It had been two months.
Two months since Ken’s death.
Caroline was running the school, and Alaric had left town.
Hope found herself alone once again.
Alone in a place where people either hated her or were terrified of her.
Others admired her, some envied her.
Very few truly loved her.
They weren’t wrong.
She felt even more isolated than when everyone had learned her true identity.
Lizzie was absorbed in her romance.
After everything she had been through, she deserved a little peace.
Josie was in Europe.
Her family was…
complicated.
Hope understood why.
It was too painful for them to look at her without seeing the losses tied to her existence.
It was fine.
She had forgiven them.
Her Landon was dead.
She felt the loss less now that she had been able to say goodbye to him.
But the pain—the pain remained.
Sometimes it felt like a torture she deserved, for all the losses she had caused.
She would never forget their last conversation.
Two months earlier.
They were sitting side by side.
Hope had just watched a message from her father from the afterlife.
She wiped away her tears when Landon struck another blow to her heart.
“You know this is the last time we’ll see each other, right?”
“I figured as much,” Hope whispered, squeezing the hand of her former love as if that touch alone could keep him close to her.
“As the Ferryman, it’s my duty to maintain the balance between the world of the living and the dead.
Seeing you…
puts all of that at risk.”
Hope gave him a sad smile.
“So that’s it…
I’m immortal, and I probably won’t see you again for a very long time.
Assuming some new enemy doesn’t come up with another way to kill me.
Killing the Tribrid is always in style,” she finished with a trace of humor, even though the tears in her eyes told a very different story.
Landon pulled her into his arms then.
“You know, Hope, ever since I became the Ferryman, I’ve learned a lot of things.
Did you know soulmates really exist?
I was surprised too.
I once met a couple, and I had never seen anything more beautiful.
The thread connecting them was something no one could ever break.
I watched the souls passing through my domain.
Every single one had that thread—that thread crying out for its other half to join it.
Usually there was only one, and in very rare cases, several” he said in wonder.
“Why are you telling me all this, Landon?
I already lost you!
Are you trying to twist the knife even deeper?” she cried out.
Landon gently placed his hand against her cheek and looked into her eyes.
“Oh, Hope…
I can see your soul.
I can see that bond screaming and crying out in loneliness.
It wants to be completed.
I can assure you, I have never seen a bond so desperate to be reunited with its other half.
But Hope, it isn’t connected to me.
I’m not your soulmate.
We loved each other passionately, but this love will surpass everything you’ve ever known.
One day—one day you’ll understand.”
“That’s a cruel joke.
But let’s pretend I believe you for one minute.
Why would I ever want to give someone that much power over me?
I’ve already lost enough people.
I’m tired of this cycle of love, loss, and pain.
I refuse to go through that again,” she said coldly.
Yet in her eyes, Landon could see her silently begging him to be wrong, begging him to say he had made a mistake.
“You’ll understand someday, Hope.
And maybe then you’ll forgive me.
I know you—you’ll run from these feelings like the plague.
I can’t let you do that.”
Suddenly, Hope froze.
She was paralyzed.
She looked at him as though she had been betrayed.
“This is my final gift to you, Hope Andrea Mikaelson, firstborn of the Mikaelsons, daughter of the Original Hybrid Klaus Mikaelson and the wolf queen Hayley Marshall, granddaughter of the Original Witch—witch, werewolf, vampire, Tribrid.
Through this gift, you will gain the ability to recognize your soulmate instantly.
At first sight, you will be consumed by love and desire.
Kiss your soulmate, and your feelings will become bound together.
Make love to them, and your souls will be bound, the bond completed.
On that day, my gift will fully reveal itself,” he said before pressing a kiss to her forehead.
At that instant, Hope screamed.
It felt as though she had been thrown into a volcano.
Her heart felt close to exploding, and the ground trembled beneath the force of her magic.
It was as if every single cell in her body had caught fire.
Worse than her first transformation.
By the time it ended, it felt as though hours had passed.
She tried to move again, but failed.
“Landon, what did you do?!” she shouted furiously.
Stepping away from her, Landon looked at her with sadness, but also determination.
“Your journey is only just beginning, Hope.
Goodbye” he said before disappearing.
Present
Hope had never figured out exactly what he had done.
She had searched through the library for anything related to soulmates, but found nothing that wasn’t pure fiction.
The matter was pushed aside when, three days later, the divine spear—the only weapon capable of killing her—vanished before her eyes just as she had decided to send it to Josie.
Since that day, she hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Every part of her sensed that something was coming, and that she would be powerless to stop it.
It felt like living with the Sword of Damocles hanging above her head.
Yet she was certain of one thing: she would not die from it.
But she would lose something precious.
Because the moment the spear disappeared, she understood that no red oak would ever grow again.
Nature would never allow the existence of a true immortal, and one way or another, it would claim what it was owed.
With the certainty that her time was limited, she spent the following months putting her affairs in order.
Her father and uncle had left her a considerable fortune.
Taking ten million dollars to be given to the school after her departure hadn’t even touched a tenth of her inheritance.
People could say whatever they wanted about the Mikaelsons, but they were never foolish when it came to managing their wealth.
Her aunt Freya had once given her a lesson.
She had called it “Being Rich and Staying Rich 101.” Hope had only been eleven at the time.
One thing she knew for certain was that paper money would be useless wherever she was going.
So her solution had been to convert her fortune into gold, precious gems, and rare metals.
It was only thanks to countless acts of compulsion that she hadn’t ended up with the government knocking on her door.
Besides, over the centuries, her family had accumulated countless priceless artifacts.
Once she was finished, another problem arose: how was she supposed to carry all of it?
It took her a week to find a solution.
She created a dimension that would open for her alone.
Inside it, she could store anything she wanted to take with her.
It had only taken her a few hours to create an ink that would never fade.
The tattoo artist would never remember her.
She had bound her new dimension to a tattoo on her right shoulder.
It was her family’s crest.
She then began gathering grimoires.
She took them from her family’s vaults and copied the books from the library.
Every action she took felt guided, as though some part of her already knew what she would need.
Next, she decided to write letters to her family and friends.
But all her plans unraveled when she found Lizzie standing in her room, the envelope bearing her name already opened in her hands.
“Hope, what’s going on?”
Hope sighed.
“You weren’t supposed to get that letter before I left.”
Lizzie’s eyes widened.
“This is—this is a fucking goodbye letter, Mikaelson!” she shouted before rereading part of it.
“We’ve had our ups and downs—mostly downs—but you eventually became my best friend.”
“Hope…”
“What’s happening?”
Hope looked at her before nervously running a hand through her hair.
“The spear disappeared.
I know it sounds crazy, but I know no one took it.
It was like it dissolved right in front of me.
The red oak will never return.
I can feel it—it’s like I have this certainty that I’m truly immortal in this world.”
“That’s impossible…” Lizzie whispered.
“And even if you are immortal, why are you saying goodbye?”
“This world can’t accept true immortals.
It’s pushing me away.
Ever since the spear disappeared, it’s like there’s been a countdown in my head.
I don’t know where I’ll go, but I know this world is going to cast me out, whether I want it to or not.”
As the reality of the situation finally hit her, tears streamed endlessly down her face.
She didn’t even realize when Lizzie pulled her into a hug.
She fell asleep before she noticed.
When she woke up, her Aunt Freya was sitting beside her.
“We need to talk, Hope.”
AN: It has been translated from French using AI.
It would have taken me far too long to translate it myself, and I prefer publishing in English.
I hope you’ll enjoy the story!