CHAPTER FOURTEEN !

HELLO, GOODBYE

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TO HER SURPRISE, WHEN ASTRID HAD SENT A TEXT TO LUKAS, telling him she was alright, he had answered straight away, despite it being nearly 2 in the morning. It wasn't a school night but still, Astrid hadn't expected him to still be up.

Lukas' response had consisted of multiple all-caps texts telling her how relieved he was and also calling her out for disappearing for a few hours and not giving any sign of life while he was worried sick. She had tried to reassure him as much as she could but, inevitably, she had decided to pass by his house on Saturday morning, after having rested enough from the night before.

Of course, she had asked him if he was awake and if she could come by. After last night, she definitely didn't want to make him more mad by showing up uninvited at his house. Walking up the alley to Lukas' house, she rang the doorbell and waited for someone to open for her.

"It's for me!" she heard Lukas yell from inside the house, followed by loud footsteps down the stairs. However, it wasn't Lukas but a short girl with dark hair who opened the door for her. "Cassie! What did I say?"

The younger girl just rolled her eyes and stared at Astrid from the bottom to the top. "You're Astrid, right?"

"Oh, huh yes, that's me. You're Lukas' younger sister, right?" she asked, a little taken aback at the girl's bluntness. She had said that with a pretty emotionless face.

As a response, the girl only nodded and opened the door wide for her to get in as Lukas was coming down the stairs behind them. She quickly left to go sit back down on the couch of the living room, seemingly losing interest in Astrid now that she had seen her.

"Hey," Lukas told her halfheartedly now that he was standing in front of her. He walked to the door to close it behind her. "My room?"

Astrid nodded silently and followed him upstairs. Seeing by the lack of enthusiasm at her being here, Astrid understood that Lukas was still upset by the event of the night before which, she conceited, was pretty understandable. Once in Lukas' room, the curly-haired boy closed the door and sat on his bed before looking at Astrid expectantly.

Astrid, on the other hand, didn't start speaking right away and the two ended up staring at each other for what felt like hours but was most probably only about fifteen seconds before Astrid cleared her throat. "So... First of all, I'd like to apologize."

Lukas crossed his arms and continued staring at her without a word, making her understand that he wasn't ready to say anything yet. She resumed. "I can't imagine how you must have felt last night after the game and I know it's not the first time I leave you alone like that but I promise it wasn't done on purpose."

Lukas raised an eyebrow with interest and perhaps a little annoyance. Astrid realized her apologies seemed pretty empty like that so she continued. Fortunately, after hearing about how Stiles had been missing after the game as well, she had developed a story to explain her 'disappearance'.

"I told you when I had to leave and I went to go pee and when I walked back to the bleachers, I ran into Stiles and some other boys from the opposite team. I don't know if you heard but he was nowhere to be found at first. Well, those boys were angry at him for running his mouth after our team won so they started to beat him up and... I tried to stop them. I ended up taking him back to his place since he was all bruised up."

God, she really didn't like having to lie to him but she really couldn't find a better excuse. She couldn't exactly tell him she had been drugged up and kidnapped by hunters who wanted her dead. Lukas had listened closely to her excuses but had yet to respond to them.

It was true that her version of the evening still didn't account for the time between the end of the game and when she had sent him a text. "And my phone was dead so I had to find a charger at Stiles' house and then Lydia came too and by the time I got my phone back it was already super late," she said all in one go. "I really am so sorry, Lukas. I'm a horrible friend, I know."

"That you are..." Lukas muttered under his breath. "I can get that you played all nice to Stiles after he got beaten up but couldn't you at least ask him to send me a text? I was worried sick yesterday! And as you said, it's not even the first time! What, so now every time we hang out at a social gathering I have to expect you to disappear at one point during the evening?"

Astrid looked at her feet awkwardly, avoiding Lukas' stare. Of course, Lukas was right. But she still wanted to protect him from the knowledge of the supernatural. She also wanted to avoid compelling him. When coming into town, she had resolved to use it as little as possible and, anyway, compelling him would just feel wrong.

