Disclaimer: Not mine as much as I wish, borrowed and nurtured. A/N: Hope you are all doing okay what with the covid19/lockdown restrictions. Thanks for your reviews, I hope this story brings you some joy in a mad, mad, world. This chapter pulls elements from s2, with, ofc, a twist x
YOUNGBLOOD
vii
But he, that dares not grasp the thorn
Should never crave the rose – Anne Bronte.
August 6, 1991
Marcel Gerard heard the baby's cries beyond the bayou.
He entered the cabin, stepping over ransacked books and broken toys. The moon shone through a shattered window, and Marcel felt a breeze wash over him. He knelt to check the pulse of a man lying in the nursery, and grimaced – he was dead.
A few paces ahead, lay a mother, stolen from her child. He noticed a teddy, ripped apart to reveal an empty pocket, which never encased one of The Hollow's bones; it remained safe in Kol's vault, as they'd agreed in 1942. The Labonairs were survived by their daughter, Andrea, who sat, a month old, crying for her parents. He went to her crib and picked her up into his arms, "It's okay, I've got you."
He hummed the Nordic Lullaby Hope sang in '42, the one Klaus sang when he was just a kid.
"You do not need to fear me."
Her tiny hand clutched Marcel's finger, causing his smile to return.
Marcel arrived at St Anne's church, and tapped on the door, hoping to confide in an old friend.
Rousseau's 2029
"You could have hugged Hope, you know? She would have liked that."
Marcel switched off Rousseau's lights and turned the 'open' sign to 'closed'.
"I didn't want to embarrass her in front of her boyfriend."
Rebekah swept the remnants of broken glass and dust into the bin.
"I think you did that with your interrogation," she sighed.
Marcel threw his arms up mimicking Klaus' famous stance.
"She's lucky it was me. If Klaus were here, he'd have thrown him out the door by his ear."
Rebekah put away the broom and poured two gin martinis.
"I remember when you confessed your love to me. Klaus daggered me because he could not harm you. He kept daggering me whenever I disappointed him. That's no way to live. Hope needs our trust, more than our judgement," Rebekah pressed, "Especially now."
Marcel held his martini, "I've had my share of awkward sex conversations with Davina, and Josh, if Hope has questions, but something is nagging me about Rafael's linage, just can't think what," he furrowed his brow.
Marcel remembered the massacre of '91, and Hayley in her crib...
His memories skipped ahead to the night he saved baby Hope from Genevieve and the ancestors. He gave his sister to Klaus, glimpsing his look of adoration, knowing his own life and death was a disappointment - calling Mikael, with intentions to free Rebekah from Klaus, but which only strained their father/son relationship, and continued their toxic cycle of betrayals.
The prize? New Orleans.
"All those years after Dumas' rise to power, and his tyranny made me understand the monster I'd become, and I regret the culls, and the pain I caused generations of wolves... they were part of Hayley's pack, Hope's family and I had them cursed, justifying it as a necessary step to power, to weaken my enemies… I'm not King of New Orleans, I never was."
Rebekah did not stop him from reaching for the gin bottle, but she did remind him of another vampire, who raised Marcel in his image, and whose insecurities and jealousies shrouded all attempts of a truce, until son and daughter were reunited.
"Don't say that, Marcel. You are part of New Orleans, as much as any of us. It is our home, our past, and our future. Klaus would not have Hope if it weren't for Hayley, and you gave her a childhood. She was 13 when her adoptive parents kicked her out after she triggered her werewolf curse."
Marcel sat on the bar stool, "I asked Kieran to find a suitable family. I did not expect to see her again… amidst another war between species."
Rebekah washed their empty glasses under the hot tap and dried them with a tea towel.
She continued, "Hayley found the Appalachian Mountain pack, and helped Tyler break his sire-bond. She betrayed Tyler by telling Klaus the truth after making a deal with Silas, all in her attempts to find her biological family. Klaus recognised her Crescent birth mark, and you know the rest. Seeing you with Davina and Josh cemented how much of a leader you are, and it's that man I fell in love with."
Marcel reached for Rebekah's hand, and brought her to stand in front of him.
"So, Mrs Gerard, we're just supposed to let Hope learn from her own mistakes?"
Rebekah wrapped her arms around her husband's neck, a thought bursting from her lips.
"And teach her about safe-sex. I wonder if Hayley ever taught Hope how to roll a condom?"
