"A Very Vampire diaries X-mAS Special"
by
L.A.B.
FADE In:
X-Mas holiday music chimes away.
Elena is hanging up mistletoe near a lit fireplace. Jeremy and Bonnie are decorating an evergreen. Caroline walks in, arms full of presents.
Caroline
Ta-da!
Bonnie smiles and helps Caroline happily tuck the presents underneath the tree. Elena sighs.
Elena
This just doesn't feel right, you know...
Jeremy
Come on, Elena. This was your idea. Get in the holiday spirit, cheer us up.
Caroline
Jeremy's right. We all need a little Christmas cheer.
Elena
But it's all so weird, so different from last year...
Stefan was in her life last year is what she meant. Ever since he derailed and left Mystic Falls, Elena was left with fragments of a past life. She was confused and while surrounded by people who loved her, she felt alone. Elena begins thinking to herself, "What if I were gone?" She looks at Bonnie, Jeremy and Caroline. "Would their lives be happier, better without me?"
Bonnie
You know what'll cheer you up?
Elena
Huh? What?
Bonnie
Grannie's homemade ginger bread men.
She hands Elena a box of beautifully decorated ginger bread. Immediately, she notices that the top cookie has been altered and a pair of pointy teeth dipped in read had been added...
Damon
You like?
Damon enters the room smirking at Elena holding the vampire gingerbread. For the first time that evening, Elena smiles back. Damon picks up the cookie and dances it around, making her giggle in amusement. Caroline notices.
Caroline
Now that's more like it. If a vampire cookie can make you smile, than I guess there's hope yet for you!
Bonnie ::WHISPERING TO JEREMY::
I don't think it's the cookie that's making her smile...
Elena
Okay, okay, fine. I don't hate the holidays. It's just-
Damon
Contrived, pointless, stupid. I get, trust me. But, there are some perks.
Damon winks and nods to the mistletoe.
Damon
Come on, now, it's tradition. Pucker up.
Caroline
Stop it, Damon.
Damon smirks and stares into Elena's eyes. She doesn't turn away and looks as if she is thinking about upholding the holiday tradition. As Damon leans in closer, a CRASH is heard. Glass shatters from the nearby window causing everyone to jump.
Elena
What was that?
Damon
I don't know... Stay here.
Both Damon and Caroline move swiftly to the window area across the room. A dark shadow flies into the room, colliding with Damon and Caroline and knocking them to the floor. Just as they are about to get up, they sit still, frozen in place. Elena looks at their motionless bodies and then to Bonnie and Jeremy, also still.
Elena
What's going on!
Smiling, eyes dark, Stefan appears.
Stefan
Miss me?
Fade Out:
commercial break
lalala, car commerical, boring... boring... oh, it's back!
Fade In:
Elena
Stefan... I thought you were-
Stefan
Gone forever? Well, yes and no. You remember, Elena, that Klaus gave me very specific instructions. He needs you alive.
Elena
I'm not going anywhere... Let them go.
Stefan
Oh now, don't lie, Elena. You've been thinking some very naughty thoughts lately. When you were planning on telling them?
Elena
What are you talking about?
Stefan
Elena, you're planning on disappearing, vanishing, leaving this life... Not sure how you're going to do it yet, but all you know is that everyone you love has been hurt by you. They've bled for you and-
Stefan turns to point out Damon who sits struggling on the floor, trying to move with all his might. His veins begin to pop, sweat trickling down his forehand. He moves maybe an inch in agonizing pain.
Stefan
And they continue to bleed for you, as long as you're alive.
Elena
What do you want from me, Stefan? Do you want me to promise that'll I stay put? I will. Just leave them alone... Please.
Stefan
Oh, I'll make you promise all right. But first, you need to understand why you can't leave.
Elena
I get it. Klaus wants me alive.
Stefan
He needs your blood, Elena! And there is only one way I can make sure you stay alive.
Stefan motions toward Elena and grabs her by the shoulders.
Stefan
Hang on tight.
All of sudden Elena sees her world shift around her and within an instant, she is at the Salvatore mansion. Everything seems real and yet, something has changed.
Elena
What are you doing? Is this a trick?
Stefan
You need to learn a lesson. And no, this is real. Well, real for them.
Stefan motions his hand to a couch sitting in the middle of the room. A pale, motionless body lays on the couch. Damon runs into the room, his eyes frantic and wild.
Damon
Elena! Elena!
