Ch.2: Home Away From Home

(see Unexpected Love description and note review)

        It had been quite a long journey, as most of that journey was walking. And that included running from or fighting against creatures that wished to harm them for no apparent reason. Throughout the long journey though, they finally found what was left of the beans on top of the beanstalk. Then they descended the beanstalk, heading back where they came. If they were going to Storybrooke, he wasn’t going to abandon his beloved ship.

        Eventually, they were able to make a portal, which allowed them to finally get to Storybrooke. Although it had been about four years since she’d last been here as a vampire, she knew this place almost as much as she knew all of Mystic Falls. It had been her home away from home. And away from all of her enemies in the world for a time. And it could be again, if she wished. But she couldn’t have a real home she felt, without one of the people she loved to share it with. She and Hook had a little something now, but it wasn’t like what she’d always have with those she still loved. Damon, Elijah, and Enzo. But she knew she couldn’t live in the past, nor would her greatest created vampire ever truly love her again. She knew Elijah and Enzo always would, but as long as there was a curse on the town, she couldn’t truly be happy. She could play the part of being happy, but she didn’t feel right now that Hook was her happiness. Not yet. It was hard for her to find happiness, when she still loved three other people. All vampires.

        She stepped off the ship and onto the familiar Storybrooke dock. At least here, she had friends. And she’d made such an impression last time, she knew they’d remember her.

        Hook followed her onto the dock.

        “What will you do now that you’ve found your way here?” he inquired to her.

        “I’m going to find a few friends I made last time. Then, maybe, I’ll figure out what I want to do next. This isn’t my home. It’s just a home away from home. My home is crazier than fairytales. Someday, I hope I’ll be able to return there, but as long as there’s a curse on the town, no one can leave. I was able to leave town last time, because I wasn’t human. Now, I think I’m stuck here until proven otherwise.”

        “So, luv, where’s The Dark One?”

        “As long as nothing’s changed, he has a shop. You can't miss an antique shop. It has all kinds of things inside it. You do what you want. I’ll do what I want. I have no interest in vengeance anymore. I want a real life. Even if I can never leave here,” she informed and replied.

        “Fair enough,” he replied.

        Kat sat at a booth at Granny’s, having already eaten and been welcomed back to town by almost all of them. Some people she hadn’t been the nicest to as a vampire, but almost all of them she’d been nice to. She’d been caught up to speed of what all she’d missed and almost wished she’d been here earlier. She would’ve helped defeat Cora herself. She’d heard of her enough to know she was a bad influence on Regina. Especially, when she’d heard that Regina had been trying to be a better person.

        “So, you’re back,” she heard the former Queen greet, since she’d been looking outside the window. Now she looked at her, as she sat across from her.

        “Yes, but as a human. Well, human with active Traveler magic. Mostly. Haven’t figured out the healing part yet, but I’m a quick learner, as I’m sure you remember.”

        “Next time, give me a heads up that you’re not coming here alone. But it’s nice to see you again,” she replied.

        “You mean Hook. I had to bring him. He was safe company, compared to what I saw when I accidentally ended up in your Enchanted Forest. I escaped a prison world. I didn’t know where I was. When Hook stumbled across me I guess you could say, he saved me. I was injured from a psycho Gemini witch from the prison world. Without any medical supplies, I didn’t know what to do. Your world obviously doesn’t have any hospitals. But I didn’t have anything of value, so I offered the only thing I could. That’s the only way I was going to get out of that world.”

        “You offered an opportunity to get his revenge on Gold,” she assumed. “Well, I guess you’re lucky he was there, then.”

        “Ya. I guess you could say we clicked a little. But I’m not interested right now in a life with a pirate that wants nothing but his vengeance. When I died of old age a while ago, I forgave my greatest enemy. Vengeance for me has died out. And I’m tired of running. My view has changed since I was last here. I temporarily was reunited with my long-lost daughter my father tore from my arms. It made me want to be a better person, so I did, even though she’s gone. She was a vampire and got bitten by a hybrid, Tyler. She was a better person than me. She reminded me of myself before Klaus ruined whatever life I could’ve had. So, here I am, trying to figure out what I’m going to do. I can’t leave like I could before, so I can’t find out if Elijah will ever forgive me or Klaus.”

        “Well, I think if I of all people can be forgiven, you can too. I’m sure you’ll figure it out in time. You have all the time in the world now that you’re here again. The curse from last time is broken, but I don’t know what will happen if someone tries to leave.”

        “Good to know.”

        Kat got up and began to leave the diner. Then she began walking down the sidewalk, no destination in mind.

        Kat was on a corner, when she began feeling more warm than she should. Then the weakness from before began to return to her. Thankfully here though, she didn’t have to wonder what to do. Hoping she was home now, she made her way to Regina’s. She was the only one with magic that she didn’t have to make deals with to get help.

        Eventually, Kat ended up in front of Regina’s house, leaning against a pillar, and knocked on the door.

        After a few moments, Regina opened the door to see Katherine. She didn't look as good as she had a little while ago. 

