InsaneJournal

It was an odd thing. Being dead when you really weren't. Klaus wasn't truly aware of the passage of time. He had slipped into something like a trance; unmoving and unseeing, though still very much alive - or as alive as an undead hybrid could be. You couldn't tell him that, though. From the moment he had envisioned the stake being the White Oak Stake, Klaus had been consumed with the fear of dying. He hadn't burst into flame the way his other family members had, but that hadn't even occurred to him. All he could see was his entire life crumbling away - all that power and all that time was just vanishing. He was supposed to be immortal and now, here he was, bested by some stranger.

He was slumped over against the wall, arms at his sides and his head bowed to his chest. The blood had almost long enough to dry on his clothes by the time Caroline was kneeling before him. The injuries sustained from his fight had healed, apart from the stake in his chest. It wasn't until he heard Caroline's voice that Klaus stirred, though not much. He groaned and his head rolled back, resting against the wall. "Caroline?" he looked at her blankly. Why was he seeing her if he was dead? He remembered Mikael killing her - but that had been a hallucination, hadn't it? Or maybe it had been real. Was this what it was like on the Other Side of the veil?

Klaus went to move, only to squeeze his eyes shut as pain washed over him. The stake was still in his chest - while not fatal, it still hurt immensely. And the pain only served to remind him he had been staked. When Klaus reopened his eyes and looked down, he saw the weapon and, still, it was the White Oak Stake embedded in his heart. He gasped, the fear washing over him again as he imagined his own life slipping out of his hands once again. His breathing was shallow and quick, panicked breaths that ached every time his lungs took in air - his heart still unable to complete the necessary functions. "Caroline," he said her name again, a panicky whine as Klaus felt his body start to shut down again. He lifted a hand to grab the stake, but fear kept him from doing it again, just like before. Klaus was afraid that if he touched the stake, he would die instantly. Maybe it hadn't fully punctured his heart, maybe that was why he hadn't died already.

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Caroline couldn't believe this was happening. Klaus was probably the strongest vampire that she knew. Of course, that made sense with him being an Original and a hybrid. But right now, he looked so...different to her, so fragile. He was a far cry to the fearsome and murderous Klaus that many of them knew on a regular basis. She didn't quite know how to react to him, when he was like this. Had this been how he felt when she was surrounded by the witches that he couldn't see?

Klaus was definitely not dead, and he'd confirmed that when he'd said her name. This must have been some kind of awful trick this place was playing on them. It wasn't right, but then again, nothing here seemed to be. She felt relief wash over her, knowing for sure that he was not dead. And not just because if he was ever truly killed, she would be too. Caroline had gotten used to having Klaus in her life, especially here. And she couldn't really handle it if something truly happened to him.

He'd saved her on the rooftop, and it was her turn to save him now. "It's not real, Klaus. It's just a stupid piece of wood." She would have pulled it out already, but she didn't know how he would react to that. She had to kind of take her time and assure him first. "It's like the witches...someone is messing with all of us." Like Silas could do, but Silas was not here. At least not that any of them knew of, and why would he mess with everyone? It didn't make much sense. "I'm going to pull it out, okay?" She asked gently. "I'm going to pull out the stake and you will be fine."

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"It's- it's the white oak," Klaus countered Caroline's insistence that the stake was just some stupid piece of wood, stumbling over the words. It was hardly that. He knew he wasn't imagining it. He could feel it; he had felt the woman stab him with it, he had touched the stake before. It wasn't like with Silas, where he hadn't seen the stake in question, hadn't seen the shard the other immortal had threatened was there. He shook his head, breathing labored as he tried not only to quell the panic, but to just master the very act of taking in breath as his body fought against it.

The witches weren't real. This, on the other hand, this very much was. When she said she was going to take the stake out, Klaus clenched his jaw and shook his head again. "You'll kill me," he protested. The fact he wasn't dead yet didn't seem to register with him. It was too real for him to even process the idea that this place was inside his head, making him see things that weren't there. The reality of the stake in his chest made it impossible to distinguish that it wasn't actually white oak and, in fact, just the stupid piece of wood Caroline said it was.

Whatever fear he had, though, the fact of the matter was that he couldn't do anything until the stake was out of his chest. Because no matter how immortal he was, that didn't stop him from dying and coming back repeatedly as his body tried to heal around the wooden weapon. "It's killing me," his voice broke. The only thing that could have made this worse would be if his father showed up again, but Klaus couldn't even be bothered to look for the elder Original. He tried to take in a deep breath and failed. Klaus swallowed thickly and it was clear he was giving up again; at least Caroline would be the last person he saw. It would make it easy for her to pull the stake out.

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"It isn't." Caroline insisted. She didn't exactly expect him to believe her, though. She hadn't believed him right away about the witches. It all seemed real when it was happening. She had been seconds away from staking herself before Klaus had intervened. And now she had to intervene because she wasn't going to just let him be here indefinitely like this. Who knew when this whole thing would be over. And it could get even worse. She didn't even want to think about that now, though.

"You won't, I promise you won't." She said, and touched his face for a moment. This was just some normal stake, but she knew in Klaus's mind that it was the only weapon that could kill him. And she couldn't convince him otherwise until she removed it. Whoever was behind this was going to pay dearly when Klaus was back to his old self again. Caroline was sure of that. She wasn't used to seeing him this way, this wasn't the Klaus that any of them knew.

She put her hand on the stake, confident that she would not kill him by pulling out. She was very close to him now, and she didn't want him to worry about this. Once the stake was removed, maybe he'd be able to see this situation for what it really was. A lie. It was all one big lie. She moved her lips to his and kissed him, just as she pulled the stake from his chest. She wasn't sure why she'd done that exactly, but if nothing else it would have been a nice distraction for him. And they'd...been growing so close here. But Caroline had even shocked herself by the action.

