A/N: Hello! Long time no see, I have been updating the previous chapters. And I encourage you to reread the story as a lot of changes are big and plot changing. I have also deleted a lot of tropes I found myself sick of reading, like Harper having a curvy but slim body, Harper being 'not like other girls' and so on.

Just a lot of positive changes.

Please review what you think of the story!

Chapter 29 - Hero and Leander

~X~

Jules woke up groggy the morning after her turning, quickly she realized that she naked on the forest floor, with several of her pack members' dead bodies scattered around her. And the massacre of their last prey, unsuspecting campers, had been gruesome. She hadn't meant for this to happen, and she didn't even realize she was screaming before her body told her to breathe. She had no idea the might of Magnus, and the destruction it would bring to her family. She just wanted Mason back, or even had the opportunity for her pack to stay in Mystic Falls to have a proper leader.

But when night had fallen last night, and some wolves of her pack had tracked too close to the Lockwood manor, unnecessary blood had been spilt. Magnus had ripped them apart, as his huge bulking frame was much larger than most men in her pack. They were easy prey, and their minor mistake to walk on the alphas territory had been their last. Her pack had closed in with their werewolf rage and killed some campers, which Magnus hadn't appreciated.

Jules cried, she was understandably hurresical. These bodies were her friends, her family. Naked and disfigured besides limbs of the campers. She knew that the life of a werewolf was not an easy one, you fought constantly with everyone and everything. One had to fight to be alive and have enough territory to live. She just wanted guidance and her companion back. Of course she had some pretty shitty ways to get close to Tyler and pushed Mason to come back even when he said no multiple times. She needed to act fast. In her haze she remembers attacking the Salvatores, and killing other campers further into the forest.

Dressing herself quickly, she tried to find ways to destroy the campsite. But she didn't make it far, as a ranger made his way onto the site. Acting in a haste, she slumped down onto the ground next to one of her naked pack members.

"Hey!" The man made his presence clear, a hand close to his gun on his hip.

"It was an animal, a wolf… it came at us in the night" Jules said, her real tears and hoarse voice great tools to help her sell the somewhat true story.

"Are you okay?" The man asked, his face stricken with horror over the scene before him.

"Yes, but my friends.. they are all dead" With cries of distress of a maiden in peril, the ranger went to report the event without much questioning from her. As the man had his back turned away, Jules felt fueled with revenge and knew exactly who to go for to make Magnus pay. But first, poor Jerry needed to disappear.

~X~

Mystic Falls High School

Booster club barbeque

Harper and Tyler stood outside of the school entrance, many looks were thrown her way from other students and organizers. But the teenagers didn't care. Tyler felt pumped, and hungry, like he had new energy surging through him. The guy felt like he could take on the world, which both of the elder wolves back at the house explained as normal, it was only hormones regulating his body with his new instincts and powers and he would eventually go back to normal in a few days. Harper had teased him relentlessly, as it pretty much was puberty 2.0.

"I swear your voice has changed," She teased as they waited for their friends to show up. Tyler playfully hit her arm, not knowing that the flich Harper made was real. And laughed.

"Shut up," Tyler said, rolling his eyes. Eventually they saw Caroline, who got closer to them with excitement in her steps and all but threw herself at Tyler who stood there with waiting arms.

"How are you feeling?" She asked softly, her eyes filled with worry. Tyler had his arms around her, gently letting them rest on her hips. Harper felt like she wanted to puke at their cuteness, but said nothing as she looked around for Matt. It was time for them to really have a talk.

"I'm okay," Tyler huffed, "Sore. I mean every muscle aches"

"You did it, you know-" Caroline said with a glowing smile, "Your first full moon and you didn't hurt anyone"

"Tell that to Mason, he is exhausted from holding this bad boy back all night" Harper said and clapped Tylers shoulder. Tyler flinched, it was no joke that he was sore all over. The pain of breaking every bone in your body wasn't something to lightly dismiss.

"It will get easier, you will get better at it, learn to control it and it won't hurt so much.. that's what Magnus said, right?" Caroline said, trying to get Tyler's focus back onto her and her positive reinforcement rather than Harper's teasing.

"Well we don't know that for sure, apparently it's different for everybody. Magnus says he doesn't hurt at all when he turns, but I don't believe that" Tyler stated, thinking back to last night and the huge wolf that he had only caught a glimpse of.

