𝟚.𝟞: 𝕋𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖'𝕤 ℕ𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕀 ℍ𝕒𝕕 𝕋𝕠 ℝ𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣

—Narrator's perspective—

"You idiot— stop." Arabella hushed Damon besides her, him about to tease her again but she glared at him. "If you won't shut up, I'll most likely stab you in the chest." She picked up a fork by the table, showing it to the human who huffed.

Damon rolled his eyes, munching on the many food that is spread on the table, in the middle of town. "I don't have supernatural healing, sister." He pointed out, playfully stabbing the girl with the said fork, over and over again but didn't put too much force.

"A child. Damon. That's you." She deadpanned pointed out, grabbing the metal fork from his hand and placing it on the table in front of them. "Why don't you go and disturb Stefanie, or atleast, Elena."

"Miss the chance to see why my little sister keeps having a smile on her face? Never." He countered, throw a piece of bread on her face as she rolled her eyes.

"Do you want me to compel you to go back home?" Arabella asked, wanting to follow her own words and got a little carried away.

Damon snickered. "One, I am your big brother. Two, I drink vervain everyday. Three, You wouldn't dare." He taunted, Arabella chuckling and almost gave in to the part of her that was saying she should stab Damon on her hand, quickly forgetting it since he is a human.

"I could." She shrugged then looking at her brother. "But I'm the good sibling." Arabella countered again, the two laughed in unison.

By the few tables away, Hope just took her eyes off the blonde when Ethan came up to her. She cleared her throat and acted like she's doing her fair share of job in Common-wealth day.

"Ow! I have done that, like, five times." Hope whined in a tough voice, annoyed too. "Is it possible to die from a paper cut?" She asked Ethan who laughed in amusement of her sorrow.

"Careful. That's the best arm in town now." He said and Hope sarcastically laughed, tending to her finger. "Let me see." Ethan softly held the girl's hand, acting like he's a doctor and looked at Hope seriously. "Yeah. It's fatal."

Hope gave an amused smile, the two shared grinning before someone spoke behind Ethan. "Hey, you two, quit slacking. Tomorrow's festivities will not be thrown off by hormonal teenagers." He glared at them.

"Sure thing, Councilman." Ethan said in a forced polite tone. "Ruined by an old, white guy politician, though? Totally plausible." His words caught Hope to laugh. "How did that guy win an election?"

Arabella cleared her throat, almost losing her head when she heard the two flirting from a distance. It is not her place to be jealous but yet, she did. And it wasn't a pleasant feeling.

"Would you want me to snap his neck? I still have my moves." Damon sing songed, whispering to her ear which irritated Arabella and shoved him away.

"Would you want me to snap your neck?" She asked, giving him a stern look that caused Damon to dramatically gasp.

"You are beginning to be like me everyday, little sister." He said, Arabella smiling and shook her head. "Who is she even?" He asked more seriously, looking over at Hope besides Lizzie, now.

Arabella sighed, shaking her head. Before she can even answer, she overheard Landon telling Raf he can be his wingman for Hope. This made Arabella click her tongue, "Nothing, Damon." Her voice was cold, somewhat serious to drop the subject as her mood went down the hill.

"Hold that thought." Damon excused, his phone ringing from his pocket. He walked away, talking to Elena over the phone.

The Vampire sighed, rubbing the back of her neck in frustration. She felt someone tug her arm from behind making her turn around.

"Lizzie? What do you want?" She asked when she saw the witch responsible for her calling.

"Oh nothing, Arabella." Lizzie hummed, the name of the vampire didn't sit well as she pronounced it.

"Uhuh." Arabella eyed her suspiciously, crossing her arms over her chest. "Okay I give. You don't call me Arabella not unless you want something." She spoke which caused Lizzie to roll her eyes.

The Siphoner looked over to Hope who was gesturing her not to do it. Lizzie ignored her and looked back to Arabella with a faux smile. "I'm here to ask you if you want to join me and Hope. We're friends... kind of." She added the last bit.

"Where is Hope? And why are you acting weird?" She asked, looking around to find the tribrid but was no use as she couldn't. Hope lets out a chuckle when she saw Arabella looking for her.

"Just say yes." Lizzie said, a look that screamed attention and persuasion. It was then Arabella groaned, looking back to Damon who was coming their way.

"Fine. I'll go say goodbye to my brother." She pointed at the ex vampire who was walking their way. Lizzie nodded and told her to meet them behind.

Damon whistled happily and came face to face with his sister. "Let me guess, You're gonna ditch your loving brother for the girl you like. Low blow."

"Wrong guess." She said attentively, dropping the table napkin on the table. "I am actually going to act like a teenager for a while. Something you were good at when you weren't aging." Arabella spat jokingly, holding his shoulder for a mere second before walking past him.

