thanks so much for the patience! i promise this last chapters will be worth it!

YES! this is the final chapter! please leave some love at the end ;)

Won't Back Down

It wasn't all bad, Scarlett had to keep convincing herself. It wasn't all bad, she mentally repeated with each step. This, of course, was a lie. With her baby girl now possessed by the hollow things were pretty far from all right. The only true good thing to come out of all of this mess with the Hollow was that Davina was back.

Yes, thankfully, the girl she loved like her younger sister was back in her life. It didn't come without it's price though, which was turning the brothers all against each other. Elijah and Klaus couldn't believe the steps Kol took to protect Davina, not when their daughters lives were at stake. Scarlett and Freya though could hardly blame him. Davina was the woman he loved, and he was never going to let anything happen to either of the girls.

Shortly after Davina's return they had managed to track the Hollow and kill her. They quickly found out though that that was what she wanted. Much like Natalie and Esther before, the Hollow jumped bodies when she died. And she jumped right into Aurora.

The girls were playing when it happened, Hope didn't even realize it. That is, not until Aurora attacked her. Hope managed to use her own magic to fight back, knocking Aurora away before quickly slipping out of the room. She knew that wasn't her cousin attacking her as she ran downstairs screaming.

"SHE'S IN HER!" Scarlett could still hear Hope shrieking as she ran into the main room. "THE HOLLOW!"

Scarlett and Elijah took off though it was too late. Aurora and the Hollow were gone, the balcony door she snuck out of left open. She could be anywhere. They started searching high and low, with Davina taking Hope out of the city to keep her safe. They had found that because Hope was a Labonair she was at the top of the Hollow's hit list.

It didn't take long for them to find where Aurora was, they just followed the sounds of the chaos. They tried calling out to her, asking her to be strong and fight the dark magic inside of her. She sent her parents and two uncles flying through the air without breaking a sweat. While the Mikaelson brothers came up with a plan to get Aurora back, Vincent and Freya had found a plan to get the Hollow out of her. No one wanted to go along with the plan though.

Before the Hollow had returned she had be separated into four pieces. They wanted to do this again, only this time splitting the magic between four people; Kol, Klaus, Elijah, and Scarlett as they were having a hard time tracking Rebekah down. Not only would they have to be separated from each other, but they would have to stay away from the girls. After all, the magic wanted to take Aurora and it wanted to kill Hope.

"Please tell me you found something," Freya was interrupting Scarlett's train of thought as she finally arrived at the bell tower where Freya was scouring her mother's things. "Anything from Natalie's stuff?"

"She died the first time because that thing wanted her sacrificed," Scarlett reminded her with a sigh. "Anything she has on it basically just says to stay clear." Freya groaned, shutting the book she had.

"I can't find anything," her voice was shaking with the threat of tears. "I can't...there has to be something."

"I think I know something," Scarlett said softly and Freya's head snapped up in her direction.

"What is it?" she asked eagerly.

"You're not gonna like it," she warned.

"What's worse than our family splitting apart?" Freya asked seriously and Scarlett bit her lip.

"This thing wants to possess LaFleur magic," Scarlett started off and Freya realized what she meant.

"No," Freya shook her head.

"I can take this thing," Scarlett insisted. "I am stronger than Rory."

"No way!" Freya protested more.

"I can lock it away," Scarlett said, though she wasn't sure who she was trying to convince.

"No," Freya said again.

"Why not?" Scarlett demanded.

"How about, at the very least, I have an ounce of self preservation," Freya told her sarcastically. "Your husband would actually kill me."

"Just like Kol killed you over what happened to Davina?" Scarlett reminded her and Freya looked away. "It was awful, but it protected our family. You said it yourself then, it's no different now."

"What if you can't control it Scar?" Freya asked her seriously.

"What do you want to try out?" Scarlett countered. "My ability to control the Hollow?" she listed first. "Or what it's going to be like when Klaus and Elijah don't have us," she listed next. "Don't have each other. And the worst, they can't be around their daughters?"

"I can't take that little girl's mother away from her," Freya shook her head.

"Just her mom and dad," Scarlett told her now. "Because we won't be able to see her, ever. And Klaus is all Hope has left." Freya bit her lip in contemplation.

"Do you really think you can keep it down?" Freya asked.

"I don't know," Scarlett told her honestly. "But, I need to try." Freya's heavy sigh told Scarlett she was giving in.

"What's going on?" Scarlett asked Elijah as she got back to the house with Freya. Freya was going to start getting set up for the ritual that night, though Scarlett made her swear not to tell anyone what they were up to.