"No but.. small victories Tyler" Caroline said, taking his hands in hers. Harper looked between them with a smile, they really deserved each other.

"Look, I really want to thank you.. I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't know that Harper was home safe with you. You are amazing" Tyler said, once again making Harper's acid reflexes act up. Gosh, both of them were just too much.

"I know I am, this grumpy pants-" Caroline started and looked at her friend for the first time. Harper was about to jump in and rebuttal the onslaught of baby speak that they were doing to her, when Matt suddenly appeared behind them.

The jock looked like a knight in shining armor, for all his grandior and splendor made Harper smile and feel happy for his arrival. Matt Donovan, for all intents and purposes, felt like a safetynet for her. He was someone she could fall back to, for better and for worse. But the lantern that guided him across the sea of trouble that surrounded her was going out by the crazy winds of her life that seemed to always mess things up for her. Now, she needed to save him before he drowned in the mess.

"Hey Harper, you got a sec?" Matt asked, knowing that this was all a ruse to get her away from the couple as she had texted him about the meetup before the barbeque even began.

Yeah.. see you guys later ok?" Harper said and waved to Caroline and Tyler, knowing that they had much more to talk about.

"I will be by the steaks" Tyler joked before Matt took Harper's hand in his and dragged her away from the others. They made it to the football field and sat down on the bleachers, no one was there as the event was organized on the other side of the school building.

"So, you said you wanted to talk? Very ominus by the way" Matt huffed, a warm wind blew by them and the beautiful day seemed perfect in a way Harper couldn't describe. She felt hard to breathe, breaking up wasn't something that Harper had ever done in her life before. Were they even a couple? A lot of different thoughts and feelings surged through her.

"I'm sorry about that.. I just-" Harper tried to form any sort of sentence, but the words just didn't seem to come out in that one perfect sentence that she wanted.

"What?" Matt's eyebrows furrowed, confused by the brunette's demeanor.

"I feel like, with everything that has happened. With me being kidnapped and with my crazy personal life and-" Harper felt like she was drowning, her mind racing on overdrive to just get the words out there. She hoped sincerely that Matt wasn't crossed out by her clammy hands.

"Harper, slow down.. breathe" Matt said, moving his hands up to her face. Trying to help Harper get a grip over herself and her breathing, which at this point had become quite erratic. Her face was flushed and sweaty, her eyes red and glossy.

"I really like you… like I really really like you" She said in a wet tone, her tears mixed with a leaking nose and a choked up throat. Harper was panicked that she would lose him forever, her only previous references for romance were movies and tv shows, in which these types of conversations always ended badly. Matt, knowing now what this conversation was all about, sighed and sagged his shoulders. He tried his best to wipe away her tears with his thumbs.

"I really like you too," Matt said, which was the honest truth. He felt defeated. "But-"

"But, that's about it," Harper said, shaking her head before leaning into Matt for comfort.

"I want to be with you" He stated, bringing her face away from his letterman jacket to meet her eyes. His forehead touching hers.

"We had a great time together" Harper said and giggled a bit, which mostly sounded awkward and gross from the tears.

"But there just-" Matt tried to explain his feelings with a clenched heart, he too felt emotional and was red in the face. He felt desperate, that if he let her go she would be forever lost to him.

"No spark" Harper filled in, and with those two words Matt too started to shed tears. He had dreaded those two words, because they were true. They had never talked about becoming a couple or taking further steps than make out sessions after his shitty shifts at the Grill. In that moment it felt like his whole world was falling apart, because he loved the moments they had.

Not wanting to respond, Matt kissed her wet lips. Harper eagerly responded, like she had done many times before. But they both knew it wasn't helping.

"Nothing?" Matt said when letting her go, his forehead pressed against hers again, to feel her as close as possible for maybe the last time.

"Nope," Harper said and bursted into more tears, her heart broken.

"I hate this, you are the only normal thing in my life right now… everything else is just stress and chaos" Matt stated, stroking her head as gently as he could to get some poor strands of hair away from her face.

"If I'm the normal thing, I'm scared of the rest," Harper said, trying to smile but failing. She knew why they needed to have this conversation, she knew she needed to shield him away from the supernatural world as much as she could, he had already lost his sister to it.

"You deserve to be happy Matt" Harper said, her shaky hands cupping his face. But her didn't respond, only kissed her once more, saying goodbye to something that could've been beautiful.