Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The wind swirled the fallen leaves across the lawn of the Salvatore school, and the trees seemed to whisper to each other. The pumpkins which the younger children had carved for Halloween sat on old straw bales and on the pillars of the school gates, silently rotting while the magical candles in each continued to glow brightly against the midnight blue sky.

Through the window, however, painted an entirely different story. Children of all ages sat on too large stately green armchairs and sunk into fraying old sofas, laughing loudly to each other. Plates and cups seemed to fly above their heads in a never-ending cycle and on occasion one of the children would pluck one out of the air and sip tentatively as though unsure what the cup contained.

The fire crackled loudly making the few solitary children jump looking up from their books for a split second before resuming where they had left off.

In the corner of the room, however, sat another girl separate if possible, from all of them. She stared out of the window at the dark unforgiving nature of the November night. Of course, she and all the other children there had something in common, that out there, was where they truly belonged.

"Hope Mikaelson are you done brooding?"

"Hello, Lizzie" Hope said rolling her eyes, a grimoire belonging to an old coven lay open in her lap, slightly bigger than A4, the book dwarfed her, making her look far more innocent than she had any right to appear.

"Honestly, you get what, one question wrong in one class and here you are feeling sorry for yourself" Lizzie rambled, reaching to take what looked like a small glass of wine out of thin air. She eyed it suspiciously, the smell making her scrunch her nose. She took a deep breath and downed the whole drink in one. "that's disgusting. I am never getting used to that" she said opening and closing her mouth in attempt to rid herself of the taste.

"You don't have to drink it, you know; you could just desiccate" Hope replied flicking through the pages of the book which her mind had long stopped paying attention to. She sighed and looked up, catching the death glare that Lizzie was currently trying to throw her way. "Am I supposed to be intimidated by that" she scoffed, her eyes never leaving Lizzies. Lizzie sighed and slumped down onto an unoccupied seat beside Hope.

"Honestly, I am one of the most powerful beings in existence and then you have to be a freak of nature and still beat me. Can you not, I don't know pretend just once to think I might be powerful" she grumbled playing with her long blonde hair, which today she had tied up in a ponytail.

"I think you are very powerful Lizzie" Hope said sincerely "but, you are you and I am me and I'm not the least bit intimidated by your presence"

"You never know I could go dark on you" Lizzie spoke trying to get a rise out of Hope, but all she got was the raise of an eyebrow and a roll of the eyes. "I could too" she tried to defend.

"Lizzie, you would be the last person in this school to ever go dark."

"that's not true MG still lives here" Lizzie said reaching out and pointing her finger at Hope, Hope pushed it out of the way with another half smirk.

"You would still be the last" Hope stated like she was completely sure of herself, and dear God did Lizzie hate that self-assured presence Hope carried around with her.

"I can't tell if you honestly believe that or if you are doing this to wind me up" Lizzie grumbled pulling out her phone to text her sister.

Lizzie - Hope is being a bitch

Josie - Hi, how are you?

Josie - why yes Lizzie I am having a great time in Europe figuring myself out.

Joise - What's that you miss me?

Josie - I miss you too.

Lizzie rolled her eyes as the messages came in one after the other from her sister, she could see that she wasn't done because those three little dots had yet to disappear.

Lizzie - Yes, sorry. How are you?

She messaged, jumping in before her sister sent her a passive-aggressive paragraph.

Josie - I am good, how are you?

Lizzie - I am alright, Hope is brooding beside me and the sky is blue.

Lizzie- So, nothing new I guess.

Lizzie- What about you anything exciting

Lizzie - Please save me from the boredom

Joise - Not a lot really, I went to a few museums today which was pretty cool, and I saw some new art.

Joise - Are you with Hope now?

Joise - Tell her I said Hey.

Lizzie read that last line with a roll of the eyes, why was Josie always so effortlessly kind. She really was exhausting. Sometimes Lizzie was convinced that they had been switched in the hospital by mistake, but there was too much evidence to the contrary. Still, it felt like they were complete opposites with Lizzie getting all the worst parts.

Lizzie turned her head to the left to see Hope, she had her elbow resting on the arm of the chair and her head in her hand. Hope was staring absent-minded out of the window, her hand moving to turn the page of the unread book.

"Alright, even I can tell something is up" Lizzie stated, sitting forward to catch Hope's eye.

"What" Hope said clearly not paying any attention

"I said are you alright, you have barely read your Hogwarts A history?"

"I'm not reading... oh right. Funny"

"Seriously, are you okay?" Lizzie said a little more concerned when her joke had fallen flat, normally Hope finds her quips amusing and will even respond in kind.

"I think I am just tired, and the full moon is only two nights away and you know that throws me all out of whack" Hope tried, her fingers tapping against her book as she did so, a clear indication she was lying.

"Mikaelson,I know you better than that." Lizzie stated, her eyebrows furrowed as she searched Hopes face, when she was met with a slight blush, she knew what was bothering her. "It's the question isn't it"

"Look its not like I didn't know the answer. I was just caught off guard you know, and I don't understand why she picked on me anyway. I was just finishing saving the school for the 100th time. Can she not back off" Hope ranted, while Lizzie looked on fondly a small smile playing on her lips trying her best not to laugh. "Oh, great so my feelings are laughable now are they, that's just great, remind me to open up to you more often" Hope threw herself back in the chair having moved forward while she spoke. Lizzie chuckled at the little outburst, causing hope to cross her arms in irritation. Lizzie leaned across and ran her thumb across Hopes brow causing it to unfurrow.

"Your wolf eyes are showing, and how many times must I tell you not to frown you'll get wrinkles"

"Well, that's not going to be a problem given that I have stopped aging"

"And apparently so has your mental state." Lizzie quipped back, standing she walked around the back of the chair, leaning over to kiss Hope on the forehead. "I am going to get us some ice cream, so you can cool off" Hope titled her head so she could see lizzie's face, stupidly pretty, annoyingly calm, face.

"Thank you." Hope murmured "Maybe the moon has actually played a part in this"

"uh huh, you can blame the moon all you want. You do this once a week" Lizzie said as she stood and made her way out to the kitchen.

"I do not" Hope yelled back, causing a bunch of the students to pause what they were doing and look up at the pair. "sorry" Hope mumbled, and they all went back to what they were doing.

Hope tried to get back into her book but the ability to read had long since gone out the window, she folded the book closed and placed it on the side table beside her. At first, she stared out the window, but that had soon lost all her attention, as she stared at the door, waiting for Lizzie to come waltzing back through.

She felt herself sit up a little when the door first opened, but it was just Doctor Saltzman telling the younger kids it was time to head up to bed, he was met with a couple groans but most of them had long since stopped battling the routine.

"Night Hope" a few of them called out, and Hope nodded at them as they slunk through the door, tired eyes and loud yawns. The room had pretty much cleared out, only a few older students remained. Hope eyed the now empty sofa beside the roaring fire, she ran pretty hot anyway, but she missed the heat of New Orleans, and what Dog didn't like to fall asleep by an open fire.

"Not to late hope"

"huh" Hope asked turning around having stood to make a beeline for the sofa.

"Not too late, I know you don't really have a curfew, but it's been a long week for you and Lizzie. You should try and get in as much sleep as you can, when you can"

"I'll get your daughter to bed at a decent hour" Hope smirked, seeing Dr. Saltzman flush at the implication of his request and Hope's response.

"I am more than capable of getting myself to bed. Thank you very much." Lizzie stated, pushing open the door, Hope smiled at her timing but felt it drop slightly when she saw MG was currently trailing behind her. So much for just her and Lizzie.

"Right, yes of course you can. I meant don't keep each other up, or... actually, I am just going to leave now" Dr. Saltzman said having stammered his way through the sentence. "Night" he called leaving through the door and closing it behind him.

"God, he is embarrassing" Lizzie muttered, handing Hope a bowl of ice cream and sitting down beside her, as MG took a seat on the sofa opposite.

"He means well" MG said, and while Hope was about to say the same thing, she felt it die on her tongue. This was a new development in her relationship with Lizzie, it wasn't jealousy because obviously, Hope had no feelings for Lizzie, not like that at least. But as they had gotten closer, every person that obviously had a crush or a thing for Lizzie had suddenly become the most annoying person on the earth and every so often Hope would catch herself staring daggers at them before remembering what she was doing. It wasn't MG's fault he had always been into Lizzie. So, that wasn't news to Hope, but now, knowing Lizzie the way she knew Lizzie, the idea that MG thought he had a hope in hell, suddenly filled her with an intense rage that she couldn't place. No offence to MG, he was nice. But this was Lizzie, Lizzie didn't need nice. Nice was boring. Nice didn't fight for Lizzie, nice wouldn't kill for Lizzie, nice wouldn't watch Lizzie be a total bitch or say things wrong and laugh. No, nice, reprimanded Lizzie for her personality and asked her to be better and do better. When Lizzie was already enough. No, Nice wasn't going to cut it. Not for her Lizzie. Nice could fucking light himself on fire and fuck off. See, like Hope was saying, rage.

"Urrm Earth to Hope" Lizzie said knocking her slightly with an elbow, Hope shook her head almost sure, by the stress she felt on her forehead, she had been scowling at MG.

"Sorry, what. I am so out of it tonight"

"The full moon is soon isn't it?" MG said softly nodding his head in understanding, Hope was suddenly overcome with the urge to tell him to piss off.

"yea, you know how it is," Hope said instead, much to the dislike of her inner voice which was currently trying to work out how many pieces she would have to cut him into to fit into a box, so she could ship him to the Atlantic.

"I was just saying that you had better start your ice cream before the fire melts it. Also, Josie says hi" Lizzie said, looking at Hope a little unsure about what was going on, she had been pretty sure it was the question thing, but Hope looking like she wanted to kill MG was new. Well not new, if she were honest, but unnecessary for sure.

"How is she doing," MG asked as hope sat further back into the sofa scowling into her bowl of ice cream soup.

"She is doing okay, leaving here really did her the world of good" Lizzie said turning her head to the side, making sure to cover the sadness that had crossed her face, looking back to MG and putting on her best Lizzie Saltzman smile, she felt a hand rest tentatively on her knee and looked down to find MGs hand resting there slightly.

"That must be reall..."

"Excuse me, need the toilet" Hope called walking between them causing MG's hand to fall off Lizzie's knee, Lizzie looked up at Hope as she left, eyeing her suspiciously. What had gotten into her honestly, she was all depressed when she left the room and now, she looked ready to fight people. Lizzie turned back to MG and cleared her throat slightly, to clear the awkwardness or whatever the feeling was that had fallen in the room.

"Yea it is a little odd, not having her around, but like I said she is in a really good place, and I think I am in a better place than I have been in a while. It's also nice not having the merge hanging over our heads anymore." Lizzie said trying to continue the conversation.

"I am sure it's a huge relief, I am sorry that it had to happen this way though," MG said looking at Lizzie with a sense of pity, that Lizzie couldn't understand. She was happy being a vampire, this worked out well for her, she no longer had to worry about the merge, her mental health had gotten significantly better now that magic didn't ebb and flow through her like before and she no longer needed to siphon.

Which was taking some getting used to, randomly grabbing at hope whenever she wanted something, was not something she had put much thought into before but now whenever she did it, people would give her a weird look. Although, Hope in her defence would carry on as though nothing had happened.

Lizzie remembered the most recent monster attack, which had been caused by a few of the third years messing around with a summoning spell, nothing from the dead, that was forbidden. Wade had quickly worked out, although quickly would be a relative term because Hope had been fighting that thing for at least an hour and was looking very drained. If you asked, Lizzie would of said he did his part very, very, slowly. Anyway, when they worked out fire was how you kill it, Lizzie took Hope's hand in hers as they performed the spell. It wasn't until the creature, was long dead and they had turned round to walk into the school, that they had noticed something was wrong. MG, Kaleb and Cleo were staring at them.

"What? has it come back ? do I not want to turn around?" Lizzie had asked.

"No, its just.." Kaleb began

"I thought you didn't need to siphon anymore?" MG asked.

"She doesn't" Hope snapped at him causing him to stop talking and look down at the ground, Lizzie still needs to get to the bottom of that one.

"Then why are you holding hands ?" Cleo had asked.

"It's called a joint spell" Hope had shot back, dropping Lizzie's hand and storming passed them all and into the school. Lizzie knew that it wasn't really a joint spell although it was good practice to hold hands when more than one Witch was involved. She knew it was a force of habit and clearly it was a habit that Hope didn't want to change, if that reaction was anything to go off.

But despite getting used to not siphoning there weren't many negatives. She couldn't have a family sure, but she could adopt if she wanted and Hope and her Mom would always be there, so it wasn't like she was going to be alone anytime soon. So why was MG looking at her like that? She turned her head as Hope walked back into the room, Hope looked how she always did when she was trying to judge a situation. She seemed okay with whatever she saw or didn't see.

Hope took her seat in the corner of the sofa beside the fire, taking the pillow and placing it on her lap.

"What did I miss?" Hope asked

"MG was just saying what a shame it was that I am a Vampire, I think?" Lizzie asked a little quizzically as though she hadn't properly understood what MG had said, Hope who had been looking at Lizzie spun her head to MG, the yellow of her Wolf eyes bleeding through her usual blue.

"What did you say?" Hope asked MG her tone despite her eyes, was calm and friendly, MG squirmed under the glare but noted that the tone meant she was unlikely to do anything, he hoped that it was the full moon that was causing her eyes to change so frequently.

"Just that it was a shame this was the only way to change the merge?" He said or rather questioned now not sure of himself. Hope tilted her head to the side slightly, her yellow eyes burning so brightly they twinged red. " I just meant that, I wish there had been another route... that It was a big choice for her to .. you know. I think I am just tired going to head to bed" MG finally said. Lizzie didn't need to look over at Hope to know what kind of look she had given MG, although she had seen Hope change a person into a Wolf with a glare she had yet to see its effect on Vampires.

"Sounds like a solid plan" Hope said her eyes dimming back to their usual yellow and finally to her cool blue. Lizzie gave what she hoped was an "I'm sorry" look as he still appeared visibly shaken.

"Goodnight, MG" Lizzie called as MG scampered out of the room.

Lizzie turned to Hope, rolling her eyes "you are really something"

"Why thank you, but I don't know what you mean?" Hope said trying to play the innocent card.

