Don't Mean To Hurt Your Feelings

With The Honest Things I Say

I Can't Help It But I Ain't Into Playing Games

Bad Girl: Fantasia Barrino

XX

Caroline hasn't seen Mikael for days.

Ever since that time in Alaric's classroom, he's always been near her. Whether it was silently watching the events passed by or commenting on important aspects that capture his attention.

He was always there, but he's gone now.

She tries not to think about him. Hell, she was glad to finally be rid of the ghost, but she couldn't deny the tinge of anxiety that spreads throughout her chest. She hasn't seen him since he almost ripped her heart out of her chest, and last time she checked the veil was still in place, and no ghost was able to communicate and physically touch anyone.

Mikael had to go prove her wrong.

Always showing up at the worst time possible.

Panic surged through her, while Mikael grips her shirt tightly. He yanks her up roughly through the forest, not caring as the passing trees brush up against her skin and tear into her clothes.

"Mikael?" Caroline yells frantically, "What the hell are you doing?" She tries to pull his hand from her hair, but his grip doesn't loosen. "Let me go!"

He stops suddenly, after the last tree branch painfully scratches at her side. "Part of my deal is to teach you a lesson." He leans down, towering over her as he whispers in her ear, "Here's your lesson."

"What the hell do you mean?"

"Fight me."

"Fight? Why do I need to fight?"

"Never mind, why." Mikael pushes back, looking down at her, with a cold and calculating stare. "Your lesson for today will be quite simple." He smirks, "Stop me from hitting you."

"I'm supposed to stop you from hitting me?" Caroline scoffs, "How the hell am I gonna stop you from doing that?"

"It's simple, actually." Mikael tilts his head, as Caroline freezes her body tingling, and before she has the chance to react he sends a solid kick into her abdomen, which sends her flying back against a now broken tree. "You don't."

"Seriously?" She groans, struggling to get up, while one of her broken ribs rubs up against her lung. "How's that fair?"

"I never said it was fair, child." He pauses, his eyes turning to stone. "Life's not fair. The hardest obstacles will be the ones you're not prepared for. The ones that change everything, without a moment's notice."

"How's this supposed to help me fight?"

"Caroline, I can't teach you how to fight, if I'm not aware of your capabilities." He shrugs, tilting his head. "Besides, people tend to fight better when it's life or death."

"So, you're making me fight you, while you're not holding back? Just so you can see how I'll respond to an attack?" She frowns, her mind racing as different theories spring forward. "Why are you teaching me how to fight?"

"It's part of the deal."

Caroline laughs sarcastically, "You always say that, but you never tell me what the deal actually is?"

Mikael stills, "I'm not going to tell you. You don't need to know."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Fight, with you."

He disappears before Caroline's eyes, before appearing suddenly behind her. Mikael sends a solid hit to her back. She falls to the ground gasping for air, "A little warning would have been nice."

"A true opponent would not have offered one." Mikael walks forward, while she sits up on her hands and knees. "Don't worry, little girl." He kicks into her stomach, making her fall down onto her back. "I will get you home just in time to trick that bastard of mine about your so-called 'break up' as kids are calling it these days."

XX

The anger was burning through his veins. He had to remind himself to take control back from his inner wolf and to say the least, it wasn't going well.

Nothing was going well.

Caroline and him are in a tough spot, and with Hayley hanging around and staying at his house, it doesn't make anything easier. Plus, he was stressing over the plan to kill Klaus.

"You're still going?" Tyler walks into the room, as Chris pours Hayley another shot. "I drank enough last night, and then I slept, which is what you guys should have done."

"We're just paying our respects to Dean."

Tyler nods sarcastically, "That's great, Chris, but could you pay them at a bar instead?"

Hayley smiles at him innocently, her eyes twinkly into his brown ones. "Don't be mad. We're celebrating our fallen hybrid friend."

She walks over to Tyler, her eyes lighting up at the anger burning within his own. The brunette pours her shot in his mouth, before wiping her thumb across his bottom lip slowly. His head tilts as she sticks her thumb in her mouth.

Klaus walks silently into the room, watching the couple interact intently. He draws out, "Well, don't let me interrupt."

Tyler sighs, his eyes shifting over to the older hybrid. "I didn't know you were here."

"Clearly." He stalks forward, taking a drink from the bottle of alcohol he brought with him. "I just popped round to celebrate Dean's successful retrieval of the vampire hunter. Yet when I arrived, I learned that not only was Dean unsuccessful, but that Elena killed the hunter."

