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"I feel like I'm missing something... someone. But I can't figure out who or what it was..."
HB

PRESENT TIME

Hayden, the Ambrosias twins and the Saltzman family all sat in a circle in front of the fireplace. Dahlia had tears in her eyes, the emotions in her chest too much for her to handle. Her boyfriend was now a full black wolf, and without Hope there was no turning him back. She knew her best friend would be back. She had to come back.

Bellamy took his twin sister's hand in his, squeezing it in comfort. She just nodded sadly back at him, turning to look at the vampire beside her who was anxiously tapping his fingers on his knee. She stared intensely into the fire in front of him, too afraid to voice his thoughts as they hadn't heard from either Josie or Hope in over two hours.

The battle between the Salvatore School and Triad Industries had gone okay, besides the fact that Rafael had used the necklace Hope gave him. Which meant he was now in full wolf form, even his mind had reverted into his wolf. Dahlia was afraid she would never get her boyfriend back, but by thinking that it meant she would never see her best friend again, so she hurried those thought in the back of her head and waited for the call that everything was okay.

Dahlia leaned into Hayden, head resting on his shoulder, "She'll come back, right?"

Hayden looked down at her, the same tears in his eyes that threatened to fall from her own. He took her free hand in his, squeezing it just as her brother had done. "She has to."

They both nodded, turning back to the fire, both with the same sinking feeling in their stomachs.

Hope kicked at the headless monster, muttering different spells its way. They fought and fought until Hope finally got the upper hand at the monster was on the ground in pain. The tribrid looked over to where Landon had his arm around Josie, "He won't die! You know all this sci-fi stuff! Help me. How do I kill him?"

Landon pulled away from Josie, "Uh- Headless Horseman is more fantasy."

Both girls looked at him with a deadpan look, "Get to the helpful part!"

"In the Tim Burton movie, they defeated him by giving him a bride!"

Hope sighed as the human spine coiled around her ankle and pulled her until she was fallen on her back.

"That wouldn't be my first choice." Hope rolled her eyes, "Me neither!" The tribrid looked at he headless horseman and chanted, "Ignulsa!" This flipped the headless figure, finally letting the tribrid breathe to find some sort of way to fully defeat him.
"In- in the O.G. cartoon, he had a pumpkin head. That... he might keep it with his horse? Correction! He's got it under his cape!" Landon pointed toward the headless figure's thigh, which had a bag of what was most likely his head in it.

Josie nodded, "Kill the head, the body dies. Hope, that's actually science faction!"

Hope muttered a short great before running back at the headless horseman, catching the whip as it came down on her. "One head coming up." The tribrid pulled on the whip, pulling the headless horseman toward herself, kicking him up into a pillar when he was close enough.
As the headless figure crouched on the ground its head rolled down the stairs toward Josie and Landon. Landon quickly ran to the stairs, catching the head from the last stair. "Oh, God, why is it moist?"

Hope mentally shuddered, "Uh- give me, give me!"

The headless horseman had realized his head wasn't on him and immediately jumped after it down he stairs. As he was landing in front of Landon the curly haired Phoenix threw the head up in the air toward Hope, who pulled a steel pipe from the railing and held it up, waiting for the head to land on it.
Landon grunted as he was grabbed by the headless figure, Josie lowly gasping. As the head began falling toward the steel pipe in Hope's hands she flicked it upward, meeting the head in the middle and slicing the pipe through the head. Landon was released, throwing himself toward Josie who threw her arms around him.

Landon pulled away, throwing his hands in the air in a silent victory. Hope stared at the head on the pipe, mumbling about how gross it was before turning around and throwing it in whatever direction it went. As Landon and Josie made their way up the stairs Landon had a bright smile on his face. Josie laughed, "Suck on that, Tim Burton!"

The three were now in the platform above the pit, staring at each other until Josie realized she had her boyfriend back. Immediately she turned and took the Phoenix in a passionate kiss. Hope just smiled at the two, clearly happy for them. She was about to interrupt them and tell them they should get going, but instead they were all interrupted by a raspy voice.

