AU: As I wrote the majority of this before Bringing out the Dead, it doesn't follow on the current storyline of the show. But I was so inspired by the wonderful, epicness of Dangerous Liaisons (the glorious Klaroline, I'm so happy I was dancing around my house) I decided to finish this after all and so I added some parts and put in a mention of Esther. Enjoy!

Summary: Klaus is going to die, if Elijah has anything to say about it. Klaus/Caroline. Caroline/Elijah. Elijah/Katherine.

Caroline wakes up to Elijah's hands on her throat.

"I've figured it out." he says, eyes burning angrily into hers. The intensity of those eyes is terrifying, but not so much that she can't meet them with a steely gaze. She's grown up a lot, and she can stand on her own two feet now. Caroline has long since realised Original vampires will be the death of her, but this is just getting irritating. Can they not even leave her in peace to have a decent night's sleep?

"You're hurting me," she cries, annoyed and in pain. "What are you on about? Who invited you in?"

She might have to reconsider this whole vegetarian vampire thing for this act of stupidity. Surely her mother wouldn't be so idiotic as to let Elijah in?

"How Klaus always knows our plans. The Salvatore's think it's me, little Caroline. They think I'm playing double agent. I've worked hard to get their trust back you see, so you can understand why I'm angry. Because I know it's not me. "

Caroline's heart sank. She hadn't been spying exactly, just, well, warning Klaus when his life might be in danger. She just didn't want anyone to get hurt, what was so wrong with that?

"Niklaus is a monster, Caroline. He is everything that scares you; he is everything that you don't want to be. He will take hold of your mind and twist it into what he wants. He cares nothing of you, only what use you can be to him."

"I don't believe you." Caroline said strongly. She didn't, because she couldn't. Just the idea of what Elijah said being true was enough to almost break her into pieces.

"That's the problem," Elijah said evenly, staring calmly at her. "Because I like you, Caroline. You have a lot of potential. You could have been great. But you've left me with no choice. It's nothing personal."

Caroline glared at him. She was getting sick of being regarded as "collateral damage". It had been the story of her life for so long, always second best to Elena, third wheel to Bonnie and Elena's BFFdom, used by Damon, her life had been sacrificed by Katherine as what, a message, then dumped by Matt, almost killed by Tyler, and now, what, some stupid ancient vampire was trying to convince her (again, she might add. How many people did things like this happen to, TWICE) that her life meant nothing in the grand scheme of things? Yeah, right. That did not go down well with her.

"You sound just like him now, you know. Collateral damage. You think you're so different, but you aren't. You are brothers, you're family. And you are the same, in the ways that matter most."

Elijah stiffened. "You don't know me." She felt like she'd overstepped the mark here, an invisible line, the one thing that would drive Elijah to rage. Quiet, careful rage, but rage all the same. He was different from his brother in that way though, his first move here was not to kill her in the most painful way he could think of in this split-second- breathing one minute, dead the next, that was Klaus' way for his enemies.

But still, she was sure what she had said hit the older vampire so hard simply because of how true it was.

"No. And you don't know me. But I know him." The word "know" was starting to lose all meaning for her it had been used so many times in this conversation but she persevered on, "I know I do."

"Oh? Do you know of the thousands he's personally killed? The countless numbers dead because of his manipulations? The ones like your friend Stefan, whose life he has destroyed without actually taking his life?"

She knew. Maybe not every exact detail but it didn't surprise her to hear it. But it still hurt so much. It felt much like what she imagined a sharp, piercing dagger driven into her heart would feel.

"Because Niklaus is old, Caroline, as am I and we have lived for a long time. And we have done things so terrible, so horrifying, that to hear of them would likely drive your mind to insanity. Do you really believe you know him? Because I did once too."

Elijah leaned in closer, and spoke directly into her ear. Caroline stared wide-eyed, transfixed. She wanted so badly to stop listening, to not hear this, to go back to the days of being young, when life was simple, when putting her hands over her ears meant she could no longer hear what was being said. But she couldn't because she had to know. It was terrible knowledge, she suspected it was knowledge she would find it hard to live with, but she had to know.

