Vampire Diaries Imagines

Reluctant Carry - Klaus Mikaelson

The night was still, the town wrapped in its usual slumber. Yet, as I wandered through Mystic Falls, my sharp senses caught something amiss. A presence-soft, fragile, and utterly unexpected-lingered in the square.

There, beneath the flickering glow of a streetlamp, sat YN YN.

She was curled into herself, arms resting on her knees, YHC hair cascading over her shoulder. Even in the dim light, I could see the evidence of her sorrow-red-rimmed eyes, lips pressed together as though to keep her sadness from spilling out any further.

I had not expected to find her here, alone, at this ungodly hour. YN was usually surrounded by those who one would call her friends. Elena, Caroline, that ever-irritating Salvatore duo. And yet, here she was, with only herself as company, as though the universe had placed her directly in my path.

"Now, this is quite the sight," I mused, stepping forward. "What is it that has you out here all alone?"

She stiffened slightly but didn't look away. Instead, she inhaled deeply, as if gathering herself, before turning her gaze to me. Those eyes-YEC and endless, still shimmering with the remnants of unshed tears-locked onto mine, and for a moment, I forgot why I had spoken at all.

"As if you would care," she said, voice quiet but firm. "If you're gonna hurt me or whatever, just do it quickly."

I arched a brow, intrigued by her lack of self preservation. "And why would I do that?"

"Because my friends hate you," she answered plainly, a shadow of a bitter smile touching her lips. "And, even though I don't so much share the same thought process as those I seem to surround myself with, I'm sure that would entail that fact you should hate me too."

I chuckled, low and smooth. "Ah, love, you assume too much. Do I seem so small-minded?"

She frowned, confused by my civility, by my presence here beside her, treating her with something dangerously close to... kindness.

"Besides," I continued, stepping closer, "your friends bore me. But you? You intrigue me, YN."

She swallowed hard, as if uncertain whether she should be flattered or wary. "I intrigue you?"

"That you do," I confessed, taking a few more steps toward her as if to test the waters before me. "You stand away from the crowd rather than in it. You make yourself seem small though you have a personality bigger than life itself. And as is apparent to where you are now, you refuse to let your deepest emotions show in front of others and choose to wait until you're alone to let the tears finally fall."

I took in the way she sat, the way her fingers fidgeted against the light blue fabric of her dress, the way she tried so very hard to appear untouched by whatever had driven her here in the first place while I stood in her presence. "Tell me, love," I said, my voice softer now. "Who made you cry?"

She looked away, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter." Though I think her words were more to convince herself more than they were to convince me.

"Everything about you matters."

The words escaped before I could stop them, before I could dilute the truth of them. And the way her breath hitched? It told me she heard the sincerity in them, whether she wanted to or not.

"I don't need your sympathy," she whispered, though the fight in her was fading fast.

"Sympathy? No." I lowered myself onto the bench beside her, close enough to touch, but careful not to. "Understanding, perhaps."

She turned her head toward me, searching my face as if trying to decipher my intentions. And for once, I let her look. Let her see that I wasn't playing some cruel game.