this is what it takes

Mom stared blankly at the lady standing in her classroom. Dr. Saltzman and I glanced at one another in confusion. Eleanor King stood in front of my mom, smiling wide as if she hadn't just wandered into our school after seemingly 1000 years of being supposedly dead. "How is this possible?" My mom questioned, shaking her head in confusion.

Eleanor smiled softly, "That night when Elijah had, well," She glanced at me slyly, "Ate me, when you injured your hand, you managed to slip a drop of your blood into my mouth. It turned me." My moms eyes widen in shock, "I woke up buried alive in the woods, but had managed to dig myself out. Niklaus, who had saw me heal, told me to run away and never look back, in fear his mother would come after me."

"Of course he did." Mom muttered, leaning against her desk. "Curse him for being dead after all these years. I can't even yell at him about his selfish ways, now."

"I heard about the Klaus Mikaelson dying. It was rather tragic, really." Eleanor looks over at me, walking closer. "I also heard about the tribrid, the daughter of Klaus Mikaelson."

I raise a brow. "Daughter's, you mean. My sister and I." I glance around the room, noticing the confused looks upon my moms and Alaric's faces. "What?"

Mom steps forward. "Anna, you don't have a sister." She tells me. I raise a confused brow, but before I can say anything, the door opens, in walking in Hope and Lizzie.

"Malivore Monster?"

♚

"This is all very confusing." Says Alaric.

Hope and I stand next to one another. Now that I wasn't wearing my amulet, I could remember Hope and Landon, even if they went through Malivore. "Because you're drunk." Hope snaps. "And I really need you to focus. This is a matter of life and death."

"First things first, I'm only buzzed." Alaric points out. "Secondly, you haven't told any of us why we should believe anything that you said, Miss... Hope, right?"

My sister crosses her arms. "Mikaelson, actually. Klaus's daughter."

Lizzie scoffs, not believing her. "Anyone else thinking that she's a monster?"

"If Hope was a monster, how would I remember her?" I ask, gesturing to my sister beside me.

Lizzie shrugs. "Maybe she drugged you, I don't know what she's capable of."

"I know why you'd think that, because I know that Malivore monsters exits." Hope begins, looking around. "I know that the reason why you're celebrating is because you just defeated them." Hope looks at Lizzie. "I also know that you're a witch. An annoyed witch probably wondering why MG's off with Alyssa Chang instead of you."

"Or psychic." Lizzie snaps. She looks over at Josie. "She's totally psychic."

Hope looks over at Kaleb. "You're a vampire. And doubling down on drunk." Alaric stutters a reply, and Hope looks at Josie. "Also a witch, who is dating my sister."

"Actually, I gave up my magic." Josie corrects.

I turn to Hope. "And she and I just broke up, like, three hours ago." I tell her.

Hope sighs, "That's gonna make this more difficult." She whispers.

"Make what more difficult?" Asks Alaric.

"Do you remember that spell that Josie did to get rid of the oni? Which I know about, clearly."

Alaric stands up. "Listen, we don't doubt what you know. We just doubt how you know it."

"I promise. Landon means a lot to all of you." Hope explains.

I nod, "Landon's my best friend," I say, glancing at Josie. "She's telling the truth."

Josie purses her lips into a thin line. "I believe you." She says to Hope and I. "And I can teach it to you if it's okay with my dad."

"I can teach you, too." I say to my sister. "I can help with it all."

♚

And that was how it started.

Once everyone remembered Hope and Landon, Alaric shut down the school for a few weeks so he and some remaining students could research where the Kirby could have possible melted off to. Meanwhile, my mother had spent this time rekindling her friendship with her sister, seemingly picking up right where they left off a millennia ago.

I sat in the cafeteria in thought, watching my mom and Eleanor eat their breakfasts together. Lizzie sits down next to me, MG on the other side. "You and Josie broke up, and now it is all your fault she wants to transfer." Lizzie finalizes.

I raise a brow. "Josie's been wanting to transfer since field day. I have nothing to do with this." I explain with an unamused look.

"Well, how am I supposed to convince her to stay when you and her won't even talk?" Lizzie asks me. I shrug.

"Josie and I broke up three weeks ago, Lizzie. Wounds are still fresh. Especially when it's wounds she caused." I mutter, grabbing my stuff and walking away. MG and Lizzie look at each other as I head into Dr. Saltzmans office, seeing him and my sister.

Alaric turns to me. "Annie! Good timing, come sit." I look at Hope questioningly as I move to sit next to her. "I called Professor Vardemus. He said there's a two user setting." He says, looking between the two of us.

