Fixing Mistakes
Chapter 17 - Days of Future Past
2014
A month before Caroline was sent to the past.
Sophie stared at a photograph of her sister Jane-Anne and her niece Monique, her heart was still broken at their deaths. Monique died in the Harvest ritual that Sophie had stupidly tried to prevent, if she hadn't interrupted them then Davina would have been killed and ALL of them would have risen again. Jane-Anne was murdered by Marcel after she cast a spell to confirm Hayley's miracle pregnancy. They thought they had found the key to manipulating Klaus, a child they were certain he would do anything to protect.
Wrong. They were so very wrong, if Elijah hadn't stepped in to talk to Klaus and eventually convince him to protect his unborn child, he would have let Sophie kill Hayley and the baby. How do you manipulate someone to fight a war for you when your bargaining chip means nothing to him as opposed to the power Marcel wielded.
A tear streaked down Sophie's cheek as she stared at the photo, "We were wrong, Jane-Anne. Klaus does not care at all for the child or its mother." She grabbed the bottle of tequila from the table and drank half the bottle, "Once he finds out about Davina I'm not sure that he won't just keep her for himself instead of killing her." She tilted her head as she recalled what would happen if that happened, "And if I don't convince him to kill her then the whole of New Orleans will be destroyed."
Sophie jumped up and began to pace, "Katherine told us that if Klaus found out about the child he would be here to protect it." She ground her teeth as anger filled her again, "She told us that all he wanted was a family!" She flopped back down on the couch miserably and drank the rest of the tequila, "God! What do we do now?"
The photo of Monique and Jane-Anne began vibrating on the table. Sophie looked over at it as it shook more violently, the sounds becoming louder and louder until it fell face down and a boom was heard. Her eyes wide she leaned forward to pick up the frame when she finally noticed the two figures in the room. She jumped back in terror, they were not ordinary people, instead of seeing a normal human form they were instead made up of darkness. Black and red bubbles moved together constantly, similar to a lava lamp, outlining the form of a man and a woman. Their eyes were purple, cold and dangerous. Chills ran up Sophie's spine, "Who-who are you?"
"We are darkness. We are ancient." Their voices collided together violently, a glass shattering near to where they stood.
That reply didn't make Sophie feel any better about their presence, "Why are you here?"
"We are here to help you." The woman replied, her eyes focused on Sophie, "We felt your despair. Your desperation."
"Be forewarned, child, that our help does not come without a price." The man warned, his voice booming with a threat.
"Help with what?" Sophie asked, even though she was pretty sure that she already knew, there was only one thing that had her desperate and despaired. Monique and Jane-Anne.
"Do not waste our time with your avoidance of the truth for it is pathetic." She raised her hand in front of her, red bubbles building in her fingertips, and raised the photo up by flicking her fingers up, "You wish for your sister and niece to be resurrected from death."
Sophie nodded.
The man sneered at Sophie, "You thought that the Hybrid would do your bidding if you threatened his unborn bastard child?"
Sophie swallowed nervously before nodding again.
"Your plan was flawed and bound to fail." He chastened Sophie with his tone, "You should have researched the Hybrid's weaknesses."
"I did!" Sophie burst out, unable to contain herself when these beings of darkness spoke to her as if she was a child, "Klaus's weakness is his family."
"That is true, a thousand years of history do not lie, a weak point will always be his family." She acknowledged the truth in Sophie's words.
"However." His voice became even darker and much more menacing, "There is another."
Their voices joined together as they spoke the name of Klaus's downfall, "Caroline Forbes."
"Who is she?" Sophie had never heard the name Caroline before.
"She is his heart." She answered, her voice brittle with hatred at the knowledge of Klaus and Caroline's shared bond, "She is everything to him."
"He loves her and would do anything for her." He added, sneering at the weakness of the Hybrid.
Sophie was not convinced. Klaus couldn't care less about Hayley and the baby, how could he possibly love a woman whom was nowhere in sight? "If that is true then where is this Caroline? Why is she not in New Orleans with Klaus?" She shook her head in disbelief, "Surely he would not leave her behind if he truly cared about her."
He chucked, the sound dark and disturbing, before answering, "Because we made sure that it was so."
"What do you mean?" Sophie asked, confused as to what the man meant.
