Chapter 36: thirty-three

{1.16 | There's Always a Loophole}

[a.n. Longggg chapter ahead}

"Hey, Ric, but I just needed a little time, so I'm going camping for a while. Hopefully, I can catch up on classwork later," the voice of Landon played from the machine. Hope and Elara stood on either side of Alaric's desk, having broken into his office moments before, and they listened to the recording for the first time.

"Like Landon would ever call Alaric Ric," Elara muttered. She wanted to say more, share her doubts about the recording, but she let it finish.

"Tell Raf and Jed hi for me." With a click, the voicemail ended. Hope and Elara looked at each other.

"Jed?" Hope questioned, placing her hands on the edge of the desk. "The last time Landon spoke to Jed didn't end well."

"He left his journal; he didn't bring any camping gear..." Elara narrowed her eyes in thought. "Play it again."

Hope tapped one of the buttons. Landon's voice filled the room once more, and Elara closed her eyes. She had to focus long enough to hear past Landon's voice.

"Hey, Ric," his voice sounded throughout the room. Almost straining herself-- pushing past the faint ringing and the thudding in her mind-- she listened. Footsteps on hard tiles. An air conditioner running at full blast. Someone swiping a keycard.

She relayed to Hope what she was hearing, and the tri-brid watched her intently before coming to a realization.

"TRIAD," she said, letting out a sigh. "It has to be. They were hunting Landon when we were in Kansas."

Elara pulled herself out of the recording at the sound of the click, rubbing her temple with her palm. Her hearing was nearly as impressive as a vampire, but with the constant dull ache and the stabbing ringing, it felt like she was trying to push through a bladed fence.

Elara exhaled sharply, turning towards Hope. "Right, because they must've connected him to Seylah. Or figured out he could find the artefacts- I don't know. Whatever their reasons, it can't be good."

"Great, so I'm going to go save him." Hope moved towards the door, but Elara's hand caught her elbow.

"Like hell you're going alone. I'm coming with."

Hope shook her head, but she didn't shake off Elara's grip. "No, you're not. It'll be dangerous--"

"So?" Elara's gaze bounced across Hope's face. She was worried, incredibly worried, but she was doing her best to hide it. "Maybe I'm indestructible, and we don't know it yet."

"I'd rather not find out," Hope breathed out.

Elara let go of Hope's elbow to grab her hand and interlace their fingers. "Hope, you are not going by yourself, not when you've got a squad that's willing to help. Not when you've got me."

That seemed to shake Hope out of her self-sacrificing daze. Slowly, she nodded.

"Fine, then let's get the others and head out."

~-~-~

By morning, they were ready. Elara waited in the great hall, tapping her fingers anxiously on her thigh. They had to save Landon from Triad, but they couldn't go alone. The girlfriends decided to divide and conquer. Elara sought out MG, Kaleb, and Lizzie while Hope looked for Josie and a replacement for Rafael since he wasn't in the right state of mind to help in the fight.

He had entered their room earlier, demanding that he go with them, but after a shaky confession and awkward looks between Rafael and Hope's girlfriend (Elara still couldn't believe that was one of her titles, now), he realized that he couldn't help how he wanted to. Rafael was struggling with his wolf mind and his human mind, an issue Elara herself wasn't too unfamiliar with.

She reached up with one hand and fixed the collar of her denim jacket. She hated waiting. Waiting meant time passed. Time passing meant they were running out of it, running out of time to save Landon.

Another thudding feeling spread throughout her head, and she grimaced, rubbing at her forehead with the back of her hand. Something about the air felt different. She figured it must've just been the amount of stress she was feeling, yet there was a feeling at the back of her mind, like the sound of someone knocking on a door, that continued to torment her.

You can't be serious!

The voice startled Elara. She spun on her heel, trying to locate the source, but she didn't see anyone. It was husky, warm, like a fireplace in winter.

Oh, I am, sweetheart.

The second was lighter, feminine? But Elara didn't know it. At least, she didn't think she did. She shook her head. That strange feeling must've been messing with her mind, crossing the line between the Hellhound and herself.

Or maybe she was just losing it. That was always a possibility.

At the sound of footsteps, Elara picked herself back up and straightened her posture. Hope walked into the hall with Rafael, finishing their conversation. At the sight of Elara, she shot her a small, reassuring smile.

"My squad answered the Bat-Signal," Hope said, pointing behind Elara.

Josie, Kaleb, and Jed turned the corner as if on cue, walking with determined steps. Josie and Kaleb exchanged a glance, and Jed kept his eyes forward. Rafael nearly let out a growl at the sight of him. Elara avoided looking at the former alpha.

Simultaneously, Lizzie stepped through the archway, glaring daggers at her twin sister.

"She's coming?" they grumbled together.

"We need all the help we can get," Hope reasoned, moving to stand beside Elara. "So please put your twin war on pause."

"Why's he going?" Rafael asked, looking at Jed. "He hates Landon,"

Jed let out a sigh as if the answer was obvious. "Look, you're the Alpha. If Landon's you pack, that makes him ours."

A pack is a pack, living or dead they stand together.

The first voice from earlier hit her ears-- or her mind, she was still unsure-- and she felt her eyes drift towards the common room. as a sense of familiarity hit her. Again, she shook her head.

"I'll keep him in check, Raf," Elara added after regaining what senses she could.

