Fate

Chapter Ten - ...and You Didn't Save Me

She could hear the booming sounds of thunder and see the bright flashes of lightning every few minutes from her cell. The pounding rain against the earth brought memories back of standing in the pouring weather when she'd first made Israel her home years ago. Who would've thought that now she would be entrapped in a cage by a man telling a tale she had no clue how to handle. The soothing sound reminds her of the time when she was really young and asked her mom about why it rained.

"Because when someone is mourning or missing someone else, it rains to remind them that wherever they are rain always comes." How Liz Forbes had been wise with those very words. Caroline remained unsure how no one else had heard of that as a child, and she always felt special getting to share that line with friends in school. She sighs and turns her head away from the direction of the small opening that allowed her to see the lightning. Still bound by her chains, she obviously had nowhere to go and couldn't even attempt an escape.

"Are you ready to corporate Caroline?" Kyros now stands in the doorway staring down the blonde with his eery eyes. When she doesn't respond and instead turns her head away from him once again, "you can't be serious. I'm offering you an out here darling, and you're blowing it." He scoffs as his hands reach for his face to determine how to convince the blonde to agree. "All I'm asking is for a little teensy help tracking down a man and you refuse to do even that."

Caroline remains silent for several moments, allowing the curiosity mixed with anger to fill her once again. She couldn't count on one hand how many times she'd been ready to kill that man since discovering him, and even before when he was just known as the ominous 'Teacher,' her animosity towards him was just as great. "Why would I help you kidnap someone else? Let's not forget that you've spent the better part of the last few days torturing me! You can move on and find another way to track down whoever it is you want because as far as I'm concerned I will stay here." Crossing her arms the chains rattle slightly as they clink upon connection.

"If you want to be free of those chains I suggest you help, or I could find more...interesting ways to change your mind." His expression is one she'd seen before. Long years ago though before she was ever turned. It was a look that she'd once seen on Damon Salvatore's face when the pair had first met, and even on a random guy from her high school at one point. She shivered at the thought and quickly put her walls back up afraid he would see her weakness.

Sighing heavily, the blonde knew she was going to regret the next words to leave her mouth. But self preservation got the better of her. "What do you need me to do."

Freya and Hope had spent the next few days after Isaac had entered their home locked away in the magic room. Every so often the residents of the Mikaelson compound would hear a groan or cry of frustration from the females. After weeks of striving they'd gotten nowhere on locating Caroline, and this left Ingrid so unnerved that she could barely sit still for long periods of time.

Which is how she ended up wandering the streets of the French Quarter with none other than Kol Mikaelson. "You know when this city was first built I was here." He states in a very nonchalant way that causes the young and inexperienced woman to look at him with wide, unconvinced eyes. "It's true I swear by it," his charming accent creeping through as the vampire produces a dazzling smile.

"Ok then prove it. Tell me something I don't know - which will probably be a lot - about the city." Ingrid shrugs her shoulders as he leads her to a restaurant that he claimed sold the 'best beignets you'd ever taste.'

As he orders some of the powdered dessert for the pair, he sits his head on his hands and ponders over a memory that would most fascinate the redhead. "Well a majority of my time in this city was spent in a box with a dagger in my heart," spotting her confused look he elaborates. "There are these mystical daggers for my siblings and I that will put us in a sleep state when they're in our hearts."

Nodding in understanding Ingrid takes a bite of her beignet that had just recently arrived at the table, "oh my god these are fantastic. That's also very strange with the whole daggering thing...it's kinda like Caroline and her being able to survive any death thing." Sitting there in silence for a moment the pair stare at each other as their eyes widen. "I'll get a to-go box," Ingrid states running inside for a waitress as Kol nods in agreement and says something about paying for their food.

The pair arrive back at the compound in a disarray which only receives a comment from Klaus, "so Kol where have you and Ingrid been?" His eyebrows raise in suspicion as he hints towards the sexual nature of his comment.

"Please like I would do that brother," Kol feigns innocence in front

of the redhead. Looking over at her he almost forgets why they rushed back in such a hurry as he admired the bright blush on her cheeks.

Ingrid reigns in the conversation quickly though, "where's Freya or Hope?" Her words demand an answer which Klaus finds quite funny considering this girl was a mere human in the presence of vampires, witches, werewolves, and even hybrids.

"They're upstairs," Klaus nods towards the area where his daughter and sister were located and quickly walks off in the opposite direction.

