Author's Note: So this is collection of scenes and stories set in between the end of the Originals and the start of Legacies. I'm saying this starts in March or so after Klaus dies, Hope's 14(birthday is in June), the Twins are 13(I'm saying their birthday is in November since the date on the wiki and time it's shown in Legacies don't mesh). First chapter is setting up the start of Alaric and Hope's relationship and establishing how things are with between her and the twins. I'm going to try and stay as accurate to canon as possible which is a fun challenge as I'm not sure the show itself really tries that hard. Anyways, read, enjoy, and leave a review.

Hanging On By A Thread

"Are you certain about this?" Marcel finally asked, addressing the elephant in the room. "You know there's no need for you to return if you're not ready."

"I'll be fine." Hope answered, rolling her eyes at Marcel's question. She was almost impressed that it had taken him this long to ask, they were almost to Mystic Falls.

"I know you'll be fine, that's not what I'm asking." Marcel replied, keeping half his attention on the road as they flew down the highway, maneuvering around cars with an ease only a vampire could have. "I want to know if you are ready to return to school. It's not going to be the same as it was before."

"How bad could it be? So, they know I'm a Mikaelson now. Whatever." Hope said dismissively, putting her earbuds back in as a way to end the conversation. It would be fine. So everyone at school now knew she was the daughter of Klaus Mikaelson, and a one of a kind tribrid. It wasn't like she had been popular to begin with.

"Come on Hope, you're smarter than that." Marcel said, glancing over at Hope with a slight smile only to narrow his eyes as he saw her earbuds were back in. "And I know you can still hear me."

Hope's only response to that was to turn the music up even louder, to the point that Marcel was certain he'd be able to hear it clearly even if he hadn't possessed supernatural hearing. Shaking his head he reached over and snatched Hope's phone from her, faster than she could react to, and paused the music.

"Seriously?!" Hope half shouted, glaring at Marcel.

"Yes, seriously." Marcel answered, idly scrolling through Hope's playlist as he did. He liked to think that he stayed up to date with current music better than most vampires his age but even he didn't recognize most of the tracks. Going from what he'd heard during the car ride it wasn't exactly the most uplifting playlist Hope could've picked.

"You're unique, and that alone would be enough to cause problems. Add in that you're Klaus' daughter and it becomes inevitable. I just want to make sure you're ready for that." The Mikaelson's had been around for a thousand years and had spent the vast majority of it making enemies. There were bound to be students that held a grudge against them, it was why Hope had been made to hide her identity in the first place.

"It's high school… How bad can it be?" Technically it was still middle school, but it'd be high school next year, and half of her classes were with older students anyways. Besides it was a boarding school, and one with a rather small student body.

"Uh huh, I've seen enough bad teen dramas to know not to underestimate how vicious teenagers can be." Marcel replied, smiling as he saw Hope's mouth open in shock.

"When were you watching teen dramas? I don't even watch those and I am a teen." Hope asked, face scrunching up in disbelief. She just couldn't see Marcel sitting down to watch some dumb show on the CW on a Thursday night, he had to have better things to do.

"Back when I first met Davina, she couldn't really go out and there wasn't much to do besides either read or watch TV. Some of them were actually pretty entertaining." Marcel explained, a fond look in his eye as he remembered the nights. There had been a lot of things he'd gotten wrong back then but the time he had been able to spend with Davina was something he'd always treasure.

"I don't think I'll ever see you in the same light again." Hope said, a smile on her face as she started to laugh. The image of the always suave, badass Marcel watching stupid shows with Davina back when she was her age was just too funny for her.

"Oh, so that's how it is?" Marcel said, a genuine smile on his face as he saw Hope lighten up again. "Knowing I enjoyed watching a few teen dramas ruined my image? Well then I definitely shouldn't tell you that your Aunt obsesses over reality TV shows."

Hope' eyes widened at that, "Wait? Which one?" It had to be Rebekah, right? She couldn't see Freya ever watching something like that.

"Rebekah of course, Freya prefers old cartoons from what I've heard." Marcel said, wishing that he was kidding. He had considered tracking down and compelling whoever necessary to get the Bachelor taken off the air more than once. But the thought of it just being replaced with something even worse had stopped him from doing so thus far.

"I knew it." Hope said gleefully, laughing as Marcel confirmed what she had thought. Oh, she was going to have fun holding this over her Aunt's head later.

"Hey now, don't go getting me in trouble." Marcel said, suddenly seeing a flaw in pointing out Rebekah's guilty pleasure.

