Hello, my lovely readers. Okay, so we're almost at the end of this very long journey with only one chapter left before the epic finale and then we dive back in for more in the sequel, "Dare Me." One quick note before you continue. In chapter 47 there was something about the present year being 2014; it's not. The present year is 2019. And all of the kids' ages will be restated at the bottom. On with the show…
Chapter 49: Back to the Beginning
2019:
Gasping as I tried to sit up properly, I felt my head begin to ache. Reaching up, I felt the gauze that was wrapped around it tightly. Groaning, I leaned back against the pillow, if that is what they would like to call it. I was very tired of being constantly forced to stay in a bed. My entire body screamed at me to put an end to this ridiculous charade and to agree with Caroline. That she had a right to be free of the nightmare that her life had become since my diagnosis.
However, I could not. Because I had seen what becoming a vampire had done to the woman that I loved. I had seen her become afraid of herself, to push me away at every turn and to attempt to take her own life. That is not the life I wanted for her and the type of thing that I wanted her to have to endure with me. That is not what I wanted for us. Although I also knew that my time was growing shorter with every new breath.
"Klaus, how are you feeling today?" my doctor called without preamble as he entered my room without so much as a knock.
"How did the surgery go?" I asked him. I did not want to draw out the process. He took a moment, looking through his file and then looked at me. All it took was a slight shake of the head and I knew. "Very well. Could you call Caroline and have her come?"
"She's already in the hallway," the doctor told me. Before I could speak again, she came inside and came to stand beside me. Her eyes were glazed with tears. "Come now, love. This is not the time for tears," I told her, holding out my hand.
"Could you give us a moment?" Caroline asked the doctor quietly.
"Yes," he replied and left the room.
Picking me up, Caroline set me in a wheelchair. "We're going outside," she announced. I nodded, my mind whirling quietly as she pushed me out of the room, down the hall and onto an elevator. The minute the doors opened, Caroline pushed me out of the elevator, down another hall, through a set of doors and into the cool night air. Pushing me quickly across the parking lot, she opened the doors to her car. Helping me into the car, she closed the door and crossed to the other side.
Within what felt like mere minutes, Caroline stopped the car in front of the Salvatore Boarding House. Helping me out of the back seat, she began to walk with me toward the nearby woods. "Caroline?" I questioned her as she walked me toward a small clearing. There was a blanket spread on the ground and she helped me sit down. "What are you doing?" I asked her as she began to undress.
"If this is going to be your last night on earth then I suggest that we make every last minute count," Caroline said as she laid down beside me and stroked my face.
"Well, sweetheart, you're going to have to do most of the work," I whispered to her.
"And is that something new?" Caroline teased me as she pressed her lips to mine.
1997:
Back at the boarding school my mind was preoccupied with my grief for the loss of my brother. There was not a time when, before I was exiled to this place, that Elijah was not part of my memories. I had been told that when I walked for the first time that it was Elijah's arms I headed toward. Everyone knew that I adored Elijah and now he was no longer a part of my life. When he tried to write to me, I gave the letters to Damon with the order that they should be burned.
Staring at the ceiling, I felt like crying. This was a miserable state of affairs. "Whatcha doin?" Damon asked me, coming to lie down on my bed beside me.
"Wondering why people will always disappoint you?" I replied dully.
Damon looked thoughtful and then shrugged. "Don't know," he told me and then grabbed my arm and nearly yanked me off the bed. "But Caroline's here and she wants to see you."
"Oh," I felt confused. This was not one of the days that we received visitors. It was a Monday. Although it was also the period in which Caroline's school had their summer break. My school went year round. And it was past hours, so she was not supposed to be here for a number of reasons.
Walking down the stairs, I came to stand at the bottom, feeling truly shocked as I stared at Caroline who grinned and then raced over, throwing her arms around me. "Nik," she murmured into my neck like we had not seen each other in months. "I missed you," she whispered to me.
"I missed you, too," I replied happily, hugging her more tightly. We walked quickly up to my room where my roommates were no longer inside. I looked around, wondering where they had gone off to but shrugged. It didn't really matter.
Sitting down on my bed, I smiled at Caroline as she sat down across from me. "So the Dare Club is all crazy without you," she told me. "No one even comes to the meetings anymore. They say that it's not the same without you and Damon at home." It seemed like she said this every time that she visited but it still felt good to know that we were missed.
I could not agree more that Dare Club was missing key members and that gave me even more reason to be furious with Elijah. Taking my hand in hers, Caroline smiled at me as she continued to talk and I felt contented as I stopped listening. Now that I had taken care of Elijah I needed to take care of Father. In the end, he was the only obstacle that kept me from my club, my family aside from Kol and Elijah and Caroline. My dear, sweet Caroline.
