"A blood fountain? Gross." Hope blurted as Mazikeen screwed up her face in disgust. "It's even grosser in person. Trust me. I was looking for a way to shut it off, but I couldn't figure out how." MG admitted. "All right, I'll go find the secret tunnel, I guess." Hope decided. "Thanks, We get our magic back, we'll have the upper hand."

Lizzie piped up, "And then I can siphon the sludge out of Josie, not that she'll appreciate it." To which Josie groaned, "Great, then I'll just be shot."

"See? the new you is so snarky."

Jade and Ari let out heavy sighs, in unison. They were exhausted— everyone was, and the last thing anyone wanted to deal with was the Saltzman sisters arguing.

Hope then sighed, before looking to MG, "Okay, I'm gonna be back as soon as I can." before looking to her girlfriend, "Please keep your sisters from trying to kill or die for each other." She said, referring to the other Saltzman girls.

"You need to go help Landon." MG declared, "We don't need you to be here."

Hope frowned, "But I can't leave you guys here." Lizzie then huffed, "For the love of Frodo, go rescue the Hobbit. We'll muddle through." She insisted. "She's right again. He needs you." Josie said, looking to Hope.

"You won't be alone." Maze admitted, facing Hope. "What... No, Maze—" Hope frowned, as Maze frowned back before her veins darkened. "Hope, I'm going to be by your side... we're fighting this evil together." The Saltzman said, as she took a step forward and cupped Hope's face gently with the palm of her hands.

The darkness in Mazikeen's veins began to fade, as her brown eyes gaze into Hope's ocean blue. Hope placed her hand over Maze's, as she looked at the Saltzman lovingly.

"How did I get so lucky?" Hope asked softly before she stepped forward, placing a gentle kiss on Mazikeen's lips. Maze's eyes fluttered closed as she went to kiss back, but before she could her body fell limp in Hope's arms.

Lizzie's eyes widened, as Hope pulled her face away from Maze's, but held her body close. "Maze is not going to be happy with you..." Lizzie trailed off, stepping forward to take Mazikeen from Hope's arms.

"I really care about Maze... I can't let anything happen to her." Hope insisted, with a teary smile. Lizzie kept her glance on Hope, nodding as she had a small smile on her lips. The girl began to feel like Hope was really meant for her sister.

"Well we're coming, that's non-negotiable." Jade then insisted, as herself, Ari and Jesse walked towards Hope. Hope opened her mouth to refuse this statement, but MG cut her off. "We've been watching you save the day this entire school year, Hope. We got it. Now go save Landon, the four of you." MG ordered.

"Go. If you go soft on us now, I'm just gonna hurl Maligoo." Josie insisted, causing Ari to awkwardly laugh. The trio then turned to leave the school, to rescue Landon from the evil that stole him.

❤︎

Hope, Jade, Ari and Jesse stopped as they see the blood fountain. Ari felt her stomach flip at the sight of it. "I don't suppose you come with an instruction manual." Hope trailed off, examining it.

"I told you to wait for me."

The group turn around to see Alaric. "In a shocking turn of events, we ignored you." Jade smirked, to which Alaric sighed, "Yeah, about that..."

"Save the speech. Okay? I've paid the price." Hope huffed. "I see that. What happened to your arm?" He asked as Jesse lipread what the headmaster had said and looked worried by this question as he goes to examine the Mikealson's sleeve.

"That Triad guy shot at us with Malivore mud. He must have gotten me, too. I-I didn't even feel it. Because it doesn't affect me." She admitted. "Wait, who else got shot?"

"Dr. Saltzman, you have to trust me. Josie's gonna be just..." Ari began as Alaric's face fell. "Josie got shot?" He blurted, worriedly. Jade quickly answered, "Yes, but MG and Lizzie are on it, and I think that they can fix everything."

"If I can just figure out a way to turn this stupid thing off, then they can get their magic back." Hope trailed off. Alaric tapped a few parts of the fountain, switching it off. "Which is super easy, apparently." Jesse signed as he gave Alaric a confused look.

"How did you know how to do that?" Hope demanded as Alaric turned back to the group. "This is a dark object, created by a group of extinct witch-like people called the Travelers. Anti-magic was kind of their king." He explained. "How did Triad even get in here? How did they know that there were tunnels?" Ari then asked, full of questions.

"Listen, I will explain everything to you later, okay? But right now, I have to get to Josie." Alaric declared, worry written all over his face. "Wait. Give her a vial of my blood. From the werewolf bite cures." Hope suggested.

"Why?"

"I'll explain later, too."

❤︎

Mazikeen's eyes fluttered open, before she groggily sat up. Burr and his men had been disposed of, and currently the Saltzman was laying on Lizzie's bed.

Maze looked to her right, to see Lizzie fast asleep, snoring lightly, before she realised that their hands had been interwoven.

The blonde then looked across the room, as she gently moved away from Lizzie, as she spotted Josie.