Hayley nods, "Well, maybe if you had let Dean use force on Connor instead of sending him in on a suicide mission."

"Maybe you should mind your business, wolf girl."

Tyler rolls his eyes, "What do you care if Connor's dead anyway?"

"I have my reasons. They've ceased to matter. Cheers." Klaus raises the bottle of alcohol up to his lips, enjoying the burn as it slides down his throat. He pauses, looking over towards the door as a scent of vanilla travels through the door.

His eyes rack over the figures in front of him, as his insides freeze. The hybrid does love any type of pain that flows through the younger man in front of him, he can't help but wish that Caroline didn't have to see them.

"I brought your stuff," Caroline says, as she enters, gripping the box of Tyler's things tightly. "Old laptop, your jersey, the charm bracelet."

This was the plan. They had to pretend to be broken up, even though they really are fighting currently. She had wanted to kiss Klaus, and he didn't tell her about Hayley. They had their problems, and things were awkward.

It was only getting worse. She could hear everything that was happening with Hayley. They hadn't known when Klaus was going to show up, but they knew it was going to be today. She just had to wait for the right moment to enter, but that doesn't mean she had to like any of this.

Everything felt too real.

This break up, to both of them.

Tyler sighs, glancing back towards the other figures in the room. "Care, this isn't a good time."

"Just take it." The blonde shoves the box into Tyler's hands, while Klaus places his bottle down, walking over towards her.

She catches sight of his misty blue eyes, wrapping her arms tightly across her chest. "Caroline," he called, "By the break-up drama unfolding before me, I assume you've met Hayley." She freezes, at the indications he is suggesting. He glances at his hybrids, "All right, come on, let's go. Let's leave them alone. Your talents are needed elsewhere."

"For what?"

Klaus shakes his head, scoffing at the younger hybrid. "I think you've got more important things to deal with, mate." He sends one last nod towards his hybrids, before making his way towards the door, but his eyes linger on the blonde one last time.

"Do you think he bought it?" Caroline says, after she closes the door. She's smiling tightly, as her glaze lands on the two wolves.

"Hell, I bought it."

Caroline laughs, her voice high. "Thanks for the heads-up that he was here, Hayley."

"You girls are good liars." Caroline looks towards Tyler, losing the smile. The fight between them was too fresh, and all three are left in awkward silence.

XX

She was getting sick of all the drama.

That's all her life consists of. She has to deal with witches, werewolves, or hybrids and vampires. She just wanted it to stop, with all the fighting and chaos that has become her life.

Stefan had given her a call, and basically asked for Tyler to get the other hybrids out of the way so they, Damon and Stefan, could save Elena.

Tyler nods, "Hayley is the one that helped me break the sire bond. She showed me what to do, how to help. When she showed up here I thought it was just a coincidence, but it turns out she's been helping one of them, her friend Chris. And she came to help us get the rest of them out from under Klaus."

Stefan nods, while asking, "So…are you telling me that Chris isn't sired anymore?"

"That's exactly what he's telling you."

XX

Caroline found Klaus sitting at the bar, drinking a glass of red wine. She had to tell herself, this was the right thing to do. She needed to do it for Elena, to do it for all the hybrids Tyler is unsiring.

She approaches him, while taking off her jacket. "Place looks pretty good considering your hybrid got blown up in it."

"Caroline," Klaus says, looking up at her, smiling lightly. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I want you to give Elena back."

"Ah, they sent you to sweet talk me." Klaus chuckles, as he shakes his head. That would be the only reason she would ever come talk to him. "Well, good form, but I'm afraid I can't do it."

"Why not?"

"She needs my help." Caroline scoffs, rolling her eyes, while he continues, "Look, I'm not gonna burden you with the gory details, I know you have enough on your plate already."

"That's none of your business, actually."

"Yes, well, just know that if Tyler was still sired to me, he never would have hurt you." Caroline looks up at him, their eyes glazing into the other. "I wouldn't have let him. Can I at least offer you a drink?"

Caroline hesitates, "Yeah." She sighs, her mind flashing through all the probabilities that could happen if she stayed. "Thanks." Klaus smiles, as her heart clenches painfully.

There is no going back now.

XX

The burnt aspects of the house are all around them. Surrounding and compelling them. There has always been a part of them that was attracted to the fire. It had something to do with the sparks and noise. It brings them a moment of peace, in all of their chaos.

