Thank you all for the support.
Henry's POV
Meeting up with our father for the first time in years did not go exactly how we hoped it would. In fact, it was one of the worse possible outcomes that we could have ever thought of. He really thinks we're broken and now on top of everything everyone knows what we did to Hayley and our plan to bring our parents back together is backfiring on us. But now it's not just our family affected. Henry Benoit is paying for his sins because we encouraged him to become a hybrid and he can't control his thirst for blood. "Not the best time for a visit, but I'll take what I can get." Marcel smiles at us and it feels nice to see a familiar face.
"You busted me. Jerk." Hope jokes as we walk up to our basically older brother. Hope hugs Marcel first and I quickly join afterward loving having someone we know and love always being there. Henry Benoit is freaking out from the makeshift prison Marcel was building around him in bricks.
"Hope you need to do something." I tell my sister as it pains me to see my friend in such pain.
"We're so sorry Henry." She approaches him as he continues to hyperventilate. "We never meant for any of this to happen. You have to do what I say, remember?" He nods his head as he continues to shake with fear. "Okay, so...you're going to be calm now. When you get out, we'll be here and we'll be friends. If you get scared, you'll feel peace if you just close your eyes and sing." She instructs him and he calms down.
"We're going to be Henry squared once again." I speak up moving in front of him now. "We're going to go on that dumb museum tour of your favorite poets. We're going to do all those fun things only the two of us find cool." I state to him and he nods his head. "You're going to be okay Henry." I wish I could hug him but a wall of bricks is separating us.
Marcel walks us back to the compound but it feels different coming back knowing our dad won't be there. "That was really nice, what you did for Henry."
"Great, I'll give myself a point." Hope exclaims to Marcel who looks at her like she's insane.
"What?"
"It's this thing we used to do when we were little. We'd give ourselves a point if we did something nice, follow rules. If we uh..." I look to Hope.
"If we had a bad thought or...lose my temper then we lose a point." Hope explains to Marcel.
"Kids that's...you can't put that kind of pressure on yourselves."
"How can we not?" I ask Marcel. "Our family sacrificed everything to save us not once or twice. Numerous times and...mom was willing to kill herself if it meant we would be safe and now she's somewhere alone in the world separated from us and dad. She deserved better than that. We should have..." Hope holds my hand.
"We're supposed to be worth it. That means we're supposed to be better, right? Our dad thinks...he thinks we're broken." Hope and I look to the ground still trying to process all of this. "I don't think that um...I don't think he loves us anymore." Hope begins to cry and I squeeze her hand tighter to give her comfort.
"Hey." Marcel is trying to reason with us but it's a lot to deal with. "He may not have the words to tell you, but no matter what, your dad will love the very worst of both of you. Until the oceans are dust. You two are worth every sacrifice. And you both are good." We laugh at this. "Show me, anybody, who says otherwise, I'll eat 'em." Marcel jokes and before we know it he pulls us both in for a tight hug.
"Um...Marcel, we're good we don't..."
"No, this hug isn't for you. It's for me. I kind of needed it."
"Do you think our mom will be mad?" I ask Marcel. "For what we did to Hayley."
"She might be but she'll always love you both. Sofia G...Mikaelson has suffered a lot in her life but one thing that is certain is she loves unconditionally."
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Our dad came back with a sad look on his face. We're surprised he's even here with everything he said before. "Hope, Henry. We went to the church to get Hayley. She wasn't there." He informs us and we stop breathing.
"What? No...I protected her." Hope declares. "I wrote the perfect cloaking spell. I kept her safe. I..."
"We don't understand. The...the coffin was just empty?" I ask and dad looks to the ground.
"The coffin was destroyed." I feel myself getting light-headed and weak. "Whatever happened to your godmother didn't happen without a fight." Hope begins to hyperventilate. "Look, I know it wasn't either of your intentions for someone to get hurt. I know you both did this because I left you no choice. Darlings look at me." Hope is shaking her head as I go to punch the wall enjoying the feel of pain it brought my hand instead of feeling the pain in my heart. "Henry!" Dad rushes to me and inspects my hand. "Never harm yourself. It's..."
"This is my fault I...I thought of..."
