Drabble Request: A hundred and fifty years following the end of S3, except Klaus remained desiccated and the Salvatores shipped the coffin away to be dumped in the ocean. Now, with a better understanding of what it is to be a vampire, Caroline's guilt over what they did to Klaus has reached an all-time high. She does some recon in hopes of finding where the Salvatores had him dumped and attempts freeing him :)
You’re lucky you’re the only one whose (500) prompts I have fit this week’s themes, Brynne!
Happy AU Future Day!
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150
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A hundred and fifty years following the end of S3, except Klaus remained desiccated and the Salvatores shipped the coffin away to be dumped in the ocean. Now, with a better understanding of what it is to be a vampire, Caroline’s guilt over what they did to Klaus has reached an all-time high. She does some recon in hopes of finding where the Salvatores had him dumped and attempts freeing him :)
It was colder than she expected. The ocean mist and the waves splashing over the sides of the ship made the night air feel much colder than it really was. Caroline pulled the heavy raincoat tighter around her body and she braced herself against the rigging as another wave crashed against the fishing trawler. She thanked her vampire system for taking care of the awful seasickness she used to get when she was still a human and her dad had taken her out on the lake in the summers.
But that felt like a lifetime ago; about two, in fact. It had been about one hundred and fifty years since she had been human. One hundred and fifty years since Klaus had been desiccated and dumped in the ocean by the Salvatores; dumped somewhere near where she was at that very moment. And it had been about one hundred and forty five years since her guilt over allowing it to happen had overwhelmed her.
Caroline gazed out at the dark sea, her improved night vision picking up the rolling waves further away than any human would have been able to, but they were already too far out on the open ocean to make out the coast any longer, so her heightened senses did nothing but remind her of why she was there in the first place.
Klaus.
When she had first heard the news of his desiccation, she had been happy; hell she had thrown a party! No more Original Hybrid messing with her, with their lives! No more bracelets or romantic drawings or interference in her confusing relationship with Tyler. No more trying to use Elena as a blood bag or trying to kill her friends or their families. No more ruining her dances. They were free. She should have been happy.
And she was. For a good fifty years, she was. She played at being human. And she was good at it too. She went to college a few times, ran a couple successful careers, moved around, saw some of the world. She saw her friends, made new ones, kept being the poster girl for incontrol vampires, converted more and more wayward vamps to the B+ blood bag lifestyle. She had relationships, long and short, she loved and lost and loved again. She had a good life and she enjoyed it.
Until she ran into Rebekah in the early 2060s.
Caroline almost didn’t recognize the Original. Her hair was short whereas Caroline had grown hers out. Rebekah’s flashy, ‘look at me’ style that Caroline had been used to back in Mystic Falls was gone, leaving an easily passed over girl in her place. She was sitting in a coffee shop, mindlessly flicking through the holographic screen of her phone, looking almost depressed when the younger vampire spotted her. Caroline still didn’t understand what had possessed her to join the girl at her table, it wasn’t like they were ever anything close to friends; rivals would probably be the nicest word to describe their relationship. Plus Rebekah could and quite possibly would kill her on sight. But something about the other girl pulled Caroline in.
Thankfully Rebekah hadn’t been in much of a killing mood. Actually, the older vampire didn’t seem to be in much of any mood at all. She had actually seemed… relieved to see Caroline, which certainly threw Caroline for a loop. And they actually talked, having a real conversation, which confused Caroline even more. Until Rebekah started talking about her family.
Apparently after the Salvatores had hidden Klaus’ body, the remaining Originals had scattered, fleeing from Alaric. He was basically another Mikael, hunting them down relentlessly, only Alaric was impossible to stop. Not used to being on her own, Rebekah had struggled, having far too many close calls with the immortal hunter before she had managed to track down Elijah in Russia. She had stuck with him for a few decades, even after Katherine had joined him, which surprised Caroline on multiple levels. When Rebekah told her about Kol joining the three in the 40’s, Caroline almost wished she had been there to see the circus that must have been.
