A/N- I just had to write this, because my feelings were on overload. It is set after Kol's death and not tvd canon at all. I just needed to do this. I think its more of klarolijah, or hints on them so I'm uploading it on this story!

Warning - Major Character death and dark theme. Ye were warned.

She's running as fast as her legs can carry her; her cheeks stinging with tears and her lips gasping into the cool night air. She doesn't know why she uses her human speed; perhaps she's too clouded with the fear and loss to think straight. A sob stifles in her throat as the Gilbert home comes into view, her fear mounting and the tears flowing ferociously, tracing mascara lines down her damp cheeks.

Her throat burns and her heart aches, the image of Tyler's dead body in his house refusing to leave her. Her panic knows no bound, and she needs to reach her friends, she needs to cry on someone's shoulders, she needs to just be held. Too many people have died, and now Tyler – her sweet, strong Tyler was one among them.

She knows it's not Klaus who killed him. For Elena and her Salvatore bodyguards killed him soon after they did Kol.

She knows it's not Rebekah. For she died too, while trying to save her brother.

Caroline knows not who killed her boyfriend, but right now she just wants see a friendly face, something, anything to keep her sane.

She can almost taste the dread in the air, the inane feeling that something was terribly, terribly wrong as she walks up the steps of the Gilbert House.

Her hand barely suppresses her gasp of horror as she steps into the house; the walls are red, painted red, scattering across the walls in random patterns and splashing on the furniture. The floor is as red as the walls and the room stinks of death and blood, of unbridled fury and power and of sweet, sweet vengeance.

Her eyes first fall on Damon's body, lying by the entrance – always the soldier by the front, his eyes wide in surprise, even in death. Then she see's Bonnie, her neck twisted in a way no a humans ever should. Then Stefan, stake embedded deep into his heart, his eyes even in death are warm and caring. Then Matt, then Jeremy and finally – Elena.

All dead. Their blood painting a gruesome picture.

And a man stands in the middle, his back stiff and his head held up high, chest heaving in and out. The handkerchief in his hand as red as the walls as he meticulously wipes his finger clean. She wonders if she should run, if she could run – but she has nowhere to run to, no one to run to, everyone, literally everyone was dead.

And now she knows who had killed Tyler.

Elijah turns to face her, not a muscle flinching when she gasps and widens her eyes. She has never spoken to him, rarely knew anything about him, but at this very moment; with his eyes livid and delirious, his lips parted in heavy breaths, veins darkening under his eyes and fangs poking out of his mouth – Caroline Forbes has never been more afraid in her life.

"Miss Forbes? If I'm not mistaken?" he says, his voice and demeanor still polite and calm, despite the fact that he had massacred 7 people. Her chest feels heavier and heavier as he takes small steps in her direction, by the time he's a few feet away from her, she can't even breathe.

This was how she was going to die. This was her end.

"People need to learn that actions have consequences." Elijah says, his voice low and husky, spreading his arms out as his masterwork, "Taking lives has consequences. I am a man of immense patience and tolerance, but I do not tolerate the murder of my family."

He moves closer to her, his fangs shining in the dim light and his eyes maddened with rage, "I may not look like a monster Miss Forbes, but I am the biggest monster of us all." She can feel his hot breath on her face, counting down the seconds till her life was ripped from her chest, literally. "Only when provoked."

"You killed them all." She states, her voice coming out more in a whimper. It wasn't an attempt to dissuade him from killing her, it was just her coming to terms with what had happened.

They killed his family – each and every one of them, thinking they could get away with it, because they always did. No one had the last laugh other than Elena.

But not this time, not with them. Not with Elijah.

"Are you going to kill me?" she asks, putting on a brave façade. If she is going to die, she will die with her chest puffed and her chin up, she will not die cowering and begging for mercy.

"I should," he replies, his voice burning through her with the sting of a strong Whiskey, "I've never understood Niklaus' obsession with revenge, but now I do."

"I didn't know," she says meekly, not as a plea for mercy but as a truthful fact, "I never knew they were going to kill them."

Elijah tilts his head as he appraises her, a twinkle in his eye she can't quite place. "And what would have done," he asks, "If you had known? Would have saved them? Hmm. Would you have saved Kol and Rebekah and Niklaus? Would you have saved my family?" his snarl reminds her so much of Klaus that she closes her eyes instantly.

Her silence is his answer, and she winces when he closes in on her, awaiting the stake to pierce her heart or his fingers to wrench it from her. And for a moment, just a moment she wonders if they deserve this, if she deserves this.

Were they any better than their enemies if they killed for personal gain? Were they still the good guys?

All she felt is a gush of cold wind as she opened her eyes, whipping around to see Elijah standing by the door, about to leave.

"You're going to let me live?" the words leave her before she can help it, and she winces when he stills by the door and turns back, wondering if he's going to change his mind now.

"I do not like to kill, unless I must." Is all he says before he starts to turn again.

"Why?" she needs to know, she needs to know if she has to keep her sanity – why her of all the people that had taken his family from him should get to live. Why her?

His face is almost back to normal by now, but she can see the rippling of the monster beneath his burning eyes, "I am an honorable man. No one holds my loyalty more than my siblings. And it was Niklaus' wish that you come to no harm at our hands. And I will honor my brother."

Her heart clenches in pain and tears prick at her eyes, for reasons she knows not. Elijah isn't showing her mercy – that she knows for certain. He's giving her the worst penalty of all - she gets to live, she has to live; with the loss, with the pain, with the guilt.

"The man you worked so hard to kill is the only reason you stand right now."