Does anyone in this fandom remember me? Does anyone remember a story about a Little Witch and her Dark Angel, called Promises of Hope? After years and a tiny piece of eternity, I'm here.

I'll be dead honest with all of you. I considered not coming back. Half of this story has been sitting in my computer for years, but it's just that I lost all interest in Vampire Diaries, particularly the tv show a long time ago. However, a reader kindly wrote to me and reminded me that there are some people who did like the first Promises, regardless of how far from canon it is right now, and might be willing to read the rest of the ideas that were in my head regarding that.

About that. This is officially a series called "Promises of Eternity". Originally it was going to have like four or five parts. But, once again, my muse has been running through different paths for years now. (She much prefers Loki nowadays). Still, right now my plan is to finish this story, much like I originally envisioned it, and then close with one more part, making this a trilogy. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Finally, and because this seems to still be necessary, despite the fact that we all know it already: I don't own Vampire Diaries, yadda, yadda... this is a sequel for Promises of Hope, which, as was mentioned there, follows after Fool me Twice. While some things that were shown later in the show might come up at some point, you'll do well ignoring anything and everything concerning the show after that point. The main pairings, as has been stated are Bamon and Stelena, with other minor ones to be added.

Promises of Faith

(Sequel to: Promises of Hope)

By: Lalaith Quetzalli

Forever is a long time, and some promises are impossible to keep; but even from broken promises new destinies can be made, and new futures created. True light may yet come, but at what cost?

Prologue.

Can anybody tell me why

We're lying here on the floor

And neither of us can barely breathe at all

The doctors saying hold on tight

As we say our last goodbyes

And this is, a moment that changes our whole lives

The night was so dark, no moon or stars on sight, only the blackness of a pure night. Still, the person who had chosen that very night to venture outside didn't seem to need any light at all. She exited a house from a back door and hurried through back streets and narrow alleys, through a forest and to the limits of a neighboring town, where a carriage seemed to be waiting, a man standing to the side of it.

"Oh Gaea…" The one who'd been traveling spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Oh mother earth." The one waiting answered.

It was like a password, a signal that the one there was the one who was supposed to be. And then the people were revealed.

Waiting was a man, medium height, broad shouldered, his skin tanned, hair a dark brown, eyes of a stormy blue, dressed in dark brown clothes.

The one to arrive was a woman, in a plain cream-colored dress and fully covered in a black cloak, beneath the cloak olive skin could be seen, as well as cinnamon eyes and ebony hair, she was beautiful in an exotic way; and in her arms she held a baby girl, not even a day old, fully covered in a white blanket.

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" The man asked her, somewhat concerned.

"It is." She nodded. "It's the only thing to do. You know there's a very little chance of the Little One surviving if she stays here, and she needs to. She needs to live, her Line needs to live, too many lives depend on it.

"You've had one of your visions, haven't you?" He guessed. "A prophetic one? And for the look on your face and the urgency with which you told me to come I imagine it was also something huge."

"Yes, yes, and mostly definitely yes." She agreed. "However, it's not something that will be happening in our lifetime, or even in hers. It'll be a while before it's to come, a long while."

"Well, you've said a lot, and yet said nothing. What exactly is it that will come a lifetime or more from now, that is so huge even you're worried about it."

"The End of Days. Or at least the end of days as we know them, the step into a new era. It will come one day, things will forever be changed…but it won't be easy. In fact, while even now I'm certain the moment for this transformation will come, there's no way of knowing if it'll be for good or for bad."

"You mean either could be?"

"Yes, it could be the beginning of a time for mortals and immortals to walk side by side, finally, as equals; or the descent of this world into a new version of the Dark Dimension."

"…where humans are mere slaves to the creatures of the night. I remember the legends, even if I've never actually been able to imagine such a place. You mean to tell me our world could become like that?"

"If things go wrong, yes. If this little one doesn't survive, most definitely."

"Why her? What's so special about her, aside from her rather 'colorful' parentage?"

"She's the Keeper of the Light."

The silence with which the man received this news was enough to show his shock.

"You see now why it was so important that you saw me this night. Why it's so important that you take this child away tonight. Why it's so important that nobody finds her…"

"Yes, I understand. And I promise you I will do everything in my power to make sure she's well cared for and protected. And I'll also make sure her real identity is never known."

"Never is a long time, and in this case also a promise impossible to keep. But that's alright, the time will come for the truth to be known, for the Light to shine through the night from which it was born…however, that day is still long to come."

The man nodded, it would never even pass through his mind doubting her, too well he knew her talent for knowing things, past, present and future.

"May the Spirits bless your path." He wished to her as a goodbye.

"And may they bless yours, and that of the little one you now hold." She replied.

