A/N: Klaroline readers… y'all probably want my head on a spike. Can't blame you, but keep your distance!

I've been away, I've rebranded, I've...started writing Dasey fics, oh lord. But I'm here, six years after the publication of (how cute) my first published fanfic and I'm not super pleased with it. It's a mess, no getting around it. (Understand that I started this story when I was *gulp* fourteen years old.) Cringe levels are high, tonal dissonance and spelling errors are abundant.

However… something is compelling me to trudge forward with this story. The storyline & voice may feel staggered if you're reading this all at once, I know, but my writing style has changed quite a bit throughout the course of this fic and there are a lot of old elements of the story I'd like to scrap. I'm just trying to salvage what I can going forward, so there will likely be plot holes and whatnot.

If you've been following this story since 2013, wow. Congrats, you're officially a saint. Hope you enjoy the update.

The fire danced and crackled, volatile and angry in the fireplace. It was all that illuminated the small room they shared.

Caroline was sitting on the bed with her knees drawn toward her chest, marveling at the twisted shadows on the wall. They were elongated, sinister, and moving at awkward paces, synchronized with the small fire's flickering.

He was hard to see in this light, but he was there, still sitting in the chair where she had left him. She had even left the curtains drawn so the light cast by the moon might reach her, but tall trees surrounded them, isolating them in this small room. All they had was the fire and each other and the steaming tea at the bedside, which had been brought in by an old woman with a curved spine. Perhaps it would calm her nerves, but she wasn't nervous. She just…didn't know what to do with herself. Everything was stirring inside her; she didn't know what to make of it.

Klaus had been silent since she returned from her silent brood on the balcony. She sensed that he knew things were changing and he didn't want to interrupt that process.

Caroline lay down, pulling her torn dress tight around her and burrowing beneath the thin blue sheets. She was exhausted but sleep was taking its time to come to her, and not because she was afraid.

"What did you see?" Klaus' voice was quiet. He was drinking wine from a brass chalice, fireside, not far from the foot of her bed.

She feigned sleep. She didn't feel like talking about it because she was still processing it herself.

"I know you're not sleeping, Caroline." His voice was still quiet, relaxed.

"I'd like to be," She said with minute frustration, rolling onto her back and sprawling her limbs across the bed, staring up at the ceiling. She knew him well enough by now to know that he would persist until he got his answers.

"You left your body." He murmured, still watching the fire. His lips and teeth glinted, wet by the wine.

"I think so, yes," Caroline replied, sitting up and holding her head. It ached; her whole body ached but it didn't matter. Her mind was still reeling from the new experience and discovery of her ability, but mostly from the truth. In the past hour, she had come to know Klaus as no one else ever would.

"Has this ever happened before?" He stood, setting the chalice down as he stepped to the foot of her bed. His body impeded the path of the flames' light, a halo of flickering gold behind him.

"No," she breathed. He watched her, coming close and sitting at the foot of the bed. Caroline straightened, correcting her posture to fare better in comparison with his imposing carriage.

"I know that you've been hiding your full potential from me, " He started, leaning in. He wanted to intimidate, but something was intimate in his softened expression. "I understand. When you have something that no one else has…when you need that power to survive…there's satisfaction in the strategy. You're wise to keep it hidden, but after what just happened...I need you to show me, just me, all you can do. You don't have to fear me, hide from me, anymore."

She couldn't keep quiet, watching him. He was compelling. "I haven't been hiding things from you, Klaus," Caroline spoke softly, aware of the shift in the air between them, "I've been discovering them."

His expression changed, if minutely. His hands softened into the sheets atop the mattress, fingers extending toward her. She felt drawn to him, inexplicably, on a level somewhere beyond the physical. Her being was oriented toward him on a very pointed path, a direct one that demanded no other paths be taken.

She didn't shy away when his hands found her. His palms traveled achingly slow up her thighs, both of them learning for the first time what it felt like to touch each other outside an instance of conflict or muted aggression. Steadily beating faster, faster, her heart raced to him.

