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"𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜 𝚖𝚎, 𝚜𝚘 𝚒 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚗"
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"Morning, sunshine. You look pathetic." Tyler insulted Klaus as he walked in the house.
"Only until Bonnie's spell locking me in here wears off. Then I'll look different. Angrier, perhaps. Or I won't look like anything because I'll have gouged your eyeballs from their sockets." Klaus threatened, watching as Azalea stirred, barely asleep.
"My friends will be back with the cure by then. So, I could shove it down your throat and make you mortal." He said.
"I'm an Original. What makes you think my entire vampire bloodline won't be cured along with me? I.e., you."
"You know what I think? I think that's impossible. I think the moment you stop being a vampire, our whole blood connection to you is broken, and your sire-line ceases to exist. So, whatever happens to you, happens only to you, which means I can kill your ass and no one else has to die. Although I am still debating just how to do it." Klaus vamped towards Tyler, but couldn't get him due to the barrier.
"I recommend drowning. There's nothing quite like the feeling of someone fighting for something as basic as human breath. And let me tell you, your mother was a fighter." Tyler glared at Klaus, who looked pleased with his taunting. Azalea woke up, looking around before her face filled with sadness.
Caroline entered through the back door, seeing Tyler.
"You're still here? What are you doing?" Caroline asked Tyler.
"Gloating." Tyler said, pouring himself a drink. Klaus emerged from the living room and walked as far as he can within the barrier of the spell.
"Hello, Caroline." She glared at him for a moment before looking back at Tyler.
"Come home. Don't stoop to his level." Caroline remarked.
"He destroyed my life. I plan on being present for every second of his misery until I can kill him myself."
"And she just lost the love of her life." Caroline looked at Azalea, who was balled up on the couch. She sighed at Tyler's determination. "Fine. You can gloat and multitask. This place is a disaster. Starting with a horrific burnt corpse."
She found a table cloth in a cabinet and she and Tyler used it to cover up Kol's body. Klaus watched them with a slightly tortured expression.
"Tyler's mother is dead. So is my brother. We're even." He said, hurting Azalea's heart. "Call Bonnie. Get her to let me out of here."
"I will never, ever, help you." Caroline responded.
"How quickly you forget the part where I saved Tyler from the misery of being a werewolf. Or the night your mother invited me into her home to save the life of her precious daughter." Klaus reminded them.
"How delusional are you? You killed his mother. And let's not forget that we're standing in a house where Elena's aunt Jenna used to live. Or did you think that your charm would make us forget how you killed her, too? You know what? No. I am not going to engage in this. You are not even worth the calories I burn talking to you." She said. Suddenly Klaus vamp-sped to pick up a nearby floor lamp, which he used to impale Caroline.
"No!" Tyler yelled, as Klaus swung Caroline over to his side of the magical barrier and bit her neck. She fell to the floor.
"Now, that was definitely worth the calories." Klaus smiled. Azalea went to Caroline's side.
"What did you do?" She yelled at him. "What did she ever do to you? Reject you one too many times? You're so stupid!"
"Collateral damage." Klaus shrugged.
"What, that's it? Is everyone just collateral damage now? Was my brother just collateral damage? Was Kol collateral damage? Was I collateral damage when Elijah compelled me to leave?"
Klaus struggled to find words. "Aza, you-"
"Stop." Azalea interrupted. "Just don't talk to me. Heal her."
Azalea pointed at Caroline, who was looking up at her fellow blonde in confusion. Azalea nodded towards Tyler, and Caroline scrambled to him. He immediately put her on a couch. She began to freak out.
"Hey, hey. Look at me. Look at me. I can fix this." Tyler assured her.
"How? The only thing that can heal me is his blood! Oh my god..." She panicked.
"I know. I'll fix it." Caroline nodded at him. Tyler stood up to face Klaus.
"She'll die if you don't heal her."
" Okay." He bit into his wrist and extended his arm, palm up. "Beg me to save her life."
Tyler scoffed. "Is this what you want? To remind me that I'm powerless against you? Fine. You win. I'm nothing. Now save her. Please."
"I'm sorry, mate. I didn't quite catch that." Klaus taunted.