Marcel swayed them on the spot, "That's all we need, another Mikaelson," he joked.
2029: The Salvatore Boarding House
Hope stood in the corridor with her books, knowing she would not see Josie made it harder to move. She missed Kol, and the unpredictability of the war. It was like she'd been pulled out of a movie right before the end and placed into another without knowing the plot. She felt out of place, and it wasn't because she had borrowed some of Lizzie's clothes that morning.
Her classmates bustled around the dorms oblivious to her mental crisis. Hope found herself in the common room where Kaleb and Pedro played chess. She saw Penelope and Alyssa practicing magic in their circle and regretted getting out of bed. Lizzie had been excused from class, because everyone in this timeline believed Josie had died, after shattering the Mora Miserium, or Sandclock: a tool used by certain sects of witches to withhold the ill effects of dark magic.
Only some knew about their real timeline – Bonnie, Davina, Freya, Kol, Lizzie and their friends, Rafael, Landon, MG. Hope wished she could convince the rest of her school that being anchored to The Hollow was not Josie's end, but her beginning, and if Hope could survive, Josie could too.
Hope sighed, wishing she could collapse into one of the lounges and sleep off her anxieties until Josie returned. Hope remembered her talk with Bonnie a few days ago, about moving on. She knew it would be healthier to put the past/present behind her, but it wasn't in Hope's nature. Her family tragedies made her the person she was today – resilient, brave, persistent, caring.
Moving on meant letting Josie go, so her heart could heal from the trauma.
This was her struggle.
It was Rafael's "Hope," which distracted her. "Can I carry your books?" He took her bag, and Hope took his offered hand, looking again at the ray of sunlight illuminating the staircase, and imagined Josie in her blue tartan skirt, with her clipboard in hand at the top. "You okay?"
Hope nodded, "Yeah, just missing Josie," she admitted.
Rafael squeezed her hand, gently. "Understandable."
Lockwood Manor
Lizzie met with Freya; it was Aunt Bonnie who suggested it, a week after their return. Hope spent her days with Rafael, causing Lizzie to either third-wheel or retreat to her room where she would try on Josie's clothes, and call on Josie's hologram through Hope's crystals to keep herself from getting too lonely. It was her reoccurring night terrors that concerned her father.
Lizzie's visions were getting more vivid and more frequent.
She wished she saw Josie, and not misty forests filled with hooded figures.
There were three figures in red capes, running… where to, Lizzie had no idea.
Freya was not what Lizzie expected, she wore a leather jacket over her blue singlet top which draped loosely around her navy jeans. Her serene green eyes were framed by blond wavy locks. Freya was a first born Mikaelson witch, who was kidnapped by her aunt Dahlia, and spent centuries in a coffin, allowed only one day of freedom – Lizzie paused her trail of thought, noticing a mop-haired Muppet sitting on the stairs.
"What are you doing here?" she narrowed her eyes.
Landon shrugged, "MG couldn't make it. He said you needed a friend."
Freya smiled, and led the way into the study.
"Let's start, Landon I need you to hold Lizzie's hand…"
Lizzie snatched Landon's hesitant hand into her grasp out of sheer annoyance of his mere being.
"Excellent, as a fellow seer, we can draw on energies of others, as well as share our visions with others. If MG were here, vampires can draw memories if they desire them. Landon, we are still learning your abilities, per se, but for the sake of our social experiment, you remain our power source, but please raise your hand if you feel you are tired or need a rest at any point."
"Will do," Landon agreed.
"Lizzie, I need you to focus only on your visions, I will project myself into them, to 'see' the faces of your demons. If you feel dizzy, or suffer headaches, or nosebleeds, just let go of my hand, okay?"
"Okay," Lizzie nodded, a weird mixture of apprehensiveness and exhilaration.
Lizzie closed her eyes, recalling the visions, one by one, siphoning Landon's powers into her body – this created a warmth through her body. She saw the red capes billowing in the wind, and the three hooded figures stopped running to perch themselves on the edge of what looked like a black lake. Lizzie saw something emerge from the water; its face unrecognisable by any angle she tried.
A ghostly figure stood on the opposite side of the lake, an imprint of Hope's aunt.
"Freya," Lizzie murmured, confused by the new layer to her vision.
Lizzie watched as the hooded figures offered their assistance, pulling a smaller person from the lake.
"Who is it?" Landon grimaced.
"I can't see, their whole body is covered in mud," Freya whispered.