"But I'll let you in on a little secret." A low blow, that was, whether Elijah knew it or not. Caroline had to wonder if he had known, if Klaus had told him everything that had happened between them. That thought pained her more than anything.

"You don't. I don't. No one does. He's twisted; he changes in a split second. He would kill you without blinking an eye, if he suddenly got the idea in his head. The thing is Caroline, Niklaus wasn't born evil."

"He isn't evil." Caroline contradicted, without a moment's thought. The second she said it she wished she hadn't, she didn't know where it had come from. But she couldn't say that she hadn't meant it.

Elijah simply continued, after an empathic look that made her feel comforted, for some reason. She didn't feel alone, could never feel alone, with Elijah looking at her like that. These two brothers, they had such a strange, disconcerting effect on her. Even more puzzling was trying to figure out what it all meant, why this was happening to her. And why she never wanted it to stop.

"He wasn't always like this." he corrected himself; his eyes making him seem miles away. Or, Caroline thought, years. Years and years and even more years of an intangible history she would never be a part of. The story of two brothers, and how they loved each other no more. They couldn't forgive each other, couldn't understand each other, couldn't even live with the other alive. In some ways, it was the saddest thing Caroline had ever heard, and in that moment she wished she could undo their pain.

"He had goodness in him once. And maybe you can still see it. Maybe that's why you believe in him. But," he emphasised, his voice taking on a tight, cold tone, "that was so long ago that you can't truly bring it back. Believe me, I've tried."

The overwhelming sadness Caroline saw in Elijah's eyes convinced her, if nothing else did.

"I've tried, Caroline," he said honestly, desperately, tiredly. Caroline almost reached out her hand to him, but thought better of it. Besides the last hand she touched had been Klaus'. For some reason that felt like it mattered.

"I don't want this." Elijah stated, regretfully. "But there really is no other choice. I understand that you have to realise that on your own. After all, it took me nearly a thousand years."

He turned to leave the room.

"Klaus thinks you're on his side," Caroline accused.

"I know," Elijah responded gravely, not stopping.

"You're despicable." She wanted to hurt him, like he was now hurting her. To make him feel so unbearably torn, so twistedly furious, to not know where to turn, or trust, or run.

To feel guilty, as she did.

He stopped and turned towards her now.

"You don't really think that, Caroline."

"You don't know me." Caroline echoed his earlier words, wondering whether they were true when he said it, and when she said it now.

Elijah half-smiled, and left the room, leaving Caroline to her thoughts.

Thoughts of Klaus and Elijah intertwined through her mind. There was no right answer; she was coming to accept that. Grey and grey morality was a vampire's world. But maybe Elijah was the more right way.

There really were no maybes.

She knew that, but why was it so hard to accept? More than anything, she hated Klaus for making her care. She couldn't care any longer, it was time. She knew she had to let go.

And there was only one way she could do that.

C&E

Caroline was walking into the lion's den. She'd never actually been here before, not once in the duration of this strange relationship she and Klaus had going on.

Had had. She had to remember why she had come here, and she couldn't let anything change her mind.

Predictably there were a group of hybrids outside the house glaring at her distrustfully. And that did appear to be a dead body just out of human eyesight to the left. She sighed, having expected nothing else.

"Sweetheart," Klaus looked, well, confused. Caroline almost grinned at finally surprising, finally one-upping him. But it was too bittersweet, too much like a goodbye, and too much like a death sentence. She couldn't bear to smile at him, to make him think she loved him. Not that, according to Elijah, he would care if she did. "What brings you here?"

"Why does something have to bring me here?" Caroline asks, dreading the confirmation that she is but a pawn to him, the confirmation that all of Elijah's implications (and outright stating) are true. She knows she shouldn't feel like this, but the idea that she means nothing to Klaus is truly devastating, "Why can't I just be here?"

Klaus gives her a twisted grin, "You can be here whenever you want, love."

