04. Hope Is Not The Goal

"Given our recent influx of monsters,  the sheriff and I have decided we need to take drastic action" Alaric informed the whole school, "Please give him your full attention".

"Like Dr. Saltzman was saying, local girls Dana Lilien and Sasha Stoteraux didn't come home last night" Sheriff Matt Donovan informed the students, "Dana sometimes skips town for a few days to party, but this is a first for Sasha".

"Thank you, Sheriff Donovan" Alaric said, stepping back to the podium, "Now while the knife is away with Dorian and things are quiet on his end, it won't hurt to assume the worst, now, 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, which, unfortunately is necessary, given recent events, now, I give you permission to compel them, to gather materials for locator spells, because any information we can get will make all the difference".

Lizzie stood up from her chair and addressed her fellow classmates, "Well, I guess that I can set aside my differences with Dana for a day, because that is what heroes do".

"Is she serious?" Nova whispered to Hope.

"She's Lizzie, of course she's serious" Hope whispered back, the two girls started laughing, causing Mia who was sitting in the middle of them, to hit the back of their heads and give the two girls a warning look.

Lizzie turned to face her father, "So, I volunteer as tribute".

Mia looked down at her lap for a second, a thoughtful expression on her face, the next second she stood up, "I volunteer as well" she said, immediately causing her brothers to glare at her and her best friends to face palm.

"Mia, battling one gargoyle doesn't make you mother Teresa, so sit down" Alex demanded, the boys sitting behind the three girls.

Mia looked at her brother, "I'm not being mother Teresa, as Lizzie said, I'm being an hero, this is what mom would have done".

Mia's words caused Asher to scoff and Alec's glare on his sister to intensify.

"I'm with Mia on this one" Nova said, standing up.

"Nova!" Asher scolded.

"St. John, sit your ass down!" an extremely annoyed Alec demanded.

"Nope" Nova said, before turning to Alaric, "I'm in as well".

Jayden shook his head at the two girls and stood up from his seat, "Count me in too".

"You guys can't give me one day off?" an annoyed Alec asked, before standing up as well, "I'm in too".

Alec and Jayden looked at Asher, "Absolutely not" Asher stated, "Today is my day off".

Mia and Nova turned to Hope, "I'm with Asher on this one, you guys enjoy this one".

"Oh we will" an excited Mia said, making her family and friend chuckle at her excitement.

***

While everyone got ready to leave, Asher and Hope decided to use the empty gym to practice their fighting.

"So, who the hell are you and what have you done with Hope Mikaelson?" a curious Asher asked, as he and Hope battled each other with sticks.

"What do you mean?" a confused Hope asked.

"I mean, I never though I'd see the day you'd leave Mia's side" Asher replied.

Hope chuckled, "Trust me, it wasn't an easy decision, but Mia's going to be alright, she has a lot of people looking after her, I had to stay back and look after her brother".

Asher suddenly stopped attacking Hope and looked at her in slight shock, "You stayed back for me?".

"And why is that so shocking?" Hope asked.

"I don't need a babysitter, Hope" Asher said.

"I know" Hope assured, "But as your female best friend, I'm always worried about you and when I have you infront of my eyes, it helps keep the worry at ease".

"I'm not that bad" Asher said, "You don't have to worry about me".

"I don't worry about you because you're bad, Ash" Hope said, "I worry about you because you tend to keep all your emotions to yourself, the thing I'm worried about is one day all those emotions becoming too much for you to handle".

"I'm Damon Salvatore's son" Asher reminded, "Emotions don't overwhelm me".

"Uh correction, emotions did overwhelm your father, he did the exact same thing you do and once it got too much for him, a lot of people got hurt" Hope reminded.

Asher sighed, "I'm not going to hurt people, Hope".

"I'm not saying you are, I just want to be there for you, as your best friend, why is that so hard for you to accept?" Hope asked.

"I don't know" Asher admitted, "It just is".

***

One by one, Kaleb, MG, Lizzie, Mia, Nova, Alec, Jayden and Landon, stepped out of the Salvatore Boarding School's bus.

