Hello there,
I was this short away from actually abandoning this, but your latest reviews truly motivated me to bring this to some kind of end. I've started yesterday and it was fun to write it! It may not be much, but I think it is suiting. There might be another chapter, but I am not sure about it. I have too many projects running at once (ouf! Hell knows why I am always starting too many new things!) enough of rambling.
Here you go! Enjoy!
xxx
"You don't know!?" He growled angrily and let his arm muscles play. His face contorted into angry lines as he stared at the witch in front of him. "You want to tell me that you don't know!?" He yelled in frustration and clenched his fists as if ready to pounce.
Rona held up her hand. "Careful, pretty bird. I believe you are about to forget who you are talking to." She grinned while saying this. What was obviously meant as a threat was wrapped into a nice package of smiles with a bow of sweetness on top.
Klaus looked bitter and it cost him lots of strength not to fall out and ruin everything in one second. If she killed him here, and he was sure that she would, he would be dead. He would have died without seeing his family and Caroline again and that thought nearly broke his heart.
He had never thought that he could love them so much. Well, of course he had always loved them. Carrying them around in coffins to make sure that they weren't harmed should have proven that, but the difference now was that he felt it. He really felt it this time.
And he rather wanted to see them happy than "dead" in a box.
"It's been weeks and you told me you'd find a way out of this!" His voice was full of hot anger. If he could he would paint the wall behind her red.
"Niklaus, watch your temper." Elijah warned him silently and with a voice full of ancient wisdom. Klaus closed his eyes for a short moment. It hadn't taken long for Elijah to become his voice of reason again. He had always been just that and now Klaus accepted it. Elijah was still wary about this new side of him, but he seemed to open up to his brother. He had always supported him in whatever scheme, so of course he had been the first on his side in this whole dilemma.
He had spent most of his time with Klaus. They had been trying to conceal his changes to the outside world. They had pretended together that he was the ruthless emperor who had taken over Mystic Falls and keeping Elena hostage.
However, they had mostly been sitting together in front of the fire at nights when Klaus would talk about his lost memories. On the one hand Klaus didn't want to talk about it too much because it reminded him of what he had lost, but on the other hand he wanted to talk about it, because he was scared to forget something. Elijah was a good listener. Never interrupting or judging him.
Klaus steadied himself and tried to shake the anger off that clung to him like a parasite. That always would cling to him like a parasite.
Rebekah snorted amused. "Looks like you gotta stay here after all, brother." She spit the last word out and Klaus was trying really hard, but he couldn't control the switch. He whirled around and grabbed his sister by her throat. Her head hit the wall behind her with a loud thud and pain evaporated through it. Her face showed her pain as she hissed for air.
Klaus growled looking at her with yellow eyes. Rebekah and Kol were the ones who didn't know how to take their brother. They couldn't cope with this new him, so they left him simply to himself. Though living in the same house with him they avoided him as much as possible. And Klaus knew that they would lock their doors at night, afraid that he'd dagger them in their sleeps.
It stung to see them like this, but he had never been very patient. Elijah was telling him every day that he needed to give them time and that he needed to be patient with them, because they would eventually come around. It was just that he could not erase 1000 years of his cruelty that was buried deep inside their mines within weeks. They only knew him like this and had never gotten to know that one he had become.
Rona sniggered and looked at her sister telling her that: "He is doing it again!"
Klaus looked once more angrily at Rebekah before he let her go. Within the last few days he had developed a short temper again. A very short temper that was. The longer he stayed here feeling alone and left out the more he became angry. So angry that he started to lash out again.
He turned around the face the witch just in time to see Mona shrugging her shoulders.
"What?" He asked. "What are you not telling me?"
He took a step closer looking from one witch to the other. Mona was busy with her nails again while Rona smirked knowingly.
But this time Klaus waited. He took a deep breath and tried to wait for the answer. Rona grinned feeling what he was doing. She enjoyed it to leave him hanging for a bit. She simply smirked and waited for him to explode.
