Chapter Text
Klaus held Caroline’s unmoving body in his arms. Hours had passed since her tortured death throes ceased, and he had held her through every moment of their shared agony as he stared into the kitchen where Rebekah’s burned corpse lay. Klaus couldn’t separate the two women in his mind. One he had killed, and the other he hadn’t protected, he had allowed to be killed by his negligence. He had loved both, poor Caroline had been correct in her final accusation. But Klaus couldn’t live without his sister, his closest friend of a thousand years, and in his pain he’d let Caroline die too. He wanted to punish Caroline for her role in Rebekah’s death at the hands of Jeremy Gilbert and he wanted to punish himself. If he’d been less distracted by the idiots of Mystic Falls and their petty problems then Rebekah would be alive, so they had to pay and he did too. The easiest solution? The overlapping interest of all guilty parties? Caroline Forbes.
Klaus held Caroline’s body tight to him with one arm, and used the other to brush the hair out of her face as he thought about the promises he’d made to her only a short while ago. She’d had no more birthdays. She’d seen no more sights. All because of him. If Klaus didn’t love Caroline, he’d have let her live so she could suffer with the others. Because as soon as he got out of the Gilbert house, he would make them pay. He wondered how long it would be before anyone else knew about Caroline; it would likely be days before he could find his brothers and tell them about Rebekah. For now he would be the only one to mourn these two amazing women, both of whose deaths had broken him.
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Caroline emerged from the incomprehensible, and seemingly unending, pain with a clear head to find Rebekah Mikaelson smiling at her, absolutely delighted. It was a wicked and pleased smile, the kind Caroline would have been terrified to see on any Original’s face even if it hadn’t meant she was dead.
“Well. I guess Nik isn’t the worst brother. I’m dead for less than a day and he’s already apologizing.”
Caroline looked around and saw she was still in the Gilbert’s living room, and so was Klaus . . . with her body. She was a mess covered in blood, alternately mourned and ignored by the man holding her. “Is this going to be my ghost outfit forever?” She asked Rebekah. “Because I would have dressed better if I’d known. It’s a little boring.”
Rebekah looked Caroline over and considered the question. “It’s no worse than your usual style. I suppose my brother thought it too kind to wait until you changed into a ball gown. Thankfully I always dress to impress, my father hunted me for a thousand years and my family could dagger me at any time, it’s important to be prepared.”
“Great advice, a shame I won’t be able to put it to use.” Caroline looked back at Rebekah. “He’s still going to be stuck in here for a while. I think I’ll go check on my mother or Tyler. I assume I’ll see you again?”
“Unfortunately. But then again, if Nik murdering you is any indication I suspect we’ll have a whole party over here soon! He’s an artist when it comes to punishment, and since he just let me die I’ll expect a masterpiece of an apology.”
Caroline sighed. “Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of. I’d like a bit of peace in death. But this is still Mystic Falls.” She went through the front door of the house, straight through it, and pondered the difference between being a vampire that had to be invited in and a ghost who got to creep anywhere. Another year, another supernatural identity, she mused. This one she really would have an eternity to get accustomed to, it seemed unlikely that her friends would release Silas and bring down the other side just to get her back.
At the police station her mom was working on a stack of paperwork, unaware of Caroline’s presence. Caroline wished she’d given her mother more of her attention, especially after her near death experience at Tyler’s teeth by Klaus’ command. Recently they’d become closer but neither had the time to spare for each other. They thought they’d have decades. Caroline tried to touch various things in the office, to communicate with her mom even though she knew it was useless. Eventually she gave up and moved on to her next stop.
Tyler. Her boyfriend, who had relied on another man loving Caroline enough to save her. How laughably wrong he’d been. She’d been wrong too though apparently, her words to Klaus had had no effect in the end. Klaus let her die and now Tyler would have to deal with his sire’s wrath without her there to be a buffer and beg for his life every time he got in Klaus’ way.
She found Tyler at the Grille with Matt. The two of them looked anxious.
“She hasn’t called yet. Are you sure Klaus will heal her?” Matt asked Tyler.
“Look, I don’t like how he feels about her, but I know he won’t let her die.”
Caroline shook her head sadly. Her group had once again overplayed their hand. Sure, Klaus was interested in her, perhaps he did really fancy her as he’d once said. But Rebekah was dead. How could they have ever thought Klaus would help them after that? He would destroy every last one of them. Katherine Pierce had only kept the wolf from himself, Jeremy Gilbert and the rest of the Mystic Falls gang was keeping him from his family. Not even Finn either, but one of the siblings that Klaus actually liked.
