Author Note: This one's a doozy guys. Watch out! :D 'Bout time for an update. Sheesh!

Wicked Game

The world was on fire and no one could save me but you.

It's strange what desire will make foolish people do.

I never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you.

And I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you.

-Covered by Raign

The ground was uncomfortable, but what was she to expect- her room? She was groggy, no, that wasn't the right word. More like in pain; her head was pounding. How long had she been out? She went to sit up but the wave of gut wrenching pain and nausea were too much so she settled for the floor once more. Her eyes looked the room over from her position in the middle of the floor. If she didn't know any better she would have said that she was in the same room as before. However, there was something off about this particular room. It was bigger, had to be 20 square foot, everything was similar to the other room though. The walls were the same, no mirror, but behind her-instead of another cement wall- was a large glass wall. And against the wall on her left, in the back corner, was an odd metal ring. It was thick and sat just 2 feet above the ground. Then she noticed a single metal bed in the opposite corner. She knew a prison cell when she saw one.

Her body felt too broken to be of much use to her. God, she wished she had something to go on. Anything really. But no, she was stuck in God-knew-what-kind-of-hell this was going to be. Her throat felt dry, scratchy. She really needed a blood bag. Get up, Caroline, you can do this. She eased herself up into a sitting position. This was the first time she noticed her clothes. They weren't the ones she had on earlier. These were gray, almost like gym clothes even. She didn't have shoes either. She gingerly checked her leg, shoulder, and stomach, the wounds were mostly healed-still there but tender to the touch. Her temple was the same. She must have only been out for a day. Still the thought about her almost getting killed was a good shock to the system.

What the hell was she thinking?! She got herself stuck here, and for what? To protect Klaus? Like he needed protecting. What would her friends think if they knew what she had done? Hell, had she not been kidnapped, what would they think about what she might have done in New Orleans? That's not really fair. She wanted to protect him, why would she lie about something like that to herself? It was the truth. But...why had she wanted to protect him? She was going to die to hide the truth-

"That's right, Caroline. You were going to die for me. To protect me. Why would you do that? You, who never gave me the time of day."

Her breath quickened. His voice sent a chill down her spine. She thought she was alone in the cell? No, she was, wasn't she? She slowly turned her head. Her heart was hammering inside her chest unnecessarily. But there he was. Standing in front of the glass wall, in her cell, like nothing was off about this situation. "K-Klaus?" He was there all right. She wasn't hallucinating, he was there looking absolutely perfect as always. She could have rolled her eyes. "How...how did you find me?" He remained silent, standing like a statue. How strange? Caroline tried to stand but found herself still to weak.

"You didn't answer my question, love. Why save me? Why put yourself through this?" He seemed determined to simply talk to her, he hadn't even asked if she was okay. Something was definitely off. Maybe this was a trick by the people who put her in here. "Oh, I'm no trick, love." He smiled in that slightly too sweet way that sent more alarms off inside her head.

"I'm just curious," he started to pace around her now, "you never really showed interest in me, well...omitting just a few times. Aren't you just a bit curious as to why you saved me?"

She didn't know what to say, it was no imagination- he had read her thoughts. True, he often knew the path that her thoughts were on- even called her out on more than one occasion. But to flat out read her mind? Was she going crazy?

"I've often thought that everyone can be a little crazy at times, don't you think?" He smirked. He stopped to inspect the bed and then moved to the glass wall. "I'm here because you want me to be here. I'm here," he paused briefly, "to get to the bottom of the enigma known as Caroline Forbes." He turned around, his stare was cold but his smile was warm, "And believe me, love, I know more about you than you do." Her heart sank, what was going on. "So, I'll ask again, why...did you save me?"

Think, Caroline, think. Is this another game? She had thought that maybe things were different this time. Was she wrong? Could-

"No thinking, love. It's simple really, just be honest." He turned to her. "Be honest with me and yourself."

