This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the world of Legacies and Reprisal, which is trademarked by The CW (Legacies) and Hulu (Reprisal) respectively. All characters are created and owned by Julie Plec (Legacies) and Josh Corbin (Reprisal), and I do not claim any ownership over them or the world of Legacies and Reprisal. The story I tell here is my invention except where inspired by scenes and lines from the show, and it is not purported or believed to be part of Julie Plec and Josh Corbin story canon. This story is for entertainment only and is not part of the official storyline. I am grateful to Julie Plec and Josh Corbin for their wonderful stories about these worlds, for, without these tv shows, my story would not exist.

Changing Paths Ch2

Matty caught her before she hit the ground. Her head rolled back and hit his shoulder. Looking down at her he saw the blood seeping through her side staining her shirt. "Quick, she's injured," he shouted.

Ethan and Meredith ran over followed by Katherine, Joel and Johnson. "Who is she? And what was that?" said Meredith, amazement in her voice. Amazement that was shared by all. Joel looked at Meredith and the girl. "I think those are the questions we're all asking ourselves." He muttered.

"Let's get her inside," Katherine said, "we can discuss all of this later."

Matty picked the girl up and carried her into the Bang-A-Rang followed by the others. He could see the other brawlers and pin-ups watching them with a mixture of fear and awe in their eyes. The outer courtyard is completely silent other than their movements towards and into the Bang-A-Rang. Queenie and Molly followed them inside.

Katherine led them to the room just off the main hall and motioned Matty to lay her on the bed. "Molly, please attend to her injuries, Meredith can assist you."

"Okay, I'm going to need two bowls of water, bandages, gauze, tweezers, antiseptic cream and a needle and thread," Molly said taking charge and eager to put her nursing skills to use.

"I'll get them," said Ethan moving from the room to complete his task.

The rest of them exited the room and moved into the main performance area and bar. Queenie stood there waiting for them, "are you sure this is a good idea, Katherine. We don't know anything about this girl and based on what I just saw she seems to be trouble."

"She also needs help, help that we might be in a position to provide."

"We're not a charity Katherine."

"I know that, and she might not need charity, none of which we'll know until she wakes up and can tell her story so I'm willing to wait until then to find out at the very least she might owe us a favour."

Queenie backed off knowing she wasn't going to get any further with her concerns.

"So, what are we going to do," Joel said, "I take it you have some sort of plan."

"Yes," Katherine said "Meredith and Molly will care for her and nurse her back to health, Joel, I want you to ensure a brawler is guarding her room at all times. I don't want anyone going in there unless it's been okayed by me and I certainly don't want her leaving until I've spoken to her. Matty, Johnson you will go about your usual tasks as well as be on hand to fetch whatever our guest might need to be comfortable and I may need all three Phoenixes on hand when she wakes up."

"We'll get straight on it, Katherine, I just hope you know what you're doing," said Joel. Katherine turned around and headed in the direction of her office accompanied by Queenie as Joel headed back out to the courtyard to speak to the brawlers and brief them on what was going to happen.

Matty headed to the bar followed by Johnson. "So still running errands then," said Matty. "I guess so," responded Johnson. Matty grabbed a beer for each of them and he took a long sip of his feeling the coolness go down his throat. It seemed even under Katherine he was only good for running errands, never the one fighting the battles but then wasn't that the choice he made the day he killed those Brawlers to protect Ethan, the day he chose the Phoenixes over his desire to be a Brawler. He took another sip of his beer.

"I think things are going to get a lot more interesting around here," said Johnson, "that girl is going to shake things up a lot." Johnson shared a look with him. A change was about to take place and that girl was going to be a part of it and the role of the Phoenixes could change with it.

She was lying on something soft. She though as awareness slowly returned to her mind. She could feel a warm blanket covering her. The pain she'd previously been in was no longer. She flickered her eyes open and blinked a few times, she felt like she'd been asleep for a century. She sat up slowly and examined her surroundings. She was lying on a bed with yellow blankets and the walls were covered with purple wallpaper, there were no windows and the room was dimly lit by lights connected to the walls, a couch and desk were the only other furniture in the room, a single door was the only exit to the room. It looked like a hotel room. She could see bandages and first aid supplies sitting on the desk presumably from whoever had treated her wound.

How long had she been asleep for? She wondered. She looked around to see if she could find anything that would tell her. And there it was, a desk clock. She'd been asleep for three days no wonder she felt so rested, she hadn't been able to sleep and rest like that since this whole thing started. Then she remembered, this whole thing, she didn't know where she was, but it still wouldn't take them long to find her here, wherever here was and whoever had decided to help would be the first on the chopping block when they did. She needed to leave.

She put her shoes in that had been removed and left near the bed, before making her way over to the door. Opening the door, she saw a big man standing there, his back to the door, he turned around, she immediately launched an uppercut, knocking the wind out of him, before grabbing him and banging his head against the door frame rendering him unconscious. She made her way through the hallway looking for the nearest exit.

There was a door at the end, she could hear talking and movement coming from behind it. Looking around, there didn't seem any other way out. She turned the knob slowly and pushed the door ajar slightly so she could see what or who she might have to fight her way through. Suddenly the door was pulled open and there stood a tall burly man wearing the same blue shirt the previous man had been wearing, he looked surprised but she didn't have time to ponder it further as she threw a kick at him as she travelled through the doorway, he flew back into one of the tables.