Alice glances around calmly. The burnt smell lingering in the air. The feeling of comfort feels her, as the touch of magic dances across her skin. Something happened here.

The brunette kicks the ash against the bookshelf, as she moves towards the remaining pieces of the kitchen. She freezes, catching sight of a blonde she hasn't seen for ages. "You know, when you called, you could have invited me to a more comfortable environment."

Lucy turns sharply, her entire body going cold. She glazes deep into her sister's blazing blue eyes. There are traces of regret, but most of all is the look of cold distance that only time can cause.

"I brought you here for a reason."

Alice nods, her throat closing up at the sound of the blonde's British words. "What is this place?"

"You've been here longer than me, and I already know more than you." The blonde smirks, eyes sparkling, as she moves towards her older sister. "I had Klaus tell me all the glory details."

"Klaus?" Alice scoffs, "Really, Lucy, switching brother? I thought you were into the other one?" She shakes her head, pouting mockingly. "Don't you tell me all these Petrova doppelgängers are rubbing off on you."

"Oh, please, Klaus isn't even a friend," Lucy spits. She pauses, picking up a burnt looking rock, as she starts examining the faint lines of paint. "This is why I brought you here."

Alice frowns, taking a glance at the rock and its faint markings. "The symbol?" She questions, "Why would this be here?"

Lucy glances around the burnt building, "This place was where the Council of Mystic Falls blew themselves to shit." She pauses, her accent deepening, "Professor Shane is in Mystic Falls."

"The psycho obsessed with our history?" Alice frowns, as her mind races through the most possible theories of what his arrival could mean. "What the hell does he want?"

"I haven't been here long enough to find out." The blonde glances around the burnt pieces lying around, while her eyes glaze over as old emotions interact with new, overwhelming ones. "There were twelve humans here."

Alice's voice quivers, "Twelve?"

Lucy nods, "We won't know if it means anything until a second event happens." She shakes her head, even as her eyes tell a different story. "It is probably just a coincidence."

"It better be." Alice turns away from her sister, trying not to get seen with tears in her eyes. "If he gets out, everything we tried to avoid these past 2,000 years will come crashing down."

"I know."

"No one will be safe."

XX

Caroline hated being the distraction.

She hated playing with anyone's feelings, even if that someone was Klaus. She knew what that felt like, and she hated it. To make everything worse, she is enjoying her time with Klaus. She would never admit it, but she really did like having him around. Spending time with Klaus wasn't supposed to be fun. It was supposed to be boring, but it wasn't, and she was enjoying it.

Caroline glances down as her phone dings softly, several messages from Stefan showing up on her screen. "I lost Elena," was the first one, and it filled her with dread. "I need a vampire to kill. I'll turn someone if I have to," was the second one. She could practically feel how desperate Stefan feels through the phone. "Get an answer. Fast," was the last one. It made her palms sweaty, as she came back to reality.

Klaus was here with her, and she had no idea what he would do to her once he found out the truth. He would probably kill her way, and then go kill all her friends trying to take Elena back.

She really did feel guilty.

Caroline glances up from her phone, smiling as innocently as she can. "So, here's the thing, I didn't just come here to try to get you to release Elena."

"You don't say."

Klaus was well aware there was another reason she was here. He knew she wouldn't have a random drink with someone like him, without having a reason why. Even though a part of him was hoping for something more.

Something he would never say out loud.

The blonde brushes her hair behind her ear, smiling hesitantly. "I came here to distract you so that Stefan could go to your house and break her out, which he did." She swallows, watching as his face drops, "And, don't get mad, but then he lost her."

KLaus pushes himself off the bar in a fury, and Caroline catches the betrayal look that makes his eyes sting. He can barely hold back the flinch, from the anger inside, but this isn't anything new. Everyone betrays him eventually.

"Klaus."

He freezes, looking towards her sharply. "Caroline, you're beautiful, but if you don't stop talking, I will kill you."

She tries to ignore the look of betrayal upon his face, as she calls out, "They figured out how to stop the hallucinations."

Klaus growls, "Okay, you have ten seconds to tell me."

She hated being the distraction.

XX

Tyler knew there would be consequences.

"You're doing a good thing, Chris."

Klaus had been clear on his orders. Chris was to watch after the doppelgänger, and not to let anything happen. Like always, something had gone wrong. She got free, and it wasn't Chris's fault. Who else is Klaus going to blame?