While walking a nervous Landon bumped into Lizzie, "Sorry, sorry" Landon quickly apologised to the blonde Saltzman.

"I was making an entrance, mophead" an annoyed Lizzie snapped.

"Sorry, I just had a flashback to my freshman year here" Landon informed.

"Girls are missing, so get your wedgie trauma in check or leave" Lizzie said.

"Lizzie, it won't kill you to talk nicely once" Mia snapped.

Jayden looked at Mia, "And why are you caring so much about the mophead?" he asked, "Did you forget what he did?".

"I didn't forget anything" Mia defended, "I just don't think being mean to him is going to achieve anything", Jayden scoffed at Mia's words, he then looked at Landon and glared at him with immense hatred.

"What is going on here?" a confused Alec whispered to Nova.

Nova shook her head, "You really are blind".

"Excuse me?" Alec asked.

"Don't worry, you'll figure it out eventually" Nova said, patting Alec's shoulder.

"Okay, here's the deal" Lizzie said, addressing the group of students, "Landon, you talk to any of the people you still know from when you went here, Alec, you try to not deliberately alienate the entire student body while the rest of us save the world".

"This isn't a contest, Lizzie" Nova reminded.

"You're right" Lizzie said, "It's a mission for a hero and her league of, whatevers".

"Yeah, screw that, I work alone" Kaleb said, walking away.

"MG, I need your compulsion skills" Lizzie said, "Would you like to be the Robin to my Batwoman?".

"Actually, Batwoman doesn't have a Robin" MG clarified, "She--".

"Metaphor nerd, let's go, okay" Lizzie interrupted, putting her hands on MG's shoulders and dragging him away.

"You" Alec pointed towards Nova, "Are with me?".

"Why am I with you?" a confused Nova asked.

"You're gonna stop me from getting angry and murdering everyone in this school" Alec informed.

"Of course I am" Nova mumbled, before waving bye to Mia and walking away with Alec.

An awkward Mia looked between Jayden and Landon, "And then there were three".

***

Asher entered the dinning room, after a bit of looking around, his eyes finally landed on Hope and he made his way over to her.

Hearing someone sit next to her, caused Hope to stop writing and look towards the person and a smile formed on her face seeing Asher.

"And why aren't you eating in your room like usual?" a curious Hope asked.

"That was the plan" Asher admitted, "But then I remembered you were alone, so I decided to eat with you today".

Hope smiled, "How thoughtful, Mr. Salvatore".

"Thank you, I try, sometimes" Asher said, making Hope chuckle, "So what are you writing instead of eating?".

"Offensive spells" Hope revealed.

"You're working on offensive spells?" a confused Asher asked, Hope nodded her head in confirmation, "Why?".

"Because we all know offensive spells because of our families back in New Orleans, but the students in this school, they only know defensive magic" Hope reminded, "And if they're going to have a chance at defeating all these monsters that keep coming at us, it's important for them to know both offensive and defensive spells".

"You really think Alaric is going to change the curriculum?" Asher asked.

"I think I'm going to have a conversation with him and if he refuses, then we go to the higher authorities" Hope stated.

"Higher authorities, like our dads?" Asher asked.

"Like our dads" Hope confirmed.

"Smart" Asher commented, knowing Alaric stood no chance against Klaus and Kol Mikaelson, their say was the last say in this school.

Jed, a werewolf, walked over to the two best friends, "Bounce Salvatore, Hope and I need to have a little chat" he told Asher.

Hope glared at Jed, "Yeah, I don't think so asshole, we're having a conversation here".

"Listen to your alpha, Mikaelson" Jed said, "You're done, when I say you're done".

Hope stood up from her chair, "My alpha?" she asked, "Are you forgetting who I am? You're not the alpha here Jed, you never will be".

Asher stood up, a proud smile on his face, "You heard the actual alpha" he taunted Jed, "Now move out of our way, we have to get to class".

