Summary: "Everyone she's ever loved is gone. They're all ghosts of people she used to know." Caroline is sent back in time to fix things, but when she arrives, things have already changed. She's unsure if she's going crazy, if she was sent to an alternate timeline, or if she wasn't sent back alone.
A/N: I'm supposed to be working on "Endlessly," but after reading a couple time-travel/fix-it fics, I was inspired to write my own. (Especially after reading The Way back by Cupcakemolotov, so I'd highly recommend that one if you're interested in reading a brilliantly written completed one-shot.) This will be a rather lengthy two-shot: one mostly Caroline POV and one mostly Klaus POV. I hope you enjoy!
A/N2: Title taken from "Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne.
Warnings: Non-graphic mentions of torture and death. Possible trigger warnings for mentioned rape and sexual assault.
No Place to Go (Keep Holding On)
Caroline wakes up, gasping and holding her head as memories crash into her.
The last thing she remembers is that the ancestors spoke to Bonnie from the other side and gave Bonnie and Freya the chance to make things right.
A glance around the room brings her back to her childhood bedroom in her mom's home.
A glance at the cellphone on her nightstand reveals that she's 50 years in the past.
She's sixteen again.
It takes her another moment to realize that something's not right.
Everything is too quiet. She can't hear beyond her window, she's breathing too loudly and she can't smell anything, and her back aches. She feels a sharp pang in her hand and looks down to see that she accidentally pierced skin in her anxiousness.
She watches as tiny droplets of blood well up, and watches in surprise as it doesn't heal.
The realization crashes into her like an ice bath.
She's human.
Silas had been nothing compared to the havoc and chaos that Dahlia had brought with her.
As it turned out, Esther's sister was crazier and more psychotic than any of the Mikaelsons, more cunning and evil than anyone could have known.
She somehow managed to channel Esther's powers from the other side; using that and a corruption of the Harvest Festival, she took the witches of New Orleans hostage and drained them of their power.
She used her niece, Freya, the oldest Mikaelson and only other Mikaelson witch, as an anchor, and ruthlessly killed the other Mikaelsons – Elijah, Kol, and Rebekah – as an example. She had their heads – and Marcel's – put on a spike at the entrance of New Orleans as a warning to all.
And then she kidnapped Caroline to use as bait for a trap for Klaus.
It was a massacre. Countless vampires, witches, and werewolves were killed. Elijah's and Rebekah's entire sirelines were wiped out instantaneously.
Dahlia Caroline tortured in front of Klaus as a means to break him.
She tried to pit Klaus and Caroline against one another.
Klaus had vocally refused, rage evident in his face. Caroline hadn't bothered to respond, glaring at the witch with hatred in her eyes.
Dahlia had simply smiled before piercing Caroline through the torso with a stake.
Klaus had screamed, shouting threats at Dahlia.
Dahlia staked him with the last remaining white oak stake as he watched Caroline bleed out on the floor, and he slumped to the floor beside her, watching her with an expression of regret and tears in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Caroline." He said quietly.
It hurt to speak, but she shook her head. She wouldn't allow him to regret this.
"I love you," she choked out, her voice a ragged whisper as she reached out to touch his hand.
He grasped her fingers and gave her a pain-filled smile. "I love you too."
Caroline had laid on the floor, tears blurring her vision as his body desiccated and turned cold. She looked towards Bonnie, who had valiantly tried to rescue her, who was now chained to Freya as a means to increase Dahlia's powers.
Tears fell down Bonnie's face as she watched, but Freya had whispered to her, and grabbed her hand.
"It'll be okay, Care," her best friend whispered. "I promise, you'll be okay."
Beside her, Freya murmured something.
As Caroline struggled to keep her eyes open, she heard Bonnie whisper, "Don't forget me, okay?"
As her world went dark, she swore she heard Dahlia screaming in the background.
She crashes through the farthest outskirts of the forests, just outside of Mystic Falls, far away that no one will hear her. She realizes she's running in a blind panic, but that's the least of her worries right now.
She finds herself standing in a clearing. She spins around a couple times, staring up into the night sky. Spins a couple more times, making sure that no one's around, even though she's pretty sure she's alone.
