(corrected chapter)10/30/12

A/N: This is a DE fic, with a gradual build towards them. She loved Stefan as a human so there will be changes when she isn't so human anymore (fairly quickly). Chapters 1-19 were written before the s4 premiere. There is a decent plot to it as well just for kicks and giggles. This is my first fic so please excuse the errors and let me know if there are STILL more that disrupt the flow of your reading, my bad spelling, or if something is cut off. I think I have caught most of them by now. That happens sometimes after I fixed it and upload for some odd reason. As I have gone through some of these, they will be marked with a "(corrected chapter)". I asked a few to come back in a month and hope most will be set by then. Thank you for the good critical advice, the favorites, and for the reviews. You reading this makes me happy. Enjoy!

S4x1-TVD: Elena dies

(Past and present)

They are going to die...Caroline, Damon, and Stefan...Tyler...

So many things rushed though Elena's mind all at once. The love of her life was dying. This can't be happening...no, no Stefan. And Damon...her heart aches at the words she last spoke to him. I can't lead him on, she thought to herself. Letting go was all that was left. I won't be that kind of girl, she thought to herself. This is the right thing to do. Damon had been her rock, but Stefan was her first true love. What she felt for Damon had become something so massive, she could no longer deny that. Yet, her heart still ached for that piece of her that had been missing. Stefan had come home. And home, to all of them, she was going. Matt was right. No one person was worth everyone else she cared about.

Her mind was drifting as she asked for Matt's phone and began to dial Stefan and tell him her choice. He deserved that much from her before he died. 'I care Damon'...her heart momentarily constricted as the thought passed through her head. God, I really hope I am doing the right thing. He's all alone, left to die, and she can't help the pain she felt as she hung the phone up with him. It is at that moment she looked up at her.

Rebecca.

Before Elena had time to think, a scream erupts from her throat. "MATT, watch out!"

Matt tried and failed to avoid the glaring blonde standing in the middle of the road. His car viciously veered off to the side plummeting them over the side. Blackness was all they knew.

Moments tick by, as if time has stopped breathing herself. Is it poetic how the life of one young girl hangs in the balance? Born to die, destined to come back to this place where it all started.

And as if on cue, Elena burst awake from within the depths of the cold water. She quickly accessed that she was underwater unable to breathe. Bubbles choke their way from her mouth and nose as she strained to calm herself. She turns to her left and beholds Matt's lifeless form next to her. Panicking, Elena struggles to get free.

She shook her friend who was unresponsive to her panicked shoves, and to the pulls on his seat belt. Next, she tried for the door and window without luck. Flashes of her father invade her mind, fear ensues, and she screamed Matt's name once more.

But he cannot hear her. Her voice is blanketed by the cold depths of the lake water, and her struggles are useless.

Everything is useless.

"Daddy," she yelled into the cold depths as her father's hands reached hers. It's a surreal moment when past and present encompass one another. He reached for his daughter, and it is when their hands meet, she knew- death was coming. His nod to her says it all; she nodded in turn as her life slipped away.

Goodbye Daddy...

God it hurts.

Her lungs burned, and her heart thudded slower, as the water invaded places only meant for air. I'm so scared, she thought. There is so much I had to do, so many things I wanted. Mommy...

But Mom has already gone.

Trapped, and with no way out, father and daughter share their last moments. Knowingly, Elena accepts her fate. It hurts, and it's cold, but Mom will be waiting for her. This wasn't supposed to be the way it ended. Not now.

Not yet.

The last few tiny bubbles escape her numbed lips. Her life ended with their escape, and she realized this is the time to say those last words. The cold is taking over her body and it's only a few seconds more. "I love you," she mouthed to him before descending into the waiting arms of darkness. Her body let go then, and her arms gently slid out of his.

Like a fallen angel, Elena's body begins to float to the roof of the car as her father watched in horror. Her hair floated around her with weightless lifeless beauty shrouding her face from his view.

