Klaroline Fanfiction Week Day 7: Time Travel
And so we come to the last entry! I hope you have enjoyed my contributions :) You can always check out the "kcfanficweek" tag on tumblr as well to see all the talented members of our fandom's works if you crave more.
Let's say this takes place sometime in Season 4 between the Miss Mystic Pageant and the Hybrid Slaughter; basically before everything went to hell.
I've added this to my "to continue" list, maybe even as a full length fic, after I catch up on the rest of my backlog of course.
In which Caroline and Klaus find themselves much more lost than they first thought.
"I can't believe this! This is all your fault, you know."
Klaus sighed, eyes raised to the heavens as he continued to walk behind her through the woods.
"Maybe if you could go five minutes without trying to take over the world-"
"I would hardly call this plan world domination material, love," he interrupted, halting his steps as she abruptly stopped, turning stiffly to face him.
Caroline leveled a glare at him that would cause most to cower before her. "Oh, my mistake, not the world, just my home town! That's not nearly as bad," she said sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Glad you agree," he said, giving her a grin.
"You're infuriating!" she cried, turning on her heel and stalking away from him.
The hybrid chuckled softly before continuing after her, contemplating his next move. He certainly hadn't planned to end up in the middle of the woods, unsure of his exact whereabouts. And Caroline was most certainly not supposed to have interrupted the spell his witch was casting, causing them to be transported here in the first place.
Klaus continued to follow the angry vampire, keeping his distance as she fumed, storming through the woods. He couldn't understand why she was so upset, it's not like the spell was supposed to kill anyone; not directly anyway.
"Oh. My. God."
He was pulled from his thoughts by her startled words, flashing forward to her side, a protective arm shooting out in front of her. Klaus looked at her in question, noticing her open mouth and wide, confused eyes. As he turned to see what had alarmed her, his own jaw dropped at the sight.
"Is that… Stefan?" Caroline whispered, voice full of confusion.
The boy in front of her looked like her friend, yet his hair was longer and his clothes were so… old. He almost looked like he belonged at the Founder's Day Celebration. Had she forgotten what the date was? No, it was still fall, totally the wrong time of year for that. But then…
Caroline gasped, her hands flying up to cover her mouth as she continued to stare in shock. Klaus turned to look at her, seeking an explanation.
"That's Stefan," she said slowly, her voice shaky as she let her hands fall back to her sides. "And that's Damon," she continued, trembling finger pointing at the dark haired man who was also sporting longer hair and strange clothes.
"Yes, I can see that, love, what-"
"And that's Katherine."
Klaus' head whipped around, his eyes quickly settling on the curly haired brunette who appeared to be playing croquet with an older gentleman. He was frozen in confusion for a moment, wondering why on Earth the troublesome doppelganger turned vampire was wearing such a large skirt, before he made to move forward, his revenge in sight.
"Wait!" Caroline hissed, grabbing his arm in alarm, pulling him back into the cover of the trees.
Momentarily stunned by her touch, Klaus allowed her to maneuver him, his eyes fixed on her small hand wrapped around his bicep. Once she was satisfied they were out of sight, Caroline turned to look at him. A blush appeared on her cheeks as she followed his eyes, realizing she was still touching him. She pulled her hand back with a jerk, self-consciously rubbing her hands together as she looked up at him nervously.
"Well, sweetheart, as much as I enjoy you manhandling me," Klaus began, ignoring her scoff. "Mind explaining why you stopped me from doing us all a favor and ending Katerina Petrova once and for all?"
"You can't!" Caroline insisted, looking at him pleadingly.
The hybrid frowned. "I most certainly can."
"No, I mean you can't because you didn't," she explained, as if he was supposed to have any idea what she was talking about.
"Caroline, my patience is wearing thin, even for you," Klaus sighed, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.
Caroline sighed loudly, crossing her arms over her chest. "What I'm saying is that you can't kill her now because you didn't back then… which is now now, I guess."
Klaus gave her a blank look.
"You and your stupid witch with her stupid spell sent us back in time, Klaus!" she whisper-yelled, waving her arms wildly. "You can't kill Katherine because we've traveled back in time to a point where you didn't kill her, so doing anything to her now would screw things up royally in the future, otherwise known as our present! It's Rules of Time Travel 101."
He opened his mouth to refute her claim but found himself unable. It actually made sense. The clothes, the familiar, yet not so familiar faces, the odd building designs he had noticed in the distance; it all screamed past. Plus the feeling of being ripped apart when the spell had teleported them here made much more sense now.
Caroline nodded when he remained silent, looking grim. "We've gone back in time to 1864."
