02. This Year Will Be Different

Asher walked in the woods, when his eyes suddenly landed on a purple goo on a fallen branch, without wasting anytime he followed the traces of the goo which led him right towards Mystic Falls High School, he entered the school and started following the trails of the goo which led him right towards the janitor's room, he used her magic to open the door, he waited a moment for someone to come out but when no one did, he took a step towards the room, someone walked over to him.

"Aren't you a little short for a janitor? It's nice to know I'm not the only one trying to hide out on the first day of school".

"I wasn't hiding" Asher stated, kind of offended anyone would think that about him, "I was looking for the principal's office".

"Well, you're in luck, I'm new to but I'm pretty sure that's him right behind him".

"Hi", after hearing the familiar voice of his former headmaster, Asher immediately turned around and his eyes went wide seeing Alaric walking over to him, "I'm principal Saltzman", Alaric looked at Asher and immediately a confused expression formed on his face, "Who are you?".

***

Hope entered her dorm room and immediately she was confused seeing her two best friends doing yoga.

"What the hell is happening here?" an extremely confused Hope asked.

"What does it look like, Hope?" Nova asked.

"We're doing yoga" Mia informed.

"I thought you both hated yoga" Hope remembered.

"We do" Mia said.

"We did" Nova corrected, "But since Alec and Mia can't use the ascendant to find more about the merge, both of them have agreed to stop worrying about that and instead focus on the present".

"What does that have to do with you two doing yoga?" Hope wondered.

"Nova doesn't trust us to keep to our word so she's making us do different activities that would keep us distracted" Mia revealed.

Nova looked at Hope, "Smart, right?".

"Very" an amused Hope said.

"Thank you" a smug Nova said, "This semester is the semester that both Mia and Alec are going to be open to any and every opportunity that comes their way, this is the semester that all these two say is yes, no is no longer part of their dictionary".

"Yeah, you might be able to get Mia on board but good luck getting Alec to say yes to anything" Hope said.

Nova shrugged, "Something tells me Alec will listen to me".

Mia looked at Nova in confusion, "Why's that?".

"Because I have very persuasive eyes" Nova lied, not knowing how to tell her best friends the change in her and Alec's relationship.

***

Alec entered the common room and immediately his eyes landed on Nova who was talking to a witch, the moment her eyes landed on Alec, a huge smile formed on Nova's face and she excused herself from the witch and walked over to the Salvatore boy, "Hey stranger".

"Stranger?" an amused Alec asked.

"Well ever since Mia came back you have been kind of avoiding me" Nova pointed out.

Alec let out a guilty sigh, "I'm sorry about that, I just didn't want to put you in an awkward situation".

"I understand" Nova assured, "That's the only reason I'm not mad at you, I know this new development is confusing for us so we should take time to figure it ourselves before telling everyone else, right?".

"Right" Alec whispered, a smile forming on his face seeing how well Nova understood him.

"But we're still doing dinner tonight, right?" Nova asked, "Or do you want to reschedule?".

"Absolutely not" Alec quickly said, making an amused Nova raise her eyebrows at him, "I've been waiting a long time for our first date Nova, there's no way I'm rescheduling it, I'm actually really excited for it".

Nova smiled at Alec, "I'm really excited for it as well" she admitted, making Alec smile, "Hey so did you manage to get your class schedule?".

"Not yet" a sheepish Alec said.

Nova chuckled, "Yeah, I figured that would be the case so I picked up your schedule for you", Nova took out a paper from her school bag, "Here you go".

"You're a life save, Nova St.John" a grateful Alec said, taking his schedule from Nova's hands.

"I know" Nova teased, "I have to go now, see you at assembly".

"Absolutely" Alec said.

Nova gave Alec a smile before turning to leave, but before walking away, she turned around again and quickly placed a kiss on Alec's cheek before running away, leaving behind a stunned Alec, who brought his hand to his cheek and unknowingly a smile formed on his face.

***

Hope, Mia, Jayden, Nova and Alec sat together at assembly, listening to their new headmaster Professor Vardemus.

