{1.08 | Maybe I Should Start from the End | part 4}
A sigh left Elara's lips as she leaned against the column. She hadn't gone far from the room, thankfully. It seemed her "possession" just needed to get some air.
There were patterns to it, she noticed. Whenever she transformed during the full moon, she lost control, and the memory was gone. Whenever her emotions took over, leading her to act, she lost control, and the memory was gone.
In her research, she learned that her emotions were affected by her curse, which was why she always felt the smallest bit angry. It made sense for the memory gaps to be from her curse as well. The wolf part of her took over, leaving her human side in the dark.
However, she hadn't seen anything related to wolves' losing memories because of their transformations. That part must've been exclusive to whatever she was.
She lifted her head at the sound of a car door opening. Her eyes followed it, and she lifted a brow when she noticed Seylah, climbing into a truck.
Elara pushed herself away from the column, approaching the vehicle, and she saw Seylah positioned under the wheel, pulling out a pair of wires. Hot wiring a car was something Elara had done before although she wasn't proud of it.
"Abandoning your kid, again?"
"You really are a pain, aren't you?" Seylah responded. She glanced back at Elara. "It's for the best. I can't give him the life the rest of you can."
"No, but you can still be present in it," Elara insisted. Her anger towards Landon had dissipated. Her jealousy was a problem, and she needed to fix it. "Don't you want to make up for all the years you were absent?"
Seylah shook her head, trying to jump the car to start, again. "I never saw myself as a mother, Elara."
"Yeah, clearly," Elara snarked. "You had a choice to keep Landon, and you gave him up. He could've had a mother." She heard footsteps behind her, and she recognized the clicking of heels. "Instead, you took that from him."
"You know, I didn't expect to ever see him, again, and I was okay with that. There were times throughout the years that I wondered how he was. If he had a good life." She took a deep breath, and Elara noticed the tears forming in her eyes. "Turns out he's a good person with a crappy life. He deserves better."
Elara understood what Seylah meant. She really did, so she decided to say nothing, taking a step backwards.
"Then help make it better," Hope said, appearing beside Elara.
"That's exactly what I'm doing," Seylah answered. She pushed the wires together one more time, causing the truck to roar to life.
"What you think you're doing for him doesn't matter," Hope declared. "All that he's gonna remember of you is that you abandoned him when he needed you the most."
Elara swallowed.
"No," Seylah said, reaching for something at her side, "he won't remember me, period. And neither will you."
Wait, she couldn't mean--
She didn't get a chance to think as she felt a sudden, searing pain in her neck. Her hand flew to the source, and her fingers wrapped around a dart. A tranquilizer dart. Elara fell to her knees, Hope falling shortly after.
The tri-brid fell unconscious quickly, landing on her side with her eyes closed. Elara propped herself on her hands and knees, gritting her teeth. The world was spinning. She felt queasy. She felt drowsy, and her ears rang, but the darkness never came.
It took her a moment, but Elara eventually regained her strength, wrapping her fingers around the dart in her neck and pulling it out. She scrambled over to Hope, turning her onto her back and grabbing her by the shoulders.
She shook her roommate... friend... whatever, trying to speed up the process. Hope was the tri-brid. A measly tranquilizer dart couldn't hold her down for long.
"Hope, come on. Wake up!"
Hope's eyes slowly opened, a groan escaping her lips.
"You don't have to be so loud," Hope grumbled, sitting up.
"Yeah, well, Seylah's gone, and my ears are ringing."
Elara didn't need to say anything else. She took Hope's hand in hers and pulled her to her feet. The two sprinted back upstairs to their motel room, and when they arrived, Elara shoved open the door.
She skidded to a stop as a fishy smell reached her nostrils. Her nose scrunched in disgust. Her eyes darted to the source, and her eyes widened. A fish-man-monster.
Great.
