With all of his hybrids dead and his relationship with his siblings on rocky ground, Klaus found himself alone in his mansion with a bottle of vintage alcohol and his thoughts. All of the liquor he had consumed over the course of the evening must have made him a bit sentimental, for he found himself fondly recalling his time in Chicago during the 1920s. Although his happiness had been short-lived, the memories the time had produced were some of the best of his existence.
Despite the fact that they'd been on the run from Mikael, he and Rebekah had been close in those days, almost Bonnie and Clyde-esque. They'd been a team then; their bond had been unshakeable and each was secure in the knowledge that the other would protect them, always and forever. Klaus and Rebekah had made Gloria's their sanctuary. It had been a place where, not only could they feast upon humans without causing too much of a stir, but a place where they could simply let loose and have a good time without fearing the consequences.
On one of their excursions to Gloria's, Klaus' perspective on life had been altered forevermore. That night, he'd laid eyes on Stefan Salvatore, the infamous Ripper of Monterey, the man who would become his ripper. Before meeting Stefan, Klaus had considered himself to be an abomination. It had been the younger Salvatore who'd pulled him from his despair and helped him realize his potential to be great, a king. He'd been the spark to ignite the fire in Klaus, so to speak.
The three of them were inseparable after that night, the three musketeers: him, Stefan and Rebekah. Naturally, Rebekah had had her fun playing fairytale princess with Stefan in the role of her Prince Charming. At first, Klaus hadn't minded in the slightest. After all, no man could possibly be more worthy of his precious sister than his new-found friend, his brother. As he and the ripper grew closer, however, his stomach began to burn with jealousy at the sight of the couple dancing blissfully together. He was the one who should possess Stefan; Stefan who was the first person to make him feel as if he wasn't worthless. Rebekah had tried, certainly, but Stefan was the first to actually make him believe it. Therefore, Klaus felt that he should be the one that Stefan bestowed his love on. Stefan had shown him copious amounts of affection, without a doubt, and for all the romancing going on between Stefan and Rebekah, the ripper had still seemed to prefer Klaus' company over hers.
Stefan simply had to feel their connection as well, Klaus had decided. He had still been full of naïveté in those days, believing that in spite of all he had been through, he could win Stefan away from his sister and ride off into his proverbial sunset. And yet, it seemed it wasn't meant to be; before he'd gotten the chance to lay his claim on the ripper, Mikael had attacked and he'd been force to flee after erasing Stefan's memories of him. He'd also made the agonizing decision to dispose of Rebekah after she'd had the nerve to choose Stefan over him, her own brother, her self-proclaimed 'always and forever.'
After the tragic series of events that had shattered his perfect little world, Klaus had moved on with his life as one was prone to do. Nonetheless, he had never been able to completely push the ripper from his mind. He hadn't expected anything out of the ordinary when one of his elaborate schemes had led him to Mystic Falls, but then he'd heard that voice, the one that had haunted both his dreams and nightmares for decades, and all of the memories had come flooding back with such force that he had nearly been rendered speechless.
Klaus had been completely focused on the execution of his plan, however, causing him to be painted as the villain in Stefan's eyes. This man wasn't his Stefan, though. This version regarded him with nothing but contempt, having no memory of what they'd shared. Even after Klaus had restored his memories, the ripper was gone. In his place was a softer, weaker, man who was ruled by his morals and his need to play the hero. Even compulsion and a summer spent together were not enough to deliver Stefan from the spell of Elena, the wretched Petrova doppelganger, and into Klaus' waiting arms. Everything had changed and yet this new Stefan still managed to make his cold heart flutter.
Still, his feelings were unrequited. This Stefan wanted nothing to do with him; only choosing Klaus' company when it benefited him. Everything between them since their modern-day reunion had been nothing but a battle; a flurry of harsh words, resentment and betrayal. He knew that Stefan was only doing what he deemed right, just as Klaus felt his own methods were correct, but it still stung that each and every one of his attempts of sparking at least a friendship between them had been rejected. All he'd wanted since their reunion was to rekindle what they'd had in the 1920s and build upon it.
To cover his true feelings, Klaus had turned his affections to the lovely Caroline Forbes, in whom he'd seen the same capacity for unconditional love as Stefan possessed. All he'd wanted was someone to look at him and make his heart soar the way Stefan had by simply believing in him. In the end, she'd spurned him too. And now, sitting alone in his silent home, Klaus longed to have that unconditional love. In the old days, it hadn't mattered what he had done; Stefan had been just as much of a sinner as he was and had reveled in it. Klaus desperately wanted that again. He wanted to call Stefan and profess every damnably sentimental though that had crossed his mind, to tell him how he'd changed Klaus' entire outlook on life, to tell him that it didn't matter that the doppelganger wench had chosen his brother over him because he was worthy of a king and she was but a commoner, and most of all to tell him that there was no need for either of them to be alone anymore. If Stefan would just give them a chance, they could take on the world, side-by-side, for all eternity.
Had Klaus been a lesser man, he would have given in to these desires. He was so used to masquerading as cold and uncaring, though, that he was starting to believe his own façade. Klaus felt that displays of emotion were blatant signs of weakness. He had never planned on falling in love again, not after Tatia. Love was a force that could completely destroy one and Klaus had stubbornly refused to be broken, even by those he had felt affection for. He would engage in cold, calculated manipulations in the form of romance as a means to an end, but had he refused to let any genuine affection make him falter. 'Love is a vampire's greatest weakness,' he had once told his brother, so as he gazed at the photograph that Stefan had once upon a time demanded be taken of them, he mused aloud, "Then how did I fall in love with you, Rippah?"