A thousand years ago.

'What the hell is going on?' Was the first thing Katherine said and the question broke through my own confusion.

'I have no idea. I think it's safe to say that we're not in our time anymore, though.' I mumbled, looking around the open space and trying to pick up the sounds of cars, aeroplanes… anything but the most I could hear was the flurry of human chatter.

'Really? That wasn't obvious to me at all.' Katherine muttered sarcastically, but I didn't take it to heart—I could tell she was just as freaked out as I was.

'Okay, think. What were we doing right before we woke up here?' I wondered aloud, pursing my lips in concentration.

The memory seemed to come to us both at the same time, as our gazes met not moments later. Ester wanted to send us back to clean up her mess. She was going to have Finn compel us to complete our task, but I didn't remember the eldest Mikaelson doing it—unless we had been compelled to forget.

'Did she compel us? Or rather, did she get Finn to do it?' Katherine murmured, her own gaze clouded with worry.

'No, otherwise we wouldn't remember him wanting to compel us at all. Not to mention I'm sure we would have been given a backstory and compelled to forget our life back home.' I said, feeling confident with my explanation—if we were going to be compelled, we would probably believed we lived in this time and we definitely wouldn't remember or be worrying about the original's waiting for us at home.

'So why did her plan fail?' I frowned.

'I don't think it did, at least not entirely. I remember hearing her cast the spell and ordering Finn to compel us but I think he got his neck snapped before he could.' Katherine supplied, she started to walk towards the humans we could hear and I followed her, my arm linked though hers.

'Well that's good. We don't have to change anything.' The relief that washed over me was almost crippling, 'but how do we get back? I assume that once our "task" is completed we will return, but what happens if we don't? Will we be stuck here?'

'Let's calm down until we know her plan for location worked. If she did it right, we should be near the village they used to live in when they were human.' Katherine commented, both of us slowing on the outskirts of the human civilisation.

'That's Finn with Elijah.' I pointed over to them discretely, I felt Katherine stiffen at the sight of her love and I squeezed her hand reassuringly.

'They're human. I can hear their heartbeats.' Katherine whispered, her eyes following the second eldest Mikaelson as he and his brother gathered firewood before leaving.

'Okay, so she sent us to the right place. Now what? I don't trust her past self to help us.' I sighed, leaning against a nearby tree.

'Well we're going to need to find a witch, not only to help us get back but to change my appearance.' Katherine mirrored my sigh but didn't look away from the humans in front of us.

'Because the doppelgänger is a supernatural reoccurrence and two existing at the same time wouldn't happen and will raise suspicion,' I nodded in understanding.

'Especially with Ester.' Katherine said.

'Didn't Nik have Ester's body preserved by another witch from their village?' I remembered, frowning as I tried to recall the name of the line, 'from the Bennett line?'

'Yes! You're a genius!' Katherine smiled happily, 'her name was Anaya. You'll have to locate her, I can't risk running into Tatia.'

I mirrored the distaste in her mouth as she said the name—we had both heard stories of the woman who had played both Elijah and Nik. Even if it was (technically) a thousand years ago, Katherine and I both hated the bitch.

I nodded, silently hoping I wouldn't run into her either, and once we had managed to steal some dresses that allowed us to blend in with the time period I walked into the village hoping that this was going to be an easy task. I bit my lip as I walked and tried to ignore the curious stares I was getting and headed for the first man I found alone. I offered him a smile that he returned before I stepped forward and compelled him.

'I am looking for Anaya, could you please tell me where to find her?'

'She lives on the out skirts of the village, next to a family named Mikaelson.' He told me robotically.

'Thank you. If anyone asks I commented on the weather, otherwise you don't remember this conversation.'

I waited for him to repeat the instructions back to me and walked as slowly as I could back to where I had left Katherine. When I saw her holding someone up against a tree by their throat I sighed in irritation.

'Seriously, Katy?' I huffed but when I saw who the man was I felt my anger dissipate, 'Kol?'

Katherine shot me an irritated look that made me roll my eyes, but I did smile sheepishly. Kol's dark eyes flickered over to mine, curiosity burning in them as he looked in between Katherine and I.

'Who are you?' he finally asked when the hold on his throat was removed.

'I'm—,' I started to tell him the truth but Katherine dragged me a few feet away with a firm hand on my arm.

'Are you insane?' She whispered angrily, 'we can't tell him who we are!'

'He won't tell anyone, this is Kol, he might not know us yet but his personality is still the same. He likes having secrets and the possibility to cash in a favour.' I rolled my eyes as her anger transformed into agreement.

