𝟚.𝟚: 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕐𝕖𝕒𝕣 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝔹𝕖 𝔻𝕚𝕗𝕗𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕥

—Narrator's perspective—

"It's simple math, Ric. I go here and keep a close eye on you, blend in with the crowd and act like a hormonal sex-drived teen." Arabella shrugged, amused when Ric groaned and rolled his eyes.

"I do not need a babysitter." He said sternly, fixing paperworks on his desk and acted like a child which only proved Arabella's statement and point.

"Keep talking. I might as well drag Landon here for company." She threatened making Ric huff and nod. "So, How was summer in this awful town?" Arabella asked, sitting down and swing her legs on top of the desk.

Ric scolded her of her shoes on his desk then proceeded to push it off making the vampire laugh. "I'm not the one who jumped from city to city with Bonnie Bennett." He pointed out, causing Arabella to roll her eyes and was about to ask how he knew that but he beat her to it. "She's worried. Damon and Elena is too. We all are."

"Ofcourse you are." She sucked in a tight air through her teeth, avoiding to meet his eyes. "If you'd like to know, my dreams are on and off, okay? It keeps disappearing then when I do see that girl again, it's like I never recognise her face."

"Do you think it has something to do with Malivore?" Ric asked in concern, clearly obsessed with the tar of pit, or used to be tar of pit.

Arabella rolled her eyes at the suggestion, sitting properly on her seat before pursuing her lips. "You've become obsessed. Let it go. Landon already destroyed the thing."

"When he rose from the ashes he had no idea what happened, Ara." He stated into a tight whisper and slammed the papers on the desk, Arabella looking at him in confusion. "And you too. When you fell on the ground, you cried and didn't even remember it."

"I said I might have." She pointed out, a theory on her mind has been bugging her all summer but it's not like she'll tell anyone.

The bell rang making Arabella roll her eyes and Alaric chuckled at her reaction. "Go be a hormonal sex-drived teen in highschool, will you?" He waved his hand. "Okay, I don't trust that look. I'm escorting you to class. Come on." He said.

"Oh bloody hell." Arabella complained in a whisper, picking up her backpack on the floor, slinging it to her shoulder.

The Vampire talked while the two walk, the hallways beginning to empty. "You will not feed—"

"—I will not feed." She assured, giving him a sly smirk which Alaric knew all too well. "What's it to you anyways? Not like these kids did crimes and covered it up."

"Can't say I don't disagree." He exhaled, them turning a corner which he spotted two students wandering around or rather, just standing there.

The male student scurried to leave when he noticed the principal come to them while the female was standing her ground. "Hi, I'm principal Saltzman." He introduced and Hope turned around, almost losing her balance when she saw Arabella right besides her. "Uh, Luna you can go ahead to your class." He gave the blonde a stern look making her chuckle and nod.

"Nice seeing you again." Arabella said to Hope who was too stunned, the vampire took the chance to leave, walking past her.

The Blonde recognised her from last night and was too pleased to see her in this school. A sense of relief rushed through her veins which frightened her to the max. Nonetheless, she exhaled and entered her first class.

To the many minutes of her in the class, having to listen to simple geography over and over again, she grew bored. The teacher of the class noticed the purple eyed blonde dozing off or staring outside the window. The woman had the nerve to call her out, asking locations which Arabella answered all correctly.

Many students snickered at how their teacher looked pissed and good thing Arabella has the tendency to prevent herself on calling the woman out.

Arabella walked out the class, gripped onto the strap of her bag on one side of her shoulder when she felt someone walk the same pace as hers.

"That was some skillfull knowledge in academics back there." A girl said, cheerful and looked nice from where Arabella was walking. "I'm Maya." She introduced politely.

"Uh, Luna. Geography is one of my main academic practices." She explained, more like lied but it didn't faze to Maya who took it as the truth. "I'm actually gonna head to the bathroom, freshen up." Arabella excused.

Maya shook her head, "Are you stalking me or something? Let's go there together." She said, causing Arabella to chuckle at the human's suspicion but still, they entered the bathroom in silence. "So, are you new in town? Or just the school in particular?" She asked, getting in one of the stalls and Arabella stayed to the sink, washing her hands.

"Um, school in particular, I guess." She said which was half the truth. Lord knows how many times has she gone to highschool and Mystic High in general. "How about you? I grew up in Mystic Falls but never seen you around."

Before anyone even spoke, A crying girl came busting inside the restroom, Hope stopped in her tracks when she saw Arabella with a slightly concerned expression when their eyes met.

