Prom Night II

Rebekah was staring at her hands, a look of disbelief on her face.

Caroline wondered why she even took notice of that. She was numb.

Strangely, she felt like she wasn't actually there, as if she was watching from above.

Silas looked very human and very dead.

Klaus had a white oak stake in his chest, but since he wasn't burning she was guessing he was only knocked out temporally. Maybe Silas had missed his heart.

She heard voices approaching. Stefan. Damon.

She turned her head towards them, still kneeling over Bonnie, her eyes wide.

Instantly, Stefan was at her side, his hands on her upper arms. "Caroline? Are you okay, what happened?"

She tried to form words but nothing came out.

He turned towards Bonnie, suddenly dread spread on his face. "Oh my god."

Caroline didn't move. Here she was, immobile again.

Why didn't she feel anything? Was this shock?

Suddenly fear struck through her. Had she turned off her humanity?

The thought opened the floodgates and suddenly the pain was rushing down on her, crushing her with so much force that she doubled over.

Tears spilled from her eyes and deformed sobs left her throat, her hands clinging to Bonnie's dress, then her face, smearing her blood.

'This can't be happening. This is not real. This can't be happening. This is not real.'

It was too much, too much, more than anything she'd ever experienced before.

Bonnie couldn't be dead.

But she was, she was.

Gently, she was yanked off her dead friend. Stefan pulled her away and pulled her into a hug.

She sobbed into her chest, unable to protest. She didn't even know whether she wanted to.

All she knew was the pain of grief, filling her up to the brim.

All her hope was crushed. Nothing mattered anymore.

She'd experienced this before, her father had died. But somehow this felt worse, maybe because she didn't have time to prepare for it. She couldn't even feel guilty about that.

Stefan led her inside.

Most of the people were gone and those that were left were talking with hushed voices and shock in their eyes.

Stefan brought her to a table and sat her down on a chair.

She sobbed into the tablecloth, unable to compose herself.

She stayed like this for some time until she felt as if she couldn't even cry anymore.

Slowly, she came back to herself. She was shaking a little.

Stefan was sitting beside her, a worried expression on his face.

Finally, she could speak again.

"Rebekah gave Silas the cure and killed him," she managed to press out, her voice dry.

Stefan nodded.

"You don't have to talk."

She stared onto the table, vacantly.

This was reality. The pain was unbearable, but somehow she did manage to keep herself together.

She moved a shaking hand to her hair and pulled out the pin.

Then she looked up at Stefan.

"Did you find Elena?"

He shook his head.

"I don't know where she is. But don't worry about that, we're going to find her."

She nodded, staring off vacantly again.

Suddenly tears rose up in her eyes again.

"How do we fix this?" she whispered.

He looked down. "Maybe we can find a witch…"

She shook her head, suddenly undergoing a mood swing. She laughed dryly. "There is no way and you know it."

He looked even more worried than before. Then he gently grabbed her hand and she looked up at him.

"You can sleep at our place tonight. I will get you through this, just like you helped me through the hunger. I'm not going to leave you. Never."

Tears fell from her eyes and she nodded. Temporary relief spread in her chest. At least she was not going to be alone. She wouldn't have been able to cope.

Bonnie.

Suddenly his eyes widened, gaze fixed behind her.

"Caroline," he frowned. "You should turn around."

She did as he told and her heart skipped a beat.

Tyler.

Tyler, Tyler, Tyler.

Tyler was standing in the door, smiling brightly at her.

If Stefan hadn't pointed it out to her she would have thought that she was hallucinating.

She jumped up, and ran towards him, not bothering that she knocked over the chair.

The smile on his face turned to a worried expression as she threw herself into his arms, sobbing frantically, again.

Instantly, his arms wrapped around her soothingly und pulled her in farther.

"Care, what happened?"

She shook her head against his shoulders, tears falling on his jacket. He was wearing a suit, as if he was prepared for prom.

Prom.

Bonnie.

She clung to the fabric on his chest and spent a few moments just crying while he rubbed her back in a comforting manner.

"Bonnie," she finally whispered. "Bonnie is dead."

He froze, then hugged her tighter.

"Oh my god. What – how?"

"Silas." Unable to say anything more, she continued crying.

She was glad he was here. He should have been all along. She had needed him to comfort her, for all this time now. If Klaus only hadn't-

Suddenly she pulled back in shock.

"Tyler, what are you doing here? Klaus will-"

He shook his head and a wide smile spread on his face again.

"Don't worry. He is long gone by now."

She frowned. What? Did he mean what happened outside? Had he seen him? Had he killed him? But why hadn't he seen Bonnie then?

"You won't believe this story. Hayley is working with Katherine – I know this sounds strange but – she has the cure and she's been getting friendly with Klaus. She and some of Katherine's allies forced it down his throat and killed him."

Her eyes widened again as realization dawned on her.

"You have to leave – now!"

The smile left his face, replaced by puzzlement.

"What? Why?"

She pulled him away, out of the room, until he stopped her in the hallway.

"What's going on Caroline?"

"There's no time-"

Abruptly she was interrupted by a flashing movement in front of her. Tyler screamed.

He was pinned against a wall.

Klaus was standing in front of him, his hand in Tyler's chest. Around his heart.

'Why do you give me hope only to take it away again?'

The sight was almost surreal. The place where Klaus' hand should have been was where Tyler's chest was, it didn't make any sense.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!Let go of him!" She grabbed onto Klaus' arm, desperately trying to get his attention. He didn't even flinch; his hard gaze fixed on Tyler's pained expression.

'What else am I supposed to do for you?'

"I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS!" she screamed, starting to sob frantically again. Her fingers dug into his arm, drawing blood, yanking at it with all her strength but she didn't even manage to move it an inch.

"I was going to let you live," Klaus stated, calmly, still staring down at Tyler.

'Shh… It's okay. I've got you.'

Then, suddenly, his hand moved.

She couldn't look away.

It was like she was watching the scene in slow motion. Klaus hand left Tyler's chest, painted in red, holding his heart. The blood was still pumping, she could even make out veins, some of which were still connected with Tyler's body. Then his hand was farther out and they weren't anymore.

She couldn't believe that this was a real organ. It looked to her like it had to be a fake.

This couldn't be a heart.

This couldn't be Tyler's heart.

Some of his blood had made its way to her fingers that had now sunk into the flesh of Klaus' arm.

'Have I hurt you?'

Tyler's corpse fell to the floor, his face grey.

Klaus opened his hand, and Tyler's heart joined him on the ground.

'Save me a dance'

Klaus raised his other hand and gently but distinctively removed her fingers from his arm.

He didn't even spare her as much as a glance.

Then he turned around and left.