An Ocean in Which Dreams are Reflected
Vikram has always known her, in some way or another, as the daughter of the Cahill matriarch, or a member of his vast, sprawling family, but he knew her first as the girl with the jade eyes.
His father sends him to one of the tedious family gatherings Grace likes to hold in her Attleboro mansion, and it's as getting to be stuffy as ever, when a pleasant sight catches his eye. There is a girl there, sitting near the front, slender and pretty, from what he can make out, with long auburn hair that nearly reaches her waist.
She's enraptured by Grace's every word from the look of it, and Vikram tries to stifle his laughter at the adoring expression on her face when everyone else is so clearly bored, but it's in vain. The girl in question hears him and turns around to find the source of the noise, and when she does, a breath catches in his throat because God, her eyes are absolutely lovely- large jade orbs that are like twin jewels framed by long lashes-
And they're staring right back at him.
She looks away after a moment, but his interest has been captured.
It's only after the meeting that he realizes it's Grace Cahill's daughter he's been staring at the whole time. Though possessing a certain charisma, Vikram is, at heart, a shy and tacticum man, but he manages to muster the courage to go up to her and have a conversation.
Hope is fascinating, full of energy and sheer joie de vivre, and somehow, she's interested in him. It feels as though they talk for hours, though it could have been mere minutes, and she leaves him with a kiss, and a promise to keep in touch.
As the months go by, they do try to keep in touch, really, but all that turns out to be unnecessary when they keep meeting in person.
He's being sent around the world by his father to conduct various missions on behalf of the his branch, and as it turns out, so is Hope. She's somehow there at every twist and turn, and he has a suspicious feeling that maybe she's even thwarting him at some of those turns, but that's all made up by equally useful intel she feeds him, and he reciprocates with some of his own.
They're having a clandestine meeting in a secluded tea house somewhere in Cairo, when they figure they might as well execute their missions together if it's going to be mutually beneficial.
So a fragile alliance is made, but something deeper occurs between them that day as well.
He realizes he's falling for Hope Cahill.
They spend the summer under the stars, staring up at the universe as they discuss grand dreams and their innermost wishes and desires. Not only is she a brilliant conversationalist, intelligent and arch in equal measure, but she has a way of drawing him out, and he finds himself spilling his innermost thoughts and secrets, how he desperately wants to please his immovable father, and his doubts about whether he can wield power any better than him. In return, Hope tells him about her lonely childhood, the trauma she suffered at the hands of her own father, and her fear of never being able to live up to her mother.
(He later on wonders how much of that information Hope could use against him and his branch, but she never does, and neither does he- it's a lasting testament to the importance of those little moments they once shared).
But at the time, he doesn't regret any of it, because Hope Cahill is everything Vikram wants, and more.
For one, they're exact opposites, and you know what they say about them. He is the epitome of the prim and proper Englishman (save his name) and she is the free-spirited American girl.
She is also everything charming and sweet, taking satisfaction from the simplest of joys. She's so simple, uncomplicated.
Girls like her are special, like fleeting dreams, he thinks, and yet somehow, he can see the future, bright and shining, in front of him-
And that future, he realizes to his shock, includes her.
But underneath that charming and sweet veneer, there is steel in Hope Cahill, perhaps inherited from her mother, and she wants to do great things with her life, far greater than becoming some Lucian's paramour. It's the 39 Clues that call to her, and she comes to realize that her destiny lies not with him, but in chasing the same clues that her mother did for so many years, and her forefathers before that.
So their fling (though he refuses to call it that, because surely, it means something more to her?) comes to an end, predictably dragged out by the fact that both of them refuse to acknowledge it. But eventually, time and space do their part in severing all but the strongest of ties, and he goes back to England to pursue a higher degree at the behest of his father, and she goes back to America to work with her mother.
He meets Isabel Vesper-Hollingsworth during his time earning his masters in Oxford. They're introduced to each other by mutual (Cahill) friends, and it may not have been love at first sight, but he's certainly struck by her.
