He couldn't tell her.
It had been such a long time ago that they had met…
So many memories, so many moments.
Klaus paced in front of his fireplace in the early morning, resting his fist against his chin, going over and over the speech he had prepared for Caroline.
Everybody knew he was leaving and nobody even seemed to care. Caroline didn't even care. What did he expect? That Caroline would break down and cry when she found out he was leaving? Of course she'd be happy to see him go! She has no idea of the moments they spent together, which was his fault and his choice.
He had made her forget. He made her forget all the moments and the love they shared for each other; the touch of his hand and the kiss of his lips. He made her forget it all.
Klaus was always used to being alone. All through the thousands years he'd been alive, he'd been alone. Of course he was never physically alone. A family who promises to be there for each other 'always and forever,' are harder to get rid of than one might think and although Rebekah and Elijah were his closest companions, he was alone in his heart. Nobody could connect to him. Nobody around him was like him. Half vampire/half wolf meant that he didn't belong anywhere. He was like no one else and unlike everybody. A solitary life for Klaus suited him well, after the first few hundred years he grew better and better at being alone and now at one thousand years old he likened himself to being the lone wolf.
So when he fell in love with Caroline and when she loved him in return. He knew he had to let her go. They were together nearly two years. They had spent countless hours in each others arms. They had had their ups and downs as any normal relationship, but they loved each other with every nerve in their body. Klaus could still taste her lips, could still feel the silkiness of her touch and could still remember the smell of her hair.
His heart told him to keep her by his side, to live a long and happy life with her… But his mind told him that he was never made to love anybody, that he was never made to be a protector for people other than himself and he was never made to be loved. He was made to be lonely.
So, he compelled her to forget about the love they shared and to forget about each moment they shared. He compelled her to forget two months ago, but he can still remember the exact second in which he did it.
"Nik?" Caroline giggles as she searches the Mikaelson mansion for Klaus, skipping up the stairs and turning the corner to look down the long corridor. That was one of the last times she called him Nik, a name only used by those who loved him.
"Caroline" Klaus says gravely, appearing behind her and placing a hand on her arm, relishing in the last gentle touch of her skin.
Caroline whips around with her light blue eyes sparkling into his own, and a big smile plastered on her perfectly porcelain face. But as soon as she notices his appearance, her smile drops and her eyes become worried, searching his face for answers. Klaus was grave and stern and Caroline could notice in his eyes a fear and a coldness she rarely ever saw.
"Nik, what's wrong? Are you hurt? What's happened?" Caroline persists, as she runs her hands over his face and wipes away the tears, now falling slowly from his eyes.
"I'm so sorry Caroline. I'm so sorry" Klaus whispers as he takes her hands in his own, and lowers them away from his face.
"Nik, you're scaring me, please, what's going on?" Caroline cries, water forming at the corners of her eyes.
"Caroline" Klaus calmly says as he stares deep into her anxious, blue eyes,
"You will forget all the love you feel for me and all the moments we shared together in love. From this point on you will look at me with the same feelings as you had when we first knew each other. You will look at me as the man that killed Jenna and destroyed Elena's life. You will no longer care about me, and you will no longer love me."
Klaus only manages to choke out his last few words as he grasps her mind in his hands.
"I don't love you, Klaus" Caroline calmly says as she stares back into his eyes.
Klaus winces at her words, and more tears start to fall, only this time Caroline doesn't dry them away, she simply stares back, still under the compulsion of him.
"You came here looking for Elena, she isn't here, so you have to leave. You never saw me here and you won't remember this conversation." Klaus mutters as he leans in to kiss her cheek one last time. She closes her eyes as he does so, but when she opens them once more, Klaus isn't anywhere to be seen.
Caroline looks around the corridor once more, now believing she came for Elena and walks down the stairs and out the front door, not once looking behind, for if she did, she would have seen Klaus at the top of the stairs, restraining himself from running after her.
Klaus slams his fist against the wall next to the fireplace. He hated himself for what he had done. He had to keep telling himself that he done the right thing. Not only for himself but for Caroline. She deserved so much more than him, he was the villain and she needed the hero. And despite the undying love he felt for her, he knew it would fade in time and after this was over and a good man loved Caroline, he could live happily again.
That was always as he had known love to be. If you love something enough, you have to let it go. Rebekah was always the romantic of the family and she was always the one to lecture Elijah and Klaus about the depth and the wonders of the human emotion love. Perhaps she was so obsessed with it because it was the closest she could ever come to love. But she seemed to know everything about it and she taught him so much about love that now he was sure this was what he was supposed to do.
Klaus walked out of the house and into the car with all his packed belongings. New Orleans didn't seem right for him and as he turned around to look at the house for the last time for a while, he sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He was so torn. He wanted to stay, but knew he had to leave… for the sake of Caroline. For the sake of Caroline. For the sake of Caroline.
He planned to stop by Caroline's' home and say a last goodbye. There was no way he was going to compel her to remember. He couldn't. He had no idea how she was going to react. What if she remembered all of the moments they shared together and still loved him even after the compulsion? He could never leave her side again… and Klaus feared that being unable to live alone would mean the death of him.
No. Definitely not. It would be a simple 'goodbye,' something that would mean nothing to Caroline, but would mean properly letting go for himself. At least, that was the plan.