So, I'm gonna go see how Hope is doing," Ethan pointed with his thumb as he left, breaking the heavy silence that had formed in the complex courtyard.
But before that, he reached out, grabbed another stuffed donut from the table, and turned his back on the three Mikaelsons.
Klaus remained silent, arms crossed, following the boy with a heavy, calculating gaze as he walked away. If everything Freya and Elijah had theorized was true—about this bond thing, Clark's lineage, and the heritage of the Original Wolf—Klaus knew he would need to decide very carefully what to do with Ethan moving forward. That young man wasn't just a temporary ally or some random boy; he was someone who could protect his daughter when he couldn't do it himself.
As he walked up the large stone staircase, chewing on the donut along the way, Ethan's head was spinning. Freya and Elijah's words echoed in his thoughts, bringing a bitter discomfort.
"Original Wolf? Direct descendant of the first werewolf in history?" Ethan thought, clicking his tongue against his teeth. "Tch... that doesn't change anything. I still think he was a bastard."
To Ethan, it mattered little whether Clark's blood carried the ancestral royalty of their kind or if the man had been a legend among wolves. His father's absence and mysteries wouldn't be erased by ancient titles. His only real priority in the present was what awaited him at the top of those stairs.
He finished eating the donut, wiped the crumbs off his hands, and stopped in front of Hope's bedroom door. Adjusting his posture, he knocked lightly on the wood, asking if he could come in.
"You can come in," Hope's voice answered, sounding muffled from the other side.
Ethan turned the doorknob and entered, finding Hope sitting on the edge of the bed, her hands resting in her lap and her eyes fixed on nothing, visibly distant. He walked over slowly, pulled a chair close, and sat down beside her.
"What's going on, Hope?" Ethan asked, his voice low and warm.
Hope let out a heavy sigh, her eyes brimming with tears for a second before hardening with a flash of resentment.
"It's Elijah... I'm so angry at him, Ethan. He let my mother die... He was right there and did nothing."
"Hope... he didn't have his memories," Ethan gently reminded her, keeping his tone soft. "He didn't know who she was, or who you were."
"I know that!" Hope shot back, her voice choking up. "Rationally, I know he was without memories... but I can't help it. Even knowing everything, the anger is still inside here, burning."
She paused, frowning as she looked down at her hands. Suddenly, the wave of fury and the suffocating tightness in her chest began to dissipate, replaced by a sense of relief and soothing peace. In her head, it made no sense at all: Why is this anger fading so fast out of nowhere? Hope thought, unable to understand the cause of that sudden calm.
"I get it..." Ethan said, placing his hand over hers. "Well, how about, to clear your mind, you take me for a walk around New Orleans? I mean, I've only seen the basics of the city so far."
Hope blinked, caught off guard by the unexpected request. The guarded look on her face completely melted away.
"Sure!" Hope replied, offering a small smile. "It's way better than staying locked up in this room."
Ethan smiled back, standing up and extending his hand to her:
"Then... shall we?"
As soon as Hope and Ethan descended the courtyard staircase, Klaus's imposing figure appeared right at the stone archway entrance, arms crossed and gaze attentive.
"Where do you think you're going?" Klaus asked, halting their steps.
"I'm going for a walk with Ethan, Dad," Hope replied, crossing her arms and keeping her tone calm. "Showing him a bit of New Orleans."
Klaus shifted his eyes from his daughter and fixed his gaze directly on Ethan. The young wolf held his stare, though he maintained a slightly apprehensive expression, being careful not to provoke the Hybrid.
Klaus let out a breath through his nose, yielding at the edge of his patience, but without losing control:
"Fine. But don't go too far from the French Quarter."
Hope gave a short laugh, shaking her head:
"Wow... that doesn't sound like your usual overprotective dad routine. Where are the twenty customary death threats?"
Klaus made an annoyed click with his tongue and looked away. Ethan couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle at Hope's teasing, which made Klaus snap his head back and glare at the boy with a look of pure warning.
