The whole blacking out thing was really starting to get old. Add the cell I woke in and a sulking, thousand year old vampire into the mix, and it just made everything that much more unpleasant.

I ground my teeth together, waiting for Klaus to explode. The very dark look that crossed over his features told me it was a high possibility. Anyone with their humanity turned on, I had no doubt, would definitely feel some sort of impending doom.

But I just gave him a sly smile.

He didn't return it. His gaze found mine, half lidded eyes full of a silent menace. "Do you have any idea what you've done?" He asked.

I shrugged, tucking my legs beneath me. "Let's see, I took a walk through the city, had some fun, and tried to thoroughly piss you off. It seems I have succeeded."

"You burned parts of my city," he said. His voice was quiet but laced with pure rage. I was actually momentarily glad I couldn't feel anything.

"Well, you kept sinking me to the bottom of a river," I quipped. "So I'd say we're even."

He cursed, taking a step forward. "Do you have even the smallest concept of the attention you drew to yourself? Of the danger? You're incredibly fortunate I reached you in time."

"I wouldn't call it fortunate," I said, cocking my eyebrow at him. "Maybe just disappointing."

Klaus gave me an unreadable expression, and looked at me intently. "Having almost been burned alive, I'd think there'd be some emotional output, but I see not."

"I guess I'm just a hard nut to crack."

"This isn't a joke, Caroline," Klaus snapped, eyes flashing. "The buildings you burned. That was all for attention, wasn't it? To spite me? Even you should know what a perilous game that is to partake in."

I drew myself to my feet and approached him. "You're the one who's using the excuse of love not to get rid of me. That's your fault."

"I'm the one implementing excuses?" Klaus asked, raising his eyebrows. He scoffed. "Why would you, Caroline, honestly wish to bring down buildings? Jeopardize the lives of innocent people? You're simply trying to prove how bad of a person you are to justify keeping your humanity off. And certainly not the first to believe to try it."

"I don't care about any of that," I said, with a wave of my hand. "I don't care about you. And I most definitely don't care about about how good of a person I am. I mean, where'd that get me last time? Orphaned. What's this gotten me? Freedom. So get this through that ancient, egotistical head of yours," I whispered. "The Caroline you knew, is dead. And your pining for her is reaching a pitiful point."

"I'm genuinely insulted that you keep seeming to believe your words placate me, Love. That I haven't had my share of experiences with love...heartbreak....tragedy." He snatched my hand and pulled me closer, that fierceness igniting his eyes.

"I could give you the very definition of it. The truth of the matter, is that I could turn what you delt with into child's play or a relaxing lulliby. You let grief consume you after, what, a mere few moments of being a vampire. I dare you to compile every memory you think to be heartbreaking and expand them over a period of one thousand years. Never aging.Never dying. Try comprehending that and we shall see if you still have the banal sense to call me weak."

"Poor little you," I mocked half heartedly, because nothing was full hearted anymore. "The killer lives with pain! That's a shocker. Did you ever think that maybe all that tragedy happened because you caused it?"

"You can no longer continue calling me a killer without indirectly referring to yourself. Or haven't you come to terms with that by now?"

I paused, stopping as that word filled my mind.

Killer. Murderer.

It didn't really mean anything to me. It was just a combination of letters. Empty. Once, that word used to bring me disgust and revulsion. But now, it brought with it a hollow feeling on stale air.

"So what?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders and yanking my hand back. "Big deal. I was one before this so you're running a little late on the lecture."

"I'm not lecturing you, Love," he said. "I'm simply warning you. And preparing myself in the process."

"And what do you possibly need preparation for?"

One corner of his lip lifted, but the humor didn't reach his eyes. "Your funeral."

For the few times I'd been here, I felt genuinely taken aback. "My what?"

"Well, if you're so stubborn to keep your humanity off, in order to cease attention from continuing to turn back to you, I'm going to tell Stefan the dire story of how you'd escaped from my clutches, only to be brutally killed at the fault of your own carelessness."

I pursed my lips. "And what do you think that will achieve?"

"It will achieve the purpose in convincing you of what you really fear-loneliness and abandonment. Better yet, I could just tell Stefan to forget you. I could have him place every single memory in a box and bury it forever." His expression didn't change as he said this, and I knew better than to call Klaus on a bluff.

"Then, and only then, will you truly acknowledge that you are alone. When you can finally say with certainty that no one cares. And be free of it."

That hollow feeling seemed to grow, enveloping my chest until it seemed to shape itself into a maw, sucking dry whatever inkling of feeling that used to be there.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Stefan will try to kill you for it."