No father should have to see his wife and child die within the same breath of one another. An angel caught in the grips of death, her beauty becomes endless and eternal as she floated away. I've failed her, he thought to himself in his grief.

The water threatened to claim him.

His baby is dying right before his eyes, and he couldn't help but feel powerless. Grayson's entire life was about protecting his children; his last thoughts roam over the boy at home who will be left alone to fend for himself. Images of Elena and Jeremy as children, babies even, flood his mind. It's too much as he remembers their first steps float within his memory and he readies himself to join his most precious girls.

I am not afraid anymore, Elena thinks to herself.

Suddenly, there is a boy outside his window. The boy tried to open the door when he is stopped by the urgent movements of the man trapped within the car. He points to the back seat frantically. The boy nodded quickly and changed direction towards the back seat. What he sees there awes him.

Katherine?

This dark and beautiful floating angel captures him for a moment, yet he manages to jar himself back to reality, and pulled on the door.

Elena still was struggling to wake Matt up when Stefan appears at his window. He pulled the door from the car with his inhuman strength and reached for Elena. She stopped and recoiled, waving her finger at him. Ignoring her, Stefan once more tried to get to Elena, and she waved him off once more, a stern face-pleading. With all her strength, Elena pointed directly to Matt, hoping Stefan would hear her silent plea. This was why she loved him. Here me now, Stefan.

Again Stefan reached for Elena, and again she waved him off. Quickly, Stefan's face darts to Matt then back to Elena...his eyes pleading with her. She gives him her most resigned look that says more than words ever could. 'You saved me once, now save Matt. He is your friend, he is innocent, and this is my choice.' One last moment passed between them, time stood still awaiting his decision, and he pulled Matt free. As Stefan swam with Matt to the surface, Elena's will to survive ended.

And she let go.

She was ready now and death came for her much swifter than it had before. She was ready, there wasn't too much left to do. There would always be things, but she'd loved and been loved. No one would suffer for her. Her lungs felt like they could burst open, but Matt was safe now. He'd lost as much as her, but he wouldn't lose his life because of her too.

Elena stared after both almost with a sense of relief. No one else will die because of her. I am ready to die, she repeated it in her head to dull the pain. Her memories reminded her of her father, her mother, and the countless others who have all died for her.

One choke...one bubble.

Another choke, a last bubble.

A faint grip of pain creased her face. It hurts so much...so much…so cold…

Her eyes stare out into the empty water, alone. Bubble...bubble...no longer able to grip the seat she begins to feel it. Water engulfs her lungs. This was the moment she could feel her soul leaving her body behind...the faint tearing sensation...the floaty feeling...

And it occurs to her that Damon would die alone too, so perhaps this was karma repaying her for leaving him alone. It wasn't right. Deaths grip took hold as her eyes became empty, her soul slipped from her body, and her body once more lifted from the seat like it did two years ago.

Her hair again covers half of her face; only no one can see it this time. The boy won't make it back in time to save her. She didn't want to be saved. Her eyes never close, but it is the last time they will blink their humanity.

She drifted out…further…further…drowning into forgetfulness.

Not far off Damon fought Alaric relishing in the pain of his blows. Elena chose Stefan, it's always Stefan, and he too lets go. What he doesn't understand becomes apparently clear within seconds. Rick begins to grunt with pain the same moment that Elena slipped away. It takes him a few to figure out what has weakened this Original vampire.

The hardest of them all, Rick best friend and once hunter turned vampire, curled over in agony.

Shock fills Damon; unknowingly he grips at his brow as he takes in Rick's pained face. Why did he stop trying to kill me? Damon watches him waiting to finish this.

With a harsh gasp, Rick grunts, "What is happening?" It is then Damon knows, and he grabs his once-friend. There is only one way to kill this vampire. One way, for one life.

Elena.

The weight of the loss, the moment terrifies him, "Oh No." Damon's eyes are wide and frightful, like a child told one too many horror stories. But this is real, a real horror.

ELENA!

More urgently Rick asks, "What's happening!"

