Wonderland
When Caroline opened her eyes again the sun blinded her. She blinked profusely and sank her face into the pillow, breathing deeply. Maybe it had been a nightmare. She did not know what time it was, but her body was sore and she had a terrible headache.
The alarm began to blast, startling her. Her heart raced. She sat up quickly, realizing only then that she was naked. Swallowing a cry of panic, she wondered how she ended up naked. She was sure that hadn't had anything to drink the night before but began to doubt herself at this point. She remembered being with Klaus, fighting with him...and then everything was blurry.
"And your fake smiles cannot fool me..."
Ah, yes! He had said such horrible things and then she felt the pain. The searing pain that pushed her into unconsciousness. Then there was the warmth that had surrounded them, dizziness...
It wasn't a nightmare at all. Well then, how did she end up naked? She looked around and realized that she wasn't in her room. Confusion clouded her mind as she wondered how in world she ended up naked in a strange room.
She slowly became aware of strange, foreign weight by her side. She turned to see a man sleeping beside. She observed him for a moment, waiting for some sort of moment and panicked when there was none. He wasn't snoring. His chest wasn't rising and falling, there was no sign to show that he was alive. She had killed him!
Caroline nudged his body with her fingertips, surprised at how heavy he was. As a vampire, she rarely found a person to be heavy. And then she screamed.
Klaus smiled in his sleep. Oh, the taste of blood! So addictive. Better than even the rarest of liquors. Her small and fragile body under his fingers, her blond hair brushing against his skin...
It was hot, burning hot, but he did not care. Niklaus only cared about the blissful feeling of having Caroline Forbes in his arms. Completely vulnerable, completely his.
The shriek of fear made him open his eyes in shock. He sat up immediately. He was sure the cry of horror had come from Caroline.
"What is happening?" He exclaimed angrily as he moved to find her. He saw the pale and panicked face of hers and then realized that he was naked beside her, and that she, too, was naked. His dream may have been a nice one, but his reality was proving to be much better.
"Well, well, well. What have we here, Miss Forbes?" He teased, before being ruthlessly kicked out of the bed. The Original laughed, ecstatic to have her naked beside him.
"What did we do last night, love?" he asked, getting up. He realized that her face was red with anger and embarrassment.
"Caroline," he called, seriously now. She wrapped herself with the sheets and stood up, walking away from him. "Caroline, love, you're blushing." he warned.
She looked at him and Klaus finally realized what was in her blue eyes: disgust and horror. The young woman was completely panicked.
"Caroline," he stood up and tried to grab her arm, but she squealed and ran out of the door.
"Damn!" He cursed, pulling on a shorts that was thrown on the floor and chasing her. "Caroline!" He shouted, running down the stairs.
He found himself in a completely unfamiliar room. He didn't know where he was. He hoped the blonde knew. He heard a noise coming through the door on his right and decided to follow it. He ended up in a large kitchen.
"Caroline, put down the spoon." he said irritably, staring at the wooden spoon that she was holding as makeshift stake.
"Stay away from me!" She cried, frightened.
"Honey... That spoon, even if you can stick it in me, will have no effect. Please put it down." He asked gently, carefully walking towards her. The girl screamed and ran in the opposite direction.
"CAROLINE!" He growled, grabbing her by the arm. "Put that damn spoon down!" he snarled, taking the spoon out of her hand. He saw her eyes fill with tears as she pushed him hard.
"Stay away from me!" The blonde squealed, her face turning pale.
They heard someone clearing their throat. Klaus looked up, furious at the interruption.
"Umm...we came at a bad time. Come on, darling." Elijah said, wrapping an arm around Elena's waist and pulling her close, moving towards the doorway.
"Ah!" She exclaimed, smiling, "looks like they're playing some sort of crazy, sex game! I told you, Elijah! I always knew he was kinky!" said Elena.
Klaus wrapped a protective arm around Caroline's waist, who was sobbing in panic, completely oblivious to the nonsense of the situation or the arrival of the odd couple.
"Elijah, what are you doing here?" Niklaus growled. His brother cleared his throat.
"Kat, let's leave them alone." He said, dragging the woman out.
Well then, that's not Elena but Katherine, thought Klaus.
"I... Umm ... I'll call you later." Elijah said, embarrassed and astonished to find Caroline and Klaus in such a situation.
"No!" Caroline screamed, snapping out of her abstraction. "Do not leave me alone with him!" She freed herself from Klaus' hold and ran to the couple, not caring if she was just wrapped in a sheet.
"Caroline?" Now Katherine looked a little confused.
"Please, please!" Caroline's voice was on the edge of hysteria. Klaus was paralyzed. He had never seen her like this. "Do not leave me with him! Please! He will kill me!" She pleaded, tears streaming down her face and sobs shaking her whole body.
