Twenty

When Hope first came to the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted, she was feeling so much resentment and anger towards everyone. Why did they feel the need to send her away? Was it something she did? Was that it? It was her fault?

It was during such a day when her feelings were as conflicted and complicated as they came that she met one and only Caroline Forbes. With a brilliant, shining smile and a long, slick blond hair that fell down her shoulders gracefully and blue eyes that fell on her with a sense of familiarity in them, as if when the woman looked at Hope, she saw somebody else instead. "Alaric tells me you've gotten in an argument with Penelope." Her voice was soft and tender, motherly. They had told her she was Lizzie and Josie's mother. But it wasn't her beauty or the comforting way she spoke that stunned her speechless.

It was the fact that she had seen the woman before, had seen her every time she entered her dad's room in the portrait that hung proudly above the fireplace. She was the woman in the painting, the woman her father always stared at in an assistance, as if he expected the painting to start talking suddenly like one of those paintings in Harry Potter movies. But she never did. The painting stood still and silent for years, only her blue gaze serving to remind her dad of things Hope had no way of knowing.

Her father was a complicated man. She never quite knew what he was thinking. After a long while, Hope finally spoke, "You are the woman in my father's portrait."

The woman arched her eyebrows curiously at her, the corners of her mouth lifting up. "Oh, did he draw me again? That man. Honestly." She shook her head in a strangely affectionate way as she sat beside Hope. "I don't know if you already know who I am, but I am Caroline Forbes." She bit into her lip hard then, glancing at her somewhat bashfully. "Hope, I know you miss your dad awfully, any girl your age would when forced into a house with no father to speak of — I know I did when my father went away from our house — but getting in those senseless arguments and fights, that isn't the way to deal with this. There is another way."

Hope was thoughtful for a second before turning to Caroline, "I miss my dad." She fell into Caroline's arms, drops of tears falling on the woman's expensive looking dress.

Caroline patted her on the back in the reassurance. "I know you do, honey."

Hope sniffed, pulling apart from the woman. She lifted her head at the blonde and pleadingly, asked her, "Can you tell me about my dad?"

It was Caroline Forbes that was standing in front of her in a fancy, white one piece suit with her blond hair tied up elegantly as she turned towards Hope with a somewhat brilliant smile. "Hey there, little star." She began, "It seems to me you've been getting into lots of trouble lately. Want to talk to me about it? Maybe I know a way we can fix your little problem."

"Do you know a way I can deal with a somewhat villainous ex boyfriends?"

"Well, I do have a bit of experience on that front. Like, maybe not an ex boyfriend. More like, almost boyfriend someone who kept threatening all of my friends to complying to his wishes."

Hope arched her eyebrow. "Are you talking about my dad?"

"Who else would I be talking about? Stefan? Please." She chuckled. "You don't know the number of times I wished to deck your father because of his very much unneeded, villainous behavior. Actually, it's actually surprise I had not actually, tried to deck him. I really should have when I had the chance. Would've made me feel better about the whole liking Klaus thing."

Hope chuckled. "I missed you, Caroline."

"Come here." Hope fell into Caroline's arms and giggled quite happily at the contact. With her mother gone, Caroline was the only one close enough to be her mother. If Hope lost Caroline, she didn't quite know what she would've done. "I missed you, little star."

"What exactly do you mean that you are staying here?" Klaus asked his little brother, arching his eyebrow at him somewhat curiously.

"Exactly what you think it means." Kol was lounged over the small sofa in Klaus' room, looking quite bored indeed. "Caroline and I agreed that if we have any hope of finding Cassandra, it's better if I stay here instead of relying on her to notify me when my daughter finally does come here. It's Mystic Falls. Every supernatural comes here at least once in the century. Which means, there's a very high possibility that my daughter will come here sooner or later. I only have to wait for that to finally happen."

If she was even alive, Klaus added in his head. "And in the meantime you are going to do what, teach?"

"If it means I will finally have Cassandra back after centuries of throughout searching, then yes, I will gladly teach those kiddos what it truly means to be a vampire."

"Please don't." Klaus begged. "Caroline will skin you alive if you do. I would prefer to not have to loose another brother because of his idiocy." Klaus pushed the thought of Elijah away from his mind. It was far too early to fall into a depressive mood.

Kol merely shrugged ever so casually. "Please, I am not afraid of Caroline." Klaus arched his eyebrow at him. "That one time I fled the scene because Caroline was chasing after me like an angry bull doesn't count."

"You switched her shampoo with a hair dye."

"She should thank me, if anything. It's only thanks to me she found out how magnificent she looks with a pink hair."

Klaus rolled his eyes. "And you hid her entire wardrobe because?"

Kol glanced at his brother with a smirk. "I was bored." He said in a way that indicated he thought Klaus should have known the answer to that already.

"You are always bored."

Kol merely shrugged once again with a small shrug. "Tell me, brother, is Jeremy Gilbert still here?"

"Kol, don't you try to go seeking him out. Leave the poor boy alone. You almost tore his arm off last time you've talked."

"I've had a very good reason to explain why I felt the need to tear the wanker's arm off."

Klaus arched his eyebrow. "The reason being?"

"He pissed me off."

"That's not a very good reason." Klaus pointed out.

"It was good enough of a reason for you when you wiped off an entire coven of witches that one time."

Which time?

Never mind. It didn't matter. The point still stood true. "That's fair."

"So, where is he?"

Klaus sighed. "I suppose you might find him at Mystic Grill."

