lethal. So just…be careful."

"New Orleans is at the precipice of change Camille. And this change can go either way. It will depend on those that step up." Klaus continued but Caroline's words seemed to follow every word Klaus was telling her now.

"When the Originals stepped in war came along. It changed everyone I knew. This hasn't been a fairytale. Many people became collateral damage and others…well some of us became satellites orbiting Klaus and his siblings. Sometimes it feels magnetic. Sometimes it is destructive. In the end, it doesn't come without a cost."

"You could become the leader of the human faction if you want. Kieran would want this for you and I cannot imagine anyone more capable for that position." Klaus enticed her and Cami let out a deep breath. Caroline's voice kept whispering in her ear too.

"Before Klaus life used to be simpler. When he eventually came to where I lived I was already a vampire but even that had been a consequence of the Originals entering our lives. The Mikaelsons are like a force of nature and our lives, our choices are many times defined by them."

"New Orleans needs people like you. To avoid war. To keep the balance. With your morality, your logic. Most of all your heart," Klaus pointed out.

"What I am trying to say is that wherever the Originals are war comes next. And in every war there are casualties….Just be safe."

"Think about it Camille," Klaus prompted with a warm tone and Cami felt trapped again into indecisiveness.

.

Flashback

"It feels that the one feeling I feel more acutely these days is indecision. And it affects my judgment," Cami acknowledged, "I find myself making excuses where I shouldn't and doing things I never believed I would."

"What is it that you want to do?" Caroline asked and Cami's gaze hardened somehow.

"I always wanted to help people. To listen to them. Not to bury them and turn deaf to everyone but their killers."

The air changed between them and it was eventually Caroline that broke the silence.

"Klaus. Marcel. Me. Even Josh. We are all killers Cami."

.

"It seems there are a lot of things I'll have to rethink," Cami said quietly more to herself than him as she held on to the invitation.

Klaus frowned but before he could say anything Cami interrupted him.

"This change you speak of. It is not just about the city. You have are not as you used to be either," she realized and locked her gaze with his.

"Are you trying to psychoanalyze me as my therapist?" Klaus deflected, "Because this is not one of our sessions."

Cami arched her eyebrow.

"But somehow you are still getting defensive and I can't help but wonder why."

Klaus stiffened and Cami smiled.

"I must have hit a nerve," she discerned, "probably because this change you speak of…is a change of heart maybe?" she pondered and saw how Klaus immediately became guarded. She knew his tells by now, "And before you say you don't have one we both know it is a lie. You do and it lately seems to be at the precipice of a change too," she noted before she added with a tone that barely reached above a whisper, "If it hasn't always."

Cami forced herself to remain unfazed by the wide range of emotions that passed through Klaus' eyes as his gaze remained set on hers. She saw even regret there. Regret for leading her on for all this time only for him to return back to what he always wanted. To uncover the desire that truly tantalized his heart.

Cami believed that Klaus would not say anything. That he would leave her question….her realization to linger between them unanswered. That he would leave her in the uncertainty.

Only he didn't. And she didn't know how she felt about it.

"It has," Klaus admitted with a slow nod before he licked his lips, "and in a way it hasn't," he confessed opening up to her without any pretenses to hide his true intentions and secrets any longer, "I always…she's always been-"

Cami nodded with an expression of sorrow stopping him from saying anything else. Things were already becoming weirder and more awkward between them.

"There's no need to say anything else," Cami told him. Her voice didn't falter but for some reason, she felt as if she was swallowing glass. For some reason, this hurt her more than her break up with Marcel. And it made her realize all the ways she had been losing herself through time. The feelings she felt for Klaus' clouded her judgment because deep down she had wanted more than just friendship and an understanding between them.

She had broken the most basic rule of her profession. She had fallen for her client. And she had made this personal. To the point of her getting hurt and even putting her life on the line because of her jumbled emotions.

She cleared her throat and lowered her gaze to the invitation she had wrinkled in her hand before she went and opened the door for him.

Klaus watched her with a pained expression and she hated this. She hated the pity she saw in his eyes. The knowledge of how stupid she had been to break all of her rules one by one for a situation that from the very first moment was built on a wrong foundation. Maybe she always knew it from the start and this was why she got attached. Because all the stupid things she was doing were self-destructive things she always believed she deserved.

But she didn't. She didn't deserve this.

And more so she didn't deserve to become a puppet for the Originals to keep using like this. She wouldn't accept to become the leader of the human faction so to serve Klaus' goals. If she was ever going to step up it would be so to honor her legacy and not the Originals.

"I will pretend that you wanting me to step up and fill my uncle's shoes does not have an ulterior motive," Cami said coldly as she expected Klaus to get out, "because I still believe deep down you are a good man that wouldn't want to take advantage of the few friends he has. And I am sure Caroline would agree with me on that."

Klaus sucked in a deep breath and tensed as Camille tilted her head to the side and gave him a knowing look.

Klaus walked to her but Cami only stepped aside even more.

"Thank you for the invitation," she told him, "I am not sure if I'll come but I'll think about it," she typically said and waited for him to leave.

And he did.


Caroline stopped in her tracks just a few feet away from the door of her apartment.

