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❝IT'S BEEN 84 YEARS❞

━━━━━ ⋆⋅♥︎⋅⋆ ━━━━━

In Charlie and Niko's dorm, the latter was still lying in bed on his side of the room, while Liv laid on top of the covers, as the pair seemed to be doomscrolling reels together.

"I just think the sad hamster might be my spirit animal at this point... especially when they give it a silly little pink bow." Niko decided, after the pair had been laughing over the fifth sad hamster video they'd seen. "No honestly I feel that. I need my algorithm to be something more than sad hamsters though." Liv laughed before she refreshed the reel screen in hopes of finding something different.

Olivia's phone instead pinged, indicating that she'd received a message. "Oh... Char will be here in twenty, and apparently he has a surprise for you." Liv spoke as Niko seemed intrigued. "Only thing is... I told him I'd get you out of bed and dressed so... you should probably do that." The Auclair insisted. "Oh yeah, I could do with a shower." Niko decided, as he sat up.

The psychic then approached his closet and started to pick out some clothes, while Liv looked around. Her eyes landed on the Shiratori's nightstand, where the paper crane necklace she had made for him sat. Today was perhaps the first time Liv had seen him not wearing it (which made sense because why would he wear it if he was lying around?)

"You can just continue doomscrolling reels if you want, but make sure to send me any good ones." Niko declared before they entered his shared bathroom with Charlie, carrying an armful of clothes. "Okay, that's fair." Liv decided, as she laid back onto his bed and kept flicking through the pointless videos (okay, not totally pointless because they were funny.)

Eventually Niko rejoined Liv, though he decided to make the bed before sitting atop the covers. Charlie then entered the room, wearing an excited look on his face as he held a plastic bag in his hands.

"Hey Char." Niko and Liv said in unison, before the Salvatore answered, "Hey guys, guess what we're doing?" He spoke rather quickly as Niko shrugged, "Uh... what are we doing?" He asked, as Charlie opened the plastic bag to reveal a new lego kit of the death star from Star Wars.

"Woah." Liv realised it was quite large and would be time consuming to build. Niko on the other hand, almost seemed starstruck. "No way?! How did you get your hands on this?" They asked. "I happen to know a guy... who knows a guy, who also knows a guy..." Charlie rambled on before Liv laughed upon realising he was being silly. "Nah, someone in town was selling sealed lego sets and when I saw this I knew we had to have it."

"We have approximately two hours before Lizzie's party so, let's get to it!" Charlie announced excitedly, as moments later the trio were seated on the floor. Niko and Charlie seemed to know exactly what they were doing as Charlie sorted out the clear bags containing each group of lego pieces while Niko opened the manual. Liv seemed to be busy texting Lexi back while they did as such.

"Man all of this party stuff has me tired... I feel like all I did between classes was help set shit up." Charlie realised as Liv glanced up from her phone, "It sounds to me like you need caffeine." She suggested. Charlie pulled up his phone, seeming to answer a message, "Caffeine is en route, with a cute delivery driver."

"What did you just fucking call me?" Glen's voice entered the room, as the brunet held two cans of Monster in one of his hands. "Delivery driver." He spoke in a dramatic manner as Charlie glanced up at him, "Did you miss the part where I called you cute?" He teased before he took one of the cans from the Forde. "Thank youuuu."

Niko glanced up at the pair before he asked, "Do you two just constantly enable eachother's terrible caffeine habit?" He asked as the boyfriend's unintentionally answered in unison, "Yeah." Liv snorted in amusement at that interaction before she looked through the lego bags, "Is this a bad time to admit that I've never seen Star Wars?" She asked, while Charlie scooted over to allow Glen to sit by him.

"What the fuck Olivia?" Niko blurted out as Charlie couldn't help but to laugh at the use of her full name. "How have you not seen Star Wars?" Glen asked as Charlie looked to him, "Wait I had no idea you've seen it either." He admitted before Glen turned to the shorter boy. "Landon made Val and I sit and watch the first six movies with him because neither of us had seen them." He explained.

"Yeah Landon is a total Star Wars nerd, we have conversations about it all the time." Niko admitted as he and Charlie started opening some of the clear bags, before glancing at the manual. "Do you guys wanna help?"

"How many pieces is in this set?" Glen asked "Four thousand and sixteen." Charlie answered as Liv's jaw dropped, "And you want to get this done before Lizzie's party?" She questioned as Charlie nodded, as though it was obvious. "Um yeah I guess we are helping then." Glen laughed slightly as Liv agreed.

The four emptied the clear lego bags in respective piles, and kept them all separated from one another. Olivia then paused as she could hear footsteps passing by. One thing the tribrid had gotten good at, was recognising the different footsteps belonging to different people.

Without a word, she suddenly got to her feet and sped towards the doorway, though the force as she zoomed by caused the piles to all move after they'd been so carefully organised. "OLIVIA!" Charlie, Glen and Niko all scolded in unison as the ravenette, who now stood in the doorway, glanced back at them. "Sorry!" She quickly spoke before she kept walking.

The Auclair suddenly approached Zeke, who seemed startled by her sudden appearance. "Hey, do you wanna build lego with us?" Liv asked as Zeke blinked in surprise. "Who is us?" He questioned skeptically. "Myself, Charlie, Glen and Niko." She said Niko's name in a tone that was a little teasing. Zeke blushed slightly at her poking before he admitted, "Well... I do love lego."

"Great!" Liv motioned towards Niko and Charlie's dorm, as the pair started to walk towards the doorway. "Make room guys, Zeke is gonna help." Olivia announced as Niko's eyes widened momentarily as Ezekiel entered his dorm, though when the Mikealson-Lockwood glanced at him, the psychic's expression softened into a smile. The raven haired boy could read that the dormant werewolf was happy to see the Shiratori.

Charlie and Glen's eyes moved between Niko and Zeke simultaneously as the pair could see what was going on. "Yeah let's move over." Charlie suggested as Glen quickly agreed as the pair shuffled to the left, leaving enough space for Liv and Zeke to sit between them and Niko.

Liv made sure to let Ezekiel sit beside Niko, while she sat by Glen. Charlie looked between Niko and Zeke again before he glanced at the tribrid with an approving look. Glen looked between Charlie and Liv, noticing that the pair were trying to silently communicate with their minds.

"Okay, Livvy can you pass me the manual please?" Charlie asked as Olivia did as such. "We have some important work to do here." The Salvatore spoke in the most serious tone he could muster, while Liv and Glen looked as though they wanted to laugh.

━━━━━ ⋆⋅♥︎⋅⋆ ━━━━━

Faith found herself looking through the Auclair library, with a few plans in mind. She passed a few of the tables, noticing that most of the desk tops consisted of scribbles.

One table was covered in various song lyrics from Hamilton, courtesy of Beau and Charlie who'd been assigned to work together on a partner project though they clearly wasted a lot of time... but it lead to them to talking about musicals and deciding to work together to make a musical at Auclair happen (and it did, although it ended up being Peter Pan)

Another table was completely covered in all scribbles of different dinosaurs, courtesy of Tori and Glen... it was hard to see where it began, but it was assumed one of them was drawing a dinosaur on the table and the other saw and decided to draw a different dinosaur and before they knew it, the table was giving Jurassic Park.

Another table had been completely banished against a wall because it had supposedly become cursed... no one really knew the specifics, but Aphrodite and Myrical decided to practice spells at the table one day and said at one point everything seemed to change... they were somehow convinced that sitting at that specific table caused bad luck, so they tended to leave that table for Rachel to sit at.

Faith could tell one thing for certain, this school, though unstable and unhinged, held a lot of memories... it also held a lot of dark objects which was one of the things on her agenda today; trying to locate them.

That as well as two other things, she also wanted to learn more about lycanthropy as well as burn any evidence she may find regarding the sun and moon curse in worry of Tori finding it.

And well... the hybrid certainly had tried. The blonde had tried searching in the library multiple times for really anything regarding the curse that had been laid upon them, and the ritual to break it... because although she wanted to trust Faith, she also wanted more information. It just so happened that Faith, Salem and even Ezra at times, managed to steer her attention away from the library the moment they realised what she was hoping to do.

Faith spent close to an hour searching through all of the books, as she didn't want to accidentally skip any, and only after all that she managed to only find two regarding either the curse or the ritual.

