Caroline woke up again. She was in the dungeons in chains. Her head felt achy and groggy. How had she gotten there? Her eyes focused on someone slumped on the wall across from her. It was Tyler, chained up and passed out on the cold floor. Panic rose up in her chest and she tried to get up and reach him, but she was restrained by her own chains. She tugged at her manacles until her muscles burned and the skin of her wrists was rubbed raw, but it was no use.
She looked up, it was still daylight, the sacrifice hadn't happened yet. Was Elena safe? Certainly Stefan would still be trying to figure out a way to save her. She smirked to herself, here she was chained up and she was worried about whether or not Elena was ok.
Suddenly she heard a clanging sound coming from the doorway. Her head snapped in the direction of the noise. Her breath caught in her throat as she waited to see who would appear around the corner. A dark figure stood in the doorway. She couldn't make out their face. They didn't smell human and she heard no heartbeat, so it couldn't have been one of the witches.
"Damon? Stefan?" She hoped. Had someone come to rescue her?
"My apologies love."
It was Klaus. She shrank back, pressing herself against the wall. He sauntered forward and stood over her. She looked up at him.
"Are you going to kill me?"
Klaus slowly lowered himself so that he was face to face with her. She tried her best to control her breathing, to not show any fear. If she was going to die, she was not going to let him kill her knowing how afraid she really was.
"No, I'm not going to kill you," he said. She relaxed a bit, but remained wary of him all the same. If he wasn't going to kill her then why did he have her and Tyler chained up? A bit of light streamed across his face. His expression was dark and sad, almost sad enough to tug at her heartstrings. But this man was a killer; she knew he didn't feel sadness or regret.
"I'm sorry for the kidnapping and the chains. Just keeping up appearances," he told her, "I suppose this will be one of the last times I see you."
His fingers reached up toward his neck and toyed with one of the many necklaces at his throat.
"What do you mean?" Caroline asked, confused.
"It's ironic that this all happens now," he chuckled, "I've waited six hundred years for two things and when I finally gain one, I'll be losing the other."
Klaus's eyes were filling with tears, one escaping and rolling down his cheek. Caroline's mouth hung open, gaping slightly at the show of emotion coming from Klaus. It was all so surreal; the evil villain, kneeling in front of her, crying and she didn't even understand why.
"Please let Elena go. Let her live. Don't do this." She begged. Maybe he did have a heart after all. Maybe she could convince him.
"I can't," he said, "I can't do that. Fate has been so cruel. I'll be honest, I couldn't stay away. I checked in on you over the years, watched you grow up and become the woman that you are. I never noticed the doppelganger standing right next to you, all this time. I would do almost anything for you but I can't do what you ask." He sniffed and dragged a hand across his cheeks, wiping away the silent tears. "But it won't matter soon. You won't be around to hate me for it."
He leaned forward, closer to her, she tried to back away again, but there was no room left to move. "I tried to recreate the spell that sent you back. To change things. I know it's not 'allowed' but I didn't care. I didn't care if I ripped apart the whole of the universe just to keep you safe and alive. But no witch could ever make the spell work for me. Each time I failed it was like losing you all over again. I've spent 600 years hunting doppelgangers and mourning you. It's enough to drive any man insane, vampire or otherwise, with regret. At least I have this one chance. I wish I could have saved you. I wish you didn't have to forget this," his hands came up and gently cradled the sides of her face.
Caroline's eyes flicked back and forth, looking into his, trying to comprehend what he was telling her. He was so close now. Close enough that she could see every blue and gray fleck in his eyes. His lips hovered near hers, his breath fanning out across her face. She felt frightened and intrigued all at once. Her tongue darted out and wet her own lips and for a second she thought Klaus might lean forward that last inch and close the distance between them. But then he spoke again. "For me, this is the end. For you, it's only the beginning."
Caroline opened her mouth to respond, but then his eyes widened, and her own eyes closed as she fell back into a deep sleep.
The memory ended. She pulled herself back into the present. The past. Whatever. Klaus was standing there, holding onto her still, waiting for her to respond. It felt like she had been standing there forever seeing these new-old memories, but it had really only been a few seconds.
"Did you remember anything?"
"I have to go see Gretchen," she said spinning around and searching for her dress.
"Don't be ridiculous, it's the middle of the night. Between the wolves and Mikael I'm not going to let you out of this castle."
She stopped and turned toward him. "Mikeal?"
"He arrived in London. Just yesterday. My spies informed me late last night."
"Good time to be telling me this now," she shot back, "I have to see Gretchen."
Caroline pulled her dress over her head.
"I'll have her come here. You are not leaving the castle and that is final."