Caroline's head slowly shook back and forth, this was impossible. What on Earth was going on?

His face fell into a disappointed mask, "I see we have some work cut out for us. I suppose I'll have to leave you to think it through a little longer."

Confused, Caroline looked down at her hands against the hard cement floor. She needed a second to comprehend what was happening. The sheer craziness of it all. She looked up at him. Except, he wasn't there. She had looked down for just a second, literally a second. How had he...? Something was off. She realized, with a sickening in her stomach, that she was off, too.

"Doctor?"

The voice came from the door to her office. She glanced at her assistant and then back at the multitude of monitors in front of her. "Report." Her voice was flat.

"Subject 037-HX has awakened. It looks as if the drug is in effect."

His voice was soft. Something she found slightly irritating. But he was the best she's ever had. A new one would be hard to come by, and even harder to train. "Good." She turned away from the monitor. "I'm rather surprised she woke up so fast. Ready the room for her first session. If she's awake now, then I have high hopes for her." Her assistant didn't move. She raised a brow, "I'm sorry, did I miss something?"

The man looked a bit flustered, "I-it's just that, we might lose her if we start too early. She's at a very weakened state, I just think if we gave it the week you mentioned, in case he does-"

"No." She turned back to the monitors. "We start now." As her assistant left the office, a smile crept it's way on the Doctor's face.

Klaus, with all of his mental strength that he could muster refrained from breaking more furniture. There would be time for that after he watched the next video. He knew- if he was in their positions- that he wouldn't wait the full week. He would start as soon as possible. The thought almost sent him reeling. His emotions were so erratic he couldn't grasp on to a single one for longer than a few seconds. On the outside, though, he had collected himself again. He had to in order to endure this next agony. In almost a robot-like fashion, he walked over to the DVD player, removed the previous disc and replaced it with the new one. He stepped back and waited.

The voice was the first thing to come from the screen. "Klaus." This time the voice was annoyed. The atmosphere in the room shifted, as if everyone knew what this would mean. "I thought we had a deal? But I guess you've made your answer. I want you to know that I am not someone to trifle with."

The dark screen crackled to life. What almost appeared to be a lifeless blonde sat on the floor in the middle of a room. His heart stopped. Her hair covered most of her face. A week was too long for her. He could tell her spark of fire was slowly losing it's will to fight. Dammit, Caroline, you need to fight!

The walls around Caroline started to shine. It took just a moment for Klaus to realize that it was water. That the room she was in was slowly filling up with it. And then his eyes focused on her wrists and how she wasn't even moving. She was chained to the floor. As soon as the water reached her legs it was like she awoke from a trance. Her head snapped up to look around her. She looked so panicked, like this...wasn't the first time. Klaus suddenly grasped on to the single emotion he could rely on the most, rage.

The water rose around her as she tried desperately to get out of her chains. It reached around her neck and before her last deep breath she cried out, "Klaus, help me!" The water swallowed her whole.

His heart broke. It was such an acute and precise agonizing pain that he was sure he would never recover. She had called out for him. And he was helpless to save her. Helpless was the last thing in the world that the first Hybrid ever wanted to be. His left foot took a step back.

Caroline thrashed around trying to relieve herself from the coming torture of drowning, but she couldn't escape it. It took just a minute for her to drown. To watch it was...Klaus didn't know if he knew any word that was greater than agony. Lost was close. He was lost. He couldn't fathom anything but his anger and pain. Another minute passed and she thrashed awake again, the terror on her face that she'd drown again was unbearable. It went on for another five minutes. After her fourth 'death' the voice came back on.

"This is just a piece, Klaus. I'm still interested in the exchange. A life for a life, if you will. But now for the hard part, I was gracious enough to give you an easy out. Well...now you have to find me. Good luck. She's going to need it." The video cut out.

As the screen darkened Klaus sped out of the room. He couldn't be around anyone, around her things and her friends. Everything that belonged to her. It was too much. He needed to think. He needed to find her.