𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄

𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝘂𝗻

⋆˙★°.⋆✧°.⋆

In a barely lit room, where a loom of shadows fell across the floor and bed from the moonlight outside, a boy could be seen sleeping. Though, his sleep was restless. Even a blind man could tell that. It's in the manner his pupils underneath their eyelids would drift. Frantically, from one side to another, and how his expression twists every now and then into a pained grimace.

"Uh, nightmares, man," someone in the dark groaned. "Those really suck." And everyone in the room seemed to agree with that statement. They have all experienced demons of their own, so it was not hard to grasp what the boy from the video was feeling instantly.

The clock on the nightstand read 5:50 AM. And as second ticked, they only seemed to flare up, and suddenly the little things in the room started to levitate, papers and art supplies flew in a frenzy, windows made a creaking noise, even trapped in their door hinges—

"He's a witch," Davina muttered aloud in understanding.

"And a powerful one too," Freya declares. "Chaotic, but powerful."

—and the small bulb fixed at the top of the entrance door kept flickering until the glass shattered and electricity spat, making the boy wake up with a loud gasp. And everything that drifted in the air until then fell down to the ground with multiple soft thuds.

He looked around wildly, and once he seemed to confirm he was in a safe place, he exhaled a breath. After a moment of respite, he looks at the messy room and groans.

"Looks like this is a daily occurrence," Hayley declares from her place. Her eyes were glued to the screen, but her hands worked, patting the baby boy in her arms in the back softly. Caressing him to sleep and shielding him from the sound of the movie they are watching.

"Not again," the boy mutters.

"Yupp," chimes Josh from behind.

"PTSD, maybe," Camille gives her professional input.

There was a knock on the door just then, gaining his attention, making his eyes pull away from the mess to the door. With a sigh, he speaks out, his voice coming out rough, conveying the fact that he just woke up from sleep, "Come in."

The doorknob twists open, and in steps, a figure, a side of his profile can clearly be seen in the pale moonlight that came through the windows—

"Ric, it's you!" The Mystic Falls gang cried out in bafflement.

"I can see that," Alaric answers slowly, his eyes blown wide, unable to wrap his mind around it. "And I look old?" his expression twists a little as he notices that.

"Well, it did say it's 16 years from now," Bonnie points out with an easy shrug.

And, suddenly, if anyone had any doubts regarding the mysterious voice's words about how they will be seeing the future, they are gone now. Because they know whatever they are seeing hasn't happened yet.

"Hey—" Alaric greets, opening the door to the boy's bedroom, but whatever he intended to say dies down in his throat when he sees the darkroom and shattered glass pieces just at the entrance. A wary sigh leaves his lips, "—again?" he questions even though he seemed to know the answer to that.

The boy lifts half a shoulder sheepishly in answer.

Alaric's shoulders drop visibly at that, a sad smile playing on his lips, "Henrik, it's been two years—"

"WAIT! HENRIK!" Most people in the room seemed to catch up quickly, watching as the video paused according to their interests.

"Like my nephew?"

"A Mikaelson?" questions overlapped one another.

"I don't know," Alaric shouts, lifting his hands in the air. He was glad he gave Josie to Bonnie during the middle. He was sure the little one would wake up if she was still sleeping in his arms. "We will find out about that once we see," Alaric snaps at the people whose heads snapped towards him as if they expected him to know the answer.

"Mr. Saltzman," the boy warns him not to continue. "We've talked about this."

However, Alaric doesn't seem to let it go this time. "Look — I am not saying you shouldn't grieve, okay. I am it's been too long, maybe it's time—" as if he could feel the boy's judgmental look, he quickly added, "I am just saying — talk to Emma." When the boy doesn't make any sound even then, Alaric sighs once more, "Please, just give her a chance, alright? One chance — that's all I am asking."

The boy chews on his lips but huffs out a "Fine."

"Who's Emma?"

"Who knows."

"Maybe she's a therapist!" Freya whispers more to herself than to others.

"Or the girl who got his mind in a tizzy?" Enzo quips.

