Work Text:
Her earliest memory is of the sea.
She isn’t sure how old she was – a child, and childhood feels like an eon ago. Perhaps it was; sometimes, she thinks she’s forgotten more from her childhood than she remembers. But this single memory, it burns brighter than all the rest.
It’s the sea, and maybe it’s the first time she’s ever been there, she’s not sure. But she feels so alive as she stands there, the sea spray blowing into her face, and when her hair eventually dries, it will be hard with salt.
Someday, someone will try to take you away from this. Never let them, Little Love.
Her mother had joined her, had held her hands and danced her through the surf and told her those words. There had been a wild look in her mother’s eyes, one Caroline had never seen before.
When she woke the next morning, her mother had been gone.
Others said terrible things about Elizabeth, but Caroline had known better. She always knew her mother loved her, but she just couldn’t stay. Not when the ocean called so very strongly. Caroline didn’t blame her mother for answering that call. She would answer it as well.
And she did, though not for years.
---
“A wife?”
The words were spoken incredulously, as though Damon couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing, but Rose simply shrugged in response.
“I don’t know much about her. I only saw her briefly. While Klaus and Elijah thrived on society, she was forever leaving to go to Bath, for the sea.”
“Was she human?” Elena asked, her curiosity piqued by the idea of a woman who could, apparently, love the man that everyone seemed to believe was the devil incarnate.
“Is she still alive?” Damon asked, his mind far more focused on more practical matters – such as where this woman was, and how she could be used to save Elena.
“I…” Rose hesitated, clearly uncomfortable, now that Damon was asking for details. “I saw her, a century ago in Mexico. She never told Klaus, not as far as I could tell. She isn’t evil, Damon.”
“She still married it,” Damon replied shortly. “And I’m not looking to kill her… just… meet her.”
No one believed him of course, but Rose gave another, guilty look at Elena.
“I don’t know how to find her… but your witch maybe can.”
They all looked to Bonnie. Like Rose, she looked at Elena first, but rather than looking guilty, Bonnie just looked determined.
“Let’s do this.”
---
She knew Niklaus her whole life. He was the elder brother of her best friend, Kol – a recklessly wild child, who always seemed to carry that same look in his eyes as her mother had, on that last day they spent together.
It was that look, that drew Caroline in.
And it was Niklaus that always watched them, that always stepped in, when Caroline might throw herself too far. In their younger years, it had been a duty. When he grew older, the look he wore changed from resigned exhaustion to something else… something that made Caroline believe there was nowhere she could throw herself that he wouldn’t follow.
They married when she was seventeen.
---
Salt water slicked over furred skin, and Caroline flipped back, using her tail to thrust her through the water. It had been ages, since she had come to the colder waters off the course of the U.S.; she’d been sticking to the warmer waters of the Mediterranean as of late, but then the gossip had reached her, that Klaus was hunting in Virginia.
She remembered the last time the Superntural underworld had whispered this loudly of Klaus. It was lifetimes and one Katerina Petrova ago.
Caroline wasn’t foolish enough to believe she could stop her husband, of course… but every now and then, her presence was enough to reel him in, to make him slightly less awful.
That had been the topic of her row with Rebekah over a century ago; she had thought Caroline should stay and be her brother’s keeper, but Caroline had refused.
It wasn’t her life’s role, to be Niklaus’ moral compass.
Still, on rare occasions she would emerge from the sea, to remind her husband that he wasn’t completely a monster.
A scream drew Caroline from her thoughts, and she looked out over the surface of the sea, to the nearby shore. A dark-skinned young woman was being attacked by a beast that Caroline recognized as a vampire, and Caroline felt rage rise.
She disliked seeing such creatures use their superior strength against those weaker than them – a constant point of contention with Caroline and her husband’s family.
It was quick work, making it to shore and storing her pelt. She had learned long ago to make use of the trash the sea sent onto shore as weapons, and there was a plank of wood that could be easily utilized against the vampire.
She moved silently across the beach. She approached the vampire from behind, her gaze meeting the young woman’s. But rather than fear, or relief, her eyes sparked with victory. Caroline froze, and then dropped the plank, spinning around to sprint for her pelt and freedom.