Lizzie could feel Landon's hand sweating in hers, disgusting her more than usual.
"Mud? Like Malivore mud?" Landon whispered, suddenly nervous.
Lizzie stared at the figure; the mud resembled thick black oil which fell to the grass in globs.
A hood slipped from one of the figures, and they turned to someone in the shadows, someone who had been behind Hope's decision to enter Malivore to begin with – The Necromancer.
It was at this point when the Necromancer's eyes locked on Lizzie's, but there was no way, no way in Hell, he could see her, could he?
Lizzie felt faint, and her hand slipped from Landon's, her body would have crashed to the floor, if it had not been for his superhero reflexes, which when she woke, she would thank him, or murder him - it was partly his fault that Malivore existed, she thought, before darkness engulfed her.
"I think that's enough for today," Freya said, brandishing smelling salts beneath Lizzie's nose.
The Salvatore Boarding School
That night, Hope hooked her arm on Lizzie's, as they lay in their 'cry pile' missing Josie.
"Do you think she remembers us?" Hope asked.
"I think she barely knows herself," Lizzie murmured.
Hope wiped her tears from her face.
"I'm scared I'm going to forget her, like everyone else," Hope whispered.
Lizzie stared at the stars they'd made twinkle in their room which mirrored the night sky.
"I think I've been seeing Josie," Lizzie said, in a distant whisper.
Hope listened to Rafael's light snores beside her, his book had fallen off his chest.
"We were inside a bunker covered with screens. The Hollow was talking to a man in a suit. Then I saw troves of ancient artefacts, some in boxes, others free-standing in a large warehouse, and I heard her feet echoing down concrete for ages..."
Hope furrowed her brows, it sounded familiar, "What else?"
"We were high up and Josie held a skull jaw, and a long skinny bone. There was another exchange with the man, then he bled from the inside out, and something strange happened-"
Rafael stirred, and reached for his book, "Stranger than a man bleeding inside out?"
Lizzie ignored him, "The spell lifted. The Hollow jumped into the oil – and I felt Josie fall, I heard her screams. I drowned in the oil. I think Josie's really gone, and the man let her fall."
Rafael rubbed his eyes, "Why can't you both have dreams about unicorns?" he complained.
Hope returned his book to him with a wry smile. "Because life isn't a fairy-tale, Raf."
"Don't I know it," Rafael opened The Philosopher's Stone and began to read.
MG piped up from the floor, "Wait, we're not at Hogwarts?" he mock gasped, knocking his stack of Harry Potter books across the carpet. "You know, I'd get this done faster if I had bourbon."
Lizzie raised her arms to the faux sky, "Thank god Bonnie gave me an extension."
Hope watched Rafael flick through the chapters. "Lucky you, wish I'd started it days ago."
Landon stumbled into the doorway, "Study snacks! Ice-cream and baileys! Pedro hand them out. We've got mint choc-chip, double chocolate, boysenberry, salted caramel, and blood bags for MG-"
Lizzie caught sight of a third person behind Landon and sat bolt upright.
"What the hell is she doing here?" she hissed at Penelope's dry smile.
Landon looked over his shoulder, "Penelope? Uh, I ran into her in the kitchen."
Penelope threw MG the blood bags in her hand. MG ripped the seal and began to drink with fervour. Penelope sent him a satisfied look, as if seeing the way his eyes grew dark, turned her on.
"Are you two flirting?" Lizzie almost gagged on the sentence.
Hope and Rafael watched with bated breath as Penelope smirked, "I've got better things to do. Of course, MG is welcome to join me, at the old Lockwood Manor. Some of us are having a real party, you know, to blow off steam before mid-terms. I'd invite you all, but you all look so cute together."
Rafael turned to Hope, the thought of blowing off study excited him. Alaric would not want them off campus with everything going on, Hope thought, but then again, maybe a party would distract her from missing Josie. Hope used her best pout on Lizzie, who forced herself from the bed with a groan.
"Fine, but I'm only doing this to keep an eye on MG."
Rafael guided Landon back to his room, so they could get changed. Landon did not look keen.
"Are you serious Rafi? You'd rather hang out with a bunch of drunk witches right now?"
Rafael pulled off his shirt, which had sweat marks under his arms, and borrowed one of Landon's shirts, pausing to get affirmation it looked okay, before he glanced at his reflection in the mirror.
"No, I want to hang out with my girl. Why don't you come for the moral support, or to mingle?"