"They grew too close," she replied, "the bonds that will tie them together eternally began weaving their strings around them."
"So we made sure to separate them." He continued where she left off, "To rip off those bonds just as they formed."
"I am still not sure what you mean?" Sophie was still confused, "What did you do?"
The man pierced Sophie with his cruel purple gaze, "Did you not find it strange that the Hybrid procreated a child when he is dead?"
Sophie furrowed her brow, "It was because he turned himself into a Hybrid, nature provided a loophole that he now has the ability to impregnate females."
She laughed loudly, "Whom do you think told your fellow witches that piece of information?"
"It was I, child, that fed those magical hags just what they wanted to hear to send the Hybrid just where I wanted him." He answered, a dark chuckle escaping him, "After all, how can we use Caroline against him if he's already there to protect her."
Sophie digested what she heard for a moment before asking, "But how is Hayley pregnant if Klaus can't procreate?" She eyed them both suspiciously, "If it was all just a lie that you orchestrated?"
"Because WE made her pregnant." He answered.
"And we made it so that they fornicated." She added, the smirk clear in her voice, "Neither wanted the other, nor did they have any interest in joining together, both craved another."
"But why?" Sophie still didn't understand why two supremely powerful beings would go through all that just to what, separate Klaus from a woman he was growing closer to? It didn't make any sense to her, "Why do all that? Wouldn't it be easier just to kill Klaus?"
"Our motives are not for you to demand knowledge of." He replied stiffly, anger present in his tone, "You will know what we want you to know when we want you to. No more, no less."
Sophie swallowed back her fear. The man terrified her and she knew it was justified, if he didn't like what she said she was sure that he would not hesitate to kill her.
"Now that you know some of the truth of recent events, do you wish for our help in bringing your family back to life?" She asked, wanting to know Sophie's answer, "Remember that we have shared with you what we did not have to."
Sophie thought over her choice. She could deny the darkness and hope that Klaus would kill Davina before she ruined the city, or she could take their help and hope that whatever they needed her to do to Klaus or Caroline would be all they needed from her before they brought her family back to her. There was only one choice for her, she needed her sister back, she couldn't do it without her, and she hated half of the coven. If only they had told the girls what the true sacrifice was, that they would not just sleep but die before being brought back once the ritual was completed. Sophie took a deep breath before saying, "I will do it. I will help you." Tears filled her eyes as she pleaded, "Just bring my family back."
"We accept, Sophie Deveraux." Their voices echoed together, a wind building in the room, tossing around papers and blowing Sophie's hair around her face.
Sophie held her arm in front of her face to shield it from the wind and shouted over the roar, "What do you need me to do?"
"Gather your power." She answered. Her fingers touched his and began merging their particles together.
He curled his arms around her and pulled her into his chest, she disappeared inside of him with a swirl of red and black bubbles. Just before he left he added, "When the sky is turning black and blue, the stars are shining white and bright, the moon is swinging in its cradle, and the Sun is sleeping over the horizon, we shall appear and satiate your fears." And then he blinked out of existence.
The winds roared so loud that Sophie thought her eardrums would burst. She placed her hands over her ears, screwed her eyes shut and screamed.
Boom.
Silence.
Sophie cautiously opened one eye and then the other when she saw there was no more wind. She eyed the mess that was now her living room with trepidation. Papers were everywhere, incense sticks littered the floor and photos had fallen down. She once again picked up the photo of her sister and the niece, looking at their smiling faces she sighed, "What have I got myself into, Jane-Anne?"
Meanwhile...
In the Chamber of the Guardians Ara and Nera; the protector of the balance and the hand of fate, sat upon their marble chairs. They had watched over humanity since the day the higher power entrusted them with the task. They had watched humanity grow from savage beast to tribes to great empires and civilization to the technologically advanced beings of today. They had seen wars, famine, plague, deaths, births, and great love borne on this one world. Humans and all their differing emotions enthralled them, they provided them with their very own entertainment, not once in their millennia of observing had they ever once grown bored.
Ara was once again observing those below, being the keeper of the balance she sensed that something was amiss and had been for a while. It was as if a crack had formed in nature and something wrong had passed through. She had asked her sister Nera to look within the altar of water to see if she could locate the force of unnatural energy.
