Outskirts of enemy camp / 7 years ago

The two years that followed Klaus's failed attempt at killing were brutal. He was put through the training of his life as he ran miles and miles until he puked or passed out, and was then told to keep going. He went through physical and mental obstacles that tested his limitations and will power. Walker never let up on him. He set out to keep his word on turning Klaus into the ultimate soldier for their cause. No matter what condition they had to deal with, Klaus was ordered to train…and train…and then train some more. For the past two years…that had been Klaus's life.

Now, the training was over, and Klaus was on his next mission. When Walker had thought Klaus sufficiently toughened, he had sent him out on an assignment with Elijah once again. The two brothers sat in the treetops, waiting for the right time to execute their plan of action. The targets were two men who had been reported to be high paid assassins for the enemy. Their presence at the campsite only confirmed that.

"How do you feel, Niklaus?" Elijah asked, watching every move Klaus made.

"Fit as a fiddle," he said quietly. Klaus was eyeing the two men who were currently sitting at a table outside, chatting with a couple of women who were no doubt given strict instructions to please the assassins. Their hips swayed to a tune that sounded native to the country they resided in. While enjoyable to watch, Klaus wished they would get the hell out already. He wanted to get out of there before they were spotted.

"No second thoughts?" Elijah wondered.

"None."

"What happened?"

"What do you mean?" Klaus asked. He was confused as to what Elijah was inquiring about.

"I mean what happened with Walker? What did he do to you, brother? I wasn't allowed to see you for two years. Two…years. Why was I kept from you for so long?"

"He just thought it was better. No reason."

"I couldn't see you for years and all you have to say is that it was for no reason? I need more than that." Elijah's eyes gave away his anger, which was a first for the older man. Klaus had always known him as a calm and collected person. While Elijah's tone was quiet, Klaus could see his emotions were not as in check as they normally were. It made the younger man swallow a large lump in his throat.

"Walker said you were a distraction," Klaus confessed meekly. Elijah's jaw set as he continued watching Klaus with a disapproving, yet tender, look. He turned away, glancing at the enemies below them. The women had discarded their clothing and were sitting on the killers, giving them quite the lap dance. Klaus hoped they would be in such a blissed out state afterward, that the kill would be utterly simple. Elijah fixed his gaze back on his younger brother.

"What. Did. He. Do?" Elijah asked, his patience wearing thin.

"He trained me to be the man he knew I could be."

"The man he knew you could be, or the man he wanted you to be?"

"Same thing, Elijah."

"No…it's not. The man you could be is one much greater than what I believe he's made you become." Klaus sat in silence, staring out at nothing as he took in Elijah's words. He knew his brother wouldn't approve of Walker's tactics. He couldn't tell him what he had gone through for those two years.

"What does it matter? I can do this now. Weren't you the one who wanted me to make the kill before?"

"Yes, because I knew this would happen. I knew the consequences would be bad. I just didn't realize he would literally take you from me."

"Nothing has changed, brother. It's still me. I'm just not the boy I was two years ago."

"Niklaus…"

"No. Don't. All I want you to do is trust me. Everything will be well. I will carry out these orders, and then we'll be back at camp, cutting up and chatting like we always do. Okay?" Klaus's eyes held that boyish hope that he had sworn was gone for good. Elijah saw this, and gave the tiniest of grins, nodding his head.

As the two men in the branches looked down at the targets, they saw that the women were gathering their things while the men sat like satiated pigs in their seats. Once the women were gone, Klaus turned to Elijah.

"This won't take long," he whispered. He jumped so that he hung from the tree branch, and then let go, falling to the ground with a silent thud. Klaus approached the two men, catching the sound of Elijah dropping to the ground behind him. Good. He would be ready to escape.

Klaus quickly put his hands on either side of their face, and smashed their heads together, causing them to be knocked out. He caught them before they fell from their chairs. Adjusting one man so he sat on his chair, he grabbed the others head. In one swift motion, he snapped the guy's neck. Klaus heard the bone crack, and let him go unceremoniously as he put his hand on the other killer's head, performing the same swift motion as before. He quickly turned and ran at an inhuman speed to where Elijah stood motionless. Klaus had a smile on his face, one that seemed so out of place at the moment.

"I did it," he said in a hushed tone, his smile larger than life. They weren't in the clear yet. Being quiet was still a must.

"You did. You really did. You made your first kill…"

"Quick, let's get out of here." Klaus ran through the trees at top speed. Walker would be pleased to know that he had actually gone through with the killing. Klaus would get to be with Elijah now. He wouldn't have to leave him again.

