facing darkness is kinda my thing

authors note ; i am using youtube's auto generated subtitles for this chapter so the spells are definitely spelt wrong. maybe i'll fix them eventually.

I open my eyes, appearing to be in some type of castle like spot. I sit up slowly, looking around me. "Annie?" I look up to see my sister Hope.

"Hey," I whisper. I look down at our outfits. Not only did Hope look like Little Red Riding Hood, I looked like Dorothy.

"Well, this is unexpected." Hope mumbles. The two of us stand up, and I look at my reflection through a knights armor.

I play with my curled hair. "You know, not what I expected, but I dig it." I hum, looking back at Hope. She sends me a raised eyebrow, before walking away.

"Josie?" She calls out. We stand next to eachother, observing the room. "Your subconscious is weirding me out." She mumbles.

I turn around, looking at my shoes. "Seriously? Ruby slippers?" Looking past them, I see what looked like small chunks of bread. "Guess who found our first clue!" I cheer.

Hope looks over my shoulder. "Literal bread crumbs." She realizes. "Subtle."

The two of us make our way out of the castle, following the trail. Hope stops, looking back at the castle whilst I keep walking. Suddenly, I hear shuffling, before I trip. Whatever tripped me snorts, running away. "Wait! It's okay! You don't have to run!" I yell, stumbling to follow. Hope rolls her eyes as she follows me. Hope mumbles a light spell, a glowing ball evolving from her hands. "Hope, look!" I shout, looking at my shoes. The ruby slippers seem to glow, lighting our path slightly as we chase after the retreating figure.

"You don't have to hide, either. We're not going to hurt you." Hope reassures.

The snorting figure turns around. To my luck, it's a talking pig. "Would you shut your pie hole, lady? And put out that light, before you get us all killed!" He scolds my sister.

My eyebrows raise. "He told you," I retort.

Suddenly, the pig starts storming off. We rush after him, but he's practically running. "Would you wait up!?" Hope snaps.

"Take your innocent girls with the baskets act somewhere else. The last thing I need is some trigger-happy skirt doing magic near me."

I scoff. "Why? What happens if we do magic?" I ask.

The pig stops to look at me. "Don't find out. And quit following me." He snaps. I frown at his reply, but he keeps walking away. "You don't belong here, toots."

I vamp speed in front of him. "Sorry, but sexist pigs? They aren't really my thing." My vampire eyes form and Hope throws a bread crumb at me. I roll my eyes, looking back at him. "I am not going anywhere until I find my girlfriend, Josie."

Pig freezes, looking up at me. "What do two you want with her?" He asks, glancing back at Hope.

"We came to rescue her," Hope explains. The Pig pushes me aside.

"Well, you're too late for that."

Hope and I follow him once again. "What do you mean?"

Pig stops walking, looking back at us. "Pull up a stump," He gestures. Hope and I awkwardly sit, listening to the small Pig-Man. "Once upon a time, this was a beautiful land. A peaceful kingdom, ruled by princess Josette." He begins. "And then the darkness came. Princess tried to fight it, but using her magic only made the darkness stronger. It was, tied to her somehow." I look at Hope, who's just as intrigued as I am. "And if she kept fighting it, the darkness would grow to cover the entire land. So, Princess Josie places a sleeping spell on herself, so that she could never do magic again, and so that the darkness could never grow." The Pig looks at my sister and I. "If we wake her up, the darkness will grow again. So, as much as we all miss her, this is how it has to be." He looks right at me. "Destiny's a bitch, huh, Doll?"

I stand up. "Sorry, but some stupid black magic isn't going to stop me from trying to get the girl I love back." I remark. I look down at my red shoes, which have stopped glowing by now. "She would do the same for us." I shrug.

Hope stands up, standing by my side. "And, we know just how to find her." We link arms, following the bread crumbs when they're suddenly gone.

The Pig chuckles from behind. "Yeah, you don't wanna do that."

"Where's the rest of the trail?" Hope asks, turning to look at him.

Pig stammers, "Well, um, here's the thing...you're not gonna believe this," He looks around nervously, trying to find excuses, "You know what? I ate it, okay? I ATE IT!" He yells. "Why would I do that, she asked. BECAUSE I'M DISGUSTING AND I HAVE NO SELF CONTROL." He gestures to himself. "DO YOU SEE THE PACKAGE IM WORKING WITH RIGHT NOW?"

I sigh, looking at Hope. She frowns. "Fine," She groans. Smirking, I turn towards the Pig.

