Everything reminded Klaus of her. Even in this house in the middle of nowhere, he still felt her presence as loud as ever. Every day he woke up staring blankly at the sun that would usually shine on Havana's face in the mornings. He would watch her sleep quietly observing every detail on her beautiful face and the soft rise and fall of her chest. A hint of a smile would grace Havana's sweet face in her sleep. Klaus leaned in slowly and started gently kissing her face from the bottom of her eyes to her cheeks then to her jaw and then to her chin before making his way up to her pink lips. She would then wake with a giggle and whisper a good morning before kissing his face in return. He would walk around the lot imagining Havana's face of excitement when he would tell her they could live here once they married. He could see her lying by the grass, picking fruit, running around the fields, and picking the flowers. She was all around. Even in the wind, he can hear her laughter.
As a thousand-year-old Original, he had his fair share of love stories but all of those other women could never hold a candle to his love for Havana Sommers. The vicious and cold Klaus Mikaelson had never shed a tear for anyone despite having his heart broken a few times. There was one person in his entire existence who had that much power over him and now she was gone. Havana opened a brand new side of them that only existed when he was around her. He was more gentle, more thoughtful, more affectionate, more loving, He was not loving Klaus. He was her Nik.
Despite reminiscing and cherishing such sweet thoughts, Klaus felt like his humanity was shut off. He was already a violent man but it intensified tenfold with his heartbreak. He did not think twice about shedding his enemies and insubordinate soldiers into pieces and instilled more fear in everyone else. In a way, it was a positive thing for him since he was indeed building a hybrid army. A stronger reputation would strengthen his claim as King. However a particular question burned at the back of his mind, "What's a king without his queen?"
The only times when he felt truly at peace was in the field of flowers situated near his centuries-old home. For his first few visits there, he sat on the grass and watched the sunset go down before walking back toward his numb reality. It was as simple as that. He still thought of her, however, what made that spot so special was that for once a day, he did not allow himself to drown in his thoughts. He only thought about their happy moments and not how he ended up here all alone without her. Now, he brings his canvases and paint materials. He loved to paint and would often use it to calm him down and bring things into perspective. In all honestly, he couldn't remember the last time he did it so he started painting again. He had painted the house, the sky, and other sceneries surrounding him on that flower field. However, the subjects of those paintings were of a woman with dark brown hair and deep dimples. It was a no-brainer that his portraits of Havana became his favorite collection. Klaus vowed to remain faithful to painting his muse even if centuries would pass later on and Havana was no more on this Earth.
This alone time of Klaus's prompted him to create a strict rule that nobody is to disturb him in his only time of peace. The only exception to this rule was that if there was an emergency that required his presence. Many intentionally and unintentionally broke this rule and suffered the consequences by undergoing such unfortunate fates. Which was why the sound of footsteps approaching him made his grip on the paintbrush tighter. He was prepared to break it in half and use it as a stake to stab the unwanted intruder repeatedly until they died.
"How many times have I made myself clear not to disturb me unless we are under attack. Do I hear the yells of people fighting for their lives? No. So better have a worthy enough excuse to be saved from a beheading."
Havana stopped in her tracks but not out of fear though. She was not scared of him as her love overpowered the fear she would normally have for someone with a track record like his. She stood there in silence because she had no idea what she was going to say. She stared in awe at the unfinished painting in front of her. It was of a beautiful woman laying down with the flowers. She had a long blue dress and although her eyes were closed, a gentle smile graced her lips. The fact that he was still painting her infused a spark of hope within her. Maybe he was willing to accept her back into his arms.
"You once told me that painting is a metaphor for control. That every choice was yours. The canvas, the color. When you were a child, you had neither sense of the world nor your place in it but art taught you that one's vision can be achieved with sheer force or will."
Klaus's annoyed expression dropped to a shocked one as his eyes widely opened and his paintbrush on the ground fell from the loosened grip on his hand. No, it can't be. He said to himself. Every day he had fantasized about her presence only for it to now manifest as a delusion. She is not actually here. He thought of himself as officially losing his mind.
"You're not real." He told himself shaking his head.
"It's me. I'm here." Her voice continued haunting him.
Finally, Klaus turned around and confirmed that his mind was not playing cruel tricks on him. Havana stood in front of him with tears welling in her eyes. The sun shined directly at her figure making her look glow. The backdrop of flowers also did her justice of looking like a goddess in Klaus's eyes. Despite what Klaus was thinking though, the opposite showed on his face.
"You're not supposed to be here. I let you go. You are now free of me." His voice wavered a little but it was obvious that Klaus tried to conceal his emotions with an emotionless expression.
A tear dropped down Havana's eye from the sudden coldness. "No, Nik. I don't want to be free of you. Not now and not ever. It was a mistake for you to let me go as much as it was a mistake for me to not run back to you sooner. But I am here now and I want to be with you. I love yo-"
"-I don't believe you." He said sharply cutting her off. "I had been in denial for a while now hoping that you still loved me even with the pain I had caused you. But who can love someone who had hurt them? I am the monster everyone says I am Havana and you know it. I will keep being this monster for all of eternity. Best protect yourself and stay away from me."
"You are not a monster Nik. You have been through so much in life for people to label you as that but not to me. I trust you with my whole heart to know that you will never hurt me again."
Klaus shook his head furiously, "This is just a whole scheme for you to trick me again. To make me fall even more in love with you than I already am making me more vulnerable for the perfect time when your friends come and try to kill me."
"I will never let them hurt you! I lov-" She moved closer only for him to raise his voice.
"Stay away from me, Havana. Go back to Mystic Falls before I compel you to leave and forget about me forever." He threatened.
"You promised never to compel me ever again."