"I know, again, I'm sorry but it wasn't on purpose, I swear. It won't happen again, though, you don't have to worry." The last part was probably a lie but Astrid couldn't get herself to leave Lukas staring at her like that. She didn't like to know he was mad at her, even if he was in every right to be so.

Lukas huffed loudly making Astrid lift her head to look at him. He seemed to be deep in thought, staring at something on the ceiling.

"You know you're making this pretty hard? Like, I want to be mad at you, really. What you did was pretty shitty and I was worried, again. But at the same time, I'm just glad to know you're safe, you know?" Lukas finally looked back at her and his eyes seemed to engulf a complex mix of sadness, resentment, and care.

Astrid took a tentative step towards his bed and, when Lukas didn't seem to keep her away, went to sit next to him. She grabbed his hand and for a few seconds, the two of them just stared into each other's eyes.

"I'm sorry," Astrid managed to repeat. To which Lukas just answered by pulling her closer into a hug. Astrid let out a sigh of relief. She had been really scared of what Lukas would do after the night before.

Out of everyone in Beacon Hills, Astrid felt like her and Lukas' friendship was the most pure. Of course, there was this underlining hypocrisy of letting him in the dark about her... 'condition'. But, at the same time, Lukas enjoyed her just as she was: how she behaved, what they did together, without judging any old mistakes that weren't part of her anymore.

There was some kind of relief from knowing someone like Lukas wouldn't assume anything about her, that he wouldn't instantly get scared of her if someone started bleeding. For Lukas, Astrid was just a teenage girl he liked to spend time with and she was more than fine with that.

Of course, she didn't regret being a vampire, quite the contrary. But this sense of normalcy just felt... right. As if her inner child from when she was really a teenager a thousand years ago was healing from Astrid being able to have normal friends, and do things like a real teenager. Not having to be reminded every minute of every day what was both a gift and a curse to her.

"Now, please, never do anything like that ever again. I don't want to have to pretend to be mad at you once more," Lukas told Astrid with a very serious face. All Astrid could do was chuckle.

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Now that the dust had settled, Astrid finally had time to realize their sophomore year was coming to an end. Mystic Falls had just had their graduation as well, after all.

She had to admit she was a little sad at leaving Beacon Hills for the summer, she didn't have any plans of staying home with her fake parents and it's not like there was much to do there anyway. Astrid didn't know exactly what she was going to do just yet. She had decided on paying a visit to her brothers in New Orleans to finally meet the future mother of her niece but, apart from that, all was yet to be decided.

If she felt like it, maybe she would take a trip to Europe. No matter the painful memories she had from her time in France, she had friends in other parts of the continent. Maybe she could spend a visit to this vampire couple living in a vineyard in Italy. She hadn't seen them in a while after all.

Anyway, after Kol's death, she knew it was important for her to get away from small towns like Beacon Hills and Mystic Falls for the time of the summer, at least. Not that she was particularly avoiding the people of Beacon Hills, far from it, but she needed some alone time as well. To reflect on everything that had happened since she had been woken up by the Salvatore brothers a few months ago.

After all, between their mother's revival and death, Mikael trying to kill them again and Kol's death, she only now realized she hadn't taken a real break from it all since then. So, here she was, packing some of the little clothes she had in Beacon Hills into a suitcase with an airplane for New Orleans in two days. She could always buy new clothes there anyway.

As she was folding a baby blue top, Astrid felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. She reached out for it, expecting to see a text from Isaac. She was indeed met with a message from the beta.

are you sure you want to see the house? there's not much to see anyway. the pack might still be roaming around anyway

She quickly started to type out a response for him.

already getting scared lahey? ;)

As she thought, Isaac's response came a few seconds after that under the form of a string of texts.

never

the preserve sign in 15 mins?