"I don't think I have ever seen him squirm like that, he meant well even if what he was saying was a little insensitive"

"Insensitive, didn't realise I was talking to Josie all of a sudden" Hope spoke and although she had some control over her voice, with the full moon coming she had clearly lost control over her eyes which were glowing yellow again.

"Shut up, you know what I mean, he didn't mean anything bad"

"Well to my ears it sounds a lot like he has put you up on a pedestal and now you are a vampire you no longer quite fit into his whole damsel in destress mindset" Lizzie moved forward, as she had done countless times before running her thumb across the top of Hope's forehead to soften out the frown, with the added effect of getting hopes Wolf eyes to shut off.

"MG isn't like that, and you know it. You've been short with him recently what's with that" Hope sighed leaning back further into the sofa and running her hands over her face.

"you're right, I should have apologised, but so should he" Hope said pointedly

"Not that I am not hugely amused by you defending my honour, but I can fix this on my own" Lizzie said pointedly, hope only nodded, she knew it was true but it didn't mean letting Lizzie take care of herself was easy.

Lizzie placed her bowl on the ground and lifted her legs onto the sofa curling to get comfortable, and finally placed her head on the pillow Hope had placed on her lap a few minutes ago.

"Don't get too comfortable, you heard your dad we should try to get an early night"

"yes, well with your little joke I don't think he is going to come near us, and also we so rarely get any peace I just want to sit here and enjoy It"

"With me?" Hope asked, her smirk firmly on her lips

"Yes, if you can avoid ruining it"

"Just checking"

"But if you did want to make yourself useful you could at least play with my hair"

"I knew there was a reason," Hope said rolling her eyes, but her hand was already on Lizzie's head smoothing back her baby hairs.

"You can tell me the answer to the question if you like" Lizzie, said rolling from her side so she was flat on her back, looking up at Hope.

"Don't mess with me" Hope reprimanded her.

"No, I am serious, come on, tell me" Hope eyed her suspiciously but when she found nothing to show she was teasing her she started to go into detail about the history of Latin and the double meanings often misinterpreted today, she looked down about a minute into speaking to see Lizzie's eyes closed.

"Lizzie" Hope whined, causing Lizzie to smile widely at the childish side that Hope displayed.

"What, I am listening, I am just resting my eyes, keep going I swear, I am interested" Lizzie coaxed, a small smile still present as she closed her eyes again, this time she occasionally let out a noise or a nod to let Hope know she was paying attention. Hope had now been waffling for the past 10 minutes realising that she last heard Lizzie respond about 5 minutes ago.

"of course, you aren't listening to me." She grumbled, running her hand over the top of Lizzie's head, she smiled fondly down at her. Hope checked the time, it was already half 10, she should probably wake Lizzie for bed. She gently tapped Lizzie's hand "Liz, ...Lizzie, ...Liz" Lizzie groaned in an effort to show she was at least conscious. "Liz, come on you fell asleep, let's just go up to bed"

"Buy me dinner first," Lizzie said rolling onto her side so that Hope could no longer see her face.

"Funny." Said Hope clearly unamused "come on Lizzie lets go to bed"

"Magic me or carry me Mikaelson, cause I'm not moving" Lizzie responded, Hope rolled her eyes, she herself was in no rush, the flames beside her still going just as strong having been spelled. She stared down at Lizzie trying to wait her out, about five minutes later she realised that trying to win a stubborn contest with Lizzie Saltzman was like getting blood from a stone.

Hope magically levitated Lizzie's body, so that she could stand without waking her, before lowering her into her own arms. She considered vamping up the stairs but there was a good chance given how much taller Lizzie was that she would end up hitting her head off a wall. So, she instead walked up the stairs. Once she had gotten into the twin's room, she lay Lizzie into the bed as gently as she could, pulling the covers up and over her body. Just before she left the room, she heard a quiet sleepy call.

"Good night, Mikaelson"there was a small pause and then a rushed "love you"

"Love you too"

"As you should" Lizzie mumbled tiredly, Hope smiled to herself before closing the door behind her, so maybe she had a small thing for Elizabeth Saltzman. Sue her.

Chapter Text

Whack!! the sound seemed to echo not just through the trees but through Hope’s bones as well, she barely had a second to feel the pain before another hit came from the other side. She briefly took solace in the fact that her skin could not be broken, before she felt the cool trickling liquid falling down her right shoulder, a tell tale sign she was in fact bleeding. The next hit was aimed at the same place as the first, but this time she was ready. She grabbed the wooden staff in mid-air, the shock of the counterattack gave her a vital few seconds, instead of pushing the staff away she brought it towards her, disarming her opponent. Hope only slowed down slightly, deciding whether to keep the staff as a weapon or discard it to fight with her other abilities. Unfortunately, her attacker also spotted this pause landing a kick below her jaw, she felt her neck snap, before the world went blank.

Hope came too with Lizzie Saltzman kneeling over her, the tall trees just visible behind her head. Hope licked her lips expecting to feel them swollen and cut but all she tasted was the faint remanence of blood. Lizzie watched Hope's face come to the realisation and rolled her eyes at the slight smile that adorned Hope’s face.

“How long was I out?” Hope asked, rubbing her already healed face.

“Five minutes” Lizzie stated standing, as Hope brought herself up to a sitting position. Lizzie picked up the wooden staff, the only thing that seemed to be still injured from the fight.

“You spelled it,” Hope said gesturing towards the staff, she was trying to sound reprimanding but even to her ears she could hear the hint of pride.

“And, I figured it would be unrealistic that people wouldn’t prepare for a fight” Lizzie shrugged, she held the staff on one end, which she had fashioned into a handle. It looked to Hope to resemble a lightsaber but she was not stupid enough to point that out.

“It was a good idea, next time don’t make a pattern out of your hits”

“You know, you talk a big game for someone who has died twice in the past twenty minutes”

“I’m going easy. It’s training” Hope tried, but even she had to admit they were evenly matched for the most part. Especially as the aim was to injure and not actually kill. When Doctor Saltzman had originally suggested that Lizzie and Hope train together alone, Hope had thought the man had finally lost it. She was far stronger and faster than Lizzie, but as always, Hope found herself wondering why she had ever underestimated the Saltzman. Lizzie on the other hand had only agreed on the basis that Hope would teach her the more magical side of her abilities. Lizzie still struggled with compulsion but seeing the way Lizzie mastered all other Vampire abilities she was beginning to think Lizzie had a mental block against it.

“Alright my turn,” Lizzie said once Hope had dusted herself off and was back in the makeshift ring. The ring was just a circle on the floor made out of rope that they had magically enabled to stop any killing blow. It had been a good idea given that they didn’t know the extent of Hope’s abilities or of Lizzies. With Lizzie's freak power originating from her mood swings and Hope having never fully accessed her tribrid powers, they both possessed a kind of wild card energy that had made fail safes necessary.

“just one more round, with the same staff I want to know if I can sense its magic,” Hope asked her hands coming up to make fits as Lizzie used the air to push herself up slightly from the ground her staff, glowing with the magic she was infusing it with.

“Hope” came a call faintly in the distance, a panicked kind of call that neither Hope nor Lizzie wanted to hear but recognised immediately. Lizzie lowered herself back to the ground, her staff still held up defensively. “Hope” The call came louder now, the voice finally identifiable. Hope let out a huff of annoyance as Lizzie lowered her staff, and not two seconds later Jed flew through the air and landed in the middle of their circle. His hands-on his knees bent over slightly as he tried to catch his breath. He lifted his finger to Hope in the signal for “give me a second”.

“No by all means take your time” came Lizzie's sarcastic response as she threw her staff towards the barrel of other training equipment, missing by a few inches.

“Sorry,” Jed said in a mumble, still breathing heavily. “It’s the pack” he took another deep breath “the moon this month is stronger than normal.”

“Yes, well more power in the summer solstice. Why are you here?” Hope asked, amused as Lizzie walked around the circle to stand beside Hope.

“Because I need help,” Jed replied, he still hadn’t given a single reason why Hope’s help was needed.

“you’re the Alpha, you deal with them” Hope tried again, she had been eager to train with Lizzie today, it had taken so long to get her to agree and now it was about to be cut short.

“yes, and I appreciate that but, there is a bit of an emergency” He turned his head as a scream could be heard faintly in the distance, seemingly coming from the school “and as Alpha. I have made the Alpha decision of asking you to help”

“your leadership knows no bounds” Hope stated sarcastically, turning slightly in the direction of the school, just to check that it hadn’t caught on fire.

“Please hope, the second years are currently running around with tails sprouting and the older lot are trying to duel each other. Three of them are already in the infirmary”

“You really suck at being the Alpha you know” Lizzie Grumbled, knowing full well that Jed now had Hope's full and undivided attention, their training time had officially been cut short.

“you’re the best,” Jed said before running off in the direction of the school, presumably to sort out whatever the scream had been from.

“come on Lizzie,” Hope said as she flicked her wrist, levitating the staff into the barrel, “I’ll race you back” Lizzie didn’t give a response before disappearing “Cheat” Hope yelled out after her.

Chapter Text

Opening the doors of the school was like taking a snapshot of an active battlefield. Pictures on the walls lay either in tatters or partially burned, and in the spaces where no picture hung, claw marks ran through the wallpaper. Children of all ages ran at each other or threw items of furniture by magic or enhanced strength. The wolves had clearly lost their minds, the younger ones all looked partway transformed, not to mention the Witches who had apparently found out that their magic was stronger on celestial events.

Lizzie and Hope shared a look before stepping into the building, making for the infirmary, to either find Emma or someone else that would fill them in on the details Jed hadn’t mentioned earlier. They were about to turn the corner when a door came flying across them, followed by a young boy, who judging by the fur on his hands was part of the Wolf fraction, he looked more angry, than hurt, much to their relief.

Lizzie turned her head to see the responsible party and was not in the least surprised to see a few of the popular third-year Witches standing there. Fireballs hovering just above their hands looking ready to throw at a second’s notice. Lizzie grumbled realising that they were going to have to get involved.

“You go to the infirmary, I’ll fix this and find you later,” Lizzie said, Hope held her eye for a second before nodding her head.

“see you” Hope called before Vamping away.

“Fucking Pyros” The wolf growled, which was just about the only ammo that both parties needed, the witches sent the balls of fire flying and the wolf started running forward. Lizzie stepped into the battlefield, she held her right hand up, which started glowing, the fire balls adjusting their path heading straight for lizzie’s hand getting smaller and smaller as Lizzie siphoned the spell out of mid-air, with her other hand she turned the floor to mud causing the boy to fall unharmed.

“You,” she ordered the boy, who was now covered in mud “report to your alpha” The boy seemed not to move, staring up at her clearly a little shocked at the power she just displayed. “Now” She commanded the boy seemed to recoil, before nodding and running off in the other direction. “and you three had better go find whoever it is you report to, or so help me, I will siphon the magic out of you” The three girls did not need a second warning.

“Sorry Lizzie, he just wouldn’t calm down,” The middle girl said, her head bowed in what Lizzie identified as false remorse. It was odd being respected in this manner, the power she now had clearly given her words more weight.

“Sorry Lizzie” The other two girls seemed to say in unison.

Lizzie, tilted her head back, sighing. Today was going to be a really long day.

Finch sat on one of the beds in the infirmary, having tried to break up a fight between two of the younger wolves, her arm was now hanging out of its socket and her eye closely resembled pandas. Which was to say nothing for her teeth and ears which were becoming more wolf-like by the second. Finch had been grumbling away to Hope and Jed who had been doing their best to ignore her, in an effort to remain calm. It seemed that all the wolves' emotions had been heightened, and those feelings had been leading to their transformations. Training with Lizzie had been helping Hope remain calm, but listening to Finch bitch about whatever it was she was saying, well, let’s say Hope could feel the hairs on her hands.

“I don’t understand why we are always having to rely on witches to solve wolf problems” Finch started up again, she seemed wholly unbothered by her arm which was still not healed.

“It may have escaped your notice Finch, but I am a Witch” Hope shot back, her temper flaring, which wasn’t unusual but it normally took longer than this.

“But you are more wolf. You’re one of us, not like the rest of them” she sneered, looking out into the hall where everyone was still going crazy.

“Well, we,” Emma said walking out of the supply cupboard “Are helping so how about you quit trying to fight us, and maybe I’ll fix your arm” Hope chuckled at that, the notion of Finch trying to fight anyone with one arm was an amusing concept. Although with the fire that had steadily been growing in Finches eyes, she wondered if maybe it wouldn’t be so amusing. “Hope, I have to dash, just make sure Lizzie knows what she needs to do and try and keep that one from killing anyone,” she said motioning towards Finch, who was currently trying and failing to put her own arm back in its socket.

“No promises” Hope said rolling her eyes at the scowl Finch was given to Emma. Emma to her credit only seemed to find Finches anger amusing, she waved goodbye and headed out.

...

“Well, if it isn’t the princess, come down from her ivory tower to help us poor folk” Finch drawled, upon Lizzie's arrival to the infirmary.

“And, what’s your problem? I see your poor manners are intact. What a pity” Lizzie snapped.

“Alright, claws away both of you,” Hope said as she walked out of the storage cupboard, holding an oversized cauldron.

“I don’t have claws.” Lizzie snapped looking at Hope, her eyes drifting to Hope’s hands. “Although apparently, I can’t say the same for you”

“Yes well. We are all half changing. Summer solstice and a full moon.” Hope paused to dump the cauldron on the table on the other side of the room. “Plus, everyone here is stressing me out and the Alpha has decided to play Beta” Hope complained, taking a bunch of equipment out of the cupboards by the wall.

“Hey! I resent that, I can’t do magic, and this requires a magic solution. So, you point me in the direction of something to fight and I’ll do that” Jed said carrying in a second cauldron and dropping it on the table beside Hope’s “but I’ll leave this part to the experts”

“don’t flatter them, Lizzie couldn’t magic water from the sea,” Finch said chiming in, Lizzie had almost forgotten she was there.

“I know your emotions are probably all over the place right now, but you open that trap once more and I swear I’ll make sure it never opens again” Finch was up and in Lizzie’s face in a shot, her arm still hanging loosely by her side.