"Oh, are you okay?" The Vampire asked, having no choice for Hope to walk to the sink and not turn around to leave. It might seem rude or Arabella might just suspect her.

"Yeah it's just..." She started, having to pry her eyes off of the blonde who seemed genuine of her intentions when she asked if Hope was alright. "Relationship troubles."

Arabella nodded in understanding. "He's kind of a troll." Hope added which earned Arabella to chuckle, bringing light to the witch's face again.

"You know, three times in two days is kind of rare to come by." Arabella hinted, seeing as they did met yesterday and today. Hope cleared her throat, having no intention to blush which the blone easily saw making her smile.

"Y-Yeah." Hope answered, slapping herself mentally when she stuttered. "I'm Hope." She introduced and Arabella slightly squinted her eyes, remembering the name in her phone which she kept thinking about. "Hope Marshall."

Arabella smiled, nodding in response. "Luna Salvatore." She extended her hand, Hope being too nervous to shake it but still, they collided hands.

"Weird question, by any chance, have you noticed a terrible smell coming from somewhere inside the school?" Hope asked out of the blue, Arabella humming before answering.

"Boys locker room? Might do you the trick." She suggested and Hope thanked her before parting ways.

The tribrid looked back, admiring the pair of purple eyes one last time and as she left the restroom, she couldn't stop but feel an aching pain in her chest.

It took a second before Maya came busting out the stall, earning a flinch from the one outside and frowned at her. "Dude, you are totally crushing on Hope." She teased, opening the sink to wash her hands.

"What?" Arabella asked in confusion, then realise that she might just do. "Hope? I just met her." She pointed out which only made Maya hum and gave her a knowing look.

"Your name is Salvatore? Like the boarding school uphill?"

☘︎︎

"Ric—"

"—Shush." Alaric said, holding his index finger up while he walks in a stealth position.

"You've gone nuts." She pointed out, looking inside the locker room where the football team would change and unchange for that matter. "What's going on with you?"

Alaric told her to keep quiet again, motioning for her to look inside. Arabella rolled her eyes and did look, only to see Hope looking around and about from the inside.

She didn't listen to Ric's whispered warns when she already opened the door quietly. Arabella behind Hope and was about to talk but the girl looked distracted which lead to Arabella holding her shoulder gently.

It backfired when Hope grabbed her hand and flipped her over in matters of seconds. The Mikaelson gasped, seeing as she accidentally flipped over Arabella who was panting and that was when Alaric came busting in the doors.

"Okay okay. Who are you?" He asked, having to be the one who pulled Arabella up to her feet.

"Okay damn." The vampire just breathed out, looking at the girl who took her down.

Hope took one last look of the Salvatore who managed to get herself together. "I'm a vampire hunter." She blurted out and Arabella mumbled an 'ok', backing away in fear already.

It's not like she was scared of Hope, moreover scared of hurting her instead.

"A creature that's big enough to flip over an empty bus." She explained when Ric asked, gesturing her to continue. "It's green, It's ugly and it smells absolutely terrible, so I'm going with a troll? And it's hiding somewhere in the school."

"And how do you know that?" Ric asked skeptic of her information.

"Because I wounded it." She pointed at a purple looking goo on the floor. "It's nocturnal so it hides out during the day. I found a legend that says I just have to pierce it through the heart."

Alaric frowned. "Listen, you're not doing anything. Okay? You're just a kid."

"A kid who singlehandedly put me down." Arabella added, a glare was sent her way by Alaric for interrupting. Hope managed to crack a smile when she heard the girl's remark, missing it every second of everyday.

"If there's a monster in my school, I'm gonna take care of it." He started to walk past them but got stopped when Hope spoke again, dropping her smile.

"No offense, but, um, I've been trying to kill this thing for over a week, and nothing's worked." She added.

Alaric turned around and gave her a serious but also a warning look. "If you are a vampire hunter, then I'm sure you've heard of Alaric Saltzman?" The words caught Arabella to snort. "Yeah. I know what I'm doing."

"Yeah? You're very famous around here, but you're gonna need my help." She pushed again, a look of impressed flushed Arabella.

"I have put kids in danger before. And I'm not gonna make—"

With the bell rang and a door opened, Arabella was too quick and exited the room without anyone noticing it. Not even Alaric and Hope who got caught talking in there.

When they did notice, Hope scoffed in amusement, seeing as nothing changed for the blonde vampire. She felt her lips tug into a smile, heart relieved now that she saw Arabella, the girl whom she loves very dearly.

