Fate

Chapter Seventeen - It Only Gets Stronger

"Focus," he says in a calm voice from behind Caroline who has her eyes closed in concentration. "Let the energy flow through you, feel the atmosphere shift, the power within changing it. Now do it."

She takes a deep breath and settles her shoulders, "incendia." After a moment Caroline peeks one of her eyes open and then groans in frustration, "Vincent it's not working. We've tried everything to get one stinking thing to work. I can't even light the candles!" The blonde exclaims flopping back into the chair to resume pouting over her defeats.

"What I don't understand is how you did it before so effortlessly when you had just escaped from Kyros." The black man before her exudes confidence in his craft...if only Caroline could borrow some of that right about now.

"Maybe it had more to do with the position I was in that day. I had been forced for days to practice this one spell and perform it until it worked, and then when I had escaped I was on a power high from it all. Lighting a room of candles was as easy as breathing." Caroline shrugs her shoulders wanting to give up on the whole magic thing already, "besides Vincent we both know I'm not a witch. Is it possible that this just wasn't meant to be?"

Just then another voice sounds from the doorway, "you can't give up now. If the Fates said you have the ability to learn from Vincent then you can do it. Trust me magic never gets easy." Hope smiles at the blonde who she had come to see as part of their inner circle over the last few weeks. "Where's Ingrid by the way? Doesn't she have some type of magical power to be practicing too?"

Caroline chuckles and shakes her head, "yeah I think Kol took her out for a while to help her focus." The young Mikaelson groans and grasps one of the nearby throw pillows tightly to her chest.

"Can't he just not flirt with my friends or try to get in their pants? Is that so hard to ask," she lifts her hands upward questioning the ceiling before lookings to Caroline whose eyebrows are lifted in response to the comment.

"Does this mean you have a problem with me and your dad being whatever it is that we are? Also let's not forget about Brett and Freya's thing too, and I'm sure Kol has hit on plenty of your friends before. At least he's taking this one seriously...I hope."

The sound of Vincent clearing his throat brings them out of their conversation. "I know the status of everyone's relationships is such an important topic, but let's get back to why I'm here. You've got candles to light Caroline." He chuckles when the blonde groans and slips back into her concentrated position again.

In this moment, Caroline can recall a similar time in her life. Only this memory was from a little less than a decade ago when she first discovered the change in her vampire abilities, and her impeccable ability to survive anything.

Tel Aviv 2023

A younger Caroline Forbes stands in the midst of the small, diverse, yet mighty rebellion that was preparing to strike Cyrus and his vampires that ruled the city of Tel Aviv. She had spent the last year flying back and forth from the city to her hometown, wondering if she wanted to set up roots here. Now that she stands with people like Ethan and the rest of the supernaturals that are ready and willing to die for the freedom of their people, she knows that this is the place.

"It's almost time, are you ready?" Ethan questions the blonde with a gentle hand on her shoulder. His eyes ask the question that his mouth doesn't, if she was sure that she wanted to join them. In their rebellion vampire ranks, Caroline was the youngest of them all, and by default that made her the weakest of them all.

A simple smile graces her lips accompanied with a small nod. Even she wasn't sure if she wanted this battle. Someone had to do it though, and if not many would suffer and die at the hands of Cyrus and the future vampires to come under his reign. Now that she stood outside the estate and stared at its historic walls surrounded by guards, the familiar adrenaline pumped through her system.

The blonde had to admit she missed this feeling of fighting evil ever since she'd left Mystic Falls behind and all the drama that came with it. She had spent so many years in the recent decade living the quiet, peaceful life that she had almost forgotten what it was like to fight for something she believed in.

Entering the estate seemed to be a lot easier than expected, and that was for a reason. Someone had tipped off Cyrus to their attack. Everyone in there was prepared for any form of assault...it was a beautiful manor that turned into a slaughterhouse in a matter of minutes. Witches were flung across the room hitting walls hard enough to break their spines. Werewolves had their hearts removed from their chests. The small faction of gypsys that had joined the fight, attempted to heal any surviving member of the rebellion. Anyone that didn't immediately flee the scene never made it out the doors again.

The vampires were the only group that seemed to be surviving better in the fight. Skill matched for skill with a majority of Cyrus' people being vampires as well. In the distance Caroline can hear Ethan calling for her to run with him. To retreat and leave the estate like many of the wounded and weak had done. Something in the blonde had awakened though, and maybe it was the adrenaline rush from the danger of it all, but she ignored his calls.

