everything i wanted

It had been almost a year since Hayden had been taken from Beacon Hills and brought to Mystic Falls and her life had been completely turned upside down during that time. She had felt different when she had woken up in the woods on the outskirts of town and straight away she had found a way to call her sister, certain that Val would be worried sick about her. As it turned out she had been right, neither of them had known who had taken her from Beacon Hills or why but after that day in the library with Liam it had become clear to Hayden that she was no longer human. She had been turned into something else, something that she hadn’t even known had existed before that day, and ever since then Liam and Scott had been doing their best to help her adjust to what she had become. She’d had help from some of the other members of the pack too, a pack that she still felt like an outsider with despite Liam’s protests that she belonged with them. She was a freak, a crazy science experiment that had made her a chimera rather than a true werewolf like Liam or Scott, and that made her different. Or at least it had done until the week before anyway. She hadn’t had all of the traits that the true werewolves in the pack had and that was something that had been weighing heavily on her. She hadn’t healed the way that they did and she had nearly lost her life because of it.

Scott had tried telling her that it didn’t matter, that there was still a place for her among his pack if she had wanted it, but she had been reluctant to accept it because she had felt like nothing more than a liability. Over the course of the last year she and Liam had been growing closer and she had managed to get to know Scott and some of the others in the pack as well but they were Liam’s family, not hers, and the truth was that she hadn’t been quite sure how she would fit into it. Thankfully they had all been patient with her, they had seemed happy to take things at her speed rather than the other way around, and for that she was truly grateful. Even Val had been understanding about her disappearance and Hayden had told her as much of the truth as she could without telling her everything about what she had become but she was starting to think that sooner or later she was going to have to come clean to her sister completely even if it was only to make sure that she was as safe as she could be while they were in Mystic Falls.

There wasn’t long left at school and if Hayden was honest she was looking forward to being able to start a new chapter by heading to college. She already had her sights set on Whitmore and it was made even better by the fact that Liam was considering going there too. There were still a few more weeks to get through first though so she knew that she had to keep focused until the end of the school year. The week before she and Liam had headed to Whitmore on an open day so they could take a look around and get a feel for the school and she had ended up being attacked by someone who had wanted to claim the bounty on her head. She could have easily let the memory of what had happened ruin her life but thanks to Scott giving her the bite she had survived and now she was a proper werewolf she truly felt like she belonged with the pack. Her last class of the day had come to an end and Hayden headed to her locker so that she could stash the books she no longer needed and head home. She had a shift at the Grill later but until then her time was her own. No sooner had she opened her locker and started unloading her books than a boy started talking and Hayden closed her locker before slinging her back over her shoulder once more. “Yeah, I am,” she said, turning to look at the boy before doing a double take. He looked so much like Jasper that it was enough to make her heart ache but even with everything that she now knew about the supernatural world she knew that there wasn’t anyone that would have sought to bring him back from the dead, let alone that he would look the same age as her if they had. “Sorry, you look a lot like someone I used to know,” she admitted, her cheeks flushing red as she realised that she was staring. Even the boy’s eyes were the same but she knew that this couldn’t be Jas, he had died along with their parents a long time ago. “Can I help you?”

JASPER ROMERO

High school was coming to an end and Hayden was looking forward to heading to college but she was a little nervous about it at the same time. No matter what happened she hoped that she would have Liam, Scott and the others right there with her, though, and even if she didn’t she knew that she wasn’t completely helpless. She’d had to learn how to stand on her own two feet after losing the rest of her family and she’d had to learn how to support herself since Val’s wages weren’t enough to cover the bills, Hayden’s anti-rejection medication and everything else. Hayden liked to think that she had become a strong, independent individual but she would be lying if she said that there weren’t still times when she found herself wondering what life might have been like if her parents and Jaz had survived. She knew that things would have been so much easier and she wouldn’t have spent the last few years feeling like a part of her was missing. Jasper wasn’t just her brother, he was her twin and the two of them had always shared a connection that could never be replaced. That was something that Hayden had found herself missing more and more often lately especially in the lead up to some milestone moments like prom and graduation and just the thought of him not being there was enough to make her heart ache.