Rafael wiggled his eyebrows, making Landon throw his head back in exasperation.
"Considering I can't even remember my last girlfriend, I'm not sure that's a good idea."
Rafael sighed, "Come on Lands, when's the last time we hung out? I miss you, bro."
Landon hugged Rafael, "I miss you too. You sure? I don't want to third wheel your date with Hope."
Rafael opened his wallet, checked it had some cash for beer in it, and put it in his back pocket.
"Trust me, you won't. Lizzie's glued to Hope if anything you'll be fourth wheeling."
"Awesome," Landon grimaced as Rafael chuckled.
Before they passed Lizzie and Hope's dorm, Rafael tapped on the door frame.
"MG?" Raf queried, "You coming…?"
MG had squeezed every droplet of blood from the bags, his demon eyes bloodshot.
Rafael was reminded of Landon's death and resurrection, and how much it had hurt to see his brother dead. Hope had comforted him in their grief. He wondered how much of that night MG and Landon remembered. He shook it from his thoughts and repeated his question.
MG shut his eyes tight and muttered something under his breath.
Two seconds later he clapped Rafael on the shoulder.
"Last one there is a rotten egg," MG vamp-sped off, with Landon dawdling behind.
Lizzie joined Landon, and Rafael turned to find Hope dressed in something out of the 80s.
"Whose wardrobe did you raid this time?" he smirked.
"Lizzie's, she leant me some clothes, since everything of mine was burned, remember?"
"That was a stupid idea," he murmured taking a step towards her.
"Yeah, I know that now…" she said, pulling her hair into a ponytail.
Rafael touched her gold hooped earrings. "Is it bad, I kind of don't wanna leave now?" he said, pulling her waist towards him and resting his forehead against hers.
Hope leaned into him, hugging him close, and enjoying their moment of peace.
"Not bad, cunning maybe. You sure you're a Gryffindor?" she joked.
Rafael knew where she was going, and before she could utter the word, Slytherin, he'd kissed her.
They fell through the doorway; Hope flicked her wrist and the door locked.
Rafael grinned, impressed, and picked Hope up, her legs snug around his waist. He deposited her on the bed, removing his t-shirt, fuelled with teenage hormones. Hope kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his flushed neck. He heard Hope's breath hitch in her lungs, but their desire to go further was interrupted by the turn of a page, so quiet they could have mistaken it for the wind, if it had not been the scrape of a spoon against an empty chocolate icecream tub.
"Pedro?!"
Rafael flung himself from Hope and fell backward off the bed.
Pedro looked up from the book, "Hey."
"How long have you been sitting there?" Hope asked, wiping saliva from her lips.
Rafael pulled his t-shirt back on, he could still hear Hope's heartbeats thumping in unison to his.
"Remind me to check for Peeping Pedros, next time?" he muttered to Hope.
"About ten minutes. I didn't want the icecream to go to waste."
"You make a point," Hope said. "Pass me the salted caramel."
Rafael sat on the edge of the bed, with his choc-mint icecream his knees touching Hope's in a soft, comforting way. The coolness of the icecream helped to steer his mind back to safer territories. He plucked his shirt from his abs and attempted to cool down both physically and mentally. Hope seemed to be in another world entirely, deep in conversation with Pedro about Sheila's grimoires.
"Kol, Bonnie and Davina won't let me in the library, so I asked Pedro to snoop. What did you find?"
Pedro coaxed light from a nearby lamp and let it shine on the wall opposite them. Shadows emerged, like mist - Pedro's magic was the strongest of all coven witches, bar Hope's, as Bennett blood ran through his veins. Rafael watched in awe, as the mist resembled faces.
"Sheila and Lenore were in conversation for decades, about their lives, and The Hollow. There was a link between you and Josie, remember? Davina said, 'without Labonair blood, Josie could not be freed', but you healed Josie during the Triad invasion. Lenore speculated The Hollow's disappearance was linked to Josie regaining control of her mind, body, and soul. From 1953-1991, both vanished for a period, until 1991 when Richard Dumas resumed his tirade-"
Rafael finished his tub of icecream, groaning from the sudden brain freeze.
"Malivore…" Hope guessed.
She pictured Lizzie's dream: the bunker with tiny screens, the man in a suit, the oil that wasn't oil.
Josie had remembered a place which took memories away and erased monsters; a place that could take away her pain and protect the present. She had tried her best to fix their timeline and discovered a way to escape her prison simultaneously.