The high and the buzz she felt from the endless booze and blood shots she had devoured with Kol in one of the most prestigious underworld vampire clubs of New Orleans evaporated immediately.

"You've got to be kidding me right now!"

Aaron, the vampire Klaus had compelled to deliver her the champagne was standing on her doormat, like a stray dog stuck outside in the cold, holding a wide black box with an elegant champagne colored bow wrapped around it.

"Hello again Miss Forbes," Aaron greeted her with respect and Caroline pinched her lips together.

"This is getting ridiculous," Caroline strode up and angrily snatched the box Aaron was holding not missing how he exhaled in relief.

"What did he compel you to do this time?"

"To make sure you receive the gift and the invitation," Aaron answered, his shoulders tense.

"Well, consider them received," Caroline merely said but couldn't entirely hide the mocking tone that dressed her words as she pointed at the box she was holding making sure that her action was at least clear enough to put an end to Klaus' compulsion.

"Thank you, Miss Forbes. There's also a message," Aaron said quickly before he added, "please know Mr. Mikaelson would very much like if you were to attend the Ball at his family home this weekend. He'd be honored if you were to come as his guest."

Caroline didn't roll her eyes until Klaus' compelled servant finished his monotonously delivered speech.

"Seriously? Another ball?...and the thrilling saga of Klaus' twisted Cinderella fetish continues," Caroline grumbled through clenched teeth.

"Excuse me?" Aaron asked confused when his eyes unglazed.

"Anything else?" Caroline huffed trying to keep her temper in check.

The man in front of her shook his head at her question finally able to do so as the last remnants of Klaus' compulsion seemed to fade away.

"No. That's all."

"I am really sorry for this," Caroline apologized, her gaze softening, "I'll make sure it stops," she promised the man who gave her a meek smile of gratitude before he left.

Caroline groaned annoyed when she was left alone. She tried to balance the box in her hand and unlock her door as she let out a string of curses about controlling maniacal Originals.

When she got into her apartment she kicked the door shut with the back of her foot, opened the lights and went and dropped the box on the table.

She folded her arms in front of her chest and narrowed her eyes. Of course after everything that happened in his house Klaus' wouldn't invite her personally to his family's ball.

An actual ball.

"Here we go again," Caroline muttered.

Elena's sweet voice reached her ears as an old memory woke inside her from the last time the Originals threw a Ball. Back in Mystic Falls all those years ago. When it had all began for her and Klaus.

She could still remember that day in the Grill when she sat at one of the tables with Elena, not even an hour after she had received Klaus' invitation and the blue dress he had sent her.

.

Flashback.

Mystic Falls. A few years ago.

The Grill was buzzing with voices but Caroline's head was filled with another kind of noise. Her mind was killing her. She couldn't stop thinking of the moment when she saw that dress. Of the moment she realized what it actually meant. Of how Klaus wanted to dress her like his doll and be her actual date for the evening.

"It's all so weird," Elena said unable to hide the bewilderment from her expression and tone, "The Originals are throwing a ball. Like, an actual ball."

Caroline saw how baffled Elena was and tried to keep it all under control.

Which was easier said than done. She was just so vexed!

An actual ball indeed. And if the gift Klaus sent her was any indication the celebration tonight would be like those she had read in fairytales. With the perfect princesses, everyone wanted and loved dancing on glass shoes and in beautiful magical dresses like the one waiting for her back at home.

But that gift wasn't given to her by a Prince or a White Knight. It was given her by the villain of the story.

First that diamond bracelet and now that incredible dress.

And the card.

Klaus! The monster! The Original everyone feared. The same monster that made Tyler bite her and held her life and death above her head in a power game of wills and manipulation. The same man that gave her the choice no one had given when she turned. The nightmare that dragged Stefan back to his darkest side. The man that enticed her with a thousand birthdays and the promise of genuine beauty and in that moment made her want to live more than ever.

The monster that killed Jenna. That gave her his blood and healed her. That sired Tyler and treated her best friend like a blood bag. The man that gave her a glimpse of another life. Of art and culture and music. The devil that terrorized everyone she loved and cared for. And held her and caressed her hair when his blood filled her mouth and made her moan.

The same Klaus that was nothing but evil she reminded herself. The cruel monster who destroyed her friends and her relationship with Tyler had signed the invitation he sent her himself.

'Fondly' he had written by hand. What did that even mean?

Since when did monsters know what fondness meant and why did this affect her so much and left her in such a whirlwind of uncertainty and emotion? What was happening?

Klaus' gifts should make her skin crawl not intrigue her and make parts of her buzz with excitement, curiosity and something she couldn't even name. She was terrified and angry and fascinated.

This was insane. She had officially lost it and so did Klaus. As far as she was concerned he was incapable of fondness or any other emotion for that matter. And she wanted nothing to do with whatever obsession and games Klaus' had in his mind. Because this was still Klaus. This was nothing but another trick. He had to have an ulterior motive. She should keep her distance that much she knew but at the same time something inside her bugged her to had to find out what Klaus' hidden agenda was and what it had to do with her. Because no, she wasn't insane. He was!