        Regina walked onto her porch and put a hand on her arm, helping her inside, and closed the door. She then helped her to sit on her living room couch. 

        "What happened? What's wrong?"

        “I think when that Gemini witch injured me, there was something on it. I felt this before Hook found me. Now it’s worse. I need you to figure out a cure as quick as you can. If he poisoned me, there’s no telling how long I have.”

        “Why don’t I help you upstairs to the guest room. Then I’ll figure out a cure,” Regina suggested.

        "Thanks."

        It took a while for Regina to find a cure for her, but she eventually did. And so, the ex-vampiress was saved.

        The next night, human Kat was on her way to the woods, heading down the road. But then, she stopped in her tracks. To anyone else, compared to their experiences, it was a small wave of magic coming from the woods. However, to her, it was a bigger magical blast than it should’ve been. She could also sense someone powerful nearby. She also heard a noise. A familiar one. She’d been around Hayley and Mason long enough to know what a phasing wolf sounded like. But wolves didn’t have magic. She knew she’d had to have been dead longer than she realized. She’d known of the pregnancy from Sophie. If it was who she thought, either she didn’t have control or this was her first time.

        She cautiously approached, soon seeing her from a line of trees. Her magic was out of control. So was her wolf side. She was on the ground in the middle of phasing. It appeared she was a blue-grey.

        She stepped out of the line of trees, revealing herself, and Hope looked at her while phasing. 

        “Hope?” she inquired. Then she saw the color of her glowing wolf eyes. “Might I suggest not to fight it. It’ll be easier. Trust me. My name’s Katherine. I was with your Uncle Elijah off and on for over 500 years. We can talk later, but you’re in Storybrooke, Maine now.”

        When the baby Mikaelson was fully phased, she ran off through the woods. 

        The human walked some more through the woods. As a possible hybrid, she was sure she was probably like Klaus. Ability to turn back when she was ready to. And since she didn’t exactly have anything planned, she decided to camp out in the woods. She figured Hope probably needed her when she turned back. The way she’d been so out of control…She didn’t think that was normal even if she was half witch.

        Later that night, she was sitting on a log, a stick in hand, just drawing whatever in the dirt, passing the time and waiting for Hope to unphase.

        She looked up, sensing a presence, but didn’t see anyone in front of her. Then she looked behind her to see someone with a bow holder of bows on his back, approaching. She then looked in front of her, as he sat by her.

        “If I may, what are you doing out here alone without a fire? It’s supposed to get cold tonight.”

        She looked at him. 

        “Wolves are afraid of fire. I don’t want to scare her away. If you see a blue-grey wolf, don’t shoot. Judging from your dress code, you’re Robin Hood.”

        “I am,” he replied to her, telling her she was right. “So, this female werewolf. Who is she?”

        She looked in front of her. 

        “An inexperienced teenager. I died. I thought it was only for possibly a couple of years or less, but her age tells me longer. Her eyes gave away who she is. And that magic she couldn’t control. She has to be my epic love’s brother’s daughter. Her mother was still pregnant when I died. I escaped a dimension I ended up in, so that’s how I’m alive. Because of how out of control I saw her tonight, something personal has to be going on with her. What I saw tells me she has some witch in her. Emotion is what fuels a witch’s magic. If emotions are out of control, the magic will be, too,” she informed him. Then she told him, “I’m Katherine.”

        “Why don’t you camp with me and my Merry Me. There’s a fire going. At least, until the wolf turns back,” he offered, being a gentleman as always.

        “I wish, but I can make my own if it gets too cold. I grew up in a village in another lifetime. I have to turn it down though, because I need to be the one that she sees first. Everyone else here are strangers. And I’m more familiar, even though we’ve never met, because I know every one of her family members. Especially, her father and his elder brother. I’d be the only person she’ll trust. Like me, she’s not from this town. We come from outside of this town, many miles away. Besides, shouldn’t you be with your wife? Not talking to a stranger?”

        “I don’t know what stories you know, but my wife died many years ago. You’re right, though. I do have someone. My son. He’s all I have left of her,” he informed her.

        “I’m sorry. I once had a kid, too. I didn’t get to raise her, though. I followed my heart. Not the rules. It ended with me being banished and my daughter torn away by my father. I didn’t love him. The person my father chose for me. I never would. I loved Nadia’s father, the stablehand, instead. If I could have, I would have raised her. She found me when she was all grown up, but I’d been running from Elijah’s brother for too long. I’d changed. I couldn’t be the mother she deserved. Then she was killed. I hope your story turns out better than mine. I’m still trying to find a better life than before. Hook was great company on the way here from what little I saw of the Enchanted Forest, but pirates aren’t really my chosen company.”

        "I'm sorry for your loss," he replied. 

        “Well, if there’s anything I’ve learned in the centuries I’ve lived, it’s that everything happens for a reason, both good and bad,” she replied. She knew from the first time she’d been here what his other story was supposed to be because of that book, but she didn’t want to spoil that he was supposed to be the former Evil Queen’s epic love. She wouldn’t call it true love, since she wasn’t from any fairytale world.

