there's always a loophole

Hope and I walk side by side, looking up at a nervous Rafael. "Hey, you okay?"

"Um, my mind still won't settle down." Rafael confesses. "Look, I'm sorry, but I can't join the fight."

I smile, "Don't worry, we're not going alone." I hum, looking at Hope.

"My squad answered the Bat-Signal."

It's like it's in slow motion as Kaleb, Josie, and Jed come walking over. I smirk, Josie and I making eye contact. Her face falls as Lizzie steps up. The two twins glare at each other before looking at Hope and I. "She's coming?"

"We need all the help I can get, so please put your twin war on pause." Hope hums. Josie huffs, holding onto my hand.

Rafael looks at Jed. "Why is he going? He hates Landon." He says.

Jed sighs. "Look, you're the Alpha. If Landon's your pack, that makes him ours."

"Where's MG at?" Kaleb asks.

"He's on his way." I answer, remembering the text MG sent. "Let's load up while we wait for him."

Hope waves her arm. "Come on."

The group and I all walk out of the Salvatore school, turning to see a group of men in armed suits, guns and who knows what else. "Oh, sorry. We were about to knock." Says a man.

"Who the hell are you?" Lizzie snaps.

"Name's Burr. Triad Industries." The man replies, a smirk on his face.

Hope waves her hands. "Propellere."

To our surprise, it doesn't work. "I got this." Kaleb speeds up to them. He hits the light, it suddenly burning his skin. He speeds back, and I look at his fist to check the damages.

"What you don't got is magic." He tells us. "Which is why your daylight ring won't work. And what we have are stakes, wolfsbane, and other things." The men hold up their weapons. "So I think you should invite us inside."

I snarl at them, veins popping out under my eyes. "Annie," Hope grabs my wrist, holding me back. My eyes flash yellow but she continues to keep me from lashing out.

♚

We rush into Alaric's office. Hope tries the phone. "It's dead." She sighs. "We have to find the school cell."

"Check MG's tighty-whities." Lizzie remarks.

"Really? This is serious." Josie snaps.

Lizzie looks up. "Oh, I'm sorry. We can't all be born with resting concerned pouty face."

Josie gasps as I stare at a wall. "Didn't this shelf used to have books on it?" I ask.

"Yeah. That's weird." Josie answers.

Hope pushes me aside, looking at a large red box. "Whatever they're doing to block out our magic must have knocked out a cloaking spell your dad had." She says.

"Big shocker. Dad's hiding something from us." Lizzie snaps again. I roll my eyes.

"Unless it has the school phone in it, it doesn't matter." Hope sighs, walking away.

Josie glares at Lizzie. "Sorry I don't feel like laughing while my world's falling apart."

"Your world?" Lizzie asks. "What about my world? I'm the one who's eventually going to be absorbed by my own twin."

"If you lose the Merge." Josie says. I roll my eyes, having heard about the merge from Josie.

Lizzie nods. "Which I'm obviously going to. I'm the weak, broken one." She mutters.

"And like clockwork; victim." Josie snaps.

"Hey guys," Hope calls out, we all look over at her. She holds up the phone. "Found it."

We watch as Hope goes back and forth with Alaric on the phone. It must not last long as she finishes with a 'yeah' before hanging up.

"So, what do we do now?" Asks LizzieZ

"Now? We figure out a way to get our powers back, and we kick some paramilitary ass." Hope snaps.

I smirk. "Sounds...fun."

"Wait, Dad said not to do anything crazy." Josie says nervously.

"Me and Annie defying your dad isn't crazy." Hope points out. "It's consistent."

Suddenly the door opens, Burr looking between us all. "Well, at least we know where you stand."

"You're damn right we do." Hope says as she and I push forward.

Burr looks at us. "You're not very scared of me, are you?" He holds up a useless gun. "How about now?"

Hope chuckles. "That's your plan? You're gonna shoot a kid?" She asks him.

"This gun would never harm a human child." He gestures between us. "You four, however, These bullets were formed from the mud of the Malivore pit and weaponized by Triad scientists. They can break the skin of any supernatural like a hot knife through butter. Fester. Infect them. Disintegrate them from the inside out."

I look at Josie, her eyes wide with fear. "We don't know where the chalice is." I say out loud.

"I believe you. This is just for fun, really." He shrugs. He points the gun at each of us. "Eeny... ...meeny... ...miney..."

Lizzie glares. "Moe." She rushes forward, but before Hope or I can react, Josie pushes Lizzie. The gun goes off, firing into Josie's chest. I scream as I fall to my knees, holding Josie up. "It's okay." I can hear Lizzie say. "It's okay. It's okay."

