"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."

"I don't much care where―"

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go."―an Excerpt from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis C.

Correction Two: Ariel's Voice

When Ariel gave her voice to the sea witch she gave not only her voice but also her life.

And it changed everything.

There will always be something terrifying about falling.

Even if you have a parachute, strapped to someone with the parachute, or have cord that you know will pull you back up you will always be scared of falling from high places. And why? Because you will always have that one moment when you are on the edge, that place when you are not quite on the stable ground but not quite off it and you begin to think what if it doesn't work? But then it work and you are on the nice safe ground and you laugh about how insane you were being. Why wouldn't it work? It always works.

Caroline did not get that same feeling of security when she fell.

There were no parachutes or cords or anything. Caroline, a simple five year old girl, was free falling from whatever high height she fell from and no one was going to save her. The wind was whipping past her, ruffling her hair and her dress (where had that come from?). And Caroline would scream if she could but the witch took her voice so she can't.

She wished that she had listened to her mother. That she had taken her advice when it came to strangers. They were dangerous and they wanted to hurt her. And Caroline was so afraid, so deathly afraid of dying that she felt tears leak from her eyes and evaporate into nothing as the wind picked them up from her cheeks.

If she could she would redo the whole week over―no her whole life over! She would be a better daughter and a better friend and then she would be a smarter girl and then maybe she wouldn't be falling and―

Something hard hit her head, then her head twisted in a way she never thought it could and the world was suddenly dark.

Caroline had packed her bag late at night and the witch was at her door and when Caroline asked how she found her, the witch only muttered about some spell. Caroline did not ask any questions.

The witch lead the way with long and powerful strides that left Caroline to scurry after her. "We need to get there before the moon reaches its apex. If not I will not have enough power," the witch murmured to herself. Caroline looked up at the moon and noticed how it was getting higher and higher into the sky. What did the moon have to do with her wishes?

When they were deep in the woods, a broken down house appeared before them. It was large with dirty white paint and broken windows. The roof seemed to be caved in slightly and the red shutters seemed to be barley hanging onto the abused home. The witch's green eyes seemed to glow at the sight of the house.

"Let us hurry inside."

If anyone had been in the forest at the time they would have heard a loud shriek that ended in moments. But no one was in the forest but the wolves and they had heard the scream and knew that some unlucky pray had given a signal as to its hiding place.

The wolves rushed towards the sound, following in the direction that the sound came from. The faster that they traveled the easier it became to find their prey. The faster the Pack traveled the stronger a certain scent became. It was light and airy. Sweet and subtle almost like a flower, almost unnoticeable if the wolves did not focus hard on the scent.

They ended up in a river, with some box and the prey lying on the ground next to the box. The Pack's eyes darted to the prey and their snouts dripped with saliva and venom. The alpha went first, walking to the prey sniffling it closely. It smelled so sweet and ripe and―

The Alpha reared its head back and snarled. It could not eat this! This prey was poisoned! The smell of tainted meat wafted to the Alpha's nose and he let out a quick bark. This meat was no good. They had wasted time. The pack did not hesitate to leave, they easily disbursed and when to look for better prey, all except one.

The Omega went close to the discarded prey. Surely the Alpha had been mistaken. Prey like this never fell into their hands. It was already dead! It had to be good. The Omega opened its mouth and chomped down on the prey's arm. The blood had cooled and flowed sluggishly into the Omega's mouth. The Omega lapped at the blood and was about to right the chunk of meat right off when he felt the bitter after taste of the blood.

The Omega wretched and spat out the rest of the prey's blood, the Alpha was right! Poison was in the prey's blood and he had consumed some of it. The Omega tried to regurgitate the consumed blood but it was already too late. Fire was licking up its veins and its stomach hurt. The wolf lied down and put its paws on its muzzle. If it was going to die a shameful death then it would die not looking into the face of the Alpha as it leered at him.

Caroline watched as the witch darted around the room. She poured salt on the floor and instructed Caroline to stand in the center of it with her Barbie doll and bag. Caroline complied and tried not to ruin the perfect circle that she had made.

"It is time to make all your dreams come true, Caroline," the witch said. Caroline gave her a nervous smile and laugh. The inside of the house looked worse than the outside. All the wood was weak with rot and insects crawled around the house without anyone to control them. It was disgusting.

