It's a terrible relief to leave the apartment – not just because she hates being cooped up like a caged animal, but because it's a breath of fresh air to leave Katherine behind, if only for a few hours. It's so strange to be out of the apartment with Klaus in Alaric's body, and she doesn't know what has happened that could make Klaus so comfortable having her out in Mystic Falls, but she doesn't question it. She wraps her cardigan tighter around herself, even though it's late April and there's not so much as a chill in the air.

Klaus drives her to the edge of the forest, and then parks the car, getting out and opening her door for her like a gentleman. She steps out, taking his offered hand as she rises to her feet, and looks around. "A stroll through the woods?" she asks.

Klaus grins at her. "The woods are lovely, dark and deep," he quotes. There's a strange light in his eyes, and she knows he's waiting to see if she'll do what she knows he wants her to do.

"But I have promises to keep," she says, and his grin widens in delight. She shakes her head – of course she knows her Robert Frost. She wants to be a writer, after all; or at least she did, in another life.

Klaus traces a finger along the outline of her face, from her cheekbone to the tip of her jaw. She refuses to let herself shiver at the touch. "Not many miles until you sleep," he says.

She looks away.

"You seem rather unimpressed, sweetheart," he says.

She forces herself to meet his eyes again. "I just think, if we're reciting Frost, there are more fitting poems about trees and death," she tells him. She's not lying – it's just like Klaus to go for the most obvious quote, for the sake of dramatics.

Klaus raises one of Alaric's eyebrows. "Oh?" he asks. "Two roads diverged in a wood? Don't tell me you've fallen for the preaching of class valedictorians immemorial."

Elena presses her eyes shut, wills her memory to do right by her – it only has hours left to do so, after all. "One of my wishes," she recites, and in her mind she's twelve years old again standing in front of her English class, "is that those dark trees, so old and firm they scarcely show the breeze, were not…" She swallows. She knows these words. "Were not, as 'twere, the merest mask of gloom, but stretched away unto the edge of doom."

She opens her eyes, tilts her head, and raises her eyebrows in a challenge.

Klaus laughs. "My, my, you do have a dark side, don't you?"

She smiles. "You've never met gloomy graveyard girl Elena," she responds. "I've got depths you've never seen."

Klaus shakes his head at her. "You certainly do, sweetheart," he says. "Ah, let's see." He begins to walk into the forest, and she keeps pace with him; he takes his time as he walks, like a man who has all the time in the world. "I should not be withheld, but that some day, into their vastness I should steal away." He has a quoting voice, she thinks; even in Alaric's body, his voice sounds more like Klaus's when he's reciting something. "Fearless," he continues, and grins at her as he pushes a stray branch out of their way, "of ever finding open land, or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand."

"I do not see why I should e'er turn back," she says, because she can do this, she can match an immortal word-for-word when it comes to literature. She has a mind like a steel trap, and once upon a time, she was a girl who lived and breathed for words. "Or those should not set forth upon my track to overtake me, who should miss me here." She swallows; she's reciting a poem she learned in middle school, she will not let herself get emotional about it. "And long to know if still I held them dear."

Klaus offers her a hand as they come to a stream. It's tiny – she could cross it in a big step without a problem – but she isn't going to rebuff him.

"They would not find me changed from him they knew," Klaus finishes, after a moment, "only more sure of all I thought was true."

They walk in silence for a few moments, further into the woods.

"So where are we headed?" she asks, when she can't stand it any longer. "I'm guessing you weren't just in the mood for a nice stroll."

"Right you are," Klaus tells her. "See, our lovely Katerina had a plan to try and bargain for her freedom. From what I understand, you coming to me ruined the part where she planned to hand you over, but she made do. I'll say this much about her: the girl is resourceful."

"What does that mean?" Elena asks. They come to a clearing in the woods, a clearing she recognizes too well.

They're right above the tomb.

"Do you remember what I told you was required for the sacrifice?" he asks.

Elena nods. "The doppelganger, the moonstone, a vampire, and a werewolf," she says.

"The straight-A student strikes again," Klaus says. "Yes, that's right. And though Katerina couldn't be responsible for bringing me the doppelganger, she made sure to have all the other ingredients waiting for me when I arrived. It won't buy her freedom, of course, but I appreciate the sentiment."

