𝟙.𝟙𝟚: 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖'𝕤 𝔸 𝕄𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕪 𝕆𝕟 𝕄𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕖𝕖𝕥

—Narrator's perspective—

"I'm starting to believe that desiccating myself for another hundred years is the way to go than compel hundreds of people." Arabella complained, having her head set on the window of the van.

"It's not like you killed a mummy but all right." Lizzie remarked on the back seat, also tired from today.

"I would have helped if your dad isn't hell bent on letting the town forget about the demonic plague inside their heads." She rolled her eyes, sitting properly and looked at the front.

"Now it's my fault?" Alaric questioned, looking at the blonde who mindlessly shrugged.

Alaric stopped by the side of the road, a woman came up to them from where Arabella is. She rolled the window down and took the urn from her hands. "Forget this ever happened." She compelled quickly and rolled the window back up, letting the stranger leave. "You're welcome." She eyed Alaric who chuckled.

"Okay, let's go home." Before Alaric could even turn the engine back on, a car pulled up behind them, headlights came to their view. They all looked behind, seeing familiar two faces come out the car.

"They have Dorian and Emma." Hope informed, looking back. Alaric sighed, closing his eyes for a split second and turned back to the blonde, extending his hand out.

"You're not serious, right?" She asked, eyeing Alaric. Arabella didn't hear a word come out of his mouth which made her open the door, ignoring the protest from Hope on telling her to come back.

Arabella rounded the car with the urn on her hand, standing besides Alaric who was already eye to eye with Clarke.

"I'm impressed. I almost hate to take it off you." Clarke said in a smile, looking at the urn on Alaric's hand which Arabella gave her. "My team found your... 'wife' looking for Dorian. We thought the two of them would provide some nice leverage in case things went wrong. I think you know what to do to get them back."

Before Alaric could even step forward and gave it to them, "What's stopping me from grabbing your heart apart from your chest in under a second? Clarke, is it?" She questioned, a taunt which made the man shift uncomfortably in his shoes by the threat.

"Your headmaster's school." He answered looking at the blonde who was giving her a cold look. "It would suck for my team to find my body lifeless on the side of the road. Mostly to you since if Something happened to me, they will go after the Salvatore School."

Arabella didn't faze, still looking at him in the eye which made Alaric clear his throat and give the urn to Clarke.

"Let them go. And leave my school alone." Alaric said, gesturing to the two who was held captive. When Dorian and Emma was already walking to them, Arabella took one last look of Clarke before turning her heels and went back inside the car.

She annoyingly slammed the door shut, pissed but knew it was for the best. Arabella pulled her phone out of her pocket, along with the earphones and turned the volume way up so she wouldn't hear anyone and lash out all of a sudden. Soon enough, they were back in the road.

Hope sighed, slipping on her seat when she sensed how angry the blonde looked. She knew that she has no power to comfort her seeing as everyone was tense that they lost the urn.

When Arabella pulled her earphones off, Alaric took the chance to say something to her in a whispered tone. "It's not your fault. You did good today." He said making Arabella look at him, staring at his way for 3 seconds before nodding and looking out the window.

"If you really thought that I said all those things about you, then you hating me all these years makes perfect sense." Hope gently spoke, directing her words to Lizzie. "But with a father and a grandfather like mine, I'm probably not immune to those issues myself. I don't take it lightly and I would never make fun of you for it."

Lizzie gave her a look, lowering her guards. "I believe you." She said genuinely, a small smile crept up to Arabella's lips when she heard.

"What I don't get is why anyone would accuse me of that. Who did you hear it from?" She asked and Lizzie turned her gaze to the witch on the other side of where she was, Josie.

Hope followed her gaze and Josie looked at them, mostly Hope in an apologetic manner but looked away guilty.

☘︎︎

Arabella heard Hope tell her that she needs to talk to someone before they sleep. She nodded and watched the tribrid left their room. Arabella leaned down her bed, grabbing 2 blank canvas and paintbrushes and paint.

She settled it just outside their window, opening it for a breeze of air to rush inside the room. Arabella exhaled when she finished setting up for the night, walking to her drawer to grab something.

The Blonde reached out to the very back of the first drawer, grabbing a small painting that she once adored and love because it was made from Klaus. She sighed, dropping her figure to the bed to admire it.

The small painting was simple yet, sentimental for her and Nik back in the days. It was the view of their old house in southeast Asia, stars and the sky awake which Nik perfected in painting.

