The Necromancer
"Are you sure you're okay now?" Lizzie looked worriedly at Josie, who was cautiously drinking a bottle of water, her face still pale.
"Yes, as soon as you get rid of that perfume I'll be fine"
Lizzie rolled her eyes. Since Josie had told about her dislike of her perfume, she had limited herself to wearing it only when Josie wasn't around.
"You know you can still come with me, right?" Lizzie asked her sister. Caroline had offered them to spend a few weeks with her in Europe to make up for missing their birthday.
"I know, but I don't want to leave dad, besides I'm just recovering, I don't think it's good for the pregnancy to travel so soon"
"You know you can't hide this from mom forever, right?" Lizzie said knowingly that her sister was a little nervous about Caroline's reaction.
"I know, and I'll tell her soon" said Josie hugging her sister "have a good trip, Lizzie"
"Well, take care of yourself and take care of my miracle babies"
"I’ll do it"
"Has Lizzie left?" asked a familiar voice.
"Not yet Fido" said Lizzie "I hope you take care of my sister while I'm gone"
"Sure, Liz"
"Good, because I'll make you pay if something happens" with that last threat Lizzie took her bags and left the room.
Josie looked directly at Hope with a frown.
"I thought you would come before"
"I was going to, but Rafael's dead girlfriend just showed up at the school and I had to help him"
"Something happened, is he okay?" Josie asked worriedly.
"he’s good, but I think I need to talk to your father"
"Ok, let's go"
“You won’t be going; you’ll stay safe in your room. if something is happening it could be dangerous for you” warned Hope
Josie rolled her eyes.
"Hope, I'm at school, I can't be any safer"
"You have a knack for finding trouble lately"
"No, that's you, Hope Mikaelson" she crossed her arms.
"Come on Jo, do it for the babies" asked Hope "for me, I want to know that you're okay, in case something happens"
"okay" Josie relented
"Thank you" Hope gave her a huge smile.
Josie smiled and pushed Hope gently.
"Then go, Hope"
Hope found Alaric in the basement torturing some kind of Zombie.
"Dr. Saltzman” called the director.
"There you are, adorable girl" said the zombie with an English accent "I was wondering if you would come to visit me sometime, how is your friend with whom I saw you before, the one who tried to steal a look?"
“As we speak he is having an exciting reunion with his dead girlfriend. I guess we have to thank you? " Hope said, this guy was hurting hers friends by bringing all that painful past back to life.
“Poor thing, her spirit clung to him, like a climbing plant in winter, it hardly cost me any effort. Just wrinkle your nose a little and puff. Young love reborn. You're lucky I didn't do anything else "he bragged" the way you've treated a man of my stature should embarrass you "
"Literally no one knows who you are" Alaric commented wearily
"It is impossible" said the creature without believing his words.
"I'll go see Raf," Alaric said to Hope.
"If you want this misery to end, just give me the dagger and I'll be gone forever" said the monster.
"Hope!" screamed Alaric
The tribrid took one last look at the guy and followed the director.
"I guess things are not going well"
"He's a diva"
"What's the plan? I know you don't want to give him the dagger, but we can't let him bring the loved ones of every person in this school to life” She knew that would be a disaster.
"I'll take care of it" assured Alaric "I have questions that need answers"
"Very good, but I don't think your methods are the most effective," she argued.
"Hope, I said I'll take care of it." He didn't want Hope to get involved, her family history could cause problems later. "So stay away from him"
Hope as always ignored Alaric's warnings, so now she was standing in front of the new Malivore monster.
"You have a strong scent of death on you" commented the guy "actually, it's quite nice"
"I thought maybe we could talk." She used her magic to remove the handcuffs.
"Such an insignificant creature dares to spend its time with the all-powerful Necromancer?"
so that was his name, Hope thought.
"Well here's the thing about it. You don't exist” she burst his bubble.
"I will not fall for your mind games" he said incredulously.
"This isn’t a game, let me clear it up for you. You died, you were in a dark place for what seems like an eternity, until suddenly you were dragged into the light with a concrete and inexplicable mission to retrieve the dagger” explained Hope
"Continue" asked the Necromancer, she was curious about what the girl was saying.
"It has been the same with all the creatures that have come before you, a dragon, a gargoyle, a ..."
"Please, such creatures only exist in fiction" short the Necromancer
"No, they have been erased from history just like you," she clarifies.
"that's absurd"
"you don’t believe me?" she gives him the books that Dorian gave her "read it"
A few minutes later the Necromancer was angry, he had been erased from all history, his life's work had been reduced to something pathetic, just a kind of witchcraft. He was nothing. He was nobody anymore. He would make whoever did this pay, he was sure. But first he had to get out of here and for that he needed the dagger.
"Who is responsible for this?" He asks the girl.