“what are you going to do blonde-y?” She asked, a small smile creeping onto her face. Hope felt her wolf stand to attention, growling at Finch in warning. “Got yourself a hell hound there Saltzman?” and that was all Lizzie needed, her hands resting on Finches shoulders siphoning off her as she pushed her to the ground. Finch tried to fight back at first, but as more and more of the magic was drained from her, so too was her ability to push back. As Finch fell her ears and fangs reduced back to their normal size and her eyes returned to their usual colour. Once Finch was on her Knees, Lizzie finally released her.

“Do not start something you can’t finish,” Lizzie stated calmly, when Finch simply rolled her head back unresponsive, Lizzies cool façade dropped. “Shit. Are you alright?”

“Alright? I feel like someone has just clicked every bone in my body. I feel great.” Finch stated, bouncing to her feet, only to fall straight over again “My arm” She screamed in pain, the feeling which should have been apparent earlier seemed to flood back into her system.

“Sana ossa” Hope called waving her hand in a tick motion, the click that resounded as Finch’s arm was fixed back into place was defining.

“Damn.” Finch said her face not covering up how much that hurt. “Well, I feel loads better. Sorry about the dig” Finch said looking in Hope's direction, causing Lizzie to roll her eyes, because of course only Hope deserves an apology for Finches shity mood.

“I think the summer solstice has boosted everyone’s magic level a little too high, which is causing the mood swings and thus our inability to control the change, Lizzie siphoning off you brought you back to a normal level” Hope spoke allowed, clearly working through what this meant in terms of finding a fix for the rest of the pack.

“Can you do me?” Jed asked stepping forward, his tail had not yet shown but his eyes were glowing, and he had managed to grow sideburns which Lizzie thought were particularly unattractive.

“Eww, I’d rather die” Lizzie said holding her hands up and stepping backwards.

“no, I meant can you siphon it off me. I can barely think” Jed asked, slight desperation in his voice. He knew that he wasn’t the most reliable Alpha, but when he wasn’t at his best it meant that the pack wasn’t either.

“I can’t take much more without using it. I can already feel what I’ve siphoned this morning.” Lizzie said, not just what she had taken from Finch but from those other witches as well and her own magic which was heightened due to the solstice. It wasn’t a good time.

“Well, come on just a little bit, please”

“Fine. But only a little.” Lizzie relented, her mind running through a million possibilities of what would happen on a summer solstice if she siphoned too much. She was drawn back to the last time she had had a breakdown when "fully charged” it had not been pretty and lord knows what it would mean now that she had her own magic running through her veins.
She took a step toward Jed, gently placing her hand on his shoulder and started to siphon slowly, she did not want to get the balance wrong here, however, when she went to take her hand away Jed held it in place.

“Jed,” Lizzie called, getting both Hope and Finch's attention “Jed let go” Lizzie called again, panicking now, she was almost fit to burst. “Jed” She screamed. Jed suddenly flew through the air and landed against the beds, which continued to move back with the force.

“She said enough, Jed” Hope growled at him, her teeth were bared and her eyes burning a tinge of red as they did when she was truly angry. Jed went to stand up, he staggered slightly, still dazed. The moment he got his footing, Hope ran to him. Her wolf was making the calls at this point, and who was she to forbid it. Lizzie got there just before Hope, relying on her Vampire side, she held her hand to Hope's chest, pushing her backwards slightly.

“Let it go. Now is not the time.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Hope said deadly calm, and for a second Lizzie almost believed that Hope would kill for her.

“What you are going to do” Lizzie stated punctuating her point by applying further pressure to Hope's chest “Is go back over there and tell me how I can help with the potions, and then you are going to try and keep your wolf in check”

“It is not my Wolf who is angry” Hope stated through gritted teeth. Lizzie was a little taken aback by that, the notion that Hope's wolf reacted to Hope's emotions not its own, as was the case with the rest of the pack. She shook her head, trying not to think of the implications of that, she had meant it when she told Hope to let it go. She was not going to sit with Hope tomorrow while she berated herself for acting out. The two held each other’s eyes, having a silent argument over the situation, finally, Hope nodded slightly at Lizzie and turned back.

“Liz..”

“Don’t speak to me Jed. You and the other one can just go. I want a row of every wolf in this building outside the infirmary in an hour”

“45 minutes” Hope muttered

“What?” Lizzie asked her tone changing immediately when speaking to Hope.

“45 minutes”

“Well, you heard her,” Lizzie yelled when both wolves were still staring at her dumbly.

“I real..”

“out” Lizzie screamed, and the lights flickered as a gust of wind pushed both Finch and Jed out of the room, Slamming the large oak down behind them, The lock turning with a loud metallic click.

Chapter Text

“Your eyes are still red” Lizzie stated, having composed herself.

“Yes well, I am still mad.” Hope stated, throwing banana leaves into the pot. “How are you?” Hope asked, she gave another herb a sniff before throwing it behind her in search of something else. She turned to look at Lizzie, who was breathing deeply to calm herself. “Liz?”

“I’m okay, but I am worried about this evening. I’ve been doing really well, and I can’t afford to lose it tonight”

“You won’t. I won’t let that happen”

“Is that before or after you spend the whole evening making sure the wolves don’t kill each other”

“Screw them, I’ll be wherever you need me to be” Hope said her eyebrows lowering and tone serious.

“I think we both know you wouldn’t do that” Lizzie said. Hope felt her heart fall. She had meant it, at least she thought she did, she would do anything for Lizzie and she knew that if someone asked her to make a choice it would be Lizzie every time. However, she wasn’t stupid, Lizzie could deal with this on her own and Lizzie was right Hope wouldn’t leave the wolves, not unless something was seriously wrong. Still, she was upset that Lizzie seemed to not understand just how much Hope cared for her.

“Here, elevate this, and move those beds back into place. I don’t want you touching a thing, use magic for all of it” Hope said instead busying herself with the job in hand.

“That will take twice as long, plus you know I am better at potions when I use my hands”

“Fine, but at least levitate something” Hope sighed in frustration.

“These spells are tiny, they won’t take much magic,” Lizzie said rolling her eyes, why was everything a fight with Hope Michaelson.

“it’s better than you trying to hold onto all of it” Hope stated, finally Lizzie agreed.

Lizzie waves her hands and suddenly every item they needed was floating in the air around them, as Lizzie tried to exert some of the power, she had accidentally taken in. Lizzie then started to push the beds, causing them to move from one place to the other every so often. Part of Lizzie felt guilty, this was a total waste of the power she had taken from others, she was used to power being fleeting and expensive. To be used wisely when she took it off another and now it felt like she had it in surplus, everything she did felt wasteful, but she knew if she didn’t do this now, they would have a bigger problem this evening.

“I know I told you to move things with magic, but can you lower them a little” Hope grumbled, causing Lizzie to chuckle as Hope tried and failed to reach for the next ingredient. She dropped the vial of lizard blood just a tad and raised it as Hope reached. Laughing again at Hope’s frustration, Lizzie finally stopped though as Hope’s tail seemed to become longer.

Around 40 minutes later there was a knocking at the large oak door, Lizzie had forgotten that she had locked it. She looked to Hope to open it, as she often did, when siphoning off the floor took more effort, but now Hope just stared blankly at her waiting for Lizzie to magic it open. The knocking started again.
“Alright, alright” Lizzie grumbled, flicking her wrist and pulling the doors open.

“All the wolves as asked,” Jed stated proudly, but Lizzie didn’t look him in the eye and Hope could barely contain the hate that radiated through her body “right” He said nodding, realising that this was something that would be dealt with when they weren’t in crisis mode. He stood to the side and gestured the wolves in, one by one, they went to Lizzie or Hope and were handed a small jar of green liquid, that seemed to move on its own accord. Slowly but surely the wolf like features seemed to dissipate and the energy that Lizzie could feel in the air since walking into the school seemed to relax. Lizzie rolled her shoulders reflexively.

“We have a missing wolf,” Hope said once all the wolves were present, had their potions and slunk off to their rooms.

“Yes, we are working on that” Jed said unable to meet Hope’s eye

“Who” Hope asked

“It’s no one, just a girl, we will find her”

“Who” Hope commanded, getting quite fed up of Jed’s pride

“Annabelle, she’s 6. I didn’t even know she had activated the curse; she came here with her older brother.”

“you mean to tell me, that there is a partway transformed 6-year-old running through the woods” Hope said, her voice growing louder and louder by the second, she grabbed the edge of the table for balance, her claws easily slicing through the wood. “And you decided to tell me this now!” She yelled pushing herself off the table to come around the side, taking a plank of the tabletop with her.

“I… We have it under control” Jed tried, but he seemed to be dwarfed by hope.

“Is it her first moon?” Hope asked, trying to appear controlled, Jed opened his mouth and looked back down again.

“Finch is looking for her now, we have her scent it won’t take long” Jed tried.

“IS IT HER FIRST MOON ?” Hope seethed, getting closer and closer to Jed who backed away slowly.

“Yes, but we have it…” Jed said again.

“Like hell you do! You know what happens, Jed. If she changes alone. You know what happens. If I can’t find her” Hope said turning around to face Lizzie who had been leaning on the table-top, her interest and fear rising for the missing girl.

“Lizzie, give me some …” Hope started to say turning to gesture at the cauldron, but Lizzie was already at her side cup in hand. Hope downed it in one her face contorting at the taste. “It’s not working,” Hope said trying to get the last drop out of the cup as though that would help.

“It’s meant for wolves, which technically speaking you are not.” Lizzie stated, Hope yelled in frustration, throwing her cup at the wall, Jed flinched at the display. Reflexively, lizzie stopped the cup mid-air returning it unharmed to the bench. Hope gritted her teeth further, the satisfaction of breaking things taken from her.

“Fine, I go like this” Hope stated stubbornly, grabbing her jacket off the rack and storming out of the room.

Jed stared dumbly at Lizzie, waiting for her to say something, do something. Hope would likely have fully transformed before she got to the girl, and it wouldn’t help how scared she was. The fear in Jed’s eyes, Lizzie recognised was not just for himself but for his pack, and the little girl who was running around out there scared and alone.

“Hope” Lizzie called chasing her out.

Lizzie caught up to Hope just as she pulled open the main door pulling it off its top hinge, so it hung open awkwardly, Lizzie looked at it and then back to hope, eyebrow raised.

“I’ll fix it later” Hope grumbled.

“You can’t go like this, you won’t be of any use” Lizzie tried reasoning with her, maybe they had time to find another solution.

“I’ll be a damn lot more use than anyone else at this school” Hope growled

“Don’t you raise your wolf at me. You know I am right” Lizzie snapped, her own temper now flaring at the stubborn nature of the girl in front of her.

“You are wasting time Lizzie, time that little girl might not have.”

“Fine. But as usual not alone”

“You’re not coming with me,” Hope said surprised at the suggestion “the Wolves will be out soon” and if Lizzie wasn’t imagining things with a hint of panic.

“of course not, I have to help the witches. But you still need my help” grabbing her hand she siphoned her power.

“Let go of me” Hope demanded but Lizzie only held on tighter, she could feel the magic filling her back up. “Lizzie, stop. You’ll hurt yourself” but she kept going watching as Hope's human features returned. “Lizzie please” Hope whispered desperately, still unable to break her grip. Finally, when Lizzie felt she may collapse, she let go.

“Now you can go” Lizzie said, her eyes seemed to gloss over, as she swayed on the spot. Hope reached forward to stop her from falling over and walked her back gently to one of the chairs in the hall.

“Let me get you some water” Hope said, distractedly as she searched her face for signs of physical pain.

“No, don’t,” Lizzie said grabbing at Hope's hand before she could walk away “I’m fine honestly, go. You know what happens if she changes alone.”

“You really are an idiot.” Hope spoke gently, moving towards the door “We are talking about this later.”

“Sure, we will” Lizzie said rolling her eyes.

Chapter Text

Hope bound through the woods, she had nothing with the girls’ scent, but she could smell fear and simply followed that. She hoped that it would lead to the little one, rather than Finch. She ran straight into the deepest part of the wood, knowing that’s where the girl would feel safest, away from people, she had gotten about half way to the middle before she picked up on the smell, turning right sharply, she skidded into a tree sending leaves falling behind her. She took another left, another right, tour her trouser leg on some brambles and finally, she picked up on an irregular heart beat. The closer she became, the more aware she was that she would hit the old well, and she hoped that the Annabelle hadn’t fallen in. As she got closer she could hear the faint echo of a child calling for help. Hope stopped just in time, sending leaves and fallen twigs over the edge into the circular hole, peering down she saw the little girl.

“You must be Annabelle,” Hope said smiling, she could hear the thudding of the little girl’s chest, if she had been human, she would already be dead.

“Yes” came the whisper

“My name is Hope. I’m not going to hurt you; I am here to help. ” Hope said the little girl shifted herself backwards putting as much distance as she could, between herself and hope. “Is it okay, If I come down” Hope asked, Annabelle, shook her head, her heartbeat picking up impossibly faster. “Okay, okay I won’t come down” Hope said, instead she lowered herself to a sitting position “see, I am going to stay right here, okay?” Hope asked, Annabelle gently nodded. “Okay, how about we talk for a little bit? What’s your favourite colour ?” Hope asked gently

“Blue” Annabelle mumbled, and if Hope didn’t have super hearing, she wouldn’t have noticed a thing.

“Blue is my favourite colour too” Hope looked up, she was thankful it was summer solstice, hopefully, she would have a little longer to get this girl to calm down, although, she could transform early which would also be disastrous. “Are you new to the Salvatore school” the girl only nodded, but she lowered herself to also be sitting which was a good sign. “Have you made any friends?”

“no” the little girl breathed out, shaking her head slightly.

“I am sure you will soon, my best.” Hope stopped herself “Lizzie, she goes to this school, she is a witch. You might have seen her ?”

“She teaches the girls my age,” Annabelle said

“Yes, she does, she is very good with children.” Hope said leaning, backward, her hand shifting on the ground causing free soil and stones to fall into the well, Annabelle was standing back up in a heartbeat, pressing herself impossibly closer to the wall. “I am sorry, I moved." Hope tried to explain, but Annabelle had started to cry "It’s okay see, I am still here. Its only me” Hope tried to calm her back down. She could see that it was no use, Annabelle’s legs were growing brown hair, and she was about two more breakdowns away from changing. “Okay, Annabelle, I am going to stand up now and give you some space okay. But I want you to know. I am right here. I am not going anywhere” Hope soothed, although she wasn’t sure how much comfort she would be.