Another vampire stepped into the open, her pelt in his hands, and Caroline’s breath caught, and she suddenly felt light headed. He was touching her pelt.
He was touching her.
“Sorry, Barbie, but your hubby’s gotta go,” the dark haired vampire said from behind her. Caroline spun, hissing angrily at him. Without her pelt, she could still do partial transformations – just enough to let them know she was as much a monster as any of them.
She didn’t even bother to ask what Klaus had done. She knew he probably deserved their hatred, but her loyalty would always belong to the seas and her husband. Too many years had passed to change that.
“He’ll never let you live,” she promised. “He’ll hunt you and let me eat your hearts… or maybe I’ll feed them to you.”
“Big words for a seal,” sneered the man.
The dark skinned woman was chanting – latin, Caroline thought. The language of witches.
This time, her head went light, and she knew it wasn’t natural. She slumped to the ground, mind already whirling wildly, creating plans.
They had no idea who they had taken captive.
---
The ocean danced around her, soaking her dress, but Caroline didn’t care.
She and Nik had fought – fought terribly. And for the first time since their marriage, Caroline thought of what it would mean, to leap into the sea and never return.
“Caroline?”
She looked over her shoulder at his voice. His gaze, looking out at the water, was nervous. He must have followed her, even though it took well over a day to make this trek.
And he looked so frightened.
“Don’t go,” he asked, when she looked out at the ocean again.
“I can’t,” she replied, finally returning to him, accepting his hand. He embraced her tightly, and Caroline wished she could return the hug, but her mind was still caught within the ocean’s spell. “I can’t just swim away. I’d die.”
Klaus said nothing in reply, but there was something heavy in his silence.
---
Caroline awoke in what appeared to be some sort of cell. The absence of her pelt was like a stab to the heart; her connection to the ocean was stunted without it, and for moment, she allowed herself to curl into a ball and feel the pain of that absence.
Then, she pushed herself to the feet and peered out the tiny bars on the door.
Her gaze met brown eyes, set in a face that was all too familiar.
“Tatia,” she whispered, and then frowned. “No… Tatia is dead. Katerina, then? I this your way of gaining revenge? Even after I hid your flight from Niklaus?”
“I…” the girl hesitated, in a way that reminded Caroline of the Katerina she had once known, but not the Katherine she had later re-encountered, during one of her lengthier separations from Klaus and his siblings.
By the time she had returned to them, she had all but forgotten the meeting with Katherine Pierce, as she had begun to call herself.
“I’m Elena,” the girl said, breaking into Caroline’s thought.
“Elena,” Caroline murmured. She met Elena’s gaze, and caught how enraptured she looked. Caroline quirked her head, and watched as Elena swallowed rapidly. She was used to her effect on men, particularly mortal men, but she never counted on it with women. “A new Doppelganger. He won’t leave you alone, then.”
“He wants to sacrifice me, to break his curse. Elijah told me.”
“Elijah.” Caroline felt actual shock, and it was enough to break the spell she had been weaving over Elena, causing the girl to jolt with surprise. “Does Elijah know you have me here?”
“No,” Elena replied automatically. “Damon… Damon doesn’t trust him.” She surveyed Caroline closely. “He won’t like it.”
“He had better not,” Caroline murmured darkly. “Or I’ll let him know my opinion.”
“Then we won’t tell him,” Elena responded, her voice and expression cold, as though she were trying to make up for her earlier reaction to Caroline.
She watched Elena leave, and almost felt sorry for the girl. If it was that easy to resist the temptations of a Selkie, then her kind would never be able to free themselves of the humans that would keep them land locked.
---
She felt warm in the afterglow. They had managed to find their way back together after their fight and Caroline could once more feel… content.
Unless they were making love – that was the one time she was truly happy.
Klaus ran a hand along her arm and pressed a kiss to her forehead. He got to his feet, and came back with a wrapped pelt, which he set next to Caroline.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“I… it’s yours. Your father gave it to me. He said it was for me, but… it’s yours.”
The kiss he gave her was fierce, and led into more lovemaking, and it was enough to draw Caroline’s mind from the pelt.
