𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐒
she has a wild spirit, but a soft heart, and such a sweet soul

AS HOPE WALKED out of her bedroom, she spotted Isaac talking to Scott.

The blonde has been staying with them ever since Derek had kicked him out of the loft. At first, Melissa had strict rules against him saying in Hope's room for too long, but over time, she realized that they were just friends. Plus, she was rooting for someone else ending up with Hope.

"Someone else you say...?" Caroline smirked, leaning forward.

"I love how everyone sees that they belong together but them," Elena stated with a small smile.

"Um, are you- are you going to school?" The taller boy asked hesitantly, shifting on the spot.

Scott held onto his backpack, "uh, yeah."

"Okay, me too," Isaac replied.

"Good," The Latino boy nodded slowly, Isaac quickly joining in.

The blonde then broke the awkward silence that had engulfed them, "can I ask you a question?"

"Okay."

Hope held back the chuckle that wanted to escape her mouth due to this very awkward conversation. She knows exactly where this conversation was leading; Isaac had told her everything about what happened with Allison.

"What's the whole thing with Allison?" Enzo asked as he leaned a little towards Lizzie.

Lizzie grinned, eyes widening at the thought. "Oh, you're so gonna love this. So, Allison and Scott used to date." At Enzo's raised brow, she chuckled. "I know! And now Isaac seems to have a thing for Allison, and vise versa. Although!" She exclaimed, holding up her pointer finger. "Her and Scott still have moments. Like, almost romantic moments. So, I don't know. It's just weird."

"Are you angry at me?" Isaac asked hesitantly, biting his lip.

"No," Scott reassured him.

The blue eyed boy raised his brows, "are you sure?"

"No," Scott blinked.

"What does — what does that mean?"

"I guess I'm not really sure how I'm feeling," Scott replied honestly.

"Okay," Isaac nodded, "do you hate me?"

"Why is this kind of funny?" Bonnie asked with a snicker.

"It's entertaining, that's for sure," Kaleb said in agreement, throwing some popcorn in his mouth. He then threw one at MG who caught it in his mouth. Kaleb grinned and threw one far away, but MG vamp sped and still caught it in his mouth. Though, he ended up tripping over his own two feet and face planting which had pretty much everyone laughing.

Scott responded quickly, "no, of course not."

"Do you wanna hit me?"

Hope bit down on her lip, struggling with holding the laughter in. Never has she seen a conversation as awkward and funny as this one.

"No," Scott repeated.

"I think you should hit me," Isaac objected.

Scott scoffed, "I don't wanna hit you."

"Are you sure?"

"Why would I wanna hit you?" Scott was smiling in amusement, "you didn't do anything, did you?"

"No, I mean, um..." the Lahey boy started to stammer, "what do you mean?"

Scott grinned, "I mean, like, you didn't kiss her or anything, right?"

"Oop..." Lizzie pursed her lips, her lip curving upwards in amusement. "This isn't going to end well."

Isaac was quick to reply, "no! Absolutely not, no."

There was a small silence before Scott asked, "did you want to?"

"oh, yeah. Totally," he admitted confidently.

Hope burst out laughing as Isaac was suddenly sent flying back. His body slammed against the wall behind him causing a large picture frame to fall on the wooden floor. He grunted a little and looked up at Hope with a small glare.

"Whoop, there it is," Lizzie snickered, leaning backwards until her head was bent backwards over the bean bag chair just a bit to make eye contact with Kol.

Melissa came around the corner, "Hey, you two supernatural boys, don't test my entirely un-supernatural level of patience." She then walked away with a shake of her head.

"I love Melissa McCall," Josie stated with a smile.

"Wish we had a Mama McCall," MG mumbled as he found his way back to his seat.

"Feel better?" Isaac asked Scott, to which the latino werewolf nodded.

Just then, a honk came from outside.

Hope perked up even more and bent down to ruffle Isaac's curly hair. "See you two idiots at school!" She waved to Scott and ran down the stairs, her straightened hair flying behind her.

"She would only look that happy to see one person," Caroline grinned.

Upon seeing the fixed, blue jeep in her driveway, her grin naturally widened. She moved over to it and opened the door, taking her space in the passenger seat.

"Told you!" The blonde Forbes vampire exclaimed, giddy.

"Hey!" She exclaimed happily, buckling herself in before turning to face Stiles who looked a little anxious. She frowned and asked, "Are you okay?"

He opened his mouth, about to lie and say that he was fine because he didn't want to worry her. But, one look in those oceans eyes, and all he wanted to do was admit all his truths. "I, um..." He clenched his jaw as he thought over what he wanted to say. "I just- I had a really bad nightmare last night, sleep paralysis even. You were actually in it."

Caroline was so giddy at the statement.

"Um..." MG trailed off. He glanced at Hope's family, grimacing. Usually if a boy ends up dreaming about a girl, especially one they have a crush on, it's not going to be appropriate.

Klaus frowned deeply. Honestly surprised he doesn't have permanent frown marks lining his face at this point.

The way he admitted it, it sent dread throughout her. "I was? Did I do something to hurt you?" She never wants to do anything to hurt her fiends, even if it was just in a dream.

Lizzie face-palmed and shook her head. "She's so oblivious it hurts."

Jen snickered.

"No, no, no," Stiles shook his head quickly, "it was like a dream in a dream, you know? I woke up from my nightmare and you—" he cut himself off and blushed deeply. "You were there... in my—" he stopped and avoided eye contact. "You started comforting me and then I noticed the door was open. I wanted to close it, but for some reason you kept telling me to just leave it. Then I woke up again into another dream, and after that I woke up for real." He didn't want to admit the fullness of his dream, not wanting to worry her too much.

"Oh?" Freya frowned, tilting her head, worried about the boy. Usually if dreams are vague and weird like that, is a premonition or some sort of warning.

Klaus narrowed his eyes, pursing his lips. "My daughter was in his what? His bed?!" He growled lowly in his chest. Hayley snorted and shook her head at him. He turned to her abruptly, "you can't tell me that you're fine with this, Hayley."