She hasn't been in these woods in decades. Everything is both familiar and foreign at once, and she feels overwhelmed by the intensity of it all.
"WHY, BONNIE, WHY?" She screams into the emptiness, collapsing to the floor as tears stream down her face.
She's never felt so alone.
The pain in her soul, the heartache. It hurts more than being tortured.
She's a nobody. Her friends aren't really talking to her at this point in time. From what she remembers, Bonnie's struggling with her new witchy powers, Elena's struggling with the Salvatore brothers, Matt's worried about his sister, and Tyler… Tyler has a whole bunch of other problems to worry about.
Also, the Mikaelsons don't know her. She supposes that she could try to pass a message onto them, but she's positive that there's no way that Klaus, in all his paranoia, will just take her message and let her go. He's more likely to torture her for everything she knows before killing her, and she'd like to live since Bonnie and Freya sacrificed themselves to send her back to fix things.
So no, going to the Mikaelsons is not an option at this point in time. She's going to have to figure out things for herself.
But she's not even a vampire. She's even more useless – she's human. She can't fight, she can't compel, she can't force things into motion.
Everyone she's ever known, everyone she's ever loved, is gone. They're all ghosts of people she used to know.
She doesn't know how she'll be able to exist, how she'll be able to continue passing the days.
She marvels at how young they were. They were just babies, caught up in centuries-old supernatural drama. And god, they were so stupid to think that they could outplay Original vampires who had thousands of years of experience and limitless resources at their disposal.
A rustle comes from the trees, and she's standing on her feet in an instant, ready to run from her would-be attacker.
A gorgeous wolf appears, with silvery fur and golden eyes, and a curious stance about it. It stands tall, its head nearly reaching her chest.
It slowly approaches Caroline, coming to a stop just in front of her, within reaching distance. She cautiously reaches a hand out, and the wolf gives a soft whine and nudges her hand with its snout.
She laughs incredulously as she sits on the forest floor, in the middle of nowhere, petting a random stray wolf. She eventually lays down, and the wolf curls up next to her.
"Bonnie," she whispers, tears burning behind her eyelids as she closes her eyes, "why?"
After some time, the wolf whines and nudges her hand. She cracks open an eyelid and sees that the wolf is standing, insistently nudging her hand. Caroline is perplexed, because she can't imagine that she's in any sort of Disney movie right now.
But werewolves didn't exist in Mystic Falls, right? Aside from the Lockwoods?
"You're not a normal wolf, are you?" She asks slowly, carefully standing up as curiosity rises to the surface.
The wolf whines again and begins walking, stopping every so often and looking back at her to see if she's following.
"This has to be some wild, crazy dream," she mutters to herself, unsure of why she's following this wolf in the first place.
Eventually, she finds herself in more familiar territory – she's only a short walk from the main town pathway, and about fifteen minutes away from home.
She looks at the wolf, who has stopped and for some reason looks rather pleased with itself.
"You… brought me home?"
The wolf barks softly in response.
Bewildered, she asks slowly, "Did you… kick me out of your forest?"
The wolf whines, comes up to her, and gently nudges her with its head, pushing her towards the direction of the town.
She holds up her hands in a gesture of surrender, laughing incredulously as she says, "Okay, I get it. I'll… go home. Or something."
The wolf gives her hand a small lick before it trots back into the woods.
It takes time to sort out her memories. It's like all of her old memories crashed into her memories in this timeline, and she just needs time – and a crap ton of booze – to sort everything out.
Mostly, Caroline dreams of death.
She dreams of people she hasn't met yet, people she's gotten to know; people who eventually mean something to her, but not now.
She wakes up covered in sweat, her heart pounding, choking back her own screams.
She's scared to sleep. Every time she closes her eyes, she sees them.
Klaus.
Bonnie.
Freya.
She has no idea where to start.
She can't remember how frustrating being a human is.
After the weekend passes, she stays home for a couple days, faking an illness. Bonnie and Elena text her, concerned. She can't bring herself to respond. She's terrified of seeing these girls, her best friends, but… not.
