"Klaus," Caroline tried. "You have to listen to me. This isn't just a memory, I'm really here."
He smiled at her almost indulgently. "You know, you're quite the dancer."
"Yes, I've had training, I was Miss Mystic Falls," Caroline snapped impatiently. "Klaus, seriously! We have to get out of here!"
"I know," Klaus murmured to her and she gasped as the ballroom began to melt away. Caroline blinked, suddenly standing in daylight.
They were walking together, and Caroline's ballgown was gone, replaced with one of her old favorites—the gold dress that skimmed her thighs. Klaus was once again wearing a suit and a pale blue tie, with an expression that indicated he knew something more than her.
"The pageant," Caroline said suddenly. "The one where you were my date. That's where we were. And I asked you if you'd ever take the cure."
"Now why would I want to cure myself of being the most powerful creature on the planet?" Klaus asked philosophically, taking a seat on the bench. He poured them both a glass of champagne.
Caroline sighed. "God, are we just going to go through all the memories of us together? Come on, Klaus, we don't have much time!"
He didn't seem to be listening. Perhaps he couldn't even hear her. "Life used to be a lot easier. Don't you miss the days of being…chair of the Mystic Falls beautification league? And the director of the policeman's yearly raffle." He withdrew her application with flourish and she winced.
"God, this again—you better have thrown that away!" She made a grab for it, but of course, she missed and he continued to read, barely stifling chuckles as he did so.
"When I am chosen, I intend to redefine excellence—now, I'm really enjoying your use of 'when' here, it's very confident." Klaus looked just as gleeful as she remembered and she couldn't help giggling in spire of herself. she recalled how much this moment had thrown her. He'd teased her like he was any other teenage boy at Mystic Falls. She remembered thinking, If he was like this all the time…I'd be in serious trouble.
"Klaus, please," Caroline attempted to grab his arm. "You have to snap out of this. I'm here, I'm here for real! Please, listen to me!"
The images shifted and Caroline was staring at Klaus. They were in his old mansion in Mystic Falls and he'd taken her hand. He was staring at her in admiration and gratitude, emotions so sincere that once again, it threw her.
"Thank you," He said softly. "For helping me."
When Silas had gotten inside his head. "Klaus," Caroline said desperately. "I'm trying to help you now! You're still in danger! This is a real crisis here!"
The images flickered, but they were still inside Klaus' house. He was looking at her in exasperation and mild amusement.
"It's not funny!" Caroline shouted. "Madame Lalaurie could be here any second!"
"I know, I know," He attempted to compose himself. "But surely finding another dress is well within your substantial vampire capabilities?"
Her prom dress. One of the memories that he was escaping inside was her asking him for a prom dress? There was no order to these, they all seemed random. There was none of the darker moments, the screaming, the anger, the hurt.
But with Madame Lalaurie torturing him, would he really want to revisit those moments and add additional pain? Her relationship with Klaus had rare moments of joy.
And to be fair to him, the dress, the Princess-Grace-of-Monaco dress that he'd found for her had been above and beyond perfection. She had been so delighted, so happy to have a dress unlike any other. She'd asked Klaus how she looked with a twirl and he'd smiled at her and said she looked stunning, as always.
She was losing it. She was becoming lost in the memories as well. "Klaus!" Caroline shouted. "Klaus, please!"
The vision melted again and it was evening. She stood on the graduation stage and shivered a little. He was behind her.
"I was already on my way," Klaus told her. "I received your graduation announcement."
"I know you did—I mean, this has happened before! Klaus!" She was so frustrated, she could feel her eyes filling.
"I'd considered offering you a first class ticket to join me in New Orleans," Klaus continued. "But I knew what your answer would be."
"Klaus, that's where I am!" Caroline shouted, grabbing his shoulders. "I'm in New Orleans. You wanted me to come, here I am! Snap out of it!"
"Tyler is now free to return to Mystic Falls," Klaus didn't heed her, but his eyes were sad. "He's your first love. I intend to be your last." He leaned to her and kissed her cheek, lingering just a little.
She grabbed his face. "What am I supposed to do? What will snap you out of this?" She demanded. "Am I just supposed to play along with every single stinking memory of me you have in your subconscious?"