Caroline stayed with them until Tyler got so anxious that he finally made up an excuse to Matt and fled for the Gilbert’s house. It was like watching a horror movie. She kept yelling at him. “Don’t open the door!” And just like watching a horror movie at the theater, Caroline was the screaming person who had to cover her eyes while someone else in the audience was watching and laughing.
Tyler took one look into the living room, then he had fallen back against the wall with clenched fists and fled the house. In the matter of a second he’d understood what had happened and he’d chosen to run. Caroline didn’t bother to follow him, it hurt but she understood.
“At least you’re entertaining.” Rebekah said once she’d calmed down from giggling at Caroline’s plight. “Don’t open the door!” She mocked.
“I’m sorry I didn’t want my boyfriend to find my dead body, in your brother’s arms.”
“You lot left my burned body on the kitchen floor.”
Caroline grimaced. “Yeah. Not their finest moment. I didn’t even know the plan when I distracted Klaus, I had no idea what they were going to do to you or with your body. I didn’t know they’d kill you.”
“I can’t really hurt you here.” Rebekah said, suddenly right next to her. Rebekah grabbed for Caroline’s hair and Caroline instinctively ducked but the hand went straight through her face. “You don’t need to lie to me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Caroline felt a little sad, she didn’t realize ghosts couldn’t touch. It made everything a little more real and a thousand times more painful. “I wasn’t lying to you just now. I’m the blonde distraction, they don’t- or didn’t rather - tell me the plans.”
“Convenient if you want to act morally superior to your murdering friends.”
“No. I’ll agree, I’m complicit.” Caroline said readily. “I just didn’t know. I should have. If they could’ve killed Klaus with the stake they would have. Of course they’d go after you when you started helping Kol with his plans to keep Silas from being raised at all costs.”
Rebekah didn’t say a word so Caroline went on. “I’m sorry for the role I played in your death, Rebekah. And not just because it caused my own.”
Rebekah looked away. “As I said, there’s no reason to lie. Now let’s stop chit chatting, intermission is over!”
Caroline watched as her mother came into the house. Matt must have been suspicious and gone to see her. This time Caroline didn’t call out. She walked over to stand by her own body, a show of support for her mother. Elizabeth Forbes was crying, but she stood firm as she approached the line where Klaus was trapped.
“I will prepare Rebekah’s body in any way you want, if you will return my daughter to me.”
Klaus looked up at her sharply, although not in surprise.
“Sheriff. I will return your daughter’s body without a deal.” He got up from the couch slowly and brought Caroline’s body to the line, ready to release Caroline for the first time since the hallucinations had set in long before she died. Klaus was her murderer, but he had still longed to offer comfort even if he would not provide the remedy. “Do you want me to place her on the floor or will you enter?” His tone wasn’t a clear threat but Caroline was still nervous as her mother stepped inside the living room and held out her arms. Elizabeth Forbes wasn’t a large woman but she didn’t stumble when her daughter’s body was lowered into her arms. She didn’t look away from Klaus either as she stepped back.
“I meant what I said. I will prepare Rebekah’s body in any way you want. I will not let anyone else touch it. I give you my word.”
Klaus’ smile bared all his teeth like the wounded feral beast he was, in pain and ready to strike. “I care for your word a little more than that of a Salvatore or Gilbert, Sheriff. But only just. Come back in a few hours once you have Caroline in a coffin, and move my sister into this room with me.”
Caroline looked back at Rebekah who immediately looked away. “I’ll be back when my mother is.”
“I don’t care.” Rebekah said haughtily, although it didn’t cover the sound of pain in her voice. It was the first obvious sign she’d let slip in front of Caroline that death was a jarring experience for her as well.
Caroline went back home with her mother where Matt was waiting.
“What are you going to do?” Matt asked.
“Lay her to rest with her father.” Sheriff Forbes told him. “I don’t want to wait. She isn’t coming back this time. We’ll do it tomorrow.”
Matt put his head in his hands for a moment, allowing that truth to sink in. “Okay. Yeah. How can I help?”
“Just by being here.”
Caroline watched as the two hugged. They said they weren’t going to wait, they didn’t want to wait for Elena and Stefan and the others to return from the island where they were searching for Silas. She wondered if her mom blamed her friends, and was keeping them from mourning her properly as punishment.
Sheriff Forbes hesitated for a moment. “You said you saw your sister before, as a ghost. That all of the supernatural beings that die end up on the other side and watch over us. Do you think she’s here right now?”
Matt laughed, tears starting in his eyes. “Caroline Forbes? Watching over us and making sure we get her funeral right? Absolutely.”
