Chapter Text
"Hope?" She is pulled from her sleep by her father whispering in her ear as he nudges her shoulder. She opens her eyes to see her father kneeling beside her bed. She lifts her head, rubbing her tired eyes with her tiny fists. "We've got to get going."
"Dad, what's going on?" She blinks at him, confused at the fear and panic on her father's face. She's never seen her father afraid or panic before.
"I promise I'll explain everything to you. But right now, we've gotta go." She pulls the blankets down, and her father lifts her out of bed, and starts to carry her out of the room. "Let's go see mommy."
"Where is mommy?" She asks. Her mom has been gone for a few weeks on vacation. Her dad's expression changes, and she studies him with childlike curiosity.
She notices that every light in the house is off. And that she can smell blood. Along with something else that she can't identify. Once they're outside, her father quickly placed her in the back of his car. "Mommy is at the new house."
"We're moving? I like it here." She pouts, and he makes a face like he's truly saddened himself. He reaches up to brush her hair, and it's only then that she sees the blood on his hand. And his other hand.
"I know. But I promise you, it's all for your own safety. And someday, when you're older, you'll understand." He closes the door but before he can get in the car himself, he looks around the area as if noticing something that she hasn't. He motions for her to get down, and she does. Just as she hears the sound of feet landing on the ground. There's at least three of them.
She can hear the sounds of a struggle from outside the car, and can see the bright orange light that signifies that her father is using his magic. Someone's attacking her father. She knows her father has plenty of enemies as the next in line to lead the fire fairies. Among other reasons that she's far too young to understand. But her Aunt Freya's protection spell has kept them safe from her father's long list of enemies so far. Why are their current attackers different?
Hope lifts her head up just enough to look out the window of the car. Her father is in fact being attacked. But it's way more than three people attacking. There's at least ten of them. And she can see the burnt bodies of more attackers lying on the grass. "Dad!"
The entire area shakes, and her father's attackers burst into flames, setting the lawn on fire. Her father looks at her in shock. And fear.
Hope sits up in bed, slowly getting out of bed so as not to wake up anyone else in the house. She grabs her hoodie off the dresser, slipping it over her head. She pulls the hood over her head, and checks the time. It's almost time for her to leave. She's spent weeks studying the guards' schedule, looking for a blind spot just for this day. She wants to spend her birthday outside of the house. But she knows that her parents will never go for that.
Ever since that night at the old house, they had kept here at the Mikaelson Compound. With guards everywhere. At first she thought that they were protecting her from her father's enemies. That it was just a consequence of being born into a family that rules the fairy underworld. But the older she got, the more she realized that they were protecting her from someone after her specifically. That they were hiding something. Especially when they pushed her to train harder than her cousins had to. And any attempts to question it were always met with a change of subject.
But today, she is going to leave the compound. Then, she is going to go home, and demand answers from her parents. She sighs as her time to leave comes. She grabs her backpack, and jumps out of the window, using her magic to soften the landing. Then she runs, propelling herself with her magic. By the time anyone notices she's gone, she'll be long gone.
Klaus wakes up early in the morning. The witch's workshop should be open in an hour, and he can go see her. See just how much time they have left before his mother will split the Earth. He knows that time is running out. Hope will get her wings today. And that means that any day now, the world will split open, and Hope and two other kids will be in for the fight of their lives.
He takes a good long sip of his drink, looking down at the photo in his hand. One of the only family photos from before. Before the prophecy, before the attack at the safe house, before everything. "Klaus!"
He almost has to roll his eyes at the sound of his ex screaming for him down the hallway. "Klaus!"
She screams for him again, this time much closer. It's only then that he picks up on the pure terror in her voice. He's only ever heard her scream like that once. Hayley finally arrives at the study, grabbing onto the door frame as she breathes heavily. "It's Hope. She's gone."
"Get out there and find her!" Stefan wordlessly leaves the room, most likely because he knows that if he had stayed any longer Klaus probably would have killed him. What is the point of having an army if they can't do their fucking job?
"I'm going with them. Are you coming with me?"
"No. I have other business to attend to."
"Deal with it tomorrow. Our daughter is out there. Meaning that Carina, Miranda, Esther or whatever the hell your mother is calling herself now and all her followers will be able to find her and kill her."
"I'm afraid this can't wait. Her wings will come in today. Meaning that we are running out of time. So I am going to see the one person who can tell us just how much time we have left."