Chapter 1 – What's on your mind?
The Salvatore school was quiet. Painfully quiet. Somewhere between Lizzie's fake funeral and the quest for Josie's lost soul, everyone was just too tired for something as plain as classes. Alaric was in the cellar with Raf, trying to figure out why Landon hasn't wake up yet. Josie spent every moment since she got back locked in her room. Socialization wasn't something she was ready for right now. And then there was Hope. She hadn't wake up either and nobody knew why.
Lizzie walked in Ric's office and closed the door behind her. She made sure she was alone in the room before she pulled a book from the library, revealing the hidden armory along with the sleeping trybrid. Lizzie stood still for a second. The figure of her friend laying there unconscious in a pullout, not knowing when or whether she'll wake up was making her sick in the stomach. She shook her head to discard the thought and took a few steps to reach the side of the bed. She pulled a chair and sat next to Hope's expressionless face. She looks so peaceful.
"Enough with the drama, Hope. Devilish, twin murderous Josie is gone, I had my dream funeral and a much needed, outstanding comeback, everyone is safe. Well, I guess your hobbit isn't exactly safe right now but I'm sure he'll be fine. That boy comes back from the dead faster than Sara Lance. Okay, I may put up with you the last few weeks but if you tell MG I'm watching nerd shows, it's over."
Lizzie stared at her friend for a moment.
"Okay, now you're just pissing me off. WE GET IT, Hope, you saved the day, again." she frowned.
"C'mon just.. just wake up." she said, this time with a much lower voice almost as if she was begging.
Josie cleared her throat to make sure her sister was aware of her presence, she was too captivated by the sleeping trybrid to notice she was standing there for a while. Lizzie jumped to her feet like her twin just caught committing a crime.
"What are you doing here?" Lizzie sounded more guilty than she should be.
"I was looking for dad." claimed Josie.
"Yeah, me too." she lied to avoid any further questions. The brunette looked at Hope for a moment.
"She is going to be okay."
"Whatever." Lizzie shrugged crossing her arms like she couldn't care less for her friend's safety.
"She is." she repeated, ignoring her sister's efforts to seem cool about it. "She always finds a way."
"What if she won't this time?" Lizzie sounded more concern than she was going for.
She took a deep breath, and continued, her voice more stable this time.
"What if she needs our help to come back from where her mind's been trapped?"
"What do you mean? What can we do?"
"I don't know, she's the one coming up with plans. Maybe she's still in your subconscious. You said dark you, turned her into stone. Maybe that's how we save her."
Josie listened to her sister unsure. The events of the past few days were not yet washed away and she was terrified of hurting anyone she loves.
"Look, Lizzie, I want to help Hope as much as you do but I can't get involved with magic just yet. I need time to heal. I put my syphon powers into a coin until I'm ready to use them again."
"What about Hope? She's the reason you and I can talk right now without the fear of you tearing my throat." there was that desperation in the blonde's voice again.
Josie directed her glance at the floor and Lizzie instantly regretted yelling at her twin.
"I'm sorry, we've all been through a lot. I would never ask you to cross your limits to save Hope."
The shorter girl exhaled in relief.
"Which is why I will." Lizzie spat out dead serious.
And like that the relief was gone again.
"You can't! Wh- What would you even do in my subconscious?"
"Are you kidding? I ain't going in a fairytale! Do what? Hang out with the three little pigs?"
"For the last time, I-"
"I'm going to hers." Lizzie said as she turned her head to point Hope with her eyes.
"What's even more dangerous" Josie complained. "I won't let you do that."
"It's a good thing I'm not asking for your permission, then."
"Lizzie please, we've been through enough already."
"And need I remind you who's mainly responsible we are still standing? She didn't hesitate for a second to go into your mind. To save you. And you were possessed by an evil, black wearing self. Hope is just Hope. I'll be fine."
"But dad won't-"
"Daddy doesn't need to know."
"But-"
"She got us through the merge. Like it or not, we owe it to her."
Josie looked at Hope, then back at her sister with uncertainty. She finally gave in.
"Uh, okay, fine. How do we do this?"
"I'll go get MG to do his thing and take me into her mind, like he did with you during the merge. You make sure no one gets in here till I get back."
Twenty minutes later the three students were locked in the secret armory, next to their laying friend. MG grabbed gently Hope's hand and extended his other towards Lizzie, who was now sitting on the chair near the bed.
"Are you sure?"
"That's the hero move, right?" she shrugged and winked at the vampire.
MG smiled cautiously and nodded. "Let's do this."
Lizzie touched his hand and closed her eyes. And everything went dark.
* * *
"Well, that's anticlimactic!"
Lizzie opened her eyes and looked around. She found herself at the start of a white hallway so long that she couldn't quite reach the end of it with bare eyes. White doors dominated to the left and right side of the wall, all the way till the finish line.