Both Hope and Asher grabbed their things and walked out the dinning room, leaving a furious Jed behind.

***

"This is the senior hallway" Landon informed Mia and Jayden, "Where I spent much of my formative years stuffed in every locker, except this one, that one doesn't open, on your left, you'll find the bathroom, it's where I had my first kiss with a toilet".

"Wow, your high school life was pathetic" Jayden taunted.

"Jay" Mia warned.

"Don't Jay me, Mia" Jayden snapped, "Just cause we're not being openly hostile to him, doesn't mean that all of a sudden we're all friends".

"I mean, you're pretty openly hostile to me" Landon pointed out.

"Wrong thing to say" Mia told Landon, as Jayden glared at Landon, really resisting the urge to punch him.

"Right" Landon whispered, before looking at Jayden, "Sorry, just, I was going for effortlessly natural, but this is all just making me really nervous, like, the school and seeing Connor and being with Mia--".

"Being with Mia?!" Jayden asked, taking a step towards Landon.

"Okay" Mia said, stepping between the two and pushing Jayden away from Landon before he could hurt him, she then looked at the human boy, "Uh Lizzie said you have to talk to people you know".

"That's easier said than done" Landon said, "There is no way Dana's clique is talking to me unless you have a spell that will make me retroactively cool".

"Fine, then I'll talk to them" Mia said.

"It's even worse for you, trust me" Landon said, "You have no idea how human high schools work, you're the new girl, might as well be radioactive".

"I've heard enough high school stories from my godmother to know how this whole thing works" Mia said, "I've got this".

"If she says she's got this, then she's got this" Jayden stated, making Mia smile at him, his belief in her making her very happy.

"I'm sorry" a cheerleader said, walking over to Mia, "You look traumatized, is this loser bothering you?".

A wide eyed Mia looked at Landon then Jayden, who gestured his head towards the girls, after taking a deep breath, Mia looked at the girl and with her best mean girl voice said, "He keeps trying to sell me his weird mix tape".

"Gross, well, we're going to lunch, you hungry?".

"So much" Mia replied, before walking away with the girls.

Once Mia walked away, Landon looked at Jayden, "They're gonna eat her alive".

"She's Caroline Forbes's goddaughter, she knows how to deal with means girls" Jayden said.

***

"Hey" Mia greeted, rushing over to Landon and Jayden.

"Nice ears" an amused Jayden said, looking at the cat ears headband on Mia's head.

"Thank you" Mia smiled.

"Let me guess, pigtails spilled her guts and confessed to kidnapping Dana and Sasha, case closed" Landon said.

"Her name isn't pigtails, it's Cheryl" Mia corrected, "And she didn't confess, but she did invite me to try out for the cheerleading team".

"You thinking of trying out?" Jayden asked.

Mia shrugged, "Maybe, I mean mom was a cheerleader, maybe I can follow in her footsteps".

"Who are you right now?" an annoyed Landon asked, "And what is that thing on your head?".

"She's Mia Salvatore" Jayden snapped, glaring at the human boy.

"And this headband was a gift from Cheryl" Mia informed.

"You're better than this, Mia" Landon said.

Both Mia and Jayden looked at Landon, one in confusion, the other in anger.

"Don't pretend like you know her" Jayden snapped.

"What he said" Mia said, not liking Landon's judgy tone, "Anyways, I took this from Cheryl, because Dana gave it to her, I might be able to use to do a locator spell on Dana, I also found out that though Sasha and Connor are dating, Dana was sleeping with Connor behind Sasha's back".

"Yeah, some clue" Landon said sarcastically, "Everyone at this school knows Connor's a dick".

"Are you slow?" Jayden asked Landon, "I mean come on, adultery, missing girls, it's like every TV show that Alaric watches, I think in those shows they call this kind of thing a crime of passion".

"Exactly" Mia said, high fiving Jayden.

"I know Connor" Landon said, "He's made my life a living hell, but he's not a killer, trust me".