That Katherine had the moonstone was no surprise. That Katherine had procured a vampire and a werewolf to hand over to Klaus–

–any sympathy Elena felt for Katherine from the day before vanished, replaced by cold, dark hatred, and an inability to breathe.

"Does that mean something to you?" Klaus asks. She can tell in his voice that he knows it does.

She's braced for what she's about to see when they enter the tomb, but she can't hold back the gasp of horror when she sees Caroline and Tyler chained to the wall.

"No," she says. It sounds almost like a sob.

"Elena?" Caroline asks. She struggles against her restraints for a moment, and then her eyes travel up to Klaus's face, and she freezes. "Oh my god," she says.

"What?" Tyler asks.

Caroline swallows, lips trembling. "That's Klaus."

"Hello, sweetheart," Klaus says to her in Alaric's voice. "So you're the one Katerina chose." He takes a step towards her, and crouches down next to her. Caroline cringes, and leans as far away from him as she can, eyes squeezes shut. "I have to admit, I'm not surprised. She always did hate blondes."

"Klaus, you can't," Elena says. She knows better than to tell him what he can and can't do, and under normal circumstances she'd choose her words better, but her heart is racing and she knows he can hear and all of a sudden it strikes her that she put her faith in this deal, in Klaus, and it could have all been for nothing, she's going to die for nothing. "She's my best friend."

"I thought the witch was your best friend," Klaus comments, rising to his feet.

"I'm allowed more than one," Elena says. "Klaus, please, you promised the people I love would be safe, they're both on that list, Klaus, please–"

"So you expect me to find another vampire and another werewolf at a moment's notice?" Klaus asks. "That's a tall order, love."

"We both know you have a backup," Elena says through gritted teeth. "Klaus, please. I surrendered, I turned myself over, and you–"

"Ah, yes, your martyr complex," Klaus says. He comes over to her, brushes a strand of hair out of her face, and just like that, Elena can breathe again. She knows he'll let them live, now; she doesn't know how, but she does. "There's a symmetry to it, though, don't you think? Three childhood friends. It's poetic."

"I'm sure you can find a way to make it poetic no matter what," she replies.

Klaus grins at her. "Flattery, sweetheart, will get you everywhere," he says. "Very well. Your little friends will be safe."

Elena breaks from his side the second the words are out of his mouth and runs to Caroline, kneeling next to her. She wraps an arm around Caroline, holds Caroline's head to her chest, strokes her hair. "Care, I'm so sorry," she says. "You're – you're going to be fine, I'm so sorry." She looks over at Tyler, whose eyes are wide. "You're both okay," she says, more to herself than to them.

"Is that all?" Klaus asks.

Elena looks up at him, and knows what she has to say. "Thank you," she tells him, even though she shouldn't have to thank him for this, for not going back on his word.

"You're more than welcome," Klaus says. "I'll have them taken to a safe location until after the sacrifice."

"What?" Elena asks.

Klaus smiles. "Your friend here is a werewolf, sweetheart, and it's a full moon tomorrow night. Now, you know me, I'm all for wreaking havoc and murdering innocents, but considering the circumstances I'd like to make sure he can't cause any chaos that would interfere with my evening plans."

Elena keeps her eyes locked on his.

Klaus sighs. "And, of course, he'll be free to go as soon as I've broken the curse. I'll personally ensure it."

Elena nods, and looks back at Caroline.

"Elena," Caroline says, and bites her lip. There are a thousand words in the trembling of her voice.

Elena strokes her hair. "I love you," she says. "Let me do this for you."

"This is all very touching, but I'm afraid you and I have more business to attend to," Klaus says. "In fact, I have a gift for you."

"A gift?" Elena asks.

"Of course," he says, with a grin. "It's the second to last day of your life, Elena, and I now find myself feeling very generous."

Elena swallows. She presses a kiss to Caroline's hair, holding her as well as she can around the chains, and then stands. She makes her way to Tyler, and kneels next to him, unsure of what to say.

"Take care of yourself," she says. "I'm so sorry. For everything."

"Elena–" Tyler says, but Elena shushes him and gives him a hug. After a moment, she feels Tyler's hand press against her back.

