Interlude 1 - Parents

[Caroline's PoV]

"What's on your mind?" 

"Hm?" Caught by surprise, I didn't react accordingly. "Ah, nothing much. Just thinking a little."

"About what?" Alaric questioned again.

"A talk I had with John…" I replied, my mind going a little back in time.

"Hm, it seems this conversation wasn't nothing for you to be this thoughtful." He said, not exactly wrong. "Come on, share with me what you have in mind. What did you talk about?"

"What is the image you have of John?" I looked up at Alaric, my feet continuing moving along the sidewalk.

It seemed my question surprised him a bit, for the time he took to answer that was more than I expected.

"An unknown." He replied. "I think that's the primary, or main secondary image I have of him."

"I think I can see why, but explain to me why." I asked.

"He is studious, I see in him passion for knowledge, magical or not. He is well-mannered, is in the good graces of everyone in the school. And more surprisingly, he succeeded in a task I thought impossible during certain moments. I spent one month now as his principal and professor, and I must say I grew fond of him through this time. But… how should I say this? Sometimes, I look at him, and I think I don't know him."

My time to question now. "And why do you think of that?" 

"Because, at the end of the day, I am not certain of who he is." He said, and that made me raise a brow. 

"Then why did you let him in the school?" I asked. 

"He convinced me." 

Hm, a rather simple reply. 

"He just appeared there, told me he wanted to study. I tested him, and even used my most stubborn student to see if that's what he really wanted." The soft chuckled escaping from lips told how he found it amusing. 

"You let him in because he convinced Hope." 

"And for other reasons as well." He didn't even try to deny it.

Well, I must admit. If someone told me a month ago that that retreated and isolated girl would so easily come into a relationship with a new student, I would doubt its veracity.

Ever since that eventful, when Hope returned from New Orleans two years ago, she wasn't the same. Father, mother, uncle, she lost too much in a short timespan. And to make it all worse… no one looked at her the same way. 

The murmurs, the whispers of her doings and the revelation of who her family was, all the judging eyes… 

Because of everything, she recurred to the main action those who were not welcomed by their social environment, isolated themselves. Ignore the world, living in their own world.

I pitied her for that. And, against my own wishes, I thought I failed Klaus somehow.

I never promised him to take care of Hope, but she was a student at my school for god's sake. I was responsible for her.

So, even though I knew I wouldn't be present for her, I asked Alaric to do it. I asked for him to look over her, to try to take her out of her own world.

…Who would think someone would accomplish what we couldn't in two years.

"My turn now." Alaric looked at both sides of the road before crossing it. "What did the two of you talk about?" He ended his question as soon as we stepped over the other sidewalk.

I didn't take long to answer him, after all, I had been thinking about it the past few hours. I just needed the right words.

"The reason behind the conversation itself was because of something I saw."

"And what it was?"

"He seemed bored." Yes, that was the right word. "I saw him there, spacing out a little. And in a fraction of a second, I saw it. Boredom."

"Just that?"

"I wished it was this simple." I didn't rush to explain, I wanted my words to match the rhythm of my thoughts. "He seemed distant… His mind was somewhere else entirely, away from our reality." 

It was hard to forget. I couldn't forget it. 

At that moment, I witnessed it. Those glowing eyes, apparently full of life, losing their glow momentarily. And then… 

"He smiled." That smile was hard to forget. "That smile stayed in my mind, and I wondered why he smiled. That's when I thought… He was happy, happy to think of somewhere else than his own reality?"

"Like someone unsatisfied by their surroundings?"

"Yeah…" I nodded. "But that intrigued me even more."

"Why?"

"Because, that same happiness was present in another moment." This time, I didn't remember his smile, but his eyes. Eyes that revealed the truest of his emotions. "I remember few times I saw someone so happy when looking at someone else." Few times, but I remember them vividly. "One of them was supposed to be the happiest day of my life."

"Stefan…"

"I still remember that silly look of him on the altar." It wasn't exact, but it was similar. "The look of someone in love." Yeah… I also lost the count of how many times I caught myself with that same smile on the mirror.

"I was intrigued. He was in love, he was near the one he loved. Why would he be unsatisfied to be where he is? And why, just why, would he try to restrain this dissatisfaction of his?" I asked myself these same questions earlier. The difference? I think, now, I know the answer. "And I got my opportunity to ask these questions."

"And how did you ask?" Alaric asked.

"Maybe I was a little too upfront. I just asked why he restricted himself." I remember how surprised he was. "He got quiet for some time, maybe thinking to himself why I asked this of him. I myself wonder why I asked this of all things. I could do other questions, elaborate more. But… when I reminded myself of that look he had during our conversation, it just blurted out from me."

"Hm…" Alaric hummed humorously, probably finding the scenery he thought interesting.

"He said to me that now, he couldn't go after the things he wanted. That he couldn't do as he wanted right now."

"And why of that?" He curiously asked.

"I asked the same thing." I said. "And all he said was because he couldn't. That right now, he had things to consider before doing what he wanted. He needed to end certain things before he could do what he wished."

"And you asked him what were all of these things?"

"I didn't. Didn't want to pry so much." For the first time in my life. "He seemed a little taken aback by my questions, so I just let him go. But… I have an idea. Do you remember what you told me about him? The reason he had to join the school?"

