Hey, everyone!
So sorry for such a long wait- I think it's been about 10 days... Life gets in the way, writers block gets in the way, fear of writing something terrible gets in the way...
But I sat down today with a purpose and I was able to fulfill it.
So here you go! Chapter 6 of our story (we get a little KLAROLINE here *wink wink*).
Enjoy!
There were few places I had expected to find my father in. This definitely was not one of them. I expected to find him leaning against a tree, getting water by a lake, hauling lumber back to the village. Other expectations had been in a more negative light, but none compared to the sight in front of me.
He slowly turned around at the sound of my voice. He was hunched over, his clothes tattered, his eyes barely open. But once he caught sight of me, he stood up and rushed forward, falling to the ground immediately. I got closer to what I concluded was his cell, getting a better look at what was going on.
He had an iron clasp around his ankle, binding him to the wall in the cell. He gathered himself again and began crawling to where I was. His hands wrapped around the bars and he pulled himself up into sitting position.
"Father" I whispered. He looked exhausted, beaten, and weak. There were dark circles around his eyes, cuts along his jaw, his lip busted open. He still had his burly arms and legs, but they could hardly sustain him.
"Caroline..." He tried to choke out but his voice raspy and raw. He coughed a few times before looking at me again, his eyes pleading.
"You need to leave. Leave this place and don't look back-" He said, then stopped "How did you get here?" He asked.
"I came to find you" I said, trying to hold back tears. How did he expect me to just leave? I had been looking for him for over a week, enduring hunger, pain, fear. I reached forward and touched his cheek, rough with stubble. He hadn't shaved in days.
I stood up, yanking at the bars, trying to find a weak spot- there was none. There was a lock on the door of the cell. I looked around for a rock and began to hit it, sparks flying every once in awhile, silent tears streaming down my face as I realized that it wasn't coming loose.
"Caroline," He whispered as loud as he could, "Stop!" He said again "You're making too much noise!"
"I'm getting you out" I said, still beating at the stubborn lock.
"No! You must go. If you stay any longer, you won't make it out. Both of us won't make it out." He pleaded, standing up and trying to get me to listen.
I stayed silent.
"Stop" He said again. I kept going, ignoring his pleas.
"Caroline!" He said, sticking his hand out through the bars and grabbing my hand before I could beat the lock any more.
"I can get you out" I said one last time. His features softened and he smiled. He shook his head.
"I know you can. But you're putting yourself in danger. You have to leave" He said, tears rolling down his own cheeks.
"I'm not leaving" I said, making my voice sound stronger than what I felt.
"I agree, sweetheart"
I was confused, to say the least. My father hadn't uttered a word, and yet the voice echoed through the dungeon. I turned around, looking at the figure that stood at the end of the hallway, a familiar chill running down my spine. I quickly ripped myself from my father's grasp, dropping the rock and reaching for the bow and arrow that had been discarded on the floor, a few feet away.
I set the arrow on its rest and turned around towards the figure. It hadn't moved from where it was, but was now starting to come out of the shadows, revealing their face.
"You?" I gasped, staring at the familiar man in front of me- the stranger from the woods.
My muscles started to give out, my bones turned to jelly. There was no way I could fight him off. He was faster, stronger, almost inhuman.
"Surprise seeing you again, my dear" He said with a smirk.
I glared at him, arrow pointed straight at his head- this time I wouldn't miss.
"See, I thought that after our little-" He took a few steps closer, and I rose to my feet, pulling back the arrow even more "-encounter, you wouldn't venture any further. Seeing as you did, makes you dumber than you look" He finished.
I felt a sort of pain in my chest. I recognized the feeling and knew that his words had hurt me- for some reason I had thought that after helping him yesterday (was it yesterday? It felt so long ago) we had built a sort of bond. I shook the hurt away.
The fear and dread that I had been feeling disappeared just like that, and I let the arrow go. It flew through the air, straight towards his head, but before it could reach its target, the stranger's hand reached out and grabbed it in thin air- just like he had done before.
