January 8th as promised, just a few more chapters to go now.
Starting where we left off, who is Caroline going to use the cure on?
Let's try this
Okay, so this is happening, she is really going to do this. When the thought popped in too her head it just felt right, and like an idea that no one was going to object to, well maybe her test subject will but she can be convincing.
The fact that it might help calm Klaus and it most likely will help in her tries to convince him to let things be should be a good starting point when she explains all of this to Tyler.
Her ex has been locked in one of the many rooms in the mansion and she is a little nervous when she enters. "Hi." She says as she sees him. "How are you doing?"
He doesn't look pleased to see her, and what did she really expect, he hasn't been pleased with any of her choices the last couple of months. "What do you want?" he asks. "Because if you still are under the belief that Klaus suddenly is the good guy here, then we have nothing to talk about."
She takes a deep breath. "I don't think Klaus is the good guy." at least not in the way her friends have always seen themselves as the good guys. "A just don't think he's the bad guy, it isn't that black and white Tyler."
"It is to me." He moves closer to her. "He has killed thousands of people, Caroline he killed my mom." And that is why she doesn't question Tyler's anger, but she knows that if this continues, she can only stop Klaus hand for so long.
"Yes, he has killed people, but so have I, so have Stefan and Damon. Matt was the one that put the white oak stake in Finn, Jeremy and Elena killed Kol knowing that it would take out his whole sire-line, none of us is the good guy."
She can see that he wants to argue, most likely trying to find a way to explain that their kills are not the same as does Klaus has killed. It doesn't matter what he would say, she is past those days where she tries to hide from the fact that the world is black and white.
That doesn't mean that she will ever give up on her humanity or that she will stop trying to be good, but she knows now that just because Klaus and his siblings have destroyed lives over their thousand years on this earth, doesn't mean that they haven't helped build it up to. Nothing is ever black and white.
Once again, she takes a deep breath and closes the distance between her and Tyler. "There is something I have to do, and I want you to listen to why I have to do this." It would make it easier if she doesn't have to force it.
"What, are they testing your loyalty, do you have to prove that you would choose them over me, over your friends?" he asks distressed.
She shakes her head. "No, this was my idea, because I want to give you a second chance." Now he just looks confused. "Cyrena gave me the cure when I took it, it gave me it's power, I can cure any vampire."
Now it's he who shakes his head, and quite frantic. "You're planning on turning me back into a werewolf again?" he backs away from her.
"Tyler, think about it." She wants him to understand. "When have you been your happiest, here or when you spent time with werewolf packs." He wanted to help the hybrids be free and she could see that it meant more to him than his relationship with her. He always chooses werewolf's over her. "I think this will be good for you, to just be a werewolf again and not one of the two last hybrids in the world."
Tyler turns his back towards her. She lets him think for a while, lets him ponder the idea. She might think this is the best for him, but it would be easier if he thought so too. "What will stop Klaus from killing me the second I can't defend myself?" he asks her after a while.
When he looks at her again, she smiles. "He won't hurt you, as long as you don't hurt his family." And without the powers of a hybrid that will be harder. "I care about you Tyler, that will never change." She takes his hands in hers. "I just want to see you happy."
He sighs but nods. "Okay, do it." As soon as he gives her permission, she lets her magic flow between them.
The Bennett witch is a fast learner and finds her way back to her magic roots sooner than Cyrena expected, there might still be a lot to work on, but she can see a bright future for the young woman. She also finds enjoyment in getting to spend some time with a fellow witch, something she hasn't done in a very long time.
In such a short time she can see how Bonnie's fears of what the spirits might do to her or her grandmother disperse, the natural magic once again filling their surroundings. Having had a special connection to the other side her whole life, there has always been one thing Cyrena has disagreed with the spirits about, their way to judge those that don't follow the old ways.
To her, vampires aren't abominations, the spells both Bonnie and her mother used to desiccate their enemies that shouldn't be punished, to her, it's just a different way to use the powers nature has given them.
Though she must admit, everything around her feels different now when she has fulfilled the majority of her destiny. When Caroline's magic starts seeping out from the room, she's curing Tyler in, it feels stronger then she had expected.
It seems like the young blond has learned a lot to in a short time. She feels pride over the control Caroline has managed to get already, one she thought might take years for her to get close to. It will make it a lot easier in the trials ahead.
A while later, when the magic has calmed, Caroline joins her and Bonnie, sitting down on the couch next to the young witch. "Do you have time to talk?" she asks her friend.
Bonnie nods but looks to Cyrena. "Should we talk privately?" she then asks Caroline.
"I have some questions for her." is the answer she gives and Cyrena decides to follow this conversation. "So, Elena is awake." Caroline continues. "But I kind of erased her memories when I used my magic on her."
For now, Cyrena stays quite letting the friends discuss the situation and listens to Caroline's explanation of what she has learned. It takes a while for the witch to grasp that her friend doesn't remember them at all.
Once the explanation is done, the first thing Bonnie wonders is if there is anything they can do. "Some spell, or your magic?"
Caroline shakes her head. "I don't think so." But she looks a bit hopeful to Cyrena. "I wanted to ask you if there was a way to help Elena."