If Hope is as authentic as a person can get, then Isabel is the opposite. She has the "I'm an upper-class aristocratic debutante with a lineage I can trace back to the Normans" act down to pat, but inside, she is fiery and passionate and fiercely, almost scarily strong.
She's a brilliant woman, and has no qualms about making it known to those she deems worthy, and soon, Vikram becomes one of them.
Long walks in the park turn into coffees, coffees turn into dinners, and dinners somehow result in moving into flat in Oxford together. It's almost a traditional courtship, approved by both their parents, but there is more to it than pretty flowers and romantic dates.
Vikram has a goal, a goal to become the most powerful person within the Lucian branch, if not the Cahills, and he finds a wholly willing partner in Isabel.
Together, they begin to ascend the ranks of the Lucian elite, carrying out missions and recruiting people that will one day become members of their own inner sanctum.
Irina Spasky is one such person. Already training to become a member of the ruthless KGB, Irina Vladimirovna Spaskaya is immediately dazzled by the Cahill world and all it has to offer.
(And from what Vikram can make out, perhaps she's a little dazzled by him and Isabel as well, something he doesn't hesitate to use to his advantage, even going as far as to leverage it when Isabel has Irina's husband murdered to legitimize their claim to the Lucian throne).
Isabel is also less blatant than Hope. She revels in shadows and latent symbolism, the latter even extending to her own name.
When he asks her why, as an active member of the Cahill family, would she want to keep her mother's maiden name as a part of own, Isabel's crimson lips curl up into a smirk that one day, their children will echo.
"Because it's a warning."
Isabel is a deadly viper coiled and ready to strike any time, while Hope... Hope is something entirely else.
His mind sometimes goes to her, and he wonders what they could have had, even after he and Isabel start going out. He has long since resigned himself to the fact that him and Hope have no chance, but when he finds out about the man she does fall in love with, he's downright incredulous.
Arthur Trent is handsome, older, roguish, and extremely dangerous, considering he's a member of the Vespers, a centuries-old enemy of the Cahills.
And he's been sent on a mission to seduce Hope Cahill in Ankara, where the both of them are working.
But what Arthur doesn't count on, (from what Vikram comes to find out later during one of family gatherings at Attleboro that no one actually wants to attend) is him falling for her equally as much, if not more.
How could he not, Vikram thinks wryly. He certainly wouldn't be the first man to fall for her charms.
But Vikram underestimates their love and the longevity of it, because suddenly, Hope and Arthur have eloped, and now Hope is expecting a child at the same time Isabel comes to find out she is pregnant.
In truth, there are a lot of milestones Hope and Isabel share, and it's quite disconcerting to him, because it's as though he sees two lives before him: what is, and what could have been.
It's easy to compare the two woman and declare them as different as day and night, but in truth, they are far more similar than one may think.
They're both tenacious, determined, and willing to risk everything, including their loves and lives, for the clue hunt.
It is, after all the reason Isabel marries him, and Hope doesn't. And one day, it will be the reason that Hope dies and Isabel betrays her very own husband and children.
And there is also the equally disconcerting similarity between Hope and him.
It's ironic, he thinks, that both he and Hope should marry someone with questionable relations that trace back to the Vespers. The difference is that it only comes back to bite Vikram, despite both their worries.
Hope even confides in him one day after both of them are married that she thinks Arthur is playing the double-agent, and that her mother certainly believes so.
Vikram's lips curl in distaste. He's never liked the Cahill matriarch, but it's not just because she's technically his enemy in the hunt for the 39 Clues. No, not only is she cunning and wiley, but she manages to outfox him and Isabel at every turn while still somehow pretending to be a sweet, senile old lady.
(He thinks among the people Grace has manipulated is her own daughter, but he keeps that to himself).
In the end however, Hope's worries turn out to be entirely futile, but by now, she's unwittingly made another more dangerous enemy: Isabel.
In her own quest for power, Isabel has been quietly following Hope and Arthur's travels around the world to search for the 39 Clues, and she has been informing Vikram of their progress.
At first, he thinks nothing of it, but he soon realizes Isabel's obsession goes far deeper than the clues themselves.
