I do not own TVD nor do I own any of the characters from the show. That belongs to the CW and the writers. I only own the plot and OC's.

This story is canon from after they have gotten rid of Silas. Katherine doesn't die and Klaus hasn't gone to New Orleans. No Hayley baby plot just cos it won't fit. And I don't like it. _

She sat alone in the woods after suffering from yet another attack. It's really starting to get old, she thought, the entire 'collateral damage' thing. She's a freaking person, okay? But it doesn't matter how many time she thinks it, nothing changes. Everything is always the same. The Salvatores always went through with some half-assed plan and it never goes right. The real truth is that they're naive to think they can go up against someone who will always win. He has for 1000 years. Why they think they have any way of getting rid of him is beyond her. She doesn't turn on her back on her friends though. Oh no. Leave them to clean up their own messes? Never. Caroline would never live with herself if something bad happened to her friends.

This time it wasn't a hare-brained scheme that got her into her position. Even though she was always sent straight into the mouth of the lion, she always came back unscathed. Klaus would never hurt Caroline. He put her first. Unlike her friends. And she loves them. They're her family. But there's always someone more important and in the end she knew this would get her killed.

Klaus is Klaus. He's always going to be Klaus. She hates herself for feeling something for him. For feeling like she's genuinely falling for him. Caroline would be lying if there wasn't a part of her that didn't believe him. How could he love her? Caroline Forbes, Miss Mystic Falls, baby vampire etc. She wasn't anything special. She hasn't even set foot outside of her hometown. So it's understandable that she had doubts. Klaus had seen everything. She's seen nothing.

The memories of the night were still fresh in her mind. Caroline could feel that she was crying but made no effort to stop them. They would keep on falling anyway. No one was here to see her break down in the dark covered in her own blood either. That fact made her cry even more. She was surrounded by people yet she was still alone. Was that how Klaus felt? Constantly doing things to forget what his reality was? Caroline couldn't even begin to think how she had treated Klaus even when she saw the loneliness in his eyes. The same reflected in her own.

Caroline was walking home on her own after yet another massive fight with Tyler. They weren't together anymore since he is also on Team Let's Kill Klaus. Turns out he would choose revenge over her. She saw it coming. But it still hurt knowing she, again, wasn't worth it. He hated Klaus more then he loved her. Tyler turned up demanding to know why she wasn't with him on this. That Klaus deserves to suffer. Saying she probably fell for his charm because she was still naive, girly Caroline. Yeah, he knew where to hit her where it hurts. Insecurities were brimming in her mind. Thinking Tyler was probably right, she stormed off.

"Caroline, is it?" A man in a hoodie was suddenly in front of her. "The vampire," he sneered back at her.

Immediately Caroline was on her guard. "Look buddy, I don't want any trouble. So leave me alone, okay?" Truth was her patience was running thin and she could tell this guy was a newly turned vampire. God knows what he wants with her and right now she didn't care.

"Your friend, Stefan Salvatore, killed my family a while ago. Compelled me to think they left me. I looked for them for 11 months and so did the police. Imagine my surprise when I wake up after dying and all my memories come back to me? And from what I gather you're rather important to him so this is what's going to happen. I'm going to kill you. Well first I'm going to have some fun but then I'll kill you." The man smiled at her and before Caroline knew it, she was vervained and thrown in the back of a trunk.

The torture went on for hours. Caroline did not break once in front of her torturer but inside she was screaming. For someone who had been tortured a number of times, Caroline had to admit that he was being very creative. Stakes that were laced with thorns and vervain were stabbed into her, splinters digging deep into her skin. Torturing her with her own memories - manipulating them. He did the sunlight trick too; of course he did. Made her see herself being rescued so much that Caroline stopped trying to escape. This guy was hell bent on revenge. There's no stopping a mad vampire with nothing to lose.

But the man made a mistake. The chains were loosened after her struggle and Caroline could tell they weren't spelled. She just had to conserve her energy until the right moment. So she stopped moving and let him do what he wanted until he was sure he had 'broken' her. What he didn't know was that Caroline was already broken. As soon as the vampire's back was turned she found herself free. Using the shackles she was chained up with, she removed the vampire's head in one swift motion. Caroline had no time to lose she had to get out of there. So she ran. She was still in Mystic Falls, she just needs to get far enough.