"¿Qué le significa usted no me dará el poder? ¿Un desequilibrio? ¿Por qué debería yo preocuparme? ¡He examinado cientos de unos miles de veces!" the witch as turning around rapidly. She was looking into the empty space of the room as if she was talking to someone and that scared Caroline. They were the only two people in the whole house, in the woods. Who could she be talking to? She was beginning to think that maybe should not have gone into the woods with this lady.

Her mother always told her bad things would happen if she went with strangers, but at first this one seemed so nice and what if she was kidnapped?! She would never be able to see her parents again. But she did not see them a lot as of late since her mom was working hard and her father left. But still that meant no more Christmas presents and no more Elena and Bonnie. Just no more normal.

"I want to go home," Caroline murmured but it was drowned out by the loud shriek from the witch.

"¡La multa entonces, si usted no quiere darme bastante poder entonces yo lo va a!" the witch screamed. Her hair was in disarray, even more so than Caroline had ever seen. Her eyes glowed in the moon light and her raised her hands and the circle of salt magically became fire making Caroline jolt in fear.

"Do not worry niña. Soon all your dreams will come true. All I need is what Ariel gave to Ursla and that is your voice. Do not worry though you will get it back."

In the predawn light, a loud snap was heard as the prey that the Omega bit twisted its head back to the way it should have been. The bite where the Omega had bit it healed leaving nothing but a light scar. However, as the wound healed it absorbed all the last traces of saliva left on the skin.

The prey heaved in a loud, gasping breath only seeing the light orange and pink sky before returning to its previous slumbering state.

The Omega gave one last pitiful whine.

Niklaus grunted as he saddled a large pack onto his back. It was heavy and it hurt to carry it, but his father would give him a good trashing if he dared to complain about anything that he did so his mouth stayed shut.

"Nik! Wait!"

Niklaus stopped all of his movements and turned to see his two younger siblings, Rebekah and Kol following behind him. Kol carrying his pack on his back, while his sister dragged one behind her. Rebekah never carried anything. "Rebekah why are you carrying a pack?"

Rebekah gave him a toothy grin, "Since Mama is with child, she asked me to take her pack for her. She cannot do anything with too much work." She leaned in closer to Niklaus. "It is not good for mother or the baby girl you know."

Niklaus rolled his eyes. Since Rebekah had learned that their mother was with child she had been praying to all the Vanir gods hoping that the baby was a little girl that she could play with and adore. It was adorable and Kol got the most fun out of teasing Rebekah about the baby.

"Rebekah the baby will become a boy if you pray for a girl," Kol said with a teasing grin. Rebekah flushed with anger and turned to her brother. Niklaus laughed as he watched the two banter. This was a common scene in their family and it made Niklaus's heart glow with happiness and slight fear. What if their father saw them, he did not appreciate it when they chased things he considered frivolous and trivial activities.

"What are you children doing?" a voice boomed behind them.

Niklaus froze in his place and felt saddened when the childish banter of his to siblings ceased behind him. Niklaus faced his head down so that he would not have to look into the face of their father. It was pathetic to admit but Niklaus was afraid to look the man in the eye. For as long as he could remember the man had always intimidated him, his hair was blond like and he had a stern face and rough build but Niklaus was sad to that he did not even know the eye color of the man that sired him.

"F-father we were just, taking the packs back to the house," Kol's voice stuttered out. Even the young boy knew to fear the man that ruled their home. Their father (Niklaus was scared to even say his name as if that would be enough to inspire his wrath) gave a mean snarl.

"Oh, really? Then why is one of the packs on the ground like one of your discarded toys? Boy did you drop it?" Niklaus froze and he knew that their father was addressing him. A swell of panic rose in his chest and he searched for the response that would allow him to receive the least amount of pain. A shadow swept pass him and picked up the pack that Rebekah had been dragging.

"I apologize father, this pack is mine." Elijah's voice was like a slap of cold water to the face. The feeling of relief though soon left him so that he could wallow in shame. He was seven and yet he could not talk to his own father without becoming startled and drowning in a state of panic. How pathetic was he?

Their father grunted at Elijah and let them be but not before shooting a burning glare at Niklaus. He was sure of it he felt his skin burn with the fire of that glare.

