What The Hell, Universe!

by gleechild

Just when Hope thought she was free of Agent Clarke once and for all, the universe decided to mix things up a bit. Suddenly Hope is faced with a decision that could change all of their lives. What will she decide? HOLARKE. Spoilers through Season 2.

26. I Didn't Know You Cared

I own nothing but my own words.

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Chapter 26: I Didn't Know You Cared

---

Conjuring an enormous fireball, she unleashed it on the advancing giant of a roaring creature covered in fur the color of the snow it had clawed its way out of to get to her.

Watching the creature go up in flames, she decided it was time for lunch. Clarke had said with this new setup she could stop to have lunch whenever she wanted and then go back to fight.

She loved this place. They had only arrived yesterday, but she felt great about the next few weeks. Clarke's plan was better than she ever thought possible. Lizzie was right, letting him lead for once, trusting him, was a great idea.

"I'm starving!" she said, entering through the door that led directly into the kitchen.

"Good because lunch is ready," he said, indicating the stove. "Burgers."

"A mud man after my own heart," she teased, taking her coat off and heading straight for the stove.

"If I knew it was that easy…"

She rolled her eyes and brushed off his comment. "So, what was that?" She pulled out a roll and loaded it up.

"A yeti," he said. He sat down with his plate but waited for her to finish putting her meal together to start.

"You mean, like, an Abominable Snowman?" she asked, coming to join him. "So they do exist."

He laughed. "Yes, yes they do."

As he launched into a story about capturing a yeti with Triad, she listened attentively, enjoying having lunch with him.

Everything got misty, foggy, and she knew what he was saying only because she had lived it before. This was a memory of their second day in Wyoming. She had nearly forgotten that burger detail. No wonder he made them for her so often after that. Was it really his favorite food? She would have to ask him.

The dream changed suddenly and she was prowling through the snow, running as fast as her paws would carry her. The ground beneath her feet was visible only by the light of the full moon over head. At some point, she, the hunter, felt a change in the air, and she became the hunted.

With renewed effort, she raced through the snow capped mountain side, not knowing who or what was in pursuit of her, only knowing that if she stopped she was done for.

Spotting a break in the trees ahead, she dashed for it but came to a halt when she saw a snow covered clearing with a giant mound of a grave laid out in front of her. The gravestone shone tall and proud in the moonlight.

Feeling a presence near, she tensed, her fur standing on end.

Fenrir, child of Loki, appeared next to her, just as frightening in death and in her dreams as he was when she fought him in real life.

"The gods are pleased," he spoke to her in a low gravely growl.

She lowered her snout to the ground in acknowledgement.

"The littlest wolf won't be alone," he finished with a deep rumble.

Snarling, he disappeared into the dark as swiftly as he had arrived.

She knew better than to follow.

Turning away instead, she headed back towards the house, towards Ryan.

As she walked, she realized she wasn't in wolf form anymore and the snow was melting around her.

Onward she went, until she came upon a familiar sight.

Mystic Falls' town square at night. The clock tower read a minute to midnight.

She glanced around taking in the empty benches, the trees, and the phone booth Clarke must've called her from moments before his death.

Then she saw him, standing by the portal that was still open, preparing to jump. She saw the figure, hooded in red, advancing behind him with a sword.

She attempted to run, to call out a warning, anything to prevent what was about to happen, but the dream held her back. All she could do was watch what had transpired that night.

The Necromancer cut off his head and it fell into the pit, sealing the portal shut.

While she couldn't run, she could fall to her knees. Knowing, even in her dream, that this wasn't a premonition, it still scared her. It made her fear all the things that could've been.

Watching Ted and Chad take what was left of the fake body away, she knew… that wasn't the end. He was linked to her. That was the very night he found his way into her dreams, into her subconscious.

That night was the true beginning. Of everything.

Images flashed. The memories, the dreams… of dancing at her family's Christmas Ball, opening up to him about her father, worrying about him, his attempts to comfort her, his encouraging her to push the boundaries of her powers. Her realizing she cared about him as a friend. His showing up to rescue her. His being there every single day.

The memory of him promising to never leave her alone flashed through her mind—and then all the ways he kept that promise.

How he never kept his feelings for her hidden. How the only thing he had ever asked of her was that she gave him a chance. All he wanted was her and to experience what it felt like to be with her knowing she returned his feelings. He didn't even ask for forever, he only asked for right now.

Memories flashed still, of the time when he told her that she was his purpose. Of their first kiss and all the ways they had expressed their feelings for each other intimately since. With every touch, caress, and request for permission, he showed her how important she was to him.

She dreamt of the way his gaze alone could set her insides on fire, of how his touch could make her melt into his embrace, of how right his kiss felt. It was just like coming home. It always felt like coming home. Like he was home. Like he was her home.

And she never wanted to leave home again.

---

When she woke, she was feeling much better than she had the night before. She felt silly that she let something like that get to her. There was no reason for her to ever feel insecure with him. He had never given any reason to indicate he wasn't one hundred percent with her. Whatever happened in the past really didn't matter.

Glancing over, she saw he had decided to sleep with her again. She was glad. It gave her time to look him over without him staring back, something she had never been able to do before. He looked almost innocent in his sleep with his face relaxed, his long lashes brushing his cheeks. She smiled to herself knowing how untrue that was.

No one would ever accuse him of being innocent. He was purpose driven, paranoid, and gave as good as he got. He was about as far from patient, trusting, and kind as one could get—but only with everyone else. With her, he was perfection. He always took care of her and went patiently at her pace in all things intimate. While she may not be ready to go all the way, or take him in hand yet, she knew she was ready for more though. She wanted more.

And she wanted it now.

She slid closer to him and kissed him awake, enjoying the moment his eyes opened and he gave her a look of adoration to rival the one her uncle gave her aunt yesterday. That easy smile of his slid into place and he immediately returned her kiss.

Smiling into his kiss, she smoothly and deliberately moved her right leg over top of him, sliding until she shifted up and was straddling him across his lap.

He gently held onto her face, pulling her away from him.

"Only what you want," he reminded her.

"I want this. I want you," she said before she went back to kissing him as she slid her body up a bit further until she was pressed right against him. She had the thought that all of this, everything that they did together, she couldn't imagine ever doing it with anyone else.

Moaning into her kiss, he arched against her. He reached his hands down to her hips, breathing out a question against her mouth, a barely audible "May I?"

"Uh huh," she murmured back.

He slid his hands past her hips, down to grasp her behind, and pulled her more firmly against him. She moaned down into his mouth and rubbed herself against him.

He let her do that for as long as he could stand it, all the while stroking his fingers against her bottom with each movement. He had been worried about maintaining control once they went below the waist. This wasn't what he had in mind, but he was very okay with it even though the results were the same. That pesky control.

Eventually he had to move his hands back to her hips to hold her still.

"Ryan?" she asked, wondering why he was stopping.

"Time to get up," he said. He couldn't do this much longer, not with her like that. He was quickly losing control and he didn't know how she would feel about it.

"I am up."

He jerked up again with a push of his hips that had her gasping out her pleasure in surprise, but he flipped her over to her back and raised himself above her.

"Glad to see you're doing much better this morning. But save that for tonight," he kissed her. "Not now when your family might start looking for you and discover you're not where you belong."

Sighing, she knew he was right. It was already getting late. "Okay."

"I'm gonna shower," he pulled away and left her a little too quickly, not caring if she noticed. He had a problem that desperately needed to be taken care of.

---

Lizzie stared at the ceiling, contemplating her circumstances.

"One day closer," she announced loudly.

"Hmm. Huh?" came the answering reply from somewhere in vicinity of the floor at the foot of the bed.

MG struggled to wake up, Lizzie's voice dragging him unceremoniously out of his dreams.

"We're one day closer to the end," she said again.

"The end of what?" he asked, rolling onto his back on the floor, pillows propped up under his head, and stared at the ceiling too.

"My life," she said dramatically. "Less than five years now. Guess it's a good thing I don't have a five year plan! Oh wait, I do."

"Lizzie…"

"Graduate high school, travel all of Europe—not backpacking, mind you, I'm way too civilized for hostels. Go to college, experiment—because what else does one do in college but try new things?—have a stereotypical college boyfriend who I inevitably have to let go of because of way too much partying with his frat brothers. Eventually figuring out for sure what I want to do once I graduate, and—oh yeah, the best part? I graduate from college. Yay!" she said with false enthusiasm. "And then, well, by then I would have another plan in place. That's what Mom always says. No matter what's happening around you or inside you, find something you have control of and just focus on that. Focus until the pieces start to make sense again…. But now?...

"All of that planning was for nothing," she finished morosely.

"You can still have all of that," he said. "There's still time."

She scoffed. "But none of it will matter. What's the point of graduating high school or going to college when I'm just going to be shoved to the back of a merged being to exist for the rest of my days? Shouldn't I be off sky diving or something?"

"Do you want to sky dive?" he asked. "Because that could be cool."

"Not the point, MG," she said.

"Right, no sky diving," he agreed immediately. It was still a great idea.

"It's not just that though," she said. "How do I pack everything I've ever wanted to do with my life into the next five years?"

She laughed dryly. "I guess the whole having kids thing is out. To be real, I'm not even sure I ever wanted any, but I really hate having my choice taken away."

"I'm with you there," he said.