She shrugged. "She's a girl. He's a boy. They clearly like each other. Things will happen."

He shook his head. "No. Never. Won't allow it."

"Oh, come on, Niklaus," Elijah goaded, fiddling with his suit cuffs. For the first time in forever, he wishes he was in something comfortable, not one of his many pristine suits. "You can't control her love life."

"Not like you did mine," Rebekah stated, imagining a bean bag and joining the others on the floor. She sighed and leaned back in the very cosy beanbag that was to the left of Jen and Lizzie. She is partially in front of Kol, but to the side. She imagined a Bloody Mary drink with actual blood in it, and it appeared in her hand. She grinned and took a sip of it. "Now, this is the life."

Hope frowned and reached over to place her hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry..." She shook her head. "It's all because of that sacrifice. I knew I shouldn't have let you do it. I should've just did that locat—"

"No." He shook his head and stared intently into her eyes. "You would've been hurt badly. And, anyway, it happened. We can't change anything, we just gotta deal with what happened."

Elena was smiling so wide at Stiles and Hope. They care so much about each other, it's adorable. They're awkward sometimes, but this is just the beginning of their epic love story. The way they care for each other, saves each other no matter if they themselves end up hurt reminds her of herself and Damon. And just because of that, she knows that Stiles and Hope will last.

She slowly nodded, rubbing her lips together as she thought. "Well, um, I'm just glad that you're awake and that it's over."

"That's the thing," Stiles gulped, looking across at her, "I'm scared this is just the beginning."

The tribrid inhaled deeply and retracted her hand from his shoulder to pinch her the bridge of her nose. "What do you mean?"

"She's so stressed out," Hayley frowned, hating this. "She should not be this stressed out as a teenager. It's not fair."

"No, it's not," Freya agreed, hating seeing her niece so stressed and scared and in pain all the time. It makes her chest ache.

"This morning I couldn't read," he explained, "the worlds were just jumbled up and they looked like they were in some sort of foreign language. My dad called my name and I snapped out of it, but I've never had problems reading before."

Freya shook her head, swallowing thickly. That isn't good.

Bonnie frowned, leaning forward. "What does that mean?"

No one had any answers.

But they all knew it wasn't good.

Hope was silent for a few seconds as she thought over what Stiles had just told her. "If you want to... I can cast a calming spell over you. Hopefully it'll help ease your mind and you'll be able to relax the rest of the day." She then bit her lip as she thought of something else. "And, maybe... I can spend the night with you."

Stiles' eyes widened and he sucked in a great amount of air which had him coughing loudly.

Multiple people snickered at that.

"He's such a loser," Lizzie stated with a shake of her head.

"A cute loser, though," Caroline smiled, "and I know that Hope agrees with that." She laughed when she saw the complicated face Klaus was making. "Oh, lighten up, old man. Your daughter is bound to fall in love at some point. And honestly, who better than this spastic boy?"

Klaus grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest.

Enzo frowned. "If I had a daughter, I would be happy just because she's happy."

Klaus scowled. "Well, she's not your daughter, now is she?"

Enzo raised his hands up. "She's not, but you should think about her happiness, mate."

"I am," Klaus growled out, eyes flashing. "She's my daughter and I want nothing but happiness for her. But how am I supposed to know that this boy is going to keep providing that happiness? What if one day he wakes up and decides she's not worth it anymore? Hmm?! What then?!"

"That's the part of life, Klaus," Elena said with a small frown on her pretty face. "Things can easily be ripped away from people. People can easily fall out of love. But... it's better to love and lost than to never have loved at all. It's about the experience, about the happy moments before the bad stuff. It's what makes us human. It's what makes us want to continue to live. Yeah, life throws some punches, but we shouldn't just stay down and take the hits. Living in the moment is all we can do."

Klaus just stared at her, swallowed thickly, and then turned away.

Elena sighed softly and shrugged. "Well... I tried."

Hayley reached her and placed a hand on Klaus' shoulder. "She's right. Let's just be happy that our daughter is happy for once. Okay? Even though she keeps being thrown punches, she keeps dodging and going on with her life."

Klaus smacked his lips together and mutely nodded.

Hope leaned forward in worry and went to touch his chest when he drew back quickly, his chest heaving up and down. She frowned and leaned back, feeling rejected for some reason.

"Sp—spend the night? With me? In my bed?" Stiles sputtered out finally, staring at her like he has never seen her before.

"Plsss," Lizzie snickered and leaned against Jen, laughing into her shoulder. "He's so pathetic. I can't watch anymore."

Klaus huffed, but stayed quiet. He really is taking in consideration of Elena and Hayley's words. Yes, he's happy to see his daughter happy, but the last boy she liked and trusted ended up resulting in Hayley's death. He just wants her to be careful who she gives her heart out to.

That doesn't make him the villain, does it?

Hope's face burned brightly and realized why he had reacted the way he did. "Uh, no, not like that. I mean, unless..." she trailed off, swallowing thickly. "If you want me to... I mean, it's not any different than our movie nights."

Clarke covered his face with his hands, getting secondhand embarrassment. He's never seem Hope stumble over her words like she is at this very moment. It's so unlike her.

Caroline was bouncing in her seat, smile so wide everyone was surprised her face hasn't froze like that.

He stared at her for a few seconds, blinking rapidly. "But we would be sleeping with each other!"

"Stop!" Lizzie laughed loudly, leaning forward to the point her stomach was laying on her thighs and her head was between her knees. "This is so hard to watch!"

Kol was snickering and kicking his feet in his own beanbag while his wife was beside him laughing at both Hope and Kol.

Rebekah snorted into her Bloody Mary, shaking her head.

Josie was red in the face, hiding her face in Landon's shoulder.

Landon, himself, was closing his eyes tightly and shaking his head. He thought the scene was both funny and embarrassing.

They both froze and Hope looked down, blushing heavily, the redness reaching her neck and chest.

"Um, no! Not like... that." The tribrid forced out a nervous chuckle. "Stiles... I... we..." She shook her head. "I would keep watch over you, not..."