Kaleb paused. "Where's MG at?"

"On his way," Elara answered. She rubbed the back of her neck, attempting to ease the growing ache. Hope watched the movement with a glint of concern in her eyes. "We should probably start loading up."

"Right, come on," Hope agreed.

The squad exited the building, Hope and Elara taking the lead, but they barely made it past the stairs before a group stopped them in their tracks.

They weren't normal people, Elara realized. They wore military-grade uniforms, wielded riot shields bearing a familiar logo of triangles.

"Triad," she breathed out. Another thud forced itself against her skull.

"Oh, sorry," the man at the front apologized. Elara flinched at the painful ringing in her head at the sight of him. "We were about to knock."

Behind her, Lizzie took a step forward. "Who the hell are you?"

He grinned. "Name's Burr. Triad Industries."

Hope acted quickly. She gestured her hands and boldly recited a spell, but it had no effect.

The man looked at her, his brows drawn together in interest. Hope's lips parted as she glanced at her hands in confusion. Elara swallowed nervously, and the squad exchanged looks with each other.

Kaleb acted next. "I got this." He dropped his bag, speeding towards the group, but he stopped before he even got there, crying out in pain. Elara smelled burning flesh.

"What you don't got is magic," Burr taunted as Kaleb fled back to the safety of the shade. "Which is why your daylight ring won't work." He watched the group, his eyes settling on each of them briefly, and his grin twisted even more. "And what we have are stakes, wolfsbane... and other things." He held out his arms, locking eyes with the amber--orange--glow of Elara's. "So I think you should invite us inside."

Without another word, the Triad group pushed past the Super Squad. Burr pushed past Elara, bumping her shoulder, and Hope's hand on her wrist pulled her back from whatever dumb thing she had been about to do.

The squad followed the group into the school, and they went to the dance hall. An announcement was made for the students to gather there. Many of them arrived confused, most of them glancing at the newcomers with caution.

Elara stayed with the witches, sticking closely to her girlfriend. Triad had infiltrated their school; they had broken their magic somehow and forced themselves passed their walls. She wasn't going to stand for it, but she couldn't act yet.

On the other side of her, Josie glimpsed at Elara's expression. Pain grazed the surface of it, forcing her to clench her jaw, and then it was gone as quickly as it appeared.

"We're looking for an artifact known as the Chalice of Arimathea," Burr explained, pacing along the steps. "We have reason to believe it's part of your school's collection."

Elara tilted her head in thought. The school probably didn't have it, the odds of them having not one but two Malivore artefacts were slim, but then again, Elara wasn't necessarily lucky.

Burr continued as others from Triad handed out sheets of paper with a golden goblet on it. "Now, you know this place a lot better than we do, so the sooner you help us find it, the sooner we'll be gone."

Hope and Lizzie exchanged an apprehensive look. None of them believed that Burr and Triad were just going to leave them alone.

Burr smiled menacingly, watching each and every one of them. There was a shine in his eye, one that Elara didn't like. "Triad thanks you for your time."

~-~-~

The witches and Elara burst through the door of Alaric's office, and when Lizzie locked the door behind them, Elara let out her most important question.

"Can I please rip his throat out with my teeth?"

Hope shook her head as she grabbed the phone of his desk, desperately pushing the buttons on it. "Later- great, it's dead. Help me find the school phone."

That wasn't a no.

Hope frantically began to search the office while Lizzie and Josie simply glared at each other, unable to contain their twin feud any longer.

"Check MG's tighty-whities," Lizzie suggested as she approached the desk.

"Really?" Josie scoffed, heading there, too. "This is serious."

"Oh, I'm sorry. We can't all be born with resting concerned pouty face."

Josie gasped, and Elara rolled her eyes at their bickering as she pushed aside books in the cabinet. From the bookshelf, Hope found a strange box.

"Didn't this shelf use to have books on it?" Hope wondered aloud.

Josie noticed what she meant. "Yeah. That's weird."

Weird, huh? That we find ourselves right back where we started.

Don't try and condescend me. We knew I was right all along.

Elara shuddered, forcing back a pained grunt. Each time the voices appeared, she felt herself slipping, like she was trying to climb a mountain of nerves and kept getting pulled back by fault equipment. She felt... out of place.

Hope grabbed the red box, bringing it over to the desk. The twins' bickering covered whatever light sound Elara made. Elara looked at them over her shoulder, watching curiously. She could hear the cogs in Hope's mind turning.

"Whatever they're doing to block out our magic must have knocked out a cloaking spell your dad had," Hope reasoned.

Lizzie laughed humorlessly. "Big shocker. Dad's hiding something from us."

"Join the club, Elizabeth," Elara muttered, turning her attention back to the cabinet-- and the sensation of her hands touching it.

She heard Lizzie shaking the box, and Hope said, "unless it has the school phone in it, it doesn't matter."

Hope slid next to Elara, joining her in searching through the cabinet while the twins continued to argue. Elara had grown used to them arguing, bickering like siblings every now and then, but she was slowly losing her patience with their insistent arguing.

"Sorry I don't feel like laughing while my world's falling apart," Josie said, the phrase a little too familiar to Elara, who had said the very same phrase months before.

"Your world? What about my world?" Lizzie shot back. "I'm the one who's eventually going to be absorbed by my own twin."

