The Real Me ↠ Hope Mikaelson ✓

05

𝐙𝐎𝐌𝐁𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋?
everything is going to be super duper.

HOPE MIKAELSON DOESN'T know what to think anymore. She thought everyone at the school hated her and wanted nothing to do with her, especially if they hung out with Elizabeth Saltzman.

Once she learned that the new girl—Millie Moore—was somehow related to the tall blonde, she thought she would be hated by her too.

But as it turns out, Millie is nice and treats her just as she treats everyone else—with kindness. It's like the girl doesn't have a mean bone in her body.

Sighing to herself, the tribrid walks the halls of the Salvatore School, holding back her emotions as everyone glances at her before moving away when she gets too close.

She heads straight for the library, hoping for a quiet place to read. But when she approaches, she sees Caroline Salvatore talking to someone.

She can't tell who it is until she draws closer and she silently sucks in a breath as she spots Millie. Both blondes are talking about something seriously.

It's kind of a surprise to see Millie not smiling widely, but it isn't a bad sight.

"Liv never specified how you turned," Caroline says softly, looking at her eldest daughter with kind blue eyes.

She and Millie look so identical that it would be hard to believe they aren't related. It's pure luck the young girl looks nothing like her father.

It isn't like Caroline remembers much about Millie's father, seeing as her conception wasn't consensual. It was the reason her father wanted to get rid of the unborn baby so badly—he didn't want to look at the child of a monster who had hurt his daughter.

Caroline scoffs at the thought. Both men were assholes and didn't deserve kindness. She's glad they're both dead—that they have nothing to do with either of their lives anymore.

Millie chews on her bottom lip and sighs. "Both my mom and I turned on the same night. We went to a boat party, and people were doing drugs and drinking. The next thing I knew, people were going rabid. Mom was attacked trying to get me to safety—she got scratched and was knocked off the boat and into the water.

"I remember screaming and getting ready to jump into the water when the same guy turned his attention to me. He started strangling me, another guy came at me, and then they both were on me. The next thing I knew, nails were in my throat and I panicked. I fought back hard and then jumped into the water to save my mom. Everything went black and we both woke up on the beach in body bags."

At first, Hope thinks they're talking about Millie being a vampire, but you don't turn by getting scratched, so it doesn't make sense.

It also doesn't help that she thought the blonde was a witch at first upon noticing she had anger issues and no daylight ring.

Now, she's just plain confused.

Caroline sighs heavily, her heart hurting for her daughter. She doesn't know everything the girl has been through, but just hearing about this... she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to know. "How long did it take to figure out what you guys were?"

"Well... Mom found out first because within two days, she was getting angry at the smallest things. Then when she was working, she had to cut open a woman's head. She said she could only focus on the brain, so she ate it. At the time, she didn't mix actual food with the brain because the zombie side had completely taken over. After, she told me about what she had discovered, and we worked together to get through it."

"Zombie?" Hope mumbles to herself, her eyes widening.

She didn't know those kinds of things existed, but it's exactly what they are insinuating. Millie is a zombie? And so is her mom?

But isn't Caroline her actual mother? Or is Alaric her father?

She doesn't know how Millie and the twins are related, but it has to be either one of them seeing as their biological mother died a long time ago.

Although, the twins don't consider Jo their mother seeing as Caroline carried them for nine months, birthed them, and then raised them.

The whole family seriously confuses Hope.

Caroline nods, still a little confused. She just doesn't understand how everyone was normal and then suddenly turned into zombies.

How come they haven't been discovered yet? And what made them change so quickly?

"Does anyone have any clues on how it even started?" She asks, wanting to see if there is any way she can help.

"Well... Liv and Ravi have some ideas, but they haven't been confirmed yet. But don't worry, everything is under control as long as Blaine—the guy who turned us—stays in line."

"You know the guy who attacked you?" Caroline asks slowly, not liking this fact one bit.

Millie nods. "Yeah. He ran a business distributing brains for zombies, but he was murdering innocent people to do so. Mom blew up the place, and Blaine is now somehow a human. He can also tell when other zombies are nearby. I still don't fully understand what happened—it's this whole thing now."

Caroline slowly nods, her brain hurting from all of this information. She doesn't understand how her daughter is telling her all of this like it doesn't affect her.

Hope's mind is reeling. So zombies are real, and there's now something out there that can somehow make them human again? How come Millie isn't a human? Does she like being a zombie?

"If there is something out there that can make you a human, why haven't you taken it?"

Thanks for asking the question, Hope thinks, also wanting to know the answer.

"There are a lot of side effects and seeing as my body hadn't fully developed before I turned, both Mom and Ravi thought the side effects could be worse for me." Millie shrugs.

Though there are a few things she hates about being a zombie, there are also things she likes. For example—being able to help solve murders of victims that came through the morgue.

And if someone tries to hurt or kill her, or someone she loves, she can easily fight back without getting seriously injured.

"Don't worry... Mom... I kinda like being this way." Millie spots Hope over the older woman's shoulder. "Hey!" She calls with a smile and a wave.

Caroline glances over her shoulder in surprise, noting the girl standing there, before turning back to her daughter, her eyes softening at the look on Millie's face.

"Excuse me," Millie says politely before skipping over to Hope, who is frozen in place at being caught eavesdropping. "Wait a second," she murmurs, pulling her sketchbook from her backpack and ripping out a page.

Hope slowly takes it with delicate fingers, her lip twitching at the sketch of her Millie drew. "Thank you?" She mutters before waking away, her lips turning up into a full-blown smile.

Millie squeals a little to herself before turning to Caroline who raises a brow at her reaction. Grinning, she says dreamily, "She spoke to me," before skipping off to her dorm room that she shares with the twins.