"God, this is painful to watch," Kaleb groaned, slapping his face with a pillow.

Hayley couldn't help but, for the first time, think of what Hope might be feeling since they are all watching her life.

Jed looks like he is crying as he was red in the fade and his eyes were stinging with tears. Suddenly her burst out into laughter, falling off of his chair and landing near Ben's feet.

Ben rose a brow and smiled softly at the boy on the ground in front of him.

Both virgins were blushing terribly and just staring at one another with tension so thick it could be cut by a chainsaw.

"Both virgins?!" Lizzie exclaimed loudly and then started cackling loudly. "Oh, she's on blast."

Klaus was groaning and covering his ears much like a toddler. Hayley was slouched in her chair, face bright red in second hand embarrassment for her daughter. Like yeah, it's good that she is saving herself for someone she loves, but the fact that it's being blasted like this on a big screen for both her friends and family had to be embarrassing.

Clarke cleared his throat awkwardly and shifted in his seat.

Landon blushed and then cleared his throat as well. "Uh," he licked his lips.

Josie was shaking her head with her eyes tightly shut. "Poor Hope." It must suck for her to unknowingly have her life and thoughts out in the open like this.

"Ugh, so embarrassing," Katherine groaned, placing a hand over her eyes and shaking her head. She glanced over at Stefan through her fingers and saw that he was blushing. She scrunched up her nose.

All Stiles wanted to do was grab Hope by her neck and pull her close. He wanted to kiss her like she has never been kissed before.

Klaus was now sitting up straight, staring at the screen heatedly.

Caroline jumped up from her seat and did a little dance which caused her friends to giggle at her. She grinned and grabbed Bonnie's shoulders. "It's happening! Stay calm!"

Elena giggled, amused. "We are calm, Care. You're the one dancing like you just won one of your cheerleading competitions."

Caroline pouted and then giggled as well. "I'm just happy!" She continued dancing while holding Bonnie's shoulders, said which was looking up at the vampire with big shining eyes.

Enzo watched them with something akin to longing. It's not the feeling of wanting them, but wanting that sort of happiness that has you dancing and smiling so carefree.

But, he's a coward.

"Noooo," Caroline whined, letting go of Bonnie and slouching in her seat.

"Good," Klaus smirked.

Landon couldn't help but agree with Klaus. One thing is to see your almost girlfriend kiss a girl in a moment of weakness, let alone for her to actually kiss someone who she actually has feelings for. He doesn't know if he'll be able to handle that.

Hope took in a deep breath and controlled her breathing. The wolf inside of her was wanting to rip open Stiles' shirt and get on top of him, make him hers. But, the rational side of her told her not to. He's not hers and probably will never be.

Clarke cleared his throat for a whole other reason than before. He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat.

Lizzie started fanning herself while Jen just smirked.

"Okayyy, the image in my head right now is doing things to my body," Caroline couldn't help but state out loud.

Enzo surprised himself but snorting.

"Who knew the little tribrid had such naughty thoughts," Damon smirked and then was promptly slapped on the back of the head by both Elena and Alaric. "What?!" He exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand, seeing as the other was wrapped around Elena's shoulders.

She reached over slowly and placed her hands on top of his. Closing her eyes, she murmured, "papilio lux." A golden butterfly was made out of thin air and fluttered between them before going over Stiles' head and disappearing.

Clarke furrowed his brows and licked his lips. "She used that on me..." he shifted when almost everyone turned to him. "Uh.. when we were stuck in Malivore."

Klaus clicked his tongue. "Yeah, the place you forced her to go in."

"No," Clarke said a little harshly, and in the corner of his eye he could see — who he thinks is Rebekah — do a cross over her chest with her finger and then place her hands together like she was praying for him. "She did this spell on me that would force me to do whatever she did, and then she grabbed me by my throat and we fell over the railing into Malivore. If anything, she forced me, not the other way around." What went unsaid was; I never want to go in there if I can help it.

Stiles' chest deflated slightly and he stared at Hope in awe. "Thanks," he whispered and stared into her eyes. Their hands were still touching and he didn't ever want to escape this moment.

"We should get going," she whispered back to him, and slowly removed her hands from his before facing the front. She swallowed thickly once more and shuffled in the seat to make herself comfortable.

A new, different air wrapped around Stiles and Hope, and they both secretly liked it.

"Secretly my ass," Lizzie grumbled. "Everyone in that town can tell they are practically in love with one another. And they clearly sense something because why else would they become stammering messes over such simple things?" She rolled her eyes and curled up in the very soft blanket she conjured which was her both her and Jen.

Ben smiled, happy that his sister seems content. And finally, for the first time since he has been here, he found himself relaxing in a chair near Jed.

HOPE AND STILES were about to make their way toward the schools doors when they spotted Scott running down the stairs and staring behind him in fear.

Stiles reached out and gripped his best friend by the shoulders. "Scott? Are you okay?" He questioned him, eyebrows furrowed.

"You don't look okay," Hope stated, worried about him.

Scott's eyes were wide and hazy, chest heaving up and down. He stared at the girl for a short moment, debating whether or not he should lie to them or tell them the truth. Despite his thoughts, he found himself nodding in response. "I'm okay."

"That's suspicious," Klaus stated with narrowed eyes.

Hayley rolled her eyes. "He's not doing anything bad. If anything, he just looked spooked."

"No, you're not," Stiles disagreed. "It's happening to you too. You're seeing things, aren't you?"

Freya pursed her lips at that.

Scott's eyes widened even further in surprise. "How'd you know?"

"Because," a familiar voice started, making the three teenagers turn around to see that Lydia and Allison were inviting themselves into the conversation. "It's happening to all three of you."

Lizzie inhaled. "The ice tub thing did something, didn't it?"

"Afraid so, little one," Freya frowned deeply.

"This isn't going to end well for them, is it?" Marcel asked, crossing his arms with a thoughtful look on his face.

And before they knew it, they were following behind the strawberry-blonde as she led the others into the school.

