𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 ━━ HOPE MIKAELSON.

66

“I REMEMBER WHO THE MONSTER WAS.”

After Rafael told them everything that happened— how Landon died, Hope felt as if someone was suffocating her. She went straight to Jaxon and began crying in his chest while he wasted no time in wrapping his arms around her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, resting his head on top of hers as she trembled and shook in his arms. She lost yet another person she cared about.

"I did it," MG spoke up, "It was me. I'm the monster."

"When you finished your turn, y-you got loose and bit MG," Alaric said to Rafael, "watching Landon die was too traumatic, too human, so you reverted back and scrambled your memory."

"I don't want to remember any of this," Rafael said as he began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Alaric asked to which he replied, glancing at MG, "away from MG before I finish the job."

"Hey—" he cut Kaleb off, "—Landon's body is out there. I'm gonna go find it." And then he left after glancing at Jaxon who was busy calming down his girlfriend.

"I was so mad," MG said, "I wanted to h-hurt Landon. I didn't want his blood. I needed it. I needed all of it. 'Cause I'm not a monster. I'm a demon."

"You're not a demon, you're a ripper," Jaxon rolled his eyes, "and there's a reason why you vampires are not fed human blood at the school." He glared harshly at Kaleb who gulped.

"Jax," Alaric shot him a pleading look, "what's done is done."

"Whatever," Jaxon turned his back to them and Hope looked up at him with tears falling from her eyes as she whispered, "I want to see him."

"Are you sure?" He asked softly earning a nod from her as she brought a hand up and wiped a few of her tears away. "Okay," he grabbed her hand, "come on."

Following Rafael's scent, he led Hope to where Landon's body was lying on the ground with a huge vampire bite in his neck. Rafael was standing above the body, looking down and crying.

Jaxon let go of Hope's hand and she walked towards Landon and fell on her knees, tears pouring out of her eyes and sobs leaving her mouth as she stared down at his body. She and Rafael were both crying.

Jaxon felt as if someone was squeezing his heart in his chest as he looked at Hope. He had never seen her like that before— she looked absolutely and completely broken.

Just then Alaric joined them and after a few seconds, MG and Kaleb did too making Rafael look up at them. He stood up and began making his way towards MG.

"Raf," Hope tried to stop him, "Raf!" But he didn't stop. He continued making his way towards MG as Kaleb stepped in front of his friend. Jaxon walked towards them and pushed Rafael away— a little bit too hard, "knock it off!"

Rafael fell on the ground and watched Jaxon head towards him, "Landon wouldn't have wanted this. And Killing MG won't bring him back."

Rafael looked at Jaxon and as if he suddenly remembered something, he stood up, "but you can!"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You're Hades's son, right?" Rafael asked, eyes widening in hope, "you— you can bring him back! You— you can—"

"—No, that's not how it works," Jaxon cut him off, "that's in my father's hands. Although..." Jaxon walked around, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath, "I can't — I can't feel the presence of Thanatos. He hasn't been here."

"Who's Thanatos?" Rafael asked just as Alaric joined them, replying to his question, "Thanatos, in ancient Greek religion and mythology, is the personification of death. Thanatos was the son of Nyx, the goddess of night, and the brother of Hypnos, the god of sleep. He appeared to humans to carry them off to the underworld when the time allotted to them by the Fates had expired."

"He'd remove the souls of people and take them to the underworld—" Jaxon simplified, "—to you know who."

"Wait, what does that mean?"

"That can mean only one thing..." Jaxon stared at Landon's body which began emitting some sort of smoke.

"Am I still delusional or do y'all see this?" MG questioned as they all stared at his body.

"Put him out, Hope," Rafael said to Hope who placed her hand forward, ready to put out the fire that hasn't even started yet when Jaxon placed a hand on hers, stopping her. "No, don't. It's not gonna work."

"What?" Hope looked at Jaxon just as Landon's body was set on fire, "Wh-What's going on?"

"I don't know," Alaric replied, "I've never seen anything like this. Jaxon? Care to share your knowledge with us?"

Jaxon smirked as he stared at the fire before breathing out, "motherfucker. I knew it! Well, I didn't but I doubted it."

"Knew what?" Alaric urged the demigod to share what he knew but Jaxon was too busy admiring the fire.

"You'll see." With a wave of Jaxon's index and middle fingers, the fire was turned off and a large amount of smoke appeared again, making them unable to see what was in front of them. After a few seconds, the smoke disappeared, revealing Landon who was trapped in some sort of rock.

Hope stepped forward only to be pulled back by Jaxon, "stop. It's not over yet."

Deciding to accelerate the process, Jaxon tilted his head to the side and they all watched as the rock sort of thing began breaking. Landon's hand was the first thing they saw. Hope gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth.

"As I was saying earlier," Jaxon began, "the fact that I couldn't feel the presence of a Thanatos  could mean only one thing," Landon was now ridden off of all the things that was covering him, "he was never here in the first place." Jaxon looked at Alaric, "ever heard of the legend of a phoenix?"

Landon stood up and stared at everyone in confusion, "what's going on?"

"Welcome back to life, mate."

Landon was clearly shocked at the news, his eyes widening, "welcome back to— what?"

"You aren't going to give him a heart attack, now, are you, Jax?"  Alaric whispered in the demigod's ears.

"Of course not," Jaxon smirked, "I mean, he just came back to life, after all. Gave us all a bit of a shock back there when we saw you lying on the ground with all the blood sucked out of your little bod—"

"— Let's go back to the school," Alaric cut him off, noticing the shocked look on Landon's face, "how about that, yeah?"

"Great idea," Kaleb mumbled as they all walked back to the car.