Dark Paradise

The Vampire Diaries

Rating: PG

Pairing: Damon/Elena

Summary: Elena tries to deal with Damon being gone. Post Season 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Note: I chose the title from Lana Del Rey's song. If you listen to the lyrics I think it will perfectly fit where Elena will be emotionally at the beginning of season 6. When I first posted this I completely forgot about the anti-magic border thing around Mystic Falls. I have updated this to correct that. I hope you enjoy.

Are you going to love a ghost for the rest of your life?

Those words had been going around and around in her mind. It had been only two days since he went away, since he left her.

Elena pulled the shirt, his, closer to her body. Her grip on the fabric was so tight that she had white knuckles.

She was in her dorm.

Elena hadn't moved since everyone dragged her back to there.

They took turns checking on her. She always ignored them until they gave up and left her alone. Elena didn't want their sympathy, clichés, or placations. They would not help her.

She also couldn't stand to see their grief. It was like an aura that had swallowed them all whole.

They were all grieving a loss.

However, she wasn't equipped to be a supportive friend in her current state.

She was destroyed on the inside. Damon's shirt was soaking wet from her tears.

All she could think about was Damon.

Elena was trying to remember every touch, kiss, eye roll, cocky grin, and anything else that made him that guy she loved.

And man, did she love him.

Her love for Damon was like nothing she could put into words. Yet, she had wondered what their wedding vows would one day say.

Elena had been just like all the other girls her age who had played bride with her Barbie. As she grew older her feelings about the future had changed. She hadn't known what she really wanted.

With each year she grew so did her doubts about her future.

It wasn't until she met a mysterious stranger on the road that she knew. It was as if he could read her soul and hear her thoughts.

He had said aloud all the things she was too afraid to admit even to herself.

You want what everybody wants.

The words came flooding back to her.

You want a love that consumes you. You want passion, and adventure, and even a little danger.

Although she had loved others in her life, the love she felt for Damon was completely different.

It was the most real thing she had ever known, being with Damon made her envision her future for the first time in her life.

She wanted him to be her future. She saw them in the future, traveling the world, facing down whatever evil popped up, never aging, and living life the way most people only dreamed about.

Now that future was gone. Just like him. He was gone.

Elena felt like he had taken her with him because without Damon all she felt was empty.

That's why her words from long ago when Jeremy was reaching out to the ghostly figure of his lost love Anna had come back to haunt her. Jeremy had kept reaching out to a ghost so he could touch and kiss her again.

Are you going to love a ghost for the rest of your life?

That's what she had asked at the time not understanding where her brother was coming from.

Now she did. Now she was facing the rest of her life and she was in love with a ghost. What Elena wouldn't give for the chance to kiss him again.

She knew there was no moving on from Damon.

She was going to love a ghost for the rest of her life.

Thinking about that made her think of the night she confessed her feelings for him. It was the second time she had said those three words to him but there was no sire bond to make him doubt the truth of her words that second time.

Fresh tears sprang from her eyes.

She remembered the way he had walked over to her in one swift motion. He had pulled her into him and Elena felt so peaceful and so gloriously happy.

In that moment, he was just a man. She was just a woman.

They were just standing in front of a roaring fire and everything else in the universe melted away until it was the two of them left.

They were just two people, well vampires, in love.

Elena started to cry harder knowing there would be no more moments like that again.

As she was about to give into her sadness once more there was a sudden knock at the door. The knob was immediately turned as she never answered so whoever's turn it was to check on her would just walk in.

But this time was different.

Her friends usually went in shifts checking on her but this time they all came in at once with huge smiles on their faces.

It made Elena almost curious because what was there to smile about?

Stefan took the lead, "Pack your bags Elena. We are going on a trip."

Elena snorted and dismissed him with her hand, "No way."

Caroline cut in, "We are going to New Orleans to see Klaus."

Elena snorted again, "Caroline you're confused, he's your bad boy, not mine. Mine's gone or have your already forgotten? I know you always hated him."

She knew it was rude but she wasn't in the mood for anyone's company and picking a fight would make them all leave so that's what she was doing.

It was working too as Caroline glared at her but it was no secret that there was something between Caroline and Klaus or that Damon was not her favorite companion.

Caroline and Klaus's connection actually reminded Elena a lot of the way she and Damon had started but thinking like that just made things ache more inside of her.

So she stopped the train of thought.

Stefan caught the tension starting to fill the room as the two girls glared at each other so he interjected again, "No, we talked to Klaus about everything. He says there may be a way to bring Damon and Bonnie back."

Elena sat straight up, "What?"

Stefan came towards her a few steps but still was cautious and weary around her not wanting to set off any of her raging emotions.

"I don't know. That's why we have to go see Klaus. He was really vague and he said the chances were small and it was risky—"

Elena swung her legs off the bed and was standing in a flash. "I don't give a damn. If there is a chance Damon can come back to me then it's worth any risk. Be ready in ten."

Elena turned toward the closet and began throwing clothes into a bag. The group filed out of the room but Stefan lingered.

Elena continued her packing but sighed and asked, "What else do you need Stefan? I have to get ready to go as quickly as possible."

Stefan took a few more steps toward her and said, "I know. I just wanted to say that I love you."

Elena froze. Of all the things he could say that's what he picked? She had no time for his brooding.

The past was the past. Why couldn't he just accept that?

Elena looked him square in the eye.

"Stefan, I love Damon. I'm in love with him. And if we can get him back I plan to spend eternity with him, I even plan on being your sister-in-law some day. So please respect that and move on for your sake and mine."

Stefan smiled at her. It was genuine but still held a touch of defeat in it. Elena knew where it came from.

Stefan wasn't used to not getting the girl.

But Elena figured that was his issue to deal with and that she couldn't feel guilty about how she felt for Damon. She fell for Damon unexpectedly and she knew it had broken Stefan's heart when she had confessed her true feelings.

But her love for Damon consumed her. He was passion, adventure, and danger all rolled into one. He was everything she wanted forever.

Elena put another shirt, one of Damon's, inside her bag as she opened her mouth to speak but Stefan cut her off.

"I know you love Damon. What I mean is that I love you as your friend and I love my brother too. You two make each other the happiest I've ever seen either of you despite the chaos we face all the time. I want you to have that happiness so I am going to go to any length to get him back. You both deserve a little bit of happiness after all the hell we've been through."

Elena smiled for the first time in what felt like years.

"Thanks." She said. And stared at him tenderly, "I love you too. And hey, I know one day you're going find a girl who gives you that same kind of happiness."

Stefan nodded but she could see the doubt on his face then he walked toward the door but paused and turned back before leaving.

"Besides, you're not the only one around here that loves Damon. I need him in my future just as much as you need him in yours."

And with that he exited the room.

Elena smiled again as she zipped the bag closed. The idea that Damon could be back in her arms again brought life back into her body and hope to her heart.

Her words from so long ago came floating back to her mind.

Are you going to love a ghost for the rest of your life?

Now she knew the true answer to that question; no she was not. Elena picked up the bag and headed for the door, headed for New Orleans, headed toward her future, headed toward Damon.

End