Isabel already knew to some extent about his youthful affair with Hope, but when he exhibits an ambivalence towards taking any action against them, it's the last straw to her.
Isabel accuses him of still secretly being in love with Hope, and derisively informs him that he has no chance, and that he should join her in coercing the clues out of her and that hapless husband of hers, or she might as well leave him right now.
Vikram can't find it in his heart to refuse her.
So they gain allies among members of the other branches, and on one fateful night, they go to confront Arthur and Hope about the clues they have been collecting.
It's a disaster, the husband and wife refusing to budge not matter what. Isabel even resorts to threatening their daughter, but they still do not give up any of their precious clues.
At this point, Vikram is ready and willing to walk away, and he can sense that many of the others, the Holts, Alistair Oh, and even Cora Wizard, are as well.
(Irina leaves before anything can happen, and though Vikram loses a little trust in her, he comes to feel envious of her because at least she can sleep at night knowing that she didn't have a part in what comes next).
Suddenly, in a blaze of fury, Isabel drops a lit match, and the whole house is enveloped in chaos and smoke and flames.
They manage to evacuate the house, and as some of them try to extinguish the fire and others call the police, Vikram does a mental headcount, and fears the worst when he doesn't see Hope, or even her husband for that matter.
A selfish part of him thanks the Gods for a moment when Hope emerges from the burning house, but all that descends into horror when she realizes that her beloved husband is still inside the burning building, and she runs back in after him.
Vikram can't say anything, can't do anything- not with Isabel still there- and he remains rooted to the spot, hoping, praying that she emerges a triumphant figure bathed in the amber glow of the flames, if need be with her husband-
But she never does come out.
A week later, the entire family assembles to bury Hope Cahill and Arthur Trent. Grace looks like merely a shadow of herself and holds the hands of her newly-orphaned grandchildren as the burial takes place. They're such tragic figures, all weeping and shrouded in black, while Isabel and Vikram stand in the back, her stiffly holding his hand as the coffins are lowered.
Just then, little Amy Cahill turns to look back, and she catches his eye. For a moment, it's as though Hope's jade gaze is peering into his very soul, and he can hear her whisper, "Remember me Vikram, remember me."
And in that moment, Vikram is cursed and blessed, because he'll spend eternity remembering Hope Cahill's lovely green eyes, an ocean in which his dreams were once reflected, her smile and her laughter, and he will long for the day he can be with her once more, because only then will he have made his peace.
Author's Note
Hello there! So this was the origin fic from Vikram's point of view, and while I took liberties with Hope and Vikram's relationship, I tried to stay as in-canon as possible.
A special thanks to innercornerhighlight for inspiring me to write this, based off of a scene in her story "A Minor Inconvenience" that depicts a previous relationship between Hope and Vikram, and it was so well-written, I couldn't help but wonder how it would all have played out, and when Isabel comes into the picture.
And on Isabel herself, I may or may not be writing something like this, except from her point of view. I didn't want to outrightly pit Isabel against Hope, because that's cliche and a bit demeaning, but when Isabel is shown offering Vikram an ultimatum, it's more a matter of loyalty to a higher purpose for her (the clues), rather than the fact that he still likes Hope. Isabel probably sees Hope as more of a threat to her power instead of a romantic rival.
Isabel also probably sees a bit of herself in Hope, and can understand Hope's motives better than many others, while on the other hand, I think Hope just sees Isabel as a danger from the start, but doesn't entirely expect Vikram to be equally bad as he grows older.
Isabel and Vikram… their relationship is ambiguous at best, and I was careful not to use the word "love" when it comes to them, because tbh I'm not sure it's even there- maybe affection, at the most. I will also probably explore this more in a future chapter, but I am also hesitant to characterize their relationship as Isabel pulling all the strings and Vikram doing her bidding, which you might think based on the fact that the Vikram in this story seems like a pretty nice guy. But he has done (and will do) a lot of bad things of his own volition, thus making their relationship more of equals, and less Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
Oh and btw some of you have commented on previous stories and DMed me asking how I research or how much I research for fics, and my answer is this: If I don't know it off the top of my head, Google is the answer for everything, and it is used gratuitously by me :)