Most of the school day passed by at a snail's crawl. Hope's boredom was apparent as she already learnt all this stuff at the Salvatore Boarding School. Daphne's utter confusion at their substitute history teacher's lesson as it had absolutely nothing to do with history at all, Allison just muttered to the British girl that the lesson is basically a free period and not to stress about it.
Allison was feeling angsty, wishing to leave and check her father's office for more clues on where to find the next location someone would be taken from. Alternatively the other option was to check all the dumping locations for any unaccounted for sacrifices.
The girls did manage to get hold of Scott and Stiles during recess to inform them of the ritual and Stiles tried to convince Lydia to distract Aiden so they could discuss this with Ethan.
The strawberry blonde girl scoffed at the suggestion before flicking her hair in his direction and walked away in offense towards her next class with a Tribrid in tow.
Allison just gave the other human in their group a raised eyebrow. "Really Stiles? Lydia doesn't want anything to do with Aiden. Why do you keep trying to push her towards him as a distraction?"
Stiles looked a little ashamed and weakly replied with a shrug. "Because she's a really good distraction and can make up an excuse to get him alone."
The Huntress groaned, shaking her head. "Well quit it. Lydia's not a trophy to be passed around like a discardable object. She's a person and she's your friend. Treat her like one Stiles."
Daphne walked in step with Allison with a proud look on her face. "I'm glad you brought that up with Stiles before Hope had the opportunity to scare the living hell out of him."
Allison only rubbed her temples at the growing headache making its way to the forefront of her brain. "Daph, Stiles isn't a bad person. He just tends to speak without considering the consequences of his words. But when it comes down to it, his actions show his loyalty and dedication to his friends."
The Ice Witch looked unconvinced as she voiced her thoughts. "If you say so. However, from what I've observed, he continuously insults Hope and Lydia while maintaining a mutual distrust of me and a reluctant distrust of you."
Allison remained silent at that harsh reality check as she mentally recalled her interactions with Stiles over the past couple of months since she's been back in Beacon Hills. After realising that Daphne may have a point to some degree then considered her relationship with Scott and how hot and cold Stiles was with her.
Daphne pursed her lips, realising that she definitely overstepped her bounds with Allison. They had only just started dating and she's already poking holes in her new girlfriends friendships. "Sorry darling. Don't take my words to heart. I just care about you and Lydia and I'm not used to allowing someone to put my girlfriend or friend down because someone can't think before speaking."
The ravenette hummed, acknowledging that she heard Daphne's apology as she sat down in their English class looking absorbed in her own mind.
Daphne slid in beside her and reached out with her pinky under the table silently wondering if she was forgiven or not as she linked their pinky fingers together. Allison blinked, looking down to their hands then over to Daphne's face, wondering why the Ice Queen was seemingly acting needy.
Using the soulbond, Allison could feel Daphne's cool-tinted emotions. Worry and concern and a touch of fear. The Huntress shifted her hand under the table to fully take the blonde's colder hand in her slightly warmer one and gave the other girl a smile before losing herself in her mind again after feeling Daphne's emotions settle.
Miss Blake cleared her throat as she paced back and forth at the front of the classroom as her gaze flickered between 2 main locations of Stiles, Hope and Lydia near the front of the classroom and Scott, Allison and Daphne on the other side of the room.
"Idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes, all tools the writer uses to tell their story." Miss Blake looked down at the drawing Lydia was subconsciously sketching and tried to contain her surprise at seeing the Nemeton. "Lydia, I wasn't aware you had so many hidden talents."
Hope and Stiles glanced over at the direct question but it was only Hope's eyes that widened as she recalled why the school's recital concerned her greatly.
Daphne was the first to look over towards Hope with a worried look on her face as she felt Hope's fear for Lydia through their bond, however, Allison was only a few moments behind Daphne's reaction as she glanced between Hope, Lydia and Miss Blake.
"You and every guy I've ever dated." Lydia remarked with an impressive amount of sass in her distracted state as she continued sketching.
The English teacher blinked as she wasn't expecting such a response from the usually studious girl. "Oh… um well, that was an idiom, by the way. Idioms are something of a secret to the people who know the language or the culture. They're phrases that only make sense if you know key words. Saying 'jump the gun' is meaningful only if you know about the starting gun in a race, or a phrase like 'seeing the whole board.'"