"You both seem to have a good relation," Caroline, however, remarks, taking the words right out of the many mouths present there. Anyone could see it. Alaric just shrugs. He did seem to like the boy from what he saw.

Jeremy snorts suddenly, making them arch an eyebrow in question. "They both are Ric's if you look at it," he explains why he found it funny.

"Thank you," Alaric says with a small smile, looking as if a burden was lifted off his shoulders. With that done, he gets back to the matter at hand, "Now — I just came to inform you that we got a new hit."

"Hit?" Jeremy asks, "Are you still hunting?" Alaric just shrugs at that.

Henrik nods, taking in the information with a stride, understanding what he meant by the 'hit.' "Where is it this time?"

"Atlanta, Georgia."

Henrik nods solemnly, "I will get ready,"

"I will be waiting by the car for you once you are ready," With that, Alaric shuts the door of the boy's room, enveloping the room in silence once more.

Left alone to himself, Henrik clambers off the bed and switches on the lights in his room, picking what little he can from the floor as he walks towards his wardrobe. As he proceeded forward through his tasks, his speech was spoken in a voice-over.

"When we're young, we're taught the distinction between a hero and a villain, good and evil, a savior and a lost cause. But what if the only real difference is just who's telling the story?"

"Wow! That's a positively riveting way of seeing things," Marcel says. "You sure that's a Mikaelson?"

"My name is Henrik Mikaelson."

"Pretty sure he got it from Hayley's side of the family," Marcel tries to conceal his slip up, still not willing to accept he's wrong.

Rebekah, who was sitting beside Marcel, hits his right arm's bicep repeatedly in excitement. "That really is our little Henrik," Rebekah says, and Marcel had to intercept her arms in an attempt to hinder her ceaseless activity. "Oh, my, he is absolutely gorgeous."

"I can see that, Bekah," Marcel says, hoisting her hands to put it back by her side.

But the happiness that she saw her grown-up nephew only lasted a few seconds. "Those nightmares—" Hayley manages to say, her hands tightening around the little boy in her arms, bringing him close to her chest.

"Just what in the bloody hell happened two years ago that made him like that," Klaus demands an answer to a question no one knows. But anyone could see through the murderous expression that whoever was responsible for that won't live long when he leaves that place.

"Calm down, brother," Elijah's cool tone comes from beside him, advising him to remain patient, something he knows Niklaus doesn't have. "I am sure we will know everything we need by the end of this."

"I come from a long line of villains in the tales you've heard about vampires, werewolves, witches, and everything in between," Henrik's soft tone floats in their ears.

"It seems he knows all about this family's not-so-honorable history," Finn comments with a sneer. "Good thing he is not delusional."

Kol and Klaus growl as if the sound of his tone is grating to their nerves. But Kol doesn't argue any even as his hand twitched to try and throw a swing at him because Davina's gentle touch gets him to calm down.

"The school behind these gates protects the secrets of people like me," he continues. "And tonight, under the light of the full moon, we will be opening our doors to someone new."

"So, there's a school for supernatural?" Bonnie whispers in awe. She could've really used one.

"Wow! That's pretty lit," Josh's face lights up.

⋆˙★°.⋆✧°.⋆

The scene shifts to two teenagers walking on a pedestrian walkway at a quick pace. While one looked nervous, the other concerned.

"Rafael, seriously, it's not right," A guy with curly black hair and green eyes chuckles with no real humor, walking at a matching pace with his friend.

"It is what it is, Landon," Rafael grounds out, trying to appear unaffected by his friend's concern. But it was obvious he was as anxious as Landon was feeling when he got his hands to rub them together. But he showed no indication of backing down.

"You're not Catholic," Landon cried out his reason, growing impatient, his tone incredulous. "You shouldn't have to confess your sins."

"I tossed a lawnmower through the patio doors, bruh," Rafael informs him with a pointed look —like it was supposed to give him enough incentive to accept this appointment. His jaw was set. "If apologizing to God gets Hector and Maria off of my back, so be it."