With a slightly satisfied grin on her face, the young Banshee mused, "Well, well, look who's no longer the crazy one."

Caroline snorted. "This is payback for them calling her crazy with the whole Kanima thing."

"We're not crazy," Allison defended herself and the two dweebs beside her who nodded their heads in agreement.

"Dweebs," Lizzie snorted.

"Such a funny word; dweeeeeeeebs," Kol made the word longer than it really was, and then chuckled when Rebekah threw a shoe at his head.

"Hallucinating? Sleep paralysis?" Lydia questioned rhetorically. "Yeah, you guys are totally fine." She nodded her head, sarcasm practically dripping from her words.

Lizzie shrugged. "She's got a point."

Hope rolled her eyes fondly at the girl. "Lyds... they died and came back. That's not something you bounce back from so easily." She should know, dying and going to the other side for a few minutes did have a few setbacks.

Hayley frowned. "I remember that." She swallowed thickly, remembering the fear that ran through her when she saw her daughter on the other side.

Klaus held her hand tightly. He had been so afraid when he had heard with his own two ears, his daughter's heartbeat slowing to the point of fully stopping for just a few seconds.

And just as Scott went to say something, the school beel rung.

"We keep an eye on each other. Okay?" Stiles pointed his finger at all of them. "And Lydia, stop enjoying this so much.

"What?" Lydia questioned innocently, a smirk on her lips. "I'm doing no such thing."

Lizzie grinned. "I like her."

Jen chewed on her bottom lip.

Enzo happened to look over at the small redhead and then smirked to himself.

"GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE," the new history teacher began, turning away from the chalk board to face the indistinctively chattering class of students. "My name is Mr. Yukimura, I'll be taking over for your previous history teacher. My family and I moved here three weeks ago. I'm sure, by now, you all know my daughter, Kira. Or you might not since she's never actually mentioned anyone from school — or brought a friend home for that matter." 

All of a sudden, Elena snickered. "This kind of reminds me of a certain someone's introduction." She fake coughed into her hand. "Alaric."

Alaric looked confused and slightly offended. "What? What do you mean?"

Bonnie giggled. "She's got a point, Mr Saltzman."

Alaric simply pouted and crossed his arms.

Damon laughed loudly and slapped his friend on the shoulder. "They got you there, Ricky."

"Never call me that again," Ric glared at him.

Damon rolled his eyes.

Enzo glanced back at Damon and they happened to make eye contact before the British vampire scoffed and rolled his eyes.

A loud sigh sounded from the back of the classroom as Kira Yukimura slammed her head against the desk, practically dying of embarrassment.

"Aww, she's adorable," Caroline cooed.

All of the students turned to face her, Hope's gaze falling upon a girl with dark curly hair and soft features.

"Either way," Yukimura continued, "there she is."

Reluctantly, the girl lifted her head, a small smile on her face as the class began to snicker.

"Precious," Josie giggled.

Hope suddenly felt protective over the new girl and turned to glare at the teenagers. "Shut it, now!" She then glanced back over at Kira who was staring at her with wide, innocent looking brown eyes. She offered the dark haired girl a smile and a wink before turning back around to the front.

Kol snorted and then choked on the candy bar he was eating. "Aww, how cute, our niece picking up another stray."

Klaus rolled his eyes at his younger brother.

Hayley couldn't help but grin.

Stiles looked over to the left at her, and offered her a small smile to which she smiled back at.

"Ahhh!! So cute!" Caroline stomped her feet excitedly.

STILES BEGAN TO fiddle with his locker as they left the classroom, Scott and Hope either side of him.

"This trio just makes me so happy," Elena said with a smile.

"Maybe we need a little more time to get back to normal," Scott attempted to be optimistic.

Stiles didn't look up as he replied, "yeah, try not to forget we hit the reset button on a supernatural beacon for supernatural creatures. There's a pretty good chance things are never going back to normal."

"I hate this for them. They're just kids," Alaric stated with a frown.

"It's not fair other teenagers get to have fun and be carefree, and yet these teens get hit with all of this supernatural shit," Rebekah practically spat before sighing. "It's bloody ridiculous!"

"I agree sister," Elijah stated, nodding his head.

"It's bullshit," Kol agreed.

None of them said anything as Scott and Hope waited for Stiles to retrieve his things.

The Stilinski boy moved to open it but was surprised when it didn't open. His face hardened and he tugged at the lock before inspecting it. "What?" He muttered, tilting his head to the side.

Hope frowned in worry, but tried not to make him feel crazier than he already felt. "It's probably just stuck."

When Stiles didn't reply, she looked at him closely and watched his anxiety seem to take hold of his features. She glanced over at Scott to see if he noticed, but found a similar sight. His brand new True Alpha eyes were shining bright red. "Scott..." she trailed off, trying to not draw attention. "Your eyes are glowing."

Everyone was tense as they watched the scene.

This caught Stiles' attention, causing his head to snap up and his own eyes to widen a bit.

Scott looked at them worriedly. "You mean like right now?" He stressed.

"Yes, right now," Stiles replied urgently, looking around to see if anyone else was noticing it. "Scott, stop. Stop it!" He hissed between his teeth, anxiety multiplying.

Scott began panting as he tried to cover his eyes with his hand, tilting his body into the direction of the blue, peeling lockers. "I can't — I can't control it," he panted out, beginning to lose even more control.

Caroline was leaning forward, chewing on her nails.

Hope jumped into action and began pushing him into a empty classroom, Stiles being the one to close the door behind them.

They watched as Scott ripped off his jacket and started growling under his breath in what seemed like frustration and anger.

As they went to walk towards him to help him he backed away from them, throwing up his hand in a 'stop' gesture. "Get back away from me."

"Scott, it's okay," Hope tried to reassure him.

"I don't know what's going to happen. Get back," Scott forced out, bringing his hands up to his face, letting his claws come out. He started panting right before he balled his hand into a fist, allowing his claws to go into the palm of his hand. Looking up, his eyes were their normal brown color. "Pain makes you human."

Hayley silently cried, a teardrop falling down her cheeks and splattering on the floor. "Pain should not be the only solution," she chewed on the inside of her cheeks.

