"Going back to them is a suicide mission!" I yelled at her. "You wanted my help, we made a deal, you've broken it and now I have no relationship to you."
"These people know you. Better than you know yourself." Odessa said to me. "And if the know you, then they can help us defeat her."
"You know I was made the same way as The Hollow." I said ins surprise.
"My parents used to worship you, Fiore." Odessa explained. "Lara brought me into her family because of the way that I knew you. Every one of those people there has studied you for two thousand years. They will know how to help take down The Hollow. And even if they don't, the more people we have on our side the better."
"So you aim to appeal to their less murderous side?" I asked her in disbelief.
"Actually yes." Odessa said bravely. "And I can do it myself. But I'm sure my points will be a lot more compelling if I had you backing me up."
~Hayley POV~
"Hey sweetie." Hayley said as she entered the room where The Hollow, still in Grace's body was playing chess. "Why don't you take that chess set downstairs and we can play together? You find us a spot and I'll fix us a snack?"
"Don't insult me Hayley." She replied. "I'm not stupid and neither are you."
"I want her back."
"If wishes were horses..."
"I don't care how long it takes or what I have to do, I will get her back!" Hayley snapped.
"You won't." The Hollow said as she lifted up her sleeve and Hayley saw the mark of The Orborous forming on her. "Grace is still fighting but she'll give into me soon. Once this is complete, I'll be in her body permanently."
She threw her hand in Hayley's direction and she was thrown backwards, through the glass door and onto the ground.
"I will kill you." Hayley growled, flashing her hybrid eyes.
"Aunt Hayley, please it's me!" Grace cried in a panic.
"Grace! Are you there?" Hayley said worriedly as she scampered up from the floor, only to be pushed back down again.
"And here I thought you were going to kill me." The Hollow said with a smirk.
"Inadu."
"Elliott?" The Hollow murmured in surprise but Hayley's son snapped his fingers and she began to stumble, only for Elliott to catch her in his arms.
"How long do we have?" Hayley asked him.
"I don't know." Elliott told her. "FREYA! Inadu is not going to be happy when she breaks through the spell. We oughta work fast."
~Elliott POV~
"Grace is still out cold; do you think this'll work?" Elliott asked as he joined Freya and Hayley back in the courtyard.
"The pendant was created to hold a Mikaelson, it will hold your sister." Freya assured her nephew. "I did my best to repair it—"
The three jumped back startled by the pendant shattering. They turned only to see Inadu in spirit form once again.
"Valiant effort." She began. "But Grace belongs to me."
She flicked her hand and Freya was thrown into a wall, knocking her unconscious.
"Over my dead body." Elliott growled.
"Don't worry about it kid, I'll handle her." Hayley dived for The Hollow but passed straight through her.
"Will you really?"
~Fiore POV~
Odessa and I made our way back to the clearing where Lara's followers were gathered waiting for us.
"I knew you had a death wish, Odessa Bernard." One of the followers had said to her.
"Alexander, if you would just hear me out." Odessa began.
"Hear you out? You're a traitor and traitors die." The man shot back at her. "And you, Fiore. Do you have any idea how long I have waited to meet you? All the fantasies I have of killing you? All the fantasies we all have?"
"And that is all they are ever to be—fantasies. Spun by Lara Flores to bring you to her cause. My destruction." I said with a shrug. "And as you can see, Lara was stronger than all of you, I defeated her therefore I am stronger than all of you."
"So you've come to kill us all, is that it?" He asked angrily.
"No I have come to ask for help apparently." I grumbled.
"Help? After you just admitted that you killed our leader? The matriarch of our family? The woman who took each and every one of us in, saving us?" He asked angrily.
"Lara lied to you!" Odessa died back. "To all of us! She's hated Fiore her whole life and she gathered us to help her. All of those evil deeds that Fiore did to you, were done by Lara herself to bring you to her side. She killed Andromeda. She forced Andromeda and I took take toxic injections that would slowly kill us, for no other reason than it pleasing her! She killed Wyatt and Alexis, her own children! She is one of us, not a vampire as she had us all believe. She is the only one of us here that knew Fiore personally. Lara is the enemy not us."
"And why should we believe you?" Another called out.