"Like chess." Stiles inputted thoughtfully as he once again wondered whether or not he was doing the right thing by keeping his father in the dark about the supernatural community.
"That's right Stiles. Do you play?" Miss Blake questioned as she used this as an excuse to look at Lydia's drawing with a more crucial eye.
"Uh, no. My father does." Stiles replied.
Hope remained by Lydia's side throughout the entire school day while Allison and Daphne shared information with the Beacon Hills Pack. Hope couldn't remember exactly when the Darach would make her move on Lydia only that she tries to kill Lydia during the recital.
The Huntress and Slytherin Ice Queen learned that Cora went after Aiden and was visibly hurt and was struggling to heal herself while Scott got some information out of Ethan. Scott learned that the Alpha Pack's emissary was Ms Morrell, their guidance counsellor.
Scott also told his ex about his interaction with Ms Morrell, about why Deucalion was targeting him, and his interest in the Wolf Queen, Hope.
Daphne assured Scott that Hope wasn't afraid of Deucalion or the Alpha Pack and to not worry about the Wolf Queen, Allison, Lydia or herself. That they have security measures in place at their home and that they were ready for any interactions or attacks from the Alpha Werewolves.
"Quick question sweetie, but why do I feel as though I'm being protected more than I normally am?" Lydia asked as they walked in the front door of their home after they finished their school day.
Hope muttered under her breath but took a seat on the table in front of the lounge before motioning the other 3 girls over. Allison nudged Lydia in the middle of herself and Daphne so the Banshee was sitting directly in front of Hope.
"This isn't going to be good news is it?" Lydia remarked nervously as she looked at the shorter girl in front of her.
The Tribrid sighed. "It's definitely not great… In the original timeline, the Darach realised today that you know too much and tried to kill you by asphyxiation during the recital tonight. I just don't recall exactly when she captured you so I've been staying close."
Lydia and Allison blinked at the news and Allison wrapped an arm over Lydia's shoulders and drew her bodily into herself as her gaze turned fierce with protectiveness surging through her.
"Who is the Darach?" Allison demanded.
"Jennifer Blake. Our English teacher." Hope answered honestly. "She already has killed two philosophers and is planning on killing the third tonight."
Lydia's green eyes widened drastically as she went pale. "I'm the third sacrifice for philosophers?"
Daphne shook her head. "No. The sacrifices must be human and you sweetheart are certainly not." The blonde girl turned to face Hope as she questioned. "What happened today that frightened the Darach enough to target Lydia?"
"The drawings." Hope answered.
Lydia looked appalled as she pulled out her notebook for English and located the drawing she made today and threw the book onto the table beside Hope before freaking out. "What the hell?!? It's literally just a tree! A goddamn tree! Why does she want to kill me over a stupid tree?"
Hope sighed but motioned to Lydia's bag in a 'may I?' action to which Lydia just silently agreed to while fuming while Hope pulled out all her notebooks and opening them to pages upon pages of a tree. The same tree she drew today in all of her books. Some of her books had multiple sketches of the same tree within them and her art book literally had the same tree on it 7 times on the same page.
Lydia, Allison and even Daphne looked at the abnormal amount of the same dead tree on each page in front of them.
"Okay… That is kind of strange, Lyds… Cause it looks like you drew the same tree over and over again for weeks." Allison remarked as she pulled two different books closer to herself as she scanned both sketches critically as she realised that they were the exact same tree.
Daphne pursed her lips a little as she knew how immensely difficult it is to draw the exact image repeatedly, with all the same lines, strokes and shading which is hard to do even as a professional artist.
"I never even noticed…" Lydia muttered as she dropped her head into her hands as she groaned.
"What does the tree mean?" Lydia asked after a few minutes of silence.
Hope took a moment to consider whether or not to answer Lydia's query before internally shrugging to herself. "The tree is known as a Nemeton. It's basically a sacred meeting place chosen by Druids to perform rituals and it is a place of power, subtly acting as a literal 'beacon' for supernatural beings. Daph and I could feel the pull as soon as we arrived in Beacon Hills."
"Why is this tree, this Nemeton, important?" Allison wondered aloud.