She opened the first one, which spoke about the sun and moon curse, and why the original one laid on Klaus was made. It was more informative than anything, and probably wouldn't give Tori enough information on the ritual itself but Faith didn't want to take any chances.

The second book dived more into the ritual, particularly the ritual Klaus had done using Elena. Faith read it a couple of times over, and felt a tinge of sadness... because from what she had read, she saw so much of her father in herself.

She wouldn't ever say it aloud (although her actions tended to do enough talking) but she had wanted a relationship with Klaus, especially after learning just how evil he was. But then she remembered that he didn't look for her after she was stolen, and her longing for Klaus was replaced with pure hatred... and that she assumed he didn't look for her because he was too busy with his other family, being Hope and Tori.

And that only angered her more... the fact that her sisters got to grow up living the life she wanted. Of course, Faith only assumed they'd lived the life she wanted... she didn't actually know that her sisters had lived a life quite interesting yet tragic and... they needed therapy (but have you tried suggesting that to either of them??)

But whether or not they lived a perfect life, it would have seemed perfect to Faith... because growing up under the care of Dahlia was in Faith's mind, the worst upbringing imaginable. The tribrid took the two books and placed them in one hand, she waved her other as she cast a spell, "Incendia." With that, they lit on fire and burnt away to nothing.

Faith found her mind wandering as she seemed to be staring into space... at first she felt relief that the books she'd selected were gone, but that soon turned into annoyance when her mind remained on their contents. It lead her to think about Klaus... and then Dahlia.

And then her mind begged the question she had asked herself over and over so many times... why was I not worth saving? Why were her parents so happy to settle with their other kids, and forget about their first born.

"Faith..." A soft voice spoke up, belonging to Ezra, who Faith hadn't heard enter the room. The raven haired vampire noticed the tribrid seeming to be a million miles away, while she seemed to be digging her sharp, black nails into the palms of her hands.

"Faith, hey you're doing it again." Ezra gently took her hands, as he opened her fists, so that her nails were no longer marking her palms. Faith seemed to snap out of her trance, as Ezra made sure her hands healed.

"I didn't even hear you come in." Faith realised, before she looked to the Zhang. "It was like you were in another world." Ezra admitted, before he let go of her hands. "I came in here to do something... but I got distracted." Faith confessed, deciding to leave out the part where she'd been in the library already for close to an hour and had committed a small act of arson.

"I wanted to learn more about lycanthropy." Faith recalled as Ezra moved away from the spot where Faith sat, as his eyes scanned the area. He felt like there would certainly be a lot of books in the library regarding werewolves... perhaps too many.

"Alright... where to start..." The vampire trailed off, as Faith got onto her feet, as she glanced at Ezra. "You know... you probably could ask Tori some questions." He pointed out, as he assumed that the hybrid would have a fairly decent knowledge on werewolves from growing up with Hayley. "I could..." Faith admitted, "But we do have a lot of time to kill while she is at the other school." The auburn haired girl added.

With that, the pair got to work and selected a heap of books from the library that went into details about lycanthropy. Honestly a lot of it consisted of basic things that were taught at supernatural schools, such as weaknesses to werewolves, their powers etc.

Faith was more interested in the pack side of things... she knew that most werewolves tended to travel in packs, and if they didn't join one they would make their own. "It says here that werewolf packmates are in some way bonded to protect eachother, despite what feelings they may have for one another." Faith voiced, as she visualised packmates that necessarily didn't get along, still looking out for eachother (a good example of this, would be Jed and Rafael)

The Mikaelson wondered how that would all work if sirebonds were thrown into it... since at first glance they sounded similar, but there was a major difference between the two, being free will. Werewolves in a pack were free to do whatever they liked, it was more a courtesy thing to look out for eachother, whereas a sirebond caused those bonded to act against their will to complete whatever is demanded of them.

"It's giving found family vibes..." Ezra replied though Faith's thoughts drifted to the werewolf pack at the Salvatore school. She had no idea who they were, and how many wolves were in the pack, but she wanted them... if she could help it, she wanted all of them for the second part of her plan.

But maybe it was best not to think about that yet, for now she needed to focus on the first part of her plan: unbinding her werewolf side. And there was also the other part of her first plan, making Tori turn off her humanity before her werewolf side was unbound also... Faith was trying to play the long game with that one, because she wanted Victoria to be loyal to her even without humanity. Somehow she thought this part of her plan was going to be the hardest.

After flipping through several books, Faith had grown a little restless. "In your long life, have you met many werewolves?" Faith questioned as Ezra nodded, "Yeah I've met a lot... but I never learnt a lot about them." The Zhang admitted. "I actually once had a girlfriend who was a werewolf... but at the time there was no known cure for vampires who had been affected by werewolf venom so it was a little... scary?" Ezra admitted as Faith laughed a little. "Damn, you could have died for real." She pointed out as Ezra nodded, "Yeah, it was always at the back of my mind to be honest."

Faith then got out of her seat, finally growing tired of sitting in the same place for so long. "I need coffee... or something." The Mikaelson decided as Ezra then stood up, realising he was also feeling a little tired, and in need of caffeine. "Coffee sounds like an amazing idea actually."

"I might leave these books and come back to them later." Faith thought aloud, as she was also hoping to later search for any place where these dark objects could be potentially hiding. Ezra pushed the seats back into the table before stepping away.

Faith then glanced at her nails, as she remembered what she had been doing when Ezra walked into the library. She then thought about how happy he'd been to just hang out and read these books alongside her, purely because it was something she had an interest in.

Sometimes Faith was still severely surprised about the fact that she she was no longer alone, and had Ezra by her side... from the moment he helped save her from Dahlia, he'd made her feel like she was worth something and although she didn't express it a lot, she was incredibly grateful for the Zhang.

Faith suddenly stepped forward, to hug the taller vampire. Ezra seemed surprised, not knowing where this sudden act of physical affection had come from, but he moved to hug the shorter girl back as he pulled her into his arms.

They stayed like that for a moment, before Faith pulled away, offering the raven haired boy a smile, which he returned, before they moved towards the library's exit with the intention of going to make coffee.

━━━━━ ⋆⋅♥︎⋅⋆ ━━━━━

Bellamy, Veronica and Myrical returned back to the school at last, though Bellamy had been awfully quiet the walk home, as she was just observing how Myrical and Veronica acted around one another. They were very comfortable in eachother's presence, but more than anything Bell noticed how much Veronica tried to make Myrical happy. She wanted to make her smile and continued to say things to uplift her. Their dynamic had always been that way, yet Veronica was convinced nothing would happen between them. Bellamy thought otherwise.

"I'll see you girls later." The Mikealson-Lockwood hummed, as she wandered away before either of them could properly say goodbye. "Bye!" V and Myrical called out despite her being out of earshot, before Myrical turned to Veronica.

"Thank you for today." The Benning smiled. "You're so welcome, I can't wait to see your new glasses, you're gonna look so cute with them." Veronica admitted as Myrical blushed, "No, I'll probably look so dorky." She replied as Veronica laughed slightly, "No you won't, you'll look beautiful like you always do." Myrical's expression softened, before she smiled brightly, "V!! You're making me blush too much." Riri then looked away as Veronica couldn't help but to giggle.

"Myri! Ronnie! You're back!" Cleo's excited voice was heard, catching Veronica and Cleo's attention. "Hey Cleo." They both answered, though Myrical's eyes lit up upon seeing the Sowande.

"Myrical, can I speak to you for a minute?" Cleo asked, as Myrical paused before she nodded. "Sure. I'll see you later V." She smiled at Veronica, who smiled back, "See you Riri."

With that, Myrical and Cleo walked away together while Veronica's expression faltered, as she watched her crush walk away with the girl she was undoubtedly into. Alyssa caught the heretic's saddened expression and decided to poke.

"Wow... pining after the silent wolf? I didn't expect for you to take Victoria's sloppy seconds." Alyssa hummed, catching the Mikealson-Malraux's attention. "What the hell are you talking about?" Veronica frowned, her eyes landing on the Chang. "You must have missed a chapter... your slutty little cousin already went there... you know she's arguably almost as bad as Beau. Ugh, the thought of him makes me want to throw up." Alyssa trailed off, getting off topic.