She tries to mentally map out everything that happened, that should happen. (She can't very well write everything down and risk someone finding them, can she? Best case scenario, they'd think she was crazy and lock her up in a mental institution, and then what could she do? Worst case scenario, they'd torture everything out of her before killing her, and that would be counterproductive to Bonnie and Freya sending her back to fix things.)
She doesn't know if the Salvatores are in town yet. She doesn't think so, but she can't be sure.
At least her mom doesn't ask too many questions, since work's keeping her so busy.
When Caroline finally decides to return to school, she's so anxious she's just short of a panic attack. It's so strange to be back in high school, to be sixteen again.
This is when everything started changing, and she's not even sure where to start.
"Ohmygosh Care, you're back!" Amy, one of the cheerleaders greets her, squealing, "We got a new student and he is sooooo hot!"
A pit forms in her stomach.
Stefan has arrived, then. Which means that Damon will follow shortly after.
Caroline tries to steel herself to meet the younger Salvatore again, when Amy adds, "And his sister!"
She pauses, frowning in thought. Surely there's no way in hell that Bonnie sent her to an alternate universe where Stefan had a sister named Damon?
The cheerleaders swoon as they point out the new student.
Caroline pastes a smile to her face, turns towards Stefan's direction, and freezes. It's not Stefan.
She would recognize that ridiculously handsome face anywhere, with the mischievous smirk and roguish charm.
Kol Mikaelson.
"So you're Caroline Forbes," he drawls in an amused tone, "The illustrious cheer captain."
Her eyes widen as she struggles to formulate a response. "Nice to meet you." She finally murmurs faintly, unsure of how to process the events unfolding before her eyes. She brushes past him, politely excusing herself as she heads to class.
He watches her, his eyes narrowed as she all but bolts.
Thankfully, he doesn't follow her, but Caroline can't shake the feeling that things are different.
Something has happened, but he's not sure what.
Klaus receives periodic reports on Caroline from the hybrids assigned to watch her. He assigned a team of his most elite hybrids, hybrids he personally trained himself, who have been tasked with protecting Caroline at all costs, including their very lives, and to remain silent and hidden unless absolutely necessary. So far, at least to his knowledge, Caroline has yet to notice her secret security detail. Most of the contents of the reports are mundane and repetitive – her class schedule, her extracurricular activities, town events she is helping to plan, doctor's visits for annual check-ups and whatnot. The reports also contain notes about the people she associates herself with – her close friends, classmates, and people she appears to hold disdain for.
But then, his hybrids call him one day, their tones bewildered as they convey their latest report. Caroline had wandered into the forest the other day – wandered far enough to get lost, had screamed and cried into the nothingness, and the Bennett witch had been mentioned. Thankfully, one of the hybrids had the common sense to check on her (in wolf form, to maintain secrecy) and to ensure that she made it home safely.
And then she missed two days of school. The official report from the school stated that Caroline was home, sick. But she has never missed a day of school, ever. He remembers notes in Caroline's school records indicating exasperated reports from the school nurse stating that Caroline should be home resting due to a cold.
His hybrids dutifully text him when Caroline finally returns to school, and Klaus finds himself curious to see what the reports will say of her first interactions with Kol and Rebekah.
He has been sitting at home, contemplating his current sketch, when he receives a text message from Kol: I do believe that your Caroline recognized me, even though I'm quite certain we haven't met before. She's quite a tasty little thing, isn't she?
He is so startled that he almost drops the phone.
Hope begins to flutter in his chest – did Freya keep her promise? – but he refuses to give into such a foolish notion without proof.
But his eyes narrow as he registers his brother's last words, and he taps out his response: Try anything and I'll tear out your liver.
He receives a follow-up message from Kol almost immediately: Bekah won't be happy.
Sure enough, he receives a text message from his sister later that day: Nik, she knows who I am. This was a bloody stupid idea, and you owe me a new dress.
Now, how to approach Caroline…
She officially meets Klaus again a couple weeks later, when the Mikaelsons host a ball and invite the entire town.
Caroline should have suspected that it was a ruse to get the Mystic Falls gang together on MIkaelson territory.
