𝟙.𝟙𝟜: 𝕃𝕖𝕥'𝕤 𝕁𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝔽𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕤𝕙 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖

—Narrator's perspective—

Arabella blinked multiple times, looking around and saw that the girl besides her was crying in her sleep, whimpering, having a nightmare.

"Hope? Hey, Hope wake up." She whispered, sitting up and tried to nudge her awake. Arabella knelt on the bed besides her, shaking her awake but got the surprise when Hope did woke up and she got pushed out the bed using Hope's magic.

Arabella flew back on the wall, hitting the canvas that Hope recently made, paint smudging her shirt and she hit the ground with a loud thud. The tribrid sat up and gasped awake, looking at the blonde who was trying to pick herself up.

"Oh my god." Hope gasped in shock, sitting up and looked at Arabella. "Bella, are you okay?" She questioned and stood up, helping the vampire to stand.

"Oh, well, you know. Still undead and responsive. I'll live." She gave an assuring smile, looking at her shirt with black and blue paint all over it, some were smudged on her neck.

"What happened?" Hope questioned, confused of what just occured and helped Arabella to sit back down to bed, taking her place besides the blonde.

"You were having a nightmare. I tried waking you up and you screamed, flying me back with your magic." She explained, cleaning herself up or atleast her hands that had blue paint.

Hope frowned, looking around and had no idea that could happen.

☘︎︎

"Hey— Hey, Landon." Arabella knocked on the door to Alaric's office, seeing the phoenix sitting in front of the headmaster. "Ric, can we talk?" She asked and walked closely by to them.

"Yup, we'll discuss more later, Landon." Alaric said, closing a few books and turned his attention to the blonde.

Landon stood up, not without turning to Arabella to say something. "Hey, I'm sorry for what Rafi did. You know, killing you." He said and the girl lets out an exhale and nodded, not saying a word. Landon took the chance for it to leave, leaving them to talk.

"So, what brings you here? If it's about the whole Rafael mess and you want to talk to Emma about it, I'll let her know." He sighed out, hands together on top of the desk. "Werewolf venom hallucinations can be too much, especially to you."

"What?" Arabella questioned, oblivious then snapped back to reality realising what he said. "Oh! Yeah, right. No I don't need to talk to Emma I'll manage. Hope's still not too keen on forgive and forget with Rafael so I think I'll avoid the topic for now." She explained and Ric nodded in understanding.

"Then what brings you here? What's that on your..." He pointed at neck, a little bit of blue paint could be seen making him frown.

Arabella looked down and touched her neck, the paint on her hand. "Yes, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." She said and dropped her hands to her lap.

"Uh, paint?" Ric questioned in a frown, still confused.

"Nope, Hope." She started, leaning on the chair with a sigh. "I woke up and she was whimering in her sleep. Kind of a nightmare? She screamed and suddenly I flew across the room landing on the paints." Arabella explained thoroughly. She was just worried for Hope and who better than to tell what happened to them than Hope's father figure?

"That's weird." He said and the girl agreed nodding. "Okay, I'll talk to her. You try and talk to Emma, Not up for debate." Ric warned, pointing at her.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. It's not like that she doesn't like Emma, it was just because Arabella has seen a lot occur inside her head, nightmares and hallucinations of what happened to her past and Hope dying got inside her head. It was all too much for the Vampire who would rather seal her problems away.

☘︎︎

"I have some news. Many of you, like me, have forgotten that we are hosting this year's Miss Mystic Falls Pageant. Trust me, I know. But the rotation is set in stone. So, let's take the opportunity to maintain our image as a normal school for the rich and awful. As usual, anything remotely magical, enchanted..."

Arabella caught Rafael's eyes by the other side of the room, she tensed and snapped her head to the front, her breath quickened. She cleared her throat, looking down to her hands on her lap.

"Hey, It's okay." Hope, from besides her whispered low enough for no one to hear besides the blonde who was battling inside her head. The tribrid looked around the room in a frown, seeing Rafael on the other side looking at them. She sighed frustratingly, looking back to Arabella who managed to distract herself by Lizzie's plan.

Soon after, Arabella and Hope got assigned with the animals by the memorial library. The Vampire was tending to a caged bird that seemed as if he wanted to get out. She cringed and placed it on a nearby table, directing her head to Hope who was busy writing something in a paper.

"So, want to talk about this morning?" She asked, walking towards the girl in a slow paced manner, forgetting all about the animals inside the room.

"Suddenly everyone's got a psychology degree around here." She snapped sarcastically, sparing a look to Arabella who rolled her eyes with a smile.

"You know, letting loose is much more fun than to bottle it all up inside. If there's one thing I do know about these things is that." Arabella shrugged, looking at Hope who was more interested to look past her.

Arabella frowned and looked to see where she was looking at, only to regret it when she saw a familia vampire who should have stayed dead than to live. Roman waved, tense on seeing Arabella who was more concerned for the tribrid.