        Since it was clear that she wasn't going anywhere, he got up. 

        "I'll leave you to it, then."

        Kat hadn’t left her place on the log, when she heard movement from afar where the trees and bushes were. And that’s when she saw the familiar creature approach a few steps, before stopping and looking at her.

        “I know you can’t exactly tell me anything right now, Hope, but whatever’s happened, I’m here as long as you need me to be. I’m not like your Uncle Elijah. I wouldn’t make a promise I can’t keep and leave. Besides, once I put my mind to it, I’m good at helping those that need it. When you’re ready, we can talk,” she told her, looking at the phased what she figured was just a hybrid like Klaus.

        In answer to her, she whined a little, but the human didn’t know what that meant. She figured it probably meant that she’d be ready to talk when she could, but she didn’t know phased wolves as much as she should, she knew. But she did know that Hope wasn’t the kind of wolf that Ruby was without her cloak. She had control. Ruby didn’t.

        When the full moon had gone behind the darkness of the night sky, Kat watched her phase back. She then took her jacket off, walking over to her and gave her her jacket.

        "If you can control yourself, let's get you to town where I know where to get some clothes for you." 

        "How do you know me? I've never met you," she wanted to know.

        “Your eyes gave away who you are. And wolves don’t have magic, so I knew you had to be the baby Sophie told me about years ago. She and I were always best friends. Ever since she was a teenager, before she was an advocate for the witches. She kept me informed on the New Orleans situation. The cure was shoved down my throat though, so after Silas took it all out of me, I died of old age. But not before I got to meet and know my own daughter. My father tore her away, because she was out of wedlock, so I couldn’t fight as much as I wanted to to keep her. But any wolf with magic, I knew had to be a Mikaelson,” she informed her.

        After she’d gotten her a change of clothes, she took her to Regina’s place who invited the hybrid inside. Then Kat sat on one of the couches in the living room, Hope on the other couch across from the one she was on.

        “Since I don’t know everything, catch me up to speed. Obviously, Sophie wouldn’t have known exactly what your species was. I can only assume. You’re a hybrid and a witch I’m assuming?”

        "Yes. Something nobody gets." 

        "I'm assuming from what I saw last night that you're not in control of your magic, but you are of your wolf side. Am I right?" 

        “Yes. Dad told me the first time I phased pretty much the same you told me last night. But it’s not the wolf side you have to worry about. I can’t control my magic. My Aunt Freya’s tried teaching me magic, but I can’t control it when I’m emotional. I almost ruined the entire of Miss Mystic Falls because the dress I was given was, well…”

        “Caroline’s that Klaus gave to her. I was in Mystic Falls when your dad was trying to impress her. He wanted to be worthy of her. To get her to fall in love with him the right way. I think in some ways, he’ll always love her. You were just an accident. But a good accident. If you use your abilities for good, you can become a better version of Klaus or even myself. I somewhat changed for my daughter, but there’ll always be a part of me that will never change.”

        “No one at the Mystic Falls school knows what it’s like. Dad was the closest thing that knew, being the only hybrid. Now, everything’s upside down,” Hope informed her.

        "Was? Apparently, I was dead longer than I thought. What happened with your family?" 

        “The Hollow. It came for me when I was six. I almost died. They found a way to stop it by putting pieces of it inside of each of them, but they couldn’t be near each other, nor near me. Growing up, I didn’t understand. And all mom understood was the wolf side. She became a hybrid when I was born, but I never felt like she understood being a hybrid. Not like dad did. I did a dangerous thing in order to bring my family back together. I put all of The Hollow inside of myself. It almost killed me, so dad put it all inside of himself to save me. You seem to know dad pretty well. You probably know what he’s capable of even without something trying to control him. There wasn’t very much time to figure out a way that wouldn’t result in someone dying. I tried to stop him. I tried to get him to reconsider. I even tried to find a loophole myself, but it was useless. He died to save us all and get rid of it for good. And without him in the picture, I’m alone and my family has all separated from each other. They don’t even live in New Orleans anymore. Marcel has reclaimed it as his.”

        Kat was shocked at everything, when Hope told her all of that, and couldn't help but to show it. 

        “I’m sorry about your dad. He’ll be missed by more than a few people. I may not know what it’s like being a hybrid, but I spent hundreds of years running from your dad so he wouldn’t seek his vengeance on me. I know a lot about hybrids. I do know what it’s like to be a vampire and now days, I know what it’s like to have magic. My daughter shared with me a family secret. As long as I’m not a supernatural being, other than being a doppelganger, I have magic. My father was a Traveler before he got married to my mother, but I guess the gene still existed, so I’m descended from Travelers. When I was in Kai’s prison world, running from him and fighting him, I learned how to make it into active magic. When I got here, I asked Regina to help me with a few things magic related. I can help you learn to control your magic. How are you on your vampire abilities?”

        “I haven’t tried. I only recently decided to trigger the vampire part of myself.”

        "Then we'll work on that, too," Kat told her.