"That's what I want you to help me find out"
"Well then I'm all ears"
“I need to know who you are communicating with. Who is the one pulling the strings” Hope asked.
"I'm not a puppet" he denied "it's not a voice, it's more like an instinct, I just know things" he explained.
"Just as I know you are here for the dagger to take it to Malivore"
"If I return the dagger to Malivore, I will be free" said the Necromancer.
"of what?" Hope asked.
"The blackness, the absolute emptiness" he replied.
"Do you know how to get there?"
"No, just let the dagger guide me"
Hope showed him the symbol that was supposed to have something to do with Malivore.
"What does the symbol mean?"
"That nobody cries for you, nobody remembers you, it means: permanent death"
After the Necromancer gives her an idea of how she could find out more about Malivore, Hope set out to find a vampire to help her enter the monster's subconscious, her head only thinking of a person's name.
"MG, do I need your help?"
"Tell me Hope, what am I good at?" Replied the cheerful vampire.
"How much do you know about getting into heads?"
"that exist?" the vampire really wasn't quite aware of the extent of his powers.
"Yeah, you just need to be very ... precise," Hope said.
"I don’t know, wouldn't it be better if you asked Kaleb?" he wanted to help Hope, but he wasn’t prepared for what the girl asked him.
"Kaleb is not part of our super squad, I trust you" She gives a book "no words to Dr. Saltzman or Josie"
An hour later Mg went to Hope,
"Hey this is great" He gives her the book "it's like compulsion, but while you’re on the surface of the mind in a heroic way, I’ll let you enter, Holy Mary, mother of demons" Mg was scared by the appearance of the Necromancer.
"Hello Milton" greeting "your great grandmother Imogene is greeting you over your shoulder"
"Can you see my great nanna?"
"I can see it all"
“She is very disappointed in you for having abandoned Jesus, whom I can also see… but that's another can of worms. Shall we start? "
MG quickly approached Hope, who was opening the cell door.
"Will we go in there? With him?" he asks with fear.
"Yes, that's why I stole the keys from Dr. Saltzman" she opened the door. "MG calm down"
"You have nothing to fear, I assure you" the Necromancer tried to calm him down.
"You are the personification of death" said the boy still terrified. "Very well, put your hands on his shoulders, now give me your ... hands" he asked the monster. "open your mind"
Hope closed her eyes and when she opened them she found the familiar surroundings of the Rousseau.
"What are we doing here?" Hope asked the Necromancer who was sitting at the bar.
"You are the one who invited us here"
"here. This restaurant is in New Orleans. I have spent half of my childhood here "
“Yes, I also spent a lot of time here in the 20's. your father was good for my business, always killing people” he commented nonchalantly.
"What do you know about my dad?"
"He's standing behind you" he said smiling. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding" he laughed at her "but his spirit is around you, let's be clear, the only thing you want to know is how your dad is or should I say where he is?"
"No, I don't want to know" Hope denied, it was a lie and she knew it.
"Of course it is, you want to know if he is at peace or is suffering, regretting his sacrifice. After all, he died to save you, don't worry, I'll tell you everything when we finish this trip” he said, leaving the bar into the busy streets.
"Yes!!!, the dance of death, come on I want to know who the lucky one is" commented the Necromancer walking towards the coffin in the middle of the street. "Maybe Klaus Mikaelson?"
"not!" ran to the coffin, but it was empty "there is nothing here"
"Looks like you found the door" he said before jumping inside.
Hope later found herself on the street alone, only to be put out of her mind.
"amazing"
"Thank god, It’s done" said mg
"He trick me" Hope said "Send me back"
"I don’t know"
"Come on, we need answers, I'm ready"
"You're the only one," the vampire complained, but he did what the girl asked him.
She closed her eyes and found himself in the bar again, she tried to leave, but all the doors were closed. Except for one, but it faced nothing, she gave a great sigh and stepped inside.
She was at the top of some stairs that went down to nowhere, so she went down and down until she fell.
"First of all ... ouch and second I'm here" she only heard its echo.
She was getting desperate, there was nothing. No one answered her questions.
I walk for an indeterminate time, talking to nothing, waiting for the Necromancer to appear, but no. She was alone in that place.
"Mg, get me out of this place!" I scream without hearing an answer, she was trapped.
"Why are you doing this to me?" he began to cry "it's true, I want to know about my dad, I want to know if he found peace, I need to know that he is not alone" her mind travelled to Josie and the babies, she had to get out of this, she couldn’t leave them alone.
She got up with renewed faith.
"Come on, get me out of here" she yells.
"It will be my pleasure" the Necromancer said behind her.
She snapped back to where Alaric was waiting furiously.