"Hey listen both of you. This...this is my fault. I'm gonna fix it. I've already spoken to Alaric. You'll both go back to Mystic Falls tonight. I need to know that you both will be safe." Hope and I begin to cough uncontrollably. "What is it?" We fall to our knees and choke more to the point a serpent comes out of each of our mouths.
"Go, go. You have to get out!" I declare as I try to be strong for us all.
"I'll find your godmother. And I swear I'll return her to you. I love you both." He leaves us and we're crying knowing what we've done. What makes it worse my phone rings and it shows our mom's face. I look to Hope and she shakes her head but I ignore her. "Mom."
"Henry baby are..." Mom has always had the knack of knowing when something is wrong before I even tell her. "Darling, what's wrong?"
"Mom we did something horrible. We...we're sorry."
"Put your sister on the phone." She instructs and I put the phone on speaker. "Hope what is going on?"
"Mom we're sorry. We never meant for this to happen.'
"Start from the beginning."
"We just wanted a reason for you and dad to come back home. For us all to be together as a family. That's all we wanted." Hope sobs to her.
"No one can blame you two for that. No one can honey." Mom tries to soothe her but it only makes Hope cry more.
"We just wanted to see you and dad." I exclaim to her.
"I know you did. Now, what happened." Hope explains it all to her and during the whole time she stays silent. Silence from mom is scary because you never know what she's thinking.
"Mom." I call out since she hadn't said anything.
"Your fathers there."
"Yes, he came today, and...he's going to look for Hayley. We don't know what happened to her. We never wanted any of this we..."
"Shhh, Henry I know. I know this is not what you wanted. Shh."
"What do we do mom? How can we help?" Hope asks her.
"For now I would do what your dad instructed and go back to school. Let your father, Freya, and Marcel and I deal with bringing Hayley home."
"You're coming home?"
"Yes."
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"What is that tool doing here?" I ask Hope as we approach Roman leaning against his car.
"He's giving us a ride back to school. Be nice."
"You just want to bang him."
"Henry!"
"It's true. Or you wouldn't be so forth-willing to trust him."
"He's nice Henry. He's been a good listener."
"He's bad news." I eye him not liking him at all. There's something off about him. "And why did he come to New Orleans? That's a little odd for someone who we barely know."
"He snuck into Dr. Saltzman's office and...it doesn't matter Henry."
"It matters Hope. I don't trust him."
"Well, I do. Come on we have to be back at school."
"I swear if I see either of you lean in for a kiss I will be the biggest cock block ever!"
"You're horrible."
"Don't test me, sister." We finally make our way to Roman who has a smile on his face.
"Hey, thanks for the ride back to school." Hope thanks him and I keep glaring at him hoping it will make him uncomfortable.
"Oh sure."
"So Hope I'm sitting in the middle so you can have more room." I declare to the both of them making Hope glare at me. "I want to get to know Dick more."
"Roman."
"Same difference." I fire back at him not caring.
"Is everything okay Marshall?" Roman asks Hope.
"My name's not Marshall."
"What?" I ask surprised at Hope. "Did you...did you tell him?"
"He asked and we can trust him, Henry. He's a friend."
"Nah, don't trust him. Not one bit." People are screaming around us.
"Somebody help him!" Someone screams and we turn to see what the commotion is about. We run to a group of people gathered outside a building.
"Hope." I scream as I see in terror Henry Benoit hanging dead with his heart ripped out. "NO!" I scream and I suddenly feel Marcel pulling me back from running to my friend.
"There's nothing you can do for him now kid."
"Wh...I...I should have helped him. I shou..."
"Shhh." Marcel tries to calm me down but it's hard right now.
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Hope's POV
Since coming back to school everything has been a blur. Henry got into a huge fight when we came back I forced him to blow off some steam. We've been taking turns on finding a solution to take off Hayley's cloaking spell but nothing seems to work. I jump as someone knocks on my door. I open it surprised to my mom. "Mom are...are you really here?"
"Come and find out." I rush at her not wasting another moment.
"I can't believe you're here."
"I told you I was coming home."
"That's New Orleans."
"No." I look up at him. "It's where ever my children are."
"I...I can't believe you're here."
"I had to make sure my babies were okay. Besides I wanted to know about this boy you were hiding in your room last week."
"What?"
"Freya told me."
"How..."
"Want to go on a walk?" I nod my head and take her hand. It feels so good to have her actually here with me. It feels like it's a dream.