Nera searched through her minds eye as she swirled the water of the altar, gently circling the liquid to create waves, changing the direction of the waves depending on where she looked. Finally as an image grasped her, her eyes became reflections of the water beneath her hand as she prophesied, "A child shall be born to bring about the destruction of the immortal Hybrid. Created by the darkness forcing a union between werewolf and Hybrid. It will destroy the light forever." Nera's eyes returned to normal as the vision cleared.
"Nera!" Ara rushed over to her sister, her arm going around Nera's shoulder to hold her weakened form up, "Are you alright?"
Nera smiled lovingly at Ara and covered the hand on her shoulder with her own, "You know that the weakness will soon pass, sister, but thank you for your concern."
Ara knew the worry was irrational, Nera always recovered swiftly from her moment of weakness but still, she could not help the panic when her sister's body trembled as if it would fall.
"Worry no more, Ara," Nera squeezed the hand she held in reassurance before standing under her own power, "for I am well."
Ara nodded her head and breathed a sigh of relief. At Nera's knowing smile she chuckled at herself before asking, "What did the prophecy mean?" She had a pretty good idea but she always wanted Nera to tell her more than just the words, as she could see and feel all that the prophecy was. It made it more clearer for Ara and helped Nera sort through all that she had seen.
"A child shall be born that never should have been. Dark magic created it to bring about the destruction of the Hybrid." Nera told Ara all she'd seen, her voice becoming grave as she explained his dark future, "The child will succeed in destroying him as he kills his offspring, turns off his humanity and vows to end all witches." She spoke directly to her sister as she told her the final part of her vision, "One day when the Hybrid meets his love again, after many humanity-less days for the both of them, he takes her heart in his hand and pulls it out of her chest. Destroying the light forever."
"Oh no!" Ara gasped, placing her hands over her heart as it ached with pain at the thought of the dark times ahead. This should not be! The balance has been tipped in the scales of dark, it was her job to keep it balanced, neither in favour of good or bad, equal. She would fail if what Nera saw comes to pass, "We must fix this, Nera!"
"I know, Ara." Nera agreed. She paced the floor as she tried to think of a solution, a way to right the wrongs that were already made. She would not kill an unborn child, whether it was dark or not she was not a murderer.
Ara too searched her mind for a way to fix things. This child was the problem, it never should have been, it never would have been if not for the darkness. If only the Hybrid had fought and stayed for the light, he would have surely captured her heart as he was meant to. If only...
It was like a lightbulb going on above their heads. Ara and Nera both thought of the same thing and said their idea to each other at the same time, "We should send her into the past." The both smiled at one another at how similar their minds worked.
"To when he was human." Ara added.
Nera nodded her head in agreement, "She will face trials there, they both will, but they will overcome it."
"They need to be united. Their bond needs to be completed." Ara needed them to be together and strong to have any chance of keeping the natural order of the balance.
"The past will change with her presence." Nera warned, she wanted Ara to be aware of the potential consequences if they chose this drastic path, "The future will remain uncertain until she returns and the new past and future comes to pass."
"I am aware that there is no guarantee that this will work." Ara knew the risk of what she was about to undertake, "We could send her to the past and she could change it for the worse, or nothing could change and this dark path will be cemented." She faced her sister and asked, "It is worth the risk, is it not?"
Nera thought over her answer for a moment before replying, "The risk is indeed high but the reward is more than worth it."
"Then we must gather what we need and pick where we must send her." Ara said, an excitement in her voice as they now had a plan. It would also be the first time she or Nera would have used this particular enchantment.
Nera nodded, "Then we must retrieve Esther from the Other Side."
Ara and Nera began preparing for their upcoming ritual.
Mystic Falls
A month later
"If it is at all possible you are even happier than when we arrived." Rebekah noted as she got in the car, she glanced at Klaus and was surprised that he was still smiling, "You didn't even stay to watch Katherine die. What has put the smile on your face?"
Klaus smiled wider, his eyes sparkling in remembrance of how he spent the afternoon, "Lets just say that this trip to Mystic Falls has been," he glanced over his shoulder to take one last look at the town which had brought him pain, misery, betrayal, victories, great losses, and above all love, "a revelation."
"And why exactly is that?" Rebekah asked, this trip for her, brief as it was, had been nothing but nostalgic for her. It was nice to see Matt again but she realized that while she enjoyed his company she wasn't in love with him.