"Much good that will supply him with if he can't recall the reason for his distress." Klaus gave me a smirk, his gaze never breaking from mine as he said, "You see, having him forget has its benefits. Like relieving your friend of constant concern, and the guilt he has for not stopping you in time. I can guarantee, he believes himself to wear the blood that you have on your hands. It would be a courtesy to relieve him of that burden."

"Maybe you're right," I said, raising my chin like a defiant child to a parent. "Maybe it would be a better thing."

He nodded, smiling slightly. "Good. I'll go get him."

I felt my face blank. "He's here?"

Klaus turned and closed the cell, locking it from behind. "Indeed. He wished to pay you a small visit. At least you get to say farewell."

"Is this another insane tactic in your saving Caroline vendetta? Having me say goodbye before you make him forget me?"

Klaus paused on the stairs, not even blinking as he said, "No. My tactic is giving you the chance to say your goodbyes before witnessing me extracting you from his life."

A weird release of air escaped from my lips, like a gasp of surprise."In front of me?"

"Why of course." The ghost of a smile teased his lips. "I want you to see for yourself the kindness you've done him."

___________________________________________________________

KLAUS

"Guests first," Klaus said, as he led Stefan down the stone steps and into the basement. There, Caroline was exactly how he'd left her, sitting on the cold ground, her arms draped around her knees.

Stefan nodded to her. "Caroline," he greeted.

She said nothing.

"This looks....cozy."

"I prefer the word accommodating," Klaus interjected. "One can never be fully respected as a vampire until they've spent time in a cell. But that rule also applies to a fair number of humans."

"Just shut up," Caroline hissed, narrowing her eyes at him. Klaus was beginning to grow accustomed to seeing that blank look behind whatever fabricated emotion she kept on, like witnessing the expressions of a ghost. He just shrugged and sealed his lips.

"How're you doing in there?" Stefan asked, casting a look between the two of them.

Caroline shot him a smile that would have been sarcastic. "Just peachy, " she said."So far I've been locked in a cell. Drowned. Repeatedly. Attacked. Oh yeah, and nearly burned alive."

Stefan turned to Klaus.

"In my defense, the last two were not of my doing, Mate."

"Well, it seems to be....in progress," Stefan said, struggling to find the right word.

"In progress most definitely," Klaus agreed. "In fact, I actually require your assistance for a moment, if you wouldn't mind."

Stefan shook his head. "Not if you tell me what it entai-"

"Klaus wants to make you forget you ever knew me," Caroline suddenly declared, but Klaus was faster, having already met Stefan's gaze before the first word had left her mouth.

"But you're not going to object to it," he said.

Stefan nodded.

"Well then," Klaus clasped his hands together before extending his arms, facing Caroline. "Shall we get on with it?"

She gave him that vacant look again. "Fine. Whatever. Do it."

"Is there anything you wish to tell Stefan here before you cease to mean anything to him?"

"Bye, Stefan."

Klaus sighed. "Is that it?"

Caroline smirked. "Yup."

"That's rather disappointing," he said, "but it is, after all, your farewell. Regardless. Let's continue." Klaus turned back to the other vampire, narrowing his eyes at him. He pulled together the words he'd already thought of, gauging Caroline's expression from the corner of his eye. "Stefan, Mate, you are going to forget ever meeting Caroline Forbes. Every conversation you've had, every emotion she's stirred, has been reduced to dust. This woman is insignificant to you," he said. "Her face is nothing more than the countless others you've accumulated through the century of your life. A face you passed on the street or one you fancied for a moment in a bar. You won't be able to pick hers out from a crowd of others, because she is one of them. At most, she's a mentioned aquaintance  of your friends; a piece of their story exchanged in childhood retellings. But to you, she's nothing. What you once knew about her is now completely and undeniably,"-he glanced at her-"Gone."

"Oh," Klaus snapped his fingers. "And if anyone asks, you requested me to take away the memories because they were just too painful for you to endure after learning of her death that her carelessness resulted in, is that clear?"

He nodded.

"You've been a tremendous help, Stefan. You are free to leave now."

He broke away and took a step back, heading for the stairs.

Klaus turned to the flight before Stefan reached the top. "Say, Mate, have you ever met a young gal named Caroline before? Feisty? Stubborn? Type A personality?"

Stefan didn't debate long and shook his head once more. "No. That name means nothing to me."

"How unfortunate," Klaus said, his voice lilting with sympathy as the sound of Stefan's footsteps receded in the distance. "I think you would have liked her."