"Where's your brother?"
"He's blowing off some steam."
"He's running." I nod my head. "That boy thinks he can run away from the pain instead of facing it."
"Mom not that I'm not happy you're here but...do you know anything about Hayley?" She shakes her head.
"Your father has a search party looking all over for her. He's going to bring her home."
"Have you seen him?"
"Nope. I came to see you and your brother first."
"It feels like a dream of having you here with me. I dreamt about this all the time and..."
"I know. It's going to be a reality soon. I promise." We walk by the soccer fields where of course Roman is playing shirtless. "Which one is he?" Mom asks me and I get red thinking about it.
"The one sweating diamond dust." I inform her and she laughs.
"Nice." Roman sees me and waves. I look away embarrassed. "You're not even gonna wave back?"
"No, pretty sure his ego can handle it." I tell her and it feels so good being able to talk to her in person. Being able to hug her and just being near her.
"I remember those days."
"Mom."
"Hey I know I look like a teenager because technically that's what I'm frozen at. But I remember being human and blushing when a cute guy looked at me."
"Which cute guy was that? Sherriff Donovan, Uncle Damon or dad?" I tease her long list of dating history.
"You're too smart for your own good."
"I missed you so much, mama. I missed you."
"I missed you too baby. I..." We both tense hearing the whispers of The Hollow. "I need to find your brother...I can't be this close to you without..." I place my hand on my moms and she smiles.
"I know. Thank you for risking everything just to see if I was okay."
"Always Hope. I will do anything for my children." She puts her two fingers to her lips and I mimic her as we place our fingers on each other. I blink and she's gone almost like she was a dream.
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Henry's POV
"Marshall! Pass!" I hear my teammates yell at me and I ignore them as I rush to the goal and slam the ball through the net.
"Yes!"
"Marshall you're out."
"What?" I ask coach pissed.
"You were supposed to pass and you ignored the rest of the team. It's not just you. So you're out."
"Fine." Throw my lacrosse stick until it impales into the trash can.
"Little bit of a temper. Reminds me of someone." My head shoots up. My eyes widen as I lay eyes on my mom.
"You're not real."
"I'm very real Henry." I rush into her arms not caring who sees.
"How are you here?"
"It's time I came home to check on my babies." My mom rubs my back in soothing circles just like she would when I was five. Nothing has changed.
"I can't believe you're here."
"I know." She leans down and kisses the top of my head. "You're getting so big." She makes me look at her as she places her hands on my face. "I miss my boy."
"I missed you so much."
"Want to show me around?"
"Like you wouldn't believe."
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"So this is your memorial library?" Mom asks as she looks over the room.
"Yeah, it has a lot of interesting stuff. Uncle Stefan's diaries are on display and..."
"Cami O'Connell's writings of your father." She states as she stops by the book that has dad described as the great evil.
"Are you mad at...we're sorry for what we did to Hayley." I state needing her to know again.
"I know baby. I know." She moves close to me and rests her hand on my face.
"Hope and I fear dad doesn't love us anymore. That he's disappointed to have us as his children."
"That would be further from the truth."
"How can you still love us after what we've done? We used Hayley to bring you and dad home. We...we did horrible things and..."
"We all make mistakes. Henry. Despite us being supernatural beings who have powers beyond belief. But deep down we're all human."
"Did you ever do something that you wish you could have taken back?"
"Yes."
"How did you move past it?"
"It took some time but...you have to remind yourself, Henry, that mistakes happen. But that doesn't make you a bad person."
"It feels like I have no control. I get angry over every little thing. I want to punch someone or anything when I'm angry I..."
"You're like your father."
"I don't know if I like that."
"Your father is a complicated man but he loves his family more than anything. He doesn't show his love well. I should know. I can't make you like your father or respect him because he needs to earn that on his own."
"You're going to leave again aren't you?"
"I have to darling. It's already too dangerous with me being near you and Hope for this long."
"I miss you, mom."
"I'm working every day to bring our family back together. Every day. So don't think that a day goes by when I don't think of you and your sister." She ruffles my hair. "I love the amazing young man you are growing into." She kisses my cheek and the moment I open my eyes she's gone.
I loved these moments with Sofia and her kids. There is more to come. Stay tuned.