Veronica glared at the ravenette, "Don't call her that." She spoke harshly in Tori's defence before she realised, "Didn't your ex leave you for Beau, by the way?" V asked as Alyssa looked taken aback, "Don't remind me of MG choosing some downgrade over me... this conversation is about you and Tori sharing a love interest." She explained.

"I still don't know what you mean by that, but you're probably lying so I don't care." Veronica tried to brush Alyssa off. "So you don't care that Tori and Myrical slept together?" The Chang asked, as V stopped. "What?" The blonde asked, seeming in disbelief. "Well... it's only a rumour but ask anybody, I'm sure you'll see people agree."

Veronica rolled her eyes, "You're full of shit." She decided not to believe her. "Josie and Tori each warned me about you... that you're a liar and you love to start drama." The Mikaelson insisted as Alyssa laughed humourlessly for a moment, "That's ironic since they're both massive liars themselves."

"Fine. Suit yourself, but I tried to warn you." Alyssa declared before she left, leaving Veronica to sit with her thoughts, as she couldn't help but to be left with uncertainty regarding Myrical.

The shy wolf in question stood with Cleo, as the pair were walking to Myrical's dorm so she could put some of her things away, while the Benning told Cleo about her day.

"You'll look so adorable with glasses." Cleo insisted as Myrical blushed before she realised, "What did you want to talk to me about?" She asked. "Oh..." Cleo paused, and inhaled before she decided to just ask outright before she could change her mind.

"Myrical, I have really enjoyed spending time with you... and I was wondering if you maybe..." Cleo paused, as she waited to gage Myrical's reaction to see if she was following and comfortable before she asked. "Would you like to go on a date?"

"A date?" Myrical blurted out, as her surprised expression morphed into a smile, "I would love to go on a date with you!" The Benning insisted as Cleo smiled back, "Okay, how does this Saturday sound?" She questioned as Myrical nodded, "Sounds perfect... though what did you have in mind?"

Cleo paused, as she thought about telling her what she had planned, but ultimately she decided to keep it a surprise. "You'll just have to wait and see, Myri." The Sowande decided, as she again used the nickname only she seemed to use for the werewitch.

━━━━━ ⋆⋅♥︎⋅⋆ ━━━━━

Hope sat herself down, as Aphrodite and Lizzie sat on either side of her. "Where have you been staying since you left Malivore?" Aphrodite asked worriedly. "Mostly at a hotel... and I started attending Mystic Falls high." Hope answered as Lizzie tilted her head, "Why though?"

"I didn't know what to do... everyone at the Salvatore school was gone and Faith was roaming around with some presumably evil agenda and—" Aphrodite interjected, "Faith as in... Tori's older sister?" She realised, as she remembered Clary and Lucas telling them about her.

"Yes. She is my twin... possibly an evil one, I hope not but she seems like she is up to something bad." Hope admitted before she paused, "How do you know that she is Tori's sister?" She asked. "Because Victoria has been with her for the last few weeks." Lizzie answered as Hope froze for a moment, "Great... this is what I was afraid of."

"I think Faith has bad intentions and I'm scared she's using Tori to help her get whatever she wants." Hope voiced as Aphrodite spoke up, "I don't think that could necessarily be the case... Tori isn't stupid. She may think with her heart instead of her head, but she knows not to be made a fool of." The De Martel could think of many instances at Auclair academy where this was the case, back when they were close.

"If you wanted to look for Faith and Tori, why didn't you come to the school, where we could help you?" Lizzie suggested. "Because none of you knew who I was before today." Hope responded. "You don't think a school of witches could figure something out? I mean, Clary could be onto something with this spell." Lizzie admitted as Hope finally confessed what had been constantly in the back of her mind, "Because everyone was so much happier without me!"

"Everyone is better off without me, and that is one of my biggest fears coming to life." Hope added as Lizzie and Aphrodite's faces fell. "That is an awful way to feel, and I'm sure it's not true." Aphrodite assured her as Hope asked, "How would you know? Until Lizzie told you about me, you had no idea who I was."

"Aphie is right though... it's not true. Nobody has been better off without you, Hope." Lizzie insisted. "Niko is currently filling the void with Zeke. He doesn't remember all of your epic adventures fighting monsters together, and how  you were all lovesick and pining over them—" Hope cut Lizzie off, "Hey, I was not!" Lizzie narrowed her eyed at the tribrid, "You absolutely were."

"And Tori is just filling the void with Faith." Lizzie suggested, though the weight of her words didn't fully kick in until she said it aloud. "Wait... that's exactly it. If Tori is staying with some evil twin of yours, she probably thinks Faith is what's missing in her life, when it's actually you." The Saltzman thought allowed as Hope paused, "You could actually be right... but what difference would it make. If she saw me, she'd assume I was Faith."

"We could find Clary and ask her about that spell... I'm sure we could work something out—" Lizzie was cut off as Hope interjected, "No, no today is already a lot and... I couldn't possibly do that to Niko and Zeke. If they're happy together, then things should stay that way." Hope decided.

Aphie's face fell, "What about your happiness, Hope? When are you going to put yourself first?" She asked as Hope shook her head, "I made a choice, and now I have to live with it." She decided as Lizzie frowned, "You are living with it, and it's clearly making you miserable... I mean do you even have friends at Mystic Falls high who are as cool as us?" She asked.

"What a mean question, of course I do. I hang out with Maya, Finch, Stella and Nina... they're all lovely girls." Hope explained as Aphie nodded, "Okay I agree, they are lovely. Look, ultimately you can build a new life and make new friends and meet a new partner..." Aphie trailed off as she tried to think of something that would make Hope not want to give up on herself... and then her mind drifted to the Mikaelson's saying, always and forever.

"But you're never going to find a new sister... biologically speaking, and well... Faith aside. You and Tori only have eachother, are you willing to leave her behind?" Lizzie eyed Aphrodite curiously, before she realised what she was trying to do. Hope furrowed her eyebrows before she sighed, "No... no I don't want to do that at all, Aphie." She insisted. "I've already left her behind once... I was terrible and... I made her feel so unimportant to me when... she actually means so much to me... more than I could probably ever put into words."

Lizzie's expression softened when she realised that despite Aphrodite not remembering Hope at all, she very quickly managed to work out that Hope's weakness was Tori. Aphie had this great skill of picking up on things, and in this case she was using it to give Hope a reason to keep fighting despite how much she wanted to give up on herself and any chance at getting her old life back.

"Maybe... you guys are right. Maybe I should consider looking into this spell of Clary's..." Hope thought about it aloud. "We will. I promise." Lizzie insisted as she offered the auburn haired girl a smile. "We're in this till the bitter end, okay?" The Saltzman held out her pinkie, as Hope seemed a little surprised by this before she smiled weakly as held out her own pinky, as they pinky promised on it.

Aphrodite smiled at the scene, before she looked to Lizzie. "What now, babe? Your party is tonight and—" Hope cut Aphrodite off accidentally, "Oh my god, happy birthday!" She realised as Lizzie smiled weakly, "Thanks... but I'm not actually in a party mood anymore."

"What?" Aphie and Hope asked in unison, seeming to not believe her. "Since when are you not in a party mood?" Hope questioned before Aphrodite added, "You had all of these exciting plans for tonight."

"I just... don't want to go back yet. Can we maybe do something else... like..." Lizzie trailed off before she thought about it. "Why don't we get milkshakes from the Grill and just... hang out for a bit?"

"That's an idea I can definitely agree with." Hope smiled weakly, before getting to her feet. She knew something was up with Lizzie, and she'd ask more questions when they were comfortably sitting inside a booth, and out of the cold.

Aphrodite approached Lizzie, "Baby, what's wrong?" She asked quietly, as she wore a worried expression. Lizzie reached and placed her arm around the much shorter girl, as she pulled her closer and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Nothing is wrong, I just want to hang out with Hope." She declared. "Okay." Aphie replied, as they moved to catch up with Hope, though the De Martel couldn't shake the idea that her girlfriend was upset about something.

━━━━━ ⋆⋅♥︎⋅⋆ ━━━━━

Tori inhaled and exhaled slowly, as she tried to calm her nerves as she approached Luca and Beau's dorm. She had been stopped a couple of times by other students, and they seemed to be happy to see her, which helped to relax her nerves slightly.

