Alexandria Laughlin Marshall (TO)

God's Gonna Trouble the Water

    I had decided that I wanted to walk to the funeral alone, so I left after Hope and Freya. I decided to take the long way, trying to clear my head for what's to come. Once I finally arrive at the funeral, I see only Hope and Freya standing at the front. My worry grows thinking no one is going to come, and it won't be good for Hope. As I walk up beside Hope, I say, "Hey, sorry I'm late."

"No, it's ok," Freya says.

Just as Hope whispers, "Well, at least you showed up." I know this is angled at Klaus, Marcel, and Vincent. I don't get time to say something back before the band and wagon start to roll forward. As we keep walking, there are people lining the streets, and dancing along to the music. It seems as though they are completely missing that there's an actual funeral going on.

I hear Hope say, "This is all wrong." I can't help but agree, Hayley wouldn't have wanted this. She wanted to be cremated like the rest of werewolves, and not have people partying like it's Mardi Gras. Hope then adds, "She didn't even know all these people."

As Hope turns, I do too. All I can see are dumb tourists taking advantage of the horrific moment to party, probably thinking it's not real. Freya explains, trying to calm Hope down, "She made a mark on this city, everyone's here to honor her."

I can see Hope getting more frustrated, and asking, "But where are all her friends?" Hope shakes her head, and walks a little faster.

I hear Freya's phone go off, as she pulls it out of her pocket. I mouth to her, "I got this." She gives me a thankful nod and takes the call.

I jog to catch up to Hope at the front. As I get up to her, I hear her heart rate go through the roof. She then starts repeating with a worrying face, "This is all wrong."

I put my arms around her shoulders, and say, "Hope, hey. It's ok. They'll be here, ok?" But I can tell that she's not hearing me, as she still is frantically looking around the street. Suddenly, a large blacked out van comes speeding to a stop in front of the parade. And when I thought couldn't get any worse, another one comes up behind the parade, and people jump out of the way. The van pulls right in front of Hope and I, and there are three men in the back. I can easily sense they are vampires, and the obvious fact they are avoiding the sun. I can tell Hope is becoming more angered by the second.

I hear Freya yell, "Hope, Alex, we need to get out of here!"

Hope immediately says, "No," as Freya reaches us.

"Hope-" Freya says trying to calm her down, but Hope immediately interrupts her.

"I said no. This already sucks enough, I'm not going to let them ruin it more." She pushes Freya out of the way with her magic. And I immediately say, "Hope, just calm down."

I try to put a hand on her shoulder, but she says, "I am calm." She then pushes me back with her magic too. I stumble backwards, and my head hits the hard pavement. I feel the cool liquid against the back of my head, knowing it's blood from the fall. I quickly shake it off and look up, to see Hope doing another spell. I instantly recognize it as a fire spell. Her voice gets louder as she moves closer to the truck. Hope makes the truck erupt in flames, and turns back around to face me, and walks past me. She starts the spell again, directed it at the second van. I hear the men in the other truck yell, "Weapons up!"

My eyes widen, and I quickly jump up. They aim for Hope, and just as he shoots, I send the truck spinning. I hear multiple guns go off, sending bullets everywhere. Hope, in an instant, is out from in front of me, and I feel a large pain in my left shoulder. I look down to see blood spreading from the entrance point of the bullet and seeping into my dress. I hold in the painful tears, and I see Freya run up behind me. I grab my shoulder putting pressure on it. She frantically asks, "Are you ok?"

I don't answer her question because I'm definitely not ok, I just got shot. I grumble, now officially pissed off by the out of control vampires, "Just get me out of here, so I can pull it out."

——— 

    After walking the short two blocks, and getting a lot of concerned stares, we finally arrive back at the Compound. I bite a towel, as I dig the bullet out of my shoulder. I clench my teeth through the fabric so hard I think they might break. I see Freya run down the stairs with pliers. Her eyes go wide, as she sees me pulling out the bullet with my hands.

She asks with a worried expression, "Are you sure you're ok?"

I want to scream, Yah, I'm so alright with a bullet in my shoulder! But the towel in my mouth won't let me. I finally find the small wooden bullet that is causing me all this agony. I quickly yank it out, wanting no more of the pain. I let out a grunt and look at the tiny brown sphere. I throw the bullet into the fountain, and yank the towel out of my mouth to say, "I'm going out." I quickly walk out of the Compound, not listening to her worries.

As I walk down Bourbon Street, I can feel my anger boiling over. All I see are those three vampire's faces, and them ruining Hayley's funeral. As I walk farther, I can feel my anger getting the best of me again. I ball my fists up, and I dig my nails into my palms. I let my mind focus on that, instead of the anger until I feel a cool liquid form around my fingertips. As I continue to walk, the anger can't be contained by the small pain, and I can feel my magic fighting to break free. I quickly duck into an alleyway and start to calm my erratic breathing. After staying there for a couple of minutes, I finally don't sound like I've just run a marathon. For a few minutes, I just stand there leaning against the brick wall of a building, listening to the people on the street. I decide after I feel my heart rate become steady again, to walk back down the street to the Compound.

As I walk up the stairs to the second floor, I instantly hear Klaus and Hope's raised voices. I walk closer to her door. Once I'm standing a couple of feet away from the door, I hear Hope yell, "You deserted me! You left me all by myself when you promised me that you would be there!"

"I wanted to be there. I only just found out how dangerous this is. I could kill you," Klaus says calmly. My eyes widen at the last part.

But I'm even more shocked by what Hope yells back, "Then let me die!" I can hear her starting to break down, and I can tell that she's holding back tears. "My mom is dead. She's dead. And it's all my fault. And I need more than some half version of you." There's a pause after she says this. And I know I shouldn't be listening, but I also know that when Klaus leaves, I'm going to have to help her, so I stay. "I can't do this. Dad. I can't do this anymore. I can't live like this. I don't want to live like this anymore." I close my eyes feeling terrible for every word she says, but I understand where she's coming from. I know that I wish I could see my parents all the time, even though I at least get to see them sometimes. I know how lonely it gets when you have no parents to help you, so I know that I'm going to have to be there for her.

I then hear Klaus say with shock slightly present in his voice, "Please don't say that."

Hope's voice cracks from the tears as she says, "You need to go." I then sense magic, as Hope yells slightly, "Just go." I then can't sense Klaus's presence anymore. After waiting a moment, I slowly walk to the middle of the door frame. As I look into Hope's room, I see her with eyes full of tears ready to fall. I don't say anything, and I just walk over and engulf her in a hug. I know I that I will never be her dad, but I'm going to try to be as much as I can.

——— 

thanks for reading, this chapter was kinda all over the place, and very emotional, but i hope you enjoyed!

-Care❤️❤️