chapter four
act i : this is our story

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          MAREK WAS GETTING SICK AND TIRED OF ALL THE ASSEMBLIES BEING HELD SO EARLY IN THE MORNINGS. Would it really kill Alaric if he gathered the students into the Grand Hall at a later time, preferably during the evening? Marek huffed as he shifted in his seat, glaring ahead at the headmaster and Sheriff Matt Donovan with annoyance ablaze in his eyes.

The Descendant of Fenrir had heard a great deal about the sheriff of Mystic Falls from Hope. To keep a long story short, he was a human who hated the supernatural despite living in a town infested with them.

Truly, Marek would never understand humans.

"Given our recent influx of monsters, the sheriff and I have decided we need to take drastic action. Please give him your full attention." Alaric announced from his place at the podium before he moved to a side, giving way for his fellow human to take his place.

"Like Doctor Saltzman was saying, local girls Dana Lilien and Sasha Stoteraux didn't come home last night." Matt stated as pictures of the girls were passed around. Marek didn't even bother taking a glance at them once they reached him and handed them over to Hope with a bored look in his eyes. "Dana sometimes skips town for a few days to party, but this is a first for Sasha."

"Thank you, Sheriff Donovan." The headmaster said as he took to the podium once again. "Even if the knife is away with Dorian and things are quiet on his end, I don't think it would hurt to assume the worst. So, I'll need a few of you to volunteer to go to Mystic Falls High under the guise of an exchange program meant to improve relations between our schools." He briefly cast a stern look at his daughters – more specifically, at Lizzie, who was seated in the row just in front of him. "Which, unfortunately, is necessary, given recent events. I give you permission to compel them, to gather materials for locator spells, because any information we can get will make all the difference."

The first person to stand after the end of the headmaster's announcement was Lizzie. A confident smirk was plastered on her face as she buttoned up her blazer before turning to face everyone. "Well, I guess I can set aside my differences with Dana for a day. Because that is what heroes do." She looked up at her father who appeared exasperated by her antics. "So, I volunteer as tribute."

Marek blinked twice. "Didn't think it would ever be possible, but she's ruined the Hunger Games for me."

The auburn-haired girl next to him rolled her eyes. "She battles one gargoyle and suddenly she thinks she's Mother Teresa."

Kaleb Hawkins stood up next. "I'm in."

MG was quick to follow his friend's example a second later. "I'm in too."

Surprisingly, what happened next was something not even Marek could have expected.

"I'd like to help as well." Hope declared as she rose to her feet. Lizzie seemed none too pleased with the Mikaelson Tribrid's announcement while MG and Kaleb were uncaring. Marek stared at his best friend for a few more seconds before he shook himself out of his dazed shock and hastily got to his feet as well.

"I guess that makes five." He muttered under his breath as Hope glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. It took a couple more minutes for Alaric to finish giving out the instructions to the teens who had volunteered before he dismissed them. As the students rushed down the halls, all of them in a hurry to get back to their dorms and get ready to start their day of classes, the Descendant of Fenrir hung back with his best friend.

"Okay, what the fuck was all that about?" He demanded to know as he walked shoulder to shoulder with the Mikaelson Tribrid.

Hope rolled her eyes but answered him, nonetheless. "I never got to go to a real school and you know that I've always wondered what it would be like to be normal for a day instead of the Tribrid loner."

Marek quirked an eyebrow as the two of them made a turn right, pulling away from the rest of the crowd. "Yeah, but Mystic Falls High? I highly doubt you're going to able to find any life-altering revelations down in that shithole."

"Look, I just..." The auburn-haired girl began to say before she trailed off and her eyes suddenly narrowed. She came to a sudden halt in the middle of the hallway, bringing Marek to a stop with her, and turned to look at him. "You know what, enough about me. Why did you volunteer to go? Because I'm getting a strong feeling that your decision wasn't made out of the goodness of your heart."