And without further ado, they both left.

The night remained just as dark and as silent as it had been when they met, no witness or signal left of the meeting that had just taken place…as if it had never happened.

.-.

It was a quiet, dark night, as a young figure sat beside a window, her eyes fixed not on the view outside, but on the one in the room, in the center of the bed, surrounded by pillows and blankets, a newborn baby. The female figure by the window, a girl who was barely a little more than a child herself, having been stripped of what was left of her childhood as she became a mother herself.

The baby, all small and rosy, with soft dark waves of hair, her eyes had yet to open.

"I wonder what color your eyes will be," the young mother whispered. "What you'll look like when you grow up. Will you be a crazy-party girl like me, or more the quiet-bookish type? Will you be the selfish kind who wants to have everything, or selfless and willing to do everything for everyone? Will you love me or hate me?" she sobbed. "Oh god, from all the questions it hurts not having the answer to that's got to be the one that hurts the most: not knowing if you'll love me, despite what I'm gonna do, or if you'll just think of the fact of what I did and hate me for it."

The girl slowly got up from the window-seat, and as the light from a nearby streetlamp hit her it could be seen that she was even younger than it seemed at first sight. She was petite, with dark thick curls in a messy bun, and big deep-blue eyes; she was dressed in clothes obviously too big for her and looking tired and sad. All in all, not a pretty picture.

Silently, she went to kneel by the side of the bed, before finally bursting into tears.

"I hate myself already, you know, I've had this feeling of self-loathing ever since I first considered the possibility of what I'm gonna do. But you gotta know I'm doing it for you, not for me, there's little hope for me now, but you…You're just a baby. You're just beginning your life, and if there's anything I have to do about it, it will always be that, your life. A life you'll be able to live by yourself, where you'll be able to make your own choices, where you won't have to live in fear of the day when it'll all be torn away from you…" she wiped her tears with the back of her hands. "So, if doing what I believe is best for you makes me selfish, if doing that makes you hate me; maybe it will be worth it anyway, if just so you'll be happy."

Slowly she got on the bed, laying carefully on her side, facing the sleeping baby, a hand ghosting just a half-inch over the little girl, as if too afraid to actually touch her.

"This family, they're a nice family, you know?" The older girl whispered. "They'll take good care of you, I know they will. And maybe, maybe you'll never have to know I even exist, maybe you'll never have to know that you're not really theirs. I wouldn't mind that, if it made you happy. I'm sure you'll be a lot better that way."

A sob blocked her throat, and she had to bury her face in another pillow to drown the wail that wanted to escape. She really didn't want to do this! Her whole body viciously rejected the mere thought of abandoning her baby. But this wasn't about her, not this time, this time she couldn't be selfish, she had to see for the welfare of her baby girl and not her own; this time someone else depended on her, and she couldn't fail…

"I just wish I even had the hope of ever seeing you again." She continued when she calmed down enough. "But even now I know that'll never be possible. It's just…it's not a good idea. Maybe one day you'll understand why I'm doing this, I hope you don't, I hope you never have to understand, I hope you never find out about any of this."

The baby began moving right then, as if she were about to wake up. The young mother began humming then, the soft tone of a lullaby, she would say singing wasn't her forte, so she'd rather just hum. After a couple of minutes like that the baby was quiet again, deeply asleep.

"Oh Lord…I don't even know how I'm gonna be able to do this…" She whispered to herself. "Where will I find the strength to do what needs to be done?"

But even as she said that she got on her feet, her eyes straying one more time to the small baby in the bed, as if trying to memorize every line and every shade of color with just one look. Then, right as she began fearing she just wouldn't be able to go if she stayed any longer, she took the knapsack she'd by the closet and walked to the door.

"I promise, I'll always love you, my Beautiful Light." She whispered, not daring to turn back. "I hope that, if nothing else, you'll somehow know that."

And then she was gone, from the room, from the house, from the town. She left the same way she arrived, like a wandering shadow in the middle of the night.

The baby girl was found just a few minutes later, by the couple who'd found and helped the pregnant girl several weeks earlier; they took the baby in, cared for her as if she were their own; promising themselves that come what may, she would always be a part of their family.

Yet, always and never are too long a time…and some promises are just impossible to keep….

And I still believe in the good

And I still believe in the light

And I wanna feel the sun

I wanna free you tonight

I have things to tell you all, but shall be waiting until the notes in the next part (I'm posting two pieces right now because the Prologue is so short, but I'm warning you it'll be only this one time).

Only, and because I was forgetting, the song for "Promises of Faith" is "Into the Light" as sung by In This Moment. A bit of a tragic one, I know, but still (I promise that this will have a happy ending no matter what!).