Chapter Text
For as long as Hope can remember, she's always been protective. Loyal. A guardian for those she cares about.
It really didn't do her psychological problems any favors when everyone she cared for and wanted to protect died trying to save her.
Caring made her vulnerable. It made her yearn for a different story, one where she wasn't the hero everyone expected her to be. Or the villain she eventually would turn out to be.
She hadn't always been this cynical; she once had been hopeful and wanted to connect with others—especially the one who would turn out to be her everything.
The first time she had ever heard about soulmates was when her aunt Freya and Keelin were talking. She was only eight.
They had said something about wanting the best for your soulmate, an innate need to please them.
Hope's eight-year-old mind had latched onto the idea of wanting to take care of someone and wanting the best for them, even if she didn't fully understand what they were talking about.
"I want a soulmate!"
She had exclaimed so excitedly that both Freya and Keeling looked over to her. She was supposed to be in bed but wanted to stay up, so she snuck downstairs.
"You're supposed to be asleep, little wolf." Freya scoops her up in her arms and spins her around.
Her joyous laugh fills the air. She settles on her aunt Freya's lap as Keelin brushes her hair out of her face.
"But I didn't want to sleep. What are you and aunt Keelin talking about?"
"We were discussing soulmates." Keelin begins. Hope waits patiently for her aunt to continue.
"Some people, as you know, have the wolf gene, which on the full moon night makes them transform into a wolf."
"Except those from the crescent moon!" Hope contributes joyfully.
"Exactly. Some call this a curse, something to be ashamed about. While being a wolf does have its downsides, there is a perk as well. They also have soulmates, others that compliment perfectly. Each wolf, when they meet their mate, will be in tune with their emotions and feelings."
Keelin pauses to make sure Hope is following. The little redhead watches rapt with attention, eyes wide.
"Wolves are protective and loyal, it's in their nature. The same can be said with those who have the wolf gene. This means that anyone who meets their soulmate will want their happiness and will strive to make them happy."
Hope nods along, "like you and aunt Freya? Are you both soulmates?"
The two aunts' eyes meet, a smile on both of their faces. "Yes, we are."
Hope smiles happily and begins to rub her eyes, trying to hide a yawn.
The two women pick up the sleepy child and take her up the stairs to her room. Hope puts up a slight fight claiming she's not tired while she's in the midst of falling asleep.
"Do I have a soulmate?"
She's almost asleep, so the answer floats to her ears as if underwater.
"Of course you do, Hope, One day you'll find them, you'll know when you meet them."
She dreamed that night of a warm smile and a future filled with love and kindness.
She didn't fully understand what her aunts had meant. 'she would know when she met them?'
Questions filled with worry and uncertainty made her unsure about the future.
What if she never met them? What if they met and they didn't want Hope?
What if because she was part witch, wolf, and vampire, she didn't get one?
Those lingering questions and doubts were pushed aside when her eyes landed on the most beautiful girl she had ever seen.
Her mom had taken her to see the Salvatore boarding school, which an old friend of hers was running. Hope was excited and worried all at the same time.
According to her mother, she had always been somewhat shy, struggling to open up to new people. She didn't have many chances to make friends, especially not around her age with supernatural abilities.
Her excitement grew as she and her mom made way to the school. Alaric, her mom's friend, greeted them when they arrived, taking them to a field area where kids were running all around. Hope didn't pay attention much as they talked, but soon, he called over two girls, a blonde and a brunette. They were his daughters.
The second she laid eyes on the brunette, she could feel her heart beat faster; she had never seen someone so pretty. It felt like her entire world was shifted off its axis.
Hope was surprised at the warm feelings that surrounded her from just laying eyes on the brunette. She wanted to jump up and hug the girl, but restrained herself from doing anything like that, not wanting to make a fool of herself so early on.
She may only be ten years old, but she holds all the pride a Mikaelson can have.
She instead gives a small smile and a wave to the brunette, her heart skipping a beat when she smiles back.
