{ 1.03 | We're Being Punked, Pedro | part 2}

The trio of girls got to the school as quickly as they could. Josie had explained-- briefly and while trying not to panic-- she felt twin pain, showing her that Lizzie was in trouble. Dorian hadn't given them permission to leave, but there wasn't much he could do to stop them.

The run was exhausting-- for Josie, at least. Hope and Elara had an easy time because of their supernatural abilities, and unfortunately for Josie, super endurance was not one of hers. They didn't stop until they reached the edge of the school, coming to a stop in front of a barrier.

"You alright there, Jo?" Elara asked the panting siphoner.

Josie nodded, placing her hand against the barrier to siphon it. "Yeah, I'm fine. Although I really need to start running more."

"I'll take you on my morning runs, then," the golden-haired teen offered.

"Sounds tempting, but I'll have to pass." Elara shrugged at Josie's breathless response.

"It's the best time to run."

Hope cleared her throat before interrupting their conversation. She looked between the two with an unreadable expression. 

"Lizzie must've put up the barrier to stop the creature. If we take it down, we'll have to deal with it ourselves."

"Which is, you know, fantastic." Elara pushed her stray hairs that escaped from her ponytail out of her face. "We're dealing with an actual gargoyle, right?"

"I don't know, maybe," Hope answered, her voice laced with irritation. "I don't know."

She returned the tone, mimicking Hope. "Thanks, Mikaelson. That helps a lot."

The three pushed towards the school. With the book Dorian had given her, Elara followed closely behind Josie as she pushed through the front door of the Salvatore School, Hope on her heels.

"Lizzie?" Josie called out.

Elara stopped next to her. "It's a big school. She might not hear you from here."

From behind her, she heard Hope breathe deeply. "I'll check the library," she said.

"We're going to split up?" Elara asked. She didn't want to be around Hope but walking around the school with a potential monster loose was dangerous.

"Unless you have any better ideas, yeah," Hope answered.

Elara huffed softly. She didn't want to be around Hope but walking around the school with a potential monster loose was dangerous. Splitting up was always a bad idea, especially in horror movies. That was basically rule number one.

Or was rule number one don't investigate a sound in the dark?

Either way, breaking rules was one of Elara's many talents.

"Fine but take this in case you bump into Dr. Saltzman." She held out the book to Hope.

"What if you and Josie run into him?" Hope questioned. She grabbed the book from her, and their fingers brushed against each other's with a shock. Elara wasn't sure if it was hers of Hope's fault for the book nearly falling from their hands.

Elara shook her head. "Don't need it. I'll handle it if I see it," she answered.

They locked eyes. "And how do you plan on doing that?" Hope asked.

For a brief second, she paused. Hope's tone had wavered. Subtly, of course, but Elara still picked up on the jump in pitch. Hope sounded worried for her.

She didn't want to deal with that thought right now.

"I'll deal with it the same way I do most things." The blonde grabbed Josie's elbow and began to lead her away. "Hitting it. A lot."

Josie didn't protest, letting Elara lead the way. They jogged through the hallway, Josie calling out for her sister. The school was haunting when it was empty, and the werewolf wasn't a big fan of ghosts. Elara echoed Josie, calling out, but Lizzie didn't answer. 

"Where the hell is she?" she questioned.

"I don't know, but this can't be good," Josie mumbled as Elara let go, cracking her knuckles.

"This is insane," she muttered to herself. Vampires, witches, and werewolves had just started to make sense, become her normal. She was just getting comfortable--

"What happened between you and my dad?"

Elara had to bite back her nervous laughter. "Now's not really the best time to talk about that, Jo."

"But you will tell me, right?" Josie asked, looking at Elara expectantly.

"Yeah," Elara answered without pause. She had no plans to actually tell Josie. If Josie knew that Alaric had essentially threatened Elara's position at the school, Josie would confide in him about what Elara had done. She would be forced to leave, or worse. "Yeah. Later. Priorities, right?"

A deep roar echoed through the school. It wasn't wolfish at all. Elara clapped her hands over her ears as the sound reverberated in through her skull like a bass.

"Oh, my god," Josie breathed out. Her hand had grabbed onto the back of Elara's shirt in a panic.

Elara took a deep breath. It was now or never. "C'mon, we have to find your dad."

Josie didn't question her anymore (thankfully), and they ran down the hallway. It didn't take them long to find Hope and Alaric, who had an axe in his hand.

That would probably be better than Elara's fists.

"How'd you take the containment spell down?" Alaric asked.

Josie didn't let Hope answer as she marched up to the two. "She didn't. I did." She took the axe from his hands. "And I have questions."

Alaric blinked in surprise. "Uh." His eyes flickered between Josie and Elara, both of them waiting for any answer. "I will answer those questions after we deal with this."

Hope stood off to the side, watching Elara. Her movements were tense, more so than usual. Hope had been around her roommate long enough to know when something bothered her.

"Where is it?" Elara asked, her voice tight but absent of fear. Hope lifted a brow curiously. Elara wasn't known for her bravery.

