✧✶⭒☆⭒✶✧

Talia Monroe wasted no time in fleeing Mystic Falls, Virginia. She had packed a back in seconds and left on the first flight out of there. It didn't matter to her where she went, as long as she got away. 

The first flight took her to New York and from there she went to London.

Unsurprisingly, the Mikaelsons had a townhouse in the city that she was able to move into. Talia got an interior decorator to redo the old-fashioned house, getting more modern furniture that fit her personality. 

Lounging on a white couch complete with gray pillows and a pink throw blanket - Talia was still experimenting with her own taste - she held the TV remote aloft and switched through the channels. 

Her manicured nails were playing with a loose curl, wrapping it subconsciously around her index. Her mind was in turmoil and had been for a few days. Since she had arrived in London she hadn't been able to feel the soulmate bond at all. 

Nothing on Klaus's side, which only made her anxious. 

She'd been in London a few days and he had said he wouldn't call on her again, but did that mean he would split the bond? 

Could he even do that without her present? Plus, they didn't even know what might happen if they did split the bond. She would lose access to his immortality, wouldn't she die? 

Or, maybe, the Hybrid didn't care if she lived or died, as long as he didn't die too. 

Groaning, Talia thought it through again. Of course Klaus would split the bond. It would be the only way to save his own ass when she wasn't being protected 24/7. 

Staring down at her hands, Talia examined the gray, marbled nails she had just had done. She was just a weakness to the Hybrid and they both knew it.

Talia had thought he had begun caring for her again. The talk next to the river the night Stefan almost killed her, his worried look after her three day kidnapping. 

A kidnapping she still had no idea what it had been about . . . that was weird. She had nearly forgotten about that. 

Talia scratched the back of her neck, lifting up her thick curls to air out the skin there. She definitely should think about how three days were missing from her memories, but at the same time she just didn't care. 

Standing and turning off the TV, Talia headed to her room to change out of her sweatpants into a cute dress. It was gray and raining out, but she didn't mind. London needed to be explored and she was more than happy to explore it. 

Tugging on a cute, yellow sundress that complimented her skin tone, Talia bounced outside and was met with torrential rain. A peal of laughter escaped her lips as she was immediately soaked to the bone. 

God, she loved the rain. 

She twirled, droplets causing her thick curls to weigh down and make her head feel like it weighed a thousand pounds. Her hair would take forever to dry, but she didn't care. 

Though, it was beginning to frizz quickly. 

Grimacing slightly, Talia continued her walk down the street. She draped her scarf over her hair, tucking it under the scarf to protect it. Her curls were mildly manageable, letting her hide them away. 

Dress swishing around her legs, she darted into the first clothing store she found, looking for some more dresses. 

Since leaving Klaus, she had discovered a love for loose, swishy dresses. Especially pastel colored. 

Talia searched through some of the dresses before grabbing a polka-dotted dress that was an inch shorter than the one she currently wore. It was more cinched and tight around the hips and torso, showing off any breasts the wearer might have. The neck was a tad deep for a sundress, dipping down to show off a lot of cleavage. 

Yet, the Monroe didn't mind. She still bought the dress with an appreciative smile and continued her exploration of London. 

✧✶⭒☆⭒✶✧

Her days went on like that with the Companion finding herself on the streets wandering from shop to cafe to restaurant to bar more than in her own home. 

A part of her briefly wondered if perhaps the constant busying schedule was to distract herself from the lonely lack of the soulmate bond. 

As Talia was sitting in a cafe with her laptop open in-front of her, her phone rang. Without checking the Caller ID, she answered and peered down at the table. "Hello?" 

"Talia, it's Rebekah."

Talia flinched at the name, her dark eyes closing. "If this is about Klaus, he let me go."

Rebekah sighed on the other end, a faint chuckle escaping her. "I assumed as much, he's been miserable for days. This is about you, actually." From what Talia could hear, the blonde was outside. She heard wind and bird song, along with a few voices. "There's another White Oak tree, Talia. The Salvatores have a stake . . . they killed Finn." 

Talia's mouth parted in shock and her hand flew to her chest. "What? Are you - what?" 

"He's dead. The Salvatores killed him. Are you slow, Talia?" Rebekah groaned softly, almost immediately regretting her words, though Mikaelsons rarely apologized. "It's Klaus. He's on a rampage. He wants to get the last stakes, get Elena and make a family of hybrids of his own. Something is twisted inside him, Talia. There's something so . . . well, wrong about him now." 

