"Mom? Dad?"

Hope wondered the never ending darkness, terrified as she searched for her parents. Where was she? One minute she was in the garden painting a picture and waiting for her dad to join her, and the next, she was being thrown into tar. Now, she was here, wherever here was. Where was her family? Would her family be looking for her? How had she gotten here?

"Hello?"

She strained to hear something, anything, but there was nothing, except for herself and she started to cry.

"MOM! DAD!"

In an effort to see better, she raised her hands and cast a spell for light.

No sooner had the spell left her mouth that a vortex of light appeared and she was dragged towards it.

"Mom! Help me!"

When she landed, Hope found herself lying in an empty pit surrounded by machinery. She scrambled to her feet and climbed up the wall.

"How are you here?"

Hope looked up at the man on the balcony.

"Where am I?"

"Triad Industries headquarters." The man looked her over carefully. "What are you?"

Years of having her mother warn her to keep quiet about who and what she was held her tongue and she stared at the man as she climbed up out of the pit to the balcony.

"Tell me, who are you?"

"I wanna go home!"

"There is no home for you to go back to."

"My parents will be looking for me!"

"No. They won't. They don't even remember you exist. You have no where to go."

"No! My parents love me! They would never forget me!"

"According to the recordings I just watched, you were thrown into the pit. And that pit, it erases everyone from memory. Unfortunately for us, you dragged in the one who threw you in with you and apparently, he never wrote anything down since he records everything on a body cam, so we have no idea who or what you are."

"I don't believe you."

"I can take you to your family, if you'll tell me who they are and where to find them."

Hope clamped her mouth shut and stared him down. If she told them where her family was, they'd try to throw them into the darkness too.

"Won't you tell us anything about yourself?"

"I'm seven. Not stupid." She was a Mikaelson. She would protect her family, no matter what. Like her mom did while Aunt Freya looked for a cure, Hope would do the same. She would keep her family safe, no matter what.

"If you won't tell us who you are, I'm just going to have to kill you." The man pulled a pistol out of his jacket.

"Wait." A woman entered the room.

"Mrs. Greasley."

"Whatever she is, she had the power to destroy Malivore. Which means she could be a valuable asset now that Malivore is no longer an option."

"We don't even know what she is or what made him throw her in. She needs to be put down!"

"She's a child with unknown power. We can mold her however we choose and depending on just what she can do, we could have a weapon more powerful than Malivore at our disposal." Mrs. Greasley walked up to Hope and sat on her heels. "Welcome to Triad."

Mom, Dad. Where are you?