Chris smiles tightly, catching Tyler's eyes, as Hayley comes up beside him. "Yeah, well, let's see how fast a good thing can get me out of town."

Hayley hugs Chris, "Call me when you're safe, okay?"

"Yeah." Chris grips the strap of his backpack, swinging it over his shoulder, as he opens the front door. He freezes, catching sight of Klaus, his heart pounding loudly.

"Going somewhere?" Klaus spits, while he grabs Chris by the throat, flashing him up towards the staircase. "When I said don't let her out of your sight, what did you think I meant?"

Tyler glares, "It's his fault, it's mine." He steps forward, watching the older hybrid closely. "It's my fault she got away!"

Klaus growls, "Then maybe you should be the one to die for it."

Hayley pushes up against Tyler, "No one has to die!"

Klaus speeds towards Hayley, shouting, "Did I not say, mind your business?!"

"Tyler's covering for me," Hayley states, "I'm the one that let her go."

Tyler glances at Hayley, as he watches the other hybrid. He sighs, "Hayley…"

She shakes her head, catching Tyler's eyes, "No." The brunette's glare deepens, as she turns towards the original. "You want someone dead, go ahead. Kill me. I'd rather die anyway than end up as one of your sired little bitches."

Klaus growls, as his eyes flash, and Hayley can't help but swallow deeply. "Don't tempt me, little wolf." He turns around to Chris, "Your existence is to serve me. To please me. Do you understand?"

"I'm sorry, I won't fail you again."

"No, you won't." He moves aside, shrugging towards the door. "Get out of here." Chris quickly walks to the front door, not even catching sight of Stefan coming in with a stake.

"No!" Hayley's hand flies up to her mouth, as she screams. Jeremy walked into the manor, clenching the cleaver in his hands.

"Jeremy?" Tyler frowns, glancing down at the cleaver, as anxiety spreads throughout his body. He exclaims, "What the hell, man?!"

Stefan sighs, "I'm sorry."

The vampire gives one last nod towards Jeremy, before the teenager walks forward. The cleaver in his doesn't shake, and he doesn't falter. He's doing it for his sister, and there is no going back.

Screams and blood fill the room.

XX

Caroline walks through the manor door, her heart beating frantically in her chest. She finds Hayley sleeping on the couch, while Tyler sits next to her with a bottle of scotch, drinking out his problems in a stupor. "Tyler."

"It's just us." He spits, ignoring her as she flinches from the venom in his voice. "Paying our respects to Chris."

"Tyler, we didn't have a choice."

"I told him we had his back." He looks blankly ahead at the wall, "I told him if he helped us, he'd be free."

"But we needed to help our friend."

Tyler scoffs, "Yeah, we helped our friend by handing over another friend."

"Chris wasn't…"

"Chris was a friend, Caroline. He's like me. He's part of my pack. All he wanted to do was be unsired by that disgusting piece of…" He sighs, after a moment, he looks up at Caroline. "How did you even get Klaus to agree to give up one of his hybrids? Did you kiss him?"

Caroline ignores the verbal insult, "I agreed to go on a date with him." Tyler nods, getting up off the couch. "I just thought that it might help keep up the ruse between you and Hayley."

Tyler pours himself another drink and looks up at her, before he throws his glass against the wall behind her. Caroline flinches, jumping back sharply. Her normally slow-dead beating heart, pounding loudly in her ears.

Hayley wakes up from the loud, disturbing noise. She exclaims, "What the hell is going on?"

He pauses, "Nothing. Nothing at all." Tyler sneers, "Just celebrating the life of a fallen hybrid friend." She looks down, not being able to hold his angry glaze.

He scared her, and she disappointed him.

XX

Caroline was seven the first time someone had died in front of her. It was the second time someone had died because of her, and it was the third time someone from the supernatural world tried to leave her life completely.

She doesn't remember.

Not many people do. Only four living and breathing people know. The rest are all ghosts, but they are the exceptions. They see anything and everything. It was a secret among the living and a whisper along the dead. Two different stories, but each so very similar. Holding the same content, but from different POV's. It truly was an accident for three of them, but for the fourth living person, it was different. He knew what would come, and still went through with it. He wanted her dead, or so it seemed.

No one alive will ever talk about it.

They simply just refuse.

All for different reasons.

Still they suffer the consequences.

Alice steps up the front porch steps of the Forbes home, smiling tightly at Lucy. She calls, "Liz? Caroline? Are either of you home?"