"It's some twisted Cinderella fetish, is what it is," Caroline exclaimed frustrated and masked everything she felt and kept it all in hidden from the world and Elena.

.

Caroline stared at the box on the table and held her breath as she felt a sense of déjà vu washing over her. Just under the bow, there was a gold-banded ivory invitation carefully pinned with a vintage clasp. She eyed the insignia of the seal as she unclasped it from the box.

"M"

She broke the wax seal carefully, opened the envelope and studied the invitation.

"Miss Caroline Forbes,

It would be an honor if you would join the Mikaelson family in the Abattoir this Saturday evening for dancing, cocktails, and celebration."

Signed… The Mikaelsons.

Despite the way this had arrived at her hands the invitation was impersonal and polite. And from the looks of it, it addressed her as it would every friend and every enemy of the Originals. She was willing to bet that Klaus hadn't written this. This was all Elijah Mikaelson and she would wager that Elijah had sent similar invitations to all his allies and even enemies.

She was in Elijah's list and he had his eyes on her now. He wanted to see if she was an ally or a rival. As he probably planned to do so with every other player in the city. Which meant that in his eyes she was also a player too.

And everyone knew what that meant. Anyone outside the Mikaelson family was a threat and everyone knew how the Mikaelsons treated the threats they couldn't control, strong-arm or seduce. Elijah's honor was as dangerous as Klaus' wrath.

Her connection with Kol and Klaus was not a reassurance. If anything it made things worse for her. It was dividing both her and their family.

A sigh escaped her lips as she realized what this ball truly meant. The Mikaelsons were gathering the factions of New Orleans waging a different kind of war. They were about to go over the deep end and she had to either jump right into the fire picking a side or stand back and watch everything burn from the sidelines. Each choice hid deadly danger.

Caroline knew that this was Klaus' way of warning her. He could have invited her himself but he wanted her to see Elijah's hand in this. A subtle way of giving her the heads up while still making it clear that should she go to the Ball she would still go and would be seen as his guest with whatever danger and protection that proposal had.

She turned the paper on the other side half expecting to see Klaus' handwriting as she had those years ago but it wrote nothing else. She threw the invitation on the couch and peered at the box on the table.

She shook her head and as blond locks bounced on her shoulders she blew her hair away from her face.

"Seriously Klaus," she whispered not knowing if she wanted to laugh or frown.

She didn't need to be a witch or a seer to know what was in the box.

This was just beyond predictable and cheesy. He was still trying so hard. And it was still affecting her so much.

She bit her lip and slowly she unwrapped the bow and opened the box. She disregarded the lid and pushed aside the thin tissue paper.

And …stilled.

She gasped at what she saw and just like that past and present became one.

She thought she was prepared for it but she truly wasn't. Not for the way this tugged at her heartstrings. Not for the way it awoke her soul.

She was again that girl back in Mystic Falls receiving a gift from the worst monster of them all. She was still lost in the wanderlust and the amazement but at the same time, she never felt safer or in more danger. That bubbling excitement that called to all her vanity and everything she considered beautiful and elegant rushed to the surface and dazzled her.

The insecure human girl she had been so many years ago would only dream of this moment. She would jump up and down and clap her hands with excitement and imagine the moment when she would get to be the center of attention and would dance and be cherished by the prince that would sweep her off her feet. Back then she longed for a secret admirer or even better for any bad boy in a five-mile radius that would give her this attention and would care only for her no matter the terrible things he had done. Back then she didn't know any better.

The girl she was now didn't wish for any of those things. The girl she was now was just as terrible as any monster could be and yet still held inside her parts of that long gone innocence because even now she could only stare at Klaus' gift and at what she saw her heart raced. It raced as if she was seeing a blue dress that sparkled in the light only this time there was no hint of blue. This wasn't the past. This was the now and it was different.

So different. So sublime.

The splendor in the box took her breath away.

This dress, the gloves, and the shoes were one of a kind and nothing could compete or even compare with them. Because this time they didn't allude to a childish fairytale but a dark tale of seduction and grace.

Her fingers ran over the elegant ombré gown. So refined. So glorious. This was nothing like the princess dress or the prom dress Klaus had given her in Mystic Falls.

This dress was not meant for the girl she once was. This dress was fit for a Queen.

And just as she realized what that meant, as she understood what statement she would be making if she dared to wear that dress and go to the ball, the divine sensation turned to fire and burned her. So much it burned that she almost felt as if in front of her she didn't have a dress but a grenade. Shivers slithered down her spine and just like she had done all those years ago she quickly pulled the lid back again, closing the box with trembling hands, shaking her head as if the sense of surprise, dread and joy would vanish along with the box from plain sight. As if hiding the dress from sight would somehow make it disappear.

But it didn't. The only thing it did was throw at her feet the small piece of paper she hadn't seen when she opened the box.

Caroline crouched down and reached for the folded card that had fallen on the floor.

White paper. Black letters.

And despite everything that had happened between her and Klaus she couldn't stop her gaze from devouring the six words. And she couldn't stop the smile that appeared on her face either as she read Klaus Mikaelson's message written in calligraphic letters.

"Save me a dance. Fondly Klaus."