"This school had a difficult year" Professor Vardemus said, addressing the whole student body of the Salvatore School, "There were monsters, and triad, and frankly the headmaster you trusted to keep you safe, ended up putting you in more danger, but this year will be different, it's high time this place ran with a little discipline and order, I expect you to work harder than ever before, to be rigorous, to push yourselves, to be perfect, because I believe every one of you is extraordinary, the students in this room have the power to literally change the world, too much is given, much is required, and I am requiring to be better then humans ever could, because the day is coming when we will step out of these shadows when you will no longer hide yourselves because the future is", Vardemus tapped his cane on to the ground cause a blue light to float across the room, he then let go his cane that stood there without any support, "Supernatural".

Everyone started clapping after hearing Vardemus's speech, all expect the five friends who exchanged worried looks between them, something told them that this professor wanted to undo everything their parents built and that didn't sit well with the five most powerful creatures of the school.

"To that end, I would like to award our Salvatore medal of freedom to the student who single handedly defeated malivore, Mr. Landon Kirby" Professor Vardemus announced.

As a shocked and slightly overwhelmed Landon walked up to the podium, a furious Jayden turned to his friends, "Landon didn't single handedly defeat malivore, my sister was involved in it as well".

"We don't know that" Hope retorted, "I don't remember anything that happened that night".

"Neither does Landon" an equally furious Alec pointed out, "But he gets a medal and you get nothing, how's that fair?".

"Guys, let it go" Hope said, "It's not that big of a deal".

"But it is Hope" Nova stated, "We have done so much for the people in this school and we've never received a medal, and Landon does something that even he doesn't even remember doing and all of a sudden he's the hero of our school? How's that fair?".

"Isn't it obvious?" Mia asked, "We come from a long line of villains Nova, no one wants us to be a hero, no one in this school really wants to admit how much we've done for them".

"Bloody assholes" Jayden said, glaring at Landon who the new headmaster was helping wear the medal.

"Dickheads" Alec added.

"All of them" Nova said.

"Agreed" Mia said, while Hope simply shook her head at her friends.

***

"You are a blank slate Mr. Asher Connor", Alaric looked at Asher after reading his last name, "Connor? Any relation to the Connor family that used to live here?".

"Not at all, Connor is a pretty common last name, I think every town has at least one Connor there" Asher lied.

Alaric nodded his head, but it was clear he was suspicious of the boy infront of him, "Parents, Darren and Alia" Alaric said, continuing reading Asher's enrolment form, "No transcripts from your last school".

"We move around a lot, my family has never stayed in one town for more then three months so I'm guessing my transcripts got lost somewhere in the move" Asher said.

"Mh-mm" Alaric said, "Well, if you are going to be here in Mystic Falls, you're going to have to go to school".

"Why do you think I'm here then?" Asher asked, rolling his eyes in slight annoyance.

Alaric took a moment to observe Asher and for a moment he was taken back, when he looked at Asher he felt like he was seeing a mixture of Aria and Damon looking back at him, Alaric's chain of thought was broken when the bell rang.

"I guess that's my que to leave" Asher said, standing up from his seat.

"You know, I've got three daughters" Alaric said, stopping Asher from walking away, Asher looked at Alaric when he mentioned his three daughters, "My younger two manage to get away with lying to me,  but whenever my oldest used to lie to me, I always used to know, you have the same tell as her, so if there's anything going wrong at home, you know if you're in any trouble and you need to talk, just know I'm here to help".

Asher nodded his head in appreciation, he turned to leave but stopped and faced Alaric again, "You used past tense to describe your oldest daughter, is she no longer with you?".

Alaric shook his head, "She died six years ago".

"Do you miss her?" a curious Asher asked.

A sad look formed on Alaric's face, "More then anyone will ever know".

"I miss my mom too" Asher whispered, making Alaric look at him.

"Your mom's dead?" Alaric asked.

"Yeah" Asher confirmed before walking out the office, afraid if he stayed any longer he would end up telling Alaric everything.

***

Asher barged into the boys toilet, he stood infront of the sinks and tried to take deep breaths to calm his racing heart down, he couldn't believe the luck he had, here he was trying to avoid his family and friends, knowing the moment he came infront of them he would lose him, and all of a sudden Alaric pops up infront, him and Alaric might not be as close as Alaric and his mom, but deep down the two did care for each other, and Asher also knew if Alaric was here, it wasn't going to be long before the rest show their faces, he wondered how long it would take him before he ended up spilling his guts to them, begging them to remember him again, to take him home.