"You owe me!" Damon shouted, didn't care if people looked his way. Arabella waved him off while having her back turned to him, the Vampire seeing two certain witch by the tree.

Arabella cleared her throat, the two almost lost their posture when they saw her. "If you'd like I'll go back to Damon." She suggested, feeling the two tense.

"No." Hope said a little too loud and cleared her throat again. "No, we're just talking about something." She excused and the blonde besides her nodded in agreement to her words.

"Okay then. Shall we?"

☘︎︎

"When I said that I wanted to hang out, this is not what I had in mind." Lizzie spat, looking at a body which was murdered by a monster. Liquid of some kind surrounded it, pink substance covering the body.

Arabella felt herself gag at the sight, having to back away before she can even think about on wanting to puke her guts out.

"Who even found him? Or what's left of him?" Hope asked, also disgusted at the view of the dead body.

Lizzie sighs. "Alyssa Chang on her morning jog. Good thing, too. Otherwise, this place would be crawling with police. What kind of monster do you think we're dealing with?" She asked in a shudder.

"A croatoan." Hope said, something catching her eye and Lizzie asked how would she know that. "Call it a hunch." She remarked sarcastically, gesturing at the wall which carved 'Croatoan' on the wood.

Soon after, the trio found themselves in the Savatore School, Hope practically begged Arabella to come, which she did on Hope's request. Now, they face the rest of the super squad in determination.

"Okay squad, we have a problem. And we're down a witch because Josie's in Richmond for commonwealth day. Which is bad for us, because..." She looked over to Hope who continued.

"A Croatoan came through the portal. And it killed a councilman." She informed, Arabella boredly leaning over the ledge, above from where Landon was.

"What the hell's a Croatoan?"

Kym, Kaleb's sister, snapped her fingers. Okay, who put her here? "Hold up. The lost colony of Roanoke." She informed, nobody seemed to know what she's talking about. "Seriously? Not one of you?"

"I'll play. Roanoke. It's one of the first English settlements in North America until it just vanished without a trace." Landon spoke up, knowing bits of the information.

"And the only thing left behind was a word carved on a tree: Croatoan." Everyone looked at Kym weirdly, "What? I'm a history nerd. Why else would I be here for commonwealth day?"

Kaleb cleared his throat. "Uh... I-Ignore her. Her visitation privileges are about to be revoked." He gave her a look, Arabella chuckling amused of the sibling quarrel.

"The monster is here, and it's after Landon, so we need to get him somewhere safe." Hope said, steering the topic right back to where they left off.

"Okay, Um, no offense, but why is some girl from Mystic Falls giving us orders?" Kaleb asked, going down a step from the stairs to join the boys.

Rafael and Lizzie spoke in the same time. "Oh, it's because she's a wolf." "Because she's a witch." Hope sighed, looking down at their unison of exchanging information.

"Most importantly, she knows how to kill monsters."

Speaking of monsters, Arabella slowly walked down the stairs, finding Damon's contact on her phone before slipping out on their little conversation. She was by the door when Damon picked up his phone.

"Brother." Arabella greeted, slightly smiling as she was always happy to talk to the Salvatore. "Can I trust you that you'll stay in home today?" She hoped.

"Hm." He hummed, thinking about it. "Why? Got yourself into trouble today?" Damon acted like a concerned father.

Arabella snorted, crossing her arms while she leaned on the wall besides the door. "You can say that. But I am serious, Damon. Stay at home." She warned, didn't notice Hope's glance her way.

"Fine fine. Who gave you the overprotective sibling role? That's my job." He whined, smiling from where he was. And that's on taking care of a daughter.

"Oh I inherited it since our lovely brother is gone, and you are humane." She hinted, Damon hanging his head aback and laughed. "See? I'm good at this."

"Okay, little sister. Go kick someone's ass for me will you?" Damon said genuinely, before hanging up, he spoke. "And be careful! Don't want to find you in a ditch somewhere."

The comment made Arabella snort and close her phone. She exhaled, going back to the gym and listening in again with a secretive emotion held in her eyes.

"...I will babysit Landon while everyone else is at Commonwealth Day while Hope does her whole monster hunting deal." Lizzie said, looking the tribrid with a look.

"That is a great idea. And you know who should go with her? Rafael." Landon pushed the wolf towards the Mikaelson, the boy looked flustered when his brother pushed him.

Arabella crossed her arms, leaning on a wall besides her while she just stayed silent. When everyone wanted some sort of initiation, some didn't agree and just left. The blonde felt a pair of eyes burn through her skull when she left, not having the guts to ask Hope if she could come to her. Instead, she sighed and stuck with her horrible and seething jealousy.

