A few weeks had passed since Caroline and Klaus had returned from their road trip, and life in Mystic Falls seemed completely wound back to the carefree sleepy town it was a few years prior, before the Salvatore brothers rolled in.
They had heard neither hide nor hair from Rebekah, and the suspicious animal attacks had seemingly stopped. So, with no new leads to follow, Damon had taken up being more cranky than usual, and Elena more mopey. Though the Salvatore and the Gilbert did still seem to spend almost every moment they could together.
Bonnie was still hardly speaking to Caroline, though she was now giving Caroline tight smiles when they ran into each other around town. Caroline had a suspicion that Bonnie's better mood had something to do with the amount of time she was spending with the other Gilbert sibling, Jeremy. Caroline had noticed the two of them around town a fair bit over the past few weeks, and it was nice to see them finding comfort in each other.
Liz Forbes was running her usual routine of always being at the office, even as the town had settled into a quieter season. Though Caroline sensed something was troubling her mother as even when she was around the house she seemed distracted. She hoped her mom was just busy thinking about the Mystic Falls Summer Days, Summer Nights Festival being planned by the town council in conjunction with the historical society, as Liz had taken on key logistics management role in tandem to her Sheriff's role. In any case, Caroline resolved to ask her mother what was going on if she didn't perked up soon.
Bill Forbes had finally stopped constantly being around, though he did come into town every couple of weeks with his partner, Stephen, under the pretence of making things up to Caroline. While neither Caroline, Liz, nor Klaus were buying this change of heart, they all were pretending to – even if it was just to save Caroline's feelings.
So between the nothingness going on in the town and the preoccupation of her usual posse, Caroline was finding herself quite bored. School was back in session at least, and so to curb her boredom, on top of school work and her extra-curriculars, Caroline got a job working at the Grill two shifts a week. Working with Matt was actually turning out to be quite nice. They fell into a good rhythm, and Caroline honestly felt like he was her only friend around town these days.
Obviously, Klaus was still around, but since her schedule was suddenly much fuller than over the summer, he was spending more time alone. They tested the limit of their connection again, and were now able to be up to five miles away from each other now. This meant that both Caroline and Klaus could be anywhere within the town and Klaus still be okay. So far, neither of them had sleuthed the reason for the extended boundary – though they had talked in the abstract that maybe it had something to do with their connection growing stronger. Whatever that meant.
Often when Caroline was at school, Klaus would stay home and listen to audiobooks, or watch television, or even sketch. Rarely if Liz wasn't home though. If she was, Klaus tried to accompany Caroline to school, or occupy himself in some other way. The sheriff still didn't know of his existence in their lives, and he didn't want her to think her house was now haunted. Though that being said, he was around the house with Liz sometimes, but he tried to confine himself to Caroline's room if that were the case.
All this was to say that their lives were ticking along, almost free from the supernatural.
"So, I have cheerleading after school until about five, then I'm at the grill from six til ten – I picked up an extra shift. Will you be okay til ten all by yourself?"
It was a Wednesday morning, and Caroline was about to leave for school, having a very normal conversation under the circumstances.
"I'll be fine, love," Klaus said, smiling. "We found that excellent anthology of digitised spell books I can flick through, see if I can make some sense of this 'other side' I've been reading about."
"Okay, perfect," Caroline said.
"In any case," Klaus smirked. "If I get too bored I can always come and bother you. It's always such a delight to whisper things in your ear and watch you squirm and struggle to not acknowledge me."
Caroline just laughed, blushing a little. It was always a thrill when Klaus showed up unexpectedly, because it was usually during a boring school day, or a slow work shift, and his presence made the the experience far more enjoyable. While it usually signalled he was bored and frustrated at being alone on the other side, he always brought a jovial mood and it brightened both of their days.
She was still smiling as she slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way to the door.
"Have a nice day!" she called over her shoulder.
With that Klaus was alone. He made his way up stairs and settled there to begin reading more about 'the other side'.
For the first few days after Caroline was back at school, Klaus had been driven crazy with boredom. But since, he made his own daily routine. Since he was now able to use Caroline's laptop, he used the time she was at school to surf the web looking searching through forums for information on magic.
Klaus was obviously no witch, but he'd said it before, and would say it again, he knew his way around magic. He was one of the oldest magical beings on the planet. As such, he had an experiential knowledge of magic that came in useful many times over his long life.
This time was no different.
He was unsurprised to find many magical communities conversing in online spaces, and he had joined under a pseudonym; Nick Pendragon - or dragonpenni for his handle. Nick Pendragon was a young witch from Wisconsin who had recently lost a family member in a magical accident. Nick turned to the forums to see if there was any way to contact those who had passed on.
Through this line of questioning, an older witch had introduced the theory of 'the other side'. The theory was that there was a sort of purgatory for all supernatural creatures that separated them from human death. Klaus thought the legend to be somewhat wishy-washy, but it stated that once, long ago, a powerful witch was in love with a powerful warlock, but the warlock loved a human girl. The witch, scorned by this betrayal, created the other side to keep her and the warlock together in death, and have his love forever separated by her human death. The other side, in the legend, was characterised by an oppressive nothingness to begin with, but as you grow more used to it you live out your eternal death alone, trapped to the confines of where you died.
