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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍.
[𝟏𝟏]. 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐀 𝐌𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐘
𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐓.
【 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄 】
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❛ 𝘞𝘌 𝘚𝘗𝘖𝘛𝘛𝘌𝘋 𝘛𝘏𝘌
𝘋𝘈𝘠𝘓𝘐𝘎𝘏𝘛 𝘙𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘖𝘕 𝘠𝘖𝘜𝘙
𝘚𝘖𝘕'𝘚 𝘉𝘖𝘠𝘍𝘙𝘐𝘌𝘕𝘋 ❜
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𝐋𝐄𝐓'𝐒 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄. 𝐒𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 Break was amongst the Salvatore Boarding School's alumni, which meant, most supernatural creatures that attended the school would be going home for a few weeks as the less fortunate students stayed back. And by less fortunate, we would be talking about Nathaniel Forbes, who had to stay back with Lizzie Saltzman because the nephilim had no external family.

If you didn't count Lucifer.

Because Nathaniel sure as hell didn't want to take a hot-girl-Spring-Break down south.

"Doctor Saltzman," Kaleb brought in everyone's attention from the backseat of Alaric's van. "This van is very white of you."

Nathaniel snorted from the front seat.

Alaric rolled his eyes. "It's retro."

"Keep telling yourself that," Nathaniel snorted a second time.

Hope sighed from next to Lizzie as the tribrid rummaged through a plastic bag. "I brought snacks."

Nathaniel's eyebrows shot up at that.

"Oh, sweet," Lizzie's sarcastic voice came in before Nathaniel could get a word out. "Did you pack them before or after you decided to FOMO your way onto our trip."

Nathaniel's eyes rolled. "I invited her, every bitch way. But who invited you?"

"Ouch," Kaleb slightly chuckled.

"Look, Satan's spawn," Lizzie started out in her usual passive aggressive tone. "This is simple, so maybe even you can understand-"

Nathaniel interrupted. "Hex me."

"Everyone, behave," Alaric butted in. "I have enough on my plate to have to be refereeing you two as always. So, please."

"Nathaniel started it," Lizzie scoffed.

Nathaniel narrowed his eyes. "And I might just end it too. Seriously, what ancient bug crawled up your ass and died?"

"Nate!" Alaric raised his voice before sighing to calm himself down. "We're going to be in this classic automobile for six hours, alright? Stop bickering."

There was a small silence.

Hope huffed, waving herself off. "It's a thousand degrees in here. I'm burning up."

"You're burning up?" Lizzie snorted while rolling her eyes. "Now that's ironic."

Hope turned to Lizzie with a confused expression. "What does that even mean?"

Nathaniel groaned in annoyance. "It means Lizzie can't let anything go."

Lizzie scoffed. "I can let go. Since when are you two a thing anyway? Last time I checked, you were mad at Hope because she tried to kill you, if you don't remember."

"Oh, I remember," Nathaniel huffed, giving Lizzie a look from the rearview mirror. "In complete contrast to you, I can forgive. Yours wasn't even that big of a deal."

Hope narrowed her eyes. "Hers?"

"You know what you did!" Lizzie exploded, side-eyeing Hope. "I see you. I can see right through you."

"Knock it off!" Alaric finally intervened.

But the bickering continued until getting to Maple Hollows, alongside some fun- not really- road trip songs, Josie vomiting and hearing Lizzie's annoying commentary. All in all, Nathaniel was just relieved when the nephilim was out of the van and walking around the town.

Though, getting information from townies on anything strange going on in the past few days seemed to be a bust.

"No one's seen anything weird," Josie commented, stalling before Hope, Nathaniel and Lizzie.

Nathaniel sighed, crossing his arms. "I didn't get anything either."

"Our hopes of finding anything are going up in smoke," Lizzie remarked.

Hope instantly turned to Lizzie. "Wait, are you passive-aggressively refereeing to that fire in my dorm room three years ago?"

Lizzie sneered. "You mean the one you set on purpose to sabotage our spring break trip with our dad? No, Hope, why would I talk about that?"

"You're annoying," Nathaniel rolled his eyes in infuriation. "That's not the only reason Ric stayed behind, remember? In case you forgot, Jed and I went on a bender to Washington. So, suck it up, buttercup."

"Oh, I remember!" Lizzie spat, growing more annoyed by the second. "Thanks for that. It's not like dad has always had you as a priority because you can't control your emotional baggage and not end the world- oh, but he does!"

Nathaniel stilled.

And then anger filled the nephilim.

"At least ending the world is my excuse to my emotional baggage," Nathaniel stated in a calm, eerie tone. "Yours is simply because you're batshit crazy!"

"Nate!" Josie yelled in surprise.