"You don't have any reason to believe me." Odessa told them. "But right now, the threat that we face is worse than all of this. The Hollow is amongst us. Inadu is amongst us. And she wants Fiore's daughter dead. A child. Alexander, you yourself joined us because Lara slaughtered your children. Fiore here is about to face the same battle. And if we lose, Fiore could lose her daughter and her life. And if Fiore dies, so do all of us. So whether you help us for your own life, or for her innocent daughter's—I don't care. But we need you. To at least have a shot at putting Inadu down for good."
~Klaus POV~
"That monstrosity has its claws into my daughter." Klaus told Sofya, Vincent and Marcel as he and Elijah joined them in the City of the Dead. "I said I'd get you this book in exchange for your help, you're up."
"There's something you need to know. About The Hollow." Sofya began. "That thing took control of my body. Just as it's done to your daughter. While she had me, all I wanted to do was give up. Just drift into darkness and be gone forever. You can't let that happen to Grace. She may be strong, but she's still a child."
"This thing is filled with The Hollow's magic, Grace is connected to that, she's connected to you through your blood. If I can connect those three things together then I should be able to craft a spell to get you in there. You just have to keep Grace with us." Vincent told him.
"No." Fiore said as she sauntered into City of the Dead too. "All of you need to go to the compound and help Freya and Hayley. I'll connect myself to Grace."
"No, Blossom, you should go there and help." Klaus told her.
"Nik, connecting you to Grace requires, Vincent crafting a spell and casting it, as well as you. That's two people out of the equation and using time that we do not have." Fiore told him. "I can stay here and make my own spell, I'll be fine."
"Vincent needs the book to trap The Hollow." Marcel told me. "You can't keep it with you."
"I don't need the book to connect me to The Hollow. The Hollow and I are already connected. Practically two sides of the same twisted coin." Fiore explained. "Now you need to go, quickly."
"Blossom—"
"GO!"
And with that command all of them left the cemetery and headed for the compound.
~Elliott POV~
"HAYLEY!" Elliott cried out as the Hollow threw her to the ground. He turned to Inadu with a glare, but she simply smirked back at him. "Grace will fight you."
"I can feel her love for you." Inadu told him. "Her precious Ellie. But it won't be enough."
She used magic to grab a stake and used it to impale Hayley up on a door.
"Alright Inadu, you can fight Hayley, you can fight Freya, but we both know you can't fight me." Elliott growled as he swept up his hand and threw her against the staircase. "You won't win against me. You never do."
~Fiore POV~
As I completed the spell, I found myself in Grace's room in the compound, tinted blue due to The Hollow's influence.
"Grace? Grace? Baby where are you?" I called out, before I found her holed up in a corner, looking completely torn down. "Hey baby, I'm here. Mummy's here." I tried to hold her, but my arm passed through her, she was slipping.
"The Hollow came." She told me frailly. "I tried to fight her, but everything is so dark and so cold and I'm so tired."
She started to close her eyes and I knew if I didn't act quickly she would never open them again.
"Grace, Grace listen to me, you need to stay awake, baby. You have to stay with me, okay? Can you do that, my lovely girl?" I asked her.
"I'll try, Mommy."
~Elliott POV~
Elijah was examining the house for The Hollow when he saw Hayley impaled against the door. He immediately went to help her when The Hollow appeared behind him.
"How predictable."
"You will pay for his." He growled before stalking towards him.
"I've killed you once, Elijah. I won't hesitate to do so again." She said as she used her magic to clutch his heart and render him unconscious.
Klaus and Marcel came up behind her, but she flicked her wrist and the two of them fell unconscious too.
"STOP HURTING MY FAMILY!" Elliott roared throwing her spirit through the doors and allowing her to tumble to the ground.
"You can't stop me Elliott." Inadu told him. "We are two thirds of the same whole."
"I shouldn't have been able to stop a lot of things." Elliott said as he continued to force her spirit further and further away from him. "I will end you, Inadu. And it won't cause me a sliver of pain."
"How dare you treat me like this?" She yelled, she flicked her hand and Elliott was throw against the fountain, knocking him unconscious and putting him out of the fight.
~Vincent POV~
"That was vicious. Even for you." Vincent said as he encased The Hollow in a binding circle. She immediately thrust out her hand to hurt him and he smirked as not even a spark of power came through.
"You really think you can defeat me?" She asked him as she showed him the ever-growing mark on her arm. "You are welcome to try. But when Grace Mikaelson gives in, I will be more powerful than you can even imagine."