A few of Caroline's wounds weren't fully healed but she didn't care. She sat there, growing weaker at the moment and more hopeless as the time went on. Caroline had been sitting there for hours. She was so consumed by her thoughts and the memories that she didn't hear the person who was approaching her.

"Caroline? Is that you?" The familiar voice called out to her but she didn't move. She couldn't. There was a playfulness to his tone that she ignored. "What're you doing in the woods, love? Alone at that?" It was dark so he couldn't see her properly, just enough to tell it was her.

More tears made their way down her face as a humorless laugh escaped her. Was that really her? So weak and pathetic. Maybe Damon was right. Caroline's thoughts kept spiraling and she just wanted it to stop.

"Why won't it stop?" Her voice cracked with emotion showing how broken she truly was.

"Caroline, what's wrong?" His voice was concerning as he came up to her. That's when he saw the blood. It was hers. "Who did this to you?" Klaus demanded in a hard tone, livid at the fact someone had harmed her. He would kill them.

"It's always me. Collateral damage, isn't that right, Klaus?" She spat his name venomously at him. Like he loved her! He's the worst of them all. It's a miracle her and her friends are still alive. "I mean, why would you care?"

His voice softened as he realised she was crying, "Caroline, I do care. You know I do. Just tell me what happened."

"Some vampire kidnapped me for revenge. Big surprise, huh? Not to me. It's not like I haven't been tortured before. I know the drill. You know, he was going to kill me. Hell bent on it too. Gotta give him that," she chuckled darkly as the last part was quieter than the rest. "Turns out you and Stefan ruined a lotta lives didn't you? That's why I was kidnapped. I was probably one of the first as he struck down everyone Stefan loved. Not a long list though. But he would go after Elena next and then everyone would just lose their shit."

"I'll kill him."

"Too late. I already did." Caroline looks away and glares at the ground instead. Her attention finally turned to him. "Why are you still here? Go terrorise someone else." She kicked the ground awkwardly and picks the ground apart not daring to look him in the eyes. Caroline sat firmly on the ground not making any motion that she would be moving.

"I am not leaving you alone," he spoke to her sternly.

"Believe me, I know," she muttered under her breath back to him.

"Why do you keep pushing me away, Caroline? Tyler and you are no longer together. I only want to help you," his voice remained even.

"I don't want your help!" Caroline shouted at him. "What I want is for people to stop acting like they care. Everyone here treats me like I'm expendable. I just want it to be over," her voice became quieter.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Forget it. I'm being stupid, like always. I mean everyone clearly needs me or else they'll lose their bait," the dark chuckle was back.

Klaus did not say anything. There was nothing to say.

"I'm sick and tired of everything," Caroline was now speaking to herself more than to Klaus. "It never ends. Maybe this was how it was supposed to happen. Make me realise that I was never supposed to cheat death the first time. It's a miracle I'm still alive. That's what I need to do isn't it? Otherwise it won't stop. It's the only way to escape all of this. I won't make it out of Mystic Falls alive anyway." Caroline was speaking in a low voice.

But Klaus heard her nonetheless. He gripped her shoulders forcing her up and to look at him. "Don't you dare, Caroline. You became a vampire because you weren't supposed to die. Everything that happened to you was because of your idiotic friends," he said the word with disgust. "You are so much more than this pathetic small town, love. Everyone sees it but you. You're right about your friends, they know the truth too. If you're gone they'll lose their leverage." Caroline looked down ashamed that was how everyone saw her as. But he forced her to look at him again. "And I'll kill every last one of them. You're the reason they're alive. At first it was just for fun to see how long they would last. But you came along. I could never hurt you like that Caroline. So don't start filling your head with useless ideas."

She shoved him away from her. "Stop lying! I became a vampire because Katherine killed me. My problems stemmed from way before I turned. So take your pitying looks somewhere else. What I decide to do is none of your business!" Caroline grabbed a stake from her jacket which Klaus hadn't noticed. His eyes widened as she brought it to her chest.

"Don't do it," he pleaded with her. Klaus did love her and he knew that if he were to lose her now there was no telling what he would do to the small town. Because Klaus knew deep down that it would hurt him more deeply than he cared to admit. Caroline hating him? He didn't like it but he could live knowing that she did. But her not being around anymore? Knowing his sketches would be all he had left of her and that he could never truly do her justice? That he would never see her, hear her or feel her? Klaus would become the monster that they all believed him to be. There would be nothing holding him back. And that is what he is afraid of. Because that isn't what she wants for him.

"Watch me."