Astrid answered with a thumbs-up emoji and put her phone away with a smile. She still had time to fold some of the clothes left on the floor of her room before meeting Isaac. Her vampire speed was truly a life-saver if she didn't want to arrive late everywhere.

After a few more shirts and skirts folded and a quick look at the clock in her room, Astrid made her way downstairs. The weather had now heated up a little, with the beginning of summer holidays right around the corner, and she didn't need to carry a jacket anymore.

"I'm leaving!" she called out in the empty entryway before grabbing her house keys and going out the front door. She locked the door and, after checking the coast was cleared, used her vamp speed to get to the preserve sign.

Upon arriving at the sign, Astrid noticed Isaac was already there and looking at his phone. Wasn't he the one mentioning a dangerous pack possibly being nearby? Astrid tried to walk up on him, to see if he was still being careful of his surroundings. She was about to grab him from behind when he turned just in time to catch her arm.

"What were you trying to do?" he asked her with a cocky smile. Now that the threat of the kanima was over and that they had gotten closer, Isaac had completely dropped his initially shy attitude toward her. Now, they were mostly found bickering and laughing together these last few days. He was one of the few people she would really miss during those months far from Beacon Hills.

Astrid shrugged with a smug smile, pulling her arm away. "Oh, just checking your reflexes. Good job, by the way. But being on your phone like that next to the place the pack was a few weeks ago might not be the best idea, you know."

Isaac shook his head, still grinning, apparently dismissing her comment. Isaac had kept himself from mentioning the alpha pack right after Derek had shown him their symbol on the old Hale house. But, after nothing else happened, Isaac decided to tell Astrid to at least keep her updated. He still remembered how werewolf bites could be fatal for vampires and didn't want Astrid to be in danger just because he had left her in the dark.

Of course, right after he had told her everything he knew, Astrid immediately wanted to see the pack's symbol with her own eyes, telling him 'a picture was nothing'. So, here they now were.

"So, which way is it? I don't think I've ever seen the old Hale house anyway," Astrid asked Isaac while glancing around the beginning of the forest. It's not like she spent a lot of time in the forest, anyway. Apart from Lydia's birthday party last month, there hadn't been a lot of other occasions.

"It's not far from there, here, follow me," Isaac told her before entering the preserve. Astrid thought the presence of the Hale family house in the forest must have definitely raised a few eyebrows when they were still alive. She didn't know much about them apart from the fact most of them had died in a fire caused by Allison's aunt years ago and Derek and Peter were the only survivors.

"Have you had any news from Erica and Boyd?" Astrid asked once they were deep in the forest. Isaac had told her they had left after the whole kanima fiasco to try and find a new pack but had since disappeared without giving any news to their old pack. This, combined with the new arrival of an Alpha Pack had meant nothing good.

Isaac looked briefly at his feet. "No. Nothing yet..." he felt a little guilty about their disappearance. Maybe if he had agreed to come with them they would have been enough to fight off the Alpha pack. Or maybe he would have lived the same fate as them... There was still a slight chance that they had managed to get away but it seemed a bit too good to be true considering the Alpha Pack's arrival.

"That doesn't necessarily mean they are gone, you know? I know you might not believe it but there's still the option of them just wanting to get away from Beacon Hills for good?" Astrid tried to cheer him up. She, herself, had trouble believing it but she also didn't like seeing Isaac that way. She felt stupid bringing it up in the first place.

"Yeah, we'll see... Anyway, are you all packed up? Ready to leave this miserable town for a summer?" Isaac asked to change the subject. He had no prospect of moving during the summer and was most likely to spend the whole summer with Derek and he would admit being able to see Astrid from time to time would have been nice. But he could also understand how she would want to get away considering recent events such as her brother's death.