Once Hope and taken a few steps back, she whispered “Lizzie.” She waited for a minute or two, “Lizzie if you are listening. I am going to need you to say something” Hope waited on bated breath for some kind of response. “Lizzie” She tried again.

Lizzie was standing on the stairs of the main hall, currently explaining to the witches where they should be setting up for the summer solstice. Normally they held the celebrations out by the old mill, but that was too close to the woods, and even Lizzie wouldn’t tempt fate. “Alright, so If you take the tables, and the candles out to the waterfront. I want the younger years to present their gifts to the covens first, so they can go to sleep early” Lizzie paused, her vampire hearing picking up Hope's voice. “Urrmm, what was I saying. Right, so each Coven this year has one spell circle mat, because of..”

“Lizzie” She heard Hope calling her name again, this time more desperate than before. “Because, we have made the circles bigger, for the larger covens this year, rather than splitting up the groups” Lizzie could hear hope calling again, deciding that she would have to answer her or risk her starting to yell. “I hear you, shh for a second,” She said, a little too loudly.

“What was that ?” One of the witches asked looking at her oddly, great like she needed any more ways to look crazy.

“Sorry, I can hear hope yelling at me." She said, by way of explanation only a few of the other witches seemed to remember she had vampire hearing now "Right where was I. okay, everyone set up down by the water, I’ll deal with the food and drinks, each coven leader oversee the younger witches. I want third years to take the maypole, and the second years to take the spell circle mats.” Lizzie said clapping her hands, to get the others up and moving. “if you need anything. Yell” Lizzie finished, “cause that’s what hope does” She mumbled.

“Hey, I heard that” Hope grumbled.

“you were meant to. How is it going?”

“I’ve found her, but she’s terrified. I don’t know what to do”

“Make her laugh, that’s the only thing to combat fear” Lizzie said busying herself by folding up the linen sheets that they used as picnic blankets.

“What, If I freak her out again” Hope huffed, Lizzie could hear her dragging her foot back and forth through the dry dirt, digging it up. Lizzie had seen Hope calm herself in this way more than once, and it amused her how dog like the girl could be.

“That looks lovely, I’m sure your grandma would love it” Hope heard Lizzie say to what she assumed was one of the first-year witches.

“Lizzie, focus. This girl could potentially lose her life here”

“No she won’t. she is with you”

“Don’t flatter me Saltzman” Hope tried to sound mad, but even she could hear the smirk in her voice. “If this does go south, I am at the old well.”

“The well, did she fall? Is she okay?”

“She seems fine, she can sit and stand normally so nothing was broken. Lizzie I am going to need you to siphon her if this goes sideways”

“Okay” Lizzie said, “Dolly, honey, the summer solstice is celebration white only. Go back upstairs”

“How are you feeling by the way”

“I did one very large cleaning spell, got the whole school back to ship shape.”

“Good, and the summer solstice?”

“I’ve moved them over to the lake, away from the old mill and the woods”

“Good plan”

“can you stop talking to me. Don’t you have a little girl to save”

“my voice, seems to be calming her” Hope said having been listening to Annabelle’s heartbeat throughout the conversation.

“Lillies and Daisys, for the summer solstice William, everything should be white” Lizzie called, and Hope could just about see Lizzie in her mind’s eye hands on hips, she snorted. “I heard that Mikaelson, now do you want your family candle to be purple or yellow this year?”

“you’ve made my family a candle?” Hope asked, a little overcome, damn full moon.

“Of course, you can’t not honour your relatives, even if you are running off being a hero”

“Purple please,” Hope said because she wasn't sure what else to say.

“Oh, thank god I already made it purple yesterday” Lizzie sighed “Right. The girl. Go away” Lizzie finally stated, snapping her fingers blocking her own voice from Hope’s ears.

Hope, finally lowered her eyes back to the ground and over the edge of the well, so she could just about see the top of Annabelles head.

“Who were you talking to?” The little girl asked

“Lizzie, the one I told you about before. I wanted her help, about how to help you”

“Oh”

“yep, she told me, that I was being silly because I could fight all these monsters but I was afraid to talk to a little girl”

“Am I scary?” The little girl asked her voice wobbling

“No, no you are not”

“Mum said I was a monster, that me and Anton were monsters like our daddy”

“Well, your mum is wrong. There is nothing wrong with you at all, you seem great”

“I have grown monster ears though and a monster tail” The girl said, she seemed to try to reach for it but her hand was shaking so hard that she stopped trying.

“Don’t worry about that, that’s just because the others had some medicine and you didn’t. If you let me come down, I can get you out and then we can go get some of that medicine”

“I don’t want to leave”

“Why not?”

“It’s a full moon tonight, the wolves come on a full moon. I don’t like wolves, they are my worst fear” The little girl said covering her face with her hands, which had also over the course of the conversation grown hair and the tell-tale signs of a child's paw was just beginning to push through. Hope felt herself start to panic if that girl saw her hands that would be game over. First, she would change, and then she would freak out, her wolf and her human form fighting each other for control, she would end up killing herself, or possibly worse live as a wolf forever.
“Wolves aren’t that scary” Hope tried to keep her voice calm and controlled, as she moved forward. “Is it okay if I come down now, you can keep your eyes closed if it helps” Hope, pleaded with every greater power in existence that the little girl wouldn’t open her eyes. When Hope got to the bottom of the well she wasted no time at all. “ Ad Somnum” she called, and the little girl lost consciousness.

Hope picked up her little body and was back at the school within 5 minutes.
Hope, ran through each of the rooms, first the great hall, the kitchen, the library and finally she found her in the common room, a few other witches still milling about doing the last of their hairs.

“Lizzie.’ Hope called, the moment she laid eyes on her, Lizzie rushed over taking the little girl from Hope.

“Hope. What did you do?” She asked cradling Annabelle in her arms, the poor thing was barely recognisable as a human. Her wolf hair had covered every inch of her body, so she looked closer to the werewolves that were shown in the films, a humanoid shape not quite one thing and not quite the other. Lizzie slowly siphoned from her, already knowing this was needed. “You had better have a plan here” Lizzie snapped at Hope, still slowly lowering the magic coursing through the little girl's veins. Lizzie could feel her own heartbeat evening out as the hair on Annabelle's limbs slowly receded.

“She was about to turn Liz, I did the only thing I could, I knocked her unconscious and brought her to you. If I had gotten there sooner” Hope said her usual spiel about how she should have done better already falling from her lips like an over-rehearsed passage.

“You didn’t know,” Lizzie said, looking up briefly to fix Hope with a hard stare before her worried eyes went back to the little girl.

“Jed did” Hope managed

“I am 100% on board with fucking up Jed, but right now. You have 30 minutes before the moon rises and I have to be with the witches.”

“You are going to have to siphon from her all night, she can’t change in this state, she is terrified of wolves”

“Oh” Lizzie said, pulling a blanket off the nearby sofa and wrapping the younger girl in it, never breaking her touch and constantly siphoning. “I can look after her tonight Hope...”

“thank you”

“but, the next change will be worse and far more painful for her. She will feel the pull of two moons and a very angry wolf”

“I know, but maybe If I can get her used to the idea first…” Hope trailed off, not even believing herself “she might die if we don’t” Hope finally said defeated

“We just keep making the next best move, okay Mikaelson”

“Lizzie” called one of the witches from the hallway excitedly “Come on, come on it's starting you need to light the first candle” She clapped her hands and ran off.

“Okay, you go, I’ll see you later?” Hope asked

“Yes, wait. Come here” Lizzie said, placing her hand on Hope’s shoulder, she slowly passed the magic she was siphoning onto Hope. Hope immediately felt lighter, and a fair bit more awake than before. “for the change, you’ll need your strength”

“Thank you, Are you sure you are okay with her?”

“Yep, I’ve got her. Now go, I can already hear the wolves' bones breaking”

Lizzie’s ceremony went off without a hitch, Hope patrolled the bounds of the Woods and occasionally she got a small view of the celebrations happening below, the bonfire giving just enough light to see the witches turning around the maypole. The part Hope was most envious of, however, was seeing the ancestral candles floating out into the lake. The lake's water was so still that it seemed like glass and one by one the candles sunk, staying alight as they did so, until the entire lake was ablaze. She heard the final witches call “For the ancestors” before all the lights were extinguished. The brightest day of the year brought to black.

Hope found herself trudging up the stairs at 6 am, her mind gone and her feet leading her along the familiar path to bed. It was not until she heard Lizzie's voice that she realised where she was.

“Tired” Lizzie, asked, she sat leaning against her headboard, the child still in her arms.

“very” Hope murmured.

“me too. Can I stop siphoning”

“You’ve been doing it this whole time?” Hope asked in disbelief, unable to think about the energy that must have taken.

“I couldn’t take the chance,” Lizzie said simply, a small smile on her face.

“here, I'll put her in Josie's bed,” Hope said taking the little girl and tucking her into the bed on the other side of the room. Hope suddenly realised where that left her, in lizzie’s room sharing a bed, her tired brain finally putting two and two together, she rubbed her eyes moving towards the door.

“Don’t be an idiot” Lizzie said sleepily, she was facing the other side of the room, and swung a tired arm behind her pulling up the covers, not even bothering to turn round. Hope lowered herself gently into the bed behind Lizzie, smiling slightly at the content sigh Lizzie released in response.

“Thank you “ Hope said suddenly

“for what?”

“Everything you have done today. If you hadn’t been there. Well. Today would have ended very differently”

“I don’t know if that’s true, you’re Hope Mikaelson, you would have found a way”

“just take the compliment, moonflower. You did good today” Hope said, wrapping her arm around Lizzie gently.

"Night Hope"

"night"

Chapter Text

Hope awoke at about 3pm to an empty bed, the sun was streaming in through the windows casting a beam of light over the small body of the girl in the other bed. Hope sat up rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she caught sight of the blood bag left on the bedside table. As soon as her hand touched the bag, she heard the familiar fizzing beside her. The sound became louder as a thin orange line appeared in mid-air, it burned brightly like a copper wire sparking every now and then. From this line, the edge of a piece of paper started to move toward her, as though it was being printed. Hope smiled slightly, this was normally her way of contacting the others, who all told her it was from the dark ages, and that she should use a phone like a normal person. She recalled that Lizzie had taken to not only ignoring these messages but tearing them up as soon as they came through.

“Morning sleeping beauty, or should I say afternoon? Can you wake Annabelle if she is still asleep and make sure she eats something, I was siphoning from her for a while yesterday and then come find me. Cleo has apparently had some kind of vision and before you ask, no it’s not a good vision, when is it ever?

PS. Please enjoy your complimentary breakfast, we hope you enjoyed your stay.”

Hope snorted at the last part of the message and turned over to look at the sleeping girl. She briefly wondered if it would be better to move her to her own bed so as not to freak her out too much waking in a different environment when the girl sat bolt upright screaming. Hope jumped out of the bed and ran to the girl, gently running a soothing hand up and down her back. “It's okay, you are safe. Everything is fine”

“Where is Lizzie?” Annabelle asked suddenly, her voice serious, Hope frowned, Lizzie hadn’t mentioned that Annabelle had ever woken up. “Where is Lizzie?” The girl asked again, as Hope struggled to form a sentence.

“Downstairs?” Hope questioned more than answered, unsure why she was asking after Lizzie, Annabelle jumped out of the bed. “Wait why do you need Lizzie?”

“I do,” Annabelle said by way of justification, which only made Hope more confused, she followed the little one as she left the room and headed down to the common areas.

“You should really eat something first” Hope tried desperately, to get in front of the girl but children kept running up the other side stopping her from overtaking. “Hey,” She called finally grabbing onto her shoulder to stop her moving forward, releasing her immediately when Annabelle flinched in response. “Hey look, Lizzie asked me to make sure you ate. So, lets get some food and then we can look for Lizzie”

“I need to find Lizzie,” The girl said instead, as though Hope had not said anything at all, finally Hope became worried, there was clearly something she had missed here.

“Okay, we find Lizzie” Hope said finally relenting. She followed the little girl as she moved through the halls.

Finally, they tried the Kitchen, Lizzie was there standing over a cauldron, her phone balanced between her shoulder and her ear. On the bench behind her, Pablo sat eating what Hope assumed was a sandwich Lizzie had made him.

“Hmm, yes. I know what I said, don’t repeat it back to me” Lizzie snapped back, to whoever was on the phone.

“Hi hope” Pablo called, his words muffled by the food in his mouth.

“Don’t speak with your mouth..” Both Lizzie and Hope berated at the same time, stopping when they heard the others voice.

“Morning” Hope said smiling at Lizzie who had had finally looked up

“Is that what we are calling 3pm now?” Lizzie joked back., she held her finger up asking for hope to give her a second, while she spoke into the phone “Its hope mum…yes, I’m going to fill her in and get back to you,…. I am not overreacting everyone else in underreacting, .. yes, … okay. I’m hanging up now” Lizzie said pulling the phone further and further from her ear and clicking the button before finishing her sentence. “Oh, good you brought her for food,”

“Not quite” Hope replied, “Gone all quite now that you have found Lizzie?” Hope asked Annabelle who had not yet entered the room.

“I have a message.” Annabelle said trying to sound confident. Lizzie looked to Hope silently asking what was going on, Hope only shrugged in response.

“She woke up screaming and asked for you. I didn’t realise that she had woken up last night”

“She didn’t,” Lizzie said confused, she picked up Pablo off the bench. “Okay Pablo, it’s really time that you got on with your homework” the unspoken, we need privacy and Pablo shouldn’t be here for this, hanging in the air.

“Fine, bye hope” he called as he ran out of the other kitchen door.

“How are you? are you okay? you gave us a scare yesterday” Lizzie said, moving over to Annabelle, her eyes running over her little frame to see any signs of pain or exhaustion. She seemed to be satisfied, looking to Hope in question, getting a nod in response.

“I have a message,” Annabelle said again but she seemed upset somehow like she wasn’t sure what to say next or maybe didn’t want to say what came next.