"We know where she's going to be tonight," Elijah told her, taking her into the next room so they could be alone. "Marcel and Sofya are going to go and act like they want to join forces with her. When Marcel is close enough he's going to use some of the sleeping dust to knock her out and bring her back here. Klaus, Kol, and I are going to take care of the rest."

"Ok," Scarlett said, letting out a big breath. This was all really happening.

"We're not going to have much time once we're back here," Elijah said, taking her hand.

"Elijah," Scarlett started off as she was now overwhelmed with guilt from her secret. He thought this might be their last time alone together.

"I love you so much," Elijah told her.

"I love you too," she said, kissing him now. "I'm going to do whatever I have to in order to fix this, to keep this family together."

"I know you will," Elijah assured her.

"Ok, get her over here," Freya said to Marcel, having him holding Aurora in the center of their circle. "I'll tell you when to take the manacles off, all right?" she asked and Marcel nodded. With Aurora here and Hope safe across the river with Davina, Freya began the spell. She ordered Marcel to remove the magic binding cuffs from her niece and he did, the blue orb of magic leaving her body. The rest of the family watched, waiting for it to split into four pieces and take their share. None of them knew what to do when Freya directed that whole piece at Scarlett.

"What's going on, what happened?" Elijah was asking quickly as the spell was over.

"It, it's ok," Scarlett said, swallowing hard, almost like she was trying to keep it in the pit of her stomach.

"What the hell was that Scar?" Kol asked her seriously.

"Mommy?" Aurora was asking her now.

"Hi baby," Scarlett said, kneeling down to her. The closer she got to Aurora, the more she had to block out the whispers in her mind. With enough concentration, they subsided.

"What did you do?" Elijah asked her, though he was looking between her and Freya.

"What I had to," Scarlett told him as she picked their daughter up to hug her. "To keep this family together." They were all silent in shock. Scarlett was going to contain the hollow? That was her plan?

"Scarlett," Klaus was saying now.

"It wanted a LaFleur, I gave it one," she stopped him.

"...thank you," was what he told her now and she gave him a soft smile before locking eyes with her husband.

"I'm fine," she promised him.

"How is she?" Klaus was asking Elijah on the phone a few weeks later. Scarlett held it together for about a week. Then she started to slowly disintegrate. It started with a little things, she was snappier than normal, colder. Then, she stopped sleeping. Now, she frequently talked to herself as she spiraled further.

"She still hasn't slept," Elijah informed him, looking worriedly at the study door. He could hear her in there having a conversation. She was the only one in the room though. He had tried everything to help her. He thought that going after the Hollow's followers would make her better but it seemed to only make her worse. The only satisfaction that came from it was that she was able to kill her brother in law Dominic again.

"It's been nearly three weeks," Klaus said, though his brother knew that. He had been put in charge of taking the girls away from the house for a few days while Davina and Freya set to find a way to help Scarlett. They were supposed to come home that day though. "I'm almost there," Klaus said now.

"The girls shouldn't see her like this," Elijah argued now.

"Keelin offered to meet in town to take them for ice cream," Klaus assured him; Elijah sighed. "Did you ever tell her who you saw at the church that night?"

"Now isn't the time," Elijah reasoned with him.

"Her sister was the one that started this whole mess in the first place," Klaus reminded him. He stopped when they both heard a crash, Elijah immediately hanging up the phone and rushing into the study. Scarlett was screaming, using her magic to throw anything and everything around the room.

"Scarlett, Scarlett, stop," Elijah was trying to get her attention, finally able to get a hold of her to look at him. Her green eyes briefly flashed blue, but she squeezed them shut to block it out.

"Elijah," Scarlett managed to stammer out.

"I'm here," he assured her.

"I can't do this," she shook her head.

"You never should have had to," Elijah said gently. He couldn't believe the stunt that she and Freya had pulled; he was so angry when it happened. He knew though that she wanted to save the family, that had he had the option he would have done the same.

"You have to keep her away from me," Scarlett was pleading with him now.

"We have to get this out of you," Elijah said back, helping her stand.

"And send it where?" Scarlett asked, laughing cynically. "This is it," she motioned to herself. "Aurora or me, we're the only LaFleurs left. Unless this family wants to split apart. Which can't, ah," she started to wince, holding her head.

"Mommy?" Aurora asked, poking her head into the study.

"Rory," Klaus said, coming in after her.

"What happened to ice cream?" Elijah was asking him seriously and Keelin hadn't been able to make it.