"I know the truth." Klaus replied softly, his voice full of wonder and his heart was full with Caroline. He knew that the day when she knocked on his door and let them both love each other was a long way off but, it would happen. His grin grew ever wider as he thought, Caroline loves me too!
"What truth...?" Rebekah started to ask before trailing off, there is only one thing that can bring such a smile to her brother's face. Caroline Forbes. She shook her head in disbelief, "You saw that trollop didn't you?"
Klaus's hand shot out and pinned Rebekah's throat against the headrest, "Do not insult her in my presence, Rebekah!" He growled once before releasing her neck, "Grow up and stop this petulant hatred of Caroline before I hunt down a dagger and lock you back up in your coffin for a few decades."
Rebekah crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Klaus, "I hate you! I can't see how she can let you weasel your way back into her affections after all you've done." She looked out the window and a lone tear rolled down her cheek, "I have looked my whole life for a man to love me. I came close to pure happiness only a few times before you ruined most of them." She turned her head and glared hatefully at him, "Why do you get the happy ending that I crave?"
Klaus sighed, "She is not exactly sitting in the back of the car, is she, Rebekah?"
Rebekah eyed Klaus, she noticed the happiness that still lingered in his eyes despite his annoyance, "But she will, one day, be sitting in the back of that car forever." She realized that something monumental must have happened in her hours without Klaus, "Something happened between you, didn't it, Nik?"
Klaus hated how Rebekah could read between the lines, he wanted to bask in the knowledge of Caroline's love and future presence by his side, not discuss it with his sister, "Can you just let it go, Rebekah? That day may or may not come and I'd rather not discuss it with you."
"Whatever you say, Nik." Rebekah smirked at Klaus and hissed venomously, "I do hope that you shared the news of your impending fatherhood with Caroline."
Klaus gripped the wheel tight and gritted his teeth. Oh how he hated the day he allowed himself to fuck that whore. The drive back should hopefully calm himself down enough that he didn't kill Hayley the moment he saw her when he arrived home.
Tyler was sat in the boarding house having just arrived back in Mystic Falls after his ill fated trip to New Orleans. He had lost Caroline, no, he had walked away from her all for just one chance to put down Klaus or to be killed by him, only to end up humiliated as Klaus chose to let him live in his misery. His friends had informed him of all that happened today and that Katherine was about to die at any moment. He noticed Caroline's absence, "Where's Caroline?"
"She went to look for Matt after he got kidnapped for the hundredth time." Damon answered, especially chipper this evening as he waited eagerly for Bonnie to see Katherine on the Other Side and confirm that she is at last dead.
"But that was hours ago." Stefan replied, concern creeping into his voice as he wondered where his friend had got to.
"Perhaps she went home?" Jeremy offered an explanation.
"Without knowing Matt was saved?" Bonnie shook her head, "She wouldn't do that."
"Maybe she saw Rebekah," Matt glanced sympathetically at Tyler as he revealed, "or Klaus, she said he came with her."
Tyler clenched his fists at the thought of that bastard with Caroline, "That's not exactly a relief, Matt."
"Blondie can take care of herself." Damon shrugged, not concerned that Caroline could be with Klaus, "He is not going to hurt her, so why worry?"
Stefan glared at his brother, "He could hurt her emotionally."
"Not my concern." Damon replied flippantly.
Before anyone could say anything else Bonnie noticed the new appearance, "Katherine?"
Katherine panicked and closed her eyes, "I'm not ready." She willed herself to live and soon disappeared.
"She really does not want to die." Bonnie mused, shocked that Katherine had prevented her death for now but she couldn't avoid it forever.
Tyler grew more worried the longer Caroline stayed away. Was she with Klaus? Did she know that Matt was safe? If so then why wasn't she back here? He was just preparing to go when Elena entered the room.
"She's gone." Elena; possessed by Katherine, revealed.
"Ding dong!" Damon raised his glass and smirked, "The bitch is dead!"
"Yeah," Katherine hid a smirk and picked up a shot, "she's gone forever." She knocked back her shot while thinking, at least Elena soon will be.
A few days later
"I am really worried now." Tyler had gathered all his friends to the boarding house to discuss Caroline, "I've talked to her mom and she hasn't been home. I've gone to Whitmoor and she hasn't been there. Guys, she's disappeared."