"Because it is a ritual site… Roughly 10 years ago a virgin girl was killed in the root cellar… This death acted as a sacrifice to rejuvenate the magic within the cut-down Nemeton. Jennifer used this power to heal herself from a devastating attack by Kali's Pack as she was their emissary… I think she gave Kali some bad news or advice… I honestly can't remember. But it is a magical site that falls on the telluric currents." Hope informed them while looking directly at Allison.
Allison's head shot up as she muttered. "Telluric currents… That's what dad has written down on that map in his office. He knows?"
"I don't know how much your dad knows Ally." Hope replied with an uncertain frown on her face.
Allison frowned but Lydia got to her feet as she asked one of them to join her in the garage to help train her as she was now motivated more than ever to learn to protect herself.
Hope and Daphne shared a look as they silently questioned who would join Lydia but at Allison's need to recheck her father's telluric current map, Daphne remained with the Huntress as she could enter the Argent's apartment. Hope moved to join Lydia in the garage, the Banshee was still working on hand-to-hand combat as neither the Tribrid or Ice Witch believed that the strawberry blonde was ready to move onto weapons just yet.
- - -
Allison had her new bow and quiver on her back, disillusioned to the rest of the world except for those who have some degree of mage sight. Daphne informed her that she and Hope thought that it would be useful if their Huntress was able to travel with her primary weapon readily available, without the suspicious looks of people wondering why Allison had such a vintage weapon on her back.
Thankfully for the Huntress, Daphne was more than willing to apparate them to her father's office. Allison pulled out the UV light and turned out the lights in the room while Daphne closed the blinds to make the room darker so the UV light could show the marks on the map.
As Allison brushed the UV light over the map Daphne noticed some glowing residue coming from underneath the map.
"Darling, can you run the light over the edge of the map again? I thought I saw something underneath the map?" Daphne asked as she tilted her head thoughtfully before joining Allison as the Huntress gave the blonde a quick questioning glance before following Daphne's request.
At the shine of invisible ink at the edge of the map, the girls shared a look before Daphne lifted the map up so Allison could use the UV light on the hidden symbol underneath: a five-fold knot with a single word in each circle, 'virgins' was written in the left circle, 'warriors' in the top, 'healers' to the right, 'philosophers' at the bottom and guardians in the centre.
"You know… If we didn't know any better I would possibly suspect your father of being the killer at this point." Daphne mentioned offhandedly before holding her hands up placatingly before adding. "Obviously it's not him but you have to admit, to anyone else this would be highly suspicious."
"We have to stop Miss Blake… There! This mark. It wasn't there before. Dad must've found something that we haven't." Allison pointed at the map before turning off the UV light and opening up the blinds.
"Can you teleport us there?" Allison asked the Ice Witch hopefully.
Daphne just stared at Allison for a moment with a hint of annoyance echoing quietly along the soulbond at the incorrect terminology.
A small chuckle shot through Allison's mind, surprisingly she didn't jump at the sudden appearance of Hope's voice in her head. "Daph's a stickler for the correct terminology of magical spells. Though she doesn't like the term 'teleport', just correct it and Daph will take you to where you want to go."
"What about you? Can I use 'teleport' with you?" Allison questioned as she sighed aloud and repeated her question. "Mon amour (my love), could you apparate us to that location marked on my father's map."
Hope went silent for a moment at the endearment Allison used for Daphne before replying as though she was blinking in disbelief before fading out of the soulbond. "Uh… You can use 'teleport' with me but maybe avoid using it in Daph's vicinity."
Daphne appears to be stunned by Allison's question as she blinked a couple of times before her brain rebooted. "Yeah… Sure. I can apparate us over there. Although since I've never been to this exact location before I'll need to go somewhere where I have been before and we'll have to hike an additional amount to get there."
Daphne apparated the ravenette girl just outside the Beacon Hills Reserve. Daphne started moving first and pointed directly towards an abandoned building at the other end of the Reserve. "The spot marked on the map should be maybe 500 meters that way."
Allison followed behind Daphne but pulled out her 2 ring daggers from the harness at the small of her back. Daphne noticed Allison's movement and smirked a little at the vigilance her Huntress soulmate showed in her actions as she silently moved towards the building.
Allison and Daphne returned back to their conversation about archery from earlier this morning and they discussed how they both got into archery.
Allison mentioned how her father did influence her, at least a little bit as she would look at the firearms her father sold as a kid and the odd occasions when her father would take her out for target practice. However it was after watching the Olympic level archery, Robin Hood and eventually Lord of the Rings that drew her in.
