everyonelives | Then we get terrified, like children waking in the dark, we don't know where we are.

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Then we get terrified, like children waking in the dark, we don't know where we are.

( Bonnie, bag in hand at her side, holds the door open this time. She sighs, looking wistfully off at Danny, sullen, in the backseat. )

I wish I could make it all better, like I could undo it all, or, go back and prevent it altogether. Too many of us have no parents. No living family.

( She sighs.

From Danny's seat if or when he looks back, Bonnie and Isaac continue their discussion. Scott texts Isaac, so he pulls his phone out, eyes down quickly.

A couple approaches from the south, arm in arm. The guy in glasses leans in whispering something that makes the girl laugh. As they separate to move around Bonnie, everything happens quickly. The brunette girl brandishes a stun gun landing a blow to Isaac's side. Out of the leather jacket, the man reveals what looks to be something dark colored, with a flat bottom. He drops it. From the car, he can see a spell attempted, Bonnie's lips moving but nothing happening. She tries struggling, but the woman whacks her on the back of the back sending her down. The man quickly pulls out a pair of iron handcuffs the woman waves away, not now, and as fast as it happens, a bright yellow taxi pulls up.

Three others, including one dressed as a taxi-driver throw Bonnie and Isaac into the trunk. When everyone is inside the car, the driver puts down a black device on the top of the cab quickly, puts on a pair of leather gloves, climbs inside the cab and speeds off.

Bonnie's bag, and the contents within including her phone lie on the sidewalk next to Isaac's dropped phone.

The driver in Danny's car starts the ignition, this is probably protocol. )

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He couldn't come home. Not with each of them carrying a piece of the Hollow. But, after, he still chose you.

( Hope thinks she knows why, that too much had happened. That their family legacy finally weighed him down. Past red doors and destroyed suits. )

I think it was more him choosing himself. After a thousand years of being tethered to your father, I think he ... needed that.

[She tips her head to the side as she watches Hope.]

But if you needed him, Hope, it would have been there in a heartbeat.

Edited 2021-10-09 01:38 (UTC)

Not the Elijah that first came home.

( Not the man who didn't recognize her mother. )

I'm not saying I wanted him and my mom together. Anything but that. But, I barely remember him - because he has to save everyone by separating, along with half of my family. And then he's back in my life and not how I remember him. And then he's ... back but - ( She pauses, realizing she's actually opening up to Bela. Salvatore School, the Saltzman's and Emma taught her opening up is good, even if it's just ... ranting about how unfair everything is, or how she's going to do something about it. ) I know we all have lives. Rebekah's in New York. Freya, New Orleans. Elijah -- Europe for who knows how long. I want my family to live their lives.

( But, what she doesn't say, and what Bela would know, what the both of them haven't said, is that Hope needs to start answering Elijah's calls. Or, she should reach out herself. )

[Bela does see that. She tips her head to the side briefly as she considers.]

We can only travel Europe so many times. Perhaps it's time we come back to the states for a while.

[Meeting her halfway. Giving them some time to get to know each other without feeling like they have to hop on a plane to get there.]

I know he's missed Freya. And you're going to Tulane, yeah?

Barring any hunter related relocation.

( She's both kidding and... anticipating. It just feels like the next step with all of their paper trails that exist. )

Then perhaps we should spend some time in New Orleans for a while.

[If that's what Hope would like. Everything is a hypothetical until they talk to Elijah.]

Be a little closer. If we're needed.

You're vampire old. The both of you are. You can choose where you live and what you do. If you want to come back to New Orleans, you should. But, don't do it for me.

( She wouldn't feel better in that case, either. )

[Briefly, Bela looks offended.]

I'm not that old, darling. I only became a vampire in 2008.

[Before Hope was born, true, but she's not even fifty. But that's not the point. She's learning that she needs to be more direct.]

What do you want, Hope?

I don't know. And I don't know if Elijah even - moved closer - what I could commit to. But, he's family. If I could see him more, I want to say I would.

( It's barely a guarantee. )

[It is, but it's also progress. She nods as she hears the elevator ding in the distance, indicating that David and Josie might be on their way back.]

I'll talk to Elijah.

[Once they're all done here. But she glances over to her.]

My family was complicated. I made many poor decisions as a result and felt that I had to do everything on my own because I couldn't trust anyone else. But your family had always treated me well, even before I became a part of it.

[Or at least became a part of Elijah's.]

Having to spend time with them - with you - wouldn't be a hardship.

[She knows this is about Elijah, but she wants to make it clear that she would choose Hope too.]

Well, they're also not gunning for you. Being on their bad side, maybe that's, maybe that's another reason I haven't extended the olive branch. If anything did happen, they don't stop. They don't forgive. My dad is - easier - but, not less of a threat. Not that you can't take care of yourself. But, I don't want Elijah to have to choose.

