The Young and Gifted

57. always and forever

Hope found her way into the town and she was terrified of what she saw. Mason, MG, Kaleb and Raf were trying to catch their breaths after disembowelling all the zombies. Since Jo dropped, the monsters seemed to have stopped as well. Ric was kneeling in front of his dead wife, silently weeping.

Lizzie was holding Josie against her as she cried with grief. And Hope swallowed as her eyes met Kaura's. "It's not over," Kaura said as her gaze fell to the glowing book on the ground.

Hope nodded smiled as the rest slowly approached her. "I know. Since the very beginning, I've always wanted to meet you. To see and love the other fraction of my family. And in doing so, I met wonderful people, I fell in love with the boy of my dreams and I got to see the world from a different perspective. I realized that friendship is just as strong as family. We've all had our differences but I know you would be there for each other no matter what. And I love you guys for that. I'm going to miss you so much. This year has been chaotic and wild but I don't regret any moment of it. Sure, we were all difficult at first. Very difficult," she chuckled, wiping her tears. "But I wouldn't trade this friendship for the world."

"What are you doing?" Kaura demanded as she dropped the bloody knife and it clanged loudly when it met the ground.

It sounded like a goodbye.

"I'm making sure it's over," Hope whispered and stepped towards the book.

Small tears began to drop down Kaura's face. She tried to charge for her but Mason blocked her, hugging her to his chest. "Don't you dare leave me, Hope Mikaelson," Kaura screamed, attempting to weave out of Mason's arms.

Hope smiled at her as she knelt in front of the Legendarium, hand hovering over the cover. "Just remember that family doesn't just mean blood. Always and forever. Watch after everyone for me and be strong for all of us. I trust you."

"Hope--"

It was too late. Hope had already closed her eyes and whispered, "Im faciens a paciscor."

*

When Hope opened her eyes, she woke up in a dark abyss. Her harsh and petrified breathing echoed in the empty silence of the dark and thought she was dead for a moment. She glanced around, trying to find a light, some sort of indication that she was in the right place.

"Welcome, Hope Andrea Mikaelson, to the Legendarium," a voice boomed and Hope nearly jumped out of her body. "I am the keeper of the ancient of creatures of time. As a true tribrid, you meet all the requirements of a powerful beast. To become part of me, you must sign the contract."

She swallowed. "And if I do this you will leave my friends alone?"

"You are not my Phoenix but you will have to do. However yes, if you sign the contract and become a chapter in my book, I will rest dormant and leave the people of Mystic Falls," it said. A pen appeared in her hand and Hope leaned forward to sign the paper when it warned, "Tread carefully for there is a steep cost."

"Which is?"

"Your friends will not remember you. Your loved ones will not remember you. The Mikaelson name will stop at Freya Mikaelson and her brothers and all of the magic, mythical monsters would be erased from their memories."

Hope swallowed and her hand began to shake. For Landon. For SBS. It would make it better if they didn't remember what she had done, make it less painful for everyone. Especially for Kaura. She took a deep breath and signed the contract. She wrote her name on the sheet of paper right below the last monster that had signed, Cerberus. As her wrist flicked to write her signature, a new chapter was woven in the Legendarium. A Wish of Hope. Because that would be all she would be remembered as. A story.

*

The moment the last letter of her name was written, a large magical wave coursed through the world, erasing all memory of the Mikaelson miracle. The town had finally been lifted from its lockdown after the witches took care of the discarded zombies. Caroline recovered and did a role count for all the dead bodies that were caused during the fight. It was sickening to see so many young bodies.

She placed them all where Landon used to be buried, to make them as close to the school as possible. Josie helped her with it all, the death of Penelope nearly fracturing her sense of living. But somehow, she pushed herself to help those who needed help as a way to shove those hurtful feelings down. Even Jo was buried there regardless of what she did out of respect for Ric. Ric, who had spiralled into his depressive state once again as he did 10 years ago. But instead of leaving the town, he just returned to the old house they had moved out of to live at the boarding school. He locked himself in the house he and Jo had bought and drowned himself with alcohol. Dorian had also announced that Emma had died from fatal injuries caused by the Taur Brothers right before Hope had taken care of them.

Caroline, being temporarily the Headmaster, called the end of the year early seeing as the fact that SBS was in no shape to restart classes once more. As for Clarke, he and all the remaining monsters perished away from the world and their memories. But somehow, Clarke's name was still familiar to them. They just didn't know he was a mythical monster.

MG seemed to have finally cracked the case about what was going on with Raf and Lizzie and when he found out, he disappeared off the face of the earth with Kaleb and did not even text the werewolf. Mason finally had the courage to go out to meet Pedro again and brought Kaura along. Landon and Raf went on a trip together to try and find out what they could about their biological parents, it's what they did every year. And Caroline, once the school was done rebuilding just as summer began, decided to take the twins to Europe to try and relieve any trauma that pressed unto them.

As for the Legendarium, it remained dormant as promised, in the SBS library. Because nobody remembered how dangerous it could be.

~

"Said the narcissist."

try to guess who said it and don't forget to vote ;)

*might take a mini break but stay tuned :))) i hope you like the story so far and thanks for 400+ views!*