"If you lose the Merge."

"Which I'm obviously going to. I'm the weak, broken one."

"And like clockwork-- victim."

Elara grimaced in both pain and annoyance. "Bringing both of them was a terrible idea."

"No disagreement from me," Hope muttered in response. Then she found a metal box that Elara had missed, opening it quickly, and she pulled out a phone with a dark green case and the Salvatore logo on it. "Found it."

Before she could question how she missed the damn thing right under her nose, another wave of aching pain shot through her, this time a small ember embedding itself in her chest. She managed to bite back a groan.

Hope unlocked the phone, opening the phone app, and called Alaric.

"It's Hope," she said when the phone stopped ringing, and Elara assumed he'd answered. "Triad's here."

Elara would've strained her ears to hear the other side of the conversation, but the moment she tried to focus, the flame within her chest flickered, knocking away her focus.

I'm begging you. Let her go. Please.

She propped herself against one of the chairs, ignoring the worrying glimpses of her girlfriend and ex-friend.

"Yeah, but our powers are gone," Hope responded to whatever Alaric had asked. She heard Alaric's voice-- barely-- but couldn't hear the words. "They said that the third artefact is in the school somewhere. The Chalice of Arithmetic or something?"

"Arimathea," Elara corrected, her voice weaker than intended. At the breathlessness of her tone, the others straightened, all turning to look at her. She'd paled, a sweat building at her temples.

Something was wrong.

Lizzie, who was the closest to her, reached a handout to her, and--stubbornly-- Elara refused it. The glare from Hope made her take it after a second and stand up.

"Any idea?" Hope paused for a moment as Alaric spoke again. "We're not the only ones in danger. Landon is, too. We can't just stand here and do nothing!" A long second passed as Alaric presumably instructed Hope, and she responded with a tight, "yeah."

The second she hung up, she was next to Elara, a hand on the side of her neck as she examined her face closely. "What's wrong?"

"I don't," Elara swallowed, biting back a pained gasp as another lightning-strike of agony pushed through her chest. "I don't really know. Did your dad ever tell you anything about magic and the Hellhound, Josette?"

They both looked at Josie, who looked as confused as Lizzie did.

"Uh, what's a Hellhound?" Lizzie asked, but it went ignored.

You brought the freaking Hellhound into our house? Are you insane- actually, don't answer that.

Josie shook her head. "No. You know more about it then I do."

"Know about the Hellhound?" Lizzie's voice came out once more. "Can someone explain what that is?"

"Ask your dad," Elara snarked, pushing herself away from her. "I'm sure he'd tell you more about it. Then again, it's not like he's keen on sharing secrets."

"So, what we do instead of that?"

"We figure out a way to get our powers back," Hope answered as she let go of Elara, staying close, "and we kick some paramilitary ass."

Lizzie moved around, standing behind Josie, who was now facing Hope and Elara.

Josie raised a hand in protest. "Wait, Dad said not to do anything crazy."

"Me defying your dad isn't crazy. It's consistent-"

The door to Alaric's office opened widely, and Elara positioned herself in front of the others the best she could in a split second.

Burr stepped through the open space, two guards backing him up.

"Well, at least we know where you stand," he said, his grin from earlier gone.

The others followed behind Elara, but she kept her position at the front, tilting her head side to side to pop her neck.

"You're damn right we do," Hope fired back from beside Elara.

Burr blinked. "You're not very scared of me, are you?"

"Not really, Aaron Burr, sir," Elara taunted, unable to help herself. She'd never actually seen the Broadway production, but she could quote it from the amount of times Felix referenced it.

She heard his holster unlock and watched as he pulled out his revolver. "How about now?"

Elara stiffened and Hope chuckled.

"That's your plan? You're gonna shoot a kid?"

"This gun would never harm a human child," Burr replied. "You four, however..." He paused, looking over each of them as if they were prey. He reached into his pocket and pulled out three bullets. "These bullets were formed from the mud of the Malivore pit and weaponized by Triad scientists."

Elara watched as he quickly loaded two of them before showing off the third. An insufferable ringing entered her mind and left as quickly as it arrived. She felt Hope tense next to her. Behind her, the twins were silent.

Burr continued, shoving the last bullet into the cylinder, "they can break the skin of any supernatural like a hot knife through butter. Fester. Infect them." He knocked the cylinder back into place. "Disintegrate them from the inside out."

"We don't know where the chalice is," blurted Josie.

Burr slightly cocked his head to the side. "I believe you." Elara narrowed her eyes, taking a short breath in. "This is just for fun, really."

People get hurt when you have your fun. People that I care about!

The voice, a third she didn't recognize, muddled through the ringing, but it wasn't enough to pull her attention away from Burr's slow movement. He lifted the gun, pointing it first at Hope.

"Eeny."

Then Elara. "Meeny."

Then Josie. Elara and Hope exchanged a knowing look, their silent conversation passing quickly and ending with a nod. "Miney-"

"Moe," Lizzie cried out. She jerked forward, but Elara was quicker.

She launched herself forward. Her jacket slipped down her shoulders, and she reached out for the gun with one hand, using the other to block Lizzie from moving forward. Burr fired three shots, but it wasn't enough to stop Elara from getting close enough to grab onto the muzzle, which should've burned her hand. The stabbing pain that reached her shoulder couldn't stop her either.

