entitled; us against the world
summary; Brushing the dirt off of her cold body, he gave the faintest of smiles and mumbled, "Us against the world, sweetheart. Always."
rating; T
disclaimer; i own nothing.
notes; dedicated to kara & aelyn.

us against the world

.

in another life
i would be your girl
we'd keep all our promises
be us against the world

- the one that got away katy perry

Klaus stared blankly at the limp body in his arms; the once radiant and golden curls now dull and limp, her glimmering hazel eyes now empty and lifeless.

She was really gone.

Dead.

She was dead.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

And it was entirely his fault.

She'd constantly blabbed on and on about him turning her. Begged him at times, denied him her attention at other times, but his answer was always the same; he refused to taint the one good thing in his monstrous life.

And she was dead because of it.

"Nik…"

Klaus lifted his head slowly and found himself meeting the bloodshot eyes of the sister who'd so quickly turned her back on him. Sadly, even the rage he felt at the sight of her wasn't enough to pull him from his stupor, "Go away, Rebekah…"

"She was my friend-"

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN! I SAID LEAVE!" he shouted, his face contorting with rage, along with the horrific morphing of his hybrid features.

"NO!" Rebekah shouted, stomping over to kneel in front of him on the soft soil of Mystic Falls' cemetery, "Alright, Nik? No. I refuse to let you do this to yourself! I know what you did to our mother, I know that I almost let them kill you, but you're my brother! And I saw the change Quinn brought in you, Nik. You loved her and-"

"And it got her killed." he muttered darkly, clutching her cold corpse even tighter in his arms.

Rebekah opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came; her gaze fell to the ground and she reached out to place a careful hand on her brother's arm, "It wasn't your fault, Nik…"

"She wouldn't have tried to come after me if I hadn't done what I did." Klaus spat.

"So you compelled the Jones witch to spell her inside the house," Rebekah sighed, "You were trying to protect her."

"If I hadn't done that she wouldn't have called that annoying Salvatore and his idiot little girlfriend. They wouldn't have called the Bennett. She wouldn't have run off. They wouldn't have found her." he mumbled darkly, his gaze quickly falling back to her all too peaceful looking face, "Finn and Kol wouldn't have found her…"

"Nik…" Rebekah mumbled once more, her voice lacking any of the hope she'd had in pulling her brother out of this stupor of his, "Every twist and turn of events that went on from that moment on does not change the fact that you were doing nothing but trying to protect her."

"And the fact that I was trying to protect her does not change the fact that she is dead." he hissed, looking up to glare at his sister.

With a frustrated sigh, Rebekah reached up to wipe at her eyes before the tears started to form, "Fine. Stay here and rot, Nik. I'll be the one going after Finnik and Kol for killing my best friend and your girlfriend."

Klaus couldn't bring himself to look up at his sister even as she walked away from him; he felt disgusted with himself. The Klaus from years ago never would have fallen apart at the death of a human. It was something he'd tormented Elijah about constantly, telling him that love was nothing but a weakness for vampires, yet there he was. Falling apart at the seams because of one stupid little human girl.

No.

Not stupid.

Quinn was many things, but she was not stupid.

Careless, reckless, stubborn, infuriating; all those things and more, but she most definitely was not stupid.

'Klaus?'

His hands tensed, his grip on her fragile form tightening quickly at the sound of her voice filling his ears. She was dead. Not breathing, not undead, just dead. So why was that soft voice filling his ears?

'Klaus, please…'

"No. No. You are dead." he whispered fervently, his eyes clenched tightly shut, "You are not speaking to me."

He fought the urge to toss her body away and get as far away from there as possible; he wasn't this person. He was Klaus. Hybrid and Original. He was cold, ruthless, a 'monster'. How was it possible that he was breaking down like some pathetic little human?

'Klaus, listen to me.'

He was tempted to let his eyes fly open at the stubbornness lacing her every word; it was exactly what she would have sounded like had she actually been there. Actually been alive. But she wasn't. The proof was lying stone cold and lifeless in his arms.

'Ignoring me isn't going to make me go away.' she hissed, the tone of her voice rising slowly, 'I'm not leaving until you listen to me.'

"You're not here." he seethed, "You're dead."

'Obviously' Klaus could almost hear her rolling those fiery eyes of hers, 'My body is staring me right in the face.'

Brows furrowing, Klaus finally let his eyes fall open and standing above him was a very solid looking Quinn Fabray. But he knew better than to let even the smallest bit of hope bubble within him, "Stubborn even in death, aye love?" he drawled lazily, his every word laced with a thick amount of bitterness.

Her eyes narrowed and her hands quickly balled into tightly clenched fists, 'You're one to talk.'

"I was dead long before you, sweetheart, and undead for much longer." he muttered with a frustrated sigh.

'It doesn't matter.' she sighed, 'Klaus… You need to stop blaming yourself for my death.'

"And who I am to blame instead?" Klaus growled, glaring up at her, "Your friends? The Benett witch? My brothers? Because they all have a fair share already themselves."