I had already grabbed another arrow.
"Let my father go" I managed to say through clenched teeth.
"And why would I do that?" He asked, playing with the arrow in his hand.
"Because I won't stop until you do" I stated.
"Please, Caroline, leave..." My father managed to get out, fighting his own exhausted body.
I let go of another arrow- he dodged it. I let go of another and another, both of which didn't even touch him. I was stepping closer with each shot, hoping to wound him in some way. I reached back for another, but I was out of ammunition.
He realized this and smirked, lunging forward to try and grab my arm. I used the bow to block the blow. I pushed his arm back with the bow, and took a step back to land a kick on his chest. He grabbed my foot from in front of him, holding me there. I quickly bent forward and slipped between his legs, ending up behind him. I pulled my leg away from his grasp and lunged forward, wrapping my arm around his neck.
Throwing myself back, I let the weight and momentum of my body bring us both down. My back landed hard on the ground, knocking the air from my lungs for a moment, but I continued to hold onto the stranger's neck. I quickly wrapped my legs around his torso, squeezing as hard as I could.
The struggled sounds of choking filled the room as he began to shake, trying to throw me off, but I just held on tighter. His arms were trapped under my legs, and the only thing he could move was his legs- which did little to free him.
About a minute later, his body lay lax over mine. I slowly relaxed my muscles and unwrapped my arms and legs from his body. Waves of exhaustion crashed against my body, and I lay on the ground, willing myself to get up.
I pushed the body off myself and began to get up. At that point, it registered in my mind that my father had been screaming at the top of his lungs the whole time, but the adrenaline and rush of the moment prohibited the thought at the time.
It also registered that I had just killed man.
I grabbed the rock from where it was on the ground and began to pound that the lock again, my movements sluggish.
My father came closer "Valerie-"
"No" I cut him off, using a tone that implied that he need to be quiet and accept that he was getting out.
"My daughter-"He began again.
"No" I said even louder "Do you not understand- No!" I said, turning to him, a fire burning through my whole body.
"You must get out. Leave this place. Leave me. Return to the village and never speak of this again!" He stuck his hand through the bars and began to push my hand away, trying to stop me from breaking the lock.
"No!" I yelled, and suddenly felt something pulling my shoulders. My back hit something hard and the air was once again forced out of my lungs. I coughed, trying to breathe, taking in shallow breaths.
I opened my eyes, little stars twinkled around the edges of my vision as I tried to focus. Everything seems blurry.
"I'm impressed" Said a deeply accented voice. I man- more specifically the man I had just killed- stood before me, pinning my shoulders against the wall on the opposite side of the dungeon. I struggled against his grasp, trying to break free, but he was much stronger and at an advantage.
"No" I whispered, still trying to catch my breath. I had killed him. I had choked him until he was pale, dead- gone.
"Yes, I am much harder to kill than you believe" He said confidently, a smirk playing around the edge of his lips.
I continued to struggle, trying to move my arms or drop to the ground. But he continued to pin me hard against the wall, his hold to strong that I was basically dangling there.
"Let her go, please" My father begged at the other end of the room.
"Oh, but she seems like a tasty little thing" He quipped bringing his face down to my neck. His nose trailed up and down the side of my neck, his lips brushed against my flesh.
I unconsciously growled, the sound coming from deep within my throat, eliciting a chuckle from the stranger.
"And she has fire" He said loud enough for my father to hear, his face still buried in my neck. He brought his lips up to my ear "I like it" He whispered.
Bile rose up in my throat and my breathing became labored. I wanted to punch, I wanted to scream, I wanted to inflict pain on this idiot.
But more than anything, I wanted my father out of here. Out of his disgusting cell and away from here.
I moved my face so that I could whisper in the stranger's ear, bringing my lips to his flesh like he had done to me.
"Let my father go, and I'll stay for as long as you ask" I whispered, trying to sound strong and together.
His body stiffened and he pulled back slightly, enough to get a good look at my face. I stared him straight in the eyes- his sapphire blue eyes. They darted all around my face, scrutinizing my features, taking everything in.