She grasps Kol's hand and drags the immortal up the stairs behind her. "We think we found a way to track Caroline," she says from the doorway of the magic room. The focus of the two witches weren't on Ingrid though, but instead the still connected hands of her and Kol. She immediately lets go of his hands and tries to suppress the blush forming once more.

Freya is the first to refocus her attention on what Ingrid was saying, "how? We've tried every spell we know of and there's no results. I care about Caroline too but there comes a point when you've exhausted all resources and have to accept there won't be answers." Her glum response causes Ingrid to ignite a fire in her she hadn't known for a long time.

"We will keep trying until we find something. Have you tried that beacon thingy Kol was telling me about?"

"Yeah that was one of the first things we did, but it won't work because Caroline is cloaked." Freya stands there wondering where the redhead was going with this, considering her lack of knowledge with spells.

Sighing, she runs her fingers through her long straight hair. "Ok think about it. Caroline is a vampire, but she's also something else now that's causing her not to die even from deaths originals could die from." Ingrid pauses looking at the two witches who seem to be following her. "We've tried everything we could think of, contacted allies of yours that would keep a lookout for her, and we've set up a beacon to go off is she is somehow uncloaked. What if we alter that beacon though?"

"Alter it how?" Hope questions as she thinks over the different ways they could change how the beacon on Caroline works.

"Wherever she is we know she's probably been tortured...which is something I don't want to think about because it's too awful. But that dream you had confirmed that to us Hope, and that means she's died during these torture sessions most likely." Ingrid pauses once more to look at the Mikaelsons in the room.

Freya instantly catches on to where she's at along with Hope, "and we alter her beacon to ignite the next time she dies. There will be a window where she's technically not a vampire and a spirit because of that death which will allow us to track her." The blonde witch immediately moves into action working on what she needed to get the spell done. "That was genius Ingrid...thank you." The pair exchange a smile as the witches quickly get back to work and Ingrid returns to nervously pacing and biting her nails.

"I'm not a witch though," Caroline slaps her hands against her legs whilst staring at Kyros. "How can I even do what you're asking."

He stands there like the leader he so longs to be. The man's attitude begs for Caroline to look up to him, trust him. "It's much more complex than that. If this were a witches spell I would have my personal coven do it."

"So why me?" She questions whilst looking at him slowly trying to fit the puzzle pieces together. "I mean I know you've told me the stories about Rhea and everyone else, but you've also tortured me and kidnapped me. So that's a major point to why I shouldn't believe you."

Chuckling, Kyros turns and begins to slowly walk across the floors. "You are the doppelgänger of my wife may she not Rest In Peace, and you are one of the rare occurrences in this earth." He sits down in the chair nearby and leans in, "you are one of the 5 reincarnates of my original students. Which means you carry your counterparts unique abilities. That is all I'm willing to share on that story because keeping you somewhat in the dark is so much more fun."

"Wait reincarnates? Witch-vampire hybrids? What does this have to do with this person you need me to track?" Caroline pauses frustrated that she's trying to cooperate with this traitor. "Unless he's one of the 5." Realization crosses her face as she recognizes that Kyros is about to have 2 reincarnates with special abilities in his custody...all because of her weak will to resist.

It had been days since Caroline last saw Kyros, and their usual routine of talk, torture, and well torture had gotten thrown off by this. Every so often someone would come down to her cell and give her a few drops of blood, but not enough to return her full strength. The cage had been spelled to make the bars burn like vervain anyways, so escape wasn't entirely an option at the moment. Especially since she had no clue where she was inside this maze of a place and once she stepped foot outside there could be another world of dangers waiting for her.

Sighing, she looks down at the cuffs around her wrists, the pair that hadn't left her body since she was resurrected. They made sure to keep her special abilities locked away so Kyros was completely protected in her presence...not that he needed it considering he was a powerful witch or whatever. Being left to think for days did a lot for a girl, and it certainly did a lot for Caroline.

Where she once felt so much conflict and confusion, she now discovered a solid foundation. She was Caroline Elizabeth Forbes dammit, and Forbes women we're not wimps. Her mom was a fighter, a survivor, and a true warrior just like herself. Everything she had, Caroline had to fight for especially after she was left on her own in the world without Stefan or Bonnie or Elena.

Now sitting in this cage after days of being malnourished on blood and other necessities, Caroline decided she would comply with Kyros. Do exactly as he wanted because she would exact her escape plan in the moments where they retrieve the man she's supposed to track. At this point the vampire knew that to do the spell and take this person hostage for Kyros, her cuffs would have to be removed which would give her just the amount of time to turn on Kyros and make a run for it.

