Together at the End
DG32173

Sarah: a rather interesting idea that I am certain is not the first of its kind. I just hope I make this one-shot completely original. I only own what I write.

SUMMARY
After countless eons travelling the stars together, they return to the exact spot where their journey began. It is Earth's final day in existence and they are ready to finally be reunited with their loved ones in final death. Damon/Elena


She meets his ice blue eyes with her warm brown ones. "It's almost time," she says softly, stepping into his arms.

"I'm ready," he says, pulling her close.

"Same here. It will be good to see them again," she admits.

"You know we aren't the only ones who have come back, don't you?"

"I know. And not just vampires. Hybrids too. We've all come home to face the end the only place any of us have felt truly at home." She chuckles as she realizes something.

"What's so funny?" he asks, smirking.

"I have no idea exactly how old I am. So many eons have passed us by and I lost track somewhere along the way just how many."

"To be perfectly honest, I'm as clueless as you are. All the different eras of earth have become completely jumbled. Stefan was the one who had a head for dates, not me."

"We saw human civilization reach its peak on Earth. We watched as the first colony ships were sent into the stars. We have walked on every hospitable planet in the Milky Way. We were there at the first contact with intelligent life that wasn't from Earth. You helped negotiate peace treaties with countless alien races. We watched as a fleet comprised of species from countless planets departed through the Darkness in hopes of reaching the Andromeda system. We've fought in countless intergalactic wars when peace just couldn't be brought with words. We have seen the dwindling numbers of Pure Humans, watching as humanity mixed its genes with a surprising number of compatible aliens to create new races that had the best features of the both parent species," she says, her eyes bright with joy. "We've lived, Damon. We are among the oldest of all the vampires in the universe. We have experienced things we never dreamed were possible when we were still human."

"It's a shame none of our friends could experience all of it with us," he says regretfully. "I miss them, Elena."

"I bet they know all we have done and seen," she assures him gently. "And if they don't, we will soon be able to fill their ears with stories of adventures they would never believe are true. Like the time you just barely kept our ship out of that black hole by grappling a passing comet."

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" he retorts, eyes dancing as he recalls the rush of adrenaline that surged through him when he realized that the comet was their only chance of surviving. Their ship did not have a wormhole key installed in it's AI at the time. An oversight they immediately corrected at the next spaceport.

"You should have been paying attention to the data readings before you popped out of hyper drive right on top of that thing. We would never have needed to resort to such a dangerous move as star-surfing if you had been more attentive to what was going on in the real-space you were going to pop into."

He can see by the laughter in her eyes that she recalls as well as he does the thrill of letting a potentially deadly comet pull them through space like boats had pulled water-skiers in the days there still was water on Earth. Earth's environment had gone through countless changes over the ages. But in the last million years or so, the Sun's upcoming supernova has killed off everything and dried up the oceans, lakes, and rivers. What was once known as the Green Planet is now a giant grey rock with no atmosphere and no life. The only thing that has stayed the same is its gravity.

Hybrids and Vampires are the only ones to have come to Earth since it started dying. They are the only ones who can walk on the surface of the inhospitable planet, with or without space suits. It was discovered quite by accident that Vampires and Hybrids don't need any protection from the dangers of space. Another accidental discovery was that Vampires and Hybrids can speak and be heard in the vacuum of space. That freaked out the still-living.

Damon and Elena turn they eyes towards the raging sun. Its increase in size pending supernova has already completely consumed both Mercury and Venus. The eternal lovers know that if they had not been wearing their lapis lazuli rings, they would have been burned to ash as soon as their ship popped into the solar system, in spite of the protective shielding layered six deep throughout the hull of their ship. The sun's strength has grown that strong. But the rings enchanted for them by Bennett witches in times long forgotten by all but the most ancient of vampires and hybrids continued to protect the ones wearing them as faithfully and surely as they had the day they were enchanted. When Earth started it's slow decline into death, it was quickly realized by vampires and hybrids throughout the galaxy that lapis lazuli has not been found anywhere else. The rush to find a protective gem as powerful and sure as lapis lazuli would have been laughable if it weren't for the knowledge that without protective gems like lapis lazuli, vampires would instantly turn to ash if they got with in five hundred light years of a supernova.

The collective vampire race, no matter what species they had been born as, was quickly relieved when a gem found on numerous planets throughout the galaxy was discovered to protect them from the stars even better than lapis lazuli once enchanted. This gem is the same shade of red as the fresh spilt blood of a Pure Human. No name had ever been assigned to it, but now it was given the name Vampyris. Vampyris jewelry was repeatedly offered to vampires who wore lapis lazuli. And the vampires repeatedly refused to give up the jewelry that had been enchanted for them by friends long gone.