"Rory, mommy doesn't feel very good," Scarlett said, turning from her to pace. The closer her daughter was to her the more Scarlett felt like she was going to snap.

"Is it the dark thing?" Rory asked as Elijah picked her up.

"Ah, Elijah," Scarlett winced, squeezing her head in her hands. It felt like it was going to explode.

"Where's Hope at?" Elijah asked Aurora, trying to distract her as he took her out of the room.

"Ah!" Scarlett was crying out falling to her knees; she felt Klaus kneeling in front of her. "Klaus..."

"I've got you," Klaus was assuring her gently. He and Scarlett had their share of disagreements over the years of course, especially early on. They had grown closer since the girls were born though. And now he felt like he was forever in her debt because what she had done allowed him to stay with his daughter.

"You're going to have to kill me," Scarlett said, tears brimming her eye lids.

"I won't," Klaus told her forcefully. "No."

"I can't keep it in," she was sobbing. "I'm going to hurt Rory or Hope, I-"

"You wouldn't, ever," Klaus promised. "I won't take you from her, Scarlett. I won't take you from my brother either."

"I thought I could do this Nik, but I can't," Scarlett said, shaking her head, breathing hard to keep the darkness away.

"Let me take it," Klaus told her abruptly.

"If you won't take me from Rory, I won't take you from Hope," Scarlett snapped. "You're all she..." A thought suddenly occurred to Scarlett. "Nik, you're a genius," she said, kissing his cheek before running out of the room.

"How so?!" he called after her. With no answer he dialed Kol and Davina. He hoped that Davina would have something to help her.

Keelin apologized to the girls for being late, taking them away from the house again before Marcel came to see Elijah. They caught a brief glimpse of Scarlett rushing out of the home, but neither of them were able to stop or catch her.

"Where is she going?" Elijah asked Klaus worriedly.

"Davina is going to track her and try talking to her," Klaus assured him, looking to Marcel now. "Do you have something?"

"More like someone," Marcel told them and almost like on cue Nicolette LaFleur-Roux entered the room. Elijah wasted no time racing over and slamming her against the wall, holding her by her neck.

"You never were the smart one out of you four, were you?" Elijah asked her. He was surprised when Nicolette didn't use any of that famous LaFleur magic to throw him off her.

"Listen to her first," Marcel told him, prying him off of her. He looked her over carefully.

"You turned," he accused her and she nodded.

"It's why I went to Marcel," Nicolette told him.

"But why?" Elijah asked in confusion.

"I've watched from the other side for almost a hundred years," she told him. "Saw this thing cause havoc again and again, kill again and again." She motioned to herself. "I'm the one that let it take a stronger hold here in the city." She took a deep breath. "And I want to be the one to end it."

"You want to take the magic from Scarlett?" he asked in disbelief and she nodded. "Why should I believe you?"

"I've turned, I can't use the magic," she reminded him. "And, besides," she sighed. "Once this thing takes over Scarlett, it's going to come for your daughter again." She blinked back tears. "And I know what it's like to have this thing take your child."

"We have to get Scarlett back here," Marcel was saying to Elijah now who nodded in agreement.

"Did Davina say where she went?" he was asking Klaus now who was looking at his phone.

"I don't believe it," Klaus said quietly.

"Do you really think this is going to work Scarlett?" Davina was trying to get her attention in the cemetery. Scarlett's plan was to try to use the magic again, to let it out and maybe it would release something, let her have more control.

"I have to try," Scarlett said, starting to murmur the spell.

"You tried this before," Davina reminded her of when she took out the Hollow's followers. "It helped for a few hours."

"Because I used it's magic for dark, like it would want," Scarlett reasoned, tuning Davina out now. She thought that if she used the powerful magic on her terms that it would help ease what she was going through.

"Scarlett," Davina said, shaking her head. She didn't like this. Witches weren't supposed to be able to practice magic like this. The Hollow was a rare example, but that didn't make it ok or right. It was too late though as the grave marker Scarlett was chanting in front of cracked open, revealing the grave within the wall. And the person that the grave belonged to was very much alive.

"Scarlett?!" Hayley asked in shock, scrambling to her feet. Scarlett began to pass out, Hayley and Davina both moving to catch her. "What the hell was that, does she have her magic back?" she was asking Davina.

"I can't explain right now, we just have to get her home," Davina said, calling for Kol to come help them. He wasn't too far away, not wanting to leave Davina completely alone while Scarlett was like this. He scooped his sister in law up and they all rushed back to their home.