Caroline rose onto her knees and his dark eyes received her, attentive and patient, watchful. He was fire, eager to burn.

"Let me," she whispered, not specifying what she wanted to do. Klaus regarded her permissively, not speaking a word as she moved to him, hovering above him and taking his face in her hands. For a moment, his eyelids fluttered closed before opening half-lidded. She marveled at how she could feel him - not man only in flesh but in being, spirit. Their consciousnesses danced, refracting light off one another. Caroline wondered if he could see it, too. Does this path go both ways? She was urgent; she didn't ask.

Her hands floated down, just ghosting over his neck and onto his shoulders. She'd never touched him like this before, non-defensive, explorative and innocent. Caroline jolted as his hands came up to her waist, his thumbs resting under the crooks of her ribcage and his long fingers splaying over the middle of her back. Klaus' gaze flicked from her lips to her belly and back to her eyes, causing her to tremble as he pulled her closer.

"Slowly," Caroline said, breathing in shaky, extended measures. Klaus' hands were hot over her abdomen and at her back, traveling up her shoulder blades and pulling her down to him, slowly, like she told him. This is how their lips met, curiosity and caution quickening to heat and fervor. His strength imparted his desire; soon she was under the influence of his hands and lips. Kissing him was quite like drinking wine - not just the taste still on his lips, but the spreading warmth.

Her fingers ghosted along his arms, tracing prominent veins like she'd traced his bloodlines all her life, coursing with victory, vitality. Every time they touched, she read his history. And she suspended, playing in his gravity, felt that if she were to pull away, she'd simply be pulled back. Klaus sped her, taking her down on the mattress and kissing her neck.

"Do you know what you want, Caroline?" His voice came thick, his hands coming up on either side of her face, fingers threading through her hair.

"No," she admitted in a whisper, splaying her hands over his chest and feeling the heartbeat there. His heart raced in a rhythm that met and exceeded her own, urgent, as she touched him.

"Then I ask you," He withdrew, breathless, "Do not tempt me,"

He was in the hall before she could respond, but still she felt him. The cool air from the open window hit her face, but it could do nothing to slow the racing of her thoughts or the heat beneath her skin.

They left before dawn, cautious not to wake the lodge-dwellers. Klaus had woken Caroline when the morning was still, black ink skies turning deep blue.

"Why so early?" Caroline asked with a sliver of annoyance in her sleep-saturated morning voice, "You may not need sleep, but I favor a good seven hours…"

Klaus grinned in amusement, his back to her, "If we'd waited until morning, the tenants would've made a fuss about their little songbird flying the nest too early." He draped a green velvet cloak around her shoulders, settling atop his prized black mare and extending a hand down to her. She had forgotten that he'd come down the mountain on foot.

Klaus helped her into the saddle, settling her between his body and the mare's thick neck. His arms found themselves situated on either side of her as he took the reins, and Caroline allowed herself to adjust to this proximity.

"I'll be needing breakfast soon. You tend to forget that I'm a human being, don't you? In case you've forgotten the basic requirements to sustain a human life, let me remind you that sleep, food, and water are pretty essential," Caroline eyed him over her shoulder, gasping when her cheek brushed his jaw. It was rough with stubble, scratching her skin.

He watched her, catching the roses blossoming on her cheek.

"Don't worry, we'll be stopping in a couple hours so you can eat. In the meantime, do come closer. It's chilly this morning," Klaus smiled through the last phrases, leaning ever so slightly so his lips grazed her hair. She tried not to remember the night before, the sudden cold when he had left...

"What is this place?" Caroline asked as Klaus moved to dismount, surveying the quaint scene. A quaint little cottage was nestled between tall pines, smoke rising from its chimney and glass chimes dangling from its exposed beams.

"The home of a friend," Klaus answered minimally, extending an arm to help her down from the horse.

"What are we visiting for?"

"I have questions that I want answered. Since you won't or… can't comply, we're getting a second opinion," He grinned, winsome, and she resisted the magnetism of his smile, his dimples. "I think you'll quite like Diana."