Klaus felt his eyes widen in surprise when he finally did the math: She was human.
It was pretty obvious now that he thought about it. She could not hide her emotions. She was crying more easily, blood tinged her face and the scratches on the pale skin of her shoulders were still visible. She was shivering, her naked body still covered only by the sheet she had managed to grab.
He was human.
His heart was racing. Klaus felt his skin pale and his head spin. He felt like he was about to faint. So weak, so human.
"Caroline, come with me. I'll help you get clothed." Katherine said, casting a critical eye to the blonde who was trembling and sobbing. Terrified, Caroline let Katherine guide her.
"Niklaus? What is happening?" Elijah's voice was cold, stained with concern and irritation in equal parts.
Klaus looked scared. "'Lijah..." he stuttered, feeling weak. "She... I... What is happening?" he echoed the question the plagued his mind before falling to his knees, the world spinning around him.
Caroline looked at Elena's face.
"Elena? Elena, I'm so scared. Yesterday...Yesterday he bi..." she stammered between sobs as she was made to sit on the bed and the brunette opened the closet.
"What did he do to you, Care? Did he hurt you?" The woman asked, worried, while choosing a few pieces of clothing. Caroline was shaking too much to agree.
"He...he bit me." She sobbed. "Will I die...?"
"Bit you? You're being dramatic because your fiancé bit you?" Katherine questioned incredulously, crossing her arms.
"Drama?! He bit m... Fiancé?!" Caroline's voice really could not be more acute. She began to sweat. The brunette rolled her eyes and knelt in front of her friend, holding her hands.
"Care, what happened? Why are you so nervous?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.
"'Lena..."
"I'm not Elena, Caroline." Corrected the other woman, already getting a little annoyed. "Care, it's me! Katherine?" She suggested. "Your sister-in-law? Well, almost..."
"Ka... Katherine? Why... what's happening?!" Caroline exclaimed. She wanted to run, but no longer had the energy to. Screaming and crying all morning had left her exhausted.
"Caroline, did you hit your head recently? Are you doing drugs?" Katherine asked frowning and touching the blonde's forehead.
"No! No." The truth was she did not know. Caroline was so lost that she could very well be stoned or be suffering the effects of a concussion.
"Ok, you're probably just nervous. A temporary amnesia." Katherine sighed, handing her the clothes and waiting for her to get dressed. "Caroline," she began, her tone that of complete seriousness. She sat down next to the younger girl.
"You and Klaus are engaged. It's been a couple of months, in fact." She explained. "I am married to Elijah," she added.
"Engaged? Oh my God! How old am I? I'm too young to be engaged to someone! Let alone to be engaged to him!" She said, flinging her hands about in hopes of explaining herself better.
"You will be twenty-four next month." Katherine said, getting even more worried. "Honestly, I always knew you were a natural blonde, but this..."
"What about him?" Caroline unceremoniously interrupted.
"Klaus turned twenty-eight last month. You organized the celebration. It was a costume party. Don't you remember? Don't you remember that Damon was Batman? Stefan was kinda pissed but he was Robin." She laughed. "How could you forget that?"
Caroline was so nervous that she burst out laughing. "Batman and Robin?!" she gasped, trying to catch her breath. Katherine smiled, worried still. "I took pictures, relax. My sister probably has the album."
"Your sister?" Caroline stopped laughing, trying to focus on the new puzzle before her. What was this distorted world where she and Klaus were in love? Where Katherine was a fun friend and wife of Elijah? Damon and Stefan get along?
"Elena. My twin sister. I'm sure you remember her, Care. You were calling me by her name just a few seconds ago." The brunette said, trying to assure herself and Caroline that everything for alright. Caroline nodded shyly.
"Katherine is the prettier twin."
Caroline and Kat towards the door. They hadn't heard the door being opened, too caught up in their conversation. Elijah was standing in the doorway, smiling, followed by a pale Klaus.
"Yes, I really am." Katherine agreed, smiling at her husband and making him blush.
"Caroline, Klaus wanted to talk to you. We'll be in the living room. Yell if you need anything." Elijah spoke. Katherine threw an evaluative look at Niklaus before returning her eyes to the blonde.
"Scream if you need something. Anything at all." It was obvious that she still thought the man had hurt Caroline.
Elijah followed his wife, closing the door carefully behind him.
Once they were alone, a strange silence settled. Klaus walked over to the girl, sitting beside her and talking very low. "I do not know what happened."
Caroline did not know why they were whispering, but replied in the same tone of voice. "Do you remember yesterday? The fight...the bite..." Her voice failed and he could barely hear her. Damn human hearing!