Elijah gave Niklaus a pat on the back. "One day, when you are strong, you will be able to stand up to him yourself, Niklaus."

Niklaus turned to his brother. His ever noble brother, always hoping and hoping at the age of twelve and Niklaus had already loss all hope of earning his father's love at the tender age of seven. "That day, 'Lijah, is a long ways away." That day will never come 'Lijah, never, Niklaus thought painfully.

Caroline was so scared she could not breathe. Fire surrounded her, but there was no smoke. The witch was laughing, laughing at the fear painted on her face. But how could she not be scared. The fire would soon burn down the whole house and it would burn with Caroline in it if the witch did not put it out and save her!

Caroline wished that her mother would come. She wanted her mother. Caroline laid herself down on the floor. This was too much. Maybe if she closed her eyes, it would all just be a dream. Please just let this all be a dream.

"Please go away. Please go away. Please go away." Caroline mumbled under her breath.

The witch raised her hands. "Tolle aer ex pulmone ejus, Iam voce cantantur, quasi tacita ventorum silentio ligat eam vocem meam esse!" The witch chanted the words and repeated them like some prayer and Caroline scooted away from the crazy woman. What had she gotten herself into? Caroline clutched her Barbie closer to her chest.

"Tolle aer ex pulmone ejus, Iam voce cantantur, quasi tacita ventorum silentio ligat eam vocem meam esse!" Caroline all of a sudden could not breathe. Something thick and heavy was in her lungs. She was choking! Caroline wrapped her small hands around her neck and flopped on the ground like a fish. Her blood turned into liquid fire as less and less oxygen came into her heaving lungs.

"Your voice is mine niña," the witch cackled.

Caroline was sure she was going to die and no one was going to hear her scream to save her.

When the Mikaelson family returned home they had learned that they had lost seven goats will the latest wolf attack. Mikael, wholly unpleased with this development, told the boys to pack their hunting supply for they were going on a hunting trip.

Elijah and Finn were quick with their packing and were quickly outside. Niklaus though he was nervous. A whole week alone in the woods with their father, the man that terrorized his dream more than the draugr that haunted the forest?

Was this his chance to prove something to his father? If he did well would his father maybe actually see him as something other than worthless? Niklaus discarded those thoughts. His father would always see him as worthless because like their father had always told him everyone was born with a certain title since the day they were born and being worthless was Niklaus's title.

And that stung actually because while Elijah got the title of noble and Rebekah got the title of beautiful and Finn got the title of soothing, Niklaus was left with the title of someone not even being worth having a title. And the worst part was that no matter how hard he tried he was always going to be stuck with that title even if he became a success later one in life he would always be worthless and disposable.

That was his fate.

"Boy, get out here now! You are holding us from capturing good game!"

Niklaus rushed out, his face looking at the ground but his steps faster than Thor's lightning. He stood beside his brothers hoping for nothing but to not be worthless.

Witches could feel nature.

They could feel the way the trees shook during a storm and the way a river roared and foamed. Nature was a part of a witches being, like an extension of them, and any disturbance to this extension was not appreciated at all.

Ayana was the most volatile when it came to a disturbance in nature.

Nature was meant to be kept a certain way and then some idiotic soul decided to experiment with nature to see what would happen and then you get disgusting abominations like the werewolves that kill and slaughter people without a second thought. And it is always, always incredibly hard to get nature back on balance once someone decided to mess with it.

And now once more some idiotic soul had decided to mess with nature once more. Late last night Ayana had felt a disturbance in the air. Something with great power had appeared without warning in the forest. It had sent up a flare of power before settling. It was as if the creature was signaling to others that it was there. And Ayana was not okay with that.

For the power of the flare that the creature gave in had an immense amount of power and that power wreaked of malice and revenge and who knew what something with that power could do by itself? Now it was calling for its equally as powerful brethren to assist it in whatever wicked deeds it wanted to conduct. No, no, no, not while there were witches in the area.

And so that was why she was in front of the Mikaelson home right now, she wanted to talk to Esther about what she felt and what she could do about it. Ayana quickly gave three quick taps on the door and waited patiently while Rebekah opened the door, her blonde hair bobbing as a gust of cool air swept into the house.

"Ayana!" Rebekah squealed. Ayana gave the girl a smiled and wrapped her arms around her in a hug. Oh, how she desired to have a child like this one day. "Mama was just going to call on you!"