"My mom doesn't know that I'm here," Caroline announced. This caused me to return to her chatter.
"What?" I exclaimed.
"She doesn't know I'm here," Caroline told me. "She's visiting my Aunt who's not well with something. And I dared Hayley to let me go by myself. So here I am," Caroline said cheerfully and I could only stare back at her in horror.
"Caroline, you have to go. What if your mom finds out and she never allows you to come to see me again? She could send you to some kind of boarding school like Father sent Bekah to," I exclaimed, reaching out, I tugged Caroline to her feet.
"Nik, stop it," Caroline told me, pulling her arm away and rubbing at it. "That hurt," she complained, staring at the red welt on her skin.
"It doesn't matter, Caroline," I replied, shaking my head. I could not believe that she had done this. What had she been thinking of when she came up with this scheme?
"You and Damon came almost all the way across the country to see me," Caroline told me, her eyes filling up with tears. "And now that I'm here you don't want me," running past me, she reached for the door knob and tried to pull it open when I grabbed her by the shoulders. Turning Caroline around, I pressed my lips to her feverish forehead as her body shook against mine. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm so, very sorry," I murmured into her ear as she continued to shake. Wrapping my arms around her, I could feel her body shaking harder and I rubbed her back until she calmed down.
"Nik, I can't do this. I can't keep leaving you. You have to come home to me," Caroline whispered into my ear and I felt her tears pouring down the side of my cheek. She pressed her lips to my cheek and I pulled away. I ran my hand down her cheek before taking her hand. Leading her to my bed, I laid down on my back and pulled her head down to my chest, under my chin.
"I will find a way to come home to you, Caroline," I promised. I no longer cared about what it would take to come back to her. I knew that I would find a way. There had to be a way. I just needed to figure out what it was.
"It's all your dad's fault," Caroline murmured into my shirt. "He's mean and he treats people badly."
"He wasn't always like that," I told her as I ran my hand over her hair.
Caroline looked up at me like she did not believe me. "Really?"
"Yes. There was a time that my Father was quite kind to everyone. But that seems like a very long time ago now. Doesn't it?" I was talking more to myself than to Caroline. It seemed like minutes ago that my Father was ruffling my head and asking me what I was sketching this time or that he was driving me to school. Yes, there were times that Father was too busy to play football in the back yard with us or he seemed preoccupied with money but he was my Father and I loved him.
Now, in my mind, my Father had become a man who split his family apart. Yes, a good portion of the blame rested on Elijah's shoulders because he had chosen an inconvenient time to finally embrace the life of a teenager in the United States. Or perhaps all states and non-states. I had no idea how others lived. All I did know was that my brother had made a mess that my Father thought that he was cleaning up but had only made that much worse.
Unfortunately, I had no idea what to do to fix the problem. Closing my eyes, I began to drift to sleep as I pondered what I could possibly do to undo the wrongs my Father had committed. "Nik, are you going to sleep?" Caroline asked me, nuzzling my chin with her hair.
"No," I replied drowsily.
"Good because that is not going to help us figure out what to do." she told me, her voice coming out quietly and then was muffled by the placement of her hand over her mouth to cover up a yawn. "We can't sleep," she argued. "We have many, many, many things to do," Caroline said while throwing a leg over mine and snuggling closer to me.
"Yes, we do," I murmured. Reaching beside me, I yanked my blanket over us. "And we can take care of that tomorrow."
"Uh huh," Caroline mumbled as she rolled closer to me. "Tomorrow sounds like a good day to do stuff."
I thought I was dreaming the next day when I woke up to find that Caroline was still tucked in my arms. Looking around me, I noticed that there were two empty beds and Damon who was watching us. "Mornin','" he greeted me with a wink. "See you had a good night. Thanks for not keeping us up. So, maybe it wasn't that good a night."
I picked up a book and threw it at him. Caroline shifted in my arms. Her left arm came out from under the blanket and she rubbed at her nose before looking up at me and then smiling. "Good morning," she whispered, her head titled upward and I knew she was about to kiss me when Damon coughed.
Looking around, Caroline spotted Damon and smiled. "Good morning," she called chirpily, sitting up and stretching. Blinking, the sleep away, Caroline suddenly opened her mouth with a worried expression. "Aren't you two supposed to be in class?"
"No," Damon replied. "I lied and said that we both have the flu."
Caroline looked impressed, "That would never work back at home."
"Then it's a good thing that we're not there yet," I replied, pushing the blanket off of us. "Damon, Caroline was telling me before we went to sleep that I should try to think of some way for us to be able to go home."