“I'll take that as you being fine, what’s the message?” Lizzie asked kneeling down to Annabelle’s height

“I, I don’t know,” Annabelle said, Lizzie looked to Hope for help, unsure how to proceed.

“Alright,” Hope said lowering herself to Annabelle’s height beside Lizzie. “Was the message a dream”

“Yes, it was. It came in pictures” Annabelle said nodding

“And did the pictures say it was a message for Lizzie or did a voice tell you that”

“A voice”

“and what did the voice say?” Lizzie asked

“It said, show this to Lizzie, she needs to see this. But I don’t know how to show you?”

“That’s okay, I have a spell for that, but first we should get you something to eat. What would you like?”

“Eggs on toast” Annabelle replied

“Good choice” Lizzie said picking up Annabelle and standing in one graceful half spin. “Do you want to help me with this potion, while Hope makes your eggs?”

“Is that your way of asking?”

“It’s subtle, no?” Lizzie joked “Also put my name in that pot I am starved”

“Anything else princess?”

“Nope” Lizzie said popping the p. Hope only rolled her eyes, walking to the fridge to remove the eggs.

…..

“Alright, come and get it” Hope said as she served up the plates of scrambled eggs, she had thrown on a few rashers of bacon for herself and while it wasn’t what Annabelle had asked for she was sure that the girl would be craving meat after the full moon, transition or no transition.

“Thank you,” Lizzie said coming up behind her and kissing her cheek as she passed. Annabelle took the seat opposite.

“no problem,” said Hope, trying to keep the nervous bubble that had formed in her throat from making an appearance.

“I knew I could smell something,” said Cleo coming in through the door followed by Kaleb and MG. Upon MGs arrival Hope moved her arm over the back of Lizzie's chair, leaning slightly back in her own chair, silently marking territory. While she was super pro-feminist values, her wolf was still a lot louder than normal with the full moon being only yesterday. Lizzie caught the movement, and gently squeezed her knee, to try and get her to relax. Hope wondered if Lizzie had spoken to MG about the whole vampire thing yet, judging by the slight worry that crossed MGs face she was betting on not.

“Hope made breakfast, although not sure if there is enough,” Lizzie said, reaching over without thought to cut the bacon on Annabelle’s plate, Hope watching the action fondly.

“We don’t want to spoil family breakfast time” Kaleb joked taking the seat beside Annabelle, he looked at Hope knowingly who only rolled her eyes annoyed at having been caught. Hope hovered her hand over her own plate, whispering some incantation which caused another plate to appear, and another, and another, until there was enough for them all.

“It’s only a duplication spell, it won’t taste as good, but it will suffice” Hope said pushing the plates down the table, as MG sat beside Lizzie and Cleo beside Kaleb. “So, Lizzie tells me you had a vision?” Hope asked Cleo, taking a bite of in her opinion a well-deserved breakfast.

“Yes, it came to me last night, there are details but essentially...” Cleo started

“And that’s enough of that, there is a 6 year old present” Lizzie scolded,

“Yea, I am not sure if this story is particularly child friendly” MG agreed, Hope could feel herself becoming bothered again, it wasn’t that she didn’t agree with the statement. Not that she knew what the vision had been but if Lizzie wasn’t comfortable discussing it then that was enough for Hope. It was just that of course MG was once again agreeing with Lizzie. Hope was dragged out of her thoughts when she felt Lizzies familiar calming touch on her knee.

“How was the road trip ? I’m sorry you missed the solstice, it was my best party yet, if I do say so myself” Lizzie said to Cleo. Cleo, MG and Kaleb had gone on a last-minute drive down to Kaleb’s family home, and MG had hitched a ride having not seen Kaleb’s sister in a while.

“I’m sure It was perfect”

“It was perfect” Lizzie said, never one to pass up the opportunity to compliment herself “you can ask Hope”, Hope was knocked out of her current thought process.

“What?” Hope asked

“Sometimes,” Lizzie sighed “The solstice, it was perfect” Lizzie said coaxing Hope back into the conversation.

“Yes, Lizzie did a great job. In fact Lizzie did way more than that but that is a story for another time” Hope said distractedly, Lizzie studied her face trying to work out what it was that Hope was thinking. “What are the odds, we have two visions in one evening” She suddenly voiced out loud.

“Two? Who else” Cleo asked, a frown forming on her own face at the question

“Annabelle here also had a message in a dream, which I am willing to bet has something to do with yours” Hope said pointing her fork between Cleo and Annabelle.

“Two halves of the same message” Lizzie said, kicking herself for not noticing how odd that was sooner.

“I think both you and Cleo had better see whatever this message is” Hope spoke, her voice had become slightly deeper and the always present frown deepened, MG and Kaleb shared a worried look.

“Why Annabelle, though ?” Kaleb asked leaning forward, his eagerness told Hope there was some blanks that had not yet been filled that made what she was saying make even more sense.

“My bet is because she slept in Josie’s bed last night” Lizzie said jumping in before Hope could make the same guess. MG and Kaleb suddenly grew more worried and even Cleo who could be relied on as the voice of reason put down her fork with a clatter.

“I take it that’s relevant” Hope stated, looking around and gaging the level of worry in the room, paying as usual particular attention to Lizzie,

“more than just relevant, it means that Lizzie wasn’t far off this morning” MG spoke concern tracing his every word.

“It means Josie may need help” Kaleb said to Hope filling her in, knowing she had yet to hear anything in relation to these visions.

“If that’s the case we had better get on with this spell, sooner rather than later.” Reaching to take Lizzie's hand that was still resting on her knee squeezing it in support. The usual worry that Lizzie showed for her sister bubbling quickly to the surface.

“Well, you heard her,” Lizzie said a little louder than necessary in her worry.

“It’ll be alright Lizzie,” MG said patting Lizzie on the shoulder comfortingly

“You don’t know that” she responded scathingly, her breathing picking up pace, as her usual overthinking kicked in, her anxiety spiking. Her magic started to roll off her in waves, nothing new to the others in the room, although Annabelle looked worriedly towards the objects hanging on the wall which were starting to vibrate.

“Elizabeth,” Hope said loudly, causing Lizzie to turn away from MG, her frown still present and her breathing quickening by the second. The cutlery was shaking now on the table, becoming louder with each breath. “Look at me” Hope said picking up the hand she had been holding “Breathe” Hope's own breathing became deeper as she coaxed Lizzie into calming her own breaths. “I won’t let anything happen. We have this, you and me” Hope said gently, pressing a light kiss to Lizzie's knuckles.

“You and me” Lizzie repeated back, calming herself, the moving objects, stilled. Hope nodded at her in agreement.

“Alright, to the gym. We have work to do” Hope said standing, her hand still wrapped in Lizzie’s as she did so.

Chapter Text

Lizzie sat on the bleachers watching the others set up for the spells, a circle had been made from candles and the floor marked in white chalk. She rocked back and forth slightly, trying to comfort herself, she had originally tried to help but after breaking the third chalk in her hands from holding it too tightly, Hope had managed to lead her over to the bleachers to sit down. The others carried on around her, bringing things backwards and forwards, cancelling any practice in the gym so that they had it to themselves. Jed had come through to see if he could help, but he took one look at Hope and Lizzie and thought better of it. He had yet to find the time to apologise and his interference now would only make things worse.

“Okay, I think we are ready,” Hope said aloud more to herself than anyone else. “Alright Annabelle can you come here and just sit on the floor, there,” Hope said pointing to one end of a poorly drawn cross. Annabelle had been sat on the other side of the room unable to help and still wary of Lizzie. “Cleo” Hope called over her shoulder.

“Coming” Said Cleo lowering the book she was reading and rushing over to take her place, Hope then looked over to Lizzie, who had a faraway look in her eye. Hope couldn’t work out if it was better that Lizzie had started daydreaming or worse. She made her way over to her and gently placed her hand on her shoulder.

“you ready moonbeam ?” She asked gently, Lizzie turned her head and seemed almost surprised to see Hope. She offered her a weak smile and stood up. “This could be nothing” Hope tried to alleviate some of the stress. “I could be wrong” Lizzie only sighed and rolled her eyes, giving her a small knowing smile, a quiet ‘when are you ever wrong’ written clearly across her face.

The girls sat one on each side of the cross, following Hope and Lizzie who crossed their arms taking the hands of the other girls with the opposite arm.
“Do I say the words too?” Annabelle asked, her worry evident.

“No, you can just hold our hands, you don’t have to do anything, but you will see the dream again, okay” Hope spoke calmly, Lizzie who sat on the other side of Annabelle gently squeezed her hand and offered her a small smile.

“We do this all the time, okay. Just remember its all fake and nothing can hurt you.” Lizzie said, the girl nodded and released a breath she didn’t realise she had been holding. Lizzie, smiled slightly to herself upon hearing the release, finally feeling like she had done something useful. The girls started to chant in unison, getting louder and louder as they did so almost as though they were in a trance. Cleo’s eyes turned completely Gold as did Hopes, however Lizzie’s eyes remained shut.

Hope noticed the noise first, loud and pounding, like a drum and the more Hope tried to tune into it the more she realised she wasn’t hearing it but feeling it. A heartbeat. She wasn’t sure if it was her own or somebody else’s, but it felt like comfort. Next, she noticed the smell of gasoline, pungent and burning, the heat hit her almost as soon as the smell did. She opened her eyes, in front of her was multiple caskets, lined up side by side, some adult sized some smaller. The room was small, and damp, but it was lit by the fire she could see coming through the windows. She moved forward, and felt her foot sink slightly, looking down she realised that she was standing in mud, she must be in some kind of crypt. She started to feel herself being dragged backwards, as she was being pulled out of the dream, she looked once more at the coffins, trying to see a name or a hint. Instead she saw a covens mark. A mark she had always associated with fond memories. A mark that in her quietest moments she hoped she would share. The mark of the Gemini Coven.

Hope came to, her eyes immediately finding Lizzie, who was yet to come back out of the dream world, it felt like minutes, but only a few seconds had passed, as she waited with baited breath, to see how Lizzie had taken the news. Lizzie opened her eyes and immediately tears fell, she stood up running out of the room and to her bed, before Hope could even get a word out.

“fuck” Hope breathed out, turning to little Annabelle who had no idea of the significance of what she had just seen. “Sorry, thanks for your help. You can go join the rest of your year now” Annabelle who looked very uncomfortable, ran off without so much as a goodbye. Hope put her head in her hands, and took a deep breath, before turning to Cleo.

“What about you, what did you see?”

“I saw a prophecy being read, just one elderly woman sat on a big rocking chair, her eyes went white and then she said the prophecy out loud that was it. Not sure if seeing it would help.” Cleo said, standing up and heading towards Kaleb.

“Did she have the same markings as on the coffins?” Hope asked

“No, no markings at all, she seemed to be in the woods nothing identifiable but, she seemed happy about the prophecy like she had been waiting on it”

“I don’t think I want to hear this, but what is the prophecy?”

“What is done shall be undone, the undead shall be undead and by the power of red hands, the cup will be made full. The emergence of a new leader, a new era.”

“Red hands” Hope repeated more to herself than anyone else.

“So, we are pretty sure it’s the Gemini Coven then” Asked MG who had been watching with Kaleb.

“almost certain, it's the new leader that worries me, Lizzie and Josie are the only twins left”

“Yes but Lizzie lost her connection to it when she turned? Isn’t that how it works” Asked Cleo, the least up-to-date with the Gemini coven laws.

“The undead will be undead” Hope murmured distractedly “I’ve gotta go check on Lizzie” she said standing up and brushing her clothes down.

“I could ..” MG started and stopped upon seeing the look Hope was directing at him, she Vamped herself up the stairs.

“Lizzie, love” Hope said knocking quietly on the door.

“Go away, I want to be alone”

“Liz, please” Hope said leaning her forehead against the door “We have to talk about this”

“What part of alone are you missing” Lizzie called back, her voice muffled through the door.

“I want to be alone too, we can do it together” Hope tried a small smile playing on her lips, she heard Lizzie huff through the door and could imagine the small smile she had managed to illicit.

“That’s not how it works” Lizzie grumbled

“Come on moonbeam, you can’t leave me out here forever and I’m not leaving”

“I’m more stubborn than you are”

“Not about this and you know it” Hope said, there was a small beat, a minute of silence when Hope wasn’t sure how best to move forward. And then she heard the small click of the lock being turned. Slowly the door opened, just slightly to reveal Lizzie, who had wasted no time changing back in pyjamas, her hair and make-up still perfect despite the tears. Hope was pretty sure it was the spell Lizzie had made when they were 14, with her breakdowns and playing sport all the time she had made a spell to stop her makeup running or her hair from falling out. Hope had no idea she still used it. “Hi” Hope said, reaching forward to wipe away a falling tear.

“Hey” Lizzie breathed out “I’m serious I don’t want to talk about it” she said quickly.

“Okay, no talking” Hope agreed, stepping into the room when Lizzie took a step back. The moment the door shut, Lizzie melted into Hope's arms and started sobbing, a gut-wrenching sobbing, that left Hope's chest hollow. Hope and Lizzie stayed liked that for what felt like hours, Hope’s mind wandered to all the possible things she could do to prevent this, what she needed to plan, a strategy already forming. She could feel part of herself want to run off and start now, but Lizzie needed her right now. Not save the day, find the answer, Hope, but her friend, someone who loved her to hold her and tell her it would be okay. Once Lizzie started to lose steam, her crying becoming more intermittent, Hope started to lead them back to the bed. Lizzie collapsed backwards onto it, finally taking Hope in.

“You are not snuggling with me in jeans,” Lizzie said, waving her hand she replaced Hope’s attire with pyjamas, an old band t-shirt and loose tracksuit bottoms.

“What happened to no talking?” Hope asked, her eyebrow raised comically.

“Shut up. Get over here and hold me. I have had an awful day” Hope did not need to be told twice, she jumped onto the bed, encircling Lizzie in both arms, rolled them over. Lizzie laughed as Hope nuzzled into her neck, kissing her only once, it was as much as she would allow herself. “Don’t make me laugh. I am trying to be sad” Hope pulled back, with Lizzie on top of her, held rigid in her arms.

“Right,” Hope said, she moved her hand up to tuck one strand of hair that had fallen loose, smiling as she realised, she had been wrong about the spell earlier. She kept her hand there, cradling Lizzie’s head, never once breaking eye contact.