Hope lunged past her, throwing her hand forwards. "Ictus." The monster flew backwards into the bathroom, the door slamming shut. "Also: ick!"
"See?" Landon cried. "Danger magnet."
"What the hell was that?" Hope asked, looking between Alaric and Landon.
Alaric's shock wore off as he answered. "Uh, I'm guessing a Mer-Man." The door shook as the creature tried to break through. "A very pissed Mer-Man."
"Yeah, well, I'm going to commit Mer-Dur when it pokes its fishy head out," Elara snarled, her hands curling into fists. Honestly, she was glad a monster appeared. At least then she didn't have to deal with her complicated feelings.
"Why are the monsters still coming for them?" Hope questioned. "We don't even have what they want."
Elara pushed past Landon, grabbing his bag off of the bed. The ringing had subsided, but there was another sound in her head. It was like someone-- something-- was calling her. She stuck her hand in it, rifling through it until her fingers found what she was looking for.
When she pulled her hand out, she was holding an urn. Her brows raised, and the others turned to Landon with concerned looks. "The knife was one of three keys," she started to explain. "What do you want to bet this is another one?"
Alaric rocked back and forth on his feet. "Son of a bitch."
Landon's eyes widened. "That is Seylah's. I picked it up, but I didn't steal it. I-I... Not on purpose, anyway. I don't know how it got in there just like I don't know what happened with the knife--"
"We get it!" Elara interrupted. "You stole it and didn't remember stealing it." She shoved the thing into Landon's hands. "Nice work, Klepto."
Then, the door shuddered and cracked as the Mer-Man fought against it.
"Oh, we got to move," Alaric said, panic in his voice. Landon moved to shove the urn back into his backpack, but Hope stopped him.
"No, no, no, wait. Leave it, leave it," she instructed quickly, reaching into her back pocket. Elara's brows furrowed in confusion.
Alaric voiced his confusion. "What? Are you out of your mind?"
"No," Hope answered. "I'm just sick of playing the same game. So let the monster have it. He'll take it to Malivore. We follow him, we know where it is."
"Smart," Elara remarked. Her supporting Hope seemed to surprise her, but she didn't have long to remain surprised. "It'll put us one step closer to figuring everything out."
Alaric shook his head. "I am not taking three teenagers to a covert military hiding place for a demon portal."
"You kind of have to," Hope insisted, her voice rising.
"Why?"
"Because Seylah's going there," Elara answered.
"What? Did she tell you that?" Landon asked, panicking.
"In her own way," Hope replied. She raised the bracelet up and pressed the gemstone, then she shoved it into the urn. "I'll explain in the car. Let's go."
Elara already backed up towards the door, watching the bathroom door carefully. The other teenagers walked past her, and Hope sent her a small look that Elara couldn't read.
"H-he's a fish man on land. How fast can he be, right?" Alaric questioned.
~-~-~
"Turns out, pretty fast," Hope answered. She held her bracelet up, keeping an eye on it in case they lost sight of the Mer-Man.
Elara sat in the backseat of the jeep with Landon while Hope sat in the front seat with Alaric driving. Elara had tried to convince him to let her drive-- since she did not want to sit next to Landon-- but Alaric didn't let her.
"Listen, this was your idea," Alaric began, his irritation poking through, "so is it within my bounds as the headmaster to tell you to shut it?"
"What if we don't get there in time?" Landon asked.
Hope answered, "Seylah doesn't have that much of a lead on us."
"I can't believe she wants to erase herself just to get out of being a parent," Landon grumbled.
Elara didn't have anything nice to say, so she didn't say anything at all.
The jeep came to an abrupt stop in front of large metal gates. Elara shrugged off her jacket before climbing out after the others. The metal gate towered over them. Elara approached it, scanning it for anything out of place. If the Mer-Man came by there, there had to be something to show for it.
Her eyes fell on a large, white sign. "Property of Triad Industries," Elara read aloud. "Doesn't sound evil at all."