Klaus was boiling. His heart was racing and sweat beads were starting to appear on his forehead. But he fought to remain calm. He felt that he would never get an answer if he lashed out now or broke something. Elijah watched the scene anxiously. To him it almost looked like a test. Klaus had to prove himself now or he would lose forever.
Rona stepped closer and walked slowly around the hybrid. The tension in him was almost visible, tangible from the outside. It was as if the air around him was flickering. As Rona reached her starting point again she cocked her head to the side and there was something in her eyes that looked like she was impressed. She took a deep breath.
"Well, we don't know how to get you out of here and into there." Klaus closed his eyes and breathed. "There is no way for us to help you." He listened to her words and let them sink in. "We cannot do anything about this." He breathed them in and let them travel to his heart where they scorched and burnt like hell fire. They burnt their way to his core and set his memories on fire.
He heard Caroline's laughter in his ears and watched her face light up when she showed her white teeth while laughing at him or with him. Her hair shining in the bright sunlight. The edges of this memory started to crumble slowly. As if he had set a photograph on fire. They crumbled and turned brown, erasing it slowly.
"Niklaus." He heard Elijah's voice saying his name. He tried to ignore the fire inside him and opened his eyes. He hadn't noticed that he had knelt down on the floor clutching at his hurting chest. Elijah's hands were on his back, holding him in a comforting gesture.
Klaus tried to breathe, but it only burnt more.
Elijah looked at his brother worriedly who tried to hold himself together. He remained silent for a whole while that even Rebekah and Kol who had not yet said a word stepped closer to watch what was going on.
Suddenly a choke escaped Klaus. A contorted choke that erupted into a snigger and a mad laughter.
"I believe." Klaus laughed and it sounded as mad and broken as it got and Rebekah was sure that he was losing it now once and for all. "that hell has caught up with me after all."
Rona started to laugh as well and Elijah looked angrily at her. He tried to figure out if she was laughing at Klaus or with him, but he could not tell.
Finally she stopped and Klaus too. He slowly got to his feet looking ashen.
"If you will excuse me now." He said monotone and without any emotion. He turned around brushing Elijah's hands off and walked towards the door.
Mona had let go of her nails and watched the scene interested. She now cleared her throat. "Don't you want to hear all of it?"
Klaus stopped dead and turned around. "All of it?" He whispered and it was evident that he did not dare to hope.
Mona sighed. "Why are you toads always so impatient? Tz. Rona?"
Rona straightened. "Well, I said that we could do nothing about it, but that does not mean nothing about it can be done, does it?"
Klaus pursed her lips, but Rebekah answered before he could. "Oh, don't try to be smart. Spill already!" Rona threw her an angry glare and Elijah put his hand up in front of his sister.
"Excuse her. Please, do continue."
Rona licked her lips focusing on Klaus now. "There is someone who can help getting you out of here."
He could not conceal the hope showing on his face now. "Who?" He breathed clinging to her lips as she spoke on. It was one word that wiped the hope immediately from his face. "You."
He snorted. "Me?"
She nodded.
"And how do I do that?"
"Do you know why you are here? Do you know what happened before you got here?"
He frowned. "I went to bed and woke up here, so what?"
Rona smiled again and rolled her eyes. "Oh, baby rabbit, so cute! That's what you need to find out first." With that she turned around and a wind started to swirl through the living room. Her edges started to blur.
"Wait! Explain, what do you mean?"
They were already half gone as Mona's voice wavered through the room like an echo from far away.
"Sometimes it helps simply to remember."
The wind ceased as quickly as it had begun and left the vampires staring at the now empty spots.
"Kol, your witches are rubbish." Rebekah said and Kol looked around them as if looking for a sign.
"Careful darling, I'd not be surprised if they could still hear you. Rebekah scoffed, but looked sheepishly around herself. She wouldn't want to get on their bad side.