Ethan immediately raised both hands in surrender, hiding his smile:
"Sorry, sorry... My bad."
Klaus simply shook his head and stepped aside, clearing the path.
The two finally left the complex and stepped out into the fresh New Orleans air. The French Quarter was alive with the distant sound of saxophones, the aroma of coffee and sweet pastries wafting from bakeries, and ornate balconies draped in greenery.
The walk turned out to be exactly what they both needed: something light, free from the weight of dark magic or the Mikaelsons' centuries-old drama. Ethan made a point to keep the mood easygoing, acting like a true friend.
"So, tour guide..." Ethan said, walking beside her on the cobblestones. "Is that balcony back there historical, or did the owner just forget to paint it for the last hundred years?"
Hope let out a genuine laugh, her first sincere one in days:
"Both, actually! But right next to it is Rousseau's. My family practically has a criminal record with that bar."
"Noted: avoid the Mikaelson bar if I want to stay alive," Ethan joked, making a motion like he was writing it down in the air.
They stopped at a busy square where street musicians were playing jazz. Ethan bought two bags of warm beignets dusted with powdered sugar from a local stand and handed one to Hope.
"Try it. If it's no good, I'm going back to ask for your dad's money back," he said, taking a bite.
"You're something else, Ethan," Hope laughed, tasting the sweet treat.
It was there, as they strolled leisurely through the colorful sidewalks of the French Quarter, that Hope caught herself thinking. She glanced sideways at Ethan, who was eating his beignet, accidentally smudging the tip of his nose with powdered sugar.
For the first time in a long time, Hope's mind was at peace. She realized that Ethan was truly good for her. From the moment they met, whenever he was around, an almost magical tranquility surrounded her. It felt as though all the weight of the world, the suffocating grief, her family's schemes, and even the dark distractions of the world simply vanished.
Is this what it's like to have a real friend? she asked herself in silence. Hope had never experienced anything like it before. Always isolated, protected, or viewed as a threat, she had never known the lightness of simply walking with someone without any rush.
They continued strolling through the city, exploring open-air markets, listening to local musicians, and talking about silly things until night fell and they decided it was time to head back home. They walked side by side at an easy pace under the warm yellow glow of the French Quarter streetlamps.
Hope looked at the city lights reflecting off the cobblestones and gave a genuine smile, remembering her lighthearted day with him.
Ethan turned to face her and noticed her expression:
"Did you know that's the most beautiful smile I've ever seen in my life?" he said, his voice calm and honest.
Hope's face instantly flushed red at the compliment. She felt her cheeks burning and quickly turned her head away, trying to hide her embarrassment while nudging him lightly with her elbow:
"Stop playing around, Ethan!" she commanded, laughing nervously and speeding up her pace.
Ethan just gave a quiet laugh, clasping his hands behind his head and keeping up with her until they reached the gateway of the Mikaelson complex.
As soon as they returned to the complex, Ethan said goodbye to Hope at the entrance of the hallway and headed to his room to get ready for a shower and dress for dinner.
A short while later...
Hope was brushing her hair, looking at herself in the mirror, but the silence was short-lived. A sharp pang of pain pierced her head, and the muffled whispers of the Hollow began to echo again, quickly swelling into a deafening chorus of voices in her mind. Hope clutched her head with both hands and began to whisper.
"Shut up... Shut up!"
Klaus appeared in the doorway that very instant, holding a bracelet steeped in ancient magic. He took a step forward, his expression tense:
"I need you to put this on."
Hope looked at her father, trying to mask her weakness:
"No... I don't need to."
"It's not a request, Hope," Klaus cut in, his voice firm.
"Dad, you said so yourself... I'm strong. I can control myself!"
"No, you can't! Not with this!" Klaus countered, stepping closer and holding up the bracelet. "I lived with this magic inside me for seven years; I know how awful it is! When I was with my siblings it was already nearly unbearable... and now you're carrying all of it alone!"