Burr grunted as Elara got close enough to swing at him. One of his guards lunged forward, slamming the butt of his gun against her head, and she fell to the floor, grunting from her hard landing.

Behind her, Josie had fallen, a hand over the new bullet wound on above her collarbone. Lizzie and Hope had tried to catch her. A gasp escaped her lips at the searing pain from the Malivore bullet.

Elara moved to push herself to her feet, to lash out at Burr, again, but Josie's pained cry pulled her attention back to her.

She had failed at protecting them, and with a low growl, she looked up at Burr. He looked down at her with disgust.

He nodded towards his guards. "Lock them up."

~-~-~

The world could literally be ending, and he'd still care more about her than that.

They didn't fight against the guards as they were locked in one of the cages of the cellar. There wasn't a point in it. As soon as the door was locked, Elara slammed her palm against the metal bars in frustration and irritation. Hope approached her, checking over her with her eyes and hands for any injuries. The only one she could find was a cut at her temple.

"I'll heal," she reassured her girlfriend. "Once we get the magic back."

It can both kill people and bring them back from the dead. Magic is a marvelous thing, innit?

"What were you thinking?" Hope whispered.

Elara's words fell out faster than she could think. "I don't know, but I can't explain it and I can't figure it out without Alaric here. I'm indestructible, remember?"

"We don't know that," Hope responded, brushing her knuckles across the wound.

She bit her lip, and Elara made sure her denim jacket was secure on her shoulders, pretending that the pain there was just from whatever was happening with the Hellhound.

On one of the beds, Josie sat with her back against the wall and Lizzie sat across from her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Lizzie questioned.

"With me? You practically begged him to shoot you," Josie accused.

"Because, if I'm destined to die in my prime, it may as well be in a blaze of hero glory."

"You are unbelievably selfish."

"Who took it upon herself to dive in front of my bullet?"

"The bullet wasn't supposed to hit either of you!" Elara countered, turning to face them and walking over. "God, if I had moved faster-"

"It would've hit you, instead, and then you'd be shot," Josie retorted.

"I thought that your codependent days were over," Lizzie continued.

Josie let out a groan. "A regrettable relapse."

As if her intrusive thoughts won, Lizzie reached up and poked the wound, and Josie let out a pained, "ow!"

The guard slammed his baton against the bars. Elara nearly grabbed at her ears to try and stop the sound from rattling around her head.

"Hey! Keep it quiet in there," he commanded.

Lizzie glared at him. "We're not in the prison yard, asshat."

The guard walked away from them, leaving them alone. Hope let out a sigh and turned towards the trio. Elara sat on the other side of the bed, and Hope crouched down, placing herself between Lizzie and Josie.

"You guys, I'm so sorry," Hope whispered any apology. Elara heard the tremble in her voice. "I mean, I dragged you both into this-"

"We," Elara corrected. "We dragged them into this. You're not the only one to blame, Hope."

Hope shook her head. "I have absolutely no idea how to get us out of it."

Lizzie blinked, then her face hardened in frustration. "Well, that is just not good enough, Hope. My sister is clearly dying, and we did not wait ten years to become friends with you for you to not come through with your annoyingly perfect Hope Mikaelson heroics with your stubbornly protective sidekick Elara Laurent when we need you the most."

For once, Elara was glad to be called a sidekick.

Lizzie reached out one hand to Hope and one hand to Elara, her worry and fear blatant on her face. Hope and Elara looked at each other, a silent agreement coming between them, and they grabbed the twins' hands.

"She's right, for a change," Josie said, looking between Hope and Elara. "It's hero time."

Another metallic clang sounded throughout the air as the guard hit the bars once more. "I said keep it down in there-"

Suddenly, a whistling sound flew through the room, and something stabbed the back of the guard. He reached for it, but the effects of whatever hit him kicked in quickly. He stilled, falling unconscious.

And MG stepped out from the doorway, with a dart gun and a serious look on his face. "Did someone say hero time?"

"Oh, you lovesick little genius," Elara breathed out.

MG approached the cage and unlocked the door. He jumped into an explanation. Apparently, his mom had sold out the school and used what looked like a blood fountain to stop their magic. Veronica Greasley worked for Triad, and she used a series of secret tunnels to infiltrate the school.

I used the tunnels. A lot easier to get around when no one thinks to look there.

"A blood fountain? Gross."

Elara agreed with Hope. Strangely, she couldn't shake the feeling of familiarity off.

MG shivered. "It's even grosser in person. Trust me. I was looking for a way to shut it off, but I couldn't figure out how."

"Maybe someone else knows," Elara suggested, glancing at her girlfriend and hoping she understood what she meant. She'd rather not say anything about the Hellhound in front of MG, especially since she didn't have the time to.

"Worth a shot," Hope said. "We'll go find the secret tunnel."

"Thanks," MG breathed out. "We get our magic back, we'll have the upper hand."

"And then I can siphon the sludge out of Josie," said Lizzie, who hadn't let Josie's side, "not that she'll appreciate it.

"Great, then I'll just be shot," Josie weakly quipped.

Lizzie smiled. "See? The new you is so snarky."

"Right." Hope nodded. "We'll be back as soon as we can. Please keep these two from trying to kill or die for each other."

MG shook his head. "You two need to go help Landon. We don't need you to be here."