"Great, so then I'll just be lonely and annoyed." Hope mutters.

"The group setting created a simulation designed to resolve what everyone's subconscious was dealing with. But if it's just you two in there, it should create one to deal with your specific problem." He explains, waving his hands at us.

Hope nods, "How to get Landon back." She says finally, looking at me.

I raise a brow. "You're giving our subconscious's an awful lot of credit." I explain awkwardly.

"Or maybe I'm just desperate." He says to us quietly. I look at Hope, still unsure. "Whatever it takes, right?"

Hope and I make eye contact. Both of us were unsure, but we needed to somehow get Landon back. "Ready, player one." My sister says, the two of us reaching forward and opening the box.

♚

♚

My eyes open, and I look around the woods. I look around in confusion when someone shoves my shoulder. "Come on, Annie, I want all the deets about your sister and Landon." Lizzie explains. I look around in confusion, not really remembering how I got here in the first place. I look down at my hand, realizing I was holding a lit cigarette. I take a quick drag, feeling slightly better now.

My friend and I walked to the creepy cabin, Lizzie walking in without a second thought. "So, how was it?" She asks. I walk in after her, seeing my sister asleep on the rickety old bed.

"My head." Hope grunted, looking over in confusion. "How was what?"

I snort, "Looks like somebody had a little bit too much to drink." I tease my sister, putting the cigarette between my lips.

"I'll get you some water, as soon as you tell me all about porking Landon." Lizzie explains, sticking her tongue out playfully.

"I don't know where to start."

Lizzie shrugs, "Hey, it's okay. First times, worst times, am I right?" She hums, looking over at me.

I raise my finger to Hope. "But you are the one who chose to punch her V-card in the creepy-ass cabin of the Mystic Falls maintenance man."

Lizzie looks over at me. "You lost yours to Josie while on drugs to the point you were a different person, you have no room to talk." Lizzie points out.

"That was a mistake." I tell her.

I roll my eyes, and Lizzie looks around. "Did you know that the locals think he haunts this place? He drowned in Salvatore Lake, like, years ago, but they say that you can still hear him in the woods at night, clinking his tools."

"Lizzie, stop. You're scaring me." Hope says, standing up and walking by me.

"All right, well, then we should change the subject." The blond shrugs, "Back to you and Landon."

"I, um," Hope looks down in thought. "I don't remember anything about tonight."

I chuckle, tossing my cigarette to the ground before stepping on it. "Of course not." I mutter, causing Hope to frown at me.

"Because Hope Mikaelson is so sweet and smart and sensible." Lizzie mocks, looking over at me. "And she would never make a mistake like Lizzie Saltzman and risk losing her Best Babysitter License." Lizzie's smile falls, "Here's your bra."

The fabric lands at Hope's feet. "Wait a sec, why did we come to the lake?" She asks. I look down, not so sure myself.

"Ask Landon. He's probably off somewhere writing a song about banging you." Lizzie grumbles.

"God, if he is, gag me with a blow torch." I mutter, standing next to my older sister.

Lizzie tilts her head to the side. "The next time that you decide to get amnesia, just remember that my sister dated him, and she has feelings, too." She says to Hope, talking about Josie. She looks over "And it would totally gut her to know that that meant nothing to you." Suddenly, Lizzie lets out a loud gasp. Hope and I look down, horrified to see a pitch fork ripping right through Lizzie's abdomen.

"Holy sh-" I stumble back as Lizzie's body falls. A man stands behind my friend, holding his weapon. He had on some creepy mask, with dead black eyes and a sinister smile. My sister and I scream, the two of us sprinting out of the cabin.

I run along side Hope, breathing heavily. Lizzie was dead, gone. Hope screams, falling down a Hill. "Hope!" I shout, running after her. I look down at her, trying to shake her awake. "I need to get help." I whisper, standing up, I look around, running off to go find a phone.

The woods were quiet and cold, and I felt nervous as I looked around. I feel someone grab my shoulder, and I spin around, seeing Maya. "Anna, hey."

"Maya? What are you doing here?" I ask, confused. She wore a tight top and a high waisted short denim skirt. She left little to the imagination, and it was appealing, to say the least.

"I'm camping with my brother." She says to me, looking me up and down. "I heard about you and Josie. I'm sorry."

I shake my head, "It's whatever. Look, there's a killer out here, and we need to go get help." I turn on my heel, but Maya grabs my wrist, pulling me back. "Maya, Lizzie's dead."