It's not much of a goodbye, but she didn't think she'd get one at all.

. . .

Next, he takes her to her school.

"Why are we here?" she asks, as soon as she realizes he's pulling into the parking lot. She doesn't want to see her school. She doesn't want to see another reminder of the life she's about to lose.

Klaus just smiles at her. "You'll see," he says.

She follows him down the hallways to Alaric's classroom – she doesn't know why he's taking her to Alaric's classroom, but she expects it's for something awful. She doesn't expect, when he pushes open to door, to hear Jeremy shouting "Hey! Let me out of here!"

"Jer?" she asks, and rushes past Klaus to enter the room.

"I told you I had a gift for you," Klaus says, when she turns back to look at him. "I don't think I could stomach a full goodbye tour, and, knowing you, by the time that was over the full moon would have come and gone, but I made an educated guess and figured you'd want to see your brother most of all."

She sprints the few feet that separate her from Jeremy and throws herself at him, wrapping her arms around him as tight as she can. God, it's him, she can feel him and he's real, she can smell him and it's Jeremy, it's her brother at last.

"Elena?" Jeremy says, as though he can't believe she's real either.

"Jer," she says, and pulls away so she can look at his face, can press her hands to his cheeks. "Jeremy, oh my god."

"Elena, what's going on?" he asks, his eyes searching hers. "Why are you – why are we here?"

She blinks very quickly, determined not to cry, because if she starts crying she won't stop. "To say goodbye," she tells him, her voice as gentle as she can make it.

"No," says Jeremy. He pulls away from her – he still has his hands around her back, but his face is no longer between her palms. "No–"

"Don't do this, Jeremy," she says. "There's nothing you can do. Don't ruin this, okay?"

"Elena, I can't let you die –"

"Yes, you can," Elena says, nodding. "You have to, Jer. I've been marked for death since before I was born, and you – if you try to stop it, the only thing you'll do is get yourself killed. Don't try to save me – I don't want to be saved. There's nothing you can do."

Jeremy looks at her for a moment, eyes wide, and then shakes his head. "You say that like I don't have a choice."

"You don't have a choice," she says. Her voice hitches in her throat a little, but she manages to smile up at him. She sees a tear at the corner of his eye, and brushes her thumb along the bridge of his nose to wipe it away. "But I do, and I'm choosing to save you. Please let me make it, okay? Please, respect that. Let me have that much."

Jeremy doesn't offer a positive response, or a negative response; he just stares at her a moment longer, and then wraps her in a hug so tight it hurts. She clutches back just as hard.

"I love you," she whispers. She has her eyes pressed shut so she doesn't cry.

"I love you," Jeremy whispers back.

. . .

"I'm so ready," Klaus says, that night, when they're back at the apartment, "to get out of this bad hairdo."

"You're the one who decided to take over Alaric's body," Elena reminds him. Katherine glares from the sofa she's sitting on, swigging bourbon straight from the bottle.

"And I'm glad I did," he replies. "It's been fun. But I'm getting antsy, now."

"Well, I'm not going to complain," she says. "Where's your body?"

Klaus smiles at her. "Maddox is bringing it over as we speak. Along with some… companions, of mine."

"More witches?" she asks, raising an eyebrow. "For the ritual, I mean."

"That would be correct," he says. He takes a step towards her. "Oh, don't look so wary, sweetheart. They're all dying to meet you."

"I think I'm the one dying to meet them," she says, and Klaus barks a laugh.

A few minutes later, they all arrive, Maddox leading the group through the door.

"Greta," Klaus says to one witch, a girl with heavy eyeliner, smaller than Elena. He sounds pleased to see her.

"Hello, love," Greta returns, smiling. Elena chooses to believe that she picked up the verbal tick from Klaus. "Nice body. Ready to get out of it?"

Klaus groans, and Greta grins.

"Where is your body, anyway?" Elena says, interrupting, stepping forward. "Because if you tell me it's being kept in a coffin, I might cry."

Klaus laughs. "Greta," he says, in that magnanimous voice he's too fond of resorting to, "allow me to introduce my doppelganger, Elena. Much prettier than Katerina, don't you think?"

Greta looks at her like she's a science experiment, but smiles all the same, and then her eyes travel to a point behind Elena, where Katherine is seated. "Neither is my type," she allows.