Naturally she did her best not to let the others see any sign of weakness in her, though, but as her gaze came to rest on the boy that had spoken to her she had to do a double take. He looked so much like Jaz that it was spooky and she got the impression that there was something that he wanted to tell her but the next words out of his mouth were to ask if they had Bio together. “I think so. You have Miss Smith, right?” she asked, pretty sure that they were in the same class. As he held out his hand Hayden reached forward to shake it before hesitating as he gave his name. Hayden’s eyes widened in surprise at that and she looked at him stunned for a moment before letting her hand fall to her side without shaking his. “That’s not possible. My brother died years ago the same day that I lost my parents, I saw his body,” she said, shaking her head. She knew that Erica had managed to find her way back from the Other Side but Jaz was different. He was human when he’d died and she wasn’t sure that there was any coming back from that for people who were human. Her head was telling her that there was no way that it could be him even as her heart pleaded with her to accept that what she was seeing was real, to let him in, and in that moment she had no idea which one to trust.

JASPER ROMERO

Hayden had often found herself thinking back to the day that her whole world had fallen apart. She had always thought that her parents would be there to watch her grow up, to help her get ready for prom and be there to interrogate her boyfriend before they left. She had always thought that Jasper would be there right alongside her on her graduation day. There were so many things that they should have been there for but that chance had been taken from them a long time ago. Her grandparents had stepped in to look after her for a while before they too died and now Val was the only family that she had left. Hayden had always looked up to Val and even though things weren’t easy for the two of them they were doing their best to make it work. It was easier now that Hayden no longer had to worry about her anti-rejection medication since the bite had solved that problem for her but she was still working hard only this time the money was able to go towards the other bills they had to pay rather than all of her money going on her medication. Val had been doing her best but her wages weren’t enough to cover that as well so Hayden had been trying to pay for that herself ever since her transplant.

She didn’t just have Val that she could count on any longer, she had Liam, Scott, Nolan and other friends around her too. She had just wanted to get through the end of the school year in peace so that she could go to prom with Liam and the two of them could graduate together but now this boy was telling her that he was her brother. Only the people who had known her back in Beacon Hills knew about Jaz and this boy wasn’t one of them. He was so familiar to her that it was enough to make her heart ache and she so desperately wanted what he was saying to be the truth but for such a long time after that day the sight of Jaz lying in the morgue had haunted her and it was an image that she just couldn’t seem to shake now. “That’s not possible” Hayden said with a shake of her head. She had learned the hard way over the last year that just about anything was possible but this seemed too good to be true and she couldn’t stand to let herself believe it only to end up losing her twin again. “They? Who are they?” she asked, her eyes involuntarily changing colour at his words. She knew what he was talking about, he somehow seemed to know that she was different and she knew that she wouldn’t be surprised if the same was true of him too.

JASPER ROMERO

Hayden felt like lately she was just counting down the days until graduation. Had things not gone the way they had done then she would have been on track to graduate a year early but in the end she had decided that she would be much better off taking her time and graduating with her friends when she was ready. Graduation was still fast approaching and she was looking forward to the memories that she and Liam were going to make together, not only did they have graduation coming up but they also had prom as well and that was something that she couldn’t wait for. Dressing up wasn’t something that she did very often nor did she get to see Liam dressed up very often either and she wasn’t sure when she would do so again so she knew that she wanted to make the most of it while she had the chance.

