Song: The line (twenty one pilots)
Hope POV
Silco in our house.
A man who had put her wife in danger.
Hope felt absolutely no excitement at the idea of seeing Silco.
But…
She was a Mikaelson.
And a Mikaelson knew how to receive guests and maintain proper etiquette, or Aunt Rebekah would somehow find a way to lecture her in her sleep.
Which meant she spent part of the afternoon preparing dinner and setting up the dining room.
“Are you still pouting?” Jinx asked.
“I am not pouting.”
“That pout is making me want to kiss you.”
Jinx promptly did exactly that.
The evening arrived far too quickly for Hope’s liking.
When she heard the front door open, she and her father made their way to the entrance hall.
Jinx was busy hanging their guest’s coat on a rack.
The guest in question was staring around the manor with wide eyes.
Then a wary look settled on his face as he turned toward the two strangers.
“I assume you’re Hope, the wife who didn’t bother asking for my blessing before marrying my daughter.”
First strike.
That hadn’t taken long.
“A pleasure to meet the famous Shimmer trafficker,” Hope replied.
“Do you sleep well at night, knowing how much damage you cause?”
“Hope!” Jinx exclaimed.
“You promised.”
Hope sighed before extending a reluctant hand toward him.
Naturally, Silco chose to squeeze it with all his strength.
He seemed surprised when she showed no reaction whatsoever.
“I suppose, judging by all this…
opulence, that you belong to a clan,” he said.
“May I know its name, considering Jinx has chosen to remain strangely silent on the subject?”
“Hope Mikaelson.
And this is my father, Klaus Mikaelson.”
Silco went pale at those words.
The Mikaelson Clan had kept a relatively low profile since arriving in Piltover.
Nevertheless, rumors had spread quickly, and news of their investments had reached even the Undercity.
“Jinx, you—”
Jinx sighed.
This was one of the reasons she had hesitated to introduce them.
The Mikaelsons’ wealth, and what effect it would have on Silco.
He hated the Pilties.
The Mikaelsons weren’t from Piltover.
But would that really matter?
He would see their wealth before anything else.
The other reason was that Hope hated Silco.
Anyone who had ever tried to hurt her—even indirectly—ended up on her shit list.
Including Vi.
“Come now, my littlest wolf.
We shouldn’t keep a guest waiting at the entrance to our home, no matter how unwelcome he may be.
Dinner will get cold.”
Hope saw the frustrated expression on her wife’s face and sighed.
Just for tonight.
Just for tonight, I’ll be polite.
“I apologize for the reception you received.
Follow me, Silco.”
They walked slowly through the imposing manor.
Paintings that would have made museums weep with envy hung upon the walls.
Over the centuries, her father had met countless famous artists.
But those great names meant nothing in this new world.
When they finally reached the dining room, dinner had already been served.
Hope had even placed a spell over the dishes to keep them warm.
The silence was oppressive.
“And may I ask what land you come from?” Silco asked.
“Alas, we come from a little-known island south of the continent,” Klaus replied.
“And the name of this island?
We have very little information about those territories.”
“New Orleans.
The territory is called New Orleans,” Klaus continued without missing a beat, despite the doubtful look Silco was giving him.
Even if he searched, he would find no trace of them in this world.
It would be a pointless effort.
So they could tell him whatever they wished.
Runeterra was still a world filled with unexplored and dangerous regions.
Why couldn’t there be an island called New Orleans?
Moreover, Runeterra was a world steeped in every kind of magic.
It wouldn’t be particularly surprising if they had used some magical means to arrive here.
Hope and Jinx were staring at Klaus in fascination.
The moment Silco looked their way, both immediately became very interested in their food.
“And what can you tell me about the customs of your island?
I’m very interested in foreign cultures.”
“Liar,” Jinx coughed before taking a sip of water.
“Oh, it’s an island famous for its celebrations,” Klaus said.
“The music is divine.
You haven’t truly lived until you’ve listened to a piece of jazz.”
“Cultures blend together there, and the food is wonderfully spicy.”
“It’s truly an unforgettable place.”
“If it’s such a paradise, why leave it?” Silco asked.
“We wouldn’t have left,” Klaus replied.
“But circumstances decided otherwise.”
He said nothing more.
That way, Silco would assume they had fled something and would be reluctant to press further without risking offending the family even more.
Hope was fascinated by the sheer amount of bullshit coming out of Klaus’s mouth.
Even knowing the truth, she was starting to wonder whether there really was an island called New Orleans somewhere out there.
Internally, she applauded.
Bravo, Father.
You’re still an incredible actor.
“So, Klaus, you’re the clan head?” Silco asked.
“Are you planning to integrate yourselves into Piltover’s elite?”
“Who said I was the clan head?” Klaus replied.
“That honor belongs to my daughter.
She has far more patience than I do.”
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
“If it were up to me, those Councilors would find themselves in their graves rather quickly.”
Silco seemed surprised by the answer.