Klaus looked lost as he stood there with loose shoulders and a face like a wet dog.
Elijah stepped right in front of him to make sure that he would listen to him.
"Niklaus, tell me what you remember."
Klaus looked up at him and sighed before he turned around starting to pace. He rubbed his face.
"I was with Caroline. I…we all had breakfast together." And he could see it clearly in front of him as if he was there.
Stefan and Rebekah were flirting which had somehow truly annoyed him. They had smiled at each other and been fooling around about some ridiculously mundane stuff. He remembered that Caroline had taken his hand under the table to transfer his attention from his sister towards her.
Elijah was hidden behind a huge foreign newspaper. He had recently developed a hang of reading newspapers from all over the world. This one was in German.
Klaus deemed it unnecessary and a waste of time, but he too needed to find something else to occupy his time with.
Kol had been absent that morning, but Klaus had heard his whisper through the walls. He had been on the phone with someone, probably the Bennett witch who had somehow taken an interest in him.
He had sauntered into the kitchen mere minutes later and announced that he intended to go to a witch council that night.
"It's going to be a huge event, like some sort of ritual from a religious order where they talk to the dead and look into the future. Every supernatural creature is welcome to watch and there will be a band playing afterwards."
Elijah put the paper down. "Sounds like an cult to me. Niklaus, what do you think?"
He was silent as he contemplated.
"I think I am coming." Announced Caroline and Kol grinned at her. "I mean sounds like fun." She shrugged being in her outgoing mood.
"I don't think this is a good idea." Klaus disagreed. He looked at Elijah. "Sounds like they are gathering supernatural creatures."
"Do you believe it's a trap?" Elijah asked and Klaus shrugged.
Kol groaned. "They are not even all real witches. Some of them are humans believing to have powers. It'll be like one of those human events where everyone falls for the tricks of a so called fortune teller."
Klaus shook his head. "It's too risky."
Caroline shrugged. "Well, then I'll go with Kol."
"And what then, brother?"
Klaus was still pacing gripping his head as if it would break apart if he let go. "I…" He stopped and turned around to Elijah looking frightened. "I don't know."
Rebekah crossed her arms. "What do you mean, you don't know?"
Klaus looked at her. "It means that I can't remember! There is this massive black hole in my head!" He looked helplessly at Elijah. "I can't remember what happened then. The witch was right." He admitted silently.
"Well, maybe you did go to this gathering." Kol suggested. "And then something happened there."
Klaus looked sour. "You and your stupid ideas!" He spit.
Kol smirked. "Sounds pretty amazing to me."
"Kol, you are not helping here." Elijah scolded. "But you might be right. Niklaus, something might have happened there."
But Klaus shook his head. "I doubt I had gone there. I was so reluctant to go, why would I anyway?"
Rebekah pursed her lips. "Well, this Caroline wanted to go right?"
Klaus looked at her and it was as if she had pulled the rug from under him. Caroline had wanted to go. He was determined not to go, afraid of it being a trap, but Caroline had wanted to go. And he would do everything for her. So, maybe he did go after all?
But if he did, what had happened then?
Suddenly he turned as white as a sheet as fear caught on to him.
"Niklaus?" Elijah asked worried. "Brother what is it?" He stepped closer afraid that Klaus would fall down any second.
"What if it isn't just me?" He whispered. "What if we all went? What if something happened to all of us?" His heart tried to run from the fear that had gripped it. He felt his lungs collapse and he slightly started to panic. What if they were hurt? He looked at his siblings: Rebekah, Kol, Elijah. And what about Caroline? Stefan and Bonnie?
Maybe it had been a ruse and they had been taken hostage and were being tortured right now, just like he was. Or maybe it was so much worse. Maybe they were already dead…
Elijah saw the signs. "Niklaus, please calm down! We will figure this out."
Klaus took one or two deep breaths and tried to calm down. He nodded slowly. "Yes."
He had to believe that they would. That everything could be right again.
