"Because what's worse than knowing you want something, besides knowing you can never have it?"

― James Patterson, The Angel Experiment

The sigh itself told Niklaus Mikaelson all he needed to know in one short breath: she was holding on by a shred of dignity. The blonde had said herself in the previous message that she assumed Tyler had abandoned his cellular, and yet she insisted upon babbling into the void. The young vampire refused to quit hanging onto the last morsel of their short flame, desperate and unable to accept that everything passes in due time. Honestly he thought it was rather poetic, the fact that she still believed in the idea of an eternal love. Either poetic or pathetic, the hybrid always did have trouble differentiating the two.

He had to wonder what was so special about that sniveling little puppy bound in the cellar, weakened by his love for the blonde first and foremost. He was no better than any other, and especially not better than vampire royalty. Better than the first hybrid in creation!

If Klaus was a teenage girl, he would've been saying 'AS IF!' in his mind.

But if he was being honest with himself for once, he would admit that he felt smaller than that sniveling little puppy. His victim- his prisoner, he was the good guy; all Tyler really longed for was freedom from a life serving a "monster." Either way, the young hybrid had made his bed. Niklaus was going to making him lie in it.

"Hey, it's me." She spoke, sounding just as strong as ever. Klaus had to wonder if anything would break that stallion of a woman; whatever it was would have to be an important catastrophe. "Look, I hate to leave this on your voice mail but... I think that you need to know." Another shaky breath, less of a sigh and more of a gasp for air. What he wouldn't do to be the air being inhaled through her lungs; instead he'll spend an eternity with her ghost haunting his every move. It didn't take a psychic to know that the blonde would pop into his head at a moments notice. At the most inopportune times. Hell, she already did.

Not to mention the fact that the world is so much smaller than everyone assumes. When you live forever, there's bound to be a uncomfortable confrontation at one point or another. "Jeremy's dead, Tyler." However, the image of seeing Caroline in a couple hundred years was somehow easier if he knew that he wouldn't find her with Tyler.

Even if the woman was miserable and alone, he'd rather that than to see her happiness with another. Did that make him selfish? Of bloody course. It made him ache and choke on his own saliva when he thought about it, so for the most part the man shut that part of himself out.

"I'm so sorry. I thought that you would call and I could tell you, but then you didn't... so." Another heavy sigh and Klaus couldn't help but to sigh back at her through the messaging machine. Reflex. "Just call me back when you get this, okay?"

Caroline quieted down all by herself, letting her thoughts collect for a second or two. "I need you," Hearing the words that he had always longed for caused an aching in his heart so heavy that the man actually gripped his plain black t shirt in the spot that his organ used to beat. "And there's no way that yesterday was the last day that I'm going to see you, or talk to you. It can't be."

And for a split second, he pretended that those words, as well, were aimed in his direction. Because the hybrid felt the same, but knew that she would never forgive him for the murder of her boyfriend. Not in this lifetime, or a hundred more. He longed for her company but refused to disregard his pride once again for the blonde. She had stripped him of it, time and time again. There come's a point when too much is just that.

Too much.

"So just... call me, Tyler. Please." And with a beep, the message was over. After saving it without thought, the hybrid couldn't shake the image of her on her bed, staring at her cell phone.

Waiting for her own hybrid to call. A different hybrid. A lesser hybrid.

All of the aching in his chest seemed to expand and spread throughout his entire body; it hurt to be the person he was, but changing was impossible. Changing meant becoming someone else entirely. He liked himself just as he was.

Well, he could act like he did, at least.

With a sharp growl, he picked up the nearest object and flung it toward the wall. It had been a lamp, now just a broken mix of glass and wires. Why extend this misery?

It was that night that, in a fit of agony over his own life, that Niklaus Mikaelson killed Tyler Lockwood. Later people may speculate that jealousy had brought the young warriors defeat, or perhaps he had simply died in the battle for the cure.

When people speak of the past, of the vampires who had torn apart Mystic Falls and all of it's residents; only two would truly know the truth about the fate of the young Tyler Lockwood. The second hybrid of all time, the one who coached the other hybrids to fight against Klaus, the one who set up his own death due to arrogance.

Caroline Forbes gladly told anyone who was listening about her warrior of an ex-boyfriend; how she believed that he was still in hiding somewhere. That she still waited, to this day, for his call.

And Niklaus Mikaelson would simply kill anyone who inquired into his past business.

After all, it's his business, not theirs.

Authors Note: I don't looooove this oneshot, but I love the fact that I wrote something creative at all. If you haven't noticed, I've hit a dry spell. With Phoenix Rising especially. I just want the ball chapter to be awesome, and I have no idea how to capture the image I have for it in my head. Plus school is dragging me down blah blah blah.

ANYWAYS, this obviously takes place during the newest episode. I'm guessing that there's no more Klaus now? Because he's hunting Tyler? Time will tell but that's my bet, I guess. That Original spin off can't come soon enough, in my opinion. Everything on the show is bugging me right now. Except I love that Katherine swooped in for the cure, she is so lovely. A true warrior.

As shitty as this turned out, it's really how I see these two. Niklaus would love to prove that he's a good guy, but it's too much work and at the end of the day, he's never been the good guy. He doesn't really want to be, and if he admitted that he did want to be good, he wouldn't even know what that meant. And sweet Caroline is just never going to get to his level. I'd like to write a second part to this, the ugly confrontation that's bound to happen. I'm not sure if I will or not. Let me know if you'd be interested in a review please!

Real life Klaroline does make me want to write more of my AU Klaroline though, because those two lovebirds are going to be getting hot and heavy in the next couple chapters of Phoenix. I'm just sayin though.

OH! And the writing in this beauty is mine, but the dialogue for Caroline's message was from last nights episode of The Vampire Diaries. Not my mind. If I had written it, it would've been more sad and Klaus-related but...you know.