Summary: When Klaus ends up in a prison world that Kat is in trouble in after he dies in 5x13, will Klaus save her or not? When they escape the prison world, what will ensue after she finds out what happened?
It was dark in the prison world, as Kat half ran half limped through the woods, trying to get away as fast as her injured human body would take her. It was dark though, so she couldn't see much. After all, she was only human. She just hoped she could find a place to hide before they caught up to her. She needed to hide and get her wounds taken care of, considering she couldn't really run while injured.
Suddenly, she tripped over a twig on the ground, landing on the forest floor, and lay on her side, as her vision got more blurry. Then she heard them close by.
"Well, well, look who stooped too low on the food chain," the vampiress commented.
"Shall I do the honors?" the wolf asked.
The human heard footsteps, as someone approached. Then a familiar voice interceded. She'd never been so happy to hear his voice in her entire life.
Klaus appeared in an unfamiliar place. He had just killed himself to save his daughter. Now, he was somewhere he didn't know.
Suddenly, he smelled the familiar scents of Katerina, blood, vampire, wolf, and human. That told him that Katerina was injured and human. Then, listening by some woods, he knew what was happening. She was being hunted by a wolf and vampire. Having become a better person, he knew the right thing was to save her. Plus, the past was behind him. He'd forgiven her. That, and he knew Elijah and Katerina would always love one another, even as they loved other people in the present century.
In a blur, he was in the middle of the woods, which was when he saw the scene. Katerina was on the ground, injured, and the vampiress was approaching her.
As the vampiress approached Katerina, he silently ripped out the wolf's heart. Then he began to approach the vampire, as he spoke.
"You know, hunting humans are a thing of the past," he commented. Then, when she turned around and saw him and the dead wolf, he told her, "I suggest you leave Katerina be. That is, unless you have a death wish."
"Since when does Klaus Mikaelson care if Katherine lives or not?" she asked him.
"That's my business," he replied.
"And it's my business why I'm toying with her."
Klaus stood in front of her and put his hand around her heart.
"I can see you've turned it off, so I'm going to give you a benefit of the doubt. I'll let you live for now." He took his hand out and then snapped her neck, before blurring to his former doppelganger's side. "Katherine," he said, looking at her wounds. She had clearly been through hell. There was blood on either side of her head, her side and leg were injured, she had an open artery in her other leg, and there were claw marks from the wolf on her, accompanied by a shoulder bite from the vampire.
He took his jacket off, tying it around her leg artery wound. He didn't know much about wounds, but the one thing he was certain of was that this was a prison world. That meant he could return to the land of the living with Katerina. Then he could get either Rebekah or magical help. Maybe both. She just had to live long enough.
He rested a hand on the right side of her face, avoiding her head wound.
"You're here," she stated weakly.
"I am, Katerina. You're going to be okay, luv. I'm gonna get you out of here," he replied, promising to help her. Then, as she began to go under, he added, "Stay with me, Katerina." He then got to his feet with her in his arms. He then saw an ascendant not too far away on the ground, which he grabbed.
When he made it out of the prison world shortly after, he headed to the compound, considering the ascendant had taken him home to his city. New Orleans. He just hoped Freya or Rebekah would still be there. After all, they didn't all have ties that demanded them to stay.
The hybrid rushed into the compound and gently layed her on the table, which wasn't far from the stairs. By now, she'd gone under.
"Freya! Rebekah!" he yelled, needing urgent help for her.
Freya was upstairs, when she heard him. She knew that he'd been planning to stake himself to get rid of The Hollow, so hearing him was a surprise to her. When she heard him yelling for her or Rebekah, she knew that something was wrong, she knew that something was wrong, so she hurried downstairs. Then she saw what was wrong. An old friend, apparently human now, was injured. Seeing her like that, the witch rushed over to the table.
"What happened?" she asked him.
"When I killed myself, I ended up in a prison world. Katerina needed help, so I took care of the vampire and wolf," he explained to her.
"She's lost a lot of blood. I need some towels. Rebekah's not here," she informed.
She watched him blur off for the towels. Then he reappeared. She then began tending to her wounds, before healing them. She hoped that Katherine would be okay. She was the reason that she'd finally found her siblings, after all.
When Kat woke up, she was in a bed with Klaus seated on her bedside, the familiar sound of the French Quarter music playing. That told her that they were in New Orleans because of him. She also didn't feel injured, which meant that Freya must've healed her.
She gave a smile.
"Thanks. For once in my life, you saved me."
