Work Text:
Hope waited patiently for the schools gate to finish closing behind her before starting down the road to town. She was proud of herself. During morning assembly the previous day she had reintroduced herself to the school as Hope Mikaelson. Hope Marshall had served her purpose. Nearly 9 years of safety to show for it. Her classes went as well as could be expected for missing six weeks, but the looks that kept getting leveled at her we’re starting to unnerve her. She needed an afternoon to just be another face in the crowd, so she walked through the town square to the Mystic Grill. It looked like a pretty mellow day in the towns only decent restaurant, so she took a seat at her regular patio table and waited to place her order. After a minute of browsing the news on her phone and ordering paint refills she looked up to an unfamiliar waiter. His straight blonde hair and blue eyes were not the pair of mysterious green eyes and dark curls she had been hoping to see.
“Hi I’m Jake, I’ll be your server today. What can I get for you to drink?” The waiter said in a decent customer service tone.
“Hi, I’ll have a peanut butter blast with the whip cream on the bottom, and a side of fries.” Hope was silently relieved that Landon wasn’t there. She hadn’t fully fleshed out how to explain her last name wasn’t Marshall to a human; let alone the one she had danced with and promptly disappeared on for six weeks. So far all she had thought of was her family was rich and seclusive, which was technically true and fit with her going to boarding school. How she would explain falling off the face of the Earth for six weeks also needed to be addressed. She had been surprised Landon even remembered her fake last name when she had sat here with Elijah. At that thought, she let a little of the sadness bubble to the surface at her memory of the day she first transformed, the day spent with the man her mom loved, and the time she felt like a normal girl just dancing with a normal boy. That led her into a spiral about how her mom had kept Declan at arms length to protect him and she was conflicted all over again.
She was snapped out of it when a basket of fries and her shake are suddenly placed in front of her. She gave a polite smile to Jake and started picking at her fries. When she moved onto her shake she cursed her new wolf senses. It didn’t taste the same as it had the last time she ordered one. It tasted off, weaker. A small part of her mind wondered if Landon had taken extra care whenever she ordered it. ‘That’s ridiculous’ she thought to herself. But the part that looked back at their attempt to dance fondly wouldn’t let it go. Deciding that was enough melancholy for the moment, she finished her meal and left enough cash to cover the meal and a decent tip weighed down under her glass.
Before she headed back to school she decided to go inside and see if Landon was simply working a different section than normal. Under the pretense of needing to wash up, she walked in, only turning a couple heads when the door jingled. She looked around and didn’t see anyone she recognized. After actually using her cover and washing up in the restroom she walked back out and spotted the manager. Deciding she didn’t have anything to lose, she walked up and got his attention.
“Hello miss, what can I help you with?” The manager politely asked.
“Well this is going to sound weird, but my friend normally works here Saturday afternoons and I’m back from a long trip and wanted to see him. Is Landon off today?” Hope smiled sheepishly at the middle aged man.
“He’s off all the days actually. Sorry to tell you but he quit, said he had to move a few weeks ago.” The man looked genuinely sad at that. “He was a good kid.” He added.
“Oh… okay. Thanks for that.” Hope started to walk away before he stopped her.
“Actually hold on. Since you’re his friend, if you see him could you give him this? We can’t exactly recycle it and it seemed wrong to throw it away since he liked it here so much.” As he was speaking he rummaged though a cabinet behind the bar and pulled out Landon’s engraved name tag.
“Oh I don’t know…” Hope stammered as she wasn’t sure what to make of the gesture.
“It’s just gathering dust here. If he ever swings by again I’ll tell him you have it if he wants it.” He tosses it to her, not giving her a chance to say no again. With a slight smile she said goodbye and began her walk back to campus, turning the name tag over in her hand as she walked.
-A Week Later-
Hope nearly blew the school gate of its hinges in frustration. She had half a mind to put the alpha into a coma for the rest of the semester. How dare he just ask in the middle of the dining hall who she had killed? Hope stopped and took a breather just outside the school gates. Wanting just to vent a little frustration, she poured some power into a spell that decimated a tree. She watched the splinters rain down as the trunk landed in the leaves with a heavy thud.