"Oh, was she really? Well, is it not my luck that I should appear now," Ayana said as she strode into the house. A small fire burned in the fireplace and Ayana's eyes we drawn to where Esther sat. Esther was a tall woman with a slender face and long strawberry blonde hair. Esther sat in front of the fire, rubbing her engorged belly and giving light moans from the pain her swollen feet gave her.

"Mama! Ayana appeared! We did not have to send anyone!" Rebekah said. Rebekah loved the magic that came with being a witch. She was so excited to start her training and begged Ayana and Esther to begin teaching her how to do small simple spells. Apparently all she dreamed about was doing no work ever again in her life.

"Magic does not work in the ways you would like to believe, Little One," Esther commented. Ayana smiled and made her way towards the heavily pregnant woman.

"Esther, I have something of importance to speak to you of." Esther's eyes slid to her daughter and Rebekah took her leave. Ayana placed herself on the floor.

"Oh no, Ayana there is no need for you to place yourself here on the ground with me," Esther said. Ayana rolled her eyes. The girl had always been so proper ever since the day that she was an apprentice.

"You know that I do not care that much about where I sit, but where I sit is not important." Ayana's eyes became steely and hard as she thought about the topic of conversation. "I have felt a presence enter the area last night when we were in the caves. I am here to inquire if you had felt it also."

Esther shook her head, "I felt nothing. Though since I am with child my power had dwindled, I am not even sure if I can do a tracking spell at the moment." Ayana nodded her head, but narrowed her eyes at her former student. "Have you dabbled in the darker arts recently?" Ayana asked.

Esther stiffened and Ayana knew her answer. Her student thought that the darker arts were more entertaining and powerful than the power of nature. Ayana had warned her many times thousands of times that the darker arts would leave her heartless and never turn out the way that she wished however the girl did not listen. And with her being with child and practicing the dark arts the spirits might take it upon them to teach her a lesson.

"Let it be known that the spirits do not take kindly to those that try to change nature," Ayana stated. "Every person will soon pay their due to nature."

Esther looked away, rolling her eyes all the while.

Caroline cannot make a sound. She cannot scream or shout or anything. Her mother had always taught her that whenever she was in trouble that she should scream for help and fight back and do whatever she can to leave a mark on her attacker and get away. But Caroline was in a ring of fire with her attacker on the other side and her attacker had just stole her voice. How disappointed her mother would have been.

Caroline could just imagine her mother's face at this point. Liz's eyes would darken into a cool blue-grey color and then her lips would give the slightest tilt downwards in a way so that she was not truly frowned but she surely was not smiling. She would have her arms crossed and then would give a sigh while looking down at Caroline. And Caroline would feel so small.

"What's wrong?" the crazy witch crept closer to the wall of flame and titled her head at Caroline. "You don't seem scared anymore?"

Oh lady, Caroline thought, you don't know how badly I want to scream.

"Don't worry your dreams will come true―"

BANG―SLAM!

A group of police officers poured into the small room and tackled the crazy witch onto the floor. Caroline watched wide eyed as they fought with the witch, who was screaming loudly.

"Take her down! Keep her down! Get the girl! Put out the fire!"

The witch was still screaming though it was in no language that Caroline knew but that was not important. Her salvation was here. Caroline ran towards the fire that contained her only to see a pair of hands shoot through the flames. They looked like they were being burnt and Caroline felt repulsed as the skin erupted into bubbles and sizzled.

She didn't notice the arms push her as she was still disgusted. She did not notice until she felt no ground beneath her.

Niklaus liked his older brother Finn. Finn did not talk a lot but when he did you always had to listen as what he said seemed to carry a lot of power behind his words. Their father said that Finn was wise beyond his years. Klaus just thought that Finn was smarter than people gave him credit for and Finn was living up to Klaus's thought of him at the moment.

Their father had split them into groups of two; Klaus with Finn and Elijah with their father. Now they were somewhere deep into the forest somewhere north of their base camp and a river. Finn was kneeling, inspecting the ground for the tracks that they had been following. Niklaus wished that he could be like Finn sometimes, he did not draw attention to himself and everyone in their family treated him with respect.

