The One You Once Were

Forgiveness

"What? No, I was not. I don't know what you're talking about?", he denied harshly.
"Stop lying!", I ordered annoyed. He should really tell me the truth now, it made no sense to continue lying. "You were already invited into the house, you told me you needed time. It's true, just admit it."
I started to get really upset now, wanting him to say he saved me back then and that I wasn't crazy.
"Okay, fine. It was me. You're right.", he gave in, probably noticing that else our fight would never be resolved.
"So, let me get this straight.", I started to get my thoughts in order. "You were there, helped save my life but then made me believe I hallucinated!? Why didn't Kilian or Heather remember you?"
A realization struck me right after the words had left my mouth. Simultaneously with Klaus, I said: "Compulsion" and he gave me a guilty nod. Smart move on his hand to make the two forget, I gave him that. He'd clearly been practicing his skills.
"But what for? Why make me think those moments weren't real?"
That was the only thing I didn't understand. Why go through all the trouble just to lie about it afterwards? How'd that make sense?
"Because", he avoided my gaze as if this was an embarrassment to admit, "because I wasn't sure how I myself would handle everything. It was easier to have you believe you'd imagined our conversations than to know that you were waiting for me."
"I was either way. But knowing or thinking you needed time made it so much easier. And what did you have to handle anyways? Your vampirism?", I asked, still partly upset with him.
"That too. But moreover what I saw in your hallucinations and that letter."
My mind spiralled around his words for a few seconds, lingering over the hallucination bit and more importantly the letter part.
"Run that by me again?", I said, my voice shaky.
"You heard me. At first I thought this was a weird fabrication of your mind, having my siblings there made sense then. I did wonder about where you got the ideas for the environment and why some of the people, especially that one girl, reacted so weirdly when seeing me but I explained it away with your disease.", he told me. I was just waiting for the "but" to pop up and as his face shifted, I knew he was about to talk about the letter.
"However, the letter... that was something else to put it lightly."
There it was. The letter. I'd completely forgotten about the possibility of him having read it. It made sense since he was the one who found it in my pockets, of course he would read what the weird liquid was before giving it to me.
"So, you read it?", I asked in a rhetorical way.
"I did.", he nodded. "And I admit, throughout my first read through, I was overcome by a sense of jealousy, wondering who this starcrossed lover was. Until I saw who signed it. Klaus. It finally made sense why you were used to calling me that name and wouldn't adapt to Niklaus."
A bit shy, I searched for his glance, he returned it just as careful. I heard noises from the dining room, probably the kids moving around, maybe even listening in on us, they were curious enough to do so.
"It was me, wasn't it? I wrote that letter? Or better, I didn't yet but I will some day."
He'd even figured that much, huh?
"I reckon something went wrong with that Silas guy and that's why you're here? That's why you envisioned the future with my siblings and me non-existent? Because I was?", he stated, putting all the pieces in place by himself. Was he allowed to know all this? Wouldn't it tear the timeline apart and destroy his chances of survival?
Before answering or even saying a single word, Heather came around the corner, breathing heavily while grabbing a crack in the wall to stand up straight.
"Caroline, honey, everything alright?", she worried, luckily keeping me from having to say anything else about the letter situation.
"Yes, it's fine.", I answered, thankful for the distraction.
Her eyes shifted over to Klaus, examining him for a second, then a realization struck her and they widened.
"Klaus, right? I remember you, you were here when Caroline was so badly injured.", she said, the many words at once straining her voice to sound thin and rough.
"He was." By her confusion, I guessed she was wondering how'd she forgotten before so I decided to rather explain than to leave her in the dark.
"It's called compulsion, he made you forget."
"Magic?", she asked.
"A kind of, yes.", I agreed. "The vamp version of it. Speaking of"
I zapped over next to her, helping her stand steady and gently touching her shoulder. "I need to talk to you."
A second later, we were in her mind. Her room had changed, it was less colourful, some of the walls crumbling down, barely holding up the moving pictures on the walls.
"Oh god, what happened here?", I wanted to know, genuinely shocked by her state of mind.
"My sickness did.", she said, even looking pale in the fictional version of herself. "But what did you want to talk about?"
She seemed pressing, as if every second of talking about the matter was crucial. Was she in even worse condition than I'd originally thought?
"Never mind that, you shouldn't be up in a state like this! You need to lie down!", I ordered, the issue with Klaus suddenly seeming very small and unimportant.
