Author's note: We've now reached the end of this story; thank you all for your support! I've really appreciated your thoughtful reviews and words of encouragement. I hope you enjoy this final chapter and that you feel it answers your remaining questions.

Warning: Some violence.

Brows knitted in confusion, Caroline turned toward Matt who had pulled himself up to his full height, looking down at her with an oddly benevolent expression. "Summon the Yenaldooshi? Not exactly," he said with a small smile.

She watched in horror as the unsettling smile grew, stretching across the confines of his deceptively innocent baby face as it changed. His human form bent and twisted, stretching until it became familiar. The shape of an abnormally large coyote emerged, complete with rust-colored fur and knifelike claws. Matt didn't just command the Yenaldooshi. Matt WAS the Yenaldooshi.

Heart pounding, she leapt to her feet, cursing as her iron shackles prevented her from moving more than a few steps. How could Matt be a skin-walker? She thought back to what she had learned about him and remembered that he said he'd killed his mother. Dark witches gain the power of a skin-walker by murdering a blood relative. The creature's muddy yellow eyes shone with a frightening combination of cruelty and madness she never would have thought Matt capable of. It studied her carefully, as though judging whether she was a threat before turning its powerful body away from her, clearly satisfied she was temporarily subdued.

She clenched her fists, her nails cutting deeply into her palms until they bled, watching Matt slowly stalk toward the cage where the Originals bravely faced him. "No! Please stop," she cried, knowing what would happen next.

Klaus and Rebekah valiantly fought the creature's mind control, but the terrifying visions were too powerful, and they each fell to their knees in defeat as the dark visions of their past tortured them. She looked on in sorrow as Rebekah clutched at her head, tearing out her blonde hair by the roots as she shrieked pitifully, "No, Father! Please! I swear I'll obey; I'm sorry!" She curled her trembling body into a tight ball, pleading with the cruel vision of the Originals' abusive father.

Tears fell steadily from Caroline's eyes as she watched her strong, beautiful friend fall apart under Matt's magic. She hated how powerless she felt, and her heart ached as she heard Klaus' anguished cry as he screamed, "Do as you will, Mikael! But spare them; it is I who have wronged you; not them!" His eyes were clenched shut, gnashing his teeth as his hybrid features faded in and out while he was under the strain of the devastating visions.

Sobbing, she couldn't bear to watch them in agony any longer, and she recalled how she had defeated the Yenaldooshi in the Phoenix Stone when she demanded that it reveal its name. "Matt," she screamed, "Your name is Matt and I mark you, creature!"

When the Yenaldooshi paused mid-step, Caroline allowed herself the smallest sliver of hope that she had stopped the creature. Matt turned his coyote's head with its misshapen muzzle full of jagged canines, tracing a sinister red tongue across the sharpened points as he looked back at her. Her heart sank as he resumed his path toward the cage where both Originals continued to writhe in agony under the weight of their horrible visions. The moment his claws cut a bloody swath across Rebekah's face and Klaus' neck, Caroline screamed until she was hoarse.

She sank to her knees in despair, her vision blurry with tears as she stared at Matt's pile of clothes near one of the wide cracks in the concrete floor. A flash of dull red caught her eye and she realized with a start that Matt had shoved the Phoenix Stone in the front pocket of his denim shirt. Flashing back to the last bit of research she uncovered about the Anasazi shamans, understanding now why Matt had purposely misfiled it, she knew what she had to do.

Taking a shaky breath, she did her best to block out Klaus and Rebekah's agonizing screams. "Matty," she whispered, "I see it now. I understand why you did...this," she gestured toward the cage, a slight smile on her face as the creature returned to her, bizarrely wagging its shaggy tail. The clumps of rust-colored fur melted away, leaving behind an expanse of pale, bare skin. She quickly averted her eyes before she saw too much, giving Matt a few moments to get dressed. When she glanced at him again, his faded blue eyes were staring at her with his usual warmth, breaking her heart all over again.

"Do you really? I tried so hard, and you've been so stubborn..." he trailed off helplessly, the hesitance in his voice obvious.

Caroline stepped closer to Matt, pointedly not looking at Klaus as she said, "I've always been stubborn, Matty, but you know that about me. You know everything about me, don't you?" Taking his hand in hers, she lightly caressed the delicate tissue between his thumb and forefinger, resisting the urge to rip it out with her teeth as she added, "You accept me as I am; it's all I've ever wanted. You've given me an amazing gift."

Matt seemed to relax under her touch, leaning into her ever so slightly as he said, "I scarcely let myself believe that you would give into our love." He leaned forward, his lips quivering slightly as he gently kissed her forehead. "Just for you, my sweet Caroline, I'll spare the Originals and instead banish them to the stone and let the skin-walker that the shamans placed inside there keep them company."