"Nothing like young love, is there?"

The three of them turned to where Agent Clarke stood with a smirk across his lips. "Shame it ha to be so short-lived." Clarke made eye contact with Landon, "You'll find, baby brother, one of our family's worst traits is..." Clarke held up the mud made knife, eyes flickering from the knife to Landon. "Well, we're terribly clumsy." Then he threw the knife toward the pit.

"No!" Hope reached out, trying to catch it with her magic, but it was no use. The knife hit the black pit and it started to glow a bright yellow as the third and final artifact was now inside it.

"Aren't you gonna clap or something?"

Alarms went off throughout the building as the put began to bubble, leaving the three Salvatore students to stare at Clarke, "That was a total power move."

The two girls had no idea what went through Landon but he picked up the human spine whip and held it as it whipped through the air and wrapped itself around Clarke's neck. He pulled back, hearing his brother's neck snap from the whip. The girl just stared on, jaws slacked in shock. Clarke fell to the ground, neck broken.

"Brother?"

Landon looked at Hope, "It's a long story." She nodded, "Well, that Phoenix training is not joke, huh?"

Landon shrugged her comment off, "Okay, we've got to think! We got to figure something out to keep him from rising."

Josie looked at her boyfriend worriedly, "What do you mean, him?"

"We have a lot to catch up on."

"So, long story short, Clarke over there, is my older brother. That pit right there, is my dad. And me? I was born to be a host for said dad to breed an entire new species."

"Wow, so Malivore's your dad?" Landon made slight eye contact with the tribird, nodding. "Weird, huh?"

Josie sighed, "And he can't be killed, which is why Triad turned him to goo?" The Phoenix nodded, "Quick study."

Hope stepped forward, "But nothing's immortal. I mean, not really. Nature won't allow it. There's always a loophole."

The pit began to groan, bubbling even more as fog flowed from it. The Phoenix turned back to the two girls, "Any brilliant ideas? Because I think we're running out of time."

Alarms rung through the air as the pit gurgled and bubbled below them. Josie was trying hard to come up with a plan, and Hope was thinking long and hard as well. When it clicked in her mind that there was indeed a loophole. "Just one. But you both are gonna hate it."

They looked at her with confusion swimming in their eyes as Hope bit her lip and pulled the two of them into a hug. Hope squeezed them just a bit tighter before pulling away and snapping Landon's neck, knowing that he would wake up soon. Josie immediately panicked, "Hope, what the hell?!"
Hope looked at her, pulling her into one last hug as she whispered a sleeping spell into her ear and gently placed her beside Landon on the ground. "I'm sorry. Please know, I'm sorry."

It was three hours after the girls left when Hayden got a call on his cell from Hope. His heart lightened up as her name flashed on the phone. He called everyone from around the school as he picked it up, alone in front of the fireplace as everyone else had gone up to bed with complete faith all three of them would be back.

"Hope! Thank God."

When he got no response, he looked at the phone to make sure he answered it, "Hope? Are you there? Is everyone okay?" As he listened in closely to the phone he could hear her crying. Hope Mikaelson wa crying and he didn't know why. His worst fear was it was either Josie or Landon. So he tried again, "Hope? Is everything okay?"

"Please don't hate me."

Hayden laughed breathlessly, glad to hear her voice. It meant she was okay, and that he was worrying over nothing. "Now why would I ever hate you, little tribrid?"

He could hear the tribrid on the other end of the line suck in a breath before letting it out shakily. "I- I have to do something. And you're gonna hate me for it."

Alaric was the first one back in the room, taking the phone from Hayden, who was paralyzed in his spot wondering what she could possibly be doing. "Hope? Did you two find Landon? Are you all okay? Where are you?"

"Yeah, we found him. We're in Fort Valley, Georgia. Landon and Josie are gonna need you to come get them. And what I'm about to say, you need to write it down."

Alaric looked up at Hayden, nodding at him to follow him as he went back to his office to find a pad of paper and a pen. "Wait, so you're a Triad Headquarters?"

Hope breathed out, "Yeah. Look, don't worry, though. Everyone here is dead."

