The Future: New Beginning

Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries as I sadly am not L. J. Smith.

AN: Set after the end of The Return: Unmasked. Elena finally decides to take the final plunge and start her future at long last.

Dear Diary,

Today I am going to be made a vampire, today I am going to make the same choice I once made years prior. It was a mistake then, and part of me feels like it's a mistake now. But I'm not a child anymore. I have grown up and I have seen. I now know what it's like to be human.

Matt is married to Jeanette now, a super bowl winner, and a father of two. Bonnie is happily married to Zander and they have three kids, or perhaps calling them pups would be more accurate. And Meredith is engaged to marry Alaric.

My little sister, Margaret, as she prefers to go by now. Well she's no longer little Maggie, the little girl who was born almost fourteen years after me is now all grown up. A mere school year away from graduating from high school.

It's been three years since I ran into Damon at the airport and we have lived. Together. We've visited the great wall of China, ate at the space needle, toured Chianti, walked through St. Basil's Cathedral, took a gondola ride, and so many other things. Together we have found bliss which is why I now know beyond all shadows of a doubt that I cannot be happy without him and I cannot imagine growing old and dying while he lives on for an eternity, as young as the day I met him.

I've reached out to Mylea and come to an agreement, though it was hard to reach it, and I truly hate it. The decision was such a final one, but I had agreed. I would be allowed to become a vampire on the conditions that my angelic abilities be stripped and that I never speak to my little sister again as well as never return to Fells Church, VA.

Someone has to continue to the guardian line, which as a vampire, I won't be able. But the deal has been set so tonight my future will begin. Tonight I will join Damon Salvatore in immortality. This time, it's not a mistake. I know it.

Elena put down the pen and laughed to herself. She'd been here before and she knew it, though those memories felt like a distant past, a lifetime ago even. In truth, it was even more than that, it was a completely different reality. One where all the old ones had been killed, as had Stefan and even her. A reality that had been averted by Elena getting a second chance at the days that initially followed meeting the two brothers.

By sending them away and choosing neither she had averted the deaths of hundreds. Including many in the town of Fells Church, hundreds of vampires, werewolves and more than one friend. Her decision had kept Meredith human, had made it so Alaric never became a hunter, and had allowed her friends the happiness they deserved.

She'd put everyone first and now, after living in the pre-developed human life that she'd been thrown into, she was gonna live for herself again. Ten years had passed that she truly didn't fully remember because they were ten years that hadn't really existed for her. It was true that, thanks to the magic of Mylea, she remembered the major things from this fake life, but there were still so many details she didn't know. Stuff still came to her as she needed it which was the most annoying sensation for her, but it was better than not ever knowing, she supposed.

She got up and headed over to her full length mirror, grabbing her brush as she went. As she looked at herself in the mirror and once again noticed the differences in her body that she still could'n't fully believe because her mind was still firmly set in her other life, she still could see the eighteen year old girl that she was locked in the body of at that time. But she'd matured now, she had more filled out hips, firmer lips, and more defined cheek bones. Also, at thirty, her once full volume hair had now thinned out some, making it look flatter, but it was still a silky platinum. She started to brush her hair as she let her mind drift.

She wondered how most of the vampires were doing that she once met. Hopefully, she'd soon be able to meet most of them again. Though she had no desire to run across Katherine ever again. She would like to visit the Dark Realm someday in this lifetime though. Which was funny, since at the time she had despised it. She closed her eyes and continued to brush her hair.

Damon stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist after flying in the window in the form of his crow. "You ready for this evening, darling?"

Her lips lifted in a graceful smile at his words. She used to be so appalled by that term of endearment from his lips, back in her past life, back when she'd actually been in love with Stefan. "I am"

"Are you sure this is what you want? There's not going to be any going back, you know." He started to kiss the side of her neck and she let her head fall to the side of its own accord.

"Yes, one lifetime, growing old while you live forever.. it isn't enough. It would never be enough." She felt his fangs scrape against her neck and she shivered in excitement, wanting the ecstasy that came from the bite.

He kissed her neck one more time before sinking his fangs in to the column of her throat and she felt the brief stabbing pain of his needle sharp fangs before the pleasure hit and she shuddered loudly - her whole body warming from the ecstasy, the brush fell to the ground from suddenly numb fingers. She remembered one point from her past life when Damon had told her that a vampire's bite was better than sex. With his fangs in her throat, she'd agree with him.

She brought her hand to her lips and started sucking on the backs of her fingers to keep from groaning out loud. He pulled his mouth away from her throat and spun her around to look at her. "Have you decided what you want to do on your last day as a human?"

"Honestly, I don't know. Anything I do now, I will soon be able to do better. Maybe go out for a meal or maybe go see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway."

Damon smirked at her words. "Haven't you seen Phantom of the Opera multiple times before?"

Elena laughed, perhaps a little too loudly, but she was still riding on the high from the pheromones that came from Damon's bite. "It never gets old. Forbidden love and all that. Besides it's a classic."

Damon rolled his eyes at her words, but finally replied, "I suppose it'll be a decent enough place to go. We can get a private box. A dark room, a quiet environment - and it has been oh so long since I've done something.. deadly in a theatre."

"I want to go to watch it, not to get massacred just at the good part."

Damon leaned forward and murmured in her ear, "I'll let you have your fun, then we'll have mine."

~ . ~ . ~

"Can we go back for seconds?" Elena asked, looking back towards the subway as if she could still see the restaurant they left about thirty minutes prior.

"Not if you want to actually see your favorite show tonight."

She scrunched her nose up in consternation for a tenth of a second before she smoothed her face out. "Oh well, probably not a good idea to be turned while stuffed."

Damon let out a funny sounding cough which meant he was choking down a laugh just as he lead her into the theatre. From there, it took them about half an hour before they were situated in the box and finally the show started. As the actors started the opening scene on the stage Damon leaned over and whispered in her ear, "I bet I can voice Erik better than he can."

Elena smacked his arm as she suppressed a laugh. "I want to watch the show."

She turned her attention back to the show but a couple minutes later Damon distracted her again, as he did every few minutes of the show. In fact, he did it about every time it got to part she liked and finally she gave up, turning her attention fully to him. "Fine. Get it done."

Damon smirked at her words in his typical self satisfied smile when he finally got what he wanted. "Watch the show."

Elena rolled her eyes as she muttered, "typical," under her breath, but turned back to watch the stage.

She didn't see Damon watching her with a small smile or when he bit his own wrist before bringing it to her mouth. She glanced at his wrist for half a second before leaning forward and locking her lips around his wrist and sucking on the blood.

He finally pulled his wrist away before standing up and stepping around behind her. "It'll only hurt for a moment... And if you remember nothing else, remember that I love you." He reached up and snapped her neck.