'We're from the future.' I told him bluntly, smiling when he looked taken aback, 'an evil witch sent us here to stop something from happening. However, she didn't mix her ingredients correctly and we are under no obligation to do so.'

'Let's say I believe you—,' Kol cut himself off when we both allowed our vampire features to come to the surface, 'what are you?'

We both relaxed when he sounded curious rather than repulsed.

'We can't tell you that. But we need to get home. I was told a witch, Anaya, lives near you?' I said, clarifying what I had been told.

'Yes.' He nodded.

'Can you take us to her?' Katherine pressed, her eyes glinting with impatience.

'I suppose I could, under two conditions.' He smirked, reminding me of his half brother, 'one, I can cash in a favour whenever I want and two you have to answer one question.'

Katherine and I shared a look of uncertainty before looking back to the younger Mikaelson.

'What?' we said together.

'The thing you came back to change…' he trailed off and I stiffened, worried that he was going to ask something that we couldn't tell him, 'is it important that you don't alter what happened?'

I breathed an internal sigh of relief, 'incredibly.'

'Alright then, this way.' He said cheerfully, walking away from us and gesturing for us to follow.

'I can't believe this is happening.' I murmured, my arm linked through Katherine's again.

'Me neither.' She sighed, but after a moments thought a devilish smirk lit up her face, 'though I am excited to see what Elijah is like as a human.'

'Do you think that's wise?' I asked in concern, 'I'm itching to see Nik but what if it changes things, what if them fighting over Tatia is vital to the way events unfold?'

'It shouldn't be. Elijah believed that Tatia was taken to resolve the feud between both brothers. The truth is Ester only took a little of her blood and when Elijah was a newly turned vampire he lost control and killed her. Ester let him believe that lie until it suited her.' Katherine sneered, disgusted with the witch.

'So we can talk to them? Without stopping her from creating the spell?' I tried not to get my hopes up, but it was difficult.

'Yes, we can.' Katherine smiled at me; I returned the gesture before we both focused on Kol.

'Here we are darlings.' He offered us his signature smirk before gesturing behind him, 'our hut is that way, if you ever desire to pop in for a visit.'

I rolled my eyes and Katherine scoffed in amusement. We both watched him leave before knocking on the door, grateful that there only appeared to be one heartbeat inside.

'Yes?' a young woman with dark skin and beautiful brown eyes answered the door, looking friendly though a little uncertain.

'We were hoping you could help us with something.' Katherine said when she saw my unwillingness to speak.

'Of course. Come on in.' she opened the door wider and allowed us to enter.

After she had sat us down we explained everything to her, aside from the fact that Ester would soon be creating a spell for vampirism and that we were also vampires. We didn't think she would help us prevent what witches had deemed as "abominations." But Katherine told her that a witch had sent us back in time to stop something, when she had asked what, we told her we didn't want to tell her for fear of changing the future. When she seemed confused, we explained the spell went wrong and we still had our free will. We told her that we needed a way to be sent back and Katherine needed some magic to make her appear different to others. After we had explained everything, a silence descended in the hut that made my shoulders tense.

'I will help you. I'm not saying it will be easy—the spell that sent you here hasn't yet been invented but I don't doubt that I'll find a way, but it may take some time. As for making you appear different, that is a simple process.' She sighed, standing from her seat and sorting through a pile of books she had nearby until she found the correct one.

She took a strand of my hair that I happily handed over when she assured me she wasn't going to make Katherine look exactly like me. Next she pulled off one of her own rings, laid my hair carefully on top of it and chanted. Nothing appeared to happen, but she soon stopped murmuring and handed the ring over. When Katherine put the ring on I blinked a little at her new appearance. Her hair was now the same light brown as mine, though it was still long and tightly curled; mine came down to my waist and was wavy. Her eyes were the same deep blue as mine and her complexion was now alabaster rather than olive. I supposed she still looked a little like Tatia, but not enough to make the connection.

'I also cast a spell masking your magical signature from other witches.' Anaya commented, drawing us to look at her in confusion, 'while I help you, I don't want any other witches to interfere or deem you as a danger. Trust me, it's for the best.'

