"The Beginning of the End"
"why don't you take her away Stephen, the longer she stays in Mystic Falls the longer she's around Damon, well I just don't know who she'll become, every day I see her it just seems like she's losing who she was, who she is"
"I get it Bonnie, but Mystic Falls is her home, I can't take that away from her and even if I could, do you really think Damon wouldn't follow us to the ends of the earth, or even turn Elena against me in a second. Ever since she made the transition, she's changed, and to be honest Bonnie it isn't a huge surprise, she's transitioned, it's all new to her, her moral compass is all over the place, the boundaries she's had all her life, the rules she's lived by as a human, in a sense have now been lifted, she's free to do as she pleases without any regard for the consequences, and Damon loves it, to him she's finally free, free to be who she really is, who he feels she wants to be, which is in this present time, a vampire. He's always felt that she should have been given the chance to experience life on the other side, and he's always been disgusted by how "human" I try to be".
"She's finally free to be whoever or whatever she wants to be and Damon see's that, to him her transition has opened a doorway into the unknown, and he wants to be the one to show her the way"
Dusk was setting in, Stephen leaned lifelessly against the bedroom wall in the boarding house, sighed and buried his face in his palms, elbows resting on his knees. Bonnie wondered if he was crying but "Vampires don't cry, or can't, can they" Bonnie wondered to herself, she couldn't see Stephen like this, after everything he'd been through, every day he fought to stay good, to stay as human as possible, it was the reason why he couldn't carry on loving Katherine and now after finding the one thing he loved more than anyone in this universe, the one person that kept him grounded, the one person who gave him the strength to never give up and carry on with the rollercoaster which was his life, was now the one thing she never wanted to be, the one thing he never wanted her to be, a Vampire.
"Everything's lost Bonnie, everything" she heard a sniffle and there it was, vampires do cry, they cry tears of blood. Bonnie felt her heart slowly breaking, if everything was lost as Stephen had said then what was the point of anything anymore, her heart sank, she'd lost the one person who she considered her family, since grams had passed on, Elena was all Bonnie had left and now, now even that had been taken away, and as always who was to blame, who's blood was it that was in Elena's system when she had died, non-other than Damon, " Damon, Damon ,Damon" it was always Damon, she felt her heart fill with anger, rage, a pure rage that seemed to engulf her very being, but then it eased just as instantly as it had emerged as the thought entered her mind that, had Elena not died with Damon's blood in her system, they'd be dealing with never seeing Elena again, she'd be dead, and no one ever came back from that final destination. Bonnies anger was replaced by compassion, for the guy who was broken in front of her, this guy who'd moved heaven and earth to protect the girl he loved, and in the end It was all for nothing. Bonnie could understand why Stephen felt so lost, Elena was his world and now she was almost a stranger, but deep down Bonnie knew that Elena was still in their somewhere and she couldn't give up even if Stephen had.
" Is that it then, are you just gonna give up" Stephen wiped his tears away and tried to steady himself, avoiding looking at Bonnie so's not to make it obvious how much pain he was in. Bonnie walked over to Stephen, and kneeled down next to him, trying to put herself directly In Stephens line of vision, but Stephen couldn't face it, didn't want to face it, didn't have the strength anymore to carry on, he just looked away as if nothing mattered anymore. Bonnie felt numb but remembered what her grams had told her so often when Bonnie felt lost,
"life isn't something you can avoid Stephen, you may be a hundred plus years older than me and lived a lifetime of lives in your one lifetime but every day is a new day and every day you wake with the ability to change things, to make them better, my grams once told me that being a Bennet witch could be a curse or a gift and it was my choice to make, as it had been for those before me. Stephen looked at Bonnie with his deep green eyes the colour of emeralds, and in that moment Bonnie could understand why Elena had fallen so deeply in love with him, he had the look of an innocent child, looking at him he seemed like your average 17 year old guy but there was something deeper, the only way she could describe it was that looking into his eyes you could see an old soul, he looked youthful on the outside but filled with wisdom and courage on the inside, sitting crunched up in front of her was a protector, a defender and she couldn't sit back and watch him lose himself. "Stephen, you've been a vampire since forever, you've lived both bad and good lives, but ultimately you chose good over evil and you always will, we all know that, then why not give Elena that chance, her heart, her soul is pure and kind and gentle, and yes she may lose her way a little, but at this moment in time, she's like a lost child who needs guidance, and if left to Damon god only knows what she may become, please, don't give up on her. I know it's heart-breaking for you to see her as she is now but time is a great healer and sooner or later Elena will realise why she chose you and not Damon, you can't let this devour you or there's no hope. Please Stephen I'm counting on you to stand by me, help me, Elena is all I have, she's all the family I have now, please don't give up on her because if you do, then what chance have any of us got against anything. I can't do this alone, I need you,
Stephen looked at Bonnie in awe, she sat kneeling in front of him, tears streaming down her cheeks as lost as he was looking just moments ago, she'd lost so much in such a short time, she'd lost her grams because they'd asked for her help in opening the tomb, that had been their fight and Bonnie had paid the ultimate price, her recently found mother, had been forced to become a vampire by Damon to save Elena, her father completely severed all ties with her when she'd told him she was going to use her magic to help the people who needed it. She'd not only lost so much but she'd lost it all to protect them, and all those oblivious souls that lived in mystic falls, time and time again she saved us and them, with no consideration for her own wellbeing and no acknowledgment for her selfless acts, and here she was again selflessly putting herself on the frontlines once again to help him, to help Elena. Stephen felt a wave of sheer shame overcome him, how could he just sit here and let himself break down, when this delicate flower had let herself get crushed time and time again just to protect them, she was silently screaming for someone to stand by her to help her, so that she could help the one person she had left, Elena. Stephen may have loved Elena but even then he still always had Damon, he'd never truly been alone. But for Bonnie, Elena really was all she had left.
"Bonnie", Stephen moved closer to Bonnie and held her shoulders looking into her brown eyes red with the strain of finally letting her self-cry, " you're right Bonnie, as long as Elena is with us she's still in there' somewhere' and we'll remind her who she was, who she is.
Bonnie felt the tears streaming down her cheeks, she couldn't help it anymore, she was tired of being the brave soldier, the rock for everyone to lean on, the thought of losing Elena was too much to handle, "whilst Elena is alive, I'll always have hope Stephen, because the day I lose hope is the day I'll have lost everything that's worth anything to me".
Stephen was proud to have such a strong comrade at his side, he'd made many friends in his lengthy life span but this had been the first time he'd come across someone that , considering how small and dainty she was, she definitely packed a huge punch. They both sat silently, Stephen holding Bonnie close to him, he wanted her to relieve herself of all the pain she had let build up for so long inside her, because as of tomorrow they would both need all the strength they could muster, it was going to be a long fight to get Elena back but they were going to do it together and Stephen was confident they'd succeed.