Maya scoffs. "And I'm about to die from sexual frustration." She snaps, causing me to blush.

It didn't take much more for her to drag me to her purple tent. Our lips hungrily meshed together. She pushed me back, straddling my hips. I moaned as she kissed my neck. My hands lowered, squeezing her butt as she worked her way. She parted away, pulling her shirt off her body. I feel my breath catch in my throat as I looked up at her.

She tilted her head, "Like what you see?" She hums. I nod quickly, sitting up and kissing her again. She tugged my jacket off me. Our lips worked together as I grabbed at her body. She did the same, tugging on my hair. Suddenly, her movements stopped, and a metallic taste filled my mouth. I pulled away, seeing blood spill from her lips. I looked up in horror, a man standing behind Maya. I scream in horror as he swings his weapon, Maya's head coming clean off her body. Blood spatters on my face and my clothes. I stumble out of the tent, running as fast as I could.

"Sorry, but I just finished pitching my tent, so I'll take my chances." Ethan says to Hope.

"He's real, Ethan. He just killed Lizzie Saltzman." Hope, now awake, argued.

I run over, eyes wide, "Maya, she's dead." I cried. Hope looked at me in horror, seeing my bloody and disheveled look.

"I need to find Landon." Hope says, looking around.

Ethan laughs, "So you're still with that guy?"

Hope scoffs, looking over at the football plater. "That's your takeaway? Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because dating is like a passing play." Ethan begins, looking between us. "Hope, you have options. And sometimes the best one is standing right in front of you, wide open."

I practically gag, waving off Ethan from my sister. "Okay, there is no time for either of us to even attempt parsing a football metaphor right now, okay? You need to go, Ethan."

"Well, so do you two, because I just saw Landon at the dock with Josie." He says to the two of us.

"What were they doing?"

Before Ethan could answer, the maintenance man killer wraps a sleeping bag over Ethan. Hope screams in horror as the killer slams Ethan's body to the ground. I stumble back, Hope and I holding onto each other. We helplessly watch as the killer swings Ethan's body backwards, slamming him into a tree trunk. He then swings him to the other side, hitting another tree. The killer goes between the two trunks. The sleeping bag gets more and more bloodied up as he continues to do so. The killer drops Ethans body, and my sister and I look down to see his all bloodied and beaten face. Hope and I scream again, running into the woods again.

Another one of us was dead.

♚

Hope and I sprint onto the docks, looking around nervously. Hope held tightly onto a wrench. We approach the boat at the end of the dock, seeing it covered in blood. "Oh my god." I whisper, looking away in disgust. Something snaps behind us, and I spin quickly on my heel to see Josie. "Jo!" I shout, hugging her tightly.

Hope and Josie hug as well. "Look, I know things have been weird between us all since you two broke up, but-"

"Who cares about that? There's a killer on the loose." Josie retorts.

I nod urgently. "Yes, the maintenance man. Have you seen him?" I asked.

Josie nodded, "It was hard to miss him when he tried slicing me in half, but Landon saved me, but now he's hurt." She explained, pointing to the boat behind us. "That's his blood."

"Oh, my God. Where is he?" Hope asked, worried about her boyfriend.

"He went to the Salvatore Lodge. He went to go find a phone to call my dad."

I look at Josie, "Why didn't you go with him?" I asked her, intwining our hands.

"Because that's the difference between you two and me." Josie said, looking between my sister and I. "You solve problems. I run away from them."

Hope sighed, "Okay, get to the sheriff's office. Get help."

Josie walked by us, climbing into the boat, she looked at us, holding out her hand. "Come with me."

Hope and I look at one another. She can tell by the look on my face, that I wanted to go. "We can't." Hope said, causing me to step back from the boat. "We have to solve the problem and find Landon." I look back at Josie with a sad look, when suddenly the maintenance man appears from behind my ex girlfriend, tugging her into the water.

"Josie!" I cried, reaching for her in the water. Hope and I look into the whirling red blood filling the water. "Jo!"

Suddenly, the maintenance man erupts from underneath, causing Hope and I to jump back. We stumble to our feet nervously. He climbs onto the dock, looking at my sister and I. Hope glanced down at the wrench in her hand. "Face me." The maintenance man crooned. I looked at Hope, seeing what our next move was.

She ran.

I looked back at the serial killer, quickly following after my sister.

As if I'm gonna get murdered tonight.

♚

The Salvatore Lodge seemed darker, more ominous than usual, when Hope and I arrived. The two of us were now covered in our friends blood. Everyone was dead, and we still haven't found Landon. We walked inside, seeing cups everywhere. Someone stumbled, and we spun around to see Jed. "Jed, where's Landon?" Hope asked. We watched as Jed began to choke up blood, his head falling off his body.