Elena hears the sound of something rolling, and looks to the door, where a massive, ornate chest is being wheeled in. "Is that it?" she asks.

Klaus grins at it. "Yes, it is," he says. He wraps one of Alaric's arms around Elena's waist, and presses a kiss to her hair. "Now, if you don't mind, sweetheart, I'm going to ask you to back out of the way. Can't have you too near the ritual, after all. There are candles involved. Could be dangerous.

"Sounds like a fire hazard." Elena steps back, out of Klaus's grip, and he lets her. She backs up all the way to the kitchen counter, and watches the ritual unfold.

There are candles, a whole semi-circle of them, and the chest is turned and propped up vertically. The witches kneel, chanting, and while Elena stays far out of the way, Katherine rises, walking so that she's facing the chest, standing just feet away from the witches. For a moment, Elena is worried that Katherine's planning to interfere with the spell, but she just stands there, as though transfixed.

Klaus stands Alaric's body next to the chest, but then when the flames on the candles flare up, Alaric's body seizes and shudders, and he looks at Katherine with an expression that does not belong to Klaus. "Elena?" he asks, and then his eyes travel to Elena, and he looks between them again before crumbling to the ground.

Maddox stands, walks to the chest, pulls open the door, and there he is.

Elena goes still with relief. In front of her, she sees Katherine go still with fear.

Klaus is in a white dress shirt – of course he dressed up for the occasion. "Now that's more like it," he says, stepping out of the chest. Katherine backs up, and Elena can't blame her – Klaus is a lot more impressive in his real body, and if Katherine was that scared of him when he controlled Alaric, she can't imagine how Katherine feels seeing him in the flesh.

Klaus sidesteps the candles, and makes a beeline for Elena. "You look pleased," he notes with a grin. "Did you miss my true face, sweetheart?"

"Desperately," Elena deadpans.

Klaus laughs – god, she can't believe it, but it's a relief to hear Klaus's laugh in his own voice. He looks to Katherine, then. "Katerina," he says, and Katherine looks terrified by the sound of her name. "You've been a terrible house guest, but still, it has been fun. That being the case, I'm afraid your presence has lost its entertainment value."

Katherine's face is very still. "If you're going to kill me, just do it," she says.

"Oh, but why would I do that?" he says. "I've been cursed for five hundred years because of your insolence. My revenge is going to last at least half that long." In the blink of an eye, he's behind Katherine, stabbing her neck with a needle. Katherine gasps, and then her eyes roll back into her head and she collapses.

"I thought Katherine was immune to vervain," Elena says, trying to conceal how shaken she is.

Klaus smiles. "She might be resistant," he says, "but not to a dose that strong, or that concentrated." He nods at his witches, and they collect Katherine's prone body, and carry her out the door as Elena watches.

"Where are they taking her?" Elena asks. She steps in the direction of the door, but Klaus blocks her with his body.

"We'll go pay her a visit soon enough," he tells her, his voice little more than a murmur. "No use being there for the grunt work, though. I think I'd like a drink first."

He walks to the liquor cabinet. "I will say, this teacher of yours has quite the taste in liquor. This is a fine bourbon collection." He picks up a bottle, looks at it, and then makes his way to the kitchen and procures two glasses. "Neat or on the rocks?"

"Neat," Elena says, a little bit in shock. "Alaric's still on the floor."

"Yes, well, he'll be out of it for at least twelve solid hours, and then I've got plans for him." He brings her drink over to her, and laughs at the look in her eyes. "No, I'm not going to harm him, sweetheart. I do believe I've proven my intention to keep my word on that matter. Stop worrying"

"I've got less than twenty-four hours left to worry," she tells him, and takes her drink. "I'm working overtime."

He laughs at that, and she drains her glass on one go. He raises an eyebrow. "Thirsty, much?" he asks. His tone is joking, but there's something darker in his eyes.

"Parched," she replies, throat still burning. She stares into the bottom of her glass.

Klaus observes her in silence for a moment – she can see that he's watching her out of her peripheral vision, but she doesn't meet his gaze. After a while, he says, "it isn't going to hurt, you know."

She looks up, and finds that when she meets his eyes, she can't look away.

