The Last Sacrifice

Acceptance

*2026 – New, Orleans*

"...so Josie, Lizzie, and I tried to do the spell Aunt Freya was teaching, I swear we were, but something went wrong, and anyway that's how part of the classroom got destroyed." Hope laughed, staring out over the bayou.

Hope often came out here to think. Ever since she was little her mother would come out here to turn into a wolf and run through the woods. Her father would tell her it was because when you're a wolf, you can put aside your human emotions and just be free. But Hope always thought her mother came out here for the same reason Hope found herself sitting with her feet dangling above the water talking to the wind.

To feel close to her Uncle Elijah.

Hope could still remember the fight her family had over what to do with her uncle after he died. Her mom wanted to take his ashes to a small town in France that he had loved so he could be at peace there, but her father wanted him somewhere nearby. It was her Aunt Rebekah who suggested a Viking burial. Although her family had lost touch with their Viking heritage centuries ago, Aunt Rebekah said he would be honored to have a water burial, which was often reserved for warriors. So at dawn, they all gathered on the dock to set her uncle out to sea.

Now the bayou was where her family would come when they needed to talk or to get advice. But for Hope, it was where she would come to update her uncle on, well everything.

"Hope Andrea Mikaelson." Hope heard a voice call out behind her. She turned to see her mother walking down the dock to her. "What are you doing out here? We are going to be late."

While Hayley's words were stern, the smile on her face told Hope she was happy to see her. Hayley had been spending a lot of time out in the Bayou helping the pack over the last month and Hope had been spending her time at her school. Her Aunt Freya and Aunt Davina were giving her extra training time.

Her favorite thing to tell her uncle about was her school. Her parents would always tell her how proud of it Uncle Elijah would be. To finally have the Mikaelson name attached to something good.

The Mikaelson Boarding School for the Young and Gifted was located in their family home in the French Quarter. When her father first brought this suggestion to Ms. Forbes and Mr. Saltzman, they insisted the school be located in Mystic Falls. However, considering Mystic Falls was constantly attempting to eradicate their kind, her father convinced them it would be better to have it in a city that welcomed the supernatural. A city that desperately needed something to unite the factions that had been at war for centuries.

So the Mikaelson Boarding School was opened. Her Aunt Freya and Aunt Davina worked with all of the witches, with her Uncle Kol teaching all of them the spells the teachers didn't want them to know. Her Uncle Kol would also work with the vampires, but he mostly left that to Aunt Rebekah and Uncle Marcel. Lisina, the Cresent Alpha, worked with the wolves. She even worked with the untriggered wolves to teach them how to keep their anger in control, something Hope needed on occasion. Her mom would help them sometimes too, but she was preoccupied with being the Headmistress of the whole school.

While her father wanted to take a more active role in the school, her mother had convinced him that there was just too much bad blood between him and a lot of the supernatural community. So he conceded, but only if Hayley would step up and run the school. She could represent the Mikaelson family without the long history of violence that followed most of her family.

Hope stood up to hug her mother in greeting. "I was just catching Uncle Elijah up on the latest drama at school." Hope smiled cheekily.

"Oh yeah," Her mother pretended to glare at her, "Did you tell him you and your little trio are banned from practicing magic in the courtyard."