Caroline stared out into the blue-green sea (maybe in another life, she'd call it aqua or turquoise). And it was beautiful. Her keen eyes were able to see the shadows and distortions of the coral formation, even from her place on the shore.
A tiny smile broke the smooth lines of her face. She had promised herself that one day she would come here. Feel hot sand under her feet. Have the Australian sun glint off her hair. Dive into the Coral Sea and witness the beauty of the reef for herself.
And yet it still felt like a dream (no matter that her actual dreams were only blood and darkness). She had cradled and nursed the idea so carefully, so delicately for nearly two decades. And now she was here. Standing on the beach.
Alive.
In person.
Her golden dream turned to reality.
She could still remember the day that sweet dream was coaxed into existence. How the Caretaker spoke to them, voice infused with trained softness.
"Alright, little ones, are you ready for your next assignment?" He paused, waiting for the acknowledging nods and polite, yes,sir's. "For the next several months, I want you all to pick and then research one place you would like to go above all others. And then, we shall discuss them all together at the end of that time frame. But for today, we'll start with suicide sprints. Line up, little ones."
How months later he congratulated them all for their hard work and dedication. Telling them to hold onto that drive and spirit, infuse it into every one of their assignments. That one day their reward would be the freedom to visit those glorious places.
How a few years after that he told them to crush that dream. That as Soldiers in the war against The Scourge, desire was the most dangerous thing they could possess. Desire meant leverage. Leverage meant death.
Caroline closed her eyes. Remembered the shock and sadness that appeared in some of the children's faces.
Of course, some rebelled. And those that did quietly disappeared.
"No need to fret, little ones. Not everyone can be Soldiers. They have been transferred elsewhere, to a place where they can still be of use in our fight."
By their late teens, those that remained, were frighteningly lethal little creatures. Obedient and cutthroat. The pinnacle of physical and mental performance.
"Congratulations, little ones. You are ready. Ready to become Soldiers."
Despite their training, all of them screamed that day. Screamed until they fell silent. Came out the other side as Other, a few faces missing from their number.
But that was alright, not everyone could be Soldiers.
Caroline shook her head, compartmentalizing that mindset. It didn't belong in this place.
On silent feet, she made her way toward the water.
"Soldier 31185."
Caroline froze. No. How could he-?
Explosions. Fire. The entire complex and all of its inhabitants burning to ash.
Yet, even as part of her scrambled to make sense of this ghost, the rest of her categorized the facts and her surroundings.
Director William Forbes survived.
And he was here for her.
Klaus had been observing the lovely blonde for some time now. At first he had been planning to have a little bloody snack, maybe more if she was receptive. Her legs were lovely after all, and he was sure they would look equally fantastic wrapped around him.
But something had made him pause.
He noticed she was rather quiet for a human. Oddly graceful as well. And he recognized that type of fluid lethality. She was neither a vampire nor a werewolf, so what made such a young woman a predator in human skin?
Caroline turned, keeping the man firmly in her line of sight, as she contemplated her options. No one was around, at least not within a human's sensing range. She had picked a swath of private beach after all, desiring the peace and solitude.
And now she was unsure if it was to her benefit.
"Daddy," she finally acknowledged.
It had been what she always called him in private. For years, it had made her proud to know the Director was also her father. Thought it made her special. And she supposed it did, in a way. She had been the most successful of all the Soldiers. The most efficient. The most obedient. The highest kill count.
But now she could only wonder if it was fanaticism or monstrosity that enabled the man to use his own daughter. The others carefully selected from a pool of street urchins and orphans, those who would be unnoticed and unmissed.
But not the director, no, he handpicked her. Reinforced all her lessons with his own brand of manipulated affection. Called her Care when he praised her. Braided her hair while he drilled her on her mental exercises. Tucked her into bed every night with a kiss to her forehead.
Now, the man just eyed her with disapproval.
"You are a disappointment, Soldier."
Caroline couldn't suppress her slight flinch, feeling something twist inside her when he only frowned more heavily.
"Such a waste," he continued, derisive. "How you bring me such shame. After all I did for you, and you repay me by destroying some of my best work. Though I do congratulate you for your ruthlessness. You spared no one."
This time Caroline's face was stone. She had seen it as mercy to end the existence of her once companions. There had no longer been a trace of life in any of them.
"How can you hate me so much?" she asked, tone carefully level despite the words.
And her father's face softened. "Oh, Care, because you are a monster, sweetie. And the Augustine Society destroys monsters."
Her voice was ice when she replied. "I am only what you created, Director."
He had the audacity to smile at her. "And you had been my greatest creation. That is why it is my duty to end your disgrace now, before I start my work anew."
She didn't want to hear anymore.
In a flash, she removed her dagger (her father had once given it to her. "Make me proud, Care."), throwing it with honed expertise and unnatural force. The weapon buried itself to the hilt, tearing through his heart with unerring accuracy.
It was almost a surprise, when the man simply pulled the blade out again. His skin sealing shut in an instant.
"At least you can still do something right. The heart, though, 31185? Such sentiment." He threw the dagger back, aimed for her head. Even with her own abilities such a blow would render her unconscious for a few moments.
He was right, aiming for the heart had been sentiment. An ordinary human would not have survived her path of destruction through the Society. And Caroline didn't make amateur mistakes: William Forbes had been in the compound that night.
She caught the blade, spinning it dexterously to hold it properly. "Perhaps, Director, but I had expected a human opponent not a fellow monster."
Rather than becoming angry, the man just laughed. "We need monsters to hunt monsters, 31185. You know that. It has always been this way. Why else did you think your enhancements were so much more powerful than the others?"
That did actually surprise her, enough that she nearly failed to block his sudden attack. Her dagger awkwardly dug into the flesh of his black, mutated arm, his skin unbroken.