"Explosives?"
Elara glanced at Landon. If there were any explosives, the only ones capable of surviving a direct blast would've been Elara and Hope. Her jealousy made her dislike him, but that didn't mean she wanted him to die.
Alaric appeared next to her. "On the bright side, maybe this fence stopped our fishy friend."
They noticed Hope walking away to a side portion of the fence. They quickly followed, and Elara saw it: the gaping hole in the fence.
"I don't think so," Hope commented.
"Agreed," Elara mumbled. She climbed through the hole quickly, not waiting for the others. The urn was calling to her, screaming for her to save it, and she couldn't resist it much longer. She ran forward, breaching into what looked like a field. The Mer-Man stood several yards away.
"There," she heard Hope say from behind her.
Elara moved to take another step, but a hand caught her arm, pulling her back. Elara tried to free herself, but Hope persisted, tightening her grip.
"Stay back," Hope instructed. "He's dangerous."
Elara's eyes met Hope's, and she felt a tug-- the one she was used to whenever she looked at Hope.
"So am I."
As they were distracted, Landon darted past Elara. She was quick to follow, slipping her arm out of Hope's grasp. She ignored Hope calling out after them, pushing herself to run faster, and the ringing in her ears reappeared.
She heard the device before she saw it. It was a beeping noise, subtle at first, then she saw a faint red light bounce up from the ground. Everything was moving in slow motion.
Elara paused as the monster roared, and the next thing she knew, someone was grabbing her arm, yanking her behind them, and then she was on the ground, her world becoming dark.
~-~-~
Memory had never been one of Elara's strengths. Even before her entry into the supernatural world, Elara struggled with remembering a lot of things. History dates? No. State capitals? Maybe. Her childhood? Also, maybe, but she did block out a majority of it for good reasons.
Even after triggering her curse, and the added memory gaps from what she assumed was from her werewolf side, her memory wasn't the best.
But she knew her memory was not as terrible as forgetting how she ended up in a damn field.
She felt the grass beneath her first, the stiffness of it stabbing into her back like a thousand tiny needles. The fabric of her green tank-top wasn't so thin as for the blades to stick through, but it still brought her discomfort. She felt the beaming sun next, the gentle heat of its rays bearing down on her face. From nearby, she heard a faint sizzling sound.
Her body ached as a soreness ran through every muscle. A groan escaped her lips as she moved to sit up, but something weighing down her chest stopped her. Elara opened her eyes.
Blinking slowly, allowing her vision to sharpen, she realized the weight wasn't a something but a someone.
Hope let out a grunt as she lifted her head from Elara's chest and allowed her eyes to adjust to the brightness of the sun. Bits of mud were splattered on her face, and Elara was sure she looked similar. Hope's brows furrowed as she seemed to realize who she was laying on. Under different circumstances, Elara wouldn't have minded waking up with Hope like that.
What?
Both of them jerked up into a sitting position, Hope carefully removing herself from Elara. Hope jumped to her feet and advanced towards where Elara assumed the sizzling sound came from, but Elara wasn't paying attention. There were too many questions on her mind. How did they get there? What day was it? Why was she suddenly interested in waking up with Hope?
The blonde jumped to her feet, brushing herself off. She didn't have any injuries, none that were serious, anyhow. Whatever had knocked them away didn't seem to have been dangerous.
"Where the hell are we?" she heard Landon ask from nearby. He stood a few feet behind, holding his side. Near him, Alaric let out a sigh. "What happened?"
Hope remained silent, looking at the smoking hole in the ground. She was thinking, lost deep in her mind, and Elara wished she could read it.
"I don't know," he answered, "but I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."
It's after that statement that Hope turned around, looking between the three of them as if they had lost their minds. Maybe they had.
And the only way to figure that out was to find out what the hell happened to them.