Her heart felt full, but her throat went dry. That grin was like a symbol for everything worth saving, but she wasn't sure it was enough. And she knew Elijah would never let it be enough.

"You remember what you told me? About the world? Everything out there?" Caroline blinked back the tears and reached out to Klaus, laying her fingers on his face, then withdrawing her hand quickly.

"The music? The cities? The art? It's all yours, love." Klaus said, eyes watching her every move closely. "Just say the word."

She couldn't doubt his sincerity.

And she couldn't doubt that she loved Klaus, with every single part of her. She couldn't lie to herself anymore, she couldn't hide the overwhelming truth that this man, this vampire, this monster meant more to her than anything in her world.

But could she justify letting him mean more than the whole of the world?

"I want to see it." she whispered, letting herself love him, if even for only one more moment, "I want to see it all. It's worth it, right?"

"I'll take you one day," he promised, "I'll show you how much it's worth."

With that he leaned forward, a certain look in his eyes she'd never really seen before, but recognised regardless. He'd never actually kissed her before, and she wondered if she should let him.

She was planning his death, after all.

They say love wasn't really how you imagined it to be, she'd accepted that long ago, and this had certainly never been the fairy tale romance of her dreams but this seemed like even more of a stretch on that definition.

His lips reached hers, and she didn't move. Had there ever been any doubt that she would refuse his kiss? Everything about his touch made her insane with desire, and this even more so. He kissed her, hard and daringly, like the all-powerful, exquisite being he was. She wanted this now and forever and couldn't help but return it, passion filling her inside out, burning up inside her.

A flame alight that she had no choice but to blow out. For Caroline knew Elijah was right.

But since when had True Love's Kiss ended in death?

C&E

The day they kill Klaus is grey.

The sky is grey, and the clouds are grey, she is wearing grey and all Caroline can see is grey.

She can't see Klaus. The thought hits her hard, because she will never see him again. It isn't possible to see him again. He is dead and gone, and it is all her fault.

She'd held his hand, in those final moments.

She'd never held his hand before, not like that.

Elijah had done it, Elijah and Esther. Caroline could only watch, while Klaus' life was drawn out, sucked away, and destroyed. Esther had smiled at her son, and Caroline had felt sick. Sick and wrong, she was wrong, she had known she was wrong, but it had been too late to do anything.

The burning bright flame, that set her all afire, is well and truly gone, leaving her empty and cold inside. Unendurable agony haunts her mind, breaking any spirit she had left.

Klaus was gone, and life would always be grey.

C&E

Elijah thanked her hollowly for her help. If possible, it made her feel even worse, the weight of her betrayal dragging her down lower and lower with every word.

He looked grey, too.

C&E

They left Mystic Falls one day, Caroline, and Elijah with her. They didn't say goodbye, not to anyone. There really was no reason to.

Except for Damon. Damon waved them off, a drink in one hand, and a blood bag in the other.

Caroline was glad that some things never changed.

C&E

They ran into Katherine one day, Caroline, and Elijah with her, in Bulgaria. They didn't say hello, they just staked her (not quite) through the heart. Elijah knelt down and stroked her hair. Caroline watched and knew she could never let him go.

Caroline heard him whisper, "Katerina."

She saw him kiss her forehead.

They left her, lying there, alone.

Caroline almost felt sorry.

The next day Elijah told her what Klaus had always told him, "We do not feel, and we do not care."

It became their mantra, almost like an I-love-you.

C&E

Elijah growled suddenly, much to Caroline's surprise. She immediately looked up, scouring their living room for any threat.

"I hate these," he hissed, smacking his hands on their breakfast table, shattering the legs and causing their entire table to upturn.

Caroline looked around in shock. "What? What did you do that for?"

"It's infuriating," Elijah proclaimed. "Listen, - It's machine washable, but won't go on the couch? He barely makes an appearance?"

Caroline stifled a laugh, "You're talking about the crossword?" He was utterly ridiculous sometimes, and the funniest part was that he couldn't admit it, or recognise it in himself.

