this year will be different

The day had gone by, Ethan leaving to go home, whilst I stayed in town. The grass was warm, almost comforting as I laid in it. I stare up at the sky, not really wanting to be involved with the rest of the world. My bright red headphones blasted in my ears as I studied the constellations.

I felt the ground shake under me, my headphones falling out of my ears as I sit up. The troll from before stomping right towards me.

"Lena, run!" I hear a familiar voice shout. I turn my head to see Hope and Dr. Saltzman running over. The monster reaches down for me, my eyes wide. "Icaeus!" She yells. The monster, which must not be a troll, growls as it tumbles backwards. I stumble to my feet, getting my distance as Hope leaps into the air, punching the creature in the face. "Ica-" It lifts her up by her head, causing her to be unable to speak.

The monster lifts up its other hand, when Dr. Saltzman fires an arrow right into its palm.The monster drops Hope, and Alaric rushes forwards. He scrambled to reload his crossbow, but the creature tosses him to the side.

"Oh, crap." I mumble as he walks over. I take a jump into the air, almost as if I'm flying as I send a powerful punch into its face.

Hope stumbles to her feet, and I swiftly move out of her way. "Icendia!" She shout. His head catches on fire, and the monster quickly tries to pat it out.

The hair in the creatures face singes off, revealing its singular eye. "New theory," Alaric pants. "Cyclops." Hope grabs Ric's crossbow at her feet, taking aim. I watch as the arrow flies right into the monsters eye, causing it to fall to the ground, lifeless.

Dr. Saltzman stumbles towards Hope, panting. "You think it's really, uh-"

Before he can finish, the cyclops behind to disintegrate into nothingness, ashes falling around us. "Yup." Hope chirps.

"Great," He hums, taking the crossbow. "Let's get out of here." Hope and I stand side by side, when a boy on a bench I hadn't noticed turns around.

Landon.

His eyes land on Hope, a look of confusion, but somehow recognition as he looks at the mystery girl. Then he looks at me. It's almost as if his eyes lighten up, knowing I was there.

"Lena," He breathes as he walks over slowly. Ash from the monster falls around us, "What happened?" He asks, confused.

I shrug, "Nothing." I lie. I turn to my side to see Hope walking away. I sigh defeatedly, my heart aching again. "Wanna sit and chat?"

We move back to his bench, sitting next to one another. I look around at the sky above us, stars twinkling. The smell of his milkshake to my side. "I looked for you." He says finally. I look up at him. "That night, that you disappeared, I looked through my notebook to see if anything had happened, that maybe I forgot." I watch as he flips open a small notebook, a notebook I had given him once for our birthday.

Lena Kirby.

Future me, if you're reading that name and you have no idea who it is, then our twin sister somehow ended up jumping into malivore because she's incredibly stupid. or someone shoved her in. after the past few days events, i wouldn't be surprised by either.

I thought that you should know a few things about her, so when she comes back, you will understand why you, I, we care about her so much.

At the age of 3, Lena ate our cheerios. Yes, we slapped her. At age seven, we decided you and I were the older twin, much to Lena's dismay. In freshman year of high school, Lena lost her virginity to Connor, just so he'd stop bullying you. She fought half of the football team. She protected us from Phil. She saved our ass every waking moment. She protected us.

Now that you know she's a complete badass, let's get to Lena herself. Our beautiful sister, who is definitely the more attractive twin, has long black hair that isn't actually quite black. It's a very dark brown, but you can only tell when she's out in the sun, and her hair glistens in the light. Her big brown eyes sparkle when she talks about something she loves. She doesn't have that sparkle much anymore, but if we ever get her back into writing, holy crap. She loves to sing. We definitely aren't the singers, but she is. She smiles at every goofy thing we do, and slaps us when we're stupid. She's tough, obviously. She's not afraid of what people think, and she's not afraid to call someone out. And she's definitely not afraid to fight someone.

When we were 11, Lena broke our Play Station. We hit her, and she dragged our ass to the ground. I swear, she almost broke our arm! Then, Lena suddenly promised she'd never do something like that. She always hated getting upset when people hit her. She didn't want to show fear. So, now, most of the time, she doesn't have a usual reaction. We've only REALLY hit her once, to make sure she wasn't slug drunk. If she was, she definitely would've kicked our ass.

So, our sister is a lot cooler than us, obviously. And she's everything to us. Future me, I know it's going to be weird, and confusing. But Lena is the best thing that has ever happened to us, and when she comes back to you, don't take it for granted. She loves us, a lot. And we love her, more than anything. Find her, or I'm gonna kick your ass myself. It's her and us, against the world.

I look up from the paper, tears rolling down my cheeks. Landon smiles weakly. "So, I did what I could. I tried everything, without telling too many people. But it was hard. Malivore was gone." He turns more towards me. "But now you're back, and I can't remember you." I watch as his eyes move around quickly, trying to figure out what to say. "But you're my sister. You're my other half. And I promise we will figure out a way to get everyone to remember you. And I don't want you to ever think for a second I don't love you. Because I do. It's you and I, us against the world."

I smile, "I love you, you ugly idiot." I cry as I hug him tightly.

It felt amazing to be in my brothers arms again, it felt like something was right with the world.

♞

I walk down the empty streets of Mystic Falls, slowly heading back towards a motel I have been residing at, paid by the school. "Now, what is a beautiful girl like you doing out here alone?" I turn slowly to see Ethan walking over, now wearing a grey sweatshirt.

"Just walking home." I shrug.

"You mean a creepy old motel? Why are you staying there?"

I pause, thinking quickly. "My house is being remodeled." I lie. "What about you? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" I asks.

Ethan shrugs, "I had the urge to go on a walk? clear my head a bit." I hum, nodding as we walk down the street. "I never got to ask, what happened between you and that girl?"

I look up. "Um, we dated for a while. A few months, but it felt like a lot less time." I think about Malivore. We were there for months. Months we will never get back. "But, I guess she just, didn't want me anymore." I whisper. My heart clenched at the words Hope had said to me.

"Well, she's stupid." I look up at Ethan, who's hands are in his pockets. "I don't know much about you, but from the small amount of time we've been hanging out, you're clearly the coolest, funniest, and prettiest girl in Mystic Falls." Heat crawls up my cheek as he smiles down at me.

He was so normal. So much more simple than anything I've been dealing with for the past year.

"Thanks, Ethan. It means a lot." I hum. The two of us approach my door at the motel. "This is me," I shrug.

The brunette boy pauses, shrugging off his sweatshirt. He puts it around my shoulders, "Here," He says, adjusting it slightly.

I look down at it. The sweatshirt was way too big on me. "What's this for?" I ask.

"I've stayed here before. The heating hardly works." He explains. "And the air conditioning only works on full blast." I smile, knowing hes right.

I stand on my tippy toes, pecking the boys cheek. "Goodnight, Ethan." I say softly, stepping inside my room. I lean against the door, thinking about the past few weeks.

Hope abandoned me.

My mind travels back to the way she looked at Landon, and the way he looked at her. It was the same way they looked at each other the night they got together in Kansas. My heart throbs, knowing Landon has no idea who she is, but clearly has some type of feeling towards her. While Hope, knowing exactly who he is, didn't seem to hide the shock on her face when she locked eyes with him.

I curse under my breath, before falling onto my bed.

"Hope Mikaelson, you're going to be the death of me." I groan into the mattress.