Then, he backhanded her, sending her flying a few feet into the water. Strong.
She stood up in a flash, eyes fixated on the man who was nearly on top of her again. Fast.
Abandoning the dagger, Caroline extended all the nails of her hand, transforming the weak keratin into an arrangement of carbon nanotubes. Their near monomolecular edge sliced clean through the Director's strange black form.
For a moment, she held him suspended there, impaled on the end of her arm.
"Is that all? Weak, girl."
The man further sliced his own body as he shifted, rearing back and punching her, sending her flying back into the water.
She landed with a splash, floating among the coral, trails of his blood coloring the water as her nails washed clean.
She truly did only dream of darkness and blood.
It was an unusual feeling for Klaus to experience, wanting to defend another person. Yet he stayed his hand. He knew all about disappointed, murderous fathers. She would have no peace unless she ended him herself.
Or died trying.
Though, that would be a shame.
Caroline's heart clenched, stuttered a beat, then set a pounding, unnatural rhythm. Her senses sharpened. Bones hardened. Muscles condensed. Stronger. Faster.
Enough.
She propelled herself toward the shallow bottom, bracing herself in the sand and rocketing herself up and out of the water. She cleared the surface and shore by tens of feet, using the vantage point to extend her nails farther. This time she sliced, tearing through the man's limbs, even as they regenerated nearly as quickly.
Gravity eventually took hold, dragging her back toward the Director. She pursed her lips, using the added momentum to power a heel drop kick. It sent him (her Director, her father, William), into the ground, his skull and upper spine crushed.
She doubted he was dead.
Using the brief respite, she pulled a second dagger. It was nearly identical to the first one except for one special component. She hurriedly twisted the handle as she watched her father's body rapidly heal. A little chamber opened up, and an odd purple-tinted fluid coated the blade. Nails retracted, dagger in her right hand, Caroline pinned her father to the sand, and waited for him to wake up.
She stared him in the eye, blue to blue, as she plunged the blade into his heart and twisted.
Unlike before, he couldn't nonchalantly shrug off the blow. And though his body struggled to heal the wound, the mutated black pigment faded from his skin.
Caroline watched as bulging gray-blue veins crawled across pale, pink flesh. Kept watching until the life faded from her father's eyes, his whole body covered in the raised veins.
Ironic. He almost looked like a vampire.
She twisted the handle a little more, ensuring all the fluid was dumped into his corpse. And then, just to be thorough, she stabbed a second copy, chamber open and blade coated, into his brain.
She wasn't sure how long she stared at her father's remains, but her own anatomy had returned to near-human levels. When she stood, her legs felt almost cramped from kneeling for so long.
"Goodbye, Father," she whispered, her next exhale shaky.
She closed her eyes, saddened, how even now the Society managed to taint a bit of her golden dream.
"That was very impressive, sweetheart."
Caroline whirled around, startled that she had been caught off-guard twice now.
A tall, blond haired man stood several feet behind her. A little smirk, highlighting the dimples on his face. She frowned, realizing quickly that he wasn't human, dreaded that he had seen and heard everything.
He clasped his hands behind his back as he took a few steps toward her, keeping a human pace though the motion was supernaturally graceful.
"My name is Klaus, and I would be most intrigued to hear more of your history. Never have I seen your like before."
Caroline froze for a split second and his lips quirked a bit higher, his eyes flashing gold for an instant.
"And you've heard of me. Fantastic."
Title translates to "Remember You Will Die" in Latin, a rather famous phrase. The title seemed particularly appropriate for this version of the Augustine Society.
Fun fact: the symbol is a reference to St. Augustine and vampires, so very on the nose. (Can be seen over on AO3 or tumblr)
Fun? fact #2: Translate Caroline's number back into letters (3-1-18-5). Bill is a rather fucked up guy in this. And yeah, I used some blatant anime references here ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
3/17/2020 Mini-sequel additional content below.
Caroline inhaled, gave a mental count to three, then exhaled.
"How much of that did you witness?" She asked, resigned, cursing herself for overlooking the closest presence.
Though in her defense it had felt human, and it was rather frightening that a monster as powerful as Klaus could suppress that power so completely.
"All of it," he confirmed, sounding a bit too happy about it for her tastes.
"I see," she said flatly, feeling defensive and vulnerable, hating that probably the worst person imaginable had seen her final conflict with her father.
To her astonishment, Klaus didn't pounce on her clear display of weakness, something shifting slightly in his expression. Surely, she was mistaken in reading a softness in his eyes. Monsters didn't feel empathy. (Didn't they? Whispered a little voice in her head, one she ruthlessly squashed.)
The Hybrid made a contemplative noise in the back of his throat, an uncomfortably familiar glint in his eyes as he looked at her.
"There's a special kind of ruin only fathers can bring." His head tilted. "My own hunted me for a thousand years."
"The Destroyer was your father?!" She blurted out, the realization shattering her normally rigid control. Anyone who was anyone knew of the legendary Destroyer in much the same way they knew of The Originals. To think that in someways they were one in the same…It actually made a terrible kind of sense.
His gaze sharpened for a split second before relaxing again. "You certainly are a well-informed little human."
She smiled bitterly at him, deciding to be blunt as she steered back toward his original question. "Didn't you hear? I'm a Soldier." If they were doing this, then it would be on her terms.
The Hybrid's regard became even more intense, pacing a hunting circle around her.
"Hm, yes, he did seem rather fond of that address. And you're certainly a fierce little thing, but surely someone as lovely as you has a name?"
Caroline had been smoothly pivoting to follow the motion, her foot slipping slightly in the sand at his response.
Was…was he flirting with her?