"I don't know," Alaric answered. "But the best place for us to go right now is the main hall. Come on."

No one argued with him. The four swiftly made their way to the main hall, and Elara kept glancing behind them. They entered the main hall, approaching the large sliding doors. Elara grimaced at the ringing in her ears as a headache began to form in the back of her head. She stopped at the base of the stairs with Hope, exchanging a wordless look with the tri-brid.

"Emma?" Alaric called out. His voice echoed around the empty hall.

The doors slid open, revealing Emma. Quickly, she raised a shaky hand and pressed a finger to her lips.

Finally, Elara heard it. Heavy steps and stones grinding together. Faint at first, then quickly growing louder, and louder, and louder until the creature appeared at the top of the stairs. The doors clicked closed.

The gargoyle spread its wings as a roar left its lips (Elara wondered briefly if it had stone lips, but quickly dropped the thought). Her heart pounded against her ribcage. That was a gargoyle.

"Oh, my god," she breathed out. Next to her, she felt Hope tense. Her jaw clenched in anticipation, waiting for it to make a move.

Elara had seen them before, perched on stone arches like birds of prey, but never before have the damned things moved.

It was when the gargoyle leaped Elara lost it. Her control was taken from her, like she was watching something else take the reins from her.

Elara's blue eyes flickered to yellow. The gargoyle landed directly in front of them, swinging the knife, but it missed Hope as Elara shoved her behind her. Elara managed to dodge it, bending just out of reach. 

Through gritted teeth, she swung at the thing as hard as she could. Her first hit landed, leaving a crack in its side. She swung again towards its chest, but the gargoyle caught it with his other hand, its grip strong. With a jerk, it threw her across the room, and she crashed into the wooden wall with a resounding crack.

Elara let out a cry of pain. Her shoulder tingled, and her arm felt numb. That was going to take a while to heal. Blinking, she lifted her head to see what was happening.

Everything moved in slow motion. The gargoyle swung the knife at Hope, Elara couldn't get off the ground quickly enough. It was going to kill Hope.

"No, no, no!" Alaric cried out.

Then the knife stopped inches from Alaric's chest. He had slid right in front of her, and it froze. They stood in a stand-off, as if waiting for someone to make a move.

Josie acted next, swinging at hard from behind. The gargoyle lurched as part of its stone broke off and then turned to retaliate. Then Alaric hit it.

"Fluctus inpulsa!" Hope yelled, throwing her hands out.

The knife flew from the monster's hand and landed on the bottom step. The monster cried out and moved to grab the knife, but Elara was faster this time. She sprinted forward and dove, rolling over the knife as she grabbed it.

She heard Hope speaking frantically. "Josie, help me."

It turned to glare at Elara, a low rumble coming from it. She scrambled backwards, pushing through the pain and up the stairs. Breathing shakily, her fingers tightened around the handle until her knuckles were white. If it wanted the stupid knife, it would've had to pry it from her. Which it could easily do.

She hadn't thought that far ahead.

The girls began chanting, and the gargoyle froze, hands raised. With each repeat, the ground shook, its stone facade cracked. Again, and again, and again.

With a final cry, the gargoyle burst into rubble, the pieces flying through the air. Elara had to shield her face with one arm to stop herself from eating stone.

Elara panted as the dust settled. She couldn't help but laugh. They fought a gargoyle-- which shouldn't exist-- and won. Her shoulder and arm were healing, slowly but surely. It would take a day or two to fully heal. Hope and Josie stood several feet from her. Josie looked upset, and Hope...

Hope looked relieved. Relieved as she stared directly at Elara. Elara took a deep breath, letting her shoulders finally still, and a small smile appeared on her face. Her mask had disappeared the moment the gargoyle appeared, and the gentle skip in her heart at Hope's rare expression pushed past Elara's wall. Elara walked over to the three, her arm hanging limply at her side.

Clearing her throat and steeling her expression, she turned to face Josie, ignoring the approaching werewolf. "Nice job," she mumbled.

Josie didn't return the compliment. Her eyes teared up as she stared at Elara, then she whirled towards her dad. "How could you jump in front of her like that?" she asked, her voice cracking. "You could have died, Dad."

"Honey," Alaric said softly, "I knew it wouldn't kill me, because my research said so."

The witch didn't respond, instead huffing and marching off from them. Elara understood her pain. Josie almost watched him die. If the knife had moved an inch closer, he would've been dead. They all did, even, but he was her family. Her... her father. Josie watched her father try to sacrifice himself.

Elara gently cleared her throat, handing over the knife to Alaric. "Here."

"Elara, your arm..." Hope trailed off. She took a step towards Elara and carefully placed a hand on her wrists. Elara blinked, tensing at the contact.

She lowered her gaze to her left arm, and the injury had been worse than she thought. Her sleeve was tattered, and blood dripped down it and onto the floor. Part of the wall had splintered and pierced her shoulder, and her weight pulled her off of it.