Her gaze focused on Cyrus who stood at his throne watching the scene. The fact that he hadn't touched a single person in the room only brought more anger to her. So many innocents had died tonight because his selfish ways of dictating the city. In that moment her vampire instincts that she'd worked so hard to suppress in her younger days, emerged and its soul target was to reach Cyrus and kill him.

Somehow Caroline managed to flash across the room, sneaking past the vampires that were battling the stronger and older ones. If by fate or by chance she ends up face to face with Cyrus, she would never know; but she knew she had to take this opportunity. The blonde quickly lands a blow to his face, then his groin, and uses his distraction to pick up a makeshift stake from the floor. It seemed too easy, and she knew that, but her inner beast didn't care. As Cyrus laid on the floor after taking multiple hits she leans down to plunge the stake into his chest.

In that moment it's as if the room stalls watching the bright, young, Caroline Forbes be impaled by a long wooden pole. Cyrus shoves the long pole through her chest and straight through her heart. The wood makes an appearance on the other side of her body, coming out of her back as blood drips out of her mouth and the wound in her chest. The last thing she feels as her body begins to grey is his boot kicking her body from the pole. The limp form of Caroline lay on the ground just like all the other casualties of this war.

That night many other vampires died that had chosen to stay and fight 'til the bitter end. Just like them, Caroline had been tossed into a mass grave dug in one of the empty fields near the edge of the city. Their bodies were to be buried and burned the following day. If someone were watching from a distance, they would have shivered in disgust. Bodies, at least 60 of them, all from different ethnic groups, backgrounds, and supernatural communities, were tossed into one big hole in the ground.

It must have been hours later when Caroline Forbes' eyes snapped wide open. The darkness was the first thing she saw, then she felt the limbs of other bodies piled all around her. She was buried under other bodies and dirt seeped in the spaces between the bodies. Slowly and frantically, she begins to push those bodies aside. Clawing at the dirt towards what she hoped was the surface. When she finally reached the top, her dirt and blood coated body emerging from the dirt and ashes beneath, vengeance was all she could see.

So that night as dawn was preparing to break, a blonde ghost with fury in her eyes, smoke following her steps, and a hunger for blood, entered the estate of Cyrus. She climbed the steps, entering the beautiful home and she took out anyone that got her way. When she finally reached his 'throne room,' she kicked the doors open, and the sound of the heavy wooden doors hitting the walls brought everyone's attention to her single figure.

"I believe we have unfinished business," she said as the veins danced across her normal soft features. In that moment she saw true fear come to his face, and she relished in it. As the sun rose in the morning sky that day, Caroline Forbes took her first seat in the large chair Cyrus had called his throne. Her feet propped up on his greyed body, blood trickling down her arm where his heart had rested in her hand for a period of time.

When the remaining members of the rebellion stepped cautiously into the Estate later that day, they were astonished to see the dirtied blonde baby vampire that had died the night before. Some let her take the power of the city simply because she delivered the deadly blow to the tyrant king and freed their people, but others called her the queen of the city because she had done something unheard of. A vampire, barely a decade old in strength and years, manages to take down another vampire twice her age and she had been desecated in a grave just hours before that.

"Caroline are you even listening to a word I've said?" Vincent states as he glares at her once more. She shakes her head clearing away the old and distant memories of a time she'd tried to forget. Just a few short months ago everything she'd worked for since the day she killed Cyrus had been destroyed.

The blonde sighs and runs her fingers through her hair, "can we just take a break Vincent. I've got a lot on my mind right now and there's no way I can do anything you're asking with a clouded mind. Hell I can't even do it with a clear head." She stands to her feet slowly looking disheveled slightly from the vivid recollection of memories she'd just visited.

"How about we take a walk instead. You can tell me all about what's in that head of yours and why you're so distracted that you can't even light a candle." The elder black witch exits the room expecting Caroline to follow behind him. Before anyone can notice the pair have left the compound, heading towards a quiet cafe in the Quarter.

Once the two had been seated at a small table outside the restaurant with their drinks ordered, they begin to just sit in silence. "Alright Caroline, you can either talk to me about what's going on and we can figure out why it's causing you to experience blocks in your power...or we can just surrender now to Kyros and all forget the five of you never existed."

"Don't put this on me Vincent. I can't carry the weight of the whole group, I'm not some great hero or whatever you're trying to make me out to be. I was never that girl growing up, and even after I turned I still wasn't the one." She runs her fingers through her hair, slowly shaking away the tangles in the ends of her hair.

The witch slowly reaches across the table to take her hands in his own, "that's just it though. There are five of you - each carrying these unique abilities. You may not want to admit it or believe it, but they need you. In my years of knowing the Mikaelson family, and trust me that's been a long time, I have never seen them act in such a way as they are now. Things are changing around here and it's because of you."