~-~-~
The drive back to the school was long and awkward. Elara sat in the back with Landon, watching the trees fly by. She didn't remember the past three days, which was insane to say the least, but there was a part of her that did. It was like when she tried to answer a question and couldn't, yet it was on the tip of her tongue, like she just needed a little push to remember. She leaned against her hand, letting out a soft sigh.
In the rearview mirror, Hope watched her silently. Elara didn't remember their conversation-- what was basically a confession. Hell, Hope telling her she needed her to find her own peace was a confession in itself, but neither of them had noticed. Whatever feelings they had were mutual, but Elara didn't want to follow through. She wanted Hope to choose the safe option, the easy option.
But even if Hope chose Landon, Elara Laurent was always going to make it complicated.
"Thank you, again," Landon said, "for coming to help me."
Alaric glanced at him in the mirror. "Sorry you didn't find your mother," he apologized. "What I don't understand is how we found you."
"That would be great to know," Elara commented under her breath.
"Hope? Any theories?" Alaric asked.
Hope turned her head back to look out the window. "Work in progress."
Elara's brows furrowed at that. Was Hope... lying? She didn't question it then, instead wanting to do it later.
Landon leaned forward, pointing behind them. "Uh, I think the bus stop is actually that way."
"Oh, that's okay," Alaric said softly. "We'll drive you."
"Where?"
Alaric turned his head to look at Landon in the mirror, smiling slightly.
"Home."
Hope lifted her head, a gentle smile appearing as well. Landon was coming to the Salvatore School to stay. He would be reunited with Rafael.
And he could finally be with Hope, Elara realized. She swallowed, keeping her eyes on the horizon. It was a good thing that Landon was staying there, so why did she suddenly hate the idea?
Landon looked between Hope and Alaric. "Why the change of heart?"
Alaric answered cryptically, "call it a gut feeling. Or you could just add it to the list of things I don't know."
Landon smiled widely, glancing between Hope and Elara, and Elara felt guilty. Landon didn't deserve her suddenly negative feelings. She knew she had to be jealous, but why? Hope was just her friend. Plus, Hope liked Landon. That was that.
They arrived at the school not much later. Landon ran off to reunite with Rafael, and Hope and Elara returned to their room to unpack their things.
She placed her jacket on the back of her chair, letting out another sigh. Three days. She forgot about three days, and she wasn't completely sure why. Every time she lost her memory, it never seemed like days. It was always hours at most, but days? That was crazy.
"Hey," Hope breathed out. There was a shake to her voice. "Can we talk?"
Elara turned around, placing her hands in her pockets. "Yeah, of course. What's up?"
Hope took a few steps towards Elara, folding her hands together. It wasn't hard for Elara to tell she was nervous. The only thing she wondered was why. "Do you remember anything from the past few days?"
"Nope," Elara answered, shaking her head. "All I've got is a sudden disliking of fish and a really bad feeling."
Hope took a deep breath. Her eyes skimmed Elara's face as if to try and read her thoughts. "I do, and I don't know why."
Elara gawked at Hope. "What?"
"Crazy, I know, and that's not the worst part." Hope walked over to her bed and grabbed her purse.
That was when Elara felt a tug in her chest, an unfamiliar one. Hope pulled out what seemed like an urn.
"I think we found another key to Malivore."
Another key. There were three keys that contained the hell dimension that was Malivore, and they somehow found the second one. Monsters attacked them the first time. Did that mean more monsters were coming after them?
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Elara grumbled. Just when she thought things could quiet down.
"Unfortunately-" Hope shoved the urn back into her purse. "-I'm not. I need to talk to Dr. Saltzman, but I'll be back later, and there's more I want to talk about."
Elara nodded. "I'll be here, wondering if I'm losing my mind."
Hope wasn't sure if she was joking or not. She nodded before leaving the dorm, closing the door behind her with a soft click. When she couldn't hear the clicks of Hope's heels, she finally let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.
[a.n. Happy Pride Month y'all
~NYM]