"Hey." Maze spoke quietly. Josie looked up at Maze, before she offered her a weak smile. "Hey. Um, Lizzie refused to leave your side... and I didn't want to either." She admitted reluctantly, though Josie knew deep down that Mazikeen was closer to Lizzie than she was with her.

"Are you... alright?" Maze asked, remembering that Josie had been shot. Josie nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine." The brunette replied before she quickly piped up. "I'm sorry about earlier, it wasn't supposed to come out like that." Josie insisted, referring to how she'd told Maze that she wasn't a Saltzman, but a Parker.

"Do you have this.. proof?" Mazikeen reluctantly began, "That I'm... Kai's daughter?"

Josie nodded, as tears filled her eyes. "This doesn't change anything though, okay?" She asked, as Maze stayed quiet.

"Mazikeen?!" Josie asked, wanting the witch to be sure of it, whilst she clutched the book in her arms. Maze weakly nodded, before she took the book from Josie's arms, noticing a bookmark.

"The bookmarked page has everything you need to know." Josie said quietly, still seeming ashamed. Mazikeen just quietly nodded, before she walked back to sit on Lizzie's bed, with the large book.

❤︎

After making it to Triad Industries, Hope, Jade, Ari and Jesse worked together with Landon to stop a Headless Horseman from throwing the last artefact into Malivore.

They found the Headless Horseman's Pumpkin head, and with Jade throwing it towards Ari, the Mae stabbed it with a metal pipe.

Suddenly Landon rushed over to the group, "I know it looks like I was losing when you guys got here, but that's just how Phoenix combat works so..." He trailed off as the three girls laughed.

Jesse just glanced at Landon, relief all over his face to see that his boyfriend was okay. Landon caught Jesse's eyes, before he gave the werewolf a loving look.

The Hale stepped towards Landon, and cradled Landon's face in his hands, before he kissed him. Landon kissed back, throwing his arms around his boyfriend, wanting to hold him close.

"Nothing like young love, is there?"

Landon pulled away from Jesse, upon hearing the voice. Jesse frowned, wondering who had interrupted them. His eyes widened when he saw Clarke standing there.

"Shame it has to be so short lived." Clarke suddenly held up the artefact in his hand, as he has a wicked smile on his face. "You'll find, baby brother, one of our family's worst traits is... well we're terribly clumsy."

"Baby brother? Wait... what the fuck?" Jade asked in surprise, as Ari looked just as shocked.

With that, the artefact was tossed into the pit, as the students stared in complete surprise. "We're so fucked." Jesse then signed.

"Okay." Landon blurted, visibly panicked. "We've got to think... we've got to figure out how to keep him from rising." He said.

"Hold up.. him? What do you mean him?" Jade asked, Landon turned to her, "Ooh I have a lot to catch you guys up on."

❤︎

The corridors of the Salvatore school began to rumble, as Mazikeen stumbled through it, feeling overwhelmed by her anger, and her magic. It was chaos.

Her veins blackened, as she looked around, wanting to find Alaric. She'd locked her sisters— well, cousins— in their room so she could find Alaric without them stopping her, though she knew it was only a matter of moments before the spell was siphoned.

"Maze?" A panicked voice said, belonging to Molly. "Molly?" Maze asked, sounding overwhelmed by everything. The blonde sounded scared of her own power.

The Hale rushed to Mazikeen's side, placing her hands on her shoulders. "It's okay honey, it's okay— just take a deep breath and try to relax."

Maze sharply inhaled, before she exhaled shakily, as tears fell from her brown orbs. "I need to find my Dad.. or should I say, my Uncle?" The girl blurted.

"Oh, honey." Molly sighed, realising that Mazikeen had found out the truth for herself. She bent down and threw her arms around the girls she considered her second daughter, wanting to offer her comfort.

Maze hugged Molly back, as a couple more tears fell, before she began to siphon from the vampire.

"Maze? Maze— stop!" Molly then pleaded, as she went to pull away from the girl, but found herself growing weak as Mazikeen siphoned more power.

Molly then fell unconscious, as Mazikeen gently placed the Hale on the ground, feeling guilty. "I'm so sorry, Moll." Maze said in a whisper, before she looked up.

Her eyes then blacked over, as her veins darkened all around her body once more.

❤︎

"Wow." Hope marvelled, as Landon had just explained everything to them about Malivore and Clarke.

"So... Malivore's your dad." Ari blurted, as she had processed everything that had just been said. "Weird, huh?"

"And he can't be killed, which is why Triad turned him into goo?" Jesse asked, signing with his hands as Landon nodded. "You're a quick study, babe." He said.

"But nothing's ever immortal." Hope admitted, catching everyone's attention. "I mean not really. Nature won't allow it. There's always a loop hole." She said. An alarm blared loudly, "Any brilliant ideas? Because I think we're running out of time."

"Just one, but you're all going to hate it." Hope sighed, before she held out her hand and said, "Ad somnum."

With that, Landon, Jesse, Jade and Ari all fell to the ground, all unconscious.

What Hope didn't anticipate, is that Jade was a light sleeper. The girl was awake within a couple minutes, and the Hale quietly sat up as she took in the situation.

