Who: Caroline Forbes What: Dying wheeee When: during the explosion Where: Caroline’s flat in the Complex Warnings: death, do I need more warning than that?
Things seemed to be going a tiny bit better--well, maybe not better for the whole world or really even all that better in just Kansas alone--but in the bubble of people that Caroline had come to care about, the statement was true. Kol had turned his emotions back on, and while the road to recovery from demon possession and turning off feelings was going to be a long one, the fact he’d finally reached that point was a godsend. It also meant that she could stop focusing on trying to be there for the remaining three Originals and focus on the French exam she was trying desperately not to worry about. She would probably pass it, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t be with a perfect score if she didn’t finally buckle down and study.
Her flashcard materials and her books, not to mention the important study supplies like her stash of chocolate, were all at her apartment though and so when she’d left campus, she had headed back there instead of to the Original’s place like she had been doing for the last week or so. However long it had been since Kol had been exorcised. Time had been doing that annoying sliding together thing, days not really separating from nights in her mind, and she wondered when that would happen but instead of days it would be decades or centuries that would kind of meld together without much distinction.
She had a list of things she wanted to accomplish aside from studying--see Matt, check on Stefan, call up Anna, coffee with Lydia, ask Alexis and Jesse how the nightmares were going, get more cookies from Mercy, check up on Peter of the Spidey variety, and more that she continuously added to--filing each into little subcategories in her mind as she tried to dole out days to do them, coding which had the highest priority and who she hadn’t seen or talked to in awhile. There were also the tasks she knew she needed to work on but was steadfastly ignoring. Those ones that tried to edge their way into her mind, but she pushed them out, ignoring any traces of them as she tossed her bag onto the bed, and slipped her shoes off of her feet.
The Hummingbird painting hung on the wall above her bed, as beautiful as it was annoying--a constant reminder that she really did need to sit down and analyze her feelings and figure out so many things. Like how she’d gotten in way too deep and that promise to Stefan about being ready to walk away was dwindling into nothing with each passing day, her emotions and newfound ties drawing her further into the chaos that seemed to be the Mikaelson family. Because she had realized that being with Klaus wasn’t simply being with Klaus. It was getting to know all of them in different ways, but could anyone really be with an Original and not have a relationship with the siblings? Even if all the other siblings felt was hate for that person?
She almost felt bad for Katherine, a tiny flicker of sympathy that the other woman only ever received harshness from any of Elijah’s siblings, but it didn’t last long. She’d dealt herself that hand, and maybe not everything had been her fault, but that didn’t mean a good deal of it wasn’t. Plus it was really hard to continue to feel sympathy for her murderer.
Caroline pulled her box of flashcards from under her bed and settled down to lay on top of it, shuffling through the lot of them as she reviewed the new vocabulary and tried to not let her mind wander.
And then everything turned to chaos as the building shook around her, the explosions below causing her to press her hands to her ears at their volume. She never got a chance to wonder what was happening, never moved from the spot she was on the bed with the cards in her hand. The impact of whatever had been used cracked her wall, and the force of that splintered the painting hanging above her, a tiny sliver of wood cracking from the frame and launching itself downward. She didn’t see it coming or maybe she would’ve rolled away, been able to shift so it would hit a less lethal part of her body and only endured some pain until she’d been able to get the sliver of wood out of her skin.
But no, fate had a sense of humor--a dark one it seemed--and the sliver of wood pierced straight through her top and her flesh, embedding itself into her heart. Her life didn't flash before her eyes. She wasn't able to think of any regrets and at least this time she wasn't seeing the face of her best friend murdering her in her sleep. Nothing like in the movies when time seemed to stand still and the little memory reel would start playing from childhood to death. If anything time seemed to speed up.
All Caroline could manage was a very annoyed "Seriously!?!?!" before everything ceased to exist.