Disclaimer: I do not own Legacies or the entire TVD universe.

Summary: Follow the story of my OC as he navigates the Salvatore Boarding School along with the main cast when monsters attack and the darkest of creatures are revealed.

He had nothing better to do and she was wasting her time. Tick tock, with each movement of the hand one of the 2 sounds echoed throughout the room and a second passed. 1 became 2 then 3 then 4 and continued on until it culminated into 946 seconds of silence in the room.

He sat with his back straight and shoulders back, unmoving for the past 16 minutes. He stared her directly in the eyes and as she did the same. The silence still washing over them.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked being the first to break the 16 minuet long silence. Those being the first words that had been spoken after the obligatory greeting he first gave when he entered the room.

"The barn. After this I'm going to take a nap." He answered automatically.

"You do realize you are talking to faculty member about skipping class?"

"Yes."

"Is there reason for you skipping class? Besides you being tired."

"No." He said promptly ending the conversation from his end she could continue on with it but he had checked out.

"Well okay then. I guess you will be attending your class after this." She had given up on trying to engage him but she was adamant on him attending class once their sessions were over.

"There is a new student coming in today. A young werewolf. Any thoughts on that?" There it was. Another futile attempt to engage with him.

"No." He responded ending her second attempt to engage him.

By this point Miss Tig would unofficially end the session. It had become their routine for the past year. He would show up to their morning sessions on Monday and Thursday, he'd sit in the chair across from her after the obligatory greeting and begin a starring contest between the 2. At some point during the session she'd ask him a question to try and engage, he'd answer some of those question but in time he would begin to give one worded answers that gave her no room to direct the conversation.

Miss Tig was a patient woman. She never tried to force a breakthrough like the last school counselor Mr. Munn. The man thought himself a psychological savant and tried various methods to reach him and coerce a breakthrough which all ended in failure. Miss Tig on the other hand was using a different approach. Patience and support. She was going to try and wait him out hoping that he would inevitably talk to her and begin the process of a breakthrough or at the very least he would turn to her if he needed to vent or less likely a shoulder to cry on.

Miss Tig and Mr. Munn had 2 different to dealing with him but in the end their methods would end in failure. He knew this, Miss Tig knew this but hoped for more, Alaric and Caroline knew this but still insisted he attend these session twice a week for the past 4 years.

The official end of the session had finally come so he stood from the chair headed for the barn.

"Before you head of to your next class." A passive-aggressive reminder of his attendance "I would advise you to make friends with the new student coming today. He might need help transitioning and you might want to talk to someone your own age."

"Noted." He acknowledged her request and automatically decided not to take it. "Goodbye Miss Tig." The obligatory Farwell that came at the end of their sessions

"I'll see you in class Duncan." She reiterated his attendance. Now she wasn't his counselor and he wasn't her patient. She was a teacher and he was a student. "Do try to make friends with him Duncan it would be good for you."

He thought longer on her advice, weighed the pros and cons but inevitably he still decided not to take it. He didn't need to befriend the new wolf. He would continue to do what he had always done. Stay out of everyone's business so they'd stay out of his.

He was laying back on the second floor of the barn thinking back to those days of relative peace, when the most exciting thing that happened was a new student joining the school. It's not as if it was a time far back. It was last week Thursday. Since then, some stupid knife had been stolen, the school had been attacked by a gargoyle and during all of that time of 6 days Hope and the new kid had fought a dragon if rumors were to be believed. Now girls were missing at the local high school.

He had his money on one of the vampires killing the girls. But he didn't leave out the possibility that he could be wrong. One is an action, two is a coincidence but 3, that was a pattern. If he was wrong and it wasn't one of the vampire then the days of relative peace would be over. For them.

It wasn't his war. His war was else were on another continent.

Even now he could tell that wasn't how the story would go, somehow, some way he would be dragged into their war. He'd have skin in the game and would be forced to fight. Until then he would do his best to stay out of all of it. Which would be harder considering someone had entered his domain in a rushed b-line headed towards him.

The footsteps small and dainty like a girls, even accounting for the rushed pace they were still making head way so it was an older girl. Heartbeat rushed caused by either anxiety or fear. They had entered the proximity of the barn and rushed towards it without any hesitation so he canceled out fear. Leaving anxiety. She was worried and concerned about something. So she wanted something from him. His deductions were proven true when she walked into the barn.

"I need your help?" Josie asked the moment she walked into the barn. Cutting formalities and obligatory greetings. He appreciated that she didn't waste his time beating around the bush, but he didn't appreciate the conversation taking place.