"Niklaus," Finn called and waved for him to come closer. Niklaus leaned over his older brother shoulder and looked at the ground. "Tell me, Niklaus, what do you see?" Honestly, all Klaus saw was stepped on twigs and leaves. There was nothing of value on the ground that they were staring at. That rock that was next to a broken twig might be value though.

"Nothing, brother. I see nothing," Niklaus answered. Finn chuckled and pointed back at the ground.

"Look Niklaus, the twig has been broken meaning the animal was very large. And look there are three other markings on the ground just like this one and are evenly spaced. Now what Niklaus can you conclude from that?" Finn instructed.

Niklaus skewed his lips to the side in thought. "Hmm, the animal was big and on four feet?" Finn smiled and rose from his crouching position. He ruffled Niklaus's hair playfully and commented on how he was catching on so fast. The comment made Niklaus glow. Her rarely got compliments, usually when he did their father was there to disprove them.

"Come now, Niklaus. We need to follow the tracks before they disappeared and we do not wish to return empty handed, do we not?" Niklaus nodded and the followed the tracks for a good while before the came to the river that they usually came to for water and to bathe.

Though this time it was different this time as there was a wolf laying down dead and a girl resting beside it. Finn frowned at walked closer to the girl with Niklaus following nervously behind. He had seen what the wolves could do, they had ripped apart the baker not even three moons ago. Tears clogged his throat at the thought of a girl getting killed so viciously by one of the wolves.

"The wolf is dead," Finn announced and Klaus felt relieved but nervous. The wolf was dead which meant that something or someone had killed it, but everyone was hiding in the caves so how was the wolf killed.

"What of the girl?" asked Niklaus, "is she still alive?" Finn shushed him as he inched cautiously towards the girl, who was resting comfortably against gold studded chest. Finn gently, touched her cheek and turned back to Niklaus.

"Go and get father and tell him what we have found. The girl breathes."

Niklaus nodded and rushed back the way he remembered their camp being. Just what was going on who was that girl? What was going to happen to her? How did she get there?

Oh the questions that needed to be answered!

Caroline knew that she was not where she was supposed to be. She knew that for a fact. The covers were not her covers and it was painstakingly hot where ever she was.

Something was burning underneath her skin and it was settling in her stomach when Caroline finally awakened. Gasping, Caroline threw herself off of the bed and gripped whatever it was that was in her right hand. Caroline looked wildly around the room. This was not her room. It was dark with only a little light streaming in from a hold cut out of the dirt and wood walls. The bed she was sitting on was not even a bed but a bunch of animal pelts that were stacked onto one another and they all laid on the floor. She took another glance around the room and saw that there were other animal pelts like her own laid out on the floor.

Caroline shivered. Where was she? Where was her mother? Where had the witch sent her? A whirlwind was what her thoughts were suddenly spiraling into when a woman walked in. Caroline looked at her, tears already preparing to leak from her eyes, and shied away from her. This woman was a stranger and she had already learned her lesson about trusting strangers.

"Oh child, do not weep," the woman said. She bent down as if to wrap her arms around Caroline but she scuttled away. Her touch may hurt her. The sensation of falling was still trapped in her mind and when she closed her eyes that was all she could feel; the wind and the feeling of drowning with the air in your lungs. The woman put her arms back down and Caroline wiped at her eyes.

The woman was wearing a plain dress that seemed to be a pale grey or a very light looking brown color. Her honey blonde hair was down and wavy and she was very pregnant. Caroline wondered if the child would be a boy or a girl. "Now, darling, do you know how you got here?"

Caroline nodded her head. She knew how she got herself into this mess, but she did not know how she got herself into this small home. Caroline opened her mouth and began to talk but after the first few words she remembered.

"Your voice is mine niña."

Caroline shivered. She had lost her voice. She held the Barbie closer to her chest. This toy was her last connection to home. She did not even get to bring the Malibu Dream House with her since she thought she would get a new one (or live in one because hello? her prince could buy her a dream house to live in).

"Can you speak girl?" a gruff voice asked and a burly looking man with blonde hair stomped in. Caroline shook her head. This man seemed scary. The way he walked in demanded attention and his voice held that tone that her father would get whenever he thought that she was annoying him. This man, Caroline concluded, must have been annoyed a lot recently.