"No promises," Hope said with a mischievous smile. "So, what shows did you and Davina watch? Maybe I'll check them out." It wasn't like she wouldn't have plenty of time by herself to watch them. Despite her dismissive responses to Marcel she did have an idea of what to expect once she returned to class, having gotten a taste of it for a few weeks already. She just didn't want her family to worry. Besides it was just school, how bad could it be?"

So, it turns out that school could in fact be pretty bad. The first day hadn't been, everyone seeming to be scared to even be in the same room with her. By the second day that had passed though and the pointing and whispers behind her back had begun. And now here she was on just her third day back at school, with a dozen werewolves on the ground around her in varying states of unconsciousness.

"I told you to leave me alone," Hope said, practically growling the words out. Suspended in the air in front of her was the alpha of the werewolves at the Salvatore school, a normally imposing seventeen-year-old wolf that was over a foot taller than Hope, with the bulging muscles and crew cut to match. A little less imposing when being magically held in the air by a fourteen-year-old girl though.

"Hope! What is going on here?!" Alaric shouted as he ran into the gym, one of his daughters trailing behind him, having alerted him to a potential situation just a few minutes ago. "Put Javier down."

"Fine," Hope replied, giving a dark smile and a slight tilt of her head before throwing Javier into the gym wall.

Alaric raised both hands in protest at that before clinching them into fists and lowering them. Honestly, he should have expected as much. He was still disappointed though. "What is going on here?" He finally asked, praying that there was a justification for Hope having put all of the school's werewolves in the infirmary.

"This brain-dead brute of wolf decided that I needed to submit to him because I activated my werewolf curse." Hope explained, gesturing to where the hopefully not actually brain-dead wolf was slumped against a wall. "I told him to go hell of course. That was when he had the pack jump me. Didn't go well for them."

Alaric brought his hands up to rub his temples, trying to prevent the inevitable headache this would cause. When Josie had told him that she'd seen the wolves closing the doors to the gym and surrounding Hope he had assumed that this was what was happening. He hadn't expected Hope to have thrashed them so thoroughly though. About half of the wolves looked to have been put to sleep while the other half were either unconscious, nursing broken limbs, or some combination of the two.

"She's a wolf." Javier said, slowly raising to his feet. "She belongs in the pack."

"I'm impressed you're still conscious." His skull must have been even thicker than she had thought. Flexing her fingers, she raised a fist, "Allow me to fix that."

"Hope." Alaric said, getting Hope to reluctantly lower her fist. Knocking Javier out wasn't going to help resolves this.

"Shouldn't she be the alpha now? That's how it works, right?" Josie asked, speaking up for the first time. She had been concerned for Hope's life when she saw wolves ganging up on her, it had never occurred to her that she would win.

The other three people's eyes widened at that, processing her comment. "Why thank you Josie. That does sound right." Hope said, giving the younger girl a smile that got her to look down at the ground shyly.

"Bullshit." Javier countered, "There's no one in the pack who'll accept you after using magic." Alpha was a title that was earned through strength, using spells was a violation of that. Or at least he assumed, it wasn't like there were rules for how to deal with a wolf/witch/vampire tribrid.

"What if she wins without magic then?" Alaric asked, a plan forming in his head. If there was a way to keep this from escalating even more then he was willing to take it.

"Then she would be the alpha," Javier reluctantly confirmed. Not that there was any way she could take him in fair fight though. He had been a wolf since age 10 and had nearly a hundred pounds of muscle on her. The very idea of Hope winning was a joke.

"I don't want to be the alpha. I just want to be left alone." Hope said, wondering why they were even discussing this. If anything, her becoming the alpha would just cause more problems for her.

"Alright, let's make that the condition then." Alaric said, both teens looking over to him wondering what he was suggesting. "I will allow the two of you to fight again, a week from now, with no magic involved. If Hope loses, she'll join the pack, if she wins then you and your wolves will leave her alone."

"What? Why wou-"

"Agreed." Javier answered, cutting across Hope's complaints. "What's wrong? Scared to fight fair?"

Hope glared over at the suddenly cocky wolf, fingers itching to throw him into the wall again. "She'll do it." Alaric said, answering for her suddenly. "Won't you Hope?"

Hope hesitated still, wondering why the Dr. Saltzman was pushing for this. He had to know that she couldn't beat Javier without magic. Even Josie was looking between her and Javier, seemingly sizing the two of them up and wondering how her Dad expected Hope to fight him. But she didn't know what else she was supposed to do. If she refused the fight then the wolves would just try again sometime, and next time it might not be somewhere she could see them coming and be ready.

"Fine, I'll do it." Hope answered, reluctantly agreeing to the fight. She hoped Dr. Saltzman had a plan, because otherwise she was going to get her ass kicked.