"Uh huh," Damon crossed his arms and waited for me to continue.
"Before I went to sleep I remembered that we found some papers that one time that we broke into my father's office. Do you remember that?" I asked Damon who nodded. "Well, all we need to do is find those papers to be able to show that he has not been paying his taxes. Then he will not be able to keep us here because mother will bring us back home," I announced triumphantly.
Damon frowned and I felt disappointed that he was not as excited as I was. "Nik, you're telling me that you want to send your father to prison?"
I felt my face contort into a frown of my own. "Yes. I mean, I think I do. Don't you want to go home?"
"Yes, but are you sure that's the only way?" Damon questioned me. "I once saw this film about prisons and they do really gross stuff in there."
"It's not like that for rich people," Caroline told us. "My mom says that the rich people go to country club jails. I wonder if they send them to Texas and they have to do the two step. That would be funny if they had to do it for like hours."
"I don't think that's what a country club jail is, Care," Damon replied with a roll of his eyes.
"Then what is it, oh smart one?" Caroline snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Don't know," Damon told her with a shrug. "All I know is that they'll never take me alive," he stood on top of his bed and stared down at us. "I'll jump. I swear, I'll. I'll never go back in. I swear on my life. And my brother's life. And Nik's life. And Lena's. And my entire collection of football games. And my quarter collection that no one knows about but me until now." Jumping off the bed, Damon laid on the floor with his tongue dangling out.
Caroline hopped off my bed and threw her arms over Damon's chest and began to sob loudly. "Oh, he was far too young. Oh, it was horrible. Oh, what will we do without him? Oh, did he say something about a secret quarter collection?"
I started clapping as Damon and Caroline got to their feet and joined hands before bowing. "Thank you. Thank you very much," Damon said. "The king of the Dare Club lives," he called, letting go of Caroline's hand and racing over to collapse on my bed beside me.
"Why?" Caroline cried out climbing onto my bed and squirming between us. "Why is it that it's never the Queen of the Dare Club? I think that you two need to make some adjustments. I want more pull around here."
"Fine," I replied.
"Whatever you say, Queen of the Dare Club," Damon teased as Caroline stuck out her tongue at him.
Caroline sat up and turned to us. "As my first dare: I want the two of you to agree to a plan to come home. Because you both have to come home. And Kol and Stefan. Okay?" She looked from me to Damon and waited for us to reply.
"Yes," Damon and I both replied at the same time.
"Good. Now, tell me what you're going to do," Caroline instructed us, waiting for us to speak.
I hesitated when Damon spoke up. "I guess we could try Nik's plan," he said. "Maybe you're right," he told Caroline. "Maybe Nik's dad will be okay."
"Maybe," I whispered, getting to my feet. I began to pace. "We'll have to have someone back at home break into his office again."
"Who?" Damon questioned me.
"I don't know," I shook my head as I spoke.
Caroline's hand shot up in the air. "We could dare someone," she exclaimed and then pressed her lips together as her face contorted.
"What, Caroline?" I called, coming to sit down in front of her and took her hands.
"Or you could go back home with me and you can break in," Caroline said quietly.
My eyes widened as I looked at her. "But if Father finds out that I left the school he might become angry and send me out of the country," I protested.
"Then we'll make sure that he doesn't find out," Caroline told me, squeezing my hands in hers. "It can work. Damon, tell him that it can work?"
Damon nodded. "It can. We can have Marcel and Enzo cover for us. We can be there and back the same day," he said, thinking it over. "Yeah, we can make it work. We have to."
"Alright," I grinned. "We're going to go home," Caroline threw her arms around me and began to laugh.
"We're going home," Damon cheered happily. "Now, we just have to wait for Marcel and Enzo to get done with their classes."
"And we have to pack," I reminded Damon. Getting up, I walked toward my closet and began to gather my things. Putting my stuff in my bags, I felt more excited than I had about anything in a long time. Damon and Caroline were dancing behind me when I got done. Turning to them, I shook my head, "Damon, you need to get packed up."
Damon grinned as he moved toward his closet and began to grab his things. Pulling them out, he opened his suitcase. "Time to go home," he was saying to himself.
"I've got to tell Kol," I said. "His class should be over soon." Pacing around, I watched Caroline peeking out at the weather. When the clock reached the right hour, I grabbed Caroline's hand and pulled her out the door. Damon followed us to make sure that no one stopped us and questioned why there was a girl on our floor or even on the school grounds that day.