"Jesus, Hope, even your subconscious is compulsive. Where am I supposed to start?" she frowned and started walking ahead. She stopped after a few minutes.
"Fuck it, I don't have all day, I'm already here, I might as well open one of them." she growled and entered the door to her left.
She suddenly found herself in a grass field, the only sources of light, was the moon and the two parked cars on the thin line of road in a distance. Lizzie moved closer to see two figures, a male and a female, talking in front of their opposite parked vehicles.
"She looks like her mother" said the woman in British accent. Lizzie couldn't place the voice to a face.
"Maybe there is a God after all." she continued softly.
The syphon stepped closer until she realized the man was holding a baby in his arms. Not just any man. Klaus Mikaelson. Not just any baby. Hope.
"She has a hint of the devil in her eyes. That's all me." he stated somewhat proud of his daughter.
Lizzie stood there, watching the entire heartfelt moment, from really close. She got distracted when she noticed baby Hope was looking towards her smiling and laughing from the bottom of her heart. She tried to make funny faces to make her laugh harder, when she realized how foolish that was, since nobody could actually see her here. She always had a way with people. Lizzie admitted to herself. Maybe that's why she despised her so much in the past. But seeing her right now, this was the last feeling on the blonde's list.
"She will be happy, Nik, I promise." said Rebekah. "What's her name?"
"Hope. Her name is Hope." Klaus returned with a bittersweet smile on his face.
Even Lizzie could feel his pain for having to say goodbye to his daughter. I shouldn't be here, she thought and in a matter of seconds she was back in the hallway.
"Well, that was emotional!" she said ironically in an attempt to ignore how emotional she actually was about this. Maybe her memories are placed in chronological order. I should start walking.
Lizzie was just pissed now. She wasn't even halfway through after all those miles she had walked. She took a deep breath. It was seventeen years worth of memories, after all. She decided to open another door.
It was five-year-old Hope with her mom, in the yard of their big house. She was painting in her sketchbook while Hayley was sitting right next to her, reading a book. They look so happy. Maybe I should leave them to it. She closed the door behind her with a smile drawn in the corner of her lips this time.
Let's keep going, she must be here somewhere. About a thousand memories later, Lizzie cracked another door open. As soon as she witnessed Landon and Hope about to hook up on a cheap motel bed she goggled in disgust and slammed the door, making her way to the hall once again.
"Gross."
The witch walked a few more meters until she decided to get a glimpse of another highlight of Hope's life. She entered her friend's bedroom at the Salvatore school. The trybrid was walking anxious back and forth on the one side of the bed and Lizzie saw a blonde's back opposite to her, sitting on the foot of it.
"Listen, this is... uh... no." Hope scratched her forehead trying to find her next words.
I've never seen her so uneasy, so nervous. Who is she talking to anyway?
"What I wanted to say is... fuck, why is this so hard?" Hope beated herself up.
She made her way next to her friend and her jaw dropped when she saw. How is this possible?
"Look, Lizzie, I know we're friends..."
"-Ish." said both standing Lizzie and the one sitting on the bed.
"Wait, I don't remember this happening." she said doubtful, "When was that? Why don't I remember this?" the blonde started panicking.
And then she saw it. Hope was holding the prism that the syphon herself gave to her. But why would Hope summon and talk to a holographic me?
"Whatever. What I'm trying to say is... God, I suck at this... Why can't I just say it, you're not even the real Lizzie." the shorter girl ranted as she hid her face in her palms and joined her in the bed.
"Just admit it, Hope, you like me." shrugged the hologram with the same convenience the real one would have.
Lizzie looked at her own reflection speechless. Then she turned to Hope, waiting for her to deny the accusation. But she didn't. Instead she took a deep breath and finally spoke.
"It's not that easy, okay? You know Lizzie. If I told her nothing between us would be the same ever again. And then there's Landon..."
"Oh, please, do not compare me to your human-sized Muppet elf." she said and Lizzie shook her head processing it, because truth be told, she couldn't argue with her clone. At least it's nice to know that my projection in Hope's mind is accurate.
"See, you say things like that and you expect me to go and talk to her? You?"
" Will you?"
"No."
"Then why are you practicing on me?"
"I'm not.. practicing." she explained. "I just thought that if I could say the words to you.. maybe the feeling would go away."
"And how's that going for you?"
"Not good."
"S'what I thought. You should tell her. She's not that great herself, you know."
"Hey, I would never say such thing!" Lizzie protested as if she could be part of the conversation.
"Lizzie would never say that." Hope said, rolling her eyes.
"I know." shrugged the hologram, " I'm just trying to convince you to make your move."
"Why do you care?"
"Cause, you do. I am you."
Hope wavered for a bit. "What do you think she would say?"