The Descendant of Fenrir opened his mouth to respond but then shut it after a few seconds when he found he couldn't muster up the words. Why did he volunteer? Perhaps he could have replied saying that he wanted to go to keep Hope safe but that would have just been a stupid excuse. It wasn't like she needed him – or anyone really – to take care of her. He also couldn't say that he wanted to find out what happened to the missing girls because any person with half a brain would be able to see that he was bullshitting. No, he hadn't volunteered for any of those reasons.

He just didn't want to leave Hope's side.

Marek had noticed a slight change occur in the recent months. A change which he couldn't quite decipher. A change in his relationship with the auburn-haired girl. He had always enjoyed hanging out with her; they were best friends after all. Her company had always made him feel warm and bright inside. Her mere presence had always been enough to snap him out of the gloomiest of moods. But now, his feelings towards her had become something more. Something stronger. And it irked him because he couldn't understand why these changes were happening and what they meant.

"...rek. Marek, hey!" The Descendant of Fenrir blinked as he saw Hope snap her fingers right in front of face. Seeing him coming back to reality, she huffed and pulled her arm back. "What is going on with you?"

"Nothing to worry about, princess." He replied while pushing his innermost thoughts away, at least for the time being. He'd find a way to deal with them later. For now, he had other things to focus on.

The auburn-haired girl stared at him calculatingly. "You never answered my question."

"I was feeling pent up and needed to get out of the school for a bit." Marek replied hastily, his mind working overtime to come up with a decent enough answer.

"Right." Hope nodded and Marek knew her long and well enough to tell that she didn't believe a single word coming out of his mouth. Luckily, after a few more seconds of her staring, she sighed and turned away. "Well, whatever the case, at least with you around, I won't be stuck alone with Lizzie Saltzman."

Marek laughed lightly as the two of them began walking again.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

          A MERE FORTY MINUTES LATER, the Salvatore School bus came to a stop in front of Mystic Falls High School. All eyes were followed every movement of the volunteers as they descended the large transport vehicle. Lizzie Saltzman seemed to bask in the attention she was receiving as she strutted her way out of the bus with her head held high. Her superstar entrance, unfortunately, was interrupted when Landon Kirby ran face first into her back and sent her stumbling.

Last night, after Alaric had revealed everything about the monsters showing up in pursuit of a mystical dagger, Jeremy Gilbert showed up with the supposed human and Rafael Waithe in tow. Apparently, they couldn't handle life on the road and the headmaster was only too happy to welcome them, even if he was still incredibly hesitant around Landon.

Much to Marek's dismay, Alaric had decided to select the mop-haired boy for their undercover assignment as well. What actual use he would be, the Descendant of Fenrir didn't know but he would make it his mission to keep him as far away from Hope as he possibly could. The mere thought of Landon being anywhere the auburn-haired girl would never sit well with him.

"Okay, here's the deal," Lizzie spoke up as the Salvatore students stood together in a huddle and a small distance away from prying human eyes. Marek and Hope exchanged blank looks as they watched the blonde-haired girl attempt to take charge of their mission. "Landon, you talk to any of the people you still know from when you were here. Marek and Hope, you two try not to deliberately alienate the entire student body while the rest of us save the world."

"This isn't a contest, Lizzie." Hope told her, looking tired of her dramatics.

Lizzie sent her a superior smirk. "You're right. It's a mission for a hero and her league of...whatevers."

The Descendant of Fenrir rolled his eyes. "This isn't the fucking Marvel verse, blondie. How about we focus on the actual reason we're here instead of building your origin story?"

The blonde siphoner scowled at him while Kaleb, unimpressed by the whole conversation, scoffed. "Yeah, screw this whole teaming up crap. I work alone."

The vampire then proceeded to walk off. Lizzie and MG followed his example as well, heading into a different direction but not before the kind-hearted vampire sent them an apologetic look as he went. In a few short seconds, only Hope, Marek and Landon were left. The mop-haired boy shuffled nervously as his eyes darted between the two friends while Marek and Hope exchanged glances of annoyance.

"I guess it's just us then." Marek finally broke the silence. He turned to look at the Kirby boy with unconcealed disgust. "How about you make yourself useful, pretty boy, and show us around?"