Caroline let out a loud expletive when once again, the memory shifted. It was daylight now, and the two of them were standing in the woods. She blinked in confusion as he gazed at her intensely.
"I want your confession," Klaus said firmly.
"My confession about—" Caroline stopped short. She remembered this.
"Me," Klaus finished for her and there was no way in hell she was reliving this memory.
"Okay, look you," Caroline shouted. "This is one memory I am not going to act out for you! I'm here to freaking rescue you, so could you please just wake up already!" In a burst of adrenaline and instinct, she slapped him hard across the face.
And suddenly, the memory shattered. Caroline was standing in a dark room, staring at Klaus, who appeared to be unconscious, bare-chested, chained to the wall, covered in blood. Somehow, sunlight streamed through the basement and over and over, Klaus burned.
XXXX
"Shit!" Caroline exploded. Like a flash, she darted towards the windows and pulled the curtains, blocking the sunlight. They were underground, how could there be sunlight? She turned towards Klaus, relieved that the flames licking his body had immediately been smothered. If he had been anything other than an Original, he'd be dead.
"Klaus," Caroline said desperately. She went to him, lifting his face. "Klaus, wake up! Are you all right? Klaus!"
His eyes flickered at her and he swallowed. His badly burned chest shook slightly and she realized he was laughing.
"Ah, what a trick," Klaus mumbled. "Just when I thought there was something you couldn't torture me with—well done, Madame Lalaurie. Your illusions are getting better with each passing day."
"It's not a trick, it's me, Klaus!" Caroline sighed in frustration. Not quite what she imagined her reunion to be.
"But you've made one fatal error, Lalaurie," Klaus said spitefully. "As if this shallow hallucination could fool me. You don't know Caroline. She would never come here."
Caroline stilled. Is that what he really thought? That she hated him enough to just leave him to rot when his life was in danger?
"I thought you knew me better than that, Klaus," Caroline said firmly. "You're in for a shock, then." She attempted to pull the chains off the wall and yelped when they burned her palms. They had been drenched in vervain. She swore again and gritted her teeth, biting her tongue through her teeth as she used all her strength to yank them from the ceiling. Klaus fell against her like a sack of potatoes and she glanced around nervously. It couldn't be that easy to get Klaus unchained.
Then again, perhaps Madam Lalaurie never thought anyone would get this far.
"Klaus," Caroline struggled to keep him upright. "Come on, Klaus, get it together. God, how long has it been since you fed?"
He mumbled something against her shoulder.
She sighed in exasperation. "Okay, I'm going to do something incredibly stupid. But we don't have time for anything else." She faltered for a moment and then with more resolution, bit savagely into her wrist. She let him sag against the floor, kneeling down with him and pushed her bloody wrist to his mouth.
"Suck, don't bite," She ordered. "I'm serious, Klaus. I cannot carry you out of here with werewolf venom in my system. Do you understand? Suck, don't bite."
There was the faintest trace of humor in his eyes that indicated that her phrase would certainly be turned into innuendo later on, but his tongue flicked out and be began obeying her command. Caroline thanked her lucky stars that he had enough lucidity to listen and she did not feel his teeth puncture anything further. It was a messy job of feeding, as he only used his lips, but it worked nonetheless.
"All right," Caroline lifted him upwards. "I need you to lean on me. We're getting out of here."
Klaus looked at her in deep suspicion. "You cannot be real."
"Klaus, I just ripped you free from your chains, let you feed on me, despite your bite having the capability to kill me—what exactly will make you believe that I'm actually here?" Caroline demanded.
"She wouldn't be here," Klaus said with dull confidence. "She'd never come to New Orleans. She'd say no."
"Whatever," Caroline rolled her eyes. "If I have to carry you out of here, so be it. But we need to get a move on." She wrapped his arm around her shoulders, taking most of his weight. She had a brief flash of a memory where Klaus once praised her desire to remain a vampire. You like being strong. Fearless. Well, there was no denying she wouldn't be able to do this as a human.
They'd almost made it halfway out of the dungeon when a woman suddenly appeared before them.
"Now where do you think you're taking my little pet?"
XXXX
Madame Lalaurie was not how Caroline had imagined her. But on second thought, what she really expected? An old crone? Someone in a KKK ensemble?