But before Nathaniel could scoff, Lizzie was siphoning magic from the matching bracelet the nephilim had gotten the blonde witch on the twins' birthday.

"Incendia," Lizzie spat.

And Nathaniel's sleeves were on fire.

But Hope was quick to use pyrokinesis to put the fire out before Nathaniel could even react to it. And when the nephilim looked at his adoptive sister, Lizzie was red in the face, angry tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

Nonetheless, Nathaniel wouldn't apologize.

Not when the nephilim looked around the park and noticed a few glances their ways.

"Good job, Elizabeth," Nathaniel snapped, his nostrils flaring. "Give the man upstairs a prayer you didn't just out us."

"- Ow!"

Everyone's eyes landed on Josie.

"Something stung me."

And when everyone inspected the brunette witch's arm, grossed-out expressions followed with feigning gag sounds. The skin surrounding the puncture was puffy and pink. Almost like a humungous zit.

"Not good," Nathaniel scrunched up his face.

Then, there was humming.

Nathaniel stilled. "Do you hear that?"

Hope nodded. "What the hell is it?"

That's when a swarm of hornets came from behind a tree and swiftly began their descent towards every single being in their way. The four supernatural creatures were on alert in the span of a second.

"Plague, anyone?" Nathaniel stated.

And everyone around them was running.

Josie sighed. "It's a plague."

"Run."

There wasn't any hesitation. And in no time, the four had locked themselves inside a desert shop. The humming continued as the hornets attached themselves to the windows, but it didn't last long. In a matter of minutes, the bugs stopped humming and fell to the ground without much of a fight.

"We need to find Ric," Nathaniel affirmed.

And Hope nodded before walking down the street. "This way."

Lizzie snorted. "Does this way take us past the fire station?"

Hope rolled her eyes. "Oh my God. We barely just survived a biblical plague. For the last time, I didn't start that fire. And I never ruined a spring break."

"Yeah, Lizzie, now's not the time," Josie instantly added, a nervous tone in her voice.

Nathaniel instantaneously caught it, and when the nephilim did, Nathaniel's eyebrows knitted inwards. "You okay, Jo?"

Josie gulped, looking down at her arm. "Yeah, um, there's a boil on my boil."

Lizzie took a look at it. "Oh, gross."

Nathaniel sighed lightly. "Come here, I got it."

Josie approached Nathaniel and the nephilim took the Gemini witch's arm in his hands before closing his eyes. In a second, white fluorescent veins popped below Nathaniel's undereye lids and across his arms, up until the tip of his fingers. It wasn't long before Josie's little problem was extinct.

"Thank you," Josie smiled.

Nathaniel mirrored it. "Anytime."

"Um, guys?"

Hope voice brought everyone in.

And when they looked around the street corner, there were lines of school busses parked alongside the road as people in yellow quarantine suits were filling them up with civilians who were affected by the hornets, as well as those who were not.

The FEMA Recovery Center in Maple Hollows was the place Josie, Lizzie, Nathaniel and Hope were reunited with Emma, Alaric and Kaleb. Inside the neatly placed tents the people in yellow quarantine suits were seemingly in charge of as they took in everyone's information before they could completely immerge themselves in the tents.

"This all started after we got here," Nathaniel spoke in a low voice into Alaric's ear while pulling Hope close by her hip. "Everyone around town said nothing weird had been going on beforehand."

Emma's eyebrows furrowed. "How did these people get here before the plague?"

Alaric's jaw tensed. "I don't know who they are, but they are too prepared, organized and well-equipped to be responding to some random insect attack."

And that's when they reached the front of the line.

"Here together?" The woman in quarantine gear asked, holding a clipboard.

Alaric instantly feigned a smiled. "Yeah, we just came in from Roanoke to see that giant ball of yarn you guys have."

The woman looked behind Alaric. "And these are...?"

"This is my wife, Emma," Alaric pulled her in for a side-hug. "These are my children- from my first marriage. And, uh, Kaleb here is-"

"My boyfriend," Nathaniel promptly responded when Alaric hesitated, letting go of Hope and putting an arm over Kaleb's shoulders.

Kaleb tightly smiled. "I'm a lucky guy."

And without much else, the woman waved them into the tent.

As the squad walked, Nathaniel was instantly hit with a familiar feeling. And from the corner of his eye, the man standing just mere feet away from them, inspecting them, was an acquainted face. And when it came to Nathaniel were the nephilim had seen him before, Nathaniel was fast walking up behind Alaric as Doctor Saltzman poured himself a cup of coffee.

Nathaniel busied himself with filling a small white cup with water.