"Good. Then all we need to do is take care of this mess. Javier, you can stay. Hope, go to my office and wait there. We'll discuss your punishment for this later." Alaric said, relieved that both parties had agreed to his proposal. Step one complete.

"Why am I being punished? I was the one attacked, I just defended myself." Hope argued, not happy with Alaric's decision.

"Let's go with excessive use of force. Now go" Alaric said firmly, wanting Hope to leave. The sooner she was out of her the less chance there was of things escalating any more. "Josie, please make sure she goes straight to my office, and then go fetch the nurse… and no telling anyone what happened here. Especially not your sister."

Watching as the two girls left the room, one of them still clearly not happy with him, Alaric let out a sigh as he turned to survey the damage Hope had done. From what he could tell there were at least three broken arms, one broken leg, and several likely concussions. And he couldn't help but feel that they'd gotten off lucky given what the girl could've done to them. Now he needed to do his part and focus on step two of his plan. Making sure Hope won the fight so that an angry Mikaelson didn't show up on his doorstep wondering why their niece had been forced into a werewolf pack.

"Tell me you have a plan. You have a plan, right?" Hope asked, having been counting on Alaric having one when she'd agreed to the fight.

"I have a plan." Alaric confirmed, getting Hope to sigh in relief. "I'll train you how to fight over the next week so that you can defeat Javier without needing magic."

"What? No. That's not a plan. That's the plot to a crappy movie." Hope replied, feeling her confidence that Dr. Saltzman had a way out of this rapidly deteriorating. Javier was taller, older, had been a wolf longer, and had easily over a hundred pounds more muscle than her. Unlike vamps, wolves' strength came from their actual physical makeup which meant that he would be far stronger than her, even more than if they'd been human.

"Relax. We'll start this afternoon. It'll be your 'detention' for the next week. I guarantee that you'll think different after seeing what I can teach you." Alaric said confidently, seeking to reassure the girl. Honestly Hope was underestimating herself, her physical abilities had been nearly equal to the average werewolf even before activating her curse. He wasn't too sure what the full extent of her abilities was, but it wouldn't surprise him if they far outpaced even a wolf like Javier.

Slumping down in her seat Hope rested her head on one hand, "Why couldn't they just leave me alone? They never cared before." She had been going to the school for years while pretending to be just a werewolf, albeit one who had yet to awaken her curse, and never had any problems with the pack. Had awakening her curse changed that much? Or was it because they knew she was a Mikaelson now?

"Before we were able to use the excuse of you not having activated your curse to keep you separate from the pack." Alaric explained, confirming what Hope had already suspected. It had been Hayley's request to keep her daughter out of the pack, one he and Caroline had been willing to accommodate but it had caused issues. The main one being that it had made Hope even more of an outsider, as she had been the only student at the school that appeared to not have access to her supernatural abilities. There were some changes he could make now to try and resolve that though.

"I know we originally said we wouldn't, but I'm going to make some changes to your class schedule." Alaric said suddenly, surprising Hope. "You're a witch as well so you should be taking classes as one."

"I thought you wanted to give the rest of the students time to… what was it? 'Process the changes in how they should view me.'" Hope asked, parroting the words Caroline had used when they had discussed her returning to school.

"That was Caroline's idea." Alaric said, happy to shove blame onto his currently absentee co-parent and headmistress. It had been a worthwhile idea, and one that he wasn't against trying, but also one that he never believed would work. He preferred to let the students see Hope for what she truly was and deal with the consequences from there.

"I'll let the teachers know but for starters you can attend the Intermediate Spellcasting class tomorrow. I know you always wanted too." That had been one of the real cruelties with Hope having to hide her identity for so long, that she had been unable to practice the magic she could use openly. Hayley getting knocked up and having a werewolf daughter who didn't know her father and hadn't activated her curse had been easy to explain. Hayley having a witch daughter and not knowing who the father was would've been next to impossible.

"I guess something good came out this at least." Hope said, a half smile on her face. She was willing to bet that she already knew everything they'd teach in the class, but it'd be nice to be around more witches… oh shit. "Wait, does that mean I'll have another class with your evil twins?"

"They're not evil." Alaric said, exasperation heavy in his voice. He wasn't sure if his and Klaus' hatred of each other had somehow been passed down genetically or what, but it seemed that their kids just could not get along. "Josie was the one that came and warned me today, she did that because she was worried about you. And she was the one who suggested that you could be alpha."

"Which is just going to lead to me getting my ass kicked." Hope protested, still not thinking that she had much of chance.

"It'll be fine." Alaric said, trying to reassure her once more. Hope didn't seem to be willing to believe him though. He'd just have to prove it to her then. "Look, meet me at the old mill after classes today. We'll go ahead and start your training this afternoon."