Klaus was frowning deeply, remembering over a thousand years ago when his 'father' would whip him until he was a withering crumpled up version of himself. He would remind himself back then that pain meant he was alive, that he was going to make it another day. He doesn't want someone like Scott to have to believe that.

Clarke couldn't help but agree with 'pain makes you human' even though he's not a human. Although he still feels pain and emotions and has thoughts of his own, he was created from mud.

Stiles crouched down to his friend. "Scott, this isn't just in our heads. This is real."

Hops nodded and crouched down to take Scott's bloody hands in hers, making sure he was healing correctly. "Stiles is right, Scott. This is... something else."

"And it's not good..." Freya trailed off.

HOPE BUMPED SHOULDERS with Stiles and gave him a smile as they walked into Coach Finnstock's classroom.

Stiles took his seat next to Hope, both of them immediately pulling out their text books.

It was about fifteen minutes later, and Hope grew bored with listening to Coach drone on and on about Lacrosse. She looks over at Stiles who was doodling in his notebook.

She furrowed her brows, a pit of despair growing in her stomach.

That's when Coach noticed that Hope was staring at Stiles who wasn't paying attention to anything he had said.

"Stilinski, are you paying attention back there?" He called. When there was no reply, his eyebrows knitted together and he grew angry. Lifting the whistle around his neck to his lips, he blew into it harshly, snapping Stiles out of his daydreaming state immediately.

"Stilinski!" He yelled at the dazed teenage boy, "I asked you a question."

"Oh, um, sorry," Stiles blinked, "what was the question?"

"It was, 'Stilinski, are you paying attention back there?'" Coach put on a sarcastic smile.

"Sometimes he makes me want to punch him so hard his head falls off," Caroline stated and then shrugged when others shot her a look.

"Oh," Stiles frowned, "well, I am now."

Coach calmed down a little but he still pointed his finger at Stiles as he warned him, "Stilisnki, stop reminding me why I drink... Every night. Does anyone else wanna answer the question on the board?"

Freya pursed her lips. "Why is a teacher allowed to say this kind of stuff to his students?"

"It's very concerning," Elijah stated and sighed, closing his eyes and imagining black sweat pants and a grey shirt. Opening his eyes, he looked down at himself and nodded. Much more comfortable now.

Kol's eyes widened. "Elijah without his suit?! What has this world come to?!" He dramatically stood up and then fell backwards against Lizzie's beanbag which almost made his head hit hers. She squeaked and then shouted, shoving him forward until he was now face planting on the floor right beside his and Davina's shared beanbag.

Enzo rose a brow. "Dramatic, much?"

Kol gasped and flopped around so he was laying on his back and staring at Enzo with narrowed eyes. "I am not dramatic!"

Enzo rose his other brow and gestured to him with his hand.

Kol pouted. "Shut up." He then popped up in a flash and then sat back down beside his wife.

Multiple people laughed at him.

Stefan and Katherine watched the group, feeling loneliness swell in their chests.

Stiles turned his head to look at Hope who was already watching him, her blue eyes filled with concern.

"I love how he automatically looks to Hope," Caroline grinned widely.

"I'm okay," he murmured, knowing exactly what she was thinking, "I just fell asleep for a second."

"Asleep?" Josie furrowed her brows.

"He was wide awake..." MG pointed out with a frown on his features.

"Stiles, you weren't asleep," she told him, frowning deeper. She pointed to his notebook with worry filled eyes.

The Stilinski boy looked down, gritting his teeth when he saw he had scribbled the words 'wake up' over and over again across the page. He grabbed another piece of paper and slammed it on top, trying to dismiss the fact that he knew something was wrong with him.

Fear and horror struck Freya. For some reason, this whole thing was reminding her slightly of the Hollow. What if... she shook her head. She didn't want to think it into existence. But... she couldn't help but think that Stiles' life is in danger.

"OKAY, SO WHAT happens to a person who has a near-death experience and comes out of it seeing things?" Scott asked the group as they all sat around the lunch table outside.

The sun was shining bright so they decided to do a scenery change to something that could give them air.

Hope was wedged between Scott and Stiles like always while Lydia, Allison and Isaac sat opposite them. Everyone was occupied with either eating or catching up with work.

"Like always," Bonnie smiled. "They're attached at the hips."

"I love their friendship so much," Elena grinned and then reached over to grab Bonnie's hand. Bonnie reached over and grabbed one of Caroline's so now they were all three holding hands. "Reminds me of us."

Bonnie smiled when Caroline leaned her head against hers. "Sure does."

"And is unable to tell what's real or not?" Stiles added.

"And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?" Allison inputed.

"That's a daily thing for us," Kol remarked which had Rebekah snorting.

Isaac lifted his head from his work. "They're all locked up because they're insane."

Stiles wasn't amused. "Ha. Can you at least try and be helpful, please?"

"For half of my childhood, I was locked in a freezer. So, being helpful is kind of a new thing for me," Isaac retorted, narrowing his blue eyes at the Stilinski.

Once again, Klaus felt a kinship with the young blonde boy. He was once chained down in a cage (before he even came a werewolf) just because Mikael felt like he deserved it.

Stiles argued back, "hey, dude, are you still milking that?"

"Hey!" Lizzie frowned, swallowing thickly. "What the fuck."

"That was so wrong of him to say," Josie frowned.

The author rose their brows at that. Josie used to say stuff like that and worse about Lizzie's mental health problems... what a hypocrite.

"Stiles!" Hope exclaimed and backhanded him on the arm.

"Yeah, we are still milking that." Isaac rolled his eyes.

Hope and Stiles exchanged looks, the tribrid glaring at him in disbelief while he shrugged, not even looking guilty.

Freya shook her head in disappointment at the Stilinski boy. That was such an unwarranted comment.

"Hi," someone called out, causing all six teenagers turn their heads in confusion as who was intruding on their conversation. "Hi, sorry. I couldn't help overhearing what you guys were talking about. And I think I actually might know what you're talking about."

