Enigmatic Fears: A Klaus Mikaelson Story {7}

Chapter 90: Infinite

~Anastasia POV~

"Ansel, I do hope you aren't trying to sneak up on me." Anastasia turned to where Ansel stood still in Declan's body.

"I didn't want to bother you while you were working." He replied.

"Hm." She rolled her eyes and turned to him with crossed arms. "So what brings you here?"

"We agreed that you would return me to my body." Ansel told her. "I am a wolf, and this body is not enough for me."

"That'll have to wait." She said with a shrug. "Putting you back in your body takes time and energy I am not willing to spend on you. You should really be grateful that I brought you to life at all. I could've left you jumping from body to body until you were dust."

"We had an agreement!" He insisted as he drew nearer. "You need to—"

Ansel never finished his sentence as Anastasia thrust a knife into his chest. He spluttered out blood as he collapsed to the ground.

"I do not like being told what to do, least of all by insignificant life forms." She told him with a sigh. "It's a shame really. I had plans for you Ansel. How disappointing you turned out to be. Now I will have to use your death to torture your son in a much less satisfying way."

"You will not win." He choked out, causing her to push the knife in further.

"I already have." She countered. "Your grandson is already on his way here and Fiore will be here by day's end or I will put an end to your granddaughter and your son. But only after I tell him how you chose death over life as a human with him."

"That's not true!" Ansel bellowed with as much force as he could muster. "And we both know that you are unable to lie."

"Who says I'm lying?" The witch asked. "You provoked me in order to live as a wolf and provoking me is a death wish. It feels like the truth to me."

"You—you—"

The light left his eyes as his dead body fell limply to the floor. As he died, Anastasia relaxed ever so slightly, now that she had been freed from another life tethered to hers.

"And before soon...it'll all be over."

~Fiore POV~

Nik and I had compelled ourselves a bus and had the driver take us to the border of New Orleans and stop. The city was an important part in our love story and it felt fitting to put an end to it at city lines.

"Why a bus?" Nik asked. We were sat in the backrow and I turned to see the city through the window.

"I'd never been on one." I said with a shrug. He laughed but I knew it was mostly forced.

"The closer we get to the city line, the more real this feels." He murmured sadly.

"Because it is real, Nik." I replied with empty eyes. "We're...we're over."

"That's what we said the last time." He said with a bittersweet smile.

"I mean it, Nik." I told him firmly. "We are not fighting a battle against ourselves, but one against a ruthless witch with no loyalty to anyone but herself."

"Why are you so resigned to this fate?" He asked me in disbelief. "Our daughter is going to forget that you ever existed. The love she bears for you will be erased from her mind. Your family is going to carry on like you were never there. And yet you remain calm as we sit on an empty bus."

"What would you have me do, Nik?"

"Scream!" He countered. "Break things! Cry! Anything at all except...except give in."

"What does that do?" I shot back. "Will that let me stay here? Will that undo the deal? Will that save Grace?"

"Blossom—"

"Nik, I just want to spend my final moments—"

"Don't say it like that." He interrupted. "Your departure already seeks to break my heart and you talking as though you are going to die is going to shatter me."

"No it won't." I told him with a proud smile. "You are so brave, Nik. You can survive anything and everything. You will survive this. You will survive me."

"What about Grace? I can't do this alone."

"You can. But you won't have to." I told him. "You'll have Rebekah and Freya and Kol and Marcel and Hayley and Elijah because you are loved, Nik. By so so many. Including me. I love you. And it doesn't matter where you are, or who remembers me, because I will love you anyway."

He pulled me into a kiss, and I hated that I could feel his tears on my cheek. Because I knew what was coming next would be worse. The bus came to a stop and I knew it was time for the two of us to say goodbye once and for all.

"I can't do this, Fiore." Nik clutched my hand in his panic, and I knew there was no other way. "I cannot go on knowing that you are out in the world somewhere at the mercy of an evil witch."

"You won't have to." I murmured sadly.

His eyes sparked in confusion, only for that confusion to turn to hurt as he realised what I was referring to.

"No."

"Nik—"

"You wouldn't."

"I don't have a choice." I said with a shake of my head. "You know I don't."

"You're a hypocrite." He told me. "You forced me to go through all those painful goodbyes whilst you yourself plan to slip away without telling a soul."

"I've always been partial to do as I say not as I do."

"Don't do this Fiore." He pleaded. "The only thing worse than not having you here, is not having you anywhere."

"That isn't true."

"It is!" He insisted. "I can live with you not being here. But I will not survive you erasing yourself from my memory. You are my heart. You saved me. If I lose you, I will be empty."

"You don't know that."

"Neither do you."

"Nik, I cannot risk our daughter's life on you." I shot back. "This isn't how I wanted things to be either, but history has proven that this family cannot exist separately. And I cannot count on you to not let something slip, to not take a chance on saving me."

"If you love me, you will not do this." Nik pleaded. "Don't do this."

"It's because I love you that I have to do this."

"Fiore—"

"There is no Fiore." As I compelled him, all the tears I had built up today came out in floods. "Fiore Mikaelson is not real. You did not love her because she does not exist. You never married, she is not your wife, she is not your daughter's mother. She is no one."

"No one." He murmured quietly.

"Exactly." I wiped away the tears and continued. "But you will not be empty. Because you will go on knowing that the love was real and it was infinite."

I kissed him, knowing it was going to be the last time and pulled away with the happiest smile I could fathom.

"I'll always love you Nik." I murmured. "You made my life a fairy-tale in a way only you could."

And with that, I walked off the bus, watching as it drove away with a confused Nik in its backseat.

A/N: Yeah, this is a sad one.