Immortals [Klaus Mikaelson]

42

"I'm not even sure what I should do with myself right now," I realize, placing a hand to my pounding head.

Klaus, in Tyler's body, sits down on the ground and leans back against a tree, watching me. It makes me feel slightly better knowing that he's really here, alive and well, but it's only slightly better because, when I look down at his face, a boy I don't even know stares back at me.

"I cannot say I didn't expect this reaction." He mumbles, "I was a bit off about the amount of enthusiasm on your end, I'll admit, but still."

My mind continues to race faster than I can keep up with, which only coaxes my headache along further. Images play behind my eyes: Klaus's burning corpse, Elijah telling me that Tyler Lockwood is dead, Alaric's ghostly goodbye that I couldn't see, the memory that replayed in Klaus's bedroom...

"Have you been near the house?" I ask him.

His face slowly gets darker as he thinks about it, "Yes. I needed to know that you were alright. I didn't know it would provoke a memory for you."

"You couldn't have known that." I dismiss the thought quickly, "That would have been a great time to tell me, though. It mustn't have been fun watching me mourn you when you're obviously not dead."

My words come out colder then I intend them to be, but they seem to stem from true thoughts, nonetheless. Klaus hasn't looked up since I asked him about it in the first place. It's clear by the look he's holding that he feels remorse.

Realizing my mistake, I sit down in front of him on the grass. The proximity is strange as I'm not used to the body that he's in, but I continually remind myself that it's my Niklaus inside.

"You're being oddly quiet, Niklaus." I hum in an attempt to make my voice lighter, "I'm upset that I'm finding out now, that's all. After last night, I would have done anything to bring you back—"

"I'm right here, Claramay, and I know better than anyone about what you were going through," he reaches up to cup my cheek and I find myself instinctively leaning into him, despite the strange set of eyes staring back at me. "I made a choice to not tell you. It would have put you, and our entire family in danger if I had."

He knows that I understand this excuse too well. This was exactly why I didn't come back to the Mikaelson's after I was murdered by Mikael. What kind of person would I be if I didn't at least try to understand his logic?

A tear slips from my eye, despite the determination to keep it in. When I place my hand over Klaus's and allow myself to look deeper into his eyes, Tyler slips away.

And then, there's just Klaus.

"There you are," I whisper, crying softly.

"Here I am," he subtly smiles at the randomness, but he's already bordering the same mess of emotions that I'm stuck in.

And soon, he's kissing me.

As our lips mold with each other's, it becomes clear that there is more than simple passion or lust between us. The way he runs his fingers through my hair and pulls me as close as we possibly can get, it all stems from loss. For us, it's been a loss of time, a loss of contact and even a loss of hope after what we've gone through since being reunited in Chicago. Most importantly, though, there has never been a loss of love after it all, and there never will be.

When his hands venture away from my face and his lips connect with my neck, I don't bother stopping him as I normally would. My mind is foggy enough as it is with our rushed recovery from longing, but I don't allow myself too much of him because this is not his body.