Now standing by the dorm shared by her two best friends, she reached out to knock. She could hear music playing over a speaker in the room, and it sounded as though there was another person also in the dorm.

The door suddenly opened and there stood Lucas, who did a double take before his jaw dropped open. "T... Tori?!" He managed to barely get her name out through his shock, as Tori offered a nervous smile, "Hi Lu!" Without saying anything, Lucas lurched forward and threw his arms around the hybrid as he hugged her tightly. Tori found herself trying to blink away tears as she hugged him back just as tightly.

"Happy birthday." Tori spoke chipperly as Lucas reluctantly let go of her, though he kept looking her up and down as to make sure she was really standing there and he wasn't losing the plot. "It seems my birthday wish came true, before I could blow out the candles." Lucas realised as he offered the Mikaelson a relieved smile.

"Who is at the door?" Beau questioned as he poked his head in the doorway, though his eyes widened when he saw Tori standing in front of Lucas. "Bitch, what the fuck??" Beau blurted out before he rushed over and just about tackled the blonde into a hug. Tori laughed as she hugged the Lazuli back. "It's been 84 years! How could you leave us for so long?" Beau complained, making sure to seem dramatic as always as he hugged Victoria tighter.

"I didn't realise you two couldn't survive without me." Tori joked as Beau let go of her. "Oh, they definitely can't. Sometimes I thought they were actually going to kill eachother... they're like Kyogre and Groudon, and you're the Rayquaza who has to come in and tell them to shut the fuck up and get along." Eden approached the doorway, catching Tori's attention. The blonde laughed, "Okay, I actually love that analogy a lot." She admitted as Beau and Lucas frowned at the girls, believing it to be completely untrue (it was infact, very much true).

"Tori, this is Eden. She's a childhood friend! Eden, this is Tori." Beau explained. "Hi! It's nice to meet you... nice skirt." Victoria realised the Winslow was wearing one of her skirts, before she glanced at Beau knowing this had to be his doing. Eden offered the Mikaelson an awkward smile, "Likewise. It's nice to finally put a face to the name... I hope you don't mind Beau let me borrow a couple things from your closet."

Eden then decided to take a chance to embarrass Beau for entirely no reason. "Beau talks a lot about you... I almost thought he might have a crush." She joked as Beau rolled his eyes playfully. "Oh... that's just Beau, he's always been a little bit in love with the homies." Tori teased as Beau seemed offended, "A little bit?? You and Lucas are basically my wife and husband!" He declared as Lucas and Tori looked at one another as they shared an expression of equal disgust. This made Eden laugh out loud.

"Oh please! Don't look so horrified, as though I haven't kissed you both." Beau tried to drop it so casually but Eden looked surprised. "Woah." The Winslow blurted as Tori frowned, "Never again." She decided before Lucas tried to defend himself, "I just didn't want to be 16 and without a first kiss!"

"The only pair in our trio who haven't kissed is you two." Beau decided to point out as he looked to Tori and Lucas, purely to make them grossed out. "And that will never happen." Lucas decided adamantly as Tori frowned, "Yeah, no way. Respectfully... ew." She shuddered. Beau laughed to himself, as he was proud to have made them uncomfortable.

Tori looked around the boys dorm, her eyes eventually landing on the bow and arrow that sat on Luca's bed. "Woah, now that is cool." She confessed. "That over there, is Landon's way of trying to suck up to Lucas." Beau snarked as Tori tilted her head, "Dare I ask why?" She questioned. "Beau is wrong, Landon knew I'd wanted to get back into archery for a very long time." Lucas stated, as he gave the Lazuli side eye. "But... things might not be as perfect as they seem."

Tori turned her full attention to the siphon, "What do you mean?" She asked, seeming concerned. Lucas sighed before he admitted, "I told Landon I loved him, and he didn't say it back. I tried to talk to him about it and he tried to kind of... brush it off?"

Tori's face fell, "Oh shit, I'm sorry." She sympathised as Lucas shook his head, "It's fine... everything is fine, or at least I'll pretend it is for now. Tonight is supposed to be fun, so no getting sad over Landon, we can talk about it tomorrow." The Saltzman decided. "I kinda want to kick his ass." Beau voiced his opinion. "Beau, shut it." Luca warned, wanting to move on from this topic. "Fine." Beau decided before he turned back to Tori, "But I still want to talk about boys."

Tori's interest was piqued, "Oh?" She smiled a little smugly. "Now that you're finally back, I can tell you about my latest fantasies." Beau insisted, causing Eden to laugh as Tori paused, "Not to break your heart or anything, but we're kinda... not... on the same page anymore with that stuff." The blonde admitted as Beau's face fell. "Are you telling me that I have two vanilla bitches for best friends?!" He asked dramatically. Tori instantly looked to Lucas, who always seemed a little uncomfortable when Beau started rambling about sexual things. "Um... I guess?" The Mikaelson shrugged, not really being fazed by Beau's attempt to insult them.

"Ugh, so boring. Eden, please do better than those two." The Lazuli sassed as Eden rolled her eyes playfully, believing Beau to be dramatic. "But anyway, someone has caught my eye." Beau began as Tori tilted her head, "Guy or girl??" She questioned. "Guy." Beau answered as Lucas looked to Tori now, "Why do you look relieved?" He asked with a slight laugh. "Because I know Beau's type: basically any guys... and really mean girls." The blonde answered as Beau looked taken aback.

"He had a crush on you when you were without humanity??" Lucas reminded the hybrid. "Yeah, Lulu, that literally only furthers my point." Tori replied as the pair and Eden laughed as Beau rolled his eyes before he looked to Tori, "At least my type isn't touchstarved savages." He pointed out.

Lucas continued to laugh as Tori paused, "That's... mean." She answered slowly as though she was thinking about it, Beau narrowed his eyes at her, "You're not saying no, though." He replied. Tori frowned, "Because I think... you might be kinda right. What if my preference is literally just someone cute who can put up with my constant need for affection..." She realised suddenly, as though it was an epiphany. "Well that would make it lucky for Clary that you're a stage 1 clinger... She is gonna receive more affection from you in ten minutes, than she's probably ever received in her life from her family."

"Oh damn." Eden blurted while Lucas lost it with laughter as Tori lifted a hand to cover her mouth, as she tried not to laugh guiltily. "Damn, that's fucked... also what did you just call me?!" The Mikaelson asked. "You know I think Sebastian could be considered a touchstarved savage... he was locked in a box for centuries." Eden pointed out, slightly changing the subject.

"Ooh Sebastian is the crush's name? Also... wHY WAS HE Locked in a box?!" Tori asked, as she looked concerned. "He was in a coffin, in the school's basement." Beau answered in an oddly casual manner. "For someone who has been in stuck in the darkness for years... he is pretty hot." Lucas admitted. "Yeah I definitely agree." Eden piped up as Beau narrowed his eyes at the pair. "What? He basically has the school under some spell... I mean with a jawline like that???" Lucas confessed before he looked back to Tori, "Jed started calling him Captain Cheekbones and it's kinda stuck."

"Heh... Captain Cheekbones is a funny name." Tori decided before she shrugged, "Okay I simply have to meet him." She decided as Beau looked a little in love. "He's just so charming and fine... I would let him do unspeakable things to me."

Lucas cringed, while Eden was trying so hard not to laugh. Tori didn't bat an eyelid, "And you guys aren't dating?" She asked. "No, you know I'm not a fan of dating... that doesn't matter though, he is still so welcome to break my back like a glowstick." Beau continued as Lucas frowned, "Can you shut up?" He complained. Tori looked around for an item to throw at the Lazuli.

The Mikason took hold of a pillow before throwing it at the siphon witch, "Horny jail!!" She ordered. "Aah—" Beau copped a pillow to the face, and went to throw it back at Tori though she moved in order to dodge it.

Deciding to change the topic from Beau's love life to Tori's, Eden decided to poke. "Beau told me that you and your girlfriend used to hate eachother." Eden said as Tori nodded, "We did. We got in more fights than any other students at Auclair." The blonde confessed, as Eden seemed surprised. "What changed?" She asked curiously as Tori shrugged, "We... had sex on a lake after getting revenge on her ex best friend." She admitted honestly, though she immediately looked as though she regretted oversharing.