"Hope, is that you?" I snap my head back, hearing Landon's voice.

"Landon? Hold on, I'm coming." Hope replied, the two of us running by.

We walk into the main room, dead bodies everywhere. I grimace when I see a dead MG and Kaleb. "God," I whisper, looking at them in pity.

"Hope! Help!"

My sister and I look up. We rush to where we heard the voice, walking into a room. I stop in my tracks, "Hope," I shakily breathe. Hope looks over, seeing me point to a body under a sheet.

"Landon?" Hope whispered, the two of us quickly walked over. The sheetwas covered with blood. Hope whipped the sheet over. "Dr. Saltzman." He weakly gasps as he looks at us. "What-what do I do?"

He reached up for us, "Hope, Landon's-" A loud bang on the door causes us to look back.

I look at my sister, who shakes her head. "I'm through running." The banging gets louder as she walked to the door. "You've killed all of our friends. Everyone we love is dead. So you won." I look at Hope, holding a finger to my lips as I quietly sneak around hiding in the shadows.

The maintenance man walks into the room, holding up his axe. Hope deflects it, causing it to fly to the ground. The two struggle, until the maintenance man grabs my sister by the throat. I rush over, grabbing a screwdriver from the guys side, and shoving it into his throat. He gasps, falling back. I move next to Hope, looking down at him. "Correction: I win." I smirk. My sister kneels down, pulling off the mans mask.

"Landon." She whispers. We look at him in shock, realizing he was the one that killed everyone.

Landon suddenly opens his eyes, grunting as he stands up. He huffs as he pulls out the screwdriver, looking over at us. "Now, that is the Hope Mikaelson I know and love." He says to my sister. I hold up a hand, interrupting.

"First of all, ew. Second of all, what the hell is happening?" I ask, looking at him in horror.

"What, you two still haven't figured it out?" Hope and I shake our heads at him, and he gestures behind us. I turn my head, watching as Dr. Saltzman's dead body disappears, as if it was never there.

Hope looks back at Landon. "I don't understand."

"Come with me." Said Landon, holding his hand out to her. "I can help."

I scoff, "Yeah, cause I want to go with the guy that killed my girlfriend." I mutter, annoyed.

"Ex girlfriend." Landon corrects, causing me to stick my tongue out at him.

♚

I walk out of one hallway as Hope walks out of another, the two of us in a fresh change of clothes. "You look pretty." Landon chirps, looking over at Hope. She had changed into a flannel and fresh jeans, while I had changed into one of Josie's old sweaters, as well as a leather jacket I found.

"A lot less bloody, at least." I say to Hope, pulling out a cigarette.

Hope looks over at her boyfriend. "As much as I'd like to stare into those eyes of yours all night, we should probably talk about the fact that we killed you and you're still here." She sighed. I sat down in a chair across from them.

"You're right. What really matters is what happened to your friends."

Hope shrugged, "You murdered them, then they disappeared." She explained.

"So will I, once you realize that this is all a game." Landon explained. I frowned, leaning back in the chair I sat in. "But what it's trying to teach you is very real."

I looked at Hope in realization. "The therapy box." We said at the same time.

"Bigger than it looks on the outside, right?" Landon joked. I rolled my eyes, looking down at my lap. "Like you said, your friends died in the scenario it created. So, what do you think that means?"

"I think this game's stupid." Hope mumbled.

"And that we couldn't save them." I add, trying to take this seriously.

Landon turned to me, leaning on his knee. "Why not?" He asked, holding up his finger. "Be honest."

I looked down in thought, before glancing at Hope, "Because all I wanted was to help my sister save the day," I replied, giving her a sad smile.

"But all I cared about was saving you." Hope said to Landon.

Landon nodded, looking between us. "Well, you know, death can be a metaphor sometimes but not always." He began to vaguely explain.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Asked Hope,

"It's your game. You tell me."

She frowned. "I don't know." She argued.

"Yes, you do. Deep down."

Hope stood up abruptly. "What do you want me to say?" She snapped. "That I should be happy everyone's waiting outside of this box for me except for you? That the reason why I can't find you or kill you in this stupid game is because you're already dead?" She looked down, shaking her head. "That I should just give up on you?"

"No." Landon said as he stood up. "That is what I need you both to believe." He glanced at me for a moment, and I looked down in my lap. "Because as much as we both wish it weren't... it's the truth."