Klaus turned his head around as he ran, checking to see if Elijah was still behind him. Elijah was a fit man, and a fast one at that. Yet, Klaus was still creating a large distance between the two. As he turned his head back around to watch where he was going, he managed to miss the worried look his older brother gave him.


Present Day

One month later, Caroline sat with Stefan at one of the tables in the coffee shop. She had told Elena about meeting Rebekah and Nik the day after it had happened. Both of them agreed that Caroline should just give up on talking to him, or dealing with him in general. If he was going to be so distant and unfriendly, then she shouldn't try to get to know him. He obviously wanted to be left alone, and so she would let him be.

As for the screams, Elena had promised to stay quiet, but she still thought Caroline should inform someone on the situation. None of it had let up in the past month, and every night Caroline went to bed listening to her iPod. Elena had gotten concerned that Caroline wouldn't know peace again until she told the landlord. Caroline knew him though, and knew that he wouldn't give a rat's ass about her predicament. It was just how things went.

"Caroline?" Stefan said, bringing her from her thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"You keep zoning out on me."

"I'm sorry. I just…have things on my mind. That's all."

"Anything you want to talk about?"

"I don't think you'd be able to help me with it."

"You could always try me. I might surprise you," he said with an infectious grin on his face. She smiled back, unable not to. How much could she share with Stefan? She had managed to keep both him and Tyler from knowing anything about what went on in Nik's apartment. Maybe she should only share half of what was going through her mind. The part she hated admitting to anyone, even Elena.

"I think I'm attracted to the guy who lives above me."

"I already knew that. I think everyone knows that actually. What's so wrong about it?"

"He has a girlfriend. No one seems to get that. Also, he's not the talkative type."

"Well, this guy-"

"Nik."

"Okay. Nik can't be faulted because he likes to keep quiet. The girlfriend is a whole other thing though. As long as she's around, I would suggest trying to find someone else."

"I agree on that. What I don't agree with is the first part. He can be faulted for his reserved nature. It's not a good kind. More like a 'I have secrets' kind, ya know?"

"I think I get what you're saying. Can the man not have secrets though?"

"Not if they're criminal secrets! Or secrets that involve drugs!"

"What if they aren't?"

"What if they are?"

The two stared at each other in silence for a minute, playfully challenging the other to come up with a better argument than what they were getting so far.

"Caroline, I think you should give Nik the benefit of a doubt. Give him a chance, you might be surprised."

"Why do you keep encouraging me?"

"Because I haven't seen you this excited about a guy in a long time. Just tell me one thing, before I give you my complete blessing."

"Okay," she chuckled, waiting for him to continue.

"What is it about him that draws you in? Why him if he's no good? I swear if it's because you think he's a bad boy and you can change him I'm going to hang myself," he added jokingly. She shook her head.

"Trust me, it's not that. I'm not even sure why I am attracted to him. Maybe I like the mysterious type. Not bad boy…just mysterious."

"Why haven't we gone out then?" he asked. Stefan was trying to keep a straight face, but he was failing miserably.

"Because you're too good for me. I'm not just saying that either," Caroline took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"That was the nice way of friend zoning me, wasn't it?" he asked quietly, that playful tone still in his voice.

"Stefan," she began, but he cut her off.

"I'm kidding, Caroline. I like you as my friend. I wouldn't want to ruin it with a relationship."

"Then we're on the same page," she giggled, giving his hand one last squeeze before letting it go.

"Seriously though. Give Nik a chance. Instead of quitting before you've even begun, just try getting to know him. If you still don't like him, at least you'll be sure then."

Caroline thought about it for a minute. Could she really just not try like her and Elena had talked about? The answer was no, she couldn't. Her curiosity would eventually get the best of her, and she would give in to her temptations. Might as well do it sooner than later. She nodded at Stefan, a smile emerging on her lips.

"Alright…I'll do it. I owe it to myself to give a possible friendship a chance."

"Exactly," Stefan agreed.

As their conversation began to wrap up, Caroline saw the man in question coming down the stairs to go on his routine run. Everyday, he would come down and he would go for that run. Caroline didn't understand it. She had just gone to yoga that morning and already she was done for the day. That was her workout routine, and that kept her in fairly good shape. Sure she ran with Elena sometimes, but it's not like she enjoyed it. Nik didn't seem to get enough of it.

An idea hit her. Not one she thought she'd enjoy, but an idea that had merit. She got up quickly from the table once Nik was outside.

"I'm going."

"What?"

"I'm going to go on a run with him."

"I want you to talk to him, but are you sure now is a good time? He doesn't have a running partner. It might be for a reason."

