24 April, 2028

Kaitlyn's POV

"There's no such thing as happy endings, is there?" he whispers and I swear I felt my heart break for him that instant.

"Oh 'Lijah," I whisper as I walk up to him and pull him in a hug. He hugs me back instantly and cries in my arms.

After a few moments, I hear voices shuffling outside and I turn to see the Mikaelsons walk in. Nik looks up to meet my eyes and I can see the pain in his. I offer him a small smile, not knowing what else to say or do right now.

I haven't experienced the departure of someone so close to me and my friend group ever since Stefan and Chris and that was over sixteen years ago.

When Elijah notices the rest of his family, he pulls away from the hug and stares blankly at them. I exchange glances with everyone. Davina, Freya and Kol have tears in their eyes while Rebekah cries hysterically and Marcel consoles her. Nik walks up to us and wraps Elijah into a hug.

"We need to give her a proper funeral," Freya whispers and the others nod.

"We will. She...she once told me if anything ever happened to her, she wanted a proper funeral in New Orleans, like Jackson's and that we should bury her ashes there too," Elijah speaks blankly.

"Then that's what we'll do," Nik says and that's when I realize someone's missing right now.

I gasp, "who's with Hope?"

It seems this is the first time they've realized Hope isn't here with us. I immediately rush past them and to Hope's room, with Nik following closely behind.

Her rooms door is shut and we can hear things breaking from the inside.

"Hope!" Nik screams out and for a second the noise pauses before resuming again.

"Hope, sweety, let us in, please," I plead her and all goes quiet. Too quiet.

I look at Nik and see panic in his eyes. I know what he is thinking and I nod. He immediately slams the door open, pulling if off of its hinges.

We burst into the room to see Hope sitting on the floor, crying her heart out and everything shattered around her as if a storm had hit the room. Nik rushes to her and pulls her into a hug.

"She's...she's gone, dad. She's gone," Hope cries out and tears well up in my eyes as well.

"It's going to be okay, Hope. I promise you," Klaus reassures her but she shakes her head 'no'.

"No it won't. Nothing is ever okay with us. We can never get true happiness, dad. Every time we're happy for a little, something happens and breaks us all apart," she continues to cry.

"I think you two need a minute," I say, trying to give them space. But as I'm about to exit, Hope calls out for me.

"No, please don't leave me. Not you too. Please, can you stay?" she cries as she pulls away from Nik and rushes into my arms.

"I...of course, sweety. I'll stay as long as you need me to," I reassure her.

"How about forever?" she whispers and I smile softly.

"Just like I said...as long as you need," I repeat myself and she nods, not yet letting go.

Behind her, Nik looks at us and smiles sadly, "I'll prepare everything so we can head to New Orleans soon," he says and I nod as he walks out of the room.

Hope then moves away from the hug and looks at me, "why're we going to New Orleans?" she asks.

I smile at her and wipe her tears away, "Hayley told Elijah she wanted a proper werewolf funeral in New Orleans," I say and she nods.

"Why did she have to go?" she asks and her voice breaks.

"I wish we could've prevented it, sweety. I really do."

"I don't want to lose anyone else," she says heartbrokenly.

"And I hope you don't have to. But we can't control certain things in life," I sigh.

She looks down and as she goes to walk away, she gets dizzy and nearly falls down but I catch her before she hits the floor.

"Come on, get up. You need to rest before we head out to New Orleans," I tell her.

"No I don't want to. I can't," she goes to speak but I cut her off.

"Okay, just lie down then. You're going to get sick otherwise. You know Hayley wouldn't want you to suffer like this, right?" I ask her rhetorically.

"She shouldn't have left then," she replies.

"She didn't have a choice, Hope," I try to tell her but she won't understand.

"She did, she had seven years to tell us. None of this would've ever happened if she hadn't lied in the first place or hid this from us all these years. She made her choice, her choice to leave us all, me, dad, Uncle Elijah, everyone!" she screams out and I flinch at the sudden outburst but decide not to speak on it. I just take her hands in mine and sit her down on the bed. Then I sit down beside her and lay her head of my lap, gently stroking her hair as she cries.