Hope couldn’t tell whether it was because she was the clan head…
Or because the Mikaelsons clearly did not hold Piltover’s Councilors in particularly high regard.
“I apologize, but I was under the impression that your clan was investing heavily in Piltover.”
Hope looked at him for a moment before remembering what Jinx had told her the day before.
He wants Zaun to prosper, even if his methods leave much to be desired.
“We intend to invest in Zaun as well.”
Silco’s eyes widened.
She saw doubt.
Suspicion.
And a small spark of hope he was trying very hard to conceal.
“Zaun has enough mines,” he replied coldly.
“Our project has nothing to do with mining.”
Hope smiled.
“It involves inventions that have never been seen on this continent before.”
She gestured toward Jinx.
“Jinx is the designer behind them.”
“With her inventions, we intend to create businesses unlike anything found anywhere else—not even in the City of Progress.”
Silco looked increasingly interested.
“Tell me more.”
Hope met Jinx’s gaze.
Softly, so softly that no sound escaped her lips, she mouthed:
Thank you.
I would do anything for you, my love.
Even spend time with the drug baron you call a father.
I only hope he doesn’t disappoint you.
They talked for several hours.
Then her father led Silco into the sitting room to smoke a cigar, where—purely by coincidence—there happened to be photographs taken in New Orleans.
That left Hope alone with her wife.
Jinx wrapped her arms around her.
“You surprised me tonight.
I thought you wanted to keep our plans more secret.
I never expected you to tell him.”
“He practically runs Zaun,” Hope replied.
“He has contacts that will make establishing ourselves there much easier.”
She smiled faintly.
“And Zaunites tend to be suspicious people.”
“I know you, Hope.
You can be pragmatic, but that’s not the only reason you told him everything.”
Hope sighed.
“He’s your father.”
“And despite all your arguments, you love him.”
“The way he insisted on meeting me tells me he loves you too, and he was worried about you.”
“When he saw the manor, he was suspicious.”
“But I also saw how relieved he was to realize you’d never have to worry about your future.”
“Well,” Jinx said with a smirk, “he’s still not the one paying my salary.”
Hope laughed softly.
“I am surprised that someone as meticulous as Silco let you steal money from him so regularly.”
Jinx frowned.
Then her eyes widened.
“He knew.”
“He knew,” Hope agreed.
“Then why?”
“Why didn’t he pay you like the rest of his employees?”
Hope thought for a moment.
“I imagine he didn’t want to show favoritism.”
“Just imagine what would have happened if he had showered you with money.”
“They all would’ve been angry…
and jealous.”
“And jealousy and envy are fertile ground for rebellion,” Hope finished.
A smile slowly spread across Jinx’s face.
“That idiot…”
“Now I think I need to have a private conversation with him.
After all, I stole his daughter right under his nose,” Hope said before giving Jinx a quick kiss and leaving the room.
“I love that woman,” she heard Jinx murmur as she walked down the hallway.
“I love you too.”
Sometimes, Hope could hardly believe how lucky she was.
How had she managed to meet someone who understood her so well—sometimes even better than she understood herself?
Whenever she gave in to the sadness that always surfaced when she thought about her original world, she found herself wondering how different her life might have been if she had met Jinx sooner.
But Hope knew she would have loved every version of her.
She loved the artist.
The scientific genius.
The novice mage.
The woman broken by hardship and guilt.
The woman who carried her into another universe every time she touched her, every time her voice whispered her name late at night in the safety of their bed.
She loved how Jinx thought she was hiding just how obsessed she had become with taking showers.
She loved that Jinx brought out the very best in her and never judged her.
She loved that Jinx had never been afraid of her power or of what she was capable of, unlike so many before her.
She loved that, for a few precious seconds every morning when their eyes met, she could honestly say:
This moment is perfect.
She loved her.
And she was terrified of what that love would one day drive her to do.
Because she knew that, for Jinx…
One day, she would cross the line.
When she finally pushed open the door to the sitting room, her father was already gone.
Silco stood with his back to her, looking at a photograph.
His foot tapped against the floor in time with the jazz.
A vinyl record spun in the corner of the room.
He turned when he heard her enter.
They regarded each other in silence.
“I love her.
I love her, and I will never love anyone else the way I love her in this lifetime.
She will never want for anything.
She will be better protected than the richest Piltie.
I will destroy anyone who dares to hurt her.
She is a Mikaelson, and that may not mean anything to you, but family is sacred to us.
And Jinx is my family.
She is mine.
Always and forever,” Hope said in a single breath.
Silco studied her silently for a moment.
“I love this music.
If I had to describe it with one word, it would be life.
A life filled with highs and lows.
There were many times I thought I was standing at the edge of the abyss.
When I was a miner, risking my life every day for the benefit of people who couldn’t have cared less about us.
When I realized that my attempts to win better treatment had led to my closest friends dying on a bridge under Enforcer gunfire.
But I truly thought I had reached my end when my brother—and my friend—Vander held my head beneath the water and tried to drown me, simply because I wanted more than the world had chosen to give me.