"If you can return from Malivore, your friend Josie can too," Pedro said.
Hope let her shoulders relax, and she nodded, believing it was true.
"You know, you could still make the party, before my mum shuts it down," Pedro mused.
Hope grabbed Rafael's hand and dragged him outside, her mind buzzing in excitement.
"We have to find Lizzie!"
Penelope stood by the beer keg, red cup in hand, subject to Alyssa's rant about how Jed ignored her all day. Penelope was far too concerned with how she was crushing on Lizzie. She had no clue where these feelings had accumulated, and she could not concentrate. The only way to discard them was to go after someone she had no feelings for –
Penelope's eyes lit up, as MG entered the grounds of Lockwood Manor.
"MG, you made it!" she beamed.
MG nodded, pointing over his shoulder, "Yeah, Raf's coming too, and Hope, and Lizzie."
"And me," Landon nodded from behind them.
"You know Alyssa," Penelope exchanged friends, taking MG. "I need to borrow him."
Penelope stopped behind a stone pillar, pulling her hair to the side of her pale neck.
"I know blood bags do nothing for your appetite, so I thought I'd offer you something else."
MG stared at Penelope, taking a few steps back, unnerved.
"Are you crazy? I can't control myself. I killed Landon last time I fed on human blood."
Penelope rolled her eyes to the starry night sky.
"Haven't you heard of immunity? I won't let you drain me."
Penelope kissed him, tasting his recent snack, wiping the blood from her mouth. It was at this moment she locked eyes onto Lizzie's horrified gaze, and practically heard her say: "Oh, hell no."
Penelope felt MG's lips attack hers. His eyes darkened with lust, and his fangs elongated. She winced as he bit her neck. He dug his hands into her shoulders. She felt her eyelids flutter, her mind grew dark, and she gasped, "MG… stop."
He was lost in ecstasy
The music pounded his head, her body fell limp in his arms
He thought he heard his name, but his thirst was insatiable
Warm sticky blood gushed down his throat, face, and cheeks
He was the archer, and she was his prey
He could not hear Lizzie's shouts, nor feel her nails dig into his wrist but he did see images flash through his mind in quick succession.
He saw Josie through Penelope's eyes - a girl with buns and blue ribbons, her smile, like sunshine during a storm. She carried a clipboard and stood in the Lizzie's shadow. Penelope stole kisses when nobody was looking and professed her tragic love…
"JoJo," MG lifted his fangs from Penelope's neck, aghast. "Not again, no!"
History was repeating, and he wanted to run from Lizzie's pitiful look.
"I didn't mean to; the bloodlust was too much. She said she'd stop me. Why didn't she?"
Lizzie watched MG raise his hands to his head, pacing back and forth, as the rest of the party noticed them, some screamed, and others hurried to see. Lizzie hated Penelope but seeing her the life fade from her body only made everything more dire. If Penelope died, it could force MG to turn off his humanity switch, and she could lose him forever.
"MG, she needs you still. You need to give her some of your blood; vampire blood heals."
MG steadied his nerves, and rapid breaths, and dropped to his knees.
He remembered when he lay paralysed on the football field, seeing Kaleb's stern gaze above him.
Lizzie pointed to his wrist, and lifted Penelope's head, encouraging MG to help her.
There was a collective gasp, and students scattered as an original vampire appeared.
Kol Mikaelson saw the desperation in MG's eyes, reminiscent of another Ripper, but instead of Penelope, Davina Claire lay in his arms, after the ancestors cursed him to have a voracious thirst for her. Kol knew what it felt like to lose control, he also knew what was required to save a life.
MG and Lizzie froze when Kol dropped to his knees and gave them his consent.
"As someone who spent a century in a coffin, and had no control over my bloodlust, I am not the best vampire to give advice, but sometimes I wish I had a mentor to help me through it. Being a vampire isn't glorious. Bloodlust doesn't go away, and if you don't know how to deal with it, the next time you crave human blood – it could be your brother, friend, or lover, that pays the price."
MG thought he heard Penelope's last breath as he let his blood seep into her open mouth.
Bonnie gave the Lockwood manor a haunting look. Being back there stirred memories, long forgotten of the Salvatore brothers, the ancestors, and Klaus Mikaelson. It seemed like another lifetime ago when they were sixteen and Elena first began dating Stefan Salvatore. Little did they know how much their lives would change, and how many of them would make it out alive.
