Chapter Text
Klaus was in the Salvatore's dungeon when Kol called. “Well, if it isn't the happy homicidal maniac.” Klaus says, voice halfway to teasing.
Kol's response is in a much different tone. “Did you know that your darling former blood bag and her brother are trying to kill me?” It’s well hidden behind the fury but Kol is afraid.
“What?”
“Don't pretend like you're not in on it. Your obsession to find the cure clearly trumps any sibling loyalty you once felt.” That hurts. It’s true that he has had other priorities that have pitt him and Kol against each other but to kill his little brother. He would not.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“I'm going to rip off Jeremy's arms and kill Elena just for sport. Then I'm coming for you.” And Kol’s gone.
Klaus leaves the dungeon behind moving taking the stairs two at a time. He is slightly worried as he leaves, more exasperated, but still something about Kol sounded off enough that he’s moving at top speeds.
He gets to the Gilbert house just in time to hear Kol’s scream. Klaus watches helplessly through the doorway of a house he cannot enter as his little brother's body burns. As Kol falls to the floor and does not get back up.
“What did you do?” Klaus snarls.
“We didn't have a choice. He was trying to cut off Jeremy's arm!” The doppelgangers voice is grating, her excuses for the smell of his brother’s burnt flesh negligible.
“Lies! He never would've gotten inside if you hadn't set a trap for him.”
“You said you were going to put him down too.”
Klaus is screaming now, “I was going to make him suffer on my terms!” He takes a breath. Assures himself of the other side and the witches he will extort for whatever favors he needs. “I'm going to burn this house to the ground. And then, when you try to flee for your lives, I'll kill you both without blinking.”
The hunter speaks now, trying to reason with him. “You kill us, you'll never get to the cure. You'll never be able to make any more hybrids.”
Klaus bares his teeth in a parody of a smile, “You really think I care for an instant about my bloody hybrids? I want the cure so I can destroy it. I would've killed you all the second we dug it up, but now I'm just gonna watch you burn instead.”
Suddenly his whole body is wracked with pain, Klaus falls to his knees on the Gilbert porch. Bonnie Bennet walks past him inside
“Invite him in.”
The doppelganger and hunter look at the Bennet witch confusedly and Klaus must admit he is flummoxed as well but it would make it all the easier to kill them.
“Do it!” The witch yells.
The pain hasn’t stopped but in his fury Klaus rises to his feet.
“Come in.” The boy who killed his brother says.
Klaus falls forward as the witch magically pulls him inside. He lands on his chest. He gets up chasing after them immediately.
“Living room. Go!” The witch yells.
Doppelganger and hunter run through the living room and into the kitchen. Klaus follows, but he can't get into the kitchen. The hunter grabs the stake from Kol’s chest. Klaus bangs his fist on the invisible barrier stopping him from peeling the flesh off the Gilberts’ faces.
Klaus goes to the side of the living room the bennet witch is at. “Witch.” His breathing is heavy, the smell of his brother’s burnt flesh is stronger inside. “You can't do this to me.”
“You have no idea what I can do now.” She says.
“I will hunt all of you to your end!” Klaus’s voice goes gravelly as he yells. “Do you hear me? Do you!?”
Doppelganger, witch, and hunter leave the house silently.
Klaus pounds against the barrier futilely. He lets out a yell of frustration and unleashes a barrage of attacks on the immovable barrier.
Once it becomes exceedingly clear it isn’t working Klaus backs up to lean against the couch. He tilts his head back and stares at the ceiling for a time. He tries to think, but all he can focus on is his brother, dead.
Klaus walks to the edge of the kitchen barrier. Kol’s body is partially obscured by the dining table. Klaus can’t be sure if that makes him blindingly furious or sad. Most emotions can turn to fury given enough time though. Klaus leans his head against the invisible barrier and stares at what he can see of Kol he can see even as his vision grows blurry.
Eventually his tears are all shed and the pit in his chest that has been there since he was a child feels as though it will become visible to any who pass by. That it will consume him whole and he will be even less than the man he has been.
Morning light begins streaming in from the windows and Klaus remains staring at the body that is supposed to house his little brother. The second little brother he has watched die.
Tyler arrives after a point and they trade unpleasantries. Klaus shakes the tree of Tyler's issues and the low hanging fruit of having killed Tyler's mother falls into his hand. Tyler storms off and returns intermittently.
There is something in the corner of his vision. It looks like Kol. Not the Kol that is dead and burnt on the floor but the Kol of hours ago, perfectly intact. Klaus knows it isn’t real because Tyler has not acknowledged it and sometimes it looks like Henrik. It disappears when he places his full attention on it but the hallucination has reign over the corners of his sight. He does his best to ignore it. It’s always best to ignore it.
Caroline walks in through the backdoor after a time, the sun no longer painting patches of floor brighter.
“You're still here? What are you doing?” And what an interesting phrasing, as if she didn’t expect to find Tyler here. As the only person actively trapped in the house Klaus wonders if she was here to see him.
“Gloating.” Tyler says as he pours himself a drink, not picking up on the anomaly in Caroline's speech. He never was very bright.