***

After calming himself down, Asher decided to distract himself by looking for the monster he was following, he started searching the school grounds again, while searching he ended up in the boys locker room.

"God, it stinks in here" a disgusted Asher complained, as he walked further into the locker room to see any sign of a purple goo, his eyes went wide when he finally saw what he was looking for, however before Asher could walk over to investigate, someone placed their hand on his shoulder, immediately causing Asher to slap that person's slap away, and without even looking at who it was he bent down and kicked the person's feet causing them to fall to the ground, however the moment he went to punch his face, he stopped because he realised he had just attacked Alaric.

"Okay, seriously, who are you?" an out of breath Alaric asked.

Alaric let out an annoyed sigh, not knowing how he was going to get himself out of this one, Asher grabbed Alaric's hand and helped him stand, "I'm a vampire hunter" he lied to the new principle, "And when I was coming here I came across a creature".

"What kind of creature?" Alaric asked, the look on his face clearly telling that he didn't believe a word Asher had just said.

"I have no idea what the creature is called, all I know is that thing was big enough to flip over a bus" Asher informed, "It's ugly, big, green and smells horrible, actually now that I think about it, I think it might be a troll, oh and did I mention that thing is hiding somewhere inside the school?".

"And how do you know that?" Alaric asked.

"Because before it ran away, I ended up getting a stab it" Asher revealed, pointing to the purple goo on the floor, "That's the creature's blood, I've been following it, from what I've gathered so far is this creature hides during the day, so I have till sunset to find it and pierce something through his heart before the creature decides to go on a rampage in Mystic Falls".

"Listen, you're not doing anything, okay?" Alaric said, "You're just a kid, if there is a monster in my school, I'm gonna take care of it".

"This isn't your school" Asher snapped, making Alaric look at him, wondering how he knew that, "I mean, this school belongs to the students, not you, and no offense, I've been after this creature for over a week and I still haven't managed to kill it, how are you going to kill the thing?".

"If you are a vampire hunter then I'm sure you've heard of Alaric Saltzman" Alaric bragged, "Yeah, I know what I'm doing".

"You can't do this alone" Asher stated, "You're gonna need my help".

"I've put kids in danger before" Alaric said, just as the bell started ringing, "And I'm not going to make that mistake again", Alaric's attention went towards the door when he saw a bunch of boys coming in, "Ah yes of course, we would love for you to try for the team, all are welcome, but certainly, in the meantime just go to class and stay there".

Once Alaric walked away, Asher went to follow when the boy he met in the morning walked over to him, "So you going out for kicker or are you stalking me?".

Asher let out a scoff, "Stalking you? Please I have standards" he said before walking out the locker room.

***

"How does the existence of dragons, and dryads, and phoenix's change what we know about magical biology?" Professor Vardemus asked the class. "It could be the discovery of a lifetime--".

Jayden let out an annoyed sigh, "Is it bad to say that I miss Ric?" he whispered to his girlfriend who was sitting beside.

Before Mia could say anything, Jed, who was sitting on the table beside them spoke up, "Yes, he tried to kill us".

Mia glared at Jed, "Ric didn't try to kill us genius, don't speak about things you have no clue about".

"Mia" Jayden warned, "Let it go".

"Seriously?" Mia asked her boyfriend, "I let it go? Unbelievable".

Mia turned back to the front while Jayden let out an annoyed sigh, recently it seemed like anything and everything made Mia angry, he tried to find the cause of it but he couldn't as even Mia didn't know why she was so angry, why was so she was so anxious all the time.

Suddenly both Mia and Jayden's eyes landed on Jayden's notebook where all of a sudden a drawing of Jayden started to appear, immediately Mia looked towards the front of the classroom where she saw a witch looking at Jayden with a smile on her face before turning back to her drawing, Mia quickly grabbed Jayden's hand and before he could stop her, she siphoned some magic from him.

"Wait Mia, don't--".

Mia ignored Jayden and instead muttered a spell under her breath, her spell causing the witch who drew Jayden to start having a nosebleed, once she realised she was having a nosebleed, the girl quickly rushed out of class while Jayden gave Mia an disappointed look, Mia ignored his look and went back to writing her notes, completely missing the look Professor Vardemus was sending her way.