"What if she went on a trip?" Katherine asked, supremely bored by everyone being worried about Caroline. She had barely spent any time alone with Stefan as he was preoccupied by trying to get in contact with Caroline.
"She didn't." Stefan answered solemnly and placed Caroline's cellphone on the table, "I've been trying to call her for days. I finally began searching the forest and I found her phone near a scorchmark on the ground."
"Do you think she's dead?" Matt asked, a lump in his throat.
"She's not." Bonnie dismissed that thought immediately, "If she...died...I would have seen her."
Stefan shut his eyes in relief, "Thank god!" He raised his hands to his face and rubbed his eyes, "When I saw that I couldn't help but think the worst."
"Then where the hell is she?" Matt asked, concerned for his friend, "She wouldn't just leave, and especially without her phone."
"I agree with Matt." Stefan replied, he was scared that Caroline was in danger somewhere waiting for them to rescue her, "Caroline has rung me without fail everyday for months. This is the longest I've ever gone without seeing her or talking to her. Something is wrong."
"I bet it has something to do with Klaus." Tyler spoke up, his hatred of Klaus growing even more at the thought that he had kidnapped Caroline.
Katherine had an idea, a way for her to spend hours with Stefan while pretending to care for whatever had happened to Caroline. She made her voice sound concerned, "How about Stefan and I go to New Orleans and find Klaus and see if he has Caroline?"
Damon wanted to object but Elena had been closed off with him recently and he didn't want to upset her further so he just clenched his teeth.
"Good idea." Bonnie agreed with Elena's plan.
Stefan asked Elena, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Of course I do, Stefan." Katherine laid her hand on Stefan's arm and looked hurt, "Caroline is my friend too."
Stefan eyed Elena strangely, there was something off about her request but he couldn't put his finger on it. Reluctantly he agreed, "Okay. We'll leave tonight."
Katherine tried not to smile too bright at Stefan. She would be spending hours with him away from the Mystic Falls gang, giving Nadia enough time to make the passenger spell permanent.
Nera had been searching through the alter for days trying to locate Caroline. She felt that she was getting close, she would soon know just where she was in time.
"Nera!" Ara called out Nera's name in excitement, "Nera come out, I have news."
Nera removed her hand from the water and turned to face her excited sister, "What news do you have?"
Ara grinned brightly, "I know whom the darkness is! I also know the human they used to perform the ritual. It was Sophie Deveraux." She clapped her hands together and revealed, "And they mean for her to do it again."
"How do you know this?" Nera asked, she was the one with the power of sight and somehow Ara knew before her.
Ara smirked proudly, "I sensed the same unnatural energy as I did before. Taking a chance I looked in the mirror and happened to spy on the darkness as it appeared before Sophie and revealed that they would give her one more chance."
"Well done, Ara!" Nera congratulated her sister, "This means we know that the spell will be performed."
"And we can find and save Caroline!" Ara finished for Nera, happy that she had found the solution and that her sister no longer had to search through time day and night.
"Keep the mirror trained on Sophie, we must know all she does as she prepares." Nera told her sister what must be done, "In the meantime I shall recover the energy I've lost and prepare for when we recover Caroline."
Caroline was only days away from being saved.
TBC
AN - I seriously couldn't resist the title ;-) (For any X-men fans amongst you who know the reference) You finally know what has been happening in the future since Caroline's been gone, and the events preceding her being sent to the past. A lot of you have asked me about what's been happening in the future and I've told you that there wouldn't be one, which was true at the time, I didn't plan on one until Caroline returned - obviously I changed my mind :)
I really hope you all enjoyed it! And I hope the you all liked the 'future' chapter. Things are hotting up and some action is on the way! Until next time X X X
MERRY CHRISTMAS - I hope you all had a lovely day and got everything you wanted! Hope you stuffed yourself with turkey - I certainly did :-)
HAPPY NEW YEAR - To all you wonderful readers and writers, I hope that 2015 is a great year for you all. You have made 2014 so happy for me (and I got favourited by Micheal Malarkey on Twitter so my year's complete :-P). The way you all embraced Fixing Mistakes as you did End and Beginnings has put a smile on my face all year round. I love each and every one of you. Thank you!
See you next year xxx