Chapter Text
He can see the realization dawn on each of his siblings, can see the moment each of them gets it. Freya figures it out first, shaking her head, and Niklaus sees it too. It takes him and Rebekah the longest, maybe because they’re both trying to deny it. Vincent is describing the process, why the Hollow’s soul has to be divided into four pieces, why it has to be put into four separate beings. There’s a sick gleam of delight in his eyes at the prospect of the Mikaelsons being forced to separate for eternity. But Elijah won’t allow it.
“So, the evil is drawn, quartered and separated for all time,” Niklaus says.
Vincent nods, “you have to go your separate ways and you have to stay separate. For all time.” He’s enjoying this and Elijah hates him for it.
He meets his brother’s gaze, Niklaus’s eyes pleading, silently begging Elijah to come up with a different solution, to negotiate a different plan. Elijah swallows thickly because he doesn’t have a plan, not yet at least.
“You can never see each other again. Can never go near each other again,” Vincent continues, but Elijah is only half-listening, trying to form a plan. “That’s the only way that we’re gonna beat the Hollow.”
His brother nods, finally, his shoulders slumped in defeat. “Well, if it will save my little girl, we will make it so,” he vows and Elijah shakes his head. Absolutely not.
“What about Aurora?” he finally asks, his voice sounding strangled even to his own ears. “What if we put the Hollow into her? She’s almost as old as we are, she can handle it.” He doesn’t like using someone else to fix their problem, but Aurora deserves it after everything. And if it means his family staying together he can’t say he feels particularly guilty about it.
“Do you have four Aurora’s, Elijah?” Vincent snaps, annoyed.
Fuck. He hadn’t thought of that. There has to be another way, there has to be something that can be done, something that doesn’t tear his family apart. Something that doesn’t take Niklaus away from his little girl after he only just got her back.
“And you can’t shove the whole bloody Hollow into Aurora?” Rebekah snaps.
Vincent shakes his head, “it’s too risky. She may be almost as old as an Original, but she’s still a regular vampire. Maybe an Original could hold her, but it’s too risky. Four is better. Besides, it should be related to Hope by blood to ensure the Hollow can be moved.”
Only for Vincent and his vendetta against their family. But Elijah won’t allow it. He won’t allow Vincent’s hatred of his kind, and especially his family to tear it apart. An idea forms in his head. He doesn’t have four Aurora’s. But maybe they don’t need four Aurora’s. Maybe they just need one Original. He knows what he has to do. He just has to make sure it will work. And he has to say his goodbyes. For good.
He waits until his siblings leave, Rebekah to find Kol, Freya to consult their mother’s Grimoires, and Niklaus to check on Hayley and Hope. Elijah turns to Vincent once he knows his siblings are out of earshot.
“Put her in me,” he tells him. “I can take it. I can hold her in. Besides, I’m the one you hate. Just put the Hollow inside me.” His voice grows steadier, more convinced with every word he says.
“And, what if you decide to pop by to see your girlfriend or your brother?”
“I won’t. Because you’ll also erase all of my memories when you do it. You can render my mind open for Marcellus to compel away my memories. This way I won’t put anyone at risk.” And Elijah Mikaelson will finally die.
Vincent accepts his deal and they hammer out details for the ritual and the spell. They meet with Marcellus at St. Anne’s church and tell him the plan. It’s not so much that Elijah wants to tell him, it’s more so he can hold off his siblings enough for Elijah to get away after the ritual. He knows he’s being a coward about it, knows he should tell them of his plan, but he also knows that if he does they’ll do everything in their power to stop him.
Marcel tells him as much.
“I know, Marcellus, but what choice do I have?” he snaps, raking a hand through his hair in frustration. “Should I let my niece grow up without a father?”
“Yeah, but maybe you could at least try to replace Klaus? The rest of you can…” he trails off, shaking his head.
“Hayley is out of the question!” he snaps, his voice icy. “And I won’t ask Freya to do this, I won’t rob her of the possibility to have her own family one day. I’ve hurt Kol enough as it is, Rebekah, too. This is my way of fixing it.”
“You really think you can hold the whole thing inside you?” Marcel asks, his shoulders slumping.
“Is that concern I detect, Marcellus?” he quips.
“Relax, not for you. For the rest of us if that thing’s too powerful for even your ancient Original ass to hold her,” the other vampire retorts.