"Kaleb. Care to be my partner in crime?" Arabella asked, a mischief in her grin which matched Kaleb's when he heard.

"Now you're speaking my language. Super squad is hitting off."

☘︎︎

"So you down to talk about that whole deal with the were-witch?" Kaleb started, looking at the blonde who snorted.

"What deal?" She asked, playing the dumb card while looking around in silent. They were sitting in her car, ready to speed off to wherever if they sense danger.

Arabella cleared her throat, making him pout. "Okay, you shut up. Focus on... whatever." She waved her hand dismissively.

"Please, Ara. You were basically crushing on her while we were in the Salvatore Schol—"

"—Wait wait." She whispered, holding her finger out for him to stop talking. "Do you hear that?" Arabella asked, seriously looking at the vampire besides her who looked tense and shook his head, trying to hear whatever it was.

Arabella sighed, a grin escaped her lips. "That was peace and quiet, Kaleb. Peace and quiet." She flat-out pointed out making the boy roll his eyes and huff.

☘︎︎

Arabella already dropped Kaleb to the Mystic High school a minute ago, not wasting another one just for her friends to get killed. She winced when she almost crashed on the wall, rushing out the car and in the school.

She used her speed and heard commotion down the cellars, her adrenaline was pumping and saw everyone here.

"These bars aren't gonna hold. We have to find some way to stop it." Hope said, didn't noticed Arabella who rushed inside with a relieved look when she saw everone was all right.

Lizzie was muffled speaking, mouth missing since Hope casted a silence spell on her. Hope let her go, nodding and the blonde spoke, finally. "Mg is working on it. Also because of Landon, there is now a zombie on the loose."

"That doesn't bode well for everyone." Arabella said, gaining their attention to her when she came out of nowhere.

"It was a good idea." Landon defended, getting at the task at hand.

"Okay, one monster at a time. Raf, Bella, take Landon to Dr. Saltzman. Lizzie and I will find a way to keep the Croatoan busy." Hope informed, mostly to keep her secret at bay against Arabella. "Let's go." She said and they all headed out the door, exiting.

Arabella felt her skin itch, got informed that the Croatoan feeds on liars or rather, targets liars. She shuddered and hoped that she wasn't the only one with secrets to keep until the grave. She has many, in fact, millions which isn't important but it is still a secret, right?

When Landon, Raf and her were running through the woods, they never looked back seeing as Landon's safety was a priority for all of them.

"AAH!" Arabella shouted, a wave of dark magic hitting her body, feeling an intense amount of pain on her chest. She immediately dropped to the ground, not passing out like anyone else.

She hyperventilated, clutching onto her chest in desperate ways to stop it. "No no no— stop!" She shouted, eyes straining in tears while her eyes rolled back to the back of her head.

Arabella Salvatore passed out soon after, having to deal with so much pain that it made her unconscious. Her hand was twitching, mind slowly registering everything she had forgotten.

To the part where she got introduced to her roommate in the Salvatore school.

"Hey you must be my roommate?" Arabella asked, closing the door behind her and couldn't lie. The Mikaelson tribrid looked beautiful like none other has she seen.

"Clearly, seeing as I'm the only one here." That smile, her smile flashed across her lips which made Arabella laugh. "Uh, Hope Mikaelson." Her hand extended out for Arabella to reach.

She took it hastily, shaking it with ease. "The Hope Mikaelson? I pictured a much more intimidating girl. Nice to meet you."

"So you've heard of me?" Hope asked, guarded up but never expected for it to be crashed down by the girl in front of her. Neither did.

"Uhuh. Couldn't miss the people talking all about the Tribrid in this school." She informed, a lie but knew it was for the best to keep her background in check for no one to be a casualty of her wrecked past.

"Right, because being a

Werewolf-witch-Vampire in a supernatural school is totally normal." Hope clicked her tongue, forming a grin while she watched the blonde with immensely violet eyes putting her clothes away. Unpacking.

"Oh Totally normal." The two shared a wholehearted laugh.

To the part Hope found out Arabella had a small crush on her...

"Is it me?"  Hope had her eyes squinted slightly, a teasing smile was sent to Arabella's way and a lie detector on her hand. "Hey, you have to answer.

"This is ridiculous—"

"—Bella!" Hope laughed, seeing how adorable the blonde looked when she was blushing mildly.

Arabella took in a breath before saying, "No." They both looked at the small ball on Hope's hand, it glowing Red brightly.

The two girls looked at each other, neither noticed how their hearts were beating rapidly of the recent revelation. Hope was moreover happy but couldn't say a thing when she got stuck staring at those purple eyes she adored.

To Arabella Salvatore and Hope Mikaelson saying their I love you's for the first time...

