It was the very next day that Damon met Lydia again.
He was walking down the stairs of the Salvatore place, prodding his softly waving ebony hair, then saw the pair walk through the door- Lydia and a woman with her own eyes, so deep and emerald. He hid swiftly behind a pillar, staring out behind it at the pretty girl, then saw her mother turn to her and smile. 'Why don't you take a stroll around the garden? It's very beautiful.' Lydia smiled. 'Yes Mother.' then turned around in her soft cream dress and walked out.
Damon turned now, running up the stairs and down another flight of stairs, sneaking after the girl.
He watched behind a bush as Lydia walked over to his fathers horse and smiled, raising a hand to rub its silky black neck. Now Damon stepped out and walked over. Lydia jumped and backed off, then stopped and said. 'Damon?' Damon nodded. 'Lydia yes?'
Lydia looked a little nervous now as she said. 'I didn't mean to touch...'
Damon smiled, then patted the horse. 'It's ok. He doesn't bite.' Then he looked around at her and said. 'Would you like to see the new foal? He's so majestic already.'
Lydia smiled, then said with a lilting laugh. 'Thank you!'
Damon led her to the barn, then she laughed as she saw the little ebony foal, then said. 'What is his name?' Damon looked thoughtful. 'He doesn't have one yet.' Lydia walked over to the foal now, then bent down, stroking its silky little midnight mane and smiled. 'He looks like a Midnight.' Damon chuckled. 'That sounds like a very fitting name my Lady.'
Lydia sighed now, then gestured at her dress. 'All this... it is so uncomfortable and...'
'Elegant?'
'I feel like a porcelain doll, wrapped up inside many amounts and layers of fabric...'
Damon stared now, then said in a low voice. 'You look very pretty.' Lydia blushed now, then said in surprise. 'Thank you.' Damon chuckled, then they both heard a voice call "Lydia! We're leaving!"
Lydia sighed, then went up to Damon, kissing his cheek, then running off with a giggle.
Damon just watched her leave with a grin, a hand on Midnights side.
Damon closed the diary now, then ran a hand through his hair- he had liked Lydia straight of the bat, never having any experience in the subject of love before. Ten years old... and already falling in love. Well, it was common in the 1800s to be married at the age of 15 or even younger. They had been dressed as adults and treated the same.
Not much of a childhood at all. He spent most of his free time out with Stefan, teaching him how to play with a ball and to catch it- before he fell over into a bush again, making his older brother pull him out, laughing.
Damon rolled his eyes now as he closed the book on his ten year old self, then flicked through a few more- they were so boring. Ramblings of a child besotted by a young girl, on how their parents never let them mingle. They didn't see each other often, but he had often sneaked out to watch her as she and her friends had a mini tea party in the garden, in which he was caught by her father, then scolded by his own father. But then he went back a few pages on his fifteen year old self.
He sighed now, then remembered that horrible day- Lydia had left to go back to her homeland of England shortly after her fifteenth birthday. They were best friends, their parents encouraging more than that by now, the talk of combining the Faulks and Salvatore lines together to save their family names in the air now.
Damon had made his father furious when he walked out of their conversation on the subject of marriage.
He wouldn't get married off on some stupid family money or name problem. "Stubborn and hot headed" his father had been so disappointed in him. The oldest of his two sons, and the one he was counting on.
'Damon, this is life- you have to make sacrifices for family. Think about our name, our wealth... Lydia Faulks' family will secure our-'
'I don't care!'
'Damon! If you walk out now, you will be in so much trouble young man! I will not see our respected family name tarnished by a troublesome ilk.'
Sixteen year old Damon walked along the path, heading to his and Lydias favorite cherry tree next to the lake, where she liked to stand and paint the lake at sunset, the colors big and vibrant, red shot with gold.
He stood by the lake now, then sighed, running a hand trough his hair, thinking- his father would be carting him of to join the army if he wasn't careful.
Then he heard light footsteps behind him and turned to face a red eyed Lydia, who permitted Damon to hug her, then said in his ear. 'I don't have much time. But... I'm leaving.'
That hit Damon like a kick from a horse, then he just asked. 'Why?' Lydia shook her head, tears welling up again. 'My father, because we have refused marriage, is sending me back to England. He has found me a suitor apparently.'
Damon shook his head, then took her hand. 'And if we agree?'
'It is too late. I leave within the hour.'
Damon sighed, and Lydia said swiftly. 'We knew the rules, and played outside them Damon. Think of the trouble we will be in if our parents ever found out? My childhood sweetheart over my family? Don't make me choose, Damon... if you love me, don't make me.'
Once more he sighed, then kissed her cheek, going. 'Please say you will return.'
Lydia sighed, then turned away, running back up the road away from him
Damon watched her leave in silence, head held high- why didn't he just accept the terms of the marriage? They loved each other, but...
Being forced to marry was wrong, he knew that...
And now all he saw was as he ran to the Faulks manor, was the back of the horse drawn carriage, heading towards an uncertain future for Lydia.
Damon felt those old emotions try to rise up as his sixteen year old self wrote about the love he'd felt for her, then found out that very night her father didn't want his daughter to marry a renegade like him. His words had been- "On the surface, an honorable young man, but inside, he will shame our families with his unholy mind and acts."
Damon chuckled darkly now, then spoke to the diary. 'You've seen nothing yet young man. Lydia was the tip of the iceberg when it came to courting.'
But then he put a hand on another diary, he was very nearly twenty now, then cocked his head...
The one in which the final chapter took place... Lydias return, their courtship... and her death.
Next little Prequel bit before the main story, which will kick off chapter four- and three will be up today for sure! Reviews very much loved! X Nic