Elena
I'm right here, Damon!
Stefan
He can't hear you. You do not exist, remember.
Damon
Elena... Oh, god. No! No!
Damon screams, seeing what he believes to be Elena's dead body on the couch, her blood drained.
Damon
No! No...
He cries, falling to the floor. Body quivering, his face contorted in pain, Damon grabs Elena's cold dead hand and checks for a pulse. He grimaces and lets out a howl, unlike anything heard before.
Elena
He thinks I'm dead...
Stefan
You are dead... To everyone who ever loved you. This is what you wanted.
Elena
He's in so much pain.
stefan
You have no idea.
Damon
Elena... I'm so sorry...
Damon, tears streaking down his face, leans in to kiss the dead Elena. He slowly moves away from the body and screams.
Damon
Elena, if you can hear me, Elena... I, I love you. I'm sorry...
Elena
I can hear you, Damon. Please, stop this, Stefan! I don't want to see this.
Stefan
But you need to! Keep watching.
Damon walks over to a wooden chest near the doorway and unlatches it. Inside is a long, wooden spike.
Elena
What is he doing...
Stefan
Just keep watching.
Elena
No, he's not... Damon! Oh, no, Damon, I'm not dead. CAN YOU HEAR ME? DAMON! Stop this, right now, Stefan! Please... stop it!
Damon raises the wooden spike to the air.
Damon
And with this love we shall not part...
Elena
O, Damon, no!
Damon stabs himself with the wooden spike through the heart. His body begins to change in color, to a pale green and then black like ash. And he crumbles to the ground.
Elena
NOO! Oh god, no. No. Damon...
Elena cries, trying to reach out to him, but it's too late.
Stefan
Ready for some more?
Elena
He killed himself...
Elena can barely talk, tears choking her reddened face.
Stefan
What did you think would happen? He would move on without you? Damon truly loved you, even in his darkest times.
Elena
I get it now... You can make this all stop. Reverse what you've done.
stefan
Oh, we're just getting started.
Fade Out:
commercial break
lalala, car commerical, boring... boring... oh, it's back!
Fade in:
Stefan and Elena are inside Elena's home on the second floor, but the house looks different, neglected and messy. A very different looking Jeremy and Bonnie search through hundreds of spell books scattered on the floor. Bonnie looks exhausted and dangerously thin. Jeremy looks older, and somehow hallow in the face, numb instead.
Stefan
Not everyone kills themselves when you're gone, Elena. Some spend the rest of their lives trying to bring you back. Just look.
Bonnie
Keep looking, Jer.
Jeremy
I'm tired of looking, Bonnie. She's gone. It's been fifteen years... And we've tried everything.
Bonnie
I brought you back to life, remember. I can do it again. I just need to try harder.
Jeremy
You're just hurting yourself. Bonnie, please.
Bonnie
Ok, give up, like you always do.
Jeremy
What is that supposed to mean?
Bonnie
When Elena died, I was the one who searched through heaven and hell to find her. I used up all of my magic, Jer, and you- you went off and got high on drugs.
Jeremy
Hey, I've had to deal with all of this-vampires, ghosts, witches, the best way I could. Elena once told me you can't love a ghost. Well, that's what we're doing, what we've been doing. Bonnie, I came back 'cause I thought I could help you. But I can't. Goodbye.
Bonnie
Then just leave me! Leave me again! Like I care, I don't care!
Bonnie, exhausted, collapses to the floor, shaking. Jeremy holds her frail body and cries with her.
Jeremy
I want to miss her as much as you do. I want to feel again. I don't feel anything. I can't.
Elena watched the scene unfold, like an audience member watching a play. They couldn't see her, but she felt their pain, watched their suffering. Stefan took her hand.
Stefan
Even with your death, your friends, your loved ones continue to love you, to try and protect you.
Elena
Bonnie, she looks so ill. And Jeremy, he's like a whole other person.
Stefan
Wonder how blondie is holding up.
Elena
Caroline?
Stefan
She'll have life times upon life times to think about you, what you did to her.
Elena
What I did...?
Stefan
Of course. Without you, she'd never met your doubleganger, Katherine. She'd never be what she is today. Let's go say hi to dear old Caroline.
Fade Out:
commercial break (come on, it's vampire diaries, there are like a million commercials...)
lalala, car commerical, boring... boring... oh, it's back!