"Awww it's that adorable girl from that one class!" Caroline exclaimed, pointing at the brunette on the screen.

Alaric frowned, ignoring Caroline's comment. "Why are they talking so openingly about this stuff in public?"

"As if we haven't done that before," Caroline rolled her eyes.

"She's got you there, Ricky you," Damon commented and then slapped Alaric's hand away when the man tried to slap him upside the head. "Why do you guys constantly try to hit me on the head?! I'm going to get brain damage."

"You already have brain damage, dipshit," Bonnie commented easily.

Lizzie laughed loudly and got up, walking over to hold her hand up for high-five. "That was so good, aunt Bon."

Bonnie giggled and high-fived the girl.

Kira, the girl that had gotten embarrassed in history class, looked between the six teens before she continued, "There's a Tibetan word for it, it's called Bardo. It literally means 'in-between state'. The state between life and death."

"Well... thats never good," Kol stated.

"And what do they call you?" Lydia demanded with squinted eyes.

Josie narrowed her eyes. "No need to be hostile."

"They don't know the girl, she just showed up in the middle of their important conversation," Lizzie stated, moving around to get comfortable beside Jen.

Jen looked between the sisters, confused on the hostility between them. For sisters, they barely have looked at one another for hours now. She cleared her throat; she can't say anything, she had Ben have barely spoken since they both first arrived in the room.

"Kira," Scott said, making everyone turn their attention over at him. "She's in our History class."

"Awww," Elena cooed, "they would be so cute together."

"So are you talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?" Lydia asked, wanting to know if the girl actually knew what she was talking about.

Without asking, the girl slid into the spot beside Stiles, the three teens squishing together in order to make room for the girl to sit down. Hope and Stiles' shoulders were pressed together, and he awkwardly placed his hands on the table, entwining them.

Caroline smirked. Forced close proximity has always been one of her favorite tropes in a book, so to see that kind of played out with Stiles and Hope is making her all giddy.

"Either, I guess," Kira continued, "but all the stuff you guys were just saying? All that happens in Bardo. There are different progressive states where you can have hallucinations. Some you see, some you just hear. And you can be visited by peaceful and wrathful deities."

Kol didn't like where this was going.

Freya inhaled. Yeah... not good at all.

"What are 'wrathful deities'?" Isaac slowly asked, pointing his pencil in her direction.

Kira shrugged, "like demons." She held a sweet smile on her face, blissfully unaware that everything the pack were talking about was way too true.

Stiles huffed from beside Kira. "Demons," he repeated, "why not?"

"Hold on," Allison interrupted, "if there are different progressive states, then what's the last one?"

"Death," she paused, "you die."

"Oh..."

Silence filled the room.

"Well, I'm glad my daughter didn't sacrifice herself," Klaus stated bluntly.

"Klaus!"

"IT SOUNDS LIKE your subconscious is trying to communicate with you," Deaton explained as Stiles, Hope and Scott followed him through the animal clinic later that night.

The three teenagers had rushed over to Deaton to explain to him about the dream that Stiles had in class, hoping he could help.

"They to to him like we go to you, Ric," Elena smiled over at her... stepfather? Uncle? She doesn't know what he is to her considering he had been the husband to her mom, and the boyfriend to her aunt.

"Well, how do I tell my subconscious to use a language that I actually know?" Stiles groaned, his hands flying up to his hair, tugging at it.

"Do you remember what the sign language looked like?" Deaton asked as they moved into the main room, "the placement and movement of the hands?"

Scott raised his eyebrows, "you know sign language?"

"I know a little," Deaton nodded.

"I know some, too." Everyone turned to Hope who rose a brow. "I had only taken class for it for a year, but that was during..." She trialed off, not wanting to talk about her parents and uncles death. "But, I still remember some."

The Mikaelson's shifted.

Deaton turned to Stiles, "let me give it a shot."

"Okay, the first one was like this," Stiles began, lifting up his index finger and then going around it with another.

"When," Klaus said, nodding. He then shrugged when others looked at him in surprise "what? I've been alive a long time. I know sign language."

"That's when," Deaton noted.

"Then there was this twice," the hazel eyed boy continued. He placed his hands next to each other and moved them so his index fingers hit, like a door shutting.

"That's door," Hope spoke up, nodding.

He did another motion, "and then there was this in between that."

Deaton frowned, "that's it?"

"Yeah."

"When is a door not a door?'" Deaton recited, causing Stiles' face to drop.

"A riddle..." Elijah tilted his head in thought.

"It's a riddle," the tribrid commented, sighing. "The answer is; when it's ajar."

"You're kidding me," Stiles snapped, "a riddle? My subconscious wants to tell me a riddle?"

"Not necessarily," Deaton replied, "when the two of you and Allison went under the water, when you crossed from unconsciousness, to a kind of superconsciousness... You essentially opened the door in your minds."

"So what does that mean?" Scott wondered, "the door is still open?"

"Ajar..." Hope turned to Stiles with wide eyes. "It's like the dream you were telling me about."

Stiles was too dazed to look back at her, "a door into our minds?" He blinked slowly.

Freya was shaking her head. "That is not good."

Josie turned to her. "Why not?"

"That can lead to possession amongst other things," Freya stated, swallowing thickly. Being with aunt Dahlia and being alive for a thousand years, she has learnt a lot of stuff.

Klaus turned to her, eyes wide. "Like the Hollow?"

"Kind of..." Freya slowly nodded in horror.

Klaus was shaking his head and clenching his jaw. "No, this is not good. We need to get to our daughter before she is pulled into possession again."

"Need I remind you, all of these events have happened already in her world, meaning even if you somehow leave this place and reunite with her, it's already done and over with," the author stated with a shrug.

Klaus stood up, glaring and growling at his ceiling. "I don't care! She should never be in these kinds of situations!"

"Oh, shut it, mutt! Your daughter was always going to be in these kinds of situations. She was always going to end up in that universe with that group of people because it is her destiny!" The author roared back. "Now sit down and watch her life!"

Kol whistled and then was promptly smacked by Davina on the back of his head.