'No one, Niklaus.' Quinn sighed, reaching out to brush her fingers against his cheek, only to have him jolt back as her fingers slipped right through his skin, 'I'm sorry… I haven't gotten accustomed to the no touching part of it…'

Klaus frowned, staring at her as if she was something he'd never seen before; she was still Quinn. His Quinn. But she wasn't alive and he hated that he had to keep reminding himself of that fact.

'Well,' Quinn sighed, trying to hide the look of hurt that flitted across her features, 'Anyway, no one is to blame for what happened to me, don't you understand that? No one but me.'

Klaus snorted, "It's going to take a whole lot more than that to convince me, sweetheart."

Frowning, Quinn shifted from one foot to the other, 'I went looking for Kol and Finnik. I tried talking to them, to tell them you'd changed. It was foolish and entirely my fault, Klaus.'

"Stop." he jerked, pulling back and clutching her body closer to his, "Just stop it. I don't want to hear it."

Quinn's eyes narrowed and she stepped forward, 'No, Klaus! You're trying to hold onto this blame like a lifeline to keep you from getting back to what you need to be doing.'

"Tell me something, sweetheart." Klaus started, gently setting her body on the ground before pushing himself into a standing position, "What exactly do I need to be doing? If no one's at fault, and you're no longer alive, am I supposed to go back to killing and tormenting the people of this town? Should I take my revenge on Finnik and Kol for laying their hands on you? Or should I rip the heads off of that little Berry girl and her Salvatore boyfriend for being the idiots to call the witch to set you free? Or should I just kill the witch and be done with it?"

'NO!' she shouted, 'You're supposed to make things right! With Rebekah, with Elijah, with Finn and Kol!'

Klaus let out a dark laugh, "Make things right? They want me dead. With the exception of Rebekah. And you expect me to look those two in the face while knowing that they've killed you? Has death rambled your brains, love?"

Taking a few steps forward, Quinn shook her head, 'I just… I wanted you to be happy, to be loved… You deserve it, Klaus. I know you do.'

Glancing down at her body, Klaus shook his head, "I clearly don't deserve any of that, sweetheart. If I did, you would still be alive. It was supposed to be us against the world. This ridiculous, idiotic, chaotic, and highly unfair world. But it's not going to be us against the world, Quinn. Not anymore."

'It will always be us against the world. I'll always be there with you.' she whispered softly, looking up at him with those eyes that made him want to kiss her. But he couldn't. Couldn't kiss her, touch her, hold her, love her.

"Stop muttering that nonsense when we both know that it's not true." he scowled, crossing his arms over his chest.

'I love you, Klaus. You know that, right?' Quinn asked, throwing him completely off guard for a brief moment before he composed himself and gave her a curt nod, 'Then know that whether I'm here in person or not, I will always love you. And you can make things right. This world is all sorts of ridiculous, I know. And I can't keep my promise exactly the way we'd hoped, but it will always be the two of us against the world, in some form or another.'

Klaus was struggling to keep himself composed at that point; his eyes were burning and his hands were clenched tightly into fists as he tried to keep his tone even while he spoke, "You're being ridiculous."

'Don't give up, please? Just promise me that?' Quinn asked, a soft smile growing on her lips as she glanced behind him.

Brows furrowing at the look on her face, Klaus started to turn around just as Rachel Berry's voice filled her ears, "Klaus…?"

Glancing from Quinn, to the small brunette, Klaus only grew more confused, "What are you doing here, girl?"

Rachel bit down on her lower lip as she started fiddling with the hem of her blouse, "I just… I don't think Quinn would like you being alone."

"You are aware that I've tried to kill you twice, right?" Klaus asked, forcing a lazy smirk onto his lips.

Rachel nodded, stepping closer all while entirely clueless to the fact that the ghost of her best friend was a few feet away, "I know what you've done, Klaus. I remember. And… I'm not entirely sure I'll ever be able to forgive you completely… But I lost someone I loved once. And… Despite all that you've done, I know that you deserve much better than you were ever given, Klaus. Quinn knew that. She loved you so much and I know she wouldn't have given you all her love if she didn't think you deserved it. And I really… I really wanted to tell you that… If you ever need a friend, Klaus, I would love to take the part." she whispered softly, hesitating a bit before placing her hand on his arm, "Because I know Quinn would't want you to end up alone, and I know you don't deserve to end up alone."

Klaus found himself struggling to remain composed as he let his gaze wander towards Quinn again, who was giving him this all too warm smile for someone who was dead. It was likely that that broke him; he felt the warm tears trailing down his cheeks before he'd even realized what was going on and the words he never said while she was alive finally slipped his lips, "I love you, Quinn."

'I know, Klaus. I love you, too.' she whispered, and just like that, she was gone.

She was gone and there was a pair of arms wrapping themselves around him and he didn't know how to respond, so he simply stood there and let the tears spill. Let Rachel Berry hold him until the moon was high in the sky and her boyfriend came searching for her, ready to kill if Klaus had caused her any harm.

When the tears finally stopped, and he was composed enough to pull away, he quickly walked over to lift Quinn's body up, looking down at it as Damon and Rachel headed towards their car, almost as if giving him some time alone with her. Brushing the dirt off of her cold body, he gave the faintest of smiles and mumbled, "Us against the world, sweetheart. Always."

[end.]