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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍.
[𝟏𝟒]. 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒
𝐀 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐄.
【 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄 】
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❛ 𝘐'𝘔 𝘕𝘖𝘛 𝘎𝘖𝘖𝘋
𝘞𝘐𝘛𝘏 𝘖𝘙𝘋𝘌𝘙𝘚 ❜
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THE DAY OR TWO THAT followed Hope and Nathaniel's goodbye deemed to be everything but uneventful. For starters, Landon Kirby went M.I.A and the only way Nathaniel even noticed was because Doctor Saltzman made him aware of it after Hope heard a voicemail. And to top it off, Team Misfits was recruited on an extraction mission to save the damn princess in distress once again from the place Hope knew where it was, but decided on keeping it to herself- Triad industries.

In other words: Malivore.

Safe to say; things were hectic.

"Any word on Jed?" Nathaniel asked.

Hope shook her head. "He tranquilized you and ran. No one has seen him since."

Nathaniel hummed.

"Alright, supernaturals," Nathaniel brought in everyone's- Lizzie, Josie and Kaleb's- attention. "Let's get a move on. We're burning daylight."

They didn't have to be told twice before everyone was grabbing their gear and making their way towards the Salvatore school's entrance. Nathaniel lead the way, Hope at his side, and the others silently followed before making their way down the doorsteps, onto the driveway.

That's when an army of men approached.

"Oh, sorry. We were about to knock."

Nathaniel's eyes narrowed. "We don't have the time for this, Modern Warfare."

"Who the hell are you?" Hope inquired.

"The name's Burr-" as if that meant something to them. "Triad Industries."

Okay, now that was a problem.

And Hope instantly reacted. "Propellere."

But that didn't seem to work.

"I got this," Kaleb intervened.

And when Kaleb tried to vampspeed his way towards the armed men, his powers took a quick nosedive as his daylight ring became useless on his finger. Instantly, the vampire retracted into the shadows when his skin began to burn. Something in Nathaniel didn't sit right, but the last thing the nephilim wanted to do was cause deadly injury to what he presumed were humans, so he stayed still.

Hope gave Nathaniel a look.

"What you don't got is magic- which is why your daylight ring won't work," Burr smirked wickedly. "And what we have are stakes, wolfsbane and other things. So, I think you should invite us inside."

Much time didn't pass before everyone was inside and taking orders from the Triad men. They were looking for another one of Malivore's artifacts- the Chalice of Arimathea, and for some reason they all seemed to believe the Salvatore School was in possession of it. Nathaniel couldn't help but let his gold eyes roam the armed men in distaste.

Burr hummed. "Now, you know this place a lot better than we do, so the sooner you help us find it, the sooner we'll be gone."

Nathaniel snorted. "I'm not good with orders."

The cold end of Burr's gun was pressed against Nathaniel's forehead. "Yeah? Well, you're about to be."

A big smirk appeared on Nathaniel's lips. "Try me."

That's when Nathaniel felt a small grip on his arm and when the nephilim looked at the owner of the hand on him, he found Hope, slowly pulling at him until Burr lowered his gun. When the weapon was no longer pointed at Nathaniel, Hope's body relaxed only slightly but it did nothing to make Nathaniel feel less frustrated.

"We'll look for it," Hope assured.

And with that, everyone dispersed.

Lizzie, Josie, Hope and Nathaniel ended up in Doctor's Saltzman's office with a desperate attempt at getting the school phone to work, but the line came back dead. That's when Hope's desperation began to spike up and Nathaniel just looked at her intently.

"Why didn't you let him shoot?"

Hope stilled. "Huh?"

Nathaniel shook his head. "The bullet wouldn't have done anything."

"There were kids in the room, Nate."

Nathaniel hummed.

There was an awkward silence as Lizzie and Josie eyed them both. The tension was strong, and taking into consideration what they had done a few nights prior, it all seemed to make everything even more tense between them. Saying goodbye and still seeing each other wasn't working out for either. Not when they wanted to be that close again.

"Shouldn't we be looking for the school phone?" Josie interrupted.

And Hope cleared her throat.

It wasn't much later that a call was made to Doctor Saltzman after finding the school phone, and as always, the order was to not do anything crazy. But, knowing Nathaniel Forbes and Hope Mikaelson, doing something crazy always meant saving everyone's asses. So, choosing the latter seemed more preferable.

"So, what do we do now?" Lizzie asked.

Nathaniel crossed his arms over his chest. "We find a way to get you all your powers back so you can get rid of these asshats."

Lizzie eyed Nathaniel. "Speaking of, why haven't you? Mister I don't need magic because I have divinity."

"I can't kill humans," Nathaniel feigned a tight smile. "Can't help you, atomic blonde."

"Wait," Josie intervened. "Dad said not to do anything crazy."

Hope sighed. "Us defying your dad isn't crazy, it's consistent."

That's when the office doors swung open.

And in came Burr.

"Well, at least we know where you stand."

Nathaniel instantly turned. "Oh, we weren't on the same page?"

Burr took a second to inspect Nathaniel. "You're not very scared of me, are you?"

"Aw, don't say that," Nathaniel pouted mockingly. "I'm shaking."

That's when Burr pointed his gun at Nathaniel for a second time, but all the nephilim could do was smile at it before rolling his eyes. Burr took that in as he watched Nathaniel, and something sparked in the military man's eyes. Nathaniel wasn't sure what that was, but nonetheless, the nephilim gave it no mind. It wouldn't hurt him.