"Maybe I don't want things to change. When all this is over what's left then? Five heros with no one else to save, nothing to keep us together, and I've lost everything for this. Everything I built, all that I worked for, the family I made over almost a decade is just gone now. When Kyros is defeated that's what I am left with - nothing." The blonde pauses, closing her eyes to push back the emotion that had welled in her eyes. "As a result my existence is one of solitude, when you put something like this on me there's no going back after the fact. In the end, I am going to be left infinitely and utterly alone." She allows one lone tear to roll down her cheek before wiping away any others.

Vincent sits back eyeing the complex woman sitting across from him. Over the past few weeks of knowing the blonde vampire he still didn't know what to entirely think of her. On one end she's still a vampire and a friend of the Mikaelson's on top of that, but on the other end she's this extraordinary being that behaves with such humanity that he can almost relate to her on a deep level. "Come with me." He gives her no choice or chance to question as he puts down the money to pay for their drinks and proceeds to drag the blonde away.

She felt the wind blowing around her, the rustle of the leaves filled her ears, and in the distance she felt the consistent beating of her heart like a drum. Ingrid sat cross legged on a flat rock near the bayou whilst Kol wandered around to make sure she wasn't disturbed. In her closed eye meditation she could almost feel Kol's presence off in the distance.

The redhead takes a deep breath and recalls the times where she'd seen flashes of changing skies above her. In a flash she's gone from the isolated boulder and standing near a group of people sitting around of fire. They were all laughing, playing music, enjoying each other like family...a pack. Her eyes spot someone familiar close by as she turns her head to the side to see Elijah standing in the trees watching the bonfire scene.

Ingrid watches as the elder Mikaelson speaks gently with a stranger that had walked up next to him. The woman who was called Eve had invited him to join the group at the bonfire, to which the gentleman politely declined and insisted all he wished was for Hayley to be happy. Their conversation ended just after that and Ingrid's attention shifted to the fire where she saw none other than Hayley sitting on a log beside a man as they laughed and joked. Her swollen belly indicated this was definitely not an 'in the present' thing, but for a brief moment the redhead watched the scene wondering if her own mother felt the same about giving birth some twenty years ago.

"Ingrid, wake up, love I know you can hear me somewhere in your mind." Kol's voice draws her back to awareness as she blinks slowly and finds herself back on the boulder where she had been just moments before. "Where the hell have you been!" The original exclaims as he examines her face with worry in his eyes.

Confusion fills her, "I've been right here...at least I think I have. My mind went somewhere else, I think it had to do with where we're at in the bayou. I saw this memory or something of Elijah and Hayley from like 18 or 19 years ago. It was crazy, like it felt like I was watching a movie but it was real." Her eyes were wide with curiosity and wonder, hoping she could pull that off again soon and this time have more control over what she sees or where she goes.

"You've been unconscious for more than half an hour," that's all the original needs to say to spark more confusion in Ingrid. "Now would you mind explaining to me what the bloody hell you're babbling on about darling?" Kol's eyes and words take on a tone that seem protective and worrisome, but also slightly annoyed.

The redhead's lips tighten into a thin line as she stares at the man in front of her. "I take it you're frustrated. Or is this just your natural personality now and I haven't noticed it?" One of her brows raises slightly above the other as she stares him down with mixed emotions. On one hand she's just as annoyed as he is at Kol's behavior, but on the other she's never really had someone care about her the way he is in this very moment.

He runs his fingers through his hair and proceeds to step back from her. His hands slap against his jeans in frustration which Ingrid seems to believe is a habit he's picked up over the last several decades. "Yes I am frustrated little red, because you just collapsed for the longest time and there was no waking you from that. I couldn't do anything and your heartbeat was so slow and quiet that I had to strain to hear it. This is a magic I don't even understand myself and I have been around for a very long time love. I don't like not knowing what's next, especially when it comes to you." He takes two slow but brave steps towards her, cupping her face with his hands as their brown eyes meet with an intensity that both shocked and scared Ingrid.

Kol smiles slightly as he hears her heart rate pick up from the nearness of them. "There's that heart I love to hear," he smiles before daring to place his lips gently on hers. It was a new experience for the Mikaelson too, he'd never in 1,000 years been this way with a woman, let alone really felt for someone outside of family. Now here stood before him a woman that made him feel alive for the first time in a very long time.

