love isn't lost

you're incredible

It was late on a miserable Friday afternoon, the rain was pouring down outside the school and if the lightning didn't set the roof on fire the wind would blow it off. Most of the schools students and faculty members were either in the main hall enjoying free food and hot drinks or in the gym listening to loud music and screaming with laughter. All except Hope, who was sat curled up on her bed after a bad fight with Landon. Things hadn't been good between them since she was stuck in Josie's subconscious and was only made worse when Rafael died. Hope felt weaker and more alone then she had in a long time. So she sat wrapped in a blanket, with darkness filling the space around her as she watched the lightning flashing outside her window.

It wasn't until Lizzie went to grab her drink that she realised someone was missing, she returned to her group with one important question, "hey guys, wheres Hope?" Everyone in the group looked around for a second before Josie replied, "Probably wasn't getting enough attention" before returning to giggling with Penelope. Lizzie couldn't help her eye roll before she excused herself to see if she could find the other twin. She knew how hard Hope had been taking Landon's distance and blame, and she didn't want Hope to feel completely alone.

—

she was freezing, even with heating in the room and a blanket wrapped around her there was this constant chill that didn't seem to want to leave her body. She just wanted to disappear, she knew there was a party going on but she thought everyone was now upset at her for Rafael's disappearance, so they wouldn't notice if she was there anyway. She guessed she deserved it, she wasn't afraid to admit she was clueless. She sighed as she laid back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling, fresh tears prickling her eyes as she silently cried into the darkness.

Lizzie wandered around the gym for about 20 minutes before finding herself in the main hall where most of the adults were, she was seeing if maybe Hope just needed some quiet, but she was no where to be seen. "Lizzie, i thought you'd be at the party?" she heard Alaric walking up behind her and spun around to meet him, with a smile on her face she replied, "i Was Dad, i just needed some fresh air" before turning around and walking towards the dorms. Alaric seemed slightly suspicious but didn't investigate any further and went back to talking to the faculty members.

Lizzie reached the Hope's room door and paused for a minute when she heard quiet sobs coming from inside the room. "oh no" she sighed quietly before knocking and opening the door. "Lizzie, aren't you supposed to be at the party?" Even in the dim lit room Lizzie could see the hurt in Hope,s eyes and the tear marks streaming down her face were evidence that she had been crying.Lizzie didn't reply before walking over and joining the auburn hair girl on her bed, quietly encircling her arms around Hope as the girl broke down into tears again.

Neither knows how long they sat like that, Lizzie patting down Hope's hair as she drenched her shirt in fresh tears. Though Lizzie  didn't mind, it physically hurt her to see Hope this upset over something. Lizzie wasn't sure how or why but in the short period of time they'd been friends, lizzie had made such a big impact in her life. From helping her deal with some of her issues to just basic school work that confused her. "Ugh, I'm sorry, your shoulder is drenched." Hope said quietly when she had finally settled down, "Its fine, Hope, really." With a small smile Hope turned away from her to stare out the window again. Lizzie wasn't sure what to say at that moment, so she sat in silence with her watching the lightning crash into the forest behind the school. Lighting up the room with every flash. Before deciding enough was enough, With a flick of her finger the lights in the room were on and brightened up the room immediately. "Lizzie, WHAT THE HELL" Hope practically yelled covering her eyes from the sudden blinding light. "Sorry Hope, but if we're having a pity party we're gonna do it right" with that she walked out the room and shut the door, leaving  Hope sitting on her bed, staring at the door in utter confusion.

—

Lizzie returned about 20 minutes later, with popcorn and soda. Hope just kept staring out the window and by the time she turned her head around, there were pillows and blankets on the floor, set up around the TV and Lizzie was staring at her impatiently. "Come on you sad soul, get your butt down here" Hope wasn't really sure what to say but did as she was told. With in ten minutes the girls were curled around each other and wrapped in blankets watching cartoons.

They stayed like that for about an hour, laughing and throwing popcorn at each other before Hope suddenly threw herself into a hug with Lizzie "Thank you." Lizzie smiled into Hope's neck and hugged the girl back with everything she had. They seemed to get lost in each other for the millionth time that night before pulling apart and bursting into laughter for no apparent reason. It was nice to see Hope smiling again, but Lizzie knew it wouldn't last long unless Hope got everything out of her mind. She was right, after a few minutes the laughter died down and it was back to silence, with lizzie looking at the ground before whispering "he hates me" and looking right into Lizzies's eyes with the most devastated look the girl had seen. Lizzie's heart broke in that moment, the pure devastation and heart break evident on Hope's face was too much to handle.

"Hope" Lizzie started as she put her finger to Hope's chin to make her look at her again. "He doesn't hate you, he might be mad at you, but he could never hate you. He wants to put the blame on someone for everything thats been going wrong in his life, and for her its easier to blame you. She almost lost Rafael, and i know you may not know it, but he loves you. Its not fair to you, not in anyway possible but its normal for people to place the blame anywhere but themselves. I blamed so many people for things that happened in my life, even when half of it was caused by me. You cant let yourself believe that your family hates you, otherwise it'll eat away at you until theres nothing left, until you start blaming yourself to the point you refuse to be yourself, and that'll be a sad, sad day Hope Mikealson because you're incredible." Once she was finished everything seemed to stop, the tears running down Hope's face were gone and she was smiling. Lizzie removed her hand from Hope's chin and grabbed a hold of her hand instead "you're incredible," she repeated with absolute sincerity as she squeezed her hand.