WHEN TIME FRACTURES || HOPE MIKAELSON x RYAN CLARKE

Chapter Ten

As soon as the words left her mouth, his mind went frantic.

He turned it over and over in his head, so much that he could actually feel the gears inside his brain as they spun and embedded themselves into one another.

''So,'' MG began, feeling his fragile grasp on the situation slipping away slowly, ''In order to go back, to go home, we need to... to...''

''Cut Aion's wings off with Destiny's shears,'' Hope completed from her spot on the bed, ''That ought to do the trick and save us the trouble of looking for a spell.''

''Are you sure it'll work? I mean, it's just a wild guess, isn't it?''

''I have faith,'' she sighed deeply, ''That's actually all I have right now, and I really need you to believe in me.''

The short silence that followed was deafening and the pair could only stare at each other.
''Okay,'' he finally surrendered, ''So... how are we even going to find Destiny's shears?''

''We're not going to find them,'' Hope said, pulling out a piece of worn paper from under her dress, ''We're going to steal them.''

''Uh, yeah, that sounds risky. Can't Lizzie anthropology-project back here?''

''Astral-project,'' Hope corrected, rising to her full height.
The torn page was tingling in her hands, causing a warm shiver to run up her spine. She almost had a feeling it was trying to convey a warning through her bones, as if it had a mind of its own and knew of her impending doom, yet, she didn't let it bother her.
It was the right thing to do; she knew it in her heart -the only thing to do.
''And no, she can't. The connection is severed now. Not to mention that the spell took them a whole month to find, I wouldn't expect to hear from her anytime soon if I were you.''

''And how come it's that simple?'' he wondered, feeling entirely clueless once again, ''Aside from the whole stealing a goddess' shears, I mean. All we have to do is clip his wings and hurray, we're back home?''

''Not exactly...'' Hope sighed, now holding the paper to the light.

MG was beside her in an instant and looking over at the spell. His eyes skimmed over the page, orbs widening with every word he absorbed.

''You're kidding me, right?''

''I wish I was, trust me.''

''Well, I'm not doing that.''

''MG-''
''No!'' MG stepped back, slumping in a chair. ''That thing stank! I remember the stench very clearly and there's no way I could stomach it.'' he pursed his lips as his complaint came to an end and swallowed the rising lump down his throat. Even the ripper that hid in the darkest parts of his soul refused the prospect of tasting this peculiar deity's blood.

''Says the vampire.'' Hope laughed, tucking the note in the chest of drawers carefully. With a flick of her wrist and a whisper, the cloaking spell was done.
Although the thought was unwelcome, she had to thank Triad for that. Clarke's book had been very helpful, but the rest of the dots, she'd connected them herself.

''I've never drunk any deity's blood. Never even crossed my mind.'' he sighed as she stepped away from the chest, presumably deep in thoughts. He had no hand in this matter, and he knew it -she was the brain of the operation. However, if the key to going home was this disturbing, he hoped she was at least ninety-two percent sure it would work.

''Well, you're about to. Because cutting his wings off won't be enough,'' she sighed as well and ran a hand through her hair. Tiny beads of sweat had accumulated on her forehead, either from concentration or something else entirely, but she brushed them off and the matter with it. ''We need to take them off with Destiny's magic shears,'' she emphasized, ''Then, fill a cup full of his blood, from that very wound, there's no other way. Although it's fuzzy on exactly how we're going to get back, I expect it to be the same way we arrived. There. Done. Easy-peasy.''