"I did tell you it was risky," Deaton reminded them.

"What do we do about it?" Scott looked at his boss hopefully.

Deaton's face contorted as he thought hard, "well, that's difficult to answer."

"No, wait a second, I know that look," Stiles interrupted, "that the 'we know exactly what's wrong with you, but we have no idea how to fix it' look."

"That's mighty specific," Enzo commented and then snorted when Lizzie giggled.

The druid nodded, "but one thing I do know is that having an opening like that into your mind, it's not good. You each need to close that door. And you need to do it as soon as possible."

"Yes, please, for the sake of everyone," Freya commented.

THE THREE TEENAGERS  left as soon as the rain stopped pouring, the cool night air immediately hitting them in the face.

A cop car pulled up next to Stiles' blue jeep and Sheriff Stilinski jumped out, starting to walk over to the entrance.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Stiles stopped him.

Noah sighed, "I'm here because I could use some help. Actually... your help," he pointed at Scott and Hope.

"Why us?" Scott asked with furrowed brows.

"Because eight years ago, almost an entire family died in a car accident. One of the bodies, a young girl named Malia, was never found. There's enough evidence to have me thinking that... that a werewolf could have caused the accident, and then dragged her body away."

"Oh..." Alaric sighed. "He's going down the road of 'I think the supernatural caused this accident' it's a slippery slope that I once went down."

Scott and Hope exchanged looks.

"If you could somehow get a lock on her scent," Noah spoke before turning to Hope. "Or, maybe track her down with your witchy spells. Is that... is that a thing?" He shook his head and sighed. "I don't know, if you could somehow help me find her body, it might provide the missing clue."

"But what if it was a werewolf?" Stiles pointed out in worry.

"Well, there's somebody out there who murdered an entire family. Someone who still needs to be caught," Noah replied determinedly.

"He's so willing to help, he doesn't realize how bad this slope is..." Alaric trailed off, rubbing at his scruff.

THE GROUP FOLLOWED behind Sheriff Stilinski's cop car, parking a little bit down the road so Mr Tate wouldn't see them.

As soon as Noah had been in the house for five minutes, the three teenagers snuck around the back, silently stepping over large rat traps set out by the door.

The hazel eyed boy slowly pulled the handle down and pushed the door open, a loud creaking noise filling the empty silence.

Scott cringed and face palmed himself as Hope held out her hand and mumbled a silencing spell on the door.

"Smart thinking, Hope," Lizzie complimented quietly.

Jen frowned and leaned closer to her. "Hey, was was your deal with her? Ex girlfriend? Right person wrong time? Or could've been but didn't happen? Fling?"

Lizzie choked on her saliva. "No-none of those things. Why—" she paused and pushed her hair out of her face even though she could feel how red her cheeks are getting. "Why do you ask?"

Jen leaned back and shrugged. "No reason." She turned to face the screen.

Lizzie looked both confused and flustered as she stared at the side of Jen's face.

Ben couldn't help but chuckle at his sister. Even after all these years, her face is still easy to read.

Just then, Stiles opened the door quickly, and the three teenagers rushed inside, closing the door behind them with no more creaking.

The room was was quite big with lavender painted walls and floral curtains and bed sets. It clearly hadn't been touched since Malia had gone missing.

Hope swallowed thickly, thinking about the fact that this was what her parents bedrooms looks like; not touched. She was too scared to go through their things, so she just never ventured into the rooms.

"My heart breaks," Hayley whispered and Klaus (who calmed down from his tantrum earlier) grabbed her hand and kissed it.

Hope moved around while Stiles threw teddy bears off of the bed at Scott who sniffed them.

"All I'm getting is some animal smell," the werewolf whispered back.

Stiles moved over to him, "what kind of animal?"

As Hope went to go smell one of the pillows, a growl came from behind her. Slowly, she turned around, her eyes widened and trained on a large dog stood in the doorway. It looked up at her and snarled. "A dog," she whispered, and the two boys looked over.

"Hi, puppy," she heard Stiles whisper from behind her before turning to Scott, "get rid of it."

"Me?" Scott's voice squeaked as he pointed to himself.

Lizzie was cackling. "Are they really scared of a puppy?"

Stiles grimaced as the dog began growling and barking at them. "Do something, idiot! Glow your eyes or growl or something, I don't know!"

Hope rolled her eyes and approached the dog with an air of confidence. She bent down and began to pet him while singing a melody. It was like a siren call, and soon, the dog calmed down.

"Oh?" Lizzie rose a brow.

He just stared up at Hope with big brown eyes and then whined before making his way out of the bedroom.

The tribrid glanced back at her boys from over her shoulder, smirking. "And that's how it's done, boys." She stood up and smiled at them.

"Her boys!" Caroline squealed.

Stiles stared in awe at the auburn haired girl, his heart picking up its speed even more as the smile lit up her face. He then shook his head and jumped straight back into action, grabbing a book off of a shelf and passing it to Scott.

"Such a simp," Enzo grinned. "I said that correct, right...?" He looked over at Caroline and Bonnie who had explained him the word meaning.

Bonnie nodded while Caroline smiled at him and gabe him a thumbs up.

"Try this," he breathed out, "anything?"

Scott shook his head, "all I'm getting is that dog."

Stiles' eyes landed on a picture of two girls in a frame, probably only around the age of seven and nine. He took out his phone and snapped a picture of it.

Hope looked around the room and approached a charm bracelet that sat in a tiny porcelain bowl. She traced it with delicate fingers before picking it up and putting it in her pocket. "This might help me track her down."

The boys nodded at her, knowing that it was a long shot because it might've not even belonged to Malia. But they needed to try something.

"What is so important about a random missing girl from years ago?" Klaus asked with crossed arms.

"Is Hope was that girl... you would want her found, right?" Freya rhetorically asked her brother.

"Of course, she's my daughter!" The hybrid exclaimed.

"Well... Malia is someone's daughter as well..." Freya reminded the hybrid with raised brows.

Klaus licked his lips but didn't say anything.