"Continue." He told her from his position on the second floor. It was a nice little spot he had made for himself for whenever he needed a break. His diet of studying and training required several of those.

"I know the rules. Witches stay out of Wolf business, Wolves stay out of Witch business. Which is why I need you to help Raf, Jed is forcing him to join the school pack. But he won't. Jed and his cronies almost killed Raf a few minutes ago because he wouldn't and I know this won't be the last time."

"No it won't. But I can't help you there." He answered honestly and before she could go on either a pleading or angry rant he jumped down from the second floor landing directly next to her. It startled her causing her to move back defensively raising her hands as if she were about to cast a spell.

"The same way Witches stay out of Wolf business, I stay out of pack business and vice versa." He found himself doing something he hadn't done in a while. Justifying himself. But he liked Josie. She was one of the good ones, big heart and all. Always caring for others. It was good quality to have on paper but it made her weak and vulnerable. He wasn't going to try and change that about her she. She made that choice herself, it would either lead her to a life of happiness and misery. His choice would only lead to one thing and happiness was never on the table. So he made another choice, one that wouldn't benefit him in anyway but would help Josie and the new kid out.

"I can't help him, but you can. Right now he's most likely raving and raging somewhere trying to let loose his rage and anger. Find him and calm him down before he does something stupid and dangerous. Jed's an alpha. He's a newbie wolf. He needs a pack. Make him understand that otherwise Jed might end up killing him." It was the only way they could help the new kid. Wolves were territorial creatures and lone wolves were a threat to pack territory. Jed grudgingly accepted one lone wolf, two lone wolves were a pack waiting to happen. Hope Mikaelson didn't count.

"Thank you." Josie unenthusiastically replied. It almost sounded sarcastic when she said it.

But he didn't care. He'd said his peace what she did now was here choice. He was done with the conversation and avoided getting any skin in the game. She walked away probably in search of Rafael and he jumped back up to the second floor to continue his daily bread of studying and training. Preparation for the wars to come.

One is an action, two is a coincidence, and three is a pattern. A knife is stolen leading to a dragon being fought that is one. A Gargoyle attacks the school looking for said knife that is two. An Arachne attacks the school presumably looking for the knife that is three.

Dragons, Gargoyles, Arachneids he wondered what next Nymphs, Centaurs, Dryads, Grogons, Chimeras the list of threats is endless and had become an unwanted distraction. Now there was an honor council giving power to the 3 school factions.

It was easy to predict the outcome of the elections. Josie would win despite Lizzie campaigning for the honor seat for the Witches. Lizzie wasn't as likeable as she actually thought and she would be terrible at that job. She was too self-centered. Penelope Park would also be detrimental to Lizzie's campaign. She too would be terrible at the job. She was too flaky and uncertain, nobody would ever knew where they stood with her. But at least she wasn't Lizzie which was why she would probably be the runner up. Josie would win because she wasn't Lizzie and she wasn't Penelope. She wouldn't be bad at the job and she cared about people. She was the lesser of three evils.

Kaleb would win the vampire vote right under MG's nose. Right now Kaleb was a martyr to the vampires and MG was their Judas. Even under normal circumstances they would never vote for MG. He was too soft and weak to be a proper leader. But more importantly he was head over heels in love with Lizzie. The kind of stupid puppy love that makes people do stupid things. The vampires would never accept a leader under the thumb of a witch especially Lizzie Saltzman. Kaleb would win almost unanimously. The only person that would vote for MG was MG

Jed was terrible for the job but he'd already won the wolf vote. The perks of being an alpha you decided what the pack will do. None of the other wolves would dare challenge Jed except for Rafael. The kid was young and hungry and hadn't been broken down by the pack hierarchy yet. He may have joined them but it wasn't his pack yet. Not when he still held stronger ties to people outside the pack like Landon.

If the school were to come to the conclusion that Landon wasn't dangerous. Then to show the importance of the honor council and show it wasn't a weightless crown. The council would decide if Landon stayed or not.

Miss Tig would vote on behalf of the lower students to have Landon stay as some lesson on acceptance and inclusion. A fair lesson to teach in an unfair world.

Josie would most likely vote for Landon to go as a way of protecting her friends and more importantly her family. She cared about people probably even Landon but she would understand he was a threat.

Kaleb would vote to have Landon go, out of bias against humans. Which never made sense to Duncan seeing as until a year ago Kaleb was human.

Jed would vote for Landon to go. Not because of any logical reasoning but because of his possessives and entitlement. He would use it as a way to punish Rafael not only for refusing to join the pack but also for having bonds outside the pack.