Klaus thought the legend to be just that, a legend. Though felt the theory had some merit regardless of its origins, because he certainly had experienced the nothingness that was spoken about.
The only other part of the legend was the bit about 'the anchor'. Apparently there was a magical anchor that kept the other side tied to the physical world for the sake of an energy balance. If the anchor was destroyed, so to would be the other side, and a supernatural death would be just that, death.
As far as he could tell, it was because of the other side that witches today were able to draw power from their ancestors, and if the other side fell, that power would fall with it. Klaus could find very little information about what the anchor was or where it may be. Klaus suspected no witch would theorise about it publicly, lest a malevolent being – often characterised as a vampire in these forums – begin a mission to destroy it.
Klaus came across other theories of the supernatural afterlife, however he sensed the theory of the other side was the closest to what he experienced in his long life and short death. From his experience on the other side too, he could see how ancestral witches would be able to interact with witches still living – if he could get angry and move a blood bag, a witch with experience in magic could get emotional and send messages to living witches, surely.
On that particular day, Klaus was using his time to study a depository of spell books someone had posted online. It wasn't his usual use of time, but he was getting a little bored of reading different accounts of the other side, and thought maybe in a spell book he could figure out if it was possible to weave a spell that could give a spirit on the other side a corporeal form.
While considering his corporeal form, Klaus wondered again why him and why Caroline. If the other side was brimming with millennia of the supernatural dead, why had he been able to find a connection with Caroline? He remembered they talked about this once, but if his memory was correct, they were still locked in the Bill Forbes' torture cell at that point. Klaus resolved to revisit that particular puzzle when he could talk to Caroline, maybe the two of them could tease out some sort of answer.
/
It was 550pm, and Caroline was rushing to the Grill, three bags slung awkwardly over her shoulder.
Her training had run a little late, and so now she was rushing to her shift at the Grill. She was sure she'd get there on time, but as she struggled through the door a few minutes later she felt frazzled. She'd been feeling frazzled all day if she was being honest.
"Whoa Care, are you all good?"
The question came from Matt, who was already behind the bar polishing glasses.
Jerk. He also came from an after school training, and also was supposed to start at the Grill at six. And yet he looked calm and relaxed.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, hurrying to dump her bags in the staff area. "Training ran late, and you know how I feel about things not going according to my schedule."
Matt chuckled, as he threw a damp cloth at her so she could start wiping the bar after a couple of patrons took their leave.
And that's how most of the shift ran.
The two of them and the rest of their staff chatted amicably, bussed tables, made drinks, nothing out of the ordinary. Though she did feel herself more drawn to Matt that evening for some reason; searching for his face amongst the bar-goers, worrying if he weren't in her line of sight.
It was nearing 930pm, and Caroline was ready to switch off. On the one hand, her brain was fuzzy and exhausted, struggling to stay focussed on the job ahead of her. But on the other, she felt wired as though there was an energy thrumming around her and within her she couldn't quite shake. And the worrying-about-Matt-thing was wearing her out. Did she have a crush on him again and not realise?
"Gosh, 10pm can't come quick enough!" Caroline said dramatically to Matt as the two of them passed each other.
Matt chuckled at her again, but looked a little sad as he did so.
"Hey, what's up?" she asked, stopping next to him with a tray of clean glasses to put away.
"It's nothing…" he said, unconvincingly. "I'm okay."
"You can talk to me, Matt," she said kindly.
"It's Vicky's birthday today," he said, averting his eyes.
Caroline's face softened, and she put down the glass she was cleaning to rest her hand on his arm.
"I can't stop thinking about her," he whispered, tears brimming in his eyes. "I miss her so much."
Silently, Caroline pulled him into a hug, shutting her eyes tight. As she did so Vicki's face, cold and lifeless flashed in her mind. She would never ever forget how devastating finding Vicki's body was – it was a moment that changed her.
"I'm so sorry, Matt," she said into his neck.
"I sometimes feel people in this town just forget about how she died," he said, strangled. "She's my sister, life shouldn't be just business as usual without her?"
"But I'm here, Matty! I'm here for you! I'm here!"
Caroline's eyes flew open as she heard an unexpected voice.
Over Matt's shoulder, dressed in the same clothes she was wearing the night Caroline found her dead in that storm, stood Vicki Donovan, pleading with Matt to see her.
Caroline's body tensed, and instantly pretended she couldn't see Vicki. Her instincts were telling her that Vicki couldn't know.
She looked at Matt's sorrowful face, desperately trying to not look at Vicki pleading one.
"I'm here for you, Matt," Caroline said, subconsciously mirroring Vicki's words.
"Oh shut up, you bitch," Vicki said. "You don't care about him like I do."
"Thanks Care."
With that, Matt moved away from her, to help a customer, and just like that, Vicki disappeared from in front of her eyes.
/
Hope you enjoyed! Let me know! Much love.