"It's going to reach Earth soon," Elena murmurs.

"It is. The blast is going to be spectacular," Damon remarks.

"Wouldn't it be completely ironic if we came all the way from the opposite side of the galaxy to go up with our mother world in a blaze of glory only to end up somehow freakishly surviving the whole thing because we won't take our rings off at the last second?" Elena asks.

Damon groans. "Don't jinx it, kitten!" he exclaims, horrified at the thought. He grips her shoulders and turns her to look at him. "Listen to me, Elena. That star up there is a giant ball of molten rock and blazing gasses that is hot enough that the second a single starburst reaches from it's surface to touch the rock beneath our feet, this planet you and I are standing on while ignite on fire hotter than anything in the known universe can survive. Our rings, gems and all, will liquefy in that heat and the two of us will turn to molten ash, joining our friends wherever their souls may be. And all we will know is that a flaming tendril reaches through space towards our planet from the Sun and then we will find ourselves surrounded by everyone we have ever loved. Trust me on that."

Elena's brown eyes sparkle with wicked mischief. "Oh, I know that what you just detailed is exactly what will happen. I just wanted to see the look on your face at the idea that we might not die because Bonnie and Emily enchanted our rings so well that not even a supernova could destroy us while we wore them. After all, we were prone to all sorts of trouble as humans and eternity would give us plenty of time to get creative in finding trouble. They might have taken extra precautions when making our rings," she tells him in complete seriousness before bursting into hysterical laughter at the sheer terror in his eyes when he realizes that those two witches could have done just that for just those reasons.

Damon lets out a blue streak that is far more vivid than it had been in those long ago days when their friends and family were still alive. Huge magnitudes of colorful and creative phrases and words had hopped into the English language during the eighty million years it had been spoken. But, as with all things, the rich languages that had been spoken on Earth when the two had been young have long since faded from modern knowledge. The few vampires and hybrids who are still alive who are actually fluent in the languages of Earth's youth are looked upon with awe and respect. With age comes wisdom, and with incredible age comes incredible wisdom, or so they say in this era.

Unfortunately, Damon runs out of colorful language before Elena runs out of giggles. So he does one thing that has always worked whenever he wanted her to shut up: he captures her lips in a passionate kiss. As it has every time before, the kiss instantly turns Elena's focus to something far different than what had been upsetting Damon. Unfortunately, the mood is ruined almost as soon it begins when the rock beneath their feet shakes savagely. There has not been an earthquake on this planet in about four million years. Damon and Elena raise their eyes to the star above them and are struck with awe at its deadly beauty, so close they would swear they would be able to reach out and touch it if their arms were even a fraction of an inch longer. But they both know that despite how close it appears, the star is still a number of light years away, though that distance is rapidly dwindling.

"The supernova is coming on faster," she exclaims excitedly, gripping his shoulders while his hands land on her hips..

"Anytime now," Damon remarks. He quickly cups Elena's face in both his hands, sensing that their dramatic grand exit scene has to start now. "From the moment I laid eyes on you on this very spot, when there had been a blacktop beneath our feet and a forest surrounding us for miles around, I knew that it was my turn to have my world rocked. I should never have made you forget our true first meeting, Elena," he says, letting her see his immense love for her. "I have loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you and realized you weren't Katherine. Even all these eons later, I still know that I will never be able to show you just how happy you made me when you became my wife."

"Damon, I already know how happy it made you because it made me just as happy to become your bride. I knew from the moment I looked into your eyes in the living room of the boarding house that you were the one I would end up spending my life with. I tried to hide from my feelings, terrified by their strength. But all that did was hurt us both. I should have stopped fighting my feelings that night I saved your life in Georgia because I knew then that if I ever lost you, it would kill me. Despite the fact that we have travelled the stars together for all this time, I still regret not letting myself act on my love for you sooner, knowing that we would have had that much more time to love each other as much as we have. Despite the fact that it wasn't even a blip in our extraordinarily long lives, it would still have mattered," she returns. "You have made me the happiest woman to ever live in this universe, Damon."

"And you made me the happiest man, Elena." He pulls her closer. "Now it's time at last to let that star shining above us take us to our friends."

"I love you, Damon Salvatore," she tells him.

"I love you, Elena Salvatore," he replies.

Their lips meet in a fierce kiss just as the Sun touches Earth, causing the former planet to explode and become the final thing needed to cause the ancient star to finally go supernova.


Sarah:: I have decided that, if I get enough requests, I might turn this into a collection of tales of what could have happened to Damon and Elena during their incredibly long lives. Let me know what you think in a review!