"Listen here, Piglet. You know exactly where this trail goes, and exactly where Josie is." I kneel down to his level. "So you better get to showing us where she is or my sister and I are going to play pin the tail on the pig via magic."

The Pig shakes his head. "The Darkness will come."

Hope chuckles. "Facing darkness is kinda our thing." She shrugs.

I turn back to the Pig. "So come on, before I start craving some bacon for lunch."

♚

The Pig leads us to some type of ruins, with a stone table in the middle. There lies Josie, peacefully asleep. She wears a yellow gown, her long brown hair spread behind her. "Josie? Josie, wake up," I plead, shaking her slowly.

"You should try kissing her, maybe," The Pig offers.

I look over at him. "That type of stuff isn't real." I remark.

"Well, you got a better idea?"

Hope and I smirk, "I do." Hope says. "Sotradae"

The Pig squeals in horror. "We said no magic!" He hisses.

I roll my eyes. "You may be scared of the darkness, but this is someone's mind, nothing can hurt us." I shrug. Suddenly, a loud roar erupts from a nearby distance. I grab onto Hope and the Pig, vamp-speeding us behind the rock.

A long limbed, pointy nailed wolf walks up to Josie's body. "What the hell is that?" Hope hisses.

"That is the Darkness, Sweetheart," Replies the Pig. "And it can definitely hurt us." He hisses at me.

The monster growls. "Little pig, little pig, who's your new friends?" It asks. "I can smell that magic's being used here again."

It growls again and I roll my eyes. "Colligunt usque petram." Suddenly, a rock starts to float. With a flick of my wrist, the rock flies off into a random direction, distracting the wolf. The monster runs off, and I smile. "See? Fixed it!"

The Pig snarls at me. "Happy now? You dumb broads." He says. "You nearly got us all eaten. Which is a lifelong fear of mine, I'll have you know. And now The Darkness knows you're magic using asses are here."

"Yeah? Well, our magic just saved our asses." Hope snaps. "Now stop talking down to us, and be grateful that we just saved our bacon."

Pig gasps, looking up at her. "How dare you!" He shouts.

Hope sighs as he turns away. "I'm sorry. It's just a figure of speech, alright?" The pig doesn't say a word. "Look, truce, okay?" Hope goes to touch the pig, but he pulls away.

"Okay, listen up, you two imbeciles." I snap. "We all miss Josie, and we can get her back if we just work together and not bicker!"

Pig looks at me. "If we do that, the Darkness will only grow again." He says to me.

I look down at him. "I will do whatever it takes to get her back, alright? Even if it means defeating the Darkness by ourselves."

♚

The Pig, Hope, and I make it to a lodge. We slowly open the door, Pig leading the way. "That's strange. He's always home." He chimes as he stumbles in. Hope and I are close behind, shutting the door. "Hello? Mr. Huntsman? I brought a couple of nosy friends." He calls out. He sniffs the air, looking at the fireplace. "Oh! Stews on, he must be nearby."

Hope walks by me as I observe the room. She walks to a barrel, pulling out an axe. "Nice," She hums.

I look at my sister. "What? You think that's gonna protect us from the Darkness?" I giggle, putting air quotes around The Darkness.

"I'm not going down without a fight," She smirks. I roll my eyes playfully, sitting in a chair. Hope smiles as she lifts up a knife, handing it to the Pig, "What do you say? You in?"

Pig shrugs. "I-I would be no use in battle." He says awkwardly. "I know I bluster a lot, but, uh, I just get so scared, and then I say dumb stuff when I'm scared."

"Yeah, we know." Hope elbows me, and I shrug.

"I-I could finish the stew though!" He chirps. Pig walks over as Hope hands me the knife. "Maybe find some bread, might make you a nice meal before you go off to die."

Hope nods. "That'll due, Pig."

His smile falls. "Don't press your luck, kiddo." He adds before turning to the pot. Suddenly, Pig squeals loudly, screaming. "It's a trap!"

The door flings open, the wolf standing in the frame. It lets out a loud growl, Hope waving her hand. The door shuts, locking itself. "Little Witch, Little Witch. Let. Me." For the last word, it let's out a roar. "IN!"

I glance at my shoes, watching them glow a bright red. Hope holds up the axe. "So now what?" I ask. Before she can answer, the door opens again. I look back at the wolf, which tosses me to the side, before throwing Hope as well. "Pig, run!" I yell. Before I can stand, the wolf sends a branch into my hand. I growl in pain, watching as the Pig is eaten alive.