"Lock them up." Burr says emotionless.

I stand up, glaring at the two guards. "Stasia?" I turn around to see a groaning Josie. "Kick some ass."

I smirk, veins revealing themselves underneath my eyes. The rest of my eyes black, except for the yellow. I speed up to the first man, grabbing his shoulder, tossing him to the side. His partner pulls out his bow, shooting a steak into my shoulder. I look down. "Ow," I mumble before tearing it out. I speed up to him, grabbing him and sticking the steak through his chest. Burr watches in horror as he holds his weapon up to me. He tackles me, covering my mouth with my hand. I growl, throwing him to the side.

He shoots, over and over. I walk through every bullet, pulling them out one by one. He watches in horror as I stalk up to him. "Annie!" I turn to look at Hope. "Don't!" She pleads.

I frown, not sure what she wants me to do. But I look back at Burr, growling one more time before speeding to another part of the school. I can hear him him shouting things like "FIND HER!" As I speed down to wherever I can.

I end up in the basement, where I see MG. His mom is sprawled out on the floor. "MG?"

He looks up at me in surprise. "Annie," He sighs. I rush towards him, hugging the vampire tight. "Triads here."

"I know." I say. "They hurt Josie. She's dying." My eyes water as MG looks up in surprise. "I know where they're being taken, but I need you to help me."

MG nods furiously. "Whatever you need, Annie."

We speed down stairs, seeing them all locked up. "I said keep it down in there." A man shouts at the girls.

Suddenly, MG blows a dart at him, the man falling unconscious. "Did someone say hero time?" MG asks.

♚

"A blood fountain? Gross." Hope hisses.

"It's even grosser in person. Trust me." MG says. "I was looking for a way to shut it off, but I couldn't figure out how."

Hope nods slowly. "All right, I'll go find the secret tunnel, I guess."

"Thanks. We get our magic back, we'll have the upper hand."

"And then I can siphon the sludge out of Josie, not that she'll appreciate it." Lizzie follows.

Josie rolls where eyes. "Great, then I'll just be shot." She retorts.

"See?" Lizzie asks. "The new you is so snarky." She smirks.

I nod. "Kinda hot, if we're being honest." I chuckle.

Hope shakes her head at my comment. "Okay. I'm gonna be back as soon as I can. Please keep these two from trying to kill or die for each other."

I shake my head. "You need to go help Landon. We don't need you to be here."

"But I can't leave you guys here." Hope shrugs.

"For the love of Frodo, go rescue your Hobbit. We'll muddle through." Lizzie groans.

Josie nods slowly. "She's right again. He needs you."

I look at my sister. "We've been watching you save the day this entire school year, Hope. We got it. Now go save Landon, and bring him home safe." I smile softly.

"Go. If you go soft on us now, I'm just gonna hurl Maligoo." Josie says.

Hope smiles, nodding. I hug her tightly. "Always and forever." I whisper in her earZ

"Always and forever." She follows. Hope walks away, and I watch with a smile on my face.

MG kneels towards the twins. "Y'all need to stay out of sight until we get the magic back and you can throw down with the rest of us. In the meantime, Annie and I will rally up the troops." He pats my girlfriends leg. "Everything's gonna be okay, Jo."

MG and I begin to walk away. "Annie, wait." I turn back to look at her. "I have an idea." She reaches over her neck, unclamping the necklace. It's the talisman. "Take this. You know what to do with it."

I smirk, nodding at her. MG and I rush up the stairs. "I need to find my mom. She's going to be one of our best assets." I point out.

"I think I found her." I look up, watching my mom walk down the stairs. She wears a crimson red jumpsuit with a red blazer. It's as if she has no care for what's going on. She looks at me, her eyed wide with joy. She speeds towards me, careful not to let us be seen.

"Anastasia, are you alright? I heard that the men shot you-"

"I'm fine, Mom." I say. "But, I'm not sure why." I say in realization. Looking up at my mom, I sigh. "We need a plan, fast."

♚

We spread the word of the plan to everyone.

My mom and I stand side by side, the talisman on MG's neck. Kaleb waves his hand in the sunlight, noticing his daylight ring is working again. I smirk at MG, nodding.

I stand on a table, Triad men looking at me suspiciously. I grab my necklace, which glows a bright blue, ripping it off and tossing it to the side. MG steps forward. "Salvatore Stallions! Let's ride!"

That's when all hell breaks loose.

My mom growls as she grabs the first man to her side, grabbing his heart, ripping it out ferociously. I scream as I bite into a mans neck, ripping out his veins. Kids stare in surprise, knowing we were not taught that. "Habit,"
My mom shrugs.