In moments like this Lizzie felt her heart may genuinely explode, when Hope was this way with her, she could feel almost every sense, every nerve ending heat up like a firecracker. Like she might combust. The closest she could manage to explain it was when she thought about magic, how it felt to be so full, to feel so powerful and yet so completely fragile. Looking at Hope, feeling like this, felt like that, both the most powerful person in the room and as fragile as glass. If Hope stopped looking at her like this, she would break. So, she leant forward, breaking that eye contact first, touching her forehead to Hopes, hoping that in some way she could make her feel it all too.

“Me and you” Hope said, moving her head up, and kissing Lizzie's forehead. Lizzie in turn moved her head kissing Hope on the cheek.

“Me and you,” Resting her head on Hope's shoulder, closing her eyes.

Chapter Text

Hope held her, for an hour or two, Lizzie had long since fallen asleep, and Hope idly stroked her hair deep in thought.

First, she needed to know what Josie knew but she also needed Josie to be safe, because Lizzie would never forgive her if she wasn’t. Then she needed to work out who this woman might be, if she knew anything else. Hope mused, finally when she had thought so much that she was only repeating her own thoughts, she decided she would need to get herself up. She carefully manoeuvred herself out of the bed, careful not to wake Lizzie. She almost went downstairs but thought better of it. Lizzie would never let it go if she woke up alone. Instead, Hope magically moved the large armchair over to the bed beside Lizzie and floated the books she knew she would need from the library up to Lizzie's room.

Sitting down, she started to scribble away, reading and re-reading everything she already knew in case she had missed something. Her phone buzzed lightly in her pocket, a message from Cleo wondering if her and Lizzie would be coming down for dinner. She looked across at Lizzie, she was sleeping soundly, her eyes were still a little red from crying but she looked as beautiful as ever. Hope was struck suddenly by the need to sketch her sleeping form, but there would be other times for that. She responded to Cleo, saying they likely wouldn’t be coming and to carry on, she would fill them in when she could.

Hope then scrolled through her contacts, to a name that she hadn’t had the need to use for some time. She knew it needed to be done, Caroline was not in Paris with Josie but over in Finland, there was only one person close enough that she trusted with this task. She hit call.

“Well, well, well. Little Michaelson”

“Hey Pen” Hope said quietly so as not to wake Lizzie

“To what do I owe the pleasure”

“I need a favour”

“This ought to be good. What is it and what do I get in return ?” Penelope asked amused, she had not heard from Hope in a while, and having heard through the grapevine that Lizzie was now a heretic, she wasn’t expecting to ever hear from her again.

“It’s Josie,” Hope said, hoping that Lizzie wouldn’t absolutely kill her for this, but at the end of the day she could think of very few people who would lay everything down for Josie the way Hope would for Lizzie and she needed that kind of loyalty, she could trust that. More than she could trust power or strength, she had lots of people she could call for that.

“Now?”

“As soon as you can” Hope said “Shes..”

“I know where she is, don’t insult me.” Penelope snapped, Hope could hear shuffling in the background, the sound of zipper being pulled. “Threat level?”

“Possible abduction,” Hope said, unsure how much information to divulge in case she had gotten the wrong end of the stick.

“How possible?”

“I’m not leaving Lizzie's side”

“When did you find out?”

“Three hours.”

“Three, you promised I’d get this call within 30 minutes” Penelope berated her

“A lots changed” Hope tried to explain

“I’m leaving now, is she expecting me?”

“I’m just about to call her”

“Well at least you followed that part of the protocol”

“It’s been a year and a half pen, plans change”

“Not this one. Right, I’ll call when I’m with her”

“Thanks” Hope said not sure how she would ever be able to express how thankful she truly was.

The phone clicked, and Hope released a breath she didn’t realise she was holding. Hearing the panic in Penelope’s voice reminded her of just how lucky she was that Lizzie was right in front of her. She imagined that she would be just like Penelope otherwise, waiting on the next phone call. Dropping everything at a moment for a love that can’t be forever. She scrolled down again, this time she hit call on Josie.

“Hope !” Josie said upon answering the call, she sounded suspiciously upbeat

“Hey Josie” Hope responded a little unsure of herself

“What’s the matter?” which was just like Josie to know before knowing

“Any weird visions on your end?”

“What?” Josie said at first surprised by the question, “Any ..oh God. I thought it was a bad dream”

“No, unfortunately not. Lizzie has been upset about it all day. We had two on this end”

“So it’s about us then, the merge?”

“Well, no rush decisions. We will get the information first and move from there”

“So pragmatic, I’m sure Lizzie hates that” Josie said, taking this news a lot better than Lizzie had, but then Josie clearly hadn’t seen the coffins burning.

“I’ve been good, but she may hate me soon”

“What did you do ?”

“Penelope is on her way to you now, she was closer than your mum, plus I figured whatever your mum was doing would only help, and I promised Lizzie I would keep you safe”

“She is going to kill you. Who said I needed a babysitter anyway?”

“I did, you are both too self-sacrificing. I can’t be sure about how well, whoever it is, knows you, but If it was me, that’s how I would manipulate you. I need someone to stop you from doing that”

“oh, you think they’ll come after me” Josie asked, suddenly worried

“They need you in the same place, which means I need you as far away from us as possible, with someone looking out for you in number one”

“Right, I take it she will be with me soon”

“Knowing Pen, probably. I hate to ask, but have you done anything different, spoke to anyone, done a large spell, any black magic?”

“Well, I had been keeping my magic in a coin if you remember, and then I took it back for the summer solstice, to send off a candle”

“That would make sense, you are both at your strongest, as are the ancestors, two candles instead of the usual one.”

“Is that what made it worse? Should I put it back in the coin?”

“I’m not sure, like I said don’t do anything rash. I am going to call your mother fill her in. Let me know when Penelope gets there”

“Will do, Love you, and give my love to Lizzie”

“Love you too, and I will. Stay safe.”

“Yea, yea”

“I’m serious. Stay safe. I won’t be able to look Lizzie in the eye if anything happens”

“Firstly, nothing will happen and secondly if it did it wouldn’t be your fault. God, you are ridiculous, when are you two going to talk about the fact that you are madly in love with each other?”

“Goodbye Josie”

“I am serious, I’ve always wanted an older sister”

“I’m hanging up now” Hope said, trying to fight the smile that was creeping onto her face and the notion that it was a possibility.

Next on Hope’s list, was Caroline. She needed to know if she had heard anything, anything that might be helpful. She was about to press the call button when Lizzie shifted slightly, her eyes fluttering open, she smiled when she focused on Hope. She stuck her arm out in Hope's direction and wiggled her fingers, Hope rolled her eyes and took Lizzie’s hand in her own.

“Hi” Lizzie said moving herself further along the bed to be on the same side as Hope.

“Hi” Hope whispered back.

“Who were you on the phone to?”

“Josie, I was just about to call your mother.”

“okay” Lizzie breathed “is she safe?”

“Yes, she is safe” Hope said, gently squeezing Lizzie's hand in response.

“Gosh, I can tell who your favourite is, making sure she is safe and leaving me on my own”

“Lizzie love, she suffices with a phone call a week, I literally sleep in your bed”

“And don’t you forget it” Lizzie said cheekily a slight blush on her cheeks and her smile growing. “Come in here and we can call mum” Lizzie said pulling gently on Hope’s hand to get her to come back into the bed. Hope didn’t mind, allowing herself to be dragged back into the nest. Hope sat up against the head bored, and Lizzie, lazily draped herself across Hopes waist, Hope pressed the call button and put it on loud speaker.

“Hope, darling”

“Hello Caroline,” Hope said a small smile on her lips, sometimes it felt that Caroline had always been looking after her in one way or another, the familiar pet name falling from her lips without hesitation.

“Hey mummy” Lizzie called, her voice still scratchy from sleep, sent a shiver through Hope, and she blushed, knowing that Caroline would recognise that voice anywhere.

“Oh good, I’m glad you are together” Caroline said sincerely, Hope felt the need to clarify that they weren’t together, but she held her tongue, she knew that Caroline didn’t mean it like that but one can hope.

“When aren’t we” Lizzie said rolling her eyes, she started to lazily draw shapes on Hope's arm, Hope could feel her heart picking up, and the hairs on her arms stood on end. She looked down at Lizzie warningly, who only smirked in response. The cheeky ass thought Hope.

“Ignore her, look, we had another vision and Josie had one too. I am not sure what Lizzie has already told you, but it is beginning to look serious” Hope sad trying to not get distracted from the point.

“Yes, well When Lizzie told me this afternoon, I already started to do some digging. It looks like this is not the first time the prophecy has been said. It’s in some of the ancient grimours that talk about the re-birth of the coven.”

“Prophecy as in can’t change or prophecy as in can” Lizzie asked, Hope could hear the catch in Lizzie's throat as she tried her best not to start crying again.

“No such thing as can’t” Caroline said sternly

“Exactly, there is always a loophole, it’s about the only constant in magic. We will find something” Hope said, leaning down to press a light kiss to the top of Lizzie's head.

“Right, well. I know Lizzie is safe with you, but what about Josie?”

“I have someone heading to her now. Under strict instructions”

“To bring her to you?” Caroline asked.

“The opposite” Hope replied, which got Lizzie's attention, her head shooting up like a meerkat.

“What do you mean the opposite, she is safest here with us” Lizzie spoke a little louder than before

“Lizzie, if this is to do with the merge, then whoever it is, needs you two together. The further away you are from each other the better”

“That’s not true, anything can happen to her out there. Tell her mum” Lizzie said

“I agree with Hope honey, I think you are safest away from each other”

“Away from each other. So What I have to sit here and wait for my death day, and never see her again, is that it”

“Lizzie, please. This is the ..”

“Don’t you give me your shit Hope, I want her here” Lizzie shouted, the tears forming in her eyes.

“Lizzie, I just..”

“and who have you got looking after, huh, who do you think is a safer option than you?” Lizzie demanded, she was kneeling now, her hands on her hips. Hope paused looking at her, weighing the pros and cons of lying to her. “I’m waiting, who do you think is good enough to look after my sister”

“Penelope”

“PARK?!!” Lizzie yelled, her hands reaching to cover her face “PARK?!, you pick park” Lizzie yelled, jumping out of the bed pacing the length of her room, ranting about how Hope was an idiot, the pictures on the walls starting to shake, the signs of the start of a breakdown.

“Caroline I’m going to have to call you back” Hope said hanging up the phone, moving out of the bed to stand up herself.

“Come on then, let’s have it. Explain to me why Satan is looking after my sister” Lizzie demands pacing up and down, with a little more speed, trying and failing to control her breathing.

“She will do anything for Josie.”

“Oh and you know that do you? She may have been in love with her once upon a time Hope. But that doesn’t qualify her to be a fucking knight in shining armour”

“She was the best option.”

“Here is the best option. We are the best option” Lizzie yelled, gesturing between her and hope as she did so.

“Lizzie, love” Hope tried again to reason with her and not escalate the situation.

“Don’t you Lizzie love me. How do you know? how do you know that she will do everything for her?” Lizzie yelled

“Because I know the damn feeling” Hope shouted back, stepping forward into Lizzie's face as she did so, stopping her from pacing. “Cause I know the damn feeling. Penelope will do whatever to keep your sister safe and I need to know that. I need to know implicitly that whoever has Josie, only cares for Josie.”

“So you picked Penelope because she doesn’t like me” Lizzie said outraged

“Is that really all you got from that ?” Hope asked exasperated

“Don’t you flip this into your weird holier than thou bullshit. Why Penelope when you knew how I feel about her when you know how she left things with Josie.”

“Holier than thou. Holier than thou. The only bloody reason I need someone there that will sacrifice in that manner is that I need someone who will fight me. God damn it, Lizzie, because if it comes between you or her. No matter how much you try and beg me to let you go. I’ll sacrifice her. Is that what you want me to say. Because when it comes to you Elizabeth, I’d sacrifice them all and I know. I know. What that means. And I know that messes up the notion you have, that I am some kind of hero. But when it comes to you, I’d sacrifice them all. Even if it meant you never looking at me again. For me there isn’t a choice,” Hope said her angry monologue slowing down, as she finally found Lizzie's eyes again, “it's you.” Hope finished. Lizzie stood in front of her, tears streaming down her face.

“I need to be alone now”

“Of course, you do” Hope said, her own breathing a little ragged at having delivered her speech in only one or two breaths. She turned around and grabbed her jumper off the side of the bed pulling open the door with too much strength.

“Even If I begged” Lizzie whispered before Hope could take another step.

“Even If you begged” Hope agreed solemnly, she knew that what she had just said had completely shattered her worldview, but there was nothing to do. That was the truth of it.

“And this is the best option? Is it honestly, after what you just said. Is this the safest option?”

“Yes, right now. I have all the cards, and I want you both safe because oddly enough I do quite like it when you don’t hate me.”

“Close the door, I hate it when they listen in” Lizzie said distractedly, Hope closed the door, leaning back against it and sliding down, sitting on the floor “But like Park, really” Lizzie said, Hope managed to huff out a laugh.

“Yea, Park”

“God I hate her even more now” Lizzie muttered, Hope only smiled in response. “Why do you never talk to me before you run off and do these things”

“Because It was the right call, you were asleep and I knew you would react like this”

“Like you broke my trust and put my sister in danger”

“When you put it like that”

“You mean when I say how it appears”

“I’d do whatever to keep you happy. You know that”

“I know,” Lizzie said rolling her eyes in response.

Chapter Text

Hope lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She had been lying there for hours begging sleep to take her, but it had refused. Her eyes had long since gone blurry so that she couldn’t even properly see what she was looking at and in her head all she kept hearing was Lizzie’s last words to her before she had left the room. ‘I don’t know how to trust you now’. After everything, the thing that made her untrustworthy was admitting that she would put Lizzie first. ‘I don’t know how to trust you now’ At first, she had accepted it, Lizzie says things like that all the time, horrible gut wrenching things that she doesn’t even mean, but says in the moment. Normally, Hope would give her a look, or Lizzie would realise two minutes after and apologise, but Lizzie didn’t even look at her when she said it. She had stared just past her head. ‘I don’t know how to trust you now’.
Hope rolled over, staring at the window, the light was just visible around the edges of the curtains, she must have been awake all night. She hadn’t even noticed. Huffing slightly, she reached for her phone, the time read 7:45, no new messages. Groaning, she turned her phone off. It was better to not know if Lizzie cared enough to message her. She turned it back on two seconds later feeling guilty. What if something went wrong, what if they needed her help. ‘I don’t know how to trust you now’. Hope groaned, her own thoughts continuing to betray her, anything else, think about anything else. ‘I don’t know..’

