"Are you ready?" Hope asked, shifting the car carrier carefully from one hand to the other to try to avoid waking Nyssa up.
"Let's go," Ryan said and kissed the top of Hope's head.
"How many monster entries did you get completed?"
"About a hundred. Some of them are only a few paragraphs because that's all I know about them."
"Which is more than anyone else has, that's not legends. You've been busy."
"I promised Freya that I'd get this information written down for her and these are where we'll start. I'm not going to release anyone I haven't written about so the others know what we're dealing with."
"How long do you think this will take?"
"Months, if not years."
"My mom will appreciate the time she gets to spend with Nyssa while we're working on this, especially since she doesn't have to compete with my dad while he's on his road trip with Caroline."
Ryan helped Hope situate Nyssa in the car and then they climbed in.
"How many wolves have they sent back to the school?"
"Enough that Dr. Saltzman is working on expanding the dorms."
"You're pretty proud of yourself? Aren't you?" Ryan teased, running his fingertip down Hope's nose.
Buckling his seat belt, he started the car and pulled out onto the road.
"After all the lives I destroyed while working with Triad, it feels nice to be able to save people instead."
Hope shifted in her seat and looked out the window. Now that she was able to help people, to try to make things right, the whole world seemed different, brighter. As long as she stood strong, the darkness of her past could be rectified.
"You've more than paid for what you did when you were with them." Ryan sighed. "And now it's my turn to undo the pain I've caused when I helped Malivore hunt down people I knew who were innocent and in continuing his legacy when I created Triad."
Hope's phone dinged and she pulled her phone out.
"Dad's on his way back. He'll be going to the Salvatore School and then he'll be coming home." Hope bounced in her seat a little.
"You're hoping your plan worked."
"It'd better have worked. They've been dancing around each other for decades."
"There's my granddaughter," Hayley cooed when she saw Nyssa.
"Dad'll be in town in a few days," Hope informed her.
"I think we can split time, every other day with her while you two handle this business with Malivore." Hayley scooped Nyssa up and kissed the tip of her nose.
"We'll see you in a few hours." Hope wrapped one arm around Hayley and kissed her cheek.
"Ryan, take care of my daughter."
"I'll make sure everyone is safe, especially her and Nyssa," Ryan vowed.
"I know."
"Here's her diaper bag," Hope handed her the bag. "Some full bottles, diapers, wipes, pacifiers, extra blankets, some stuffed toys and a few changes of clothing."
"I still have some of your things here, so if something's missing, I think we've got it covered. Now, get going."
Hope and Ryan headed away, deeper into the trees, towards the prison pit.
When they reached it, Ryan went to one knee and stared down at the black goo.
"Get ready," he said finally. "We have no idea what sort of mood they'll be in. You may need to subdue them."
"I'm ready." Hope shifted on the balls of her feet, braced for a possible fight.
Ryan lifted his hand and the tar bubbled. Hope caught her breath as a crowd of people were lifted out. A quick spell and they were cleaned, revealing humans in clothing from different decades since the fifties.
"Mr. Henry," one of the men said, his eyes alight with recognition.
"Mr. Thompson."
"How do you remember me?"
"Because I'm not human. I never have been."
There were mutters from the humans and some of them seemed ready to attempt to attack him.
"You try hurting him, I'll snap your necks," Hope hissed, allowing her eyes to flash golden.
"I was created by Malivore, before he was turned into the pit you knew him as."
"And her?"
"She is Niklaus Mikaelson's daughter and equally dangerous."
The humans stared at her now, new fear in their eyes.
"We'll be sending you into New Orleans. I'll give you the name of someone and they'll help you assimilate into the world. I'm sure you know that no one remembers you, and for some of you, your families passed on while you were in the pit." Turning to Hope, he asked, "Could you send a text to someone to pick them up?"
"Sure." Hope pulled her phone out and fired off a text to Declan informing him. A moment later, she got a reply. "He'll be bringing a bus to meet them near the cabin."
"Good. Thank you."
Hope cast a spell and small glowing ball rose into the air. "Follow that light and it will take you to meet a human who will get you into town."
The humans seemed all too eager to get away from her and they stumbled over each other to follow the light towards a new life that would be very different from what they knew. But a different life was better than the endless blackness of the pit.
Closing his eyes, Ryan held out his hand once more and several beings rose out of the pit. Hope flicked her wrist and they were instantly slime free, to reveal a group of women covered in bark and branches.
