"I guess my old code still works," Clarke says as he lets them into the hallway. When Faith had first seen the supposed fortress of Triad, she was, in a word, underwhelmed. "But that'll only get us so far. Supposedly, there's some kind of elaborate security system. We need to find a way to sneak into the records room without drawing too much attention."
"Don't draw attention," Hope shrugs. "Got it." With a nudge, Hope motions to the wall.
Faith blinks before leaning over and pulling the fire alarm with a coy smile.
"I figured the followers of the OG Triad would have laid a trap for us," Hope drawls as she walks through the halls, ignoring the siren. "It's what I would do." A wall opens, and people begin pouring out. "Told you."
A vampire runs at Faith, and her body moves on instinct. It's almost as if her hybrid-ness has taught her self-defense because she truly does not mean to slam the heel of her boot into the vampire's crotch or to knock his head to the side with her elbow, but it feels so good.
"You know," Hope says, "instead of sneaking around, why don't we have some fun? Looks like Faith is already starting."
A werewolf emerges next, heading right for Hope. She jabs her fist into his side and climbs atop his shoulders, twisting until the crack echoes through the hallway. A smirk rests on her lips as she watches Faith, though her ears twitch when the vampire stands.
Clarke slams the hilt of his weapon against the vampire's head, knocking him out.
"Admit it," Hope turns. "You're enjoying yourself just a teensy little bit."
Faith rolls her eyes, kicking the vampire down one last time. "Great, we have an evil Clarke now? Can we keep moving?"
Hope leads them through the halls, taking out a few others before they get to a large room with stacks and stacks of information, echoed chains rattling in her ear. "This is bad," Clarke mumbles as he steps up to the railing.
"Ew," Faith groans when she sees some sort of monster stalking through the aisles.
"I'm not enjoying myself anymore," Clarkes says. "Hope, that's an Argus."
"Usually, I'd just go down there and kill it single-handedly, but I think I want to use you as my bait." Faith turns back with wide eyes. "Think of it like your final exam."
"Hope," Clarke holds out a hand.
"Time to find out which guy you are." She tosses him over the edge.
A breath of relief falls from Faith's lips. For a moment, she thought she'd have to go down, that Hope would push her over the edge. But she didn't.
"What?" Hope comes to her side as they look over the stacks. "Thought that'd be you down there?"
"Can you blame me?"
Hope goes silent for a moment. "No, but you aren't experienced enough yet to handle that. Even if Clarke dies, it won't matter. You're an investment. Not ready yet."
Faith frowns. "Investment?"
"You're useful, Faith. In more ways than one. Plus, I can tolerate you and you haven't tried to make me turn it on again. Let's go deal with Clarke, shall we?"
Hope leaps down, leaving Faith's head spinning. That word echoes in her ear as she follows down the stairs and through the cabinets, heading after the clattering of chains and Clarke's erratic heartbeat. Hope takes off on her own for a bit, joining just near the end with a leather-bound book in hand.
"Alright, got what I came here for," she says as she takes a sword from a box. "Is this still going on?
"Please," Clarke says, "it's gonna kill me."
"That's Ryan talking. You need to be more positive than that. We really should speed this up, you know? Faith?"
Faith glances at the chains keeping the Argus from killing Clarke. Her undead blood runs warmly under her skin, her pulse beating like a war drum in her ear. She knows what Hope wants, and for some reason, she wants it too.
"What's it gonna be?" Hope asks, cocking her head. "Ryan or Clarke?"
Clarke breaks a broom over his knee, holding the edges at the ready. Faith shouts as she slams her fist into the chain, claws at the tips of her fingers slicing through the metal with ease. Heat rises into her head thrumming with desire for more destruction, more blood. The Argus lurches forward, and Faith can't wait.
Then, it stops. It groans as it walks away.
"Oh, he's leaving," Hope sighs. "That's disappointing. Don't you agree? I guess we'll never know which guy you are."
~~~~~
Aaron's eyes might fall out of his head. He and Lizzie have been pouring over countless spells, found countless hiding spots Alaric had put notebooks of ideas for them to find, and gone through at least three plates of cookies leftover from when Stella had made a huge stress batch.
"Ok, what about this?" Lizzie pushes an old notebook in front of him. "I don't know the language, but it seems like it's something to bring someone back to life."
"Your dad and Stella aren't dead," he replies but nevertheless takes it.
"Still better than anything else we've found. It's from a book in hiding spot two."
With a sigh, Aaron runs his fingers down the page, lightly tapping it. "These are ancient symbols. It's hard to read." One single line catches his eye.
"Would it work?"
He hesitantly meets her gaze. "Not worth it even if it would." He closes the book and pushes it away. When Lizzie scoffs and reaches for it, he grabs her wrist tightly and shakes his head. "Lizzie, trust me, no."
"Just tell me what it says."
He purses his lips, tightening his grasp.
She narrows her eyes. "Aaron, seriously, what—"
"It requires a human sacrifice." As he stares into her eyes, he wants to see the hesitance. He wants to see the horror and disgust at the idea of hurting someone else for her father or for Stella. He finds nothing.
"Oh." She bites her lip as she taps the book. "That's... that's a lot. Maybe we should take a break? Five minutes? Come back with clear heads."
He watches her carefully as she turns to leave, disappearing from view. When he glances back down at the desk, he curses under his breath; he was watching, so how didn't he see her take the notebook? Quickly writing a short note and magically sending it off to Josie, Aaron races after Lizzie, calling her name as he chases her up to her room.
He bursts into the room, saying, "Don't do this."
"Josie wanted a spell, and we found one. It's simple, and we're desperate," she doesn't turn to face him. "My dad will know what to do. He's a vampire hunter, after all, and we're dealing with an out-of-control vampire. He'll know how to fix Stella and fix Hope and—"
"You can't possibly go through with this," Aaron places his hands on his hips.