"I can't believe women actually wore these stupid things!" she said exasperatedly, complaining about her new wardrobe for the thousandth time. "I mean, how am I supposed to lace this?"
Klaus chuckled, looking over at the bushes Caroline had chosen to change behind. "You mean the corset, I presume? Ladies usually had maids to help them."
"Ugh! Well, what am I supposed to do?" she cried, giving up on trying to lace up her own back.
"Allow me," he said softly from behind her, his hands suddenly taking hold of the strings.
Caroline gasped, clutching the corset tighter to her chest, turning her head around to glare at him. "Are you insane?! I could have been naked!" She was glad she had pulled on her underskirt before attempting to do up the corset.
Klaus chuckled, untangling the mess she had made of the laces. "I'm not seeing the downside, sweetheart."
Caroline made an infuriated noise but said nothing else, knowing she had no other choice if they were going to pass as people who actually belonged in the 1800's. She had to allow Klaus to help her dress in the clothes he had… borrowed for them. Her knee high boots and dress and cardigan and his jeans and leather jacket were certainly not going to cut it.
She gasped when he suddenly pulled the strings tight, shooting him a glare as he chuckled. "Stupid barbaric undergarments," she muttered as he continued to lace her up.
"There, all done," he finally said, tying off the ends.
Caroline let out a long breath, missing being able to expand her lungs in the same way as before, though she felt surprisingly snug and controlled. It actually wasn't that bad, not that she would admit that to Klaus.
She turned around, about to ask him to hand her the dress when she noticed his new clothes. He actually looked quite dashing, the old fashioned suit fitting him well. Caroline quickly averted her eyes before he could notice her staring, looking for the dress he had brought her. She spotted the silky fabric hanging on a branch, gently taking it into her arms and turning it around, trying to figure out how it was supposed to go on.
"Um, so how many people does it take to put on this part?" she asked timidly, holding up the mass of fabric that filled her arms.
Klaus grinned, turning to face her. "Allow me," he offered, holding out his arms.
Caroline reluctantly gave up the dress, self-consciously crossing her arms over her chest, feeling exposed in only the corset and underskirt, though it was honestly more covering than half of her regular outfits. Klaus fumbled with the fabric for a few moments before righting it, finding the hole for her head, holding it out as he gestured for her to put her head through.
She only hesitated a moment before she stepped forward, finding the arm holes as well and maneuvering herself into the dress as he held it out for her. Klaus helped her pull it down, his hands lingering on her waist slightly longer than necessary before he helped her straighten out her skirts.
"Must everything have laces?" Caroline moaned, turning her head to look at her back, glaring at the strings that hung loose.
Klaus laughed out loud, clearly amused by her displeasure, and moved behind her, tying the laces that were more decorative than functional.
"Well, how do I look?" she asked, spinning around, giving him a pose.
He swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry. He had thought she had been beautiful the night of the ball, but this, this was another level. The light blue fabric brought out her eyes and complimented her creamy skin, the off-the-shoulders gown pulling in at her waist, showing off her curves. She looked positively radiant.
"This time period suits you," Klaus said after he cleared his throat, trying not to look or sound as awestruck as he felt.
"You don't look half bad yourself," she teased, giving him a smile. When she realized what she had said her eyes widened slightly. "Uh, so, we should probably come up with a backstory," Caroline said quickly, blushing slightly.
Klaus sighed. "I suppose you'll have to be my fiancé."
"What?!" Caroline screeched, looking at him incredulously.
He smirked at her response. "Would you prefer to be my sister?" he questioned, tilting his head.
She scrunched up her nose in distaste. "Ugh, fine. But no treating me like your property or I swear I will make you regret it when we get back!"
"Of course, love," he chuckled, already thinking of amusing scenarios where he could play this to his advantage.
"What are we going to do about Katherine? I mean, she knows what you look like," Caroline questioned, running her hand through her hair, idly wondering what she was supposed to do with it.
"Well, since you won't let me kill her…" he paused, checking to see if she had changed her mind. When she frowned in response he continued. "And I don't think we can avoid her, especially not if we want access to that Bennett witch you said is around here. That leaves compulsion."
The blonde pursed her lips thoughtfully. "That should work. Great, one problem down. Now, what do I do with my hair?"
He sent her a raised brow. "You're asking me?"
"Yeah, well, you were actually around during this time, you have to remember something!"
"Women's hair styles wasn't exactly something I was interested in, Caroline," he told her with a roll of her eyes.
"Oh come on, just try to remember, did you have to brush the hair from their necks before you drained them dry or not?" she asked acerbically, becoming annoyed with his unhelpfulness.