***

"What the hell was that in class?!" an angry Jayden asked his girlfriend, as he followed her into her dorm room.

"I don't know what you're talking about" Mia said, placing her bag on the bed.

Jayden grabbed Mia's wrist and forced her to face him, "You know exactly what I'm talking about Mia, you gave that girl a nosebleed".

Mia glared at the Mikaelson boy, "Why are you arguing with me for her?" she asked, "Don't tell me one drawing and she managed to make a place for herself in your heart".

"God, are you even hearing yourself?" Jayden asked, letting go of Mia's wrist and taking a step back from her.

"Yes I am Jayden" Mia said, "And I don't think I said anything wrong".

"You've officially lost your mind" Jayden stated, "What the hell is going on with you Mia? I've never seen you like this before, this anger, this jealously, its usually reserved for me".

"You don't have a copyright on anger and jealousy Jayden" Mia snapped, "Everyone feels those emotions".

Before Jayden could say anything, Mia walked past him and out of the room, no longer wanting to continue this argument with Jayden.

***

Despite Alaric telling him to stay out of it, Asher kept tracking the troll, which eventually led him down to the basement of the school, the moment he reached there he was shocked seeing the troll throw Alaric to the floor, Asher quickly stood next to the principal, he used his magic to burst the lights on top of the troll, blinding him for a brief moment.

"Asher!" Alaric yelled, throwing Asher an arrow.

Asher quickly used his magic to make the arrow hover, he then threw it at the troll, piercing his heart, once the troll was down, Alaric turned to Asher.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and agree with your troll theory" Alaric said.

"And what about my you can't do this without me theory?" Asher teased.

Alaric shook his head at the boy before looking, "You didn't mention you were a witch".

"Girls are witches, boys are warlocks" Asher corrected, "And look, I'm not here to make any friends, I was just here to kill this monster, I'm going to be on my way now, can't have things become even more complicated".

"Um", Asher and Alaric turned around and Alaric's eyes went wide, while Asher let out a annoyed groan seeing a shocked girl standing there, looking at the troll in disbelief, "What is that?".

Asher looked at Alaric, "You can take this one" he said, making Alaric let out a sigh.

***

Asher stood in Alaric's office, watching MG compel the new girl Maya to forget what she saw.

"The sound was a busted water pipe" MG compelled, "And then Dr. Saltzman--".

"Principle Saltzman" Alaric corrected.

"My bad" MG said, "Principle Saltzman turned the water off and took care of everything".

"Wow" Maya said, "Crazy first day, huh?".

"You're telling me" Asher mumbled.

"Great, you can head back to class now" Alaric told Maya, once Maya walked out the office, MG turned to Asher.

"If you take even one step towards I'll boil all your organs" Asher threatened.

A confused MG looked at Alaric who immediately shook his head, MG turned back to Asher, "If he trusts you then so do I, by the way I don't usually do this I'm not trying to take anyone's agency or anything you know", Asher gave MG a simple nod, MG turned back to Alaric, "So I gotta jet, I got a study date with someone, it could be anybody, really".

"Well thanks for getting her so quickly" a grateful Alaric said, "I really appericate it".

"Anytime" MG assured, "You'll always be my headmaster".

Once MG walked out the office, Asher turned to Alaric, a curious look on his face, "Why did you quit your job as headmaster?".

"That's a long story" Alaric said.

"Right" Asher whispered, "Alright well I'm gonna leave now but I'll come back once school is over so we can clean out that dead troll".

"You really not faded by any of this are you?" Alaric asked.

"I was born into this world" Asher informed, "In my mind, if witches, vampires and werewolves can exist, then anything can exist".

Alaric nodded his head, "Now that I know your cover story is a lie, I'm assuming Darren and Alia aren't real?".

"No they aren't" Asher admitted, "But I didn't lie about what happened to my mom, she really is dead".

"Look, this school I used to work at, you'll be welcome there" Alaric said.

"That sounds amazing" Asher whispered, "But unfortunately I'm going to have to reject that offer, I'm just passing through town".

Asher walked towards the door but before he could reach it, Alaric called out to him, "Hey look, I don't really have access to that school resources anymore and I'm trying to give my daughters some space but if these monster attacks are starting up again, I could use the back up, I don't really have anyone else".