"I don't want to scare you," Nathaniel slightly murmured, but instantly caught Alaric's attention. "That dude from the gas leak in Kansas is standing right behind us. He doesn't register as human, Ric."

Alaric stilled. "You mean you knew that the first time we came in contact with him?"

Nathaniel nodded.

"And you didn't think to tell me?"

Nathaniel huffed. "Sorry, but I couldn't sense Kirby either and it's not something normal, so I internalized it. You think he's the same thing as Wednesday?"

Alaric shrugged. "Could be."

"And what's he doing here anyway?"

"Probably the same thing we are," Alaric sighed, sipping his coffee. "We're not the only group in the world that covers thing up."

That's when something caught Nathaniel's eye.

"Ric," Nathaniel's eyebrows furrowed. "These dudes are pretty geared up. Is that-? They've got scuba diving shit."

Something clicked in Alaric. "They're here for the urn."

And Dorian was on the outs, looking for said urn and everyone else that could help him was stuck inside a quarantine facility. There was no way of getting out of there, not with the gunmen guarding every corner. And Nathaniel couldn't exactly expose himself without exposing the others.

"Who is that guy?"

The question came from Josie after half an hour of being trapped in quarantine as she looked over the man talking to Alaric. The same man Hope, Alaric and Nathaniel had come face to face back in Kansas.

"This creep we met in Kansas when you both were in Europe," Hope detailed.

"Why were you in Kansas?" Lizzie asked in concern before it washed away and was replaced by snark. "Oh, wait, let me guess. It involved you insinuating yourself into a situation were only you can be the hero."

Nathaniel rolled his eyes. "It beats insinuating yourself into every conversation you're not invited to."

"Cry to daddy, boyking," Lizzie hissed.

Nathaniel snorted. "At least mine is dying to have a word with me. Can you say the same thing about yours?"

"Guys, stop," Josie sighed.

"She's had it out for Hope since we left Salvatore," Nathaniel shook his head disapprovingly. "I'm not going to stay quiet when she keeps attacking her and attacking me for defending her. In case you're not well-aware, Elizabeth, you've got both your parents, which is two more than Hope and I have."

Hope sighed, a shake to her head as she stared down Lizzie. "And you know what? Maybe I was jealous. Maybe I wanted what you had. A simple day with my family. I lost half of my stuff in that fire, including the only painting I made with my dad. Why would I do that to myself?"

Everything was quiet after that.

And Nathaniel could only think to put his arm around Hope and hold her a little tighter. Which, maybe wasn't much, but it was enough to comfort the tribrid.

But it didn't last long.

"I work for an organization that keeps monsters and things that go bump in the night from public view."

That guy? He called himself agent Clark.

Nathaniel stood in the middle of Hope and Alaric while Clark stood before them. There was a feeling- a strong one at that- and Nathaniel didn't believe a word that would come out of his mouth. Something wasn't right, and the nephilim knew Hope and Alaric sensed it too.

"I thought I recognized you three," Clark slightly smiled, looking them over. "I didn't know if it was a coincidence, so we searched your van. We know you're Alaric Saltzman, headmaster of the Salvatore School. We know a lot about it. You have a terrific reputation."

Alaric cringed slightly. "Why don't you leave the school out of this?"

"Look, I applaud your school's mission. If you do your job right; makes mine easier."

Nathaniel snorted incredulously. "Then why are we still here, Norman Bates?"

Clark hummed. "Well, Jake-"

"It's Nathaniel," Nathaniel responded with a tight-lip smile. "And she's not Jessica."

"Well, Nathaniel," Clark restarted. "I have an entire town that needs to forget what they've seen today. We could use the assistance of a vampire."

There was a small pause.

And Nathaniel knew where it was going.

"We spotted the daylight ring on your son's boyfriend."

Nathaniel snorted.

Hope's eyes narrowed. "Why not call it a freak swarm of bugs? Why erase it from memory?"

"Because someone may recognize them for what they are," Clark stated like it was obvious, and they were all idiots. "Harbingers."

"Of what?" Hope inquired.

Clark snorted. "Seriously?"

But Nathaniel already knew. "A mummy."

Clark's gaze instantly landed on Nathaniel, and the agent was pleasantly surprised with the nephilim. "You're smart- the mummy injured one of our recruits. It's been walking around town. Still is. And it's heading in our direction as we speak."

▆▆▆▆▆▆ ★ ▆▆▆▆▆▆

unedited.
hi hello,
so i know Lizzie's a bit much rn
but i swear she'll get better, i have
plans for her :)))))
anywho, guess who's getting married
on monday!!! you guessed it, me
that's who! i'm so frkn exciteddd

btw, in all my excitement, i made
hate/nope manips, LOOK AT MY
BABIESSSSS