I felt something cold clasp around my right wrist, then my left. I looked down and saw the metal shackles that were now there. I pulled at them, the chains making a clanking noise.
I looked up at the stranger who was now sauntering over to my father's cell, going to the lock. He pulled at the it and it came off easily. He pulled open the door and walked in, doing the same to the shackle around my father's leg. He roughly pulled my father up, dragging him out of the cell.
"Congratulations. You are free to leave" He said sarcastically.
"Give me a chance to at least say goodbye" My father barked from the ground.
The stranger made a gesture towards me with his hand, signalling for my father to get up. He rose to his feet and rushed over to me, pulling me into an embrace.
"Don't do this. Don't do this, please" He begged. "I lost your mother, I cannot lose you as well" He added. I sucked in a ragged breath, trying to compose myself.
"Do not cry. Do not beg" I said coldly. He pulled back to look at me.
"I am young. I am foolish and impulsive. I have nothing to offer the world, and being in that village only suffocated me. You on the other hand are wise and skilled." I said, fighting so hard against the stubborn tears.
"Go out and live- for the both of us" I finished. Just then, he was pulled away from me, causing me to miss his warmth immediately.
"Caroline! Caroline!" He yelled as he was pulled down the hallway and up the stairs, out of sight. I heard the door shut and I was alone.
Not able to hold back any longer, I let the tears stream down my face.
I didn't allow myself to sob, though. So I just sat against the cold stone wall, shackled to it, silent tears streaming and never stopping.
I smiled to myself. My father was free- I accomplished what I set out to do. I traded my freedom for his and I had yet to feel sadness or regret or sorrow that I was now in the hands of an apparent psychopath.
What didn't make sense was that I had killed him- for a fact, I had killed him. There was no way someone could me choked for over a minute and survive.
What scared me was that I had thought I killed him and had not gone into any sort of shock. I assumed it was only natural for someone like me to just be overcome with guilt and regret. But I wasn't.
Tears still streamed down my face. They were hot and left a burning trail on my cheeks.
I felt numb. My arms felt heavy and my legs felt like dead weight.
I didn't think about anything.
Nothing at all.
"Return to your village. You got lost while looking for lumber and don't remember anything" I said in a monotone voice. The man walked out the front door, across the clearing, and into the depths of the woods. I sat back onto a chair in the living room and picked up a bottle of gin, taking a large swing from it.
She was here- down in the dungeon.
I had her father captive for over a week down there. I had found him near the village, cutting down some trees along with maybe ten other men. I picked them off easily, and they almost put up no fight. But he was strong, prepared for every blow. Of course- I was stronger. I was about to take him out as well, if it weren't for the band around his wrist.
That was the only reason he survived so long.
When I encountered the girl in the woods, she had immediately recognized the band. Instead of treating me as a friend, she attacked me with full force.
It all made sense now- she didn't know. If she would have known, she would have treated me as a friend. It explained so much now.
I concentrated and tried to listen to what was going on in the floor below. It was eerily silent. I quickly stood from where I was and flashed towards the door to the dungeon, yanking it open and rushing down to see if she had escaped.
But she had not. She was sitting silently on the ground, her hands shackled to the wall, just how I had left her. She looked up, her emerald green eyes coming to life in the light of the flames.
Her long blonde hair cascaded down her body in soft waves. Her opale skin glowed despite the fact that the room was dim. She was a vision of beauty in itself.
She stared me down, almost defying me. I matched her stare, and couldn't help the smirk that appeared on my lips at the thought of her being here.
For as long as I asked.
There ya go! Love it? Hate it? Let me know!
So this will be the beginning of Caroline living with (being prisoner to) Klaus. So it's safe to say they will be together. A LOT. Starting now.
Bye for now!
~M
P.S.: A great big gracias goes out to Aaaammber, DreamsBeatReality, Panda0990, SONY (Guest), and A Reader (Guest) for reviewing, and everyone who followed and favorited!