The Dark Ember

The Hollow Returns

Hope, Freya, dad, and I was sat for breakfast, and dad said "The curse that plagued our family for seven years has taken its toll on all of us. On our city. On our home. On our family. The consequences of us being together were grave, but today, thanks to you, we celebrate a new beginning. One in which we have the freedom to stand side by side. And whatever trials may come, we will face them together, as a family. Always and forever." Hope said, "Would you please pass the beignets?" Freya said "Of course." dad said "So, Rebekah will be back in a few days. She's just tying up some loose ends overseas." I said, "It'll be nice to have her here." Freya said, "It'll be good to have all of us under one roof again." I said, "almost, too bad uncle Kol won't move back." Elijah came down and said "Good morning. Obviously, there is a lot for us to discuss. Hope, Emmy, let me begin by telling you how truly sorry..." Hope bent a fork as she said "Thanks for breakfast, guys, but I have homework to catch up on." 

I said "And Emmy is reserved for family and friends, not mommy killers. You can call me Ember or Emberlyn." dad said "That's not normal. She's not normal." Elijah said "She lost her mother, Niklaus. They both have, I shouldn't have come down here." dad said "At least you can claim amnesia, unlike our sister, who willingly aided two children in ruining their lives." Freya said "They're not children." dad said "Did you even consider what absorbing all that magic could do to her? Or to Em?" I said, "Hey I'm fine." Freya said "And what choice did I have?" dad said "Deny them. Defy them. We had a plan to keep the dark magic away from them." I said "That's cute, you ever tried to Deny me and Hope at the same time? Ask Marcel or Kol, it's impossible." dad said "You quiet and eat." Freya said "A plan that wasn't working." dad said "Yes, well, thanks to you, the magic has her now. So, if my daughters should be harmed in any way, shape, or form, I will hold you personally responsible." 

I went upstairs and sat in the library until I heard Declan say "That I wasn't here to-to save her, and that you... you had a funeral without me so I couldn't say goodbye. Something here... It's not right, Freya. It just isn't." I ran downstairs and said "Declan?" He smiled at me and said "Emmybug." I ran into his arms and he hugged me tight and kissed my head. He said, "I heard, how are you and Hope doing?" I said "Uh, I don't know, ok I guess. Sometimes ill think of us all going to dinner, or that trip we took to Italy, and Disney World, and ill go say something to her that I thought was cool at the time and then ill remember ill never talk to her again and it hurts all over again. I just miss her." He said "I know baby girl but remember what I told you just because they are not with you does not mean they don't love you. Your mom loved you both more than anything in the world, I have to get to work but even though she is gone, I'm still here if you ever need to talk." I said, "Thank you Declan." He said, "I love you Emmybug." I said "I love you too." he kissed my head, gave me one last hug, and left. 

Dad said "Emmybug?" I said "Oh yeah, Davina started that actually, when I was 8 then Marcel heard it and used it, and eventually when Declan came into the picture and helped raise us we got close and he continued the name. You can't get mad because magic or not you weren't there, there are things you don't know and I needed... no I craved a father figure and between Kol, Marcel, and Declan they were it, and out of the three I am closest with Marcel because yeah Declan was always there but I couldn't tell Declan what was bothering me all the time as I could with Marcel for the sheer fact he doesn't know about the supernatural." dad said, "Oh I know everything, your moms letters fille me in on what I missed." My eyes widened and I said "Uh everything?" he said "Everything and it broke my heart that you felt that way." Freya said "How much is everything?" he said "Everything from the bathtub to the drinks and sex. That filth is lucky Marcel killed them." I said, "I wouldn't call it lucky, I mean he stopped just short of calling Cade himself for torcher." 

He said, "Why do you both seem surprised I know everything?" I said, "Well because you are just standing here and not yelling at me about how I disgraced the entire family, I guess I always thought you'd not want me to be your daughter anymore because I'm not as perfect and good as Hope." He said "I may not like what you do but you will always be my daughter. The getting drink and having sex thing yes you were way too young but that is literally how we created you and your sister so, I'm more mad at myself. For that and for trying to end your life, I also blame myself for that as well. If I had continued to call and send letters maybe you wouldn't have gone so drastic. What I want to know is how you feel with the Hollow in your sister?" I said "No you want to know if the Hollow has latched itself onto my darkness again. And the answer is yes, I can feel the hollow holding on to me, but Hope has control of the Hollow, and I have control of my darkness. We are ok, dad." 