Landon and Jesse were unconscious, to her left. Ari was unconscious, to her right, her hand interwoven with the werewolf's.

Jade gently kissed the top of Ari's hand, before she got to her feet quietly, as she approached Hope and Clarke, who were fighting one another.

"And if you're wrong, well no harm done because you'll be dead."

Jade scoffed, catching Hope and Clarke's attention. "You're hilarious, asshole." The Hale smirked, before she charged at Clarke, her fingers lengthening into claws.

"Jade!?" Hope blurted, surprised that the brunette was even awake.

Clarke and Jade tussled, before the Hale had her hands around Clarke's throat. "You're gonna leave my friends and I, the hell alone." Jade spoke sternly, edging towards the Malivore pit, as she wanted to push Clarke into it.

Clarke chuckled nervously, before he landed two hard punches into Jade's stomach. The Hale let go of his neck to clutch her stomach, though she left large gash marks on Clarke with her claws.

Clarke then went to punch Jade in the face, but the Hale caught his fist. She seemed surprised by this, and her lips twitched up into a smirk.

Clarke then thrusted his arm back, hurling the brunette towards the pit. "Woah—" Jade blurted, losing grip on Clarke's fist, before she fell into the pit that was Malivore.

"Jade!!!" Hope shrieked, before she glared at Clarke, with pure anger. The Mikealson mumbled a mimic spell, before she quickly was to decide her next actions.

❤︎

Alaric had just gotten off the phone to Hope, as he stared at it in complete shock. The Mikealson was essentially sacrificing herself, in hopes of killing Malivore.

But he didn't have much time to think about that, because the lights in his office began to flicker. The Saltzman looked at it in confusion, before the doors to his office suddenly caught fire.

"What the—" Alaric blurted, rushing to grab something to put out the flames, but as another second past the doors were completely gone, as there was nothing but ash.

And an estranged, blonde siphon witch who was currently overwhelmed by the dark magic and anger that she possessed.

"Maze?!" Alaric blurted, as Mazikeen's head snapped towards him, her eyes still blackened over. The headmaster flinched in shock, before Maze threw out her arm, causing various objects to fly around the room, including Alaric.

The older Saltzman found himself shoved harshly into the wall, as he could already feel the bruises that were soon to form.

"Sweetheart, use your words." Alaric pleaded, as Mazikeen floated her adoptive father slash Uncle in the air.

"Like you should have done?!" Maze snapped, before she telekinetically floated a piece of paper towards him, a page from Josie's book, explaining the truth about Mazikeen.

That she was the daughter of psychopaths Malachai and Grace Parker, who were involved in killing Jo Laughlin.

But there was more...

Also that Mazikeen had had frequently shown symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder, Bipolar Disorder and Intermittent Explosive Disorder from a young age, but the Saltzman hoped the symptoms would disappear if he just simply didn't get her a proper diagnosis...

So he didn't.

"I thought I was fucking crazy, you made me feel like I am absolutely insane!" Mazikeen spoke calmly, trying not to snap now, which sent chills down Alaric's spine, "And perhaps it's true after all, but instead of getting me any help, you decided to just ignore it! You seriously fucking thought this would all just go away?" She asked the last part, angrily as she finally snapped.

Mazikeen clicked her fingers, as Alaric's joints then bent unnaturally, dislocating. He screamed out in pain. "Maze— Mazikeen stop!"

"Oh my god— Maze!" A horrified scream ripped through Lizzie's throat, as the Parker girl turned her head, to see her cousins standing in the burnt doorway to Alaric's office.

Alaric's body then fell to the ground. The man scrambled to his feet, and shoved his joints back in place, painfully.

The twins noticed Mazikeen's tear stained faced, before her veins flickered with darkness yet again.

"Maze." Josie blurted in shock, as she lifted her hand to cover her mouth, as tears filled her eyes.

"This is between me and Dad." Maze spoke calmly, though the lights began to flicker again. "Or should I say, Uncle?"

Lizzie and Josie looked at Mazikeen with fear in their eyes, something the blonde never wanted to see from them. They thought she was a monster.

But all her life, she'd been treated as one.. maybe it was time for her to embrace it...

"I don't want to hurt you." Maze then said to the twins, as the darkness flooding her iris' faded, revealing her sincere brown hues. Then before them, was the misunderstood sister they'd always known.

Alaric took this opportunity to rush to Mazikeen, with a sedative in hand. Almost immediately, the girl was immobile, falling limp in his arms. Everything in the room finally stopped shaking, as the Saltzman twins still had looks of surprise on their faces.

"What are you going to do with her?" Lizzie then asked, sounding stern and demanding more than anything. Alaric looked down at the unconscious witch, who was technically his niece. "I don't know." He panted in response.

❤︎

Maze is unhinged 😳 It finally happened!

This is the last chapter of Season 1! Which means that Bad Reputation will be on a hiatus for a while, so I can work on chapters for Season 2.

Thank you everyone for your support with this fic so far!