Caroline crossed her arms and scowled at him, but she could see she was defeated. Klaus sent Trevor out to fetch the witch. The vampire had been staying with them the past few days leading up to the full moon, providing extra security for the doppelganger. Caroline waited for Gretchen in her sitting room, with Klaus hovering close by. She knew he was probably dying to ask her what she remembered, but thankfully he was refraining from doing so.
Gretchen entered the room, with Trevor following behind her. She saw the look in Caroline's eye and knew exactly what was going on.
"Leave us," the witch commanded. The two vampire men looked at each other and made their way out of the room. Klaus shot Caroline a look and she nodded her head at him as he shut the door.
"Can you cast a privacy spell?" Caroline asked.
"Yes," Gretchen replied.
"Do it."
Gretchen cast the spell. "What has happened Caroline?"
"I know why I'm here, back in the past, I know why Bonnie's spell worked," Caroline explained. Gretchen's eyes widened in curiosity as Caroline continued. "I was meant to come here. You were right. My being here doesn't change the future because this, everything that is happened now, has already happened. Which makes no sense, but you know what I mean."
"How do you know?"
"Klaus confronted me in my past, and then compelled me to forget it all."
"What did he say?"
"He said that—" Caroline paused, remembering what he had said to her, his words finally sinking in, "he said he was mourning me. That it was the end for him and the beginning for me," she stopped recalling the look of complete agony on his face, "I die. That's what happens to me here, I die. And he doesn't know that it just sends me back."
"You' don't know that for sure," Gretchen gripped Caroline's hand. "You can't tell him. He won't let you risk it." Caroline bit her lip, her brow furrowing. "Caroline I see your face and you can't."
"But you didn't see his face!" She shouted, "He's suffered. Think of how many people he killed and the havoc he wreaked because he was in pain!"
"Klaus has been in pain all of his life. You can't change that."
"But I can! I can change it! He's got to know that he'll see me again."
Gretchen shook her head. "I know Klaus. I know how his mind works and how he operates and I see the way he looks at you. He won't let you die. He won't take the gamble, not with something that matters to him so much."
Caroline stopped, hearing the implication of Gretchen's words.. Klaus hadn't said that he loved her; she didn't know what his feelings were for her. She knew that he was controlling and over-protective and impulsive toward her. If that was how he treated someone he cared for, then she knew she was on the list.
But more importantly, she knew her own feelings and her own heart. And damn it, she loved him. In spite of everything she loved him. She loved his laugh, the way he spoke, and the way he challenged her. She loved his controlling, over-protective, impulsive nature. She knew that it was probably the worst form of betrayal to her friends and family and all those who had died in his quest for invincibility. She could see it now, all the pieces of the puzzle coming together. Gretchen had told her at the beginning of this mad journey that the things that were meant to happen always do and she knew that deep down in her heart, she was meant for him. Everything in her life and been leading up to this.
Knowing all of that, made the next part of her revelation suck all that much more. Because she also knew that before she could even dream of having a future with him, she would have the betray him in the worst way imaginable.
"Caroline," Gretchen said gently, "you haven't changed things yet. You shouldn't start now."
"I know. You're right," she replied. "I know what I have to do."
Klaus stood in his room, wondering what Gretchen and Caroline could have been talking about. Caroline was hiding something from him. He didn't like it. She was still hiding things from him, things that had nothing to do with the magic surrounding her. She had asked Gretchen to cast the privacy spell; it was something she was choosing to hide on purpose.
She wanted to leave him. Even after everything, she wanted to go back to her time, her future, and leave him to wait for her. It was absurd. There would be no waiting. He would forget about her, in a decade or so. There would be other women, other distractions in his life. These feelings wouldn't last forever. Nothing like that ever did. Time would part them and she would become like dust in his memory. A flicker of a candle, an ash, nothing more.
Klaus reached up and touched her necklace at his throat, a memento of their time together. He yanked the chain roughly from his neck, squeezing the tiny heart shape in his palm. He walked over to the crackling fire and held the chain over the flames. Just then Elijah walked into his room, unannounced, and Klaus snatched his hand away from the fire.
"Full moon is tomorrow brother," Klaus said, trying to shift his thoughts to more happy tidings, "after all these centuries it is finally time."
"I have been to see the witches," Elijah told him, "the believe they may have found a way to spare the doppelganger."
"What does it matter if she lives or not? She's a means to an end. That is all."
"She should die for your gain?"
Klaus smirked. "She is human, her life means nothing."
"I beg you to consider it," Elijah pleaded. The tone in his brother's voice made him turn. There was a hint of desperation there.
"Are you so foolish as to care for her?" He questioned.
"Of course not," Elijah replied quickly.
Klaus placed his hand on his brother's chest, standing very close to him, looking him straight in the eye as he spoke. "Love is a vampire's greatest weakness and we are not weak, Elijah. We do not feel. And we do not care."