"Dryads," Ryan explained.
"Ladies." Hope inclined her head.
"Welcome to the new world." Ryan straightened and folded his hands behind his back. "You will find that the world you've left is very different now and that no one remembers you. Because of Malivore, you've been erased from memory."
"From all memory?" one of them asked, panic in her voice.
"There is a spell to return those memories, but you've been in the pit for so long that the people you knew are most likely dead or have moved on so completely that to return the memories would be cruel." Ryan kept his voice even, but his muscles tensed, in preparation
"Even if they were in love with you?" the same woman spoke again.
"If they don't remember being in love with you, they could have fallen in love with someone else in the time since you went into the pit," Hope replied gently.
"I can feel you and know there is no lie." The woman walked slowly towards a tree and lowered her head. "He has forgotten me. My great love, he loves me no more."
"I'm so sorry."
Hope took a step forward, but the dryad held up her hand, stopping her.
"Why are you letting us out now?" another dryad asked suddenly, as if to draw attention away from the grieving woman.
"Because Malivore is no more and we are freeing innocent people, because they don't deserve to continue suffering in the pit," Ryan explained.
After explaining the rules of the new world, and giving them names of people willing to help them relocate, Ryan paced for a long moment, deep in thought.
"What's wrong?" Hope asked.
"I'm just trying to decide who we should free next."
For the next several hours, they worked. Some of the people they freed took to the information they were given rather well. One of those who took too it almost too well was a sprite called Puck.
"Perhaps I might stick around."
"Cause trouble and I'll have your head," Hope snapped.
Puck smiled and walked away, whistling a jaunty tune.
"He's going to do something, isn't he?" Hope asked.
"It's in his nature to break things apart, then to bring people together."
"I might to need to find a spell to repel his influence."
"Puck is the sort that messes with people, but it's not usually his intention to destroy relationships permanently. He simply shows you the cracks. It's up to you to try to work through them or ignore the issues he's revealed. So I wouldn't worry too much about his intentions."
Hope finally relented and they got back to work.
A being who wasn't so easily talked down was a rather nervous woman with blue skin.
"He will follow me."
"Rather difficult for him to do that since I control who gets out," Ryan assured her. "I can feel the beast you're worried about, but he's not stronger than I am. I control who gets out and who stays in."
"You can't contain him."
"If my father could contain him for centuries, I'm sure I can contain him for a few months."
"You think you can stop him."
"My fiance and I are both beings that shouldn't exist, yet we do. I'm sure if anyone can keep him down, it's us. Now, go find the heir to Arthur's sword. For that is your mission in life, isn't it?"
After arguing for a while longer, Ryan finally had enough, because when the lady of the lake opened her mouth again, Ryan held up his hand.
"Go. We have work to do."
Seeing that she would get nowhere with them, she finally inclined her head in agreement and left.
Hope looked up at the sky, seeing the sun had slipped lower towards the horizon. It was high time she returned to her mother and fed Nyssa herself.
"I think we've done enough for today," Ryan said, wrapping his arm around Hope's shoulders.
With a kiss to the side of her head, he turned them towards the cabin.
It was a quiet walk back, but it was a peaceful sort of quiet, the companionable silence between two people who'd done a good, hard day's work.
When they approached the cabin, Nyssa's fussing made Hope run towards the front door. When she entered the front room, she found her mother attempting to soothe the squirming baby.
"What's wrong?"
"She's tired, wants her mother, and she drank her last bottle a little while ago, so she's probably needs to be fed."
"I should have gotten here earlier."
"She only started fussing about ten minutes ago."
"Come here," Hope whispered and Nyssa reached for her.
As soon as Nyssa was in her arms, she pressed her face against Hope's chest, whimpering, and Hope sat in the rocking chair to feed her.
Ryan entered the cabin a few moments later and he smiled when he saw Hope and Nyssa.
"How did the monster sorting go?" Hayley asked.
"We freed about one hundred-sixty people, including all of the humans that Triad threw in. But it's only a fraction of who's down there."
"We'll get a system in place that will allow us to work through them faster," Hope assured him.
"How?"
"You pulled up the group of humans and then those dryads. Maybe you could start bringing more up like that. We could sort through them better that way."
"We'll need to get a few more witches to help us if we do it that way. Some of them won't be happy with us, even though we set them free."