But once Klaus fell asleep, and Caroline found that she couldn’t, she unwound the pelt. She ran her fingers across it, and swore she felt the caress on her own back. Her attention was utterly caught by the pelt.
The ocean had always called to her, but now it was a compulsion, the like of which she had never experienced before. It were as though the pelt held a direct connection to the ocean, and even though she loved her husband, loved his family, she could no more think of them in that moment than she could anything but salt water and sea foam.
When Klaus woke the next morning, she was already on her way to the ocean.
---
She scraped her claws down the door of her cell, the screeching it caused hurting even her ears.
It didn’t surprise her when the dark haired vampire appeared through the bars.
“Stop. It.”
“I don’t think I will,” Caroline replied, her voice a dangerous purr. She ran the claws down the door again, and grinned when the vampire’s eyes turned black, his fangs falling with a growl. “Oh dear… am I angering you?”
“You know, we don’t really need you alive,” he sneered, before dramatically sniffing the air. “I’ve never had fish before – it’s more my brother’s thing – but I can make an exception.”
“Then come, Little Vampire,” Caroline purred. “Come and show me how you bite. But be careful – I bite too.”
For a wild moment, she thought he might accept her dare. She heard the lock on the outside of the door actually rattle. Then he seemed to think better, and walked away.
Caroline shrieked in anger when he walked away, and clawed down the door again, before kicking it violently.
Still, the vampire didn’t return.
---
She wasn’t sure how long she remained in the ocean, frolicking in her pelt, her human identity shed away.
But eventually, her human heart reminded her of a husband she loved – a husband who hadn’t come after her. A husband who had given her the pelt.
He had known, she realized with a shock that cut through the animal’s mind. He had known exactly what that pelt was.
And still he had returned it to her.
It was that knowledge, that brought her back to land. She clutched the pelt tightly, not ready to give it up, not yet, and she made the trek back to the village.
There she encountered a nightmare.
“Hello, wife” – Klaus looked a monster, with black eyes and fangs that were even more frightening than Caroline’s own – “welcome home.”
---
It was when they brought in Elijah’s staked body that Caroline new she could no longer remain in her cell.
The vampire brothers – Stefan and Damon – paid her little mind, but Elena, with her pretty dark eyes made the mistake of looking at Caroline.
And Caroline smiled.
It was an hour later, but Elena returned, her gaze focused on Caroline as she stepped over Elijah’s body.
“Let me out, Elena. Let me out, and I swear I won’t hurt you” – she wouldn’t… what Niklaus would do… well, perhaps Caroline would put in a good word for the girl. She would have her heart broken soon, after all. The brothers had touched her pelt, and that Caroline would never forgive – “I’m not cruel, Elena. But this? This is cruel.”
“It’s to save me from Klaus,” Elena responded, biting her lip. But her breath was shallow as she focused on Caroline’s lips.
“Let me out, and you can touch.”
Those were the magic words, and Elena was unlocking the cell. Her eyes were over-bright, and in another world, Caroline might have felt guilty, for knocking the girl out, when Elena was expecting touch.
She halted over Elijah, contemplating the stake in his chest. But Elijah was ever the noble one, and had apparently turned traitor to Klaus. That meant Caroline couldn’t trust him, even if she thought he would simply stand back and let her do as she would.
She continued on, keeping a wary eye out for the witch from the day she was taken. The vampires she could handle, but the witch was dangerous.
“Elena!” she heard Stefan call, and she slid into the shadows as he came down the steps. This was the one that had touched her pelt. He would die painfully – just as his touch had been painful. Claws began to unsheathe, but Caroline stopped it.
Her pelt. To truly hurt these brothers, she would need her pelt and the full capabilities of her powers.
So she let Stefan pass by, and then moved quickly up the steps, knowing that he would soon find Elena and warn Damon.
She breathed in deep. She could always find the ocean, no matter where she was, and that pelt was a key to the ocean. Saltwater filled her senses, and she followed almost dreamily.
The brothers hadn’t expected her to escape, of course, and so they hadn’t hidden the pelt away, instead leaving it in plain sight.
Foolish children.
---
She fled from Klaus that first night, but she hadn’t been able to completely retreat from her husband.