"Hope, look, you're not making any sense. Put Landon or Josie on the phone."

"I can't, uh- they would have tried to stop me, so I had to kill him and put Josie under a sleeping spell."

The headmaster and vampire looked at each other with shock and confusion. Hayden went to grab the phone, putting it on speaker phone. "You did what?"

"He'll come back, don't worry. And the sleeping spell only lasts a couple hours. They'll both wake up and come back.. even if I don't."

It suddenly clicked in Hayden's head, "Hope, tell me what the hell you're about to do! Right now!"

"Clarke won! He found the final artifact, and he tossed it into the pit! Which is, by some horrible play of fate, Landon's father that wants to use his body to procreate and create an entire species, by the way! And now Malivore is going to rise unless I stop him."

Alaric and Hayden looked into each other's eyes in horror, "Stop him, how?" Hayden couldn't speak, leaving all the talking to Alaric.

"Landon has all the answers, but, basically, Malivore was created by the blood of a werewolf, a witch and a vampire. It used to be that only they could destroy what they created, but nature found a loophole."

Hayden couldn't believe what he was hearing. He shook his head in denial. Eyes trying to blink away the tears that had already began to fall down his face he went to grab the phone from Alaric and scream at the stubborn tribrid to come back, but was stopped by Alaric holding up his hand.

"By making me. The tribrid. I'm the loophole."

Alaric sighed, shaking his head at the phone in between himself and the vampire, "Hope, you listen to me. Now, this is a theory, okay, and you don't even know if this is gonna work, so you just sit tight, and you wait for me to get there. Do you hear me?"

The voice on the other end of the phone quivered, "There's no time! I've always thought I was some cosmic mistake, someone who should never have even been born. But after all this time, I mean, my purpose is finally clear. Think about it. I'm the answer to all of this! I can remember things about Malivore no one else can."

"I am not okay with this."

Hayden leaned in toward the phone, expecting himself to yell into the tribrid's ear, but instead, his voice came out barely louder than a whisper, "Neither am I."

Hope let out a breathless laugh, "I know. But you will be, because one I toss myself into that pit, no one at school will remember me. Including you, Hayden. Without the dagger your memory will be wiped too."

"Hope. You listen to me."

Hope shook her head as if Alaric could physically see her, "I've spent years torturing myself, asking myself why my father sacrificed himself for me, to get to this point where, I mean, I totally understand it. And I don't want you to have to go through that pain, Dr. Saltzman. You've been through enough. And I don't want anyone to miss me, especially you, Hayden."

Silent tears ran down the cheeks of Alaric, still listening to Hope talking through the phone, "This is where you tell me you wish you could change my mind, but you know deep down that I'm doing the right thing. This is the part you tell me you're proud of me"

The headmaster sighed, voice breaking as he spoke, "You know I'm proud of you. You know that." They were both crying on either ends of the phone when Alaric took the call off of speaker and held the phone back up to his ear seeing as Hayden was paralyzed to the point where he wasn't even listening anymore.
Hayden was slowly falling to his knees by the desk, his head falling onto the wood of the desk with one of his hands grasping the edge of the desk and the other clutching his chest where his heart would be. Alaric bit his lip, turning away from the vampire, "What is it you need me to do?"

"Call maintenance. Have em pack up my room. Take my files, all those notes I know that you keep about me, every picture, and burn them."

"Listen, if you want to eras yourself, that is on you, okay, but you can't ask me to do it, too."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Saltzman. But i trust you more than I trust anyone else, even myself. So please, just this one last thing, okay? Promise me."

Alaric closed his eyes as his vision blurred, "O- Okay. I pr- promise."

Hope smiled, "Good. Now hand the phone over to Hayden for me."

The headmaster walked back around the desk where Hayden was currently on his knees clutching at his chest like he was in pain. He placed the phone in front of his face, gently letting the vampire function enough to realize who it was that wanted to talk to him. Hayden took the phone and put it up to his ear as tears fell down his face and Alaric left from the office.