The Winslow laughed, "Yeah I guess that would change things. That's one hell of an origin story." She admitted as Tori blushed for a moment, "Believe me, it wouldn't have happened if I had my humanity on. I don't think I'd ever been that forward in my entire life." The Mikealson responded awkwardly before she asked, "Do you have a partner?" Eden shook her head in response.

"But she totally has her eye on somebody." Beau cut into their conversation. "Who??" Tori asked curiously as Eden rolled her eyes before she looked to Beau, "You're full of shit, B."

"She has a crush on Ashley." Beau ignored Eden's comment. "They were paired together for a project and Eden totally has a crush." He added as Eden huffed, "I just said that she is really pretty and she has a nice smile... I never once said I had a crush, idiot." The empath witch responded.

"Sounds like enough proof to me." Tori teased before she realised, "I don't know Ashley but I can get info on her from Clary." The Mikealson decided before she clapped her hands together, "I can play cupid— look my success rate is questionable, but I have some faith." Tori decided before she shot finger guns in Eden's direction as the ravenette looked done with all of their shit.

"If you're playing cupid can you hit Landon for me..." Lucas sighed as Tori offered him a weak smile, "I'm sure you guys will be fine." She insisted, as she couldn't picture a scenario in her mind where Landon and Lucas couldn't work things out.

"Anyway I have to go pester my girlfriend now." Tori got to her feet as Beau looked at her with surprise, "You haven't seen Clary yet?" He asked as the blonde motioned to Lucas, "My priority was the birthday boy." She confessed before she moved towards the door, "I'll see you guys at the party!"

━━━━━ ⋆⋅♥︎⋅⋆ ━━━━━

"God Charlie really chose a set with so many pieces." Niko chuckled as himself and Zeke were working together to keep building, while Charlie, Glen and Liv had left momentarily, as they wanted snacks.

"It's gonna look so cool when it's done though!" Zeke admitted, seeming excited for the finished result. "Hey, who is your favourite Star wars character?" The untriggered werewolf suddenly asked. "Oh that's easy, Obi Wan! How about you?" Niko replied. "Definitely Anakin." Ezekiel confessed.

"I think I prefer playing the Lego games over watching the movies though... it's a lot more fun to be in on all the action." Niko admitted as Zeke paused and thought about it, "Actually... same. The movies are very long and I can't sit still for all of that, at least if I play the Lego games it keeps my hands occupied?" Zeke rambled on, feeling as though he was spouting some nonsense but Niko seemed to understand.

"Have you seen any of the tv shows?" Zeke then asked as Niko realised he hadn't... and the truth was, not that he could remember, he had been planning to start watching them with Hope. "I haven't." Niko replied, realising that it made no sense for him to have not seen any of them.

"They're pretty good... I'm rewatching the Clone wars at the moment. I definitely recommend it." Zeke responded, as he suddenly realised just how much talking he was doing. Ezekiel could be a chatterbox, but only around those he was close to, otherwise he seemed pretty reserved. Basically, he was realising that he was growing comfortable around the Shiratori.

Niko had noticed it too, and that was without even reading the Mikaelson-Lockwood's thoughts. Though... he still did because curiosity got the better of him, and perhaps realising the boy he was crushing on had grown comfortable around him, made the psychic feel soft.

Ezekiel noticed Niko smiling at him, and he blushed and averted his eyes away for a moment, hoping the Shiratori wasn't reading his mind. "Um... did you say Charlie, Glen and Liv were getting snacks?" Zeke then asked, realising that they had been gone for a while, "Yeah... they've been gone for like twenty minutes..." Niko realised.

The trio in question were returning to the dorm, holding a couple different bags of snacks, though Charlie suddenly stopped when he realised Niko and Zeke seemed to be lost in conversation again moments later while they worked together to build the lego set... but what was most obvious was how content they seemed to be while hanging out together. The Salvatore quickly outstretched his arms to stop Glen or Liv from entering the dorm, which confused them both.

The vampire span around, "This is a canon event... we cannot interfere." Charlie spoke quietly as Liv asked, "What?" The Salvatore explained, "They're really getting along... we have to leave them alone." Glen asked, "Are you trying to play cupid?" Charlie simply nodded. "Nice." The werewolf grinned slightly before he frowned, "But I left my energy drink on your nightstand." Olivia's eyes then widened, "And I left my phone on your bed. We have to go back in there." The tribrid insisted.

"No! We can't! Niko needs this!" Charlie insisted before he looked down at his own energy drink he was holding before he moved to place it into Glen's hands. "Here you go." The vampire insisted as Glen seemed slightly surprised, "Your sacrifice is noted." He replied. Charlie failed to keep a straight face before he looked to Liv, "I can't really help your phone situation though."

"Char..." Liv pleaded, "What if Lexi tries to call me?" She asked as Glen pointed out, "Aren't you two usually always five feet away from eachother?" Charlie tried (and failed) to stifle a laugh at that comment, while Liv frowned before she looked between the two boyfriends, "I can not believe you two of all people are coming for me right now for being clingy..."

"Hey! That was uncalled for." Charlie spoke dramatically as Glen added, "We are not clingy." Liv just narrowed her eyes at the pair, who were each holding their snacks with one arm, so they could hold eachother's hand with the other. "Uh huh..." She spoke as though she didn't believe them.

"Well... if we can't go back to your dorm, I might go see the werewolves." Liv decided as this seemed like an idea Glen was interested in. "Ditto." He declared. Charlie flopped his head on Glen's shoulder before he asked, "Like the Pokemon?" The Forde couldn't keep a straight face, "Yes, but no. I'm so glad that's what you instantly thought of." He admitted. "Ditto has such a menacing smile... it has definitely committed war crimes." Liv insisted as Glen and Charlie both burst out laughing. "No shit." Glen agreed.

The trio made their way to the gymnasium, where some of the wolves hung out. Lately, it felt like the space had become substantially much smaller since the pack had new members. Bellamy, Gianna, Casper and Dante had beaten Jed in a game of basketball, making them apart of the pack. Ezekiel and Wylan also hung around, despite being untriggered werewolves (but Val insisted it didn't matter and they should consider themselves lucky because they hadn't taken a life). And on top of that, there were the honorary werewolves such as Landon, Corentin, Charlie and Aaron who would come hang out sometimes too.

Fortunately the gym wasn't packed right now, as only Myrical, Valerie and Jed were there. Jed noticed the trio, and looked at the basketball in his hands before he tossed it into the air, towards them.

Olivia had no interest in catching it, as she made a beeline for Myrical. Charlie and Glen on the other hand, quickly placed the drinks and snacks they'd been holding on the ground before they both kept their eye on the basketball. Moving towards it, the boyfriends tried to nudge eachother out of the way before Glen jumped up to catch it, though it slipped through his arms and Charlie was quick to grab it.

"Oh hell yeah!!" Charlie cheered to himself as he started to bounce the ball and run around before he eventually threw it back to Jed. "Maybe you should be playing basketball instead of football." Jed suggested as Charlie frowned, "Nah, football is so much better." He decided.

"Are you going to the triplets party tonight?" Liv asked as herself and Myrical were clung to one another as though they hadn't seen eachother in days, when in reality it had been a few hours. "I don't know... maybe for a bit, later but I don't think I'll be there for long... are you?" Riri questioned as Liv shook her head, "Maybe to say happy birthday to the triplets, but I'm kinda tired of people right now." The Auclair decided.

"That's so real." Charlie agreed, "But I'm still going... I don't think Lizzie would forgive me if I was a no show." He added. "Are you guys going?" He then asked the werewolf couple, as Valerie answered, "I wasn't going to but some of the other wolves may have convinced me to come." Jed narrowed his eyes at his partner, "Babe, you took hardly any convincing. There was mention of dancing and cake and you were so down."

"Okay true... the wolves wanna hang out and I'm so there." The Harlowe laughed before they looked to Glen, "Are you coming?" They asked. "Depends, what kind of cake are we talking about?" He asked, as though it was a dealbreaker. "Wait that's an important question we definitely need an answer to." Valerie said before looking to Charlie. "Agreed." Jed added.

