CHAPTER ELEVEN

Maybe I Should Start From The End

______________

     RYAN REMAINED near the entrance of the motel room, just in case something went array with the mystery woman. Or, not so mystery. As it turned out, the woman happened to be Landon's biological mother. Seylah.

     Ryan did not trust her in the slightest. A gut feeling told him to be wary of her. Everything, really.

     Alaric moved to look out the shaded window, while Hope stood close to Landon's side. The Kirby boy had taken to sitting on one of the two beds in the room. His mother stayed on her feet and eyed them all.

     "So, you're the headmaster of a private school for supernaturals?" Seylah questioned, after they explained who they were and why they were there. "And you two are the teacher's pets."

     Ryan's jaw clenched, but he forced himself to stay silent. The last thing they needed was the woman's dead body on their hands. After being cooped up in the car to now judgmental stares from Landon's mother, Ryan was overdue for a release. Magical or otherwise. Snide comments did not help.

     "Actually, they're kind of a pain in my ass," Alaric said as he turned away from the window.

     Hope pressed her lips together into a fine line with her arms crossed over her chest. "Little judgey for an absentee mother," she shot in the woman's direction.

     Seylah glanced over to where Landon sat and quipped, "you were wrong. I like her."

     Ryan rolled his eyes. "Won't like us very much when the interrogation begins," he said in a pointed tone. "It's your turn to spill your guts."

     "All we know about you is that you gave birth to Landon," Alaric added. "He's says a monster attacked you, and now there's some sort of fake gas company coming after you two. So – I think it's time you start filling in some blanks."

     Seylah did not say a word at first. She stepped across the room and took a seat on the bed opposite Landon. After another beat, she began. "When I finished my service in the Army, I was recruited by an intelligence organization. The States sounded like a better life. I didn't know what I was signing up for, but soon, I learned that things like you exist in this world." Her eyes aimed toward the Mikaelson siblings. "My job was very much like yours," she said to Alaric. "To keep the supernatural world a secret. Whenever a monster went bump in the night and risked exposing the truth, I tracked it down –and brought it back to headquarters."

     "We're not monsters," Ryan told her with an edge to his voice.

     "You are to me," Seylah replied.

     Ryan had to squeeze his hands at his sides. It took so much will power to not lash out at the woman. He did not care if she were Landon's mother. He did not like her.

     "This headquarters," Alaric voiced. "Where is it?"

     "Sorry. You just seem morally inclined enough to do something stupid, and there's too much blood on my hands as it is," Seylah retorted, before she continued on. "A few years in, I saw something I shouldn't. I became the hunted, instead of the hunter."

     Hope took a seat on the bed beside Landon, while Alaric eased into the desk chair in front of the television set. Ryan chose to stay standing.

     "What exactly did you see?" Alaric asked as he leaned forward with his hands clasped.

     "I wanted to know what was happening to the monsters. Because even though I –spent all that time studying their every move, I couldn't remember them at all. So I started talking notes. I realized my memory was being erased. The question was: how?"

     "Malivore," Ryan said.

     Seylah's eyes narrowed toward the Mikaelson boy. "How do you know about Malivore."

     Alaric answered for him. "Landon took a knife that belonged to our school's collection. Now monsters that shouldn't exist have been coming after it ever since."

     "He means I stole it," Landon interjected. "And then, I – like – um, woke it up or something. What's Malivore?"

     "It's a hell dimension," Hope explained to him, "that consumes creatures and wipes their existence from the collective conscience." She looked over to the boy's mother. "Sound about right?"

     "More or less," Seylah confirmed.

     "Awesome," Landon muttered under his breath.

     "The last monster that came for the knife was a Necromancer who screwed us over and returned it back to Malivore," Hope went on.

     "The Necromancer," Ryan clarified and gained some interested and exasperated stares. He looked to Landon. "It's a long story."

     Hope shook her head at her brother and said more. "He said that the knife is one of three keys that kept Malivore contained, so why are monsters still coming for you?" she questioned, more toward Landon.

     "I have no idea," Landon stated. "Didn't really get the chance to ask the last on. He just tried to eat me."

     Alaric sighed. "As you can see, it's been a rough semester."

     "It will only get worse. If you don't go home and forget you heard the name," Seylah said, setting her eyes on each of them. "Just like we forget anyone who's ever been there."

     When she moved to stand, Landon called out, "wait, wait, wait, wait. You –you have to tell us more. I mean..."

     "I don't know who your father is," Seylah cut him off when she towered over him. "My job was stressful, so I had flings to blow off steam. Got pregnant, and just like your not-girlfriend said, I'm not equipped to be a mother. Sorry. I thought I was giving you a better life." She then strode to the door and left the room without another word.

     Ryan scoffed. "Damn. Harsh."

     And what sucks is that wasn't even the worst part of the night.