"So, the question is: How do we get his memories back?" Kol asked. "Sounds too easy if you ask me." But he sounded as if he meant the exact opposite. Which was true, because how do you make someone remember?
"We'll start with the place where everything happened." Elijah said.
They arrived of the site where the event would have taken place an hour later.
It was a meadow in the middle of a forest. The grass stood high against the grey sky. They looked around, but there was nothing there. There was nothing special about that place at all.
"Is this it?" Rebekah asked disappointed. She had obviously expected something else as had everyone else in all honesty.
Klaus walked right into the middle of the clearing trying to feel something, trying to figure something out or whatever. But he simply looked into every direction and felt nothing at all.
Kol had his hands inside his pockets.
No one knew what to do or what to say.
Elijah walked silently up to his brother to stand behind him. "We'll figure something out." He told him reassuringly.
"What if we don't?"
"We will!" He told Caroline.
She nodded. "You're right." She said smiling at Elijah.
"You are a very strong woman, Caroline. Do you know that?"
She sighed. "I think so. Yes. Well, I had no choice, but to be strong." She said and there was a little bit of sadness in her eyes. But if she was honest with herself, she wouldn't have it any other way. She was proud of who she had become and she knew that even her friends admired her for it. She had excelled as a vampire, so she had literally been born to die. A rare gift, as Klaus had said once and she liked to look at it from such a positive perspective.
"And you never gave up. I do admire you for that Caroline. Many other would have failed." He said and Caroline turned to look at him. "You…you admire me? You? You are like that wisest man I know." She laughed. "Elijah, don't be ridiculous!"
Elijah shook his head. "I disagree there, Miss Forbes. I am not wiser than my brother, would you consider him wise? Niklaus, I mean? No, no one would and yet sometimes he can be. I am no better than him, but you, you are still pure despite your nature. Your soul is still intact and untarnished. And if I had one wish, I'd beg of you to keep it that way."
Caroline shook her head. "You are praising me too much, Elijah. Please, don't put me on a pedestal."
"I beg to differ. You are hope, Caroline and that is something all of us need."
Caroline suddenly felt uncomfortable. Elijah was thinking too highly of her and she could not forget the way he had acted yesterday. She asked herself if she was brave enough to speak about it. She should definitely mention it. She closed her eyes. Okay, Caroline, now.
"Elijah, we are family, right?"
He looked at her full of surprise. "Of course, we are, why would you ask?"
"Like brother and sister, right?"
"Surely." He studied her face carefully. "Caroline, tell me what is the matter?"
"You see, I was afraid that the dynamics had changed now that Klaus is kind of absent and I am afraid that it will and I don't want anything to get weird, because I am really happy with Klaus and I don't want to get in the middle of anything, because that always ends badly, we've witnessed that time and time again and you are the only true brother I ever had, well apart from Stefan, but…do you know what I mean?" She bit onto her lip feeling her face getting hot. She looked probably flushed like a tomato.
Elijah needed a second to reply. "Caroline, you are very important to me, just as much as my brother and I could not steal his happiness away from him. Not again. So, be assured that history will not repeat itself. I will not allow it."
Caroline felt relief at that. She leaned against his shoulder and felt so much better doing it now.
"Good."
"I am glad that you'll be with Niklaus, despite what he has done…"
"Do you believe he is being punished for what happened?" Caroline asked and Elijah pursed his lips.
Klaus was exhausted. It had been two difficult weeks for him. Some vampires had tried to start a revolt which had to be put own, before it got out of hand. He had raged and killed and spilled lots of blood to gain the upper hand.
He was far more short tempered than he had ever been these days. It only took something small, something very little und redundant and he would snap at the click of his finger and burst.
Elijah was worrying about him, but Rebekah and Kol acted very differently. Klaus didn't pay any attention to them, but Elijah noticed the little smile and smirks whenever Klaus went off. They threw knowing glances at each other and Elijah watched it with concerned eyes.
