The Beginning
Everyone remembered—everyone she has grown to care about over the years and those she has grown up with—they all had their memories returned to them. She didn't know whether to be grateful or upset at the way things turned out. After everything with Malivore, her jumping in, Josie and Landon getting together, and Lizzie remembering her, to everyone regaining their memories back. The only thing she knew was that her and Landon aren't together anymore and might not ever get back together, Josie and her were on the outs due to the secret she had kept, and then finally the relationship between Josie and Landon. Throughout all of this she had talked to Freya and from there was able to come up with her next course of actions, which includes going back to New Orleans to talk to the smartest witches she knows so she can defeat Malivore.
Before Hope's resolve to leave could dwindle she had begun walking off of school grounds only looking back one last time feeling an ache in her chest as she recalls all of the old and new memories she has made, the friends she made, a place she started to consider a second home, but now it was time to go back to the place she first ever considered a home, the place her family had built. This place held many memories, memories that would bring her to tears of joy and sadness in regards to those she had lost: the memories she had made with her father up until he died, the place her mom had searched for in hopes of finding her family, the joyous memories she had made with her family brought a smile to her face, however the memories of Henry had come to her mind as well. Hope couldn't help but let a sad smile show on her face as she felt the guilt rise once again for what she did to him, what she did to all of her family and those she considers family, she felt her chest tighten as she had looked down at her bust ticket to New Orleans. She glanced back one last time before she completely walked off of school grounds so she can memorize the way her second home looks before she parts. She then walks through the town trying to commit everything to memory. Hope walks by the Mystic Grill–the place where she met her epic love–then walks towards the town center where she, Josie, and Lizzie had done "portal duty" as Lizzie likes to call it. She couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at the memories she had experienced since Landon came back into her life, even though they were weird at times she couldn't help but hold them close to her heart. Even now she couldn't believe how close she and Lizzie had become, out of all the people she has known throughout her life Lizze was even the first to remember her in the whole world, the person who hated her and would find any way to make her miserable at school remembered her existence. She couldn't even begin to process every situation she has been in since the Malivore situation started, no, since she first arrived at the Salvatore Boarding School, yet she couldn't help but smile as she thought back to every memory she has made with her friends.
Before she even realized it, walking through the town and reminiscing over all of the memories she had made was slowly destroying her resolve to leave, but she knew deep down that it would be what is best for everyone, so she wouldn't end up accidentally hurting those closest to her again. Hope soon reached into her pocket and checked what time her bus left before checking the time and realized she had around an hour before she left. She knew she couldn't continue walking around town otherwise she may not be able to leave, so she decided to go to one place that has provided decent comfort in the past and began walking in the direction of the woods so she can make sure there is no danger for her friends before she leaves.
As she made her way through the woods she heard movement somewhere nearby. More specifically she heard someone nearby. When Hope began checking her surroundings she saw someone in a dark red cloak approaching her, but what really caught her attention was the symbol etched into that dark red cloak, her eyes widened as she recalled seeing that symbol at Triad. Once it fully registered what she was seeing she felt her heart quicken and did her best to ignore it as she got into a position facing the person as a way to be on the defense. Before she could even fully prepare even more people in cloaks surrounded her and nearby in sync they all began chanting their voice growing louder with every word as they moved closer and closer. Whatever they had begun chanting had caused Hope to kneel down on the ground screaming in pain; a sharp ringing going through her head, blood streaming down her ears, vision blurring out, unimaginable pain before her everything for her went black during that bright day.
When she finally began regaining consciousness, she opened her eyes to find herself still in the woods with a dull ringing noise in her ears, but as she looked around she realized the sun was gone and the moon was shining bright above her. She sat up slightly looking at her surroundings trying to ignore the throbbing in her head. However, as soon as she had focused a bit more and remembered what happened she had gotten up in a panic and looked around for any signs of Triad before checking her bag to make sure they didn't take her grimoire or anything else of importance. As soon as she saw no sign of Triad near her, she felt her heart rate quicken as she made her way back to the boarding school to make sure her friends were safe. She started walking towards the town ignoring the injuries that should've already been healed fully, but weren't. As she made her way through the woods and back to the town she brought a hand up to feel what injuries had not properly healed for some reason. She felt the blood running down her ear, some of it fresh and some dried, a few cuts from the ground she was on that had already healed, and that ache in her head that wouldn't go away. Before heading out of the woods she grabbed a cloth from her bag to wipe the blood off of her so she wouldn't draw attention to herself. Hope wiped away as much of the blood as she could before she started wiping away the dirt. She would question what Triad did to her later, but as of that moment her first priority was making sure the people she cares about are safe and alive.
