The end
The basement door opened allowing Josie and Hope to pass, both girls looking at each other worried.
"what happened?" Hope asked Alaric, as she looked at Rafael inside a cell being helped by Emma.
"he's fine?" asked Josie
"Lunar psychosis, they found him like that outside, he went out with MG and Landon, but they only found him," Alaric informed the girls. "Where are Andy and Luke?"
"Lizzie is taking care of them," Josie replied.
"Lunar psychosis? This is real?" Hope asked
"Don't talk, there is a lot of noise" Rafael complained before getting up violently.
Emma put a calming spell on him and sat him back on the bed.
"It's real," said Emma. "It's when your mind gets stuck in the middle of the shift, it's very rare, it only happens after a premature reversal"
"So something caused Rafael to revert to his human form early?" Josie asked wanting to know if she was getting it right.
"Yes," Emma affirmed.
"Why is that happening?" Josie asked.
"It's usually a trauma," Hope said in a low voice "something bad happened."
"We don't know" said Emma
"Three left and only one came back," Hope said with concern.
"We’re come back in a few secs" Josie said and took her fiancée’s hand and dragged her out of the room. "Do you want to tell me what caused that broody face that Andy inherited from you or should I guess?"
"He isn’t broody" Hope protested "He smiles"
"Please Hope, that child is just like you" Josie leaned closer and put a hand on the tribrid’s face "and just in case I have to say, this isn’t your fault"
"MG invited me to go with them, if I had accepted I would have stopped whatever happened and ..."
The brunette's thumb went to her lips, stopping her words.
"Maybe" she admitted "maybe if you try hard enough, you can stop the dawn or pollution, that's big one, or how about world war?"
"I understand, you made your point, how do you do that?" Josie looked at her confused "how do you make me feel better with just a few words?"
Josie smiled.
"It's simple, I'm amazing" she said with feigned seriousness.
Hope laughed as she pulled the girl closer and kissed her cheek.
"Come on, let's find our friends"
After an arduous search, they found the boys, MG with a wolf bite and Landon dead. There is nothing they could do to save the curly haired boy.
When Josie returned to the room, she found Hope sitting on the edge of the bed staring at the twins' crib. Since they had found Landon's body, the tribrid had not said a word, Josie was worried about her.
"Hey" greeted the brunette.
Hope looked up, to find Josie standing in the doorway. There were a million things she wanted to say to her, but she didn't know how.
"And the twins?" Hope asked.
"Dad is taking care of them" Josie replied "Lizzie is with MG, tomorrow she’ll meet us at the funeral"
The tribrid nodded.
Josie walked over to Hope and knelt in front of her, looking into her eyes.
"how I can help?"
The tribrid hugged her, causing Josie to freeze for a few seconds before hugging her back. She closed her eyes, glad that Hope let her in.
"He was the first boy I loved" she said in a low voice and with a serious expression "I don't mean that I loved him more than I love you, I just ..."
"Hope" interrupted the brunette, caressing her cheek trying to calm her down "you have a bigger heart than everyone I’ve ever met, there is enough space for everyone you care about. I know that the boys and I have your love, I don’t doubt it. Landon was your first love; you would always worry about him "
"I can't believe he's gone" She murmur "It doesn't feel real that he's gone"
Josie sat next to her, wanting to know the words to ease her pain.
"Do you think you can sleep?" asked Josie
Hope nodded
"I just want to hold you in my arms and try not to think about tomorrow and that I'm going to bury someone else I once loved"
"Okay," Josie said, pressing her lips to Hope's cheek, "then we'll do that."
"ready?" asked Josie
Hope nodded, taking Josie’s hand. They got into the car, Hope gazing out the window as Josie drove into the cemetery with her left hand on the wheel and her right hand held tightly by the tribrid's hand.
Hope was silent throughout the service, she felt disconnected from everything, the only thing that anchored her was the gentle touch of Josie's hand on hers.
Once the funeral was over, she stood by the grave, looking at the coffin that had been lowered to the ground.
Josie walked over to the girl and opened her arms, Hope gratefully accepted the hug.
“With all that I can do, it wasn’t enough. Why couldn't I save him? "
“No one has the power to save them all, Hope. And I know that if you could you would have done it "
The strength that Josie gave her continually amazed her, she was her salvation, her safe place. She raises her hand where her engagement ring was and kiss it.
“I don't know what my life would be without you and the boys, I love you so much. You’re my world” She confesses.
“We love you too, Hope. Always and Forever"
They heard cries of discontent and turned to see Andy squirming in Alaric's arms. Josie smiled.
"I'd better go find him, before Luke gets upset too" she indicated to the copper boy in Dorian's arms.
Hope nodded, watching as Josie walked away and scooped Andy up in her arms. The smile on her lips faded as the hair on the back of her neck stood up and her stomach clenched, warning her that something was wrong.
She turned around and looked at the eyed man standing next to her.
"Now you know what would have happened, girl"
And like a nightmare come true, the memories of the afterlife hit her.
"Landon made the decision to go with MG"
"He didn’t choose to die Josie and what do you know about decisions when you let Lizzie make them all for you"
"I can help you know what would happen, I can see everything, what happened, what will happen and could have happened, give you an answer to your question"
"It's time to go back" said Argos
Hope's desperate gaze went to Josie, needing to see her. She was standing next to Dorian and Alaric, Andy in her arms, as she played with Luke's hand, her engagement ring flickering in the sunlight. She smiled at her with that sweet, slow smile that was only for her.
"No" said Hope, feeling the tears burn down her cheeks, as she pleaded "no please, you have to let me stay. They’re my family, this is where I belong”
"You can't stay, girl, this is just an illusion" Argos said before a strong light swallowed them.
"Nooo!" Hope yelled when she found herself at the old mill "no, this isn't real"
The man just looked at her.
"Where are Josie and the boys?" she demanded to the man, her eyes turning gold "where are my children?"
“They don't exist here. They never have, they’re gone "
Hope glared at him before her hand turned into a claw and sliced through the monster's throat, who turned to ash in front of her.
"I don't believe you" she said, she couldn't believe that everything she had, everything she needed, was gone.
She walks towards the school, ignoring Kaleb and MG's questions when She enter by the kitchen. She doesn't stop walking until she gets to her bedroom. The crib was gone. Her eyes roamed the room for any sign of Josie's things or the babies.
"Come on little wolves, your mom needs help here"
She opened the closet door, ripped out the dresser drawers, she needed to find something, anything that would prove they were real, that they were part of her life.
Mg, who had followed Hope, met Lizzie in the hallway, both of them anxious about the noise coming from the tribrid room. They cautiously approached the door to find Hope sitting on the edge of the bed. It looked like she had completely trashed her room. Clothes, books and painting supplies were scattered everywhere, the sheets had been ripped from the bed and everything had been emptied from the dresser and desk. Her head was lowered and her body shook with every breath she took.
Lizzie reached over and reached out to touch her shoulder.
"Hope?"
The tribrid looked at her, tears were streaming down her face and an anguished look in her eyes.
"they left. Everything is gone "
The End