A Twist Through Time (A TVDU fic)

Chapter 36

Inside the motel room, Landon took a seat on the couch and sighed, trying to think about what could have happened. He knew Hope and knew that she would try to make the right choice to walk away, no matter how much it hurt her. But he also knew that her family was alive here and Hope likely would have spoken with her father before she forced herself to leave. Maybe even spent a little time with him.

The thought gnawed at him. If only he could track Klaus down himself. But with Josie watching his every move, it wasn't that simple. She had already made her feelings clear. She didn't approve of him running off to chase ghosts or anyone else from this timeline, and he wasn't in the mood to fight her on it. Not tonight, anyway.

Landon sighed deeply, running a hand over his face a bit as he tried to process everything. Hope had been forced to disappear because of a time travel spell-one that she didn't choose but was  thrust upon her by dark Josie. Now, he, Lizzie, and Josie were tangled in the same mess, stuck in a time decades before their own, trying to figure out how to find her and bring her back.

Josie sat cross-legged on the bed, flipping through the spell book that had been with her when they traveled back in time.  "We're running out of ways to find her"  she murmured, her brows furrowed as she traced her finger down a page. They had already tried a couple of spells. But without anything personal of Hope's or a family member,  the remaining options were dangerous, leaning into dark magic Josie wasn't willing to touch. Not again. Not after last time. "And if we're really back in this timeline, we have to be careful. The last thing we need is to accidentally mess something up."

Lizzie rolled her eyes from her spot on the bed. "Right, because we haven't already messed everything up just by being here.  Honestly, can't believe this is our life now-chasing Hope through time like we're in some second-rate sci-fi movie. Weren't the monsters bad enough? We don't even get to go exploring and spending time with our mom because we're worried about messing things up. This so isn't as fun as it could be."

"Can you not?" Josie shot back, glaring at her sister. "This isn't a joke. If we don't find Hope and figure out how to get back, we could be stuck here. Forever. And it will be my fault. All of it."

"You were consumed by dark magic" Landon said. " It wasn't your fault"

"He's right. You weren't yourself. You were a hot topic Josie-mort. And now you're back to the same Josie we all know and love" Lizzie pointed out.

"I'm pretty sure most of the students at the school would disagree" Josie said.

"Well, they're not here, are they?"

"It's getting late. Maybe we should rest and head out in the morning?" Josie said after a moment, still feeling the guilt weighing down on her about what she had done, suffocating her. She hated the idea of doing any magic at all right now, which was why she had been more than happy to direct Lizzie on doing the spells rather than doing them herself. "None of us have gotten much sleep lately while trying to figure out how to get her back, and we aren't going to solve anything by being exhausted. We aren't going to find Hope, who probably isn't anywhere near Mystic Falls by this point"

Lizzie nodded. "And in the morning, we can try to use the Hobbit to try to track Hope down."

"Do you think that will work?" Landon asked.

"No, but we need to do something. And if we can't approach the Mikaelsons, then you're the best we've got. Considering how close you two are"

The twins fell asleep quickly, their exhaustion from days of worry finally catching up with them. Landon stayed on the couch for a while, staring at the cracked ceiling and listening to the muffled sounds of passing cars outside. His thoughts raced-about Hope, about the Mikaelsons, about how much of this felt like it was on him to fix. Finally, he made up his mind. Moving as quietly as he could, Landon slipped off the couch and grabbed his jacket. He glanced at the twins to make sure they were still asleep before tiptoeing to the door. The hinges creaked softly as he opened it, and he froze, holding his breath until he was sure neither Josie nor Lizzie had stirred.