"Yeah, not doing that again, Mia and Hope trusting you is what got us here today" Jayden reminded, his eyes landing behind Landon, "Oh look, there's your bully", Landon and Mia turned around, both of them saw Connor walking into a classroom, "Mia, you're the good cop, I'm the bad, Landon, stay here and don't interfere".

"Hold up" Landon said, before turning to Mia, "While you were off making friends I did some sleuthing of my own", he pointed towards a blonde girl that was wearing a scarf around her neck, "Scarf in Virginia heat? Sounds like a lead, I think they call it".

Mia and Jayden exchanged a look between them before following the girl with Landon.

***

"Kaleb!" Mia yelled, her, Landon and Jayden followed the girl right towards Kaleb, who was waiting in the back of the school for the girl, so he could feed on her.

"Let her go!" Jayden demanded.

An annoyed Caleb rolled his eyes and turned back to the girl and started compelling her, "Date's over, it's not me, it's you, now forget this ever happened and get back to class".

Once the girl walked away, Nova, Alec, Lizzie and MG walked over to the group.

"Great, Mia's already here" an annoyed Lizzie told MG.

"Thought we were cool bruh" Kaleb told MG.

"Don't bruh him" Lizzie snapped, "Second place or not, we know you killed Dana".

"Wait, Dana's dead?" a shocked Nova asked Lizzie.

"Dr. Saltzman said they found her dead from a vampire bite" MG informed.

"I didn't kill her, so y'all need to get the hell outta my face" Kaleb snapped, he tried to use his vampire speed to run away from the group, but before he could get far, Alec used his magic to give Kaleb an aneurism, causing the vampire to yell in pain and fall to the ground.

"Come on" Alec said, walking over to Kaleb, and the group quickly following after him, "And where do you think you're going, Kaleb?".

Kaleb stood up from the ground and glared at Alec, "I told you, all I did was feed, torture me all you want to but my answer's gonna stay the same because I didn't kill Dana".

"Uh, he's right" Landon said.

"And how would you know?" an annoyed Nova asked.

"Call it a hunch" Landon simply said, pointing towards the trees behind Kaleb, from which Dana was seen crawling out of, the side of her neck bleeding and her clothes full of dirt.

***

"We were on the way to graffiti the mill at your school" Dana explained, sitting on the bench outside Mystic Falls High, "It was a harmless prank, but then I got snatched, next thing I remember, I woke up in a ditch, so enjoy it while you can Mia, I'm sure I look like crap".

"Where did I come in all this?" a confused Mia asked.

"Oh my god" a panicked Dana cried, touching the side of her neck, "What is that?".

"Um, it's--" a panicked Nova looked at her friends, "I don't know what to say to her".

"It's the mother of all hickeys" Lizzie blurted out, "You're fine Dana, you're just a little slutty".

Dana let out an annoyed scoff, "I don't even like any of you", she stood up from her seat, "I should be talking to the cops".

Alec blocked Dana's way, "Yeah, not happening, Nova".

Nova nodded her head, "Ad somnum" she chanted, her spell causing Dana to fall unconscious and fall to the ground.

Lizzie glared at Kaleb in annoyance, "So you didn't kill her, you freaking turned her?!".

"Turned her?" Kaleb asked, "You think I want to sit and listen to that for all eternity?".

"But someone did turn her" Mia pointed out, "Guys we have a transition vampire on our hands, what the hell do we do with her?".

***

"So let me get this straight" Landon said, opening the back door of the bus while MG carried an unconscious Dana and Landon helped him lay Dana down on the floor of the bus, "Dana died with vampire blood in her system so she came back to life and now she's in transition, and she needs to feed or die?".

"Nailed it, bro" MG said, as Landon stepped out the bus, "Easy decision, right?", feeling something on his hand, caused MG to look down and to his confusion he saw spider webs, without thinking much of it, he simply removed the web from his hand.

"All right, so, we give her human blood, it's that simple" Kaleb said.

"Except it's not" Mia said, "What if Dana doesn't want to be a vampire?".