"A lawnmower?" Keelin echoes, "Guess we can say he is a newly triggered werewolf then."

"A werewolf?" repeats Dorian, confused, "Why not a vampire?"

"Because if he was a vampire, he would've had the memory of drinking human blood," Marcel reasoned with a lazy shrug. "And by the looks of it, the incident happened a few days ago, so clearly it's a werewolf who hasn't gone through his first transformation."

"Also, Henrik mentioned specifically that their school doors were opening to someone new on a full moon," Elijah points out to them.

Hayley lets out a sad sigh, turning her head to look at the only wolf girl in the room. "I remember how the days before my first transition were. Not knowing what I was, but suddenly gaining an enormous amount of strength and anger issues. That was scary."

Keelin nods, "Ah huh," making a noise of agreement. "And let's not forget that on the top of the burning guilt, our nerves seemed all over the place, and we were exhibiting more than the normal level of bitchy attitude, and oh, that emotion inside us that makes us feel like we hate everything in the world- It was a nightmare."

"Exactly," Hayley admits, nodding her head alongside every point she listed. She then shares a smile with the girl. "—I am Hayley, by the way."

"Keelin," the new werewolf now had a name to her. "It's nice to meet you."

"—um, I am Dorian Williams," the human tells the two girls, not even waiting for them to ask.

"Buenas tardes, Father Pietro," Rafael greets the priest once he enters the chapel. Landon, who followed him close behind, comes to stand next to him after closing the doors of the sacristy. The pastor of the church appeared to be waiting for their arrival. A couple stood by his side. They were Hector and Maria, the people Rafael was talking about minutes before.

Stefan groans, "Don't tell me he is there because they want to perform an exorcism."

"Oh, that place is gonna be wrecked if your friend and Henrik are not there in time," Vincent says, seemingly agreeing with his assessment.

"Wait, wait, wait," Hayley intervenes, "You're bringing Henrik over there—" she asks Alaric, looking at him in disbelief, "To a place where the boy who doesn't even know he is a wolf and will be going through a transition?"

"I don't know, lady," Alaric moved his head back at the accusation, clearly taken aback, "That's not me."

"You damn well hope it's not," Klaus suggested, anger barely restrained.

"Hey, he clearly loves the boy," Vincent comes for defense, "And we saw how powerful he was. I am sure your friend knows what he is doing."

"Buenas tardes, Rafael. Por favor, pray with me," The pastor greets back. Rafael nods after a mini pause and gets down to his knees in front of the Father, assuming the praying position. And from his peripheral view, he gives a pointed look at the couple.

Hector turned his chin to look at Landon and spoke in a tone that left no room for argument, "Landon, you can leave now. It's okay — we can take it from here."

Landon flashes him a forced smile but doesn't move from his place. "Oh, I'm good, Hector."

"Oh, good!" Camille breaths out in relief. "Glad we are not the only one who thinks they are shady."

"Landon, this is between your foster brother and God, okay?" Maria comes forward with an anxious expression touching his shoulder as she says, her smile slipping to a strained one ever so slightly as she spoke.

But before Landon could once again reject his foster family's request, Rafael buts in, not waiting for Hector to get impatient and snap at Landon. "Hey, I got it, bro," he says, with a look of reassurance, still on his knees. "Just wait outside," he jerked his thumb towards the entrance.

Landon sighs. He looked like he wanted to argue but then thought better of it. So with a nod to the four members in the sacristy, Landon walks out. But he doesn't go far. The young boy takes out his earphones from his pockets and pushes past the outer door of the church with his shoulders. He then flops himself down on the parvis of the church, waiting for his friend to complete his prayers on the chapel's stairs as he decides to pass the time by listening to some music on his phone.

"What song is that?" Jeremy and Kol ask at the same time. But they looked extremely displeased to have done that, resulting in a scowl and sneer on their faces.

Josh clears his throat, hoping to distract them from glaring so heavily at each other from across the rooms. "It probably will be out in the future," he tries.

