Harder to Breathe:
Beth wake up late, which wasn't unusual seeing as she hadn't slept in 24 hours. She had nightmares, but thankfully they passed due to extreme exhaustion. She looked up see that she was leaning on Klaus, as he kept his arm around her protectively. She was glad to see that Caroline was fully healed and on the phone. "W-what...what's going on?" She asked Klaus softly.
He looked down at her surprised. She was still talking which was a good sign, but he could clearly see the pain and anguish in her green eyes. He hated seeing her like that. "Caroline is just discussing the cure with the doppelganger, nothing for you to worry about." He felt her go rigid when he mentioned Elena. He comfortingly rubbed her arms up and down. She closed her eyes, hiding her face in his chest. "Anything. Tell me." Caroline was saying into the phone. "Unless you get the hunter's sword from Klaus...'I'll find it don't worry...Just e-mail me photos of Jeremy's tattoo. I'll find the sword and I'll call you back...bye." She hung up.
Klaus kept a firm grip on her. "Elizabeth, the spell should wear off tonight and then we're going to go home, okay? You're going to stay with me from now on." She sighed and nodded, not wanting to argue with him. It wouldn't do her any good anyways. He always got what he wanted. "Come on, try and drink a little more." She hesitated before taking small sips of water, drinking it until half was gone. "Thank you." He told her sincerely. She hesitated before sitting up slightly. He kept his sweater around her to keep her warm, as he stood up. He couldn't sit all day, it wasn't like him.
After an hour, they saw Caroline and Tyler come back. Caroline was carrying a laptop, while he was carrying a blanket that was covering something. Klaus was leaning against the table, near Elizabeth, not wanting to let her out of his sight. "Well, it it isn't little orphan Lockwood, come to show how laughably impotent you are against me?" He smirked over at him.
Caroline walked over to wear Beth was and gave her a small smile as she handed her a coat. "Hey, I brought you this. Thought you'd want another jacket. It can get cold in here." She told her. She felt for not being there for her, but she didn't want to abandon Elena either. Beth was still her friend too.
She looked stunned that she seemed to actually think of her. She thought that she would've hated her for trying to kill Elena, which she would've if Klaus didn't stop her in time. She hesitated, but nodded slightly. "T-thanks." She muttered shakily as she took it from her. She smiled and went back to sit on the couch, near Tyler. He was bragging to Klaus about finding the sword.
"I'm just trying to help my friends find the cure." He took the sword out of the blanket. "I found this in your attic."
Klaus wasn't impressed, it wasn't like he was trying hard to hide it. He'd never figure out what the writing was anyways. "And you think finding the sword brings you closer to the cure?"
Tyler shrugged. "You tell me. I was playing around with the handle on the ride over, and I found this." He showed him the top of the shower, it was some kind of turning device, probably because a code or some kind of translator.
"And what do you think this is?" Klaus asked him shortly, but he didn't answer.
"It's called a cryptex." Caroline chipped in, as she stood up. Tyler looked at her surprised she knew what it was. "I've seen the Da Vinci Code. You turn the different sides to the different symbols to get the translation on the other side. And with the magic of the internet," She held up pictures of Jeremy's tattoo. "Elena sent over these. So now all we have to do is cryptex away." She took a seat. "If you happened to want to help, we wouldn't stop you."
Klaus found it funny that they thought it would be so easy. "Right. Well, might I suggest using the magic of the internet to purchase an Aramaic to English dictionary from your nearest retailer." He smirked. Beth listened, without speaking. She knew that was a dead language.
"What's Aramaic?" Tyler asked, turning to his girlfriend.
Caroline sighed looking over at Klaus "It's a dead language. It hasn't been used since, like, biblical times." She told them. This wasn't going to be as easy as they though tit would.
Klaus was amused. "Qetsiyah's native tongue, I'm guessing." He walked around to sit back next to Elizabeth. "You know, even if you had the best dictionary in the world, it could take days to translate. Perhaps weeks." He said with fake sympathy, before saying something in the dead languge. All of them looked at the hybrid.
"What does that mean?" Caroline asked.
Klaus grinned at her. "If only you spoke Aramaic."
Tyler looked angry that he once again had a one up on him, but he wasn't going to get up. He needed to find a way to kill him, before Klaus came to kill him. He knew that after all the taunting that's exactly what he would do. He sat next to Caroline to try working on the translation themselves. They finally got most of it worked out. Caroline sighed. "Okay this is it. We've translated all the symbols on the tattoo." She leaned to read the translation. "Passage inside...requires a young senator and a pretty flower?" She groaned in frustration. "Okay, none of this makes sense!"
Klaus stood up speaking Aramaic, and smiled. "Requires a powerful witch and a hunter in full blood." He translated. Tyler was suspicious of why he would just help them. He didn't want any of them to find the cure and use it on him.