Damon grips Rick as he falls to the ground on his knees grunting with extreme pain. His skin begins to pale, veins appear across his skin as he can no longer control himself.

"No, na-na-nah noo." Damon can't bear the words he utters. He follows Rick as he falls all the way down, cradling him as he would her. They are one on the same, are they not? His friend, as well as the woman he loves, is dying in his arms. In all of his life he has never felt so out of control. It is despair that he feels.

And there is not a damned thing he can do. His mind is frantic wondering how...how is she hurt? He can't hold her, she can't be dying, Nooo!

"Rick! No." Damon shakes Rick as he begins to wilt away in his arms. "Rick!" Desperation fills Damon's words. Why is no one helping Elena? "Alaric! Damn you!"

Shaking Rick's steadily withering form, "No you are NOT dead." He is speaking to her again. His world, his reason for living and his heart breaks knowing Elena is dying. He only left her for an hour! "You are not dead," he says again looking up, pain creased upon his brows. Nothing has ever felt this bad, this desolate, and this empty.

No, not you Elena.

Not Alaric too. They were all he had…and they were both-gone.

Tears fill Damon's eyes, and he begins to cry over the body of his friend.

Alaric appears to Jeremy within moments of his death.

I am free, is the first thought he has. Before him is Jeremy's nervous form. He is calling Matt, asking where they are, and why they are not back by now. He nearly stumbles into Alaric.

In the shadow Rick speaks, "Jeremy."

Jeremy is fear stricken and puts aside his phone. Rick moves forward slowly, sporting a resigned and sad face.

"Haven't you done enough," Jeremy manages with fear gripping his voice. "And how did you even get in here," he questions. For all he knows Rick is still the psycho vampire-vampire hunter.

Rick responds "I-I don't know. I just wanted to say goodbye and it kind of happened."

A look of confusion crosses Jeremy's face, "Rick?" he says knowing it is the real Rick, and not his devious alter ego. This was his guardian and not the darker side of him.

Lovingly, Rick smiles to Jeremy and steps forward now that the boy knows who he is. "I just want you to know," he begins releasing a breath, "I'll always be here to look after you, Jeremy." Jeremy slightly turns his head not willing to understand why Rick is here. "You'll never be alone," he says almost wistfully to the boy. "OK?"

Rick knows this will be ever so hard on Jeremy, what it means that he is here. He can see that Jeremy is very close to putting two and two together. He laughs a tiny laugh, "I promise." He can't believe it himself.

Again Jeremy turns his head regarding Rick, wondering why his guardian is saying these things.

"I don't understand," Jeremy speaks with confusion and denial. Rick ever so slightly nods his head at Jeremy in a knowing fashion. Jeremy can see ghosts, it was just a matter of time…

Rick was a GHOST.

The full weight of why Rick is here presses on Jeremy then. "Oh my god-you're a ghost!" He breathes into those words. Realization is not far after, his face falls, eyes widen, "but if you're dead then-"

Ricks eyes fall, and he bows his head. When he looks back to Jeremy, the boy begins to speak with urgent fear, "that means Elena-" he can't bear to finish the words. His breath becomes gasps.

Elena is dead.

Lingering.

I feel I am lingering into this darkness. Mom? Dad? Elena wonders. Where is everyone?

Stefan sat beside the gurney looking at Elena's lifeless body. The EMT had tried to revive her as he had. They'd tried giving her a shot, CPR, but nothing worked. A broken expression was all he had left as the emptiness of her loss filled his soul. There was something ominously beautiful about her death. She'd given her life for another; compassionate Elena to the end.

Another death. Another friggin sacrifice.

She'd lost so much...it was now that he decided to follow her and meet the sun when it rose in the morning. A life without her was no life at all. The alternative was becoming the Ripper again, and that was no life at all. Ripping people into pieces as he fed…it had only been days since he'd come back from the edge Klaus had pushed him over. And if he thought he'd lost it all then, he was wrong. Looking down at her like this-this was everything. The fear of waiting around and trying to deal consumed him.