She was in some sort of bar with a large stage set up for live performances, there were chairs and tables set up around the stage and a large group of similarly blue-shirted men sitting down but at the commotion, they all stood up and seeing her they began to move towards her. Okay, Hope thought to herself, now's the time to fight.

Katherine was sitting down in her office, formerly Burt's office, going over the running of the Bang-A-Rang with Queenie and Joel, trying to see if there were any legal ways to make money, not that anything with the Bang-A-Rang was legal, how could it be when they were completely off the grid. But either way, they still made a hefty amount each night and they had the next Cops night to plan for, that would keep law enforcement off their backs for another few months.

Before they could go further Meredith barged into the room. "The girl," she cried. "She's awake and in the main performance hall. Come quick, she's going head to head with Brawlers."

They immediately stood up following Meredith out of the room. They made their way to one of the balconies that looked out over the main hall. The three river phoenixes were already there looking out over the hall at the commotion.

"We need to help her," Katherine said coming up behind them. Johnson turned to her "that girl doesn't need any help," he said with a slight smile. "Yeah, she's got everything under control," Ethan piped in.

They all took a position along the railing next to the phoenixes and looked down and they saw the mysterious young woman battling it out with what must have been twenty brawlers and it looked like she was winning. She was performing punches, kicks and flips and making good use of the tables and chairs as she fought. They all looked on in awe. "Who is this girl?" said Matty, seeing how well she handled herself. The Brawlers had a reputation of being the best fighters out of all of the gangs in the three rivers which was proven with their war against the happiness Ghouls, but this girl or should he say young women was showing them up.

"I'm not sure, Matty, but I'm going to find out," said Katherine making her way to the stairs that led down to the main floor followed by Joel.

She dropped to the ground and flung her leg out tripping over another opponent before jumping up and going into a back pike kicking the man that stood behind her in the back as she landed back down again. She then went into a back handspring hitting another man in the process. Her moves were strong, fast and flawless as she pulled on the training that Alaric had given her. These men clearly weren't very smart even though her fighting ability outpaced theirs they wouldn't let up, probably thinking they could wear her out but thanks to her werewolf side she had the added stamina, so she hadn't even broken a sweat. She just needed to deal with each of these men, who looked like they belonged to some mechanics club, and then she would be able to make her way to the nearest exit.

"Stop this right now," shouted a female voice. All the men stopped and moved away from her slightly. She looked for the exit, thinking that this was her chance to get away only to see that when she had been fighting a blue-shirted man had moved to each possible exit blocking it so she couldn't escape. She turned to the women who had called out and saw a petite woman, slender, shoulder-length blond hair and light brown eyes. She wore a simple blue dress and you could tell by the way she held herself that this woman was the one in charge, she held herself with the strength of a warrior and you could tell that she wasn't the one to cross.

"Impressive," she said, "You're a girl who knows how to take care of herself, allow me to introduce myself, I am Katherine Harlow and this establishment is the Bang-A-Rang and what's your name?"

"Why would you want to know that?"

Katherine smiled, "well you seem like someone who is in a great deal of trouble and could use our help, despite your unique talents and gifts."

This woman had a gentle, kind, motherly persona about her but she could sense there was steel underneath showing her dual personality, that she was kind and gentle if you were on her side but would destroy you if you were against her.

"And how could you help me, with money perhaps, my father was rich and left me well provided for with money, jewels and even castles. Protection maybe, my father left me with an army of people more capable of protecting me than anyone here and they all died in the process so I doubt anyone here could do any better. So, I suggest for everyone's sake that you let me leave."

"That may be the case, but the point is you look like you've been running for a very long time and if you've found your way here then I'm guessing you don't have anywhere else to run too."

"You don't know what you're dealing with."

"Then explain things to me, and I'll decide if you're worth helping or not."

There was something about her commanding presence and warm demeanour and Hope found herself opening up to her.

"My grandmother was a very powerful witch, she invented dark magic, my father was one of the world's first vampires, the most ruthless and deadly of his kind, my mother was the queen of the crescent werewolf pack. I am a descendant of all three main magical races making me the Tribred, the only one in existence. Knowing that I would be in danger from the moment I was born till the moment I breathed my last breath because of power and my ancestry it was decided that I would be trained in the fighting arts. Are you sure you want to get involved in this?"

"You're not honestly going to believe this story, are you?" Dru shouted from somewhere in the crowd. "Magic isn't real."

"Oh, magic is real and you better start believing in it because it's a part of me," Hope said raising a hand, palm upright and allowing it to glow slightly. Showing just a little bit of the magic that existed within her.

"I'm willing to believe, it'll explain what we saw outside," Joel said putting an end to the argument.

Hope lowered her hand, putting the light out.

"Well it seems like you have quite the story to tell and so does everyone else here. Everyone came here running from something or they came here looking for something. You can stay here until the day you decide to leave, and we will offer what assistance we can and in exchange, you will help out around here."

"And if I decide to leave."

"You can leave if you choose, but you won't be able to return. Though I don't think you will. Like I said you've been running a long time and I don't believe you want to run anymore, I think you're ready to fight. So, will you stay?"

She thought about it for a second and knew there was only one answer she could give. "I'll stay," she said resignedly.

"Good, now what's your name. We need to know what to call you after all."

"Hope Mikaelson, my name is Hope Mikaelson."

"Welcome to the Bang-A-Rang, Hope Mikaelson."