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          MAREK WAS ALREADY REGRETTING HAVING ASKED LANDON TO SHOW THEM AROUND. An expression of utter boredom was written across his face as he and Hope followed the mop-haired boy down the hallways of the school while he narrated his past experiences in various locations around the building.

"This is the senior hallway, where I spent much of my formative years stuffed in every locker except for this one..." Landon slapped one of the lockers with the palm of his hand and tugged on the lock. "...this one doesn't open. And on your left, you'll find the bathroom. Its where I had my first kiss with a toilet."

"I'm sorry, does the fact that I'm not openly hostile to you make it seem like we're back to being friends?" Hope said sarcastically, finally reaching her limit with the supposed human's incessant rambling. Marek's forest green eyes glanced around at the high schoolers bustling about while Landon tried to stutter out a response.

"Uh, sorry, I just...I was going for effortlessly natural..." The Kirby boy slowed down in his stride, likely hoping to have a face-to-face conversation with the auburn-haired girl. Hope had no such desire, however, and she and Marek continued to walk, leaving Landon to awkwardly jog to catch back up to them. "...but this is all just making me really nervous. Like, the school, and seeing Connor, and being with you-!"

Marek rolled his eyes and cut him off before he could continue with his sentence. "I think you've showed us around enough, Kirby. Why don't you go talk to anyone you know?"

Landon chuckled nervously. "That's easier said than done. There is no way Dana's clique is talking to me unless Hope's got some kind of spell that will make me retroactively cool."

"Then I'll go talk to them." Marek announced. His forest green eyes narrowed, however, when Landon let out a quiet laugh at his words. "Is something funny, pretty boy?"

"Yeah actually, there is something funny." Landon replied with a sudden burst of confidence which made Marek quirk up an eyebrow while Hope watched on from the sidelines with an amused smirk. "Tell me, how exactly are you going to talk to them? With your fists? Are you going to beat the information out of them?"

The Descendant of Fenrir hummed before he moved an inch closer to the Kirby boy like a predator stalking its prey. His eyes flashed a steely blue for a split second but it was long enough to wipe the smirk off Landon's face. "Right now, I'm thinking about beating you for free."

"Uh...it was...it was just a joke. I was just joking, man." The supposed human stuttered out hastily. Marek glared at him for a few more seconds – just for good measure – before he stepped back.

"How about you guys let me go talk to them instead." Hope offered but yet again, Landon had something to say.

"That's not going to work." The Kirby boy started to say. "Trust me, you have no idea how human high schools work. You're the new girl – might as well be radioactive."

As if to contradict his statement, a young and pretty teenage girl walked up to them with a sympathetic look in her eyes. "I'm sorry but you look traumatized. Is this loser bothering you?"

Hope paused for a moment before a smile spread over face. "He keeps trying to get me to buy his mixtapes."

"Gross." The girl commented with disgust. Her eyes moved from Hope to Marek – lingering on him for a few seconds longer than necessary – before they moved back to Hope again. "Well, we're going to have lunch now. You two hungry?"

Marek exchanged looks with the Mikaelson Tribrid, sent the Kirby boy a haughty smirk, before he shrugged his shoulders and directed his forest green eyes onto the girl. "Sure, why not? I could go for a bite."

"I'm famished." Hope agreed with a charismatic smile.

The girl beamed. "Perfect. Come on, let's go."

The two supernaturals proceeded to follow the human girl as she led them to the cafeteria, leaving Landon behind to gape with shock at their backs.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

          "DON'T YOU EVER MAKE ME HANG OUT WITH FUCKING HUMANS AGAIN." Marek seethed with a smoldering glare in his forest green eyes as he stormed down the hallway with Hope trailing close behind him.

Agreeing to have lunch with the high schoolers had probably been one of the biggest mistakes he had ever made. Even if it was to find some clues as to what happened to the missing girls, if he had known what he was getting himself into, he would never have accepted the invitation.

"I don't know. It looked like you were fitting in well with them." The auburn-haired girl commented with an amused smile on her face. She appeared as if she were on the brink of laughter. "Cheryl and her friends definitely seemed to enjoy your company."