Lizzie stared at her reflection, suddenly forgetting how to breathe, waiting for an answer because, frankly, if this was actually her, she wouldn't know how to respond.
"I can't give you the answer. Only she can."
"Wanna bet?" Lizzie raised her eyebrow.
Both girls seemed pretty disappointed with the hologram's statement.
But it continued anyway. "You have to find out on your own."
"Then I guess I won't!" Hope yelled and threw the prism across the room.
"Fuck." she hid her face inside her hands once again and let her upper body fall onto the bed.
Lizzie was observing her without knowing what to say, how to feel. Suddenly she sensed a pang of guilt for invading Hope's privacy. She quickly left the room but what had just happened in it, couldn't get out of her mind. How ironic. She decided not to enter another door, another personal memory, no matter how bad she wanted to, until it was absolutely necessary.
After a couple more miles, Lizzie was able to see the end of the hallway clear. It was a shabby, red, wooden door, unlike any other and Lizzie knew what she had to do.
She walked through the entrance and the creak gave chills to her entire body. She found herself in Mystic Falls' cemetery. The fog made it even harder for her to see, as if the moonlight's limited source wasn't enough. After a few steps she was standing in front of a big, family grave. Alaric Saltzman, beloved father. Oh, my God. Lizzie gasped but she wasn't completely freaked out until she saw the two names below. Josette Olivia Saltzman and Elizabeth Jenna Saltzman.
"Alright, Hope, your subconscious is officially freaking me out! Time's up, you can come out now." the blonde witch called out almost shaking but no answer came.
She started looking for the trybrid and noticed that every single gravestone had written a friend's name on it. Milton Greasley, Kaleb Hawkins, Landon Kirby. Even Alyssa Chang. And there was Hope, sitting under an almost completely naked tree, her hands tightly hugging her knees, head down, bawling her eyes out. The image caused actual physical pain in Lizzie's chest. She ran and kneeled in front of her.
"Hey, hey, it's okay, I'm here." she tried to comfort her, placing her hands, on top of each of the other girl's knees.
Hope jolted in the touch. She faced her friend with tears still falling from her eyes.
"Lizzie? No, that can't be real."
"It is, it's me, Hope. I'm here to get you out of... whatever this is." Lizzie said taking a look around.
"No, you... you're dead. Everyone I care about is dead. I couldn't protect anyone." Hope lowered her head again.
"Of course, your greatest fear is not being able to save everyone. That's so you." Lizzie rolled her eyes and picked softly the girl's face up in her hands, before she could drown in her sorrows again.
"Look at me, Hope. None of this is real. I am. We're at your subconscious and apparently, you're imagining us all dead." Hope cracked a wet smile at her friend's joke and Lizzie wiped the shorter girl's tears away with her thumbs.
"Let's get the hell outta here, yeah?" she continued softly and helped the trybrid stand up.
"It's really you?" Hope asked but she didn't wait for an answer, instead she embraced Lizzie in a hug so tight, the syphon could feel her ribs moving but she didn't mind.
I missed you, Hope Andrea Mikaelson, is what she wanted to say but instead, she spat;
"S'enough, we gotta get back home."
"Okay, how do we do this?"
"How should I know, I don't have a manual for your mind, Hope."
"Wait, you came in here without a plan for getting out?" she crossed her arms in doubt.
"You're the planner, I'm the... executor." Lizzie shrugged.
"Ugh, okay, let's... let's go through that door and we go from there."
"See? Planner."
Hope gave her a look but let it slide. They moved towards the exit but when they got close enough, they saw a massive figure standing in front of them, blocking their way out.
"Shit, the Merman." Hope gasped.
"Mer- what?"
"I fought this monster back when we went to Landon's rescue with your father."
"Uh-oh."
"Oh, don't 'uh-oh' me. What is it?" Hope panicked.
"I'm pretty sure I accidentally released him from a memory of you and Landon hooking up in a motel there."
"Lizzie!"
"I closed the door immediately! I'm scarred for life!"
"Well, you let him out."
"It's just a giant fish, Hope, we've faced worse."
The monster growled and started moving towards them. Both girls screamed and started running for their lives, the merman following them in a close distance.
* * *
"Why is it taking so long?" Josie asked beyond nervous.
"Relax, sit down for a second, everything is gonna be fine, Lizzie's got this, Jo." MG comforted her.
"I shouldn't have let her go." Josie was freaking out now.
"Don't worry, they'll both be fi-" Milton got interrupted by both the unconscious girls seizing.
"What's happening, why are they crashing?"
"I- I don't know..." MG said extremely shaken this time.
"What do you mean you don't know? Get them out, MG!" Jo was now yelling.
"I... I can't! I'm not strong enough."
"What does that mean?" Josie was this close to lose it.
"They are on their own."