"What are you doing?"
"I don't need to tell you my reasons." He reminded him. "Caroline, bring my sword over here." He told her. She hesitated before standing up and bringing it to him so that he could see it. "Silas rests on the far side, the means of his destruction at hand." He looked at the pictures of Jeremy's tattoo, realizing something. "Turn the cryptex to the right. Stop. The top of the hilt reveals a key to a nautical map. Turn it to the left." Caroline complied, moving it. "Now turn the other piece." He looked surprised. "There's something else."
Klaus spoke Aramaic, smiling to himself. "What does it mean? Klaus, what does it mean?" She asked, but he didn't say anything, just smiled at her. She groaned irritated and sat back down next to Tyler. "Ugh, you're so annoying."
Beth looked at Klaus as he sat next to her. She was listening to everything, She knew that he was hiding something from them. She just hoped that Silas really wasn't real, but she had a bad feeling about him too. It just hurt that much more to know that Kol died for nothing. Klaus saw her tearing up and pulled her closer. She saw Caroline talking to someone on the phone. Klaus kissed her head. "I'll be right over here."
He stood up closer to the barrier to listen. "Hey, it's Caroline. We have the translation of the tattoo. We're emailing you pictures of the map and instructions now." She told Rebekah.
"Got it, thanks."
"Actually it was me." Klaus let her know.
Rebekah was surprised. "Nik, you helped?"
"You sound so surprised, little sister." He smirked as he listened to her.
She scoffed. "Shouldn't I be? I mean you don't want me to be human. You don't want any of us to be human. Why would you help us find the cure?" She demanded. It didn't make any sense and she knew her brother better than he knew himself.
"Maybe I finally realized the longer I stand in the way of what you want, the longer you'll continue to hate me. Perhaps I want my sister to finally know happiness." He mused over out loud. Rebekah wasn't buying that though. He wouldn't accept it that quickly.
"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me a hundred times..."
"No more fooling." He told his sister seriously. "No more games. I hope you get to live, and die, as you wish." They all were glued to this coversation between the siblings as they waited for his sister's response.
"So do I."
"There is one more thing, Rebekah." He told her. He hesitated as he saw Caroline and Tyler look up at him. He spoke quickly. "There is only one dose of the cure. You need to find it first and take it, it's the only way you'll-" Tyler rushed to end the call before he could finish his sentence, but Klaus smirked. The damage was done. She would stop at nothing to take the cure and they all knew it.
xxxxx
They'd been there so long that night had fallen and Klaus smirked hearing how nervous Tyler was outside. The barrier would soon be lifted and they wouldn't give the cure to Klaus, even to get rid of him. It would always be Elena first. Caroline walked into the house and met Klaus as he stood up, away from the sleeping girl. "You can't kill Tyler."
"Not only can I, I have to. I have a reputation to uphold. Moreover, I want to." He said coldly. Why should he spare his life, when her friends didn't spare his brother? And Tyler was the one who doled out the threats first.
"I'm not asking you to forgive him. Please, just let him live, somewhere far from here." She begged him.
"So he gets to live a happy life after he turned all my hybrids against me, after he tried to kill me, after he made it his life's mission to find the cure so he could use it against me." He rattled off everything Tyler said to him. He was Niklaus Mikaelson. He wasn't going to let him off that easily.
"Please, he's Beth's friend too." She begged him. He froze at that. He turned to see her flinching, tears spilling out in her sleep, another nightmare. His heart clenched. "Please, show him mercy, she'd do it for you."
He seemed to consider this. "Mercy...for Tyler. Very well." She looked up at him shocked. "Tell him to leave town immediately. And tell him to run and hide in a place I will never find him." He demanded walking from her. "Tell him that this is the mercy I extend only for Elizabeth's sake...that I will give him a head start before I kill him." He said, his expression not giving away any of his emotions. Caroline teared up, shaking her head before leaving.
Klaus listened as he heard the farewell's between Tyler and Caroline. They were lucky that they didn't kill him where he stood. He took a few steps and realized he could leave. He smiled and turned to where Elizabeth lay. He gently awoke her, but she jumped when she woke. "Hey, it's okay. You're alright. I can leave now, I'm going to take you home."
She immediately glanced over at where Kol's body lay. A tear fell down her cheek. "D-don't leave him, I-I can't leave him." She whispered her voice breaking. He wiped away the stray tears wrapping the jacket around her.
"Shh, I won't. I'll come back for him. I promise you." He told her. There was no way that he would leave Kol there, he knew that he belonged with his family. She hesitated before nodding. He kissed her head and picked her up gently in his arms, as she laid her head on his shoulder, not realizing the tears that refused to stop as they left the house, and Kol's body.