"Alright." Hope agreed, getting up to leave his office. She wasn't sure how it would help but she would try. Pausing as she reached the door she turned back to Dr. Saltzman, "And I will try to get along with your daughters. Even if they are evil."

"They're not evil, Hope!" Alaric shouted after her. At least he hoped they wouldn't be. That was the whole reason Caroline was absent from the school at the moment. Some old manuscripts about witch covens had shown up on the black market in Shanghai and she'd left to retrieve. Any information that could possibly lead to them finding a way to stop the Gemini curse was worth looking in to, even if it meant that she had to be away from the school for more extended periods.

"Gotta say, I'm surprised you know about this place." Hope said, glancing around the remains of the most recent party that the old mill had played host too.

"I know things about this school and it's grounds that you would never believe." Alaric said, not bothering to conceal how smug he felt. It always amused him that the kids thought they were actually hiding the parties from him. Teenagers needed a chance to blow off steam, he preferred that they do so some place were there was no risk of humans getting involved.

"So how are we going to do this? Are you going to teach me how to make a fist? Or how to throw a proper punch?" Hope asked snidely, holding up her fists in a deliberately sloppy stance to sell her point.

"No," Alaric answered, taking a small silver idol out his pocket and placing it on the stairs. Seeing the curious look Hope was giving him he explained, "This is a sort of warning system. It sets a perimeter around the area and glows red if someone crosses it. And I have no intention wasting time teaching you things you've certainly learned already."

"Worried about someone intruding?" Hope asked, heading tilting slightly in curiosity. She actually wasn't sure if they were keeping these training sessions secret, it couldn't hurt she supposed.

"Well I don't think it'd be great for someone to walk in on me beating up one of my students." Alaric explained as he pulled a small metal bracelet out of his pocket before tossing it to Hope.

"An anti-magic bracelet?" Hope asked, holding up the bracelet to look at closer. It looked remarkably similar to the one she used to wear as a child.

"I'd rather not be thrown through the roof once we start." Alaric explained, getting Hope to shrug before slipping it on. "Besides it'll help you get accustomed to fighting without your magic to back you up. Now, ready to begin?"

"I guess?" Hope answered not to sure what they were beginning yet. Dr. Saltzman had been a bit light on details. Seeing the man instantly lunge for her she realized quickly though, he intended to spar with her, likely to test her abilities. Well fine, she'd show the old man what she could do.

Dodging the first punch with superhuman ease she ducked under the follow up, circling behind Dr. Saltzman and moving to go on the offensive. Before she could even close in on him though he'd pulled away, resetting his stance and launching himself at her in a counter offensive, offsetting her with an aggressive attack.

Still she managed to block the first punch, using her superior strength to push him off and lash out with a punch of her own. That was when everything went wrong. Dodging to the inside of her punch Alaric grabbed her arm and pulled her off balance, before using his opposite arm to drive a vicious elbow directly into Hope's nose.

"Fuc-" Hope started to yell, hands instinctively reaching for her nose until a knee to the gut doubled her over. A follow up double-fisted blow to her back drove her to the floor, leaving her laying there as she fought to catch her breath.

"Is that all?" Dr. Saltzman asked, stepping back from the fallen teen to give her a minute to catch her breath.

"Oww, fuck…" Hope groaned, coughing out mouthful of the blood she'd swallowed as she tried to get back on her feet. Glaring over at Dr. Saltzman she snapped at him, "What the fuck was that?"

"That was you getting your ass kicked by a human with less than half your strength." Alaric said, Hope continuing to glare at him. She wasn't a bad fighter, having been trained by her mom to be able to defend herself. But Hope lacked experience and she didn't have the natural killer instinct to make up for it against someone as skilled as he was. And she had certainly not expected him to attack without pulling his punches.

"Get up. I know how fast you heal. Let's try this again." Alaric said, goading her to rise. There wasn't anything in the world that could heal as quickly as Hope, to the extent that it was less accelerated healing and closer to type of regeneration you'd see in superhero movies. It was the whole reason he was willing to be this rough, she could take it and heal from it, no one else could.

"When I break your nose, I won't be helping you fix it." Hope threatened, wincing as she felt her own broken nose being pushed back into its proper place. Super healing or not it still hurt like hell. Now pissed off she launched herself at Dr. Saltzman, no longer holding back for fear of hurting him. At worst she could just use her blood to heal him if she broke something important.