She spins around. "Why not?"
"We're not killers!" Still, he doesn't see an ounce of regret on her face for even considering this option. Like she's in a trance. Like she isn't even thinking on her own. His eyes dart around the room as if it could explain: a band poster, a few scented candles on the dresser, a mug of tea at her bedside table.
Lizzie simply holds her head up. "People die in that hospital every day, Aaron. We just need to find someone who's really sick. Dying a day early won't make any difference. Plus, we'll be saving a life too."
"Do you really think your father would want to come back this way? Knowing someone had to die so he would live? And don't get me started on the Hales. They won't even let vampires near Stella, let alone allow a human sacrifice."
"I found the spell in his journal. There was a time in his life when there was no such thing as too far."
He shakes his head. "Liz, if there's no limit, then we're no better than the monsters. Or the gods. We have to have a line." She ignores him as she heaves a small bag over her shoulder. "Obviously, you're not listening to me, so you should know I already let Josie know. I have no doubt the Squad is outside, waiting to stop you."
Her eyes meet his. "I would expect nothing less. They would stop me, but would they stop you?" She slips an ornate ring on her finger, and suddenly, he is staring at himself. Stumbling back a step, the other him smiles. "I'll tell the Squad Lizzie just needed to rest. Ad somnum."
The flames burn his skin, but he does not feel the pain. This fire is different—it is light and rebirth and cleansing. It is life, not death. From the flames, he can see life renewing. He can see the world turning, creating something new in the ashes of the old. He can see what the gods don't want him to.
Aaron gasps awake, bouncing up from Josie's bed. "Damn it," he mutters as he drops his extended hand. One second more and maybe he would have been able to recognize the forest in his dreams, understand the stupid coins floating through the flames and the soil turning under his feet. One second more and maybe he might understand.
Instead, he races out of the room and out the front door to find Josie sitting on a bench with a notebook in hand, a smile on her face. She looks up as he approaches with a frown, "I thought you left?"
"That was Lizzie. She knocked me out. She's going to do the spell."
It takes a moment for his words to register, but when they do, Josie leaps to her feet, her eyes blown wide. "Ok, ok, don't panic. Uh, we can portal, and I can text Lexi and Derek. They'll help." She is already pulling out her phone, typing furiously. "Uh, we should get the Squad too, right?"
"We'll find her." He almost says it to convince himself. "It'll be fine. We can find her."
Josie nods, taking a deep breath. "Ok, can you..."
He holds out a hand, waving it as he mutters the incantation. A portal opens before them, a purple mist surrounding them until they stand just in front of the hospital. A frantic blonde woman Aaron knows to be Lexi Hale rushes out with her arms open wide.
"I've already checked your father's room. He's not there. Lizzie must be cloaking herself," Lexi says. "Come on, I can ask the receptionist, spin a story."
"You do that," Josie says. "Aaron and I will start looking. Come on." She grabs him by the wrist as they pull off from Lexi to search on their own. "Lexi and Derek have the exits, so we just need to find her before she does something she regrets."
"Right." Aaron nods as they come to a cross-section of hallways. "Ok, uh, where are the really sick people? Like ER or ICU, maybe?"
Josie's posture slumps, and with a frown, he follows her gaze. At the last door in the hallway, he can see Lizzie sliding down the wall, her expression utterly broken. "I don't think it matters," Josie mutters. "Come on."
He knows he should give the sisters space, but he just needs to know Lizzie is ok. He needs to know that she knows it's going to be ok. Following closely behind, he stands before her as Josie slides to the ground next to her. "You didn't go through with it," he says softly.
"I almost did." Her clouded eyes meet his. "I found someone on the brink of death, but then his daughter was there, so I... I thought I knew what the right thing to do was, but Dad was always the one that I'd talk to about that. Without him here, I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
"It's ok." Josie nods her head, pursing her lips. "What happened to Dad... You never got the chance to grieve, to work through it."
"It just feels like I'm on pause but everything else is on fast forward. Like Ragnarok."
Aaron nervously shares a look with Josie. "Liz, I—"
"I know Josie wakes up with nightmares every night, and-and you have closed-door meetings, and for a second, I thought that maybe some god hurt Stella because I know it's coming but I don't know when, and I don't know what to do. I'm just waiting for Dad to wake up and press play. I don't know how long I can handle that. I can't guarantee that I won't do something worse tomorrow."
Aaron lets his head hang as Josie moves closer, linking their arms.
"I think I need help," Lizzie says tearfully.
"Then, we'll help you," Aaron replies as he offers his hand to her.
Tear slip down her cheeks as she lets him help her to her feet, lets herself lean into his grasp, his arm wrapping around her waist to hold her. Comforting warmth spreads under his skin as Josie takes hold of Lizzie's free hand after putting her phone away he assumes after giving Lexi and Derek the ok.
They take the long way back to the school, talking about meaningless things. Like what they would do if this wasn't happening. Like where Lizzie would want to visit when it's over (her response was Machu Picchu and to breath in the crisp air, to remind herself of what living freely really is).
Aaron keeps his arm wrapped around Lizzie's waist as they walk through the school and down to the gym. They find Cleo leaning over the therapy box, but she notices them quickly, asking, "Oh, God, what happened?"
"If it's ok with you, could we have a minute alone?" Josie asks.
Cleo nods and walks away. With a sigh, Aaron pulls away and runs his hands down his thighs. "Do you want me to leave?"
Lizzie shakes her head. "There is one thing..." She glances at Josie before she lowers her voice. "Do you want to come with me?"
I've gotta finagle my way through Legacies, man, especially with Kaylee Bryant leaving. Don't worry, I know all. Or maybe you should worry.
Hope you enjoyed!
-L