"He wished for a little bit of normality."

"I think he is tired of this normality already." I looked at my feet, trying to prevent them from stepping over the lines on the sidewalk. "And for this reason and another, he is restricting himself. Because he has things to finish… and things to consider before doing what he wants."

"The school and Hope." He muttered, figuring out the same as me.

"Yes… but in the end, the main reason is himself." I said, looking up to Alaric. "After all, all our decisions are taken by us, correct? Uncaring of the environment and reasons."

"Correct." He nodded, closing his eyes for a time. I think he thought of something. But again, strangely, I wouldn't pry. 

"So, this was your conversation." 

"Just the most important bit. He initially wanted to talk to me about the town's history. What we've passed through here." 

"Predictable, he likes to consume this type of knowledge." Alaric halted on his steps and turned to me. "Here we are. The old and good Grill." He opened the door, revealing to me the interior that seems to have not changed these past few years.

"You talk like you don't come here at least once a month." I stepped within the Grill, and, like Alaric said, the old and good smell of the restaurant's meals greeted my nostrils.

"It's more for the nostalgia. After all, it's rare for us nowadays to reunite like this."

"I agree. So sad Bonnie couldn't join us. Mongolia sure must be enjoyable." 

"It certainly must be better than this old town we live in." He sarcastically said, closing the door behind us.

Well, I don't know if I agree or not. I know this place from within, and it sure must be cool to see new places just for enjoyment. But, in the end… this is our home, right? It still captures the heart despite the familiarity.

"Caroline, right here!" 

[???]

"It still intrigues me."

"What?" He turned to me.

"How you can frow your brow for so long." I blurted out, now looking at his frown. "Even with us dead, don't you get tired?"

"Haha… very funny of you." He dryly muttered, pacing around the four figures of light in front of us.

That was mostly what we could see. We could see their shapes, their forms, their characteristics. But everything around them was almost like a golden and white blur, like wind which took form, trying to disperse if the slightest of our focus wandered from it.

"So, learned something through your paranoiac stalk?" I followed his steps, pacing around the four figures sitting down, all around what I thought to be a round table by its illusory shape.

"They seem to be discussing the events of last night." He muttered, halting on his steps. He stood behind the largest of the figures, but amazingly, through behavior and merely the act of how he carried himself, he didn't seem to be lesser in size.

I guess that's what a thousand years spent as the most feared being in the world can cause.

"The Leshy…" I muttered curiously. "Don't you really remember nothing?"

"Oh, how could I forget that thing that seemed to corrupt an entire forest into doing its bidding?" He dramatically said, approaching me. "Really, Hayley? Do you really think I wouldn't know of such existence during my time?"

"Just asking."

"For the fifth time." He said, turning his eyes back to the forms. Probably hearing them.

As while, I could barely hear a whisper of their words. 

That was strange until now, although understandable if what we think is the reason behind it is correct.

We could both see their shapes and forms just the same. The surroundings were more difficult, but we could use our own imagination and their actions to figure out what was their environment.

As for hearing, I couldn't hear much, at least not as good as Klaus or Elijah. The reason? Well, the most obvious. They were Originals, obviously they would have a bullshit advantage for having stronger than average souls. 

Because, in the end, that's what we were, souls with forms—Spirits.

Hm? Suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I noticed something. An abrupt change in Klaus' demeanor. Something got a reaction out of him.

"What happened? What did you hear?" I urged him, getting closer to him once again.

And when close, I noticed his eyes were locked on the smallest of the forms, Hope. And in them, worry started to crept out.

"They learned of a power in the dagger, one sealed in it…" He explained.

I remained quiet, just silently nodding according to his words.

"And it seems it reacted to Hope's touch."

"Okay… and what does this mean?"

"To where my mind is going, nothing good." He, in low tone, said. "Whoever is after the dagger, is after the power in it, apparently. They are going to great lengths to acquire it, we saw it. And the thought that my daughter might be able to have an effect on it just doesn't bring a good taste to my mouth."

"I can relate." I understood his worries. Call it a sixth sense or just the experience of the life we had, but nothing that seemingly was connected to Hope was simple, and this time, we felt it.

The slight dread under the dark that might prey on our daughter.

"What should we do?"

"We observe." He promptly replied. "We try to figure out what is happening."

"How do we do that?"

"We think of a way. It is not like we have better things to do." He gave off that sarcastic smile of his, that meant nothing but what he said.

As my eyes followed Klaus' movements, I took a long, unnecessary, breath, trying to exhale the slight stress that built over me in this short time.

When I was about to leave, I took a last look over the scenery. I wanted once again to print the form of my little girl in my mind, so I could think of her how she actually is. Not like yesterday, or last week, but how she is today.

However, the moment my head tilted to their side, I swear, I felt my figurative heart skip a beating. As, for the first time, I noticed one of the forms staring directly at me, the barely drawn lines forming the eyes in the figure looming over me. And I swear, once again, when they locked onto me, I could barely see the slightest shift in the line of their smile, the mere image of this unfolding before me scaring me slightly.

"Still as frightening as ever."

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Happy Easter, everyone!

As you can see, I attempted something new, an Interlude. That's something I wanted to do for a while, take the PoV from the main storyline, but not completely. I would like your opinion about it, it certainly would help.

Thanks for everything — Author