“For goodness sake” Hope said aloud her frustration finally getting to her. She needed a distraction, a full body mentally exhausting distraction. A run. In wolf form. It was light out, normally Hope had a little bit of common sense and ran as a wolf only at night, but right now she just needed not to think. Not wanting to see anyone or answer any questions she went out the window, swinging herself around and shimmying down the drainpipe. The drainpipe was Hope’s she had placed it there in her first year at attending the school, and mounted it with duct tape, and when that had stopped holding her weight, she held it up with magic. She knew, she would always need an escape plan, it was one of the things she had learnt from her dad. Never enter a place you don’t know how to get out of.

Lizzie, stood in front of her class room, a bunch of children around the age of 8 stared up at her from their tiny desks, eyes bright and ready to learn. Today, Lizzie was not much in the mood to teach, she had made a lesson plan for this and the rest of the year within a week of her father giving her the position. Even Hope had said she had gone overboard, colour coding all the children she thought may need extra help and spending hours over the seating plan to ensure that they got the most out of the class. Josie had pointed out that she would of hated having herself as a teacher, but Lizzie had scoffed. I don’t need to be liked. I need to be respected and who wouldn’t respect a colour coded file.

“Morning” Lizzie had said brightly

“Morning, Miss Saltzman” The class droned in response, Lizzie smiled back at them encouragingly, in her head though all she could hear was Hope's voice yelling ‘I’ll sacrifice her’. She shook her head, she needed to focus.

“Alright, class now for the past few weeks we have been working on our four forces of nature which are?” Lizzie asked, five hands shot up, she pointed at one of the children.

“Earth, Air, Fire and water” Said the child, who beamed at the nod he got in response.

“That’s right, and this week. Is fire” Lizzie said, turning back to the board, she started writing a small light spell. ‘I’ll sacrifice her’ How was Lizzie supposed to deal with that, and what if one of Hopes stupid self-sacrificing plans involved Josie dying, what then. She would be completely alone. No Josie and no Hope. All so Hope can save her. How do you trust that? “Can everyone turn to page 12 of their work books?” What if Hope thought that she was doing the right thing and she lost Josie for nothing. What would it take, how bad did it have to be for Hope to put her sister on the collateral damage list. “I want each of you to read out one paragraph, starting with Jonah.” She got a small groan in response and raised her eyebrow threateningly, they quickly simmered down.

‘I’ll sacrifice her’ Did it even mater, what Lizzie wanted. ‘Even if you begged’ She could hear Hopes voice again the conversation from the other night in a loop in her head. It wouldn’t matter so much if Hope at least asked her opinion on these things, included her in her stupid decision-making process. Before at least, she could rely on the fact Hope would save all of them, but Landon came first. Dumb stupid Landon. Sorry, dead, dumb, stupid Landon. May he rest in peace.

“That’s enough Jonah, next person” She called. At least when it was Landon, no one would be trying to use Josie as bait, she could look after her then, keep her out of these things. ‘I’ll sacrifice her’ and since when was it Hopes choice. Since when was it Hope getting to make these calls, like they were her calls to make. Stupid entitled Bitch.

There was a knock at the classroom door, and through the small rectangular window Lizzie spotted, Kaleb. He beckoned her to come outside.

“I’ll only be a minute, carry on” Lizzie said, moving gracefully towards the door, opening it with a questioning look, and closing it gently behind her. “This had better be good”

“Some guy has just run out of the woods, with a dragon hot on his tail”

“Get Hope to fix it, I’m busy. But if you can, get her to do it on the south lawn, my class are currently learning the fundamentals of fire, and that will benefit them”

“I tell you there is a dragon, and your first thought is learning opportunity”

“Waste not want not” Lizzie said, moving back towards the door.

“I can’t find Hope” Kaleb said suddenly realising that he was losing Lizzie’s attention

“Have you checked her usual brooding holes? or better yet try a church given that she seems to think she is God”

“Oh great, so you are fighting, and Hope is missing,” Kalbe said sighing

“Don’t be dramatic. Knowing her she would feel guilty running away. The most self-destructive thing that girl would do right now is go for a run in wolf form”

“She, literally stopped talking last time you guys had a fight”

“Yes, because she is a mopey stubborn bitch. She wouldn’t do that now though because she thinks there is an attack coming. I bet she wouldn’t even go that far into the woods”

“Well, you are wrong, because we checked the woods.”

“You did ?” Lizzie asked faltering

“Yes, now I need you to come fight this dragon and save this guy while I look for Hope”

“Hard pass”

“Lizzie” Kaleb groaned, putting his head in his hands, about at the end of his tether

“What Hope can be a brooding arsehole, but I can’t”

“If he burns the school down your kids go with it”

“Fine.” Lizzie said rolling her eyes “You had better get someone in there to cover for me” Lizzie said gesturing behind her.

Of course, Hope gets to run off and mope, while she has to deal with the fall out. ‘I’ll sacrifice her’ you would have to be around to manage that one Hope, Lizzie thought to herself. Sometimes it felt like Hope acted in the most selfish manner, running away from her problems, trying to throw her magic or muscle at them until they go away. Acting like she is the only person in the world, and the worst part is if she asked for help, spoke about her problems then she wouldn’t be in this mess. That suborn bitch. God, if she wasn’t so in love with her, she would kill her with her bare hands.

Lizzie reached the main doors, currently a bunch of students crowded around them trying to sneak a peak through the windows, it would appear that everyone in the school had come to have a look. Lizzie walked up behind them and coughed loudly, casing them all to jump, upon noticing who it was, they all backed away slowly allowing her a passage to the doors. Lizzie pushed the doors open with one sweep of her hand.

“Right. Let’s get this over with” Lizzie said bored. The dragon must have been about 15 feet tall, covered in sticky blue scales, its wings sat comically far on its back and as such it appeared that despite having wings the dragon could not fly. It did, however, look fierce with red glassy eyes and horns going down its spine. Its concentration was split between MG and the boy, whoever he was. The boy had taken cover behind the metal bin shed, which had somehow managed not to melt despite the dragon breathing fire onto it every few seconds. MG had succeeded in getting a few hits here and there but without a weapon, it hadn’t amounted to much

“Don’t you want to make a plan?” MG called over, jumping over the tail that swiped left to right as the dragon moved closer to the boy.

“Do I look like Hope?” Lizzie asked walking boldly towards the dragon, who upon hearing her yelling had turned its attention and roared, breathing fire in her direction. Lizzie held up her hand, creating a shield around her as she walked closer and closer, the fire seemed to engulf her however when the dragon drew another breath, causing the fire to stop, she appeared completely fine.
The dragon tried again, however, this time as Lizzie was closer, she was in range to perform a rebounding spell. The fire hit her and then bounced backwards, burning the dragon, who seemed not to notice for a few seconds, but when it did, it winced in realisation, finally stopping its own attack.

The guy who had been hiding behind the bin shed, finally came out running. He was dressed in chain mail, with a poncho-style covering bearing some crest. He screamed, naturally getting the dragon's attention and ran towards it, he held one long, shining sword in both hands. The dragon roared, sending small balls of fire towards the boy, who ducked and rolled with an impressive amount of agility given the weight of the clothes he was wearing. The boy looked like he may actually get somewhere until the Dragon took a large swipe with his tail causing him to fall to the ground sending his sword cluttering along the gravel in Lizzies direction

“kill it” he called. Lizzie did not need to be told twice, She held out her hand ordering the Sword to her, she took one second to get her target, hurling the sword like a Javelin, it hit its mark straight through the dragon's heart. The dragon fell backwards with a thump, causing the whole ground to shake, around them.

“Damn,” Mg said

“And that’s on being QB1” Lizzie gloated. She turned to the boy who was now walking towards them, or more specifically towards the body of the dragon. He kicked it slightly, jumping when its arm fell of its chest.

“And you are?” Lizzie asked, watching the boy with amusement

“How rude of me, I am Lancelot” The boy announced, taking a large sweeping bow. “And pray tell, with whom am I speaking”

“You have got to be kidding me” Lizzie said, she looked behind her at the school, all the children stared out of the windows their faces pressed close to the glass. “Which one of you muppets brought your toys to life?” She yelled up at the school. She watched their faces hoping to see one of them look away, or turn red from the guilt but she didn’t see any of them looking embarrassed They all only looked at each other seemingly amused by the turn of events.

“I can assure you ma’am I am no toy” Lancelot said, pushing through his blond curly hair.

“Hi, I am MG” MG said moving forward to shake Lancelot’s hand, who only looked at it with mild curiosity, deciding instead to tap it gently.

“I’m not sure I am familiar with this custom” Lancelot said as MG looked at him oddly and retracted his hand.

“Of course you’re not. I swear, If I find out which one of those ten year olds was messing around. I mean they are so grounded, but this is seriously impressive.” Lizzie said to MG She took a step forward. “Can I see the heal of your boot?” Lizzie asked gesturing to it expectantly.

“I shall pass my boot, if the fair lady would give me her name”

“The fair lady is Elizabeth, now hurry up”

“Elizabeth is a lovely name” He said handing it over.

“Uh huh” Lizzie was bord of the flirting already, she tipped the boot upside down and sure enough, a small bar code could be seen on the heel. She turned the boot to MG. “Whichever bright spark did this you left the bar code” she said waving the boot around at the school.

“What is a bar code?” Lancelot asked looking very perplexed.

“Don’t worry about it” MG said kindly.

“Right, you can take all of this to Emma, I don’t know the spell by heart and I am in no mood to deal with” She gestured to Lancelot and the dragon “This” Lizzie then turned on her heel and headed back to her class room.

“Before you go, someone must rescue the wolf maiden in the woods” Lancelot called after her.

“The who now?” Lizzie asked turning back around.

“The wolf maiden. She fought bravely but the dragon and already landed a killing blow before she knew it was there”

“Hope” Lizzie whispered to herself, before vamping off into the woods, she knew she had been right, of course, Hope went into the woods, and obviously as it always does, trouble found her.

Chapter Text

“Hope” Lizzie whispered to herself, before vamping off into the woods, she knew she had been right, of course Hope went into the woods, and obviously as it always does, trouble found her. She was like a magnet for this kind of thing. A killing blow, that’s what the toy had said, a killing blow. Not that Hope can be killed of course. She was absolutely going to bully her for being beaten by a toy. Lizzie was running along the track that she knew Hope took through the woods, but she couldn’t see her there. When she was almost at the end, she turned back slowing down this time and keeping a better eye out.

Honestly, how much damage can a plastic toy even do? After taking the third bend, she caught sight of Lancelot's broken shield, which he must have dropped after the dragon and ripped through it. The sight of it sent a shiver down her spine. “Hope?” Lizzie called, walking towards the shield and deeper into the woods, she saw her lying close by a broken tree, “Hope” Lizzie called again anxiously this time, noticing the amount of blood that Hope's clothes were covered in. “Hope, this isn’t funny” her worry turned to anger at the fact that Hope would be so stupid as not to notice a dragon. Hope didn’t respond, as she got closer, she could see why. Hope was almost cut in half, Lizzie turned away her hand covering her mouth.

“Oh Sweetie,” she said kneeling down at her side. She ran her hand over Hope’s face wiping the blood that covered it, only for more blood to replace it from the still open gash on her forehead. Gently as she could, she lifted Hope up, and Vamped back to the school, into Hope’s room. She didn’t want any onlookers, Hope was a very proud person and there is no way she would forgive Lizzie for parading her mutilated body down the halls. Especially as Lizzie had managed to take the dragon down so easily not ten minutes prior. Hope in her wolf form was vicious, but in the end still only an animal and while she knew Hope was trying, she still couldn’t perform magic in this form. Lizzie had told her time and time again that she was weakest as a wolf, but Hope wouldn’t hear of it. Lizzie was convinced it had something to do with Hope’s mother, but she wasn’t tactful enough to ask and not put her foot in it.

Lizzie moved to lay Hope onto her own bed, being sure to make it as comfortable as she could. The room was oddly cold, she considered putting the covers over her but thought against it, she would need to bandage her up in a second. She looked to the window and rolled her eyes at the fact it was open, so that’s how no one saw her, she thought moving over to close it.

She then pulled out the first aid kit that Hope kept in one of her draws, for emergencies like these. She knew a few healing spells but nothing powerful enough to sew a body up together, but she could probably manage the smaller cuts. She started with the one on her forehead, covering it with two fingers, she whispered the words under her breath, smiling as her hands heated and a bright light burned from her fingertips. When the cut was healed, she wiped down Hope’s face, rubbing rather harshly at her eyebrows where the blood had gathered and matted the hairs together. She worked periodically on Hope for over twenty minutes, heal then clean, heal then clean. Once she had fixed the cuts that littered her body, she took out the bandages and wrapped Hope around the torso, pulling tightly on the stomach to get it to sit right. She thought she had heard Hope take in a sharp breath, but when she looked up Hope still lay completely peaceful.

The bandage on Hope’s stomach was red within a second, the cut should have started healing or at the very least stopped bleeding by now, as the bandage got redder it only fuelled Lizzie’s fear. “You self-sacrificing arsehole. I bet you jumped in to save that stupid boy too. I bet you didn’t even think about it. You are infuriating, I know that you don’t seem to have one self-preserving thought in your head, but for God’s sake can you think about how I would feel.” Lizzie said berating her, as she calmly stroked Hope’s hair with one hand and took away her pain with the other “If I lost you, do you know how that would make me feel? Do you think about the repercussions of your heroics? Honestly, you make me so mad sometimes, it’s like I can’t even speak.” Lizzie huffed dropping her head into her hands “It’s a good job your asleep right now, because I can literally hear the replies you would give me” Lizzie groaned before putting on her best Hope impression “Lizzie I am sorry but If someone dies and I could of helped, I can’t live with the guilt of that” Lizzie stopped, looking away from Hope and out the window “you know what’s worse, is when you wake up, your gonna give me that classic smile and say some clever one-liner and look all guilty and sheepish, and I won't say anything. But we can’t keep doing this Hope, I can’t keep watching you get hurt, making decisions that directly affect me without asking me first. My sister Hope, I would happily die for my sister. The same way you would happily die for ..for well everyone. Literally anyone. And It should be my choice. I should be able to make that decision, the same way you get to” Lizzie said picking up Hope's hand and performing another spell to wash away the ingrained dirt in her fingernails.