"Yes" he said simply. "I don't know how we woke up in this strange world, but we better start playing their game." he warned. She nodded silently.
"We are human, Klaus. And engaged." She whispered.
"I know. I'll fix it." She was not sure if he was talking about being human or engaged. "Please, Caroline, tell me you will play along. We'll pretend that we only had a blackout and do not remember some things. The last thing I want is to be arrested for domestic violence, just because you're whining about me killing you!" His voice rose and the man quickly rebuked.
He trusted his brother, but at the same time he did not doubt that Katherine was eavesdropping on their conversation.
"What did you find out?" She asked, trying not to smile at the possibility of him being arrested. Klaus certainly deserved it.
"Elijah and Katherine are married. Stefan is dating my sister."
"Rebekah?" She was astonished. "I thought Stefan would be with Elena!"
"Umm ... No. The Ripper is with Bekah. Elena got the other Salvatore, I believe." Klaus shrugged, not caring about the details of that ridiculous love triangle. Doppelganger and her two vampire pets. It had already lasted too long.
"Damon? Of all the guys in the world she chose Damon?" Caroline, at the other hand, was angry with that twist in the love life of her friend. Alternate world or not, Elena was still her best friend and Damon, a person not too dear.
"Seriously, Caroline? With all our problems, who Gilbert chose or not is not one of our concerns!" He said angrily. His good mood was vanishing at an alarming rate.
The blonde blushed, nodding silently. "Katherine said we've been engaged for two months now." She said. Klaus sighed.
"Elijah said we've been dating for four years already. Amazing how we are in such a hurry, right?" He was not speaking sarcastically. Being a vampire, four years seemed like a very short period for any relationship. Clearly, as a human, that was a different story.
"Katherine..."
"No!" Klaus and Caroline looked at the door while listening to the footsteps of a woman on the stairs. "I have to see if she's okay, Elijah! Klaus has a horrible temper and she was panicking! For all I know he may have killed her!"
The blonde felt a bit relieved to see Katherine opening the door without thinking twice. They were not friends, far from it. In the other world Katherine was her murder. However, in this strange place the brunette seemed to be a good friend.
"Great" Katherine sighed.
Elijah raised his eyebrows at her. "See? I told you, Nik would never harm her."
The woman turned to look at him, seeming to have forgotten their audience. "Right. And you were a virgin when we met." she rolled her eyes. The oldest Mikaelson blushed to the roots of his hair, but he answered without stammering. "I was!"
A few minutes later, Katherine and Elijah were gone, but not before the woman threatened Klaus if he touched Caroline. She made it clear that in a few hours the truth would show itself.
And finally, they were alone.
"I…umm...I'll take a look at the house." Care timidly spoke, walking away from him. Their house had three bedrooms and was not as luxurious as Caroline expected for a Mikaelson home.
It's not his house; it's ours, the blonde thought.
Their suite, a guest room down the hall, and another room opposite to the guest bedroom, all were full of boxes. It looked like they had moved recently.
It was beautiful, painted in pastel colors and exactly how she imagined that her home would be. She would like to know more about this world, where everything seemed so utopian.
Caroline blushed when she saw a photo of them on the nightstand of their suite. They were holding each other and smiling. She seemed happy, Niklaus did not seem grumpy or bad. In fact, he seemed to radiate joy.
A cell phone started ringing wildly.
She knew only by the ringtone, "Cannibal by Ke$ha", that the cell had to be hers. Caroline tried to find it in the middle of the sheets, which were still tangled.
"Wow, it took you a lifetime to answer that damn phone!" She recognized the voice to be that of Rebekah's. She sounded irritated.
"I...er...sorry! Rough morning." Caroline stammered. She didn't know if what her relationship was with Rebekah. In this world, she seemed to be friends of the strangest people.
"Oh, I know. Kat said that you were hysterical this morning. She was a bit pissed off with my brother, but I didn't understand why." Caroline raised her eyebrows. Katherine could be a good friend, but she was a gossip first. Rebekah spoke very fast. "Are you on your way yet?!" She asked impatiently.
"On my way?" The young blonde was confused.
"Yes!" Exclaimed Bekah. "Damn, Care, you have to be on schedule, ok? Kol comes back to Mystic Falls today. Finally!" She explained, as if that was obvious.
"Aaaah! Sure!" Caroline could not prevent a bit of sarcasm to flow into her words. She had a full morning and was in no mood to listen to the cries of Rebekah.
"Look, stay decent, ok? Stefan and I will give you a lift in about fifteen minutes." She sighed. Caroline heard a male voice in the background. "Hmm ... I better go. Do not be late. It is very important to Kol."
Caroline sighed, already starting to get tired of playing house with all those people who were her mortal enemies a couple of hours ago.