"Uh... I actually have no idea what cake Mum decided on. The triplets all wanted something different." Charlie remembered. "Could you imagine when the cake gets sliced, that they start fighting eachother because it wasn't what they wanted." Glen pointed out as Jed laughed, "That would be hilarious... I would go just to watch them fight over cake." He insisted. "No... don't manifest it, they would actually do that." Charlie groaned, as he could vividly picture his three younger siblings throwing hands over the cake flavour being not to their liking.

"This conversation is making me realise how lucky I am to not share a birthday." Myrical realised as Liv agreed, "Same... could you imagine having a twin? I'm not sure that I could." The taller ravenette admitted. "Oh man... watching my younger siblings fight makes me so relieved to not have a twin." Charlie added.

"I don't know... you and Lexi could probably pass for twins." Glen decided to air his random thought, though the look on Charlie's face made himself, Liv, Myrical, Val and Jed all burst out laughing. Charlie stepped forward and gently placed his hands on either side of Glen's face, as though he was trying to grab all of his attention before saying something super important.

"Please never say that again." The Salvatore finally spoke. Everyone burst out laughing again, and honestly Charlie couldn't really stop himself from laughing a little. "Could you imagine being twins with Gia? I feel like that is comparable." The Salvatore admitted as Glen's face fell, "I would actually never know peace if Gia was my twin." He confessed.

"You guys are so mean, Lexi and Gia are fine." Valerie poked as Glen and Charlie turned to them. "They're great... I love Gia, but they are chaos incarnate... I feel like Lexi is kind of the same." Glen admitted as Charlie agreed, "Lexi is very similar... if they ever became friends we would all be screwed. Peace would never be an option again."

"Okay drama queens." Val rolled their eyes playfully, "We should probably get to your sibling's party." Jed looked to Charlie. "Yeah... we should." The Salvatore admitted before the four turned to Liv and Myrical, who had their arms linked. "We're gonna... not do that yet." Liv spoke before Myrical added, "Have fun!" The introverted best friends were then quick to leave, before any of the four attempted to change their minds.

━━━━━ ⋆⋅♥︎⋅⋆ ━━━━━

Faith found herself looking for Salem, and was surprised to find the vampire in her younger sister's dorm, raiding her makeup. The brunette currently stood by Tori and Amelia's vanity, as she was drawing winged eyeliner using Tori's eyeliner pen. On the table sat an eyeshadow pallet with darker colours, and some brushes.

Salem saw Faith through the mirror as she entered the room, and offered the tribrid a sly smile. "I'm glad your sister went through an emo phase, because her makeup is to my liking and I can steal it." Salem admitted, as she placed the eyeliner away before looking through the makeup bag for a dark lipstick or gloss.

"Interesting take." Faith responded before she closed the door behind her, hoping that Ezra wouldn't be able to hear her next sentence incase he was near. "And she's not my sister... neither of them are." The auburn haired girl reminded her, not that she'd ever let Ezra hear her say those words.

"You seem pretty content on keeping that information from Ezra." Salem stirred, as she frowned at all of the lighter shades of lip colours she was coming across. "Are you scared that if he finds out you're plotting against your own blood, and his chosen family, he'll pick them over you?"

Faith didn't answer, and her expression didn't really change but her eyes gave away how she really felt. Salem placed the makeup bag down and stepped away from the vanity, to approach the tribrid.

"You don't have to worry, I won't tell him." Salem spoke, as Faith lips curved into what seemed like a serious smile. "Good. Because if you told him, I would actually kill you." Faith warned, though Salem didn't seem worried by her threat.

"Hm... you really know how to get a girl's attention." Salem hummed sarcastically, taking a step closer to Faith as the tribrid glanced down at her lips momentarily. "Is that what you think I'm doing?" The Mikaelson asked dryly as Salem nodded, "Maybe."

Faith didn't respond, at least verbally. She leant closer to Salem, a little slowly as she was gaging whether or not the Pierce was on the same page. Salem noticed this and smiled a smugly, before she moved closer to Faith as they finally kissed.

For Faith, it almost felt like time had slowed. She'd never kissed anybody before, and always wondered what it would be like... she hadn't expected it to be Salem either, possibly Ezra but... Salem had definitely caught her by surprise.

The girls broke apart, though they kept their eyes fixed on eachother as Faith looked as though she was waiting for a reaction... she wasn't sure what to expect. Salem just smirked, "I knew you liked me." The vampire teased, as Faith rolled her eyes playfully. "Shut up..." She grumbled back in response.

Salem laughed, before she reached out and cradled the shorter girl's face with her hands before she initiated another kiss. Faith closed her eyes and kissed back, though the pair soon broke apart at the sound of a door creaking open.

Salem, who wore a frown, and Faith turned to the doorway, to see Ezra, who looked a little surprised by the scene he'd walked in on, and perhaps a little disheartened. "Sorry, I should have knocked." He realised. "Yeah, you should have." Salem sassed.

"What's up?" Faith questioned as she moved away from Salem and towards Ezra. "I came to see if you guys were ready to leave, the karaoke started half an hour ago." The Zhang admitted, before his eyes trailed to Tori's vanity, where the makeup the Pierce used still sat open. "But I'm going to assume Salem isn't ready yet." He replied, seeming a little sassy.

Salem rolled her eyes at Ezra before she moved back to the vanity, and went back to searching for a dark coloured lipstick. "We're nearly ready." Faith decided, before she took another step towards Ezra and looked him up and down. "You look nice." She offered as Ezra's expression softened, "And you look beautiful."

Salem paused as she looked as though she wanted to be sick. She zipped up the makeup bag after finding and applying a lipstick she desired, and turned to face Faith and Ezra, "I'm ready, let's go." She insisted, offering them a faux smile as she walked towards them.

Faith and Ezra glanced at Salem before Faith started moving, to exit the dorm and start leading the way. Salem and Ezra shared a look of distaste, showing that they were really done with eachother, yet without hatred, before they moved to follow the tribrid.

━━━━━ ⋆⋅♥︎⋅⋆ ━━━━━

Sitting in a booth at the Grill, were Lizzie, Aphie and Hope. A waiter brought them each their respective millshakes; peanut butter blast for Hope, double chocolate for Lizzie and strawberry cheesecake for Aphrodite.

Aphie kept glancing at the time, as she noticed how much later it was getting. "Lizzie, are you sure you don't want to go to your birthday party anymore?" Aphie questioned, as she couldn't seem to understand why the blonde suddenly lacked interest, especially after she'd been excited over it for weeks.

"I'm sure." Lizzie insisted, as she quietly sipped on her millshake. "Lizzie, you planned your sweet sixteen for years... I fail to believe you haven't also been planning your sweet seveteen." Hope admitted, as she swirled her straw through the milkshake.

"Seventeen isn't even exciting... it's just a filler year. Turning sixteen and eighteen are exciting but seventeen?? It's a nothing age." Lizzie rambled on before her face fell, "A nothing age... that Charlie will be forever..." Her voice was filled with sadness, and Aphie and Hope wondered if Charlie had something to do with why the Saltzman seemed upset.

Lizzie's eyes filled with tears, as she tried her best to blink them away. "I'm seventeen... and so is Charlie. We're the same age now but we're not supposed to be... he is supposed to be my older brother but we're both technically seventeen and—" Lizzie stopped herself as she realised she was working herself up and rambling.

Aphrodite reached her hand over and placed it atop Lizzie's, realising that maybe her girlfriend was struggling with the fact that Charlie was immortal, doomed to stay seventeen forever while herself and her triplet siblings grew old together. It was a lonely thought, really. "Charlie wouldn't want you to worry about this." Aphrodite insisted, her voice soft.

"I know... he has already told me he doesn't want me to worry... but it's so hard not to when it's all my fault." Lizzie voiced as Aphie and Hope both looked puzzled for a moment. "What are you talking about?" Hope questioned as Aphie tilted her head, "Lizzie..." She was cut off as Lizzie sighed before she finally admitted with a shaky voice, "I'm the reason Charlie is dead. I killed him."

