Have A Nice Life, Ryan

Malivore was defeated. Ken was defeated.

The Salvatore Boarding School was still open for business.

Students like her still had a home–a good home. One that understood their powers, accepted them with all their differences, and were capable of teaching them control.

These were all good things.

She was... as happy as she could be.

There were major losses to go side-by-side with those wins that she would never forget.

Hadn't that been her life's curse though?

"You never save the people you love because you're just not strong enough."

A hard and fast truth.

As the tribrid, she was stronger than almost anything. With Ken gone, that was very apparent.

Yet, while she was invincible, the people she loved were not.

She could do everything in her power, but it would never be enough.

It wasn't enough for her father, for her mother, for Uncle Elijah, or for Landon.

Heck, if it weren't for Lizzie drinking her blood, she would have been responsible for the ultimate murder of her best friend.

It was bad enough she actually did kill her.

Even though Lizzie had found it in her to forgive her, Hope wasn't sure she would ever be able to forgive herself.

The war was over now. In the middle of it, she hoped for this. For it to be over, that she and her friends would win. That they could protect the world.

So, yes, she was as happy as she could be.

All of her friends were now safe. Whether at Salvatore School or off to Belgium, they had a home. If any other issues arose, she would be there to help them face them. Hopefully, nothing would ever be as hard as the past few years had been.

But she knew she was cursed and there was no fighting it. She would eventually have to fight other battles–hard battles–and there would be casualties. There would be friends and family she wouldn't be able to save.

She wasn't strong enough to save them all.

Which was why she knew it was best to never see Ryan Clarke again.

She owed him an apology for breezing into town and tearing his new human life apart. She owed him an apology for promising she wouldn't let anyone hurt him... and then she did.

But, deep down, she knew she shouldn't even bother with an apology. All she ever brought to his life was death, torture, and mayhem.

She knew it even before he left Mystic Falls. When he was lying in that hospital bed, thanking her for keeping her promise after being overtaken by a monster and nearly dying, she knew everything was her fault. She got lucky that she was able to save him that time.

Every other time, he had saved himself.

So, she sent him on his way knowing that was what he wanted. Knowing he did a much better job at saving himself than she ever could .

Knowing that he was her friend and she did care for him, and, yes, she would count him as one of those 'loved' ones. Call her a sucker for a tortured soul with daddy issues.

She wanted Ryan to be happy. He told her exactly what he wanted, what he dreamed of–a normal human life.

After she killed Landon and turned her humanity off, she left a warning for her friends to stay away from her through Doctor Saltzman. She hadn't been looking to hurt anyone, she just didn't want them to make her feel.

When she knew she needed Ryan's help, she had no problem going after him. Even without humanity, she liked the familiar, and she wanted him to be with her, to be like her. He had been that way before, he would recognize that in her. He would understand her just like he had so many times before.

Also, maybe a part of her just didn't want to be alone.

She never thought he would end up reaching her inside her unfeeling husk without even trying.

Humanity-free Hope didn't attack him for that though. She knew he wouldn't come after her when she left, no extra warning was needed with him like with all of her other friends, so she left.

Once her humanity returned, dealing with the present issues took precedent, but even if they didn't she knew she wouldn't go back to him again.

No matter how much she wanted to.

"You never save the people you love because you're just not strong enough."

He was better off without her in his life.

So, for wherever life took him...

"Have a nice life, Ryan."

* * *

Finished.