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She didn't understand what was going on for a solid minute.
Because she is pretty sure, in hopes of saving her friends and the world by extension from the persistent evil that went by the name Malivore Hope Andrea Mikaelson dived headfirst into a bubbling black mud pit without as much as thinking what would happen to her next.
Really.
Hope had never even considered the aftermath of her epic sacrifice.
What she did know was that there had been a high possibility she could destroy the sentient being from ever-rising and that she took it. She had figured that as soon as she gets consumed by the Malivore, all of her friends and family will forget about Hope's very existence. They would forget about what she did to keep them safe. So she knew that she had to instruct Dr. Saltzman to burn all of her school records and personal belongings in a selfless attempt to save her loved ones from their guilt and grief.
But what she didn't know was what would happen to her, about what ramifications she would need to face for doing something so brave and incredibly suicidal.
Because she, honest to god, didn't know if the Malivore were to really cease to exist, would she really be stuck in eternal darkness with it like all the other creatures it consumed, or whether she would blink out of existence and be stuck in a limbo of some sort?
But, truthfully, whatever it is she expected, Hope never foresaw a circumstance where she would crossover to the other side and meet her parents in her afterlife.
"Mom," her voice cracks, uncertainty lacing her tone. "Dad?" Hope's eyes move from him to the person at the back, "Uncle Elijah?" Her palms go to cover her mouth, trying to contain a sob that threatens to slip past her lips. Her eyes water as she takes them in. They were all here. "Is this... is this what the afterlife looks like?" she asks with a watery chuckle, feeling a little overwhelmed with an equal amount of agony and joy.
Her mother is the first to speak, confusion marring her features, "Hope?" she hints with an unsure tone.
Hope could only manage a slight bob of her head, unable to speak out as her throat's thick with the beginning of tears. It felt so surreal to her. Seeing all her dead family members standing in a place that resembled her home back in New Orleans.
Her mother steps forward, "Are you really my Hope?" She asks again as if afraid to know the truth.
A dry sob shook her. In a low voice, Hope speaks, "Yes." She blinks back the tears as a surety rises in her and lodges in her throat.
"Hayley," she hears her uncle Elijah's tone of caution, warning her mother to not take a step further. But before she realizes it, she is being taken into her mother's warm embrace as she whispers softly in her ears, "My little girl."