Hope looked at her father, seeing the genuine anguish in the Hybrid's eyes. She let out a defeated sigh:
"Okay. If I put this on, do you promise to stop worrying?"
"I'm your father... I will always worry," Klaus answered softly.
"Give it to me..." Hope took the bracelet from his hand and fastened it around her wrist.
Almost instantly, the noise in her head went dead. Hope's mind fell silent once more. Klaus let out a breath of relief:
"There. Feel better? Or were you planning on being protective until the end of time?"
Klaus gave a light smile, teasing:
"'Until the end of time' is a bit long, I don't know..."
Hope offered a genuine smile, stepped closer, and gave her father a loving kiss on the cheek:
"Thank you, Dad."
She left the room and began walking down the stairs. But as soon as she reached halfway down, Hope felt a searing sting on her wrist. The bracelet rapidly heated up, burning her skin.
Panicking and not wanting to worry her father again, she rushed into the vacant room next door. The burn on her arm intensified, and the buzzing of the Hollow returned with triple the force, making her head spin. Desperate, Hope scrambled over to a table, grabbed a grimoire, and began flipping through the pages searching for something to contain the magic, but the screaming voices were so loud she could barely see the words.
The metal of the bracelet actually caught fire on her wrist, releasing smoke. Unable to bear the pain, Hope yanked the bracelet off violently and threw it against the wall. The object hit the floor, still engulfed in flames.
Hope's mind was racing. She collapsed onto the floor, leaning her back against the side of the bed, covering her ears, and screaming in despair:
"Stop! Ahhhh, stop!"
The bedroom door burst open. Ethan—who had just stepped out of the shower when he heard the screams—appeared at the threshold, his eyes wide with worry:
"Hope! What's happening?!"
Hope raised her face, drenched in sweat and tears, keeping her hands pressed to her head as the agony suffocated her:
"Ethan... help me! Please!"
Without a second thought and without knowing exactly what to do, Ethan rushed in, dropped to his knees on the floor, and wrapped her in a firm, protective embrace, pulling her tightly against his chest.
In the exact millisecond their bodies touched and the hug closed, everything stopped.
As if an invisible shockwave had swept through the room, the voices vanished. The excruciating headache evaporated. Even the bracelet on the floor, which had been burning with magical flames, instantly went out, releasing only a thin wisp of smoke.
Ethan held Hope tight, feeling the girl tremble in his arms, and whispered in her ear:
"It's okay, Hope... I'm here."
Hope blinked slowly, taking a deep breath as air filled her lungs again. She pulled back an inch, looking down at the floor, at the extinguished bracelet, and then at Ethan—utterly stunned, her mouth agape in pure shock.
The pain and torment of the Hollow had completely vanished. There, in his arms, Hope finally understood what was happening: Ethan's mere presence made the dark magic retreat and disappear.
Hope remained wide-eyed, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she absorbed the sudden silence. In her mind, a single question was pounding with full force: How? How does Ethan make the Hollow stop just by touching me?
Noticing the girl's shock and erratic breathing, Ethan slowly eased his arms back, breaking the embrace so he could look at her face-to-face, his brow furrowed with deep concern:
"Hope... what's going on? Tell me! What was that fire on the bracelet?"
Hope blinked slowly, trying to gather her thoughts as she glanced at the piece of metal lying on the floor, now completely dead. She looked back at Ethan, her voice wavering:
"It's the Hollow, Ethan... That dark magic spirit my family split into four parts seven years ago."
She swallowed hard, running a hand over the reddened skin where the bracelet had burned her wrist:
"Now that all the separated parts have been reunited... the Hollow is whole again inside me. Its power is so much stronger than before, Ethan. It tries to control my mind, screams in my head, and makes my magic want to destroy everything around me."
Ethan looked down at his hands and then back at her face, processing the gravity of what she had just revealed as the air in the room settled back into calm.
Ethan frowned as he saw the suffering etched across Hope's face, and he tried to stand up to get help:
"I need to call Freya right now! She needs to find a way to help you with this magic, Hope!"