She paused at that, then realized. "I'm being selfish again, aren't I? Thinking only about myself. Darn, and I was trying really hard not to do that anymore."

"Hey," he rolled over and sat up so he could look over the foot of the bed at her. "You just found out some hard truths last night about your future. You're allowed to wallow."

She rose up on her elbows and looked down at him sharply. "Is that what you think I'm doing? Wallowing?"

He smiled with his teeth, knowing that look on her face. "You know what I think would be a great idea right now? Breakfast. Let's go and see what Hope is doing!" He immediately got up and went to find some clothes so he could shower.

She plopped back down on the bed, glaring at the ceiling. "I bet she's not wallowing."

---

"It could work, right?" Hope asked.

Freya considered as she cut up the sweet potatoes.

"The spell to remove The Hollow from you was for her power which included her consciousness so in theory, yes," Freya nodded. "It would probably be a stronger spell than needed for Malivore though."

"But if it works to get him out of Landon, who cares how strong it is, as long as it works, right?" Hope asked.

"You still have to answer that age old question of where to put him," Freya said, putting the potatoes into the boiling water. "You can't just put him back into the pit, not if it's become a hell dimension. That would be like trying to put him into the atmosphere on earth. It just won't work."

Hope rested her chin on her fist, at a loss for the moment.

She had followed Freya into the kitchen and left Ryan to his own devices. Namely, he was trying to figure out a way to get his hands on some artillery now that all of his weapons had been left to burn in Wyoming.

"And, I think the spell could use some changes too, just to make it more specific," Freya said.

"You'll help me with it?" Hope asked. She had been using her magic more and more without the help of a spell, but she knew how precise this needed to go. There could be no room for error.

"Of course," Freya said, prepping a glass dish for the potatoes.

"Thank you," Hope said. "Though this all hinges on whether we can actually find Malivore now that he's gotten so much stronger."

"Figure out the how first," Freya said, bringing the other ingredients needed for the sweet potato soufflé to sit next to the dish until the potatoes were ready to mash. "Then worry about the where."

Hope nodded just as she heard a commotion in the courtyard. "What is that?" She looked in that direction.

"More like, who," Freya said with a happy little smile. "I believe my sister has finally made her arrival."

Hope grinned and immediately took off.

"Aunt Bex!" she called out while running to the courtyard.

"Well, now there's a sight for these travel weary eyes," Rebekah said, sweeping her arms out for the speeding tribrid.

People were streaming throughout the courtyard. Clarke eyed them warily from the balcony.

Hope would've bowled her aunt over on contact, but the blonde was too strong for that.

"I've missed you too, my sweet. Now come along, I've brought presents!"

Hope finally noticed there were a few people carrying trunks and garment bags upstairs, presumably in the direction of Rebekah's room. "Really? All of that?"

"I know," Rebekah said with a sigh. "I wanted to buy more, but Marcel insisted I leave some for others. I don't understand why? I mean, my niece must be suffering something fierce for the latest fashions since we didn't get our annual summer trip this year."

"I was a little busy…" Hope said.

"Being erased from existence, I know," Rebekah tossed her hair back. "Time to remedy that."

Hope looked over and saw Lizzie who clearly wanted to speak up and was about to. "Lizzie, this is my Aunt Bex."

"An absolute pleasure," Lizzie said, coming immediately forward.

Rebekah looked her up and down. "My gosh, you are a tall one aren't you? Never you mind, I'm sure we'll find you something."

"I think this is my favorite one," Lizzie said as an aside to Hope.

"And you might be my favorite of Hope's friends," Rebekah said as she put an arm around Hope to lead her away and up to her rooms. "Course, you're the only one I've met so…" she shrugged.

"Now, tell me," the blonde continued. "Is that handsome fella over there," she nodded to indicate Clarke who had relaxed somewhat though he stared down from the balcony still, "the suitor you've brought home to meet the family?"

Lizzie practically snorted at that and Hope flushed. "That's… Ryan." She noticed he had asked each member of her family to call him Ryan and not Clarke, so she didn't think Rebekah would be any different.

"Oh, he is yummy," Rebekah said, looking back at him over Hope's shoulder.

Lizzie cracked up while Hope grabbed Rebekah's arm. "Aunt Rebekah!"

"He does look like he's preparing to attack though," she said. "What's got him so bloody worried?"

"Probably all these people walking through the house?" Hope said. "He's very suspicious of everyone."

"Oh, psh," Rebekah brushed off her words. "Just tell him they've been compelled. They won't remember any of this."

"Right," Hope nodded gladly. "So, where is Marcel?"

"Catching up with Kol," Rebekah said. "Or, rather, Davina. You know, I don't think he's ever approved of my brother for her. But Kol did change for the better with her. So I say, pish posh. Let love live!"

Hope shook her head. Same old Aunt Rebekah.

She was so glad to see her.

---

"Freya!" Rebekah called out when her sister entered her room. "About time you joined us girls."

Hope and Lizzie were each going through a trunk of clothing, sweeping out outfit after outfit to look over and hang on the racks that were placed throughout the room for that very reason.

"There's a lot of things to prepare for tomorrow," Freya said.

"Bugger that," Rebekah said, unzipping a garment bag. "Imagine traveling and cooking incessantly for this inane holiday. Pilgrims slaughtered the Indians. But there were plenty of other slaughters that were much more noteworthy—ones that I happen to be apart of. But is there a national holiday for any of those? No. Bloody waste of a celebration, if you ask me."

"Hence the reason we rarely celebrate this one," Hope said to Lizzie.

"Well," Freya cleared her throat. "I'm glad you could make it, sister dear." She sat on the edge of the bed, watching the girls enjoy themselves and pick out things to try on.

"Hope, I meant to ask, for the menu tomorrow, is there something specific Ryan would like?" Freya asked.

Hope laughed. "He'll eat anything and everything. Whatever you make, just be sure to have plenty of it."

"Quite the appetite then?" Rebekah said knowingly. "Must really enjoy the day."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure this is his first time celebrating Thanksgiving," Hope said.

"Oh, Freya," Rebekah said with a smirk. "Perhaps you still have baby's first Thanksgiving bib somewhere?"

Lizzie snickered. "Have I mentioned I like her?" she said to Hope.

"So, is that the only place his appetite lies," Rebekah asked slyly.

Hope knew her face turned beet-red. "Oh my God, Aunt Rebekah!"

"That's still up for debate," Lizzie interjected.

Hope smacked her arm.

"Judging by where you've been spending your nights, I'd like to know the answer to that question as well," Freya said pointedly.

Hope froze. "I-I-I…"

"Freya, I think we've teased the girl enough," Rebekah said as an aside to her sister.

"I'm sorry?" Hope said apologetically, swallowing past the panic.

Freya nodded. "You're eighteen. A woman in your own right. You make your own decisions now, which you've really been doing for a few years anyway. I still see you as my high school aged niece. Just be careful."

Hope nodded in return, knowing there wasn't anything to be careful about. Ryan would never hurt her.

"So does this mean my little niece isn't so innocent anymore or not?" Rebekah asked, disgruntled.

"Oh, she definitely still is," Lizzie said, smirking.

Hope busied herself with the dresses once again. Why was her sex life, or lack thereof, the topic up for discussion? She racked her brain for another topic but was too flustered to think of one.

Lizzie glanced at her phone, feeling the buzz of an incoming message. "Crap. There's been another murder."

"A witch?" Hope asked.

"Yeah," Lizzie said. "Dad said it happened last night. Same M-O. Tortured before killed."

"I hope this wasn't because Malivore can't find me and Ryan," Hope said, suddenly worried.

"Well, if it was, he still can't find you two for now," Freya said. "And remember, he killed witches even when he could find you. I don't think the two are related."

"Maybe we shouldn't be here," Hope said. "Maybe we should be making our way back to Mystic Falls."

"Not when you don't have a plan," Freya said. "There's no use trying to fight him without a plan. You all could be killed."

"Right," Hope said, worrying her bottom lip.

"Besides, I'm not too anxious to get back to fighting all those monsters yet," Lizzie said, shuddering.

"Aw, you just really need to tear into them," Rebekah said. "I could do with ripping things apart, especially if they intend to hurt my niece. I believe your Ryan has the right of it."

"How so?" Hope asked.

"You know," Rebekah said. "Tearing those bodies apart in Nebraska. Bloody mess but bloody poetic if you ask me."

Hope looked down, finally understanding. When Ryan went back to take care of those demon bodies, he must've taken out all of his rage on them. She hadn't gotten her own rage out until a day later. But, she had done it much the same way—in killing and slaughtering countless monsters.

"Hope," Freya asked, noticing her niece's look of surprise before she grew quiet. "Didn't you know what he did?"

Hope shrugged, still looking down as she straightened the hem of a top hanging up. "I would've done the same thing. I'd have rather they be alive for it though."

"You don't say?" Rebekah was impressed. "I never knew my niece to be so bloodthirsty."

"They deserved it," Hope said firmly. "Besides, I've killed over a hundred more since then. Some who didn't deserve it. Those did. It's just what I've had to do."

"It's been a rough semester," Lizzie excused her to her aunts.

Freya sighed, resigned to the knowledge that Hope took after the rest of the family more than she realized.

Rebekah clapped her hands. "Enough of this gloom and doom! How about we take your friends out on the town for lunch? Have any of them experienced New Orleans? Lizzie?"