She begged for her father to let her train in archery as well as the gymnastics that her mother insisted that the 7-year old Allison continue doing without further complaint which the younger Allison readily agreed to. Little did she know that her parents were silently thrilled about her obsession with archery considering their family's legacy.
Alternatively, Daphne, on the other hand, told her father that she wished to pursue archery and fencing as she found the skills invaluable. This became obvious to Daphne when she learned that her sister inherited the Family Blood Curse and that she was most likely going to be betrothed into a marriage that she never wanted to be in, in order to continue her family line.
The blonde Slytherin informed Allison what her previous plan was if Hope didn't arrive in her universe. Her sister would've died. She would've been married to a man. And she planned to murder whomever she married without leaving any signs of violence or evidence behind before becoming an Unspeakable.
Daphne picked archery and fencing as she knew these skills would help her in her future career and she thought that she might as well get an early start but the Ice Witch was more than pleased that Hope showed up and interrupted her plans and saved her sister.
Daphne's tiger-like eyes glinted a figure in the distance with her Animagus' night-vision. "There's someone over there."
The blonde pointed to the figure maybe 100 meters off in the distance, being held up against a chain link fence that didn't appear to be moving. A single thought crossed Daphne's mind as she didn't hear any sounds coming from the person in front of them.
"I think we found the 2nd sacrifice for the philosophers." Daphne remarked as they approached the non-moving figure.
"Yep… That's definitely a dead body. Hope knew that the 2nd sacrifice was made already." Allison muttered as she grimaced at the sight of the dead body, killed brutally by the three-fold death.
"... Isn't that our History teacher?" Daphne questioned as she got a better view of the body.
Allison frowned as she moved a little to the side to get a better look at the dead body. "Yeah, that's Mr Westover… I guess Hope knew that he was the next victim when he didn't show up for class today… Kind of like Mr Harris."
"Allison?" A deep voice sounded from behind them.
Allison swung around with her knives facing her bewildered father's form and the ravenette stopped in her motion before looking down at the daggers. Allison sheathed the daggers before pursing her lips together in a small amount of guilt and a large amount of annoyance at being caught.
"Dad. So… You've been tracking the killer on your own this whole time? What happened to staying out of supernatural problems." Allison remarked as she crossed her arms over her chest as she glared at her father.
"You're one to talk. You also promised me that you wouldn't interfere in supernatural problems. I even allowed you to keep seeing the Wolf Queen and your little Witch." Chris shot back angrily as he approached the pair.
Daphne glared at her soulmate's father at the word 'allowed' and apparently Allison found that disrespectful. "Allowed??? You allowed me? Maybe I should just pull a Lydia and emancipate myself and just move in with Hope, Daphne and Lydia since you seem to find me a burden!"
Chris' eyes widened as he realised he crossed a line he didn't even know existed whereas Daphne decided to input her knowledge on emancipation after researching it for Lydia. "Darling, you're nearly 18, only 4 months off but if this is something you'd like to pursue then Hope and I will help you."
"Hey now! Wait a minute! We had a deal Allison and you broke our terms. Not to mention, I'm not entirely sure that one of your girlfriends didn't kill Gerard last night." Chris argued as he tried to regain control of the situation.
Allison schooled her features at the accusation against her soulmates. Even if Hope did kill her grandfather, she learned over the course of the day that she didn't truly care about his demise. "Then I guess we are both liars, you know, considering the dead sacrifice right behind us."
Chris sighed in frustration. "Speaking of, why are you two here? Have you been spying on me? Cause I was this close to catching him if it weren't for you two being here."
Daphne scoffed but remained quiet, letting Allison converse with her father. "First off, you're blaming me? How the hell did this become my fault? Also it's her, not him. The Darach is Miss Blake, our English teacher and lastly we needed to confirm how many sacrifices there have been. This is number 11 meaning there's still one philosopher remaining as well as the 3x guardians."
Chris froze at the information that Allison managed to blurt out during her little tantrum before groaning. "Damn, she's at the recital, isn't she? That means the next sacrifice is probably going to happen tonight at the recital."
Allison groaned before shifting towards Daphne, speaking the first part of her frustration aloud before switching to telepathy. "Guess we are going to that recital after all… Is Hope keeping Lydia at home tonight?"
