Purgatory: She always thought that evil creatures and demons belonged to hell. What she didn't know was that vampires belonged to Purgatory. A place worse than hell where the only thing that mattered was survival. A place where enemies turned into allies and foes into friends. Klaroline AU story set in New Orleans with Koroline friendship.

~Takes place one year after the finale of season 5 of the Vampire Diaries and the finale of season 1 of The Originals.

~Loosely inspired by some elements from the plot of Supernatural's season 8.

"Who holds the devil, let him hold him well, he hardly will be caught a second time."

― Faust

She was breaking the speed limit as her foot pressed on the gas of the car she stole. Everything blurred in front of her eyes when the pain in her forearm increased. She moaned as heat erupted in her skin and she gritted her teeth as the veins in her hand throbbed. The light her arm was emitting was covered by the long sleeved shirt she had put on.

She woke up in a shallow grave, feeling her rotten skin slowly stitching itself back and connecting again with her dusty bones and she had to dig and claw herself out of the coffin and the dirt. When she finally breathed again she noticed that it was night and that she was alive. She was back.

She then returned back to Mystic Falls only to realize that it was useless. He was not there. She had entered the town's circle and she was slowly stripped of magic as the travelers spell still lingered and she thought she wouldn't make it in time and she would be once again exiled to damnation only to finally find out that his grave was empty. Klaus had taken him.

The energy in her arm seemed to be resisting the Travelers spell that was cast in Mystic Falls and gave her time to withstand the effects of the purification magic. She had run away from Mystic Falls and she got out just in time. She had dreadfully realized how much of a close call this had been. She had almost ended up back in hell.

However, she managed to barely make it out of Mystic Falls. The light in her arm had dimmed inside the town borders but got bright again once she got out. Thankfully the Travelers' magic could not negate soul magic.

She should have guessed that Klaus would not have left him behind. He had told her that he was buried in Mystic Falls but obviously Klaus at some point must have retrieved his body. Or so she hoped.

If she had to guess then she would bet he would be where Klaus was and she hoped Klaus would still be in New Orleans. She was running out of time and the pain was unbearable. She didn't even think of going anywhere near the people she loved. She didn't want to see the people she cherished and had missed so dearly. Not like this. Not when she was not the same Caroline anymore.

She wanted to see her mom and she wanted to see Stefan but she couldn't. She had to finish what she had started first and she had to come to terms with what had happened to her.

Her whole body was covered in sweat and she felt the dirty clothes sticking to her skin. She gripped the wheel as hard as she could and she felt it crack under the pressure she applied.

When she noticed the sign that welcomed her to New Orleans she tiredly smiled and scratched her left forearm.

Another wave of pain consumed her and she drove faster.

"Hold on…darling," she rasped with a smirk this time.

This was such a mess! She was literally carrying the weight of the world when she should be studying and living her life. She should be enjoying herself and she should not be so tired and in pain. However, that was not her destiny.

Everything changed after Bonnie died and then all hell broke loose.

A hell that welcomed her and became her worst nightmare.

A year ago.

In a small town outside Mystic Falls.

She didn't know why she had not returned to her college yet. All she knew was that Stefan and Elena needed her.

She needed them too. Bonnie had died and she could not return back to the dorm she was meant to share with her. She could not return back to her normal life while her best friend didn't exist in this world anymore.

Stefan was mourning for his brother. Elena was mourning for her lover and somehow it felt as if she and Jeremy were the only ones mourning for Bonnie. Still, she didn't allow herself to show it. She smiled and stood strong next to Stefan and Elena. Tyler had run off and from what she knew he was trying to come to terms with being a werewolf once again. She only had her mom, Stefan, and Elena now. Despite that, she was also taking some distance from her friends because they were both teaching Alaric how to be a vampire. Alaric was back and she didn't mean to but whenever she was seeing him memories of her father's death returned and she could not cope with that. Not now at least.

She felt so alone and so empty. If she were to be honest what she wanted was to leave Mystic Falls behind once and for all. To run away. To leave that place that seemed cursed and sucked all the joy from everyone and everything that came anywhere near it.

She had overheard Elena talking to Stefan about how they could find a magic fix in order to make the town habitable for the supernatural again and she didn't get it. Why linger to a place that brought only pain when they could go anywhere in the world? When they could travel and enjoy all the world had to offer?