"I haven't," Lizzie said, perking up.

"What about Ryan, Hope?" she asked.

"He hasn't. Not with me anyway," she said, wondering if now was a good time for that.

"I really need to work on everything for tomorrow," Freya said pointedly.

"Then you stay here," Rebekah replied. "Marcel and I will take the kids out."

"I'll get Ryan then," Hope said, reluctantly.

"I'll get MG!" Lizzie said.

Hope really hoped this was a good idea.

---

Rebekah watched over them as they walked through the French Quarter, pleased as the girls seemed to be enjoying themselves.

She hadn't liked seeing her niece the way she was earlier despite her smile, looking like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. She was much too young to be worrying about such things. She may be eighteen, but she was still a child. She should be out having fun with her girlfriends and dating the cutest boy at school. Much like Rebekah wished she had been able to do as a girl but couldn't. Much like Rebekah hoped a child of hers and Marcel's would be able to do years from now when they could finally take the cure and grow old together.

Rebekah was glad she could give that to her niece, if only for a few hours. Admittedly, this boy was far from an actual boy and had probably never set foot in a school room, but he made Hope happy.

She could see it as Hope grasped his hand and led him off to watch the various artists lining the street, creating colorful works of art on a simple canvas.

Rebekah walked over to one of the better ones and whispered a request before pressing a wad of cash into his palm. The artist in question immediately began drawing, looking up at the couple across the way. She gave him the compound's address to have the painting delivered later.

"Oooh," Lizzie said, going to look at a jewelry stall along the walk. "Wouldn't these look so good on me?" She held up a pair of earrings for MG to comment on.

"Yep," MG nodded, before looking back at the vampires he noticed earlier, some staring at them curiously. "You know, there are a lot more vampires out here than I would've thought."

"How can you tell?" she asked, putting the earrings down and moving on to look through the necklaces.

"Daylight rings," he said. "Hey, Marcel!"

Marcel, who had been looking on the other side of the stall for something that might interest his wife, glanced over. "Yes?"

"Why are there so many vampires around?" MG asked. "And why do I feel like they're watching us?"

"This is New Orleans," Marcel replied. "The French Quarter is home to all three factions—witches, werewolves, and vampires. They always keep an eye on the happenings. Don't mind them. You're with me. They know you're no threat."

Marcel gave the vampires in question a short nod, knowing they had heard their conversation.

"If you want, I can introduce you to them later," Marcel said. "They host some of the best parties, especially for young vampires to, you know, get a taste of New Orleans."

"Uh…" MG was suddenly unsure of what he was being offered.

"Not gonna happen," Lizzie said, butting into the conversation and shutting it down. "MG here is a ripper. You probably don't want to unleash that on your precious city."

"Ah, I see," Marcel nodded. "Yeah, that probably wouldn't go over so well with the locals."

MG sheepishly looked away, taking in the other vendors.

"No wonder Freya has a vat of cow blood in the fridge," Marcel said. "I did wonder if she was trying to reform us."

"Nope," Lizzie shook her head. "But then, all the vampires at school eat that or bunny blood or whatever. It's nothing new for them."

"Huh," Marcel said. "So what happens when you're around actual human blood?"

"Don't ask," MG said.

"We're working on that," Lizzie said. "He'll learn to control himself…eventually."

"I see," Marcel looked back and forth between the two. "You two make a cute couple. Reminds me of Rebekah and myself a long time ago."

"That's not—" MG started.

"We're not a couple," Lizzie said firmly.

"That's right," MG nodded. "Just friends."

"Right," Marcel laughed to himself.

Lizzie rolled her eyes at his apparent lack of belief in her words and wandered away to look at the other craft stalls.

MG shrugged and went to follow her, but Marcel stopped him.

"Yes?" MG looked up.

Marcel nodded down at the table, "Get the earrings."

"Uh," MG looked down at the ones Lizzie had been holding. "Why?"

"Because she wanted them, MG," Marcel said. "She wouldn't have asked if you liked them if she didn't. Get them. Trust me."

"Um, but…" MG wasn't really talking to his mother though she kept paying for his school. She didn't, however, give him much of an allowance anymore and he didn't have a job. So, no, he didn't have any money and he couldn't buy the earrings. He didn't really want to explain that to Marcel though. The guy seemed cool.

Marcel understood immediately and smiled before looking up at the vendor. "We'll take the earrings and that necklace with the rose over there," he nodded to where he was standing before MG called him over. "Wrap them separately," he said, paying for both items.

"You don't—" MG tried to stop him.

"Yes, I do," Marcel said, handing off the smaller package to him. "You've got a long road ahead with that one. But if you want her, don't give up. Eventually she'll come around."

MG nodded, but he wasn't so sure that would ever happen.

Despite constant thoughts of the impending fight weighing on her mind, Hope was having a good time. Her aunt had wasted no time in gathering everyone together to head out into the city.

When Ryan had taken her hand as they left the compound, she melted a little as she realized this was the first time they had made a connection of any sort in front of anyone else. He had probably did it to keep her close since they would be surrounded by so many people; but, to her, it was more of a declaration to anyone that saw them—including her family—that they were together.

And she didn't mind it one bit.

Wandering the endless stalls along the street, she was immediately drawn to the art work. The boundless melting pot of culture was on display as it had been the countless times she had visited the city before. Growing up, she had spent her time away from school here with her mother and aunt. It was only after her parents passed away that she spent less time in the city. She still stayed with Aunt Freya on most of her school breaks, but it just wasn't the same.

Now, though, she felt like she was seeing it all with new eyes as she showed Ryan some of her favorite things about the city.

"I can't believe you've never been here before," Hope said. "I'd have thought you'd been everywhere by now."

"I always hunted those who weren't the protected species, remember?" he said. "And this city was overrun by them."

"Very true," she laughed. "There's been peace here for some time, but it definitely hasn't always been that way."

"Judging by how everyone keeps regarding our group, I'd say the Mikaelsons disrupted the peace here quite a bit," he said.

"True," she agreed. "But my family is on their best behavior. They'll stop eyeing them once they realize that." Fortunately, it was only Rebekah and Marcel with them as Kol and Davina had gone to visit Josh' grave. She knew Aunt Davina always visited his grave when she was in town.

Except they weren't eyeing her family members as much as they were eyeing her, Clarke thought. He didn't like it, but at least there wasn't anything threatening about the looks. These people were curious, as if they knew who she was but wanted to know something more. What? He didn't know.

"Ryan, my dear," Rebekah said, coming up and wrapping an arm around Hope's shoulders. "We're all heading towards Bourbon Street. Go on and catch up with them. I'm stealing my niece away for a moment."

Clarke didn't want to go on ahead though. He wanted to stay right there with her. Caution aside, he actually did enjoy holding her hand for all the world to see. He had practically forgotten they weren't exploring alone, content as he was to spend time with her.

"Go on now," Rebekah shooed him away. "I was this darling girl's first ever protector. No harm shall befall her in the time you spend apart." Hope giggled at her aunt's amused sarcasm, leaning against her and the arm wrapped around her.

"Also, a tribrid," Hope pointed out.

Clarke nodded, tight lipped, as the women walked off together.

He went to follow after the rest of the group, with them, but not really joining them, and kept looking back over his shoulder at Hope.

"Relax," Marcel said with an easy smile, falling back from the other two and putting a tight arm around Clarke's shoulders as they walked to keep him at his pace and focused on the conversation, not Hope and Rebekah. "Ryan, right?"

Clarke nodded, feeling a bit wary as most people didn't approach him like that. The ones who did weren't usually looking to be friendly. But this was essentially Hope's brother, as she said, so he would take it with only mild annoyance.

"You haven't said much, but we have heard a lot about you," Marcel said, giving his shoulder a friendly double pat before pulling away. "The siblings, they talk. Just because we don't see Hope that often, doesn't mean we don't talk to her or about her."

"No one's tried to take my head off, so I guess what you've heard isn't all bad," Clarke said.

Marcel let out a laugh. "Oh, if any of it were bad, you'd be strung up in the dungeons beneath the compound right now wishing you'd never heard the name Mikaelson."

Realizing that easy smile of Marcel's didn't mean he was easy going, Clarke wondered if they knew about his first meetings with Hope. That wasn't something Hope had mentioned to Freya when they were playing catch-up the other night, so they couldn't possibly know what he tried to do to her before he became friends with her. Evidently they must not, as he was still allowed to walk about New Orleans and breath the same air as her.

"She likes you," Marcel continued. "A lot. We all can tell. And you like her, we're not blind."

"You'd be correct."

"So, this might not need to be said, but I'll say it anyway," the vampire said. "If you ever hurt her, I'll be glad that you can't die, because that'll mean I'll get to rip you apart over and over again," he said gleefully. "And then again however many times I feel so inclined."

"That won't be necessary," Clarke said, understanding this was the part where the 'big brother' warned that if he hurt his sister, he would hurt him in return.

"I didn't think so," Marcel said with that smile again. "Thanks for looking after her. She's powerful, but she still needs help sometimes whether she'd admit it or not."

"Thanks also isn't necessary," Clarke replied.

"But it's being freely given," Marcel said. "So take it…

"That's the place," Marcel called out to the two in front of them, pointing across and down the street. "Bourbon House. I hope you guys like seafood. That's what it's known for. You'll love it."