"Mia's right" Nova said, "We can't force her, that won't be right".

"Dana's traumatized, you guys, this is a huge decision" Lizzie said, "Maybe we should give her a day or two".

"Except she doesn't have more than a day" Alec retorted.

"Yeah, if she doesn't feed, she'll die in about a day" Jayden added.

"Opps" Lizzie simply said, not really caring about Dana's life, "I suck at math".

"You should tell her the truth" Landon said, "My guess is that she'd be psyched to be at a place like your school, I know I would".

"You're awful quiet over there, MG" Kaleb observed.

"I'm a feminist, bruh" MG said, "I'm not gonna tell Dana what to do with her body", MG glanced at Dana, before turning to Kaleb, "Landon's right".

"Said nobody ever" an annoyed Jayden mumbled, while MG and Kaleb looked at Lizzie for her answer.

"Ugh, fine" an annoyed Lizzie said, "Okay, but to be clear, she is not joining drill team".

"If that's what we're called, I don't think anyone is" Alec stated.

"Nova" Mia said, gesturing her head towards the sleeping Dana.

Nova nodded her head, "Surgere" she chanted, her spell immediately causing Dana to wake up.

Dana groaned and slowly sat up, "Did I pass out? I don't feel so well".

"Dana, we know how you feel" a sympathetic Mia said, "You're not ill, you're just really hungry".

"Anorexia was sophomore year" Dana snapped, "This is something else".

"You'll feel better after you feed" MG assured, "I promise".

"Oh, shut up!" Dana yelled, "For real, god, even thinking about eating makes me want to--", before she could complete her sentence, Dana started puking out black blood, immediately causing a disgusted expression to come on the students of the Salvatore school and causing them to simultaneously take a step back from her.

"Oh, damn, what'd that girl eat?" a disgusted Kaleb said.

"I'm going to be sick" Mia said, hiding her face in Jayden's chest, Jayden's hands automatically going around her waist.

"Same" Nova said, going behind Alec and hiding her face against his back.

"I think her soul just got on my shoes, ew" Lizzie complained.

"I think imma be sick, too" MG said.

"Is this normal?" Landon asked.

"What do you think?" Jayden asked.

"She's puking her guts out, literally" Alec pointed out.

"Someone stop her" Nova said,

"How do you stop someone from puking?!" Alec asked.

"If I knew I wouldn't be telling you to stop her!" Nova snapped, as the group watched Dana puke till there was literally nothing left in her body to puke out.

***

"Should we call Ric?" a confused Mia asked, looking at Dana's dead body.

"Why?" Lizzie asked, "So he can take another bullet for you?".

"When did he ever take a bullet for me?" an annoyed Mia asked.

"You know Lizzie, I know it's hard for you, but sometimes it's okay to use your brain" Alec snapped, "We have to call Ric and let him know that whatever did this, it wasn't a vampire".

"It has to be another monster that was released from the knife" Jayden realised.

Kaleb looked at Landon, "Or maybe the monster's been right infront of us all along" he said, walking over to him.

"What?" a shocked Landon asked, "Are you serious?".

"Hey, none of this started happening until you showed up and stole that knife, which is exactly what the other monsters came here to do" Kaleb pointed out, "You saying it's a coincidence?".

"Yeah, yes I am" Landon snapped, he looked at all the other students and saw them looking at him with a suspicious look on his face, he then looked at Mia, "You believe me, right?", but Mia didn't say anything, just looked down at her feet because she just couldn't deny the facts that were in front of her, "Got it", Landon walked away from the group, "Say no more".

***

"Nasty" Kaleb commented, looking at Lizzie who was spraying Dana's puke with water, "Yeah, so, I'm out of here, but little piece of advice, Landon could be in there right now eating fools, so, I'll holla", Kaleb walked away from the group.

"Guys, I know Landon is really suspicious right now, but what if it's not him?" a concerned Nova asked, "What if we're wrong about him?".

"If it's not Landon, then who is it?" a confused Mia asked.

"What is it?" Alec asked.