Try as she might though she was unable to land a hit on the man, Dr. Saltzman moving around her wild attacks with a grace she hadn't known he possessed. He either avoided her attack outright or redirected them just enough to slip by. And anytime she left even the slightest opening he drove an attack home. A split lip, three black eyes, another busted nose, even a pair of broken fingers after he'd ducked a punch and left her to sink her fist four inches into of the wooden beams of the old mill. Every time she just shrugged off the injuries, knowing they'd heal near instantly and instead using the pain to sharpen her focus.

He was starting to tire; she could tell that much. She wasn't sure how long they'd been fighting but it had to have been for a while. And while she could shrug off his blows all she needed to do was hit him once. Gathering herself she pressed the attack again, trying to drive Dr. Saltzman into one of the corners of the room so he couldn't escape. To her surprise though he suddenly charged her, throwing her off balance for a second as she wondered what he was planning.

Taking advantage of Hope's hesitation Alaric, drove a powerful kick to the teen's stomach, wincing as he felt bones crack. It wasn't as if he was enjoying hurting the girl like this, far from it. But the only way she could fight against a wolf like Javier was if she had the combat experience to match. And that couldn't be granted by pulling his punches. For today though she had probably enough. "Ok, that's enough."

Reaching into the bag he'd brought he took out a couple of bottles of water, offering one to Hope who begrudgingly accepted it as she pulled herself off the floor. "So, what did you learn?"

"That I hate you?" Hope answered, glaring at the man as she felt her bruised ribs. She could almost feel them knitting themselves back together, a process that did nothing to lessen the pain from them.

"Come on Hope. I'm human, not as fast, not as strong, and definitely not able to heal like you. And yet I kicked your ass all over this room." Alaric said, unable to help the slightly smug smile for appearing on his face. It was nice to know he still had it; he hadn't had a reason to fight like this in years.

"Yeah but you've been doing this since before I was born. And I mean that literally." Hope pointed out. It wasn't like she missed the point he was making though; she just didn't feel like giving him the satisfaction of acknowledging it.

"That I have. And I'm willing to teach you everything I learned in that time. It just won't be easy." Alaric asked, getting Hope to look over at him from where she was still slumped on the floor. "Now what did you learn?"

Sighing Hope closed her eyes for a moment, reviewing the fight in as neutral a manner as she could. "That superior strength doesn't matter if you don't connect. That if you hit the right spot it doesn't matter if you're weaker. That you are a merciless bastard."

"All good observations." Alaric said, smirking at Hope's observation of himself. It was pretty spot on. "Supernaturals especially tend to be overconfident when they believe they have the advantage, that can be used against them. Javier has been challenged by every wolf to have come through this school over the last three years. He's good, but against you he'll think he has an insurmountable advantage and that can be used against him. It also helps that he's wrong."

Nodding along Hope paused and tilted her head at that, "Wait, what do you mean he's wrong?"

"Hope, your physical abilities were on par with the average werewolf before you activated your curse. Javier may still be stronger than you, but it won't be by much. And there is no one that can heal like you." Alaric explained, pointing out the very simple observation Hope had somehow missed. As she had always had to hide her abilities at school the only benchmark she had to measure herself against had been her family and the members of the Crescent Wolf pack, a pack that had been gifted many of Hayley's own advantages.

"I actually have a chance." Hope said, realizing it for the first time. If she could fight like Alaric, then with her own abilities she could actually win. She wouldn't be forced into joining the stupid school pack and could get them to just leave her alone. "Alright. Let's go again. Don't hold back on me."

It would hurt. It would probably hurt a lot. But she'd learn faster this way and she'd heal from it anyways. She would learn everything Dr. Saltzman had to teach her, and if that failed then she'd simply outlast Javier when they fought. She'd heal during the fight, he wouldn't. It wouldn't be the best way to win but after everything she'd caused she probably deserved the pain anyways.

"Good dodge, Hope. Now to counter, you can either take advantage of your opponent overextending their arm and attack there or slip past and target their leg or back." Alaric said, holding his position as he advised Hope on her options.

It was the last day before Hope and Javier were to fight, and they were going through a slower walk-through, making an actual plan for the fight based on what Alaric had seen over the years. Hope had grown even faster than he thought she would. By only the third day she'd been able to keep up with him in their spars, no longer getting pummeled the way she had the first day. And by the fifth she'd finally managed to start landing hits on him, culminating in a broken rib of his own that she had been kind enough to use her blood to heal.

"I take it I shouldn't actually break Javier's arm?" Hope asked, realizing that she wasn't sure how much regulation this fight was going to have.

"Probably a good idea. You should go for the submission first, get him to realize he can't win and end the fight. But if that isn't viable then knock him out. Breaking something should be your last resort." Javier was a werewolf and thus would heal, but a broken bone would take at least a day to do so. And he wanted this fight done and over with if possible, having the pack leader nursing a broken bone wouldn't help that.