Everyone deals with grief differently. If she needs to cry and let it all out, then so be it. I'll just sit beside her till she feels better.

When she has fallen asleep, I put a blanket over her and kiss her forehead. Just as I'm about to get up, she holds onto my wrist, "you promised you wouldn't leave," she mumbles.

"I'm just going to check if the others are okay and then I'll be back. I promise," I whisper and she lets go of my wrist so I walk out of the room and back into Elijah's.

"Where's Hope?" Nik asks as I walk into the room.

"Asleep," I reply, "where's Elijah?"

"Don't know. Haven't seen him since he walked out after you both did," Kol replies.

"We should start packing and leave in the morning. He'll be back before we leave," Nik says and we nod as everyone else walks out.

"How're you holding up?" I ask Nik as I turn to look back at him.

"I've been better. You know, the amount of people I've lost over these thousand years, you'd think I don't feel the pain anymore but...it's always there, still the same if not worse," he says and I sigh.

"It's okay to grieve, Nik. And sometimes it's necessary," I tell him but he shakes his head 'no'.

"Someone has to stay strong for the rest of the family," he says.

"But it doesn't have to be you every time," I try to reason but he cuts me off.

"You know me well enough to know that's not true, Rose," he says and I sigh.

"Fine. Call me when you're ready to leave. I'll be with Hope," I say and walk back to her room to see her sound asleep.

༆☼︎☾︎ꨄ︎☽︎☼︎༆

It was a few hours later when we were all packed and ready to leave. I'm waiting for the others to come outside when my phone rings. I see it's a call from Sebastian.

"Hey Bash," I say as I answer the call.

"Hey Lyn. How've you been?" he asks.

"I've been better," I say as I see Nik, Kol and Rebekah step outside, followed by Davina, Freya and Hope.

"Oh is everything alright?"  he asks and I look at the Mikaelsons who look either neutral or confused, all except Freya, Hope and Nik. Nik's jaw clenches as he eavesdrops on the call and probably recognized Bash's voice instantly.

"Um yeah, I'm just going out of town for a bit," I reply.

"Oh another trip. Where to now?"

"New Orleans."

"New Orleans? Why there of all places?"

"To bury a friend,"  I reply with sadness laced in my voice.

"Oh, my bad."

"It's alright. Listen, Bash, I'll call you later, okay? I gotta go," I say and hang up when I see the others are here now.

As we get into the car, Nik turns to me, "he still calls you?" he asks, trying to sound casual but I think everyone caught the jealous, angered edge to his voice.

"Not really. I don't know why he chose to call today of all days but," I trail off as Marcel starts the car and we drive towards New Orleans.

Elijah and Rebekah aren't taking the road with us. They've gotten a jet prepared to fly Hayley's body along with them, so they can get there quicker.

༆☼︎☾︎ꨄ︎☽︎☼︎༆

Upon reaching New Orleans, we get ourselves rooms at the Hotel Royal and then head to the bayou.

Elijah was here with Hayley when Jackson's funeral happened, so he walks us through what needs to be done.

Hayley is laid down on a boat by the lake and Elijah, Hope and Nik light a torch and set the boat on fire together. By now, everyone's crying and I think it was this moment when we all accepted that she really is gone.

Hope holds onto Nik and cries her heart out as Elijah storms away deeper into the woods. I almost follow him but then decide he needs some space to grieve by himself. I'll talk to him when we get back to the Hotel.

When the fire stops, Nik and Kol collect the ashes and dig a grave to bury her ashes in. After they've transferred all the ashes into an urn, we place the urn into the grave and fill it in with soil and carve a wooden headstone over it, with Hayley's name on it. Her ashes were buried next to someone named Eve and apparently, she was important to Hayley so this seems like a good place for her to rest in.

One by one, we all take turns to say goodbye to her. When Hope is done saying goodbye, Nik takes her away and I walk to Hayley's grave to say goodbye.