Talia sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "God, what do you need me to do then, Bex?" 

"Just come back, only for a day or two. There's the dance and you can be his date to it. Just to fix whatever is broken inside him. He's happier around you, Talia. Please." 

Talia stared down at her laptop, running her fingers over the technological device. "I'll never be able to get away from him, huh?"

"I'm sorry." 

Talia let her head duck, breathing slowly through her nose. "Good-bye, Rebekah."

The call ended and something inside Talia screamed. If she returned to Mystic Falls and to Klaus, something told her she'd never be able to get away. She'd never be able to return to her own life, her own freedom. 

But, if she stayed away . . . did she want this life? 

In truth, she felt lonely. 

Klaus was her soulmate, her destined partner, her best friend. This life without him was agonizing. Her heart knew it, too. 

Sighing, the Monroe Companion closed her laptop and stuffed it in her purse, exiting the cafe. Her decision was made. 

✧✶⭒☆⭒✶✧

Sitting in the cramped plane, the brunette stared down at her phone. She had only a few spare photos of herself, not one prone to taking selfies. But this one . . . this one was different. 

She stood in the bathroom, camera pointed at the mirror. She was just photographing her outfit, but in the background Klaus stood there on his phone. 

It had been on the road while he was making Hybrids. He had been complaining about her taking too long and had come in to yell at her. But, there was the slightest of smiles present on his lips. 

He enjoyed her flash of confidence in those few moments. He was almost . . . proud of her. 

She drew in a deep breath, shutting off the phone. Toying with the fabric of her jeans, her dark eyes closed for an instant. She was making the right decision, she had to be. 

✧✶⭒☆⭒✶✧

Klaus Mikaelson stared down at a photo tucked away in a journal that he had locked in a safe hidden behind a painting. A black and white photo of him with his arms around a smiling Talia Monroe. Back when they were just starting out. 

She had this fire in her eyes that she lacked nowadays and a confidence that made her posture straight. Her smile was blinding and bright and her arm was wrapped around his waist, just as his was of hers. 

They looked like a couple. Perfectly in-tune and almost in-love. 

He had rarely imagined himself in a relationship with Talia. Their relationship was friendly at the best of times and love seemed something far-off. But when he looked at the photo, it wasn't so unimaginable. 

Though, quickly he recalled her utter hatred of him in recent times. Her excitement at the prospect of leaving him. They were no longer what they had been. 

He hadn't been good to her and he regretted it everyday. 

Tucking the photo back into the journal which he placed inside the safe and locked, the Hybrid once again put the painting back on the wall and turned to the window. Somewhere, out there, his soulmate was enjoying herself. She was happy, perhaps dancing or laughing. 

He had shut down his side of the bond, needing a break from feeling the excitement she felt the moment she was free. It only made him feel worse. 

✧✶⭒☆⭒✶✧

Klaus watched the flames lick up around the last white oak stake. Rebekah had found it, somehow and he burned it. Then, she convinced him to attend the stupid dance. 

His pale gaze remained fixated on the burning wood and more turmoil twisted his insides. A high-school dance . . . Talia had never been able to attend one before. 

Rebekah convinced him to go, telling him Caroline would attend as if that made things better. But, Caroline was just a girl who he enjoyed talking. An interesting girl, but a girl all the same. 

Talia was destined for him. Destined to be his companion for the rest of their days. 

He missed her, truly and utterly missed her. It made his stomach flip as he knew the truth. He knew Talia Monroe as well as he knew himself and he was certain he would never see her again. 

✧✶⭒☆⭒✶✧

As Talia approached the school that next night, her heart danced in her chest. It fluttered at its own beat, pinching against her ribcage. 

She dialed Rebekah, but the call went to voicemail and the brunette stared up at the school awkwardly. Her heart thumped a painful rhythm, her breathing uneven. 

God, what if this was a bad idea? What if Klaus wasn't even there? 

But, she let the confidence pool in as she walked into the school. Recalling her first visit, it wasn't hard to find the gym. 

It was filled with people, but not a lot of chaperones. That meant it was incredibly easy to locate her soulmate. 

Her soulmate who was dancing with Caroline, a beaming smile present on his face. Her soulmate who looked every bit happy now that she was gone. Her soulmate who didn't seem to miss her at all. 

Spinning on her heel, the brunette left the gym quickly to hide the tears forming in her dark eyes. 

God, why the hell did she care? Why was it hurting her so much? 

She carefully wiped under her eye, not wanting to smear her mascara when hands wrapped around her shoulders and a sack was tugged over her eyes. 

