Absolution [ELIJAH MIKAELSON] [2] [COMPLETED]

THE PATH UNTAKEN

   He knew.

   The second Audrey walked into the room, she could tell by the look on Elijah's face that he knew the truth. She'd left him by Mira's bedside, who was still out cold from the sleeping spell just like Hope, neither of them able to wake up until Vincent had pulled the Hollow out of them. When Hayley pulled her aside to tell her what Vincent told her, she'd immediately gone to confront the Griffith man, who told it to her straight. Once the Hollow was pulled out of Hope, the link the Hollow had put between Mira and Hope would be broken, but Mira would be just as useful to it as Hope was. Whenever any of the siblings carrying a piece of the Hollow was around either of them, it would fight to try and get back into one of the girls and make itself whole, something they couldn't allow.

   Not only did the Mikaelson siblings need to stay away from each other forever, but they had to stay away from Hope and Mira. Klaus and Elijah could never be with their daughters again, not if they wanted to keep them safe from the dark magic.

   "I..." Audrey began quietly, a lump forming in the back of her throat.

   "I know." Elijah whispered, his eyes not leaving their daughter.

   For five years, Elijah had been forced apart from Mira, and now he was going to have to leave her once again. Breaking the countless promises he'd made that the three of them would never be parted again. He'd have to be apart from Audrey, and he wouldn't get the chance to be there for this new child. Their whole family was being ripped apart, and the life they'd been so desperately trying to build for themselves and their children was about to be shattered. 

   "We...we can make it work..." Audrey began, her own eyes not leaving Mira either. She was going to wake up with her father gone, and she knew it was going to break her heart. "It's not forever, Freya will find another way..."

   Taking a deep breath, Elijah rose to his feet as he turned toward her. "We both if this is to work, I can't--" His voice broke slightly, which made tears well in the corners of her eyes. "I'm a risk to this plan."

   "Don't say it." Audrey pleaded, shaking her head in denial. Deep down, she knew that he was right. He was too devoted to his family, and he couldn't risk the temptation bringing him back to his siblings, to Mira and Hope. But she didn't want it to be true. She didn't want any of this to be true, for it to happen like she knew that it had to. "Please..."

   Walking toward her, he cupped the Gilbert girl's face in his hands and wiped the tears that fell down her cheeks, trying very hard not to let his own fall. Leaning in, he kissed her emotionally, a kiss she melted into as she wrapped her arms around his neck. When they did eventually pull away, his forehead remained rested against hers, bringing the hand her engagement ring sat on up so he could kiss the top of it repeatedly. 

   This had to be the end.

   This had to be goodbye.

   "I don't think I've said enough over the years everything that you've done for me." He began, his fingers gently brushing across her knuckles as their hands laced together. "From the moment we first met, there was something different about you I couldn't put my finger on. Something special. Then we discovered we were soulmates, but what we have...it has always been more than that. I was falling in love with you before we knew the truth. You became the light in my life I have always needed. Embraced me as who I am, and never let any part of me scare you away. You were my absolution. You embraced my family. The love, the bickering, the pain, everything that came with knowing and being a Mikaelson, and fought for our promise of always and forever even when we couldn't." His eyes drifted down to Mira, watching her sleep peacefully, almost for a second able to forget the evil trying to harm her and his niece. "You gave me the life I thought I could never have." His eyes fell back onto Audrey and to her stomach, and finally, he allowed the tears to fall. "I'm so sorry I couldn't protect the three of you from this."