"No!" Hope yells. But it's too late, the wolf already ate it. Hope stands to her feet, slamming the axe into its chest. I stand up, panting as I pull the branch out of my hand.

"Ow." I mumble. We look back at the wolf's mouth, Pigs tail being all thats left. However, it starts to wiggle, the two of us frowning at the sight. "That's normal, right?" Hope doesn't answer. She slams the axe into the wolf again, slicing a hole down the center. The stomach moves in unnatural ways, when a hand emerges from the goo. "Oh, that's gross." I mumble. However, who comes out isnt the pig. My eyes widen in shock. "Josie?"

She's in yellow, her hair in a low style. "Stasia," She pulls me in, her lips instantly connecting to mine. This time, it's the kiss I remember, unlike the Josie we've known for the past few weeks. My shoes glow even brighter, confusing me slightly.

Josie pulls away, hugging me tightly. "What's going on? Where's Pig?" Hope asks.

I pull away, looking at Josie. "I, uh, was the Pig?" She chirps. "I thought if I disguised myself the Darkness would leave me alone." She explains.

"You were the Pig?" Hope and I ask at the same time. Josie nods. Hopes eyes are wide. "You do realize that you said some really patronizing and sexist things to us-"

"I know, I know, I just didn't want you two to suspect that it was me because I need you to leave." She says. My shoes glow brighter, and I come to the realization the shoes have been warning me about Josie this whole time. They began to glow when I found Pig, AKA, Josie.

I shake my head at her. "Jo, I just got you back. I am not leaving you behind." I reply, holding her hands.

"I don't want either of you to get hurt."

Hope looks at my girlfriend. "Josie,"

"No, you don't understand! I can't have anyone else get hurt because of me."

Hope shakes her head at her. "Nobody else will get hurt, okay?" However, we all stop when we hear noises behind us. Smoke forms over the Wolf, turning into Dark Josie. I push my girlfriend behind me.

"I love that you thought that this would be that simple."

"Oh my god!" Yells Josie.

I grab onto her and my sister. "Gotta go!" I yell to Dark Josie, vamp speeding out of the lodge.

♚

I take us to the ruin sight from before. "We have to keep moving!" Says Hope.

Josie shakes her head. "Doesn't matter, we're never gonna get away from her."

Hope is close behind. "While you've been trapped her she's been rampaging in the real world. She even tried to merge with Lizzie."

I stop Josie from walking away, making her face me. "She turned off my humanity, Josie, because she knew that I wouldn't let you merge with Lizzie because I know the real you wouldn't want that." I explain.

Josie's face softens. "She did that?" I nod. "Is Lizzie-"

"For now," I shrug. "It only took Hope turning my humanity back on for us to stop her from killing the entire school."

Hope follows. "That's why we have to stop her."

Josie sits on the ground, defeated. "But she's more powerful than I am," She mumbles.

I sit down, "Josie, she is you." I remind her.

"Or at least some part of you." Hope adds. "You can control her somehow. I don't know how, but," Hope laughs, shaking her head. "Landon would have some theory about the psychology and what part of your personality she represents." She chuckles to herself.

"He would, wouldnt he?" Josie answers.

Hope nods, "Pretty messed up subconscious you got here, by the way." She adds.

"Are we surprised?" Josie asks. "My mom used to read us fairytales from bedtime stories. It was so calming. There was good guys, bad guys. Very clear rules and you had to follow. It all made sense." She whispers. "Unlike my life."

"Well those fairy tale sucks." Hope hums.

Josie shrugs. "It's accurate. Either the powerful petty bitch or the good weak victim."

I grab her hand. "Jo,"

"That's just the story you've been telling yourself." Hope tells her. "I mean, your subconscious made a fairy tale that the good you is weak, and the powerful you is evil." She looks at me, and I smile. "Tell yourself a different story."

In seconds, Hope and I are flung away from Josie, and Josie is shoved backwards. Dark Josie smirks at us. "Boring." She hums in a sing-song voice. "Let's fight." Hope stands up, throwing the axe. Dark Josie catches it. "That's strike one." She hisses. Hope sends a spell at her, but she just absorbs it. "Ah, thanks for the extra magic. That's strike two." Dark Josie watches me, throwing me into a tree. Another branch runs through my stomach.

"Annie!" Josie screams in horror.

Hope looks at Josie. "You can fight her." She says. Josie cries, shaking her head.

"That's strike three."

Dark Josie sends Hope into the wall. "Josie, change the story." Is the last thing my sister says before turning into stone. I let out a shout for Hope, but its too late.