There was still time left before that, though, and she just wanted to make it through the rest of her time at school in one piece. She had thought that she knew what to expect but bumping into someone who claimed to be the twin brother she had lost years ago wasn’t something that she had ever thought would end up happening. She wanted to believe him, words couldn’t even begin to describe just how much she wanted it to be true, but she still couldn’t shake the memory of Jasper lying on the gurney in the morgue. He had died and no matter how much she wanted to believe that it was him she wasn’t sure that she could risk her heart getting broken like that again. Hayden was about to speak when he reached forward and took her hand, giving it a squeeze the way he had so many times when they were younger. “Jasper?” she asked, her eyes shining with tears that threatened to spill over her lashes. She knew that this could be a trick but she hadn’t told anyone in Mystic Falls about Jasper, the only people who knew were the ones she had known back in Beacon Hills and she knew that they wouldn’t have told anyone. “You’re a werecreature too,” she breathed, knowing that that was most likely what the colour of his eyes meant. “I’ve never heard of them, who are they?”

JASPER ROMERO

Hayden had seen Jasper briefly around the school but each time she had thought that perhaps her eyes were playing tricks on her. She had felt so certain that Jasper had died that day just like their parents and yet here he was standing before her now. It was enough to make Hayden’s head spin to say the least. He had been gone for such a long time and there was so much that he had missed out on, she didn’t even know if he knew what had happened to their parents or grandparents and she wasn’t entirely sure how to tell him. Everything had fallen apart after their parents died, Hayden had been sent to live with their grandparents while Val was away at school but after they died too the only person that Hayden had had left was her older sister. How she would react to the fact that Jasper was still alive after all Hayden wasn’t sure but she had told Val about the supernatural so with any luck it would make some sense to her anyway.

Jasper squeezing her hand was enough to have Hayden pulling him into a hug. “I thought I’d lost you,” she breathed, the tears rolling silently down her face as she held onto him tightly for a moment before letting him go. Seeing the colour of his eyes change was enough to surprise her but what surprised her even more was that he seemed to know what she was too. “How do you know that?” she asked, studying him carefully for a moment. “I turned into a wolf with each full moon but I didn’t have all of the same abilities as the proper werewolves I know so we knew I was different, we just didn’t know in what way,” she explained. “Whatever mix I was I’m not anymore, I have a friend who is an Alpha and he bit me so I’m a proper werewolf now,” she added, knowing that she didn’t want to go into the details about how it had happened after a guy had tried to kill her so that he could collect the bounty that was on her head just yet. As he explained what the Dread Doctors had done to him, Hayden couldn’t deny that she was shocked. “Jas, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” His death had been faked but she hadn’t known it back then and she couldn’t help but feel like perhaps she should have done. They were twins and they had always been close but seeing Jasper’s body had made her believe the lie. As he apologised and explained why he hadn’t contacted her before, Hayden shook her head. “It’s ok, you did it to protect me,” she said gently. “Are you still with them now?” she asked, knowing that if he was then they would have to find a way to change that.

JASPER ROMERO

It had taken Hayden a long time to move on from what had happened the day most of her family died. She had lost her parents and her twin but what had confused her was the fact that she’d always had a feeling that Jasper was still out there somewhere just out of reach. She had seen his body with her own eyes so she had known that it just had to be her grief talking but that feeling hadn’t faded as the years had gone on. The two of them had always been close and they had always looked out for each other. In the past she had always known when something was wrong with Jasper but she had known that there was no way that he could still be out there. In the end she had learned how to ignore that feeling but now it looked like it had been right all along. Now Jasper was with her once more and she couldn’t deny that it felt surreal but as she pulled him into a hug she knew that if this was a dream then she didn’t want to wake up. Their grandparents had died not long after they’d lost their parents and Val’s biological dad had died as well so for such a long time they’d only had each other but now Jasper was back where he belonged and she knew that she wasn’t going to let him go again.

“Why are they doing this?” Hayden asked, not sure if Jasper could shed any light on their motives. A couple of Scott’s friends had found a book about the Dread Doctors that had given some background on them but Hayden still wasn’t sure who they were or why they were still messing with the lives of so many different people so long after they first started experimenting on people. A lot of lives had been changed because of them and it wasn’t always for the better. Hayden was happy before they went after her but all of this had helped her become the person that she believed she was meant to be and it had also brought her back to Liam. Not everyone was that lucky, though, and her heart really did go out to those people. She was fortunate that she’d had Liam and Scott around to help her and the truth was that without the two of them she really wasn’t sure what she would have done. As Jasper questioned what she had said, Hayden nodded. “I knew there was a chance it might not work but I would have died otherwise,” she explained. “His name is Scott McCall. He used to go here but he graduated and now he goes to Whitmore.” She knew that Scott liked keeping what he was to himself but Jasper was her twin and she knew that she didn’t want there to be any secrets between them.