"Shut. The fuck. Up." Marek growled. For forty whole minutes, he had to endure the incessant hounding of the high school girls. For one reason or another, they seemed to have taken a great amount of interest in him and instead of helping him ward them off, Hope actually started egging them on. Apparently, she found great joy in watching Marek drown in his misery.

"Come on, you have to admit it was kind of funny." The auburn-haired girl voiced as she moved up next to him and bumped his shoulder with her own. "I don't think I've ever seen you look that nervous around anyone."

The Descendant of Fenrir scoffed. "It was either I look nervous or I tear them apart with my claws. Trust me, I was heavily considering the second option."

Hope let out a light laugh and shook her head. The two friends stayed silent for a few seconds before the Mikaelson Tribrid spoke up again. "Okay, maybe they were a bit annoying. And loud. But I have to admit, I had fun."

"Watching me suffer, I'll bet." Marek stated, throwing a narrowed glare her way.

The auburn-haired girl smirked. "That was just a very welcomed bonus."

The two supernaturals met each other's eyes before Marek snorted, a small smile playing on his lips as his anger waned while Hope let out another laugh. It had been a long time since Hope had ever smiled so freely and it was definitely a heartwarming sight to see. She, more than anyone, deserved to be happy, even if at the expense of himself.

"There you two are." Landon walked up to the two of them, breaking their light-hearted exchange. "Let me guess, Pigtails spilled her guts and confessed to kidnapping Dana and Sasha, case closed?"

Hope rolled her eyes. "Her name is Cheryl, and not exactly. But she did invite me to try out for the cheerleading team. Oh, and she gave Mare her number."

"Which I then threw into the trash." Marek muttered, wondering what part of his demeanor made the human girl think he'd ever want to talk to her willingly.

The Kirby boy blinked at the Mikaelson Tribrid. "Who are you right now? And what is that thing on your head?"

The thing to which he was referring to was a cat-eared headband which the high school girl had gifted to her. Hope adjusted it slightly before giving the supposed human an answer. "It's a gift from Cheryl. I think it looks nice. What do you think, Mare?"

The Descendant of Fenrir blinked at the question directed to him. If he were to give his truly honest opinion, he would tell the auburn-haired girl that she was drop-dead gorgeous with or without the headband. It was the truth. But as soon as that thought came into his mind, he quickly trashed it because there was no way he was about to say that out loud. So he settled with a simple: "It's alright."

"You're better than this, Hope." Landon scolded, though what ground he had to lecture her on, Marek didn't know. Apparently, he'd forgotten about his own very recent fuck-ups.

The auburn-haired girl rolled her eyes again. "Relax, Eeyore. Dana gave it to her which makes it potential locator spell material. Plus, even though Sasha and Connor are dating, Dana was sleeping with him behind her back."

The Kirby boy let out a scoff. "Yeah, some clue. Everyone at this school knows Connor is a dick."

"Ever heard of a crime of passion?" Marek questioned rhetorically. "Adultery, missing girls...it's just like the plots of those old murder TV shows. Doesn't take a genius to figure the next part out."

Landon shook his head, unconvinced by what they were saying. "Look, I know Connor. He made my life a living hell but he's not a killer. Trust me."

Hope laughed sarcastically. "Trusting you is pretty much what got us into this mess in the first place."

Marek chuckled. "Yeah, no offense, pretty boy, but asking us to trust you is like asking a fish to breathe out of water. In other words, it's impossible."

The supposed human had nothing to say in retort to their words. It was then that the Mikaelson Tribrid spotted Connor over Marek's shoulder.

"Look, there he is." Hope pointed the jock out to Landon. "So, do you want to be the good cop, cause I don't think emo cop is a thing and bad cop is reserved for Mare."

"Oh, very funny. But while you two were off making friends, I did some sleuthing of my own." The Kirby boy pointed at a blond-haired girl wearing a blue handkerchief who was walking down the hall. "A scarf in Virginia heat? Sounds like a lead, I think they call it."

"Huh." Marek blinked, his eyes shining with genuine surprise. "Looks like you aren't as useless as you make yourself seem. Good on you, pretty boy."