Hosie Fanfics

Arsonist's Lullaby

based on the song of the same name by Hozier

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Magic had permeated Josie Saltzman's life for as long as she could remember. Even before she was born, she was magically moved to Caroline Forbes' teenage vampire womb so she could be born, alongside her twin sister, Lizzie. In the early years, Bonnie Bennet, one of Caroline's best friends, had been a mentor to her. Then had come the day of the wedding. At the time, she had no idea how strong she was.

Bonnie had taken one of their hands' each and they began to chant alongside her. The voices echoed in Josie's ears as the fire raged on around them. Maybe this incident had been the beginning of her love affair with flame, she was not sure. She wished now that someone had told her what Hope had been told as a child... to close her eyes and sing... no matter how she wanted to scream. With Bonnie as their guide, Josie had been afraid, but confident they would emerge safely on the other side.

In that situation, especially, there had been no choice, and Josie grew to learn that often in life there were very few choices available. Sometimes Josie still dreamed of that night, even though it was by no means the scariest thing to have happened to her in her seventeen years. The relief of waking up did not sink in until the voices died away. More often than not, Lizzie would wake up to her sister staring into the fire. Josie would lie and say she had just gotten up, though she had usually been there for hours.

She wondered sometimes whether it was her who had power over the fire or the fire that had power over her instead. Josie struggled to look away, her eyes were drawn right back to the flame. She felt sometimes that those flames matched a similar flame burning inside of herself. In those dark and quiet nights, when Josie had never felt more alone in her life, she wondered if that fire she had inside... was all she had. Josie knew she had the potential to be more and to do more with her power.

Though the fire and the darkness deep down inside of her scared her to death, Josie held on tightly to the multitude of conflicting emotions. She used them in her magic, her music, and all of her other musings.

She knew of her inner darkness, the demons in the back of her mind that haunted her relentlessly terrified Josie. She was a particularly strong witch in her own right and power wasn't something she feared on its own. Josie was afraid of who that power might turn her into She hated the way the dark side of that power made her feel. She hated that a part of her liked the darkness so much.

On the nights when it felt as though the anxiety would take her over when Lizzie was on the verge of an episode, or she had just had one... she would startle awake to the smell of gasoline that wasn't and never had been there. Maybe that fear and anxiety would always be there. She knew the scent wasn't truly on her clothes. She knew the scent was from the inside of her, not on her clothes.

Then she saw Hope Mikaelson. Josie started to really see her for the first time. There was that moment in the park when she had made Hope laugh, really laugh. Hope was strong and she was good and that was all Josie needed to know. Seeing her as she was made Josie believe she would be able to have both as well.

Every time Josie felt herself waver after taking her magic back and waking Hope; she would look to the tribrid, take her hand, or share a look. The ache in her chest never dissipated, but Hope eased the ache for her somewhat. There were ashes in her wake and the guilt from that may ever dissipate, but she was glad to have Hope Mikaelson at her side in whatever capacity she was willing, to help her through it all every day.