𝟙.𝟛: 𝕎𝕖'𝕣𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕚𝕟𝕘 ℙ𝕦𝕟𝕜𝕖𝕕, ℙ𝕖𝕕𝕣𝕠

—Narrator's perspective—

"It was a misconception yet, Alaric blamed me for it." Arabella complained, throwing her hands in the air from having to rant 3 minutes straight to Emma who tried her best to catch up on everything. "Then there was me comforting Hope last night because Alaric flat out told her she's acting like her dad when he could have said thank you for not turning into ash yesterday. I swear to god that man will be the death of me one day." She groaned, hands were covering her face.

Emma on the other hand looked at the girl in shock but kept her posture from falling. "I've seen we have a lot to discuss but let's start from what Dr. Saltzman told Hope. It looks as if the incident is riling you up this morning."

"Alaric found out that Hope was carrying a death spell around her all day yesterday. I saw her tear it from a grimiore the morning before we left and I couldn't just tell on her." She huffed.

"So you were doing a favor for a friend?" Emma questioned, getting back to the topic.

"I was helping a friend." She corrected. "When we got back from our little hunt, She cried and I couldn't just let her deal with the burden of it alone. Clearly she misses Hayley and Klaus but Ric had to ruin her 'moving on stage' for her."

Emma simply nodded, thinking on a possibility on why Arabella was acting this way. "Arabella is there a chance on why you're mad at Ric for all these?"

"Yes and I simply conclude to him being a total asshat who has no remorse when it comes to Hope." She deducted which earned Emma to stop herself from laughing.

"Or maybe you have significant feelings towards Hope." Emma raised her eyebrow, studying bow Arabella looked at her in disbelief.

"I don't have feelings for Hope." She said and when the words rolled off her tongue, it didn't feel right. "How did that topic came up anyways?"

Emma cleared her throat to speak. "Then can you give me a much more conclusive explanation why you have the impulse to protect Hope?"

"Because..." Arabella trailed her words off which caused Emma to give her a look. "She's hurting, all right? Besides, it's already bad enough that I have to keep the secret of me knowing her whole family to a down low."

"Are you certain of your choice?" Emma was already answering for her inside her head. It was clear and obvious to anyone who have a sharp enough eye to see how defensive Ara looks when it comes to Hope.

She nodded without a doubt. Well, maybe a little but she'll never confess that. "We've known each other in less than a week. I'm positive."

☘︎︎

"Ric, I loathe you." Arabella whispered and looked back to meet the man's eyes who screamed 'I know'.

"It's just so we can keep your head down. Don't you want that?" He fired back, the two was constantly bickering like two old friends in the library lounge.

They were waiting for the three witches and Arabella killed the time in arguing with Ric. If he wasn't scared of her then, she definitely does now.

"I am suppose to be in the Mystic Grill today, with Elena and Damon. Instead, I will be in the town square, picking up trash and possibly acting like a child who got framed!" She whispered loudly and wanted to flip the chair away.

"Ara I'm going to start treating you like a child if you won't stop arguing with me on this one!" He pointed at her which the Vampire slapped his hand away before continuing.

They didn't even know that there was 3 certain witches who was trying to get a better hearing of what they were arguing about. Seeing as a loud ruckus was forming inside the large spaced room, clearly heated.

"How about this, You give me the day off and I hang out with my lovely brother in peace." She pleaded, whispering so low that even Hope couldn't hear it. "And his lovely wife ofcourse."

Alaric took in a breath. "Fine." He gave in which caused the girl to sigh in relief. "If there is another crisis happening, You come straight to the problem no matter what time it is." He said finally and the girl thanked him.

"You just saved me from a lot of explanation from my brother." Arabella gave him a pat on his shoulder before leaning on the railings, the doors behind them opening.

"This makes no sense dad, Why are we being punished?" Lizzie crossed her arms, the three walking up to Alaric who prepared himself of this already.

They all walked to the main room, "Because you started a brawl at a charity football game that risked exposing what we really do here."

"Well you weren't mad last night." Lizzie whined following his father.

"I was mad last night. My undying love for my daughters just happened to trump my rage. I volunteered everyone in the game so stop complaining. You're lucky it's just community service and not actual jail time." He looked at them one by one with a tight smile.

"Can I atleast offer a rebuttal in my defense, If it pleases the court?" Lizzie asked, on the top from where the other 4 stood. Alaric gave her a sign to go which she did. "First of all, I was provoked. My response was totally proportional considering the levels of abuse that I was forced to endure..."

Arabella clenched her teeth in seriousness of what she's hearing. "She's not serious, right?" She asked Hope who was also displeased and nodded her head.

"Secondly, if anyone should take the blame, It's Josie."