Kol jumped off the sofa with an excited grin. "Excellent." He said. "See you later, brother."

"Why exactly are you here?" Jeremy Gilbert asked, looking like he didn't know whether he wished to snap his neck like he probably imagined doing so many times throughout the years or like he wished to flee out of the door, which he really should know by now was completely useless. "What do you even want with me?"

"I am bored." Kol smirked. "Entertain me, Hunter. You've always been so fun to mess around with. I could see why Annabelle had liked you so much then. You are exactly the opposite of her usual type."

"Wait, you knew her?" Jeremy turned to him slowly, his mouth gaping open.

Kol rolled his eyes. "Of course I knew her. I did turn her, after all." Long, black hair falling against his fingers as he held her dying body tight, begging whatever gods there were to not let her to die just like that. Annabelle's soft fingers brushing against his face as those dark eyes pleaded with him, "Kol, do not turn me. Let me die in a peace." But he had always been a selfish boy and in the end he decided to go against her wishes, because in that moment, it didn't matter if he would loose her too as long as she lived to see the next day. Even if she hated him, he would rest peaceful at the knowledge that she still lived.

"Wait, are you saying that you almost tore my arm off because — because of Anna?"

"Can't we let bygones be bygones? I promise I will try not to tear your arm or any part of your human body this time." He asked, but really, he really didn't care either way. Messing with Jeremy Gilbert was always too much of a fun to pass by.

"No, we cannot. You almost tore my arm off!"

"And I apologized."

Jeremy glared at him in the disbelief. "No, you didn't!"

"I am sorry that I almost tore your arm off." He droned on. "Now, can we move on?"

"You are unbelievable."

Kol rolled his eyes rather dramatically. "I need your help." He said. "Where are they hiding Annabelle's body?"

Ethan

(13:06) Ethan

(13:11) Ethan, why aren't you answering me?

(13:14) Ethan.

(13:18) Did you know about Maya's secrets?

(13:20) Ethan, it wasn't my secret to share.

(13:21) She's my sister. One of you should have told me. But instead, I had to find out when my sister almost tore my head off in her wolf form during the full moon.

(13:23) You know that's not fair.

(13:25) Josie, I think I just need the time to process all of this. Yesterday, I haven't actually considered what all of this could mean, would mean in my life. Just give me some time, will you, please? I can't right now.

(13:27) Alright.

Josie rushed into Professor Vardemus' office, gulping hard, all the emotions she was feeling at the moment a little too much right now. "I need your help."

"Ryan." Hope began to speak, glaring at the looming figure approaching her. "What did you do to Josie?"

"Worry not, nothing too permanent. She would be fine soon enough." Ryan walked towards her with swift, quick steps, that smirk irritating her to no end. She should have figured he was Professor Vardemus in a disguise. There was something off about him. She had noticed that, but she never would've thought he could be Ryan. "You know, after you've left me in Malivore, I've had such a time to think things through, to remember why exactly I had come to the human world before you distracted me."

"Oh, do tell me, Ryan. Did it include world domination?"

Ryan rolled his eyes. "I am not a comic book villain, Hope."

"I don't know, Ryan, with how villainous you've been acting lately, you are starting to seem like one." She tried to move her hands to cast a spell when he latched something into her hands. "What is this?"

"Just a little something your sister helped me to create."

Hope stared at him in a hurt, in the disbelief. "Why?"

"As I was trying to tell you before you interrupted me with the whole world domination talk, I was watching you all along since I came back. I saw how easily you fell into my brother's arms and despite what I've told you before, it did piss me off. Tell me, Hope, was I so easy to replace?"

"Ryan, you can't come to me with all this talk after what you've done to me, to us."

Chuckling lightly, he moved to sit beside her on the bed, touching her arm softly. "Soon, we would be forever bound, you and I, as we were always meant to be."

Arching her eyebrow at him, feeling not very amused right now, Hope pointedly kicked him in the chest, making him fall over the bed to the ground. Falling to her feet, Hope turned on her heel and ran. "You can't escape me, Hope!" He chased after her, following her out of the school far too easily for her taste. Curse his long legs!

"Fuck you!"

He arched his eyebrows at her cheekily. "But you already did, remember?"

"Really, Ryan? You are going to play that way? How childish."

He scooped her up his arms, glaring. "Hope, do you really have to be so difficult when we can do this the easy way?" But even with him so close, Hope somehow knew, he wasn't going to hurt her. Not unless he was left with no other choice.

Suddenly, somebody pulled his arm back, eyes staring. "Hello, brother." It was Landon and even now, Hope felt an immense guilt at what she had done to him. "Hope." He greeted, nodding his head at them both. "Trouble in a paradise?"

It was not long after they had moved Ryan's body towards a small jail cell they usually kept their monsters of the week in that Hope really did approach Landon to explain, to apologize. "Landon."

"You really do have awful taste in guys, don't you?" Landon spoke cheekily with a slight smirk. "First Roman, then my brother."

"Well, to be exact, your brother came first." She chuckled somewhat bitterly, lifting head to look at him. "Are we okay, Landon?"

"Don't get me wrong. It sucked that you've tried to use me to get over my brother, twice, but yeah, we are fine." He rolled his feet somewhat awkwardly, his mouth pressed together. "But that's not why I am here, Hope. Rafael and I, we are leaving. You've heard what the spinx had said. This place isn't safe for me. So, we are leaving until it's safe for us once again. And I suppose this is a goodbye."

"Good luck, Landon."

Landon smiled. "You too, Hope." He said. "You too."