Tel Aviv 2026

Caroline sat at her desk in her private office of the Estate combing through the many documents that pertained to the city that she somehow had become the queen of. Over the last three years things had been turned upside-down in the supernatural district of Tel Aviv, and that was for the better of everyone. The communities were at peace, business was thriving, tourism was up which meant food for the vampires, and the witches along with a few gypsies found work in the streets doing random touristy things.

If anyone asked the blonde vampire, she would reply that all was well and things couldn't be going better. Except for the fact that now with this power came enemies, and people who didn't necessarily like her leadership decisions. Vampires that were older and more experienced than her, and occasionally they came to challenge her for that position she fought for. This life had indeed become a lonely one to live with, but she wouldn't trade it for a single miss Mystic Falls pageant. Here she felt as though she was in her true calling; ruling, leading, teaching, and helping others. Not organizing for beauty queens of a small town that would have seen her dead if she stayed.

A soft knock comes to the door that interrupts her reminiscent thoughts, "come in." She states quickly shuffling the important documents to the bottom of her stack of papers. Ethan quickly and quietly enters the office with a small smile on his face. "What do you have for me in your hand?"

"You know the tradition, every year like clockwork just after your birthday I pick up the letters from your old mailbox in France. Then you take the mail and put it in a box somewhere and never open it. You know the letters you get from none other than the handsome original vampire that is practically in love with you." The vampire says in a nonchalant manner that causes Caroline to roll her eyes.

"Just give me the damn letter then so I can safely put it away to never be read." She takes the sealed envelope from Ethan and looks it over briefly. Taking in the gentle scrawl of Klaus' writing and how it reminds her of his artwork in a way. Each curve of his lettering is careful and thoughtfully placed on the envelope like he put much thought into how it would appear to her. "Can you - uh - give me a little bit Ethan? Keep anyone from coming in this part of the Estate for about an hour. Thanks."

He doesn't respond as the blonde that was standing so put together and well dressed before him sits slowly in her desk chair. Her eyes are only focused on the envelope in her hands though, and only once the door clicks shut does she sag her shoulders and let any real emotion surface. For the first time in the years since the letters started arriving, is she truly tempted to crack the seal and read the words on the pages.

In her time since leaving Mystic Falls behind, Caroline hadn't given much thought to the Mikaelsons. In fact she liked to avoid anything related to them, and if she didn't she would be plagued with Klaus thoughts for the next several weeks. With a gentle sigh she flips the letter over and traces the wax seal on the back that has the famous 'M' stamped into it. "Just one peak won't kill you Care. He doesn't need to know that I opened the letter, and he doesn't need to stay in your head after reading one of these stupid letters. It's not like he can track you with a locator spell to confess his feelings or whatever." She shakes her head and then runs her fingers through its tangled ends.

Then in a moment of weakness as she would have dubbed it, the blonde breaks the seal open. Out of all the letters she had received and probably will still get, this will be the only one she reads. This was her vow to herself as she slowly peels open the envelope and takes the neatly folded pages out.

Caroline,

I hope this letter finds you, as I also hope it finds you alive. It's been almost 15 years since we have last seen or spoken and I still remember the way your voice rings in my ears. My daughter is now nearing the young teenage years and in some ways she reminds me of you with her resilience, and then I continue to hear your words from the time you were dying in the Gilbert living room. You had said that anyone capable of love was capable of being saved...I never really believed you until I started watching Hope grow.

Anyways this letter was not meant to be about my life or my daughters. This is intended to be your birthday letter, as you have reached 33 years on this earth. Though it may seem small to many I know this is an accomplishment in your eyes love. I'm sure you would have done something spectacular if you had remained in Mystic Falls to celebrate, but you are off somewhere in the world exploring.

I have no way of knowing it these words will reach you, or if you will even glance at them if they do. When my witch couldn't locate you I was worried, but I hope this just means you've grown smarter with age and cloaked your location. Please take care love, and don't do anything that would make me not fulfill my promises of last loves or showing you the world. Happy birthday Caroline, I hope you accept this small gift that has missed being worn. I can assure you it belonged to a princess almost as beautiful as you.

Yours,

Niklaus Mikaelson

As the blonde vampire folds the pages again she finds that Ethan had paired the envelope with a dark blue suede box. The lid pops open with ease as her eyes glance on a familiar bracelet that she hadn't seen since the night she tore it from her wrist in the Mikaelson mansion. "Of course he would regift this for another one of my birthday's."

Vincent and Caroline stroll through the Lafayette cemetery in silence. The once talkative witch simply guides the vampire and nods to anyone he passes in a polite manner. Finally she becomes discontent with the silence and sighs in a loud dramatic fashion. This results in a deep chuckle from the man as he stops in front of a handful of graves. "Why are we here Vincent? I doubt a cemetery of dead witches is going to provide answers to whatever questions you think I have."