"That's not gonna happen." Vincent told her. "I've been communing with The Ancestors, your mama Moam, she gave me the spell that she used to kill you. Now, I'm gonna put you, in your cage. Forever."
He immediately began to chant the spell and The Hollow stepped away, clearly afraid of what would happen if Vincent was indeed successful.
~Fiore POV~
"Grace, open your eyes." I told her as they slowly started to close. "You can't fall asleep. I'm gonna tell you a story, but you have to stay awake or you won't be able to hear the ending."
"Okay Mommy."
"So before you were born, when I had you cooking in my belly, your father and I were not together." I told her.
"What?" She asked in surprise. "Why not?"
"Your father and Uncle Rebekah had gotten into a big fight, and I got caught in the middle of it." I told her. "In fact before you, your father was very different. Many people thought he was the bad guy, that he was a cruel and unfeeling monster, that revelled in the terror that he inspired in others. But then you came along, our little princess, and suddenly all of that changed. He wanted nothing more than to be worthy of you, of being your father. And then we had to give you up, to keep you safe. And whilst your father maintained the good behaviour he had since you were born, I changed. I became very angry. Your father did everything he could to help me, but I felt like you were feeling right now. I wanted to give up, to let go, to drift into the darkness. But then I got you back and it all went away because you were all that mattered. You saved us. Time and time again, you have been our saviour. You are our saving grace. And if you go—Grace without you, I fear that I will return to the darkness. I will retreat into the anger. I need you. Baby, I need you to fight."
"I will Mommy." She promised me, taking my hand and squeezing onto it tightly as tears flowed from her eyes.
But as she said those final words, she disappeared. I didn't know if it was because she had overcome The Hollow, or if it had overcome her.
~Hayley POV~
"ELLIOTT!" Hayley shrieked as she saw her son on the floor, a large gash on his head.
"He'll wake up." Vincent told her.
"What about Grace?" Hayley asked as she rested her son's head on her lap.
"She's gone." Vincent said. "I couldn't save her. Grace Mikaelson is gone. She's The Hollow now."
"We have to find her!" Klaus yelled as the rest of the family had begun to reconvene. "Just pull her out!"
"Klaus, if it was as easy as just pulling her out then I wouldn't be standing here talking to you right now! I don't have a place to put her." Vincent explained. "The Book is destroyed. The book is the only thing powerful enough to house her eternal spirit."
"Well there must be some other way." Rebekah suggested.
"Vincent, please." Freya begged.
"I don't know any other way." He told her.
"Grace...I have to save Grace..." Elliott mumbled as he got up. "I have to—This is all my fault—Grace."
"Kid, you need to stay back." Hayley told him.
"No!" Elliott snapped. "I have to go after her. If I don't then she can't help us."
"Then who can't help us?" Freya asked him.
"Does it matter? She's helping us! Which is more than anyone here is doing!" He sped away and Hayley felt distraught. She could feel Fiore's pain too. Her worry that Grace wouldn't be here when she arrived. And Hayley couldn't bear to see that. She needed to go after her son.
She too stood up and headed for the exit, paying hardly any attention to Elijah who had followed behind her.
"Where are you going?" He asked her.
"To find my son."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'll figure it out."
"Let me help—"
"Don't touch me!" She screeched as Elijah tried to grab her arm.
"I am on your side." Elijah told her.
"I should never have woken you up in the first place." She said disappointedly before hastily going after her son.
~Fiore POV~
I arrived at the courtyard and the minute I did I was greeted by the forlorn looks of my family and the tears of my husband. I didn't even need them to tell me we had lost.
"A thousand years ago, the four of us made an eternal vow. To protect each other, always and forever." I said to Elijah, Klaus and Rebekah. "Over the years that vow has expanded. That vow now includes Hayley, Freya, Elliott. And...and my daughter. She is all that I live for. She owns my heart and my soul. And now she is out there, suffering alone in her mind. Slowly being consumed by the darkness. But as alone as she may be, she fights it. And as long as my little girl is fighting, then so are we. We cannot give up. So I am begging you, every one of you, any grievance that you have with me and my family, I must ask for a moratorium. If we are to fight another day then so be it, but let it be another day. Because if there is any chance, even the most minuscule of chances—"
"I think I know a way to save her." Vincent said suddenly.
"Anything." I told him.
"Don't say that just yet." Vincent told me. "If we go this route this is gonna be the end of your family, your marriage. This is gonna be the end, of always and forever."