He could see all of this coming a mile away. A perk of not being bogged down by the cliques and teen drama. He could put the pieces together to a puzzle most people didn't even realize was a puzzle. Which was why he could put together that scenario of likely events.

The only wild card in that scenario would be Hope Mikaelson. She had always been a wild card that made everything unstable. He barely saw how she interacted with other people which made it harder to predict what she would do.

But she had skin in the game because of Landon and because of it she'd find a way to get herself in the council. Most likely by bullying Alaric to make her a council member because of her tribrid status. He wasn't sure how she would vote but inevitably it wouldn't matter. Landon already had 3 votes to go the addition of hope would either make it 4/5 or 3/5. Either way not really good odds for Landon staying.

It seemed everyone had skin in the game but him. He stayed out of it and he listened. Like he always did. It's why he always saw the domino's fall into place faster than anyone else did. His insight gave him premonitions based on logic and probability. It was easy to tell who had entered his domain today.

Footsteps were large and rough. Easily male. The pace slow and unsure. Heart rate wasn't racing but it was easy to notice it was elevated. He wasn't afraid, he was lost not knowing exactly where to find Duncan until the moment he saw the barn and then started heading towards it still cautious. He was new to the school. That left one of 2 options either Landon or Rafael coming to him on behalf of Landon. Rafael was the obvious choice since the footsteps indicated a larger person and nobody at the school would talk to Landon. While someone might have told Rafael where to find him but didn't give him good enough directions.

"Hello?" Rafael asked looking around unsure if Duncan was there "Duncan?" he still looked around.

"You shouldn't be here." He replied from his position on the second floor. Twice in two days, the third would be a pattern. A pattern he successfully avoided for 4 years so he wasn't exactly happy to have this conversation and in his mind had finished it long before Rafael had arrived.

"I know Eric told me not to bother you." Eric Mercer a younger Vampire with a big mouth "But he also told me you're the only one that could help me. He said 'you're the only one that could make Jed do anythi…"

"I can't make Jed vote for Landon to stay." He cut him of speeding up the process of their conversation.

"But…" He tried to protest

"There are rules." He cut him off again and descended from his position on the second floor. Twice in two days. He landed directly close to Rafael, The first time he had gotten real good look at the guy. Duncan had half an inch on the guy or less because they were both at looking directly into each other's eyes. Unlike Josie he didn't shift back or get into a defensive position the moment Duncan had dropped down. He flinched but that didn't discount his bravery.

"You've been here less than a week so I excuse you for bothering me once." He could see the fire in his eyes. Rafael was about to retort to show he wasn't afraid of him but Duncan quickly let it be known he wouldn't be interrupted. He showed Rafael the fire in his own eyes. His eyes flashed yellow and Rafael slightly stepped back but kept quiet. "The rules are Wolves stay out of Witch business, Witches stay out of Wolf business and Vampires stay out of everyone else's business. Then a balance and a peace is maintained. The 3 factions can fraternize with each other with minimal hostility. Within the Wolf faction another balance is maintained. I stay out of pack business, the pack stays out of my business and Hope stays out of everyone else's business. I can't help you. Not without throwing the whole entire balance and peace out of the window. But ask yourself this how much is Landon worth to you?"

"Landon is my brother I don't care about this schools social order or its balance. Just help me to get him to stay." Rafael pleaded with Duncan

"The social order will always maintained as the rules will be." He responded adamantly and he could see the fire in Rafael's eyes again. Patience wasn't Rafael's strong suit. Duncan understood, Rafael had just triggered the werewolf gene which made their rage and anger reach higher heights and became more uncontrollable. Not hearing what he wanted made Rafael pissed. Before he could say or do anything Duncan's eye's flashed again cowing the other werewolf. "There is way to get Landon to stay without my interference." He was surprised when Rafael didn't interrupt him with a redundant question. The kid was learning "You challenge Jed for the alpha position. You win and the wolves will vote for you to be on the honor council. You lose which will likely happen since your still newbie and Jed didn't get that position by winning a popularity contest. You will be an omega. The bitch of the pack. If you think it's bad now at your current position? Wait until you're the bottom of the food chain. So ask yourself again how much is Landon worth to you?"

"Like I said he's my brother." That was all the justification and reasoning Rafael needed. His loyalty to Landon was worth everything. An admirable trait.

"Then were done here." Duncan turned around and went back to his position on the second floor and Rafael took the message and headed out of the barn "And tell the rest of them…" He heard Rafael pause "In case the message wasn't clear before leave me alone."