After a couple glasses of delicious champagne, she finds herself ushered into an elaborate study with Bonnie, Elena, Tyler, Stefan, and Damon. Seated across from them are Klaus, Rebekah, Elijah, Kol, Finn, and a red-headed vampire that Caroline vaguely remembers being named Sage.
Klaus doesn't appear to notice her as he calmly lays out the terms for an agreement that sounds too good to be true, but it's honestly not too different from how he was when he was previously in Mystic Falls.
Damon and Stefan are yelling at Klaus, arguing over Elena's life and the importance of her freedom.
"Take the deal, Elena." Caroline's voice sounds odd, foreign to her own ears, as she interrupts Stefan's plea.
Eleven pairs of eyes turn to her, wearing varying expressions of shock and betrayal and surprise, and she shrugs, trying to ignore the intensity of Klaus' gaze as he watches her with a calculating expression in his eyes. "It's the best deal you're going to get. There's literally nothing stopping them from killing all of us and locking you away in some secret underground dungeon where no one will ever find you. At least this way, you'll get to live the life you want, for the most part. All you'd have to do is make a safe monthly blood donation; it's nothing you'll miss."
"You're siding with them?" Elena hisses, jerking her head over at the Mikaelsons, her tone full of disbelief. Behind her, Stefan and Damon stand silently, giving her deadly looks. Stefan's looks… conflicted, like he might be considering her words. Damon's, in particular, is furious.
"Why do there have to be sides?" Caroline shoots back irritably. The memories push at the edges of her mind, as she recalls that their insisting on sides had a role to play in the events to come. She shakes it away. "I'm just trying to keep casualties down to a minimum. This way, no one else has to die, Elena. Why can't you see that? Or do you want Stefan and Damon to die trying to prove their love for you? Is that what you want?"
Elena's expression is furious, her cheeks reddening from the accusation. "I can't believe you, Care."
"Oh believe it," Damon finally bites out, smiling menacingly as he adds, "She's always been a useless twit."
Her fingers curl into fists, her memories rising to the surface. For a moment, she'd love to rip her fingers into his chest, curl them around his heart, and squeeze just so he knows she can. But then she remembers that she's human in this timeline, and she can't.
"Maybe," she bites out in response, giving him her best Miss Mystic Falls smile. "But at least I have enough class to not go after my sibling's significant other. I'll be sure to throw a party when you're dead. After all, if you're dead, you can't compel underage girls into having sex with you and being your personal blood bag."
She swears the temperature in the room drops to ice. Shock flickers across Damon's face, and Stefan and Elena watch her with wide eyes.
She looks deliberately at Damon and gives him a cold smile, enjoying a thrill of satisfaction as he pales when she says quietly, so Bonnie and Elena can't hear, "I remember everything, you douchenozzle."
She looks over to Bonnie, who looks conflicted, and she gives her best friend a small smile and shakes her head. Her gaze briefly sweeps over to the Mikaelsons: Rebekah has a coolly calculating expression on her face, Kol looks mildly entertained by the events unfolding, and Elijah looks politely disinterested. Finn and Sage wear identical expressions of neutrality, as if they're here out of familial obligation and nothing else.
She carefully, deliberately, forces herself to not look at Klaus.
"Care." Bonnie finally says, stepping forward and standing by her side, to Caroline's surprise. The witch takes her hand and says, "You're my best friend. I'm sorry we weren't better friends to you, and you're right. But Elena needs us right now."
To her own surprise, she shakes her head, bitterly recalling, "No, she doesn't. She has everything she needs right in front of her and she can't make up her goddamn mind about which Salvatore douchebag she'd rather date. The world revolves around Elena. Even the Mikaelsons are giving her a literal deal of a lifetime and she's stupid enough to say no, and because of it, more people are going to die. And I refuse to be here when that happens. I don't want you to lose you, Bon."
She makes up her mind then and there. It's too painful to stay in Mystic Falls, it'll kill her to watch everything repeat a second time.
So she'll leave. Find a vampire somewhere and ask them to turn her. Figure out how to get her hands on a daylight ring. Hunt down the coven that had started this whole mess in the first place and kill each and every single one of them.
But before she can put any of those plans into motion, someone grabs her and the world spins.
For a moment, she can't catch her breath. But then everything stops and she's no longer there.
