"All right. Voting is now closed." Emma spoke, as she stood behind the podium, as the students all broke into a round of applause as she prepared to reveal the honor council members. "Let's get started."

Emma looked at the ballot box, which lit up from within and vibrated for a long moment before spitting a piece of parchment into the air. "The werewolf representative will be ...Rafael!" She announced, reading from the pierce of paper.

A bright smile filled Ruby's face as she turned to her twin and gave him a proud smile. All of the werewolves stood to applaud and cheer for their new alpha, who was seated in the front row of their section and smiled weakly, his face still bruised and cut from his battle with Jed earlier.

In the witch section, Josie rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, "So much for not wanting anything to do with the pack..."

"I've always wanted to be part of a power couple..." Lizzie hummed as Ruby looked at the witch awkwardly. After a moment, Emma called for them to resume the ceremony. "All right, settle down." She called out and much to Emma's appreciation, the audience fell quiet.

"Thank you. Next up... the vampire representative will be..." MG stood to his feet and buttoned his jacket as he awaited his name being called but Emma announced, "...Monica!"

As with the werewolves, the vampires all stood, to cheer or laugh excitedly, as Monica just smirked proudly. MG's smile fell, before he sat down in his seat while the vampires around him start whooting and dancing, and once again, Emma gave them a moment to congratulate their representative before calling on them to quiet down. "All right, guys, settle down." Emma called out again.

Lizzie got to her feet excitedly before turning to Josie and Ruby excitedly, "Showtime. How do I look?" She asked as Ruby flashed a smile, "Pretty."

The box rattled and spat out its last piece of parchment as Josie straightened Lizzie's side-ponytail and tie. "And the witch representative will be..." Emma began as the twins smiled at each other affectionately as Emma read off the final representative. "..Josie!"

Lizzie's smile immediately fell she looked to Josie, who was completely surprised. "Hey uh good job, Jo!" Ruby awkwardly spoke, turning the girl's attention away from how surprised she was. Emma wrapped up the ceremony. "Thank you all for voting, and congratulations to our newly-elected representatives."

❤︎

Ruby entered the Rafael and Landon's dorm, to see Hope helping Landon, as he'd just been attacked by Jed. "I'm gonna tear Jed apart." Rafael yelled angrily, as Hope sighed, "No, you're really not."

"What happened?!" Ruby asked worriedly as her twin faced her. "Jed attacked Landon! He's gonna pay for what he did. He could've killed him." Rafael spoke angrily as Hope sighed, You wanna do something to help him? Take a walk to the herb garden and get me some hazelwood root." She demanded. Still furious, Rafael turned to leave without another word.

"What does hazelwood root do?" Ruby then asked curiously, as Hope turner to the pinkette and shrugged nonchalantly before sitting down on the bed next to Landon. "Make him cool off before he realised that I made it up."

Even now, Ruby felt the need to justify Rafael's actions, "Rafi's had a rough couple of weeks." She blurted out, as Hope gave Ruby a stern look, "Look who's talking, you all have."

Ruby took a seat beside Hope, as she brushed a lock of hair out of Landon's eyes, taking note of the bandage on the laceration on his forehead. "Guess we can cross supernatural healing off the list." She said as Landon and Ruby chuckled weakly at the joke before Hope's expression turned serious.

"I'm sorry this happened to you. Jed's one of those rare cases where his bite is actually worse than his bark." Hope confessed, Landon gave Hope a knowing look. "I've dealt with bullies before."

"Not like this. I know how badly you want to stay here, but this school is full of people like Jed. Some of us are nicer, some of us have more control... but all of us are capable of doing what he did. Do you honestly think that you're safe here?" Hope asked. Ruby looked at Landon sympathetically, as he really did want to stay here. "Yes, I do." Landon answered.

Ruby turned to Landon, "I'm gonna make Rafi a hot chocolate, that'll cheer him up once he gets back. Do you want one, Lan?" She asked as Landon shook his head, "No thanks Ruby."

❤︎

Hope opened the sliding doors to the ballroom behind the grand hall, where Emma, Josie, Monica, and Rafael were sitting around a table waiting. "Sorry I'm late." She said before she took a seat at the head of the table.

The group shared a confused look before Monica asked, "Hold up—who voted for her?" The blonde then turned to Hope, "Why are you here?" She asked in a demanding manner as Hope just shrugged and settled into her seat. "I ran unopposed." This made Monca roll her eyes.

Emma telekinetically raised a golden scale into the air. "Cassitore." She spoke, as the scale balanced itself in the air above the table as the five deliberate on the night's decision. "We're here to discuss if Landon should be allowed to stay at the school." Emma continued as she picked up a small stone with the Salvatore School "S" printed on it.

"My vote, on behalf of the lower school, is to look on the side of inclusion. We exist to help kids like him..." Emma declared before she gently set the weight down on one side of the balance to represent her vote before giving a knowing look to Rafael. "Which is what I'm going to go do now. I have a search party looking for Jed. As you've all seen, violence leads to more violence. If you'll excuse me..." Emma turned to walk out of the room.

After a long silence, Monica finally spoke up. "Alright peasants who wants to start, you 3s or this 10?" She asked, obviously referring to herself as the 10. Rafael rolled his eyes at how stuck up she was. Hope, Josie and Rafael then stared at each other anxiously before Hope finally spoke up. "Landon has to go."

Josie and Monica were pleasantly surprised by this decision, but it was obvious by the scowl on Rafael's face that he wasn't not pleased. After a quiet moment, Monica decided to make her vote.

"Never thought I'd be saying this, but... Mikealson's right. Humans refuse to make a place for us in their world. Why should we start letting them in... It's only a matter of time before they take this place from us, too. Not to mention, Landon has endangered us and others how many times exactly?" She asked rhetorically as Rafael gave her a glare. "By the end of this week alone it'll be too many to count, so mophead has to go." With that, Monica picked up one of the "S" stones and placed it on the opposite side of the scales.

Rafael jumped straight into his own argument. "Landon is my brother. Landon and Ruby are the only reason I'm alive. Landon can't go back to human life knowing that magic and dragons exist. We took his whole crappy life from him. It'd be awful selfish of us to not give him one to replace it." Rafael declared before he picked up one of the stones and placed it in the dish alongside Emma's.

Hope looked at Rafael sympathetically. Monica instead groaned, "Raf, It doesn't matter how much you want him to stay. Look at what one mad wolf did to him!" Hope added, "Earlier, I asked him if he felt safe here... He said yes. He was lying. This place is dangerous for him, and even he knows it." Rafael glared at Hope defensively. "I will protect him!"

Monica laughed humourlessly at Rafael, which only made him angrier. "Where were you an hour ago, hero?" She asked. Rafael stayed silent, having nothing to say. "That's the point. If he stays, it's on all of us. It is all of our responsibility to protect him. Can we honestly say we believe every one of us can handle that kind of responsibility?" Hope asked everyone.

Whilst Monica looked unbothered, Josie and Hope looked grim, while Rafael shook his head weakly. Hope picked up her stone and set it on the other side, balancing the scales once again. Everyone turned to their witch representative for the final tie-breaking vote.

"Looks like it's on you, Josie."