"I actually think I can do this now." Hope said, smiling as she admitted it. She had thought that Dr. Saltzman was insane for suggesting this originally but now she was almost looking forward to it. She could win, she was sure of that now.

"Should that be flickering?" Hope asked suddenly, pointing to the silver idol Alaric had set up each day to alert them of anyone nearby. It was alternating between glowing red and its normal dull silver, at seemingly random intervals.

"I'm not sure…" Alaric admitted, the idol glowing red and staying that way for several seconds before fading again. It was supposed to glow red whenever anyone entered its perimeter, so he supposed it was possible that someone was walking along the edge of the perimeter, occasionally crossing over and activating it.

The two of them were so engrossed in wondering what the idol was doing that they failed to notice that someone had approached the old mill until a voice called out, "And what are you two doing out here?"

Recognizing the voice Hope's face fell, dread setting in as she turned to face her. "Oh look, it's the evil queen returning to her lair."

"Hmph, well you are right that I am your better in every way." Lizzie said smugly, smiling even more as Hope glared at her. "What? Inserting yourself into my Spellcasting class wasn't enough for you, so now you're trying to take my Dad too?"

"Were you always this delusional?" Hope retorted, rolling her eyes as she spat back at Lizzie.

"Why you-"

"Girls!" Alaric shouted, cutting off their bickering. "You known each for the majority of your lives… can't you just try to get along?"

"She doesn't want too!" Both girls shouted in protest, eyes widening as they realized they had each said the same thing. For a moment the two girls just stared at each other, Alaric holding his breath in between them, praying they would realize that they just misunderstood each other.

It wasn't to be though as Lizzie straightened up and glared at Hope once more, "Whatever. I don't care what you two are doing. I just came out here to see how trashed it was." That wasn't actually why she was here, she had just been out for a walk. But she had been able to feel the magic in the air and had followed it to it's source by siphoning it and seeing which way it was renewed from.

"What does it matter? This place was already a dump." Hope was honestly disturbed by how the scent of alcohol seemed to linger in this place, although she couldn't remember noticing it as much before activating her curse.

"It's where me and my friends are going to practice for the talent show." Lizzie answered, having just decided that, before giving Hope a sarcastic smile. "You know, friends? Those things you have none of?"

Hope's mouth opened in an empty desire to contradict what Lizzie was saying but she couldn't. There were very few people she could say were her friends and almost all of them were part of her family. And none of them were at this school. Still it wasn't like she had to just stay here and take this. "I'm done here."

"Hope, you don't have to leave." Alaric argued futilely, Hope grabbing her bag and storming off past him. Sighing he rubbed his temples, turning to face his all to cheerful daughter.

"Why do you two always have to fight?" He asked, shaking his head at his daughter. For the life of him he couldn't figure it out, the two of them seemed to always be at odds over something.

"It's not like she makes it easy to get along with her." Lizzie countered, not seeing why he was defending Hope. Everyone knew that it was her fault that Henry was dead and Roman had disappeared.

"She just lost both her parents and her uncle. Can't you cut her a little slack?" Alaric pleaded.

"Why?" Lizzie asked, condescension heavy in her voice. "It's her fault they died anyways."

Even as she said it Lizzie seemed to realize that it was the wrong thing to say, her hands jumping to her mouth, trying to take the words back as her dad stared at her in shock. From outside she suddenly heard a loud gasp, before the clear sound of someone running off could be heard. Rushing to the doorway she looked out and was just able to see Hope running off, the girl having evidently heard what she'd said. Whether she's stayed to listen in on them or had been coming back for some reason she wasn't sure, but she had heard what Lizzie had said. "I–I didn't mean…"

"You're grounded. Until I say otherwise." Alaric said, the disappointment he felt clear in his voice. So much for hoping Lizzie and Hope would be friends anytime soon.

Lizzie didn't even protest, just nodding as her dad told her. She didn't know why she had said what she did, she wasn't that cruel of a person. 'Because it's true,' a voice answered in her head, Lizzie shaking her head to try and block it out. It didn't matter if it was true or not, that wasn't the kind of thing you should say. She was a better person than that… right?

The next day the fight that had been scheduled a week ago was finally about to take place. The school gym had been closed up, with only the wolves, Hope, Dr. Saltzman and his daughters being allowed in. Alaric had intended for it to be only Hope, the werewolves, and himself but Josie had insisted on coming as this had resulted from her idea and Lizzie had tagged along with her and he hadn't felt like forcing her not to.