"Please."
"Please..." Klaus continued.
"Please save her life." Tyler begged.
"See, now I think you're just telling me what I want to hear. I mean, you did call me pathetic earlier. And wouldn't it be more pathetic of me to help now, knowing that hours ago, you announced your plan to kill me in a manner in which you're debating because you want it to have a certain amount of flair? I'm just asking."
"I'll be your slave again. I'll do whatever you want. Just help her." Tyler suggested.
"No."
"Get me out of here. I can't even look at him." Caroline said weakly.
Tyler helped her up. "Come on." Klaus watched them leave, looking unhappy.
"Wow. You've really shown them who's boss now, attacking an innocent girl and refusing to help her." Azalea clapped slowly.
"You know, I liked you a lot better when Kol was here to distract you."
"I liked you a lot better when you weren't being a power hungry asshole!" She yelled, causing Klaus to turned to face her, angry, before he sighed.
"Azalea. Let me ask you a question."
"Have at it." Azalea welcomed, crossing her arms.
"Who was it that turned your emotions back on when you first flipped the switch?"
She stayed quiet for a second, before replying in a small voice. "You..."
"And who helped you bury your brother, with his sword, at your request?"
"You." She repeated, looking down at her feet.
"So, I'll be damned if you let this destroy you." Klaus walked towards her. She started to cry, trying to keep up a strong facade. He pulled her into a hug as she cried.
Tyler carried Caroline into the living room and lied her down on the floor. Klaus let go of Azalea turning around.
"You want to be in control, Klaus? Here. Now you get to be in control of her life. If you want her to die, fine. But then you can sit here and watch her die yourself." Tyler left the house. Caroline looked up at Klaus, who was approaching her.
"Nothing personal, love. If I cure you, that means victory for him. Don't worry. It won't be long now." Klaus said in a soft voice. Caroline, breathing heavily, closed her eyes. After a bit of rest, she opened them again. Her breath became raspy and uneven.
"If you don't feed me your blood, I'll die." Caroline said, weakly.
Klaus didn't look at her. "Then you'll die, and Tyler will have learned his lesson the hard way."
"How could you do this to him? To his mom? To me?" Caroline asked.
"I'm a thousand years old. Call it boredom." He excused.
"I don't believe you."
"Fine. Then maybe it's because I'm pure evil, and I can't help myself." Klaus tried.
"If you were pure evil, would you have been comforting Lea?" Caroline asked, making Azalea smile. "It's because you were hurt. Which means that there is a part of you that is human."
Klaus walked over to her and sat on the table next to the sofa. "How could you possibly think that?"
"Because I've seen it. Because...I've caught myself wishing that I could forget all the horrible things that you've done." Caroline admitted.
"But you can't. Can you?" He asked.
"I know that you're in love with me. And anybody capable of love is capable of being saved." Klaus's eyes start glistening with tears. He looked away.
"You're hallucinating."
"I guess I'll never know." Caroline shrugged. Her breathing caught.
"Caroline?" Klaus asked, receiving no response. He looked over to Azalea.
"Save the girl, damnit! She basically just admitted her feelings for you!" Azalea said, sitting up from her lied down position. He lifted Caroline into a sitting position, sat behind her, bit open his wrist and put it to her mouth. She started drinking as Klaus smoothed her hair and she regained strength, continuing to drink.
✿
"Well, if it isn't little orphan Lockwood. Come to show how laughably impotent you are against me?" Klaus asked as Tyler and Caroline walked in.
"I'm just trying to help my friends find the cure."
Caroline sat on the couch, and Tyler revealed Alexander De Luca's sword from the blanket. Azalea stood up as soon as she saw it.
"Found this in your attic."
"And you think finding the sword brings you closer to the cure?"
"You tell me. I was playing around with the handle on the ride over, and I found this." Tyler unwrapped the leather on the top of the sword, revealing some sort of turning device. Klaus got up and walked over to Tyler.
"And what do you think 'this' is?"
Caroline stood up as well. "It's called a cryptex. I've seen The da Vinci Code. You turn the different sides to the different symbols to get the translation on the other side. And with the magic of the internet, Elena sent over these. So now all we have to do is cryptex away. If you happened to want to help, we wouldn't stop you."