Klaus walks as far as he can into the kitchen within the confines of the spell. “Hello, Caroline.”
Caroline glares at him for a moment before looking back at Tyler. “Come home.” Caroline walks closer to Tyler. “Don't stoop to his level.”
“He destroyed my life. I plan on being present for every second of his misery until I can kill him myself.” To punctuate his declaration Tyler lifts his glass up in a mockery of a toast.
“Fine. You can gloat and multitask. This place is a disaster.” Caroline walks over to a cabinet, grabbing from inside it a table cloth. “Starting with a horrific burnt corpse.”
She and Tyler use the cloth to cover up Kol's body. Klaus watches them with a slightly tortured expression.
Klaus keeps the anger out of his voice. Lets the grief shine through, “Tyler's mother is dead. So is my brother. We're even.” He looks at Caroline. “Call Bonnie. Get her to let me out of here.”
“I will never, ever, help you.” Caroline snarls.
“How quickly you forget the part where I saved Tyler from the misery of being a werewolf. Or the night your mother invited me into her home to save the life of her precious daughter.”
“How delusional are you? You killed his mother. And let's not forget that we're standing in a house where Elena's aunt Jenna used to live.” Caroline walks closer as she speaks. “Or did you think that your charm would make us forget how you killed her, too? You know what?” Caroline's talking with her hands making gestures at him and at herself. “No. I am not going to engage in this. You are not even worth the calories I burn talking to you.”
Klaus, seething, vamp speeds forward, grabbing the floor lamp and cracking it off its base. He stabs it forward, impaling Caroline on it. He swings her toward his side of the barrier.
Tyler yells “No!”
He has it so she is against the couch when he lets the lamp fall away. He feels his secondary fangs elongate as he bites her, drinking only a bit of her blood. He stops holding Caroline up and she falls to the ground.
Panting but performance in full swing Klaus says, “Now, that was definitely worth the calories.”
Caroline gets up and stumbles away. Tyler goes to her. Caroline repeating a litany of Oh my god’s as Tyler settles her on the sofa not in Klaus’s range. She’s curled up and arms wrapped around her legs.
“Hey, hey. Look at me. Look at me. I can fix this.” Klaus almost laughs at this but his brother's dead body is feet away from him and he cannot go to him. He also doesn't want to dash Tyler’s hopes quite so quickly.
“How?” Klaus gets up from where he is leant against the couch and swaggers closer, “The only thing that can heal me is his blood! Oh my god…”
“I know. I'll fix it.” Tyler's voice is determined. Klaus is almost excited to see what he thinks he has to bargain with.
Caroline nods at him but looks unconvinced still. Her intelligence is one of the things he liked about her after all.
Tyler stands to face Klaus. “She'll die if you don't heal her.” Not a great opening by Tyler.
“Okay.” Klaus says reasonably. He bites into his wrist and extends his arms, palms up. “Beg me to save her life.”
“Is this what you want?” No. “To remind me that I'm powerless against you? Fine. You win. I'm nothing.” Tyler spreads his arms. “Now save her. Please.”
“I'm sorry, mate. I didn't quite catch that.” Klaus taunts.
“Please.” Tyler grits out.
“Please…” Klaus stretches the word out, smiling wide and looking back and forth. Caroline has her head tilted down. She knows this won’t work.
“Please save her life.”
Klaus smiles, wagging a finger. “See, now I think you're just telling me what I want to hear. I mean, you did call me pathetic earlier. And wouldn't it be more pathetic of me to help now, knowing that hours ago, you announced your plan to kill me in a manner in which you're debating because you want it to have a certain amount of flair? I'm just asking.” He’s genial as he speaks. Jovial even. The smell of burning flesh is making his eyes water.
“I'll be your slave again.” Caroline looks up at Tyler. “I'll do whatever you want. Just help her.”
Klaus relishes in this. “No.”
“Get me out of here.” Caroline says. “I can't even look at him.”
Tyler helps her up from the couch. They hobble upstairs.
Klaus watches them leave. He turns back to Kol’s body. Klaus wishes he wasn't covered. Klaus wishes Kol wasn’t burnt and wasn’t dead and that Henrik hasn’t been dead for so long that he can’t quite remember his voice. Kol will not be dead for long. The Kol in the corner of his vison nods in time with the thought. He wants to be able to see Kol, the visual reminder of his death so he doesn’t get lost in the hallucinations again. He needs to remember not to acknowledge him.
Klaus almost opens his mouth to tell Kol to stop it. He catches himself. He does not look at it again but remains aware of the figure in his peripheral.
They stay upstairs a while before Klaus hears footsteps on the staircase.
Tyler carries Caroline in front of him and lays her on the floor. “You want to be in control, Klaus? Here. Now you get to be in control of her life. If you want her to die, fine. But then you can sit here and watch her die yourself.”
Tyler leaves the house. Caroline looks up at him as Klaus approaches her.
“Nothing personal, love. If I cure you, that means victory for him.” He sits on the table beside the couch. His voice perhaps more genuine than he wants he tells her, “Don't worry. It won't be long now.”
Caroline closes her eyes. Turns her head away from him.
