I own nothing but my own words.
One Wish
Landon didn't know what to do.
What was the right decision?
Hope was in some kind of coma, and he was dead.
Or, at least, he was in limbo.
The Necromancer refused to let him crossover, but he knew it would be a mistake to come back.
To live would give Malivore the eventual opportunity to take him over.
To live would allow The Necromancer to keep all that black magic and do who knew what with it.
But Hope wasn't waking up.
Doctor Saltzman seemed certain it was because of him, that she somehow knew he was dead and she couldn't face a world without him.
He stared down at her, knowing if he stayed she would wake up.
But if he left, surely she would have to wake eventually… right?
"You're not going to kiss her, are you?" an unfamiliar voice asked behind him. "Consent much?"
He turned around and saw a woman with an unnatural blue skin color and a long black ponytail.
"Who are you?" he asked, glancing around the room for any other unknowns.
"Ablah," she said. "And you didn't answer the question."
"She's my girlfriend," he informed her, despite the fact that he couldn't kiss Hope at the moment even if he wanted to. He hadn't given The Necromancer permission to bring him back yet.
"And has she ever given you permission to kiss her while she's asleep?" she asked haughtily.
"Well… no," he answered truthfully.
"Then no kissy kissy with Sleeping Beauty, aye?" she deadpanned.
"You didn't really answer my question either," he said, crossing his arms. "Who are you?"
"I'm in much the same boat as you," she explained. "In limbo. I probably should've crossed over a bit ago; but, as you can see, I'm in no rush."
"Not that there's anything wrong with it, but why's your skin blue?" he asked. "What are you?"
"I'm a Jinni," she said. "Let's just say I can show you what you want to know."
"Which is?"
"What will happen if you decide to stay," she said. "Or if you decide to go."
"How can you possibly show me that?" he asked incredulously. "Wait… you said Jinni? Like genie?"
She looked heavenward.
"That's what they all say," she grumbled.
"So you can grant wishes?!" he asked in astonishment.
"One," she qualified. "One wish. So you better make it good."
"So I can only wish to see what will happen in one of those scenarios?" he asked.
"No," she shook her head. "I'm able to show you a glimpse into the potential futures. It is for you to decide if you wish to use the one wish. And it is for me to decide if I will grant it or not."
"That's nothing I've ever heard about genies before," he said.
"Maybe because I am a Jinni," she snapped. "Not a genie."
"Sorry," he was quick to backpedal.
"Why haven't you decided to return?" she asked. "Most people would desire life over death."
"Because I'd rather be at peace than allow my father to hurt my friends anymore," he said. "To hurt Hope anymore. My father can't use me if I'm dead."
"How do you know your friends would be hurt?" she asked.
"I don't," he said. "But I'd rather not learn the hard way."
"Then how about the easy," she said, reaching out. "Take my hand."
"Is that how…" he reached slowly. "How do you know what will happen if it's not a wish?"
"In a Jinni's death, we are gifted with knowledge," she revealed. "Of what once was, and what shall be."
"Oh," he said.
"What would you like to see first?" she asked, gripping his hand.
"What happens if I stay," he asked.
Images immediately flashed through his vision, as if he were experiencing it all as a dream.
Hope waking.
The Necromancer using his newly acquired magic to raise Malivore, then being sent to a new prison world.
Him and Hope coming back through the portal and spending one perfect night together before he dissolved into Malivore mud.
Being trapped in Malivore.
Escaping by doing something he would never do.
Struggling to survive in the prison world on his own.
Malivore succeeding in taking over his body.
Malivore breaking Hope's heart.
Hope realizing the truth.
Hope doing everything in her power to save him and defeat Malivore.
Hope dying to become the tribrid she was always born to be.
And then…
Hope defeating Malivore.
Except…
The very loophole that made her the only one who could destroy Malivore, made Malivore the only thing that could destroy her too.
Nothing is ever truly immortal. Nature wouldn't allow it.
Including a Tribrid Hope.
Nature tied up all the loose ends.
Hope saved him.
She released him from Malivore's grip.
Then she destroyed Malivore, and his father destroyed her.
Hope was gone.
Snatching his hand away with a gasp, he backed away.
"No," he shook his head. "That can't ever happen. I told you, I told you my returning would hurt her. I can't."
"Settle down," she said, stroking the end of her ponytail. "Do you want to see what will happen if you don't return?"
He ran his hands through his hair, officially freaked out.
"What… what if I go back but change things?" he asked. "What if we kill The Necromancer before he raises Malivore? Or what if we don't… well, you know?"
"If you can't say it, you shouldn't be doing it," she deadpanned.
"Just answer the question!" he said, not in the mood.
"You won't remember any of it," she said, "If you go back. The knowledge is a gift to me that I can share with you, but it doesn't exist beyond this plane."
"Crap," he grumbled.
He started pacing back and forth.
She watched him with her head tilted.
"Is this a whole process you have?" she asked.
"Wait!" he stopped suddenly, holding a finger in the air, completely ignoring her question. "Okay, so if you can grant one wish, what if I wished I had never been born, if Hope had never met me to begin with?"
"You could wish for it, but would you rather see what would happen before you do?" she asked.
"Yes!" he said, pouncing forward and grabbing her hand again. "Show me!"
"So pushy," she said. "Fine."
The images weren't great.
Hope was alone, as she had been before he came into her life at the Salvatore School. She never came out of her shell or made friends. Malivore was never unlocked, but she was more alone than ever. She graduated high school quietly and returned to New Orleans, never truly finding happiness because she lost it all with the death of her parents.
When she eventually triggers her vampire side, she's so jaded and lacking in hope that she gradually becomes an even greater evil than her father ever was.