"You're welcome, luv. Welcome to New Orleans. You might as well stay here. And don't worry about Rebekah. She's with Marcel, so I doubt that she'll be by anytime soon."
"A lot has changed," she realized.
"Yes. It has," he agreed. Then, reluctant to tell her that Elijah died alongside him, he added, "I'll let you settle in. Then we need to talk."
He got up and left the room.
She watched, as he left, assuming it had to be something about Elijah.
Klaus was downstairs in the parlor with Freya, knowing he had to fill her in on what had transpired.
"You know, I'm glad you're alive and all, but what happened to your plan?" Freya needed to know, needing to be certain that The Hollow was no longer a threat.
"My plan worked. I died."
"Then how are you alive?" she asked.
"I ended up in a prison world. Katerina was there and in danger, so I saved her," he replied, adding more to what he had briefly told her when Katerina had been injured. "Elijah would've wanted me to help her if she needed it. When I used the ascendant to get us out, we ended up in the Quarter," he explained to her. "I doubt we need to worry about The Hollow. It's gone. I don't feel it inside me. Right now, I'm only concerned about Katerina."
"Katherine's always been strong. I'm sure she'll be okay," Freya replied.
"You haven't been here to see the connection between Elijah and Katerina. When I tell her, it's going to break her. Katerina has gone through a lot, but there are some things I don't think she'll get through. And Katerina has Traveler magic, too. She lost her daughter before she died. Now, with Elijah gone, who knows what will happen," he replied, voicing his concerns, but also informing her of what a connection they both had had for 500 plus years. He was worried, because he knew what overwhelming anger and grief could do to both someone with magic and a vampire. He knew Katerina wasn't Davina whom had almost burned New Orleans to the ground several years ago because of not being able to control her magic, but he didn't know how much of control Katerina had on her magic. He knew that Katerina had only found out about being descended from Travelers through her own daughter. Without Nadia, Katerina never would have known. If Katerina somehow had made her Traveler magic active, then there was a possibility of Katerina not having control because of losing Elijah. He wasn't sure if he was ready to tell Katerina, but he knew he had to get it over with. The sooner the better.
"I know Katherine and Elijah were on and off for 500 years, but I didn't know what a connection they had. I just know that Elijah has always been special to her. You know what happened when I was a prisoner of Dahlia. Katherine and I met not too long after I lost my unborn child. Since then, we've seen each other off and on throughout the centuries. She taught me how to find my family I desperately wanted and needed. I think a part of her felt sorry for what I was going through, but also I guess a part of her always wanted to have a family. She obviously couldn't have one for obvious reasons, so she helped me find mine, instead," Freya spilled out to him, knowing it was time now to tell him how she even knew about all of them. After all, Freya had been long gone when Klaus and Rebekah had first been born.
"So, you know at least a portion then. And it seems I'll have to thank Katerina for returning you to us when the time is right," he replied. Maybe Katerina hadn't all been bad as a vampire like she loved to make everyone think she was. All she'd ever shown others as a vampire had been the horrible parts of being a vampire. Now, he knew there had been some better parts of her that hadn't been buried with time.
Later, when Katherine got settled in, Klaus stood at the threshold to her room.
"Can I come in?" he inquired of her.
"Yes," she replied, seated on the bed.
He walked in, closing the door behind himself, and sat next to her on the guest bed. Since this was a touchy subject for them both, he decided to tell her everything that she had missed while she'd been dead. It was his way of easing into the catastrophe that he assumed would happen when he told her what had happened to Elijah.
"Do you know what transpired after you ended up in that prison world, Katerina?" he asked her.
"No. Why would I? I was too busy trying to survive that prison world. That vampire and werewolf wouldn't had been there if it weren't for Alaric as I was informed of by the both of them. They were too dangerous for the world, so he stuck them in the prison world his girls created. The last knowledge I have was when I returned as a demon and tried to disintegrate Mystic Falls, because all I had were demonic feelings of hatred and vengeance. I just never anticipated that it would end the way it did. I'm sorry about Stefan. I know you saw him as a friend."
"Yes, well, he was always going to end up getting himself killed anyway for being selfless for his friends. Of course, I wasn't happy when I heard the news all those years ago, but I've moved on. Hope has always been my priority. I assume you knew about Hope already when you left that note for me that sent me back to my city."
"At the time, I was doing whatever I could to run you out of town that didn't result in any Mikael business. I just wanted to give Elijah a chance to finally choose me, but he chose family, instead. And after I was reunited with my own daughter, I understand what it's like to do whatever you need to for family. I never understood it before, because mine was taken from me."