"That's your plan?" Hope asked. "You're gonna shoot a kid?"

Burr snorted lightly. "This gun would never harm a human child. But you four however- these bullets were formed from the mud of the Malivore pit and weaponized by Triad scientists. They can break the skin of any supernatural like a hot knife through butter. Fester. Infect them. Disintegrate them from the inside out."

Everyone's faces completely changed after the weight of Burr's words hit them.

Nathaniel, who stood to the far left, slowly stepped closer until Josie was to his right, the nephilim's eyes never leaving the gun Burr held in his clutch as he pointed it at Nathaniel with a gleeful smile. The military man was giddy and Nathaniel's eyes were turning gold.

"We don't know where the chalice is," Josie stated.

"I believe you," Burr nodded. "This is just for fun, really."

And that's when the gun began being pointed around.

Eeny.

Lizzie.

Meeny.

Hope.

Miney.

Nathaniel.

And Moe.

But Nathaniel wasn't about to let Josie be it.

Once the bullet caught the nephilim when he stepped before Josie, Nathaniel hit the floor with a thump while holding onto his rib. The wound instantly began to burn and Nathaniel's eyes slightly widened at the surprise. Even more so when the sensation wasn't going away. In return; Hope, Jose and Lizzie were on their knees in an instant with worried expressions on their faces to aid Nathaniel.

"Son of a bitch," Nathaniel spat between clenched teeth.

Burr simply snorted. "Lock them up."

Two of Burr's men entered Alaric's office before aggressively pulling the four supernatural teens towards the cellars. There wasn't much, if any, fight on anyone's part, and even less so with Hope and Lizzie helping carry Nathaniel's weight as the nephilim hissed under his breath in pain.

"Why would you do that?" Josie voiced, holding onto a cellar bar.

Nathaniel gave her a look from the worn out bed as sweat dotted his brow. Narrowed eyes and a slight quiver to Nathaniel's upper lip met Josie's stare, but the Gemini witch couldn't bring herself to look away. There was guilt there. And the nephilim was almost sure it wasn't just because Nathaniel took a bullet for her. It stemmed deeper.

A fire in Hope's room deeper.

"I really wanted to get shot today," Nathaniel's voice was laced in sarcasm.

Josie scoffed. "I could have taken it."

"Boo-fucking-hoo," Nathaniel rolled his eyes. "I'm so sorry I took your selfless hero moment from you, Josie. Next time we're being shot at by anti-supernatural radioactive bullets, I'll be sure to tell them you're up first."

"That looks painful," Lizzie interrupted, eyeing Nathaniel's wound.

"It tickles, actually," Nathaniel heavily breathed out through his nose.

"Shouldn't it be healing?" Hope inquired.

Nathaniel sighed. "Can we stop worrying about this for a second and focus on taking down these assholes? It's not like I'm dying."

"You don't know that!" Hope bursted out, surprising everyone around her. "It's spreading. Nephilim's always heal up, this type of thing never happens to you and you know it, Nate."

"Tough," Nathaniel bit back, his eyes crazy. "We're not sidetracking because they decided to fuck with the order of my mechanism. First we figure out how to get everyones powers back, then we deal with the wound. Alright?"

Everyone nodded, not completely on board with the idea of leaving Nathaniel unattended.

"Good."

"Hey!" One of the guards hit a cellar bar with a metal paddle. "Keep it down in there."

Lizzie instantly turned. "We're not in the prison yard, asshat."

And before anyone could really react beyond Lizzie's outburst, Burr's man instantly grabbed a hold of his neck when a dart struck the backside of it. As the guard fell to the ground, the four locked-up supernaturals saw MG standing at the stairs of the cellar's exit with a gun in hand.

"My hero," Nathaniel praised.

MG walked up to the cellar door before using a pair of keys to unlock it. Nathaniel slowly stood with a paleness to him that couldn't help but worry Hope as the nephilim continued to sweat. Nonetheless, the tribrid didn't comment on it.

Then MG began to explain something about a blood fountain being somewhere in the basement through some tunnels.

"I was looking for a way to shut it off, but I couldn't figure out how."

Nathaniel huffed. "I'll find the secret tunnel."

"Nate," Hope warned.

"You need to stop babying me, Hope. I'm fine!"

"Fine! But I'm going with you."

"Wait," MG interrupted, turning to Hope. "You need to go find Landon. We don't need you here."

"I can't just leave you guys."

Nathaniel scoffed. "Go find your boyfriend."

MG gave Nathaniel a look. "You should go with her, actually."

Hope shook her head. "He's wounded."

That's when Nathaniel's whole world froze.

Hope dying will be the least of your worries.

Everything will end on Malivore's doorstep.

"I'm going."

And before Hope could object, Nathaniel was walking out of the room while doing his best to maintain any discomforting noises to a minimum. Hope groaned, instantly following behind Nathaniel to try and convince him against the nephilim going with her.

Even then, Hope knew damn well Nathaniel wasn't going to budge any time soon.

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unedited.
i havent updated in so long oop-
i had some free time and decided on making this chapter on my phone, which is why there is no gif available. which will probably be the case for the chapters that are left because i sold my computer lmao. anywho, i really hope you enjoyed this filler chapter. i missed nathaniel.