HOPE AND SCOTT knocked on Stiles' bedroom door but pushed it open before he could even reply.

The Stilinski boy immediately sat up from where he was laying staring at the ceiling, confused to see his best friends so late at night, and with grins on their faces, too.  "What's going on?" He glanced between them nervously.

"We're gonna go and find a body," Scott stayed and turned on the flashlight in his hands, "a dead body."

"Why do I feel like this is a reference to something?" Lizzie asked with a tilt of her head.

The three teenagers found themselves in the woods about half an hour later, their only source being the flashlight in Stiles' hands.

They walked in a comfortable silence again for a few minutes before Stiles spoke up, "you know, if my dad's right, that means there's another werewolf in town that we haven't met yet."

"That's... probably accurate, all things considered," Hayley stated.

"I know," Scott sighed.

"And if turns out to be something like triplets who form into, like, a three-headed hound of hell, I'm seriously not up for that," Stiles scoffed and Hope chuckled lightly, bumping her shoulder against his.

"Man, I don't blame him," Kaleb stated. "The twins were weird enough."

"Foreal," MG nodded.

"No way, a three headed hound? That sounds sick as hell," Jed exclaimed with a wide smile.

A coyote howl came from somewhere in the woods causing Stiles to jump and crash into Scott who dropped his phone that had the GPS on it, leading them to the accident that had killed the family. The phone went down the ditch and landed in the water below.

"Well... fuck." Kaleb shook his head.

Scott looked at him in disbelief. "Dude..."

"Sorry, buddy," Stiles muttered, "I hate coyotes so much. They always sound like they're mauling some tiny, helpless little animal."

"He's right, they kind of do," Caroline stated with a grimace. "I hunted down one when Stefan tried to force me on a bunny diet. The coyote tasted weird, as well."

Scott jumped down into the ditch to pick up his phone, "still works."

"Let me see the flashlight," Stiles spoke, taking it from Scott'd grip and pointing it a little bit down, "I think we found it."

The trio came up an old car that was on it's back, some parts missing and rusting. Leaves covered the top and it looked like it had been left there for years, which it had.

"Why wouldn't they move it?" Scott questioned, "isn't it evidence?"

"Probably too much of a pain in the ass to tow out," Stiles replied as they wearily moved closer. He shone the light at the car where large scratch marks had been dented into one of the doors.

"Hm," Alaric hummed. "I guess Noah was right about this one."

Scott placed his hand up against them, his hand fitting perfectly.

"Animals claws would be closer together," Hope stated, eyeing the marks, a since of dread taking over her body. Whatever happened here, it was worse than Noah described.

"Then it was a werewolf," Scott nodded, agreeing with her.

Stiles murmured, "so my dad was right."

Hope bent down and took the light from Stiles' hand, looking around inside the car. Her blue eyes fell on a doll stuck in one of the seats and she reached across, tugging it out.

Stiles and Scott moved over to inspect what she was looking at.

"I'm hungry!" The baby doll suddenly cried out, causing the boys to scream and jump back. Hope had just stood up quickly and dropped the doll at the same time.

"Oh, my god! Priceless!" Lizzie was gasping for air as Jen patted her on the back while eating a burrito with the other hand.

"Their faces!" Kol exclaimed loudly, kicking his feet in the air while howling in laughter.

"I think I just had a minor heart attack," Stiles exaggerated and the tribrid giggled at the sight of his hand on his chest in fright.

Growling suddenly filled the silence as the boys tried to regain their breaths.

"Oh no..." Landon trailed off.

Hope closer her eyes briefly before slowly turning around to face the noise. She saw a pair of electric blue eyes in the darkness, attached to the shape of something that looked like a coyote.

"Oh, that's not normal," Lizzie pointed out, while Jen, Kol, Davina, and Enzo nodded in agreement.

"Guys, please tell me you see it," Scott swallowed thickly.

Hope nodded. "We see it."

Scott didn't reply but took off after it, and with haste, Hope followed shortly behind.

"Why do they always run after danger?" Hayley palmed her face in exasperation.

Both teen wolves chases his coyote through the woods, and the animal knew exactly what it was doing. It had the advantage of knowing the woods better than them.

It led them to a cliff, and expecting them to stop chasing her, the coyote jumped into the air and onto the other side.

But, both teens weren't discouraged, and launched themselves in the air and over onto the otherwise where they landed on their hands and knees.

"Wait, that was actually so cool!" MG exclaimed, jumping up just to sit forward on his knees like a child.

"Impressive," Clarke nodded.

The coyote was facing them, growling protectively.

Scott and Hope both flashed their eyes and growled back at the coyote.

The coyote calmed down and bowed it's head slightly before electric blue eyes, similar to Peter's, shined right back at them.

Hope swallowed thickly and tilted her head. "Malia?"

And with that, the coyote took off.

"Oh..."

"A plot twist!" MG exclaimed.

Lizzie shook her head. "What normal coyote has electric blue eyes?" She rolled her eyes.

"Well...." MG trialed off and then huffed. "You know what, it doesn't matter. What matters is that they found the missing girl!"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

DAMN THAT WAS ALMOST 9,400 WORDS !!!! THATS CRAZY !!!

anyways sorry for taking so long, I felt like any time I tried to continue this, I went blank on how I wanted everyone to react to things.

also... still trying to figure out exactly who i want with who... tell me your opinions on these, especially on the ones that are not set in stone...

couple ideas:
stiles & hope (obviously set in stone)

klaus & hayley (set in stone)

damon & elena (set in stone)

freya & keelin (obvs set in stone)

kol & davina (set in stone)

those who read she wolf and venom know this, but scott & isaac , and malia & lizzie (set in stone)
THOUGH, i am probably going to make lizzie in a throuple with both jen and malia in this... would you be down for that?

josie & landon (possibly)

mg & ethan

kaleb & allison (if ykyk)

cleo & lydia

rebekah & derek

caroline & bonnie & enzo (how do you feel about this?)

liam & theo (pls give me your honest opinion on this bc im iffy on it myself)

ummm... the others i have no clue yet