"I see you've been lost in thought lately," his smug expression boils her blood as she looks at the man she'd grown to hate more than anyone. "Oh don't look so down Care bear, I brought you a present."

Curious, but cautious she stands to her feet looking at Kyros who held out a cardboard box to her through the metal bars. Slowly she takes the box from him and sets it on the ground inside. Her skin crawled at the thought of accepting any form of a gift from him. The two now stand face to face once more as she waits for whatever he was going to say.

Caroline feels the familiar pull of magic and before she could react her body is pressed against the metal bars that burn her skin at the touch. A cry of pain escapes her lips before she could bite her tongue and appear strong, but either way she wasn't fooling anyone. He clicks his tongue in a mocking way a few times, "sweet Caroline your resistance was quite entertaining at first, but now it's getting very tiring. When you can learn the spell I showed you a week ago with excellence then and only then will you leave this cell. Until then practice, and in between that you have the box to keep you company." His grip that had found its way to her hair released in a shoving manor as he retreats from the cells area whistling in his usual fashion.

"Bastard…" she mutters under her breath as she plops down to the dirt ground once more. Her wounds are slowly healing now, but it would take a while before the stinging went away.

Late in the night Freya enters the compound pulling someone behind her. She giggles in a way her family had never heard before as the mystery man oogles at the large home, "I'm not the only person that lives here so don't think I own this all." She states in attempt to ease his wide eyed staring.

"Well if I had known you lived in such a big place I would've come to your place all those times instead of you just hanging at my apartment." Brett continues to eye the main area, taking in the scenes around him.

The woman standing before him, blonde and beautiful, gives a dazzling smile as she takes his hand and pulls Brett towards the staircase, "come on my room's this way." That smile turns into a sultry smirk that immediately reminds them both why they were there in the first place.

The past two weeks the two of them had met repeatedly after their first encounter at Rousseau's that led to an unforgettable night. After that they couldn't get enough of each other and didn't bother to hold back on that fact.

Down the hall as Freya's door shuts and the sounds of what was conspiring in there became relevant, Hope shuts her book quickly and grabs her things. "Where are you going?" Isaac questions looking at the witch confused.

"Anywhere but here, and just be very grateful you can't hear what's going on a few rooms down the hall." Hope pulls on her boots and grabs her phone before quickly rushing out of the Mikaelson home. "Just come with me," she calls after Isaac who is slowly and not so confidently following her.

For hours Caroline sat in that cell watching the box as the sun set and night claimed the area. Luckily her advanced sight allowed her to keep her focus on that box. Even though sleep called for her to relieve her exhaustion, that box wasn't leaving her sight for a minute. Any gift from Kyros was filled with ulterior motives. She learned that with the little information she'd gained over the past few weeks here.

Just as the sun began to rise and creep into the room she decided to pick up the box. Sitting it in her lap she stared at it for another half hour wondering what could be inside, and if it was booby-trapped. Finally she scoffs at her behavior calling herself ridiculous and flinging the lid from the box. "Oh…"

Inside Caroline finds the possessions she thought long gone for months. After she'd mourned the loss of her friend Ethan and the family she'd built in Tel Aviv, the crumbling estate left no hopes of recovering her lost artifacts. But now in this one cardboard box were the letters she'd never had the courage to open, the daylight rings she'd acquired over the years, a few other items from her childhood, and the engagement ring she'd never worn.

Slowly she picks the ring up that Stefan had used as a last stitch effort to save their decaying relationship over a decade ago. The nostalgia comes back in a flash, and all the memories of her first meeting with Stefan down to their developing friendship all come back to the surface. And for the first time in a while she let go and truly allowed herself to stop, grieve, and cry a little. Over the love she lost, the friend she wouldn't see for years, the friends that were murdered because of her, and the love that could have been if she wasn't so afraid of it then and now.

Just as quickly as those emotions came they were gone again, and Caroline turned her attention to the thick stack of unopened letters. She didn't want to open them honestly, and part of her had always planned to keep them that way. If they were untouched then she wouldn't see the words of a man that truly seemed to care about her. Opening those letters meant accepting in some way that the almighty Klaus Mikaelson was capable of love and did intend to 'be her last love.'

Closing her eyes tightly she imagines what he could've written to her for almost 15 years. Choosing her birthday to have them delivered made it almost exciting to the side of her that wanted to care and let him in, and it caused her to expect a letter that would go into that box. Shaking the thoughts away she reaches to the back of the stack and grabs the second oldest one this time, and tears the seal.

