[I] Freedom {Klaus Mikaelson}

XLIII. Mercy

• • • •

"I'll find it, don't worry," Caroline said through her phone as she leaned against a counter in the kitchen. "Just email me photos of Jeremy's tattoo. I'll find the sword, and I'll call you back."

"Need my help with anything?" Klaus asked with a smirk.

"Nope," Caroline said, firmly as she walked out of the house.

Faith leaned toward Klaus. "Please tell me you hid the sword well?"

Klaus grinned at her. "Even if they do find the sword, love, they won't be able to figure out how to use it."

• • • •

"Well, if it isn't little orphan Lockwood. Come to show how laughably impotent you are against me?" Klaus smirked before carefully moving away from Faith as she had fallen asleep on his shoulder a few hours ago.

He moved his arm as Tyler revealed the sword underneath the gray blanket. "I'm just trying to help my friends find the cure."

Minutes later, Caroline slammed the index cards marked with Aramaic symbols and English translation on the coffee table. "Okay, none of this makes sense!"

"Keep it down will ya?" Faith grumbled, her sleepy eyes opening as she sat up from the couch.

The corner of her lips was tugged down as her stomach growled in hunger. Her blue eyes trailed to where Klaus stood, watching Caroline and Tyler fail miserably. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the sword and turned to Klaus. The hybrid only smiled and raised his eyebrows, mischievously.

She didn't bother being annoyed and got up from the couch. She kissed him on the lips as he wrapped his arm around his waist. She turned her attention to Caroline and Tyler. "What are you doing?"

"Failing," Klaus stated before speaking in Aramaic and translating it. "Requires a powerful witch and a hunter in full bloom."

"What are you doing?" Tyler asked, suspiciously.

"I don't need to tell you my reasons," he said, looking at the blonde vampire. "Caroline, bring my sword over here."

Caroline held the sword just enough so Klaus and Faith were able to see it. "Silas rests on the far side, the means of his destruction at hand," Klaus translated, glancing at a picture of Jeremy's tattoo and ordering the blonde to turn the cryptic. "Stop, the top of the hilt reveals a key to a nautical map. Turn it to the left. Now turn the other piece. There's something else."

Klaus suddenly smiled and spoke in Aramaic.

"Klaus, what does it mean?" Caroline urged.

"There's only one dose," Klaus obliged with a smile.

• • • •

"Hey, it's Caroline," the blonde spoke through the phone once Rebekah answered on speaker. "We have the translation of the tattoo. We're emailing you pictures of the map and instructions right now."

"Actually, it was me," Klaus spoke up.

"Nik?" Rebekah's voice filled with surprise. "You helped?"

"You sound so surprised, little sister," Klaus said, which Faith rolled her eyes.

"Shouldn't I be? I mean, you don't want me to be human. You don't want any of us to be human. Why would you help us find the cure?"

"Maybe I finally realized the longer I stand in the way of what you want, the longer you'll continue to hate me. Perhaps I want my sister to finally know happiness."

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me a hundred times-"

"He's telling the truth, Rebekah," Faith called out, knowing the female Mikaelson trusted her more than her own brother. "But there is this one thing. There is only one dose of the cure. You need to find it first-"

Immediately, Tyler hung up the phone before she could finish. The couple smirked at Caroline and Tyler. "That's payback for starving me," Faith winked at them.

Tyler rushed out of the house in a panic with Caroline following after him.

"One of the many reasons I love you," Klaus smiled at her. He pulled her closer toward him with his arms around her shoulder. Faith smiled at him with her arms around his middle.

Klaus then rolled his eyes and sighed in annoyance once he heard the front door open again. He reluctantly released his hold around Faith and looked at Caroline.

"You can't kill Tyler," she said, her voice almost cracking with emotion.

"Not only can I, I have to," Klaus said. "I have a reputation to uphold. Moreover, I want to."

"I'm not asking you to forgive him," Caroline explained. "All I'm asking is that you let him live, somewhere far from here."

"So he gets to live a happy life after he turned all my hybrids against me," Klaus criticized. "After he tried to kill me after he made it his life's mission to find the cure so he could use it against me-"

"We all want the cure," Caroline argued.

"Really now?" Faith asked. "I don't remember you bending your back over to find the cure. So far, you've only tried to help your friends."

"Sure, there's only one cure," Faith smirked at Caroline. "But if you could, you wouldn't take it, would you?"

"I remember the old, human Caroline. Always going after guys and crying when no guy wanted her," Faith said. "But now! Now, you're strong, ageless, and fearless, even trying desperately to keep the man you love alive."

"And you are too," Caroline said. "Show me, we're the same. You can see how scared I am to lose him. If you and I are so similar, then show me your compassion. Show him the mercy that I would show you."

"Mercy? For Tyler?" Klaus inquired. He glanced at Faith, knowing she had it worse when it came with Tyler.

Caroline looked at Faith, pleadingly once she realized Klaus was going to follow her decision.

"Fine," the siphoner said with an annoyed sigh. "Tell him to leave town immediately. Somewhere where I would never see him."

"Of course," Caroline turned around.

"We'll give him a head start before one of us kills him," Faith smirked, seeing the happiness vanish from Caroline's expression. "That's my mercy to him. I guess I do hold grudges. Who knew?"