"Yep, my suitcase's ready, I'm leaving later in the evening," she told him with an almost pained smile. It was weird planning to leave the country again for so long. She was used to traveling a lot in her past years but was mostly accompanied by one of her siblings, often Kol. Here she was going to have to face being alone with her thoughts for some time. She had, of course, planned to be in contact with the people she cared for but still.

"Where are you going first, again?" Isaac asked her, even though he already knew the answer to that. She was first going to visit her siblings in New Orleans before heading to Italy and then France. After that, she hadn't anything set in stone and would let herself wander in Europe for a while longer until she was due to come back. But of course, he wasn't going to reveal that to her.

"I'm visiting my siblings in New Orleans. See what they are all up to and check if they managed to stop being at each other's throats. Then I should leave for Italy soon enough." As the two were continuing to walk across the forest, Astrid started to recognize the shape of a house behind the trees not far from them.

Suddenly, Isaac stopped in his tracks and turned to Astrid. She stopped as well, confused as to why they were not going to the house. "We'll keep in touch, right?" the beta asked shyly while brushing a curl out of his face anxiously. "So that I don't die of boredom from an entire summer spent with Derek and Peter."

Astrid smiled, of course, she had planned to keep in touch with Isaac. The only two people she had planned to talk to during the summer were actually only him and Lukas. It's not like what happened hadn't strained her relations with Scott, Stiles, or Lydia. Of course, they still talked occasionally and greeted each other in the hallway but there was always this tension between them, full of unspoken embarrassments and secrets.

"Yes, I'll write to you Isaac, rest assured." Isaac grinned widely at her response. "Now can we go see that infamous scratching? It's not like I have a flight tonight but I kind of do."

"Oh! Yeah, of course, it's this way." They both headed up the abandoned house's porch where a weird symbol held menacingly on the front door. It seemed like a triangle with three branches.

"That's what's scaring every werewolf?" she jokingly asked, "you said it was an Alpha Pack's symbol?"

"According to Derek, yes. Apparently, they come to every newly made Alphas, to ask them to join them or to destroy them I don't really know," Isaac shrugged. Derek still hadn't revealed all of his knowledge to Isaac just yet, to his disappointment. He often still felt like the poor beta that had just turned but it was different now, yet Derek and Peter still liked to make him feel like it was not enough.

"Well, I can't say I'm not happy to leave if that means I get to escape this..." Astrid said, more to herself than to Isaac. "Can you imagine?" she said, finally speaking to Isaac, "the one small town I choose..."

Isaac chuckled, "Well, no one's perfect. Maybe something lured you there. Who knows? Maybe the supernatural attracts the supernatural." When he realized what he had just said, Isaac quickly looked back at the spiral on the door, his ears reddening, hoping Astrid hadn't understood any second meaning to what he had just said.

"Yeah, maybe. It'll be nice to be left alone for the summer anyway." She turned back towards Isaac, oblivious to his embarrassment, "Well, thank you for showing it to me."

"Yeah, no problem. I guessed you would be happy to at least be kept informed of any potential danger coming to Beacon Hills." Astrid smiled, Isaac couldn't know that few things were actually dangerous or lethal to her but knowing he cared for her safety made her heart squeeze just a little.

"Well, see you in 3 months then Lahey?" she awkwardly asked, not really knowing how to part. It's not like she particularly enjoyed goodbyes, even if this wasn't forever. But to her surprise, Isaac took her into his arms to give her a hug, to which she answered once the sudden surprise passed.

He squeezed her one last time before letting go of her with a small smile. "See you in 3 months Astrid."

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【 NOTES ! 】

one entire year without updating? whoops, i must say it was a very busy year but still, i couldn't quite leave the story as it was (i'll still try to update but at least this is a better closure than the previous chapter)

i decided on a time jump because i'm feeling mazy and i don't have any real original and coherent idea to incorporate astrid in the originals just yet

but here it is! last chapter of season 2, next chapter will be during season 3 (my favorite season yeah!) hope you'll be there to read it :)

be sure to let me know what you expect of next season! lots of love :)