"Hayley?" Klaus asked in complete shock when he saw her, verbalizing everyone's thoughts. He had seen Davina's message about what Scarlett intended to do, but he didn't really think she could do it. They got Freya there to do the spell again, this time taking the magic out of Scarlett.

"She was trying to push off some of the magic," Davina explained as Kol laid her on the couch. "We've got to get it out of her."

"I need some room," Freya told them, sitting on the edge of the couch while the others watched. Elijah nervously paced, watching his wife closely. Freya was able to pull the magic from her and she sat up gasping, watching the blue light jump right into her sister.

"Ni...Nicolette?" Scarlett asked her. She had a million feelings washing over her at once, though anger and fear were at the top of the list after everything her sister had done to her. "What are you doing?"

"Making things up to you," Nicolette told her, taking Freya's spot and then Scarlett's hand. "I was never a good sister, or mom," she said as she had been her three younger sisters' mother figure. "But you are," she assured her. "I...can't stay here," she said and Scarlett realized what she had done. She was too in shock to speak, watching her sister rush outside with Marcel to end things, destroying the Hollow forever.

"Is it over?" Kol finally broke the silence. No one really knew what to say. After a few weeks of hell it seemed to be that it was finally over. Not only that, they had Hayley and Davina back. Things were even better. Scarlett got up quickly, going over to hug her husband. He held her to him tight, squeezing her and kissing her head.

"I think it's over," Davina answered his question, taking his hand as they all looked around the room, smiles slowly creeping onto their faces. They had won. With a message from Freya that things were safe, Keelin brought the girls to the house.

"Mommy?" Aurora asked, somewhat tentatively since her mom had been so on edge.

"Oh, Rory," Scarlett said, rushing over to her and picking her up to hug her. "Mommy is so sorry." She kissed her cheek. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," Aurora said, hugging her mom back. This wasn't the only mother daughter reunion though.

"...mom?" Hope asked, recognizing her from pictures. Everyone seemed to freeze, watching the moment slowly. While Hope was in shock, Aurora seemed excited for her cousin who only ever talked about wanting her mom.

"Hope," Klaus said gently, taking her hand and bringing her over to where Hayley was. "This is your mom." He squeezed her hand as he let it go. "Your Aunt Scarlett got her back for us."

"Hi Hope," Hayley said as she knelt down to her, smiling though she felt like crying. "You," she blinked back tears. "Are so beautiful." Feeling as though she had always known her, Hope threw her arms around her mom to hug her tight.

Months later

"Where did you hear about this school from?" Scarlett asked Klaus on their drive through Virginia. She, Klaus, Elijah and Hayley were taking the girls to a special school for supernatural children like them. They didn't want the girls to be far away but they did want them to be able to go to school with friends their own age.

"A friend in Mystic Falls," he told her again as they parked, the girls getting out. It was open house day before school started and the girls took off towards the group of kids.

"As if we left many friends here," Elijah joked with him as he took his wife's hand.

"I can think of one Ms. Caroline Forbes," Hayley said slyly, smirking. With her return she had reconnected with her pack in the bayou as well as Jackson, happily co-parenting with Klaus.

"Ohhh," Scarlett teased now. "I see how it is." She let Elijah's hand go as he planned on grabbing the girls' bags from the car. Klaus went to help him but Scarlett stopped him. "I'm sorry I couldn't get her too," she told him seriously. Hayley wasn't the only person she intended to raise; she wanted to bring back Savannah too.

"I know," Klaus assured her with a soft smile. "It's ok." She nodded.

"She would want you to be happy," Scarlett promised him now and he nodded.

"She would want you to go through with having another baby too," he told her and she looked at him curiously. "Old house, vampire hearing," he told her. He had heard her and Elijah discussing growing their family now that things had settled; they had always wanted more but things had always gone wrong over the last few years.

"Ok," Scarlett laughed, waving him off as she went to see what Elijah was up to. She smiled as he put an arm around her, the two of them watching Aurora play with Hope and the other kids.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" she asked, looking up at him.

"I think she's finally coming out of her shell," he smiled, kissing her head. Aurora caught her parents' eye and waved at them. They smiled and waved back, Scarlett relaxing against Elijah.

Everything was how it should be.

Please please let me know what you thought of the ending! i'm going to keep working on "look after you" (for those of you who haven't read it's about klaus's adult daughter jade from mystic falls who ends up having hope and is on the most recent season of the originals) and after that's wrapped up i hope to get back to "twisted" (my TO/supernatural cross over)

please review!