𝟚.𝟠: 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 ℂ𝕙𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕞𝕒𝕤 𝕎𝕒𝕤 𝕊𝕦𝕣𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕝𝕪 𝕍𝕚𝕠𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕥

—Narrator's perspective—

"Is this really necessary? Can't she just toss him back in the cell." Arabella complained silently, having her back against the archway while she looked over to the rest of the students who was writing their wishes down.

When Josie tossed hers in the fire, she immediately walked her way to the blonde who looked like she was itching to leave this town. She handed her a paper. "No thanks. Don't believe in wishes or whatnot."

"Oh come on! It's Christmas." The Brunette Siphoner whined, still having her hand up with a paper and pen for Arabella to take.

Then, Arabella got hit with a sense of reality, remembering that this was the Mikaelsons tradition. Well, not entirely but still, close enough for her to remember it. Why? Because she was there with them when they once did it a few years ago.

"Suit yourself." Josie shrugged, sensing that the blonde won't be accounted for. She walked away, the heel of her shoes echoing as her footsteps got further and further away.

Arabella sighed, watching Clarke and Hope argue in front of the fireplace. The tribrid looked at her with an unreadable expression while Clarke was grinning.

She put two and two together until she got enough and grabbed the collar of his shirt, leading them to the memorial library. Close enough, Hope was following and she entered the room.

She placed her hand up. "Cloustrum." The door behind them slammed shut. "You're spelled inside this room. Now, what exactly did you wish for?" Hope demanded in spite.

"You'll find out soon enough. Because as you can attest, I've been a very bad boy this year." He joked which lead to Hope clenching her fist making him shut up.

"Unpleasant consequences, remember?" She taunted, Clarke had his hand gripping on his throat, struggling. "Now what did you wish—"

"—A savior." He cuts her off finally. Hope unclasped her fist making him exhaled in relief. "You two want to protect Landon, right? Well, don't worry. The Krampus is coming to rescue me instead of going after him. And it'll kill anyone dumb enough to get in its way."

Arabella exhaled, rolling her eyes when she heard the pathetic wish. Yes, this might be a displeasure year for her but there was no way in hell was she going to celebrate the holidays.

"Not if we're ready for it."

"By 'we', do you mean the school full of idiot kids drunk on Christmas cheer? Or the grown men running around actually drunk, believing that Santa Claus is real? You might just have a shot on winning this one from your unkillable Vampire girlfriend who's repulsive and only wants to protect you." He looked over to the blonde who rolled her eyes again. "Good luck dampening their spirits and getting them to listen to you."

"You leave that to us." Hope glared at him one last time before turning her heels and left the room with Arabella followed.

With an enraged Hope Mikaelson on the loose, Arabella carefully decided not to get in her way before all hell broke loose. She crossed her arms, passing by many students who were laughing.

They arrived at the entrance of the Lounge, the vampire in pursuit slowly stepped back when she felt Hope about to shout. When she did, everyone stopped talking and looked at her, the music stopped as well.

"I have bad news." She announced, clearing her throat while walking in the middle of the room.

"A Krampus is headed our way."

Nobody really seemed to take note of her words, Kaleb put the music on again and the chattering and dancing continued. That was unless Hope finally snapped. "Concido." She growled lowly.

Her hand thrusted forward to the music box making it stop and destroyed. She flipped her hand upwards to the Christmas Tree as it flickered, lights going off and finally, Hope took her anger out on the food nearby, half of it destroyed without anyone even touching it.

Arabella hummed, being the only one who was sane enough to watch the whole thing go down. A sense of amusement bewildered her, a grin came up to her face.

"All right! Didn't want to deploy the nuclear option, but Santa's not real. He's a myth. And you're all acting like a bunch of children." She said innocently, not minding how the students' heart was breaking. "So let's just put the partidge back in the pear tree and grow the hell up." Hope looked back to see Pedro looking upset, he dashed off the room crying.