Asher looked at Alaric, every part of him wanted to say yes but he also knew the more time he spent with Alaric, the more weak he was going to get, "We'll see about that when the next monster shows up".

Alaric let out an amused chuckle as he watched Asher walk out his office, "Okay".

***

A frustrated and annoyed Mia entered the old mill, "God what is happening to me?" Mia wondered, "What is with this anger and frustration?! Why am I feeling like this?!", Mia started pacing back and forth but suddenly stopped when her eyes landed on a stranger, whose eyes went wide the moment he realised Mia could see him, "Who are you?".

"What is this place?" the confused stranger asked Mia.

"Uh, this is the old mill" Mia informed, "Are you a new student?".

"This is a school of some kind?".

"Yeah, it's the Salvatore school" Mia said, "It's a school for the supernatural kids, in tribute to my parents, Damon and Aria Salvatore".

"I see".

"By your questions, I'm going to assume you're not a student".

"No".

"If you're not a student, then who are you and what are you doing here?" Mia asked, suddenly on alert, wondering if this stranger was a danger to the school, but the mysterious stranger didn't say anything just stumbled on his feet, "Woah, are you okay? Do you need to sit down?".

"No", the mysterious stranger held his hand out, stopping Mia from walking closer to him, "No, I'm fine, you should keep your distance".

"Why?" Mia asked, "Afraid that I'm going to end up hurting you?".

"That's not what I'm afraid of, I'm sorry I should go".

"At least tell me your name before you leave" Mia called out.

"Sebastian".

Immediately a frown came on Mia's face hearing that name, "Your last name isn't Connor is it?".

"No, it is not" Sebastian assured.

"Thank god" Mia whispered, "I'm Mia by the way".

Sebastian gave Mia a small smile, "It's good to meet you Mia, you have a very beautiful name".

***

"There's something I want to ask" Alaric admitted, as him and Asher walked down to the Mystic Falls High basement, "When we were fighting, how did I know to throw that bolt to you?", Alaric stood walking and turned to Asher, "It was like muscle memory, we fought together before haven't we?".

"I think you've lost your mind, if we fought before you'd remember" Asher stated, trying his hardest not to crumble.

"Yeah except I live in a world where a creature named malivore can erase people from the memory" Alaric said, this time Asher stayed quiet, not knowing what lie to tell this time, "I'll take that as a yes".

"Look Ric, even if I told you what happened, you wouldn't believe me, it wouldn't change anything" Asher said, "It won't bring your memories back, for me leaving will be a lot more easier if no one knew the truth".

"Well then don't leave" Alaric said.

"The monster attacks stopped Ric" Asher snapped, "But the moment I show up things start going wrong again, the number one reason as to why I cannot stay here, if I do that I'll be putting everyone I care about in danger and I just can't do that to them, I can't be that selfish", Asher then walked away from Alaric and over to where they had killed the troll but to his shock, the troll was no longer there, the only thing remaining of him was the puddle of blood and the used arrow, "So, we might have a problem".

"So, not a troll" Alaric realised.

"You don't say" Asher said, giving Alaric an annoyed smile.

***

Asher and Alaric followed the purple goo, that lead them to the alley between the Mystic Grill.

"Okay, if this isn't a troll then what the hell is this thing?" a confused Asher asked.

"I don't know, but it's here" Alaric said, "Somewhere, question is why?".

"God knows" Asher said, "But it does have a pattern, everytime I wound it, it runs away and hides from me, so I guess I'm right about the hating daylight part".

"When the monsters came last time they were always after something" Alaric remembered, "See if we can figure out what it's looking for".

"Sounds good" Asher said, as the two walked out the alley way and into the streets of Mystic Falls.

"Ric!".

Asher and Alaric turned around and immediately huge smiles formed on their faces when they saw Mia running over to them.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" a curious Alaric asked, as he gave Mia a side hug.

"I was actually coming to you, I think there might be something wrong with me" Mia admitted.

Immediately a concerned look formed on Asher's face, "What's wrong?" he asked.

Mia looked at Asher, and for a moment she froze, she swears she had seen him before but she had no idea where, "Do I know you?".

"Uh no" Asher said, realising he couldn't ask what's wrong with his sister because she didn't even remember him, "I'm new to town".