"Right. Well, might I suggest using the magic of the internet to purchase an Aramaic-to-English dictionary from your nearest retailer." Klaus smirked.
Tyler turned to Caroline. "What's Aramaic?"
"It's a dead language. It hasn't been used since, like, biblical times."
"Qetsiyah's native tongue, I'm guessing. You know, even if you had the best dictionary in the world, it could take days to translate. Perhaps weeks." Klaus sat down, before saying something in Aramaic, which only Azalea understood out of the the three.
"What does that mean?"
Klaus grinned. "If only you spoke Aramaic."
Caroline and Tyler turned around. Azalea looked at Klaus, angry. "So, when exactly were you planning to tell me you dug up my brother just to find his sword?"
"It never came up."
"Didn't you literally use the excuse that you helped my bury my brother yesterday?" Azalea crossed her arms.
"It's been nine hundred years, and you hated your brother every second of them." Klaus defended himself.
"I loved my brother, and you murdered him, but you know what, I forgave you, and when you tried to kill me after the hallucinations from the hunter's curse started, I forgave you, and I helped you."
"Back up, did you say this was your brother's sword?" Caroline asked. Azalea nodded. "Can you tell us what the words mean?"
Azalea laughed, and gestured for them to give it to her. Caroline yanked it away from Tyler, handing it to her carefully. She took the sword, examining it with meticulous eyes. Every detail reminded her of the good and bad times with her brother.
✿
Italy, 1114 A.D.
It was Azalea's nineteenth birthday. She didn't get any gifts, but it's not like she expected any. Birthday's were sparsely celebrated, much less by a family like her's. Her father was killed in battle when she was only fourteen, her mother worked day and night to provide for Azalea and Alexander, that is when Alexander wasn't away working and training to fight.
So, for Azalea's birthday, she simply invited the Mikaelson's over. After all, they had all grown quite close.
"Where were you?" Azalea asked, handing him half of the bread she was cutting up for their company.
"Training to fight for the Vatican, just like father." Alexander declared, as if it were the greatest of honors.
"Ugh, I wish you would stop putting the Vatican, of all things, at such high esteem." She complained.
"What's the matter with the Vatican?" Niklaus asked, making Azalea scoff.
"I hate the Vatican because the Vatican hates me." She said simply.
"Oh, but how could anyone hate you?" Kol teased, coming up behind her. She smiled, swatting him away.
"Because she refuses to marry." Alexander cut in before she could respond.
"I refuse to sell my body to some disgusting man because the Vatican says so." Azalea corrected. Alexander rolled his eyes.
"Speaking of the Vatican, I have something to show." He announced, and suddenly everyone had their attention on him. He left the room for a second, coming back in with a sword. The sword.
"What's that for?" Azalea asked, crossing her arms.
"It's to help me slay vampires." Alexander said, with confidence. She rolled her eyes, walking towards him and snatching the sword out of his hand.
"How's it suppose to help you slay anyone if you can have it taken so easily by your little sister?" Azalea teased him. He pulled the sword he normally used from his sheath.
"Is that a challenge?" Alexander asked, expecting her to give up, she wiggled the sword to get used to it's weight. She get into her stance, before looking back up at her brother.
"Xander, you know the rules: ladies first. So, why haven't you come at me?" She smirked. Alexander laughed, swinging his sword at her. She ducked out of the way, pointing the sword she held at his back. He quickly spun around and knocked her sword away from him, swinging at her again. This time she blocked him with her own sword.
"I'm stronger than you, Azalea. Give up." Alexander sneered.
"You may be stronger," She grunted, "but I am smarter, you brute."
She kicked his shin as hard as possible, causing him to jump back in pain. She knocked his sword out of his hand, pointing hers at his chest. "Do you concede?"
"Yes, you win!" Alexander gave up. She ran her hand over the blade of his sword, admiring it.
✿
As Azalea ran her hand over the blade in the same spot she did all those years ago, she looked back at Klaus.
"I'm sorry, Caroline." She grabbed the blade of the sword and handed it back to Caroline. "If Nik wants you to know, he can tell you."
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