"She's right." Alaric finally woke up. "This was all too good to be true, I..." He gave the cup of hot cocoa to Dorian and took off his sweatshirt. "I uh, I don't know what came over us. All right you all heard her. Dorian, hit the books, figure out how the Krampus operates. Josie, Kaleb, we need to set a trap for this thing. Everyone else, get the kids to bed and gather weapons. And someone bring me a crossbow."

Arabella snickered, having her arms crossed the entire time while her side was leaning on the archway.

☘︎︎

Arabella swung her arm downwards while holding a sickle, she backed away in disgust, having to have no choice on saving Clarke. "That was disgusting." She shivered, walking back to where Hope was.

"I'm guessing you're the Krampus." Hope exhaled, took the Krampus' screeching as an answer. "Mittent." She casted and the monster flew aback, hitting its back on the ornaments that was hung on the wall. He fell on the ground again, the decorations hitting his body.

"I'm Hope." She introduced sarcastically, "And I find the holidays really stressful."

Clarke stood up as he regained his strength, grabbing the sickle on the floor. The Krampus saw it and it cackled before disappearing back to the fireplace.

"Damn it. That thing could be anywhere." Hope sighed, turning to leave.

"Wait. I thought my father was bringing the Krampus to save me. But I was wrong. He must have known I was planning to jump into a new body and screw him over again." He explained, and Hope asked how. "Well, I don't know. But if you let me go, I can make it to the portal before the Krampus kills me."

Hope chuckled and nodded. "Nice try, but 'fool me once' and all..." She trailed off in gesture.

"What if there was a way that I could prove to you that I'm on your side? That I'm telling the truth." He handed the Sickle to Hope who looked unsure.

Arabella could merely glare at him from behind, knowing whatever he was saying, he'll be lying and screw them over again and again.

Hope told Arabella to go but when the Vampire was going to refuse she gave her a look where Arabella wouldn't dare to say no. She exhaled and did what she was told, stumbling her way to Kaleb who told her what will happen

Just as the Krampus arrived inside the Lounge, the shadows wasn't enough for him to stay low as everyone was waiting.

Kaleb handed Arabella the other end of the Christmas lights, the two vampires circling the Krampus to capture it. Once they were done, the two backed off and joined the others who was looking at it.

Alaric shot his crossbow directly to its chest, aiming for its heart which it did succeed when the monster fell on the floor. Hope had arrived after talking to Clarke. Earlier, She told Arabella to go and help the others but with a lot more of convincing, the Salvatore agreed. Particularly how they ended up here with Hope besides her now.

"Yeah, sure, why not. It's Christmas." Alaric chuckled like a kid and grabbed the cup of cocoa.

"Wait, you two are still Merry. If it's dead, then why hasn't this lunacy stopped?" Hope pointed out, frowning at Alaric on her left. They all turned their attention to the bag besides the Krampus, it moving as someone was inside of it. "Everyone stay back. Whatever's in that thing is coming out."

Everyone stepped back and some stood their ground, holding onto a weapon, ready to attack whatever just popped out of the bag. When they did, it stood up and looked at everyone with a cheerful smile. "Ho, ho, ho, ho! Who wouldn't be Merry on this special night?" Everyone started to mumbled. "It's the magic of Christmas, Miss Mikaelson. It's the most wonderful time of the year."

"I am fucking losing my mind..." Arabella whispered, looking at the man in front of them.

"Santa?" Hope questioned, a sense of giddy inside her heart. "I can't believe you're real."

"Well, ofcourse you can. You see, my dear Hope, belief is what make things real." He pointed out.

Alaric spoke up in a confused manner. "Uh, How did you know her name?" He asked, pointing at the Tribrid.

"Because everyone was a child once, and I remember each and every one. Besides, a name like Alaric is pretty tough to forget." He laugh which everyone followed except for Arabella who was madly confused. "I must thank all of you for bringing me back. It's been hard, all these years, being trapped in that awful, dark place, unavle to spread joy around the

world—" He soon got cut off when loud screeching was heard behind him. The Krampus stood up, hissing at Santa who looked mad at him. "Because of you.