"Don't you dare touch her!" Klaus' snarling voice made her jump, and she hated how she couldn't turn to him for comfort as she carried out her plan.

Refocusing on Matt, she refused to let her bright smile falter at his despicable words. "You would do that for me? For us?" As he nodded enthusiastically, she allowed her other hand to lightly creep up his chest, her fingertips toying with the edge of his shirt pocket. The shackles he'd placed on her wrists prohibited any sudden movements, so she had to rely on slight twitches of her muscles to complete her task. She stared into his blue eyes, so heartbreakingly familiar and yet hints of madness had begun to seep in.

He was no longer her human. She silently relinquished her protection even as she allowed a false warmth to enter her gaze, drawing him in as she traced the ancient carvings along the edges of the stone. "Do you know why the Phoenix Stone became an obsession for me," she boldly asked him. Matt shrugged, clearly puzzled by her change in tactics.

"It's a culmination of an ancient civilization that I cannot hope to comprehend; I've searched for decades for a way to unlock its mysteries, and yet you've already mastered its power. I'm so proud of you, Matty," Caroline complimented him, conscious of the way Klaus had stiffened in the cage, his steel gray eyes narrowed as he tried to determine her true intentions.

Matt nodded excitedly, his gaze flickered briefly to his prisoners as he surmised, "So that's why you were drawn to the hybrid? Because of his power?" He scoffed, obviously unimpressed by the Original. "But now you've seen what I can do. My power can get us everything we've ever wanted, Caroline."

"Well, you're right about one thing, Matt. It is about the power," Caroline acknowledged, finally palming the Phoenix Stone. As her fingers curled possessively around the red beryl surface, she acidly added, "Your power, actually." Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Klaus' relieved expression, and she favored him with a sly wink. She remembered the research she uncovered about the Anasazi shamans; how the folklore suggested they often used the stone as an anchor for their powers, placing their magic within the stone for safekeeping. She knew why Matt had tried to hide this research from her.

Matt had stored his power within the Phoenix Stone — just like the Anasazi shamans before him. That's how he was able to control the visions she and Klaus had in the stone and how he managed to hijack the ritual from Bonnie when they freed Elijah. The initial crack of the brittle stone in her powerful grip was immensely satisfying. She relished the crisp snap; to her, it sounded like freedom.

"No!" Matt's eyes widened in alarm as he finally realized her plan. "I need my power; we need it!" He tried snatching the stone from her grasp, but he was too late, his anguish apparent as he uselessly pleaded with her.

A merciless smile slid across Caroline's face as she finished destroying the Phoenix Stone, tossing the remaining few useless pebbles to the concrete floor as her bonds fell away. She inwardly breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the cage forged with Matt's power also disappeared, leaving Klaus and Rebekah unharmed.

Klaus immediately flashed to her, holding her against his body as he seemed to breathe her in. "Sweetheart, are you alright?" As she nodded, he released her, joining Rebekah as they glared menacingly at the broken man before them. "You pathetic, insolent child," he raged, "How dare you seek to take what is mine!"

"Yes, and let's not gloss over the fact that he absolutely destroyed my Brunello Cucinelli," Rebekah hissed, gesturing to the ragged remains of her once crisply tailored cropped pants.

Caroline rolled her eyes at Rebekah's antics before frowning at Klaus, telling him, "We're going to revisit that weirdly possessive vibe you're putting out there when we're not dealing with this uncomfortably creepy Oedipal tragedy."

Frowning as though he misread the mercy he saw on her face, Klaus answered, "He sought to harm you, love. He needs to pay for what he's done."

"In his mind, he didn't think he was hurting me," she disagreed, kneeling beside Matt who remained huddled on the cold floor as he looked up at her with tears in his eyes. "But he did hurt others," she amended, placing her palm lightly on his chest. It hurt her to see him so broken now that his power was gone. She shook her head sadly; he was once a cherished friend, someone she fought valiantly protect. But not anymore.

"I love you, Caroline," Matt brokenly told her, pitifully reaching out to her.

Despite her rage, she couldn't stop her tears as she shook her head, telling him, "You were never taught how to love someone. You have my pity." In a move too fast for his eyes to register, she tore her nails into his chest, shredding through tissue and muscle until she gripped his heart. As she removed it with a sickening squelch, she added venomously, "But you'll never have my forgiveness."

She stared at her gore-streaked fingers, unable to bring herself to look into Matt's dead eyes. Throughout her long life, she rarely harmed others unless provoked, but this was a death she knew she would carry with her always. She realized Klaus was crouched down by the fallen human, pulling at something along his wrist — her stolen bracelet. As he removed it from the body, angrily stripping away the dried leaves and red cord from the spell Matt had intended to use on her, she told him reassuringly, "It wouldn't have worked on me. Never."