"Right" Mia whispered, for some reason she didn't believe Asher, she felt like he wasn't new to town.

"Why do you think something's wrong with you?" Alaric asked, bringing Mia back to the conversation.

Mia went to answer when her eyes landed on the bag Alaric was holding, "Why are you holding your weapons bag?" she asked, she looked at Alaric wide eyes, "Oh my god, are you hunting something?".

"Mia--".

"You totally are!" Mia yelled, the look on Alaric's face confirming her doubt.

"Hey, keep you volume down" Asher said.

"Sorry" Mia said, giving Asher a sheepish look, in the back of her mind wondering why was she listening to Asher, but keeping the thought to the side she turned to Alaric, "If you're hunting a monster I want in".

"We're not--".

"We could use all the help we can get" Asher told Alaric, he knew he could take care of this monster alone but with the help of his sister, it would be much easier.

Alaric let out a sigh, "Fine, follow us then".

"What are we hunting?" an excited and curious Mia asked, as she followed Alaric.

"I have no idea" Alaric admitted.

"Beg your pardon?" Mia asked.

A smiling Asher went to follow his sister and former headmaster, but stopped in his step once his eyes landed on the town square where he saw Hope walking with Landon, the smile that formed after seeing his sister immediately went away after seeing Hope with Landon.

***

After Landon left and the sun had set, Hope sat on a bench at the town square, listening to music and sketching in her sketch book, completely missing the troll that was behind her, just as the troll was about to attack the oblivious Mikaelson, Mia appeared and used the magic she siphoned from Asher to throw the troll to the ground, Asher then jumped over his sister and punched the troll in the face but the troll quickly punched him back causing Asher to go flying to the ground, the troll marched over to Asher and help him by his neck, and just as he was about to stab him, Mia let out a banshee scream, causing the troll to let of Asher and scream in pain, Mia's scream also gained the attention of Hope.

After hearing her best friend's scream, a shocked Hope immediately took her earphones out of her ears and turned around, the sight infront of her made her eyes go wide, "Mia!".

"Feel free to join the fight, Hope!" Mia called out, as she kicked the troll in the stomach, "Could use all the help we can get".

"Coming!" Hope yelled, before rushing over the troll, "Incendia!", Hope's spell ended up catching the troll's head on fire, once the fire was out, it revealed the monster's third eye on his forehead.

"That's a cyclops!" Mia realised.

"Ric!" Asher yelled, Alaric looked at Asher and then threw his crossbow to him, Asher caught the crossbow and then shot the cyclops right on his third eye, finally managing to kill the monster.

"Is he dead?" an unsure Mia asked, as her and Hope stood on either side of Asher, but her question was answered as the monstered turned to ash.

"Definitely" Asher said.

"Great, then let's getting going" Mia said.

Once Mia had walked away, Asher turned only to come face to face with Hope who was already looking at him, a curious look on her face, "You--".

"We should get going" Asher quickly interrupted Hope, before Hope could say anything, Asher walked away from her, lying to everyone else was easy but he could never lie to Hope, every cell in his body was telling him to tell Hope who he is but he couldn't do that, he had to stay away from Hope.

***

"You truly are a professional" Mia praised, walking over to Asher.

Asher looked at Mia and a smile formed on his face, "Thanks".

"Who knew that trolls and cyclops were so similar" Mia said.

 "Right?" Asher said, "Hey so did you managed to figure out what's wrong with you?".

"It's weird, when we were fighting the troll, I felt normal, the anger, the frustration, it was gone, even now it's all gone, I think I'm gonna have to go talk to my brother about this, usually when one of us feels something the other is in the same boat" Mia said.

"Why didn't you go to your brother tonight?" a curious Asher asked.

"Because he's currently having his first date with the girl his loved since we were little children" Mia said, "I didn't want to ruin that".

"Did your brother tell you that?" a curious Asher asked, "About him loving this girl since childhood?".

"No but it's kind of obvious to everyone who has eyes, you look at two people and you just know those two are meant for each other, that's the case with Alec and Nova" Mia replied, "Anyways, I should get going, if my brother comes back and I'm not at school, he's gonna start panicking".

Asher gave Mia a nod, "Bye Mia".

"Bye Asher" Mia waved.