Right before whoever had grabbed her could knock her out, the brunette was able to send out one last telepathic message. "Klaus!" 

✧✶⭒☆⭒✶✧

Klaus groaned, pulling quickly away from Caroline as it head pierced with a single, terrified word. Talia's voice rang in his head, the word loud and terrified and it made his insides shatter. "Klaus!" 

She needed him. She needed him! 

But, he had no idea where she was.

✧✶⭒☆⭒✶✧

Talia slowly awoke, her wrists bound behind her back and the green eyes of Esther Mikaelson were burning into her soul. "Hello, Talia." 

"Esther, God, of course it's you. Why'd you kidnap me, you bitch?" Talia wriggled, fighting against the binds on her wrists. They were in a crypt of some sort and her head felt light, filled with cotton. 

Esther nodded slowly, beginning to walk around. "You won't be able to contact Klaus, dear. I've already used mountain ash to dim down the bond. I'll be cutting it soon, I need your blood. The blood of a seperated soulmate is required to create an Original, did you know that?" Esther walked in a slow circle, pacing around Talia. "It was a girl named Vanya that was the first. A childhood friend of Klaus's . . . the soulmate to dear Henrik. She died soon after him." 

Leaning down, the ancient witch lifted Talia's chin with one finger. "You will die, just like her and Klaus will be none-the-wiser. He'll still think you're alive . . . that you abandoned him." Esther leaned forward, her lips ghosting Talia's ear. "You'll be nothing to him." 

Talia screamed, headbutting the blonde so blood burst from her nasal cavity, gushing down her face. "You're fucking psycho!" 

Esther slapped her quickly across the face without a second thought, her green eyes flashing cruelly. "And you're about to die."

The witch began to chant, she plucked hair from Talia's head and tossed it into a bowl. Then, she grabbed Talia and forced her forwards, taking one wrist and cut into it, blood pouring into the bowl. A moment later, she took blond hair from a pouch. Klaus's hair. 

Dropping it in the bowl, Esther continued to spell for another minute and then Talia groaned as she suddenly felt a large hole in her chest. A hole where the bond should've been. 

It was an unnatural feeling that made her double over, a screech of agony coming from her lips. 

Holy shit. 

It was the worst pain she had ever felt in her life. It made her stomach flip and skip and pain screamed through her chest. "What the hell did you do to me?" Her bloody wrist was causing her white flapper dress to be stained red, her dark curls tumbling around her head as she whipped her neck back and forth. 

"You are no longer connected, Talia." The witch sounded almost ecstatic. "You mean nothing to him anymore. I am his mother, you're just a girl." Esther's voice retained an almost sing-song tone, laughter teasing from her lips. "Now, I need more blood." 

Talia closed her eyes, slowly righting herself. "How much?" 

Esther shrugged, toying with one of Talia's curls. "Enough." Esther grabbed the girl's wrist, twisting it so a pained cry escaped the Companion, more blood pouring into the bowl. 

Finally, Esther tossed her away and focused intently on the spell. 

With her eyes off the Monroe, the young woman was able to push herself up, running from the crypt. I have to get out of this godforsaken town. 

Talia bolted quickly, cradling her wrist against her chest, more blood staining her dress. It was the adrenaline that kept her going. Her heels came off, her dress grew ripped and tattered, but she didn't care. 

She burst out of the woods near the high school, dark eyes searching over the empty parking lot. The kids had already left, Klaus probably had too. But, miraculously, she found him exited the high-school. 

His head lifted into the air, and she saw him inhale deeply as the adrenaline rushed out and light-headedness caused her body to slump to the grass, legs barely working. 

He smelled blood, she could tell her smelled blood. His head snapped in her direction as she rose one hand, lips parting and voice strained. "Klaus-" 

Darkness was edging in, spotting her vision and blooming across her sight. The world began to spin, blood slowly pooling around her from the deep cut on her wrist. 

White shoes came into her vision, hands pulling under her armpits, a voice that was so distant. Like someone speaking through water. 

Her head was pounding and it felt like it was stuffed with cottonballs. Her chest ached with the gaping hole from the cut bond. Her dark eyes fluttered closed and an agonized smile placed on her lips. 

"I came back for you." She strained to speak the words, to get him to understand. "I can't leave you, Nik." Her head spun, vision dark and maybe he didn't hear her at all. Maybe she was hallucinating. "Soulmates or not." 

Hands under her knees and on her back and that deep, accented voice that told her she was home.

 "I've got you, love."