"Just this once. If he doesn't like my company, I won't do it again. I'm dressed for a run, so now is as good a time as any. Thanks for the advice, Stefan. Love you." Caroline wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. She felt his arms go around her waist and squeeze just as firmly.

"Love you too," he said softly. She kissed him on the cheek before walking hurriedly to the door, and then outside.

It took her a while to search the crowd for his dirty blonde hair, but she found it down the sidewalk. Surprisingly, he hadn't got that far. She would have figured he'd be out of sight by now. Caroline jogged through the crowd to try and catch up to him. People gave her weird looks and she was pretty sure someone pushed her back, but her focus was set on Nik. By the time he reached the end of the sidewalk to turn in the direction of the park, she caught up to him.

"Hey," she said. Her ponytail bobbed back and forth as she tried to keep the same pace as him. Nik jumped a little, turning his head to see where the source of the noise had come from. Oops. Caroline hadn't meant to startle him. She watched as his gaze gave her a once over before he turned his head back to the pathway in front of them. Well…okay then.

"We never got to officially meet yet. I'm Caroline. You're Nik, right?" He still didn't answer. Caroline didn't know what it was going to take for him to talk to her. What was she hoping he would say though?

"So, you like running? I can't stand it personally, but I do yoga. That counts as my workout. I run a class in the studio across the street. You should come over some time. I bet you'd be good at yoga." He finally looked at her, his expression indicating that he thought she must have been joking. She just shrugged.

"I think you would be! Don't look at me like that. I'm just making a suggestion."

Nik only turned his head back to the sidewalk, and then began speeding up, clenching and unclenching his fists. Great. Had she pissed him off now? Caroline increased her pace as well, catching up to run beside him. He wasn't going to lose her that easy. He would just have to suck it up if he was irritated. For some reason, she was more determined than ever to get him to talk.

"Don't worry, I can keep up," she said, proud of herself for running this long. Nik wasn't about to have it though. He sped up once more, this time turning around to jog backward and face her. Never once did that serious and scrutinizing expression leave his face. It's like he was studying her. She felt very aware of everything she was doing.

"I'm not some science experiment! Stop looking at me like I'm going to grow a third arm!" She furrowed her brows and ran faster so she could be beside him. Right when she got to him, his pace slowed again. Thank god because she was getting tired. How did he run everyday like this?

"So…tell me about yourself. What kinds of things do you like to do?" Nik sped up. She scrambled to catch up to him. Was he enjoying this or something?

"Okay, okay! You don't have to tell me about yourself." His pace slowed. Yea, he was definitely having fun with this.

"Are you going to talk? Or is this going to be a one-sided conversation?" His look suggested that the latter was the correct answer. She grunted.

"You're going to make this difficult, aren't you?" Nik only sped up in response. However, he went faster than he had gone on this little excursion so far. She almost caught up, but then quit. Screw this. Caroline stopped and put her hands on her knees to catch her breath. She looked up to see Nik had started jogging backwards again to look at her, but then immediately turned around as soon as she saw him looking. He ran off like a gazelle being chased by a massive lion. Could a man really run that fast? Her mouth hung open as she watched him speed off at an incredible sprint.

Caroline walked back to the coffee shop, her mind slightly confused at how far she had gotten. Maybe she wasn't so athletically challenged. Stefan was wiping down one of the tables as she came in, clutching her sides. He had a very Cheshire cat-like grin on his face as he watched her walk over to where he stood.

"So…how'd the run go?"

"Don't. Start."

"That bad?"

"He's an asshole!" she said, flailing her arms around, then quickly clutching her side again as the pain set in. That would need to be iced.

"So you aren't attracted to him anymore?"

"Of course I am," she muttered, embarrassed at the fact that the mystery that was Nik only made him more attractive. Stefan chuckled as he continued cleaning tables.

"You've got it bad."

"Silence!" she exclaimed as she went to the stairs, "I will see you when I can walk straight again." That got her a few looks from some of the patrons, but she didn't care at the time being. All she wanted to do was soak in a bubble bath and catch a sitcom on television. Her run around with Nik had left her sore and grumpy. Damn him for not saying a word. Because even while he was being an ass, and not saying anything at all…he still made her want to know him.


A/N: I know, I know. He still hasn't spoken. However, if it's any consolation, I have finished writing the chapter where he speaks for the first time. This is a new experience for me writing Klaus like this. I kind of enjoy it though. It's something different.

Once again, thank you soooo much for all the support. The follows, favs, and reviews make my heart explode with joy. I read everybody's comments and take them into as much consideration as I can, seeing as I have this story planned out so much. I'm beyond excited to share what I have with you guys, and I'm glad you all enjoy it thus far =]

Until next time my lovely readers!