"Yeah, Hope's even placed up more wards for tonight and Lydia's still focusing on her training… I think that she's taking this all much more seriously after learning that she's been targeted more than once and will be targeted more in the future." Daphne replied as she followed the Argents by foot back to Chris' car.
"Hang on… Why aren't we apparating?" Allison questioned as she nearly screeched to a halt at the thought.
Daphne shrugged but replied. "Because I'm not apparating your father with how he's treating you… Or me… Or Hope. I'd probably subconsciously splinching him with how angry I am with him."
"Splinching?" Allison questioned with a confused expression on her face as she ran around the side of the car and opened the front car door.
"Accidentally leaving a piece of someone behind when apparating. It could be as small as a finger or as large as an entire limb. This body part can also be internal or external." Daphne explained as she hopped into the back of the car and buckled up the seatbelt right before Chris shot off way above the speed limit.
Allison visibly blanched at the description Daphne mentally showed her. "Fair enough. I may not be happy with my father. But he's still my father."
"I know. That's why I didn't even offer." Daphne provided as she gripped on tightly to the seatbelt at the extensive speed at which Chris took the corners in order to get to the school before the next sacrifice.
Chris, Allison and Daphne arrived at the school with barely enough time to witness the end of the recital. Yet, unfortunately for the trio they watched as a piano string snapped and slit the pianist's throat. A roar or disturbed screams echoed through the hall at the unruly sight but the trio as well as Isaac rushed to the stage.
Allison found a fine powder under the piano before showing her father. "Mistletoe."
"Where's the teacher?" Chris questioned her.
Allison scanned the crowd, looking for the Darach but shook her head but Daphne's head popped up at the feeling of magic pulsing throughout the school. "Her classroom. She's using the power from the sacrifices. I just don't know why."
Daphne was the first to run off the stage but was quickly followed by Allison, Chris and Isaac.
The group came across Stiles who was banging on the classroom door screaming out for his father. Daphne used the other door into the classroom and magically shoved the door open with a quick hand movement and spell, "Dimiterre."
The door swung open, shocking Stiles as he glanced over to the small group entering the classroom and rushed over to that door in an attempt to help his father.
Scott and Sheriff Stilinski looked utterly shocked at the appearance of the 2 Argents, the blonde Witch and a moody teenage Werewolf.
Miss Blake thrusted her hand forward with a force of magic against the Witch who cast protego over all the people on this side of the classroom.
However the force of the shockwave of the Darach's magic shifted Daphne back a couple of feet and Daphne had to brace herself to the ground using her ice magic, unfortunately in the meantime of blocking that attack Miss Blake disappeared with the Sheriff.
"... Fuck!" Daphne swore as she lowered her shield.
"Fuck!" Allison repeated nearly in sync with her soulmate as she stared at one of her daggers that was embedded deeply in the wall right behind where Miss Blake was standing.
"DAD?!" Stiles called out desperately as he looked around for any sign of his dad.
- - -
Lydia was panting as she leaned her back against a wall in their garage as she tried to catch her breath as she bent down, resting her hands on her thighs. However the Banshee suddenly glanced off to the side, practically staring right past Hope and straight through the walls of the garage.
Hope noticed Lydia's distracted stare forcing her eyes to widen drastically and a pre-emptive grimace spread across the Tribrid's entire face as she erected a magical sound-proof barrier around herself. "Oh crap…"
The brunette barely managed to erect the magical barrier around herself before Lydia let out an ear-piercing Banshee scream. Hope winced at the loud sound, knowing that her barrier couldn't block out all of the sound and frequencies, still not understanding how Lydia's scream was able to break through the restrictions of the barrier.
Lydia blinked once then twice as she turned to face Hope who looked pained before squirming a little as she realised her scream hurt Hope and she moved off the wall to comfort her but was bounced back by a magical bubble around the Tribrid. "I'm sorry Hope."
Hope released her hold on the barrier as she felt Lydia rebound off her magic. "Ow." The Tribrid complained as she glanced up from her knelt position in front of Lydia.
"Sorry! I can't control it." Lydia apologised as she knelt down beside Hope as she checked Hope's ears, making sure that they weren't bleeding which they thankfully weren't and Lydia let out a silent sigh of relief.
