Between Hope Mikaelson and Josie Saltzman as romantic.
The Salvatore School was a picture of serenity with its gothic architecture casting long, lazy shadows in the golden afternoon light. Inside its walls, however, the atmosphere was anything but tranquil as Hope Mikaelson and Josie Saltzman tackled the latest supernatural predicament to grace the school's enigmatic halls.
Amidst shelves antiquated with knowledge and burdened with the duty of staying silent, the girls stood in the arcane library, their fingers brushing over the spine of an old, leather-bound tome that radiated an allure that was both inviting and foreboding. They exchanged a look, a silent conversation passing between them. It was the kind of look only those who had fought side by side, who had partaken in shared silence, could understand.
"Are you sure this is the only way to strengthen our defenses?" Josie queried, her voice a smooth whisper, uncertainty lining each word as though with pencil-shaded caution.
"Yes." Hope's response was tinged with the steadfast resolve she had become known for, the weight of her legacy never far from her everyday reality. Her emerald eyes flitted from the book to Josie and back, as if reassuring both that she could handle whatever might leap from the pages. "But we should be careful. Magic this powerful is… unpredictable."
They began to recite an incantation, their voices intertwining and echoing off the high, vaulted ceilings. The words they spoke were ancient and undulating, a melody composed in a time when magic was new and the earth still whispered its secrets freely. As they reached the crescendo, a surge of energy reverberated through the room, igniting every surface with an ethereal glow.
In that moment, a golden thread of light burst from the book, weaving around them like a pair of serpents entangled in dance. It wrapped around their wrists, binding them with a force as tender as it was strong before finally sinking into their skin. The girls gasped in unison, a shared sensation rippling through their bodies.
It ended as swiftly as it had begun, the light retreating and the ancient atmosphere of the library resettling around them like dust after a storm. They stood there, panting, their breaths a shared rhythm that neither had anticipated.
"Did it work?" Josie's voice was a mix of fear and awe, her brown eyes wide as they sought Hope's for reassurance.
"I don't know. I feel..." Hope hesitated, searching within herself for something amiss or altered. "I feel you," she finally admitted, a fact that sent a shiver down both their spines.
From the depths of the library, a shadow stirred, a vestige of a long-forgotten past that watched with silent vigilance. Whether it harbored ill intentions or silent approval, only time would tell. But within the beating hearts of Hope Mikaelson and Josie Saltzman, a change had been irrevocably wrought.
Unknown to them, the enchantment had not only fortified the school's defenses but had also unfastened something fundamental within the depths of their souls. As the evening beckoned and the library's ancient tomes whispered amongst themselves, the two girls departed, tethered by an unseen thread, poised on the cusp of an entwining path neither one could walk alone.