Hope and Rafael arrived, hand in hand, dishevelled and out of breath.
Lizzie shot them a glare, as if she knew exactly what they had been doing with their time.
Landon's eyes fell on their entwined hands, and came to the same conclusion, his face fell.
Kol placed his hand on MG's shoulder, "Another five minutes and we'd have been too late."
MG breathed a sigh of relief, sweat dripping from his brow, as Penelope's chest rose.
Penelope touched her blood-stained mouth. "What happened?" she asked, confused.
"MG almost ate you for dinner, that's what happened." Lizzie retorted.
Penelope took MG's hand, glancing at Kol, and the nosy bystanders awed by her resurrection.
Bonnie Bennett's formidable entrance sent chills through the partygoers.
The Headmaster sent students to dispose of the litter, empty beer kegs, and pack away speakers. Everyone received detention, and everyone would be picking up litter in Mystic Falls.
"Kol, you are the only ripper I know, who could help MG find his true potential. Davina and I both agree, you will be his mentor."
Kol dusted the dirt from his pants. "And do I get paid for this?"
"You get a nice roof over your head, and the promise I won't set you alight again."
Bonnie heard Alyssa turn to Jed, "So, he gets a mentor, but Jade, Wendy and Sebastian are sent to the prison world. Talk about double standards," she huffed.
Bonnie shared a concerned look with Kol.
"Children should be taught how to control their gifts, that is why we turned the Salvatore Boarding House into a school. Now," she said. "I will be speaking with Alaric and Dorian, until then, explain to me, Alyssa, where you heard this dangerous rumour, and what you know of the prison world?"
Alyssa raised her chin and spoke loudly for the entire vicinity to hear.
"I overheard a conversation with Alaric and Emma, before you were Headmaster."
There was no way Caroline approved it, Bonnie thought.
Bonnie cleared her throat, "Who can tell me who currently resides in the 1994 prison world?"
It was Lizzie who raised her hand, for she and Josie had helped imprison him there.
"Kai Parker, my uncle, who murdered my bio-mum, and her whole family," Lizzie answered.
Bonnie nodded, solemnly, still haunted by his name.
"Correct. Some of you may not know I was imprisoned there for months with him."
Bonnie raised her shirt, showing two healed scars.
"This was when he stabbed me with an arrow, and this is when he stabbed me with a knife, both times because I kept him from something he wanted. You think you know evil, but these monsters we've been fighting, are nothing compared to Kai Parker. I hope to Merlin, what you overheard, Alyssa, was not real, but thank you for bringing it to my attention, for if children were sent to the Prison world, then I would not want anyone privy to this teaching at my school."
Bonnie added, "It's past curfew. Go. Detention will be at 1pm."
Kol nodded to Hope, and Rafael, glad they had missed most of the drama, and wondered if Davina's night had been any better than his. He watched the students return to the school in dribs and drabs, impressed by Bonnie's ability to control a bunch of underage supernaturals. He would never admit it to her face, but he was kind of fond of Bonnie Bennett.
There was a woosh of an arrow, which Kol heard, and caught, his reflexes as good as ever.
"Deja-vu," he muttered. "Little Gilbert." Kol snapped the arrow in two.
Jeremy grimaced, "I thought you were dead-" his crossbow still raised.
Kol shrugged, "No thanks to you-"
Alaric ignored their exchange, "What the hell happened?" he demanded of Bonnie.
Bonnie frowned. "A party. Ric, we need to talk-"
Alaric pointed at Penelope drenched in her own blood, "You. Explain. Now."
Bonnie raised her voice, "- about the Prison world, and the students you and Emma sent there without my, nor Caroline's, knowledge. We trusted you to run this school..."
She felt she had failed those children, and now Alaric's interference sent Kai a key to escape the prison world altogether, by siphoning each child's power for himself.
Alaric sighed, "They broke our rules, and it was the only way we could keep the deaths in Mystic Falls to a minimum. In case you've forgotten, we no longer have friends in the Sheriff department."
She felt as though the man standing in front of her was just a shell of the person she once trusted.
"You were supposed to help them control their power, not punish them for it!" Bonnie hissed.
Alaric sheathed his gun, filled with vervain-bullets from his recent recruitment trip.
"They were a danger to the school and the public. I do not regret it."
Bonnie thought of Lizzie, and the vampire she had spent some time with before her disappearance.