I entered Kol's room without knocking and looked around. None of the boys were in their room and I wondered if I was too early. Feeling unhappy, I headed back to my room. Maybe Kol was up there and we had missed each other. Walking into the room, we did not find Kol. Sighing, I turned to leave once more when I stopped in my tracks.
In the doorway was Elijah, looking somber. "Niklaus," he greeted me.
I glared back at him, "I told you that you're dead to me. What are you doing here?"
Elijah looked at his shoes and then sighed, resting his eyes on me. "Niklaus, I have come to bring you and Kol home," he said slowly and I could feel my mind begin to reel.
"What?" I replied, my mind not comprehending the news.
"It is time to come, brother. Kol is downstairs waiting for us," Elijah informed me as I turned to look at Caroline and Damon who looked equally shocked. "I promised you that I would bring you home somehow," Elijah murmured and I came crashing into him, wrapping both my arms around him. I did not need a birthday present or anything for Christmas because Elijah had just given me everything I could have ever wanted that year.
So, you're all probably breathing a long sigh of relief that Klaus will be returning home in the next chapter. No, that was not a false alarm. And you're probably also cursing me for the cliffhanger ending in the future. But you'll see how the rest of that sequence played out in the epically long final chapter which is over five thousand words. Get some popcorn and tissues because that chapter is a real rollercoaster ride.
Ages of the group: Klaus, Damon, Marcel and Enzo are 11/26. Caroline, Elena, Stefan, Bonnie, Matt are 9/24. Elijah, Katherine, Hayley, Jenna and Andie are 16/31. Finn, Alaric and Mason are 15/30. Sage is 14/29. Kol is 8/23. Rebekah and Jeremy are 7/22. Henrick is 2 or 3/18.
Thank you to everyone who has read, faved, followed and/or reviewed.
Answers to reviews:
Tippy093: They do and you will see them work toward repairing their relationship over the years in the sequel. You will definitely see the struggles with puberty, the budding romances which will involve misunderstandings, the pains and angst of young teens as well as some heartbreak in the beginning for at least one character. I will definitely have them playing Spin the Bottle at some point and probably Truth or Dare as part of the sendoff to the older group of kids.
Ferrylis: I know. It's hard to not feel bad for Klaus since it's his story.
ObsessWithElijah: Yes, I understand. That's one of the challenges of the story I - that we tend to relate more to the person who is telling the story because we feel drawn into Klaus' confidence as if he's sitting with us telling us his story. I had a great time writing about Elijah's trial because in an odd way it was bringing the boys at the boarding school together in which they were just being silly and messing with others' lives and not really paying attention.
That's fine. Take as long as you like to review. Preferably not next year though.
Mystic Rosewood Falls: I'm going to answer your review here because I figure that other readers might be interested, too. Trust me, that was not the end of what Elijah will endure. There is a thing called Karma and Karma is not done with Elijah Mikaelson. You'll see what I mean at the very beginning of the sequel. Yes, they have been at the boarding school for what felt like forever which was important to events that will transpire later and how those who were there view their home when they return.
As for Davina, I am a huge fan of the character and I had to search my brain for the proper way to introduce her since someone asked me months and months ago to bring her into the story before I figured it out. She will join us in the sequel. We probably won't see a Kolvina romance for some time because he's going to be eleven at the end of book two. Maybe in book four which seems like forever from now but it won't be since book two will be thirty chapters rather than fifty. And there will be a bond between Davina and Marcel because I love their relationship on TO.
Thank you for reviewing.
Rune Saint: Thank you. I had no idea what people would think of the story and I wanted to do something different. This is the product. I tried to make it funny.
Stefan is actually married to Rebekah in the future. The reason that Hayley, Stefan and Rebekah are living in the same area becomes somewhat more obvious in the next chapter and that's all I can say about that without giving away a major spoiler.
Since Stefan was turned into a vampire during a spell gone wrong it was only temporary and lasted until midnight of Bonnie's B-day.
Yes, slowly Stefan will creep up until he takes on a more pivotal role in the sequels. Not only because of his role in Rebekah's life but because as the older kids move onward and outward I'll begin to concentrate more on the core group of Klaus, Damon, Caroline, Elena, Stefan, Bonnie, Matt, Tyler, Rebekah, Kol, Jeremy, and Henrick along with a few others that will be appearing sometime in book two.
I know. We all have our favorites. I'm actually part of your friend's camp because my friend, L, would say that I lost my mind over Damon's death and was determined to not watch TVD if he didn't return. But I couldn't really see it without Stefan either because he's one half of Defan and I can't watch TVD and not be fully invested in the bond between these brothers.
Anastasa: Thank you. I'm happy you enjoyed it.
Peace,
Jessica