Klaus and Caroline were walking through the streets of New Orleans while the annual Mardi Gras parade going on around them. They stopped to watch a street artist working on a black-and-white painting.
Klaus' thought back to the night 15 years ago when he met Camille. They discussed art. Klaus was confused and angry after telling Hayley he didn't care if his unborn child died. And now he was remembering Camille while watching the painter and preparing to give his life for his child.
"You know, when I first came back from Mystic Falls, I met a woman near here, and we mused about art," he tells Caroline.
"I guess another blonde..." she teases him, and as she hits red, "you have a type..." she laughs!
"Intelligent, beautiful, fierce, with a heart bigger than the sun," he says.
The love of my life is what he leaves unspoken.
The blond he had in his grip wasn't just a fling; A short stint where you two have fun and sex and leave the emotions out of it. He really felt for this woman. Well, he felt lust for sure, but something more—something real.
When he met her, she was just a teenage girl, full of stubbornness, life, and ideas. It reminded him of himself and the girls in the Viking village where he grew up. She was kind, caring, loyal to others, still innocent, optimistic, and loved by her many friends. All the things he used to want for himself
Somewhere inside him, she had awakened the desire to be accepted at last. Someone should see him for what he is and not for what his 1000 years on this earth forced him to become.
The blonde girl intrigued him, but she refused him, and that made him stubborn. After all, he was a hunter by nature.
He was the most dangerous creature on the planet. The hybrid. No woman ever refused him. It was not only their fear for their lives that left no room for denial. It was his charm. Klaus was a very charming man, if nothing else. He is sure of himself, sure of his power, unaffected by petty feelings and fears, and always ready to lead a woman to the extremes of pleasure. Catching his eye was a huge compliment. To invite you to his bed even more.
Caroline felt drawn to the bad boy of the supernatural world. It was her morality that held her back; it was her insistence that she was something better than him. And she confessed to the two of them—as they wandered the countryside in search of his daughter—that she was intrigued by the big, bad wolf.
He once promised her that he would be her last love. That he would travel with her and show her the world. He would wait for her, however long it took.
His declaration to her was, "Perhaps one day, in a year or even a century, you'll turn up at my door and let me show you what the world has to offer."
But Caroline was young back then; she was not ready for him or for them.
He was not welcome in her life, and he knew it. She had no space for him, no compassion for him, and no love for him. Just attraction, attraction, and lust for the bad boy.
Once upon a time, he returned to Mystic Falls to gloat over a corpse to be, but she asked him to back off. In return, he asked her for the truth. An admission of her feelings and desires, a confession, and for that, he was ready to give her up.
"As soon as we're done here, I'm gonna walk away, and I'm never coming back." He said, "You'll never again have to look me in the eye and cover our connection with hostility and revulsion. You'll never have to loathe the darkest parts of yourself that care for, in spite of all I've done. I will be gone, and you will be free. I just want you to be honest with me."
And that she did; she told him, "I'm in college. I'm building a life for myself. I have plans, a future, and things that I want, and none of those things involve you. Okay? None of them."
She looked upset and confused as she spoke the words, "Yes, I cover our connection with hostility. Because, yes, I hate myself for the truth. So, if you promise to walk away like you said and never come back, then, yes, I will be honest with you... I will be honest with you about what I want."
And that he did—he let Caroline go.
The time was not right for them now, and the future was unknown. And he, Klaus Michaelson, was not a man who could wait for a woman forever without something small in return. It was time for her to be honest with him and with herself.
He wanted to get her out of his system, at least for now. He wanted to hear her admit that she did feel something for him and that she cared. To admit that she was afraid to give in to her feelings for the monster.
For now, that was enough for him. To claim her once and then leave her alone; to live her life the way she wants; to pursue her dreams. He promised her that, and he kept his promise. The dreams he had about the two of them had to be put on ice and stay there.
Mystic Falls had nothing to offer him anymore. His life was starting over in New Orleans. He was about to become a father.
But life is unpredictable. Nothing turned out the way he expected, and now, sixteen years later, he is walking with Caroline—a girl then, a woman now—the one who he thought was the love of his life.
He shows her around, as he once promised to do so, in his beloved New Orleans. His city, the city that he and his family built from the ground up,
Today is his last day after 1,000 years of walking on earth, plaguing this world with monstrosities.
The mighty Klaus Mikaelson will die today. He will not die at the hands of an enemy; he will not be defeated; he will sacrifice himself to save his daughter; he will sacrifice himself because he finally learned to put others before himself.
Love made him strong, as Camille promised him as she took her last breath in his arms.
Yes, he felt love, but he also felt melancholy for the tomorrows he would never have. He holds on to Caroline's arm as he lets himself slip into memory land.
"I've lived a thousand very small years, but a handful of years that were lifetimes of their own: years in the city, moments with Hope..."
Caroline looked at him determinedly. "Enough with this conversation. Let's have a drink." They walked into a bar nearby; it was time for them to say goodbye. A bittersweet farewell: she was the girl who woke up his heart, the girl who made him remember that he was once human too.
She, like Elijah and Cami, hoped for his redemption; they saw fragments of humanity in him when he himself believed that his soul had been lost and there was no hope for him whatsoever.
Caroline kissed him softly and walked away. She stopped a few steps away and stood still. She didn't turn around. She didn't look at him, but he knew there was love and sadness in her eyes.