Marcel and Clarke followed them, with Clarke only looking back once to make sure Hope and Rebekah were still near. They were.

"So!" Rebekah said, linking her arm with her niece's. "Is he the one?"

"The one?" Hope asked, eyes lit up and laughing. "It's a little too soon to determine that, isn't it?"

"I don't know," her aunt said. "You tell me."

"I mean, I thought before that someone was…but I think everything was just so new… and I pushed too much for him to be the one," Hope said thoughtfully. "But obviously I was wrong. I mean, how could I wind up having feelings for Ryan if the other one was the one, right?"

Rebekah considered her words. "You know, I love love. It's gotten me into a fair bit of trouble through the years though, I'll give it that. But to find someone who looks at you as if you're the only person in the world, and to feel the same towards them? It's one of the greatest gifts of all, the capacity to love."

"That's kind of really beautiful," Hope said, smiling softly.

"In fact, the worst part for me about falling in love with someone was seeking my family's approval. My brother, Nik, never cared for any of my suitors."

"Do you think he would've liked Ryan?" Hope asked.

Rebekah smiled on the inside, the question revealed a lot more than Hope might think it had.

"I've heard his story thus far. He's very resilient," Rebekah said. "And very much like your father in seeking approval from his father while experiencing his rejection."

Rebekah stopped for a moment and turned to her.

"To answer your question, I think Nik would want you to be happy. If that boy makes you happy, then yes, he would approve," she answered firmly.

"Thank you," Hope said, glad to get an opinion from someone who had known her father long enough to know his thoughts on the matter.

"He clearly adores you," Rebekah said as they resumed walking.

"He does," Hope nodded. There wasn't any reason to deny it. The look of adoration on his face that morning had screamed it loudly enough to her.

"So, how do you feel about him? I mean, really?"

"I don't know…" Hope trailed off, staring at him talking to Marcel in the distance. "I think that…maybe, one day… I could love him."

"What's holding you back? Is he the one or not?"

"Aunt Bex," Hope eyed her. "You and I both know that just being in a relationship with someone doesn't mean you'll be together forever." Hope had only just realized that, but she was certain it was true.

"You're right, of course," Rebekah sighed deeply. "I certainly had to kiss a lot of toads before my prince was revealed."

"Speaking of kissing toads, did Freya tell you this story..."

---

"So, all the wolves here are triggered?" Ethan asked.

He was visiting the Salvatore school once again, hanging out with Jed. After learning how his curse was triggered, he was leaning even more towards switching schools.

"Yeah," Jed nodded. "An un-triggered wolf doesn't have powers yet, so it would be more dangerous for them coming here."

Ethan understood that. And it was oddly comforting knowing that he wasn't the only one there who had killed someone. Though, he guessed it depended on how it happened.

"How did you do it? Trigger your curse?" Ethan asked.

Jed didn't want to answer that. "It's kind of personal."

"Oh," Ethan said shortly. He was disappointed. Not that he needed to know how Jed triggered his curse, but he thought since he was one of his best friends he would tell him. It wasn't like Ethan knew the true story behind his own curse.

Jed stopped walking and looked away. "Look, I used to be alpha here. I became alpha on purpose so I could insist all new wolves told their story to the pack. The best part was, I didn't have to tell mine. I don't like to tell it."

"Was it that bad?"

"Doctor Saltzman won't allow any wolf at the school who killed in cold blood," Jed said. "Most of us killed someone by accident. Me included."

"If it was an accident, then it must not've been that bad," Ethan reassured him.

Jed coughed and looked around. "I was kind of young when I triggered mine."

"How young?"

"Middle school," Jed said. "I was a dick. Still am sometimes. My parents were never home, raised by my grandmother, and I acted out a lot. I tripped a kid who pissed me off—I don't even remember why. He fell, hit his head, and yep. That did it."

"Did you know you were a wolf?" Ethan asked.

"No, but my parents did," Jed said. "My father came home early from his business trip. First time ever. He was pissed. He told me he had the gene but never triggered his curse, and then he told me to pack a bag. Brought me to the Salvatore school where I learned everything I needed to know."

"Do you still see your family?"

"Summer break and some holidays," Jed shrugged. "If they're free. I'm not going home for Thanksgiving this year. But I think there's a Christmas party for Mom's business partners that she wants to drag me to. She'll make me dress up to show me off, act like the proud mother. That sort of thing."

"That really sucks," Ethan said.

Jed shrugged. "I'm used to it…

"Oh look," Jed said, glad to see someone else so he could change the topic. "Here comes Alyssa now."

"That girl you like?" Ethan asked. "She's not alone."

"Of course she isn't," Jed nearly growled. Kaleb just had to keep butting his way in.

"Jed, who's your new friend?" Alyssa gave Ethan a once over before dismissing him completely.

"Ethan, this is Alyssa and Kaleb, witch and vampire," Jed introduced.

Ethan nodded at them, "Wolf." He guessed that was how he was supposed to introduce himself.

"I was just inviting Alyssa here to join me for a ride," Kaleb said with a pointed look at Jed.

"Too bad," Jed said to Alyssa. "I was hoping we could hang out later. I could tell you all about fighting Hercules."

Kaleb snorted and Ethan's mouth dropped open.

"Wait, you fought Hercules?" Ethan asked.

"More like he walked into his fist and was nearly flattened like a pancake," Kaleb said.

"You didn't fight him at all, just stood there," Jed argued.

"I was trying to stop the hydra from biting any of us," Kaleb shook his head.

"Hydra?" Ethan asked.

---

"Josie, everything looks great," Jade said. "You really need to calm down."

Josie ran to Lizzie's side of the room to straighten everything. "It has to be perfect!"

"Jos, chill," Jade insisted.

If only it were that easy, Josie thought.

"My Mom'll be here really soon and I just want everything to be perfect for her," Josie insisted.

"Why?" Jade asked. "Caroline knows you, it's not like you have to impress her. I haven't seen the woman in years, but she couldn't have changed so much that she'd be worried Lizzie's books weren't sitting straight on her desk."

Josie sat down on Lizzie's bed with a huff. "I know. I just haven't seen her in months. I opted to stay in Mystic Falls this summer instead of going to see her. And she hasn't been home in nearly two years."

She turned to look sharply at Jade. "Do you think she'll stay now?" She laughed to herself. "Of course she'll stay. I mean, why wouldn't she? We know about the merge now, know there's no way around it. She'll have to stay…

"Can you see if she's here yet?"

Jade sighed. She had taken up residence by the window facing the front of the school to watch Josie's crazy movements so she was the designated 'window-looker-outer'. She looked outside again. "Nope, still not here."

"Argh," Josie laid back.

"So, what did you find out about the merge?" Jade asked, deciding to change the subject. "Why is there no way around it?"

"The Gemini twins protect the world," Josie said. "If we don't merge, things will get really bad."

"But without your magic, will you still be able to merge?"

"I don't know," Josie shrugged. "I guess I'll have to take it back to do that part. Though, by then five years will have passed and she'll probably be much stronger than me. I guess she'll be absorbing me then. Remember this face; it might not be around after that."

"That's pretty bleak," Jade said.

"That's life," Josie sighed. "Maybe I'll get lucky and have at least one great love before that happens. Not like I've had much luck in that department lately."

"Here, here," Jade agreed.

"Maybe we should make one of those pacts?" Josie said. "You know, a few years from now if neither of us have found a great love, just get together for the final years I have left?" she finished hopefully. Jade hadn't shown any interest towards her at all, so this request was probably a shot in the dark, but she had to say something.

Jade shook her head and laughed. "I hope you never get that desperate."

Josie looked at her and sat up. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, look at me," Jade said, shaking her head. "I was your uncle's play thing for ten years. With my humanity turned off I did things I never would've done otherwise, but it doesn't change that fact. You'd have to be really desperate to want to be with me."

"But I knew you first," Josie insisted. She hated knowing about Jade and Kai, but it didn't disgust her, not enough to completely disregard her. "Besides, that wasn't you. That was the monster."

"I didn't think you'd be interested," Jade said, regarding her curiously. "How could you possibly want me knowing all that? It's gross. I'm gross."

"I don't think you're gross," Josie said. "You're not who you were without your humanity. You're just you now. That's who I want to get to know anyway."

"Really?" Jade was very surprised. Not many people would feel the same way as Josie.

"I like you, Jade," Josie said. "I really do."

"Well, I like you too," Jade replied with a small smile.

Josie smiled back until there were sudden sounds outside and in the hallway.

Frowning at the window, Josie said, "Is she here finally?"

Jade looked out the window and squinted. "I know that's not her. I'm not sure who that is though, but…"

Josie came over to join her and looked out, feeling sudden dread. "That's Landon…or, rather, Malivore, and he's not alone."

Just then the alarms from the wards went off.

They stared at each other in shock.

The school was under attack.

Thank goodness most of the students were gone for the holiday.

"You need to stay up here and hide," Jade said. "I'll go see what I can do to help."

"Wait, hide?" Josie asked, confused, even as Jade ran to the door and flung it open.

Jade jumped back when an animal-like creature with a big mouth and pointy antler things swiped an open claw at her. "That was fast!"

Josie held up a hand to freeze the creature but realized belatedly why Jade had told her to hide. She didn't have her magic. Crap!

Jade rushed at the creature, hissing as she clawed back at it with her sharp nails.

