Hello, my lovely readers. This chapter is as crazy or crazier than the others. On with the show.

Chapter 9: Into the Woods

Elena kicked a rock on her way toward the woods. "I cannot believe that I am stuck here with you," she snapped at Katherine.

Katherine rolled her eyes. "And you think I chose to live out a fairy-tale fantasy with you? Ha! This is my nightmare." Katherine tossed her long curls over her shoulder. "And what in the hell is Elijah thinking hooking up with Hayley Marshall?"

Scoffing, Elena rolled her eyes. "Seems he has a type."

"Excuse me. Hayley and I are nothing alike," Katherine snarled, glaring into the woods they were approaching.

"Of course not," Elena muttered as she stepped over a fallen tree.

"Yes, we both have long, dark hair. But I'm way prettier than she is," Katherine sighed, fingering a long lock.

"Maybe Hayley's capable of change. Unlike you," Elena snapped at Katherine.

Katherine snickered. "We all know you changed. You went from being a good, little girl to a bad girl. No wonder you chose Damon, because underneath it all, you're not the goody-two-shoes that you want everyone to think you are."

"Oh, shut up!" Elena yelled at Katherine who rolled her eyes and turned away.

A branch snapped to their left and both dopplegangers jumped. "What was that?" Elena asked Katherine who narrowed her eyes and did not reply.

Another branch snapped and Elena felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. "Oh, my God," she yelped when she saw the huge, white wolf. "Run!" she turned to run when she felt a pair of hands shove her at the wolf.

"Better you than me!" Katherine's voice called and Elena sucked in a breath. Her hands clutched at the leaves under her, fingernails digging into the dirt.

The wolf's head lowered, saliva dripping from its fangs while it watched Elena. Elena felt her heart hammering away in her chest. "Please. Let me go," she whispered.

Snarling the wolf's mouth opened and it let out a howl before pouncing toward Elena. She lifted a hand, filled with dirt and tossed it directly into the wolf's eyes before kicking outward and knocking the wolf to the side. Letting out a sigh of relief when the wolf let out a whimper. Elena ran for her life—deeper into the woods—and further away from the wolf.

Hearing the keen howl of the animal and its pain, Elena felt pity for it but she couldn't let it eat her. No. She would survive this tale and go home to Damon and they would have a life, even if it wasn't a happily ever after kind of life.

OUATTVDFT

"Ugh! I hate being human," Rebekah moaned, jerking one of her high heeled boots off and massaging her heel. "I think I just gave myself a bloody blister." She moaned and examined her foot.

Stefan looked around. "Do you think there's food in the woods?" he asked the rest of the group.

"I think we'll be eaten if we go into the woods," Hayley snapped, tugging at the bottom of the jacket that Stefan had given her. It wasn't long enough to cover more than her underwear and she felt really stupid. The only thing that would make her feel stupider would be if she got stuck in one of those Disney dresses her daughter liked.

"Let's go," Bonnie—who apparently thought she was the leader of the group ordered them.

"My feet," Rebekah complained.

"I'm not taking orders from you," Hayley snapped.

"We need food," Stefan snapped at Rebekah and Hayley. He walked into the woods.

"You can come with us or go off on your own," Bonnie snapped at Hayley and Rebekah.

Rebekah looked at Hayley and then she jammed her foot back into her boot. "I don't want to be alone without my powers."

Rolling her eyes, Hayley gritted her teeth and followed the Mystic Fallers. She just wanted to find Elijah and go home to be with her kid.

A low snarl made Hayley whirl on her heel. "Hey, guys," she called to the others. "We've got a problem," she informed them.

"Does it involve us finding food?" Stefan called back.

"Nope," Hayley retorted.

"Then I don't care," Stefan snapped.

"Idiot," Hayley sighed when the wolf approached her. "Hey, girl," she whispered to the wolf. It walked slowly and Hayley noted that the animal walked like it had been hurt. "You okay?"

"Is that a werewolf?" Bonnie asked Hayley.

