Hope's POV
Cocooned in my duvet, I was curled up in a ball on my bed. Some wet strands of hair were stuck to my face as I cried. It felt childish, crying. I already knew I was broken, but to hear my Aunt Freya say so was... I wasn't ready for it. Lizzie's attempt at – what was it? – comforting me? was a failure. Honestly, I just wanted to stay in my room and never leave.
My eyelids grew heavier with every minute I lay on my bed. The room was silent, as I had no more tears left to cry. Yet, the pounding in my head stopped me from drifting off to sleep. Instead, my mind would play Freya's words on repeat.
None of them broke you like the Necromancer did!
Broke as in broken. How long had she seen me as broken? Does the rest of my family feel that way? Am I really broken?
A turmoil of emotions was going through me. Anger, frustration, sadness. How was I supposed to face the world if the ones who supposedly loved me saw me as a fragile Chinese doll? I jumped into Malivore and came back to a world where no one remembered me, and when they did, they didn't fucking care! I lived through my parents, Elijah's and Landon's deaths, did I not? I was worse off then than now, and did they do anything? No! So, what in their right minds gave them the right to say I was broken!?
"Hope?" Josie's soft voice asked through the door. "Can I come in?"
I was hesitant. The last thing I wanted was for someone else to see me broken. So, I stayed silent, a part of me wishing she would go away. But Josie was having none of that. After what was only a minute or two of silence, when I thought she had left, the door to my room burst open. The bright light entering my room was partially covered by Josie's silhouette. I squinted at the first ray. As soon as I entered my room, I had closed the curtains and buried my head in my bed. I was bathing in darkness before she barged in.
I groaned and pulled my duvet over my face to hide the light, and maybe my puffy eyes and wet cheeks from Josie. I heard the door close before the sound of shuffling feet reached my bed. The mattress dipped a few centimetres away from my stomach, then the duvet was softly being tugged out of my grasp.
"Hope?" She called out. As my eyes were being uncovered, she added "What happened?"
"Nothin-"
"It's not nothing if you're crying, Hope." Josie said sternly, cutting me off before I could lie.
I tried hiding behind my covers again, but Josie had a tight grip on them and looked at me with so much concern in her eyes, I gave up. My mouth opened and closed a few times before I mustered up the courage to ask.
"Do you think I'm broken?" I asked, my voice wavering at the end, but I swallowed the lump in my throat, waiting for her answer.
"What? Of course not, Hope-" She said frantically.
"The truth, Josie." I said impatiently. I couldn't stand being lied to right now.
Her eyes searched mine for a minute before she spoke again. Her voice was soft, like a whisper when she said "Hope, you've been through a lot. More than others. But you've always come out stronger. Life throws at you only what you can handle, and you can handle a lot. But no, you're not broken, Hope. If anything, you're the fiercest person I know."
By then, she had fully uncovered my face and tucked a strand of my wet hair behind my ear. Her hand cupping my cheek, she leaned forward and placed a sweet kiss on my forehead. My heart fluttered at the gesture, and before I knew what I was doing, I lunged forward and connected our lips. I tried to convey all my emotions for her in that one kiss.
The longing, the passion, the desire and the love.
My hand found its way up to her neck, bringing her closer to me as her hand that was cupping my cheek was now tangled in my hair. We only parted when our lungs screamed for oxygen, and even then, we were only inches away from each other. Her panting breaths were brushing against my lips in the hottest way possible. I lifted my gaze from her lips to her eyes. The pool of brown was replaced by fully dilated pupils, and a warmth spread to the pit of my stomach.
"Jo" I started, but was stopped by the wet, full lips of Josette Saltzman. A moan escaped my throat as she licked my bottom lip and deepened the kiss. I was intoxicated by all things Josie as our kiss became more heated. However, it was cut short by a frantic knock at the door.
Josie groaned as she pulled away, then collapsed on the bed, trying to catch her breath. I climbed out of my duvet and walked over to the other side of the room, then opened the door.
"What?" I asked in annoyance.
Kol eyed me up and down, then peered his head inside. Instinctively, I pulled the door closer to me, blocking the view. With a knowing look and a glint in his eyes, his gaze fell back onto me.
"You are needed in the headmaster's office." He said then slowly turned around. Before he left, he turned his head and added "You too, Josie. And next time use a silencing spell, you never know who's listening." Then chuckled as he left.
I rolled my eyes as I closed the door. Once I turned around, I was met with a dishevelled Josie sitting embarrassed on my bed. Her hands were fidgeting in her lap and her eyes were fixed on a spot in front of her.
"Jo?" I asked, taking a few steps forward. Instantly, her eyes snapped up at the sound of my voice.
"Hope. I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over m-" She started to ramble before I cut her off.
"What do you mean? I kissed you first." I said, fidgeting with my own hands.
Josie shook her head. "You were emotional, and I- I took advantage of that." She bowed her head in shame.
I walked up to the bed and knelt in front of her. Reaching out for her hands, I spoke softly. "Josie, I've been wanting to kiss you for weeks. Look, I really like you and that kiss was amazing. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true. I would love to explore this. Us. I mean if you want an us. If you don't, I completely understand." I rambled, looking anywhere but at Josie.
A chuckle filling the room and a finger under my chin that brought me to lock eyes with Josie, made the butterflies in my stomach sore. Josie wore a soft smile as she looked at me.
"I would love for there to be an us." She said, bringing a smile to my lips.