"I've got quite a lot of experience at this, Elena," he tells her. She'd think it was a joke, but his voice, his face, are all entirely serious. "It won't hurt at all. I'll make certain of it."

She doesn't know what to make of this, of the predator comforting his prey. None of the fairytales ever prepared her for this.

She doesn't respond, just nods at him. He holds her gaze a moment longer, then pours her another glass of bourbon.

Once they've finished their drinks, Klaus drives her back out to the edge of the woods, and they walk through the forest, back towards the tomb.

"Why are we here again?" she asks, sidestepping a rock. "You said you were keeping Tyler and Caroline until after the full moon."

"I am," he says, "but they're not here anymore. I did tell you they'd be taken to a safe location, didn't I?"

"Is the tomb not a safe location?" she asks.

She looks up at him, and sees, by the sliver of moonlight hitting his face, that he's grinning.

"Not anymore," he says.

Elena swallows. "You put Katherine in the tomb," she says. It isn't a question. "That's… that's poetic, I guess."

"Thank you, sweetheart," Klaus says, and offers her a hand as she almost trips on a tree stump.

"I still don't understand why you're bringing me to see her," Elena continues. "I mean, you could have just told me where she was when I asked."

"Ah, but this isn't just my revenge," he tells her. She pauses, and looks up at him. "Katerina not only intended to hand you over to me to barter for her freedom, but chose two of the people you care most for, just to spite you." He looks at her, something serious in his gaze. "Don't you think you deserve retribution for that?"

"Tyler and Caroline are going to be fine, though," she says. "And if I hadn't turned myself over, you'd have been glad of Katherine doing it, so why are rushing to my defense? The result's the same either way."

"Principle of the matter, sweetheart," Klaus tells her, with a smile. "After all, you handed yourself over to me. I'm very grateful for that, you know. You did right by me, so I intend to do right by you."

"How chivalrous," Elena says, her voice little more than a murmur.

"Of course," Klaus says. "Never let it be said that I'm not a gentleman."

He leads her down the stairs to the tomb, holding her hand so she doesn't fall and hurt herself, and then he pushes aside the stone covering the tomb entrance, and there's Katherine.

Elena can't help but have déja vu.

Katherine didn't look as scared last time, though, or as vulnerable, even though she'd been desiccating for weeks. Now, she looks more helpless than Elena's ever seen her, and Elena can't tear her eyes away.

"The first part of Katerina's punishment is in your honor, sweetheart," Klaus says to her. "Letting her rot in here for a while ought to teach her a lesson.

"But–" Elena cuts herself off – she doesn't want to encourage this, she despises Katherine but she knows Klaus well enough by now to know that his idea of justice, whatever that may be, is too awful to contemplate – but it's clear Klaus has already caught her meaning.

"But she might escape?" Klaus finishes. "Yes, you're right, sweetheart, she very well might. In fact, I'm rather hoping she does, one of these days – if she desiccates too long, she'll stop hurting, and that wouldn't be any fun, would it?

He leans forward, toward Katherine, who's trembling. "Still, I'll need precautions, if you do escape. Can't have you on the other side of the planet when I come looking. Perhaps I'll –" he pauses, and tilts his head, like he's observing an caged animal in a zoo. "But no, it's no fun chasing a rabbit who has nowhere to run, is it? If I leave you in Mystic Falls, you'll just be a sitting duck. I do need to give you a sporting chance, don't I? I'm not a complete monster."

Katherine shudders at the words. Elena's stomach is churning.

He pauses, thinks for a moment, and then grins. "When you first came to Mystic Falls, you positioned yourself alongside Confederate soldiers, didn't you?" he asks, and wrinkles his nose. "I never did like American slavers. It is poetic, though." He leans further forward, and Elena knows he's using compulsion. "If you escape this tomb," he tells her, "you cannot leave the boundaries of the former Confederacy."

Katherine blinks.

"Do you understand?" he asks.

"I understand," Katherine says, like she's in a trance.

Klaus stands, smiling.

"You do make a lovely Southern Belle, Katerina," he tells her. "I look forward to seeing what you make of yourself next."

That night, Elena cannot sleep. The image of own self, trapped and afraid and damned to centuries of torment, haunts her every time she closes her eyes.