a/n: Oh what an incredible journey this story has been! I'm sad to see it go, but I'm glad that it finally came to a close. It has been a blast writing for you guys over the years and I'm sure going to miss you on my hiatus! I love you all!

TWENTY-ONE

Those four words were stuck on a loop inside Elena's mind as she stared absentmindedly at Damon's body before her. She shook her head and slowly turned her attention towards Lexi. "He is dead."

Lexi shook her head. "No he's not, Elena. I promise you," she said before getting to her feet, drawing Elena up with her. She scanned the field and saw the real spell she and the witches had been working on beginning to take effect. "Look," she said and pointed to a group of bodies off in the distance. Elena squinted and then gasped when she saw them beginning to move. She turned to look at Lexi and then dropped to her knees again beside Damon.

Tears welled up in her eyes as his chest rose and his body began to move. His eyes opened and tried to focus as well as figure out what was happening to him. "Elena?" he choked out, his voice strangled.

Lexi got down next to them and put her hand on his chest. "Breathe. Damon, you have to breathe now."

"Lexi, what the hell is happening?" Elena asked breathlessly.

"I would also like to know that," Damon said, coughing from the overuse of his lungs. There was a ringing in his ears that he hadn't heard in centuries. He knew it was the beat of his heart, but he refused to believe that that was true until Lexi gave him solid proof.

"The spell that the Bennett's have been working on didn't contain vervain," she said. "Well, a little bit of it, but not a lethal dose that was to be delivered with the activation or time release."

"What the hell was it then?" Elena asked.

"I met Emily Bennett almost a century ago and she had a plan then for when the doppelganger was born."

"She knew about me?"

"The witch that delivered the prophecy to Katherine revealed it to all witches. Emily told me that there would be a revolution led by the doppelganger and that with her blood, they could devise a spell that would nearly wipe vampires from existence without killing them."

Elena looked around and saw thousands of what were vampire bodies now coming out of the same daze Damon was in and it hit her. She looked back at Lexi with wide eyes. "You turned them all human."

"What?" Damon blurted at the same time Lexi nodded.

"Emily told me that long ago a witch had created a cure for vampirism, but when the vampires found out, they went after her so that she couldn't use and no one could pass the know-how along. The witch was able to hide it and leave clues before she was killed. Emily's ancestors had been working on finding it for a long time, but she was the one to find the cure. They've been keeping it safe until a way to use it in mass quantities arose. They couldn't recreate it, but they did find a spell that would allow the original recipe to multiply when combined with the blood of the doppelganger and added to something else. Poisoning the synthetic blood was perfect anyway you look at it."

"What about the vampires that haven't gotten it yet?" Elena asked.

"They will get to it eventually and the spell will still be there. Even if we don't get them all, we'll get the majority and send them back to hiding. It won't be long before humans outnumber the vampires."

"Especially now that the vampires are the humans," Damon said and shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around all of this.

"Exactly," Lexi said, smiling widely. "Not only did we defeat the enemy, but we found a way to populate the planet at the same time."

"So why aren't you going through this?" Elena asked.

"I will eventually," she said as she got to her feet. "Elijah, Caroline, and myself did not take the spell so that we could make sure everything was okay before we did."

"Can Elijah be human?" Elena asked.

Lexi nodded. "He was once and he can be again." She smiled at them and then looked around. "I'm going to check on the others. Remember to breathe, Damon," she added and then vanished from sight.

Damon stared up at Elena from his spot on the ground. He sought out her hand and squeezed it tight. "I'm human again," he mused.

"Katherine's dead."

He closed his eyes as if waiting to feel some kind of sadness, but instead, he felt a smile grace his lips. "I hope it was painful."

He opened his eyes to see Elena smiling from ear-to-ear as tears spilled down her cheeks. "Elijah ripped her heard from her chest. She died with a look of shock on her face."

"Good," he said and let go of her hand so that he could push himself into a sitting position with her help. "This needing to breathe thing is already getting old."

"You'll get over it," she assured him and narrowed her eyes as the smile was wiped from his face. In place of it was a look of confusion and pure awe. "Damon?"

"Stefan?" he breathed and Elena felt the presence of someone else near her. She turned to see Damon's younger brother standing before them looking just as dazed as they felt.

"Damon?" Stefan questioned.

Elena helped Damon to his feet and then stepped back to watch their reunion. "I thought I killed you?"

"You nearly did, but Lexi saw that I was still alive so she sent Elena to get Bonnie. They brought me to this room deep underground. It was lined with vervain so I couldn't get out. Three days ago they gave me some blood and I was too thirsty to question it. When Lexi would visit I would ask her why she was keeping me prisoner. All she had to say was that it would make sense soon."

Damon could only stare at his brother, but after a moment, he moved forward and brought his brother to him in a long overdue embrace. "I'm sorry I tried to kill you."

"It's okay. I understand what you were doing and why you were doing it."

When they stepped away from each other, Damon decided to tell him the bad news. "Katherine's dead. Elijah killed her."

