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The sun outlined his nose, the round part on the tip she used to admire when she thought she was in love, his full lips, his long lashes that were half closed in an attempt to block out the light. 

She could see the blue in his eyes mixed with that green that always caught her eye. Like the ocean off the coast of Barcelona, shades of blue and green mixed together in whirlpool of deep colors and sunny mornings. Wise eyes that had seen years of history and monuments rise and fall. But they were also cruel eyes. 

Her attention was dragged down to his jaw, the muscles ticking as the bone tensed and untensed, his brain buzzing with thoughts. Looking at him brought back decades old memories to when she thought that this was the forever she wanted. 

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"Niklaus, stop,"  Talia's voice was pleading, she didn't know why she felt so weak in this situation. Her eyes moved from her best friend to the man he held up against the wall, pinning him against the bricks. The man's eyes glittered with fear, his body shaking slightly. 

The Companion didn't understand why she had such an urge to protect the man, he had used a word on her that should never be used on a black person outside of the black community, a slur that  was rude, demeaning and used to gain power in this world. A slur that the woman found herself spinning on her heel at the sound and slapping the man across the face, and then Klaus had him pinned against the wall in seconds. 

The man hung there as the vampire waited for Talia's word on what to do with him. Klaus had wanted to rip him and his entire family apart, yet Talia stopped him, she didn't know why, but she did. 

Looking at her best friend, it finally dawned on her what type of man he was. They had been together for ten years, and yet it was only now that she realized what he could do to someone. She wasn't scared of him, there was no reason to be, he would never physically hurt her. A few times, during a horrible fight, he would threaten to leave her, abandon her. Those days it had felt like a physical pain, but right now she saw him in his true light. Veins under his eyes, red around his iris as he stared at the man. His fangs protruded and the man's body was writhing back and forth, most likely close to heart failure due to shock. 

Her best friend turned his furious eyes on her. "Talia-" his voice was a warning, suggesting that she make a decision fast. Looking at him, the girl finally saw what thousands upon thousands of others had seen. A monster. She blinked at that and the thought was gone, in a moment she only saw a broken man standing up for who he loved. 

Klaus Mikaelson was a protector, he would kill anyone who disrespected the people he cared about, he would do it without thinking. He would do it even if you begged him not to, yet here he was, faltering for her.

She let it sink in the power she had over him and slowly let those thoughts fly with the wind, to another time, another place. This wasn't a relationship of who had more power, this was a relationship of respect, or that's what she thought it was in that moment. 

The girl swallowed, staring at the man. What if he spread that nasty word? Hurting other people just like her. "Compel him to never say it again, compel him to never disrespect anyone like that again, and compel him to forget what happened here, but don't kill him." She crossed her arms and backed up, shifting uncertainly on her feet. The dress she wore swished around her ankles, and her eyes watered as she moved her body to look away. 

She let her legs pull her farther and farther from the scene, unable to hear as Klaus mind-controlled this man without a thought. Even though he said an evil thing, a thing that he was raised to say, didn't mean he was an evil man. Some days Talia had looked in the mirror and saw what those people saw, an animal not worth saving. But the other black people? They didn't deserve this hate, so she would stand up, she would hold her ground in every way she could, until her last breath. 

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The Companion let her mouth part as she asked the question burning at the forefront of her mind. "Did you ever love me, Nik? Not the bond love that we are forced to feel, not the love we are destined to have, did you ever truly love me?" Her eyes moved to meet his, the Hybrid's eyes were locked on the road and he seemed to be swishing the thought around his mind. 

His lips puckered and he didn't speak for several minutes, several long minutes that seemed to last eons and milliseconds at the same time. 

"That is a silly question, Talia, leave it for another time." His words were like knives in her heart, answering it for him anyway. He never loved her, only saw her as a weakness that he had to protect. Another thing he deemed necessary to control. 

Talia let the realization set in, all those threats about abandoning her, he would have never left her in the streets, he would have never let her go like that, he couldn't control her if he did. No, he would've locked her up, or gave her a sleep potion if he could find a way to do it without poisoning himself, and dragged her around like he does with his siblings in their coffins. The thought almost made her puke. 

It made her realize something, as well. She was truly and utterly alone in this life. Klaus had daggered and abandoned and threatened his family, he had disrespected and used her and he tore apart anyone who tried to free her. She was alone and she had no knight in shining armor, no savior. 

Talia Monroe's future came shattering around her as his words tore deep into her heart. If even her own soulmate couldn't love her, who could?