     _______

     Once Seylah abandoned them and Alaric went after her, Ryan decided to give Landon and Hope some space. He did not know the boy well, unlike his sister, and failed to understand just what he was going through. She seemed be equipped to deal with his self-loathing personality.

     Ryan moved out into the parking lot and perched himself on the hood of Alaric's vehicle. The time on his phone's screen read 9:38 p.m., which only enforced his restlessness. He glanced around the area in front of the motel to where he saw two silhouettes by the moonlit pool. Alaric and Seylah. He would have listened in on their conversation if it had been any other night, but Ryan did not want to strain his ears to hear them. He wanted sleep, or to punch something.

     Ryan leaned back on the hood of Alaric's car and stared up at the billions of trillions of stars in the dark sky. The sound of rushing cars could be heard close by, but he blocked them out. He stared up at the twinkling lights for a long time, until his phone began to ring from where he shoved it into his jean's pocket. He stayed on his back and fished out the devise to find a Facetime call.

     With a swipe of a finger, Ryan's eyes widened at who popped up on the screen. "Aunt Freya, hi!" he exclaimed, pushing himself up to sit on the edge of the car's hood.

     "How is my wonderful nephew?" Freya Mikaelson questioned with a smile.

     "Fine. Great, even. Um, I didn't expect a call from you today," Ryan said.

     He was used to his family calling him unannounced. They also failed to take into account the time difference between themselves and Ryan. Kol and Raylynn were the worst offenders. Since they were on the other side of the world, they often forgot that while it may be daytime there, it was most likely nighttime in Mystic Falls.

     Two or three a.m. calls were a regular occurrence.

     Freya released. "Well, I thought a talk was overdue." Her eyes narrowed. "Are you sitting on a car?"

     Ryan looked over his shoulder to where the windshield was clearly visible behind him. "Uh, yeah. I'm kind of on a rescue mission."

     "Rescue mission?" Freya asked.

     Ryan nodded. "We've had some crazy stuff happen in the last couple weeks. You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you."

     "Try me."

     Ryan was about to tell her, until he caught Alaric walking toward him. "I'll tell you next time. I have to go. Love you." Freya said it back, before he hung up.

     Alaric strode up to him. An unreadable expression on his face. "Still haven't told your family about our monster problem."

     Ryan shoved his phone into his hoodie pocket and leapt to the ground. "Wasn't planning on it. That is, unless you want the school swarming with angry Mikaelsons."

     Alaric released a breath. "No. I'd rather not." He looked from the boy to where the motel room they convened in earlier. "Why are you out here and not in there with them?"

     Ryan scrunched his face at the man's words. "I am not three-wheeling with my sister and her boy-crush."

     Alaric sighed and moved toward the closed motel room door. He grabbed ahold of the doorknob, pushing its open to enter. A split second later, the man yelled and whirled around with his hand blocking his eyes.

     That really did not make Ryan want to follow. As Alaric tried to close the door, Ryan held up a hand to hold it open. The man looked at the boy, but he maintained a placid expression as he entered the room.

     Ryan blinked at the sight of his sister rushing to put on her cardigan and Landon nowhere to be found. He really did not want to know.

     "Uh, Hope. Uh, get – get outta the room. Now," Alaric exclaimed as he kept his stare aimed toward the ground with his hand raised.

     Hope huffed and pulled on her cardigan. "You're the one that's always saying I need to connect more with people."

     "Yeah, not literally! Get out," Alaric told her and motioned toward the door.

     Hope moved through the room, before she stopped next to her brother. "Why doesn't Ryan have to leave?"

     "I wasn't just shoving my tongue down someone's throat," Ryan quipped with a teasing grin.

     Hope scowled and then stormed out of the room, closing the door behind her.

     Seconds later, Landon slowly sat up from where he fell between the beds. "Uh, Dr. Saltzman. I'm – uh..."

     "A sexed-up teenager," Alaric cut him off. "It's perfectly normal. Don't let – anyone else – tell you otherwise." He exhaled and lowered his arms.

     Landon stared at the man and asked, "so, you're not mad?"

     "We got bigger fish to fry," Alaric said as he took a seat in one of the chairs. "We need to talk about your mother."

     Ironically, our story gets a bit – fishy from here on out.

     _______

     Ryan took the seat in the rolling desk chair and listened to Alaric recount what he learned about Landon from his mother. More importantly, the strange circumstance that surrounded the Kirby boy's conception and birth.

     Landon had taken to pacing the length of the room, finding it hard to believe what Alaric told him. Apparently, Seylah found herself pregnant right after she returned from her two year trip to Malivore.

     Strange would be a colossal understatement.

     "Wait, wait," Landon nearly shouted as he continued to process everything. "She got pre-pregnant in Satan's mud bath?"

