Hope had been running from the dumb blonde stereotypes since she was ten and said people exhale oxygen and inhale carbon dioxide.
Simon still brings it up once a month and she hates it, now she's standing in the Institute, water dripping off her dirty blonde hair as she takes in the scenery and she misses the teasing.
"You're wearing clothes, what a refreshing pace." Someone stood next to her. For a while she didn't say anything, watched the birds fly past the window, all of them eager to be reunited with one another.
"What did we do to deserve the honour of your presence? Come to suck the lives out of your children?" Hope turned to her and Maryse gave Hope her version of a smile, worn out but still beautiful.
"I thought you were the Sanderson sister." Hope wanted to smile, she could feel her muscles try to push up, form into a smile but nothing happens. Her face is dull.
"I heard what happened with Jace." Maryse spoke when she knew Hope wasn't going to respond. Hope looks away, another person who knows she's a monster.
Like father, like daughter.
Maryse doesn't have to say it but it's written on her face. "I didn't want to hurt him. I care about your son. Your children have become my second family." Maryse rested a hand on Hope's arm. She flinched at the touch.
"Niña de verano, your eyes are tired." When Hope got used to the touch, Maryse rested a hand on her cheek, brushing the soft blonde streeks from her face. Hope rested her face against the woman's hand, closed her eyes.
"My mom passed away eight years ago today." When Hope shut her eyes tightly enough, she could picture her mum with her mum.
For almost a decade, on this very day, Hope Mikaelson, Hope Andrea, Hope Marshall or whatever you want to call her, would wake up screaming. This morning when she woke up it was peaceful, for the first time it was peaceful before she remembered the events of the previous night.
"I have something for you." Hope's eyes shot open. "Okay." Maryse removed something from her purse. Hope watched as she put a picture, there were two kids in it. One of them had a pasta strainer on their head, the other one had spaghetti in their hair.
She recognised one of the kids immediately because the one covered in pasta is her. Baby Hope was giddy with delight and was shoving a handful of pasta in her mouth, another hand in her friend's mouth.
"What is this?" She held the picture closer to be able to recognise the other kid in the picture. The boy with the messy black hair that stuck out of the strainer.
"That's you and Alec twenty years ago." Hope furrowed her brows, her and Alec were so small, still in diapers and kind of adorable. But she didn't understand how they were in the same room.
"No matter what Hayley and I did, you two were always so messy." Maryse laughed, Hope turned the picture and she immediately recognised the handwriting.
Hope and Alec
2003
"How is this possible?"
"I told you I knew your parents."
"I didn't know we knew each other." Hope spoke as Maryse took another picture from her bag. In this one she was holding a baby in her small arms, kissing the girl with the thin hair's cheek.
"We had to cut contact a while after Izzy was born and the war between the Shadowhunters and the Shadow world began."
"I have to show this to Izzy, is she around here?" Hope held one picture in her hand and Maryse told her she could keep them. She tells Hope where to find her kids before she leaves.
Hope finds Alec with Izzy and a very strange blonde in a suit who pauses when she sees Hope. The younger blond takes the chance and puts the pictures in her back pocket.
"Hope this is Lydia, she's taking over the Institute temporarily." Alec clears his throat, the woman looks Hope up and down. "That's nice." Hope ignores her, turns to Alec. "I read Maryse's report, she claims you're an ally." The woman speaks and Hope nods.
"I'll have to make sure of that myself. Come to my office in an hour." The woman takes her leave and Hope just watches her. "I'm not a fan." Izzy speaks, turning her head to Hope. "Jealous of all the time she'll be spending with Hope." Alec bumps his shoulder into hers. His phone goes off.
"By the Angel." Alec spoke before either of the girls. He showed them his phone, pictures of monsters torn up on his screen. "It has to be Valentine. Those are forsaken, right?" Hope asked, she had learnt a few things from Max.
"We have to go, where is it?" Izzy asked.
"The Jade Wolf." Alec answers.
"I'm not going anywhere near the Jade Wolf. You can take your new boss." Hope told Alec, he doesn't ask any questions. "We can help Jace and the girls." Izzy turned to Hope as the tugged on the jacket she stole from someone.
"I'm not in the mood to hold anyone's hand through something right now, maybe I'll find another way to give meaning to my useless existence." Hope smiled, Izzy and Alec didn't. Her emotions had clouded her judgement, like an endless fog. She was missing the key rule of being a Shadowhunter.
"What are you talking about?" Izzy furrowed her brows, Hope nodded. "Alec should go and I should get back to bed." Hope walked away. She needed to compose herself. She went into her room, slammed the door shut and she could barely make it to her bed when she fell to the floor, curling herself into a ball, her head on her arms.
She was tired, her body and heart entirely bruised from wounds that didn't even exist. Pain wasn't her thing, she wasn't used to the ache. Not even thirty minutes went by as she layed on her bedroom when the door opened. It was Izzy, she laughed it off.
"I just came for my steele." Izzy pointed the item on Hope's bedside table, she had slept over in Hope's bed again. It had become tradition for them. When she picked it up, she didn't leave, she sat down next to Hope.
"Did you know that the Institute has a photobooth?" Hope rested her head on the girl's lap, her blonde hair stretched out on Izzy's lap like a cloud of gold. She brushed the girl's hair out of her face.
"It does?" Hope's eyes seemed to light up a little. "I have a few minutes where I don't have work so let's put on some lipgloss and take a million pictures." Izzy pulled pink lipgloss from her pocket, helped Hope sit up.
"Why does a place like this have a photobooth?" Izzy put her finger on Hope's chin, used it to raise the girl's face. She tells Hope to open her mouth slightly and she does. "We begged our parents when we were kids." Izzy explained, applying lipgloss to Hope's bottom lip, she moves closer and uses her thumb to remove the excess. Hope held her breath.
"Did you know we knew each other when we were little?" Hope asked, removing the pictures from her back pocket. Izzy took them from her, "Rub your lips together." She tells the girl as she holds the picture between her fingers.
"Is that me?" She looked at the picture as Hope watched her, "We look very different in these." Hope comments as Izzy smiles, warmly and prefusely. "Now we can make more memories together." Izzy helped Hope to her feet as they made their way down the hallways.
"We have to recreate the picture of Alec with the strainer on his head." Hope laughed, holding out the second picture to Izzy as they open the curtain to the booth. The space was small and Hope sat with her shoulder to the wall, Izzy's leg accidentally falling atop her thigh in an attempt to keep herself from falling out. Hope goes red.
"I remember this place being alot more spacious when I was ten." Izzy laughed as Hope searched for quarters in her pocket. The space between her and Izzy was non-existent at this point. Izzy smiled brightly ahead, and Hope turned to her, a light flashing in her face. She didn't like taking pictures but she had a sneaky suspicion she would like anything if she had to do it with Izzy.
"You're supposed to look ahead!" Izzy laughed as she turned to Hope, the light flashes again.
"Sorry!" Hope can't contain her laughter, they turn to the camera, faces pressed against one another. The light goes off.
"Let's make a funny face." Hope turns to Izzy, using her index fingers to play with Izzy's smile. The light flashes again.
"Who am I kidding, you always look beautiful. It's just something about you that can never be imperfect." Hope played with Izzy's hair. The flash went off again and again but they just sat there until their time ran out.
author's note
No one asked but here's a side by side comparison of what Hope and Alec look like standing next to each other