Dear Caroline,

Today is the 7th birthday you have spent without your mother at your side, and I can imagine what you would feel today. I remember the first birthday I had after my family was turned, and the only feeling I can use to describe this is lonely. It won't be that way forever, I can guarantee you that. You'll have a thousand more birthdays and endless memories that will fade that pain to a dull ache. When my daughter turned one, we had to miss her birthday because our family made stupid decisions with enemies...my point is that if Liz could be here she would. If I could be there, not that you'd allow me to love, but if I could I would. Paris, Rome, Tokyo you name the place.

Happy Birthday Caroline,

Klaus

Sitting back and re-reading the letter it appeared to be the silly ramblings of a man for an attempt at a sweet gesture. Caroline knew the truth though, she knew to read between the lines, and understand that somehow in a very Klaus way he was being open and vulnerable with her. He was opening up to a woman he hadn't spoken to in years and the fact that he persisted for over a decade at this surprised her more than she'd like to admit.

Hope stands with Isaac in the Lafayette cemetery where the young woman had spent a majority of her short life. The werewolf eyes the area suspiciously as if waiting for an attack at any moment. "Most of the witches are off at some meeting outside of the French Quarter, so if that's what you're so worried about...don't be." She gives him a tight smile before walking towards the crypt that her uncle Kol once worked in with Davina Claire. The distant memory of the teenage witch passes through her mind as she steps inside the space lighting the candles simultaneously.

"What exactly did you come here for? No offense, but this is a whole lot creepier than the bayou on a full moon." He crosses his arms uncomfortably while rocking on his heels. The impatient and curious mannerisms were really starting to annoy Hope as she rolled her eyes at the young werewolf.

Sighing, she pulls a few items from the bag she'd brought with her and goes on a search for a clear map to use. "We are here to work on finding my friend Caroline. Which if you'd noticed that's what we've been doing for a while now," pausing Hope brushes a piece of hair behind her ear and looks down at the map to avoid staring into Isaac's honey brown eyes. "She's been missing, well she was actually taken, and I'm just trying to find her so she can go home or come home or I don't know." Hope slaps her palms against her thighs in exasperation as she ponders what will happen exactly when Caroline is rescued. Would she stay or would she leave again?

Hope had so many unanswered questions and all of that fueled and hindered her power in one swoop. Shaking her head she attempts to rid her mind of unwanted thoughts so she could focus on the task at hand. She had to set this beacon up in hopes that Caroline would trigger it somehow in the near future. Inside, Hope knew that she should tell someone about her separate beacon, but she was the one connected to Caroline. She was the one that had been having visions of the deaths she'd endured over the years, and Hope would damn sure be the one to find her. Of that the Mikaelson witch was determined.

"So you have a vampire friend that was kidnapped?"

"I never told you she was a vampire," Hope's cautious Mikaelson personality seeps through as she stares down Isaac with curiosity. "How did you know that if I didn't tell you?"

Pausing briefly, Isaac's own face turns confused. "I don't know…" The pair stare at each other as the wolf searches his own mind for how he could have known that Caroline was a vampire if he'd never heard of her, met her, or anything to do with the blonde before. "How did I know that Hope?"

'Because I told you Isaac,' the familiar eerie voice echoes through his mind. The hairs on his arms and back immediately stand on end as his posture becomes rigid. Terror courses through him, but Hope doesn't know why or how. She just keeps questioning Isaac what's wrong. 'Don't answer her,' the voice says sternly. 'You say one word about me and our friendship and that pretty girl is dead.'

"No," Isaac growls out at the voice, but Hope backs away wondering what he was referring to. All he could understand in that instant was the fear that the voice was capable of hurting Hope, just as it had hurt him and destroyed his family.

'Good I have your attention. You're going to do me a favor Isaac, and it involved setting off that beacon for Hope's friend.' Immediately he knows whatever the voice wants him to do won't be good, but he knew it had to be done. To protect Hope, and she'd never know about the danger...hopefully.

Kyros sits in the small room he'd made for himself in the elaborate dungeons he'd discovered upon his resurrection. Meditation was always helpful, especially when that blonde twisted his anger in so many ways that he wouldn't be able to hold back much longer. So insead while he meditated, his mind drifted to Isaac. The dear boy had no clue who Kyros was, why he could creep into his thoughts, and he knew it terrified the wolf.

