A/N: This is a quick draft of an introduction to a story I'm considering writing. Let me know your thoughts. Reviews are appreciated, including constructive crticisim. Thank you!

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"and he suddenly knew that if she killed herself, he would die. Maybe not immediately, maybe not with the same blinding rush of pain, but it would happen. You couldn't live for very long without a heart."

Jodi Piccoult

There was no body to bury.

He hadn't expected that, but Elijah supposed it was fitting. In death, as in life, she had given everything to protect her family. Where a body should have lain, ashes were all that remained of a woman who, just hours earlier, had died so that they might have a chance to live.

'Died,' Elijah scoffed at the thought. That wasn't true; she hadn't died. No, she had sacrificed herself. She knew death was coming, and she had turned to face it, to embrace it in the hopes that in those few seconds that she fought within its grasp she might buy her family time to escape the same fate. It had been a noble effort. In some ways, she succeeded. They had escaped the carnage entirely intact. In far greater ways, she failed. Their worlds spun on, but none of them would ever feel completely alive again.

Four siblings stood in tears. Mourning was not the word. For all their anguish and grief, for all their loss and sadness, there was no outpouring of emotion. They stood together, still as statues, silent in their suffering. No one cried out or screamed. No one held or comforted one another. They did nothing. They said nothing. Not because they felt nothing, quite the opposite, they were overwhelmed, because they knew whatever pain they felt was nothing compared to their brother's.

Niklaus could not stand beside his siblings. Niklaus could not stand at all. As Elijah had led them to this place, he had silently hoped that they would not find what they were all expecting. He had hoped, prayed even, that she would be alive and well somewhere amongst the smoldering remains of the village.

He had prayed in vain. They did not find what he was expecting, because they did not find anything at all. Elijah pointed to the place, to the vaguely human-shaped pile of ash, and Niklaus collapsed.

The siblings could do nothing but look on as their brother knelt over the remains of the fire that had claimed his heart, his soul. There was nothing left of her to hold onto, and his hands tore at the grass beneath him just to have something in them. His whole body shook with the force of sobs that, though silent, were deafening. It was an image that his siblings would never forget, a picture that was burned in their minds forever: the day Niklaus lost everything, the day their brother died.

Niklaus was sure that someday, somewhere, someone would love another person as much as he loved Karena.

Someone would know how Niklaus was feeling yesterday. They would know how his chest felt lighter when she laughed. They would know how he couldn't help but smile anytime she was happy. They would know how his hand felt empty when it wasn't holding hers. They would know how he only felt peace when he held her in his arms at night. They would know how that soothing tone of her voice meant everything was going to be fine. They would know how his heart ached when she was out of his sight.

Someone would experience something truly beautiful, and one day it would be gone. One day, they would not smile again. Their hands would be empty. They would not know peace. Nothing would ever be fine again. Their heart would not stop aching. Their only saving grace would be their memories and the knowledge that one day their pain would end.

Someone would know how Niklaus was feeling yesterday, but no one would ever know how he was feeling now. Because someday, somewhere, someone would experience a love as pure as Niklaus's love for Karena, and Niklaus would still be alive to see it.

For the rest of eternity, he would not smile. He would not hold her hand. He would not know peace. He would never be fine again. For the rest of eternity, his heart would ache.

For Niklaus, there was no end. He would not know the freedom of death. He looked out at forever and saw himself alone.