She heard footsteps closing in making her dart up and open the door, closing it behind her. "Hey." She greeted Hope who stopped in her tracks for a moment to look at her weirdly.

"Hey? What did you do?" Hope asked, walking up to her with a tone. "Did you trash the room?" She whined jokingly making Arabella laugh and shake her head.

"I just wanted to know if you're tired. I planned this whole ordeal thing and it would suck if you wanted to sleep already." She hinted, tilting her head sideways with a grin.

Hope hummed in a thinking manner. "Depends. What did you plan?" She raised her eyebrows in excitement.

Arabella chuckled and opened the door, letting her go inside first but the tribrid stopped in her tracks when she saw a painting set up by the window.

"Nik taught me how to draw, paint, sketch. I'm not saying I have a skill but you looked pretty upset earlier when you told Lizzie about the painting with your dad. I just wanted to lift your spirits up a little—" Before Arabella could even finished she felt Hope hug her tightly. "Oh! Is this— Is this a good thing?" She asked when Hope pulled away.

"Are you kidding? It's amazing, Bella." She exclaimed in an excited tone and pulled the vampire to the canvases. "I honestly don't know how you come up to these ideas." Hope muttered while looking over the paints.

Arabella chuckled and look down before looking back up to see how Hope looks so excited. "How about you tell me all about that talk with someone earlier while you paint in front of the night." She suggested, handing her a paintbrush.

"Well," Hope started, opening a jar with water and dipping it to soak. "I learned a very interesting factor from the twins." She started, sparing a look to Arabella who was opening jars of paint.

"Yeah? I heard your talk with them hours ago in the car." She started to paint while kept her focus on their conversation. "Sounds like you and Lizzie are warming up to each other."

Hope chuckled, shaking her head. "I have no idea anymore. But what I do know is that Josie had a crush on me when we were little." She looked at Arabella to study her reaction but the girl cracked a smile. "Come on, Aren't you a little jealous?"

"Why would I? Do you want me to?" Arabelle asked in a teasing tone while painting. "I don't honestly blame her, who wouldn't have a crush on Hope Mikaelson?"

The comment made Hope blush but brushed it away with a chuckle. "You're an awful flirt, you know that, right?" She said making the blonde smile secretly behind her canvas. "Let me see." She gestured to the canvas which Arabella was painting but she refused and tilted it to prevent Hope from seeing making her frown.

"Uh-uh. I'm not going to look at yours, You're not gonna look at mine. Call it a surprise when we're both done, yeah?" She grinned mischievously, brushing her paintbrush to paint more. "And Honestly? I suck at these." Arabella gestured to the art.

"Then why did you even do this in the first place?" She asked, stopping for a second to look at the blonde who hummed, focused on the paint.

"I saw how badly you needed a break from all this mess. The Malivore mess. Couldn't just let you run around without having a second to breath every once in a while." Arabella said genuinely, looking up to meet her eyes. "Also, a perfect time to give you this." She pulled a painting off her pocket, giving it to Hope who confusingly took it.

Hope placed the paintbrush on the jar of water to look at it. "What's this?"

"Nik's talent, gave it to me in 2001. I have no idea where he was because I was with Marcel at the time." She said, continued to paint while having a sad smile on her face. "Even though he was far away, the man had a tendency to drop the other shoe when I'm mad at him. He manages to make me forgive him even though he does millions of mistakes. Nik might be the bad wolf in every protagonist's story but not in mine. Certainly not in yours too." She finished, backing away from the canvas to take a good look, putting away the brush.

Arabella sighed, looking over to the tribrid who was silently crying. "Oh, Hope." She whispered and walked to her, embracing the girl gently, rubbing her arm to calm her down. "It could never replace the one you've lost in that fire, I just hope you won't beat yourself up for it, love." She whispered, resting her chin on the top of her head.

When Hope calmed down, her wiping her tears away and looked at the blonde in front of her. "I love it, I love you. And everything you've done." She smiled, looking so gushed over the joy that Arabella made her feel.

"I love you too..." She whispered, wiping another tear away from her cheek. "See? I should have just sit down and watch you do this." Arabella said, gesturing at her half finished painting.

"Oh please." Hope laughed, kissing her lips gently.

The night consisted of the pair on chuckling and sleeping overnight. The evening made Hope feel happy than she could ever imagine again. The vampire already stole her heart, but Arabella wanted to make sure she won't lose Hope.

☘︎︎