If there is anything that could help the doppelgänger? Honestly, she doesn't care, she would get nothing out of it, but she can at least answer Caroline's question. "If there were something that could be done, you would already know about it." She looks between the friends. "And no spell can undo what Caroline has done."
"But you gave her that magic, isn't there anything you can do?" Bonnie asks.
Cyrena shakes her head. "I had the power to make sure she could carry Klaus child, the magic that came with that is now out of my control." She explains to them. "Instead of looking for a solution, make the best of what you have been given."
"She seemed happy," Caroline says with a smile. "For not having any concrete memories, Elena seemed both happy and freer than I've seen her in ages." She looks to Bonnie "Do you want to talk to her?"
Bonnie nods. "Yes, it might be easier to accept what has happened if I could talk to her." she turns to Cyrena. "As long as you or Kol didn't have any big lesson planed?"
Cyrena waves her question away. "I don't see a reason to force you to stay, we will take it in your pace." This has to come naturally and it's Caroline that can protect her from Silas, so if she thinks they can leave who is she to argue.
Sometimes, no most of the time, he can't understand the priorities of Caroline and her friends. They have everything they need to take Silas down, but instead of trying to locate him, they think it's more important to go visit the doppelgänger.
Before they head out, Caroline seeks him out. "Can we talk?" she asks.
He turns towards her with a smile. "Is everything okay, how did it go with Tyler?" when she proposed to use his first hybrid as a guinea-pig he rather liked the idea, that at least makes it harder for Tyler to hurt his family.
"It went fine, curing him worked." She explains. "But I would like to discuss something else." He waits for her to continue, to get out what is on her mind. "We haven't talked about what happens once our son is born, we haven't even discussed names."
"We have the time and more important things to do right now." He thinks that can wait until Silas is defeated and they are safe, but as he says it, she looks a bit disappointed that he doesn't want to talk about it now. "What did you have in mind?"
That puts a smile on her face and a gleam in her eye that is telling him that he isn't going to be completely happy about her plans. "I want to go to college." She starts saying. "And I know that, that means that I won't be around all the time and that you probably think this is one of those trivial human conventions that I'm no longer bound by, but this is important to me and I know that my mom would like to see me graduate and I only get one chance to do this with Bonnie, and maybe Elena if she still wants the cure…"
"Breathe, sweetheart." He interrupts her rambling. "You are planning on leaving me alone with a baby?" that doesn't sound like a good idea to him. "Not that I don't appreciate the confidence, but I hope you understand that I have no idea how to handle a baby."
The sound of nervousness and the terrified look he has in his eyes makes her laugh. "It's not like college will start the day after I give birth, and it's just an hour away. If that doesn't calm you, my mom can help out and I made a deal with Rebekah."
Well, at least she seems to have thought this through. "And what kind of deal did you make with my sister?"
She bits her lips and now it's her that looks nervous, this can't be good. "She will be here, helping out and getting a feeling for what it's like to take care of a child so that she can determine if she really wants to be cured."
He tries his best to not look angry. "Caroline." He almost growls her name. "Are you seriously going to entertain her notion about living a human life." He can't understand how Rebekah could even consider it.
Most likely to try and calm him Caroline grabs his hand and moves them closer. "This is not a decision that involves you." She lays her arms around his neck. "But she probably believes that being human will give her whatever she is missing."
He just doesn't like the sound of Rebekah being fragile and mortal. "Do I get to spend the time she's her to try and convince her not to do this?"
Caroline rolls her eyes. "Sure, but I would imagine that your plan is going to have the opposite effect to what you want."
Leaning into her their foreheads resting against each other. "I guess we will have to wait and see, luv." He whispers against her lips before kissing her.
She knows that the smart thing would have been to get as far away from here as possible, what has this little town to offer her anyway. After all these years she isn't certain if it has caused her more harm than good.
She laughs a little at that thought. Everything might not have gone as she planned, but at the end of things, this town did give her the freedom she has always sought. For the first time in her vampire life, she doesn't have to look over her shoulder.
When a Bentley comes in her line of sight she jumps off the hood of her Porsche. She looks to the sign that says welcome to Mystic Falls and then to the man that exits the car on the other side.
He does smile at her while straightening out his suit. "Katerina." She still loves the way her name rolls of his tongue.
She meets him at the town line. "Elijah, so your brother has finally agreed to give me my freedom." She still wonders if she might be dreaming.
"It appears that once faced with his worst nightmares, Niklaus lets his shields down." That doesn't sound like the hybrid she knows, wonder what she has missed. "It's a long story that I perhaps I will tell you once everything has been resolved here." he says to her unspoken question.
She looks around at the nature that has barely changed since 1864. "To think that so much can change and still stay the same." She meets Elijah's gaze. "For over 500 years I have been running from your brother and now when I'm free I don't know what to I want to do."
"I believe you will figure something out." He takes a few steps closer to her. "Until we meet again, Katerina." He lays a kiss on her forehead.
At first, she lets him go, but when he opens his car door, she uses her vampire speed to appear in front of him not letting him leave before she has said her goodbye. "When you have the time, remember you are supposed to catch me." She says before giving him a proper kiss.