Delphine Lalaurie was…genteel. Her voice was soft as velvet, her hair was artfully gathered to the nape of her neck, and her clothes, though extremely old-fashioned, were elegant and refined. She almost looked like an older version of Melanie Hamilton from Gone with the Wind, a deeply disconcerting comparison. Caroline stared at her, swallowing hard, trying to think of a Plan B.
Madame Lalaurie regarded her. "Now who might you be?" She wondered aloud. "I thought perhaps Rebekah, but you lack that certain air the Originals' possess."
"Get out of my way," Caroline snarled.
"Oh, I don't think so," Madame Lalaurie purred. "For now, I'm intrigued." She snapped her fingers and Caroline felt as though the floor fell beneath her. There was a terrible yawning maw before them all and she shrieked—but when she opened her eyes, she stood in the sanctuary of the church.
"Much better than a dusty basement," Madame Lalaurie said with approval. "Now why don't you drop my hybrid, dear? Then we can have a nice little chat on how you got through my hexes unscathed."
"Forget it," Caroline growled at her. "I'm leaving and I'm taking Klaus with me. You can't stop me."
Madame Lalaurie chuckled. "I admire a girl with spark. I can tell you come from good stock, good Southern lineage. And—what a queer little thing you are. Vampire…and yet so much light. Purity. How strange."
"You don't know anything about me."
"Maybe not," Madame Lalaurie acknowledged. "You'll have to illuminate me." She flicked her wrist and Caroline and Klaus slammed against the altar, pinned together painfully. Madame Lalaurie neared them gracefully, examining Caroline closely.
"I have to admit, I am surprised, Klaus," Madame Lalaurie remarked. "I'd expected your lovely family to attempt a daring rescue, but I had no idea you had such a pretty lover waiting in the wings."
"Leave her out of this," Klaus rasped. "Let her go, Lalaurie."
"I'm not his lover!" Caroline struggled against the invisible bonds. "And I'm not going to let you enslave anyone ever again!"
"Oh no?" Madame Lalaurie pressed a finger to her chin. "So you are here to rescue him from my evil grasp, is that not correct?"
She folded her arms and laughed. "Enslavement is nothing new to Klaus Mikaelson. Were you this determined to free his own hybrid slaves, I wonder?"
"Actually, I was," Caroline snapped. "You don't know anything about me, lady."
"Very true," Madame Lalaurie said demurely. "Let us find out then." She raised a palm and Klaus stiffened. Whatever bound him to the altar seemed to lift and he took a staggering step towards Madame Lalaurie.
"Sire bonds are finicky things to duplicate," Madame Lalaurie. "But it appears I've got the hang of it, don't you think?"
She cleared her throat. "Tell me, Klaus—who is this girl?"
Caroline watched in horror as Klaus answered in a dull monotone. "Caroline Forbes. Of Mystic Falls."
"And what is her connection to you?"
"I love her."
Caroline's heart lurched at the bald admission. Klaus' eyes were filled with rage at Lalaurie's control but his answers remained steady.
"And does she," Madame Lalaurie smirked. "Does she love you?"
"No," Klaus' reply was stark and Caroline swallowed.
"What a tragic love story," Madame Lalaurie said mockingly. "But why would she be here, I wonder? Why doesn't she love you?"
"She loves someone else."
"And who might that be?"
Klaus gritted his teeth, apparently making an attempt to resist the sire bond. "She loves—she loves Tyler Lockwood. Another hybrid."
A slow smile spread on Madame Lalaurie's face. "Well, well. The plot thickens. And would this other hybrid happen to be one of your former slaves?"
His eyes burned but he answered. "Yes."
"This just gets more fascinating by the minute," Madame Lalaurie remarked. "Like a Greek tragedy. It seems to me that Klaus Mikaelson has given you every reason to hate him. So what on earth are you doing here?"
"I don't have to explain myself to someone like you," Caroline spat.
Madame Lalaurie's eyes darkened. "Perhaps not. You do intrigue me, but if you are going to be unreasonable, you're no further use to me." She turned towards Klaus.
"Klaus," She said in a purring voice. "Kill Caroline Forbes."