"We did once."
Klaus looked in his brother's eyes and saw the lifetime of memories they shared. Within Elijah's gaze he saw their family, as humans, Rebekah and Kol and Finn. They were happy and together and alive. He saw the village girls they fancied as boys. He saw Tatia, the one they thought they loved. He saw them protecting one another after they became vampires, standing together through each trial and tribulation. Together, always and forever.
"Too many lifetimes ago to matter," he replied. "Tell the witches not to bother, the sacrifice will happened as planned."
Klaus had never returned to Caroline's room that night. She knew he was angry with her for her secret conversation with Gretchen. But it was probably a good thing that he was avoiding her. She didn't want to see him. She couldn't. If she did she would break down and tell him everything, she just knew it. There was too much riding on her keeping her mouth shut and that was definitely not one of her strong suits.
Caroline was meandering through the halls of the castle, contemplating how the hell she was going to deal with everything, when she ran smack into Elijah. He caught her by her arms and steadied her.
"Sorry, I didn't see you," she said.
"Nor I you," Elijah replied. He looked sad.
Caroline cocked her head at him. "Everything ok?"
"You were right," he told her, "the witches found a way to spare the doppelganger."
"Well that's good news!" She said, then immediately bit her lip as Elijah shook his head.
"Klaus will have none of it," he said, "I thought that maybe, he was changing, he would understand but..."
Caroline felt bad for Elijah. From what she could tell, Elijah was a good man. An honorable man. Elena had been right about him. It was unfair that he had to suffer like this.
"Perhaps I could talk to him..."
"It's quite alright Caroline," Elijah said, "it's not important. And I wouldn't want to interfere with my brother breaking his curse."
Elijah gave her a solemn nod and continued past her.
"Elijah," Caroline called out to him and waited for him to turn back around. "What if you just tell her? Escape with her?"
"I would never betray Klaus in that way. He is my brother," he said, "and I know we would never be safe. We could never have a life together. Niklaus would hunt us to the ends of the Earth. He would not rest until he ripped the hearts from our chests."
Caroline couldn't disagree. She nodded and watched him retreat down the corridor. What was she going to do? She had thought maybe she could rely on Elijah to help her. But she knew she couldn't trust him. Not with this. If Elijah wouldn't even betray Klaus to save the girl he loved. She recalled the night that Elijah had mentioned making Katerina happy, because she only had a short time left until she died. Apparently Elijah's empathy only went so far. She had just been thinking about how much she came to respect and admire Elijah, to think him honorable, but now she could see him as every bit the villain as she had originally thought.
The clock was ticking. She had no idea where Klaus was or what his exact plan was for the sacrifice. Gretchen was nowhere to be found, Caroline was on her own. She would just have to tell Katerina herself and find a way to help her escape. Everything was riding on her.
She sped up, making her way down the corridor, across the courtyards and over to Klaus's wing. Katerina would hopefully still be in her room next to Klaus's. Caroline let her vampire hearing reach out, as she passed Klaus's study and bedchamber to listen and discern whether or not he was around. She heard nothing. But she could hear something in Katerina's room. It sounded like struggling but then she realized it wasn't struggling exactly it was....
Moans. Caroline gulped. She shoved down the feeling of utter anguish at the sound of Klaus and Katerina in the bedroom together. She knew that Klaus had moderately been pretending to woo the doppelganger from time to time, but Caroline never thought that it had escalated to them actually having sex. If she had known that she would have never given herself to him, in any capacity. She heard another heady moan come from Katerina and the tears welled in Caroline's eyes.
"Trevor," Katerina sighed.
"Trevor?" Caroline repeated to herself.
It wasn't Klaus she was with, it was Trevor! Caroline sagged in relief. It wasn't Klaus in there. He hadn't been playing her. Well, she didn't know that for sure at the moment, but she wouldn't think about that now. Right now she wanted to go in there, hug both Trevor and Katerina and offer to stand watch outside while the two of them got it on. Caroline grasped the doorknob and shoved the door open.
The couple ripped apart, Trevor and his disheveled hair and untucked shirt, Katerina with the laces of her bodice loosened. The doppelganger whipped at her mouth guiltily as her chest heaved from breathlessness.
"Caroline!" She breathed.
"Caroline, please," Trevor began. She could see the flicker in his eye. He was controlling himself, trying not to vamp out in front of Katerina, but Caroline could read the threat there. If Caroline so much as twitched a hand in the wrong direction, he would silence her for good. An idea formed in her mind then, so quickly, that she wasn't even sure it would work. But considering she had absolutely nothing else to go on, it was worth a shot.
"Don't worry," she said to them, "it's ok. I'm actually here to help."