She sighed as images of Rome, Paris, and Tokyo appeared in her mind.

They were vampires. They would not age. Sooner or later people would start noticing that they didn't age and they remained physically the same.

Caroline stopped walking and stood still.

She looked around but there was no one there. She was living in a small town outside Mystic Falls. If anything the town was too small and too quiet. And yet she felt a sense of danger enveloping her.

She continued walking and she took out her phone. She furrowed her brow. No signal. The light from the screen of the phone started flickering.

She turned around again as she heard footsteps approaching but again there was nothing. She was ready to run away but as she turned a vervain grenade hit her face and she screamed and fell on the pavement.

Her face was blistered and it burned. She could barely open her eyes.

When she opened them she hissed and her fangs dropped but the men around her sprayed her with vervain again and shot her with wooden bullets. Everything hurt so much. She howled in anguish.

Pain brought a loud echo in her eardrums and whatever the men standing above her said seemed to reach her ears muted.

Slowly the sounds became clearer.

"Is that her?"

Her?

What was going on?

"Kill her! Now!"

"Why?" she whispered in pain and tried to get up when more vervain rained on her.

"You are not welcome here vampire!" a man spat and the next thing she she felt was a sharp pain in her chest.

She looked down with wide eyes. One of her attackers had pushed a wooden stake in her chest. In her heart. Numbness followed the fell from her eyes as her skin started turning gray and she could feel all her energy fading away. The inevitable was fast approaching.

She fell on the street feeling nothing. Death was claiming her and all she could think of was that she didn't want to die. Not like this. Not all alone. Not before her life would even start.

Not without seeing the world first.

"I'll take you, wherever you want…" was the memory and the last words that echoed in her mind and then… darkness.

Present day. New Orleans.

She stumbled into the first bar she saw. She held her arm tightly feeling it itch under the long sleeve.

She was a mess and everyone was looking at her. She knew that she was a gruesome sight and for the first time in her life she didn't care. She had stopped worrying about things like that. All it took was for her to die and her priorities definitely changed.

She felt her gums hurting and her fangs aching to come out but she could not drink even a drop of blood. Not before she would let go of her additional baggage.

She went to the bar and leaned over it.

"Can I help you with something?" the blonde bartender asked as she eyed her with curiosity.

"I don't know… I am looking for someone, I…I..don't know where to find.. him," Caroline whispered and she took the glass of water the girl gave her and gulped its contents down in one go. She was so thirsty and she moaned trying to keep her eyes human looking. The glass broke in her hand and she stumbled back as the shards broke the skin of her palm.

The bartender tried to reach for her and to help her with her hand wound but Caroline just stepped back and almost growled. Even the smell of her own blood tempted her and all she could hear was the blood that was rushing inside the blonde girl's veins. Her human heartbeat was drumming in her ears; a sound so alluring that almost made her jump the bar and attack the woman but she controlled her urges. Barely.

"Who are you looking for?" the woman asked as she stood still and watched her suspiciously now.

"Klaus, Klaus Mikaelson," she uttered with a broken voice and she almost collapsed before two strong hands supported her.

She noticed a black man staring her back and she tried to move but she felt the world turning before she fainted into his arms.

Camille hurriedly got next to them and looked down at Marcel. People were looking at them so she kept her voice low.

"Is she a-"

"Vampire," Marcel whispered and noticed the lapis lazuli ring the unconscious blonde girl was wearing around her finger. She was dirty and filth was covering her whole. She looked too pale and he could not hear a normal heartbeat anymore which meant that she hadn't fed for a while.

"She said she was looking for Klaus," Camille said and Marcel picked the girl up.

Klaus was lost in his own world as he kept painting. It was not exactly him creating art as more or less him mixing colors and throwing some paint on the canvas. It was useless. He felt as if he could not draw anymore. His inspiration was gone. Everything he cared for was long gone.

He threw the palette away and it hit the wall breaking into wooden painted pieces.

What he wanted was a drink. A strong drink, preferably warm and crimson red. A drink that would struggle and would beg and would give him the thrill he so desperately craved. Anything to dull his senses and to quiet the voices in his head even for a little while.

His ears perked up when he heard Camille's voice. She was yelling for him to come down. And then he heard his progeny calling for him too.

He wiped the paint off his hands with a cloth and stepped out of his art room with a bored and a somewhat irritated expression.