We both shrugged before moving to stand, not wanting to impose for a moment longer, plus I didn't know about Katherine but I was starting to feel a little peckish. Anaya told us to remain close and to tell people that we were with her if they asked—though I didn't think it would be a problem thanks to compulsion—and we were on our way. After finding a few people on their way to their own huts we fed, healed and compelled them to forget. Once that was taken care of, we didn't know what to do, though we knew what we wanted to do. I was just a little nervous—I loved Nik and he loved me, at least the future version of himself did. But what if this Nik didn't look at me twice and simply returned his attention to Tatia?

'We don't know how long we'll be here. I don't see the harm in spending time with those we love, even if they don't know they love us yet.' Katherine smirked, and honestly I wished I had her confidence.

'What if they reject us, Katy? Tatia—,' she cut me off before I could continue.

'You and I both know they never actually cared for her, she was something Klaus wanted because Elijah wanted her and vice versa.' She reminded me and I sighed, knowing she was right.

'Okay.' I said softly, 'even if he rejects me it'll be nice to talk to him.'

Katherine rolled her eyes but we headed in the direction Kol had pointed us earlier without further conversation. I couldn't help but think about how far we had come, though. Katherine and I hadn't always been friends, at least not when she had been terrorising my friends when trying to hand Elena over to Klaus in exchange for her freedom. But after that had happened and she had gone on the run after giving the cure to Damon, I left with her. Everyone thought I was crazy, or compelled, but I just felt the need to escape in my bones. At the time, I had never crossed paths with Klaus—he was only interested in Elena and while she was my friend that didn't put me in his immediate crosshairs—I'd never even seen him in the flesh. So I saw no harm in disappearing with the doppelgänger and we had quickly developed a genuine friendship and I could say without hesitation, she was like family to me. We hadn't stayed far from the Originals, Katherine revealed that staying close was smarter and I had to agree. It was a lot less stressful than wondering if he was close every second of every day. I had met him for the first time in New Orleans. Of course I hadn't known it was him.

Katherine had been following Elijah's coffin—Klaus had just daggered him to hand over to Marcel and she refused to not know where he was. Seeing as I didn't think she needed me for that particular affair, I'd gone to Rousseau's. I'd wanted a drink and someone to lose myself in for a while. I hadn't been a vampire for long at that point—Katherine had turned me after about a year of us being on the run together and while I was great at handling the bloodlust, I was starting to feel my sexual frustration building up. I couldn't help but smile as I remembered that night.

'Can I have a bourbon and coke please?' I asked the blonde behind the bar, I offered her a fifty-dollar note and a smile.

I welcomed the burning in my throat and pulled out my phone when it vibrated with a text.

Katy: I might have done something stupid…

Me: Define stupid.

Katy: I intercepted the vampire transporting Elijah and undaggered him.

Me: That's fine, shove the dagger in his pocket, leave and when Elijah wakes up he and Klaus will think the one transporting him was behind it.

Katy: Done. Where are you?

Me: Blowing off some steam. Don't wait up ;)

Katy: I see ;) don't do anything I wouldn't do!

Me: So nothing's off the table?

Katy: Now you're getting it!

I chuckled and slid my phone back into my pocket. I bit my lip and took in my surroundings for the first time. There were plenty of vampires around seeing as New Orleans was basically the city of the dead, but no one had caught my eye yet. I pursed my lips in contemplation and met the bartender's eye. I smiled and she wondered over to me.

'I'm Arianna.' I offered the bartender my hand.

'Camille.' She grinned, seeming relaxed around me, when I heard the catcalls from the vampires I understood why.

'So Camille, I'm looking for a guy to blow off some steam with—anyone you can recommend?' I cut straight to the point, when she didn't seem to judge me I liked her a little more.

'Everyone can honestly be described as sexist pigs.' She said honestly, though her eyes flickered over my shoulder and I followed her gaze to the tall blonde haired, blue-eyed man who entered.

'Or not.' I mumbled, feeling my eyes darken with lust. He was certainly attractive.

It wasn't just his looks, though it was his demeanour. While his seductive smirk and glittering eyes didn't scream threatening, the way he walked to the bar, his shoulders tense and his strides sure and confident stressed he was powerful. For whatever reason, that just upped his attractiveness in my eyes. He took a seat a few stools down from me and I caught his scent—he was a hybrid and for a moment I wondered if this was Klaus but I dismissed it—what were the chances? He ordered himself a drink and seemed to notice my gaze. When his eyes met mine I felt my whole body tingle in awareness, I bit my lip and sent him a flirty smile. He smirked in return, seeming to sense my arousal; I probably should have been embarrassed but I wasn't. A second later, he was sitting next to me.

'Hello, love.' He greeted me, his voice slid over my skin like silk.