Something Landon would never wish for her to become.
Something the girl he knew would never want to become.
Releasing Albah's hand, he shook his head immediately.
"No."
She nodded.
"Have you made a decision?" she asked.
"What if… what if I wish Malivore was never created?" he asked suddenly. "Then none of this would have ever happened at all."
"I don't even need to show you that one," she said with an annoyed sigh. "Have you ever seen Avengers: Infinity War?"
"Of course," he said. "Half the population disappears with one snap."
"Imagine that but think of people being burned to death by the thousands too," she said. "Because of the dragons?"
"Oh," he said, remembering Clarke's story. "Right."
"Also, if I grant that wish, not only would you be wiped out of existence, but Hope would too," she said. "She only exists as the loophole to destroy Malivore, right?"
He winced.
Yeah, he forgot about that part.
"So, I guess that only leaves one possibility," he said, reaching out resigned. "Show me what happens if I crossover."
Images flash.
The Necromancer loses all the black magic because he reneges on the deal he made by not bringing Landon back. He never raises Malivore, so no portal to Malivore is ever recreated.
Malivore remains dormant.
Lizzie enters Hope's subconscious to pull her out of her deep sleep, saving her just as Hope saved her from Dark Josie's rampage.
Hope awakens surrounded by her friends and they help her get through his death. It's hard for her after all the loss she already experienced, but she eventually finds the strength to move on.
In the end, it's Lizzie who becomes her firmest supporter, her best friend.
As he watches the future flashing by, he sees how their friendship only becomes stronger until one day that friendship becomes something more.
And then…
"Happy Birthday, Lizzie!" Hope sits a cake loaded with lit candles onto a round wooden table before leaning into Lizzie's side and wrapping an arm around her waist.
"What about me?" Josie teased, laughing as a tiny dark-haired girl with a nose ring hugged her tightly around the middle.
"Happy Birthday, Jo," the girl declared.
"Thank you, Finch," Josie hummed, hugging her back tightly.
Lizzie ignored her sister to rest her cheek on Hope's hair, sighing deeply with relief and amazement as she stared at the cake on the table.
"That's a good number, isn't it?" Lizzie said.
Landon frowned, trying to understand what he was seeing.
23.
"A very good number indeed," Hope grinned, leaning up to kiss Lizzie playfully on the cheek. "Here's to twenty-three more."
"Together," Lizzie clarified.
"I think that can be arranged," Hope murmured as Lizzie leaned in to kiss her softly on the lips.
"Just blow them out already," Jed interrupted. "Hungry wolf over here."
"Jed!" they all groaned at him.
Landon let go of Albah's hand, reeling from everything he saw.
"Twenty-three?" he said. "The twins made it past twenty-two without merging."
"Looks like," she said, nodding.
"And Hope is happy," he said thoughtfully.
Was he jealous? Yes.
But he wanted her to live.
He wanted her to be happy.
She wouldn't have any of that if he came back.
Plus… he guessed Lizzie wasn't so bad.
Annoying, yeah.
But he knew he was leaving Hope in good hands with her.
Especially when his hands would only bring heartbreak and death.
"That's it then," he said, letting out a deep breath. "I guess I'm crossing over… if I can get through before he grabs me again."
"You let me handle him," she said with that same haughty tone she first greeted him with.
"I… can I say goodbye to Rafael first?" he asked.
"Do you want to get past The Necromancer or not?" she asked with a strange glint in her eye.
"Yeah, you're right," he said, wishing he could say more to his best friend but knowing he would see him again eventually. "Thanks… and thank you for… this," he said.
She nodded, saying nothing further.
She followed him out of the school and to the gateway, keeping an eye out for the death raiser.
Watching the boy go through the gate, Ablah didn't feel one ounce of regret for her actions. Not even for preventing him from saying farewell to his friend. They would see each other again soon enough.
She told him the truth.
In death, a Jinni was gifted with the knowledge of the past, present, and future.
She thought she had finished out her five centuries of servitude without any interruptions. Once she was free from her service, she lived out the rest of her life in peace.
The knowledge gained in her eventual death presented her with a forgotten past that would have been rife with pain and fear, trapped and tortured in an endless darkness for many many years. It was sick irony that she had been imprisoned in her final year of service, thus keeping her chained to two prisons for an extended length of time.
But one girl—one sassy, sarcastic, brutally honest siphon witch—freed her from that prison, allowing her to finish out her service and be truly free once and for all.
Because of Lizzie Saltzman, she was never trapped in Malivore.
And the girl didn't even know.
In death, a Jinni was also gifted one final wish of their own.
A reward for granting so many wishes for others.
Most Jinn—or so she heard—used that wish to return to the land of the living to experience a free life once more. They could use their limbo knowledge to know when next they would die if they were curious, although the knowledge would disappear once they lived again.
She could have let Landon return to the land of the living without approaching him.
But she already knew.
She knew what his choice would be.
She knew what his death would mean for Hope's future.
That was why she remained in limbo until the opportunity came.
She didn't approach Landon to help him, or to help Hope.
It was all for Lizzie's future.
Landon would never have been granted her final wish.
No.
That wish was reserved for one person and one person alone.
"I wish the mystical powers surrounding the Gemini twin bond to be dissolved," she said loud and clear. "No witch of the Gemini bloodline will be forced to merge ever again, and no coven member will die as a result."
She felt the magic move through her, through limbo and out into the world.
She didn't have to look into the future to know it came to pass.
She knew that moment would come since the precise moment of her death.
"You saved me from my prison," she said, envisioning Lizzie Saltzman in her head.
"And now I have saved you from yours."
And with that, she crossed over.
Finished.