Chapter Text
In the short time since she’s transitioned, it’s been easy to find peace in the moments when she’s dead.
The hour she spends after Rebekah daggers her is spent laying in the trunk of a too small car trunk, ruminating all the ways she’ll get revenge, and all she can hear is her father’s voice in her head.
And, in the hotel room, after Lizzie snaps her neck, it’s the first time since turning her humanity off that she registers just how wrong it all feels. It’s a peaceful couple of hours at least. Lizzie and Aurora flee, to god knows where, but she figures it’ll take more than just her own sheer will to take them both on.
So she goes back home.
Not to New Orleans. Not to the compound that birthed her and clothed her and kept her safe and holds all the memories she has left of the people who died for her. No. That would border on too much, even in her angry state.
She stands feet from the Welcome to Mystic Falls sign, not even breathing, for what feels like hours. It’s the middle of the night, a waning crescent, and she knows she’s far enough out of town that few could possibly cross her path.
When the man slows his car, coming out to ask if she’s alright, she swallows the lump of emotion threatening to well in her throat. There’s a heady thrum of betrayal and hurt in her head, clanging around in her skull, and she knows there’s little she can do to stop it.
But she’ll do whatever it takes. Whatever she can to stop feeling this way. To stop feeling at all.
His blood is ichor, singing in her throat, and when she drops him to the ground, useless and dead, she doesn’t look back once.
She lectures the remaining members of the super squad the minute she bursts through the doors of the school. But it isn’t until she’s turning around to glare threateningly at them, that she realizes who’s walked into the hall.
“Would you look at that,” Hope sneers, “Dr. Saltzman, alive and well. I thought I’d killed you.”
He grimaces, coming to stand just below her on the steps. “You tried. It didn’t take. Don’t feel bad, it’s not the first time I’ve died and come back to life.”
“Well, spare me the details, we have more pressing matters at hand,” She sighs, rolling her eyes.
Alaric grabs her elbow, eyes wide and pleading. “Hope, we have to tal-”
“Nope,” She interrupts, taking her arm from his grasp. “No time. I have a pesky heretic to steal back from my father’s ex-girlfriend.”
“Lizzie?” Alaric asks in confusion.
She narrows her eyes. “Yes. Blonde. Blue eyes. About, oh, yay high?”
“Yes, Hope, I’ve heard of her.” He says with a hint of annoyance in his tone. “What do you mean, steal back? From who?”
“Okay, no one is listening to me, are they? Aurora De Martel. Back in town, being a real pain in my ass. Apparently she has a certain proclivity for pissing off Mikaelson's, don’t know, don’t care. Either way, she and Lizzie are off doing god knows what, and I want to stop that.”
Cleo stands from her seat in the back of the room. “Hope, that might be the first good idea you have had today.”
She nods, glaring at Alaric for a moment before clapping her hands. “Well, come on then, we don’t have all day.”
They all follow her, muttering under their breaths. She smiles, just a little. Thinks, it’s good to be back.
—
“Hope Mikaelson,” is the first thing she hears when she walks out of the school.
The rest of them are behind her, and she can hear them all come to an abrupt stop at the sight in front of her.
Standing, hands on his hips, the same devilish smile he’d had her whole life, was Marcel Gerard. The henley he’s wearing is eerily familiar, as is the whiff of cologne staining his neck that drifts across the breeze to her. She raises an eyebrow as he crosses the few steps remaining between them.
“What’re you doing here?” She says, not letting the nervous quiver threatening and lurking in her throat seed into her voice.
His smile drops, just a little, and she nearly grins. It’s easy, this act. Easy to pretend that the sight of her, in all intents and purposes, big brother, is standing before her doesn’t bother her in the slightest.
“Thought you’d be happier to see me,” He says, and she’s so eerily reminded of Rebekah’s exact phrasing that night in that bar that she almost snarls. “But, given what you’ve been up to lately, can’t say I’m surprised.”
“I’m busy Marcel,” She replies in a bored tone, inspecting her nails, “Get to the point.”
He rolls his eyes, “Aurora and your friend were in my city. I wanted to see if you’d like some help, seeing as they’re on their way here.”
“Why would Lizzie and Aurora be headed here?” Cleo asks from behind them.
“Vincent said they’re looking for something,” Marcel replies, for the first time looking over the rest of them with an appraising gaze. “I’m guessing they found it.”
Alaric comes to a stop beside her, tilting his head at Marcel. “What were they looking for?”
Marcel shrugs, “Beats me. Whatever it was, they left everyone alive. Which isn’t exactly Aurora’s MO, but, hey, I thought she was still wrapped in a sheet in the compound, so.”