As Hope made her way through town she couldn't help but notice all the differences to what she usually sees. She maintained a quick pace back to the boarding school trying to figure out what Triad did that made things change the buildings surrounding town square. The buildings looked familiar, but so different from what she had seen earlier that day. It took her a second as she realized why the buildings had seemed so similar, but couldn't quite understand why the buildings looked like they did since they hadn't looked or been like that in years. She felt her heart rate quicken further and took a deep breath as she quickened her pace back to the boarding school in fear of what Triad had done, but before she could go further she crashed into a blond that looked all too familiar.
"Woah, are you okay?" A voice Hope recognized as Matt Donovan asked while steadying her from the collision, but she quickly realized he looked and sounded younger, not to mention the fact that he didn't even seem to remember her. He spoke in a worried tone which the sheriff never used with her and the looks he would give her and some of the other students at the boarding school.
Hope finally decides to take an actual look at the town she had spent much of her life in and was able to completely take note of all of the differences in the town. The benches dedicated to Lizzie and Josie's mom and Matt Donavan are no longer there among other things that were changed or damaged with hell fire or the fires that Mystic Falls has dealt with. Her eyes widened as she finally realized what was happening and why everything looked so different yet so familiar... this, this was before hellfire.
Before she could walk away Matt had grabbed her shoulder asking in a worried tone, "Are you okay? Do you need help or want me to call someone?" As he looked at me he started checking for any injuries, but all he could see was a bit of dried blood. Hope wasn't able to get clean off. Hope realized that this is probably similar to what happened when her and Lizzie had faced off against the Minotaur where they were sent to the past. After this she calmed down slightly and realized how bizarre she was acting and looked at Matt noticing that he was younger, and dressed in a uniform for the Mystic Grill, and his arm was in a cast.
"I'm fine, sorry for worrying you, I suppose I am just a little out of it." Hope laughed to herself hoping she can play off her strange behavior from earlier. 'I need to leave and figure out what happened.' She thought of ways to figure out what happened since she knew that the people who sent her here weren't exactly monsters so she had to find a way to get out of whatever magic prison she was trapped in. "I kinda passed out in the woods earlier." She laughs again before glancing down and murmuring, "Really shouldn't have drank that much alcohol" loud enough that Matt could hear, but still seeming like she meant to be the only one to hear that. However as she looked at Matt's face hoping to ease his suspicions he glanced at the dry blood again. It got really silent and she decided it would be best if she could check the boarding school which wouldn't exist yet and get an idea of the situation she had been placed in.
Hope begins walking towards the Salvatore Boarding School or as it was in the past the Salvatore Boarding House. As Matt saw her start walking away he realized she was a newcomer and wasn't walking towards the only motels and B in town and asked, "Where are you heading." Hope tried staying as vague as possible and just told him she was looking for a place to stay for a few days while she was in town, but he knew where the Salvatore's lived and the direction to get there. "Sorry to say this but I think the Salvatore's aren't taking guests," Matt told Hope and checked her reaction to make sure she was okay.
"The Salvatore Boarding House?" Hope repeated and did her best to put on a confused expression. However, this did prove that she was in the past even further and that she had to find a way back.
"If you are looking for a different place to stay I could give you directions." Matt offers Hope noticing her confused state of mind. Neither of them realized that a person was watching their whole interaction.
Hope looks back at Matt trying to calm her mind and accepts his offer while she gives him a thankful smile before asking, "Do you know any places nearby I could stay at that are open right now?" Waiting for the answer she already knew having lived in this small town from the age of 7.
Matt gives Hope a kind smile and gives her some directions to a motel that should still be open at this time before offering his help even further by asking if she needs help getting there since his shift is over in a couple minutes. "No thank you, thanks for the directions though." Hope tells him looking at him with a smile before leaving following the directions he gave her.
After walking further away from anyone's sight she took out her phone and began calling just to make sure her suspicions were 100% correct. She started off by calling Lizzie since she probably had the highest chance of answering at this time as well as her phone probably being on her and charged as well. Much to Hope's disappointment the phone went straight to voicemail. After that she went through calling all of her contacts, but they all went straight to voicemail every time.