She actually felt a lot better, but she could still feel the pull of her wolf senses wanting to run free again. She hadn’t allowed herself to turn since that first time, she couldn’t exactly ask anyone at school about how to voluntarily turn. Maybe Keelin will give her some tips. She’d been wearing a kyanite ring basically the entire time Hope knew her so she was bound to know something.
For now she worked her way to town again. Hope shopped around aimlessly, only buying a true crime book to kill time with later when she inevitably hit her painting block again. She wasn’t planning to stop at the Grill today, but it seemed her stomach had other plans when it growled incredibly loud as she passed Dr. Salvatore’s office in the square. Begrudgingly, she walked into the Grill and sat alone in a couples booth and ordered her usual. After devouring her burger and another sub-par peanut butter blast she gamed out how to deal with the school’s pack.
-Hope’s internal monologue-
Option one: Tell the truth!
Pro’s… Honesty is good. You’ll have a pack at school. Truth telling is worth a point. You’ll be able to pick between factions for the talent show and PE. Dr. Saltzman and Emma wouldn’t nag me to engage with the other students.
Con’s… The truth is you killed a few dozen vampires and a human was collateral damage. The school pack is a joke compared to the Crescents. The pack was terrible to Henry for being a Crescent so they’ll treat you the same. You’ll have to answer to that wannabe alpha. Neither faction will accept you as a full member.
Option two: Lie!
Pro’s… They won’t think I’m any more a killer than any of them. I get to avoid anyone prying into my parents deaths. I get to make a cool custom backstory of a terrible person I killed instead of poor Father Bill and almost Declan.
Con’s… You’ll still answer to that walking testosterone fueled mutt of a senior. Lying is minus a point. You still have to live with the guilt. It makes you look weak that you are a Mikaelson and are messed up over one kill.
Option three: Go full Mikaelson…
Pro’s… I get to beat up a bully. I get to be in charge, or independent if I want. I get to showcase just how bad an idea it is to mess with me. It’ll be fun!
Con’s… everyone will be afraid of you and leave you alone… Wait why is that a Con? All I’ve wanted these last few weeks was to not deal with faction nonsense.
Decisions decisions…
Suddenly Hope is snapped out of her internal debate by the manager dropping off her check with a smile. “Welcome back, did you ever end up talking to Landon? He never really told any of us where he was moving to.” The manager seemed like he cared but Hope couldn’t help him.
“Sorry no. I’ll let him know you miss him if I talk to him though.” She wanted that non-answer to be enough but fate was not on her side it seemed yet again.
“Do you have his phone number? That’s so weird. I though he was one of those kids that hate social media and barely used his phone. In fact whenever he called to pick up a shift it was on his home phone.” The manager furrowed his brow at that for a reason Hope couldn’t fathom.
Desperate to leave this awkward situation about the habits of someone she barely knew; Hope left her cash on the table and said a rushed goodbye before her walk back to the Salvatore school. She had a decision to make, and the consequences could carry until she graduated. She mulled her options over for the entire walk back, she wanted to tell the truth but the same option kept butting it’s way to the forefront of her thoughts. ‘You are a Mikaelson after all… it’s time they respected that. Respected you. And if they don’t… Fear will do just fine.’ She thought to herself as she came up to the iron gates; her mind finally made up.
-The Next Weekend-
Hope plopped down onto her bed, buzzing with energy that needed another outlet. She had successfully subjugated the school’s pack into leaving her alone earlier that morning. One massive sleep spell and magically pinning the alpha upside down to the basketball hoop for an hour had gotten her message across loud and clear. She made a note to thank Keelin again for teaching her how to properly bare her fangs in human form. If only she had managed to avoid the Saltzman twins, today would have gone great. It was still hard seeing them acting like nothing had happened. While she didn’t blame them for being a part of her dad’s plan, it was still painful to see them knowing they were involved. She was thankful sure, but it didn’t lessen her pain.
Deciding to be productive. Hope sat up and walked to her vanity mirror, she opened her mouth and inspected her new fangs. Retracting them and releasing them a few times for practice. Her eyes glowed the entire time which she hoped was a cross between her parents' wolf eyes.