Elijah gave her a frustrated glare, "It's impossible. What silly, insignificant creature came up with this?"

"How old are you again?" Caroline asked with a teasing, affectionate grin.

Elijah spluttered. "Don't make fun of me Caroline. My intelligence is not the one being questioned. This is very serious."

"That's what makes it easy." Caroline smirked, "What are you going to do, stick your tongue out at me? Oh, the horror."

"That would be childish," Elijah said stiffly, "And I will not stoop to your level."

Caroline rolled her eyes fondly and got up to attempt to fix their now fragmented table. When her back was turned, Elijah quickly stuck his tongue out only to be mortified when Caroline just as quickly turned back around and pointed at him.

"HA! Caught in the act," she cried jubilantly. "Aren't you just a fancy old Original after all?"

Elijah scowled, embarrassed. He returned his attention to his crossword only to once again be infuriated. He reached for a coin, and with the newspaper in one hand, threw the coin at the window, shattering it into a thousand pieces. He smirked, and then calmly threw the newspaper onto the streets below.

"Oh, you." Caroline grinned. She was happy, she realized. Happy without him. Not that she'd ever really been happy with Klaus.

She eyes the drawing of a very young girl and a horse resting peacefully on their wall. She looks away.

She was happy. That was good.

C&E

"So," Caroline smirks, as she sits in an outdoors restaurant in Paris, Elijah with her. She is seeing the world, the Eiffel Tower in the distance and the sun draping them in glorious warmth, one that she is well aware of how deadly it would be, if not for her ring. "Who do you think Elena chose, in the end?"

Elijah cocks his head as he considers. "Damon," he states, definitively. "Damon, for sure."

"No way," Caroline scoffs, "She and Stefan are soul mates."

"You still believe in soul mates?" Elijah asks sceptically, polishing off the last of his croissant.

"No." Caroline quietly sighs, thinking of a man who made her believe in genuine beauty. "Except for you and I." she adds with a laugh.

"Indeed." Elijah states solemnly, with a hint of a grin. "However, I bet you. Damon. Or, as I believe the term would be, Delena."

Caroline snorts, and raises her eyebrows. "Oh, yeah? Bring it."

They go back to Mystic Falls. In a way, she'd always known one day she'd have to. It hurts and it's painful and it's not until Caroline's standing in a graveyard of Lockwood's, Bennett's and Donovan's that she realises she really doesn't care who Elena ended up with after all.

They didn't bury Klaus, not really, and it's never more apparent to Caroline then now, standing in front of Tyler's grandson's grave.

Still, Elijah's one who always plays to win so he makes it their mission to find out anyway. Secretly, Caroline thinks he just wants to know which Salvatore brother found solace in the arms of Katherine, as they both know one of them inevitably would have. Their journey leads them out of Mystic Falls and all the way to England.

It was Damon. In regards to the bet, this means they go to Australia.

Caroline wants to try surfing. Elijah kind of wants to try kangaroo.

Turns out it's a win-win for both of them.

Except neither of them ever really heal, and they both know it. Happy endings are for fairy tales after all, and in the end they are nothing more than horror stories. Vampire Barbie died a long time ago, and really, when has Elijah ever believed in love?

C&E

Caroline walks down a street one day. It's a very normal thing to do, and she applauds herself. Just because she's a vampire doesn't really stop her from doing anything she might want to. She's debating whether or not she wants to try university again (she's thinking psychology this time) or get a job (she's thinking skydiving instructor or bartender). Elijah will snort but she's becoming bored again. It happens every so many years.

She's interrupted by the sounds of crying and she can't seem to help herself from running around the corner to a deserted alley.

She sees a girl, around nineteen, her whole life ahead of her. Hardly significant, she sees people like that all the time. The thing about this girl is that it makes her realise that Elena must not have become a vampire because Elena has had a child. This is a doppelganger and this is the curse behind everything that has gone wrong. She snaps. All she can see is Klaus' dead body, he's so dead, dead, dead and she can't get it out of her head. The fury builds up inside her, she can feel it taking over every part of her body and she attacks.