"Spider" MG suddenly blurted out, looking down at a paper, "A big spider, an arachne, if you want to get specific", MG showed the paper in his hand to the group.

Lizzie snatched the paper from MG's hand and read it, "This is nerd porn, not real life".

"So were dragons and gargoyles" MG pointed out, "The writer bases her comics off of Greek lore, an arachne was originally a beautiful woman who was cursed by a jealous god and turned into a giant spider, all it wants is to be human, so it wears the skin of its prey to pass, oh my god, its fangs are huge, so they could pass for a vampire bite and its bite liquefies its victims! Plus, I found a web in Dana's hair".

"That actually makes sense" Jayden said, "It would explain why it's here and not following Dorian, an insect the size of a car can't roam the highways in hopes of someone giving them a lift, the only way it can do that, is if they inhabit someone's body".

"But whose?" a confused Mia asked.

"Sasha?" Nova suggested.

"My money is still on your boyfriend" Lizzie told Mia.

"He's not her boyfriend" Jayden snapped, making Alec look at him in confusion, wondering why did he sound so angry hearing Lizzie call Landon, Mia's boyfriend.

"If we had something from this thing, we could do a tracking spell" Nova pointed out, ignoring Jayden's jealousy.

"Would it's face work?" Landon asked, running over to the group, a slab of skin in his hand.

"And this day keeps getting grosser and grosser" Mia mumbled, looking away from Landon.

***

After Alec did a locator spell, the group ran through the words towards where the place locater spell showed them the arachne was at.

As they were running through the woods, the school phone that was with MG started ringing, "It's for you" MG told Lizzie, handing the phone to Lizzie, "No way I'm telling your dad what we're about to do".

"I suck at lying" Lizzie said, before handing the phone over to Landon, "You're great at it".

Landon handed the phone over to Mia, "You're his favorite".

"No, I'm not" Mia said, handing the phone over to Nova.

"You're the best at talking shit" Nova said, handing Alec the phone.

"I'll just end up arguing with him" Alec said, giving Jayden the phone, 

Jayden gave the phone back to Lizzie, "Your dad, you deal with him".

"Hi, daddy!" Lizzie greeted, finally answering Alaric's call.

"Hey, thought I'd call, check in, see how things are going" Alaric said.

"So good" Lizzie lied.

"Really?" Alaric asked, "Define good, Lizzie, because I don't think that involves me tracking down Dana's body to the glove compartment".

"Listen, dad, it's fine" Lizzie assured, "We cracked the case, it's a spider, but, like, a big, huge nasty spider, and MG's comic books know how to kill it".

"Comic books?" Alaric asked, "Really? Lizzie, listen to me, whatever you're thinking of doing, don't, okay? So just tell me where you are, and Matt and I will be right there, and where is Alec and Jayden?".

"I'm sorry, dad" Lizzie apologised, "You're gonna have to trust me for once", Lizzie hanged up on her dad, making the rest of the group look at her slightly impressed, not expecting her to do that, "Let's do this".

***

Landon rushed into the old cabin in the woods that the spider was in, having trapped Josie and Rafael in it's web.

"Hey! Douchebag!" Landon yelled, gaining the giant spider's attention, "Oh", Landon quickly stepped back, allowing Nova and Mia to enter the cabin.

"Spiders are the most gross creatures in this world" Nova stated, as her and Mia linked their hands together.

Alec and Jayden also rushed in and Alec held Nova's hand while Jayden held Mia's hand.

"What spell are we using?" a panicked Mia asked.

"Imperium fluctus malleus" Alec informed, the other three nodded their heads and started chanting the spell over and over again, with their magic combined, it didn't take the four long before they managed to kill the spider by making it explode.

***

After hearing about what their friends were up to, worried Hope and Asher quickly rushed towards the cabin, as they arrived there, they saw Rafael, Landon and MG with someone covered in webs.

"Where are they?!" a worried Asher asked Alaric.

"Are they okay?" an equally worried Hope asked.

