I remember calling and crying and Kelting her name, until Lena finally opened the door in her purple Chinese pyjamas. Sitting on my front steps in the middle of the night. Now, sitting on hers, I told her mine. What happened after that was too painful to remember at all.

'Ethan?' Lena comes out, her eyes wide with panic as she opened the door. She's wearing purple Chinese pyjamas, the same ones she had been wearing when she confessed to me that her and her family were Casters and that she had abilities far beyond the average Mortal. 'How fitting' I think, a rare distraction from the emotions I'm feeling inside.

'What's up?' she asks, rushing out of the now open door to meet me. 'Is everything okay?'

I look up into her eyes, her wondrous eyes looking down at me with so much concern.

'No Lena. It's not' I say, as matter of factly as I can.

I didn't know if I had made my peace that I had to die in order to save the world. That isolated statement didn't impact me even a little bit compared to the realisation that I would have to leave Lena behind, again, to keep the world from tearing itself apart. The drive over had been one big blur of cataclysmic thoughts and so many other things that I couldn't even remember. But looking into her eyes in that moment, all I could do was burst into tears.

'What's happened? Please tell me you're worrying me.' She takes my hand and guides me down onto the steps and we sit down next to each other. The electricity between us as we sit so close is pulsating and is just another reminder of what I will be missing and what I will be giving up. She puts her head on my shoulder and I crumble a little more inside.

I try to start speaking but the words get stuck in my throat. I try again, but no luck. My throat has a massive lump in it.

Tell me Ethan, it's okay.

Of course she's Kelting to me. Our own form of private conversation, symbolising how close we are and how much we have shared together. I let my mind rest, just for a second. But that's all it takes to say exactly what I needed to say.

I figured out who the One Who Is Two is Lena. It's me. I'm the one who has to die for the world to fix itself, for the New Order to start.

There's silence for what seems like an eternity. I feel her lift her head off my shoulder. I can't bear to bring myself to look at her. It would break me. But I know I have to. I raise my head and lock eyes with her. She's looking at me with a tear-stained face, shaking.

'No' she whispers. 'No please Ethan. It can't be right, it can't be you'

'I'm so sorry Lena' I say, bringing her closer to me into a hug. I realise just what I'll be leaving behind. Someone who I cherish with every fibre of my being.

She starts violently sobbing and grips me harder than I've ever felt. 'The Lilum told me so. It has to be me.'

'Please no!' I hear her scream into my chest.

Not you Ethan please.

I feel a sharp wind and I look up and see dark storm clouds beginning to form. It starts pouring with rain as powerful thunder and blinding lightning begin to encircle Ravenwood.

Lena. Please.

The storm lets up with the thunder and lightning fading away, but the rain becomes a torrential downpour. Hurricane conditions started to envelop Ravenwood as Lena, whose eyes had started glowing, was obviously expelling her emotions.

She released herself from my chest and stands up. I hear her scream 'NO!' unlike I've ever heard anyone scream before. The pain, fury and sheer brokenness it displayed would break my heart every time I remembered it. It broke me completely. I fell forward, trembling in the rain. She noticed this and came to my side again. Her rage and energy were completely spent, and she just starts sobbing into me, my jumper arms becoming soaked with tears.

It's not fair.

That statement rings around in our heads, over and over again, as if it's somehow gonna change what has to be done. The Wheel of Fate crushes us all. She looked at me, her one green, one gold pupils glinting in the sun that had started to peer from behind Lena's rainclouds.

I don't know how, or when, but we manage to make it up to Lena's bedroom after her downpour stopped. Macon had come to see what the disruption was all about, and we had no choice to tell him. He wanted to research, but we told him flatly that we wanted some time alone and he allowed us that precious luxury. His face was so solemn, as if he was condemning Lena herself to die for the world to be able to reset itself. I tried to comfort her by telling her that I knew, no matter what happened, that I would always be with her and that I would try whatever I could to come back, even if I knew that was impossible. I didn't know what else to say, or what else to do. All I could think about was the time that I would lose with her. Time, what I thought we had so much of, now mattered more to me than anything else.

We lay in Lena's old iron bed, tangled together like we could never be taken apart. We couldn't touch, but we couldn't not touch. We couldn't stop staring at each other, but every time our eyes met, it only hurt more. We were exhausted, but there was no way we could sleep. There wasn't enough time to whisper all the things we needed to say. But the words themselves didn't matter. We were only thinking one thing.

I love you.

We counted the hours, the minutes, the seconds. We were running out of all of them.