"We can't just leave y'all here," Elara argued, rolling her sore shoulder.

"For the love of Frodo, go rescue the Hobbit. We'll muddle through," Lizzie interjected.

As if it pained her, Josie admitted, "she's right again. He needs you. Both of you."

"We've been watching you save the day this entire school year," MG added. "We got it."

"Go," Josie said, glancing between Elara and Hope with a knowing look. "If you go soft on us now, I'm just gonna hurl Maligoo."

"Please don't do that," Elara muttered, already feeling queasy at the idea of that-- or was that from her mind trying to be in two places at once? Or the growing, tingling pain in her shoulder?

"Go," Josie repeated.

At that, Hope nodded, grabbing Elara's hand, and they took off for the tunnels. It didn't take them long to find the fountain, both of them following the scent of the blood. Elara grimaced at the sight of it, watching as blood poured down it relentlessly.

"God, that's gross," Elara uttered, examining it. She recognized it from somewhere, but she couldn't place her finger on it-- metaphorically. Physically, she was a little repulsed by the thing. She felt her control wane as the Hellhound slipped through.

"You can say that again. Don't suppose it comes with an instruction manual," Hope remarked.

Elara opened her mouth to add a quip, but the sound of footsteps and a sudden beam of light jerked their focus away from the fountain. They both froze, fear coursing through them, and Elara felt her control come back.

Just as Elara mustered the strength to take a step forward, the man holding the flashlight lowered it, revealing their headmaster.

"I told you to wait for me-"

"In a shocking turn of events, I ignored you," Hope interrupted, turning back towards the fountain.

Alaric looked at Elara, who took a shaky breath. Being this close to the fountain was hurting her, like it was grabbing her brain and slamming it against her skull repeatedly. It was disorienting, frightening, and Alaric read that on her face clearly.

"You still you?" he asked quietly, his grip tightening on his flashlight.

"What the hell does that even mean?" Elara questioned. She exhaled shakily, too weak to glare at him. She rolled her shoulder, again. "Y'know what, not important right now."

Alaric leaned forward as if to say something else, but something's on Hope's sleeve caught his attention. "What happened to your arm?" Before she could pull back, Alaric lifted her arm, pointing the flashlight beam at it.

Elara's eyes widened at the sight of a hardened mud bullet.

"That Triad guy shot at us with Malivore mud." She pulled up her sleeve. "I-I didn't even feel it."

"It... doesn't affect you," Elara breathed out with relief and confusion.

Alaric gaped at both of them. "Wait, who else got shot?"

Elara swallowed nervously, stepping forward. "Look, Alaric, Josie's gonna be okay--"

"Josie got shot?"

"Yes," Hope intervened, placing herself between the two once more, "but MG and Lizzie are on it, and we think that they can fix everything. If we can just figure out a way to turn this stupid thing off, then everyone can get their magic back."

Alaric didn't even pause to examine the fountain. He reached out towards one of the skulls, tracing the symbol on the forehead and continued doing that around the fountain. When he was done, it felt as if the smoke-filled air cleared, and Elara took a deep breath.

The voices, which had gained enough power to become a dull roar in the back of her head, vanished, the floating feeling disappeared, and Elara felt the cut on the side of her head healing.

"Which is super easy, apparently."

"And you just knew how to do that, didn't you?" Elara challenged. Her energy for fighting with Alaric had returned, and she couldn't stop herself from expending it.

"This is a dark object, created by a group of extinct witch-like people called the Travelers. Anti-magic was kind of their thing."

"Yeah, well, it sucks," Elara grumbled. She did feel better-- not one hundred percent-- but better.

"How did Triad even get it in here?" Hope asked, watching their headmaster carefully. Her hand reached out for Elara's, grabbing onto her fingers. "How did they know that there were tunnels?"

"Listen, I will explain everything to you later, okay? But right now, I have to get to Josie." He rushed past them.

"Wait," Hope called out. She and Elara turned to look back at him. "Give her a vial of my blood. From the werewolf bite cures."

"Why?"

"I'll explain later, too," she answered, just staring at Elara. Elara's brows drew together. She could read Hope easily, but this time she couldn't. She knew something was on her mind. Something that was starting to eat away at her. "C'mon," she urged Elara, pulling her hand.

They took off down the tunnels, determined to save Landon.

And the world if they had to.

~-~-~

"I don't want to know where you learned how to hotwire a car, do I?" Hope asked softly.

From the driver's seat, Elara replied, "probably not."

The drive from Mystic Falls had been quiet up to that point. A heaviness fell upon them, one that Elara couldn't figure out. When they got into the beat-up vehicle, Hope had fallen silent, lost in her own thoughts. Elara herself hadn't felt very talkative, her body still aching and the throbbing pain in her shoulder remaining.

"Are you sure you're okay? The anti-magic looked like it was hurting you."

There was a twitch in Elara's jaw, and she hesitated. "I'm fine. The healing is taking longer than usual."

She glanced at Hope out of the corner of her eye. They had sat in silence before, usually taking a comfort in it, but this time was different.

"Whatever you're thinking, don't," she said. "Whatever you're planning to do, don't."

Hope took a deep breath. "Can't this go any faster?"

"I wish it would. I'm already pushing it past its limits," Elara complained.

"Did we really have to steal a car?"