My sister shook her head. "Don't talk to me like that."

"Like what?"

She snapped her head at him. "Like you're real. Like you're him." She huffed.

"But that's the whole point: to help you understand-"

Hope cut him off. "Understand this: you are not him. Landon would never want me or Annie to give up on him." He argued.

Landon rose a brow. "Are you sure?" He asked her. He looked at me, and I didn't know what to say. I didn't want Landon to be dead, but if he was, then what was there to do.

"If I'm in this therapy box, shouldn't I have gotten an escape word once I had my breakthrough? Right? Where the hell is it?"

The Kirby looked at my sister. "It won't show up until you actually accept what I'm telling you."

I shook my head. "Not gonna happen." I whispered. Landon grabbed my sisters hand.

"What are you doing? Let me go."

He quirked a brow. "You first." He said, looking at her. "You watched me dissolve. You know being a Tribrid makes you and your blood toxic to Malivore. That I'm his biological son. So, deep down," He looked at me for a moment, before back at her. "What do you really think happened to me?" I look down at my cigarette, seeing a word burn into its side.

Dolor.

Landon turned to me, giving me a knowing smile. Hope stormed off, not willing to say her own word that must have appeared. I stood up slowly, looking at the cigarette again. "I don't want you to leave me. Not again."

"Annie, you know that no matter what, I still love you." Landon said as he held my hand. "You were the first person that completely accepted me, even after I kidnapped you." I laughed, wiping the tears from my face. "You're my best friend, and I'm sorry that I had to turn into goop." I burst out in laughter, hugging the fake Landon tightly. He leans on my shoulder, whispering in my ear. "Don't forget about me."

I close my eyes for a moment, trying to hold back tears. "I could never forget you, Landon Kirby." I utter, kissing his cheek softly. Pulling away, I look up at him with teary eyes, adjusting his curly hair. "Say it with me?" I ask, smiling up at him.

"Of course." He smiled. I looked up at the ceiling, seeing the word appear there as well. He looks back at me, "I love you." He reminds me, giving me that same friendly grin he always gave.

A smile spreads on my own face as I nod, "And I love you." I replied.

The two of us looked up at the ceiling, the word staring down at me. I sigh, closing my eyes one last time as I grip Landon's hands tighter. "Dolor."

AUTHORS NOTE

i know not many people like landon, but you have to understand how close annie and landon really were to understand how hurt she is by losing him. its different than hope's situation; where that was her first boyfriend, first time. to annie, landon was an escape in the darkest time of her life pre KING. i mean, before landon showed up, annie was living in the transitional cages, she hardly saw anyone, and she was a loose canon. landon was the first person to never judge her about anything she had done or does. and i think thats why they're one of my favorite friendships in this story, cause they helped each other without realizing just how much they've done.

i chose the word dolor for annie, because I BELIEVE it means grief in latin. meanwhile hopes word meant mourning. i think it definitely explains annies situations recently; she's been so focused on helping hope all the time, she was focused on josie for so long, saving landon, and recently a lot of those things have came crumbling down on her, and she is grieving, but more than just landon. she's grieving her relationship with josie, she's grieving rafael, and we all know she'll drop everything to help hope. currently, annie is just grieving life itself and everything changing within it.

i love landon as a character. i think hes a good person, i think if he was real he and i would definitely get along. i just don't think him and hope are necessarily "epic loves", you know? when they're together, the legacies writers tend to take out their ENTIRE PERSONALITIES and make their only traits be the fact that they're dating each other. so yeah, i'm enjoying moving past that with hope. also in the next episode, as cringe as it was, i enjoyed landon and the necromancer's banter HAHAHA.

nonetheless, i'm sorry this took me SO LONG to put out. i went on a writing and uploading break for about a week, and this week i've been uploading and doing some writing.

i'm so excited to write the next episode. i plan on including more eleanor. i'm excited for annie to meet CLEOOOO, and i'm excited to see how annie reacts to hope's situation. i'm also excited for 3x07 which is airing tonight!! i'm just happy to be exploring different things within annies storyline outside of romance. i don't know where annie's lovelife will go from here (i'm a hosie shipper so ya know), if her and josie will ever get back together, or if there will be someone knew, I DON'T KNOW. but, i'm not worried about it. like i said, i'm just excited to explore annie's character more.

sorry for the long note, i feel like there was a lot to discuss from the last few chapters. i hope everyone has a lovely day! eat some food, drink some water, do your homework, kiss your pets (or a tree if you don't have a pet), and just do what makes you happy. i love you.

nat<3