     "Yeah, that's – that's a lot to take in," Alaric sighed.

     "If it makes you feel any better, my dad's a thousand-year-old vampire/werewolf hybrid and my mom's a vampire hunter turned witch with a malevolent fifteen-hundred-year-old spirit's magic running through her veins," Ryan said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

     Landon shook his head. "Nope. Doesn't help." He came to a stop and faced Alaric. "And now she's gone?"

     "Look, being a – a parent i-is complicated. Sometimes we convince ourselves that we're doing the right thing, when in reality, we're just being really dumb."

     Ryan nodded and pointed to the man. "I can attest to that."

     Alaric shot the Mikaelson boy a look, before he took a deep breath and stood from where he moved to sit on the bed across from Landon. "Look, I – I've gotta check in on Hope, okay?" He stood and reached out to pat the Kirby boy on the shoulder.

     Ryan watched him head for the door until a creaking sounded from the bathroom. He turned to see the door widened. On the other side, a man-sized fish type monster stood on the threshold. Ryan leapt to his feet at the sight. "Holy..."

     "Bigger fish. Huge fish!" Landon yelled, moving backward as he pointed at the creature.

     The monster slapped its hands on the way and door to pull itself forward. Its mouth opened to show long, yellowed fangs and let out an ear-piercing screech.

     "Motus!" Ryan jutted a hand out in the thing's direction, blowing it through the door and into the sink behind it.

     Hope appeared beside him in that moment. Her own fist raised as she formed a fist to seal the door closed. "Ick!" she hissed in disgust, shaking out her hand.

     "See?" Landon exclaimed, indicating to the closed bathroom door. "Danger. Magnet."

     "What the hell was that?" Hope questioned.

     "Looked like a Shape of Water knock-off," Ryan said as he cringed. "Ugh!"

     "Or a Mer-Man," Alaric added. The bathroom door shook as the monster tried to break through. "A very pissed Mer-Man."

     "Why are the monsters still coming for them?" Hope asked. "We don't even have what they want."

     Alaric shook his head. "I don't know, but we got to get Landon out of here."

     Ryan looked over to where Landon dug through his backpack on the bed. His stomach dropped when he watched the boy pull out something.

     "What?" Hope turned to follow her brother's gaze.

     "You said a necromancer told you the knife was one of three keys, right?" Landon asked, cradling an object in his hands.

     "The Necromancer. Remember? Long story. Why does it matter..." Ryan trailed off when the boy moved away from his backpack. "You did not!"

     Landon held an urn with a ceramic head of the Egyptian God Anubus posed as a lid.

     "Son of a bitch!" Alaric hissed.

     "This is Seylah's. I picked it up, but I didn't steal it. I – I –not on purpose, anyway. I don't know how it got in there, just like how I don't know what happened with the knife. I swear, I wouldn't do that again..."

     "Landon. Landon. It's okay," Hope cut off his rambling before it could get worse. "I believe you."

     The door shook harder as the sound of water splashing grew louder. Ryan glanced toward the bathroom and watched it rumbled against the wall. "Guys. Not to break up this touching moment, but we need to leave. Now!" he yelled to gain their attention.

     Landon went to put the urn back in his backpack, but Hope stopped him.

     "No, no, no! Wait! Leave it. Leave it."

     Alaric snapped to her and questioned, "what? Are you out of your mind?"

     "No. I'm just sick of playing the same game," she said. "So let the monster have it. He's take it to Malivore. We follow him. We know where it is."

     Ryan smiled. "Genius, sis."

     Alaric scoffed. "I am not taking three teenagers to a covert military hiding place for a demon portal."

     "You kind of have to!"

     "Why?"

     "Because Seylah's going there," Hope stated.

     Landon's eyes widened. "What? Did she tell you that?"

     Hope released a long breath. "In her own way." She grabbed what used to be Landon's locator bracelet from her back pocket and pressed the button. "Hold that," she told Landon and grabbed the urn to rip of the top. Once it was off, she stuffed the bracelet in and closed the lid to set it on the nearby dresser. "I'll explain in the car. Let's go."

     Ryan did not have to be told twice. He rushed for the door with Hope in front and Landon on his heels.

     "H-he's a fish man on land. How fast can he be, right?" Alaric quipped as he followed after the teenagers.

     "Dr. Saltzman. The thing has feet!" Ryan shouted over his shoulder and exited the room. The sound of the bathroom door shattering did not stop him from running for the car.

     "Oh, my God!" Alaric screamed, slamming the motel room door closed behind them.

     _______

     They raced across the eastern half of the country and to keep up with the Mer-Man. Hope's decision to stuff Landon's bracelet into the urn turned out to be a great idea. She used her own to track the monster as he returned to Malivore.

     Multiple hours and almost an entire tank of gas later, they passed into Fort Valley, Georgia. The sun began to fade pink at the horizon when they continued after the monster.