Did he have to be British? With dimples? Internally fanning myself I returned his smile.

'I'll cut to the chase. I'm in need of some… company tonight. Only tonight. Would you be willing to fulfil that role?' I wondered, unconsciously biting my lip as I watched the way is bicep flexed underneath the cotton of his t-shirt.

'I would be more than happy to.' He smirked, leaning his forehead against mine, my teeth dug deeper into my lip to hold back my moan.

I broke the skin and he sensed it, his hand pried my lips free and before I could question it he sucked my lower lip into his mouth, drinking my blood. When the wound healed he kissed me with enough passion that I felt it all the way to my toes. I moaned lowly in my throat but I knew he heard it because his hand tightened on my waist possessively.

From there we went back to his house, honestly I hadn't been paying attention to anything but him when he flashed us there. He had slammed me into the back of his door when we stopped with enough force to make the wood groan and I couldn't help my own growing arousal at how animalistic he was being with me. Somehow he knew that I needed rough and he had no problem giving it to me.

His lips came back to mine in a bruising kiss. I pushed off his jacket and shrugged off mine. He kicked off his shoes and ripped my top down the middle, when I returned the favour he smirked. I snapped his belt and unfastened his jeans. I stepped out of my skirt and kicked off my heels. His hands slid tantalisingly down my back and stopped on my ass where he lifted me. I wrapped my legs around his waist, he groaned when I grinded against his erection. I tugged at his curls and found myself being flashed to the desk on the far wall. As soon as I was placed on it he pulled away, ripping off my lacy underwear before pulling down his own. He didn't bother to take them fully off before he pushed inside of me with one fast, rough thrust that made me moan in complete pleasure. My hands went to his shoulders, my nails digging into his skin while he moved inside of me at a pace hard enough to cause the desk to splinter against the wall. Before it could collapse with me on top of it he flashed me to the centre of his bed, but his pace didn't relent.

My nails trailed down his back, breaking the skin, I moaned as the scent of his blood filled the air. He growled and leaned down to bite into my neck, I screamed in ecstasy as him feeding from me spiked my arousal and pushed me over the edge. He pulled away from my neck and when I came down from my orgasm, I realised he was watching me, his eyes dark with lust. Before I could question him, he emptied himself inside of me with a growl and collapsed beside me on the bed. Just as I was considering whether I should leave or not his wrist appeared in front of my face.

'You're a vampire and I'm a hybrid. You might not be feeling it yet, but the venom in your system will kill you.' He said, but that just made me more confused.

'Why would your blood help?' The endorphins in my brain were causing me to put the pieces together at a slower rate than usual.

'My blood is the cure love.' He smirked and I felt myself pale.

I bit into his wrist and drank a few gulps before jumping from the bed and dressing at vampire speed. Did he have to rip my panties and top? I internally groaned as I fastened my leather jacket, grateful I'd thought to take it out that night.

'Why are you in such a hurry, love?' his tone was suggestive and I couldn't help the small shiver that travelled down my spine.

'I have to go. My friend will be worried if I don't get back.' I lied, knowing Katherine wasn't expecting me back until tomorrow.

'Do I get to know your name?' he asked and I paused with my hand on the doorknob, when I looked back I couldn't resist his genuine expression.

'Arianna.' I mumbled before flashing out of the house.

Needless to say, his blood being the cure had put the pieces together for me. I had slept with Klaus. The enemy. The man who had terrorised my friends and forced Katherine on the run for five hundred years. I hadn't told Katherine or anyone but when Katherine had me looking around the quarter for witches or supplies, I had inevitably run into him. More than once. I didn't know what it was about him, but I had been powerless to stop myself from falling for him. He and Elijah had managed to get back onto good footing and eventually Rebekah and Kol had joined them in New Orleans, but that had been after he had reclaimed his kingdom. Klaus went on to rule the city with Marcel and Elijah as his second and third in command.

It had been just after him reclaiming his throne that I had told him my secret. That Katherine was my family. As predicted, he hadn't taken it very well. He had threatened me and I had left him to cool off, knowing he would find me when he was ready to talk. The memory of that conversation was etched into my brain.

'Klaus.' I gasped in surprise when I saw him sitting at the foot of my bed.

'Katherine invited me in.' He mumbled, his head in his hands.

'Why are you here?' I asked, trying not to be afraid, 'to follow through with your threat?'

His eyes met mine and I felt myself soften at the shame I saw in them.