Looking around her room, Josie saw where she put the piggy bank and immediately ran for it. The school was under attack by monsters from the pit. She needed her magic. There wasn't any other option.

Smashing the piggy bank against the wall, she found the large coin and immediately willed her magic back. It flowed into her like it was grateful to return to its home.

Turning, she grabbed a trinket from a shelf to siphon and cast a spell on the creature, "Immobilus!" The creature froze in its track, but seemed to be fighting through it.

"Good thing you did that," Jade said. "It kept pushing me out of the way instead of fighting. I think it was trying to get to you."

Josie ran to the window to look out again. "He's still out there, just standing there. That's Malivore for you. Send the monsters in to do the dirty work."

Glaring down, she placed her hand on the wall to siphon more magic as she cast another spell, the first spell she had ever cast on Landon for Rafael, and Malivore was suddenly being dragged across the front yard by an invisible force at his feet.

"What are you doing?"

"He thinks he can stand on the sidelines for this one, he's got another think coming," Josie glared.

"Let's go then!" Jade tugged her along. "They're going to need our help downstairs."

Jed and Kaleb were in the middle of arguing over Alyssa who was admiring her nails while enjoying all the fuss being made over her. Ethan was wondering if he should just walk the school by himself since Jed seemed occupied.

All four of them were completely caught off guard when alarms started going off.

"What is that?" Ethan asked.

"Probably another monster," Alyssa yawned.

Jed and Kaleb immediately went to look over the balcony into the main hall when they heard the screams of other students.

"More like monsters, plural," Kaleb said.

"What do we do?" Ethan asked, joining them and eyes going wide at the sight below.

"There's Doctor S, now," Kaleb saw their headmaster run into the main hall and immediately yell for all the students to get back and follow him. "He's going to get the others to the tunnels probably. We gotta give them time to get away."

Jed nodded. "Let's go. E, get downstairs and follow the headmaster." Ethan hadn't been trained in any sort of combat whatsoever and wasn't used to his powers, he needed to run with the rest of them.

Kaleb vamp sped down the stairs and knocked a creature with one eye and resembled an old skinny woman away from grasping onto another student. There was a misty essence emitting from her, almost like she was trying to latch her spirit onto someone.

"Don't let her touch you!" he called out to whoever was listening.

Jed jumped down from the balcony and landed at a crouch in time to stop a large feline of a creature from getting to the students. It rammed into him with its head hard enough for Jed to wobble, but he was instantly back into the fight, jumping to pounce on the creature and pin it to the floor.

"It's a splintercat!" Alaric called out from the doorway where he was motioning for the students to run. "The head is its weakness!"

Jed began punching it, noting that the creature started fading fast after that.

"Jed, watch out!" He was suddenly pulled back from the cat by something latching around his feet. He had no time to heed Ethan's warning.

Kaleb didn't know how to fight the spirit lady thing, but he did know how to fight the giant creature with the body of a snake and head of a woman that was now attacking Jed. He ran over and tried to use his strength to unwind the snake tail from Jed's legs. "She's a strong one!"

"You think?" Jed said. He kept trying to sit up and grab the snake, but it would wiggle and he would be slammed into the floor again and again.

Kaleb was suddenly pinned to the floor by the snake's upper body, her head hissing out a tongue that nightmares were made of. "Damn."

"Not cool," Alyssa said, seeing the she-snake below trying to hurt her men. "Morator!"

The snake suddenly began to move in slow motion, slow enough so Kaleb could get out from under her and Jed could finally sit up and unwind the tail from his feet.

Unfortunately, there were other creatures and they were advancing up the stairs.

"At least they aren't going after the students," Jed said.

"But where are they going?" Kaleb said.

The front doors suddenly slammed open and a new body came flying across the room, being dragged into the center.

"Is that—" Jed started.

The boys jumped back as Malivore, in the form of Landon, came to a sudden stop lying prone on the floor.

"What the?" Kaleb asked.

"Expello!"

The boys looked up to see the creatures that had been climbing the stairs fall back down like a sonic boom.

"Josie?" Ethan asked, unable to believe his eyes. He knew she knew all about the Salvatore school, but he figured that was because her father was headmaster. No one had ever said she had any powers.

"Did you really have to bring that in here?" Alyssa asked, looking down her nose at Josie. "Isn't it bad enough he's sending his pathetic creatures in after us?"

"Someone has to do some thing, right?" Josie glared before walking up to peer over the railing down at Malivore. "Don't like having the tables turned, do you, Malivore?"

"We're all just going to forget about it anyway," Alyssa said. "Why incite the beast?"

"No, we won't," Rafael said coming to join them. "Sorry I'm late. Had to get Wade out from under his desk."

Wade was very reluctantly standing there with his video camera, clutching it tightly. "I'm never going to be comfortable with any of this."

"Oh, look," Alyssa said, looking down over the balcony. "I was right. He's opening more portals. Good luck with that."

Grumbling, Josie shot her magic up to the chandelier and made it fall.

"No!" Rafael cried out, reaching as if he could stop it before it landed right on top of Malivore, killing him instantly.

"Relax," Josie said with an eye roll. "He's a phoenix, he'll be back. I just made the monsters stop rising so we can deal with it."

"Uh, no, you didn't," Kaleb called out, him and Jed backing further away. "They're still rising up!"

"Darn it," Josie mumbled.

As the team watched, more creatures rose to join the ones recovering from Josie's knocking them out.

"This is not good," Jade mumbled. "Not good."

Josie started sending out fireballs at them. "Alyssa, help me!"

"Fine," Alyssa said, glancing heavenward before she complied.

Jade raced downstairs to help with the fighting while Rafael had to stop Wade from running away. "Wade, we need you. We can't afford to forget what happened."

"I'll just prop up the camera over here," the fairy said, backing further away.

"Come on, man," Rafael said frustrated. "I need to fight. They need my help."

"Well, help them up here," Wade said. "Because they're here now."

Rafael looked over and saw that despite the witches attacking the monsters, some had still managed to get upstairs.

"Uh, guys," Ethan said, backing away toward Rafael. "I'm beginning to rethink my application."

"Don't," Rafael said, readying to fight. "This is the best school for wolves like us. Trust me." He ran forward and began to fight, getting off a few punches before he was knocked off his feet. He came back up swinging, but there were too many of them. If he wanted to keep the monsters off of the girls, and protect Wade, he was going to need help.

"Ethan, right?" Rafael said, backing off to take a breather. "Want to lend me a little help here?"

"Uh, sure?" Ethan wasn't really sure of what he was supposed to do against creatures like these, but he did well in wrestling, so maybe he could utilize that?

As they both approached the creatures again, it became obvious that this wasn't going to be easy.

"Why do they keep coming at me?" Ethan asked when it seemed they were all converging on him instead of Rafael.

"I don't know," Rafael said right before he was pinned, a claw wrapped around his neck, and he couldn't breathe. He tried to call out.

Ethan suddenly had five creatures coming at him at once and nowhere to go.

Wade, seeing that Rafael was in trouble, closed his eyes, gripped his camera tightly, and then he did the only other thing he knew to do in a fight. He spread his wings and shot fairy dust at the creature holding on to Raf.

The creature immediately froze and began floating up to the ceiling, completely immobilized.

"What was that?" Rafael asked when he could finally breathe again.

There was an answering growl and Rafael looked over to Ethan only to see that Ethan was no longer Ethan, so much as a wolf.

The wolf jumped at the creatures, causing them all to fall back as he bit into the neck of one of them.

"Wolf!" Wade hollered, running toward the girls, deciding that behind them was the safest place he could be.

A burst of flames down below indicated the phoenix was about to rise again.

"Josie!" Kaleb hollered up, punching a creature in the gut before grabbing its head and swiftly breaking its neck. "You better have a plan!"

A single giant pit suddenly opened up and a creature larger than all the rest flew up out of it.

"Oh my God," Jade squeaked from her fighting spot.

"Is that a dragon?" Jed asked, stupefied.

"Everyone!" Josie screamed out. "Run!"

---

After lunch, Rebekah and Marcel led everyone to Jackson Square where street performers took to entertaining in front of the St. Louis Cathedral. The whole area was alive with music. MG even took to showing off some of his dance moves, bringing Lizzie along to dance with him though she didn't do much more than watch him and smile the entire time.

Hope knew the day would eventually have to end, but she was grateful to her aunt for stealing them all away for a bit of fun before they had to get down to the business of destroying Malivore.

Little did she know, Malivore would be rearing his head sooner than they hoped.

Upon arriving back to the compound, Lizzie pulled her phone out of her pocket and paled. "The Salvatore school was attacked."

"Oh my God," Hope immediately went to her. "Was anyone hurt?"

"Josie says a couple teachers were killed," Lizzie looked up, eyes wide. "Josie has her magic back. She says she and the super squad fought off the monsters and Malivore while dad got the other students out of the school through the tunnels, but then Malivore sent a dragon after them and they all had to run. That's when the teachers got hurt trying to help the students still in the school."

"And she remembered all that?" Hope asked.

"No," Lizzie said. "Wade recorded a lot of it. They forgot about the dragon so that means it at least has gone back into the pit."

"This is so bad," Hope looked down, feeling terrible for everyone. "Why did he attack them? I don't get it. If he wanted to know where I was, he definitely wasn't going to find out by sending monsters to kill everyone at school."