"Tell me, love. Are you a seer? You seem to know things you shouldn't, which is curious considering that you're a human. So fragile and breakable, hmmm?"
Klaus. He studies her, his gaze dark and intent, curious.
"Maybe I just don't like sociopathic egomaniacs threatening my friends." She responds tightly.
"Even friends who compel you into having sex with them and being their personal blood bag?" He asks, his voice deceptively light.
Caroline is startled to see the rage on his face, the underlying anger and the fury.
"He's not my friend." She finally responds.
"Elena will accept my bargain." He finally states, finality in his voice. "Once arrangements are made, and the Salvatores are dealt with, the doppelganger is no longer my priority."
"Good for you." Caroline says. "Congratulations. You have everything you want."
"Not everything," he murmurs quietly. "Not yet."
"Just so we're clear," she finds herself biting out before she realizes what she's doing, "I'm too smart to be seduced by you."
A flicker of surprise sparks across his face before a heartbreakingly familiar smirk forms on his lips as he murmurs, his breath ghosting over her ear, "That's what I like about you."
Her heart pounds wildly in her chest, and her eyes widen at the familiar response, so identical to the words once exchanged between them that it's like a barb to her heart.
Did he…?
She struggles to blink away the tears that suddenly appear, hot and wet, opens her mouth, stunned. Closes it, when she can't formulate a response.
She watches him, can't make out the imperceptible expression on his face and the dark look in his eyes, and finally turns and flees.
He lets her, his gaze never leaving her body as she shuts the door behind her.
What the hell is going on?
She is halfway home before a figure blurs and appears in front of her.
"I saw the way he looked at you." Damon says quietly, his voice threatening and menacing.
Before she can respond, he appears in front of her in a flash, his eyes flashing dangerously as his hands grip the sides of her face.
She gasps, digging her nails into his hand, clawing at him as she shouts angrily, but it's useless.
His hands twist, and she hears a snap before her world goes black.
She wakes up in an impossibly comfortable and unfamiliar bed, gasping and clutching her head.
Everything is so loud, pounding in her ears.
She's so, so thirsty.
She bites the inside of her cheek in frustration, unable to hold back a small whimper of pain as tears threaten to fall.
She tries to think back to the last thing she remembers – Damon, angry at her, snapping her neck in retaliation.
She must have had vampire blood in her system, otherwise she wouldn't have awakened.
A thought occurs to her – the champagne. She'd had two glasses. What were the odds that there was vampire blood in all the champagne served that night, or better yet, the specific glasses she drank?
Her musing is interrupted as someone pushes a tumbler into her hand, and a quiet voice says, "Drink, love."
She jumps, startled. She'd been so lost in thought that she didn't sense the presence of another person – Klaus, her brain unhelpfully supplies – until then.
She reaches out with trembling fingers, thirstily gulping down the warm blood. She's still shaking when she finishes – she's so hungry – and she attempts to curl up on herself, trying to control her monster as she takes deep shuddering breaths.
She vaguely notices that there's a ring on her left middle finger, surprised to recognize that it's a daylight ring.
"You'll be alright, Caroline." Klaus says quietly, and the bed dips as he sits down next to her and gently gathers her into his arms.
The touch is so familiar that it breaks the fragile walls she's built, the fear of being surrounded by all these people she's grown to love, who are no longer hers, and she cries. He carefully lays her down, arranges her so that her head's on his lap, soothingly runs his fingers through her hair and across her back.
"Why are you being nice to me?" She finally asks once her tears stop.
"Do I need a reason to be nice to you?" He asks carefully, and she can't help but notice that he doesn't answer her question.
She sits up and looks at him. She looks him in the eye.
He doesn't look like the Klaus she knew; but she knows her Klaus. She knows each and every single one of his expressions, of the glint in his eye.
He's unafraid and unflinching as he meets her gaze.
There's something warm and familiar in his face, along with a bit of hesitation.
"…Klaus?" She finally ventures, her voice a quiet whisper.
She stands on her feet, and she hesitantly takes a step back in case she's wrong.
He stands up when she does, and takes a step forward, stopping in front of her. His stance is open and nonthreatening, his shoulders mostly relaxed.