The Krampus swung its arms back, the lights that was holding him broke free. He grabbed the arrow that was lunged on his chest, taking it out without a hitch.

"Thought I killed that damn thing." Alaric growled.

"Language, Dr. Saltzman. Don't blame yourself for missing. The Krampus' heart is very small. and this... is my fight." Santa said, looking at the monster.

Hope swung the Sickle on her hand, ready to fight but Alaric stopped her. "Wait, Hope, no. You heard the man. This one's personal." He said.

While they all watched, Arabella clasped her hand together in front of her while watching Santa Claus himself fight his enemy. This Christmas was definitely something to remember for her as Santa was destroying half the Lounge and got thrown across the room.

It didn't stop him when Hope tossed him the Sickle, Santa jumping up to his feet again and slammed the blade to the Krampus' chest with no worry. He punched his hand in, grabbing the very tiny hear and showed it to them.

"See? Very small indeed."

"There goes my childhood." Arabella sighed in a tight smile.

☘︎︎

With everything was going on, Arabella was sitting on a chair while her fingers was smoothly and professionally dancing around the keys on the piano. She had her eyes closed the entire time as she played quietly, she made sure no one will get inside the room but it didn't stop Hope who was watching from the door.

The girl exhaled, continued to play around the instrument in silence. She learned how to dabble and play with Elijah's help a few months after she turned. It was to give the blonde a sense of normalcy in life, even though she was going to live a long life.

Arabella felt someone sit down besides her, hearing their heartbeat and it was familiar to her so she didn't have to open her eyes and look. Even hearing the girl breathe is already familiar. She kept playing, tilting her head downwards in shyness while playing.

The other, Hope, watched not only the piano, but Arabella who was focused on her heartbeat, less than on the instrument. But it's not like Hope knew that.

"Your uncle Elijah. He taught me how." She whispered when the last key was played. Arabella looked to her side, closing the piano.

"You also didn't tell me you played..." Hope said back, scooting closer to the girl lovingly.

"I never expected to play again." She replied back, taking in Hope's warmth when she laid her head on her shoulder.

Hope sighed, interlocking her hand with her girlfriend's that was well rested on top of the piano. With no one speaking between them for a few more minutes, Arabella did.

"Before you were born— even before Caroline was pregnant, Stefan and Damon would drag me in this house. It was tradition and even though they hated each other, we were siblings. No one would change it as such." She confessed. "Every year. Changed when Stefan died."

Hope exhaled, feeling awful for the girl. But, a thought inside her head kept her from feeling down on a day like this. "How about... we start a new tradition. No matter what happens, we will always be together on this very holiday. Christmas."

"It's not even Christmas, Hope." Arabella chuckled, looking over to the Mikaelson who sat up properly and looked at her. "You also hate the Holidays so—"

"—So It's a perfectly good reason for us to start something." She pointed out. "Even if at some day, awful things happened like we broke up—"

"—Unlikely, but go on." Arabella said, smiling when Hope laughed softly.

"Even if we are split up or far away from each other, we will always be here." She finished, Arabella dropping her smile to a much more softer one. The Vampire brought her hand up and caressed her cheek which was cold from the snow.

"You're kind of stuck with me." She whispered solely, both girls chuckled before Hope leaned in to capture her lips.

The two stayed that way for more than 2 minutes, just enjoying each other's presence and other things. Then, Hope pulled back, opening the piano back open.

"Can you play again? It sounds lovely when you do." She asked.

"Ofcourse." Arabella said simply, planting a small kiss on Hope's temple before playing the instrument.

With the music softly tuning around them, Hope was listening while having her eyes dead set on the Salvatore who was quietly humming while having her eyes closed as she played. Hope smiled, never feeling more at peace than before after this day happened.