"They're inside, fighting the arachne" MG informed.

Asher and Hope immediately exchanged a look between them, they took a step towards the cabin, to go help their friends out, but they didn't have to, as the moment they took a step, the group of four stepped out of the cabin, covered in the remains of the arachne, with huge smiles on her their faces, making a smile form on both Asher and Hope's face as well.

***

Once night had fallen and Mia had cleaned herself up, she met up with Lizzie and both of them walked over to MG who was with the Sasha, the girl who survived the arachne.

"Was she bitten?" Lizzie asked.

"No, Hope checked" Mia assured.

"You're gonna be fine" MG compelled the girl, "There was a party in the woods, you and Dana had the time of your lives, but on your way home, you guys were attacked by a mountain lion, you survived and Dana didn't, there was nothing you could do".

"Dana's dead?" a shocked Sasha asked.

"Just take it all away" Lizzie told MG, "Tell her not to feel anything".

"That's how grieve works, Lizzie" Mia said, "You can't compel her to not mourn her friend".

"I'm helping her" Lizzie defended.

"This isn't the way to help her" Mia retorted, before turning to MG, "Tell her that Dana's death is always going to hurt her, tell her some days will be easier to get through, while others will feel like hell, but slowly but surely, the pain will lessen and she will be left with the good memories she spent with Dana, tell her to hold on to those good memories, they're the only thing that will help her survive this".

An emotional Mia turned around to leave, only to come face to face with her older brother, both the siblings looked at each other and immediately they both knew, tonight was another night that they're going to spend missing their parents.

Asher stepped forward and hugged his sister, who gladly hugged him back, no words were needed to be exchanged between them, after breaking the hug, Asher put his arms around Mia and led her away, while Lizzie was left staring at the siblings, for the first time, recognising the constant pain the triplets were in, the pain of losing both their parents.

***

After dropping Mia to her room, Asher made his way to the docks, he sat on the edge and looked up at the sky.

"You okay?" a concerned Hope, walking over to Asher, and sitting next to him.

"Do you think they're looking out for us?" Asher asked, after a moment of silence, "My mom and dad, do you think they're looking out for me, Alec and Mia?".

"Of course they are, Ash" Hope whispered.

Asher looked at Hope, a sense of vulnerability in his eyes, "Why did they leave us, Hope? Didn't they know how much their children need them?".

"They didn't leave you, Ash" Hope said, she grabbed Asher's hand and placed it on his heart, "Your parents died for their children, but that doesn't mean they left their children alone, they still live on, through you, Alec and Mia, Damon and Aria Salvatore will always live on, you will never be alone Ash, because you're parents are there with you, they're here", Hope tapped Asher's heart, "And they will always be here".

"I just hope I can make them proud" a teary eyed Asher admitted, "All I want is for them to be proud of me".

"Of course they're proud of you, everyone is proud of you and the incredible man you're becoming Asher Salvatore" Hope assured.

"Are you?" a curious Asher asked, "Are you proud of me?".

"The most" Hope replied.

Asher gave Hope a thankful smile, he then wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her towards him, a smiling Hope put her head on Asher's shoulder, and the Salvatore and Mikaelson went on to look at the lake infront, completely missing a heartbroken Nova standing behind them.

Nova had been looking for her boyfriend, after looking around the whole school, she remembered this was Asher's favorite place so she quickly rushed over there to spend some time with him, she reached the docks the same time as Hope and ended up hearing the whole conversation between Asher and Hope.

Nova was hurt seeing Asher open up to Hope like this, especially when he never opened up to her, no matter how much she pleaded him, and despite trusting both Asher and Hope, Nova couldn't help but suspect if there was more to this relationship then they are showing.

***

Presenting 1x04 of Broken Hearted!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Jayden's hostile behavior towards Landon?

Thoughts on Alec, Nova, Jayden and Mia at Mystic Falls High?

Thoughts on the group of four combing their magic to defeat the arachne?

Thoughts on the small moment between Asher and Hope at the docks and Nova seeing them?

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