❝𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯❞

KLAUS HANDED GRETA THE MOONSTONE, HIS EYES BRIGHT IN ANTICIPATION, LIT BY THE FLAME SURROUNDING THE THREE DAMNED GIRLS.

From the side, the group of people watched on eagerly. It was a thousand years in the making, five hundred years of running, two hundred years of desperation, and a few weeks of realizing where they were better off. And they'd finally ended up here, all together by some twisted spin at fate's hand.

Though they couldn't give fate the honor of holding such a dear moment all to themselves. They all fought for this moment, every one of them.

Klaus's siblings have fought for him, fought to help him rid himself of the curse that has haunted him since Esther died. Rosemary and Damon have fought for one another, they fought to reunite. Katherine fought herself, she fought her guilt, her emotions as a whole– she fought for her life.

And Caroline fought for herself. For so long she'd felt bad for the growing resentment towards her friend, but no longer did she feel any of it. Now she was prepared to stand and watch the life drain from her eyes, just as it once did her own. Maybe in the afterlife Elena would finally realize what Caroline went through because of her.

It all amounted to this moment, truly.

Damon clutched onto Rosemary's hand, turned towards the lit altar Klaus and Greta were standing before.

Elijah and Rose were beside one another, watching as the ritual began. Kol, Rebekah, and Katherine stood amongst themselves with varying levels of emotion. Caroline stood a few inches behind a silent and solemn Stefan, watching him closely at Klaus's order.

Greta suddenly dropped the moonstone into the fire, making a short crack echo in the woods as it exploded. Jules held her stomach as she screamed in pain, the spell Greta cast on her causing unbearable pain.

Her low murmurs of Latin began, and Klaus stalked over to Jules, a smirk on his face when he heard the finality of her voice as she spoke to Elena.

"Shall we?"

The ring of fire around her faded away into nothing, and it was only a split second before Jules's eyes flashed yellow and she was charging towards Klaus. Though she knew it was a losing fight when she did it, she'd never die without trying to survive.

Klaus pinned her to the ground in a flurry of movements that rustled the flames and the leaves around them all, and plunged his hand into her chest with a sickening squish. He smiled down at her, and wiped the tear that fell from her eye as he yanked his arm back, holding her heart in his hand.

Jenna looked on, horrified, as she realized that she would face the same fate as the poor woman.

Walking back to the altar, Klaus let the werewolf's heart bleed over the open flame, the scent pungent in his nose. He squeezed the lifeless organ in his hand, grunting when he felt the full moon tug at a part of him he'd never felt. "Tell me it's working."

Greta smiled at him. "It's working,"

Klaus dropped the heart into the sparking altar, and grabbed the stake carved out for him. He eyed the woman still kneeling on the ground, obviously upset at the dead werewolf lying a few feet away. "Hello, Jenna,"

He looked over his shoulder at Greta. "Whenever you're ready,"

Her low chanting started again, and the fire faded from Jenna just as it had Jules.

Elena looked at her aunt with fresh tears budding at her waterline. "Jenna, no. Please, she doesn't have to die."

"I think it's rather poetic," Klaus fumbled with the stake in his hand. "Three goddesses sacrificed at nature's altar. Don't fret, Elena, if I didn't have plans for your boyfriend, I'd use him. But I'm afraid this is what we've come to."

Jenna smiled shakily at her niece. "It's alright, Elena. I know what I have to do."

She faced Klaus head on, a tear skidding down her flame-flushed face.

In a blur, Klaus stabbed the stake through her back, and pinned her to the ground. Elena cried out as Jenna opened her mouth in a silent scream, her hands covering her mouth in horror.

"Jenna, Jenna, just turn it off," She shook her head, looking into the fading eyes of her aunt. "You won't be scared anymore."

Jenna smiled serenely as she looked up at Elena. "It's alright. I'm not," She shook her head. "I'm not scared."

Klaus pricked the tip of the stake into her chest, pushing it in inch by inch.

Jenna let out a choked breath, her hands clenching around nothing. "I- I love you, E–Elena,"

"I love you, too. I love you, I'm sorry," Elena fell to her knees as Klaus shoved the stake into her heart, gray veins almost immediately trailing up her cheeks.

Elena blinked through her tears, her vision unfocused as she wiped them away.

The first thing to focus in her blurry eyes, was the sight of Jenna lying there, lifeless.

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Caroline watched Klaus take Elena up to the altar, past Jenna's body. Though her eyes were unfamiliarly cold at the scene playing out, her heart was pounding.

Stefan stood still before her, and she longed to see the look on his face as Klaus tilted Elena's head to the side and sunk his fangs into the delicate skin on her throat.

She wasn't afraid, despite her pounding pulse. An eager, but dangerous excitement pulsed through her system. Her fist clenched around nothing at her side.

So quickly her life had fallen apart, and it almost always came back to the dying doppelgänger ten feet away from her.

Caroline died because Katherine was jealous of Elena. She turned into a vampire because Elena demanded that she be healed from the car accident. Matt found out about vampires because Stefan killed Dr. Martin's son, for Elena. If she hadn't healed Matt, he'd be dead because of Elena, too.

All of that tragedy, all of that death that followed her old friend yet Caroline was the monster because she was a vampire.

For months after her transition, she loathed everything about it. She didn't like going to class in the mornings and hearing nothing but the fresh, warm blood pulsing through her classmates' veins. She hated being able to hear her mother's every word throughout their entire house. She hated the way she feared to look into people's eyes, afraid she might compel them to her will.

But now, she realized that all of that was an advantage. It was a power over the oblivious, a reassurance that she'd never be as helpless as Elena, or as limited as Bonnie.

Long ago, Caroline Forbes died, and she felt as if she never came back to life.

But now, as she watched Elena fall to the ground with no pulse, and no beating heart as her mindless eyes fluttered shut for the last time, she felt alive. She felt the blood rush through her veins and pulse through her undead heart like it never had before.

Caroline stiffened her lip as a tear fell down her cheek. Finally she was alive again.

Her eyes met Klaus's from across the way, and she didn't back down when she saw the wild look in his eyes. Her heart beat a little faster as he stepped down from the altar, baring himself to the full moon as the clouds cleared from above.

She flinched when the first sound of shattering bones echoed in her ears, and lunged forward towards Klaus at his splitting scream.

An arm blocked her way, and she looked up, seeing Elijah stop her with a slight shake of his head. "He's alright. I promise he'll be alright. We must leave him for the first shift, he could kill any of us."

Reluctantly, she nods, letting him lead her away from Klaus.

With one last glance, she looks at Elena's unmoving body. That same stutter skips through her pulse, and she sighs a quiet sigh of relief.

Alive. Finally alive.

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author's note; i am soft for caroline, but real talk,, jenna deserved to live they should've killed stefan 🥴 don't @ me also yes this took longer than i thought because i rewrote it and made it poetic for caroline's sake

edited and published; 12.4.23.

- liz