I can't…Stefan decided. I can't risk anyone else.

In fact, he didn't wish to disgrace her life and love by becoming a cold thing that killed and drank people dry. He doubted turning off his emotions would even help with the disaster of this night. How many would die when he couldn't bear the days without her? How many have I killed over the years? Stefan bet it was worse than even Damon.

There was nothing but blood surrounding his life of 160 years.

She died for Matt.

He'd die for her.

Rebekah had broken their deal when she found out Klaus was dead. With the head of their line dead, all the vampires he made would soon perish behind him. How long was it until then? He tried to remember how long it took Sage to die after her maker was killed.

Rebekah was dead if he saw her. In her rage, she'd sought out Elena and effectively killed her. With her gone, so was Alaric. Poor Rick, Stefan considered again. They'd lost so many. Two lives tied together died together. It was over now-over for all of them.

Suddenly atoning for all he'd done wasn't worth going on for. Better to rot in hell like I should, Stefan thought with bitterness.

He'd gone back for her, tried to breathe air into her body, to resuscitate her, but to no avail. Last time she'd come back to him, but this time...this time it was his fault. He left her there to die. Not on purpose-he'd come right back down. Anger and resentment filled his entire being, I should have gotten her out, he thought as he cried to himself. Why, why did I listen to her?

They loaded her body into the ambulance as his phone rang. It was Dr. Fell.

He decided to pick it up, as she must have heard the call come in, he said brokenly, "Elena died."

After a brief hesitation, Meredith Fell shattered Stefan's world with her words. "No, she didn't Stefan."

Knowing Dr. Fell still had Damon's blood stored away; he put it together as she explained things to him.

"Oh God, no."

Elena never wanted to be a vampire.

Damon barged into the hospital, right into Meredith Fell. "Where is she," he growled at the woman. All he needed was to see her; to know it was real. Pushing passed her, he looked around for any trace of where Elena would be.

"No, Damon. WAIT." She called after him grabbing his arm. "You need to know. When Jeremy brought Elena in earlier tonight, her injuries were worse than I let on."

They faced one another as a second passed between them. Confusion clouded Damon's face as he searched hers for understanding. She must be talking about right after they had rescued Elena from Klaus. He had been draining her dry, to take her blood with him to make his hybrids right before leaving town. She had been hurt during the rescue, but it was nothing. They'd run in to get her when Klaus had knocked her over onto the mantle. She'd hit her head so hard...he remembered running in right for her when they'd run in and bound Klaus to his coffin.

Meredith continued after a gulp. "It wasn't a concussion, it was a cerebral hemorrhage, Damon. Bleeding on the brain." Meredith talked fast.

Confused and angry, Damon responded with disgust. "What are you saying?" His entire face contorted as he looked around once more. All he wanted was to see her before he died. Just one last time.

"Jeremy was so worried; I didn't want to tell him." Her words were laced with regret and sorrow. "But I-I helped her." Meredith tugged at Damon's sleeve trying to emphasize her meaning without saying the words outright. "She NEEDED my help."

His confusion and disgust mounted once he realized what she was saying. The doctor had given Elena his blood; blood she'd forcefully taken from him so she could heal her patients. She'd used it on Elena that night to heal her fatal wound, yet not told anyone.

And Elena had just died with vampire blood in her system. "You WHAT!?"

Stefan compelled the EMT's with Meredith's help in getting them all in one place. Damon took care of the rest as he came back into the room to await the inevitable awakening. When he saw Damon's face, while Meredith told him the reality, his heart fell. Damon was furious.

She withheld the paperwork on Elena as well so no one would know what took place. Matt was getting checked out to make sure he was ok. They'd taken her out of the morgue so she wouldn't wake up there like that. Now it was just a waiting game.

Part of him was numb. He should be happy that she wasn't dead-dead. The other half couldn't seem to come to terms with it.

Elena's body sat on the bed lifeless in the private room. Abruptly, and surprisingly, breath filled her lungs at the same time she rose-undead.