“Oh, you’re right. I hope I get the flowers okay.” Elizabeth Forbes let out a watery laugh, trying not to break down for her daughter’s sake. If Caroline was watching then Liz would continue to project strength, how else could she help now?
Caroline frowned. Parents aren’t supposed to outlive their children, her father had told her. Her mom had had the conversation with Caroline before about where information was regarding funeral arrangements for when she died. Being the sheriff in a town frequented by the supernatural did lower Liz Forbes life expectancy significantly and she was a practical person. After that talk Caroline had immediately made her own list but it would have been morbid to share it with her mother she thought, especially with her own immortal life having such potential. She wished she had now. Her mother shouldn’t have to worry. Any flowers would have to do now.
Caroline was more than ready to go back when her mother and Matt took a break from working to avoid their pain and returned to the Gilbert house. Only her mother went inside. Caroline had gone on ahead and saw Rebekah was watching Klaus pace slowly.
“We’re back.” She called out.
“Ah. So your mother does mean to turn over my body rather than holding it hostage.”
“Of course.” Caroline said. “Hector will be returned to Priam.”
“Ugh. Klaus would love that you see parallels of him to a king.”
“I suppose that makes me Patroclus.”
Rebekah rolled her eyes. “Seriously, you two would have totally worked. Thank goodness I’ll never live to see the day.”
Caroline returned the eye roll. “Come on. Can’t you take this seriously? This is an intense moment.”
Elizabeth Forbes had again entered Klaus’ domain, without a request this time. She moved to lower Rebekah onto the couch and Klaus didn’t stop her. Once she’d done that he let her leave, only calling out to her as she got near the door.
“Don’t interfere, Sheriff. I don’t intend to give Caroline any more pain to watch than I have to.”
“So you know she’s watching too?” Liz asked carefully.
“I don’t think she’ll watch me for long.” He replied, looking away from Rebekah for a moment. “She’ll watch over you. If she can keep her eyes off her friends she won’t have to suffer any more as long as you don’t interfere.”
“I’ll stay out of it. But my daughter would never turn a blind eye to what you’re going to do.”
Klaus quietly whispered. “I know.”
Elizabeth Forbes left and Caroline stayed.
“You aren’t going with her? It’s not like Nik can kill anyone while he’s trapped here.”
“The funeral is tomorrow. I want to be surprised, shouldn’t see the coffin the night before and what not.”
Rebekah snorted. “I’ve never followed that wedding tradition.” She thought on Caroline’s statement about the coffin, she’d never chosen hers either. When an impermanent death had been her only concern Rebekah had often thought of finding a nicer coffin than what Nik carted her around in, but doing so would have been almost approval of his actions so she’d suffered instead of voicing an opinion. Kol had burned his first coffin out of pettiness and Nik got him one that hadn’t been properly sanded for his next sleeping stint.
“You’ve been married?” Caroline asked, happy to change the subject. She didn’t want to go home and she felt bad about leaving Rebekah here alone either.
“A few times. I have to slip away from my family to do it. I made that mistake the first time, sent invites, and Nik and Kol slaughtered the groom before I got to the altar.”
“What about Elijah?”
“I invited him to one of my weddings secretly, he was immensely proud to be my only trusted family representative until he met the fellow and found him to be lacking in honor. Not a difficult task when you’re as high minded as my brother. Elijah was upset that I wouldn’t leave him and told Nik. I lost that husband during the honeymoon.”
Caroline almost laughed because Rebekah told the story in such a way that it sounded like she was put out, rather than devastated but from the look in her eyes it had been more than a fling. With an eternity ahead of her and a lot of emotion in the air she made a decision.
“Want to come as my date to the funeral tomorrow?”
“I don’t think you can invite someone to your funeral.”
“Maybe not typically, but do you have better things to do?”
“See if my brother is released from this prison.”
“Well, if your schedule gets crowded you can skip out on coffee back at the house. Come on! You can watch the first ever Caroline Forbes party that is a flop.”
Rebekah made a noise suggesting she disagreed with Caroline’s assertion that her previous parties weren’t flops.
“Whatever. Come, or don’t. I want to see if when they put me in a new outfit it will change my ghost look.”
Rebekah laughed. “You are obsessed.”
“Yeah, well. I’m reflecting and growing as a dead person. Thinking about what was truly important. Regretting my past actions. Like not wearing heels on the day I died.”
Rebekah chuckled. “I’ll be there. With your mother and Matt’s taste the outfit could be even worse.”
Caroline sighed dramatically. “True, my eternal torment might only be starting.”