𝟙.𝟙𝟞: 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖'𝕤 𝔸𝕝𝕨𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝔸 𝕃𝕠𝕠𝕡𝕙𝕠𝕝𝕖

—Narrator's perspective—

"You are an idiot, Arabella." Hope glared at her, time and time again. The Vampire rolled her eyes but still smiled at how worried Hope looked.

They were standing up, leaning on the bars from inside the cell, Arabella telling her she was fine and it was only a graze. But it didn't make Hope feel any less worried. In fact, it made her even more furious at the blonde who will just go and jump head first to danger.

The twins were also having their debacle about Josie jumping to save her twin, while the couple were leaning on the bars with Hope scolding Arabella.

"Is this how you treat me when I'm undeniably pale and turning gray?" She teased, her sweat running down her temple. She was obviously not fine but it didn't stop her from convincing Hope that she was fine.

"Stop that. Don't." Hope warned, still afraid that their situation will turn like that. "I mean, what were you thinking?"

Arabella dropped her smile, standing up more straightly and looking at the auburn haired girl who looked pissed. "Better me than you." She whispered seriously.

"Bella, when I saw you in the woods when you went missing I couldn't breathe." She exhaled and tears started to swell up her eyes. "I felt suffocated and you... You always helped other people than yourself first."

"Hope it was a werewolf bite and I'm still alive." She defended and held her hand only for it to be retreated back harshly. "Please. Don't be like this."

"I'm not, I'm just..." Hope sighed, holding Arabella's hands this time, genuinely. "We don't know what's the cure for this and... You just jumped in front of me like it's not a problem. Can't you consider what I will feel about this?" She asked a little louder.

A guard that was watching them slammed his weapon on the bar. "Hey! Keep it quiet in there."

"For the love of god. Fuck off." Arabella sneered, beyond angry, her eyes shifted to red which made the guard back down, going back to the door for look out. "Ofcourse I consider your feelings, Hope. But does it really matter what I care about what you think when You're gonna get hurt?" She turned back to the tribrid who closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"How about me, Ara?" She asked more heated in the fight which caused the twins to look their way. "I don't care if something happened to me if it means getting yourself hurt too."

"Is that how you really feel?" Arabella asked, crossing her arm and ignoring the pain on the side of her stomach. When Hope said yes she nodded. "Well good. Because That's how I feel everyday if you keep trying to play hero for everyone else. You protect whoever needs protection and just let me worry about you."

Hope looked at her and stayed silent, probably for the best if they stopped arguing now. "Atleast let me see." She gestured to the bullet wound and tried to lift her shirt but Arabella frowned and slapped her hand away.

"Hope, There are children present." (A/n: I'm sorry I just miss Damon :/)She whispered teasingly to uplift the mood which only made Hope roll her eyes and held herself back to stop laughing. "Fine, here." She gave in and pulled her shirt up, wincing dramatically when Hope grazed her finger on it.

"Oh stop it." Hope shook her head when Arabella made a sound which caused her to chuckle. She already backed away when the guard told them to quiet it down.

They ones in the cell backed away when the Triad Mercenary got dropped to the ground, passed out. Mg by the door with the blow dart in hand. "Did someone say hero time?" He asked.

"You have impeccable timing, Mg." Arabella cheered solely which made him smile and grab the keys from the unconscious man, opening the cell door for them.

They turned to the twins, Josie's condition worsening. While they finally got some privacy and no one will snoop in them,  Mg told them about what happened starting from his mom.

"A blood fountain? Gross." Hope crunched her nose while she had her arms crossed, listened to every word Mg told them.

"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."

"All right, I'll go find the secret tunnel, I guess." She spoke which only made Arabella frown at her.

"Like you'll go alone." Arabella said, looking at the tribrid seriously.

Hope scoffed. "You're shot— you can't go anywhere other than here." She argued.

"And you are useless without any powers. You can't fight this one, Hope. I'm going." She said seriously, everyone in the cell went quiet at how earnest she sounded.

"She's right you need backup. I'm gonna stay here with the twins." Mg agreed making Hope sigh in defeat. "And you need to help Landon. We don't need you to be here."

"But I can't leave you guys here." She argued even more which made Lizzie spoke up while she was besided Josie the entire time and holding her hand.

"For the love of Frodo, Go save the hobbit in need already. We'll muddle through." The siphoner said and Josie agreed.

"We've been watching you save the day this entire school year, Hope. We got it. Go save Landon." Mg backed them up.

Josie spoke up as well, "If you go soft on us now, I'm just gonna hurl Maligoo." She said. Hope nodded, turning to Arabella who didn't seem unfazed by her injury.

"Where you go, I go. You're kind of stuck with me, remember?" Arabella sent a teasing smile before running to the exit before Hope could even object.

"Oh for goodness sake..." Hope whispered and looked back for help but they didn't budge. She groaned and ran closely by to the girl.