Hope's worries and suspicions only increased as she tried to calm down as she felt her control on her magic become more unstable at the thought of being completely alone again, but this time she didn't even have Clarke as much as she hates to admit that. She took a few deep breaths and began looking for anything that might prove her suspicions wrong. She knew she couldn't ask anyone anything as that would be too suspicious so now the only thing she could do was search the desolate streets of Mystic Falls and hope to find more information. Eventually Hope found a newspaper further down the street, but it only caused her eyes to widen and her breathing to become uneven as the newspaper said it was March 22, 2010, this information not only shocked her but caused many emotions to rise up within her. 'Wasn't this around the time the Masquerade party happened and Elena got kidnapped?' Hope wondered silently to herself trying to recall the information she had read in Stefan Salvatore's Journals and things she had heard others talk about as she tried calming herself down once again.
Now don't get Hope wrong she had read a few of the youngest Salvatore brothers journals, but she wasn't really a big fan of how they portrayed her family as she knew there was more to the story than that, there's always more to the story. She knew her family was different before she was born, but she couldn't just read about how her father was this evil monster and the rest are just terrible people. Those people weren't terrible or evil monsters to her; they had risked and sacrificed their lives for her over and over again. They definitely weren't saints, but what supernatural creature is? She knew her family as one thing and knew they had motive and at times their actions could be justified, yet the books and stories about her family stated them to be evil and overall terrible people.
Yet in the past she had read many of Stefan Salvatore's journals yearning for some sort of connection or information to her father, to those she was never able to see for her own protection. Hope was very aware of what people thought about her father, what he had done throughout his life to earn the title, "The Great Evil", yet she didn't understand what made him so evil after all there are so many worse things people have done in this world, things even those that were deemed good had done horrendous acts of violence.
Hope was made well aware of what her father had done throughout his life and what others thought of him: The Great Evil they called him, but Hope couldn't see her father as this evil monster, she couldn't see past the fact that it's her fault that he died sacrificing his life for her, couldn't see past the fact that all the horrible things he did was to protect his family no matter what it took. The books were all from Stefan's perspective of her and family, however as she has grown up knowing is that was only one side of the story.
As Hope began to walk to the motel, newspaper in hand, after thinking about the things she had read she decided she would figure out if her suspicions were correct at the Masquerade. 'I am gonna need to get more money before I eventually run out.' She thought to herself, sighing heavily as she walked down the sidewalk.
Before Hope got too far from where she was originally standing, someone appeared. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, and gave off an eerily similar vibe to a specific blonde siphon twin she knew.
"Who are you?" The blonde asks coldly, glaring at Hope, reminding Hope of what happened the last time people forgot her existence. At least now when Hope see's Lizzie next she can tell her how similar she is to Caroline when she was a teenager as well. However, Hope raised her eyebrow as she saw Caroline glare at her. She had only just arrived in town and had only talked to one person.
Caroline takes another step towards Hope before looking down into her eyes before asking once again, "Who are you?" Hope has been around enough vampires to know Caroline is trying to compel her. This clears any doubt Hope had about her suspicions about being in the past and not just forgotten. The Caroline she grew up around wouldn't carelessly compel people out in public for no reason.
"My name is Andrea." Hope lies, replying in a more monotone voice trying to mimic what she remembers what a compelled person acts like.
"Why were you talking to Matt?"
"He was giving me directions to a motel nearby and asking if I was okay."
"How did you get injured?" Caroline asks, glancing at the dried blood on Hope.
"I was out partying with a few friends, but after that I don't know. It's all just small scratches and a headache." Hope says, continuing to act compelled.
"You will forget we ever had this conversation after I leave." Caroline says in a more panicked and guilty tone and sighs deeply.
"I will forget we ever had this conversation once you leave." Hope says in the same monotone voice, before Caroline vamp speeds away.
Once Caroline is out of sight Hope checks her surroundings just in case before she begins walking towards the motel. As she walks she can't help but wonder how Triad had sent her to what she would guess is an accurate version of the past. Walking down the street she soon stops in her tracks as the thought of her family comes to mind and the fact that in this place she was sent that she will see her family again, her parents. Her eyes fill up with tears as she realizes that even though this is probably some weird prison world she is trapped in she would be able to make sure her family stays alive and together.