"H- Hope- Why? You said... you told me... Hope... forever and always. Please don't- I can't- I can't live without you, Hope. Please come back to me."

Hope fell against a pillar, looking down at the sleeping Landon and Josie on the floor. She shuddered, lip quivering, "I told you you would hate me... please take care of Alaric, okay? And yourself too."

"No! You have to come back! Hope, you promised!"

"If I don't do this, Hayden... Malivore will come for you. Everyone in that school. Until you're all dead. I can't- I won't let that happen. Me over you, always."

Hayden let out a sob, "Hope Mi- Mikaelson, don't you dare leave me. You have to be here and live in that house I built just for us and love me. You have to- you have to be here, with me. Please Hope..." there was a sudden raspy gurgle on the other end when Hope sighed.

"I- I have to go. I love you."

"Hope! No!"

"Please, Hay, say it back. One more time..."

Hayden took one last shaky breath, knowing there was nothing else he could do. Knowing there was no way he was going to change her mind. Because her mind was set and she was the most stubborn woman he had ever met. "I love you, Hope Mikaelson."

He could practically hear Hope smile on the other end before the phone beeped against his ear, signaling that the tribrid had ended the call. He threw the phone at the ground, not caring if he broke the phone, throwing himself at the desk. Tears were flowing from his eyes as the door to the office opened and Lizzie was rushing through.

"Hayden! Did Hope or Josie call? Why is my dad outside burning all of Hope's files?"

Hayden pulled away from the desk to look up at Lizzie with red and puffy eyes. He threw himself at the Gemini witch, her arms wrapping around his shoulders as she crouched down next to him. "Hayden? What happened? Why are you crying? Did something happen?"
The office filled with Bellamy, Dahlia, MG, and Kaleb, all of them with worry in their eyes. Hayden tried to speak, tried to get the words out of him, but he couldn't. He couldn't find the words and couldn't make them leave his mouth. He just turned and cried even harder into Lizzie.

"Hayden? You need to tell us what's wrong."

Hayden pulled away, biting his bottom lip to keep himself from crying. A sudden light bulb went off in his head as he jumped up and went over to the office desk, pulling the same pad of paper Alaric had and a random pen. He spoke as he wrote, "Hope is going to do it. She's going to throw herself into that damned pit like the hero she is."

Dahlia gasped, knowing that feeling in the pit of her stomach wasn't for nothing. She was right to worry. She was right to cry over the fact that her boyfriend was now stuck in wolf form. She closed her eyes as tears poured out, looking at Hayden as he was busying himself to write on the writing pad.

Don't forget her. She's the love of your life. You have to get her back. Pit. Remember.

"Hayden."

The vampire's eyes shot up, "She's bloody doing it, Dahlia! She set her mind on saving that stupid bird and now she's paying the ultimate price!"

Dahlia titled her head as she neared the vampire. "What do you mean, ultimate price?"

Hayden could feel it coming. The dread washed over him as he finished writing on the piece of paper. He read over it multiple times before forcing it into his pocket, looking back up at Dahlia, Hope's best friend.

"You were her best friend, Dahlia. Know that."

Dahlia halted in her steps, "What do you mean, were? Is she... is she dead?"

Hayden shook his head, "No, but we won't remember her."

The room gasped, "She's gonna throw herself into Malivore?"

Hayden nodded at Dahlia, more tears falling from his eyes. "It's made- It's made from a- It's made from a..."

Everyone in the room suddenly went blank. Their minds were each erasing the thoughts of Hope Mikaelson, the tribrid they all knew and loved. Dahlia stepped back from the headmaster's desk, looking around the room with uncertainty.

"What- What are we all doing in here?"

Kaleb shrugged, wiping the lone tear from the inner corner of his eyes and looking at MG, "What am I doing in here?" MG shrugged, "I don't know, man. I'm hungry, wanna go get food?" Kaleb nodded, both of the vampires turning and walking away.

Lizzie stared at Hayden and the two Ambrosias twins. They all stared at each other wondering what they were doing standing in the middle of the headmaster's office. Dahlia, not really knowing anyone in the room, but at the same time feeling like she was actually friends with