Hope opened a drawer and rummaged around for her totem to magically project to her aunts’ home outside New Orleans. She really needed to get a binder or something for all these trinkets. Unceremoniously dumping the items on her dresser, she started separating them by location and relation to her. When she was done there was just one oddball to deal with. Landon’s plain name tag was sitting between letters, locks of hair, and various personal items for her to use in spells.
Hope went and got an extra binder from a classroom and started pinning and labeling what item was for which person. After putting the binder up on her shelf, she spotted her first grimoire gathering dust on the far side. She took it down and traced her fingers over her childish drawings but precise wording. ‘Oh hell it can’t possibly go worse than last time.’ She thought to herself.
Hope drew a circle of chalk with an ankh in the center. Taking one last second to talk herself into it (and make sure it was an astral projection not a video chat spell), she placed Landon’s name tag in the loop of the ankh and sat. She lit the candles and started her spell.
Hope didn’t really have any expectations except not showing up in the middle of a crime scene. What she saw didn’t really make sense either. She was on the sidelines of a football field with a track running around it. A tall dark skinned teen was sitting on the turf, waiting for something. The something finally showed up. A tumbling mass of black curls and grey workout gear splayed itself out next to the taller boy. “Dude you do that in less than a minute? How?!” Landon panted out while wildly gesturing at the hurdles set up around the track.
“A lot of practice, not to mention longer legs.” The other boy laughed before speaking again. “So why’d you want to work out with me today man?”
“Well I needed another, quieter outlet. Hector and Maria aren’t too happy about the guitar, I can tell. At least they’re cool about the tattoos though.” Landon answered.
Hope decided she was probably intruding on a private moment, but decided to inspect the tattoos in question anyway. Once she tuned out their conversation she leaned in. Hope couldn't have seen them in his work uniform. The one on his inner forearm was bold and well done. A black queen chess piece. The other sat several inches above his knee, a dark book, with a black quill and inkwell next to them. The skin surrounding the inkwell and quill was shaved. Indicating he had gotten it relatively recently. Hope noticed some of the skin under the tattoos was raised. She didn’t have any personal experience with scars, but she knew people covered them in many different ways. They were so unfamiliar to what she had seen before, they intrigued her. Her mom had a few small but elegant tattoos. Once, Hope had convinced her dad to let her paint the ravens that had been on his skin since before he was turned... before he had cut contact. He had sent her polaroids of them in the mail, which were lost in her dorm fire. A hearty laugh and play wrestling interrupted her thoughts. Looking back on Landon and the unknown boy she thought to herself, ‘Stop it. Stop it. Let this moment be his. He seems happy… wherever he is’ she mentally kicked herself before breaking the spell with a quiet goodbye said out loud even though they couldn’t hear her.
Shoving the name tag back into the back of the binder she placed it back on the shelf. She was glad he seemed happy wherever he was. Needing to sort far too many thoughts out in her head; she decided she was going to go wolf out in the woods. She checked in with Caroline and confirmed there were no parties. After grabbing a quick bite for dinner, she threw on some workout clothes and an oversized hoodie and walked barefoot into the woods. She focused on the turn like Keelin had said. She focused on letting the pain swallow her. Just like her dad said, there was no real other comparison. But after a painful minute she was sprinting at full speed through the trees. She ran for hours and hours. The brisk night air and the feel of the forest floor helped her maintain her control.
When she finally changed back and redressed, she began her walk back toward the school. She could accept she would never get to properly introduce herself to Landon. That was life. Sometimes people leave. Nothing lasts forever, if there was one thing she knew to be true it was that. Never seeing a cute waiter again seemed so small compared to everything else.
Showered and thoroughly exhausted, Hope's head hit the pillow and in her exhaustion her mind began to wander. It wandered to New Orleans, where Freya and Keelin were still evaluating fertility doctors. To New York where Rebekah and Marcel were enjoying planning a wedding, with the promise of a human life waiting for them. Hope would have to look into duplicating the cure after college. Her mind wandered to San Francisco, where Kol and Davina were setting up a new kind of magical college where all were welcome. Covens be damned. As her mind wandered to a pair of smiles she had spied on earlier that day; one of Marcel’s stupidly endearing phrases kept echoing in her head until sleep finally found her.
Never say Never. ‘Cause Never ain’t that long.