"It's fine, Lyds… I know you can't control it yet. But I think this one wasn't as bad as one of the last screams you've done near me before. So that's good." Hope replied as she shook her head a little to clear the white noise that filled her ears after the scream.
"What do you think I screamed about?" Lydia questioned aloud, mainly to herself as she wasn't expecting Hope to answer her.
"The 12th sacrifice and the last of the philosophers… Or it could be a prophetic scream for the next sacrifice." Hope replied as she stood up with a wince before Lydia threw an arm over her shoulders and guided them out of the garage so they could rest on the couch for a breather.
Lydia took this time to consider the Tribrid's words and heard a small pop as their water bottles appeared on the table in front of the couch. The Banshee nodded to Hope before taking a drink to soothe her slightly sore throat from her earlier scream and her dehydration.
"What do you mean by 'prophetic screams'? Are you saying that I can tell when people are going to die?" Lydia asked as she placed the bottle back on the table and turned to face the brunette fully.
Hope shrugged a little. "Yeah… Well, I mean, you have to have some sort of interest in the events happening around a specific killer or the people who you screamed for are important to you."
Lydia frowned at that information before asking the question she truly didn't want to ask as she was about 90% sure that she knew which of the 2 options Hope supplied was the reason behind her scream. "Which one was that?"
The Tribrid sighed sadly as she played with her wedding ring nervously. "This one was the second. It felt foreboding rather than absolute. Not to mention that Daph and Ally are keeping me apprised of the events happening at the school. Sheriff Stilinski was taken by the Darach as the 1st guardian sacrifice."
Lydia gulped painfully as she considered how Stiles must be feeling right now. "And Stiles?"
"He's a mess. Pleading, bargaining, anger towards Scott, Daph, Ally, Isaac and Chris for not being able to save him but he keeps returning to guilt and terror." Hope answered as she closed her eyes, silently looking through their soulbond for more information.
"Will you help him?" Lydia asked the Wolf Queen.
Hope's jaw clenched a little at the question. "He'll survive… I promise Lydia… But I don't know what to do!"
"We've had this conversation before, remember? About whether or not we can change the timeline. If we interfere, what is to stop something even worse from happening?" Hope questioned the strawberry blonde genius as she angrily shot to her feet and started to pace.
Lydia jumped a little at Hope's quick movements as her frustration got the better of the Tribrid before jolting further back into the couch when she noticed Allison and Daphne standing in the middle of the foyer and swore at their sudden appearance.
Daphne's expression looked thoughtful as she understood Hope's point of view but she also knew that Hope had ignored this fear when it came to her in the past. Allison on the other hand, wanted to be angry on Stiles' behalf but after arriving home and hearing that the sheriff will survive calmed her a little.
"Hope…" Daphne started slowly as a worrisome thought entered her mind.
The cold tone from her wife had Hope stalling to a stop and forced her to look directly at the blonde Ice Witch.
"Who are the last 2 sacrifices?" The blonde asked coolly.
Hope tightly pressed her lips together but reluctantly answered. "Melissa McCall will be taken tomorrow and a warning of 'ARGENT' will be left in her wake. Chris will be taken the night after."
"What?" Allison choked out through her shock.
Daphne and Lydia's eyes widened and Hope attempted to calm the other girls. "All 3 of them live. No injuries at all."
"That's so not the point!" Allison snapped back. "He's my dad Hope!"
"I know! Okay!" Hope shouted back before taking a moment to purse her lips together and starting again but much calmer this time.
"Sorry about that but just hear me out for a moment. Riddle me this if you can. If we save Melissa and Chris before the Darach collects them then this would mean that she would need two new guardian sacrifices. These would possibly be some poor sods that know nothing about the supernatural world will be taken. I know that Stilinski, Melissa and Chris will survive. If we change who the sacrifices are, could you ensure that they survive? Because I sure as hell can't! Fate will fight us on this. So if you truly believe that we should interfere, just be prepared for the consequences." Hope questioned them as she tried to get her point across to the other 3 in the room but was willing to concede to the majority if they decided against her.
Daphne looked conflicted as she looked between her two soulmates. The Ice Witch truly feels for Allison as she recently lost her father during the Battle of Hogwarts that was only roughly 6 months ago. But then again Daphne also understood Hope's need to keep balance in this universe after learning from experience with her own universe.