Elara cocked a brow. "Would you rather run all the way to Triad?" She took Hope's silence as an answer. "And the owners probably forgot about it. They won't miss it."

There was another long pause. "Right," Hope mumbled.

"And don't deflect. You've got that look on your face."

Hope furrowed her brows, turning her head to look at Elara's side profile. "What look?"

"The one when you're thinking of doing something dumb."

"I-I don't."

"Don't lie to me," Elara begged, a shake to her voice. "Hope, don't do something stupid. Don't play hero when you don't have to. You've got people to come home to."

Hope didn't know what to say.

"Promise me, Hope."

The car came to a stop outside of the metal gate at the base of the hill of the Triad facility.

Hope took a deep breath, the cogs of her mind turning against her will. If she was right...

To Elara's surprise, Hope reached up to her neck, grabbing something at the back of it, and with a smooth motion, she unclasped the silver chain. She held up the necklace and showed it to Elara.

"Your Mikaelson necklace," Elara whispered, watching Hope press the pendant against her own palm. "...I'm guessing it means a lot to you."

Placing it in Elara's hand, Hope responded, "and I'd lose my mind if I lost it."

Elara wrapped her fingers around the necklace. It was warm against her flesh, like a gentle reminder of the person it belonged to.

A memory played behind Elara's eyes-- this time she was sure it was hers-- and her fingers brushed against the ring on her middle finger. The necklace was Hope's promise to make it back to Elara, similarly to how Elara had promised not to leave after meeting with Bonnie Bennett.

But Elara hadn't made it back.

They clambered out of the car after turning it off and making their way towards the Triad facility.

The hole in the fence that had been created by the fish-man had been roughly patched, but with a swift kick, it clattered to the ground below. The movement felt sluggish, like she was dragging herself through a pile of mud.

Carefully and quickly, they ran to the building. If there were still guards remaining, they'd have to fight their way to Landon, but there wasn't a fight. There was a fight, though. Bodies lined the halls of the building, several of them having had their necks snapped, and Elara swore she could smell a horse.

The sound of Landon's voice-- panicky and desperate-- led them to the pit. Hope was the first through the door, her hand already out with an incantation falling from her lips.

"No!" Landon cried out as the strange, armored being tossed what looked like an artefact towards the Malivore pit.

Suddenly, it stopped, hovering half a foot above it, and the object flew back towards the door that Hope and Elara had burst through.

Elara caught it just as Hope stepped up next to her.

"Hope." Landon smiled in relief, pushing the armored thing's hand away from him. "And Elara. I knew you'd find me."

Elara shoved the artefact into her jacket pocket, that dull thudding in her chest making a brief appearance. "Yeah, thanks for the message, bud. You're clever when you want to be."

"We should probably add fight training to your coursework, though." Hope added. The armored creature back away from Landon, marching towards the new arrivals. "Feel free to take notes."

Hope launched herself at the thing while Elara found a way around them, moving to act as a shield between Landon and the monster.

"Hey, we'll fight later. Right now, let's just not get hurt," Elara said, grabbing Landon by his jacket and pulling him towards the stairs.

The Malivore pit really was just that. A pit. It was shiny yet unreflectable, and something about it pulled at Elara's attention, like it wanted her to move closer.

Yeah, that was a problem for later.

After fighting their way onto the wider part of the balcony, Elara decided to step in, seeing that Hope was beginning to struggle. The thing grabbed Hope by the back of her head, and Elara jumped onto its back, yanking its arm away from her. It jabbed its pointed elbow into her side to knock her off, and she grunted in pain. Hope yelled out spell after spell, but nothing was working.

Elara was moving slower, her attacks weren't as accurate, and the burning pain had spread into her chest from her shoulder.

"He won't die," Hope yelled. She looked down at Landon quickly before the creature grabbed its whip, swinging it onto her hand. "You know sci-fi stuff. Help me. How do we kill him?"

"Uh, Headless Horseman is more fantasy," Landon corrected.

Oh, so that was why Elara smelled horse.

Hope looked at Landon incredulously. As the Horseman spun towards Elara, raising its whip. "Get to the helpful part!"

Landon stammered, "in the Tim Burton movie, they defeated him by giving him a bride."

"You volunteering?!" Elara gasped when a sharp, pointed feeling hit her chest, but the Horseman hadn't hit her.

The horseman turned back to Hope, using its whip to fling her onto her back. She pushed herself onto her elbows, and with one hand thrust it forward.

A wave of energy flew forward, crashing into the Horseman, and Elara ducked as it flew over her head. She scrambled over to Hope and grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet.

Landon kept rambling, trying to think of a solution. "In-in the O.G. cartoon, he had a pumpkin head. That... he might keep it with his horse?" He pointed at the monster as it flung its red cape. "Correction! He's got it under his cape. Kill the head, the body dies. That's science faction."

"Save the puns for after we kill it," Elara stressed. Hope placed a hand on her good shoulder, exchanging a short yet instructing look, and Elara watched as Hope launched herself at it, slamming her foot into its chest. It flew backwards, slamming into a column.

The aforementioned head tumbled down the stairs, coming to a rolling halt at Landon's feet.

"Oh, gross," Landon yelped.

"Here, gimme," Elara instructed, leaning against the railing with her hands extended. Landon tossed the head to her with surprising accuracy. She caught it, quickly looking for something to destroy it with, and she settled on part of the railing. With one hand, she grabbed a part of it and ripped it off, with the other she dropped the hand. Then stabbed the head with the pipe.