Twice in two consecutive days. That was same amount of times he would be bothered in a year and the semester started last month. Rafael and Landon were making waves and rocking boats ever since they got there. Those two were trouble and it would be harder for him not to get involved this year. Somehow some way he would be dragged into all of it because of those two. It wasn't a logical or probability inspired premonition this was intuition.

Somehow some way they did it. They got him involved and they didn't even know it. He could stop himself. Pretend he didn't see anything or come up with some crackpot theory on Rafael that explained everything away. But it had been gnawing at him ever since the vote.

A newbie wolf doesn't just beat an alpha. It was more fact than assumption. That would be more than an upsetting victory. The tides had shifted and he was wrong. Rafael had beat Jed. Maybe that's why it had been gnawing at him. He couldn't stand to be wrong. So he started grasping at straws like a mad man trying to find a complex answer to justify being wrong instead of accepting the simple answer that they were wrong.

But he wasn't a mad man. Then again how could he tell? What he could tell was Rafael beat an Alpha after being a werewolf for less than 10 days. Hours after their fight Rafael still hadn't healed fully. That was what kept gnawing at Duncan. That was what kept his feet moving forward even as the battle raged within himself. With every step his curiosity winning against his predisposition of staying out of all of it.

He arrived at her door. The final moments where he could walk away and not get involved. The moment he knocked on that door it would be all over. He wouldn't fool himself with the notion that if he asked her for a favor he'd be dipping his toes in the shallow end and could walk away from it then. The moment he knocked on that door he was lined up for the deep end. But he knocked anyway.

Moments later she opened the door, for a brief moment she was smiling until she realized it was him. She pulled back. Not as an invitation for him to enter but out of shock. Her big blue eyes showed nothing but confusion. Like a deer freezing in a headlight moment.

"What do you want?" she asked turning her head and crossing her arms the moment she came to her senses.

"I need a favor Hope." The admission felt unnatural and even more painful than the first time he had turned. The rest of the conversation would be the same. He could have asked Miss Tig for help but that would prolong the suffering in later sessions. At least with Hope he was upping his chances of walking away unscathed but more importantly she didn't know everything.

"Come on in" She invited him after moments of deliberation. She had lost her hostility the moment she realized she had the upper hand instead she replaced it with an air smugness. He wasn't sure if it was because of the Mikaelson blood or the Labonair blood that coursed through her veins.

He walked into her domain and she directed him to sit a chair whilst she sat on her bed. It was common for students to share a room with another student. But she had one all to herself, he'd hold it against her if he didn't have a room to himself.

"I need you to…" He tried to speed up the conversation.

"Hold it right there." She cut him off gleefully with a satisfied look on her face. That made it all the more painful to have this conversation. "I'm enjoying this!" Her smile widened "Mr. High and Mighty comes down from his Ivory Tower and graces me with his presences to ask my lowly self a favor. I have to savor it." Her melodic voice reverberating in his ears. Every decibel feeling like a jagged knife stabbing his eardrums. His jaw clenching with every single word she uttered. "Say it again." She began mouthing 'I need you'

"I need you to do me a favor Hope." He grudgingly said automatically "That's the last one." He said seriously. He was done with the ridicule and humiliation. The smugness left her and her big head was deflated. She went back to normal or her approximation of normal. Whenever the two talked she was always at 2 extremes either hostile or smug.

"I need you to run a lineage spell? No questions asked and keep it between us." He asked her finally getting into the thick of things.

"Say the magic words." She threw another verbal jab trying to humiliate him.

"Please." He replied automatically. He hadn't suffered the humiliation of asking a Labonair for a favor only to be stopped by a petty roadblock. But she seemed disappointed at how fast he responded.

"Okay but I'm going to need a blood sample of his." She responded trying to be clever.

"Theirs." He corrected her "No questions asked." He reminded her as he stood from his chair and walked towards her

"I wasn't trying to ask a question." She lied weakly.

"Yes you were, but here's their blood." He said dropping of a cloth that had Rafael's blood on it.

"It going to take a few minutes." She started some incantations with the cloth beginning to levitate.

Duncan went back to the chair. He didn't need to breath down here neck that would do nothing but distract her. Instead he sat down a watched her work. His mind began studying her like it did everyone one when he had nothing better to do. This might have been the first time he'd actually looked at her up close. Usually it was from a far or in passing with momentary glances before he carried on with whatever he was doing. Now she was less than 10 feet away from him and he had nothing better to do while she had her eyes closed and was concentrating on the spell. He watched every breath she took. The rhythm she had as she breathed in and out.