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Perhaps she was another hallucination, concocted by his tormented mind as he died. Klaus thought it stood to reason as she touched his face. Hadn't that been what Silas had chosen to project as? A tender and delicate Caroline appearing when he was plagued with the thought of a fragment of the White Oak Stake embedded in his rib cage back in Mystic Falls? He didn't have the energy to fight against it, though. The longer it went on, the longer he looked at her, he just wanted it to end. If Mikael had really killed her... if his father was truly real - did he even care about whether or not this stake killed him? Wouldn't death just be a relief, anyway?

Klaus was ripped from the fatalistic thoughts as Caroline moved to grab hold of the stake. He choked on a pained noise as she did so, tensing as he swallowed it back. She was so close. Klaus tried to still himself, watching her intently and fighting back the panic that came with the concern that, when she did pull the stake out, he would just die. He was squirmed and just when he was about to protest, to insist she leave him be, Caroline leaned in and kissed him. The shock of the gesture nearly negated the sudden, mixed sensation of pain and relief as she pulled the stake from his heart as well.

The instant the stake was removed, his body quickly went to work, healing the damage and the pain and panic-driven haze cleared from his mind. Even still though, Klaus found himself at a loss. He never would have expected Caroline to make such a move. He tipped his head back to look at her, blue eyes filled with uncertainty. Was this another hallucination? It couldn't be. "What would your boyfriend say?" Klaus spoke after a lengthy silence. Perhaps not the best way to move forward, but he felt the need to regain control. To regain some semblance of his usual persona. Here he was, prone on the ground, bested by a stranger and manipulated by whatever forces were at work in this city. Klaus reacted the only way he knew how; by being defensive - even if the statement was delivered in a still shaky voice and lacked any of the typical sting that accompanied his quips.

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Caroline didn't like whatever all of this was. No one seemed immune from it, not even Klaus. She didn't know what was powerful enough to pull something like this off. Silas had these kind of abilities, but to be able to keep doing it to everyone? That didn't make any sense. No one was that powerful, right? And if they were...Caroline didn't want to meet them. Except maybe to punch them, but she imagined that wouldn't end well. If Klaus ever found out though, that person or whatever it was would be as good as dead.

Of course as she removed the stake, his body was healing instantly. Soon he'd be back to himself, or so she hoped. He might still believe the stake had been real, or that Caroline was just a hallucination, neither of which were true. She was really here. And she'd really removed the stake. And she'd really kissed him too. She was still kind of in shock over that, because there wasn't really any good reason to have done that.

She stepped back from him, staring for a moment. Something this powerful that could cripple a hybrid in this way, it was almost unimaginable. And very much like one of Silas's tricks. She stood to her full height, and backed away a bit more. She wanted to make sure to give him his space. At his nasty comment, she rolled her eyes. "Nice to have you back." Even if he didn't seem to fully be like himself just yet.

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As Caroline stood up, he could feel his body repairing itself, could feel his life seeping back into him. It was a relief to feel that power that came with being alive coming back to him. Klaus stayed on the ground for a few moments, still sagging heavily against the brick wall where she'd found him. She put a healthy amount of space between them and Klaus couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret at his decision to throw his walls back up instantly - especially when she had gone so far as to kiss him. Months ago, he would have given anything for such affection from her and now he'd gone and all but swatted it away.

When she spoke, Klaus sighed and looked away from her before climbing to his feet. He still chose to lean heavily on the wall for the time being. "Thank you, Caroline," he finally spoke at length, almost unwilling to speak the words. But she deserved them. Had it been anyone else who found him... "Someone else may have left me as they found me," he said and stepped away from the wall and closer to where Caroline now stood. It was true. Had someone like Elena or even Rebekah found him, Klaus wasn't convinced they would have bothered to spare him. "But not you," he offered her a weary smile.

He stepped closer to her, confidently closing the distance between them. Her relationship status be damned; he could handle Tyler any day of the week and whether she was leading him on or not, for now Klaus didn't mind. It was just a relief to be alive and he was glad she had been the one to bring him back. Without hesitation, Klaus leaned in and pressed his lips to hers - returning the kiss he had been too shocked and too incapacitated to properly reciprocate the first time. "So thank you," Klaus repeated meaningfully.

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Caroline couldn't even imagine what Klaus would do once he found out who or what was responsible for all this. She was willing to bet it wouldn't be pretty, though. Klaus was not a man who became helpless easily, and this thing that none of them seemed to be able to escape from had all but crippled him out here. Caroline certainly didn't plan on bragging about how she'd found him. Klaus deserved his dignity. And besides, he had saved her on the rooftop, and he'd saved her when she'd been so close to turning her humanity off. The way that Caroline saw it, this didn't even make it even.

She knew he was going to be fine, so she could have just walked away and left him there. Something made her stay though. She didn't know why, but she couldn't just walk away and leave him alone after something like this. He hadn't left her, though the reasons for that were fairly obvious. She didn't expect him to thank her. Klaus didn't usually do things like that, unless it was in a sarcastic manner, but she could tell that he was being sincere. She knew he was right too, someone else might have just left him like that. Someone else might have thought it was exactly what he deserved. But not Caroline. She couldn't have just left him there like that, it wasn't right.

He seemed a lot better, as he moved closer to her. She could tell he had healed, and he was more or less back to the same old Klaus. She could have left then too, but again she stayed. And the next thing she knew, he was kissing her. She wasn't so surprised, he hadn't exactly been in the position to kiss her back a few moments ago. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help herself, as she kissed him back, just a bit. "Sure." She nodded. "I'm glad you're okay." She easily could have just chalked this up to him saving her before, but she knew there was more to it, even if she couldn't readily admit it. "Walk me back to the apartments?"

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