Klaus was in the living room pacing like he always did when he tried to remember what he had forgotten. Caroline's face was vivid in front of his eyes, but the edges were slowly blurred and the colours weren't as bright as he had once seen them. It was as if the rain had washed out the image. She was fading, slowly, but surely and Klaus was afraid of what was about to happen.
He needed to remember.
Rebekah was leaning in the doorway crossing her arms over her chest. She smirked.
"What, Bekah?"
"If you keep going at that pace you might manage to break the floor in less than a week."
"I am not in the mood for one of your games."
"Oh, I know. You're trying to remember. Your facade is cracking, you know?"
Klaus stopped in his tracks and looked at her. "What are you talking about?"
She laughed. "I haven't bought it, you know. It just was too good to be true. I wanted to believe it, but believe it or not I know my brothers. And most of all I know you!"
Klaus clenched his fists and pumped up his chest. "Bekah, what are you saying?"
"You have kept the act up for some time and even though I still don't know what you are on about, I will find it out!" She stepped into the room and she and Klaus started to circle each other like the predators that they were.
"I know who you are. You are the evil brother that you are and lately you have shown me all the reason why I am right. Why we are right." Klaus tilted his head at the word "we". "We were always right and you yourself were dumb enough to give us another shot." The hairs at the back of his neck stood at edge. Something was wrong, he could sense that. The room temperature changed.
"You are right to do what?" He asked and his face darkened.
"Why we are and were always right to kill you!" She answered. Klaus sensed the presence behind him just a little too late. Someone jumped onto his back biting into the side of his neck. He recognised his little brother immediately though. Rebekah pulled a white oak stake from behind her back and came running towards him. He roared and screamed pushing Kol into the wall behind him, but he was not shaken.
Rebekah screamed as well as she was still aiming at his chest with the stake in hand. Klaus managed to throw Kol off and lunged for his sister's throat. He grabbed it tightly between his fingers, but at the same time he felt the prickling sensation that grew hotter and hotter as the tip of the stake cut his skin. Suddenly, however Rebekah was thrown off him and the stake left his skin that immediately cooled off again. He took a deep breath.
Elijah had Rebekah in a headlock, but Kol started at Klaus again and tried to bury his hand in his chest, but Klaus was still stronger and broke his arm instead.
Rebekah in the meantime had broken free of Elijah and lunged at Klaus who spun around grabbing her throat again and her head smashed against the wall behind her. There were tears in her eyes and she looked at him with so much disdain.
"I hate you!" She choked. Klaus panted. "Let me go!" She demanded.
"No." Klaus snarled.
"What then?" She croaked. "Are you going to put me into a box again?" Klaus tried to figure out what to do now. Would he really put a dagger into her heart again? "Shame you cannot compel us, isn't it?"
Something clicked inside his head suddenly.
There was anger, rage and regret inside of him whirling together like a storm. And there was this voice. "Let me go!" "No!"
He let go of Rebekah and stepped into the middle of the room looking around in confusion. He felt weird. Something was wrong. Something was not right.
His family watched him as his eyes glazed over. What was happening to him?
His head started to hurt and was about to explode. In slow motion he fell to the floor.
"What had happened?" He asked himself. "What?"
There was something knocking at the door inside of his head demanding entry. And he tried to pull the door open. He really tried but it was too fast sealed.
However the knocks got louder and fiercer and then suddenly the door burst open.
"You are not telling me what to do!" Caroline screamed furiously. She was running through their room gathering her stuff.
"You will not leave this house, Caroline!" Klaus responded just as angrily.
"I will go to that thing and if you don't want to come that's fine, but do not tell me what to do, do you hear me, Klaus Mikaelson? I am not your minion!"
"No you are not, but you will not go! It might be a trap and then what? You get kidnapped or killed and I have to either save you or mourn your dead body, that's not going to happen, love!"
She had grabbed her purse and jacket and was determined to leave the house tonight.