Havana's breath hitched at the possibility of him going through with it. On one side, if she did forget, she would be much happier. The drama and heartache that came with loving Klaus Mikaelson would cease to exist and she would carry on with her adventure-filled life as if nothing ever happened. Because in her mind, all the memories of him were now blocked. But was that the life she truly wanted to live? Havana knew herself well enough to know that she would rather experience the pain that comes with love than not experiencing love at all. It is because pain is not necessarily a bad thing. Pain makes a person value the things that truly matter to them. The pain that she had endured for over a year and a half has made her a stronger person who now embraces the struggles in life. Her love for him had grown tenfold and she was now more protective than ever with their relationship.
"You don't truly want that." She took a step towards him. "You won't be able to live with yourself knowing that I am out there somewhere without a clue to who you are." She took another step.
"Stop it Havana. I said stop."
She did not listen and continued making her way to him while talking. "I will not remember your name nor your face. And all the amazing memories we made together will be deleted from my mind forever."
"Don't make me do something I will regret. Please don't come any closer!" At this point, Klaus was yelling yet Havana pursued having no plans of stepping back.
"And what will hurt the most is missing me so much but knowing you can't do anything about it because if you were to find me and tell me you loved me, I wouldn't say it back." She now stood in front of him fiercely not breaking any eye contact since the moment she started coming closer. "I wouldn't be able to that that I love you." She finally said the three words that she had been trying to utter the moment she locked eyes with him.
Klaus, having enough, roughly yanked her by the waist and kissed her with as much passion as he could.
Havana's arms immediately wrapped around Klaus's neck as they locked lips. They were locked in each other's embrace and had no plan of letting go of each other, literally and figuratively. Time moved slowly as they were stuck in the moment wishing that it would never end.
By the time they slowly broke apart, Havana was panting hard while Klaus had maintained his exposure. However, he did not stop kissing her because he had moved to every inch of her face as she was trying to catch her breath. The last kiss he laid on her face was back on her lips again but it was a more gentle one compared to the kiss they just had a couple of seconds ago which was filled with extreme want and yearning. He whispered to her "I love you" every moment his lips left her skin. In the end, their foreheads were leaning on each other.
"Welcome home little dove." He greeted his long-missed queen.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
They lay peacefully on a bed of flowers. Their bodies intertwined with one another and their faces mere inches apart. Both lovingly caressed each other's skin as if they had just regained their sense of touch and wanted to feel everything around them.
"So what does this mean for when we go back to Mystic Falls?" Klaus asked gently brushing a stray hair out of Havana's face.
"What do you mean?" She wondered out loud.
"We both know that the sight of us casually walking down the street holding hands won't be well received by your friends. What do you suggest that we should do so that they won't suspect?"
"Since when does Klaus Mikaelson care about what a group of teenagers think?" She raised her brows in surprise.
"You and I both know that I could care less about any of them." He rolled his eyes not sharing her look of amusment. "But I know that you care about your relationships with them and in extension, I care about you. So if someone starts giving you trouble, you know that I wouldn't have a choice but to kill them."
"You're so...violent. Have you ever heard of meditating?" Havana pictured the big bad Original Hybrid in yoga pants stretching and trying to relax. It was an amusing sight for her mind to see. She laughed a little while Klaus still stayed serious. "Okay okay jokes aside, I came back to you because I can't see myself living without you Nik. That means that I am done with pretending not to care anymore. Screw what everyone thinks. I'm not asking for acceptance, I'm just asking for respect. I won't be involved with any drama from both sides and I will continue my own personal relationships with all of you. And if anyone can't accept that then they can just walk out of my life."
"Sounds quite forward thinking my love. I like that...too bad your childish little friends aren't as mature as you. Especially that annoying Salvatore who follows you around wherever you go."
It didn't require much, or in fact, any effort for Havana to figure out that it was Damon whom Klaus was referring to. It was no secret that the hybrid was uncomfortable at their close relationship, especially when Damon was the person he found most irritating out of the bunch. Damon's impulsive tacklessness always led to each experience he had with Klaus with an injury. There were numerous times wherein he was close to killing the eldest Salvatore but he knew Havana would never forgive him. A thought of secretly having him killed visited his mind maybe more than once but no matter how innocent he would act, he knew that Havana would eventually figure it out. She knew Klaus too well to not uncover a secret he was hiding.
"Damon is just a friend Klaus. He's like a brother to me."
"I'll rip his heart out of his chest and force feed it to his brother and make him watch if he dares try anything with you." There was no sign of banter on his blank expression showing that it was indeed a grim promise.
"You and I both and the whole world know that he is undeniably madly in love with Elena. Just like you and me-"
"-do not compare our great love story to that love triangle of a cliché -"
"-and there is no one else in my life but you." She raised her voice louder. "I love you my Nik."
Klaus eyes softened at her words and sighed knowing that there was no point in his jealously. "I love you too my little dove. Always and Forever.
"Always and Forever." The madly in love couple happily smiled at each other.
"Anyways, I still hope that you all don't end up killing each other."
Klaus scoffed at Havana's statement. "Kill me? I think that its the other way around, sweetheart. I'm the most feared dangerous most feared creature on ear-" Klaus began to say with the prideful tone he usually carries whenever talking about himself.
"-Yeah yeah I know. They know. We all know." Havana quickly cut him off jokingly rolling her eyes at his pretentiousness.
Havana used up the little time she had left before Klaus could open his mouth to protest what she had just said and laid on his chest immediately shutting him up. The hybrid visibly eased pulled her in closer by the waist letting his arm rest on her side while drawing small circles on her back. They both relaxed at their warm familiar touch and sooner or later, they both drifted into a peaceful sleep. For the first time in a long time, the couple felt secure with each other. They no longer have to result to angst nor games to protect their feelings but fully trust that they were now willing to make it work and stay with each other. They were at peace with each other. They were home.