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Hope is five when her mom explains what the words written on the inside of her wrist mean.
She is excited at first of course, just like any other young and naive girl would be.
The next week she is obsessed with soulmates and soul marks, she reads every book she can find and begs her mom to tell her more about her own soulmate - Hope's uncle, Elijah.
Hope promises to herself to be good enough for her soulmate. She even makes a silly game where she gives herself points when she does the right thing.
At night she dreams of meeting her soulmate and it's nice, at least until the Hollow starts using those dreams against her.
— ღ
Hope is fifteen when she meets Roman.
He is nice and charming, one of the popular kids at her school. He's not her soulmate but she lets herself grow fond of him, opens up about her family and trusts him not to betray her trust.
In the end he is not who she thought he was, he betrays her - gets her mother killed and Hope feels her heart break for the first time.
It's a horrible feeling, one she promises to never let herself feel again.
And maybe it's for the best, after all she was never supposed to exist in the first place - maybe the soul mark on her wrist is nothing more then another way for Hope Mikaelson to be punished for being born.
She starts pushing people away, tells herself it's better this way.
Her dad dies shortly after and Hope thinks a part of her might have died with him.
At night she cries in her room, starring at the words written on her skin. From that day she starts covering up the mark with magic and long sleeves.
— ღ
Two years pass and Hope eventually stops thinking about her soulmate. She spend her days alone and isolated from everyone, despite headmaster Saltzman trying to make her socialize.
Alaric sees the words one day when they're training but doesn't say anything. He just looks at her with that sad and understanding expression that make her feel guilty for some reason.
She falls for Landon shortly after that.
He's sweet and kind, the exact opposite of her first boyfriend.
Still Hope tries to stay away from him, she even fights with Alaric for the 'human' boy to be kicked out of the school.
None of it works and one day she stops fighting and lets some of her walls fall down, he kisses her and for the first time Hope feels like her life might be worth something.
She still hides her mark, because Landon doesn't have one and she saw his face when he accidantely saw hers - the tears in his eyes when he realized she belongs to someone else.
They date for a while until one night Landon tells her he can't do it anymore. Because he thinks he could love her and his heart can't take the thought of her leaving one day because of her soulmate.
She knew it was coming but it hurts more than Hope could have imagined.
He leaves the school shortly after, she gives him a magical compas - just in case he's in trouble and needs her.
Life moves on after that, Hope focuses on her schoolwork and the friendship she's been slowly building with both Josie and Lizzie.
The days pass slowly, and not even the Malivore monsters are enough to take Hope's mind of things.
She slips up witht the Necromancer, forgets to hide the mark on her wrist and the monster sees it.
He just looks at her like he knows something she doesn't, a wide smirk on his face that sends chills down her spine.
She makes a mistake and gets locked in the Necromancer's mind, surronded with never ending darkness. She sobs and begs him to let her go, he giggles but ends up letting her leave.
As he dissapears he chuckles at her and makes a comment she's unsure how to take.
"You should learn more about the darkness you saw in my mind while you have time. Your soulmate is certainly very familiar with it."
And with that he is gone, leaving behind a highly confused Hope.
The compass she gave Landon starts glowing that night, and Hope pushes the Necromancer's words to the back of her mind.
She tries to sneak out and gets caught by headmaster Saltzman, getting herself stuck on a very akward car ride as she tries to understand why she's growing more and more nervous the closer they get to Seylah's house.
— ღ
She instantly notices him as they park in front of the house, her eyes wide for a split second before she masks her reaction.
He doesn't speak to her that day but she knows, can feel their bond as they're finally close to each other.
She stand there, quiet and unsure, her face betraying nothing of the panic going inside of her mind. Alaric is saying something but she can't quite hear what, only reacting when he physically guides her towards the car.
Alaric looks at her strangely but she barely notices it as they drive off, her gaze lingering on the man she is certain is her soulmate until he's out of sight.
She learns his name shortly after that - Ryan Clarke.
He's a triad agent and Hope freezes in the spot, her eyes filled with tears she refuses to let fall.
"It's Hope, actually."
She speaks to him for the first time and notices how he looks at her in shock, his gaze falling to his wrist for a split second - where his own soul mark must be.