the eye of the storm ✿ kol mikaelson ✿

prologue.

prologue

Mystic Falls was an average town with average people. Mystic Falls was an average town with average people. Mystic Falls was an average town with average people.

Lux hoped that, if she repeated those words enough, they'd eventually come true. She knew that when she returned to her home, the weirdness that she once ran from would soon follow. She knew that she'd never be able to escape the weirdness. And she was okay with that. But she wasn't okay with the potential casualties that followed her. She hated to see people hurt, but pain was her most constant of friends. 

It had been five years since she was last in Mystic Falls. The town believed she had been sent to a boarding school after the tragic death of her mother. Suffice to say, that couldn't be further from the truth. Lux, who had watched her mother sacrifice herself for her only child, was approached by a strange man who told her of a camp in New York that was safe for kids like her. He explained that she was a demigod, the child of a mortal and an Olympian god. The monsters, like the one that killed her mother, would keep coming for her unless she went with him. She didn't have a choice. She had nothing to lose. She had to go.

She left nothing but a note, telling her grandfather that she was leaving for both his safety and hers. Mystic Falls wasn't safe. Not while she was there. She told him to make something up, create some elaborate story about where she'd gone to. Luckily for her, he did, no questions asked. (And, if Lux was thinking real hard about it, it was almost like her grandfather had been expecting her to run away.) 

But now she was back, riding through the sky on a Pegasus. She thanked the gods for the Mist, which made the mortals see a really big bird rather than a winged horse. Who knew how the townspeople would react if they saw that. 

The Pegasus, who'd been affectionately named Nerissa, landed by the stables near Lux's childhood home. The Brighton family had once been proud horse breeders, but the business had died off a few decades ago after a series of bad business choices. The family had sold the last horses they had to ensure they wouldn't go into debt. Though they no longer kept any horses, the property still had the old stable on the off chance that someone would restart the business. That, by no means, was Lux's plan. Instead, she took Nerissa into the stable, and told her that she could stay there until she rested up enough to return to Camp Half-Blood.

Lux had just left the stables, adjusting her backpack, when she heard an old, gravelly voice say, "Well, I be damned. Is that Lux Brighton I see?" She grinned. "Why, it can't be! I must be imagining things!"

"Oh, Gramps, you know it's me," Lux laughed. "I'm back."

A grin stretched across his wrinkled face. His eyes sparkled as he said, "Well, then you should c'mon inside. I just fixed some hot coco."

"Hot coco? It's not even winter?" 

Gramps's jaw dropped. "Hot coco isn't limited to just one season!" He turned away, hobbling towards the house. "And to think I was gonna put some caramel syrup in yours."

"Wait, I love hot coco!" Lux shouted, following him into the house. 

✿

"Winter's my favorite holiday, Mama!" Little Lux Brighton declared. "Ya wanna know why?"

Her mother grinned. "Why is winter your favorite, sweetie?"

The mother-daughter duo was snuggled up on the couch, wrapped up in a mountain of blankets. It was the middle of January, and the middle of a school day. Lux had had the flu a few days before, and she was still working on getting better. Her mother had taken the day off to take care of her baby girl. In front of them, the fireplace was roaring and crackling. A winter storm was raging just outside their door. It was the worst storm the town had experienced in years.

"'Cause I love hot coco!"

Amy Brighton laughed. "Well, you can have hot coco in any season, sweetie."

"Yeah, but it just tastes better in the winter!"

"If ya say so," Amy laughed.

"I do say so!" Lux said. A grin was stretched across her face. It almost looked like her face would break if she smiled any harder. Her mother was laughing with her head thrown back. It seemed like the good times would never end.

Then, with a loud crack, the happiness all came crashing down.

✿

After a  few cups of coco with Gramps, Lux retreated into her old room. Little had changed in five years. The walls were still a boring shade of white, her bed was still unmade. There were books strewn across the floor, reminiscent of the times when she'd start reading something, get bored halfway through, and chuck the book across the room in frustration. Even her old stuffed blue bear sat on her unmade bed. Lux smiled and unpacked the few items she owned. The room remained the same, but there was now new life in its walls.

When it was all said and done, Lux crawled into bed and fell asleep.

✿

Some weird creature had come crashing through the window. It looked like a weird snake lady. Lux didn't understand what was going on. She started to scream as the snake lady attacked her and her mom. Her mom moved faster than Lux had ever seen before.

Lux was screaming so loud, she couldn't hear a thing. Her mom was shouting something. Something about running off. Lux couldn't wrap her mind around what was happening. She turned on her heel, catching a glimpse of something bronze in her mother's hands, and ran to the only place she could consider safe: her room.

Her head cleared as she slammed her door shut. Her mother had warned of something like this.

Well...not necessarily a snake lady breaking into a house. No, but Lux was told that her mother wouldn't always be able to protect her. And when that happened, Lux needed to be prepared to go on the run.

Hidden in her closet was a backpack full of basic necessities. Her mom had helped her pack it a long time ago, when the paranoia was at its height. Lux dug out a note in the bag. It was addressed to her grandfather, explaining that she needed to run and to make something up about where she was going, that the thing her mom had warned him about came to pass. Lux wasn't sure what any of that meant. She just knew that it was what her mother wanted to do. 

With the note in hand, Lux crept out of her room. She heard nothing from the front room, so she tiptoed to the front door. Her heart dropped when she saw her mom's mangled body, covered in a weird yellow dust. Holding back tears, Lux reached down and closed her mom's eyes. Then she looked to her hands, noticing that the bronze glint she saw earlier was a sword. Lux wasn't sure why, but she grabbed the sword. She had a feeling she was going to need it. 

She left the note by the door and left. She didn't look back. She couldn't. There was nothing, there was no one left to keep her safe in Mystic Falls.

✿

*Not Edited*

Word Count: 1255