Instead, she followed them – him and his siblings – as they murdered a swath across the country. Then they reached the ocean as well, and boarded a ship.
Caroline wasn’t sure how long they sailed, when Klaus finally noticed her there.
His gaze, when she stood on the boat’s deck, was hungry.
“What happened?”
“You left,” he growled. “You left, and everything fell apart.”
Caroline stepped up to him, framing his face with her hands. He had given her the pelt, even knowing what it meant – what she was. So she let her own monster shine through, black eyes and animal features, and she pressed her lips to his.
“I came back.”
“Why?” he growled, his grip a little tighter than proper, but Caroline didn’t mind. She wasn’t breakable.
“The ocean is a compulsion I’ll always have to answer – but you are my home. Always and forever.”
An echo of the promise he had made with Elijah and Rebekah. Klaus jolted, when he realized that she knew everything.
Knew everything, yet still returned to him.
“You’ll come back,” he murmured, and then he kissed her.
And though the ocean was a compulsion she would always answer, making love to him was still the only time she was truly happy.
---
The Salvatore brothers found her, wrapped in her pelt, and odd smile on her face.
“You should have run,” Damon informed her, letting his fangs drop. Caroline let her own come out, let her claws unsheathe.
“But running would have meant I missed all the fun,” she replied. She had considered using her wiles to make them release her… but that didn’t involve nearly enough pain.
And her husband was there. If she closed her eyes, she could all but feel him around her.
“Fun-”
Stefan let out a surprised gurgle at the end of the world, and looked down in shock before falling to his knees. His liver was in Klaus’ hand, and Caroline raised her brows.
“You ruined my plans, Sweetheart,” Klaus informed her. Ignoring Damon entirely, he flashed in front of Caroline, and ran his bloody fingers down her cheek, red trailing along her pale skin. “I wasn’t supposed to show my face until much closer to the full moon.”
“You’re one to talk. I had plans as well, before I was kidnapped. Because of you.”
Rather than anger, Klaus’ response was to grin at her. He bent down, and pressed his lips to hers. As their kisses usually did, it turned heated, and Caroline might have forgotten about the Salvatore brothers and fucked him right there… but Klaus had other ideas.
Damon had scooped his brother up and actually made it to the doorway, when Klaus flashed in front of him. He made Damon drop Stefan, and then gripped him by the throat.
“This is going to be bloody,” Klaus told him with mock pity. “And very, very bloody.”
Caroline might have pity for Elena, but she would never have it for the brothers that had stolen her pelt.
And though it wasn’t his heart, she took great glee in feeding Stefan’s liver to his brother, bite by bloody bite, until both brothers cried like children.
And Caroline smiled.
---
Two hundred years after they left the New World, Caroline’s pelt was taken.
The man who would have forced her to wife, was instead slaughtered slowly by Niklaus, until all that remained of him was a bloody husk, and two monsters standing above it.
“Never again,” Niklaus swore, pressing kisses to her throat.
“I’m a Selkie, Niklaus. It will always be a danger.”
“Then I’ll burn anyone that tries to ash.”
---
Elijah came to, to find that Elena Gilbert, tears streaking her face, was sitting next to him.
He was outside, while the Salvatore Boarding House burned to the ground. Niklaus and…
“Caroline,” he murmured with surprise. She turned to look at him, and he realized there was blood smeared on her cheek, and spattered across her clothing.
“They took my pelt,” was all she said, before looking back at the flames.
“For my wife’s sake, brother,” Niklaus said, not looking at him. “I’ll allow you to flee. But the girl stays.”
Another time, he might have argued. But if the fools had taken Caroline’s pelt… no matter Elijah’s desire to have his siblings back, there was nothing he could do for Elena, not now. He stood slowly, preparing to leave. Caroline turned to him, and stepped up, kissing his cheek.
“They’re my family, too, Elijah,” she murmured.
Elijah closed his eyes, and gave a sharp nod, knowing that he had to put his hope in his sister-in-law’s hands.
“Elijah-”
He didn’t wait to hear Elena’s plea. As he fled, he heard wood crack, and Elena’s sobs.
He wondered what she cried for – the brothers she had loved, or the loss of her own life?