Josie scrunched her eyebrows and looked at Lizzie in confusion. "How come she doesn't look as miserable as I am?"

"You know you're gonna get yourself killed." Hope caught up with her when they're close to the blood fountain, glaring at Arabella who stiffled a laughter.

"Then I'll die making sure you're all right. Stop whining, please? I'll be fine." Arabella countered, both of them knowing that this will not end well if the tribrid keeps arguing on her to stay back. "Okay gross." She said in disgust when they saw the blood Fountain all of a sudden.

Hope agreed, dropping the subject of them fighting again. They tried to find a way to shut if off but neither knew how to. It's past like minutes and nothing was coming up to their head on how to turn this thing off.

A flashlight pointed at them, Arabella nearly blinded and pulled Hope to her as they couldn't see who it was. When they did, The Vampire groan and let go of her girlfriend. "You dick, I thought someone was gonna murder us." She said when Alaric came towards them.

"I told you to wait for me. Lose the snark." Alaric said to Hope then the last to Arabella who snickered and coughed.

"In a shocking turn of events, I ignored you." When Ric was about to speak Hope shook her head and looked at him seriously. "Save the speech. Okay? I've paid the price."

"I see that. What happened to you?" He asked directly to Arabella who was bleeding through her shirt, badly. "And you? Your arm?" He saw a ripped part of her sleeve on the arm making him grip Hope's wrist, studying the bullet hole but no wound.

Hope frowned and looked at Arabella who was looking more worse than earlier. "That Triad guy shot at us with Malivore mud. He must have gotten me too. I didn't even feel it. Because it didn't affect me. Wait." She pulled her sleeve up and handed it to Arabella.

"Look as much as I'm thirsty I'm not gonna drink from my girlfriend." She retorted and ended up coughing violently, dropping to the ground and held her stomach, wincing at how it burned.

"It's a theory— Just drink it!" Hope said and basically threw her wrist to Arabella's mouth when she knelt down besides her.

Alaric looked at the two. "Drink it, Ara." He said and waited, not wanting to witness his friend die all over again. He caught up to what Hope was thinking

"Hope—"

"—Bella." She warned again, more aggressive this time than last.

Arabella couldn't control her eyes from shifting, looking up to meet Hope's eyes, her purple ones holding an apologetic look before sinking her teeth in, drinking Hope's blood. She immediately pulled away when she got enough, helping the tribrid to stand up and Hope didn't even looked fazed.

"Did it work? Let me see." Said Hope and pulled the Vampire's shirt up, watching her wound heal from the bullet. "Oh thank god." She sighed in relief and hugged Arabella tightly.

"Okay okay I'm alive." Arabella chuckled when they backed away from each other. "You happy now?" She asked and Hope nodded.

"Wait wait, who else got shot?" Alaric asked, making the two girls get back from reality.

Hope soothed her voice over. "Dr. Saltzman you have to trust me. Josie's gonna be just—"

"—Josie got shot?" He asked more loudly in worry and looked at the tribrid in disbelief.

"Yes, but Mg and Lizzie are on it and I think that they can fix everything. If I can just figure out a way to turn this stupid thing off, then they can get their magic back." She pointed at the blood fountain in anger.

Alaric looked at it from top to bottom, placing his fingers on one of the skull and tracing a symbol on three of the skulls like he has been doing it for millions of years.

"Which is super easy, apparently." Hope scoffed and looked at Ric. "How did you know how to do that?"

"This is a dark object, created by a group of extinct witch-like people called Travelers.

Anti-magic was kind of their thing." He explained, losing his cool and Arabella noticed making her look at him in shock.

"How did Triad even get it in here? How did they know that there were tunnels?" Hope asked, also starting to suspect the human who quickly changed the subject.

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

Hope frowned. "Wait. My blood healed Bella, remember? Give her a vial of my blood. From the werewolf bite curse." She said and Ric nodded, running up the stairs in a hurry.

"Come on." Arabella tugged her wrist to the exit. "Let's go save Landon?" She asked but Hope stand still.

"You need to help them up there." She said softly, pulling Arabella to her. Before the vampire could even start arguing again, Hope pulled her by her neck and kissed her lips. It definitely shut her up and returned the gesture eagerly.

Hope closed her eyes, even though they parted and caressed her cheek gently. "I need you to help them up there. When you're done, use your car and go to Triad. Trust me." She whispered, finally opening her eyes and looking to meet Arabella's who looked too unsure.

Finally telling herself that enough is enough, Arabella sighed. "I love you. Drive safe." She said lovingly, placing a soft kiss on Hope's forehead.

"I love you too. Now, go help the others." She smiled genuinely, watching Arabella sigh before speeding away to go upstairs.

Hope looked back, nobody was there. She smiled sadly before running up to the exit, finding a way to save Landon before it's too late.

☘︎︎