The body stopped squirming.

"Suck on that, Tim Burton," Landon muttered, climbing the stairs and breathing heavily.

"Sleepy Hollow will never be the same," Elara said, glancing at Landon.

He came to a stop across from them, and he let out a long exhale. Last time he'd seen either of them, he broke up with Hope after finding out that she'd been lying to him, and Elara punched him in the face.

"Hi," he greeted.

"Howdy," Elara responded, subconsciously shifting to stand in front of Hope.

Hope 's hand brushed against hers when she apologized. "Landon, I'm so sorry. About- about everything."

His lips fell into a thin line, but he didn't look angry-- or disappointed, even. Slowly, he nodded.

"I'm, uh, glad you both made it. And saved my ass. Again."

Elara attempted a reassuring smile, but the pounding of her heart and the droning of a ringing in her head made it nearly impossible. "Anytime."

"Can we get out of here now? There's a lot we need to talk about."

Hope glanced down at the pit as if she were debating something, but she seemed to come to a conclusion on her own, carefully taking Elara's hand in hers.

"Yeah, let's get out of here."

~-~-~

As they walked to the car, Landon jumped into a long explanation of what Malivore was. It had been a golem created by a witch, a werewolf, and a vampire given the mission to protect them from the dragons reigning destruction on the region. Throughout the years, Malivore had consumed more and more monsters, which was how the world forgot them. Eventually, Triad tried to stop him, but he was unkillable, so they turned him into goo.

Oh, and Malivore was his father and Agent Clarke was actually his brother.

"Yeah, that's literally insane," Elara mumbled, stopping next to the car. She couldn't bring herself to talk louder, not when it hurt so much to speak. "And impossible, but what the hell do I know."

"And Clarke wants to raise Malivore, hence why he was looking for the third key and wanted me to find it," Landon explained further. "But you caught the artefact in time."

"Lucky us-" Elara doubled over as an impossibly overpowering pain cut through her chest. Her fever hadn't broken, her shoulder felt like it was going to fall off, and her throat felt like it was closing. She coughed, and coughed, and coughed, unable to stop herself from falling.

Hope caught her. "Elara? Elara!" With Landon's help, they leaned her against the car. Her pale had worsened and sweat dripped down her temples. "You said you were healing."

"I may-" she gasped as another wave of pain shocked her-- this time from something else, something she was terrified of.  The world felt as if it were falling apart. "May have been lying."

You're a liar! You've been lying to me since we met!

I had no choice. Would you have even believed that I was a shapeshifter?

Hope grabbed at Elara's jacket, pulling it off, but she paused halfway when she noticed a hole in her shirt. The hole had pierced her skin, dark veins spreading from it to the base of her neck, which had been hidden by the jacket.

"You were shot," Hope exhaled shakily.

Landon's eyes widened. "Shot?!"

"Maligoo," Elara mumbled. "Meant to kill any supernat- gah!" She leaned her head back, almost laughing at the hilarity of it. She hadn't failed entirely. One of the bullets intended for her friends had hit her instead. She thought she failed, but she didn't. Not that way, anyhow.

Her body was fighting it, yet it felt as if part of it was holding back while the other pushed forward. Elara couldn't explain it as pain rattled her senses.

"Malivore, Malivore is going to rise," she groaned. "I felt it."

"But- but we have the artefact-" Landon tried to reason, but when he reached into the pocket Elara had put it in, his hand found nothing but air. "Oh, crap,"

Hope looked between them, an unreadable expression on her face. Her eyes dropped to Elara's shoulder, then moved towards Landon's frightened expression. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pocketknife.

Landon gagged at the sight of her blood and turned his head away. "Oh, God. What are you doing?"

"My blood is the answer to all this," Hope answered in a hushed voice. "I'm the loophole."

Elara blinked at that, her vision beginning to blur, but she couldn't question it when Hope pressed her wrist against her lips.

"You need to drink, Elara," she heard Hope say. "Elara, please."

And Elara did. She drank as little of the blood as she could, forcing it down like medicine, and when Hope pulled her wrist back, she offered a weak smile.

She mustered the courage-- the strength--to mumble, "feeling better already."

"Great, great, Hope's got magic blood," Landon said, turning back. "But how does that stop Malivore?"

Hope stood up, placing her hands on Landon's shoulders to his surprise, and she placed a hand on his cheek. Her eyes softened, she smiled softly. "Like this."

And she jerked her hands, snapping his neck.

Landon collapsed next to Elara, making the blonde jump (as much as she could) in her spot. "Wh- what the hell?"

Hope crouched in front of Elara, cupping both sides of her face, and Elara noticed the unshed tears building in her eyes. She stroked her thumb across pale skin, trying to ignore the desperate plea forming in Elara's eyes.

"You told me not to be a hero," Hope said, wiping off a stray drop of blood from Elara's chin. "But I'm the only way to stop this. If I don't..." she swallowed. "You'll die, too. And I..."

"Pl-please," Elara begged, building the strength to weakly grab Hope's wrist. "Hope..."

Hope said nothing else as she kissed Elara hard enough to bruise. She didn't even get the chance to kiss her back before Hope was running from the car.