"Go out of my way!" Klaus was blocking the doorway.
"No." He said.
"Well." Caroline cocked her eyebrows as if he was challenging her. "Fine then." She kneed him in the groin, hit hard against the side of his neck and grabbed his arm with her other hand, quickly turned it around and onto his back. Klaus had not expected her blow and even though he did not give in, he gave Caroline enough time to flash passed him and towards the front door.
However Klaus was much faster than her and caught up with her exactly in front of the door. He looked menacingly down at her.
"Let me go!" Caroline said pushing him backwards. Klaus grabbed her shoulders looked her into the eyes and demanded: "You are not going to leave this house without my permission!"
Before he even realised what he had done it was too late to take anything back.
Caroline's shoulder slumped and Klaus let immediately go of her. He looked terrified and Caroline looked just as terrified back at him. Her eyes filled with tears. She was flexing her jaw angrily and shook her head.
"I'm so sorry!" Klaus whispered.
Caroline just looked at him with as much disgust as she could muster up before she flashed away and upstairs.
Klaus looked at Elijah who had appeared in a doorway looking absolutely disappointed with him.
"Niklaus!" He told him off and Klaus actually started to feel the burning of tears in his eyes.
"I didn't mean to." He whispered helplessly. "I…It just happened."
Elijah closed his eyes listening to Caroline's cries upstairs.
The one thing she would never tolerate. The one thing that could destroy their trust irreparably.
Klaus opened his eyes again.
His cheeks were wet as he suddenly remembered the night. The events that had really happened. That he had buried deep within his mind, simply wanting to forget that they ever happened. He wished he could make them undone.
Suddenly he noticed the presence behind him and wheeled around.
He gasped. "Caroline!"
She was standing behind him looking as radiant as ever. His heart skipped a beat at seeing her here. He wanted to do nothing more than embrace her and never let go again.
"Love, I am so sorry!"
But she shook her head. "I am not her."
Klaus immediately took a step back going all defensive. "Who are you?" He snarled.
Caroline grinned. "I am you."
He frowned. "What?"
"I am a part of you. The part of her inside of you. Your mating bond tied you two together. Like when two strings become one. There are two pieces, two different parts becoming the same and I am her part inside of you." As he wondered if that made sense she went on.
"I am the part inside of you that will always protect Caroline from her worst enemy. From yourself. You violated your mating bond by violating her essence. Your bond exists because she loves you and she can only do that because she trusts you. If you break that trust and undo it there will be severe consequences for your bond and I am here to protect it. You wanted to forget what you had done. You wanted to forget your mistakes, but you must never forget your mistakes, not if they are severe enough to endanger the foundation of your bond."
"I am so sorry." Klaus repeated for a lack of anything else to say.
"You have changed. You've seen what you'd be if your wishes had come true. You would have had everything and yet nothing. You would have gotten what you wanted but not what you needed. Now, tell me, is it happiness that happens when your dreams come true?"
Klaus remained silent.
"Tell me, what you want?"
He swallowed. "I want to go home."
Caroline smiled and nodded. "You needed to see this. It's part of the development of your mating bond. And now." She raised her hand and snapped her fingers.
Klaus drew a deep breath like a man about to drown. He gasped for air and looked around.
He was lying in his bed. This was his room, but not as he had last seen it. He was still gasping for air for all of his insides burnt. His veins were rubbing together like sandpaper. But he still noticed the faint floral scent lingering inside of the rom. His mouth was dry.
And then he noticed the small picture hanging on the wall on the opposite side of him. It was small, but spoke volumes. His heart skipped a beat. Was it really?
His eyes burnt, but he didn't know if it was because of his pain or because he recognized the sound of the steps flying up the stairs.
"Niklaus!"
He chocked and wheezed. "I am so sorry." He coughed again and tried to sit up. "I am so sorry."
"Sh, it's okay." Caroline put her hand against his cheek looking utterly relieved and happy. "It's okay! I am glad you are back!"