Before either of them could reach the door, a short woman of middle age had come out to meet them. Her hair was fiery red, but her eyes were what caught Caroline's attention. Smoky, impenetrable grey. They almost glowed.

"Niklaus, so good to see you," She didn't bow to him, but her attitude toward him was reverent.

"I apologize for the abrupt nature of my visit, dear friend, but my companion and I could use some refreshment." He brought Caroline round by the arm, presenting her to Diana. The woman strode forward confidently, curiously, and took Caroline's shoulders in her small hands. Caroline glanced sideways toward Klaus, who seemed to be mildly amused by the interaction.

"Oh dear. Yes, do come in," Diana spun nimbly on her heel and led the pair inside, where she poured them each a cup of tea and led them to sit at her modest table. To Caroline's surprise, Klaus actually drank. He looked warmed. In his coat and riding pants, he looked modest and wholesome, as if he lived here himself.

"Bread, apples, and cheeses," Diana practically sang, presenting a basket full of those very things and joining the pair at the table, "That's all a person really needs, I say. Please child, tell me your name and help yourself."

"I'm Caroline, ma'am. I'm told your name is Diana," She extended her hand to the woman across from her. To her surprise, the woman took her hand in her own and turned it over to expose her palm, getting lost in the lines there.

"Excuse my manners. I assume Niklaus has brought you to be read?"

"...Read?" Caroline looked over to Klaus, who had opted for an apple. He simply bit into the fruit, smiling unwittingly as he chewed.

"You should be aware by now that there are...patterns that influence our reality, cycles and natural laws so intricately entwined that they cannot be undone. I was born gifted, like you, Caroline. I can see the patterns, I read and interpret them for others."

Caroline was slightly taken aback, but interested, "I confess I was in a… similar line of work not too long ago."

"Fortune telling! Yes, that's how they usually crop up. Dangerous business, that. Please do help yourself to the food."

Caroline did, eagerly, observing the modest cottage. The kitchen was expansive, an amalgamation of pots, pans, brass, wood, and baskets. It was messy but comfortable, with little herbs growing out of hanging baskets and crystals sitting in window sills. She hoped quietly to herself that they would stay for a little while.

"I do have something specific to ask of you, Diana," Klaus spoke calmly, charismatically, but Caroline could sense the urgency he was masking, "Caroline here tells me that she's just beginning to discover new… adages to her abilities. I want to know just what those are."

"Always hungry for something more, Niklaus," Diana chuckled affectionately. Klaus looked peeved, but he maintained his patience. Caroline wondered just how long these two had been friends. "You'll remember my talk of patterns, inexplicable cycles and whatnot? I see their trails, their… residue. Yes, please bear with my lack of terminology. Ties between people, objects, places… they are all colored, linked in varying degrees of strength. The world, children, is a very complicated spider web of energy interactions, sort of… Anyway, as you two sit before me, I can see the link binding you."

"A… link? Please elaborate," Klaus pressed. Caroline could feel him, not necessarily impatient, but eager.

"Strong, physical and mental; whole. Shimmering gold and silver. If it were to break...no. It could never. You are kindred," She wore an oddly satisfied smile, as if she knew something more and was withholding it.

"What does that mean?" Klaus leaned forward, his brow furrowing.

"It means that you were fated to find each other, and thus fated to never part, not really. The kindred can be allies, friends, siblings, comrades...lovers, most frequently. Sometimes the connection develops out of necessity, sometimes it is predestined. Take for example the legendary warriors Aliah and Enoa; they knew how to move in unison in battle because they could effortlessly, instantly read each other; they were kindred. They sensed what the other was feeling and thinking, as I'm sure you and Caroline do, and they became partners. When one warrior died, the other followed."

"And if one of us were to die?" Caroline asked, her voice hushed but urgent.

"No such thing as one. You're irreversibly bound; the fate of one is the fate of the other."

"And because Klaus is immortal…" Caroline trailed off, taken by a vision.

"So are you," Diana's voice followed, faded.