"Okay, I'll let Klaus know."
"And stop calling him that! It gives me chills." That was the last thing Rebekah said before hanging up the phone.
Caroline did not know how she was supposed to call her fiancé and worst enemy. Love? No, it made her angry. After all, he used to call her that. Nik? It seemed like that was the nickname Rebekah was referring to. It didn't change the fact that only his family called him that and she did not want to be a part of this family.
The girl walked down the stairs carefully. While she once wanted to be human, she hated the fact that all her vampire powers were gone. She could really benefit from intensified hearing. She couldn't hear Klaus and it bugged her. She hated not knowing what he was up to. He may be plotting a way to kill her, for all she knew.
"Umm...Kla...err...Nik." She stuttered when she saw him sitting in what she assumed was his room, his chin resting on his fist. He looked to be deep in thought.
"Caroline?" He looked up into her blue eyes.
"Rebekah called. We have to get ready. She'll pick us up in fifteen minutes."
"Pick us up for what?" His voice was not gentle or silky, but it wasn't a growl either. It was really cold, sharp. His words cut deeper than a knife would have. It worse than him growling at her.
"Kol. Kol is returning to Mystic Falls. I don't know!" She sighed, lowering her eyes. "Don't ask me, ok? I'm as lost as you are. Only...just be ready in time and let's play this game."
She looked for a purse and straightened her hair while Klaus got dressed. Just because they were in a strange Alternative World didn't mean she had look a mess.
Stefan finally stopped the car at the curb of their home. Caroline had a small problem with the keys, but Klaus took them from her hand with an impatient growl and closed the door with ease. She wondered how he knew which one was the right key.
Rebekah smiled and nodded at her brother. "Hey, you! Not late. Good!" she said, smiling from ear to ear. Caroline rolled her eyes, sliding into the backseat of the car and lowering her head. She needed to think.
The strange world was the least of her problems. Here they were human and, apparently, happy. The problem, the major obstacle, was that she was stuck in this gorgeous colorful little world with a sadistic psychopath as her fiancé. A psychopath, who just hours earlier had sunk his fangs into her jugular and sucked her blood. She couldn't forget how his arms had wrapped around her body as if she were nothing more than a plastic doll.
"What I feel for you is nothing more than a dirty, sick feeling. Just like what you feel for me."
Klaus was right. She hated to admit it, but he was right. She had hid beneath fake smiles and a positive attitude, but he could see her clearly and it was scary.
She was no Ripper, like Stefan, but had to admit that the hunger consumed her day and night. And the fear! The fear caused havoc inside her. The fear she felt when taking a life, being a monster. It was indescribable. And then her father had tried to fix her and some small part of her wished that he would succeed but he didn't. Her heart always ached at that memory. She would never be more than a monster.
Her own mother could never look her in the eye. Liz tried, Caroline knew that, but it did not change the fact that she always saw a hint of disgust in her eyes.
Nobody knew how hard it was. How hard it was to wake up every day knowing that she would never be loved, that she would always be the second best to Elena and Bonnie. Sometimes she believed she came in last.
Her own father did not want her and it wasn't because she was a monster. Stefan had rejected her, Liz repudiated what she was, Damon abused her, and Matt had used her. Tyler...she was unclear about Tyler's motives with her.
Then Klaus had walked in and destroyed her. He saw everything she hid. He played with her feelings and then used it against her. The only thing anyone could ever feel for her would be disgust.
"Stefan, stop the car." she ordered, covering her mouth with a hand and swallowing.
"What?"
"Stop the car!" This time Rebekah who uttered the order and the man immediately stepped on the brakes, just in time for Caroline to open the door and throw up.
She tasted blood in her mouth. In her mind's eyes she saw Klaus was all over her, inside her, his fingers dragging tightly under her skin and his lips on her neck, sucking the life out of her. And Caroline had wanted him to kill. She wanted him to put an end to her sorry excuse of an existence.
"Hey! Shhhh. It's going to be okay" Rebekah said soothingly as she rubbed Caroline's back. "Do you feel better now?" she asked when Caroline finally surfaced for air.
Caroline swallowed and nodded, getting back in the car completely and closing the door.
"What happened, Care? Are you sick?" Stefan questioned. He was not looking at her, but at Klaus. Blue eyes burning into him through the mirror.
"No. I…I probably just ate something bad. I'm okay now." The blonde lied. She could not say that she was vomiting because she was disgusted with herself. She couldn't say that it was because she despised the man next to her and got nauseated at the thought of feeling like she was finally free to end up stuck in this newfound hell with him.
N/A: Thank you very much for the support! Thanks for my amazing beta: colourful-dystopia! Hope you like it, reviews are always appreciated! ;D