Lydia seemed to fully consider Hope's words and looked contemplative as she stared off towards Allison, wondering what her best friend thought of Hope's intricate thought process. The strawberry blonde would support Allison's decision but she silently hoped that Allison actually listened to Hope's worries and didn't simply ignore them.
Allison stared at Hope but shook her head. "I need my dad Hope. Practically all of my family is dead and all I have left is my dad."
Hope sighed but all the tension left her body at those words. "Okay… We'll protect your father."
"What about Melissa?" Lydia inputted since she felt as though Hope was ignoring this important piece of information.
The Tribrid glanced over to Lydia and shrugged health-heartedly like she's just given up. "That's up to Allison… This is her universe and yours as well, Lydia. The 2 of you can take the night to decide what you'd like to do. Let me know tomorrow morning what the decision is and depending on what you decide, I'll come up with a few plans for either decision. Night girls."
Daphne, Allison and Lydia watched in confusion as Hope simply left the conversation and went to bed.
The blonde Witch turned to face Allison and Lydia. "With these circumstances, Hope does have a point. The choice is up to the 2 of you."
Daphne pressed a kiss to Allison's cheek before moving away but the ravenette trailed her and placed a hand on Daphne's shoulder making the slightly older girl turn around to face Allison, silently wondering why she wanted her to stop. However when Allison laid a long kiss against Daphne's lips, the blonde woman happily returned it before wishing both girls from this universe a good night as she went upstairs to join Hope.
The Slytherin Pureblood Princess could feel the privacy ward that Hope had erected around their room and slowed to a stop just inside the doorframe so the girls downstairs could no longer hear them.
"What's going on in that beautiful mind of yours?" Daphne asked as she observed her wife who was sitting in bed with a sketchpad in her lap and a piece of charcoal in her hand, aggressively scratching dark lines into the white paper.
Hope glanced up for a moment, the hardened look in her eyes softened and she took a deep breath as she tried to release her annoyance to ether before replying. "All the things that could go wrong. Wondering if Death or Fate will fuck with us for interfering with their grand plan. What will happen to Allison? Will she still be in danger of dying? … I'm absolutely terrified for Allison."
Daphne's heart quietly broke at Hope's words and she swiftly joined Hope on the bed, taking one of Hope's hands into her own, simply rubbing her thumb back and forth over the back of her hand. Offering support for her wife as she tried to come up with the words that would put Hope's mind at ease but as she opened her mouth, nothing came out.
The magical couple sat like that for nearly 2 minutes before Hope rested her head against Daphne's shoulder. "But the one thing I have promised you and what I plan on promising Allison and our future soulmate is that I would not dictate your lives and I will always support your choices… Even if it frightens me more than I can fully express."
Daphne still wasn't able to form a response as she understood where Hope was coming from and why she feels this way, especially considering the brunette's traumatic past.
"... You have to trust that your soulmates can make their own choices and that you will always be there to catch us and protect us should we be led astray…" Daphne slowly spoke as she tried to articulate her thoughts before pressing a kiss against Hope's temple.
The blonde girl telekinetically summoned her own sketchpad and a set of high grade coloured pencils to her side as she wanted to finish off a previous drawing of her sister and Gabrielle, silently swearing as she tried to mix the silver and gold colours to make the Veela's unique glimmering, molten hair colour.
The artistic pair were left alone for majority of the night, except for the occasional visits from Alexandria as she lighting-travels into their bedroom, her perch, outside and Lydia's room.
Due to this the girls learned that Allison was discussing her options with Lydia and shockingly enough, the Huntress had asked Lydia to play the devil's advocate for Hope. Asking for the Banshee to use her extraordinary brain to process the possible outcomes but most of Lydia's responses circled back round to Death or Fate rewriting the story to more disturbing reality.
"Will you be joining us in bed tonight or will you be staying with Lydia?" Daphne mentally asked the Huntress over the soulbond, letting both soulmates hear the message.
"... Not tonight. I'm still talking to Lydia… I … I love you. Both of you." Allison replied hesitantly.
Hope and Daphne shared a smile at the answer. "Of course. Take your time, darling. I love you too. Good night."
"Love you too, my beautiful Huntress. Good night, love." Hope added with a calm warmth that allowed Allison to release the awkward tension and subtle wall between them.
Allison smiled through their connection as she easily replied with a gentle, "Good night."