“Remind me to ask Freya about that later,” Hope says in annoyance, “Considering she’s tried to kill me several times, and no one had any idea she’d escaped.”
“Well, I guess we better do some digging. Find out what they were looking for.” Alaric says with a nod of finality.
“No need dad,” Hope hears from their right. When she turns, she’s not exactly expecting the sight, again.
It’s Lizzie, and beside her is Aurora. They both look moderately sheepish, with Aurora avoiding Marcel’s gaze purposefully.
“Miss me?” Lizzie asks with a smirk.
All Hope can do is roll her eyes.
They all gather in Alaric’s office. She feels strangely content to have Lizzie back within reach again, even if she feels the pang of the sire-bond that’s broken between them like a pounding headache. Whatever, she didn’t even want to keep it anyway. Was only doing it for Lizzie’s own good.
(She refuses to admit that it hurts, refuses to believe that the rejection doesn’t sting, just the slightest.)
Aurora spends twenty minutes speaking in hushed tones with Ben in the back. Who, until literally an hour ago, Hope had thought was some weird witch that was following Jed around like a lost puppy. But she sees the way Jed looks at him while he talks to the vampire, and almost lets herself smile.
That is, before she reminds herself that her humanity is off, thank you very much.
Ben disappears after an argument with Alaric, leaving Jed to look like a startled deer, all wide-eyes and confusion.
“Where’s he going?” MG asks Cleo quietly, but the witch only shakes her head.
“He has something else to take care of,” Lizzie replies shadily, before grabbing Hope’s hand and pulling her away from her perch on Alaric’s desk. “Now, come on you, we’ve got somewhere to be.”
Against her better judgement, she lets herself be pulled the direction that Lizzie takes her without question. She even ignores the confused looks the rest of the room sends them.
Whatever, she thinks, at least this way she’ll find out what they’re up to.
Aurora follows them. It makes Hope’s hackles raise, but Lizzie just sighs and grips Hope’s hand tighter, pulling her down the hall and into her practically abandoned room.
Shutting the door, Aurora smiles at Hope cautiously.
“If you two think you’re killing me in here,” Hope warns, but all Lizzie and Aurora do is shake their heads.
“That’s not what we’re doing,” Lizzie murmurs, before dropping her grip on Hope’s hand and twisting her fingers in the air.
A book plops into her grip.
Aurora takes a slow step forward. “We found Ben’s uncle. A god who can manipulate time and space.”
Hope can feel her mouth drop open in shock, just barely. “You what ?”
“We found an old god, Hope,” Lizzie says, dropping down to sprawl against her headboard and flipping through the book. “Stay with us here.”
“And what, exactly, do you plan on doing with this god?” She asks, narrowing her eyes.
“Fixing something that should have never been broken,” Aurora whispers. “We made sure he was able to help us, first. He brought my brother, Tristan, to me.”
Hope raises an eyebrow. “How? I thought you said he died when Elijah did.”
Aurora nods quickly, her eyes glistening. “He did. But, this god can manipulate time , little bird. We simply had took a moment before they died, and he brought him to me.”
“Okay, you’ve lost me again,” Hope sneers, “You’re saying a god brought you your dead brother, and, what? You got to say goodbye? Got some closure?”
“Yes, Hope,” Lizzie speaks up from the bed, her eyes watchful as she takes in how fast Hope’s heart has started beating. She snaps the book shut suddenly, jumping from the bed and grabbing Hope’s hand again. “Now, come on. That should have been enough of a distraction time.”
She starts to protest, but Lizzie drowns it out as she snaps her fingers and the door slams shut behind them and Aurora.
—
Lizzie drags her to a clearing in the woods. Her grip is iron tight, and she is so startled by it that she barely notices the strange man in a coat too warm for the summer heat trailing behind Ben.
As they reach the clearing, she gasps.
Very little in her nineteen years on this earth have prepared her for the sight of her parents and Elijah to be standing in front of her again.
Her father, his lips upturned in the same way hers do, dimple in his cheek and the familiar blue of his eyes, stands tall in the middle. Elijah, always stoic and proud, is beaming at her from beside him, his suit as pressed and neat as she remembers.
And, then there’s her mother. A tear tracks down her cheek. Her eyes are a different shade of brown than she remembers, but she knows it’s only time that has altered her memory.
And all she can do is gape.
“They’re from before the Hollow,” Lizzie whispers behind her, and she can hear Alaric’s heartbeat quicken at the sight of her father. “They’re practically mirages, really, but we explained everything that they don’t know on the way here.”
“Why are they here?” She hears Jed ask.