A choked sob forced its way from Elara, and she managed to push herself to her feet after Hope left her sight.

Hope had done nothing except prove time and time again that she was a hero, that she wasn't the villain everyone thought her to be. She carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. She'd saved the school despite how she was treated; she'd protected the people who feared her, and she was going to die for them, sacrifice herself to save the world just so everyone else could live. She was selfless.

Elara wasn't.

She'd taken from people just because she wanted to. She'd fought people, hurt them, all for her own gain. She lied time and time again because she didn't want to face the consequences of the truth.

Elara was selfish.

It would've been selfless of her to leave Hope behind, to follow through with her plan of sacrifice. It would've been selfless of her to forget about her own feelings, to let go of Hope.

Gripping the necklace as tightly as she could, she ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She needed Hope, more than she'd ever admit. Her lungs ached with each labored breath, her blood cried out in pain as the dark ichor of the Malivore bullet had reached her other senses at that point, coursing through her veins like a fatal replacement.

When she figured out just what Hope was planning-- what sacrifice she was thinking of making-- she lied to her. One last time.

Hope's blood hadn't stopped the effects of the Maligoo.

C'mon.

Her foot hit the grass on the other side of the fence right as her strength faltered. A grunt jutted from her lips as her body hit the ground. She pushed herself up, stumbling, then fell again. The burning had returned, wrapping around the coldness of the poison within her veins, and Elara let out another cry of pain.

Blood spilled from her nose, dripping down the side of her face as she pushed herself onto her back. Her limbs felt heavy, her chest felt as if it were about to catch on fire, and the bullet wound in her shoulder ached unbearably. She was sure she looked just as bad as she felt.

Don't stop.

Elara tried. She tried so hard, but even the strange voice that appeared couldn't push past the fatigue.

Suddenly, she felt something wash over her, and the world became that much darker. It didn't matter that she could see the lights of TRIAD's building, she became swathed in endless darkness.

She had just been about to speak, what must've been a name dying on her tongue, but just as the strength to say it came, the name disappeared.

Her eyes searched the barren sky, desperate. There were no stars in the sky, no spots of light that reminded her she wasn't alone. Joy. Life. Maybe even hope, felt useless again. Like it always had, but it was different now. The music of nighttime suddenly felt empty again. Memories of sitting alone, staring at the sky and hoping for... for something to change flashed behind her eyes, and Elara thought that was what people described when they said that life flashed before your eyes.

Elara's life had been nothing but empty, soundless darkness.

Let go, just let go.

But she felt something-- or someone-- lingering, a light she must've missed. Elara had forgotten why she had hope in the first place, and she realized that she was dying for nothing.

With one last breath, her eyes stopped on the empty night sky above. The night and its music were drowning, and Elara couldn't hear it.

Welcome home, darling.

Not anymore.

There was a knock at the front door to the Salvatore School, then the doorbell rang.

It was early in the morning, the sun having just peaked over the horizon, but several students were still buzzing from the events of the day before.

The Saltzman twins were two of these students.

Awaiting the return of their father with Landon and Elara, they sat in the main common room, quietly trying to entertain themselves. Hours earlier, Landon called Alaric with news that neither of them got to hear, the headmaster made a beeline to his jeep.

Lizzie opened the door hesitantly, careful of any surprises. A teenage boy of roughly average height stood there. His dark hair fell just into his eyes, and he brushed it out of his face as he turned to face her. The morning sun beamed against his tanned skin.

"Can I help you?" Lizzie said, using her body to block the door to prevent the stranger from seeing anything unnatural.

He opened his mouth to speak then closed it shut as if to reconsider what he was about to say. Hesitantly, he rubbed his jaw, showing off a black ring with a lapis gemstone.

"I was, uh, sent here by a guy-- what was his name-- Roman? Blond hair, reminds me of an edgy Ken doll--"

"I know the guy," Lizzie interrupted. She scanned her eyes over him. He was familiar, strangely enough, and thought about asking where she'd seen him before, but hearing that Roman sent him kept her on track. Just past him, she noticed her dad's jeep pulling up the driveway. "Did he mention why?"

The stranger wiggled his fingers next to his face to show off his ring. "Said it'd be a safe place for me to figure, well, this out--"

"Lizzie?"

Both of them turned to see Josie standing several feet behind the blonde twin.

"Lizzie," she repeated, "is dad back yet--"

The book she'd been holding fell from her grasp, and her face paled as if she'd seen a ghost.

The sound of tires on gravel reached them, coming to a halt under the carport. Alaric climbed out first, then Landon did.

"How the hell are you here?" Josie questioned aloud, her words nearly jumbling together.

"Weren't you listening? He said Roman sent him," Lizzie answered. She turned back towards the stranger, watching Landon open the door and reach in for something. She nodded her chin towards Alaric, who had a hand against his jeep as if to stabilize himself. "That's the headmaster. You'll want to talk to him about enrolling."

The stranger glanced over his shoulder at the jeep, catching sight of Alaric, and Alaric froze when he saw him.

"Oh- oh, my God," the stranger breathed out as he sped over to them.

"Lizzie," Josie said quickly. "That's- that's him- that's-" her voice caught in her throat at the sight of Landon and the figure he held carefully in his arms. Her knees nearly gave out beneath her.

Felix was alive.

Felix was alive, and Elara was dead.