Fade in:
Caroline stands on top of a gravestone wearing a tight black dress, kitten heels and black lace veil. She holds flowers in her hand.
Caroline
Hi, Matt.
Caroline places the flowers on top of Matt's grave.
Caroline
You'd be, what, 58 today? Time sure flies by when you're, well, like me. I miss you, Matt.
Elena
Caroline, she's alive. But, how did this happen? When did Matt- die?
Stefan
You should know, Elena. Like you, Matt was human. He got old. He died of a heart attack. Probably all the stress of trying to live a 'normal' life.
Elena
And Caroline?
Stefan
His fiancé. Well, would you call her an almost widow now?
Caroline
Oh, Matt. I wish I could have grown old with you. Gotten gray like you. Had a full life with you. Matt, I love you.
Elena
I took that away from her, a normal life. And even if I were alive, this would still happen? Why show me this?
Stefan
The problem isn't that Caroline is a vampire, Elena. Without you, she didn't know how to have a normal life. She was engaged for 40 years, never committed, never giving herself a chance.
Elena
How sad.
Stefan
Suffering takes all forms, Elena. Some take their own lives, some waste their whole life and others never truly know how to live. But you, Elena, you gave them all a purpose.
Elena
Purpose? Tell me, what is my purpose, Stefan? You are doing all of this to show me that I need to live. But like you said, Klaus only wants me alive for my blood. I'm dead either way.
Stefan
Klaus has no intentions of killing you. He wants you alive for as long as he lives.
Elena
But Klaus is immortal.
Stefan
Exactly. You can't die if you need to be around for all time.
Elena
I'm human. I'm mortal, Stefan.
Stefan
Are you really?
The graveyard disappears and Elena and Stefan are back in the present time. Only, the window is not broken. Bonnie and Jeremy are decorating the x-mas tree as holiday music plays throughout the house. Caroline stood in the doorway, arms full of presents with Damon right behind her, holding the door. He then enters the room with a smirk on his face.
Stefan
Remember what you saw, what you felt. You need to want to live.
Elena
I do want to live. I want to live for them.
Stefan
Good.
And with that, Stefan was gone and Elena stood next to the fireplace hanging up mistletoe.
Bonnie
You know what'll cheer you up?
Elena
What? Huh?
Bonnie
Grannie's homemade ginger bread men.
She hands Elena a box of beautifully decorated ginger bread. Elena looks around, confused. What had just happened? What that the future that would come if she were not around? Elena looks at the cookie and once again notices that the top cookie has been altered and a pair of pointy teeth dipped in read had been added...
Damon
Do you like it? Thought it added some much needed flare.
Damon enters the room smirking at Elena. Elena smiles at him, seeing him alive. Damon picks up the cookie just like before and dances it around, making Elena giggle in amusement. Caroline notices.
Caroline
Now that's more like it. If a vampire cookie can make you smile, than I guess there's hope yet for you!
Bonnie ::WHISPERING TO JEREMY::
I don't think it's the cookie that's making her smile... Right, Jeremy?
Jeremy
Whatever makes her happy, well, makes me happy.
Bonnie
I guess so. You know what makes me happy? You.
Jeremy
Right back at ya.
Jeremy and Bonnie kiss, embracing each other while Elena continues giggling at Damon's cookie dance.
Elena
That's cute, Damon.
Damon
Cute? Of course I am. Thanks for noticing.
Damon winks and nods to the mistletoe.
Damon
Lookie here. My favorite holiday tradition. Come on now, pucker up.
Caroline
Stop it, Damon.
Damon smirks and stares into Elena's eyes. She doesn't turn away and instead, stares back at them, remembering the pain she would cause him if she ever left. And then something Stefan said rang through her mind. 'He's loved you, even through his darkest times.' In his darkest time, Stefan followed Klaus like a puppy. But Damon, he was different.
Damon
Oh, come on now. Just one little kiss.
Elena smiled and to Damon's surprise, Elena leaned in and kissed him. Damon's eyes widened and his face softened. The kiss lasted longer than just a quick pec. It was a kiss that Elena felt she couldn't let go of. It felt real. It felt amazing.
Caroline
Wow. That must be some mistletoe.
At the end of the kiss, Elena and Damon moved only slightly away from each other, their faces touching in a warm embrace. Damon's blue eyes deepened as he stared at Elena.
Damon
I hope I'm not dreaming.
Elena
This is real, Damon.
Damon
It sure is.
FIN