Klaus moves forward further. Tyler left Caroline within his reach. He gathers her into his arms making for the sofa. Caroline opens her eyes lethargically, “What are you doing?” She asks.
“No need for your last moments to be spent on the floor.” Klaus says. He deposits her on the couch, leans himself against the archway to the kitchen.
After a time Caroline's breathing becomes more labored. Her voice weak, she says, “If you don't feed me your blood, I'll die.”
Klaus very intentionally does not look at her. “Then you'll die, and Tyler will have learned his lesson the hard way.”
“How could you do this to him? To his mom? To me?” Caroline asks, her voice barely more than a whisper.
“I'm a thousand years old. Call it boredom.”
Caroline inhales a breath that sounds like it hurts to take. “I don't believe you.”
“Fine. Then maybe it's because I'm pure evil, and I can't help myself.”
“No.” Her refusal is the strongest her voice has been. The strongest it will be while she lays dying. “It's because you were hurt.” Klaus looks at her. The illusion of Kol is sat on top of the back of the couch. “Which means that there is a part of you that is human.”
Klaus walks toward her, sitting on the coffee table. The illusion of Kol pats her hair, offers her comfort, in mockery or kindness Klaus doesn’t know. He feels like he should know, the visual of his brother is merely a manifestation of his subconscious. Klaus wants to figure it out.
“How could you possibly think that?” Klaus’s question is genuine.
“Because I've seen it. Because” She pauses to catch her breath. “I've caught myself wishing that I could forget all the horrible things that you've done.”
“But you can't. Can you?”
“I know that you're in love with me. And anybody capable of love is capable of being saved.” She doesn’t answer the question which is an answer in itself. But she thinks he could be saved even now after treating her as a tool to taunt Tyler as if she wasn’t more valuable than her whole merry gang put together.
Klaus’s vision is ever so slightly blurry. He inhales and looks away. Opens his mouth to say something else and closes it. Ends up on, “You're hallucinating.”
Caroline makes a painful whimpering sound. “I guess I'll never know.” She says almost humorously. Her breath catches in her throat.
“Caroline?” She begins not quite seizing. “Caroline?”
Her breathing is labored then weak and fading. Klaus stares at her his eyes darting around as if the answer of what to do will fall from the ceiling. Klaus moves quickly, he lifts Caroline into a sitting position, sits behind her, bites open his wrist and puts it to her mouth and she starts drinking. Klaus smooths her hair as she regains strength. She drinks enough to cure her and then some more than that.
Caroline stops drinking as her heartbeat levels into the slower pace of sleep. Klaus takes his fingers off Caroline's hair only slightly like if he lingered too long he’d catch fire. He moves slow enough to make sure she won’t wake as he gets up from the couch.
Certain enough that Caroline will sleep the rest of the night Klaus sprawls across the floor and groans.
And then joy upon joys, exactly what he needed right now, the hallucination turns auditory. It picks up in the middle of a sentence. Something about how by his own decree doesn’t this make him even more pathetic. Klaus groans again and resists the temptation to slam his head into the floor.
He turns his head to where the hallucination is sat criss crossed on the ground. Kol is only slightly singed around the hair. “You're done ignoring me now Nik?”
Klaus sighs before closing his eyes. But he doesn’t turn away. “I’ll take that as a no.” Kol says.
Klaus drifts in and out of sleep until the smell of burnt hair and flesh wakes him fully. It smells stronger than it did before which makes Klaus think at least part of it is in his head. Caroline is still curled up asleep on the couch when he checks which makes him feel a way he doesn’t quite have words for. Something nearing insanity he’s sure.
“How’s it feel having watched both your little brothers die?” The hallucination asks.
“Fuck off.” Klaus mutters, finally getting up off the floor.
Klaus tests the barrier trapping him. When he finds it still intact he goes to the armchair across the couch. Klaus sits with his head in his hands and waits for Caroline to wake up. He ignores Kol’s voice calling him names.
He thinks about Henrik. Thinks about how if he was there for both of them dying it must be something about him. Must be something he has cursed his family with. He listens to Caroline breathe.
Klaus really does try to ignore it. It’s most always best to ignore it. But Kol’s only singed around the edges. And there is no hole in his chest. He can’t help himself.
Klaus tries to look head on at Kol, but he wants to see him unblemished, of course that means in the time since he last looked Kol's face had become welded through with deep burns. Klaus looks away quickly, returning his gaze to the ceiling.
“What?” Kol asks, “Don’t have the stomach to see what became of me?”
Klaus wants to ask if Kol remembers flower collecting. If he remembers the quests he made of picking the flowers for mother’s spells, the differences between the ones he would get for mother and the ones he would get to press pigment into Bekah’s dresses. But he refuses to stoop to it. He will ask Kol when he is back.
Klaus darts another glance at Kol and he still looks like a burn victim but he’s making a funny face at him. Klaus looks away. He stands, striding over to the bookshelf.
He’s supposed to know better. Fucking idiot.
Klaus turns to the bookshelf in the corner, desperate for a distraction. His eyes skip over the Twilight series, A biography of William Harvey. He decides to read a bit of the Lord of the Rings. Klaus sits in the armchair across the couch and waits.