Unbeknownst to Landon, his foster parents appeared to have other plans for Rafael, and they did not involve just a few prayers of apology. With his back turned away from the door, the curly-haired boy could not see Hector and Maria slowly creeping up from behind him and locking the entranceway with some strong chains and a padlock in a hurried fashion. The music in his ears drowned out the outside world, making him unable to hear anything outside of the song 'Love Is Madness by the Thirty Seconds To Mars' he was listening to.

"Wait! These guys really think an exorcism is gonna solve it?" Josh asks no one in particular. "I think they are seeing too many horror movies.

"It's like they want to die," Matt adds, feeling annoyed by the way things were going. "I mean, doing this on the night of the full moon, can they be any more unlucky."

Inside, the pastor had already begun with his prayers, "—Spiritus Sanctus," The pastor starts in Latin as he touches the holy cross in his hands to his forehead and chest.

"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst—" Rafael begins alongside him, closing his eyes.

But when Father Pietro poured a few drops of holy water onto his hands and anointed Rafael's forehead with it, his eyes flutter open, confusion marring his features.

But the pastor doesn't pause in his moments as he starts chanting in Latin, "God, whose nature is ever merciful and forgiving," his tone becomes sharp and hard as each word slips by his lips. "Accept our prayer that this servant of yours DEPARTS." He places the holy cross hovered over Rafael.

"What's going on here," Rafael asks, trying to get up to his full length.

But the pastor doesn't stop his chants. If anything, his pitch goes higher and higher, "Accept our prayer that this servant of yours DEPARTS."

"What?" Rafael tries to step back from the pastor's looming figure. But just then, Hector and Maria come running from outside and use all their strength to hold him down from behind. "What? What are you doing?" he demands them, fear crawling through him.

"Accept our prayer that this servant of yours DEPARTS," The Father continues. And has he struggled to get out of their hold, there was a loud cracking sound as if a bone was breaking or like a loud thunder rolling overhead, making him scream in agony. "Then impious one, depart." He goes to his knees, throwing his head back as he lets out another scream, "Accursed one, DEPART DEMON."

"They think it's a devil," Bonnie shakes her head, wincing inwardly at the madness she is witnessing.

"Oh, god! I am gonna be sick," says Caroline. A distant memory where her own Father tortured her, trying to save her from the demon he thought she was, came to the forefront of her mind.

"You're a Vampire, though," Matt points out.

"Shut up, Matt," snaps Caroline. And Stefan sent the human a brief glance, trying to make him understand it was not a good idea to annoy a sleepless and irate Caroline.

Rafael, who appeared to be in extreme pain, falls on his all fours, making Hector and Maria step away from him, frightened. And when he lifts his head up from the ground, his eyes are glowing yellow, and his canines, sharp enough to rip through a person's flesh.

"Think of guilt he would have if he really went through this and killed them all," Davina pointed out. She knows how it felt. The witch remembered how heartbroken she was — how she cried when the girl found out Hayley had killed 9 of Versillie witches after getting to Kara Nguyen, all because she ordered her to do it.

⋆˙★°.⋆✧°.⋆

Outside, a car pulls up at full speed and stops in front of Landon. From the passenger's side of it stepped out a young boy. A black-haired and dark blue-green-eyed Henrik Mikaelson, looking flawless even in a standard school uniform. Landon's lips part slightly, and the earphones slipped out of his ears when he lifted his head to gawk at the other boy, clearly speechless to see him there.

"Oh, No!" Caroline whispers in Ric's ears. "You really brought him there."

"Hey, I didn't bring him there," Ric defends, "It's my future version. Also, like the regent or whatever he is said, I must've some faith in him to bring him in such situations."

"Doesn't mean I agree," Hayley informs the couple, her supernatural hearing catching on to the conversation, disapproval clear in her tone. "But, I get it. He wouldn't be there if he didn't want to be there, so I can't blame you entirely."

"Yes, exactly," Alaric cries out in relief, "And I am sure he must've asked his family's permission too, you know. Also, let's not forget the school would've called to let inform you, considering you are his guardians — that's probably like a standard