prologue

She refused to believe it.

Hope Mikaelson had grown up alongside most of her family - even though there were some instances where they had been separated because of life-threatening threats. But after a few tumultuous years, they had gotten rid of most of their enemies and were happy to just live the rest of their eternal lives in serenity.

When gods, aliens and superheroes somehow became the norm, her family decided to stay in New Orleans once and for all. She should have known something was awry when they sold their houses in New York and in all major cities. She should have noticed her father's tense shoulders whenever she mentioned her hero worship of Toni Stark, an icon for feminists everywhere. She was one of the richest people on Earth, easily one of the smartest and dedicated her life to saving people. What was there not to like ?

Now that she was aware of the truth, the pieces of the puzzle made sense. Her whole life finally made sense.

She had been bullied because of her father, of course, being Klaus Mikaelson's daughters came with dangerous and petty enemies. She was used to ignoring their snarky remarks - after all, she was stronger and smarter than most of them. No one had been able to explain her level of intellect : she was their little genius, and there was that.

But she was a legacy of genius' : from Howard Stark who had revolutionized the weapon industry and Toni (her mother, oh her mother) who had gone above and beyond to show the world that a woman could do just as much as any man, if not more.

Hope wanted to hate her for the years she had missed, but how could she when Mikael was the culprit ?

The "Infinity Stones'' had shown them a brief memory of their encounter : an unsuspecting (and very young) Toni Stark walking around New Orleans before being interrupted by her grandfather. Instead of just killing her, he decided to lock every memory she had of Hope in her subconscious. She was aware of her daughter's existence but could not share it with any living soul - every attempt to join her had resulted in her biological mother losing consciousness.

Hope could have accepted this recounting of events - blame everything on Mikael and just console her father who finally learned why his other half completely disregarded him without so much as an explanation. Oh how he must have hated her after seeing the tabloids and the rumors circulating around her love life - it was surprising that the Klaus Mikaelson had spared a life.

It seemed like Mikael and Klaus had more in common than they thought.

But no, because Hayley Marshall had decided to get involved and to conspire with the great enemy. If he "got rid of" Toni and sent her away, she would raise Hope without the stench of Klaus's influence and would dissuade her from choosing an immortal life.

And now, the Stones were informing them of her death and offering them a chance to help her. They even offered a personal insight into her life so they could understand her more and to bring allies so they can prepare themselves for the final fight.

Knowing her mother had laid down her life for the Universe, for trillions of lives throughout the cosmos really made her see everything in a different light.

She knew she should not make this choice without Toni's consent, but she was...dead and she had never met her. She had a mother out there who had done amazing deeds and who had been unable to see her own flesh and blood because of other people's greed.

Hope Mikaelson closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking at the colored halos around her.

"Bring those allies. And please...inform them of everything", said the brunette. "I don't think I would be able to."

After a few hours of patient waiting, they were joined by the Avengers, Howard and Maria Stark (both were in tears and were looking at her with clear fondness), a teenager (oh, he looks cute), her mother's best friends (who hugged her as soon as they saw her) and an android (her brother apparently ?).

Before they could say anything, the first movie started.