"Caroline, please. Just ask what you wanted to ask and then let's get back to the kids. Please?", she begged, her eyes watering.
"Okay, yes.", I granted her request. If my attempts to better her situation were actually just causing her more stress, then I should just do what she wanted. "It's about Klaus. He knows about his future self. Now, is it dangerous that he does? Can this impact his timeline? Or should I tell him the entire truth?"
Toughtful, Heather bit her lip, scenes and pictures of Klaus and me flashing up around the room, reflecting her ideas about what to do.
"The entire truth might not be a good idea. Tell him, he won't die. Say, you're from the future and that you're here for him but that he doesn't need to worry.", she finally stated. "That's the most important thing. He can't know about the timeline in which he dies."
Very persistent on the death part then. But that actually helped. That reduced our secrets to just a few and I was sure that fact could take away tuns of weight on our bond. Perhaps he would finally forgive me entirely.
"Thank you, Heather."
A slight nod on her behalf. She was  really not looking good.
"And now, let's get you to sit down."
I left her head and rushed her physical body to the kitchen table where she dropped onto the chair like a dead sack of meat.
"Kilian." His name was enough to get him to sprint to my side. "Something's wrong, her mind is literally breaking down, it's like a..."
"Dried out plant.", Heather finished herself, her fingers weakly twitching as if her body needed some kind of muscle movement to stay functional. "Sorry.", she forced herself to say. "Thought I could do it today."
"You need to rest, my love.", her husband worried. "I'm gonna carry you to your room so you can sleep. Got it?"
She said nothing, tried to nod but there was barely any reaction. This was everything but good. We all felt it, Kilian, me and the children alike. These were Heather's last hours with us.
We all exhaled deeply after Kilian had brought Heather out the door. Ellie seemed the most disturbed, which wasn't surprising as it was her birthday and her mother appeared to be quickly fading away now. I was quite relieved when her friends arrived, staring weirdly when walking past Klaus, but nevertheless helping Ellie to think better thoughts. Her siblings disappeared into their room, needing to talk about what was going on. They took Caleb with them, who'd gone quiet, only observing everything to access the situation. He shouldn't need to do things like these at his age, it was a miracle he was able to comprehend how to act in the first place. Or maybe he just mirrored the others' ways of dealing with what they had witnessed.
Klaus and I decided we should leave the birthday bunch alone as well and went outside to have a bit of privacy as well.
"I came at a bad time, didn't I?", he asked, merely whispering, and thus speaking more to himself than me.
"Kinda.", I sighed. "But you couldn't have known. Last time you saw them, the kids hadn't even been born yet and Heather was as healthy as we all wished she'd be now."
My eyes stared at a hole in the ground, small but deep. Soon we'd have to dig a bigger one. The thought of it sent shivers down my spine. This was the way of life or rather death but I hated it more than anything else in the world.
"About your question from earlier.", I started, desperately grasping for a distraction, "you were halfway right about all of it. I wasn't born in this time period but travelled back decades for you. However, there's no need to worry, you won't die, I promise."
Not on my watch at least.
"From the future, huh. How crazy is that. How many years from now were you born?", he asked curiously but I felt like I'd already said too much.
"I can't say.", I answered apologetic. "Don't want to create paradoxes."
"So that's why whenever we fought you stayed silent?", he finally understood. Oh thank god, now that he knew, he might understand my struggles better.
"Exactly.", I smiled, feeling a kind of relief as if someone had taken an airplane off my chest.
"It all makes sense now. Your secrecy, how helpless you looked whenever I asked something you didn't want to answer.", he put together. "By the heavens, and I pushed you away because of it. My love, I am so sorry, I had no idea about what you have had to go through."
He took my hands into his, a gesture of which I had no idea how much I'd missed it.
"You couldn't have.", I shook my head. "Not without me telling you."
"Caroline.", his voice turned serious. "Now that I know, I have to say that I should have never turned you away in the first place. So, let me ask you this: will you please travel with us again? Accompany me throughout the countries? What do you say? You and me together again at last?"

Hey guys,
It's a miracle I know, finally posting again. I do apologize for the delay, I didn't think it would take me this long but yeah, I can't change it now.
A few infos though:
This story has gone on longer than I'd ever imagined and gained more readers than I would have ever thought possible. Thanks for sticking around and being active even though I am not as much lately. I really appreciate it.
I will try to write more on this if I can so bear with me, I beg of you.
Have a great week and in case I don't finish the next chapter in time: merry Christmas already.