"I'm sure the New Orleans Covens would be happy to help. I'll have to talk to them. Until then, you can bring up groups of weaker beings that you know I can handle. We've got to work through them faster than a few hundred a day."
Ryan sighed, but he relented, "Okay. We can do that."
Finally, Nyssa was fed and Hope readjusted her clothing.
"I hate to ask, but do you think you can drive?" Ryan winced.
"Tired?" Hope smiled at him softly.
"Yeah."
"Go, I'll see you tomorrow, if he's able to keep going through the creatures in the pit." Hayley waved.
"I love you, Mom."
"I love you too."
Hope laid the now sleeping Nyssa in her car carrier and buckled her in.
"When is Klaus coming in, exactly?"
"I'm not sure. Tomorrow night at the earliest."
"Good. So one more day with my granddaughter before we have to split time."
With one last hug, they left the house.
The next day passed much the same way as the previous one, except Ryan brought up more large groups.
When they brought up a group of pixie no longer than Ryan's fingers, they decided to stick around. As Hope and Ryan worked, she could hear them skipping through the leaves, their tiny giggles making Hope smile. In the gloom, she could see the glow emanating off of their bodies as they darted through the trees.
To Hope's surprise with however, instead of playing, when Ryan brought up another group, the pixies' behavior changed suddenly. Their giggles stopped and they floated around the pair, the flutter of their wings somehow turning menacing.
Hope raised an eyebrow in Ryan's direction and he shrugged lightly.
One of the pixie alighted onto Ryan's shoulder, the soft glow around her sparking now, then another pixie landed on Hope's shoulder.
"The queen of this pixie court and her companion," Ryan explained when Hope jumped. "They've elected to protect us. They don't want thanks or gratitude. They consider it rude to express it. Trade for a trade."
Hope inclined her head, the only acknowledgment that she could think of that wouldn't offend the pixies while still holding to the manners her mother instilled in her.
For the rest of the day, the pixies stood guard, giving Hope the magical backup they needed, only leaving when Ryan and Hope decided to call it a day.
"We ask your permission to return tomorrow. We are on your land now."
The queen waved her hand in an arc, as if to indicate an invitation, and Ryan inclined his head.
Once they left Hayley's, Hope sent a text to Klaus, asking him if he was back yet.
I'm home. Caroline is with me, as are her daughters. We'd like to talk to you about something.
I'll see you when we get there."
"What's with the smile?" Ryan asked, taking her free hand in his.
"I think it worked. Dad brought Caroline and her daughters back with him and they want to talk to me about something."
Hope rubbed her thumb along Ryan's fingers, and she smiled wider.
"You devious little thing." Ryan kissed her knuckles.
"I am a Mikaelson. Devious is in my DNA." Hope's knee bounced up and down in excitement. "And if that deviousness helps my dad get the girl he's been in love with for the better part of two decades, what's so bad about me doing this?"
Walking through the door into living room at the Abattoir, Hope was greeted with a hug from Klaus.
"I've missed you," Klaus whispered against her hair.
"Missed you too, Dad."
Ryan pulled Nyssa carefully out of her car carrier and she whimpered at being disturbed.
"May I hold her?" Caroline asked, holding out her arms.
"Of course. Don't be surprised if Rebekah steals her after a while."
"I won't be."
"I'm going to put the carrier away," Ryan whispered.
"Okay."
Hope glanced around the room and saw a pair of girls, one dark haired, one blonde.
"Hope, these are my daughters, Lizzie and Josette Saltzman. Lizzie, Josie, This is Hope Mikaelson, the man who just left the room is her fiance, Ryan Clarke."
"And our daughter, Nyssa," Hope gestured to the baby in Caroline's arms.
Hope sat down on the love seat, leaving a place for Ryan.
"So, I wanted to let you know that I asked Caroline to marry me," Klaus said after a moment of silence. His throat bobbed as he swallowed thickly and he studied Hope's face, as if he was afraid she'd get upset.
"Really?" Hope smiled widely, blue eyes sparkling.
"Really," he confirmed.
Ryan sat down beside Hope and she rested her head on his shoulder.
"A year ago, I had no one, was nothing to anyone, and now I'm surrounded by family."
"We won't be getting married for a while, but I hope you don't mind me asking you to be one of my bridesmaids," Caroline said.
"Not at all. I'd love to be one." Hope looked up at Ryan and he kissed her forehead.
"And I'd like to help you plan your wedding, if you like."
"I'd like that, a lot."