Her fangs fly out and she kills that girl. It's easy, one simple snap of the neck, it barely takes a fingernail.

She feels a vicious glee, a cold satisfaction, and then she sees Elena's dead face.

It makes her feel sick, because she knows she's a monster. How could she sit and advise troubled people now? What right could she ever have to help people in need? She's a destroyer. She cries for hours on end, unable to move from that one spot and feels unbearably guilty. She is that monster, the one she never wanted to be, the one she condemned Klaus for being. She never wanted to be Klaus. That's the reason, that is why she agreed to help kill the one she loved, she truly never wanted to end up like him.

Here she is now. This is her. Caroline Forbes.

She'll never know why that girl, who looked so like Elena, was crying. That girl will never cry again, never experience heartbreak or happiness. She's killed before but this feels different. She can only hope that the girl came from some other part of Elena's ancestor's family tree, as if it would make it better if the girl wasn't directly related to Elena.

Elijah understands. Even though the sight of that particular dead body makes him pale, he holds Caroline all night long.

"We aren't human but we are still living," he tells her, as always knowing her every thought; "We are people. You have to hold on to that, Caroline."

"I wanted to study psychology." Caroline says woodenly, staring at a spot on the wall. When she was a child, this was a frequent punishment for her. She'd be made to sit and stare at a spot on the wall. It was strange what she remembered and what she didn't.

"Let's," Elijah tells her, covering her cold, murdering hand with his own. She draws her hand back, because he shouldn't have to touch her. Elijah is a pure soul, beautiful, and she is tainted and unrecoverable, "I'll even do it too."

He probably won't, she knows. He'll probably back out at the last minute and she will have to go alone. She will be incredibly annoyed with him and she'll try to drag him there every day telling him he promised, and he has a responsibility to honour that, and she'll be perky and cheerful and feel like Caroline again. It's exactly what she will need, and he knows it.

Tentatively, she reaches out her hand. Elijah's strong grasp warms her insides.

He'll never be her burning flame, but she will always feel safe and loved with her Elijah.

The first time they kissed, they'd known each other for 507 years and it felt wrong. It felt more wrong than anything Caroline had experienced in her life.

So she does it again, and again, and eventually they fall into bed with each other every night and she learns to love Elijah even more because of it.

She knows that he thinks of Katherine and he knows that she thinks of Klaus, yet at the same time they are always thinking of each other and in a twisted way it's like the four of them are in it together.

And really, isn't that what both of them want?

They had a connection, Elijah and Caroline with him. That was why they'd stayed together. Why they always would. They were the only two people left who loved the other. And they were the only two people left who'd loved Klaus.

The only two who wished they'd never killed him.

On the last night of her life Caroline woke with Klaus' name on her lips.

Elijah wasn't surprised.

Caroline would always have been a stronger foothold and Klaus would never have found peace without her. And he'd waited too, a last act of kindness Elijah wouldn't have thought his brother capable of anymore; he'd given her a thousand more birthdays.

Exactly a thousand more.

Elijah goes to Bulgaria. He even studies psychology.

AN: deliberately ambiguous as to whether "It was Damon" who ended up with Elena or found solace with Katherine? Why, yes, yes it was.

If there is any confusion about the ending please let me know. I'm not sure if I got across what happened clearly or not.

Okay so a few people have expressed uncertainty so here is the explanation.

Klaus has been on the Other Side for the past thousand years, much like Esther, he is being punished. But at the same time he is also letting Caroline have all those years she wanted, and all the things she wanted to see, although I'm sure he is just aching with jealousy over Elijah. Anyway he gives her a thousand years of this, and then similar to the Anna/Vicki situation he finds a way to cross over and well, kill Caroline so they can be together and find peace.

Lol, this is my idea of epic romance. Can you tell I've been watching too much Vampire Diaries?

And as for Elijah, he studies psychology in memory of Caroline (a thousand years together is hard to let go of) and goes to Bulgaria. As for what/who he finds there… well, maybe that's another story.