Caroline had been confused after that. Rebekah had finally reunited with her family, all the ones not trapped in a box on the ocean floor, anyway, so why was she so depressed? Apparently in 2051 everything had changed. Caroline immediately knew why, though she waited for Rebekah to tell her. That was the year Elena died, and consequently so did Alaric. Even though the Salvatores had done their best to protect her and keep her safe from the Originals and any other supernatural threats, there was no way to protect her from a random brain aneurysm. At least Elena had managed to have the human life she had always dreamed of, she had even met her first grandchild before she died.
When the Originals got word that the threat was gone, their happy little family had dispersed. Kol had been the first to leave, heading off to parts unknown to do whatever it was that Kol did; Caroline didn’t really want to know the details. Elijah and Katherine had headed off a few years later, wanting to enjoy the freedom of no longer being hunted and explore their relationship without the threat of death hanging over them. Rebekah had been less than thrilled at the prospect of being the third wheel again, so she was left on her own.
Caroline felt sorry for the girl. It was clearly difficult for Rebekah to be alone. She had been solely dependant on her family for a thousand years, give or take the few centuries or so she was in a box; it had to be hard to go from that to being on your own. And it’s not like the Original had the best personality for making friends, even if the entire supernatural world hadn’t already been wary of the entire Mikaelson family to begin with.
So somehow Caroline became her friend. It was odd at first, certainly. But eventually she realized they had a lot in common, much more than her seventeen year old self, the original seventeen, not the perpetual one she was now, had ever been willing to admit. She even ended up moving to Spain with Rebekah, and if someone had told her fifty years ago that that would happen, she would have laughed until she cried and then she would have compelled them to lay off the drugs.
And it was nice. And fun. Rebekah helped her embrace the parts of vampirism she had always shied away from. Caroline still didn’t kill, not unless she had to to defend herself, but the rest, the compulsion and the feeding from the vein, she slowly became used to it. And in return she gave Rebekah the company she so desperately craved.
Yet she couldn’t fill the entire void left by the girl’s missing family. Especially the emptiness that used to be filled by Klaus. Caroline hadn’t realized the two had been so close. But the way Rebekah’s eyes lit up when she told stories about their time together, the way she talked about him… She made Klaus sound almost human.
And that’s when Caroline began seeing the humanity in the things Klaus had done and said to her. She began seeing him as less of the pure evil villain and as more of the protective older brother, the emotionally stunted boy who had to grow up too fast, the love-struck man who was not as smooth as he thought but smoother than she had wanted to admit. She saw him as someone with flaws and issues but also good points and strengths. She saw him as someone who didn’t deserve an eternity in a box at the bottom of the ocean because he was no better or worse than any of them in the end.
She saw him as human.
If there was anything Caroline Forbes was good at, it was pretending everything was fine. Until she couldn’t anymore. And the moment she admitted that Klaus wasn’t all bad was the beginning of the end for her clear conscience.
She was able to ignore it at first. Even as the decades passed and the nagging voice at the back of her mind whispering doubts every time she heard Klaus’ name grew louder and louder, she could still tune it out. Even when she and Rebekah met up with Elijah and Katherine, who she surprisingly also became friends with over the years, she was still able to suppress her guilt. Even though the inclusion of Elijah in her life meant more stories about the man she could now scarcely go a day without thinking about, still she managed to convince herself there was nothing she could do.
It wasn’t until she had known Kol for two decades, considered him a good friend for almost as long, when she could no longer deny the guilt she felt. It had happened one night while they were in Elijah’s wine cellar in Italy, attempting to drink as many of the eldest Original’s precious ridiculously expensive vintages as possible in revenge for some petty slight she could no longer remember, when Kol had turned to her, sloshed out of his mind.
“I miss him, you know?” he had slurred out of the blue, gesturing wildly with a bottle of a 1992 Le Pin. “Nik was a right bastard at times, but he was my brother and I know he cared ‘bout me and Bekah and ‘Lijah. I just… miss him.”
That was the moment her heart broke, along with the bottle of 1974 Petrus that fell from her hand.
That had been five years ago and the next day, well the day after the next, when her hangover had finally cleared, she had begun her efforts to find a way to free Klaus.