"I don't know what to say to you. I really wish it didn't have to be like this because you deserved so much better than such a painful death and I...I'm sorry for the guilt you had to carry around with yourself all these years. I really hope you find peace, Hayley," I say as I trace my hand over her headstone, "and I promise you I'll exhaust all ways I can find to bring you back."

"I don't think she'd want that," I hear Elijah's voice from behind me.

"I don't think she wanted any of this either, Eli," I say without turning around.

"No but she accepted it and that's what brought her peace in her last moments. Maybe it's time we accept it as well," he says.

"Maybe," I say, "you should say your goodbye. I'll give you two space," I say but he denies.

"I said my goodbye. We should head back now," he says as he walks up to me and wraps an arm around my shoulder.

I nod, "until we meet again, Hayley," I whisper as we walk away from her grave and head back to the Hotel.

When we get to the Hotel, Elijah hands Nik, me and Hope three envelopes. Apparently, Hayley left us all goodbye letters and only we three hadn't gotten ours yet.

While Nik and Hope reads theirs, I open mine to read as well.

Dear Kaitlyn,

I know there's nothing more I can say to you that I haven't already but I am leaving you this letter as one last written apology for everything I stripped you away from. You were right, though. I will only find peace if I forgive myself for my past actions. Whether it was for keeping Hope away from you, lying to the family, not being able to save Jackson, torturing all those people I did for those five years and whatnot, I have a lot of things to be held accountable for, a lot to forgive myself for. You forgiving me helped me find it within myself to see I'm redeemable too. If I do find peace, it's all thanks to you and I promise to watch over you all.

I hope you get back everything you lost for all these years. I hope you and Klaus make it because I'm rooting for you two from the Other Side, if there is one anymore. And I hope you get to cherish the forthcoming years with all four of your kids. I hope you get to be the mother to Hope that she has always deserved to have and I hope all goes well for you. One last time, I am sorry yet forever indebted to you for having the one thing I've always craved for- a family. So thank you. This is goodbye, for now.

With love and immense respect,
Hayley Andrea Marshall-Kenner-Mikaelson.

I finish the letter and rush to find Elijah, wondering if this is what my letter looked like, his was way worse and way more painful. And he needed someone to be there for him, although he wouldn't admit it. None of the Mikaelsons ever do.

I walk into a room to see him seated in a chair, with a glass of bourbon in his hand as he lets tears trickle down his eyes.

"Eli?" I whisper from the door and when he doesn't reply, I walk closer to him to see Hayley's letter in his hand.

"I've been reading this over and over again. This is all I have left of her," he whispers and I move closer and pull him into a hug as he cries in my arms, yet again.

"You know, Elena once said 'When you lose someone, it stays with you. Always reminding you of how easy it is to get hurt.' and I think that's the truest thing she's ever said. But at one point or the other, we need to move on, for their sake and ours. We just need to accept that they're really gone," I say and Elijah sniffles.

"By now, I have this letter memorized word for word. She...she said if by some chance we meet again, she'll hold me to that dance I owe her. And that...she wants me to be happy and grow and find parts of my life that fit me perfectly and to never let them go,"

"but how do I tell her that she was the one who found parts of me that I didn't know existed and that it was in her that I found a love I longer believed was real? How do I tell her she was the part of my life that fit perfectly and I let her go?" he goes on as he continues to cry.

"I think she knows, 'Lijah. She... in my letter she said she'd watch over us and if that's true, she's probably here listening and even if she isn't, I think she knows," I tell him and we stay like that for a while. Just me comforting my best friend, the man I considered to be like my older brother, the one man I know deserves to find happiness in his life more than anyone. He, of all people, deserves it and twisted fate took that one person away from him who could offer him that happiness. Twisted, wretched fate, indeed.

Author's Note

Honestly, not really proud of this chapter. I really don't deal well with grief and I think that reflected into my writing here. So, sorry if this chapter wasn't up to the mark. I'm already working on the next bit of the plot and I think we need to bring back the joy into the story, so let's see how that goes. Till then, I'm sorry if you liked Hayley but she needed to go, in order for a later plot to work better. I hope you understand.

With Love,

Awwmoons.