Always and Forever... For the Last Time (The Originals: Season 5 Fanfiction)

Chapter 9: The Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted

In Mystic Falls... 

Caroline shut her office door, turning to Klaus. 

'Seriously?' she asked, coming forward and snatching the name plate from Klaus' hands, setting it back on the desk. 'You're not exactly a selling point for this place.' 

'Oh, because these kids have so many other options,' Klaus replied sarcastically. 

'I thought we made a deal about you showing up in Mystic Falls.'

'That was a long time ago,' he said. 'I need your help, Caroline. Hope is dying. She consumed the dark magic and now it's consuming her. She won't survive tonight's full moon?' 

'She triggered her curse?' 

'It was my fault.' 

'I - I thought that the Crescent wolves could control their transformations.' 

'Not the first one. It's a rite of passage. Unavoidable.' 

'Well, what do you need from me?' 

'I need a very rare type of witch... from the Gemini Coven.' Caroline's face fell. 

'You can't be serious.' 

'I need your daughters, Caroline.' 

In another part of the school... 

'The diary of Stefan Salvatore,' I remarked, as Hope stared at the glass case with the picture of Katherine Pierce, or Katerina Petrova, and the diary next to it. Elijah and I stood nearby to her, watching her. 

'We're not supposed to touch it, but I practically have the whole thing memorised,' Hope replied, turning to Elijah. 'And spoiler alert: Dad is the villain and you're the evil henchman.' I chuckled at the characterisation. 

'From one very biased perspective,' Elijah remarked. 

'Indeed,' I quipped, wrapping my arm in Elijah's. 'Stefan was actually a very good friend of mine. Probably closer to a best friend, I would say.' 

'Well, I got a second opinion,' Hope replied. She walked over to a bookshelf and pulled a book out. 'The Mystic Falls Files, by Alaric Saltzman, Volume One. In every story, Dad is the big, bad wolf.' She went to put the book away and did so. Suddenly, she groaned softly, leaning against the bookshelf, cradling her head. 

'Hope, what is it?' Elijah said, and the two of us came over to her. 'What's happening?' 

'Nothing,' Hope replied tiredly. 'I'm fine.' 

'Well, Davina said she gave you some pills for the discomfort,' Elijah said. 

'Yeah, well, you know what would really make me feel better?' she snapped. 'Is spending the day with, like, anyone else.' 

'Let's get out of here,' I suggested. 'I know a place in town. Does a disturbingly decadent burger. Wouldn't you agree, my love?' I said, wrapping an arm around Elijah again and looking up at him. 

'Yes, that's quite right. Let's do that.' 

'I'm not hungry,' Hope replied in a bored voice. 

'Fine. You can have a milkshake,' Elijah said. 

The three of us sat outside the Mystic Grill together, enjoying the sunshine and the atmosphere of the city centre of Mystic Falls. 

'If you're here to tell me that my dad has a heart of gold,' Hope said, 'this is probably the worst spot, considering there's a plaque inside near the dartboard for some woman that he killed in a moonstone ritual.' 

'Take a look at that storefront across the street with the charcoal awning,' Elijah said, gesturing to it, and she followed his gaze, as did I. 'Piece of land used to be our home. Smell of it still haunts me to this day. The burning wood, the crushed flowers, the berries. Your father was incessantly painting back in those days. Mixing, searching for brighter reds, for deeper blues. Used to wake me in the middle of the night just to show me the colour that he would swear he himself had invented. I remember the first time that he showed me a turquoise.' The three of us quietly chuckled. 'That was also the first time that I smelled blood. You see, when Mikael found Niklaus fashioning a paintbrush from a small branch, he took that branch - and he struck my brother across the face.' 

'What did you do?' 

'Niklaus begged me to run away from him, but I told him that I would never leave Rebekah and Kol at the mercy of Mikael. So we stayed. And of course, it was a mistake. We should have run away together, but... your father couldn't go alone. But I did swear to him that I would protect him from that very day.' 

'Peanut butter blast, whipped cream on the bottom,' a dark-haired boy said, setting Hope's milkshake down. 'Just the way you like it.' She smiled up at him. 

'Thanks, Landon,' she said softly. 'This is my uncle, and aunt.' 

'Nice to meet you, Mr. Marshall,' the boy named Landon said, and he shook hands with Elijah, who gave a strange smile of amusement at the name. 

'I'm Mrs. Moore. You can call me Lilliana.' He also shook my hand politely. 

'So, Hope,' Landon said, turning to Hope. 'You haven't been around much lately.'

'Oh, yeah, there's just been stuff back at home.' 

'Oh, well, I was hoping you'd be back. I mean, you're from New Orleans, right? I've always wanted to go. I mean, it's home to some of the greatest musicians of all time.' Just then, the jocks over at the next table started throwing stuff at Landon. He sighed in exasperation. 

'You should go,' she said softly. 'No matter where you are, there's always someone playing a Louis Armstrong song somewhere.' The boys started throwing stuff again, and Elijah caught an ice cube with ease before it could hit anyone else. 

'Actually, there's... music in the square tonight,' Landon said. 'I mean, they do it all the time, but tonight there's this kind of bluesy vibe and I thought maybe if you wanted...' 

'Oh, Landon, I - I can't tonight,' she replied, and it didn't take a mind reader to notice the tiredness in her voice. 'I have a thing.'

'Right, yeah. I should probably pick up an extra shift anyway.'

'No, thanks, though, for asking, and for the milkshake,' she replied sweetly. 

'Yeah. It was nice to meet you,' he said, nodding to the two of us. 

'And you,' I replied back as he went back inside the Mystic Grill. There was silence at the table. Hope picked up her spoon and stared at it for a second, rather absentmindedly. 

'The full moon doesn't crest until later,' Elijah said. 'You could've gone with him.' She looked up at Elijah. 'Why didn't you?' 

'Because I'm going to be dead soon,' she said blankly.