"She doesn't know," Lizzie looked back down at her phone. "She says Dad wants to have a meeting with us. Virtually."

"I'll have Freya set up that infernal video chat program," Rebekah said, listening attentively to them.

"Maybe if we pool our info, we'll figure out what he's up to and can make a game plan?" Hope said, looking up at Ryan inquisitively.

"It couldn't hurt," he said.

---

Freya set up the large screen for the video chat, programming it to connect to the application.

Josie appeared on the screen suddenly and she could see Freya through the video too.

"Josie, is it?" Freya said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, hi…" Josie trailed off sheepishly. "Sorry I knocked you out."

"Its okay, considering you did the right thing in the end," Freya said with a hint of a smile.

"So tell us what happened," Hope said. She was surrounded by Ryan, Lizzie, MG, and Aunt Freya. The rest of the family were around, but they didn't need to see what was happening or be in the room to hear what was happening.

Josie sighed as her dad and Rafael joined her. "I was waiting for Mom to arrive—she's okay by the way, she missed the attack but she's with the other kids now, keeping them calm—and that's when Malivore showed up. There was no warning and suddenly there was a monster in my room—I probably remember it because it's still there immobilized by my spell. Jade was holding it off but it kept trying to get to me. I realized I needed my magic so I got it back…

"I did a spell to drag Malivore into the school, which was probably a mistake given the monsters he unleashed once he was inside. But we were all doing pretty well until the dragon showed up. Then we had to run. So we did."

"That isn't much to go on," Clarke said.

"So, wait," Lizzie said. "You dragged Malivore into the school with magic?"

Hope shook her head. "I'm more interested in the part where you said it kept trying to get to you. Why would it go after you?"

Clarke leaned forward suddenly. "Explain to me again what happened at the school. The other school. With the birds."

"Well, we saw on the map that there was something heading to Mystic Falls High," Lizzie said. "So we went there, though we forgot what happened until we saw the video."

"And I remember we were having lunch outside," Josie said. "But I don't remember what happened between then and when I was suddenly inside the school looking out the window."

"So the birds attacked that school without any warning too," Clarke said. "What made them stop?"

"I don't know," Josie said.

"Walk me through it," Clarke said.

"According to the video," Lizzie said, "I started turning arrows into flowers, but then the birds moved into formation and were going to drop a slew of arrows onto me and a bunch of students who hadn't gotten inside yet. So I stopped them from falling. But then more birds aimed arrows at me, so I threw the ones overhead and waited to get hit."

"Only you didn't," MG said, "I did. I got hit by the arrows in your place."

"They left after that," Lizzie confirmed.

"And we haven't seen one monster here until today," Josie said. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Well, I did see one monster," Lizzie said. "A few actually. There was this enormous wolf."

"I took care of him," Hope interjected.

"Wow, really?" MG said, impressed.

"Anyway," Lizzie said. "I saw the monsters, but I was the one looking for Malivore so he didn't initiate the attack that time."

"Well, not until he realized what we were doing," MG said.

Clarke looked deep in thought.

"What are you thinking?" Hope asked him.

"The murders of the witches…we always thought he was torturing them for information."

"Right…do you have some idea what he wanted to know?" Hope asked.

"Don't forget, there was a murder of a teenage girl too," Alaric interjected. "In the woods."

"Do you have a photo of the girl?" Clarke asked.

Alaric pulled out his phone and scrolled through. "I think there's one somewhere…yeah, here." He held up the phone to the screen.

"She looks like her," Clarke said.

"Her who?" Hope asked.

"Josie," Clarke said. "The dead girl looks like Josie."

"What?" Josie turned to look at the photo.

"Wasn't Josie at the bonfire that night?" Hope asked.

"Well, yeah," Josie said. "But I had already left…"

"The monster got it wrong," Clarke said.

"But why would they come after me?" Josie asked, astounded.

"You were the weakest link," he said. "You didn't have your powers. He knew if he could kill you, he wouldn't have to track down the rest. That's what he's been up to." He shook his head.

"That's why he went after Mystic Falls High, isn't it?" Lizzie realized. "It was the next day, and he sent the birds to try to kill Josie again."

"So why did he stop after that, since he didn't kill Josie?" Hope asked.

"Because he thought he had killed MG," Clarke said. "He's killing the descendants of the ones who created him."

"How do you know I'm a descendant?" MG asked.

"Because you are," Clarke said. "Your family's been a part of this since the beginning. I bet you're a descendant of the vampire part of the trio, just like Josie and Lizzie are the descendant of the witch. He must've been killing witches after forcing them to help him find the other descendants."

"So when Josie was safe at the school, he focused on getting the birds to kill me," Lizzie said.

"But got me instead, or so he thought," MG said.

"And when he saw you, MG, last week, he knew his plan had failed," Josie said.

"There was another murder last night," Alaric mentioned.

"The wolf," Clarke said. "He must not've been able to find the wolf descendant."

"So if he attacked the Salvatore school, does that mean he found the wolf?" Hope asked.

"Either that, or he was getting nervous since MG and I skipped town," Lizzie said.

"So, if he did figure out the wolf, which one is it?" Josie asked.

Rafael shook his head. "It wasn't me. When I saw him in the caverns he told me that I wasn't the wolf he wanted."

"And you're just now telling us this?" Alaric asked.

"I was upset, I forgot about it 'till now," Rafael said.

"Well, he didn't go after any of the wolves escaping to the tunnels," Alaric said. "So it had to be one of the ones still in the school if he was going after the wolf and Josie."

"So, it's either Jed or Ethan," Josie said.

"Ethan?!" Hope asked, sitting up straight. "Since when is he a wolf?!"

"Since last week?" Josie said. "He triggered himself when the birds attacked the school."

"Oh my God, Ryan, that's it," Hope looked at him. "That's why the Sphinx told you to wait until Thanksgiving. We had to wait until the wolf descendant triggered his curse so we'd have a complete set."

"Why would the Sphinx help us, though?" Lizzie asked.

"Because Ryan didn't see him until after Ted went into the pit," Hope said. "He didn't have ties to him or Malivore anymore, but I bet he wasn't too happy at being imprisoned by Malivore all those years and wants to destroy him as much as we do."

"So, we know Malivore had been trying to break the descendants line…but why?" MG asked. "Why is he trying so hard?"

"Because that's how they were originally going to destroy him," Lizzie said, perking up. "They were going to wipe the symbol from his forehead. That's how to destroy him. We thought it wasn't possible to do it, but now…"

"Maybe your trying to jump into the pit and find his golem body wasn't such a bad idea after all," Josie said.

"You tried to do what?!" Hope turned to Lizzie in shock.

Lizzie shrugged. "I forgot to mention that part, but Chad's in the pit right now trying to find the body for us."

"So, if we actually can get his body out of the pit," Josie said, "We can defeat him once and for all."

"And no one has to die," Alaric finished.

"We still need a way to get Malivore out of Landon into the golem body though," Hope said. "I'm working on it with Aunt Freya, but as long as we have a place to put him, we should be good."

"So what's the plan?" Lizzie asked. "Do we fight tomorrow?"

"No," Hope shook her head. "The Sphinx told us to 'give thanks in the Big Crescent'. We've been following what he's said so far and it's worked. So, we'll wait until Friday."

"So, what, you're going to drive all the way back to Mystic Falls on Friday? Because you'll get here really late," Josie said.

"A halfway point," Clarke said.

MG looked at the map on his phone. "The halfway point between New Orleans and Mystic Falls is…" he looked up. "Georgia."

Clarke scoffed. "Fitting."

"But how do we make sure Malivore is there?" Hope asked.

"I'll do it," Josie said, eyes flashing. "I'll make sure he's there."

"Really?" Hope asked, surprised.

"I'll need Raf, Jade, and Wade," Josie continued. "But we'll get him there."

"And since he'll be opening portals to unleash his fun loving creatures," Lizzie said, "I'll go into the pit once you get here to get the body. MG and Jed will be with me. We'll bring the body out and Chad." Hopefully.

"You do realize that means everyone will forget you, MG, and Jed, right?" Rafael asked.

"Hope will remember them," Freya said. "And I'll do the spell to return the memories when it's all over." No need for the girl, Josie, to do more black magic if it was her downfall.

"And I'll have Kaleb and Josie's team to back me up while I do the spell to get Malivore out," Hope said.

"Wait!" Lizzie exclaimed.

"What?" Hope asked.

"The reason I was originally worried about this plan," Lizzie said. "If creating Clarke's body created Malivore's body, they have to be linked somehow. We need to make sure destroying Malivore doesn't destroy Clarke too."

"I didn't know you cared," Clarke said, genuinely surprised.

She rolled her eyes at him, "I don't. Hope would be impossible to live with if something happened to you."

"Touching," Josie said, disgusted. Really? Lizzie and Hope were yet again working to save Clarke despite what he had done to her. And for Lizzie to indicate that Hope would be devastated by Clarke's death, did that mean what she thought it meant? Had Hope really come back, destroyed her relationship with Landon, and was now into his brother?

"I'll do the spell to unlink them before you guys wipe the mark away," Hope said. She looked to her aunt. "You said you could do that, right? Unlink them?"

"Yes," Freya nodded. "I'll teach you that one as well."

"So, what do you need me to do?" Alaric asked.