"Yeah," Hayley said, kneeling and holding out a hand to the wolf. If it smelled her, they would be okay.

The wolf came forward and sniffed Hayley's hand. Hayley smiled until the wolf's eyes met hers and then Hayley fell backwards. "Oh, no. No, no. This is not a good."

"What?" Stefan snapped as he came to join Bonnie.

"This is not my kind of werewolf," Hayley told them, scrambling backwards.

"Then what is it?" Rebekah retorted, her hands on her hips.

"It's Caroline," Hayley called to them.

"Caroline?" Stefan repeated and the wolf turned to look at him. "Caroline?" he called to the wolf.

The wolf approached him and he bent to pat its head. "Hey. What happened to you?"

"Get away from that!" Mikael's voice made Hayley jump to her feet. He held a crossbow and moved toward Caroline, the wolf.

"Get away from her!" Hayley shouted at Mikael.

Stefan stood up and glared at Mikael who trained the crossbow on Caroline. Caroline's gaze moved to Mikael. Her eyes glinted with fury and her lips peeled back from her mouth to emit a low growl.

"Not today, dear," Mikael snapped, about to shoot her when Hayley grabbed a branch and threw it at him.

Rebekah ran into the woods. "Rebekah!" Stefan shouted and ran after her.

Bonnie looked from Mikael to Caroline. "Go after them!" Hayley shouted at Bonnie. Bonnie gave Hayley a look. "I know. You don't trust me. But trust me—that I hate him!" Hayley pointed at Mikael.

Hayley heard Bonnie take off as Mikael moved to stand. "Come, and get me, jackass," she told the vampire hunter.

"With pleasure," Mikael snapped, chasing Hayley.

Running in the opposite direction of Rebekah, Hayley leapt over rocks and downed trees. A root caused her to fall, her whole body rolling over as she slammed into a tree. Breath knocked out of her, Hayley watched in horror as Mikael strode toward her. "Expecting defeat so soon?" Mikael taunted her.

Hayley inhaled deeply as he moved to shoot her when a branch knocked him down. Gasping, Hayley could not believe that Klaus was standing over his father. "Klaus?"

"Hayley? What are you doing here? Where is our daughter?" Klaus snapped, jerking her to her feet.

"Elijah wanted to talk to you," Hayley sighed. "We want to move closer to the compound. Hope needs you." Rolling her eyes, Hayley looked at Mikael who did not seem to be waking up yet.

"Really? Or is this another scheme? Some trick of this bloody place?" Klaus snapped, looking around him.

"Believe whatever you want to," Hayley snapped.

A snarl made them both look to see Caroline approaching them. "Did you do that to her?" Hayley questioned Klaus.

Shaking his head, Klaus pushed Hayley to the side. "For the sake of our child, I suggest that you run while you still can."

"If you see Elijah…" Hayley trailed off.

"We will find you," Klaus called as he looked at Caroline. "Come and get me, love." He shouted before he ran off.

Hayley could not believe that he risked his own death to save her. Maybe this place could change people for the better. Maybe she should give Klaus a chance to be a real father to Hope. She didn't dwell on the thought before taking off at a run. Neither of them would be any good to their kid if they were dead.

"Shit!" Damon shouted as he ran into Elijah who glowered at him. They'd been running for…honestly, Damon didn't know how long it'd been but it felt like a really long time. Man, did he hate being human. He missed Elena. And Stefan. Hell, he'd even be happy to see Bonnie at that moment.

"Where are we going, you—Damon," Alaric called as he strode ahead, his sword on display.

"No freakin' idea," Damon grunted. He took a step away from Elijah and looked around the clearing they'd entered. He couldn't see a damned thing and that was what was pissing him off the most.

When someone ran toward them; Damon jumped. Cursing his human vision, he groaned. "Klaus. What in the hell are you doing, man?" he snapped. "And where have you been? You seen Goldilocks, minus the three bears?"

"Have you seen Caroline?" Klaus demanded, looking around their surroundings.