"But you died," her voice trembles, the tears coming back. She wraps her arms around herself, hope fluttering in her chest so wildly that she's afraid.
He shakes his head. "So did you."
"You're here," she whispers, eyes wide. "Am… Am I dreaming? Is this real?"
She hesitantly reaches out, touches his cheek, trails her fingers down to the stubble at his jaw. Tears threaten to spill; she blinks, and they do. Hope flutters in her chest for the first time in days.
"Caroline," he whispers hoarsely, his eyes equally wide. "How are you here?"
"Bonnie and Freya," she whispers, tears sliding down her cheeks.
Bonnie and Freya, who had promised Caroline with their dying breaths, that it would be okay. They'd looked at her with love and reassurance and warmth, even though it had cost them their lives to cast that final spell.
Her legs give out, and she collapses, sliding down the wall.
Klaus – her Klaus – catches her before she falls to the ground, positioning them so that he's the one against the wall, and she's settled on his lap.
Her emotions come, a whirlwind of love and heartache, pain, fear, and… a dizzying relief.
Klaus is here.
Bonnie's – her Bonnie – words echo in her mind. "It'll be okay, Care. I promise, you'll be okay. Don't forget me, okay?"
Freya must have sent him, while Bonnie sent her.
Freya had sent him far back enough for him to start changing things, before Caroline had been born.
"I thought I was going crazy," she confesses through her tears. "Everything… had changed but I didn't know if it was because I'd ended up in a different timeline, or if someone else had been changing things, and I couldn't talk to anyone about it."
"You're not," he reassures her, holding her tightly. "Freya sent me back to 1910. I started changing things, hoping to right things by the time you were born."
Something warm flutters in her chest at the thought of Klaus striving to fix things… for her.
They don't say much else. They don't need to.
Caroline swears her heart stops when Freya enters the room. She's different than the Freya that Caroline knew, but she still has the same soft expression that she always wears.
"Hello Caroline," she greets warmly. "I've been told that we were good friends in another life."
Caroline can't help the tears that spill as she pulls the Mikaelson witch into a hug.
Freya was alive.
She had always been the older sister that Caroline never had. Maternal without being overbearing, fiercely protective of her family, and a loyal friend.
When Caroline finally properly meets the rest of the Mikaelson siblings for the first time again, she can't stop the tears from pricking at the corners of her eyes, the watery laugh that bubbles out of her as she shakes her head and says quietly, "I missed you. All of you."
As her gaze sweeps over them, they watched the way she is tucked into the curve of Klaus' arm, said arm wrapped protectively around her, and their responses vary: Rebekah's softens, Kol's is surprised, Elijah's is curious. Caroline has to resist hugging each of them; eventually, they all grow to become good friends, but there will be plenty of time for that later.
She looks over at Finn and Sage and offers tentatively, "Sorry we never really got the chance to get to know each other. But now we have a chance."
Sage gives her a friendly smile in response, and Finn gives her a small nod.
As they gather around the living room, mugs in hand, the doors burst open and a familiar figure strolls in, drawling, "I certainly hope you haven't started without me."
Enzo.
He smirks. "Hello, gorgeous."
A strangled cry leaves her lips as she throws herself at him, unable to hold back her tears.
To his credit, his arms come up and hold her, his embrace comforting and familiar.
She later learns that for whatever reason, and she suspects that Bonnie had something to do with it, as a back-up, that he has retained his memories from before. (He also later confesses to her that he regrets he got himself killed due to stupidity, and promises her that he will be more careful.)
Maybe one day, she'll stop looking at the people in her life like a ghost wandering through.
Her friends will have no idea what's happened. And the relationships they will have with Caroline will be different. They won't be the friends she knew, but they're still hers.
At the same time, she will never forget her friends and loved ones, from before. She'll never forget the Freya and Bonnie who sacrificed themselves to give her (and Klaus, and Enzo) a second chance.
She silently vows that she'll make things right, that her loved ones will continue to live, and love, and enjoy their lives.
She swears she hears Bonnie's voice whisper in her mind, You'll be all right, Care.
She'll make sure of it.
TBC…