"We'll need you to get Kaleb, Jed, and Ethan there," Hope said. "And everyone will need help identifying the monsters."

Freya spoke up. "This all hinges on whether you can find that golem body. What happens if you don't?"

"Plan B?" Hope offered.

"Which is?" Josie asked.

"The golden arrow," Hope said. "I'll have to kill Malivore with it…I'll have to kill Landon."

Alaric shook his head. "No, I've got a way around that."

"You do?" Hope asked hopefully.

"His mother," Alaric said. "She insists on dying in his place. Emma's going to cast an old spell of Emily Bennett's, one that transfers one person's life force to someone else, saving their life, but forfeiting their own."

"So instead of killing Landon, I'll be killing Seylah," Hope shook her head, frustrated. "Great."

"I hate to make things worse," Freya said, interjecting once again. "But how do you know the golden arrow will kill Malivore along with Landon?"

"Well, the golden arrow is supposed to kill a phoenix, and since Malivore is in Landon, then we can only assume…" Hope said.

"True," Freya nodded. "Malivore won't be able to use Landon's body any longer, but what if he just goes back to the pit instead?"

"But…" Hope tried to think of a flaw in that reasoning but couldn't.

"When I killed him today," Josie said, "he could still release the monsters from the pit. Death didn't stop him."

Clarke spoke up, "When my consciousness was in the fake Landon body and I was killed, I died…" he trailed off then, noting a flaw in that reasoning.

And so did Hope, "No…you returned to the place you were linked to. You returned to me."

"So, even if you kill the body with the golden arrow, there's a huge chance Malivore will just return to the pit and not die as we hope," Freya said.

Hope took a deep breath. "Which means I'll have to kill him the old fashioned way after that. But maybe the golden arrow will work and we won't have to worry about him. Okay, we'll keep that as Plan B and use the golem body for Plan A. "

Clarke looked at Freya who looked back at him. He tilted his head and she nodded. They would talk later.

---

Staring out into the night through the window in Hope's bedroom, resting against the back of the settee placed there, Lizzie listened to the sounds of New Orleans, remembering the good time she had that day with MG, Hope, and Hope's family before returning to the craziness that had become their lives.

"Today was a good day," she said. "Until later."

"Uh huh," MG agreed while setting up his makeshift floor bed for the night. Freya had offered him his own room, but he wouldn't miss the chance to stay with Lizzie. Plus, she kinda needed him right now. He would sleep on a bed of rocks if it meant he could be there for her. Though he had contemplated the settee but it wasn't long enough to sleep on comfortably.

"Of course, tomorrow will, yet again, be one day closer to becoming absorbed by my sister so we can become this freakishly distorted version of ourselves, but together," she rested her head on her arms, listening to the music drifting through the window.

"You know, you could be the one to absorb her," MG said, bringing his leg up to take off one shoe then the other.

"Don't you get it, MG?" Lizzie asked, still staring out the window. "Even if she wasn't more powerful, I don't want to defeat her."

She turned away from the window and faced him.

"Everyone's always fighting over who gets to be the martyr and, believe me, I don't want to be one," she said. "But I don't want to lose all the parts that make her who she is when the strongest parts of herself become a part of me. What about the other parts? What about everything that makes up Josie? Where will they go?"

"She's probably thinking the same thing," he said, coming over and sitting next to her.

"No, no she's not," Lizzie shook her head. "She knows she's more powerful. She knows the parts of me that are broken, shattered. She won't miss those parts. Heck, I won't miss those parts. Who would I be if I hadn't been a Gemini? If my life hadn't been tied to this seal? The black magic did this to me. Who would I be if I were normal?"

"You wouldn't be you," he said. "The girl who struggles to improve herself and be a better person. You have succeeded more than you know. I admire you."

"I know I wouldn't be me, MG," Lizzie replied flippantly. "I'm just saying, I had the potential to be something else but I'm stuck with this."

"What's wrong with this?" he argued. "I happen to like this very much."

"Yeah, right," she scoffed. "You just said how much you admired me for improving myself. Even you want me to be someone else."

"I meant I admire you for doing what you think needs to be done," he said. "As for me, I've liked you since the moment I first met you. You don't have to change or be something different for me to like you. Bitchy and broken, whatever's going on in that head of yours, I don't mind being around for any of it."

She stared at him feeling tears well up, her internal turmoil turning and crashing like a tidal wave bringing more of the emotions to the surface.

"You're a really great friend, MG," Lizzie said, wiping at the tears on her face.

"I know," MG said, putting an arm around her to comfort her. "And so are you."

"No, not really, but I can be better," she looked down but leaned into his side, grateful for the comfort.

"And that's alright, if you want to," he said. "But you don't have to."

"I want to," she said.

Not thinking at all about her actions, just reacting to the craziness inside of her, she turned to him, grabbed his face, and kissed him.

She pulled back and her eyes widened. "That was for you!" she exclaimed quickly. "Not for me!"

"Oh…kay?" he looked startled and confused, but mostly hopeful.

It was that hopefulness that had her jumping to her feet, putting as much distance between them as possible.

"I'm sorry!" she said. "I didn't mean to do that!"

"Uh…it's okay?" he said it like a question.

"Oh my God," she mumbled to herself turning away.

"Lizzie?" he said, rising to his feet.

"I need to, um," she looked back and forth. "Go. I need to go. So… see you!" she said with the biggest fake smile on the planet and left the room, tugging the door hard behind her.

Shaking his head, he sat back down to wait.

She had to come back when she wanted to sleep, right?

---

When Hope walked into his room wearing a sweater, tights, and a skirt instead of her usual shorts and his button-down top, he raised an eyebrow.

"New pajamas?" he asked.

Casting the noise canceling spell, she walked over to his side of the bed and grabbed his hand, pulling him to a sitting position. "A few weeks back you had a very specific request." She needed to get this out before she changed her mind. She wanted to do more with him, but she still felt a little shy about initiating it.

"Which was?" He wasn't sure what had changed with her over the past couple of days to make her take a more active role with them, but he was very much into it.

She slid up on the bed next to him on her knees. "You wanted to know about my dream."

Perking up, he turned to get up on his own knees and faced her, grasping her hands. "Judging by the outfit, it looks like it was a lot like the first one."

Nodding, she smirked. "It was, just a bit longer."

He shifted down the bed, letting go of her hands and indicating for her to lie down. "Be my guest."

She lay down on her back in the middle of the bed, the pillow resting under her head.

He slid his hands up and down her stocking covered legs, remembering how much she enjoyed the feeling of him rubbing against her with only their clothes as a barrier. She breathed out at his movement and easily went along with it when his hands nudged her thighs apart, leaving enough space for him.

Running his hands up her legs and then thighs as he went, he pushed up the skirt and laid down, resting easily against the most private part of her.

"Yes," she whimpered. "Like that."

"And then…" Unfortunately, he had to shift down away from her for the next part. He pulled her shirt up slightly and began to kiss the skin at her stomach. He took liberties that he knew her dream didn't have, as she had only dreamed of his kisses, too innocent at the time to think to include his tongue.

She moaned out his name, "Ryan!" and grasped his head. He worked his way up, bunching the sweater as he went, until it got in the way. She pulled the sweater up and over her head.

He shook his head, reaching up to still her hands. "Didn't they get caught up there?"

Breathing hard, her eyes flashed but she stopped trying to free herself from the shirt. Instead, she stared at him, hands bound in her sweater above her head, chest moving up and down to match her breathing.

He lowered his head to her chest and reached around to work at the clasp on the back of her bra as he kissed the tops of her breasts. Undoing the clasp, he looked up at her for further instruction.

"Can't really slide the straps down my arms with them up here, can you?" she said saucily.

Shrugging, he just pushed the bra up to join the sweater. "I can improvise."

Leaning back down, he took the lead and pleasured her breasts the way he wanted to. It proved too much for her to keep her hands bound though. She started struggling to get the sweater and bra off.

He smirked and decided to help her. Shifting up, he pulled on the material and freed her arms. His reward being her grasping his head and pulling him down to her neck.

His movements meant his body fell perfectly between her thighs and he was resting against her again.

She slid her stocking covered feet up his thighs restlessly while he took the initiative to kiss and mouth at her neck. He tried to move to her mouth, but she shook her head. "No kiss."

"You didn't kiss me in your sex dream?" he asked, surprised.

She shook her head. "Guess my fantasies wanted to wait for the real thing?"

"The real thing is right here." He kissed her anyway, not surprised when she gave in immediately, returning his kiss with enthusiasm.

Her enthusiasm extended to the rest of her body as she slid one of her legs all the way up to latch at his waist. She arched herself up against him. His body answered hers, pressing down into hers.

She pulled back and said, "Yes, that."

"This?" he murmured, flexing himself against her again, moaning when she rubbed herself up against him once more.

She wrapped her other leg up around his waist too, arching up completely.

"Yes, keep going."

Suddenly realizing what she wanted and what must have happened in that dream, he moved his mouth back to her neck to give her something to focus on while he reached down between their bodies and adjusted himself through his clothing to rest easier against her so things wouldn't get painful or awkward for either of them.

Finding a good angle, he propped up his arms on either side of her and raised his head, staring down into her eyes as he began to move against her. Her eyes were clouded with pleasure as they met the smolder in his.

He could simulate this for her. It was practically one step from the real thing. He knew if he kept this up though he would need to change his shorts, but he didn't care. She was enjoying it as much as he was and that was what mattered.