Ben, from beside her, clears his throat. His eyes remain locked on the side of her face as he speaks gently.
“To do what a family must,” He says, “Bring her back.”
Marcel steps up behind her, his hand gentle as it pushes against her back. She hears him take a shuddering breath at the sight of the three of them.
She gulps, her nails turning to claws and biting into the skin of her palms. Blood drips from the wounds for a moment before the skin is healing over. The pain is the only thing she’s certain is keeping her upright.
“Hello, sweetheart,” Her father says softly, and oh, god , does it break her.
Her heart thuds painfully against her ribs, and all she can hear is the rush of blood in her ears as she watches her mother take a cautious step forward with her arms outstretched.
Hope crosses the gap in two strides. Collides against Hayley’s chest with a cry and wraps shaking arms around her until they’re crushed together. Her father’s hand smoothes against her back, and she can feel Elijah’s cupping the nape of her neck, her mother’s lips pressed to her forehead.
Everything, even time, it seems, suspends in midair for the moment they remain encircled in one another. And then, it all crashes to the ground as she feels her feeble grip on her turned off humanity slip away.
Klaus pulls until she’s lined up with him, whispering under his breath into her ear a dozen I love you’s , as she feels tears trace down her cheeks in rivers. With a fumbling grip, she tightens her hold on the lapels of his jacket, fighting against the feeling of her chest bursting open. Elijah rubs circles into her shoulder blades as her mother laces their fingers together, and for the first time in five years, she feels like she can finally breathe.
When she finally lets herself stumble back, there are matching looks of love and adoration on their faces, but all she can see of it is blocked by the moisture gathering in her eyes.
“I missed you,” She whispers, her voice hoarse and thick, “God, so much.”
“Oh, my baby,” Hayley gasps. Hands come up and wipe tears from her eyes, soft and achingly gentle.
Elijah cups the back of her neck again, his smile rueful and heartbreaking, murmuring, “You’ve grown so much.”
“You look so much like me,” Klaus says happily, adding with a teasing laugh, “And, well, I suppose your mother, too.”
She remembers distantly that these versions of her family are from before the Hollow, and that seeing her this way, she’d have to have been seven or so in their time. Let’s herself laugh just a little at her father’s teasing tone.
“I’m so proud of you,” Klaus whispers against her forehead, “My littlest wolf.”
They stand there for what feels like both forever, and never long enough. Entwined in an embrace she used to dream about when they were all separated, something tangible and hopeful and with the ability to mend her broken heart.
“Hope,” She hears Marcel call from over her shoulder.
She picks her head up, turning to look at him as she wipes tears from her eyes. “Don’t say it, please.”
“They have to go, Hope,” Ben is the one to say the words she’s dreading to hear. “We can only keep them here for a moment.”
Klaus grins at Marcel, his fingers wiggling in a wave. Hope pretends she doesn’t see the way Marcel’s chest stutters, how his teeth grit.
She shakes her head, gripping tighter to her mother’s fingers. When she turns to look at Hayley, the three of them have adopted matching looks of understanding.
“We knew we couldn’t stay forever,” Elijah whispers. “But this will have to be enough.”
Her mother nods, cheeks dimpling as she smiles even if there are tears filling her eyes. “But you know that we’re never really gone.”
“Even if you can’t see us,” Her father continues, nudging her chin with his hand until they lock eyes. “We’re always with you.”
“I’ll be the moon, every month, looking down, protecting you,” Hayley murmurs.
“I’ll be the stars,” Elijah follows. “Lighting your way.”
Her father wipes the tears traveling down her jaw, “And I will be the sun. No matter where you go, for the rest of forever, we will always be here.”
A sob works its way out of her throat, and she barely notices the man that had been standing beside Ben start to whisper a spell under his breath. She tightens her grip on them again, even as Lizzie wraps her hand around Hope’s wrist, solid and steady.
“We love you,” Klaus says softly, the look in his eyes the same as it had been the last time he’d left her, “More than all the days and nights-”
“Deeper than the oceans and the skies,” She finishes for him, nearly choking as tears continue welling in her eyes.
Elijah kisses her forehead, right on the spot where he’d placed that pink bandaid when she was an infant. Hayley pinches her chin and presses her lips to a tear-wet cheek.
Klaus cups her face in his hands and touches their foreheads together, repeating I love you , like he had the night he’d died. She can hear every whisper of the breeze through the trees, every beat of all of their hearts, and wishes, just for a moment, that she could leave with them.
And then, with a flash of light, they’re gone.
All she can do is turn to collapse against Lizzie and Marcel, lets her brother crush her against his chest as he, too, cries for the loss of them once again, and waits until someone spells her to sleep.