( Her decisions, apparently, are more layered than even she thought. )

I know. I don't have to protect either one of you. But, it's kind of what I do.

Then who protects you?

[And don't say that you don't need someone to protect you, because they all do. But before she can delve into that further, the lock of the door whirls, and Josie and David make their way in.

Bela will drop it there as Josie bounces over and passes Hope her coffee.

"All good here?"]

Good enough. We're still in a holding pattern. If you have somewhere else to be, David, you can always come back. Since you walk.

( Wait. )

Unless, you can tell us about the solstice and why hunters might want to undermine it.

Oh, no. Going home means filling in my husband on what's going on, which might inevitably lead to Elena Gilbert finding out her best friend has been kidnapped and currently has no magic, and I think it's best for all intended parties that I don't go back until I have more comforting answers.

[But that being said, he can answer the solstice question, if she's a smidge more specific.]

That ... is a very broad question. Solstices can be used for lots of things - celestial event and all. Need a little more context.

( Husband makes him more interesting, at least. )

I don't know, does anybody else not like how familiar he is with Dr. Gilbert and her friend group? ( So casually dropping her name. ) How come we've never heard of you?

Dr. Gilbert and I are recent acquaintances. Technically I met Bonnie first, and I still haven't had the pleasure of meeting the ... vivacious Ms. Forbes but ...

[He turns and points to Josie.]

Did meet your mom. We're working on a project together.

[Josie's back straightens because no she did not know that. Or that he knew who she was.]

I know Bela was trying not to make things complicated, but she should have known that any witch worth their salt would be able to pick out a Gemini scion and a Mikaelson witch.

[Bela gives him a glare at that, because rude David.]

We have names.

( Seriously. Rude. )

He has Cordelia Chase levels of no tact. ( It reminds her of... herself, but shut up. ) Fine. This particular solstice. Does it have any significance, maybe in relation to the Knightsbridge Coven.

You do. But you never told me them.

[He's good at recognizing magical bloodlines but that doesn't mean he knows everyone's names. The kids were well protected.]

But in the case of the Knightsbridge coven, druidic magic is passed down through oral tradition, but there's a certain amount of innate magic that's passed through the bloodline of the coven leader. Kind of like the Harvest ritual in New Orleans without doing any actual harvesting. But it's not married to this particular solstice, it could be any solstice. Usually the heir chooses it for themselves.

Maybe we won't.

( At this rate. )

So, it's not about Danny. But - maybe they think it is. The hunters in Mystic Falls, in London, they don't know what they're doing. They're not seasoned. The solstice does mean something. But, they thought - or think Bonnie and Danny have something to do with it.

I would be with you on that, were it not ...

[He reaches forward and plucks the box off the table where they left it.]

... for this. This little trinket was created by someone who very much knows what they're doing. Which is why I need to take it with me when I go.

[He places it back down again.]

But at the same time, I don't know that they were a hundred percent wrong. Normally, the next solstice would be the one for ascension. But Danny's situation isn't the normal chain of inheritance.

He didn't inherit it because it was time.

( He inherited it by default. )

Is it possible we have two people, or two groups. One that knows what they're doing, giving the orders, and one just taking the orders. ( To Josie. ) Like those Triad soldiers. They're grunts. I bet they won't get any useful information.

Probably not. But if we can find the people who are giving the orders, maybe we can get some more.

[He leans back in his seat.]

But I would say once Bonnie gets back here and we get her magic situation squared away, you should all get out of Prague. Because I have a feeling that the people who really know what's going on?

They're not gearing up to hit anything here. They're gearing up to hit either Beacon Hills or New Orleans. All of this might be a distraction. Make us think they're going for another European attack while the real heavy hitters prep for the big show.

You think all of this, it's just one big distraction? How did they know we'd all be here? ( There it is. ) They didn't. They didn't know who we were. We weren't involved. But, Bonnie is like family to Josie and Lizzie. Maybe they were hoping Bonnie would call in Dr. Gilbert, or the Salvatores.

All the way from Mystic Falls, where they almost just killed her in a car accident?

[They had their shot at Elena, and this is the second they've taken at Bonnie.]

Stefan Salvatore isn't far, but in order for her to reach out to someone she would have needed her magic, if not her phone. Isaac, sure. Take him out, cause big problems for Allison Argent. But Bonnie is a target that doesn't make sense, and the box indicates she was.

( To be fair, they don't really know. )

Or, the box was put into some outranked hunter. They left it behind. And either way, if you're saying this was some piss poor attempt at a distraction and they're targeting New Orleans? It can't be one and not the other. Something is going on. With or without Danny and Bonnie, with these hunters and also not with these hunters.

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