     "Turns out – he's pretty fast," Hope quipped from her spot in the front seat.

     "Listen, this was your idea. So is it within my bounds as the headmaster to tell you to shut it?" Alaric voiced as he smashed his foot on the gas pedal.

     Ryan pressed his lips together from the seat behind his sister. "I think that's kind of pushing that line."

     "What if we don't get there in time?" Landon questioned from behind the man.

     "Seylah doesn't have that much of a lead on us," Hope said.

     "I can't believe she wants to erase herself just to get out of being a parent," Landon muttered, before he leaned forward behind the front seats. "What the hell is that?"

     Ryan jumped out of the car when it came skidding to a halt. He stared at what looked to be a secured gate for a company. "Triad?" he read off one of the signs posted on the metal.

     "Explosives?" Landon read from another.

     "On the bright side, maybe this fence stopped our fishy friend," Alaric said as they continued to examine the thing blocking their path.

     "I don't think so."

     Ryan looked to where Hope moved further down the fence. He sighed heavily when he found a gaping hole in the chain-link. "So much for that theory."

     Hope grabbed ahold of the sides and hauled herself through the Mer-Man's forced entrance. Ryan followed suit, while Alaric and Landon brought up the rear. They weaved through the dense trees that surrounded the property and then sprinted across a clearing that opened up in front of a building. Floodlights illuminated the area, showing the monster in the center.

     "There," Hope voiced and brought them all to a stop several yards from the Mer-Man.

     The creature had the urn in his hands and moved forward.

     Ryan snapped to the side when Landon rushed forward.

     "Hey, stay back. He's dangerous," Hope said as she grabbed the Kirby boy's arm to hold him still.

     "I have to get in there," Landon exclaimed, before he ripped away from her.

     "Landon!" Hope screamed and ran after him.

     Ryan rolled his eyes, hot on her heels. "Why are you two so stupid?"

     "Wait, guys. Be careful!" Alaric called right behind them.

     Ryan had no chance to brace himself when a blast rocketed across the clearing. The Mer-Man exploded into nothing as a fireball consumed it whole. The shockwave soon slammed into them all and blew them off their feet. Ryan hit the ground. Hard. He saw stars and then darkness.

     _______

     We can only speculate about what happened after that, but in hindsight, we think it's pretty obvious. Seylah made her way into Triad and went back to Malivore. They probably tried to stop her, but she didn't seem like the type to take no for an answer.

     She must have made it, otherwise you'd already know this.

     She sacrificed herself for Landon. To keep everyone off his trail. And as much as I didn't like her, I can appreciate her last stand. She erased herself to save her son.

     "And that's it," Hope breathed from where she sat in front of Alaric's desk.

     They woke from the blast to find a crater where the Mer-Man once stood. Alaric and Landon were clueless to what happened. Everything that happened in the last few days was lost on them. But when it came to Ryan and Hope, they somehow remembered it all.

     "Which brings me to my question," Hope continued. "What do we do next?"

     Alaric's brows furrowed as he listened to the recount of events. "How am I supposed to know? I don't remember doing anything you just said."

     "You always know what to do," Ryan said from the seat next to his sister, no longer in is road trip and mud covered clothes. "Because while we have our differences, you're a good headmaster. No matter all the things Hope and I say."

     Alaric laughed lightly. "Well, in that case, I think the only question we should be asking ourselves is: why do you guys remember?"

     Hope shrugged and shook her head. "We don't know. But I can't imagine that it's good." She sighed. "And I can lie to Landon about all of this, but I'm sorry, Dr. Saltzman, I just can't lie to you."

     Ryan nodded. "Because the truth is, we really need your help."

     Alaric's eyes narrowed toward the Mikaelson boy.

     Ryan elaborated. "There's one little thing we left out," he said and turned to his sister.

     Hope stood from her chair to where she left her bag on a table. She rummaged around until she pulled out the urn Landon swiped from his mother. She then moved over to the desk and set it in front of Alaric.

     "I take it that's the urn I don't remember," Alaric stated as he put the pieces together.

     Hope sat back down and winced. "Yeah. We figured it was better to have it here than to leave it laying around."

     "So, what happens now?"

     Ryan stared at the urn as the hieroglyphic symbols around the sides began to glow a bright orange. "I don't know, but I think we're about to find out."

<February 2, 2019>

BEHOLD! My new favorite episode of Legacies!

And Ryan being as sassy as ever. I swear, he's the perfect mix of Ray and Klaus. 

I also have no idea when I'll post next. After 1x09 and what's supposed to happen in 1x10, I have a lot to think about plot wise. It might take me a while to figure it out.

Be patient with me, and don't ask for updates.

Don't forget to vote and comment.

-Jordan

P.S. Unedited chapter.