He was not in the mood for any games today and he really didn't appreciate Marcel and Camille coming to his own house and yelling as if they owned the damn place.

"What's with the shouting children?" he mocked when he approached the railing but then he froze. The scent hit him first. He knew that scent.

He gripped the wood when he saw Marcel carrying a girl in his arms. His eyes widened when he noticed that it was not just a girl.

It was…Caroline.

Before anyone could blink Klaus had run down the stairs in supernatural speed and materialized in front of Marcel just as Elijah got out of his room and stood on the balcony watching the scene unfolding in front of him with curious eyes.

"Impossible," Klaus whispered with a gulp. He reached for Caroline's hair but he stilled before he could touch her. He was afraid that if he would touch her she would dissolve into nothingness. Nothing more than a ghost that came back to haunt him and disappear into thin air again.

This couldn't be. She was dead. She had died a year ago. How was this even possible?

"She was asking for you," Camille said and everyone noticed how Klaus's eyes never averted from the unconscious girl in Marcel's hands.

"Do you know her?" Marcel asked when Klaus took Caroline from his arms with a tenderness he had never seen in his maker before.

Klaus didn't bother to answer. He walked further into the house and put Caroline to one of the sofas in the lounge.

He stood and watched her in silence as Elijah followed him and looked at the girl equally surprised.

"What is going on Niklaus?" his brother asked him but Klaus had only eyes for Caroline. He didn't speak. He just looked at her.

"Klaus, what is going on?" Camille asked and she tried to go near him but Marcel held her hand and prevented her from doing so.

"Get out!" Klaus growled, "both of you! Get out now!" he ordered them with a rough voice and Elijah nodded to Camille silently telling her to do exactly what Klaus said.

When Marcel and Camille left Klaus kneeled next to Caroline and Elijah slowly approached him.

"I was under the impression Miss Forbes was dead," the older Original simply said.

"She was," Klaus mumbled and even stopped breathing and moving altogether when Caroline's eyes slowly fluttered open and a moan escaped her mouth.

"Caroline?"

She looked at him and breathed out relieved.

"I need to find him," she stammered in a broken voice.

"Find who sweetheart?" Klaus asked as he tenderly took hold of her hand.

"Kol."

A year ago

She slowly opened her eyes and grunted in pain. She could feel her whole body aching. Her bones cracking and her skin almost melting. The temperature felt both scorching hot and ice cold at once.

She tried to stand up but she fell many times before she could finally fight against the gravity that pulled her down.

She looked around scared. There was no light. Only shadows dueled. Where was she?

Was she alive?

No, she wasn't. She could tell that much.

Well, dying really sucked! she thought and she looked around scared. What was this place? She knew that the other side had collapsed and didn't exist anymore. So… where was she?

Tears gathered in her eyes when she remembered the stake piercing her skin. With a trembling hand, she touched her chest; she could not feel a heartbeat anymore.

It was true. There was no going back anymore. This had really happened.

"I am dead," she whispered horrified and looked around in panic. This place had no sun, nor a sky. Above her only a gaping hole existed. One that she could only describe as chaos. There was no light or absolute darkness. There were gray shades and shadows all around.

Rocks, mountains, and trees rose all around her in shapes and grim colors she had never seen before or she could ever describe in any way.

What was worse was that it felt as if something was lurking in the shadows. She heard a noise as if something was crawling closer and before she could take a step back one of the shadows attacked her and tackled her to the ground.

Only it was not a shadow. It was a man with sharp teeth. Teeth she had never seen before. They were not fangs; they looked like scissors. He tried to bite her head off and she tried to fight him but he was too strong and his jaws kept rabidly snapping inches away from her neck.

She screamed and fought. She kicked him and tried to scratch him as her own fangs descended and she hissed and growled but that man was so much stronger. They rolled over to the dirt, she felt her bones shuttering. His movements were frantic and wild.

Just as he was about to deliver his final blow in a frenzy and rip her neck with his teeth she felt his weight lifted and pushed away from her.

She got up with trembling legs and noticed that another man had shoved her attacker to a tree and then cut off his head with a machete. Blood splattered everywhere but it was not red. It was black.

The man that saved her turned around slowly and her eyes grew bigger when her "savior" smirked at her.

"Kol," she muttered startled and took a trembling step back.

"Welcome to the land of the dead darling," Kol Mikaelson said with a wide smile.