Instantly, Hope reached out and grabbed his hand tightly, pulling him back so he wouldn't move a single inch away:
"No! Ethan, please, don't leave my side!"
Ethan stopped, looking down at her hand gripping his.
"For some reason..." Hope continued, her voice trembling with uncertainty and relief, "...when you're close, when you touch me, the Hollow pulls back. The voices stop, the pain drains away... You make the dark magic inside me retreat."
Ethan's eyes widened, completely caught off guard by that revelation.
Hope looked into his eyes, searching for any clue in the boy's expression:
"Do you have any idea why this is happening, Ethan?" she asked, not truly expecting a clear answer to something so absurd.
Ethan glanced off to the side, wanting to look anywhere but at her out of guilt and shame. He was practically about to confess his feelings to her—it was embarrassing, he had never done anything like this before.
He let out a slow breath, closing his eyes for a second to build up courage. He knew it might not be the perfect moment, but he couldn't keep lying to her.
He knelt before Hope once more, took both of her hands firmly in his, and looked deep into her blue eyes:
"Hope... I don't know if this has anything to do with the Hollow vanishing, but I need to tell you the whole truth. I didn't want to tell you like this, or right now... but you're my Imprint."
Hope remained still, her eyes wide and fixed on Ethan's face as she processed every word. The silence in the room became almost tangible, broken only by the quiet breathing of the two of them.
"When I got to the Salvatore School... the very first second I stepped foot in there, I felt something in my chest I'd never felt before in my life," Ethan continued, his voice low, steady, and filled with deep honesty. "It was fast—it didn't seem like much, just an uncomfortable pressure, a strange tightness in my chest that I didn't quite understand at the time."
Hope automatically remembered feeling something similar herself the night before meeting Ethan in the classroom. "So that was..." she said to herself.
He squeezed her hands lightly, without breaking eye contact for a single second:
"But then I saw you in the classroom. It was completely different from anyone I had ever met before. I didn't know how to explain why, but deep down I always felt like something was missing inside me... a void that was never filled. But then... when I was in that coma and finally woke up after those three weeks, and when I turned into a wolf and saw you... that was when it all happened."
Ethan let out a soft sigh, a faint smile touching the corner of his lips as he recalled the moment:
"It was right then, Hope. That exact moment, I knew it was you. Everything changed. My entire world started revolving around you. Of course... I still have all my strength, my own mind, and my free will to do whatever I want, and I know you have yours too. But it's different. My purpose to protect you... is absolute."
"And that's why, no matter what happens, I'm going to be right here," I continued, looking Hope straight in the eye with certainty. "I don't know all the answers about the Hollow or how my energy manages to neutralize it, but of one thing I am absolutely sure: you don't have to carry this burden alone. If you need a shield, I'll be your shield. If you need someone to hold your hand when the world feels too heavy, I won't let go. No matter who comes against us or how dark things get... I'm here for you. For whatever you need."
Hope didn't answer right away. Instead, she let go of my hands and threw herself forward, wrapping me in a tight, desperate hug.
She buried her face in my shoulder, holding onto me so tightly I could feel just how badly she needed that refuge. Feeling her breathing slow down as silence and peace washed over her was the confirmation that all of this was real.
"Thank you, Ethan..." her voice murmured right against my ear, choked up and filled with relief. "Thank you so much for everything... for being here with me these past few days. For making me feel true peace."
I returned the embrace, holding her firmly and gently stroking her back until I was sure she was calm.
When we slowly pulled apart, she looked into the depths of my eyes with a small, genuine smile. Before I could say another word, Hope leaned in and kissed my cheek softly, leaving a warm touch that stole my breath for a second.
"Now come on..." she said, patting my arm lightly as she got up from the floor and wiped her face. "Let's go downstairs before my dad decides to come up here and see what's going on."
I smiled back, getting up right after and adjusting my clothes. She didn't let go of my hand for a single moment.
"We need to find a way to deal with this Hollow, Hope."
"I know. Come on, let's go talk to my aunt and my dad."