Liz calls from the kitchen, "In here, Alice."

Alice smiles shyly, "Hey! I brought a guest."

Lucy steps into the kitchen, hiding her nerves, with a cocky exterior. She smirks, "Hello, Lizabeth."

"Lucy!" Liz moves forward, smiling softly. "It's Elizabeth or Liz now. I told you that."

"It looks like you've adjusted well." Lucy glances around, taking in all the pictures hanging on the walls. She tries to ignore Liz's comment. "You look happy."

"It wasn't always easy." She pauses, picking up a picture of Caroline and her hugging each other tightly. "We've been through a lot."

Alice smiles tightly, "Why don't we sit down, and have a chat?"

"Yes." Liz turns around, starts walking towards the living room. "Right this way."

Both supernaturals follow quickly behind the human, before trying to make themselves comfortable. They quickly enter uncomfortable silence, while Lucy taps her hands against the soft cushion of the couch absentmindedly.

She comments, "I love the pillows."

She hates silence.

Liz smiles, "Thanks." She adds, "Caroline picked them out."

Alice frowns, "Where is Caroline? I haven't seen her all day."

"She's at Tyler's place."

Lucy frowns, "Tyler Lockwood? As in Klaus's first hybrid?"

"Yes." Alice smirks, "Also known as Caroline's boyfriend."

Liz ignores the way Lucy's eyes widen slightly. She asks, "How do you know Klaus?"

Lucy glances up at the older? No, the younger blonde. "We're past acquaintances. He's helped me out a lot these past few 1,000 years."

"Right." Liz glances down at her fingers, picking at her nails nervously. "Lucy, none of what happened when Caroline was seven was your fault. None of us could have predicted what would happen."

"Liz, let's just not talk about it. We can agree that when certain individuals", she glances towards Alice, "get angry, they tend to spat out the truth. Whether any of us want to hear it or not." Lucy glances down at the glow flickering on and off from her hands, while the lights start dimming slightly. She pulls her coat over them quickly, adding, "Just be glad it wasn't another 16 years before we woke up."

Liz sighs, "Right, Sam informed me that you guys have been asked to make the choice again. Since you guys are still here, he told me someone refused."

"Someone always refuses."

"What she means to say, is that I refused." She scoffs, "All the rest of them hate me."

"I don't hate you." Lucy raises her eyebrows, making Alice sigh. "Ok, I hate you a little. You just had to keep us here even longer, didn't you?!"

"I'm sorry, that it's such an inconvenience for you." Lucy scoffs, "Actually I'm not, I need more time. We all had once agreed, to always offer each other that choice."

"That was before the world went to shit."

"Girls, stop!" They freeze, both of them calming down. "Now, Lucy, do you need a place to stay?"

"No, I will be with Klaus." She sighs, "By the way, are Caroline's friends looking for the cure? Because Klaus is."

Alice frowns, "Wait, why would he be looking for the cure?" She knew he wouldn't dare take it. So, it wouldn't make any sense.

Liz sighs, shutting her eyes. "Elena." She nods, "Elena, she just got turned into a vampire. It would be for her."

Lucy scoffs, "The doppelgänger. Of course, it would be for her."

"He needs her blood." Alice nods, "Do we let them get it?" She clarifies, "The cure."

Lucy scoffs, "More likely they're going to die trying."

Alice frowns, "So, we just let them go find it?"

Liz shakes her head, "There is no stopping them, not when it's for Elena. I know what risk Damon is willing to take for her, and I won't let Caroline get put in the middle."

"What will we do?" Lucy shakes her head, "I'm pretty sure Caroline's already in the middle. That's why she was turned into a vampire."

"If they get the cure, they will wake him up in the process."

Alice nods, "We can't stop him, not when Klaus wants the cure as well."

Liz sighs, "Then we won't stop them." She swallows, "We know things they don't, and we know the truth about the cure. We will need it to stop him."

Lucy raises an eyebrow, "Do you want us to get the cure or them to have the cure?"

"Make sure you end up with the cure, and don't let any of them take it." Liz glances towards both of them, "Keep me informed. Lucy, you can get close to Klaus, and that will help us." She stops, her blue eyes flashing, as a Sheriff mode mixed with an overprotective mother fade across together perfectly. "I need to know what's gonna threaten my daughter's safety. I haven't protected her before, but I will now."

XX

My Intention's Not To Offend

But I See Right Through Ya Pride

Bad Girl: Fantasia Barrino