As Jasper said that she had nothing to be sorry for, Hayden shook her head. “I always had a feeling that you were still alive but I saw your body with mom and dad’s so I thought I was imaging it. I should have trusted it and looked for you,” she said, regretting the fact that she hadn’t done that now. “Not just them, Grandma and Grandpa died a few years later too. It has been just me and Val for a long time,” she explained. She still felt guilty that Val had dropped out of college to look after her but the two of them had become closer than ever and they looked out for each other now. As he said that he was no longer with the Dread Doctors, Hayden couldn’t deny that she was relieved. “I’m glad,” she admitted, knowing that the last thing she wanted was for something to happen to him now that he was finally back in her life. “Where are you staying?” she asked. She knew that it might be a bit much to expect him to move in with her and Val straight away but more than anything right now she wanted to have both of her siblings under one roof as soon as possible.

JASPER ROMERO

Hayden couldn’t believe that this was actually happening. So many times over the years she had wondered what it would be like if Jasper was still around, what it would be like to still have her twin in her life, but even just thinking about that had pained her. The two of them had always had a connection and it had been that way from the day they were born. That was why she had needed to see it for herself when she was told that Jasper had died because she had known that she wouldn’t believe it until she saw it with her own eyes. Even then she hadn’t wanted to believe that it was true because a part of her had felt like he was still alive out there somewhere but in the end she had been left with no choice but to come to terms with it. Her whole world had come crashing down the day that her parents and Jasper died and their grandparents had followed not long after. Ever since then it had just been her and Val and more than anything right now Hayden wanted to call her sister and tell her that Jas was still alive after all but she knew that they were going to have to find a way to explain it to her. She knew about the supernatural world because Hayden had been honest with her after she was experimented on by the Dread Doctors so she knew that Val would understand but the truth was that Hayden didn’t understand it herself quite yet so she knew that she needed to get her head around it first.

“There were two of you?” Hayden asked, starting to feel herself becoming angrier by the minute. It wasn’t just Jasper’s life that had been turned upside down by those monsters, there was another as well. “What did they make you do?” she asked. She wasn’t entirely sure that she wanted to know the answer to that question but she knew that she had to hear it, she needed to know what Jasper had been through during the years that they had been apart. As Jasper spoke again, Hayden shook her head. “I’m not. I always had a feeling like you were still out there somewhere even though I knew it couldn’t be true. I started to think I was going mad,” she admitted. She hadn’t told anyone about that feeling because she had known what they would think. They would think that she had been through too much trauma between losing all of her family aside from Val and almost dying while she was waiting for a kidney transplant. They would think that everything that she had been through had made her lose her mind and Hayden had known that she couldn’t put that burden on anyone else, not even her sister. That was the one thing that she hadn’t told Val even though she had been honest about everything else but she knew deep down that she had done the right thing. “It doesn’t matter now anyway, you’re here and we’re not going to let you go again,” Hayden assured him, knowing that Val would feel the same. It had been just the two of them for such a long time and she knew that her sister was going to be just as pleased to see Jas again as she was. As Jasper apologised, Hayden shook her head. “It’s ok,” she said, taking his hand in hers and giving it a gentle squeeze. “It was peaceful, they passed away together in their sleep,” she explained. She had always felt glad that neither of them had had to know what it was like to have to live without the other and she still felt that way now. “Once school is over we’ll grab your things and then you’re coming to live with us. No arguments,” Hayden said, knowing that that was probably something they all needed or she did at least.

JASPER ROMERO