She had done it in secret at first, not wanting to get anyone’s hopes up if she couldn’t manage it. After all, she was sure the Originals had tried to find him themselves, especially after the threat of Alaric was gone. If they hadn’t managed to find him, what could she hope to accomplish? But then again, she had something they didn’t.
An in with a Salvatore.
Stefan and Damon were the only two people on Earth who knew where Klaus was. And they had managed to keep under the Originals’ radar for almost one hundred and fifty years. Kol claimed to have had a run in with Damon a decade earlier and had spent a good week torturing the man trying to find the location; and also probably just for fun too, knowing Kol, not that Caroline could blame him. But apparently the brothers were smarter than anyone gave them credit for, having had a witch cast a spell so they could never be forced to tell the location to anyone, even under compulsion. Caroline still wasn’t certain why Kol ended up letting Damon go, but she had a feeling the Original just wanted to have the option of torturing the elder Salvatore in the future. Again, Caroline could see the appeal in that.
So Caroline would have to get them to tell her willingly. It wasn’t going to be easy, she knew that. Hell, it took her an entire year to track them down. But she was still on good terms with Stefan, at least she had been the last they spoke seven years ago. She wasn’t too sure what his reaction would be if he knew she was all buddy-buddy with the Originals now. She just hoped her persuasive skills were as good as she thought they were, and that Stefan would remember all the times she had helped his ripper self through vampire rehab.
When she finally did meet up with Stefan it had been more difficult to convince him to give her the location than she expected. He had heard about her new friends and was less than thrilled she had gotten herself mixed up with the Originals of all vampires. There was a lot of self righteous talk and Elena’s name thrown out here and there, and the matter wasn’t helped when Damon showed up and added in his two sense. That visit had ended up with Damon’s neck snapped, Caroline had silently thanked Katherine for her self defense lessons, and Stefan less than thrilled with her.
So she tried to do it on her own. She hired people to go back and dig up everything they could on the brothers, trying to see if there was a location they frequented where Klaus might be. She left no stone unturned, sifting through documents and reports for years as information came to her, finding nothing. She even visited witches, associates of Kol’s that were trustworthy, to see if they could either lift the spell on the Salvatores or locate Klaus on their own. But everything proved fruitless, only adding to her guilt.
It was Katherine who discovered what she was doing first. The brunette vampire had been snooping through Caroline’s computer, which she freely admitted to of course, when she found some of Caroline’s research. What surprised Caroline was that Katherine wasn’t against her finding Klaus.
“I’m not completely heartless, Caroline,” Katherine had declared. “Elijah is my heart,” she said in a rare moment of sentiment, “and even though he is careful to never say anything in front of me, I know he misses that psychopath. And it hurts me to see him like that. So if you can get Klaus to promise to leave me in peace, and if anyone can it’s you, then I’ll help you find him. And just to be clear, I’m doing this for Elijah, not for you.”
And she did. Katherine was more well connected than Caroline could have imagined. Though she really shouldn’t have been surprised. The woman had managed to hide from Klaus for five hundred years; you don’t pull something like that off on your own. With her help Caroline managed to learn that the Salvatores had taken a boat out into the Pacific from Washington a few months after Klaus was desiccated. Caroline couldn’t help but think that was almost a step backwards. The Pacific Ocean was large and it would be near impossible to find Klaus without further narrowing it down. But everyone who would have been on that boat was dead and gone, leaving no one to compel answers from. Which left them right back at square one with Damon and Stefan being the only lead.
This time she brought Katherine with her to visit the two, which neither brother was too thrilled with. They were even less thrilled when Katherine made a quick phone call after an hour of talking in circles and Rebekah showed up. Caroline was no less surprised. She knew Katherine and Rebekah had buried the proverbial hatchet almost a century ago, but she was still surprised to see the brunette looking out for the blonde, even, dare she say, caring about Rebekah.
Once Damon was once again in a heap on the floor as a result of his runaway mouth, Rebekah turned to Stefan and did the last thing Caroline expected: she cried. She cried for her missing brother, her broken family, her terrible parents, her lost youth, her stolen humanity, the monster she had been forced to become.