It’s Vincent who speaks then, clearing his throat rather awkwardly. “I’ve actually got a plan for that. There’s a spell I can do when I remove the Hollow from Hope and place it in Elijah that will dimmish her power, make it so that he can hold her. It won’t kill her and it would still be dangerous for him to be anywhere near Hope or Hayley for that matter since they’re both Labonair, but it’ll make it easier for him to hold her in,” Vincent explains, but Elijah barely hears the end of it.
“If I take the Hollow I can’t be anywhere near Hayley?” he asks in a strangled voice. He’s planning on leaving and wiping away his memories regardless, but the thought that he can’t be near her makes him want to drop to his knees.
“Like calls to like,” Vincent says with a shrug. “Hayley is a Labonair, too, so of course it’s the same as with Hope. The only difference is that Hayley is a hybrid, so the vampire blood offers some protection, it’s not a guarantee,” he tells him. Marcel flashes his friend a look, but Elijah isn’t paying attention. He’s too focused on the fact that after the ritual is completed he won’t be able to be near Hayley. Just as well, he won’t remember her anyways.
Elijah nods, “well, we have a solution to that so it shouldn’t be a problem,” he says numbly.
“And what solution might that be?” Marcel asks, arching an eyebrow at the two of them. Vincent stays silent, looking between the two of them, clearly not planning on saying anything.
“After the ritual is completed and the Hollow is in me, Vincent will perform a second spell that will render my mind vulnerable to your compulsion. And then you will compel away my memories. All of them. You’ll send me somewhere remote where I won’t harm my family. And you’ll leave me there.”
“Are you out of your damn mind?” Marcel snaps loudly. “Are you actually fucking insane? You want me to let you take that whole thing inside you, fine. But this? What the hell, Elijah?”
“I’m a danger to my family,” he admits, his voice trembling just slightly as he struggles to reign his emotions in.
“What?”
“You see, Marcellus, my disease has always been a blind devotion to my brother for a thousand years. And whenever he has needed me, I have been there. And no matter what I do…” he shakes his head, tears prickling at his eyes, “I’m at the complete mercy of that devotion. I can’t do that anymore.”
“I don’t understand, how will compelling away your memories help?” Marcel demands, shaking his head incredulously.
“You have to end this for me,” he tells him, his voice cracking just slightly.
“What do you want me to do? You want me to put you down?”
Yes. He shakes his head instead, “I want you to set me free.”
“And giving you the equivalent of vampire amnesia is going to do that?”
“Yes,” he says.
Marcel turns to Vincent then, “is he serious? Is this actually your solution?”
“It was his idea,” Vincent shrugs. “But, yeah, this will go a long way at fixing things. And that little girl won’t grow up without a father. Even if she might be better off without him,” he grumbles.
Elijah cuts him a look and Vincent holds his hands up in defeat.
“Fine, fine. Klaus stays.”
Marcel sighs and turns to him again. “You’re sure?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
“Fine,” he agrees. Vincent just nods.
“Good. Then, I’ll let you prepare, Vincent. I have something else to do.” With that, he vamp-speeds back to the Abbatoir. He has some things to take care of, first. A few letters and a goodbye. He will give the letters to Marcellus before Vincent’s spell, one for each of his siblings. One for Hope. And one for Hayley.
She finds him on the balcony, taking a few minutes to himself before the ritual, a few minutes to look down at their family home. He knows he will forget it in a few hours, maybe less, but he’s looking at it one last time anyways, hands gripping the railing hard.
“We should talk before it’s too late,” she says in lieu of greeting. He doesn’t turn, not yet. It’s the first time they’ve been alone since everything went down and he know he’s been avoiding her, avoiding this conversation. But he can’t bear it.
“You don’t have to say anything else,” he says numbly and hears her let out a little sigh.
“Elijah, I want you to know that what happened in the pendant doesn’t take away everything we’ve had between us,” she starts, but he cuts her off.
“I know it’s over,” he tells her. He’s known since the moment she took a step back from him in the pendant, since the moment she said those three words to him after he’d woken up. Don’t touch me. Finally, he forces himself to turn and face her. It hurts all over again, to look at her and know that she’s not his, not anymore. “And what are we anyway?” he wonders. “What is the Mikaelson family? Desperately searching for some kind of humanity beneath the ridiculous banner of always and forever…” he shakes his head. He’s done with always and forever. It has taken him over a thousand years but he has come to accept that it was a ridiculous notion, a foolish ideal.
