Sunlight

Chapter 28: Almost Home

The Mikaelsons were a family divided. And consequentially, so were their guests.

Rebekah wanted to return to Mystic Falls for reasons unfathomable to some of her brothers. And as she had proposed her idea to the entire troupe of misfit people that they called their family, others had agreed with her idea for reasons of their own.

Elijah had agreed simply due to the fact that he cared about some of the inhabitants of the town and knew that the Original family had abandoned them to a potentially greater threat. He was a little reluctant due to his newfound....relationship with Gwen, but had agreed regardless.

Gwen, having no ties to the town, was not so keen to go, but if it meant going with an interesting man and his intimidating family, she was up for the adventure. She'd like to see where it went...both where her relationship with Elijah was headed and where on Earth this tiny town called Mystic Falls actually was.

Kol was not as chipper. Granted, the last time he had been in Mystic Falls, the occupants had not been so welcoming, and when he had returned after his brother had left, if only momentarily to collect his little sister and whisk her away to annoy their brother and his girl in Vienna, the so-called 'Scooby gang' had acted brashly against his attempts to help. Things were not going to be pleasant with his return, but it was his home initially, so let them all be damned.

Eva was curious, as usual, however it was heightened by Rebekah's mystery man drama, Kol's instant anger at the thought of returning, and the uproar from the other members of the family. She knew she'd be in for a real drama, and she liked the thought of that excitement. Plus she somehow couldn't imagine being without the Mikaelsons, at least for the time being. So she was in.

Klaus was torn. He secretly didn't want to return for fear of Caroline leaving him and pretending that nothing had ever happened between them. However, he knew that if she was to ever stay with him forever, as he intended, she would need to make her peace with the family she had left behind, and potentially visit in the future thereafter.

Caroline was torn. While she missed her friends and mom, and she wanted to see her home town, she was frightened of the idea that Klaus might leave her there and pretend that nothing had ever happened between them. However, she knew that she had to return with the Mikaelsons to eventually start her new life with them, if they let her stick around.

The inevitable fight ensued once Rebekah had dropped the suggestion bomb; namely where various items were flung at family members, Rebekah pouted far more than necessary to get the baby-sister-vote, Elijah kept his cool only for Gwen's sake, Klaus paced like an agitated wildcat looking for a fight, and Kol had multiple threats for his neck to be snapped for being 'such an irritating brat'.

However, the worst part came when the attention was returned to Caroline's involvement.

"She needs to go back, Nik." Rebekah pointed out.

Klaus growled wordlessly, neither disagreeing nor agreeing with the sentence.

"Why do I need to go back?" Caroline piped up, gaining everyone's attention. "Why can't I just stay here?"

"Sweetheart, surely you want to return." Klaus reasoned, not wanting her to talk herself out of going, for it was certainly going to benefit her.

"No, that's not part of it." Caroline evaded, moving onto another tactic. "Why can't we just stay here, Nik? You promised to show me the world, and we've only just begun to really explore parts of it. I want to go to Brazil, Morocco, revisit Turkey, explore Africa and the places you haven't gone. Hell, I want to go to Australia. Why can't we just explore the world like you promised?" She asked, playing for the manipulating pity vote.