I went with Hope to hang in our room, I had just finished my homework when dad came in and said "I need you two to put these on." Hope said, "No, I don't need it." I said, "Uh dad, we are in New Orleans I can't put it on, remember." Dad said " It's not a request, Hope. Em, I thought that was only due to the Hollow?" I said, "No dad, it's due to my own darkness, I'm stronger in this town since we were born here, so anywhere else it's fine, but here it burns." Hope said "Dad, you said it. I'm strong. I can control myself." dad said "No, you can't, not with this. I lived with that darkness for seven years. I know how awful it can be. When I was in proximity to my siblings, it was almost unbearable, and now you... You're carrying all of it inside you." Hope said, "Not by myself, Em has a piece since it has a hold of her darkness, but if I put that on, do you promise to stop worrying?"

Dad said "I'm your father. I'm always gonna worry." Hope put it on and said "Okay. There. Feel better? Or were you planning on hovering over us until the end of time?" dad said "Well, the end of time is a bit extreme." Hope said "Thanks, Dad." he left and she threw the bracelet off and it caught fire, she held her head and said, "Stop... please stop!" I laid my hand on her and channeled some of her pain taking it into me. Once she had control again we searched for a spell, I said "Hey here is one but... we need absinthe." she said "Well let's go get it." we walked downstairs and dad said, "You're not wearing your bracelet." I said "We need, uh, two drams of absinthe." he said, "You're 15."

Hope said "It's for a spell." dad said "What kind of spell?" she said "The bracelet's not working, Dad. It's not enough." he said "Well, then we'll find something that does work. Hope..." she said "This is not your responsibility. It's our mess. We'll clean it up." We grabbed my hand and dragged me off to Declan's bar and said "Declan, hey, we need a favor from the bar." Declan said "Hope. Emmy." I nudged her as I noticed Elijah and she said "What are you doing here?" I said "Killing our mom wasn't enough? Now you've come for Declan?" he said "That's not what I'm here for." Declan said, "He killed her." Elijah said, "That's not what happened." Hope said "No, but if you weren't there, she'd still be alive. Stop! God, stop!" Declan said "What's going on with you" Elijah yelled, "Stop!" Hope yelled "Shut up! Shut up! Emmy!" I grabbed her and pulled her to me and shared my strength with her while simultaneously taking part of her pain. Declan said, "What did you do?"

Elijah grabbed him and I said, "Hey, don't hurt him!" Elijah said "I won't. We can't do this in front of him." Hope said "Okay, fine. Now it's just the three of us." Elijah said "My memory was gone. I didn't know who she was." I scoffed "Well, now you do. How does it feel?" he said, "Like the worst pain I've ever experienced." Hope said "We hate you." he said, "I hate me, too." I said "You let her die." we grabbed hands and used our combined power to repeatedly attack him with telekinesis. Dad approached and said "Girls." Hope turned a pain spell on him Declan said "What the hell was that?" We got home and dad said "What was that? You won't take my help, you reject the bracelet, you're throwing Elijah around." I said, "Oh like he didn't deserve it." Hope said "It stopped the voices." dad said "What?"

Hope said "Ever since I took the power back, the whispers... I can't think, I can't sleep, I can't even breathe unless Em is taking half my pain onto herself. But right now, it's silent and she didn't need to be hurt too. Is this the rest of my life? A rage that can only be quieted by violence or my sister in pain?" dad said "Hope, if violence is what you need to feel better, then you girls have the perfect father." we went up to our room and he followed we crawled into bed and Hope said "I thought I could handle it. I really did." he said "You're handling it as best you can, and I'm gonna be here with you every step of the way." I said "Will you stay with us awhile?" dad laid in between us with his arms around us and said, "Of course I will."