Hayley says nothing, just looks at him, patient.
He takes a few steps toward her but does not dare to touch her. Even if he aches to do so. Even if he wants to desperately. Even if he needs her like he needs air to breathe.
“And whatever we are, you and me,” he continues, “we were doomed. I could never be what you needed me to be.” Her eyes are shining with unshed tears and he has to force himself not to cry, not to break in front of her. She doesn’t need this, doesn’t need him falling apart in front of her right now. “Best thing I can do is disappear,” he finally says. It’s the closest he can come to telling her of his plan, but the letter will explain it. He can’t bear to do it.
“I love you,” she whispers softly, and something unravels inside him.
“I love you, too,” he says, maybe for the last time, and his voice breaks.
He cups her cheek then, slides his fingers through her hair and pulls her in for a kiss. She returns it easily, and it’s tender and aching all at once, their lips molding easily, a thousand memories invading in his mind. He doesn’t think he’ll ever forget the feel of her lips, the tiny whimper she lets out when he presses his lips to hers, the way she yields so easily. But he knows he will just as he will forget the sound of her laughter, the way her eyes twinkle when she’s happy, the firm set of her jaw when she’s determined, what she tastes like. He memorizes it all now as he kisses her, lingering, not wanting to let go. Finally, they break the kiss and he rests his forehead against hers.
“Please forgive me,” he whispers, one last time.
“Elijah…” she whimpers softly, bumping her nose against his. He knows what she’s going to say and he can’t bear to hear it.
“Shh,” he mutters, “you don’t have to. I know.”
She kisses him then, her lips gentle, hesitantly brushing against his. It’s different from all the times she’s kissed him, like she’s trying to memorize it all. But, she’ll find someone else, she’ll fall in love with someone else. Someone decent who deserves her. Someone who can make her happy.
“I meant it, you know,” he mutters against her lips, breaking the kiss. “What I said to you when I was bitten by Marcel. I want you to be happy. It’s all I’ve ever-” he chokes back a sob, “it’s all I’ve ever wanted. For you to be happy.”
“I was happy…” she nearly whimpers, her breath hitching. “I just…”
“I know,” he mumbles. “It doesn’t change anything.”
Then, he tilts his head and brushes his lips against her forehead. He’s done it dozens of times, forehead kisses are their thing. But this is different. It’s a promise and a goodbye, all at once.
Kol shows up at the last minute, quite literally in the nick of time much to everyone’s relief. For Elijah, though, it’s one more person to say goodbye to. At least he had the forethought to write Kol a letter, too.
“Look who decided to show up,” Rebekah announces, sauntering into the study, Kol hot on her heels.
Both him and Niklaus stand up, and his brother smirks. “Little brother,” Niklaus drawls, “you always did love a dramatic entrance.”
“Well, I prefer them more than my departures,” Kol quips sarcastically, “which often involved you and the pointy end of a dagger.”
Klaus’s smirk falls, and it hits them all then that this is the last time they will all be in the same room together. But at least the three of them will see each other again, they’ll get to be together again. Without him.
He wishes he could say goodbye to them all properly, that he could impart his advice on them, not that they really needed it, but they’re out of time. And, even if they had the time he can’t tell them the truth.
“Now that we’re all here,” he says, breaking the silence, and pauses, looking over at his siblings, “shall we?”
With terse nods, Rebekah’s blue eyes glittering with tears, his youngest siblings turn and head for the garden, and Elijah starts to follow with Niklaus.
But his brother stops and turns. “Elijah,” he says, his tone uncharacteristically gentle, “you were always the keeper of our bond. And, because of that you will feel the pain the most. When the inevitable happens, and I, devoid of family influence, relapse into a spiral of mayhem and bloodshed… I need you to leave me to my fate. If you come to my rescue as you have so many times before, you will only serve to aid our enemy, allowing it one step closer to my daughter and I cannot allow that.” Klaus’s voice is thick with emotion and his eyes are shining with unshed tears, as he adds, “so, my brother, when the time comes, I beg you… let me go.”
Then, he pulls Elijah into a hug which he returns easily, squeezing his brother tightly. It’s a good thing Elijah has already thought of this. His plan will ensure that Niklaus will at least have Hayley, Rebekah, Kol and Marcel to keep him from spiraling. He will be fine.