The mythical tribrid. Part witch, part vampire and part wolf. The Labonair with Mikealson blood. From the day he had arrived at the school people had always been afraid, mostly because Lizzie Saltzman spread rumors about her exploding an orphanage. They could have been true but he never put any stock into those rumors. Later they learned to fear her because she was a Mikaelson. Those that didn't fear that part of her feared her tribrid nature. He'd known all of that the first day he'd meet her, long before the rest of the school had found out and it never scared him. He'd known what she was for the longest time, but he never knew her. He heard people pose theories on why the lone wolf and the tribrid never got together. He never dignified that with a response. But he knew why.

"Stop staring." She said breaking him out of his thoughts. Her eyes were still closed and he couldn't tell if they had been always closed or she took a peek.

"Are you done?" He asked still staring at her try to regain his bearings.

"Almost but stop staring." She answered with her eyes still closed.

"Sure." He agreed deciding to find the bookshelf on the other side of the room more interesting. Even without anything better to do he knew better than to snoop through a girl's room. He began to go into another trance this time with random thought crossing his mind.

"I'm done." She announced breaking him out of his thought again.

"And?" He prompted her.

"Who is he?" She asked trying to break their agreement. It was her face that piqued his interest as she asked the question. It was a desire to know identity of the person she had cast the lineage spell on. A desire that almost transcended and reached levels of need. That confirmed there was more to Rafael but he need to know more. He needed to know if he was right.

"Who are they?" He corrected "They are a person of interest to me, who will remain unidentified. The deal was no question asked and you keep it between us. What would you rather have? Me owing you one or the identity of the person." He gave her the ultimatum, that wasn't really a choice.

"Fine!" She reluctantly agreed "I ran down their linage and as close as I can tell are a direct descendant of the Paxon Wolf Pack." And there it was his suspicions were proven true. A newbie wolf just doesn't beat and alpha. Unless the newbie was a direct descendant of one of the 7 original wolf packs

"How direct?" He asked.

"The last alpha of the Paxon Wolf Pack the school has on file was Arthur Walsh. The lineage spell showed that they are descended from Arthur Walsh." She answered back.

"Thank you" he said getting up from the chair. He had what he needed and he didn't have to remind Hope about keeping their deal. She seemed dumfounded as he walked towards the door on his way out "Goodnight Hope." He said opening the door before it quickly shut.

"Are you ever going to tell me why you're so interested in this person?" She asked with her hand still up from the spell she was casting to block of the door.

"No."

"Are you ever going to tell me who the person is?"

"No."

She wasn't pleased with his answers but before she could go to protest he shot her a look, he couldn't cow her even if he flashed his eyes she was the only wolf he couldn't do that to. But he was able to stop her momentarily.

"I know." He looked in to her eyes with an intensity that made her understand, he knew everything she was going to say all of the arguments and counter arguments she would try to launch. He knew and she understood. "The answer will be the same." He brought their conversation to a close.

"Goodnight Hope." He said again walking towards the door and successfully making it out.

"Goodnight Duncan" She replied before he closed her door and headed to his room.

He wasn't going to sleep that night. Not with what he had learned. His isolation and lack of involvement was now a pipedream. 4 years he had managed to survive that school without having any skin in the game. All because Landon Kirby stole a knife.

If Landon hadn't stolen the knife, none of the monsters would be attacking the school, the honor council wouldn't be formed, Rafael wouldn't have challenged Jed, He wouldn't have noticed Rafael's slow healing, He wouldn't have gone to Hope for a lineage spell and everything would be the way it was supposed to be.

But Landon did steal the knife. Now Jed was deposed as the alpha by Rafael, Duncan owed Hope a favor and Duncan knew Rafael was a direct descendant of The Paxons.

There were only 3 living descendants of The Paxons. One was waging a war on another a continent. The other was the latest alpha of the Salvatore boarding school. And the last one was staring at the ceiling of his realizing that this might probably be the last time he saw the dominos fall before anyone else. This was his final puzzle. He had crossed the river Rubicon and was swimming in the deep end.

Now he didn't just have skin in the game he had family.

AN: I have been a fan of TVD and TO from the very beginning. Although I have my problems with Legacies, it inspired me to write this fanfic which is a cannon divergent series starting from the 2nd chapter which will follow the 6th and 7th episode. With this chapter I didn't want to change much from the original show so my oc had a limited role, just recounting some of my own thoughts about the characters. In this fanfic I will be delving deeper into the werewolf community cause the show has barley given any of the wolves love.