Josie turns to look at me. "Josie, go!" I scream. She seems rather unsure. "Please!" Josie lifts her skirt, scurrying off.

Dark Josie passes me, looking me up and down. "Next time, we will just have to make sure you can't turn it back on." She whispers in my ear. Locking lips with me, she begins to siphon my magic, I groan in pain, my skin growing gray. Before she kills me, she pulls away.

She walks away, and I groan in pain.

♚

It takes time until I have enough strength to pull away from the tree. Putting my hands behind my back, I push against the tree. Yelling in pain, I push my body away from the branch, falling to the ground. I look up, seeing two Josie's again.

One wearing a princess gown, the other wearing an evil queen outfit.

Josie, and Dark Josie.

I stand up, limping my way to the scene. "Jo?" I call out. She smiles at me, sending a wink. I frown, looking down to see I'm not dressed as Dorothy anymore, but rather, more royal. I wear a blue dress and a blazer with epaulettes. I look up, Josie holding out her hand for me to take. I rush over, taking her hand as we turn back to Dark Josie.

"But most importantly, you're not wearing armor anymore." I snap my eyes to Dark Josie, all of the steel she had on, now gone. Josie swings an axe into Dark Josie's chest, slamming her into the table. We walk over, hand in hand. standing over the evil witches body. "It's over."

Dark Josie laughs. "It will never be over, as long as you have black magic in you, I will always find a way back."

Josie kneels down. "We'll see."

I look at Dark Josie, poking at the axe. She groans in pain, as I wipe blood off her dress. Sucking on my finger, I lean down. "This is our story, Bitch." I hiss. I stand back up, looking at Josie. "Are you ready to go home, Princess Josette?"

Josie places her hands on both sides of my face. "I'm always ready when I'm with you." She says, kissing my lips softly. I smile into the kiss, the two of us finally ourselves again.

And I wake up.

♚

Opening my eyes, I leap off the bed. I don't even acknowledge anything around me as I vamp speed into the cafeteria. "Guys?"

Kaleb and Jed look over, "Annie!" They yell, hugging me tightly.

I pull away, looking between the two of them. "Where's Lizzie?" I ask. I look at Kaleb, realization crossing my features. "Oh my god, I bit you. I'm so sorry-"

"You're good," Cuts in Kaleb. "You weren't yourself. It's okay." He gives me a smile, which I gratefully return.

Jed speaks up. "Lizzie's on the docks, with some other witches, I think." I nod, hugging them once again before speeding off.

Lizzie is hugging witches, when she looks past me. "Anastasia Mikaelson." She laughs. I hug her, "Does that mean-"

"That Josie's back?" I finish. "Hell yeah,"

MG wanders over, "Hey, King." He hugs me as well, "I'm happy the real you is back." He tells me.

"Me too." I mumble. I pull away. "I have to find Jo." I say to the two. They nod urgently, and I vamp speed off again.

Swinging open the Saltzman twins's door, Josie, Alaric, and my mom look at me. "Josie?" I say, almost yelling.

"Stasia," She cries, hugging me tightly. I pull away, kissing her harshly.

My mom groans. "I didn't need to see that."

"Me neither." Alaric chuckles. Pulling away, I look at Ric. I rush over, hugging him tighter than anyone else. "Hey, Anna."

I look at him. "Thank you." I say.

Alaric frowns. "For what?"

Smiling, "For giving me a reason to love being human." I say. Alaric smiles again, hugging me tightly.

♚

That night, I'm walking down the hall, heading to Hopes room when Rafael walks towards me. "Hey, Rafi." I smile.

"Landon died."

"What?" I ask. "Well, won't he come back?"

Rafael sighs. "When you were gone, I stabbed him with a golden arrow. I was possessed by the necromancer." My eyes are widened, knowing well that the golden arrow might be the only thing that could kill Landon. "Dr. Saltzman made a deal with the Necromancer, releasing me and Alyssa Chang from his possession."

I pause. "Thats why Josie wanted me to kill Alyssa." I whisper, not having known the plan before.

"Necromancer was also supposed to bring Landon back." Rafi follows. "But he hasn't came back." He adds. "And someone else hasnt came back either."

Before I can ask who, my mom and Alaric walk over. They lead me to Alaric's office, where I left the weapon safe open. Hope lays there, sleeping peacefully. I frown, knowing  she should have woken up like I did, like Josie did.

Rafael shakes his head. "I don't understand."

"We're not sure what happened," My mom says.

"But she's not waking up." Alaric follows.

My eyes flash their hybrid colors, anger running through my veins. "What the hell happened to my sister?"