Asher stood there, watching his sister walk away from him, tears welled in his eyes when he realised this is probably the last time he's going to see her.

***

Asher sat on a bench at the town square, staring at the stars in the sky, "Hey", Asher turned and saw Hope making her way over to him, this time even if he wanted to Asher couldn't move away from her.

"Hey" Asher greeted.

"Nice moves out there" Hope praised.

"Thank you" Asher said, giving Hope a small smile.

"You don't look like a guy who just beat a cyclops" Hope observed.

"What does a guy who beat a cyclops look like?" Asher asked.

"Much more happier then you look" Hope said, taking a seat next to Asher.

Asher sighed, "I just have too much going on in my life to be happy about defeating a monster".

"Relatable" Hope said.

Asher looked at Hope, "You're not happy?".

"It's not that I'm not happy" Hope said, "I just--something doesn't feel right".

"How come?" a curious Asher asked.

"I'm surrounded by my family and friends yet somehow I feel a bit alone" Hope admitted, "My heart feels like it's missing a piece of itself and I don't know what to do to get it back".

"My hearts missing a piece of itself as well" Asher admitted, making Hope look at him, "The only difference is I know what to do to get it back, I just can't do it".

"Why not?" a curious Hope asked.

"Because everyone's life is better without me, her life is better without me" Asher whispered.

"People know how to put up a facade of happiness" Hope pointed out, "Who knows, the people you think are happy without you, are actually deep down suffering and that smile on their face is hiding the pain", Hope gave Asher a small smile before standing, "I should get going now, otherwise my best friend might send a search squad for me, it was nice meeting you".

"You too" Asher whispered.

After giving Asher one last smile, Hope walked away from him, the moment was out of his eye sight, an emotional Asher put his face in his hands to hide the tears that were welling in his eyes, he realised he couldn't do this, staying away from his siblings, his friends, his Hope, was too damn hard and lonely, he had to tell someone the truth otherwise he was going to lose his mind.

***

After saying goodbye to Alaric, Mia walked out the Mystic Falls High School to go back to the boarding school when her eyes suddenly landed on Asher, still sitting on the bench at the town square.

"You okay?" a worried Mia asked, as she walked over to Asher, who looked like he was in a lot of pain.

Asher looked at his sister with teary eyes, "Not really".

"Wanna talk about it?" Mia asked, taking a seat next to her Asher.

"I'm not so sure you'll believe me" a terrified Asher admitted, his biggest fear was that when he told people the truth they would think he was lying.

"You'll never know until you tell me" Mia pointed out.

Asher took a deep breath, "My name isn't Asher Connor, it's Asher Salvatore".

Mia looked at Asher wide eyed, "You're related to me and Alec?".

"I'm Damon and Aria's oldest son" Asher revealed, "You and Alec aren't twins Mia, we're triplets".

Mia shook her head and stood up from her seat, "No, that's not possible, I would remember my brother".

"I jumped into malivore" Asher informed.

"Malivore doesn't effect me and my brother" Mia argued.

"Before jumping in I asked Alec to do a spell that would wipe your and his memories" Asher admitted.

"Alec would never do that" Mia stated.

"I kind of left him no choice" Asher said, "I know you don't believe me Mia, I don't blame you, I wouldn't believe me either but the whole world has forgotten me, and I'm so lost, usually when I feel like this I always go to you and Alec but you two don't remember me and now I don't know what to do next".

A shocked Mia sat back on the bench and took a moment to think about everything, "Ever since malivore was destroyed, Alec's been feeling extremely restless, he keeps feeling like his missing someone, and me, I've been having these weird bursts of anger, now I realise they weren't random, me and Alec were acting like this because we were missing you, our older brother".

Asher looked at Mia, an hopeful look on his face, "You believe me?".

Mia looked at Asher, "I do, I don't know what we do next, but whatever it is, it's going to be together, as siblings, as a family".

"As a family" a grateful Asher whispered, really glad that Mia believed him and that he was no longer alone.

***

Presenting 2x02 of Broken Hearted!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Asher meeting Alaric at Mystic Falls High?

Thoughts on Mia meeting Sebastian?

Thoughts on Mia feeling like she knows Asher from before?

Thoughts on Asher coming clean to Mia about who he really is?