Promise

"Did you talk to mud boy yet?"

we're not gonna talk ab how long it took me to post.

He couldn't help but mirror her smile with his own.

"You're okay! The spell worked!" She exclaimed.

She looked so happy to see him. Their unwavering eye contact and beaming smiles sent wave after wave of emotions he's never felt before. It was a most unusual sensation, like a shaky fluttering inside his stomach rising to his heart. Sparks of joy at just seeing her in front of him.

"You have no idea how long it took me to find a way to get here!" She reached out, almost as if to touch him; though it seems she promptly remembered who he was since she had practically jerked away at the realization. Ryan went on to act like the action hadn't bothered him in the slightest, though it had stung, he was still immensely happy that she was even here at all. Which reminds him—

"Uh where is 'here' exactly? I mean I know this is the Salvatore school but it doesn't feel like the Salvatore school."

Hope's eyes assumed a serious like expression. "Right, well I can't be sure but I think you manifested yourself here when I woke your consciousness."

Ryan scoffed. "You think I want to be here of all places? If I had done this then we'd be on a warm beach or something right now."

Hope huffed. She had that twitch in her eye that showed she was losing her patience. Naturally, he reacted with a smug smile.

"The spell was originally based around your safety. Wherever you are here is where your subconscious feels safest."

Hearing that from her it clicked. Despite how chaotic that day was, he supposes this room was subconsciously the last place he felt any kind of contentment or safety. This was the room where Hope first decided to trust him. The place where he experienced Christmas, just a fraction of it, but Christmas all the same. This was the last place he'd experienced Hope's kindness before he was human. Which- of course now he knows how much being human sucks. But he wasn't going to let Hope know that.

"Weird. Wonder what happened." He lies.

If Hope suspected anything she didn't show it. "Anyways. I have an update."

At that, his eyes lit again. "By all means."

"Your body is alive and well. A simple regeneration spell did the trick so you're not dead, you're— actually, what do you remember?"

He scrunched his face in concentration. "Not much to be honest. I remember you..."

Flashes of the moment flooded is memory. The soft touch of her hand, the icy sharp sting on his throat, the comfort her voice brought, her worried and teary eyes, her promise.

"I remember daddy dearest slicing my brand new and very delicate human throat, I remember it hurt like hell, and then taking your blood, and waking up here a few seconds later." He summarized.

What else was he supposed to say?

'I remember your tears while watching me strain in agony, the way you held me just for a few moments, the way you wanted to ease my pain, how good it felt to finally have someone care whether I lived or died.'

No. He couldn't say that. He knows how she is. Hope is kind...good. She'd do the same thing for anyone who needed her help. Whatever he thought he felt was imagined. He'd learned a long time ago that manifesting even a glimmer of hope is one of the worst things he can do for himself.

"Okay, well that was almost 10 hours ago." Hope explained. "Right now, your father is still in my boyfriend in a cage in the gym, you have a little bit of a scar that I haven't fixed yet but you're in a coma on my old roommate's bed."