"Hah, the girl is so stupid she is mute. Look Esther," the man said. "So dumb she cannot even speak her own name!" Something heated rose within Caroline. She may be a lot of things but no one could ever say that Caroline was stupid. It was her that one the district spelling bee! It was her that was Little Miss Mystic Falls! And it was her that was able to get a 110% on her math test! It was Caroline freaking Forbes so she was definitely not stupid. And she was going to prove this man wrong.

Caroline. Caroline. Caroline. Caroline.

Caroline murmured the name to herself, her lips forming the words, but the voice not coming out to accompany the movement. Caroline. Caroline. Caroline was getting louder in her head. She was now shouting in her head trying to get the strangers to understand her words.

"Look at her! Muttering to herself, the girl is an invalid, Esther!" the man continued the babble on.

Caroline. CAROLINE! Caroline was screaming in her head. Her eyes were directed at the two adults that were speaking as if she was not even there. She imagined shoving her words into their skulls forcing them to see her name being spelled out; hear how she said her own name.

The two strangers eyes suddenly glazed over and all conversation stopped. Esther, the woman, looked at Caroline as her eyes suddenly became focused and zeroed in on Caroline. "Caroline," she breathed. Caroline's face lit up. Nodding and clapping, Caroline became over joyed that they now knew her name. "How did you do that, Caroline?"

Caroline skewed her lips and tilted her head. Do what? "Caroline, how did you do that?" Esther rushed forward and Caroline was suddenly cornered. Her breath shortened as she felt as if the room was closing in on her. "How did you push the pictures and voices into my mind?" Esther demanded. And Caroline shrugged. Esther had this intense look her eyes. It was like the other witch, the crazy one that sent her here.

The man grunted. "She will go and see Ayana tomorrow. Leave her be Esther." Esther then straightened herself. She seemed calmer now, not as overbearing and scary as before. Esther gave the girl a kind smile before sweeping out of the room.

Caroline let out a breath. She could breathe again. This was all too much for one girl to take in a whole day. She needed to sleep. Yes, that was it! Caroline needed to go to sleep and wake up and then everything would be okay again. She laid herself down on one of the animal pelts. She would close her eyes and wake up and she would be in her room again. This was all probably just a bad dream because she watched Goosebumps before she went to bed again.

Everything would be alright when she woke up.

Ariel may have lost her voice but she got something better.

But that was only because she was not what she used to be anymore.

Author's Note: Okay, so who saw Thor: The Dark World. Me, being the comic book nerd that I am saw it just yesterday (their costumes look good. Just like they do in the comics, though Thor is missing his helmet, but then again I have always hated that thing). And I seriously almost cried because of it's awesomeness. Ugh, what movies do to me! Well what anything does to. Like seriously I cry whenever I watch Animal Planet. I cried when I watched Tarzan and My Little Pony. My Little Pony guys. Oh, god what sort of self respecting person am I?

Anyways sorry with how it got progressively crappier as it went on I didn't prewrite so technically this is the draft of chapter two. I got lazy. I'll try next time since Thanksgiving is next week!

Eh, I don't really have anything to say about the Vampire Diaries. And I watched the Originals and as usual disappointment and cringing ensued and yeah it did not end well with me. The Originals actually makes me ship Klaroline even more actually. Anyways! Let's go back to Thor! Fucking Loki guys! Loki was hilarious in that movie and I kept laughing my ass off till my brother told me to shut up.

Eh, I did not like all the Thor/Jane scenes. I don't ship them like I do Klaroline. You guys, I just remembered how I wanted to recommend a story to you. Every single one of you need to go and read Sympathy for the Devil by Twisted Type. That story...man, that story makes you feel things that you thought you would never feel in your life.

I would like to thank all the people who reviewed and followed and favorited! Mostly an anon called Cassie whose review made me glow. Thank you Cassie. You are very much appreciated here! And all my other reviewers and followers and favorit...favoriter? favoritors? are much appreciated also!

Anyhoo! If you enjoyed the story, review, favorite, follow, whatever floats your boat! If you want to see some funny stuff, hear me ramble or read some previews of the next chapter (as I already am prewriting it), or just want to look around. Head over to my tumblr at: miss - wicked - lovely . tumblr. com

(Whew! I did it right this time! I messed up on the url last chapter!)

Until next time,

Miss Wicked Lovely