A/N - Hello guys. So I think it's official. I'm not going to be able to update this any more then once a week. Since the last two times I updated was on a Thursday and that's also TVD day, I think that my goal is going to be to try and get a chapter up every Thursday. I have not been writing at all recently, but since I had this chapter all ready done, I thought I would post it for you a little early. Since my play is this Friday and Saturday, I should hopefully have some more time next week to write.

Also, the position of Beta reader is still open, so just sent me an ask if you want and early look at my writing.

Anyway, thanks to all of you guys who have stuck with me. I this is the first of the many flashback chapters like this. You guys are going to eventually get to see a whole lot more about Katherine and Elena's past in this AU and just how exactly they got to where they are today. I really love what I have planned, and I hope you guys like it too.

Don't be afraid to send me a review. I love hearing what you all think!

December 19th 1917 (2):

Katherine groaned when she heard the click of keys against the lock. She sat up slowly, doing her best to ignore her discomfort, and fixed her glare at the door as it was swung open from the outside.

"Where have you been?" She asked in mock concern. "I was getting worried something happened to you. Then I wouldn't have anyone to torture me anymore."

Klaus chuckled, finding amusement in Katherine's biting sarcasm. "Oh my dear Miss Pierce, I can assure you, there was no need to worry." He spread his arms wide. "I'm immortal. Even to a wooden stake, and, as you learned, the daggers and ash that can take the rest of my family down."

"Yeah." She said. "Got it, thanks."

He crouched down in front of her, turning head her to face him. "You do not look well."

She jerked her head out of his hand, turning to stare at the wall. She knew he was right. She could feel the matted mess called hair on her head. She didn't even have any hair pins to keep it under control because Klaus had been smart enough to take them from her to keep her from picking the lock. The makeup that she had been wearing the day he had captured her had worn off long ago, leaving grease and dirt in it's place. Her dress was so torn and faded that it was more of a rag then anything else, but being as it was the only fabric in the room, she had torn off pieces of it to serve as napkins and handkerchief.

It had been 22 years, 9 months and 13 days. Katherine had thought at first that it would get easier. That the days would blur into each other, but she had been wrong. She could remember every day. Every torture session. Every time she felt the stab of hunger, no, craving in her stomach. Klaus had made sure she was getting just enough blood a day to keep her from shriveling up like an old grandma because she wouldn't be as much fun to torture that way.

She was trapped, starving, and miserable, but she did everything in her power to keep Klaus from knowing that. She couldn't show him that she felt defeated. She was a Pierce, and Pierces survived. She was going to escape eventually, and when that day came, she would make sure never to be a prisoner again and make sure her sister payed for leaving her to Klaus.

"Well," she said, turning back to face Klaus, "Are you going to get on with it, or just continue making fun of me?"

"Oh, but this is the fun part." he said. "Physical torture just isn't enough for me anymore. I have something a little more fun in mind." He looked into her eyes. "Don't move a muscle. Don't want you getting the upper hand."

She felt her body stiffen in the awkward position she had been sitting in. Klaus reached out and brushed her hair behind her ear, then slowly moved his hand to her chin, tracing her jawline.

Suddenly she wasn't in the cell anymore. She was back in her house in Mystic Falls, 1862. She could remember the day. Her mother had told her she wasn't allowed to go out to a dance that someone was holding in town. She had gotten into a huge argument with her over it and it became a shouting match. It was one of Katherine's worst memories. She had hated arguing with her mother.

"You never know what kind of dangers are out there." Her mother had said.

This was before she knew what her mother was really talking about. Looking back, Katherine saw that all she had ever been doing was trying to protect her, but at the time Katherine had thought she was being overprotective.

"Mother, there will always be dangers. But you have to let me live my life." Katherine said, reliving the memory.

"Well this is interesting."

Katherine spun to her right where Klaus stood. "No." She said. "You can't be here. This was before . . ." she shook her head, disoriented by the past and present colliding in this dream-like world.

"Is this really your worst memory?" Klaus asked. He was the only solid presence in the room. That's because it's his manipulation of my dream Katherine realized.

That night, Katherine had snuck out and she went to the dance anyway. When her mother had realized that she was gone, she had come after her. Her mother had died with two puncture marks on her neck, drained of blood that night while she was out looking for Katherine. She hadn't thought much of the way her mother died at the time, but now she knew the truth. Her mother had been right. She shouldn't have gone out. If she hadn't gone out, her mother would never have come after her, an action that had resulted in her death.

Katherine tried to focus. This is my dream she told herself, concentrating on changing the scene. Nothing happened.

"Please, Katherine. Just listen to me. Don't go tonight." He mother pleaded with her.

"Why?" Katherine had asked.

"I can't expla-" her mother in her dream choked, cut off mid sentence. Katherine instantly knew something was wrong. This isn't how it happened before.

Her dream mother dropped to the floor and behind her stood Klaus, clear and sharp in stark contrast to the fuzzy dream world around him. He was holding a heart in his hand. Her mother's heart. "This was your fault." He said, gesturing toward her with the heart. "You did this to her. She ran out after you. And now she's dead."

"No!" Katherine yelled, snapping herself back into the present, tears streaming down her face. He had broken her.