“You have my word,” he says when he releases him, his voice breaking.
Hayley is already there, cradling Hope in her arms, sitting in the middle of the ritual circle. Vincent directs Kol and Rebekah to their places just as Marcel comes in.
“What the hell are you doing here?” his sister snaps. “Have you come to gloat?”
“No, I came here to make sure it works,” he shoots back.
“Elijah, I need you there at the top,” Vincent tells him, gesturing to the spot right behind Hayley.
She flashes him a look, her green eyes finding his, and in a way he feels comforted by it. Vincent is pretending that everyone is playing a role, but really the ritual site was drawn specifically for him. His siblings are positioned so that once it starts, invisible walls will keep them from jumping to his rescue. It’s quite genius, Elijah has to admit.
“Klaus, right there for me please,” Vincent adds. “And we are ready. I just wanna say that what you guys are doing here today is gonna go a long way towards setting things right in this city. The Hollow took everything from me and inspired nothing but suffering and torment. It’s ruined families, it’s gone after little kids. And yet, here and now, despite all of our differences, and there are many… thank you,” Vincent says, putting his hand over his heart. Elijah wishes he could believe him. “Freya,” Vincent motions for her, holding his hand up.
“The savage Mikaelsons heroically defeating a terrible evil,” Rebekah says with a sad sigh. “Maybe this will finally earn us our redemption.”
“Do any of us really believe that?” Niklaus quips.
“Not for a second,” he mutters, fighting back tears. “It’s a wonderful sentiment.”
Her eyes meet Elijah as he takes his position, right behind her, and she feels sort of comforted by the fact. She can feel the tension between them, taught like an invisible rope. Her green eyes lock with his for what could be the last time. It hurts to look at him, to see the pain and anguish in his eyes, the guilt.
Vincent and Freya clasp hands and kneel, exchanging a glance. “Hayley,” he tells her, “when I tell you to, take the manacles off, hold on to Hope, do not let her go. Everybody else, when the spell is over, you gotta get away from each other and you have to stay away from Hope,” he warns the teary-eyed Mikaelsons.
“Always and forever,” Rebekah murmurs shakily, “we had a good run.”
Nobody else says anything except for Elijah who mutters a weak, “yeah.”
And then everything changes.
Before Vincent and Freya even start the spell, he knocks Freya out and everyone gasps, moving to rush to her aid. But Vincent seems to have trapped them all, keeping them tied to their places. Hayley feels panic coursing through her, and part of her wants to let go of Hope, to rush to their aid. But she can’t because he’s got her trapped, too, and she can’t move either. She looks around at the shocked faces of the Mikaelsons fighting against the invisible forces keeping them in place.
“Okay, do it. Do it now!” Vincent urges and she unlatches the manacles, her heart hammering in her chest as she tries to figure out what changed, what is happening. The room is flooded with blue light as the Hollow leaves Hope, her daughter waking up with a gasp as the Hollow’s spirit floats up, everyone’s eyes trained on it. But the Hollow doesn’t get divided into four and is instead pushed into Elijah, who is the only one who isn’t surprise. On the contrary, he looks like he’s expecting it, bracing himself for the ritual. The very foundations they’re standing on shake with the force of the magic as the blue spirit disappears inside Elijah’s chest.
“Elijah…” she whispers, her eyes filling with tears.
He averts his gaze, like he can’t bear to look at her. “I’m sorry,” is all he mutters, so quietly only she can hear him.
“What the bloody hell?!” Rebekah and Kol shout, hurt evident in Rebekah’s voice, Kol’s expression mirroring her in shock.
“What are you doing?” Klaus roars, trying to move towards his brother, but he can’t. None of them can. “Elijah, what have you done?”
“Vincent,” she growls, “what the fuck have you done?” He just shrugs, and she turns to Elijah once more. “Elijah,” she repeats, her voice a mere whimper. “No…” she whispers, shaking her head. Elijah’s eyes meet hers, his irises flashing blue briefly. Fuck. What has he done? “Elijah, no, what did you do?”
“Elijah, you need to go!” Vincent snaps. “Now!”
His eyes meet hers again, dark brown once more, and her eyes fill with tears as she shakes her head. No, no, no.
“I love you,” he tells her, his voice rough. “Please forgive me.”
