The beginning


Hope had already bought her one way ticket to New Orleans. Hope had said her farewells to Lizzie who she had grown close to over the time since monsters appeared. The reason she is leaving is because she thinks she might be able to have a better chance of finding a way to defeat Malivore with her aunts help, so there she was carrying her bag, bus ticket in hand. On her way to the bus station, Hope had decided to go through the woods to see if there were any threats before leaving. She had heard a noise and turned to see someone standing there.

The person she saw was just standing there, not moving at all, wearing a hood with the triad symbol on it. Hope went on the offensive after noticing the symbol on their hood. This person had drawn all of Hope's attention, so she didn't notice the other people standing behind her, since her mind had been so busy with everything happening at the school. Before she could react to the people surrounding her, they started chanting. She went down on her knees holding her head in pain, the people in hoods continued chanting, her unable to make out the words they were saying because of the ringing in her ears.

After Hope Woke Up

It was dark when Hope started to become conscious after what happened. When Hope opened her eyes she immediately started looking around for the people from Triad. When she stood up she held her head in pain, she had knelt over in pain. When the pain started to die down she started to check her bag to make sure nothing was stolen. When she saw that nothing was taken, and she was still alive Hope showed a look of confusion.

'Why did they make themselves known like that?' She wondered. She began to look around once more to see if they did anything noticeable to her. 'I thought Triad would have ended once Malivore disappeared. I should see if anything happened at the school and make sure everyone is okay.' She thought as she started to stand up. Her head was killing her as she started to head back to the school. As she made her way back to the school she noticed that everything in town was different. 'It looked like pictures of the town before Hellfire happened, before everything burned and everything literally went to hell from what I remember.' She thought trying to remember what happened when Stefan died.

"Hey, are you okay?" A lady asked, as she walked by Hope. "Your ears," She said. She had pointed to her ears. "There's blood." She had stepped closer, probably trying to get a better look at the dried blood going down Hope's ears.

"Oh, I'm fine." Hope said, continuing to walk past the lady. Hope had been so out of it she hadn't noticed the dried blood. She had started to wonder what was going on. After walking out of earshot of the lady, Hope took out her phone and tried to call Lizzie. She and Lizzie had one of the best relationships after everyone remembered Hope, it wasn't awkward between them. Lizzie has the highest chance of answering her call unless she is busy. The strange thing was, when Hope called it went straight to voicemail. Hope grew concerned since Lizzie's phone never usually went straight to voicemail. "Come on Lizzie, pick up." Hope said, picking up her pace, so she can get to the school faster.

"Hey!" Some blond guy exclaimed, as he nearly fell. Hope hadn't noticed him in her panic. She had made her way to outside of the Mystic Grill. Hope had recognized the blond as Matt Donovan, but he looked a lot younger than when she saw him last. Matt had noticed the panicked look on her face. "Hey, are you okay?!" Matt had asked loudly, after noticing the dried blood. "Do you need help?" He asked Hope, noticing her confusion. This just confused Hope more since he should know who she is. She had decided it was best to figure out what was happening.

'Does this have something to do with Triad?' She wondered. Her mind had become a little more clear from whatever they had done. "I'm fine, I just had a bit of alcohol, and there was this loud noise." Hope explained vaguely. Matt had been acting strange to Hope, so she decided to keep what happened a secret until she figures out what is happening. "Sorry but I have to go." Hope said, as she started walking towards where the school is supposed to be.

"Are you heading in the direction of the Salvatore Boarding House?" Matt asked, noticing the direction Hope was going in. Hope stops, after hearing what he called the school.

"Boarding House?" Hope questions, turning her head to face Matt. 'Something is wrong.' Hope wonders to herself panicking internally making sure she keeps a poker face. "It appears I was going the wrong way." Hope says, sighing.

"Are you looking for a specific place, I could give you directions?" Matt offers to Hope. Neither of them noticed someone watching them, or Hope just can't focus on that.

"That would be great. I was told that there was a place I could stay if I headed in that direction." Hope tells Matt. She hopes he doesn't notice the lie or find her suspicious before she figures out what is going on. "Would you know of any places nearby I could stay at for now?" Hope asks Matt.

"Well you are going the wrong way, if you are looking for a hotel you want to go over there." Matt says, pointing in a different direction than the Boarding House.

"I have to go, thanks." Hope says smiling at him, as she walks in the direction Matt pointed in. After she was out of his sight she started searching for anything that can tell her what's going on. Hope started calling all of her contacts on her phone, but each outcome was the same. Each call she made went straight to voicemail. She had started looking for anything that might tell her what is going on, there weren't any people around since it was late at night so no one saw what she was doing. Eventually after looking around she found a newspaper. The newspaper said it was March 22, 2010, this information shocked her. 'This was two days before the Masquerade party.' Hope thought remembering what she read in the Salvatore journals.

Hope wasn't a giant fan of reading the journals, since any of the journals she read painted her father to be a terrible monster and always talked badly about him. So she had only read bits and pieces from the journals. Hope did know what her father did and what people thought, but she couldn't stand willingly reading about how her father was some terrible, big, bad, monster. She knew he wasn't a saint, but he wasn't the devil. Hope knew he was very different before she was born, but it didn't change the things he did and the way he acted, it was just the things said about him still bothered her. He was still her father even if he wasn't around a lot.

"It looks like I will am I going to a masquerade." Hope murmured to herself. 'I will run out of money eventually.' Hope thought to herself, sighing.

"Who are you?" A blonde girl asks, walking up to Hope. The blonde had blue eyes, she looked pissed at Hope. Hope recognized her as Lizzie and Josie's mother. It was Caroline and for some reason she was mad at Hope. "You were talking with Matt." She said. She was full on glaring at Hope. Caroline had taken a step forward-looking directly into Hope's eyes. At this point Hope knew she was definitely in the past, as Caroline tried compelling her. "Who are you?" Caroline asks, as she "compels" Hope.

"My name is Hope." She says, acting as though she has been compelled.

"Why were you talking to Matt?"

"I ran into him while following directions given to me from a woman, he had asked me if I was okay."

"What did happen to you?"

"I don't remember, but I am fine." Hope says, as Caroline notices the dried blood from her ears.

"You will forget we ever had this conversation." Caroline says, starting to feel regretful for overreacting again.

"I will forget we ever had this conversation." Hope says, before Caroline vamp speeds off.

Once Hope can no longer see Caroline she starts walking in the direction Matt had pointed in again. 'This is definitely the past,' Hope thinks. 'But that means my family." She starts thinking about them as her ears tear up. 'This means they are alive, I could save them.' She says, as she starts mindlessly walking. 'My dad, my mom, I could save them.' Hope thinks, before she starts going down a darker path in her thoughts.

In the Present

"Dad, Hope is gone." Lizzie says, walking over to her father, after searching for him.

"What do you mean 'gone'?" Alaric asks.

"I mean gone. I called her, but her phone went straight to voicemail. Then I tried a locator spell." Lizzie said, starting to pace a little.

"What happened with the Locator spell?" Alaric asks. Growing worried at the way his daughter is acting.

"Well dad, the locator spell didn't work."

"Have Josie of Landon seen her?" Alaric asks his daughter.

"Things are awkward between those three, so the answer to your question is they probably haven't seen each other." Lizzie says, groaning at her fathers lack of understanding for how teenagers work.

"She probably just needs a break. A lot has happened to her recently." Alaric says, trying to calm Lizzie down.

"Dad! You are literally no help!" Lizzie says annoyed at her father.