The Young and Gifted

36. possessive love

Raf was walking down the halls, whispering to himself. He was heading towards Kaura's room to tell her that if she needed to talk to him, he was always going to be there. Today was the anniversa— 

He stopped in his tracks when he spotted Mason, pulling a shirt over his bare chest as he walked out of Kaura's room. Immediately, sizzling anger uncoiled under his skin and Raf, more than anything, wanted to rip the vampire's face off. But managed to contain that anger and continued to walk down the hall.

He turned, slamming his hand through the wall. A couple of students walking beside him flinched but hurried away. Raf stomped away with a goal to find the only person who could properly bring down his anger before he could kill someone.

*

Hope packed the final of her things, zipping up the mini suitcase. "Tell me where you guys are going again?" Landon asked, sitting on a spinning chair as he watched her.

Hope dragged herself to her feet, placing her luggage in the corner. "Today is the anniversary of the Mikaelson deaths. I need to go back home to...you know, mourn. Caroline has arranged it so that Kaura comes with me this time," she explained.

Landon pulled her into her warm, tight hug. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. If anything, I'm excited and scared at the same time. I get to show Kaura what makes New Orleans so special...so beautiful," she glanced up, looking into his eyes.

"And why are you scared?"

"She might snap on me. It's going to be the first time she sees them, Bonnie and Kai."

"When are you coming back?"

"A week."

"A week?"

"You see...the Mikaelson family was pretty important to the city so when they fell, Freya made sure they were remembered. The mourning ceremony lasts 6 days, each day for each member of the family," she explained softly. As a child, she remembered how perfectly organized those days were. 

"That's beautiful."

"Those 6 days make me feel closer to them out of the entire year. I hope I get to show Kaura that. She probably feels very lonely."

Landon tucked a strand of her hair aside. "Don't worry, I know you got it. You always do."

She smiles up at him and in the comfortable silence, she said, "I love you." Landon froze, eyes slightly wide. Hope blushed and pulled away slowly. "Oh no...too soon?"

Landon shook his head frantically. "No—no, not too soon. I have just never heard anyone...say that to me." He never met his parents to even say those three words.

Hope cupped his face and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. "I love you, Landon Kirby," she murmured against his lips.

Landon kissed her back, holding her tight. "I love you too, Hope Mikaelson."

*

Kaura stood at the gates, waiting impatiently. She turned annoyingly when Hope quickly dragged her bags behind her. "What took you so long? I don't have patience, you know that."

"Sorry, sorry," she quickly apologized. "Landon and I were saying our final goodbyes." Kaura rolled her eyes and turned to Ric and Caroline.

"Okay, do you girls have everything?" Caroline said, glancing at their bags. "All pairs of clothes, shoes and underwear?" They grumbled 'yes' and she pulled the two into a tight hug. "Call me immediately if you need anything. Be good to Freya, she's already busy enough as it is." She pulled back, rubbing Kaura's arm for comfort. "Say hi to Bonnie for me, okay?" If you looked closely, you could spot small tears.

Hope nodded when Kaura didn't and Caroline stepped back. Ric stepped forward and gave Kaura an individual hug. "Good luck, kiddo." He turned to Hope and shook her hand. "See you two soon, have a safe flight."

Both girls crossed the gates and entered the car waiting for them. They waved as the car pulled away. Ric turned to Caroline with a question in his eyes. "You think she'll be able to handle it?" He was referring to Kaura.

"She has to...right? She's had 16 years."

"Let's hope it was enough. Because I don't think Freya would be able to save the city if Kaura exploded."

*

Landon found Raf in the gym, frantically pacing around. The door swung shut behind him as he walked in with a bright grin. "You won't believe what Hope said to me—" He stopped short when he spotted the werewolf's distressed figure. "Raf?"

"I am going to kill him," he was muttering under his breath. "I am going to kill him."

He charged for the gym doors and Landon quickly stepped in his path to block him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, kill who?"

"That Mason Hayes," he snarled. "He slept with Kaura. He's probably using her to get to me. And you don't know how Kaura gets, that type of thing is blind to her and she's only going to get hurt in the end." Little did he know that she was handling herself pretty well after pushing Mason away. "And then she's going to slip from my fingers, she's going to start hurting herself because he broke her—"

"Raf," Landon grabbed his best friend's arm. "Dude, you're being a bit possessively abusive. You're the one who said it's not right to tell people who to date. If Kaura wants to be with Mason, it's her choice, you can't control any of it. You guys broke off, you can't get jealous."

Raf growled, "She should have told me before they—"

"She didn't have to tell you anything, none of it concerns you."

He shoved Landon's hand off him with irritation. "You're not helping."

Landon sighed. "I'm sorry, man, but as your best friend, I have to tell you that you're in the wrong in this situation. Maybe try to cool off—" he was taking slow steps towards his best friend to console him.

Raf acted out, shoving Landon's advances off again. "I'll cool off when I'm ready to cool off."

Landon swallowed, rubbing his now aching arm. "I—I...know that this must be hard for you. You have issues with abandonment. We can talk about it?"

"No," he hissed.

"Are you sure? Hope told me that it helps—" The blow was so sudden, Landon didn't realize his sentence cut when he was brutally shoved back. This time, he stumbled and fell to the ground abruptly.

"I said no," he shouted. Raf stepped back, waiting for Landon to get up. Except...he didn't. But Raf continued to wait and his patience did not fare well with his anger. "Come on man, get up. Stop fooling around."

And then he saw it. The pool of blood leaking under Landon's head. Raf dove forward to his knees, shaking the still body. The was a nasty gash on his forehead and he realized it was where the blood came from.

"Landon," he breathlessly pleaded. "LANDON." He screamed in agony as he felt heat seep into his eyes. His brown chocolate eyes were now rimmed with gold. 

A lot of things terrified Raf in his sleep. But Landon's opened, lifeless eyes would haunt him forever, he knew that. Because things had gone sideways. Because Rafael Waithe had just activated his werewolf curse and he didn't know how he was going to survive it without his best friend.

Raf frantically shook the body even though he already knew. "SOMEBODY HELP!"

~

"Consider this a life lesson."

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