Forever Original | Alaric Saltzman

Epilogue

Harnessing The Hollow's power was easily the hardest thing they'd ever done.

But they managed it.

With the help of Valerie Tulle and Bonnie Bennett, they were able to break off pieces, little by little, and use the magic for important rituals and renovations around New Orleans first, to undo the damage The Hollow had done when it tried to rise.

Their first task was to put Klaus back into his own body, which had been simpler than expected, what with Freya having Hope help out. Their second task had been to bring back Davina. Kol had been overjoyed to have her back, but before anything, they'd had Hope and Freya unlink Davina from any traces of The Hollow's magic, to ensure she couldn't be corrupted. Hilda, of course, was the maid of honor at their wedding.

As a surprise to Klaus, Hilda and Freya had orchestrated for Cami to be brought back as well. They had been greeted with an unexpected surprise. Cami had found peace, and in that peace, she had reunited with her brother. When they had performed the spell to bring her back, Sean O'Connell had followed suit, which had been confusing at first. Since Cami had returned as a human, and not as a vampire, there were many things that needed to be discussed and arranged to ensure her brother became aware of the supernatural world and could remain safe. Rebekah had been the one to encourage Klaus to finally take Cami out on a proper date. After all that he had been through, he didn't back out of it.

Before performing any other resurrections, they had done a different spell to attempt to reach out to the other people on their list: Jackson, Finn, and Aiden. Jackson had been fine where he was, as he didn't want to come in conflict with Hayley and Elijah. Despite Hilda insisting that it was really no trouble to bring him back, he felt happy getting to see his fallen Pack members again, especially Oliver. He also mentioned that he wanted to wait there, for Mary, since her time would come soon.

Aiden had been brought back as a surprise to Josh, who had probably experienced his first minor heart attack ever, despite his vampiric state. Finn had been returned next, though they had altered the spell to bring him back as a human. At long last, he felt like he belonged in his own body, and he'd been pleased to meet Keelin. To no one's surprise, he had walked Freya down the aisle on the day that she married her. He told them how he had learned that when they died as humans, they would be able to see their brother Henrik again.

This had been the inspiration for the next spell, though that required the utmost precision and effort, and was one that none of the Mikaelsons thought they'd ever see performed. It took years of planning, which meant that in the meantime, Hilda got to focus on her work in the Salvatore School.

She adored being a teacher. She had been afraid her students wouldn't respect her, but rather than be frightened of who she was, they were fascinated, and were constantly asking her questions about her travels and the different spells that she knew. She taught the vampires about self control in the way she wished she'd been taught. She made them feel secure about admitting when they needed support.

Not long after they'd opened the school, there had been a problem that nearly earned the expulsion of three of the students. A witch named Wendy, a werewolf named Diego, and a vampire named Jade had killed five Mystic Falls High School students one night, and when Alaric and Hilda had received word of it, they'd spoken to them, but none of them appeared to show any remorse, and it didn't seem like they were telling the real story either.

"Here's how this is going to work," said Hilda, sitting across from Jade. "I'm not stupid, I can tell when a vampire has their humanity off. I'm also an Original, and that means I can compel you to tell the truth, or I can see into your mind and witness the event myself. Do you want to fess up, or should I resort to one of my two options?"