"You took down a troll? Without me?" Arabella asked when Ric and Hope told her what happened earlier.

"Ara." Ric motioned to the student who saw everything occur down in the pipes.

"Oh, yeah, right." Arabella said and held Maya's shoulder, looking her in the eye. "You didn't see a troll earlier today. Principal Saltzman turned the water off and took care of everything ." She compelled which the girl nodded and Ric told her to leave them quickly.

With that said, the vampire sat down on the principal's chair, giving Alaric an innocent smile while he sighed at her behaviour. "So are you gonna kill me now? Vampire hunter?" She asked Hope who looked back to her, shaking her head as an answer.

"So, uh, Why aren't you headmaster of that other school anymore? Word spread." Hope asked, pushing herself off the desk and walked to where Ric is.

"It's a long story." He answered and chuckled dryly, looking to Arabella who shrugged.

"I'll be back once school lets out so we can clean up what's probably a dead troll." She crossed her arms, looking at the human and didn't want to look back to where Arabella was sitting.

"You're really not fazed by any of this, are you?" He asked.

Hope widen her eyes. "I-I mean, I just think that the story that you told me, about the monsters and the scary black pit, just... makes a lot of sense, I guess. Um, look, I'm just really glad to hear that it stopped. I'm sorry that it's happening again." She said wholeheartedly. It didn't go unnoticed by Arabella who was listening to the whole thing.

"It's not your fault. Now that I know that your cover story is a lie, I'm assuming Tom and Kathleen aren't real." Ric said and Hope nodded. "Okay. The school I used to work at, you'd be welcome there."

"Oh, um... yeah, that sounds amazing." She forced out a smile, Arabella listening in her hearbeat which fastened. "But I'm just passing through." Hope informed and there was a moment of silence, taking it as her cue to leave.

Alaric turned back. "Hey, look, I uh... I don't really have access to that school's resources anymore, and I'm trying to give my daughters some space. But if these monster attacks are starting up again, We could use the backup." When that said, Hope showed a sign of pain in her eyes when she looked at the blonde behind Ric, giving her a smile.

"I work better alone." Hope croaked out, disappointed look flashed throughout Arabella as she was hoping to see more of the girl. She left and Ric turned to the blonde.

"You have that look." He pointed out in curiosity.

Arabella shook her head, not bothering to inform him of an incoming pain inside her chest. "I should call Damon for something." She informed, standing up with an exhale and stood up. "Have fun cleaning up that Troll."

Alaric frowned at his friend, seeing as something flashed between her eyes when she stood up to leave. Not wanting to provoke her, He let her go.

Arabella has her legs crossed, her right one jumping up and down while she read a book on her hands. She was there since school ended, people passing her glanced her way because of her eyes or rather her in general.

It was as nightfall, her phone was dead silent and wanted to get away from her brother's questions of misery on that girl she mentioned one time while they were having dinner. Arabella cooked because god knows what would happen if those two married couple cooked for them. The vampire would just end up in the hospital for food poisoning.

She squinted her eyes down the book, hearing someone shout behind her making her drop it and stand up, seeing a troll nearly attack her if it wasn't for Hope who saw them. Arabella rushed forward when Hope got tossed away, having no care if someone saw them fighting.

A troll in the middle of town was already self explanatory.

Arabella jumped up, slamming her fist towards the monster's face, it stumbling backwards when she felt Hope's presence besides her.

"Uh, what now?" She asked to the blue eyed girl who was panting. The two didn't have much to say seeing as Arabella got thrown from across the park.

Hope looked back at her in worry, having no time to react when the troll lifted her up, its hands were gripping on her mouth so she wouldn't speak. It had the audacity to laugh but sooner, Ric shot an arrow at its hand making it roar in pain.

The Tribrid got dropped to the floor, recollecting herself and Alaric slammed his crowbow to him. Arabella scowled, eyes shifting to red and sped to the monster, kicking it and it fell backwards momentarily when Ric got pushed away.

Finally, Hope lifted herself up. "Hey you." She called, gaining its attention. "Incendia."

The troll's head caught on fire, he desperately slammed his hand on his hair, putting it out and when he did, a large eye was on his forehead.

"Hope, Arrow." Arabella called, having her hand extended out to her. She shot it at her way, swiftly catching it.

Arabella didn't waste any time, using her supernatural speed jumping at its way, stabbing the cyclops in the eye. She backed away, catching her breath when it dropped dead on the ground.

