Disclaimer: I own nothing as usual.

ANGST FAIRY IS BACK :DDD! dedicated to angelluso8 who is to blame for this angst fest. she gave me the prompt.

Prompt: in a moment of anger and insecurity caroline does something klaus can never forgive her for, so he does something he can never forgive himself for

be prepared for some angst, though honestly what else were you expecting?

She was a smudge of white and yellow with her hair curling and twisting in the breeze and her pretty sundress billowing about her. He knew he would find her sitting in the tall green grass. That was where she always seemed to be now that it was Spring. She always did in enjoy Spring. He supposed she liked the sunshine.

From where he stood a long way's off she looked like a porcelain doll. So delicate were the curves of her shoulders and the arch of her spine as she huddled close to the earth as if listening for some secret, some explanation.

Klaus marched towards her. A smile grew on his face and he thought perhaps today would be a good day for her. Some sympathetic part of him thought that perhaps he would turn back, travel back down to their cottage down below this slopping hill and never look back. Not once did he waver as he moved forward. He knew he could fix her. It would be easy to just make her forget but then she'd forget her betrayal as well. That felt too much like forgiveness for him. He would never forgive just as he'd never forgive himself once this had all ended.

"Enjoying the sunshine, sweetheart?" he called to her sweetly.

Now up close he could see the imperfections. Her feet were bare and dirty. Her dress was stained brown with mud and there were grass stains on the hem. She was already running out, bits and pieces of Caroline burned away by his attentions. Klaus ignored those thoughts instead focused on the time he had left before she burned up all together.

She would not look at him. He smirked at her stubborn nature or at least what was left of it. He found it ironic that now he savored her moments of scorn when, so long ago it seemed, he had found her tenacity to be beyond frustrating though entertaining. Klaus would miss it when it had all run out.

"How could I?" she replied not above a mumble but she knew he could hear her. "I can't even feel it anymore."

He frowned. Sometimes he forgot that she had been turned at only seventeen and was still very much inclined to bouts of childish self-pity. Klaus had never found such sulking to be to his tastes but he could forgive her for it. He could forgive her for just about anything but not everything.

"Come now, love," he crooned to her as his trek came to an end to leave him standing just before her. "Such bitter words are unbecoming."

She did not reply. No biting remark or coy reply came from her parted lips. Everyday there was less and less of her. He could hardly believe that there was a time when their conversations flowed and tumbled and weaved. It used to pour from them, companionship. Things change.

He almost wasn't expecting her to go through with it today. But he would be a fool, an insane fool for going through the same process and expecting different results. Just as she had done hundreds of times before, her hand went to her ring. Just before she threw it down the hill he thought he glimpsed a bit of spite in her eyes. She knew this would hurt him just as much as it hurt her. Then quick as a flash she threw her ring to her right and in a second she was burning.

Her screams were horrible to hear but it was a comfort that she still cared to scream. She scrambled and convulsed on the ground. He waited and watched. All his smiles and smirks, his pretty words had fled him. He let her burn for exactly thirty seven seconds convinced that perhaps fire might purge them of their sins against one another. Then in a flash the ring was in his hand and then it was on her finger. He sat down besides her but he did not touch her. Instead she lay sprawled in the grass heaving from the pain.

"I'm broken, broken, broken," she sobbed into the dirt pressing her face deeper and deeper into the soft dark earth.

Her words were pleas for release. His arms found her and pulled her to him. She only wanted to escape him but he would not grant it. They were in this together, until the very end.

"Quiet now, sweetheart," he whispered he cooing at her and shushing her gently.

She continued her hysterics. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks descending down upon him like warm summer rain. Eventually he felt her go limp but she continued to cry. His arms moved to cradle her and then place her head gently upon his lap. With one hand he ran his fingers over her hair. The other hand was entwined carefully with her left hand pressing the lapis lazuli down into the thin skin of her left index finger. They would wait in the sun until her tears stopped and her flesh healed. Then they would wait for tomorrow and do it all over again.

"I'm broken," she pleaded softly into the warm spring air.

"No, darling, not yet," Klaus replied assuring her as the tips of his fingers brushed a few strands of bright yellow hair dampened by tears.

He could make wine from those tears.

His statement left a stale promise in the air. He would break her, sooner or later. It would be his most terrible victory to date. And it would kill him. And her as well but he would see the game out till its end. He didn't start this. She had forced his hand with her penchant for betrayal. He was supposed to have had all of her but she had shared her self with others. No, he did not start this but he would end it and he would win. Klaus always won even when he wished he wouldn't.

"Is this my punishment? To be broken over and over again?"

They were not in Hell. Hell would have been too kind. It would have meant death.

"Yes, and mine as well."

For her to break and him to break her, two penitent souls in purgatory.

A/N: aaaaand that's all folk.

hated it? or hated it? wanna kick my face in with some spiked platform stilettos? Let me know. You know I love to hear your voice...or read...your voice? meh.