She suddenly dropped her legs from around his waist, bent her knees, and planted her feet on either side of him. The pressure between their bodies shifted, changed, and he knew it was only a matter of time before they both lost control completely.

So, naturally, that was the moment someone knocked on the bedroom door.

He groaned in disbelief but tried to keep up the pace anyway.

It didn't matter, she had already stopped and lay back, squeezing her eyes shut. "Stopping was the part of the dream I didn't want to repeat."

The fire in his groin did not like the sudden change, but she had stopped so he had to too. He would need a moment to move, and maybe… "Maybe if we ignore them they'll go away?"

"It has to be family. It could be important," she said, red faced and breathing hard.

He nodded. "Just…give me a minute."

Before he could move, the person on the other side of the door spoke up. "Hope? It's Lizzie. I really need to talk to you." She sounded tearful.

Hope smacked her forehead.

"At least she knocked this time," he said, finally rolling away from her.

She managed to sit up and move to the edge of the bed before Lizzie knocked again.

"I'll be right there," Hope called out before she remembered the spell on the room. She pushed her magic against the door to make sure Lizzie didn't try to open it while she grabbed her shirt and put it back on, forgoing the bra.

"Sorry," she told Ryan while she tugged her skirt down. "This might take a while."

He winced and nodded.

As soon as she left the room, he made his way to the bathroom, cursing her best friend the entire time. He definitely needed to either finish off or take a cold shower, or, hell, both.

This was not how he thought this evening would end.

---

"Lizzie, what's wrong?" Hope asked, coming out into the hallway and closing the door quickly behind her.

"I think I messed up big time," Lizzie said, near hysterics, rubbing her thumb against her forehead, as if she could press all the crazy out.

"Hey, hey," Hope grasped her arms, pulling her hand down. "Let's go downstairs so we can talk."

Lizzie nodded and followed her.

Settling into the study, Hope motioned for her to sit on a couch and she joined her. "Okay, so tell me what happened?"

"I kissed MG!" Lizzie exclaimed.

Sitting back, Hope regarded her with a raised eyebrow. "Seriously? This is why you got me."

"Uh, yes," Lizzie said. "It's not like I was interrupting sex or anything. You wouldn't be crazy enough to have your first time under the same roof as your entire family."

Hope didn't bother answering that, though she may have flushed a little. She had gotten closer than she had ever been tonight. It was fair to say she wasn't too far off. Though, judging by how comfortable she felt with everything they just did, she was starting to think she really was ready.

"So," Hope cleared her throat. "What's so wrong with kissing MG? I mean, I'm sure he didn't mind."

"That's the problem," she said. "I didn't mean to kiss him. I was just sad and overwhelmed with all this merge crap. He was comforting me and I just did it. But I didn't mean it."

"Are you sure?" Hope asked. "I mean, kissing someone can be kind of a big deal."

"In the world of virginal Hope Mikaelson, maybe," Lizzie said, glancing heavenward. "But a kiss is just that, a kiss. Unless you kiss the one person you shouldn't."

"Okay, I'll bite," Hope replied, shaking her head. "Why shouldn't you have kissed MG?"

"Because he likes me!"

"Well, yeah," Hope said.

"I don't want to lead him on," Lizzie said. "I don't want him as more than a friend."

"So, what did you say to him after the kiss?" Hope asked. Lizzie could say whatever she wanted, Hope still thought Lizzie liked MG as more than a friend, but if the girl wanted to live in denial…well, so be it.

"I apologized?" Lizzie said, shrugging sheepishly. "I told him the kiss was for him and not for me, and then I apologized for kissing him."

"Well, being able to say your sorry is always a good thing?" Hope said, trying to search for something good to say.

"I think I gave him false hope and that was the last thing I wanted to do," Lizzie said. "I mean, what happens when I start dating someone else again?"

"Well, uh…" Hope really had no idea what to say.

"I don't want to hurt him," Lizzie said. "He's one of my best friends. I don't want to lose him either. What if he doesn't want to be friends anymore now?"

"Look, I know MG," Hope said. "He'll be okay. You didn't promise him anything. Just explain what you told me. I'm sure everything will work out. I mean, it's not like you can force yourself to be in a relationship with him just because that's what he wants. He knows that. He'll accept that."

Lizzie nodded. "I hope you're right… but…"

"But, what?"

"I…can't take anymore tonight," Lizzie said. "My mind is a mess and I can't talk to him right now… I can't go back to that room…" She gave Hope a hopeful look.

"But…" Hope saw her look and realized what she was asking. "No. Come on, Lizzie. No! Didn't Aunt Freya say she could set up another room?"

"I don't want to bother her this late," Lizzie said. "Nik is already asleep. Please? I mean, he doesn't even need to sleep, and I don't want to crash on a couch down here. Can you imagine your family seeing the crazy person drooling on their sofa?"

Hope closed her eyes. Ryan was not going to be pleased.

---

He was less than thrilled.

Resigned to spending the night sitting in the overstuffed chair in his room with a small lamp turned on to light his sketchbook, he tried to remember why Hope liked this girl. She was like family, apparently? Hope had enough family. She didn't need the Saltzman who was currently intruding upon his private time with Hope.

Try telling that to Hope though, he scoffed inwardly.

At least the blonde was on her side of the bed and Hope was on his. He would have to talk to Freya about getting fresh linens in the morning though.

"What are you doing?" Lizzie glared at him.

"Lizzie, stop," Hope said, sitting up and running a hand through her hair, completely frustrated at this point. She had changed into her normal pajamas since sleeping in her previous outfit was very restrictive.

He didn't bother answering, just went back to shading with increased fervor. If he didn't let up, he would break his point and then he would really be annoyed with her.

"That infernal scratching," Lizzie said, hitting her pillow to reshape it. "Make it stop."

"If you're going to make him stay up all night, he's got to do something," Hope said.

"Can't he just do something somewhere else then?" Lizzie grumbled, pulling the comforter up over her head and trying to go back to sleep. "Or he could just sleep in the chair."

He finally looked up and glared at the blanket covered blob on his bed.

Hope sighed apologetically, trying to give him a smile to smooth things over.

He went back to his drawing, finished with the shading for the moment.

Moments passed before the blonde was at it again.

"How can you sleep with him doing that?" Lizzie asked Hope. "The sound is so annoying, oh my God!"

"Lizzie!" Hope admonished.

Giving up, he stood. "I'll be downstairs."

"Ryan," Hope said, sitting up again.

"Sleep," he said, shaking his head and leaving.

"See what you did!" he heard Hope say to Lizzie as he closed the door.

Was this what happened when reality intruded upon them? Reality could shove it. He would take Wyoming with Hope over all of this.

---

Lounging on one of the most comfortable couches he ever had the pleasure of sitting on, he worked on his story but he was frustrated that he couldn't spend the night with her in his arms.

It was probably for the best though. While he drew, he was trying to figure out a new plan B. No matter what happened in this fight with his father, Hope wasn't allowed to die. It couldn't be an option. He had only just found her. He refused to live another eight hundred years without her.

"Hey," a voice startled him from behind.

Turning around, he smirked when he saw Hope looking a bit rumpled. He had been gone from the room for about an hour. She must not have slept very well since he left.

"What? Does she kick?" he asked, still displeased at being displaced. "Serves you right."

"No, I just had to talk to you," she said, coming around the couch and sitting in the middle, facing him. "There's something I need to tell you."

"I'm listening," he plopped his pencil on top of his book and looked up, giving her his undivided attention.

Talking with Lizzie and listening to her friend express how worried she was about hurting MG when she didn't want to left Hope realizing how much she was still hurting Ryan even though he would never show it.

She didn't want to hurt him anymore.

"It won't matter," she said softly, meeting his eyes. "If he survives, it won't matter. For now, and for when this is all over. You're the only one I want to be with. It's time you knew that."

He nearly dropped the book and the pencil slid to the floor. He tossed the book on the table in front of him and looked back at her to confirm that she was sure she knew what she was saying.

"Really," she answered his unasked question with a slight giggle when he seemed speechless though his entire face had lit up.

She reached out and stroked the backs of her middle and forefinger down the side of his face, seeing and now feeling the smile. Her chest nearly burst from the happiness she felt seeing how happy he was.

She waited for a kiss but didn't expect a hug.

He pulled her into his arms tightly, burying his face into her neck, astonished and relieved. He was overwhelmed with so many emotions he had never felt before, emotions he didn't even know he had the capacity for.

This was what he had been missing his whole life—someone who chose him, someone who wanted him, someone who loved him. She hadn't said it, and given how indecisive she was who knew how long it would be before she did say it, but she didn't have to. He already knew. There was no way she would choose to be with him over his brother—someone she claimed to be in love with—if she didn't love him.

Long had he only ever known frustration and loneliness. The only tears he knew had been born of that same frustration and loneliness. The tears prickling at his eyes now though, those were born of happiness.

This is what she did to him. This is what she made him feel.

Somehow, after eight hundred plus years, he had found the perfect being for him. He definitely wasn't ever going to let her go.

When he finally kissed her, pulling back to do so, she was surprised to see how emotional he was. She kissed him back, but these weren't passionate kisses. These were gentle, sweet, relieved, happy.

These were kisses of wonder and reverence.

Almost like kisses of love.

---

To be continued…