Students left and right tackle the guards. "Kaleb, Ms. King! Get the kids to the buses!" Calls out MG. My mom nods, speeding away. I rush up to a guard, punching him in the face.

"Witches!" I yell. "Make it rain!"

The witches let out shouts, the group of men aiming at them losing their weapons, all of them turning into rose petals. "Their magic's back. Somebody get to the tunnels and fix this!"

A man grabs me from behind, throwing me back. "Hey!" I get up in time to watch Jed leap at him, a growl escaping his lips. I speed up to him, the two of us throwing the guy to the side. "Nice!" Jed chuckles.

I speed up to MG. "We have to get them out of here," I say, looking around.

"Um, Annie?" We look down to see Burr stalking towards us.

"So you think you're a superhero or something?" He snaps at us.

MG raises his brows. "Honestly? Kind of."

"Too bad I got Kryptonite." He smirks, pointing the gun at MG.

Suddenly, Burr starts to choke out bugs. "Too bad I got a Super Girlfriend." I smirk.

I watch as Josie sits down, and I realize Lizzie couldnt siphon the bullet out. "All right, Jo, you don't look too hot." Rafael says.

"We got to go after Burr." MG says.

"Don't worry." Rafael says, holding up the necklace Hope gave him. "I got magical Hope bling, too. If Josie and Lizzie can help me with a veiling spell, he'll never see me coming."

♚

Dr. Saltzman rushes up to me. "Annie,"

"Ric," I cry as he hugs me.

He pulls away, holding me by my arms. "Where is Josie? I know exactly what she needs."

I shake my head in confusion. "What- oh my god." I say in realization. "Hope and I are tribrids, the bullets don't effect us- I'm so stupid!" I yell.

"No time for that, let's get to Josie and give her yours and Hopes blood, okay?" Ric grabs my hand, pulling me along.

When we get to the room, Lizzie looks at us, crying. "Daddy, this is so bad."

I speed to Josie's side, slicing my hand open. "Josie, you have to drink this, please." I plead as I hold my hand up to her lips. She helplessly let's the blood drip down her throat, doing whatever she can.

♚

"I failed you. You see, my purpose in founding this school was to create a safe space for my daughters and for supernaturals like them. But today, I fell short of that goal, while all of you exceeded every expectation I had ever set for you. Because today, you were confronted by the worst monster you've faced yet: ignorant human beings." Alaric looks at the students around him. "Sadly, I am one of them. The plans and methods that Triad used to infiltrate our school and endanger your lives were mine. A contingency plan that I had developed and shared with concerned parents over the years, including Veronica Greasley. But, her betrayal would not have been possible without mine." He sighs. "You see, the dark object that she used to disarm your unique abilities was put in place by me, in the secret tunnel that only I had known about, because I thought that, perhaps one day, it was the world that would need to be protected from your gifts, rather than the other way around. The only way I can atone for this breach of trust is to leave it up to you to decide whether I should remain as your headmaster." My mom stands next to him, as does Dorian. "The honor council will convene, they will vote, and I will respect whatever decision that they make. Whichever way this goes, I want to thank you, all of you, for making me understand that the world my daughters inherit will be in better hands."

♚

"Josie," I see the brunette girl, who's healed well. "Hey," She and I rush up to one another, hugging tightly. "Are you going to go vote?"

She nods awkwardly. "I am." She stutters.

"Josie, I'm sorry for today." I tell her. "I wish I hadn't been so stupid-"

"None of this is your fault." She says to me. "I love you, Annie. And you saved me." I smile as she kisses me. "I want to talk to you after the vote, okay?"

I smile. "Yeah, for sure." I say softly as I head towards Alaric's room.

♚

"You know I'm proud of you. You know it." Alaric says as I step in the office, his voice is cracking as his eyes water. "What is it you need me to do?"

"Call maintenance. Have 'em pack up my room. Take my files, all those notes I know that you keep about me, and burn them. Along with Landon's journal." Hopes voice is on the other end of the phone. I frown, trying to piece it all together.

Ric shakes his head. "Listen, if you want to erase yourself, that is on you, okay, but you can't ask me to do it, too."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Saltzman. But I trust you more than I trust anyone. I wish I would have figured that out sooner, too." I hear Hope say on the other line. I hear a loud roar, "I got to go."

"Hope, listen to me. Wait."

"Not an option. Uh-uh. Uh, promise me you're gonna do what I said." Alaric is silent as He looks up at me. I stare at him, knowing exactly what's going on. "Promise me."