“Your right” Hope whispered, Lizzie jumped, dropping Hope’s hand, and putting her own to her chest.

“What?”

“Your right. It should be your choice”

“How long were you listening?”

“Long enough”

“I want you and every other shitty rom-com to know that that is not an answer” Hoped laughed, wincing as she did so, trying to pull herself into a sitting position. “Don’t move, I’m genuinely not convinced that your bottom half will move with you.”

“Then don’t make me laugh” Hope said smiling, Lizzie only rolled her eyes, standing to help move Hope back into a more comfortable position. “I am sorry about our fight, the things I said were not fair” Hope wrapped her hand around Lizzie’s wrist.

“But you meant them”

“I did, I do” Lizzie sighed pulling away from Hope, who only held her tighter. “I can’t tell you it isn’t what I want, because it is. I would like to sacrifice everyone for you, in the most selfish, unheroic, pathetic way there is. But. I won’t if it’s not what you want. I promise, when that option comes if that option comes. We will make that decision together.”

“I don’t want your promises, we don’t have a good record with them. I want you to swear it on us. You swear it on us, that when the time comes if it comes, you’ll ask”

Hope turned as much as she was able, looking Lizzie in the eye, moving her hand down to Lizzies. “I swear on us” Hope said holding eye contact, she smiled slightly and squeezed Lizzie's hand “I’ll ask you first, and we will decide together”

“Good” Lizzie whispered, unable to trust her voice not to break, why did Hope always seem to stare at her like she was seeing her for the first time. She always makes her feel so bare. Lizzie stood suddenly moving to the desk to get a cup of water for Hope, Hope lazily followed her with her eyes “What, I can feel you want to say something else. The room feels so heavy”

“Careful, you’ll have people thinking you are some kind of psychic”

“Don’t do that” Lizzie berated, holding the glass to Hope's lips, who sipped from it slowly.

“Do what ?” Hope asked cheekily, fully aware of what she was doing

“Avoiding the question, stop hiding from me. You are allowed to talk about your feelings to”

“I know I just. I hate it so much” Hope rolled her eyes further expressing her feelings on the matter

“Well tough. You need to be more open to communication and learn to be vulnerable. Even if its not with me”

“Ha” Hope snorted “It’s probably not going to happen, but it wouldn’t happen with anyone else”

“cute. Well, you have distracted me enough. Come on”

“It’s stupid”

“Hope”

“I just,” she paused “it's that when” Hope took a breath turning to look at the ceiling as though not looking at her directly may help it feel less “the other night. Before I left. You said that you weren’t sure how to trust me. And I, well it bothered me. I’m not sure what it is I want you to tell me. It’s not even a question, I guess. Just” Hope paused, and Lizzie waited quietly for Hope to get it all out, Hope however, took that silence as negative “never mind I am just being silly”

“Hope. Stop. It's not silly, you're not stupid. I trust you implicitly. It’s just that, before, our views, our wants in all situations have been the same. We have always wanted the same outcome. I could rely on you to make all the choices that you thought were best and I would go along because at the end of the day the goal was the same. But that night, that night it became clear that wasn’t the case. For me, the goal is we both survive, but if it has to be one of us, I want it to be Josie. But you want it to be me. I meant it at the time, and I guess I mean it now. The trust that I have for you, with you. Came from having the same goals. But you need to know, I am not singular. If the people I love die, I die with them. If I lost Josie. I don’t even think I would still be myself. And I didn’t say I wasn’t sure how to trust you, I said how do I trust you now. And annoying as it is, the answer is just the same. I trust you just the same if not better.” Lizzie felt a tear roll down her cheek “God you're making my eyes sweat Michaelson”

“They need the work out” Hope responded lightly, reaching over to help wipe the tears away.

“Shut up” Lizzie replied huffing out a laugh “Does that help. Do you feel better?”

“Yes” Hope said smiling brightly “now you better go get your binders. We have two visions to understand and two sisters to save”

“Is the Hope Michaelson, asking me a lowly Saltzman to make a plan together”

“Funny.” Hope rolled her eyes without malice “You want a united front, then I am all in. Till the bitter end”

“Till the bitter end” Lizzie repeated, leaning over and kissing her gently on the forehead. "Can we colour code?" Lizzie asked leaning against the door frame, not waiting for an answer, before vamping to her room to get her things.

"Only If I get to be blue" Hope called after her

"No, you have and always will be green" Lizzie said upon re-entering the room, a large box over flowering with folders in her arms.

"Please, blue is my favourite colour" Hope said wiggling her eyebrows

"Yes but green is mine" came the definitive response, Hope only smiled adoringly over at Lizzie a light blush forming on her cheeks.

Chapter Text

It had been just over a week since the dragon attack, well toy attack but Hope was refusing to refer to it as that. The inevitability of the prophecy had hit Lizzie about four days ago, after Lizzie’s big emotional breakdown and the lack of leads they had found on the premonitions, Lizzie had become increasingly reckless. It had taken her breaking her favourite lamp for Lizzie to decide that retreat was her best option. In the mountains of paperwork at least she could pretend that Hope wasn’t upstairs sewing herself back together, that her sister wasn’t a million miles away, and that she was not just sat about waiting for an attack which would likely lead to her death, permanently.

She sat in the principal’s office organising her teaching folder for the next few months. She had just gotten into February when she was interrupted by a knock on the door, she looked up, trying to get a sense of the person on the other side.

“Come in” she called

“Homework Lizzy, they are still giving us homework” Pedro sighed deeply collapsing onto the large chair that sat on the other side of the desk.

“By they, I assume you mean your teachers”

“It’s almost Christmas, even Hope said it was immoral”

“oh, she did, did she” Lizzie asked assumed an eyebrow rising

“Yes, she did and, and, and she has literally killed people” Pedro said as though that furthered his point, Lizzie instinctively reached for her neck.

“I am aware of that” Lizzie said, but her tone was not accusatory, they had decided to keep the details of her own death on the down low. “But there are still three weeks until the Christmas holidays, it really isn’t that close”

“ughhh” Pedro sighed dramatically flinging himself backwards so that his head hung off the right side of the arm chair.

“He gets that from you, you know” Hope chuckled, making her presence known as she leaned against the door frame.

“Hello to you too, and just what nonsense have you been filling his head with?” Lizzie asked accusingly.

“It was a casual conversation about homework over Christmas and I got well and truly played” Hope spoke softly a small smile of admiration playing on her face as she looked at the young boy, who was straining to lift his head up to see Hope.

“Well now that, I will take credit for” Lizzie said amused “but Pedro, you still have to do the homework”

“You two really are the worst” he mumbled, rolling himself off the chair and storming past Hope, in mock anger. Hope watched him go before stepping into the room and closing the door behind her. She made her way over to the chair that Pedro was just sat in.

“So” she said when it was clear the Lizzie was not going to address her first.

“So” Lizzie responded not looking up, instead she reached for a different book.

“You’ve been here for hours Liz” Hope said gently, coaxing out the information that she had clearly come for

“Your ability to tell the time has officially passed that of a 5th grader, congrats” Hope snorted at the comment.

“Okay, what about a break”

“Nope, no breaks. If I take a break, then I start thinking, If I start thinking I start worrying and if I start worrying then my magic gets out of control.”

“You can’t just force yourself to work like this for the rest of your life, you have to face these things”

“What, I can’t have an outlet. You get to go off on your long runs and wolf out and I don’t even know what else, and I can’t even choose to use my time productively. What do you want from me, to sit here and worry about my impending death, or worse my sisters impending death and keep looking for answers we already know aren’t there until I go crazy. Is that what that is. Sorry I don’t deal with things in the healthy manner that you do, I.e trying to get yourself killed every 5 minutes. But this is what I need to do.”

“Right” Hope said standing, holding her hands out in front of her as a sign of backing down. “I’ll leave you to it then”

“Hope” Lizzie sighed, but Hope had already left the room and lizzie now sat on her own in silence.
“great, you can’t even have one nice conversation” she berated herself. She had been doing well, but something about Hope, made all her feelings bubble to the surface. Maybe it was because she loved the girl, or more likely it was because she knew that Hope could take it, she could be as mean and vindictive and take it all out on Hope because Hope wouldn’t leave. Somehow as always, Lizzie was treating the best person in her life, the worst.

Another knock on the door had Lizzie hoping that Hope had come back around, but instead she was greeted by Cleo.

“Another Lovers quarrel” Cleo asked, seeing the dejected look all over Lizzies face as she came to sit in.

“Not lovers” Lizzie cut in, pausing, she steadied herself, realising she didn’t have another argument in her “We just have very different ways of dealing with things.”

“I know, sometimes it is what makes people work so well together”

“or not” Lizzie rubbed her face, she had also picked up the nasty habit of forgoing sleep

“Have you tried talking to each other about these things?” Cleo asked gently, it was clear to her that the two had their own language and their own secrets. It had become very obvious to Cleo a long time ago that no matter how informed she felt, there would always be something the two girls knew that she didn’t.

“Talking about it, have you met us? it’s more fight, apologise, move forward”

“would you like to talk to me about it?”

“It’s just..” Lizzie began to answer when the door opened again, this time to reveal Hope, holding a tray of tea and toast.

“Didn’t mean to interrupt” Hope said softly, she set the tray down on the only corner of the desk not covered in papers, she hovered slightly, the desire to step forward to Lizzie played on her mind, but they were private people, and she wasn’t going to put on a show for Cleo. “At least try and get some sleep” Hope said finally.

“You two are very good together” Cleo said, her eyebrows furrowed as she watched the two interact.

“We’re not together” rushed Lizzie, terrified that Hope would think she had been insinuating things to Cleo, she had been around Hope long enough to know how the girl reacted when people got too close, but she felt something stick in the back of her throat as a look she could not decipher ran across Hopes face.

“Right,” Hope said turning away from Lizzie and shooting Cleo a big smile “Not together” she repeated. “I’ll leave you two to it” she said and once again departed, leaving Lizzie with a bitter taste in her mouth.

Hope on the other hand had decided that she needed a bit of a walk outside, she had taken a stroll around the building another promise to Lizzie to not go running off in Wolf form. It bothered her how even when Lizzie had been the one to upset her, it was still her instruction she followed. It shouldn’t bother her, not really that Lizzie had said they weren’t together, because they weren’t. They had never had that conversation, but still for all they had been through, for all they had said for all those nights together, surely it would warrant at least a pause of thought, at least a second of; maybe. Hope thought about all the times she had, had those same conversations told people she did not have feelings for the Saltzman, told them they were not dating, told them it wasn’t a big deal. Finally, she decided that it was just the lack of sleep and the stress, she couldn’t hold her to this. Instead, she would be an adult about something and wait until the morning. She strolled around the building a few more times, watching the headmasters window and only once the light turned off did she herself head inside.

Hope awoke at 7 O’clock on the Saturday morning, feeling in better spirits because of two things. Firstly, Lizzie had actually gone to bed at a half decent hour, secondly, she was due to meet a Witch about an hour out of town who might actually have useful information and finally because she had realised that if Lizzie had replied to Cleo so quickly it was because she was asked so often and maybe that’s a good thing. She dressed, picking up a sweater for herself just in case and wondered down the stairs, heading straight to the kitchen where the main noise could be heard. You may be wondering why a bunch of teenagers were up at 7 O’clock on a Saturday and the truth of that is just time looses meaning when you are up to 3 am or pulling all nighters or if every month you turn into a Wolf. You tend to lose semblance of a sleep schedule pretty fast.

“Morning” Hope called, as she headed straight for the coffee in the corner

“Morning” came the chorus back, it wasn’t until she had downed her first cup (Perks of being a Vampire, takes twice as much alcohol, twice as many drugs and God forbid twice as much caffeine to get any form of reaction) she looked up to see who else was present. Lizzie, MG, Kaleb, Cleo, Finch and Jed sat about the main dinning table. Hope had still not forgiven Jed, but she equally had not found the time to talk with him properly not for lack of him trying. Plus, she was feeling pretty good about the day. She filled up another cup and brought both over to the table, taking the free seat beside Lizzie. She was not at all sure when everyone claimed a seat of their own around the table, but now it felt like her place was always beside Lizzie whenever they communed.

“It’s going to be so fucking cold, can’t they just ask the younger lot to help” Finch complained bitterly, dropping her head onto the table. Hope cocked an eyebrow at Kaleb in question.

“Badger infestation, our local humans are rampaging, but no success and at this rate there will be traps on the grounds during the full moon.”

“And they are nocturnal, so we have to go at night and its supposed to hit – 10” Jed followed on, further explaining the problem, Lizzie shivered at the temperature and took the jumper Hope had on her shoulder putting it on without a word.

“Damn, well I’m out for the day, but if I get back in time then I don’t mind helping”

“Where are you going?” Lizzie questioned accusingly, reaching over and taking the second mug of coffee that Hope had intended for herself.

“The Witch I told you about, she has agreed to meet me just an hour out of town”

“I’m coming” Lizzie stated

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea”

“Do I look like I care”

“About whether or not it’s a good decision, no. My opinion, I would hope so”

“It’s about my sister.”

“It’s also about you and it could be a trap.”

“And if its not?”

“Then I will still have the information and we still have a lead, regardless of if you’re there”

“And what if it is a trap and you need help?”

“I’ll be fine”

“Well, so will I”

“You can’t know that”

“Neither can you”

“I still think it’s a bad idea”

“and your opinion is noted.”

“Fine, but we leave in an hour. So whatever you need to get done”

“Already on it,” Lizzie said standing,

“I always thought that Hope would wear the trousers in the relationship” Jed joked

“For the last time, we are not dating” Lizzie called over her shoulder. Hope felt her stomach drop, its one thing to deny it, quite another to be annoyed at the statement. Hopes mood suddenly depleted, so much for the good day.