As time passes, the beliefs Elena holds changes, and some of the things that used to be important to her just can't be any more.
She stops writing in her journal for a few years, for aside from visits from Caroline or Damon, there really isn't much to say.
Elena turns at twenty three when she realizes the only people she cares about and who care about her (with the exception of Jeremy) are vampires.
Damon does the honors—feeding her blood and feeding her a fast acting poison. (He can't stand the thought of just snapping her neck or, God forbid, shooting her.)
Caroline trains her, for only Caroline has the patience to try to get Elena on the animal diet. She gives up after three months of dealing with the cravings, and Damon hands her the third blood bag of human blood she's consumed since turning.
-x-
Elena has been twenty three for almost five years when she sees Stefan. He cries when he sees that she hasn't aged past twenty five, and she cries too, because a part of her will always wish for a normal life.
Stefan doesn't talk about Klaus except to say he was kind enough (if it can be called so) to assist him on getting it under control for real this time.
When Stefan leaves that night, Elena is only half surprised to see Klaus in her living room, lounging on her couch as if it is his home and not her own.
-x-
Once a week, he enters her house without her explicit permission and taunts her with the murders and atrocities he made Stefan commit. He delights in bringing her to her breaking point, reminding her that this is all—in some way—her fault. Elena takes it unflinchingly for the most part, bottling the pain and anger and shame on Stefan's behalf deep inside her heart.
He only leaves when he sees the crystalline droplets fall down her face.
Elena never tells a soul about these visits, and it's only fifty years later that Stefan himself tells her about his years of servitude with Klaus. (It breaks her heart that she already knows each detail, and it almost destroys her to know he doesn't even tell her everything.)
-x-
Klaus never explicitly tells her (or anyone she knows), but she gets the feeling he is graciously allowing her and those she cares about to live unaffected by his plans for world domination.
He always seems to track the lot of them down, no matter the country or city, but he only makes himself known to Elena.
She hates the way he can read her, hates the way it is so damn easy for him to get inside her head, but there is nothing she can do, so she allows his visits on the condition that he harm no one.
(He flaunts his power and kills ten people from neighboring cities each time he leaves.)
-x-
In 2136, it is Klaus who tells her Stefan has been sleeping with Caroline for the past hundred years of their relationship.
Elena doesn't believe him, and for the first time, she demands he leave her alone.
Klaus leaves without complaint, and she doesn't see him again for ten years. (To her, it only feels like a few months.)
She spends more time paying attention to the way her best friend and boyfriend act around each other after that, and a year and a half later, she catches them in the act.
-x-
When she does see Klaus again, she is with Damon.
Klaus says he approves because of the simple fact that Damon has the ability in him to be even more of a ripper than Stefan ever was.
Elena doesn't look at Damon the same for months, and finally she breaks down and tells him everything.
-x-
By 2172, it is just her and Katherine.
They pretend to be twins and haunt the globe, Katherine teaching her about their family and all the things the older vampire has seen in her long lifetime.
It is in these years that Elena realizes she will be forever in search of meaning to her life.
It is in these years that Elena really despises changing her mind about vampirism.
-x-
They resurrect Elijah and the rest of his family in 2200 as a way of celebrating the dawn of a new era (as Katherine has grown fond of calling it).
Klaus is mad, and he almost kills Katherine in retaliation. Elena steps in his way, however, and the second of hesitation is all they need to get away.
-x-
Klaus kisses her in 2222 on February 22nd.
She cries because she realizes she's kissing him back.
She doesn't see him again for fifty years.
-x-
She tracks down Damon and finds him and Katherine and Elijah in Romania. Elijah loves the irony, Katherine loves Elijah, and Damon…. Elena supposes Damon loves being around people who love.
Elena shamelessly falls into old habits with the older Salvatore brother, and the four of them haunt an old Romanian castle for more than seventy five years before Elena walks away.
-x-
After a while, time means nothing to Elena, and she hardly tells the difference between day and night.
Klaus finds her then.
He takes her to his home and she doesn't resist. She only asks one question. "Why now?"
"You are finally ready, Elena."