"We are here because the legacies of these dead witches is exactly what you need to hear about. All you've mentioned is what you lost just to get here. The people that have died or that have left in some way or form. You've only talked about how when this battle is over that you'll be alone. Why do you think that the five of you will lack purpose after Kyros is gone? And what the hell makes you think that Klaus Mikaelson is just going to push you to the side when this is all over?" The elder witch speaks in volumes of wisdom that the blonde really didn't want to hear.

The truth was that Caroline wasn't afraid of being alone when they defeated Kyros. Her fear is why would she be left alone? "What do a bunch of dead witches have to do with this?"

Vincent shakes his head, "you're still not getting it." He paces back and forth briefly before turning back to Caroline with a clap of his hands. "Okay what did your mom used to say about when people died?"

"That we would all be reunited someday? Vincent seriously what does that have to do with me feeling alone after Kyros is defeated? It's not like I can die." She looks over to one of the tombs nearby muttering, "the Fates took that choice away from me too."

"Okay maybe you're right that was a terrible point and I have no idea how I was going to connect all this to make a good one. What I'm trying to say though is that in the process of losing all those people you've gained a group that is willing to fight for you, with you, and makes vows that last longer than most ever do." He sighs and leans against one of the stone tombs across from Caroline. "I may not always agree or get along with the Mikaelson family, but if you had to find people to never abandon you, you couldn't have picked a better group."

"I know that, but what about after Kyros is gone. I have to be the one to get rid of him...how do I destroy a monster without becoming one?"

Hours later at the compound, Klaus stands in the main portion teaching Hope some simple hand-to-hand combat tactics. When Caroline walks in from the kitchen area, the youngest Mikaelson manages to catch her father off guard effectively taking him down with ease. "Never let your guard down and don't get distracted. Learned those lessons from you dad." Hope states with a smile looking between the blonde vampire and her dad. "I'm just going to go find Ingrid, and you two can do whatever this is."

Up on the balcony, Hayley and Elijah stand observing the scene below. Watching as Hope retreats and leaves Caroline to the hybrid. The pair down below attempt to train in combat but only end up reminiscing on old memories and laughing as one or the other stumbles or recalls something funny from their shared lives. "Do you think that the universe - or the Fates I guess - brings people together? Fights for these two souls to meet and fall in love. I mean look at them," Hayley states gesturing to Klaus and Caroline down on the ground. The two remain oblivious to the conversation beginning on the balcony overlooking their training ground. "It's like they were destined for each other. Klaus was born over a thousand years ago, and he just happened to be one of the first immortal creatures to exist? Then on top of that he survived for over a millenia on this earth and met Caroline in a small town after she had been turned into a vampire. It's just too much to be a coincidence."

Elijah watches her face as she pauses her words to look down at the couple once again. The suit wearing Mikaelson gently places a hand to Hayley's cheek to bring her eyes to meet his. "I've never seen him like this with anyone really, not even with Hope. There have always been walls Niklaus built to keep people at a distance in some way." He pauses once to gather his thoughts before looking at the beautiful woman that stood in front of his gaze. "There is an old Chinese proverb about an invisible thread that connects two souls together in destiny. Through time, tangles, circumstances, and more the thread refuses to break. I believe this is true for Caroline and Niklaus, and it appears their connection will only grow stronger as time passes."

*Hides behind anythings in shame from taking so long to update...again.* Well hi ya'll I'm back once again with another chapter update. I had seriously hoped that I could finish this sooner, but of course my motivation to write disappeared along with any form of a sleeping schedule over of the holidays. Apparently now that my classes have started back, my inspiration to write returned as well - which is great since I really should be studying more and focusing on school instead of staying up until 1am just to finish this chapter.

Anywho, this chapter is DONE and we are one chapter closer to (don't say it) the end of this story called Fate. I'm honestly very excited to start working up the next part of this groups journey in the sequel and I hope you all are ready for another section to their story. I'm trying my best to keep things interesting each chapter as well as developing the characters in a way that makes sense to the story and the way it flows. I do promise in the next chapter or two there will be some MAJOR Klaroline especially since we're coming to a place in the story where our heroes will discover how-to and have to embark on the path to defeating Kyros (thank God because that dude gives me the creeps.)

Please ignore my side comments above as my sleep deprived brain does not know what she's talking about. Also please review, favorite, and follow! I noticed the last time I posted I didn't get nearly as much response as I had been previously and I'm hoping it was due to the holidays and my delayed posting.

Stay sane my friends, Always and forever