Chapter 1

Stefan lay on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. He lay there, in only his striped cotton pajama pants, and thought about loss. He and his friends had lost so many people lately, and today is another day to honor his dead - one of many, but by far the most important.

Today, he thought. Today was the day she died, all those years ago. His breath hitched with the beginnings of a sob, and he breathed deeply to calm himself. Stefan couldn't afford a lapse in his control. He needed to keep his emotions in check so he wouldn't hurt anyone. But he couldn't stop the memories that overtook him. His little sister, dead before her life had really begun. He remembered her last moments...

Gabrielle was lying weakly on her bed, in her most comfortable nightgown. She had been sick for months now, and we all knew her time was approaching quickly. Her breathing was shallow, her chest barely rising and falling. She blinked slowly, as if her eyelids were too heavy to lift. Still, she looked up at me, looked deeply into my eyes. She had a very serious expression on her face. I looked into her eyes and read the defeat there, and the apology. So, today was the day she had chosen to give up fighting this sickness and die. I felt tears begin to form in my eyes. She turned away from my sorrow, and looked to Damon. She held her hands out, one for me, the other for Damon, and I held her hand tightly. I looked over at Damon and saw he had her hand trapped in between both of his, tears in the corners of his eyes. I could feel my own tears sliding down my face, but I made no move to stop them. I vowed then and there to never forget her last request – that Damon and I take care of each other and stop our fighting – and keep it with my whole heart. We both nodded when she asked it of us, adverse to the idea of denying her last wish. She gave a content sigh, smiled one last smile, and told Damon and I that she loved us. Then the lights went out of her eyes, and Gabrielle Salvatore was no more.

He remembered holding her hand until it was cold and stiff. She had only been 15 years old. She had been so young, so full of life… He pulled himself out of his memories. He couldn't bear to remember anymore, it was too painful. So Stefan quickly rose from his reclining position on his bed and got dressed before he was again sucked into the past. Once he was respectable, he headed for the door, ready for what he had been dreading. He paused at his shelf of journals, running his fingertips over their spines. So many thoughts, so many tragedies and joyful moments resided in these journals of his. He felt the familiar urge to write, to write until his fingers fell off, to try to get over this gut wrenching pain. He sank down into the hard backed chair near his door and scrubbed at his face, leaving his head in his hands. Why am I so sad? He thought to himself. Elle would have died eventually, long before Damon or I, and she didn't stand a chance against the fever. So why does it hurt so much?

Gabrielle was walking to the terminal she would be flying out from, looking at the flight board to see how much time she had left before her flight began to board. She heaved a relieved sigh. Her flight to Richmond was few hours late, giving her plenty of time to think over the insane snap decision she had made. So she walked over to the gate and settled into a chair, arranging her things around her in an overly neat way. How Damon would have laughed. He preferred chaos to organization, and he used to tease her about her lack of appreciation for chaos mercilessly. She smiled in memory, and then let herself became lost in her turbulent thoughts.

Gabrielle couldn't forget her former life, the life she had led so long ago. Jumbled memories whizzed past her eyelids. She remembered days spent playing with her brothers, running in the forest behind their home and playing games. It had been a life of joy and love, a life of actually living - a life so unlike the one she was living now. She frowned. Her life was a harsh life now, a life of anguish and death. Although, considering what terrible things she had done, she should really refer to it as an existence, not a life. Her existence was one in which she takes away life from people who deserve it. Gabrielle had become a killer, someone cold-blooded and merciless, someone who never needed protection. She smiled tightly, thinking of her overprotective brothers, Stefan and Damon, and how they try to anyway. Then she sighed. She missed them, missed them every minute of every day, missed them so much it hurt. Well, she thought. Soon enough, that hurt will stop.

Long ago, when she had discovered Stefan and Damon had been turned, she realized she couldn't just abandon her remaining family, couldn't just let them think she had died. She hadn't had the courage to go home before now. But now… after all of this killing… she couldn't stand it anymore. She couldn't stand to watch the light leave people's eyes because of her. She finally had the courage to face the music she had avoided for 148 years. She had to go home, go back to Mystic Falls, if only for some much-needed closure.

"Stefan?" Damon knocked on my door, opening it when I didn't respond.

"I can't do this," I whispered, my head still in my hands. I heard Damon sigh heavily next to me.

"I know," he said. He slid down the wall next to me. "Even after all this time, thinking about Ga-" Damon choked on her name. I looked over at him to see his devastated face. His eyes me mine and he continued after a deep breath. "Thinking about her hurts, as it should. She was our little sister, Stefan, and she died." He paused for a moment, and then said softly, "She died, and she isn't coming back. We have to do this, Stefan, to remember her, to honor her." Stefan nodded, and got up from his seat, holding a hand out to Damon. Damon took it and allowed Stefan to pull him up. Then they went downstairs and got into one of their many cars, off to a very old cemetery.

A/N: Review please! I know everyone says this, but I really do want to know what you think so... if you would be so kind as to review my humble work, I would be ecstatic. Thanks for reading!