'I came to apologise. And to ask you something.' He stood, staring into my eyes, 'did you do this in the hope that you could get me to fall in love with you and pardon Katarina?'

'No.' I answered without hesitation, 'the first time I met you, I didn't know who you were until you offered me your blood to cure the bite you'd given me. If you remember I left pretty quickly after that.'

'Were you afraid of me?'

'No. I felt like I'd betrayed my friends from Mystic Falls. Like I'd betrayed Katherine. I didn't tell anyone about it and I thought I'd never see you again. But then we kept running into each other and as hard as I tried, I couldn't stay away from you.' My hand came to the side of his face and when he leaned into my touch I couldn't stop my small smile, 'I fell in love with you and when Katherine found out… I've never seen her so angry and hurt. She didn't talk to me for weeks, but eventually she got over it and told me she understood. She said you can't help who you fall in love with.'

'I'm sorry for what I said when you told me about Katherine. I would never hurt you.' His hand caressed my cheek gently before he rested his forehead against mine, 'I love you, Arianna.'

After that, it had taken some time but eventually Elijah and I had convinced him to give up his vendetta against Katherine. I liked to think it was because he wanted to see his brother happy, while Elijah was sure I deserved the credit. Either way, Katherine hadn't had to run anymore and once she got used to Klaus' presence and stopped flinching every time he made a sudden movement or raised his voice, they had become friends. Katherine and I were considered members of the family. We had lived happily in New Orleans for half a century until Ester decided to rear her head again with Finn in tow. I don't know how she had come back and I just hoped that she was dead and Finn was daggered in our time.

'There.' Katherine whispered, snapping me out of my memories of the past.

My gaze focused on the small hut that was about thirty feet in front of us, but thanks to our eyesight we could see everything perfectly. Finn and Mikael were sword fighting, Kol was watching with boredom clearly expressed on his face and from the sound of it Ester was inside the house with Henrik and Bekah. Elijah and Nik were nowhere in sight, though I could guess where they were.

'They're probably—' I was about to voice my deduction when Katherine elbowed me in the ribs and gestured over to the back of the hut.

Klaus and Elijah were clearly sneaking out. They couldn't have looked more suspicious and it took everything inside of me not to laugh as we followed after them. It was quite funny how easy they made it for us to shadow their every move and I was sure even without my supernatural hearing I would have been able to hear them easily.

'Niklaus, are you sure this is what you want?' Elijah asked.

'Yes. Father thinks I am weak, I need to refine my skills Elijah.' Nik insisted, his words making Katherine and I share a look of concern.

'As you wish.' The elder Mikaelson sighed, 'we need to put more distance between us and father.'

They continued to walk for about ten more minutes, none the wiser that we were following them closely. I was biting my lip nervously, not knowing how I was going to introduce myself to him. How were we just supposed to intercept a sword fight without raising suspicion?

Eventually they stopped, apparently content with their distance between them and their deranged father, but before they could start fighting I stepped on a twig. I winced when their gazes snapped in our direction and I could practically feel myself melting underneath Katherine's glare of exasperation.

Whoops. Looks like we would be interacting with them sooner than we thought.

'Really?' She muttered.

'Sorry!' I sighed, offering the men in front of us a shy smile.

'I don't believe we've seen you around before,' Elijah wondered over to us with Nik a few paces behind him.

I could hear Katy's heart beat pick up as he came closer and I felt my own doing the same as I stared into Nik's eyes. I looked away, grateful that I couldn't blush as I focused on what Elijah was saying.

'I am Elijah and this is my brother, Niklaus.' Elijah introduced us and I bit back a smirk when he raised Katherine's knuckles to his lips.

'I'm Arianna and this is Katarina.' I replied, seeing as Elijah had rendered Katherine speechless with his touch.

'Are you new to the village?' Nik asked, drawing my attention back to him.

'We're acquaintances of Anaya. We were struggling for food and shelter until she recently took us in.' Katherine managed to find her voice to reel off the lie.

'Anaya is very generous.' Elijah smiled, seeming enamoured with Katherine.

'It was nice to meet you both. Will we see you tonight at the feast?' Nik asked, his eyes flickering over my face.

'Of course.' I answered with a smile, surprised at Nik's shyness—it wasn't a side I saw of him very often.

With that we left them to their fighting, knowing we couldn't push it too much, though we now apparently had plans with them later that night. The butterflies in my stomach had started as soon as I'd caught sight of him, now they were the size of bats and I knew by the time night fell, my nerves would be cascading throughout my entire body.