And with that, he vamp-speeds out of the compound as the rest of the siblings struggle against the barriers holding them. Klaus’s eyes flash yellow, his face morphing with his rage as Rebekah curses at Vincent while Kol looks away. Hayley needs to hand Hope over to someone else before she can murder Vincent because what the fuck just happened?
Finally, Vincent drops the barriers just as Freya comes to, stumbling to her feet.
“What the hell happened?” she demands as she stands, scanning the room in confusion. “Where’s- where’s Elijah?”
“Freya,” Klaus says, his voice trembling with emotion as he tries to reign in his rage, “can you get Keelin down here to take Hope?”
“Mom? Dad?” Hope whispers in confusion, trying to sit up. “What’s happening? What’s wrong?”
“Shh, it’s okay, baby,” she murmurs, her voice thick with unshed tears, and she’s shaking, but she needs to stay strong for Hope. “Everything is going to be fine.” Except everything is not fine because Elijah just took the entire Hollow and that means that he is the Hollow.
Keelin is down in seconds, and she picks Hope up, whisking her away. Klaus pounces on Vincent as she scrambles to her feat, everyone looking at Vincent with a mix of confusion, shock and anger all over their faces.
“You bloody, self-serving bastard!” Rebekah hisses, but Marcel is standing right between her and Kol.
“What. The. Fuck. Just. Happened?” she demands as Klaus slams Vincent into a wall.
“I know what’s happened, little wolf,” Klaus snaps. “My brother decided to be a self-sacrificial martyr once again. My question is why the hell did you let him do it?” he growls.
“How could you do this?” Freya demands, her voice shaking. “I trusted you!”
“Yeah? Like I trusted you five years ago when you were meant to protect Davina and you killed her?” Vincent snaps.
“So, this is about that? Quid pro quo?” Freya’s tone is sad, heartbroken and Hayley winces.
“Not exactly. This was all Elijah’s idea and just about the only decent and selfless thing he’s ever done. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to finish something,” Vincent says and tries to free himself from Klaus’s grip.
“Not so fast,” she growls, advancing on him, her eyes flashing yellow with warning. But, before she can pounce, he mutters something and everything goes black.
Elijah can feel it, can feel the Hollow inside him, the evil spirit, but as soon as Vincent tells him to, as soon as he utters those last few words to Hayley, he takes off and runs. He runs as fast as his feet can carry him all the way to the outskirts of New Orleans and the old Plantation house they used to call home. It’s where he agreed to meet with Vincent and Marcellus to enact the rest of their plan.
He takes a deep, shuddering breath and forces his emotions in check, shoving them back into that box buried deep inside him. Soon, it will be over, and this won’t hurt anymore.
“Well, we’re here,” Marcel says, announcing their arrival.
“Everything all right?”
“If by alright you mean that your entire family is pissed as hell and wants to kick our asses, sure everything is ‘alright’,” Marcel quips, forming quotation marks with his fingers. “Vincent had to knock them all out so we could get out of there.”
“Wonderful,” he deadpans. “Well, let’s not waster any more time. It’s time for you to compel my memories away to ensure that I will not be a danger to my family any longer.”
Vincent nods, “alright.”
The witch starts to prepare, and Elijah braces himself as he looks around, knowing that once it’s over he will have forgotten everything. He will have forgotten what this place once meant. He will have forgotten the men in front of him and his family, his history. The women he loved, Tatia, Aya, Celeste. He will have forgotten Hayley, the love of his life. Don’t touch me. He steels himself. This should be simple. His memories gone, the love for his family, a love that hurts more than anything, gone, history and memories erased. A clean slate. Maybe he’d be better off, his family certainly will be. Hayley will be. He tries not to think of the way she’d cried out his name, pained and hurt as she realized what was happening. The fear in her eyes when his flashed blue.
“Elijah,” Marcel says, snapping him into focus, “are you sure?”
He nods, “yes, Marcellus, I’m quite sure.”
“Alright,” the other man nods, clapping him lightly on his shoulder.
Vincent forms a circle of rocks and Elijah stands inside it as the witch stands behind him, ready to start the ritual.
It’s Marcel who hesitates. “What if we’re just creating a monster here?”
He flinches but forces himself to answer. “I am a monster. You of all people know that.”
“Okay, but how do I compel an Original?” he asks, and Elijah has to force himself not to roll his eyes.