"Miss Forbes is here?" Elijah looked confused.

Klaus looked exasperated. "Yes. And I suspect that everyone I ever tormented on killed is here as well. Now, let's please concentrate on what matters –"

"Like the giant wolf behind you?" Damon quipped.

"Yes!" Klaus replied and then he groaned before turning around. The hybrid sighed while Damon grabbed Elijah by the shirt and turned him around.

"Running now!" Damon shouted. He started to take off when Bonnie came running toward them. "Bonnie?" He could not believe his eyes. Grabbing Bonnie, he hugged her before pulling back. "Have you seen Elena?"

"No. Not lately." Bonnie shook her head before she looked behind him. "We should go, before Caroline decides to eat you."

"Ha. Caroline eat me," Damon scoffed. "Where is Blondie anyway?"

"She's the wolf, Damon," Bonnie said, grabbing his arm.

"Huh?" Damon looked at Caroline and then at Klaus. "What did you do to her, you big hybrid freak?"

Klaus let out a snarl. "I have done nothing to Caroline. It is this blasted fairy tale—"

"Which is the main reason that we need to get out of here, as soon as possible," Elijah snapped at them. "As soon as we find Hayley and Rebekah; we are leaving this place."

"And Elena," Bonnie added.

"And Stefan," Damon added.

Gritting his teeth, Klaus looked around. "I was just with Hayley. We were separated because Father was trying to kill Caroline, Hayley and me."

"Great. What we all need is Papa Mikaelson," Damon grunted.

Elijah rolled his eyes. "We are getting little done—standing around arguing with each other."

"Right. This way," Klaus started to lead the way when Damon stopped.

"Why are we taking your lead?" Damon snapped. "You already got Caroline turned into a werewolf. Who knows what you'll get the rest of us turned into: The seven dwarves?"

"Somehow I already thought you had a striking resemblance to Dopey," Klaus retorted.

Damon opened his mouth to object when Ric grabbed him by the arm. "Sir, light is beginning to shine to the East. I think that we would be better off returning to the castle and starting our search, again, tonight."

"I think that you should shut your blasted mou—" Klaus began to say when Elijah let out a loud cough.

"What now, brother?" Klaus snarled. Elijah nodded to something from Klaus' left and Klaus turned to find a shivering Caroline. "Caroline?" he gasped.

Caroline stood a few feet from him. She was naked and shivering. "What happened? Why am I naked and what happened to my ribs? And why do I think I ate Bambi last night?"

Jerking his shirt off, Klaus handed it to Caroline while Alaric stared at the sky, Elijah's eyes moved to the ground and Damon rolled his own eyes. Klaus glared at Damon. "Seen it all before, buddy."

Opening his mouth, Klaus was about to tear into Damon when the sound of a branch breaking nearby made them all look up. "Damn it," a voice groaned. "Stupid tail."

"Hayley?" Elijah called and he ran to the sound of her voice.

Klaus followed his brother, with the others following him. His lips quirked upward and he couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, my, Hayley, it does seem you are in a bit of conundrum."

"Ha-ha, Klaus," Hayley grumbled, her tail flipping. "Can someone get me into a bath or find a giant octopus woman to give my damned legs back?"

"Have you seen, Elena?" Damon demanded.

"Yeah. She was running after some guy with a glass slipper and carrying a pumpkin, for some reason." Hayley sighed. "Seriously, I need to be in a bathtub."

Caroline began to scratch behind her ear. "You think that werewolves get fleas?" she asked everyone.

"Back to the castle," Alaric declared.

"Not so fast," Silas cried, stepping into the forest.

"Not the damned pirates, again," Damon groaned. He wanted to go home. He also really wished he had a sword as the pirates held up their swords, shoving them into everyone who wasn't a pirates' face.

Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing.

Answer to guest review:

HE fanatic: Yes, you've got that right. I would like to say I can write an crossover event but I'm not sure. We'll have to see…

Peace,

Jessica