THIS IS MY VERSION OF THE ENDING OF THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: THE RETURN, NIGHTFALL. I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING OF THE VAMPIRE DIARIES.
Elena glanced at Damon, her eyes narrowed. "You can make things appear in your hand when you ask for them," she murmured, motioning towards the sword he'd conjured up in his hand.
As if he'd forgotten it was there, Damon glanced at it, startled. But then he waved it off with a careless gesture. "Yes. The key allows me to do so."
An idea had sparked inside of Elena, making her heart pound. She knew Damon—in his gentle state, as she'd used her Wings of Purification on him—would agree to this, even if she begged. Shinichi and Misao were still arguing, slaps and kicks being thrown—which gave Elena the perfect chance.
"Damon," she looked into his black eyes hopefully. "If you can make things appear, then can you make some sort of device that can let me see Stefan? Just to see what kind of state he's in? Please?"
Many times Elena had done things to see how many times she could make Stefan say please, and he'd done it until she was satisfied. Damon, on the other hand, might not be so willing, in a gentle state or not.
"Elena, I don't know—"
"Please, Damon?" Elena gazed at him, her lapis lazuli eyes boring into his, and Damon resisted the urge to moan. Damn her for doing this. Why was she so good at making him want her?
Suddenly angry, Damon threw the sword on the ground. "Damn you, Elena," he growled without trying to. Still, her gaze remained unwavering as she stared him in the eye. For some reason he thought of Bonnie. He was about to mumble, "Why do you do this to me?" when there was a flash of light and in his hand was a glass ball.
How ironic, he thought, eyebrows pulling together as he stared at the ball, turning it over in his hands. Maybe witches do use these crystal balls for fortune-telling.
Elena darted towards him and took the ball out of his hands eagerly. Inside the shining sphere was something that looked like a swirling raincloud. Elena took a deep breath and pointed all her remaining power at her fingertips. Then she whispered, "Show me Stefan."
The raincloud turned into a thundercloud, turning black and swirling in rapid circles. For a moment Elena thought nothing was going to happen, but the clouds evaporated to show a motionless lump underneath a dirty old blanket. At the top, Elena caught a glimpse of dark hair—Stefan! Stefan, I can see you!—and pale skin.
She could hear what was happening. Footsteps were approaching slowly, and just in the front of the lifeless lump was a pair of black boots and black pants. Startled, Elena glanced towards Damon to make sure he was still there—and he was, looking intently at the inside of the magic glass ball, his expression hard to read.
The figure crouched, showing a man in a black trench coat, but his shoulders and head were cut out of the picture. Elena tried to look from below to see if she could see who it was, but it was stupid to think that it would work. It was like looking into a television screen.
The man poked at the crumpled body with a broad hand. He touched Stefan's face, turning him over so that Elena could see it was Stefan. But it didn't look like him. His cheekbones were showing, his eyelids closed and bruised over his eyes, and blood was caked underneath his nose and chin. Somehow, it still was Stefan. And Elena was angry at whoever had done that to him and swore to kill them.
There was a faint rise and fall of his shoulders. Elena sighed in relief.
"Not much use now, are you?" murmured the man in a familiar voice. Elena glanced at Damon. The expression on his face now told her he recognized it, too. "We'll just have to dispose of you sooner or later, then."
"No!" Elena gasped. Damon shushed her.
There was a scratching noise like metal on metal, and then another unfamiliar voice spoke in a voice that told her this man was a vampire, too. "Are you ready to go, Klaus?"
Everything inside Elena froze.
The man stood up, showing only his legs and boots again. "Yes, I do believe so, Elijah. I do believe so."