"And Sebastian? He was not a student, yet you punished him all the same."
Alaric's anger grew, "I gave him a chance to leave on his own terms. He made his choice."
Lizzie returned with MG, having heard her father's voice.
Sebastian ghosting her suddenly made sense.
"You sent Sebastian to the Prison world with psychotic Uncle Kai?"
Alaric massaged the bridge of his nose, "He was taking advantage of you, Lizzie! He's dangerous."
Words failed her, trying to sift through memories of their last encounter. She had almost forgotten his sultry voice when he spoke her name; his charming blue eyes; his tragic love affair with Cassandra. Even if it had not been true love, he had swept her off her feet, enough to feel what it could be like to be loved…
MG interrupted their conversation, "You never sent me there? I'm a Ripper."
"We supply a diet of bunny blood and blood bags for a reason, MG, to keep you weak," Alaric muttered.
Kol raised his arms, aware of Jeremy's trained eye but trusted Bonnie's instincts.
"Caroline married a reformed Ripper, if you remember. It was in 1920 when Stefan met Rebekah and formed a friendship with Klaus. Caroline was the ONLY vampire who switched off her humanity and remained in control of her kills. If anyone could teach MG, in Stefan's and Caroline's absence, it is Kol. He has my blessing, and as Headmaster, that is enough."
Jeremy frowned, but dropped his crossbow, and gave Bonnie a curt nod.
Bonnie kicked off her flats, and climbed into bed, relieved to find her husband safely inside. She wondered if he knew of Alaric's misdeeds, and whether he would admit to them. She pulled up the covers and stared at the back of Dorian's head, until he, without opening his eyes, said:
"What's on your mind, Bonnie?"
She sighed, "Did you know Ric sent a bunch of our kids to the Prison World?"
Dorian turned over to face her concerned expression, shaking his head. "He what…?"
"What I said, can you imagine Ric sending Pedro there because he couldn't handle him on a bad day? I have to get them back, even if it means facing Kai Parker."
Dorian threw his blankets from his bed. "Let me pay Ric my respects," he said.
Bonnie lay her hand on his knee, "I love you for that, but right now, I need you to hold me."
Dorian reluctantly pushed his rage aside, and hugged her, then kissed her head.
"I might only be human, but if Kai Parker turns up here, I will kill him."
Lizzie could hear voices coming from the library, probably Davina and Bonnie discussing their party at the old Lockwood Manor, she thought nothing of it as she brought cookies from the kitchen. Hope was busy with Rafael. MG was off with Kaleb and Kol, learning how not to be a Ripper, which left her playing charades with Pedro and Landon, and it was her turn to get snacks.
It was the 'seriously?' that made her turn around, because apart from Josie, there was only one other person who did that – their mother, Caroline Forbes-Salvatore.
Lizzie moved towards Bonnie's office door left slightly ajar.
"We are certain that Josie is alive, just in another dimension," Freya said.
Davina nodded, "Josie took Inadu to Malivore in 1953, and The Hollow returned in 1991."
Freya continued, "The Hollow is dead, we think she died in 1991, and as her bones were hidden, The Hollow was never resurrected, so a timeline could exist where Klaus and Elijah remain alive. Which means, there's a chance Hayley is too, however playing with time is a dangerous affair, as we know."
Lizzie guessed they had just opened another bottle of champagne as the cork hit the door.
"We can't go back, but we think Josie is jumping though time using Malivore. We know she entered Malivore in 1953, and if speculation is correct, Malivore released her due to having Hope's blood in her system, and from Lizzie's visions, she may have emerged in the 1994 Prison World."
"Kai Parker," Caroline realized, dropping her glass on the floor.
Lizzie could not stay behind closed doors forever.
"Mum?" she said, feeling hot tears falling down her paled cheeks. "Is it true? Is Josie trapped there?"
Caroline rose from her chair and hugged her daughter with a fierce promise.
"We'll bring her home," she whispered against Lizzie's heavy sobs. "Don't you worry."
A/N: If you enjoyed this chapter, feel free to tell me which parts had you on the edge of your seats. Follow me on Twitter for sneak peeks, polls, and chapter updates. If you could guess the endgames for this fic, who would you choose? Re: using HP books in this - Trans Lives Matter, and I do not condone JKR's transphobia, she is dead to me and the franchise is now owned by the fandom. Chapter 8 is currently in progress. Reviews make me happy x