Klaus' eyes darkened before he suddenly flashed behind her, his chest flush against her back. Caroline barely had a chance to gasp before she felt his breath on her shoulder as he breathed in her scent. Her eyes fell shut as he raised a hand to push her hair out of his way, trailing his fingers along her neck as he did so. She bit back a moan as she felt his nose brush along her neck, her body trembling in anticipation.
"Mmm, definitely… up," he whispered against her skin before he was suddenly gone, the warmth from his body against hers no longer there.
Caroline blinked, regaining her bearings, eyes finally focusing on him in front of her leaning against a tree smirking. "Jackass," she muttered, feeling her skin heat up as the blush spread across her face.
She ignored his laughter as she turned, furiously pulling her hair away from her face, trying to make her one hairband work miracles.
Once Caroline was satisfied with her hair, settling for pulling it back in a half ponytail, wrapping the hair around the hairband, thankful she had worn her curls today, they headed into town.
The vampire was none too thrilled to have to link arms with Klaus, especially after what he pulled, but he convinced her it was necessary. Caroline wracked her brain as they walked, trying to recall everything Stefan had ever told her about his human life, and everything else Elena had filled in for her, since Stefan was always less than forthcoming about his dealings with Katherine.
"There she is!" she suddenly hissed, her grip on his arm tightening as they walked through the center of town.
Klaus was momentarily distracted by the pressure on his arm before he forced himself to focus, following her line of sight to catch a glimpse of the doppelganger exiting a small herbal shop unaccompanied. He quickened his pace, almost dragging Caroline along with him as he followed her around the corner of a building.
Katherine had paused, clearly having sensed their presence. She slowly turned her head to look back at them. "Can I help-" her haughty words were cut off as she recognized Klaus, her eyes widening in fear as she made to run.
Anticipating her move, Klaus had already began flashing towards her, shoving her up against the side of the building by her neck, his eyes flashing yellow in anger.
"Klaus! How did you find me?" she choked out, hands clawing at him as she struggled to breath. "Please, let me go! You already killed my family, what more do you want?" she managed to say, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks as she suffocated in his unrelenting grip.
"Klaus!" Caroline reprimanded, running up and placing a restraining hand on his shoulder. "Remember what we talked about?" she said slowly, attempting to break through his rage.
The hybrid finally turned to face her, his features softening slightly as he realized she was right. "Fine. We'll do this your way," he grunted, turning back to the gasping doppelganger, his pupils constricting and dilating, pleased to see hers following suit. "You will not recognize me while we are here in Mystic Falls in this year. You have never seen me before. You will not remember me or my companion after we leave."
Katherine drowsily repeated back the words as he released his grip on her throat, the compulsion taking affect.
Caroline sighed in relief, dropping the hand she realized was still on Klaus, clasping her hands behind her back. "Thank you," she said softly, meeting his eyes.
Klaus pressed his lips into a hard line, forcing all his anger aside. There was still plenty of time in the present, future, whatever, to seek his revenge on Katerina. Looking into Caroline's wide blue eyes helped, his control returning as he stared back at her.
She gave him an awkward smile before she turned back to face Katherine, who was just now coming out of the grip of the compulsion.
"Are you alright Miss?" she questioned innocently, playing her part.
Katherine blinked a few times, rubbing her neck in confusion before she focused on the couple before her. "I- I'm fine. Do I know you?" she questioned, looking at them strangely, as if she recognized them but couldn't place them.
"No, my fiancé and I are new to town," Klaus stepped in, offering his hand begrudgingly, keeping up the charade.
Katherine accepted with a sly smile, one Caroline couldn't help narrowing her eyes at. Seriously? Weren't the Salvatore brothers enough for Katherine to play with? If only she remembered who Klaus really was…
"We were hoping you could direct us to a place to stay for a few days," Caroline interjected, feeling a sudden need to interrupt Katherine's exchange with Klaus.
Katherine looked at her as if she had just noticed she was there, and was none too pleased with the discovery. "Why of course, I know just the place! Come with me, I will show you to the Salvatore Boarding House," she said, grinning at Klaus who forced himself not to roll his eyes.
"Lead the way," he said with a short bow, letting a smirking Katherine proceed them.
"I swear, we better find a way home soon or I'm going to kill her," she mumbled under her breath, just loud enough for Klaus to hear.
He grinned down at her as he took her hand again, placing it back into position on his arm. "Now, now, sweetheart, remember the 'Rules of Time Travel' as you so eloquently put it," he breathed back, clearly enjoying himself at her expense.
He couldn't quite make out her next words, but he was pretty sure he caught the words "bitch" and "watch her back."