"Oh," Elara uttered. "It'll heal." She shrugged and quickly regretted the movement.

"After we get it patched up," Hope insisted. The concern in her voice threw the wolf off of her guard, and Elara didn't like it. "Come on."

But she didn't have the energy to argue.

~-~-~

The whistle of the wind past Elara's ears brought her peace. The night air was cool on her skin, but the werewolf felt comfortable even in her pajamas. She found the sanctity of the roof of the Old Mill a few days after she first arrived at the school. Her nightmares then had been unbearable, shaking her from slumber every night like clockwork.

It was her safe space, her thinking space. The other students didn't bother to visit it in the middle of the night unless there was a party, leaving Elara alone to enjoy the stars.

Alaric's speech echoed in the back of her head. She had stood at the back of the hall, watching from afar. The twins were ignoring her. Josie had informed Lizzie of Elara's stupidity, and both decided that she was in the doghouse for throwing herself into danger. They weren't technically wrong; she had pushed herself in front of Hope when she could've just stepped out of the way.

They were wrong it being her decision, however.

Hope, being Hope, sat by herself on one of the tables, but she kept looking over her shoulder at the werewolf, a new glimmer in her eye that Elara couldn't read.

Some of us were forced to fight. 

"Hi."

She lifted her head, pausing the swinging of her legs over the edge. The voice didn't scare her, but it surprised her. Her bandage was exposed to the night, the thick strap of her black tank top was the only thing that covered it.

We won. This time.

She didn't respond, turning her head back to the front.

Hope carefully sat to the right of her, pulling her jacket around herself tighter. "Can we talk?"

Elara didn't return the softness of Hope's voice. "I mean, you're already here."

Hope's eyes passed over the crumbled photo in Elara's lap. She had seen it before, folded on Elara's desk. It was one of the few things the girl had on her when they found her. "I wanted to apologize. I should never have accused you of lying to Dr. Saltzman. If he didn't trust you, you wouldn't be at the school." She shifted an inch closer to Elara. "I'm sorry."

Elara ran a hand through her long blonde hair, pushing it out of her face. It was a mess, disturbed by her pillow as she had tossed and turned. Hope couldn't read her expression.

That's why I'm telling you this. To warn you.

"Okay," Elara breathed out. Her answer surprised Hope. She had expected her to argue with her, to keep fighting with her over the incident. "Is that all?"

A sudden wave of nerves washed over Hope. Elara's face was blank, the only indicator of her emotion being her eyes. They look tired, irritated. Hope knew she had given her the same look before, and her question definitely would lengthen their conversation. 

Hope swallowed. "Are we okay?" Her fingers lightly drummed against the metal beneath her.

To ask you to look out for each other.

Elara laughed, confused. "What?"

"Are we okay? Are you still angry with me?"

The blonde tilted her head to the side curiously. "I'm not angry with you, necessarily. I mean, before you accused me of lying about my trigger, you ignored my existence."

"I wouldn't say I ignored you," Hope mumbled.

"Oh, but you did." A small grin appeared on her face. "The only times I can remember of you actively not ignoring me were when you asked about our class, and, you know, when you threw yourself at me without an explanation."

To do what's best for one another.

Hope lifted her chin, looking up at the stars. They were scattered throughout the sky, but she could still easily find the brightest one. "Okay, maybe I did ignore you."

Elara hummed. "It took two weeks before you even acknowledged me in class, and we're partners, AND--"

"Okay, okay," Hope laughed, gently pushing Elara's elbow. "You made your point. I'm sorry."

And we will stand together.

"We're okay, Hope."

The tri-brid shot the werewolf a small smile. The name calling was a habit of Elara's that Hope had picked up on. When she felt angry or upset, she often used last names, and Hope couldn't remember the last time Elara called her by her first.

"Good. That's good."

We will fight together.

They sat in silence for a while. How long that was, Elara didn't know. Her somber mood had vanished, and she was enjoying sitting there.

With Hope.

"You don't have to stay out here," Elara said, feeling her stomach fall ever so slightly. "We can go back to how we were before."

Hope looked at her with a soft smile. "We don't have to." At Elara's wide eyes, Hope continued. "Go back to ignoring each other, I mean. I know we don't trust each other, and we definitely don't know much about the other. So, it might be better for us to... start over. Take it one step at a time."

And we will win or lose this battle together.

Elara thought for a moment. She hated to admit it, but she liked the idea. Living with Hope would be a lot easier if they got along with each other, if they were friendly, but at the same time, she was terrified of the idea.

"Yeah," Elara said. At some point, the gap between them had been closed, and Elara's arm brushed against Hope's. "Yeah, we can try that."

"Truce?"

Hope extended her hand to the wolf, and Elara couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled in her chest. She liked the sight of an enthusiastic Hope. Every other time she looked at the girl, she had a scowl on her face. The sight was rare.

Elara firmly grabbed Hope's hand. A spark ran through her palm at the contact. 

"Truce."

No matter what comes next.

[a.n. Not it being Hope's b-day.

~NYM]