𝖧 𝖮 𝖬 𝖤 ─ 𝗉𝖺𝗎𝗅 𝗅𝖺𝗁𝗈𝗍𝖾

| 𝟣𝟪

ALARIC NOBLE stood outside of his niece's door, a look of worry on his face as the morning light shown through the window at the end of the hall.

"She hasn't made a sound all night, and I'm starting to worry," Lizzie mumbled as she leaned against her doorframe.

Her blonde hair was unkempt and tangled, showing the father just how worried she was; that she didn't even bother getting ready like she normally did first thing in the morning.

Alaric sighed, rubbing his daughter's shoulder to comfort her.

Lizzie gave him a brief smile, but it soon faded as she slumped more into the door.

"She's seventeen now, daddy," She spoke soft and carefully. "I don't want to lose her again like we did when she was seven."

Alaric took in a deep breath, knowing exactly what his eldest daughter was referring to and knowing that she wasn't wrong for worrying so much.

"We won't lose her, I promise." He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead to give her some sort of reassurance but couldn't help but be just as worried.

As he made his way down the staircase and into his study, memories came flooding in.

"DADDY!" A young Lizzie giggled as she ran down the hallway, Josie hot on her heels as they ran a circle around him and made silly faces at each other.

After a few moments of the three of them giggling as they came towards the foyer, Alaric glanced up at the sound of his brother gasping.

A young Eloise stood by the edge of the stairs, her eyes in a daze as her feet hovered barely an inch off of the floor. Whimpers escaping her lips, as she sobbed out.

"Eloise, honey?" Elena stood at the bottom of the stairs; her eyes full of worry as she watched her daughter be taken over by the powers she didn't quite understand yet.

Alaric's brother, Niklaus, made his way to his wife's side as she began mumbling under her breath and making hand gestures towards their daughter.

The young Eloise seemed to snap out of her daze at the last gesture and words her mother made, but for she let out a sharp cry as her body began falling down the stairs.

Elena reacted quickly, using her own powers to cast a protection spell over her daughter as she safely caught her in her arms.

Lizzie and Josie stared at each other from behind their father's back, a sad look on their faces.

"Daddy," Lizzie cried. Tugging on her father's shirt as she shook her head. "Is it time?"

Alaric tore his eyes off of Niklaus and Elena as they held their crying daughter in their arms and talked to each other.

"Time for what, sweetie?" He tried to play it off, but Lizzie just tugged harder on his shirt as Josie held onto her.

"The last time Ellie had an accident, it broke the floors." Josie mumbled, not quite understanding what happened at the time but knowing it caused a mess that needed the floors to be replaced.

Lizzie nodded her head.

"I don't want her to go, daddy." They both cried, watching as their aunt and uncle made their way over to them with a worn out Eloise in their arms.

"Girls," Elena gave Alaric a small smile as she took over for him. "Eloise has something very special inside of her, that seems to be growing more and more each day that she is here."

Lizzie and Josie instinctively held each other's hands as their other hands both reach out to hold onto Eloise's in a loving manner.

"If it's special, then why is it causing her trouble?"

"And why would it make you need to leave?"

They asked simultaneously, causing the adults to chuckle for a moment.

"It's special because it is something that was passed down from many generations of the women in my family." Elena explained, running her hand through Eloise's curls. "But for some reason it is presenting itself much earlier than it should."

Elena half-lied, knowing full well the reason her daughter was now struggling, but knowing it wasn't something the children needed to know about just yet.

Alaric and Niklaus shared a look, both of them knowing about the family of vampire's that had just moved into the area and were what was causing the shift.

The two brothers coming from a family of supernatural hunters but had changed their ways once Elena came along and showed them many other sides and beauties to it.

Beauty or not, the two of them still understood the dangers and the risk that came along with vampires coming into presence of witches.

"Eloise is very lucky to have the both of you," Niklaus leant down as he ruffled the top of his niece's hair as they giggled and swatted his hands away. "But right now, she needs to be far away from here."

Josie began to cry, while Lizzie held her little sister at her side and did her best to hide her own tears.

"You'll come back, right?"

Alaric chuckled, along with Niklaus and Elena.

"Of course, this will always be ours and Eloise's home." Elena smiled down at the girls. "She just needs some time in a new place, to keep her safe until she is ready to come back home to you."

Lizzie straightened her back and stood on the top of her tippy-toes as she rubbed circles on Eloise's hand, smiling as Josie copied her actions. A light glow escaping their fingertips and traveling into Eloise's as the young girl relaxed even more into her mother's arms.

Alaric smiled lovingly at his daughters, no longer surprised by the things that seemed to happen as they cared for their cousin.

There had always been a strong connection between the three of them, that no one could really explain besides it being the love they had for each other.

"We will miss you, Ellie." They whispered, before walking off and leaving the grown ups to talk.

Alaric snapped out of memory lane as he closed the office door behind him and took a seat at his wooden desk.

Eloise had done wonderful in California, her powers completely disappearing and allowing her to live a normal life.

But now she was seventeen, and her powers were on the break of discovery, and it was only a matter of time before she is flooded with questions and more confusion.

The vampires in Washington seemed to be growing more and more each day, and Alaric knew that their presence bothered Eloise just as much as they did the Werewolves.

Even if she didn't understand or know it yet.

He ran his hands through his hair, grief washing over him as he mourned the missing two members of his family.

"Give me the strength, to help her through this." Alaric mumbled under his breath, hoping that someone, somewhere, would listen.