Two Lost Souls

Epilogue

Epilogue

"What did you do to Stefan that day you figured out he'd always known about me and Damon?"

Klaus lifts an eyebrow, surprised that she decided to go that far back in their little game of truth and to ask him something so trivial. She shrugs his silent question away, most likely because she's not sure why she asked either.

Maybe just because she was running out of ideas. They've been at it for hours, and there are only so many things you can ask the other participant when you've been living together for a century and don't particularly make it a habit to hide things from each other in the first place. To be honest, he's not even sure why she suggested this game for their first quiet evening at home in weeks, since she knows she can ask him anything, anytime and he'll tell her the truth, just like he knows the same to be true for her.

His guess is that she's feeling nostalgic. They had to cancel their long-planned trip to Peru because of some rumors going around New Orleans about rogue vampires that Elijah, who had been left in charge while they were traveling around Europe, asked them to help him with – Klaus to deal with the vampires and Caroline to placate the human council, since she's so adept at it. They've made it a habit over the past hundred years to go back to their cabin in the Andes regularly, but it's been almost two decades since the last time and he knows she misses it.

"Broke a few of his bones," he answers concisely.

"That's it?"

"What were you expecting?"

"I don't know. More pain, I guess."

He smirks.

"Not nearly as much fun when the victim feels like he deserves it. To be honest, I had a few hours of torture planned, but I quickly figured out he was torturing himself enough. I just took out most of my anger on him, but punishment wasn't necessary. He's always done a great job with that all on his own."

She snickers at that, her expression a mix of amusement and fondness.

"Yeah, that's Stefan for you."

She misses her friend too, as evidenced by the soft tone of her voice. They haven't seen him and Rebekah in a while, and Klaus makes a mental note to check in with his sister soon and make plans to meet up once the situation has been dealt with here.

"Since we're on the subject of the Salvatore brothers, when did you realize that I'd released Damon of his compulsion?"

"Not until a few years later. Elena never told me and Stefan that he'd come back to her, probably to get back at us for not convincing you sooner, and everyone else thought we already knew. But then Stefan sought him out and he found out that he had been free to do as he pleased for years. God, was he pissed. I think that's the main reason they're still not talking, Stefan never forgave him and Elena for not telling us."

Klaus gives a thoughtful nod. While Stefan can be forgiving, he can also hold a grudge, unlike his best friend. Caroline and Elena aren't as close as they used to be, but they're on speaking terms, though it took decades before they reached that point, mostly because of Elena's stubbornness.

He didn't release Damon of his compulsion until 2022, when he heard that the doppelganger was in a happy relationship with someone none of them had ever heard of and he knew that having Damon back would create an unprecedented chaos in her love life.

He's always loved messing with other people's lives, particularly people who have tried to kill him several times.

He didn't tell Caroline that he'd finally granted her wish because he so enjoyed the creative ways she always thought of to try and convince him to reconsider Damon's punishment... Until one day she stopped trying and he knew that she'd figured him out. They never really talked about it afterwards, mostly because neither of them cared much about it anymore. It might be a cliché, but time really does have a way of making you see things under a new light. Most of his anger at Damon had finally vanished knowing how miserable he was, and Caroline had figured out that she'd always valued Elena's friendship more than Elena had ever valued hers.