Then I met Jinx.
She should have hated me.
But misery loves company.
I can honestly say that together we became worse, not better.
And yet…
Raising her was the happiest time of my life.
She’s so much like her mother, Felicia.”
Hope’s eyes widened in surprise.
“You seem surprised.” Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Silco gave a faint smile.
“Her parents were my friends.
Very dear friends.”
“The day they died on that bridge broke something inside me.”
“Vander took in their daughters, and I threw myself into the rebellion.”
“Maybe a part of me hoped that by raising her, I could find the piece of myself that died on that bridge.”
“But she kept slipping further and further into madness.”
“Then you came along.”
“I had never seen that look in her eyes before.
That smile.”
“My little girl had fallen in love.”
“The episodes were gone, replaced by quiet moments when her thoughts drifted to you.”
He met Hope’s gaze.
“So, Hope Mikaelson…
thank you.”
“Thank you for doing what I couldn’t.”
“Thank you for saving her.”
His expression hardened.
“But know this.”
“If you ever make me regret those words, I won’t hesitate to burn this house down with you inside it.”
“Take care of her.”
“Always,” Hope replied.
When it was time to send Silco home, Hope turned to Jinx and handed her a jacket.
It bore the clan crest.
“Don’t stay out too long.
And keep yourself warm,” she said before gently kissing her.
Jinx took Silco’s hand and teleported away, leaving Hope standing alone in the entrance hall.
“So…
he didn’t try to strangle you,” Klaus remarked with a smile from the doorway.
“We simply found something we had in common: Jinx.”
“She’s our weakness.”
“You know,” Klaus said softly, “that’s all your mother and I ever wanted for you.
We spent years fighting so you could have a normal life.
So you could make friends…
so you could fall in love.”
“I know, Dad.
And I didn’t appreciate everything you did enough.
I had to lose you before I understood everything you sacrificed for me.”
“But is it really a sacrifice when you do it for someone you love?”
He looked at her carefully.
“I can see the obsession on your face.
I can see the destruction you would unleash for your wife.”
“So…
would you really be any different from us?”
“She is—”
Suddenly, Hope collapsed to the floor.
It felt as though countless knives were tearing through her body.
She coughed violently, blood spilling onto the floor before her father’s horrified eyes.
“Jinx!” Hope screamed before teleporting away.
She appeared in the alley beside the bar.
At her feet, Jinx lay motionless, her body covered in blood.
“No…
no, no, no !
Not you !”
Jinx’s eyes were half-open.
And Hope knew.
She knew Jinx had been waiting for her.
“They…
took my jacket,” Jinx whispered with a broken smile.
Hope bit into her own wrist and pressed it against Jinx’s lips.
To her horror, the wounds did not heal.
“Why?
Why isn’t it working?”
As Jinx’s eyes slowly began to close, she whispered,
“Time for Plan V, Hope.”
Then the light left her eyes.
Hope stared at her wife’s lifeless body.
The moment Jinx stopped breathing, Hope stopped breathing too.
The world stood still, as though it understood that something had just happened.
As though it feared what was about to happen.
Hope gently kissed her wife.
When the Tribrid rose to her feet, her eyes burned gold, her expression utterly cold.
The ground began to tremble.
Then a roar of pure rage erupted—a howl so terrifying it would shake all of Runeterra.
“RAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
_______
Hope Mikaelson’s arrival in the world of Runeterra had slowly set change in motion.
But the wheel of time never stops turning, not even for an immortal.
In a prison cell, a pink-haired woman winced as she touched the bruise on her face.
“Why does it always have to be the face?”
On a rooftop, a young man with white braids gazed thoughtfully over the city of Zaun, furious at the destruction Jinx, Silco, and their followers had caused.
In a manor, a woman stood before a mirror, admiring the Enforcer uniform she wore.
The wheel of time always turns, no matter how many paths it may take.
Salvatore School – Earth
“Has the crystal lit up?”
“Rebekah, you ask me that every day.
It’s been a year.
Nothing has changed,” Freya said, gently stroking the crystal hanging around her neck—the only connection she had left to her niece.
“And you look at it every single day,” Rebekah shot back.
“Do you think she’s alright?”
“She’s the Tribrid.
Everyone else should be the ones afraid of her.”
“Please, Hope…
give us a sign that you’re alive,” Freya whispered.
Suddenly, the door burst open.
“It’s a disaster!
Come quickly!” Kol shouted.
The two women hurried after him.
They stopped in front of a television screen.
Across it, flashing over and over in red, were the words:
THEY ARE REAL.
VAMPIRES, WEREWOLVES, AND WITCHES ARE HIDING AMONG US!
Their secret had been revealed to the world.
And their lives would never be the same again.
______
In the alleyways of Zaun, a lone figure ran, a blood-soaked jacket clutched in his hand, unaware that he carried the very thing that would lead to his doom.
On that blood-stained night, Zaun trembled.
End of Arc One