The werewolf pack were all seated on one side of the gym, buzzing with a palpable anticipation for the upcoming fight while his daughters were on the opposite side of the gym at his behest. If for some reason something happened with the wolves, he didn't want them getting caught in the crossfire.

"Are you two ready?" Alaric asked the two combatants, Hope and Javier standing at the center of the gym glaring at each other. Seeing the two of them matched up like this made their physical differences even more exaggerated. Javier towered over Hope, even more than most people did, and would appear as if he could crush her with ease. As he was about to learn though that wasn't as simple a task as he believed.

"I've been waiting for this all week." Javier said with a smirk, cracking his knuckles threateningly before settling into a ready stance. As a surprise to Hope he had opted to go barefoot, apparently being his preference when accepting challengers.

"Let's just get this over with," Hope said, taking a second to pull her hair back into a ponytail so it'd be out of her face before nodding at Alaric that she was ready. Glancing over at where the twins were, she felt her gaze harden as she saw Lizzie. Letting the anger she'd felt the day before return, she focused it on Javier instead, readying herself for the fight.

"Remember, if I tell you to stop the fight then the fight stops." Alaric warned, waiting until he got a nod of agreement from both combatants. Taking in a heavy breath he nodded to himself, "Ok then… Begin!"

The instant Dr. Saltzman moved back out of the way Hope launched herself at Javier, taking the senior wolf by surprise as he hadn't expected her to attack first. As she closed in Javier threw a heavy punch at her, intending to intercept her as she approached. Sliding around it Hope made to grab Javier's arm, intending to use it as a point to attack from. To her surprise though he didn't allow her to, instead stepping in closer to her and swinging his arm out to the side in an elbow strike that made her stumble as she moved to avoid it.

Capitalizing on the stumble Javier planted one leg and swung out with the other, aiming a kick for Hope's head. The younger girl wasn't a fool though and ducked under the kick, only to be left open to the follow up kick as Javier spun in mid-air, planting his kicking leg into the ground and lashing out in a roundhouse kick with the other that caught Hope in the chest and drove her back a few steps.

Feeding off the cheers from his pack Javier didn't stop his assault, launching himself after Hope as she fell back. Opting for a flying knee, Javier forced her to use both arms to block, leaving her open to a heavy elbow strike that drew blood as it split open the skin above her left eye.

That seemed to wake something up in Hope, the girl lashing out with an uppercut that caught Javier a glancing blow on the jaw and got him to reflexively lash out with a kick. It wasn't as fast as it should have been though and Hope was able to latch onto his foot before he could pull it back. Grinning the tribrid twisted his ankle uncomfortably before exerting her supernatural strength to lift and throw him across the gym.

"He was teaching her how to fight…" Lizzie realized while the wolves laughed at seeing their alpha thrown by a fourteen-year-old girl. Both combatants were taking a moment to catch their breath, reassessing their evaluations of their opponents based on the fight so far.

"Who's he?" Josie asked her twin, wondering what Lizzie was talking about while keeping her attention on the fight. Or more accurately on Hope as the teen tribrid wiped the blood off her forehead and got ready to fight again.

"Dad. He's been teaching Hope how to fight." Lizzie whisper-shouted to her sister, having just put the pieces together herself. That was why they had been out at old mill together, he had been preparing her for this fight.

"So that was his plan…" Josie replied softly, getting Lizzie to look at her in confusion, clearly wanting her to explain further. Seeing Hope and Javier circling each and about to start again Josie shook her head, "later," she promised.

"Not bad," Javier admitted as he closed in on Hope. He hadn't had his bell rung like that in over a year, and no one had ever managed to throw him.

"Too bad I can't say the same for you. Tell me do the wolves pick their alpha on how well they fly now?" Hope taunted, smirking as she heard some of the werewolves cracking up with laughter. If she could goad him into making a mistake then all the better for her, and if not then at least she could take joy in popping his ego a bit.

Letting out a grunt of anger Javier stepped in close and swung at her, using his superior reach to pressure Hope. Having experienced her strength, he was wary about letting her get into a range where she could actually counter.

Dodging or diverting her opponents blows Hope looked for an opening, struggling to find one. She had to admit Javier was an even better fighter than she had thought. She had assumed he simply relied on his strength, but he actually knew what he was doing and wasn't letting her goad him into making sloppy mistakes. Fortunately, she had other advantages she could still rely on.

Steeling herself she took aim at the next punch Javier threw, meeting it with one of her own. In a barehanded fight such a move was the epitome of foolishness, as it was likely to result in breaking both combatants' hands. But when one the combatants could heal near instantly it became less foolish.