His gray eyes briefly flashed wolf gold. "If his spell had worked, I never would have stopped until I saved you." He self-consciously rubbed the back of his neck as he told her in a quiet tone, "Earlier when I said you were mine, I also meant that I was yours." At his sister's derisive snort, he cutely stumbled over his words as he explained, "I mean...uh, I hoped, that is, that perhaps we could belong to each other?"

Caroline beamed at him through her tears, nodding as she answered, "I'm pretty sure I became yours the moment you argued with me over proper character formation in ancient Nsibidi script."

Klaus chuckled, kissing her soundly before replying, "And I'm fairly certain I was yours the moment you hypothesized to a lecture hall full of academics that I was a goat herder with an overactive imagination and a bit of a fetish."

"You two have the oddest foreplay I've ever had the misfortune to witness — and that's including the summer I spent with Elizabeth Báthory," Rebekah said, raising a critical eyebrow at the two as they kissed. She headed toward the basement's door, sighing dramatically as she added, "I'm sure Elijah is anxious to give us a lecture about not waiting for him before we went to rescue Nik."

Kissing the top of Caroline's wild blonde curls, Klaus said indulgently, "Well, then, best not to keep our brother waiting." As Caroline paused uncertainly at the basement's threshold, not quite ready to acknowledge Matt's fallen form, Klaus gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Whatever you need, love," he murmured encouragingly.

She allowed herself to sink into his comforting warmth, chewing her bottom lip as she considered his words carefully. "It might be nice to get away for a bit."

"That easily can be arranged, sweetheart. Did you have a destination in mind," Klaus asked, a gleam in his gray eyes as though he already was organizing their itinerary.

With a mischievous smile, Caroline replied, "I may have a few ideas."

"When you suggested a romantic getaway, I must admit that I pictured something a bit different, love," Klaus grumbled, wiping the sweat that dripped from his dirty blonde curls.

Caroline looked at him fondly, appreciating the way the dry desert wind molded his simple white t-shirt to his firm chest. They were on the outskirts of Mosul, excavating the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh. "We're standing in the same place where the original Epic of Gilgamesh tablets were discovered in the 19th century. What could be more romantic than that?"

"A Parisian balcony and a well-aged bottle of Louis XIII de Remy Martin Grande Champagne Cognac to start," Klaus grumbled good naturedly, examining the scraps of parchment from the centuries-old map they were following.

She slung an arm around his neck, pulling him in for a passionate kiss, murmuring seductively, "Well, back at base camp, we have a lovely silk tent that opens to the incredible night sky and a big, comfy bed." Looking up at him through her thick lashes, she added coyly, "Or, we could get tangled up in the gigantic hammock full of satin pillows again."

He let out a sexy growl, gold flaring in his gray eyes as he replied, "I suppose there are a few silver linings to your latest obsession, sweetheart."

Caroline laughed softly at Klaus' assessment of their current situation. It had been six months since Matt's death, and while she still thought of him, her nightmares had finally stopped. She learned that the only way for her to reconcile everything that happened was to mourn the young man she thought she knew — rather than the monster he turned out to be. She also needed a distraction; which is what led to her latest archaeological passion — the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. The 19th century discovery yielded twelve tablets that told the tale of the epic flood; however, her research on tablet fragments from 2,000 B.C. hinted at an intriguing twist in the well-known creationism myth: That the disaster was based on actual events and a curse tablet was hidden in the ancient city that could summon a global flood. She was positively giddy at the prospect of investigating the myth, and despite Klaus' gruff protests, she could feel his own interest had been piqued as well.

It was immensely satisfying to have finally found her match; someone whose thirst for learning equaled her own; and she'd never felt so content in her long life. In addition, her friendship with Rebekah had flourished. She and the Original had become especially close after she had helped her with the admissions application to Parsons School of Design. Rebekah was currently pouting because Elijah wouldn't let her audition for Project Runway because "as an immortal, she had an obligation not to draw unnecessary attention to herself." Caroline had thought Elijah would loosen up now that he and Bonnie were dating, but apparently, the feisty witch had yet to take all of the starch out of his suit.

She'd even begun to rebuild her friendship with Stefan. After everything that had happened, he left to go teach English and music in Indonesia. The emails they occasionally exchanged had become less careful, less cautious in their words and while she knew things would never be as they were, she was hopeful that one day she would consider him a friend once more.

Klaus' voice interrupted her musings when he asked, "Sweetheart, you do realize there's every possibility that this curse tablet we're searching for could summon an actual flood, correct?"

Blue eyes sparkling with mischief, Caroline replied, "Come on, Klaus. It's just a silly myth. What's the worst that could happen?"