It’s Vincent who speaks, “Marcel, you haven’t even begun to tap into all that power that our ancestors put inside of you. Now, we combine that with my spells, we can wipe out centuries of family drama.”
Marcel meets his gaze, but Elijah fights his instincts screaming at him that it’s not just family drama. It’s love and connection and the only people who know all of him.
“Are you sure you want that?” Marcel asks once again.
“Yes.” He has to be.
Finally, Vincent steps behind him and starts chanting, fingers hovering at the base of his skull. Then, he steps away. “Okay, do it now.”
“Your vow,” Marcel starts, pupils dilating, “the promise of always and forever. All the pain that went with it, all the love, forget it. The family you cherish. The vow that you have honored, forget it. Let it go. Let it go.”
Nothing happens at first as memories unravel, a thousand of years, a thousand of moments in time. His siblings. His father’s abuse. His niece. The people he’s hurt, maimed, killed or worse. Tatia. Celeste. Aya. Gia. Hayley. He clings to them, one last time before he has to let them go. The Red Door. His mother’s torture. Niklaus. Rebekah. Hayley. Always and forever.
Except, nothing happens. He doesn’t forget any of it, over a thousand years of memories still playing on a loop in his mind. Something is wrong.
He feels it then, feels the spell explode, feels it worming its way into the ground, into the world, into the minds of everyone. He feels the force of it, the magic, feels it everywhere.
Vincent’s eyes widen with horror and Marcel’s brow furrows in confusion, and he knows something is very, very wrong. Can feel it, feels the dread settling inside him.
His voice is strangled when he finally breaks the defeaning silence. “What happened?”
“The spell that was supposed to open your mind broke,” Vincent finally says as he seems to assess their surroundings. “The compulsion rebounded and now it’s spreading everywhere.”
“How the hell did that happen?” Marcel snaps while Elijah just stares, numb.
“I don’t fuckin’ know, Marcel!” Vincent shoots back. “No one’s ever tried to compel an Original and you’re a one of a kind Enhanced Original, it’s not like we know how it works! We’re messing with Old, powerful magic here and he’s not exactly a baby vamp whose mind you can just weasel into!” he adds, pacing furiously. Elijah would feel bad for how stressed he is, but he doesn’t. He just doesn’t feel like it.
One thing he does know is that he’s not forgetting, his memories just playing on a loop in his mind like the spell merely summoned them forth. He’s fucked it up once again. First the prophecy, now this.
“Oh, man… you’re not forgetting,” Vincent finally says.
“I’m not,” he confirms, shaking his head. “Was it the Hollow?”
Vincent just shakes his head, “I don’t know man, but the spell rebounded, had an adverse effect. You’re not gonna forget, but everyone else is. The spell, the compulsion it’s erasing you from every mind, every moment of history you’ve ever touched instead of erasing your memories, your history from your mind. Basically, it’s taking you out of the entire world, wiping you from existence. Except for us because the spell doesn’t affect us.”
“Shit,” Marcel mutters, reaching for him, but Elijah pulls away because he can’t bear it. He killed Marcel, he shouldn’t accept his comfort. “We can fix this right?” Marcel asks, turning to Vincent, but Elijah hardly hears him, hardly even cares. “I mean, there’s gotta be something we can do, right?”
“Sorry man,” Vincent sighs, and Elijah doesn’t need to look at him to know that he doesn’t care enough to want to fix it.
“No,” he finally says. “There won’t be a need. This may not be how we intended it, but it does achieve what we intended. I can survive on my own and this will ensure I don’t put my family in danger since they won’t even remember me. I can start over, pretend to be a regular vampire. No one will even care about me,” he says, and he hates the way his voice trembles just slightly. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine, Marcellus.”
“Elijah-”
“Just make sure they stay away from Manosque, the south of France. I think I’ll go there for a while,” he says numbly, tears prickling at his eyes. “I’m going to be fine, Marcellus. Just… take care of them, please?”
“Of course,” Marcel says, his voice filled with conviction. “I give you my word.”
Elijah wants to laugh at the irony but doesn’t. Instead, he watches as Marcel and Vincent leaves before he goes to his own car which he’d parked further up the road. He gets in and drives, booking himself a one-way ticket to Manosque via Marseille. He lets himself fall apart just a little bit, lets tears spill silently down his cheeks, and lets himself cry a bit.