Well, this one came out of nowhere but I had to write it. I usually don't write these, but the imagery was so strong in my head that I couldn't shake it. The reader prompt was mushroom and it supposed to be a just a drabble but it evolved into a serious one-shot. Anyway...

Klaus has an encounter with Caroline in the woods.

Klaus walked through the quiet still of the pines trees, hoping the quite whistling of the wood would whisper something in his ears to give him the answers he was looking for. In his youth, a walk in the woods surrounding his human home had given him comfort when he needed it. No such answers came with the wind and in turn, no such comfort.

He paused in his wandering, letting his gaze fall to forest floor having nowhere else to look. A cropping of little white mushrooms rest atop a rotting log and his astute senses picked up the scent of decay and the passage of time from the little plants.

How like the he and the small plants were witnessing the passage of time, beings that lived off the death and destruction but someone managed to create beauty out of death. Never had he felt so old and worn, the hollow life he led stripped away and his soul bare to the surrounding nature.

Another softer smell mixed with the scent of decay. His eyes lifted from the ground and before him in all her glory stood Caroline with the brightest smile on her face. Klaus couldn't help but feel his mood lighten instantly at the sight. For some reason that smile had the power to make him feel alive and create strong tightening in his chest; he had sacrificed much to witness that smile.

"I didn't think you would come find me," he told her evenly.

Caroline's smile lost of its dimness, saddened by his statement. She took a step towards him, leaves crunching under her feet.

"Neither did I," she answered him.

Klaus arched a brow but did not move his body, if anything he became impossibly stiff.

"Then why come at all?"

It was harsh and bitter but it was the truth. He meant to speak with no emotion but for her, he was powerless to keep a façade for long.

Her sad smile grew more mournful. "I've gained a great deal of perspective from my new position."

"Is that so?"

She stepped forward again, hesitating at his no response before she huffed and closed the distance between them completely. Her entire presence filled the space around him and Klaus forced himself to look up having cast his eyes downwards again not wanting to look at her. It seemed even now that her floral and vibrant scent mocked him with its allure.

"I met your family. It was weird really but enlightening. Actually I met a lot of people and I got to see what everyone was up to here in Mystic Falls. Hence the perspective, it's kind of like watching a movie of life," she explained with a shrug of her shoulders.

Klaus grimaced, not certain how he felt about her being able to see everything but oddly comforted as well.

"Kol's interesting, once you get past the complete and total lack of tact."

He actually snorted at that. "My younger brother was never known for his discretion."

She laughed so real and genuine that he hated that last time he had heard it was before Christmas so long ago, back when he had a chance. Another stone dropped into the well of his soul of all the things that he regretted when it came to her.

Caroline must have sensed his remorse and gently grabbed his wrist. Klaus stared down; surprised that he could feel warmth of her fingers on his skin. He involuntary gasped and forcefully stepped back, staring wide eyed at her.

She shook her head, answering the unasked question in his eyes. Klaus growled, punching the nearest tree with unparalleled strength, the tree splitting and falling over with a deafening thud and disturbing leaves everywhere. Caroline rolled her eyes and crossed her arms with a defiant scowl.

"That was completely unnecessary, what did that tree ever do to you?" she huffed, obviously annoyed.

He only answered her with a furious glare but saw the teasing gleam in her eyes.

"If you are just going to be pouty I'll leave."

Klaus watched her turn around, refusing to be manipulated by her but she had only gone a few steps when he called out her name. He couldn't help himself.

She spun around instantly with what he swore was relief in her big blue eyes. She sat down on the tree that he had just felled and patiently waited for him to join her. Klaus glowered with a deep scowl for a minute before joining her.

They sat there in silence, unable to speak for some time. He was still trying to wrap his head around her being there. All the furious screams and tantrums had already been thrown; all the threats of hunting down the Salvatores and the itching desire to tear Tyler's head off had already darkened every corner of his mind for days. Now that she was here he was both parts drained of emotion and elated.

"There was nothing you could have done," she said after some time.

Klaus refused to answer her obvious bait.

Caroline turned towards him and he continued to look outwards, his eyes finding the little bunch of mushrooms again to focus on. He could feel her eyes boring into his head and finally gave in to his desire to look upon her face.

She met him with a determined expression. "I would have done it again a heartbeat."

"They don't deserve you."

"They're my friends Klaus, that's what friends do. We sacrifice for each other," she countered.

"I thought we were friends too."

She stared at him with a sweet smile, something he never expected to see thrown his way.

"We were never friends."

He did not expect those words to sting as much as they did. The inner demons were laughing mercilessly at her proclamation taunting him that he had always known that was the truth. She never gave him a real chance and now that she was in no danger of him hurting her she could speak the whole truth.

Klaus gripped the lumber beneath his hands, threatening to rip it to shreds and was so lost in his world of despair he almost failed to hear the next words she uttered.

"We were always more," she breathed faintly.

It seemed like a private confession that one would say to a priest when no one else was round, a dark secret she did not wish to be known. Klaus nonetheless snapped immediately from his dark cloud and whipped his head to look at her.

She was intently studying her hands, carefully ignoring his eyes. "We tried to say we were friends, but we never really were as much as we tried. There was always the simmering tension never knowing if I wanted to stake you or kiss you. Even now, I still haven't made up my mind."

Klaus blinked owlishly, choosing to assume a blank look. "It's seems death has made you open about yourself at last."

He could practically hear the eye roll she was giving and watched her card her shakings hands through her hair.

"Oh, shut up," she weakly snapped.

The entire atmosphere lightened and suddenly Klaus found they slipped into their easy banter. It was so natural he lost all knowledge of how long they actually sat there.

"Uh-oh," she muttered at one point halting Klaus' story of the how he turned Marcel.

Klaus stopped and he saw she was looking downwards and he noticed her fair hands were slipping in and out of view. Tearfully, Caroline locked her eyes with his.

"Bonnie must be reconstructing the veil," he blankly stated.

Caroline nodded.

"I don't want to go," she whimpered after a moment.

Klaus grabbed her hand but found his hand fell straight through her, grasping at nothing. They both wore matching looks of horror.

"Caroline, I-"

"I know," she cut him off.

Caroline felt her lip tremble. "Kill Silas for me, will you?"

"I will relish the chance to pry his heart from his chest," he promised.

She laughed again but Klaus didn't feel relieved at the sound this time.

Klaus opened his mouth to speak but found himself unable to do so. Instead he could only watch as the wind rustling through the trees carried away the last sight of Caroline from him.

He stared at the spot she had occupied for ages after, finding himself unable to move. Each passing hour the hollowness returned to his being. Instead of the unadulterated rage that had possessed him when first learned she was gone. The dull numbness that filled him as he stared at Kol's body for hours after his death instead possessed him.

She had lain down her life for them all, in a fruitless attempt to end Silas. She added herself to the list of causalities of war the raged against the first immortal; slain as the man used Klaus' face to rob her of life.

Klaus knew he would never be the same again when he learned the news of her death. His broken and twisted soul was going to be the next casualty of the war. For the last of his humanity died with her on the wind.