A few minutes later, Josie and I were standing in Doctor S' office with the rest of the Saltzman's and Mikaelson's. Doctor Saltzman stood around his desk, with Aunt Freya and uncle Kol beside him. Kol still had the same knowing look in his eyes when Josie and I sat on the sofa, next to Lizzie who eyed me with worry. I didn't want to be anywhere near my family, not after the last time I was in this room, yet here I was.
"Right, now that everyone is here." The twins' dad started. "We should discuss what Josie and Kol saw earlier."
I turned my head to Josie questioningly, who muttered a "I totally forgot" under her breath. However, in a room where only two people didn't have super hearing, her comment didn't go unnoticed.
"What do you mean you forgot?" Aunt Freya asked exasperated. "It barely happened half an hour ago."
"Sorry, but some of us were busy caring about others." I spat; my eyes fixed on a spot in front of me. I couldn't stand Aunt Freya's voice right now. I could feel my resentment for her boil as my hands balled into fists. But the sudden warmth of Josie's hand on mine, unfolding my fist and tangling our fingers together, relaxed me. I turned my head towards her and gave her a smile in thanks.
Doctor Saltzman cleared his throat before continuing. "Right, well, Kol and Josie saw the witch on school grounds again. Only this time she took Pedro with her."
At this, Lizzie stood up abruptly. "Um... Then what are we waiting for? Let's do a location spell and kick some witch ass."
"I agree." Josie chimed in. "Waiting around for her to come back is unsustainable. If she has Pedro, then we can find them. All we need is something of his."
Lizzie nodded, then waltzed out of the room. Instantly, the atmosphere changed to one of awkwardness. I brought Josie and my intertwined hands on my lap and started fiddling with them. Josie had her head rested on my shoulder, whilst my family kept glimpsing at each other like lost puppies.
It must have been a minute or two since no one spoke, yet those 120 seconds felt like forever. As the uneasiness was setting in, my Aunt Freya walked hesitantly up to me.
"Hope." She said, as her feet stopped a few inches in front of me.
"Don't. You've said enough." I said, as the back of my throat started to burn, holding back the unshed tears.
"Hope, I didn't mean what I said!" She exclaimed before taking a long, shuddering, breath. "I was worried. I'm always worried. I was frustrated, you went behind our backs and made a deal with the monster that messed with you."
"A lot of the monsters have messed with us, it's kinda their thing."
"You know what I mean. You called me that night, remember? Hope, you were crying and... I hadn't seen you like that since your father..." She let the weight of the unsaid words float in the air for a few seconds, before continuing. "I'm sorry, Hope."
Josie squeezed my hand, probably putting the pieces together in her mind. I didn't dare look at her, but I did stare up at my aunt whose gaze never left me.
"You still think I'm broken. You wouldn't have said it if some part of you didn't believe it. You all probably do." I said, swallowing the growing lump in my throat as my gaze fell upon every living member of my family.
"No, we don't kiddo." This time it was Marcel who spoke up from his spot in the corner of the room. He was leaning on a wooden bookshelf, his arms crossed against his chest. Once he started talking, he pushed himself off it and took a few steps forward. "You're a Mikaelson through and through. And the best parts at that. Trust me, I lived with them long enough to know." He said with a wink. "You aren't as broken as any of us. So, no, we don't think you're broken."
I was about to answer when Lizzie walked back into the room with a teddy bear clenched in her arms.
"Alright bitches, let's do this thing." She said, standing in the center of the room, all eyes on her.
3rd person's POV
The cool evening air brushed through Shabinna's hair as she knelt on the ground, a pentagram in front of her. Beside her was a bowl full of a mixture of herbs and her voodoo doll. A candle was placed at each end of the pentagram and lit up with a simple mutter of a spell and a flick of the wrist. A smirk found it's way on her lips as she eyed her work, anticipating what's to come next.
Reaching out for the bowl, Shabinna's eyes flickered to the shadow of a figure lurking behind a tombstone. With a deep sigh, she placed the dish in the centre of her pentagram and turned to said shadow.
"What is it now?" She asked with a hint of exasperation in her voice.
The sight of a hideous, decaying face appeared; a smile plastered on his chapped lips.
"I came to say the boys are ready. Each knows what they are to do and know the consequences if they don't." He said as he walked closer to her until he reached her preparations.
"Good. And do you have what I need?" The witch asked in a monotonous tone.
"Yes, Pedro managed to collect the DNA of every witch in the Salvatore School and put it in this." He said as he reached inside his jacket and pulled out a plastic bag filled to the brim with strands of hair and nail clippings. The Necromancer threw it on the floor, landing gracefully near Shabinna's feet.
"Perfect. We should be ready by nightfall. As soon as the sun's set, I'll cast the spell and every witch in that school shall be under my control." Shabinna said with a glint in her eyes.
"How is that revenge for what Kol did to you exactly?" Chad, one of the Necromancer's minions that the witch despised, asked. He stood a few feet away from his master, far enough away to go unnoticed by Shabinna at least.
Her eyes flickered to him for a few moments before she rolled her eyes at him.
"Once I control the witches, I'll have enough power at my disposition to kill that tribrid niece of his and his wife." Her annoyance was apparent as she let out another deep sigh. Chad's lips parted, ready to ask another question, but was silenced by who put her hand up, indicating him to stop, as she turned her focus back to her work.
"Send them in. I'll start the spell."