My eyes are wide, puffy. Alaric clears his throat. "All right. Fine. I promise." The line goes dead as I shake my head. "Anna-"

"No, no, no, this isn't happening!" I shout. I mumble a spell, books flying towards me. ""No, no, no." I stammer as I flip through a book.

"Anna, please," Alaric pleads with me as I find the spell Im looking for. "You're going to hurt yourself more."

I turn to the closest thing to a parent I have. "I have lost everyone! I lost my dad, my mom is hardly a mom, I lost Hayley, I lost Elijah, who raised me like his own daughter because my dad was too scared to face the broken girl he caused! And now I have to lose the only family I have left!" I scream, tears running down my cheeks. "Hope is my everything. Please, Dr. Saltzman. Please." He stares at me with red puffy eyes before nodding. I sigh, closing my eyes and mumbling the spell.

When I open my eyes again, I'm standing in front of my sister. "Hope!" I shout, hugging her tightly.

"Annie, what are you doing here?" She asks.

"You can't leave me," I sob, shaking my head. "I've lost everyone. I can't lose you, Hope, I can't.

Tears trail down her cheeks as she shakes her head. "This is the only way, Annie." She mumbles. "I promise, when I come back, and I fix this, that we will be together again."

"What is I'm the only one who remembers you?" I ask her.

"You won't." She declares. "I know the pattern. And even if you do, you have to pretend you don't."

I shake my head, not wanting to believe it. "Please, Hope, please!"

"I'm so sorry, Annie." She coos, hugging me. "I love you. Always and forever." She pulls away, stepping backwards; closer and closer to the black puddle. I watch as she gives me a small smile. "Goodbye, Annie."

"NO!"

Hope cuts out the spell and I'm back with Alaric. I scream in emotional agony as I fall into his arms, sobbing into his chest.

She's gone. She's really gone.

"We have to do what she said." Alaric whispers. I pack all of my memories of Hope in a box, hiding it in a small compartment of my closet. I cry softly as I do so. I change all family photos with an illusion spell, erasing Hope from all photos. The photos of her and I when we first met. The photo of her, Dad, and I smiling at Freyas wedding. All of the photos, now missing my sister.

I open Hopes door back at school, she's sitting on her bed, looking at a piece of paper, and at the picture of our family. I walk closer to her. "My mother wants to keep us apart, being some of the most powerful creatures." I sit next to her.

She looks up at me. "I used black magic, a death spell that I was gonna use on Landon." She says. I open my mouth in shock. "I'm scared, Annie, that I'm gonna he like-"

I laugh. "Like Dad?" She purses her lips together. "Don't worry, sister, the only way you'll be like him is if you kill millions in days." I bump my shoulder on hers, looking at the pictures.  I stand up, "Youre missing one." I say, walking to the dresser.

She furrows her brows. "What do you mean?" She asks.

I wave my finger, a new picture appearing. It's a family portrait. Kol, Freya, Rebekah, Elijah, Hayley, our father, and my mom. Hope and I, 15 and 13, standing with our dad. The Klaus Mikaelson. My eyes water as I turn and look at hope. "I know you dont want to hear this, but they made that promise."

"Always and forever." She whispers, standing up as her eyes water.

"Hope, you are my sister." I say. "Today, when you came, we fought. Hell we used our magic on each other. Something Dad always told us never to do." I tell her.

She shakes her head. "Annie, please stop."

"I, as your sister, will do anything. I mean anything to protect you. I will rip apart anyone who dares to come near you."

"And I'll do the same." We grip each others hands, wind in the room causes our hair to flow behind us.

I smile. "We are Mikaelsons. The only tribrids. And we have to be there for each other. No matter what."

We speak at the same time.

"Always and forever."

Alaric brings me out to the fire where he burns anything of Hopes memory. I cry into his side as he holds me tightly.

"It will be okay, Anna." I blink a few times, watching everything burn slowly.

A wolf howls in the distance, and we turn back to see a black wolf with yellow eyes. It's Rafael. I frown for a moment, not knowing how he's a wolf in the first place. I turn back to Alaric, as we look down at the fire burning in front of us.

I wipe at my eyes, "Why was I crying?" I ask as I sniffle.

Alaric shrugs. "I don't know." He mutters. He looks at the paper in his hand.

FORT VALLEY, GA

FIND LANDON

We look up at one another in confusion. "I should go." He says, walking way from the flames.

"I'll go with you," I say, following behind him.

Ric looks back at me. He frowns in confusion, as if his mind is in a jumble. "Sure, let's just, uh, let's get going, alright?"

I nod, looking back at the fire pit one last time.

What were we burning?