Chapter Text
Three years. It had been three years since Josie graduated from the Salvatore school and skipped town without a word to her family or friends. At the time it felt like the right thing to do and when she really forced herself to stop and rationalize her actions it still was. But that didn’t make it any easier.
Now here she was the day before their twenty first birthday walking down the streets of New Orleans with a mismatched group of friends she’d made while attending a small college in Georgia. They had insisted on going on this trip to celebrate her twenty first birthday, but they could tell something was off with her.
They were close, but not close enough to know anything about her past or what was coming on her next birthday.
So she stayed quiet and pretended to enjoy herself as they followed some wild haired French quarter witch as she led them through the streets spewing tourist trap nonsense.
The city was loud and beautiful and was doing a great job of blocking out all of the loud and annoying thoughts that always come along with their birthday. So as her friends placed a flask in her hand, she shoved all of her nagging thoughts about the merge and all the guilt she felt for abandoning her twin out of her mind and focused on the burning liquid.
She zoned back into the tour guide as they reached the gates of Lafayette cemetery. Unlike most of the other places they had been shown on their supernatural tour of the French quarter this place oozed magic. She could practically feel it on her skin.
The witch leading them went on and on about graves and ancestors and ceremonies. Josie herself had never been one for ancestral magic, maybe because of her crazy ancestors, but after not practicing magic for nearly three years she was being overwhelmed by the amount of magic overloading her system.
The above ground cemetery sprawled around them like a city of bones and Josie wondered just how many witches were buried here. They wandered in deeper until tombs were all they could see as the guide rambled on and on. Everyone else in the group was enthralled with what she had to say but something about knowing that this woman was lying through her teeth about the lifestyle Josie had found herself missing recently set her off.
“Wow aren’t y’all in for a treat today,” she announces chipperly, motioning to a figure that Josie hadn’t noticed standing with her back faced to the group and all too familiar auburn hair.
Josie's heart lodged in her throat as she realized exactly who she was. Of course, she knew that Hope lived here and that there was a possibility of running into her but she never imagined it would actually happen. She sucked in air through her nose as she turned around and grinned at the tour guide, they obviously knew each other. In one hand she was holding individually wrapped flowers and with the other she offered a small wave to the tourists before she locked eyes with Josie.
She froze, but someone who didn’t know her would never have been able to tell because her smile never faltered. “This here is one of our very own French quarter witches and if you ask her very nicely she might answer some of your questions.” Hope’s shoulders tensed but she played along.
Josie found that she couldn’t take her eyes off of her old friend. It was like she was a window into her old life, a life of magic and monsters and a high school that definitely should have been shut down for child endangerment.
Hands shot up throughout the group, even some of her friends had their hands up. Hope donned a tight lipped smile before calling on a teenager at the front of the group. “What’s the scariest part of being a witch?”
“Well…” Hope started,” like most groups there are some people that take things to the extreme and practice dangerous dark magic and I think they are the scariest.”
Beside her, her friend took a shot out of the flask before heckling back at her, “ what like evil witches? What do they sacrifice children?” Josie rolled her eyes, he sounded far too pleased with himself.
The knot in her stomach started to untie as she watched a smirk spread across Hope’s lips. There was the girl she knew. “Well they’ve tried but as far as I know they’ve never succeeded.”
“How would you know?” He shot back.
Hope’s impossibly blue eyes shifted around like she was scanning the area to make sure no one was listening, before she answered, “ cause I’m not that easy to kill.” If Josie didn’t know better she would have laughed.
But sadly she did know better. She knew about Hope’s tragic past, some of it at least and it definitely wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities that the French quarter witches could have tried to kill her.
The guide cleared her throat loudly, then laughed off the answer and ushered the group forward. Josie however, stayed rooted to the spot. Hope’s attention was now fully on her and she remembered just how easy it was to fall under the spell of those eyes.
She released a shaky breath before breaking the silence, “ was that little show for me?” She asked, trying to go for light and airy. Sadly however, she caught the attention of her friends who had been walking away and now they were intently watching the stare down between the two girls.
“If I’m going to have my personal time interrupted by those tours I might as well have some fun with it right. “Hope took a step closer and for a second Josie thought she was going to hug her and she wouldn’t have stopped her if they hadn’t been cut off.
“Josie, do you know this girl?” One of her friends cut in.
She blinked and forced herself to turn away from the tribrid. “Um yeah,” she stuttered, “ we went to high school together.”
“Josie’s kinda hard to forget, “ Hope smirked. It was weird seeing her like this. She was calmer here than she ever was in Mystic Falls, this was her home and Josie could tell just how comfortable she was. “The prodigal daughter.”
Hope twirled one of the flowers between her fingers, before Josie’s friend cut in, “ You know the creepy witch lady,” he commented, his words already slurring even though it was eleven am. He definitely was a mean drunk.
Hope’s chin jut out dangerously, it was a look Josie knew all too well. She was one step away from having glowing eyes. “I didn’t say a word that wasn’t true,” she growled.
Josie stepped in between them, she knew Hope could easily take him down but she also knew that she wouldn’t attack unless provoked, sadly she didn’t trust him not to provoke her. “ I believe you,” she answered and just like that Hope’s attention was back on her.
Her eyes softened, it was the kind of look you gave someone when you were sharing a secret. She extended an arm to her, handing her a flower and grinned. Josie fought to repress one herself and failed, “ Happy birthday Jo.”
“A flower meant for a dead person, how touching,” she joked, pulling the flower to her nose for a quick smell, to hide her every growing grin.
the sun glinted off of Hope’s hair and she suddenly found it hard to breath,” well the girl who that flower was meant for isn’t dead anymore so I think she’ll manage, “ she laughed. The group shuffled behind them, obviously picking up on whatever was going on between them. Even though Josie herself wasn’t quite sure what was going on between them.
“My birthday isn’t until tomorrow,” she pointed out.
“Well I’m not sure if I’m going to see you tomorrow,” she answered, “ You’ve been off the grid for three years now and you didn’t even tell me you were coming to town.”
O k point made.
All that well placed guilt came flooding back in.
Her cheeks burned as she averted her gaze. For the first time since she’d seen her Hope faltered. Somehow seeing the all powerful tribrid step back and drop her confident facade was so much worse than her ever presence cocky grin. “You better hurry up or you’ll lose the group.” She said motioning down the path where the tour group disappeared.
Josie felt a familiar hand on her arm leading her away, but she didn’t turn her back until they rounded a corner and Hope was out of sight. Somehow the carefully crafted world she had created for herself at college and with her new friends far away from her family and the impending merge had come crashing down. All it took was a five minute interaction with Hope.
She always imagined it would be Lizzie, her parents or even MG coming to knock some sense into her and get her to come home, somehow Hope hadn’t even crossed her mind.
She was so stupid to count a Mikaelson out of the running, especially Hope. She’d had a soft spot for her ever since they were kids and even after all these years it was still there. A little chink in her well constructed armor.
She’d planned and prepared for her family’s reaction to her leaving and for inevitable return at twenty two, and she thought she could handle it, but all it took was one well placed comment from Hope to send her spiraling all over again.