What are you afraid of?
"If you love me and if you're a fighter, why are you so damn scared then?"
"Because loved ones die!"
And that was it. What it was all about.
Landon looked down.
"Your parents?"
Hope nodded.
"Yes. They were strong and powerful. Arguably the strongest creatures on Earth. They were immortal, literally immortal. Noone was supposed to die.
They could have lived another couple of years, to see my graduation, decades to see my wedding or meet their grandchildren. Centuries, if they were lucky. Literally forever. Nothing was supposed to kill them.
But I was stupid. I put myself in harm's way. Trusted a guy who I wasn't supposed to trust. My mother took the impact by letting them weaken her. So she would burn in the sun. She could have fought on for months. She had already survived their horrible torture and they would never have killed her if they were still after me.
And then I was selfish. I couldn't be patient and thought I could handle everything else if I could just hug my family instead of just calling them. I overestimated myself. I was stupid and arrogant. And with that, I made myself an orphan. Because my father also didn't hesitate to step in when I put myself in harm's way, again. He gladly gave his life for me, like he gave his freedom and his family. I was just so damn stupid! And in the end, it cost me everything."
Something crashed loudly. All objects, each and every one in the room were shaking. Hope herself was also visibly on the brink of an explosion.
"And that's why you shouldn't trust me. And why you shouldn't be ready to die for me. Because you will. The one time I was trying to sacrifice myself and be the responsible one, not be a weight on somebody else's shoulders, I gave it everything and still failed.
A witch of both the bloodlines that created the werewolf and the vampire curse, the first first-born Mikaelson in over a millennium, someone who even by werewolf standards should be unnaturally powerful and whose blood is the only cure to werewolf bites and Malivore and I still somehow managed to fail.
All these enemies from my childhood who feared I would become the most powerful witch in history, more powerful even than my grandmother who came back to life countless times and created a whole new race of enhanced humans and all of those other lunatics, they were wrong.
I'm not anybody's Hope. I'm just… a failure… who despite everyone's beliefs and accusations of perfection cannot save the ones close to her."
Landon realised that he couldn't just come in and save her, tell her everything would be alright. These people were just stories to him, horrible, horrible stories.
He needed to get help.
It was the next day and Hope still didn't feel like herself. She was just sitting in her room, staring at an aisle without any intention to paint. The school was pretty empty because of the summer holidays and she didn't think there would be visitors. She was wrong.
"Hope?"
He tipped her on the shoulder.
"Marcel! What are you doing here?"
Hope was hesitant, but there was a flicker of a light in her eyes.
"Oh, we should have taken you to Brazil with us anyway. You would have loved Rio. It's not New Orleans, but it's pretty close."
"No. You deserved some time alone with your new wife."
She smiled.
"Bullshit! We've had centuries. And I have told you that I would be there for you. Whenever you need me. And your friend, Landon, called me to let me know that that might be the case."
He grinned at the word friend. Hope could tell she would be questioned later.
"You know it wasn't your fault, right?"
That was all it took to break her façade. It had been fragile to begin with.
"Hey, hey. It's going to be alright. It's all gonna be alright."
She was crying in his arms and sobbing without holding anything back anymore. Just being held was already so much, but being held by someone who knew her story, probably in more detail than herself, felt incredibly freeing.
"You were a child, are a child. You are not responsible for anyone's actions. Not your parents, not those monsters and murderers."
"Who are we then? Monsters and murderers… We are both. Monsters among monsters and, well, murderers. Killers. Maybe that's what I deserve."
"You're right. We are monsters. But you are also wrong. You deserve happiness. And love. You know that I have hurt thousands of people and done so much worse than what you did. And I have found love. Your father killed over a hundred thousand. And he deserved love as well. And all the happiness you bring to his life."
Hope already looked skeptical.
"And you deserve Landon."
"How could I? Landon. He's so good. He has never done anything wrong in his life. Never hurt anyone, never killed anyone. And he had all the reasons as well. He lived through a lot of pain, you know? And he still stays quiet. And loyal. He trusts without questions. And he doesn't deserve me. He deserves someone like him. Someone good."
"That reminds me of someone. She had good reason to be bitter. And vile. I've hurt her myself. And she always chose love."
Hope sat up and smiled weakly.
"Is Aunt Beks here, too?"
"She's nearby. But Alaric doesn't really want any Original Vampires around and they've got a little bit of history as well."
"Of course. And you? Did you sneak in? I can't imagine Alaric would let the most deadly creature on Earth on his campus without resistance."
Her tone had gotten more playful.
"Seems like you've gotten the hunter to like you. I mean, that isn't so hard. He also doesn't really know me personally, which is playing out in my favour."
They chuckled.
"Why? You're as charming as ever."
Marcel got quiet again.
"They loved you so much. And they didn't regret it for a second. You know that, right?"
Hope smiled. Sadly, but understanding.
"I do. I do."
"And even though they are gone, you still have family, right? We'll be there in the blink of an eye. Your uncle Elijah isn't the only reason that this is always and forever."
She nodded and went to show Marcel around her home.
"Come on. I'll show you everything!"
She couldn't let her brother know that this kind of unconditional love, the kind that came when you called and agreed to move to the other end of the world without hope of ever seeing your family again, this kind of potentially fatal love, was exactly what she was trying to avoid.