"I know."

"You do?" Elena asked.

He nodded. "I was already in and out of consciousness because of the hunger, but I was jolted from that and my chest hurt. After the pain subsided I started thinking about Katherine and what she had done to us; how she destroyed us. Then I felt another kind of pain and the next thing I knew I was lying outside and my heart was beating."

Realizing there was nothing else to say, Damon reached for Elena's hand. "This is Elena. Elena, this is Stefan."

"I'm sorry about my actions," Stefan said to her.

She smiled warmly and nodded. "It's all in the past."

"What now?" Stefan asked.

"Now we should check on the others and see who we need to mourn," Damon suggested and they began walking through the remnants of battle to find their loved ones.

As they walked, Elena passed by the site where Katherine was killed and simply stared at the corpse as she walked by, a smile of victory on her lips. They found Elijah near the living quarters with Isobel, Alaric, and John. When they saw her, they began to run towards Elena and brought her to them for a giant hug. "I'm so happy you made it," Alaric said.

"My little warrior," John added with a smile.

Elena broke away from them and looked at Isobel who was struggling with the fact she was human again. Elena could tell by the way she was breathing. "I thought I lost you," she said and put her arms around her mother.

"I thought I was a gonner too," she replied and held her daughter close.

"Isobel?" Stefan's voice cut through the air. His tone was so full of surprise that it was clear to everyone he hadn't been told anything yet. "You're alive?"

She nodded. "I was never really dead, Stefan. I followed Damon one night and found that he had been keeping my daughter safe."

"Your what?"

"My daughter," she said, smiling at Elena.

"The night we found Isobel she had vervain on her. Before you and Katherine got there I saw Lexi and Isobel's family," Damon said, gesturing to the people around him. "Elena was only a baby then, but they were able to get away. When Katherine compelled the truth about children from her, Isobel was able to lie and I never told her the truth either. Years later I met Elena and I realized that she was Isobel's daughter when I saw how much she resembled Katherine."

"Elena was the one responsible for most of the attacks around Anna's," Isobel added.

Stefan raked a hand through his hair and saw the looks his brother and the doppelganger were exchanging. "Now I get it," he mumbled and smirked when Damon shot him a look.

Before Damon could say anything, Elijah made his way over to them and smiled when he saw they were all fine. "My family is human again, much to their dismay."

As Caroline, Tyler, Matt, Lexi, and the witches joined them everyone seemed to brighten up. Even all the death around them couldn't contain how elated they felt to know that they had won. They were free.

"Katherine had a vintage stash of champagne in the basement," Isobel said to break the silence. "I think our victory deserves a proper celebration."

"Agreed," Lexi said and reached down for Stefan's hand. "Shall we?"

And for the first time, the humans crossed what used to be the barrier without any fear of being caught.

Damon woke to find that he was alone. He opened his eyes and looked around the room for where Elena had run off to. It was then that he noticed the doors to the balcony were open and the breeze ruffled the curtains as another sign. He smiled and got out of bed. He sighed as the cool breeze hit his skin, reveling in the way it made him feel. He moved towards Elena and pressed his front against her back before wrapping his arms around her. "I didn't mean to wake you," she said quietly.

"I know, but I can't sleep when you're not next to me," he said, his breath tickling her ear.

She smiled and moved his hand down to her swollen belly. "I would be sleeping if it weren't for your child kicking up a storm."

Damon pressed a kiss to the side of her neck as he felt the baby kick from inside the womb. The sensation was something he had experienced before, but still held him in awe. He never thought he would see someone with child, let alone his child. "If it's anything like it's sister, then we have a bigger problem on our hands," he replied and turned her so that she was facing him.

She looped her arms around his neck, her fingers playing with the locks of his hair. "Nadya was quite the fighter."

"That's because she takes after her mother," Damon replied and leaned in for a real kiss.

Elena pulled back with a smile on her face and turned away from him again. She loved coming out here at night and seeing people go about their lives without fear of having to hide. "The city is thriving."

"It has been a very busy five years," Damon replied, moving back to his original position behind her. "None of which would be possible without you."

"Without us," Elena corrected and then shook her head and leaned back against him. "I can't believe it's been that long already. Time is moving so quickly."

She felt him shake his head in disagreement. "I can't remember the last time life passed this slowly," he murmured against her skin. "But I wouldn't trade that for anything."

A smile touched her lips and she closed her eyes, the gentle breeze and the feel of Damon's arms around her lulling her to sleep. "I'm just glad a lot of you are really old and knew what humanity was like when it was humans walking the earth."

"Hey," Damon said playfully and smiled at the way she felt in his arms when she laughed.

"I love you," she whispered.

He had never been happier in his life and it was that moment that he forgave Katherine and everything that she had done to him. He was on good terms with his brother for the first time in centuries. He had fallen in love with a girl that loved him back and he had a family. Everything he ever wanted was now everything he had and he wouldn't trade any of what happened in the past.

"I love you too," he replied and closed his eyes again, a smile of pure happiness on his face.