"This is ridiculous..." Arabella whispered in anger tending to the animas in peace, ignoring the conversation behind her.

She once had an encounter with Roman a year ago and all Arabella wanted to do was kill him for watching Hayley die, tricking Hope into thinking he was helping her. She heard the story from Freya, it angered her even more now that she's here.

"Dr. Saltzman's been a little overwhelmed, so, uh, I've been doing a little recruiting recon for him lately. But he asked me to come in today and lend a hand." Roman explained to Hope, his gaze went to Arabella who was behind the tribrid.

Hope noticed and realised. "Oh, uh, this is Arabella—"

"—He knows who I am. Had an encounter a year ago." She explained blankly, writing something down on the paper and not wanting to look at Roman. All she could think about was throwing him off the balcony.

Roman noticed her behaviour, feeling a little guilty than usual seeing her again. "I better go find Dr. Saltzman." He said and turned around to leave.

When he left, Hope turned her attention to Arabella who wasn't paying attention to anything other than the paper. "You know each other? You didn't tell me." She said, walking in front of her with a concerned look.

"90 year old vampire who so happened to be involved with Hayley's death? I was going to kill him." She informed, looking up to meet Hope's eyes.

"Though I don't hold him responsible for what happened anymore." Hope said in a tight smile, inches away from breaking down.

"Okay..." Arabella whispered, smiling sadly and planted a small kiss on her cheek. "But I do. I'll see if Josie needs help setting up inside." She informed and walked past Hope, feeling if she stays, She'll do something drastic.

Hope was about to stop her but no word came out of her mouth when Arabella left the memorial library. She sighed, closing her eyes and tried to collect her breathing.

The blonde vampire sighed, seeing Josie on the top of the stairs with Penelope, arguing. She listened, "...You agreed to help Lizzie win?"

"I'm supporting my sister. It's her crown and I'm fine with that." Josie said one last time and walked past Arabella, leaving the space.

"Tough crowd." Arabella spoke, earning attention to Penelope who sighed and nodded. "Is Josie really going to let Lizzie win?" She asked, leaning over the ledge to see everyone down the stairs, fixing the venue.

"I don't know what to do anymore. It's like she's given up completely." The witch complained and stood besides Arabella, looking down as well.

"Josie is not like her sister, you know. She has a kind heart and tends to people's needs more than hers." She rationalised, seeing Hope talking with Lizzie. She sighed and shook her head, looking anywhere but there.

Penelope frowned, noticing the look Arabella made when she saw Hope. "Spill the tea. What went down with you and Mikaelson? I need the distraction." She grinned, completely turning her attention to the blonde.

"What? We're okay." She answered, seemingly enough it sounded like a lie. It is a lie but Arabella was pushing away the thought. "Um, is it me or is Lizzie calling for us to get down?"Arabella questioned and pointed at the siphoner who was obviously waving her arms around, gesturing for them to get down.

"Oh god, what now?" Penelope groaned and the two followed Lizzie in a room whent they descended down the stairs.

Arabella crossed her arms, leaning on the table while Lizzie told them to wait for the others. What others? It past a few minutes when Hope and Josie came inside, the tribrid walked besides her girlfriend, also madly confused of what's to happen.

"I am withdrawing from Miss Mystic Falls. Effective immediately." Lizzie announced when she walked in front of them, turning to look at the girls who paid attention.

"That's it?" Arabella questioned, not really surprised and sat down on the table fully with Hope besides her who agreed.

"I thought you had something important to tell us." Hope said and fidgeted with Arabella's hand on her lap.

"Come for the underwhelming announcement, stay for the epic meltdown." Penelope remarked with a grin, earning a smile to Arabella's lips and rolled her eyes.

Josie frowned, "Okay, wait wait, why are you quitting?" She asked and ignored Penelope who was right besides her.

"A personal issue with one of the judges. A direct result of that bitch Dana's sabotage." Lizzie explained in disgust and annoyance.

"She's dead, Lizzie." Hope reminded, shocked of what the blonde siphoner just said.

"Correction: That dead bitch Dana's sabotage. Costing me the crown from beyond the grave. The head judge is her mother." She sat down with a frown. Arabella sighed and shook her head, couldn't believe that she was actually listening to this occur. "The town pharmacist. There is always next year for me. But that does not mean we here at the Salvatore School shouldn't bring home the title and stick it to those townies. So, I have studied all of the stats and advanced metrics, and I have chosen a replacement."

While the four was already expecting it would be Josie, what Lizzie said after made them all surprised. "Hope Mikaelson." She announced.

Hope shifted in her seat, looking at Lizzie with an unreadable face and mostly surprised that she didn't pick Josie. She turned her head to look at Arabella but the vampire was looking over to Josie with a mere concern on her face.

☘︎︎