"Do you realize the danger that you put yourself?" Alaric told her "he’s a manipulator, can you imagine how he can torment you, starting with your dead mother and ending with your dead father, not to mention all the people you killed in between"
"Don't do that, you don't like me breaking your rules, well, punish me, but don't you dare behave like a disappointed father because you are not my father"
"Right, I'm not, but now we are family, Hope and I care about you" the girl walked to the exit "where are you going?"
"To finish what I started"
"you won’t do it"
"You can't stop me" then she cast a spell locking Alaric in the office.
"Hope! Hope! "
"Tell me where is my father" demanded the tribrid.
"I'll tell you everything you want to know, but wouldn't you want to know what I discovered about Malivore first?"
"good"
“Malivore was created to get rid of the supernatural that haunts the earth. Malivore consumes us, erases us, until the dagger called us to return it home, Malivore was closed years ago, 3 objects were created to seal it, the dagger is one of the keys, when the three are united at home, Malivore will return to live” he explains
"what does that mean?"
"My dear, let's hope you're not alive to find out yet"
"Let me see if I get it right, you left me alone inside your head, why ... distract me?"
She couldn't believe that he tricks her so easily.
"My apologies for the melodrama but I needed to buy time" the Necromancer apologized.
"To speak to the creator of the dagger?"
"That and get it back"
"what?"
"While you were trapped, I used your friend's girlfriend to retrieve the dagger and from there I just took a little help to send the dagger to Malivore quickly" he explained while laughing.
"OMG"
"Come on, look at the bright side, you can go back to your life, focus on your girl and the little ones she’s expecting and I will be free to find peace" he smiled "as for your father, take care of you every day. She died with love in her heart and he doesn’t regret his decision, he believes that you will be a great mother. But he won't find peace until you do, good luck with that” he teased a bit. "It seems that I’m free" he said before disappear.
Hope watched him disappear before her eyes, she had been trick it. But that didn't hurt as much as knowing her father hasn't found peace.
Tears rolled down her face. Hope get out of the basement to meet Alaric and Josie in the hallway.
Her gaze connected to Josie, saw the concern on the brunette's face. Josie walked over to her and wrapped her arms around her neck, Hope pressed her cheek against the other girl's, inhaling her scent to calm herself.
Dear Dad,
I'm no stranger to death, but that doesn't mean I want to talk about it. Once a year, on remembrance day, they ask us to write letters to our loved ones who are gone. We wrote their names, folded them, and scattered them around the cemetery. I don't usually see the point in that. Why write to the dead? I'd rather not think about it at all. Except lately, with the babies I can't help thinking about you and mom. If you would be proud of me.
Today I made a mistake, a lot of them, I was so wrong in such a way that if you were here you would be very disappointed in me. I'm not sure how to fix it. Today they told me that you would never find peace until I found it. I hope it's a lie to punish me. God knows I deserve it. But if it's true, I'll do better. Today I saw a glimpse of the true loneliness feels like, of what it holds for me if I don't find my own peace, so I'll get to work on that. I’m glad to hear that you’re with me, but I look forward to the day when you are not. So I'll try to be better for you, Josie and my children.
I love You.
Hope
She folds the letter and stare at it until it is interrupted by Josie.
"Hey"
"Hey, I'm sorry I wasn't with you today" she apologized to the brunette "I was busy finishing the first phase of the Maliapocalypse" she tries to joke.
"you're okay?" Josie asked, she was left with concern after Alaric pushed Hope away from her to talk.
"not really"
"Do you want to talk about what happened while you were inside his mind?" She wanted to know what had caused the girl in front of her to cry.
"Nothing" Hope said.
"It couldn't have been nothing, if it made you cry" recalled the girl's face when they met in the hall.
"No Josie, it was literally nothing, there was no one or nothing, just darkness around me" Hope explained. "But while I was stuck there, there was one thing that kept me going"
"What was it?" Josie asked
"You and the babies" She look into her eyes.
She took Josie's hands and gave her a small smile.
"I realized that I had to find a way out, because I didn’t want to leave you alone, any of you three"
"I was really worry when Dad called" she admitted softly.
"I'm not going anywhere, we’re partners in this, remember?" She reassures her.
"Partners" took a step back, trying to calm her internal emotions, which she completely blamed on her pregnancy for having them in the first place. "Just be careful next time, okay?"
"I'll try" Hope smiled "How do you feel?"
"Between your aunt's bracelet and the magic I absorbed from the spell with which you locked dad in his office, we're fine" she put her hand on her belly.
Hope nodded.
Josie could still see the sadness shading the tribrid's eyes.
"Tell me about your parents" she asked.
Hope looked at her for a moment and found only compression in her eyes. So she smiled.
"Well, Dad and I officially met when I was 7 years old ..."
As she spoke the sadness of her dead parents diminished, she remembered the good times and for the second time that day, Josie gave her the strength she needed without knowing it.