"Fuck!" Javier yelled as he felt this fingers break, wincing at he sudden pain. So shocked by the unorthodox move was he, that he didn't realize that Hope had closed in until she was driving her other fist into his gut.

That snapped his attention back to the fight, even as he struggled to catch his breath. Ripping his head back he narrowly avoided Hope connecting with a kick to his chin that almost certainly would've knocked him out. Countering with another roundhouse kick he opened up more distance between himself and Hope, wanting to give himself time to catch his breath. Seeing Hope raise the hand that had been broken along with his and flex her fingers, showing off that she had already healed, made him change his mind though. If this battle turned into one of attrition, he had no chance.

"She's kind of badass." Josie said softly as she watched the fight, biting down on the edge of her lip. She hadn't known Hope could do anything like this, it was if she was seeing her in an entirely new light.

"Whatever. It's just cause Dad helped her," Lizzie protested half-heartedly as Javier launched a wild flurry of attacks at Hope, forcing her to stay moving just to keep from being clobbered. Hope was taking on a werewolf three years older than her and twice her size and winning. That was a little cool, even if she'd never admit it.

Out on the gym floor Hope was starting to get annoyed at always having to dodge. Javier had apparently realized that he had to end this quickly and gone all in on attacks. The blows were coming with enough speed and ferocity that she couldn't do anything but try and stay out of reach. That only worked for so long though and eventually Javier managed to catch the side of her knee with a kick, sending her tumbling down to all fours as it broke.

"Got you," Javier growled driving a vicious kick to Hope's ribs. The teen didn't give up though, grabbing on to his foot and twisting to pull him down to the floor with her.

Using Javier's foot as a point of reference Hope twisted herself around, lining up for a vicious kick with her heel aimed right between Javier's legs. The howl the werewolf alpha let out at that was music to her ears, as were the sympathetic groans she heard from the male members of the pack. Getting back on her feet she took in the pitiable sight Javier made, maybe now he'd submit and give up this stupid fight.

"You bitch, I'll kill you!" Javier groaned as pushed himself up on all fours, cursing Hope for her low blow.

Fine. If he wanted to take this all the way, then she'd oblige him. Walking over to the slumped over werewolf alpha she drove an ax kick into his back that knocked him back down into the floor and caused him to shout out in pain. Another kick to the back of his head followed as he tried to rise up again, shattering his nose and covering his face with blood.

Having had enough of the fight Hope pressed her boot into the back of Javier's head, forcing his face into the blood covered floorboards of the gym. "Give up. You can't beat me."

"Fuck you, over my dead body." Javier protested, full of bravado. He wouldn't appear weak in front of his pack.

"That can be arranged. Just a little more pressure and I bet your head will pop like a grape." Hope threatened, pressing down on him with her foot while Dr. Saltzman stepped closer toward them now that the fight had reached its conclusion.

"Hope…" Alaric started, wanting to resolve everything now that the winner was obvious.

"Fuck you," Javier shouted, cutting Dr. Saltzman off. "You wouldn't do it."

"Really?" Hope said, giving a hollow laugh. "Did you miss the memo? I'm a Mikaelson. We're infamous for doing exactly this." The moment she said it she could feel the atmosphere in the room shift, as if they realized for the first time who she was. The bravado she could feel from Javier just moments before was gone and replaced with something else, something she could actually smell. Fear. And it wasn't just him, but the other wolves too. They were all afraid of her.

"We're done here." Hope said, removing her foot from Javier. Turning her back on him she addressed the gathered wolves instead. "Stay away from me or end up like him. Your choice."

Not hearing any dissent, she turned and left the gym, ignoring Alaric as he tried to stop her. This hadn't been how he had wanted it to end. He was hoping that if she proved her strength then Hope could earn their respect, the same way Hayley had with the wolves in New Orleans. This was different though; they were all afraid of her now. They would leave her alone, just as she wanted, but it was going to be a complete type of isolation even more extreme than what she'd experienced before. That was the cost of creating fear instead of respect.

Author's Note: And that is chapter 1. Like I said, mostly setting up how Alaric and Hope start bonding and how her and the twins interacted. Josie and Lizzie have much larger parts in the upcoming chapters. Other characters will be added as the story progresses. Penelope joins after a few chapters, same for a few of other side characters, MG and Kaleb won't show up until closer to when Legacies would start due to being 16-17 when they were turned. As this is set before Legacies Landon and Raphael won't be showing up, Landon will get mentioned a few times though. Also since I don't have to deal with agents and casting headaches Hope's family will actually be around occasionally. Hopefully this chapter will be the only one I need to put the longer Author's Notes on but I wanted to go ahead and answer some question I knew people would have. And again if you enjoyed it, leave a review I like reading those.