Battle Scars ❦ TW/TO

❦THE FINALE

AN eerie silence lingered in the air at the Beacon Hills police precinct that evening, a melancholy feeling that surrounded them almost as if they were trapped in a fog of despair. Nobody spoke, for nobody really knew what to say. What was there to say? Allison Argent had died to protect her friends, had taken a sword in the depth of her gut. She would not walk out of the small room her body was brought into, she wouldn't be at school on Monday, and she wouldn't be shooting her bow and arrow anymore.
Allison Argent wouldn't be anywhere anymore.

Allison was dead. She didn't let Hope save her.

"There were two of them.
They tried to steal the car.
I think they had a blade or something.
It all happened so fast."

The rehearsed lines slipped from Hope's tongue like poison. Allison's dad had made them go over what they were going so say so many times. He was the only one who seemed to be remaining calm. Chris Argent was collected, articulate. Almost like he was practiced in the art of a family member dying.

But when Hope repeated the lines to the sheriff and his deputies, she almost choked on her lies.

"Do you remember anything else?" Deputy Parrish asked her. His voice was soft.

Hope shook her head with little motion. "It all happened so fast." She said again, monotonous.

Allison Argent was dead.

It happened so fast.

It was all so fast.

Hope Mikaelson was no stranger to death. For as long as she could remember and even before, death surrounded her family and her home. New Orleans was a stomping ground for the supernatural, a beacon of death. Wars plagued the Quarter, wars that were not afraid to take witches and werewolves and vampires and even humans as victims. Wars that took Hope's mother, and father, and uncle.

Beacon Hills was no different. How many wars would come and go before the rest of Hope's friends were in Allison's shoes?

The answer didn't matter however, for once the day faded into night, Stiles Stilinski had made his supernatural friends promise that they would defeat the Oni, even if he perished along with them.

It wasn't uncommon for the group to face their foes in the hallways of Beacon Hills High, but it was strange when Scott pushed open the double doors and instead of lockers, there was a snowy Japanese Water Garden. Scott looked to his friends with his brows drawn, obviously just as confused as the rest of them. Perhaps an Oni mind trick was the explanation for their new surroundings.

"Well this is definitely not part of the plan." Stiles stated, his lips pressed together.

Hope stuck out her hand, catching one of the snowflakes in her palm. She had never seen snow before and the sight almost made her want to giggle. Almost as if she was a child again. The snowflake was gone in a single moment and all that remained was a single drop of water on her hand.

Through the crystalline specks of falling snow, Hope looked to Isaac as he stood beside her. His hair hadn't been brushed, his unruly curls sprang loose, uncontrolled. He traced his index finger slowly down the palm of Hope's hand. A brief second passed before Isaac looked to her, meeting her gaze.

"Hope." He whispered to her to not let the others hear. "Can I tell you something?"

She nodded, but before Isaac had the chance to say anything, the mangled figure of Rhys stepped out of the shadows of the garden. Kira pulled her sword.