AN: This is my first one-shot! I hope it's good (: Please leave a review!

Just End It

Goddammit, where did it go? Klaus fished through the ancient desk in the piano room, hunting for the pen he'd received from his academic mentor in Florence when he'd lived there in the sixteen hundreds. There was no sign of it anywhere and he was concerned – losing it forever would be a materialistic heartbreak he simply did not want to deal with. His fingers wrapped around a thin, leather box and he pulled it out triumphantly.

Unfortunately, this was not the pen. The pen had a black box, and this one was white. What could be in this one? There was no one around to really stop him from snooping now – the house was essentially his and his alone. Everyone had gone their own separate ways. Elijah was happily gallivanting across Asia with Katherine. Kol was dead. His parents were dead. Rebekah had taken the cure, become human, and had wasted away of old age several years ago. He pulled the lid off the case and set it on the desk.

It was a necklace, the sort that would lie just below the collarbones. The chain was of pure white gold, and in the center was a stunning blue diamond. Light was dancing just beyond the stone's surface, mesmerizing. The necklace was subtle in design but demanded attention nonetheless. It would have to go in the vault – this old desk was absolutely not the place for the Mikaelson family jewels. Klaus tried to place where he'd seen the necklace before. It was distinctly familiar. It took a few moments, but he remembered. The early eighteenth century, on his sister's neck at some gala or other. She'd worn a pale blue dress to match the diamond, with her blonde hair piled on her head in a complicated style that had taken hours to prepare.

A phantom of emotion washed through him. His sister had met yet another man that night she thought she would eventually marry. Rebekah had always been fascinated with the idea of marriage, despite her vampirism. What was his name? Gustav? Klaus didn't care. He remembered how he'd ended up using Rebekah for her body, how he'd come home to her stone-cold misery after an errand a few weeks later. He hadn't asked what was wrong, but Rebekah had told him anyway. No one else was home.

"He told me I might as well run off and be a dancer for money, that I'm so stupid I'll never amount to anything as a woman," she'd said slowly in a low, even tone. "He said he didn't love me, and that he had to find someone to marry. And that I could never be that girl."

Klaus hadn't known how to react. He'd simply placed the book he'd gone to fetch for his father on the table and turned to walk away. But he couldn't leave her there, not like this.

It didn't change how helpless he'd felt. He was never any good at dealing with his sister's hyperactive emotions. It seemed she had enough feeling in her to make up for all he lacked.

"I'm sorry, Bekah," he said solemnly over his shoulder. "Forget about him." It was all he could think to say. What else was there to say? He'd continued up the stairs to his bedroom. But even there, through the walls, he had heard – she'd let out a quiet sob, alone in the kitchen.

Klaus put the lid back on the box and put it on the desk, realizing now that there was so much more he could have done for his sister then. There was so much more he always could have done, especially before things had gotten… complicated. Before he'd gotten greedy.

There was no point in regretting it all now. All the pain, all the death, all the uncontainable misery he had caused for those around him. It was no wonder he was alone now, in this massive, empty house. He looked at the glistening chandelier that hung in the foyer. Another remnant of his past. His mother had chosen it, many years ago. This whole house was crawling with ghosts of the family he used to have.

He sat on the floor, leaning his head against the leg of the antique desk. Just as when they'd been alive, his family never seemed to be completely out of the picture, no matter how much he wished for them to be. Alas, there was nothing he could do now. Especially not about Rebekah. She was dead and gone, in the truest sense of the words. She'd taken the cure. Silas was after him because of her decision, as predicted. She hadn't cared.

But was that really true? Once again, Klaus found himself running through the possibilities. Had she just given up on her younger brother's well-being? Had she truly left him to the hands of a monster? Had she decided he wasn't worth it anymore?

He'd left her in a coffin for six hundred years. Of course he wasn't worth it. He deserved a life of running from the mistakes he'd made. What did he expect? That he could hurt her and let her down over and over again for a hundred lifetimes but she would always be there for him?

His mind jumped to another person he'd hurt. She was lovely, perfect in every way, blonde like his sister but graceful and headstrong in a way Rebekah was not. She was young – Katherine had turned her just within the last two hundred years. Caroline Forbes. Last Klaus had heard, she was in Paris or Milan with Tyler, the man he'd let run free to make her happy. He was now taking her to all the beautiful corners of the world Klaus had wanted to show her. Klaus was supposed to be the one holding her hand as the sun setting over the Atlantic took her breath away. Klaus should have been the one falling asleep with her in luxurious hotel rooms, not Tyler.

But she'd never cared for him either. He'd hurt her too much as well. More and more often these days, Klaus was overwhelmed by the staggering amount of terror he'd caused for those he cared about.

He'd run through a thousand explanations. Was causing pain and suffering just how he showed his affection? Did he think he had a hold over people who were afraid of him?

Was fear ever stronger than love?

He still didn't know.

Klaus stood, putting the necklace in the inner pocket of his blazer. He could lock it away in the vault later – right now he was exhausted. He wanted nothing more than to sleep for a few days. Or a few years, he thought.

"Or an eternity," said a voice. It was a voice he'd heard only once before, and the last time he had responded by fleeing as fast as he possibly could, to another continent. This time, he was calm.

"Silas." The first immortal being.

"Is this it, Klaus?" he asked. Klaus turned around. Caroline stood before him. He'd forgotten how beautiful she'd been. It was all he could do to remind himself that it was fake. "Are you finally ready to pay for your errors?"

"Just end it." The body of Caroline took a step forward, revealing the white oak stake that was hidden behind her back. The gentle dusting of ash on its tip was clearly visible through the half-light.

This was what Klaus had left after everyone else had walked away. The only person who actively pursued his company wanted nothing more than to slaughter him. It was time to leave this world with dignity, and end his incessant habit of causing more trouble than he was worth.

He gracefully dipped to his knees, staring hollowly at the wall behind his enemy. A gentle thud in his chest demanded his attention – these were the last beats of his heart. The last thing he saw before everything went black were the love of his life's magnificent blue eyes. He couldn't have asked for a more fitting way to go.