The fear that coursed through Isaac thrilled him, and it brought an excitement he hadn't felt in a long time. Because of Isaac's connection to earth (which no one but Kyros conveniently knew about) Kyros had the unique opportunity to tether to his mind from a young age. Just at the ripe age of 8 years old, Isaac had begun to hear the voice of Kyros in his mind, and no one else could hear it or even knew who it was. At first the bond was to earn Isaac's trust, but then one day as his parents discovered something was different with their son and Isaac told them of the voice in his head, Kyros had to isolate him. Show young Isaac that no one could be safe when he didn't listen to Kyros (or the voice as Isaac called him).

It was rather easy for Kyros to get a fire started in the family's home, and he simply guided Isaac out of the flames whilst making sure his entire family remained trapped within. The real catch was the guilt the wolf carried for the next decade about not saving his family, and that's what pulled him back into the voice's clutches.

Kyros had promised Isaac that nothing bad would happen to anyone he cared for again as long as he obeyed. And so he did obey, but Isaac never connected with people again. The wolf remained on the move, a true omega. Without a pack, without a family, and without anyone to care for him...but most importantly to Isaac, without leverage over his head for the voice to use.

Now that the wolf had finally allowed himself to be connected to someone, and it just so happened to be Hope Mikaelson; Kyros had plans that Isaac could do and would do without hesitation. What was a wolf without protecting its mate anyway right? Kyros smirks to himself as he watches Isaac regain composure inside the crypt where Hope watches him carefully. The pair had no idea of their deeper connection to each other, let alone the fact that they were both reincarnates of his old students. Fate has a funny way of playing with coincidences and really making him laugh about it all.

Disconnecting from Isaac's consciousness, Kyros walks out of his room towards the dungeons deep below the surface of his 'home.' There he found Caroline reading the grimoire he'd given her hours before, and it seemed she'd made progress. A few of the letters from Klaus Mikaelson were opened and sitting nearby, 'so predictable' Kyros thinks to himself. From day one he'd watched the interactions of Klaus and Caroline, and knew they were destined to end up together - not that he cared to believe in all that fate and destiny mumbo jumbo. Kyros was only concerned with altering what the Fate's had determined as destiny, and their version of this involved him locked away for all eternity.

"Discovering more about oneself?" He questions earning the attention of the blonde in the cage. "I see you read some letters, and that must have inspired you to work on what I need you to do."

"First of all, those letters are none of your business. Secondly, I understand the words and everything in this spell, but what I don't get is how I'm supposed to do it." Caroline stares up at him longing to just get free of this cell. That's all she had to do, comply for a short time and then she'd be free...and hopefully on the earliest flight away from wherever here was.

Kyros enters her cell and before Caroline could blink the pair were a mere foot apart. A tension that made the vampire quite uncomfortable and Kyros tingle at the power he held over her without her even realizing she'd given it to him. "You're ready, I can feel it." As quickly as he was standing there tenderly, the familiar pang of a stake pierces her heart.

He watches as her skin slowly grey's over, knowing she'd be down for a few hours. Just what he needed. Now the real work could begin. It was time to collect his Fates.

In New Orleans, Hope stood in awe as the map behind her ignited and burned a trail to where Caroline was. This was the break she'd been longing for, and now she was going to rescue her. "Hope what are you doing?" Isaac questions as the Mikaelson shoves random items into a book bag along with a thermos of blood.

"Caroline's beacon went off. I'm going to rescue her...and you're not going to tell anyone." She flinches slightly as Isaac growls, 'typical wolf.'

"Like hell I'm just gonna sit here and let you march into this alone." Isaac protests as he grabs onto Hope's arm to pull her back inside the crypt, "you're not going anywhere without me Hope."

"Well too bad for you," she states pulling a powdered substance from her pocket as she blows it in his face. Gently she lays Isaac on the ground as his unconscious body fell with her, and now he was sufficiently out of the way. "Let the rescue Caroline mission commence."

TADA! I actually finished this chapter that I thought would NEVER be done. The story is really about to take off and I promise Klaus and Caroline will reunite soon, but their story is far from happily ever after. They've gotta fight this evil together firstly and secondly they actually have to get over themselves and allow their stubborn asses to fall in love. Which will happen because this is KLAROLINE.

Anyways without dragging this out further, please follow/favorite and comment to let me know how you're liking the story. Got any theories of your own as to what's going to happen?

I don't own TVD/TO universe (wish I so desperately did)

Always and Forever Loves