After a massive fight with Alaric, Lizzie found herself in the Salvatore school kitchen, letting out her frustration with magic as she sent all sorts of kitchen equipment flying around the room. Plates shattered against the walls, and a fry pan smashed through one of the windows.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she telekinetically opened more cupboards, to find things to throw. She didn't want to be like this anymore... she didn't want to keep messing up, and she didn't want to react in a way that made people assume she was a ticking timebomb.

The blonde was so distracted by her distress, that she didn't hear the knocking at the kitchen door. The Saltzman opened the cutlery drawer and continued hurling items around the kitchen, while the door slowly opened. Charlie was there, hoping to try and calm down his younger sister, in worry she may hurt herself.

"Lizzie." He spoke softly, but when Lizzie turned to look at her older brother, three of the sharp knives flung in his direction. "Charlie!" Lizzie cried out, though it was too late. As she went to stop them using her magic, he had already been stabbed.

Charlie exhaled sharply, as he glanced down to see where he had been stabbed; in the chest, abdomen and leg. The bleeding began quickly, and the Salvatore collapsed to the ground, his legs seeming to give way. "Charlie!!" Lizzie panicked as she rushed over to her brother, as her eyes filled with tears again.

"Hey, Char— look at me! Please keep your eyes open, everything is going to be okay." Lizzie pleaded, before she took hold of the first knife, to remove it. "I'll take these out and your healing should do the trick." Lizzie insisted, as Charlie kept his eyes on his sister. The boy was an unturned vampire, so technically a human with vampire blood... which meant for the most part he healed from injuries, but in this case the injuries were too severe.

"Lizzie..." Charlie tried to speak, as she removed the second knife, and then the third. Lizzie's face paled when she realised they were sitting in a pool of Charlie's blood, and it wasn't showing any signs of stopping. "You're supposed to heal, why aren't you healing?!" Lizzie demanded, visibly frustrated with herself before she choked out a sob, "I'm so sorry... I never meant for you to get hurt."

"Lizzie, it's gonna be okay." Charlie hardly managed to speak, though he was probably moreso telling himself than anything... he was secretly terrified of becoming a vampire, but he didn't want the Saltzman to catch onto that. "I'm sorry Char... I'm so sorry..." Lizzie kept repeating, though she broke down when she realised that the Salvatore had taken his final breath.

Sometime later, Charlie had been moved onto the couch in Alaric and Caroline's office, as they were expecting him to undergo his vampire transition. Lizzie sat by his side, feeling absolutely beside herself. She couldn't believe she'd done this... she loved her brother and never wanted to hurt him, let alone kill him.

Josie suddenly entered the office, "I um... I called Lucas." She spoke as Lizzie turned to look at her triplet, "Why would you do that?" She managed to choke out, knowing their triplet brother was going to be absolutely infuriated. "Our crazy, angry brother is still Charlie's brother too. He deserves to know."

"Maybe Charlie was right to move schools..." Lizzie moved her eyes back to Charlie's unconscious body. "Maybe they both were... I'm a monster, Jo." The blonde exhaled. "You didn't mean to kill Charlie... did you?" Josie asked seemingly worried now. "Of course not.... but... it doesn't change the fact that it still happened." Lizzie responded.

The office doors burst opened and there stood a very pissed off looking Lucas, who hadn't stepped foot into his former school since he was ten. "What the hell did you do to him?!" The Saltzman snapped, as he rushed over to the trio, his eyes fixed on his older brother. "Lucas, I—" Lizzie was cut off, "You fucking killed our brother!!" Lucas spoke, as though he was still trying to accept it himself. Even though Josie had told him what had happened over the phone, he didn't want to believe it.

"Can you stop yelling?" Josie frowned at Lucas. The siphon looked at the ravenette as though she'd lost her mind, "I think I have every right to be angry! My brother came to visit you guys and got killed!" Lucas then brushed past the girls and moved to pick up Charlie. "What are you doing?" Lizzie asked before Josie frowned, "Where are you taking him?!" She demanded.

"I'm taking him back to Auclair academy. Incase you idiots forgot, that is our home now since we got kicked out of here." Lucas seethed before he began to leave, carrying his undead brother in his arms. Josie glanced back at Lizzie, who stared at the place on the couch where Charlie had just been, as her expression showed a mix of guilt and misery.

"Charlie never told me that." Hope realised, as her face faltered. "He would never blame you, though... you have to know that." The tribrid added as Lizzie couldn't meet her eye. Aphrodite squeezed Lizzie's hands gently, "If anyone is to blame, it's Alaric. He always has a terrible way of approaching you about things." The De Martel insisted, as she felt like Alaric always approached Lizzie in a manner that seemed to be instantly attacking which would cause her to take it personally and react.

"No matter what you guys say, it doesn't change anything. My mind has always hated me and I feel like I've never been in control... and because of it, Charlie was killed." Lizzie realised as tears filled her eyes. "Maybe I do need help... because I really can't keep living like this anymore. I don't want anybody else to get hurt because of me." The Saltzman admitted, her voice was shaky again, as Aphie and Hope realised that this had been on her mind for a while.

"Lizzie..." Aphie felt her heart sink, as the other witch seemed overwhelmed with guilt, before she burst into tears. The redhead moved forward and hugged Lizzie, letting the taller girl cry. Hope's face fell, as it hurt to see her former frenemy loathing herself so much.

"Lizzie, you're not a monster." Hope assured her, as Aphrodite continued to comfort her crying girlfriend, as she held the blonde in her arms.

━━━━━ ⋆⋅♥︎⋅⋆ ━━━━━

Tori didn't take long to reach Clary and Ashley's dorm. The blonde reached out to knock, just as the door opened and Ashley was stepping out to leave. "Woah— Hi!" Ashley blurted out, not expecting anyone to be there. "Clary, someone is here for you." The Bennett then chirped before offered Victoria a smile, as she left.

Clary got to the door and she had to do a double take when she saw Tori standing there. "Oh my god—" She blurted out. "Hey Clar." Tori smiled as the witch practically rushed forward to pull Tori in for a hug. The hybrid hugged back, feeling instantly relieved, as though all her nerves were gone.

"I have missed you so much." Clary managed to say, as she kept Tori in an embrace for a few moments before she let go, and pulled the hybrid into her room as the Mikealson closed the door. "I've missed you too." Tori replied, as she suddenly felt extra guilty for hardly keeping in contact, especially because now she realised she hadn't had anything to be nervous about, and that she'd overthought Faith's words.

Clary then reached forward to kiss Tori, as she gently cradled her face. Tori closed her eyes and kissed back, as her hands moved to sit around the witch's waist. Clary then pulled away, though she stayed in the hybrid's embrace, "I'm having a total fashion disaster... I have no idea what to wear to the triplet's birthday." She admitted as Tori smiled a little smugly, "Well lucky for you, you're dating a fashion student." She replied.

Clary then moved towards her closet and started pulling out different pieces and laying them on her bed, as Tori sorted them out into different outfits. "What's it been like to hang out with your new sister?" Carice asked as Tori took a step back from the bed and looked through the different outfits she'd made, "It's um... a little weird honestly." She replied.

"What is she like?" Clary asked, as she grabbed some shoes and placed them on the floor of the bed, before she peered at the different outfits and seemed impressed. "She's... a bit reserved, and can be ruthless. But... lately she's been nicer and is actually bantering with me so... I think we're starting to get along." Tori explained before she turned to Clary.

"These are all of the combinations I can create, but keep in mind you'll wanna add jewellery." Tori explained before she added, "Oh and I can also help with makeup if you want??" Clary's expression softened before she moved forward and placed a kiss on the hybrid's cheek, "You are amazing. Thank you."

A few minutes passed, and Clary got changed while Tori rummaged through her jewellery collection and chose out some pieces. "Are you wanting gold or silver?" Tori asked as Carice pulled on her shoes, "Silver."

"Okay. How are your cousins settling in by the way?" Tori asked, as Clary approached the Mikealson and began to put on the jewellery she selected. "They seem fine. Ashley was struggling a little at first... we were kind of bickering and she didn't really know anybody and hung out with the Olmo twins... but recently she's become close with Cleo and they're hanging out basically all of the time."

"What were you guys fighting about?" Tori asked, as Clary shrugged, "Stupid sibling shit, basically. Everything is fine now though." The Bailey assured her. "She also started talking to this girl Eden, they were partnered together for some English project... Ashley seems to think she's really cool."