"What?" Josie asked in disbelief of what she heard. Guess to say Lizzie really did look out for herself on this one.

"I totally cracked under cross, but if you had just let Kaleb catch the ball—"

Alaric cut her off and so did Hope. "You'd still be in trouble."

"But Nice job throwing your sister under the bus." She sent a teasing smile to Lizzie who rolled her eyes.

"Kind of messed up, Liz." Arabella added which only proved Josie's worth.

"Thank you, both of you." Josie said and looked back to Lizzie, anger risen her stomach after what she just heard

Alaric butted himself in again, "Speaking of, the bus leaves in ten minutes, and I expect all of three of you to be on it, working together today, harmoniously and without drama. End of debate."

"Me and Bella wasn't even at the game. Why are we being punished— wait did you just say three?" Hope questioned in realisation. Safe to say that the Mikaelson already gave Arabella a nickname no one is calling her of last night.

"You know what you did and yes, three. Arabella will be tasking on a much more important task." He said causing a few looks to the Vampire who simply shrugged. "All right now go, all of you."

"Yeah, goodluck." Ara whispered to Hope but got pulled aback by the Tribrid who urged her to stay, still didn't give her a choice because Hope's grip on her never left.

"Seriously?" Hope questioned.

Alaric sighed and turned to look at her. "What part of what I said needs translating?"

"I want to help you with research." She whined a little making Arabella besides her chuckle at how adorable that just sounded to her ears.

"Dorian has a master's degree in library science, I think the adults have it covered." He backfired.

"That's not fair. You only play by the grown-up rules when you need don't something from me."

"I am spinning right now, Hope. And I can't drag you and Arabella any further into this until I figure out what's going on, okay? So right now I need you two to be a kid, keeping a dragon-sized secret today until I get some answers."

Hope glanced at the girl besides her before turning back to Alaric. "What is she even doing today?"

"Keeping my old friend occupied so he won't lash out on me." He explained, giving a look to Ara who simply chuckled. "Damon and Elena Salvatore is in town and they wanted to meet Arabella for something."

In confusion, Hope looked at Ara again and asked herself, why on earth would Damon want to talk to a vampire who hasn't even met her?

"Damon, Elena." Arabella greeted them and hugged both individually, smile formed on their lips. She could have sworn she could feel the stares from the students in a mile away from the park. "I almost had to do community service instead of being here." She huffed in relief before sitting in front of the two.

They were sitting outside Mystic Grill as it was packed for the day on the inside. "My little sister picking up trash? No way." Damon grinned.

"Okay why is Bella talking to the Salvatore's like they've known each other for years." Hope questioned, looking over the three by the Grill. Wishing that she has Vampire hearings right about now.

"Probably Mom introduced them together— Why are you here anyways?" Josie asked, changing the subject too quick and poked the trash on the grass.

Hope was smart noticing this. "You know something." She pointed out and looked at the Brunette who avoided her gaze. "Jo, you have to tell."

"Why do you always pick fights?" Josie asked genuinely this time making the Tribrid stop and turn to look at her. "We've known each other a decade and any time you have the chance, you poke." She continued to put the waste in the plastic.

"You guys do your fair share of poking." Hope said which was basically the truth.

"Yeah, in retaliation to your pokes. And with you spending so much time with my dad and keeping secrets—"

Hope eventually got a tad mad. "—We're not keeping secrets." She walked away but Jo followed quickly behind.

"Oh, yeah? What happened when you went to go find Landon Kirby with Aura (Ara/Arabella)?" She asked in frustration.

"Nothing happened." Hope sing-songed, still having her back turned to the siphoner who keeps pushing subject.

"Something clearly did happen. Rafael never showed up at school, my dad was rattled and Arabella is having coffee with Damon Salvatore instead of helping us here so why won't you just tell me?" Josie finally was besides Hope.

"Because there's nothing to tell." She said finally and accidentally stabbed herself making her wince. "Aah!"

Josie frowned and went towards her. "Oh my god." She just gasped.

"Yeah— ow!" Hope remarked looking at the brunette who looked flustered.

"Are you okay? I mean, what do I do?" She knelt down in front of Hope who was still very much experiencing a pain from her foot.

"Help me pull it out."

"What?"

"I can heal myself. Pull it out." Hope reminded and it enough for Josie to grab the stick, pulling it out but not before it taking her down with her. "Ow!"

"You poked yourself." She pointed out making Hope laugh.

"Shut up." She sent a chuckle while the two laughed in unison.

Arabella who clearly heard Hope yelp in pain from afar made sure it wasn't anything serious. It even gave Elena a chance to look at who she was staring making her widen her eyes at who. Still, she didn't mind seeing Arabella looking so concerned for Hope Mikaelson.

☘︎︎