"When the night hag got in my head, I vividly remembered you lying on the floor with your own pool of blood. The nightmare showed me that I killed you." She informed and Hope sighed, closing her eyes.

"Bella..." Hope started and cupped her cheek with one hand. "You would never hurt me. You and I both know that so don't worry about you hurting me any time soon." She smiled warmly, soothing the girl who nodded.

Arabella sighed. "I realised something, hell, the nightmare even showed me something." She confessed, Hope's eyes searching for an answer and gestured her to go on, still having her hand on her cheek. "I never want to see you harmed, Hope. I feel like something inside me would die if that happens. I'll never forgive myself. There is something— multiple things I still need to do before that happens and what I'm trying to say is—"

"—I love you." Hope cutted her off, opening her mouth slightly in fear. "I love you, Bella." She whispered in a tight smile, rubbing her cheek softly.

Arabella's breath hitched, looking at her in disbelief. "Damn it..." She whispered and closed her eyes.

"Why— Why? Did I ruin everything? I shouldn't have said that—" Before Hope could even rant and regret everything she said, Arabella leaned to kiss her softly and lovingly.

Hope internally sighed relief and felt something inside her complete. She cupped both sides of Arabella's cheek, not wanting for this moment to stop any time soon.

Then, Arabella woke up. Eyes searching for anything— anyone for her to keep sane. She stood up, anger rose up her throat when she realised that the love of her life was there in front of her the entire time but didn't say a word

She clenched her fist tightly, tears uncontrollably faltering down her cheeks. Arabella couldn't hear how Landon and Raf was calling out for her, wanting to snap the girl out of her senses but was no use. She looked so furious and overall, in pain.

Arabella exhaled, clasping her face with both of her hands and turned around, not wanting the two to see her like this. There was it again, the aching and dull pain inside her chest is unbearably painful and at large.

She narrowed her eyes, didn't know what to think anymore. One thing she did know is that she needed to see Hope Mikaelson. Wanted to see the girl's face now that she remembers everything.

Her dreams, her torment of if, the names on her phone and a random painting on her old room in the Salvatore school, It was all Hope. It was always about Hope. She's her whole life and nothing more.

"Damn it!" Arabella shouted, punching the Croatoan on the face when she heard Landon almost shriek when he saw it. "Landon, Run!" She yelled again, taking her anger out on the monster instead of bottling it all up.

Landon pulled Rafael away. "Let her go. She's okay— she just needs to release her anger." The phoenix assured, pulling the werewolf away as they escaped.

Thought the tears on her eyes were still clearly falling, it didn't prevent her on kicking back the Croatoan who almost got her. It was flying backwards, it quickly tried to run to the blonde.

"Crescere arbor." Hope spelled, the Croatoan stopped on his tracks as Vines were trapping its feet. "Bella—"

"—Just kill it." She muttered coldly, holding onto the back of her neck as she tried to steady her breathings. Arabella closed her eyes, unfocused as she could no longer channel her rage to something.

Hope got taken aback, not expecting for the blonde to sound so... deadly and cold. She shook away the thoughts, focusing on the Croatoan instead before they can talk properly. "Ventus." She spelled again, pushing their latest monster back.

"Were you not planning on telling me?" Arabella finally asked, gripping on her knees while she tried to catch her uncontrollable breathings.

"Bella, please. I need you to breathe." Hope said, holding her shoulder— or tried to because Arabella backed away, holding her finger up as a warning not to touch her. "Look, I didn't tell you because I thought you were happy." She finally said, causing only torment to the other.

Instead of showing it, Arabella scoffed loudly. "Happy? With what I've told you, Did I look happy to you, Hope?!" She shouted, coughing in fits when she did. Hope resisted the urge to hold her close, knowing it will not end well for the two of them.

"Good thing you were shouting. I could hear you from across town. This belonged to that witch that created that thing." Mg said, giving a necklace to Hope who took it quickly.

She looked back to the Croatoan. "Finis Habentis Maleficia." Hope spelled, holding the necklace up with one hand while her other hand was under it. Fastly, the Croatoan was sinking on its own, dying. "Bella." She called out, looking to the blonde who was on the verge of yelling.

But it didn't matter because all she could remember was that she couldn't hear Mg call for her name. Didn't care that Hope held both sides of her shoulders because her head was spinning badly. It was then she passed out, falling on the ground but not fully since Hope caught her.

"Bella!" Hope tried waking her, shaking her unresponsive body but was no use. "Mg carry her. Now. To the Salvatore School." She instructed— ordered. The girl she loves is in a mess and it's her fault.

Mg followed her request, carrying the blonde bridal style and used his Vampire Speed to get to the school, laying the girl on her own bed— her old room. Nobody dared to even use this dorm, something about it was off.

☘︎︎