And that’s what finally got through to Stefan.
Caroline wasn’t sure if it was the tears or the words or the history the two shared that made the difference, or perhaps it was a combination. But it didn’t really matter, as Stefan gave them the longitude of the location where Klaus was resting on the ocean floor.
Unfortunately the spell the brothers had cast on them also made it so no one could find the exact location without both brothers’ consent. Stefan could only reveal the longitude while Damon held the latitude. One was practically useless without the other.
Once Damon regained consciousness, he was met by three very displeased vampire women. Various threats were made, Damon griped at Stefan who just rolled his eyes, clearly more than used to it; all in all they got nowhere fast. That is until Katherine reminded Damon of his most recent quality time with Kol and how the bat wielding Original would just love to get another crack at him, quite literally. Rebekah chimed in with a few possible nonlethal but oh so painful methods of ‘persuasion’ that Kol was fond of, and Caroline couldn’t help but add that they did have eternity after all and she would be more than happy to help Kol mix it up if he ever got bored.
Caroline liked to think it was the look in her own angry eyes that finally swayed Damon, but in the end it didn’t really matter. They got the coordinates and left the Salvatores with a promise of immunity and another broken neck for Damon, and one less kidney after he made a parting comment about Rebekah’s ass, but Caroline was pretty sure that would grow back. Or not, she really didn’t care.
And that’s how she ended up on a boat off the coast of Alaska in the middle of the night, freezing cold and surrounded by a crew of compelled fisherman and her new family. Which is what she considered them now, she realized as she looked away from the rising swells and towards the dimly lit cabin. She could just make out Elijah and Katherine arguing, wild hand gestures and rolled eyes and deep sighs which were quickly followed by shy smiles and deep kisses. Caroline hid a smile as she turned to look towards the other end of the boat. Rebekah stood by the rail, looking anxiously into the deep waters, as if she would be able to spot Klaus’ prison from the surface. Caroline watched Kol tease her, sparking a familiar argument between the two, but Caroline had long ago noticed the way Kol’s mouth twitched into the grin he only wore around his sister and the way Rebekah’s eyes softened even as she sniped at him. These four vampires had somehow become her family and she was more than ready to add one more to that number.
If he would forgive her, of course.
She could feel the boat come to a stop, engines cutting as they reached the designated area. She was filled with a rush of nerves as Elijah appeared from the cabin, catching her eyes as Rebekah and Kol went silent behind her.
“They’ve located something underneath us,” he announced, watching the crew begin to ready the equipment. “It’s the proper size, but we won’t know for sure until we bring it up.”
“I told you we should have compelled a boat with more modern technology,” Kol groused, rolling his eyes. “But noooo, you wanted to be less conspicuous”
Elijah narrowed his eyes. “Kol, you know we still have many enemies who would jump at the chance to get ahold of Niklaus in a weakened state. We cannot afford to draw attention to ourselves.”
Caroline interrupted Kol’s next words, cutting off his inevitable arguing-for-argument’s sake tendency. “Guys, we’re already here, let’s not waste time arguing about how we got here and focus on rescuing Klaus.”
“Caroline’s right,” Rebekah said, pushing passed Kol and walking up to Elijah. “Elijah, can’t you make these people work any faster?”
“They’re doing their best, Rebekah. They’re currently preparing the gear to haul up the, erm, container,” Elijah assured her, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Kol scoffed. “Why don’t you call it what it is. It’s a tomb, ‘Lijah, just say it.”
“Kol! How dare-”
“Rebekah!” Katherine called, interrupting the blonde Original’s incoming tirade. “Could you come help me get the blood ready? And maybe pick out some clothes. I’m sure your dear brother is going to want to change out of his hundred and fifty year old crimes against fashion. That is if there’s even still any fabric left. What’s the rate of decay on cotton, Elijah?”
Elijah, who had momentarily looked grateful for Katherine’s distraction, sighed deeply as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Rebekah, would you please assist Katherine in preparing the room below deck for Klaus? Kol, make sure nothing goes wrong with the hydraulics. And no harassing the workers,” he added as an afterthought, wiping the smirk from Kol’s face. “Caroline, if you would join me in the cabin?”