Hope's eyes drift over to the blonde, having remembered her mom telling her about the twins Josie and Lizzie, the question is, which one the brunette is.
Alaric introduced the blonde as Lizzie and the brunette as Josie.
Josie.
The name made her smile wider, finally having been told what it was. Alaric and her mom walk away from the girls so they can get acquainted with each other.
She tries to smile, her anxiety about meeting new people, making it hard to get words out. "Hi, I'm Hope."
Even though she is anxious and worried, she has hope (pun not intended) that everything will turn out okay, and that these two will grow to like her. They could all be friends.
The blonde stands tall, she has a pout and a glare on her face. "Like we care."
Hope instantly deflates, all thoughts of the future and possibly being friends vanishing in an instant.
The brunette looks scandalized at her sister, gasping. "Lizzie!" She smacks her sister on the arm with the back of her hand. Lizzie rolls her eyes with a huff and walks away from both of them.
Josie steps closer to her and smiles a shy smile. "I'm sorry about her, we just found out our mom isn't coming for our birthday, she's not normally like that."
Hope nods her head but doesn't say anything, her gaze towards the ground. She feels a pang of sadness hit her that doesn't feel familiar. Her stomach churns at the feeling.
Unclear at what is going on exactly, or what she feels, she glances up to see Josie step closer; she reaches out and rests her hand on Hope's arm, squeezing it gently. She smiles wide, feeling the sadness go away as fast as it came.
They stayed like that for a few seconds, before Hope asked, "What do you like to do for fun?"
Josie looks down and pulls her hand back from Hope. She's a little disappointed as the warmth leaves her arm.
"I like singing, I have a journal that I write down lyrics in." She gives a shy smile as she says this, unsure how Hope will react.
"That's so cool! Maybe you can show me sometime?" Josie looks hesitant at Hope's hopeful gaze. Before she can say anything, she speaks faster, words tumbling out.
"You don't have to at all, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."
Little Josie smiles with a gap between her teeth, and Hope finds herself more endeared than she had ever been before.
"No, that's okay, I'd love to show you sometime."
That was the beginning of the end of their friendship. It wasn't long after that Lizzie had decided to hate her, for reasons she didn't quite understand.
She didn't help the situation and was as much to blame as the twins for the distance. Something about hiding herself as a Tribrid made her not want to make close connections; she was already anti-social and an introvert. So what if she was also incredibly lonely.
That pull never went away, no matter how hard she tried to give it up. The interest towards the brunette siphoner ate away at her and made it near impossible to stay away for long.
While they weren't friends, they weren't enemies either, not like Lizzie, and she was.
Hope hated not being around Josie, but the distance was essential. Everyone in her life had gotten hurt, or worse. She couldn't bear the thought of Josie being injured or killed because of her; she couldn't live with herself.
If that meant that she would never get to have a proper friendship or relationship with the brunette, she could live with herself. As long as Josie was safe.
They had such a promising start as children, if only she would stop ruining everything she touches.
Hope was sick and tired of the loneliness but knew that it was better for everyone if they stayed away. Her family line never brought good things, adding a friend to the mix, let alone a soulmate, would complicate everything.
While she's been able to keep her distance from almost everyone, she hasn't been able to do it all the time. She still felt a small fraction of Josie's emotions. This, in turn, led her to guide through what her own feelings were and what the brunette felt.
She didn't tell anyone that they were soulmates, not her mother and father, when they were alive, not her aunts, and especially not Josie.
Her wolf begged to come out when Josie was around; there was this unmistakable itch that yearned to be scratched so the wolf in her could be free around her mate.
She never allowed herself too. Not entirely, at least. Too afraid of what would happen if she did and how much harder it would be to stay away from the siphoner.
She could give a thousand reasons why she rejected both Lizzie and Josie. Why she rejected the mere thought of being friends. The main one and the one that mattered most was that she was scared. Terrified of giving the power to Josie to break her. The ability to utterly destroy her. She couldn't give anyone that power; she couldn't let anyone have the possibility to end her without even meaning too.
It was better this way.