"Yes, and I'm sorry for that. I was quite an angry person back then. Hope has changed me, though. I even literally died for her. We had to put down The Hollow one way or another, so I volunteered and succeeded," he apologized and informed her.
"Well, I guess things change. Anything else from Mystic Falls?" she asked.
"Well, Elena died of old age, as did Damon. Bonnie's gone, too. Alaric and Caroline renovated the boarding house for kids like my daughter to have a safe place from those that may want to harm them. They learn control, their abilities, and even how to blend in. However, he has pretty much retired from the whole Vampire Hunter category. I think the only time he does anything is if anything comes after those kids," he informed her. "And Hope has excelled. Caroline has kept me filled in every step since I first enrolled her into that school. As for New Orleans, it seems that Rebekah has found her own life with Marcel in my absence. Kol and Davina are probably out of New Orleans by now. There's nothing here for them anymore. Freya's downstairs if you wish to have a chat with her, though."
Kat listened to what he informed her of. Since it was strange for him to be keeping Elijah out of the equation, she assumed that something had happened to Elijah some time down the road. Most likely when Klaus had died.
"What about Elijah?" she had to ask.
"When I volunteered to end myself to get rid of The Hollow and save Hope from it, Elijah was in love with someone else. Hope's mother, turned into a hybrid. Hayley was killed, but because of Hope's blood, she came back as a hybrid like myself. Before I killed myself, it was actually a pretty bad time to do so. Hope lost her mother. Elijah lost someone he loved, this time not by my hand or influence. There was a vampire that wanted to get rid of hybrids. She wanted them both to get rid of the werewolf part of themselves, much like what my mother did to me 1,000 years ago. Hayley willingly let her do that to her to save Hope from the same fate. When Caroline and I finally found them, Hayley went into the sunlight with the vampire, so she died for Hope to save her from the vampire that feared Hope's abilities. Elijah was there too, but at the time, he didn't have any memories of us. Hope had to make his memories come back for him to remember us all. Because Elijah lost Hayley and he was about to lose me too, and because Hope hated him for not doing anything to save Hayley, we died alongside each other. Since I'm the only one that ended up in that prison world, I can only assume that he found peace with Hayley," he informed her. Then he added, "I'm sorry, Katerina."
The human got to her feet and went to stand on the balcony that connected to the guest room she had been staying in, letting it all sink in, willing her Traveler magic at the same time not to explode. If it weren't for The Hollow and the vampire, Elijah would still be alive. As long as Klaus was alive, Elijah never would have even thought of doing something like that. If she'd been alive, she would've stopped that from happening, but there was nothing she could do to change the past. She could bring him back to life, but she wasn't going to break his trust in her once again by bringing him back. He wanted peace without the grief and hardships. She understood that, so she wouldn't do anything to undo his sacrifice he'd done with his brother. A long time ago, she would have never thought about this, but she was just glad to have at least Klaus. They both have always felt alone for eternity, but now they weren't alone anymore. Klaus had offered her a place to stay for the rest of her days, no matter what. With everything that had happened, the only thing they could do now was to take comfort with each other.
After watching her on the balcony for a few minutes, letting her process it all, he finally went to stand beside her, certain now that he wouldn't hit any magical barriers or blasts if he got close.
"Katerina?" he said, though he was sure she'd probably just tell him to leave. It was how she normally had been as a vampire. As a human though, he wasn't so sure what she would do.
"Thank you for telling me," she said. "After 500 years of an on and off relationship, I thought it would be Elijah standing here without me. Not the other way around. I'm glad he found peace, though. It's all he ever wanted, apart from trying to get us both redeemed." Though she spoke calmly, anyone that knew her well enough, knew that she was trying to be strong, even though she wasn't at the moment. It completely broke her heart to hear that he was truly gone.
Klaus wanted to comfort his former doppelganger, but knew she only allowed certain people to do so. He tried anyway.
"It's going to be okay, Katerina. We'll get through this, luv," he assured her.
She tried to continue to be strong around the hybrid, but with his comforting words, she turned to look at him, which was when she finally let herself be comforted by her former enemy. Since Elijah was gone, Klaus was the only other person she'd let herself break down in front. She had no one else.
Klaus put an arm around her, when he realized that she was allowing him to be of comfort towards her. There wasn't anything he could say, so he just comforted her in silent actions.
After months had gone by, they had developed a connection, so they became a couple. It was unexpected for the both of them, though. After all, if you had told them 500 years ago that they'd eventually be falling in love with each other, they wouldn't have believed you.