When they all were catching their breaths, Alaric was the first to speak. "You really think it's a..." He stopped talking when the cyclops disintegrated and slowly disappeared.

"Yup." Hope answered for the non-finished question.

"Great. Let's get out of here." Ric announced and took the crossbow from Hope's hand, them leaving already.

Arabella looked at her forearm, dried blood from earlier showed. She clicked her tongue and wiped it off.

"You hurt?" Hope questioned out of instinct, it didn't mean to come out as a tone of concern but that was what it looked like to Arabella.

"Nothing I can't handle." She replied, giving the tribrid a small smile. Arabella's eyes narrowed down to the girl's cheek, instinctively, she wiped a trace of dirt on it making Hope froze.

The blonde was too focused on smudging it away and when she did, the two locked eyes at an insanely close distance. Neither wanted to part but seeing as Hope was the only one who knew everything and what happened before she jumped in Malivore, she stepped back.

"S-Sorry there was dirt on your face." Arabella explained, cursing herself off when she stammered in her place.

Hope smiled and nodded, pinching herself to stop smiling. But it didn't work. The two stayed looking at each other before it was interrupted so suddenly.

"Ara?" Landon's voice quirked up behind her, making her dart her attention to the phoenix.

She gave him a nod, seeing Ric far behind him and calling the two girls over. Arabella looked at the boy one last time before running to Alaric's way, didn't realise that Hope stopped by to where she was sitting earlier to pick up her book.

Hope looked at it, sense of familiarity hit her when she saw it. It was the same one she took from her drawers the day Hope talked to her subconscious. She was aching to open it and wanted to know what it was about but decided not to. They don't know each other. Atleast, that's what Arabella thought which only caused Heartbreak to Hope even more.

When she caught up with the two, Alaric looked at her with an impressed look to her. "That was some nice work back there." He started which Hope chuckled. "Surprising amount of overlap between troll and cyclops."

"Yeah, there really is." She added further, laughing. Her eyes gazed to Arabella who looked distracted in her own thoughts but didn't question it.

"Yeah." He smiled genuinely, gripping on his crossbow. "Look, I, uh, I know you're not gonna stay." Ric spoke and Hope silenced down, looking to the blonde who had an unreadable expression when he said it. "Here. Take it." He gave her the crossbow.

The girl hesitantly took it, not knowing if she should give it back or not. Alaric didn't give her a chance when he said to stay safe and about to leave. "You're good at this, you know?" She started, a genuine sentence.

"Monster hunting?" He asked confused.

"Helping kids." She shrugged, Arabella smiling at her words. Alaric definitely needed to hear that ever since what happened. "You should keep the beard." Hope said one last time when Ric already left.

Arabella exhaled, looking at the girl with a look. "He's been through a lot. This day is like a wake up call for him." She said which stunned Hope once more for speaking to her.

"I— here." Hope took the book from the inside of her denim jacket, giving it to Arabella who had forgotten all over it. "I saw you drop it when we fought the one-eyed monster."

Arabella reluctantly took it, looking up to Hope one last time. "If you need help, I'll always be in this town." She offered which made Hope drop the walls around her.

"Always?" Hope looked up to the girl, sending deja vu to the both of them when the tribrid asked.

Arabella smiled and nodded, stepping backwards to leave but not looking away from Hope when she said, "Always." When she finally said it, the blonde turned around, her footsteps fading away made Hope exhale shakily.

The Mikaelson waited until the love of her life disappeared, leaving her no choice but to walk back to the park. She sat on the bench, in front of the trail where the two had a date a few months ago, where Arabella confessed, where she confessed that night...

"Hey there." Arabella's voice perked up, looking at Hope lovingly, the longing in her gaze.

Hope fidgeted with the crystal on her hand, setting it besides her and looking at her subconscious which Arabella had took over.

"Rough night?"

"Just... please don't talk." Hope said, glancing at the blonde seriously, tears streaming down her cheek already. "I just want to see you look at me like that again." She croaked out, her palm resting on her chin while she cried silently.

Arabella smiled sadly, watching Hope cry besides her. "I love you, Hope." She whispered, relief splash to the girl who nodded.

"I really wanted to hear that all day..." She whispered, not caring if this was fake— the entire thing is. All she wanted was the real Arabella Salvatore.

Hope shuddered a breath, wiping her tears away. "I love you, Bella." She whispered then setting the crystal off, the vampire disappearing when she had an idea.

She didn't want to be alone... So she stood up, picking up her bag then went to the Mystic High where she will tell Alaric everything.

☘︎︎