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Leaving Salvatore School was both the hardest and easiest thing she had ever done.
Spending over a decade at the school, it had become home. She learned to control her powers; she embraced those same powers and used them to do good. She made friends. She fell in love. She faced some of the hardest choices of her life and managed to survive.
Was she proud of the last few months? In a word, no.
Bracing her left hand to the steering wheel, she pressed her other to the skin at her neck where it felt naked every day since her humanity returned.
The way she treated Aunt Rebekah, it was harsh, but she knew her aunt had forgiven her before the taillights of the car she stole even faded in the distance.
Because Auntie Bex knew. She understood everything happening inside of Hope. Her aunt had always loved hard and to the fullest. She also knew what it felt like to be a new immortal. Hope controlled the blatant impulses of being a vampire better than any other newbie but controlling the amplified emotions proved too much.
She wished she had been stronger.
But the truth was, it was okay.
She didn't have to be strong every day of her life. It didn't make her weak or pathetic.
It made her human.
Lizzie taught her that.
Her friend had struggled with her mental health almost as long as Hope had known her. She went from being the prima bitch to taking the steps to be a better person. She sought out help to learn to manage all the emotions flooding her mind. She took medication to correct her brain chemistry. She fought a battle on a daily basis.
Lizzie Saltzman was one of the strongest people she knew.
She felt regret for a lot of the things she had done with her humanity off. She couldn't change any of it though. She couldn't heal Doctor Saltzman, and she couldn't unkill Lizzie. She couldn't give that poor man in the road his life back either.
It was a testament to the strength of both of them that they didn't hold her actions against her. She loved both of them and knew they would always be important to her. All of the Saltzmans would.
Leaving them behind wasn't easy, but it wasn't goodbye forever.
It was time though.
Time to cut ties with the school that had been her saving grace and her safe haven from the world.
Time to stop hiding from the world.
Time to start living in it.
Before she could really start living though, there were two things she needed to take care of.
Two regrets.
Doctor Saltzman's words had weighed down on her since he uttered them.
"The worst is when you have regret. When you're unable to say the things you need to say."
Aunt Rebekah was one of those regrets. She wished she went into battle wearing her necklace. It was part of her legacy. Not just the name, Mikaelson, but also the legacy of love. She didn't need the necklace to remember who she was though.
She wanted to apologize to Aunt Rebekah. She wanted the necklace back, and she needed to thank her for all she tried to do.
Her other regret had been nagging at her even though she kept telling herself it was pointless. The more she kept trying to push it out of her mind, the more it kept coming back.
Ryan wasn't immortal anymore. He was going to live out his mortal life and his fragile human self could, literally, die at any time for any reason. If he died before she could see him… there were a few things she would always wish she had said to him. That's where that regret Doctor Saltzman mentioned came in.
She should just leave it alone. She should let him live the life he wanted in peace.
She knew all that, but she still found herself stopping in Atlanta on her way to New Orleans for the real-life family reunion that was long overdue.
For all intents and purposes, he did it. He overcame the shitty hand life dealt him and made all his own dreams come true. He turned out to be a pretty good human too even if she tried to corrupt him and turn him back into who he was before his very real redemption arc played out.
He had also been really upset with her the last time she saw him.
Even with her humanity, she still cringed thinking about the cat figurines and creepy first date photo on the mantel of that house. That woman's clinginess was scary and her voice was shrill and grated, but it didn't matter what Hope thought.
What mattered was what he wanted.
She owed him an apology for breezing into his life and nearly tearing it apart. She wanted to let him know she was proud of him. She wished him a nice life, and she was glad he got it. She wanted him to know she was back to her old self…or, had more or less embraced her destiny and became the tribrid she was born to be—with humanity intact.
She also wanted him to know that despite everything, they really were friends.
Slowing the car in front of the familiar house, she stared at the door wondering what lay behind it. The last she saw was his back walking away from her through that door. Whether the girlfriend took him back, she didn't know, but she was about to find out.
Climbing from of the front seat, she walked to the sidewalk and started up the path. The front door opened and he stepped out before she got far.
"Hope?" His voice was hesitant and a lot less welcoming than it had been when she first showed up in his over-bright suburban nightmare—no, not nightmare, daydream. He wanted this. She couldn't forget that.
"Miss me?" She half joked, knowing it fell a little flat.
"What are you doing here?" His eyes roamed around, taking in her and the car. The wariness made him tense and she hastened to put him at ease.
"Relax, it's me," she said. "Humanity and all."
"Right, and I'm supposed to believe that?" He hadn't relaxed one iota, not that she could blame him.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "For…well, not messing up everything for you since you're still here so I guess I didn't but I owed you an apology."
He finally relaxed, "Guess I am supposed to believe it after all."
"You were right," she pushed on. "I'm glad you didn't come with me. You got everything you ever wanted, and I tried to ruin it for you."
He nodded with a peculiar expression, but he didn't say anything further.
"So… that's it then… I just wanted to say that," she shrugged. "No regrets, right?"
"No regrets," he said slowly.
"Friends?" She was the one to ask this time.
That peculiar expression was still on his face as he agreed, "Friends."
Nodding with a soft smile, she walked back around the car, keeping her eyes on him.
"Where're you headed now?" he asked before she got the door open.
"Home," she said.
"Back to school then," he stated, the peculiar expression leaving his face as resignation settled over his features.
"New Orleans," she said. "School's… over. Guess you could say I finally graduated."
His eyes lit up and a real smile graced his face, the same one she last saw while he sat in a hospital bed.
He looked back at the house quickly then opened his mouth. He didn't seem to know how to say what he wanted.
She watched him struggle, "Ryan?"
"It's been a while, but is the invitation to go with you still good?" he finally asked.
"You want to go to New Orleans?" she was confused.
"Ah," he looked over his shoulder again, "This… wasn't exactly what I wanted when I said a normal life."
"You mean, you want to bail?" She tried to keep the amusement out of her voice, but it was really hard. She understood that look on his face now. He was trapped and he wanted out. It made her wonder if he would have left with her last time if she had her humanity then.
"Bailing is a strong word…" His face said it all. He was absolutely bailing.
She held up the key fob and unlocked the passenger door.
"Normal is overrated anyway," she laughed. "Hop in. Auntie Bex might be quicker to forgive me if I bring her dessert."
"W-w-what?" he stuttered.
She laughed again, "Just teasing. You're so easy."
"Ha, ha…" he opened the door and climbed in anyway, buckling his seatbelt.
"You didn't want to take anything with you?" she asked as she started the car.
"Nope," he said as if he would really rather be dessert for an Original than step foot in that house again. "Ready to start over. Again."
"New beginnings, and all that," she replied as she pulled onto the road.
"Exactly," he smiled at her.
"Right there with you," she returned the smile, feeling something settle inside that she didn't even know was rattling.
Going out into the world was something she needed to do for herself.
Having Ryan along meant she didn't have to do it alone.
This was going to be fun.
The End.