Caroline knew that even though it was phrased as a question it really wasn’t one.
Though she had known Elijah as more than the stoic, suit-loving eldest Original for almost a century now, Caroline still dreaded his ‘talks.’ He always managed to add an edge of threatening undertone in such a way that made you doubt it was really there, even though it was foolish to do so. Caroline was fairly certain that Elijah would never harm her, not unless she gave him a much greater reason than most to do so, yet she still didn’t enjoy his little interrogations masked as conversations.
“What exactly do you plan to do, Caroline,” he asked as soon as the cabin door shut behind them.
Straight to the point as usual. “What do you mean, Elijah?” Caroline asked, genuinely confused. She had thought her intentions were fairly obvious by now.
“With Niklaus.”
Caroline raised an eyebrow, looking pointedly around the ship.
“I mean once he is awake,” Elijah continued, catching and holding her gaze. “Why are you doing this?”
“I thought I had made that clear. I regret the part I played in his desiccation. No one deserves one hundred and fifty years stuck at the bottom of the ocean in a perpetual state of awareness.”
He continued to stare at her, studying her thoroughly before he responded. “Is that the only reason?”
Caroline faltered at that, not expecting such a question. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“I was informed about the relationship between you and Niklaus before his entombment. Does that not factor into your motives?”
“Klaus and I were not in a relationship,” Caroline scoffed suddenly feeling like she was one hundred and fifty years in the past again, which was somewhere she definitely did not wish to be. “We… might have been something, one day,” she admitted quietly, more to herself than to Elijah. “I honestly don’t know what we are, what we could be.”
He made a humming sound, in agreement or just acknowledgement that she had spoken Caroline wasn’t sure. “But you’d like to find out once he is free, yes? If there could be something between you two?”
“Would it be so bad to say ‘yes’?” she asked quietly, looking away. She looked back when he touched her arm, a small smile on his face.
“Caroline, I waited five hundred years to be with Katherine. One hundred and fifty is not so strange to me.”
She smiled at that, was about to say something when Kol’s yell reached their ears. Both vampires turned, seeing the Original on deck gesturing to them as the stared intently at the water.
“It’s almost up,” he called out to them once they returned to the deck. “I hope you’ve got the crowbar ready.”
Elijah rolled his eyes. As if they would have to resort to something as primitive as a crowbar in this day and age.
The large concrete container broke the surface of the water then and was quickly hauled on deck. As soon as it hit the metal floor crewmen were working in a compelled daze to open it. Caroline watched with baited breath next to the Original brothers as the concrete gave way, revealing a wooden coffin in surprisingly good shape.
“It’s really him,” she breathed, unable to tear her gaze away.
As one, the three walked forward hesitantly, almost afraid any sudden movement would break some spell and the coffin would disappear from their sight. Once they reached it Elijah stretched his hand forward, easily breaking the chains on the lid and slowly opening it. Their breaths caught in their throat as they took in the sight of Klaus’ grayed skin, body wrapped in chains as he lay seemingly asleep in the coffin.
“Niklaus,” Elijah whispered, reaching a hand out to his brother but stopping just short of touching him.
“Nik… Uh, hey, wake up already!” Kol eventually managed to say, his carefree facade a poor replacement for his usual attitude.
Caroline glanced at both brothers when Klaus continued to remain motionless, eyes closed as if he was truly dead. It scared her, she realized, the idea of his death, even though she knew he was alive. Or as alive as any of them were.
Her eyes met each of theirs in turn, Kol raising his brows expectantly at her while Elijah merely looked from her to Klaus and back, silently telling her to try to gain Klaus’ attention herself.
Caroline took a deep breath, gathering all the strength that she had learned to embrace over the last century and a half, and leaned forward. “Klaus, please, open your eyes. We’ve come to get you. Don’t you remember, you promised to show me the world? I still haven’t been to Rome or Paris or Tokyo, you know. I was waiting for you to show them to me. So please, wake up.”
She held her breath, staring down at the face that had haunted her dreams for an eternity of seventeen.
And she watched his eyes open.