"Oh does she now?" Tori questioned, wearing a slight smirk. "Why are you smiling as though you're scheming?" Clary asked as Victoria shrugged, "Maybe because I am... Eden thinks Ashley is pretty." She admitted. "Oh I see... you want to be their cupid?" The Bailey asked as Tori nodded eagerly.

"I wonder if you could sort out Aaron's relationship drama too while you're at it..." Clary trailed off as Tori seemed interested, "I'm listening." The brunette spoke, "Aaron has history with Rafael... they met a long time ago and hit it off, but then they parted ways and things got pretty bad. Now they're forced to be in eachother's presence and... they hate eachother."

"Other than that though, Aaron is loving it here. He's made friends with a lot of the werewolves, much to Raf's disgust, oh and he's best friends with Ezekiel." Clary admitted as Tori paused. "What?" She asked, as though she had missed a chapter.

"Aaron is best friends with Ezekiel... your cousin?" Carice spoke a little confusedly as Tori's jaw dropped before it turned into an excited smile, "ZEKE IS HERE??" She asked. "Yes?? How do you not know this??" Carice replied as Tori unintentionally ignored her as she realised, "Bellamy has to be here too... oh my god I can't believe Aunt Raina let them move here, I never thought I'd see the day." Victoria confessed, as Mystic Falls had always been a touchy subject for Raina, since Tyler had been unfairly killed here.

As Tori had excited rambled, Clary started doing her makeup. "Go see them now if you want, I can meet you at the party when I'm done?" Clary suggested as Tori then noticed the open eyeshadow pallet that sat on a table near Carice's mirror. The hybrid looked between the eye shadow pallet, and Clary before she asked, "Can I help with the eye shadow? I have an idea." Carice nodded, "Yeah of course."

"Oh now that you're back... can you tell Beau to cut MG some slack?" Clary asked as Tori took hold of the eyeshadow pallet and a brush, while the witch sat in a spot where Victoria could get the best lighting.

"Are they still at eachother's throats?" Tori asked before she said softly, "Close your eyes, babe." Clary laughed before she teased, "Sorry... I'm too busy staring at my pretty makeup artist." Tori wore a small smile, "You're gonna make me blush." She teased back as Clary opened her eyes for a moment, "That's not hard to do... you get flustered so easily."

"Are you going to continue teasing me or are you going to let me do your makeup?" Tori asked, without thinking, as Clary just blinked before she smirked, "I could tease you if you wanted." She suggested as Tori's face reddened, "I regretted my word choice as soon as I said it." She admitted with a laugh, as Clary laughed also.

The Bailey closed her eyes, as Tori started to apply the first eyeshadow colour. "You didn't answer my question about Beau and MG." The blonde realised. "Oh yeah— They're definitely still at eachother's throats. But now MG is also fighting with Sebastian because they both like Beau and Sebastian is kind of unofficially with Beau?"

"Sounds like Beau's top tier fantasy to be honest... a love triangle where both people only have eyes for him." Tori admitted as she started to apply the second colour of eyeshadow to Clary's eyelids. The Bailey tried not to laugh too hard, in fear of messing up the makeup. "Yeah no shit... I feel bad for MG though."

"Why?" Tori asked, "Well... MG definitely fumbled with Beau but... he tried to talk to him about it and make things right but Beau isn't willing to listen." Clary explained as Tori didn't seem surprised. "MG and I have become friends and... he is a good guy! Also I've heard him gush on about Beau and he's like a sad little schoolgirl with a massive crush on somebody who has no time for him... although I'm not convinced Beau doesn't have some sort of feelings for him."

"Beau definitely had a crush on MG at one point... I don't know, maybe he has moved on. He seems really set on this Sebastian guy." Tori trailed off as Clary continued, "Wait I'm getting off topic... Beau has been really harsh towards MG and I just want Beau to be a little nicer to him... I'm not expecting him to like MG back or anything—"

"Wait, who even are you right now?" Tori realised, as she laughed slightly. "What the hell do you mean?" Carice asked defensively. "You, Auclair's head mean girl, is asking for Beau to be nicer to MG?" Tori explained as Clary's jaw dropped open in shock, as she wanted to speak but didn't know what to say.

"This is your fault!" Clary huffed dramatically, "Being with you makes me want to be nicer to people?!" She added, making it as though nice was a venomous word. "I never wanted to be nice to people before!" Carice continued as Tori spoke with feigned sympathy, "Aw. Shall I play you a song on the world's tiniest violin?"

"And now you're being mean to me... I guess I'm making you an asshole." Clary fired back playfully as Tori snorted in amusement. "I wish I could let you take the credit baby, but if I look back at all of the bad bitches that influenced me to be more sarcastic and mean to others over the recent years, and made a list... you'd probably place fifth." She decided as Clary placed a hand over her heart.

"Out of all of things you've said to me, that is the worst! How can I possibly be placed so low?" Clary demanded, as she spoke dramatically. "Well duh it would be in order of time. Bellamy places as number one, because she was my first ever influence to be a bitch to somebody back when we went to school together." Tori spoke with a proud smile.

"Anyway, close your eyes again so I can finish your makeup." Tori ordered as Clary obeyed, and the hybrid began blending the eyeshadow together.  Once she finished the look, she reached for an eyeliner pen and started to draw winged eyeliner on Clary's left eye.

Once Tori finished the right eye, and glanced at the Bailey's face to make sure it was symmetrical, before she excitedly got to her feet and helped Carice up. "Okay it's done, take a look." The hybrid chirped.

Clary glanced in the full length mirror she kept in the corner of her room, before she smiled. "Oh my god... I look amazing— you did this, my talented fashion-crazy girlfriend. Thank you so much??" The Bailey rambled, her expression showing a mix of amazement and gratefulness. "You're welcomeeee." Tori smiled back before the pair shared a chaste kiss.

"We should get to Luca's party... you gotta find your cousins." Clary offered a smile as Tori's face lit up, "I'm so fucking excited to see them." She admitted, as the pair left the dorm, Clary locking it behind them.

They approached the elevator, though they were not going to be at all prepared for the sight they were going to see once the doors opened. The elevator doors moved open, as Jed, Casper, Wylan, Gia, Rafael and Dante, who had been at the party already for some time and were already tipsy, stood inside, but all faced the back and sides of the elevator, instead of facing forward towards the door, to weird out anyone who enters the elevator.

Tori and Clary both blinked in surprise before Tori blurted out loudly, "wHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK??" Meanwhile Clary muttered, "Things that aren't illegal but should be..."

"TORI?!" The elevator erupted with confused voices, as everyone turned to face the girlfriends, who finally entered the elevator. "Hii— oh my god Dante??!" Tori's eyes widened at the sight of one of her childhood friends, while the Rosza's face lit up, "Hi T!!" He greeted excitedly as the pair hugged.

Victoria then pulled away and did a double take when she saw Gia. "Little Forde?!" She blurted out, though Gianna did not share the same level of excitement. "Ugh... disappear again, bitch." She muttered in Italian, at nobody in particular since she assumed no one else could understand her, except maybe Jed who knew some Spanish.

"You do realise I can understand you." Tori admitted, as she had learnt Italian for a little while... she didn't really know how to speak it, but she had a fair understanding of a lot of the words. "Great, then I hope you understand this: You're an asshole and I hope when you go to sleep at night, that both sides of your pillow are warm. I also hope an air conditioner falls on you." Gia continued in Italian, making sure not to speak too quickly so that the Mikaelson understood every word.

Tori's jaw dropped open, and she wanted to say something in response but decided not to. She assumed that Gia's current dislike for the hybrid would have reflected Glen's thoughts on Tori, which wasn't actually the case... Gianna was just a salty guard dog. The blonde turned to face the front of the elevator before she mumbled to Clary, "... We should have taken the stairs."

Dante seemed to mindlessly chatter to the Olmo twins, as Wylan seemed interested but Casper didn't know how to politely say he wasn't listening because all he could think about was how nervous he was to see Ethan. The elevator doors finally opened, after what felt like an eternity, and Clary quickly reached to take Tori's hand with her own before they stepped out of the elevator and approached the party.

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AUTHORS NOTE

I actually don't have anything to yap about in the authors note for once... who even am I 😭