Hi everyone - for the very last time (on this story anyway). This is the final chapter of this fan-fiction. It has taken me so long to update because this is by far the biggest chapter. Thank you to everyone who has read it - even if you didn't comment. I hope you have all enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. You all have given me so much confidence and inspiration, so thank you very much. I will be going over the first few chapters for spelling and grammar mistakes eventually, so I hope that future readers of fan-fiction can enjoy this story.
Stefan POV
"Lexi, no." Stefan shook his head at her.
"I'm the only one who knows how to get there and has any chance of getting us in so don't argue with me Stefan," Lexi said. She began to walk away-motioning for Damon to follow when Stefan grabbed her arm.
"You can't Lexi. I won't let you." Stefan had tears in his eyes. He was surprised at himself for feeling the way he did. Why didn't he just let Lexi take Damon and hope that they brought Elena back? Why was the thought of possibly never seeing Lexi again such a big sacrifice for the one he loved?
Damon grabbed the arm Stefan had laid on her and threw it off.
"She is going Stefan, and if you try and stop us, you will be the first one there," Damon growled.
Damon put his hand on the small of Lexi's back and gently pushed her forward. Damon didn't hesitate in using Lexi; he didn't care if she got stuck down there; Elena came first for him - always had.
Stefan looked at Lexi with one last plea. "Please stay with me Lexi. Don't do this. Don't go. Just stay."
"Wait," Lexi said to Damon in a whisper. For a brief second Stefan thought she was going to listen to him.
Lexi took Stefan's hands gently and leaned in to kiss him softly on the lips.
"I have to Stefan. I want to help Elena; she's my friend and I love her too. When you're friends with someone, you sacrifice everything for their happiness because that's what friends do. Elena would do the same for me, so I am not going to let her down".
Stefan felt defeated. "But it's a suicide mission. Mrs Bennett has already said we can't win. You're throwing away your new life for nothing"
Lexi shook her head; she didn't seem shocked that he said this. "I didn't have a life before Elena's death. Her power brought me back. I haven't told you this but…" Lexi took a deep breath as everyone waited, expectantly.
"Elena has been there before. When she died, because she had vampire blood in her system, that's where she went. The place I went when I died because of the life I chose. It was only for a brief moment; she wasn't even aware of it properly. I had been so desperate for escape ever since I got there. I saw Elena and I grabbed hold of her hand reflexively. She was like a life vest to me down there. She appeared right next to me and I didn't think twice. When she came back she brought me with her. She held on. When you told me she was dead, I thought something had gone wrong. I thought that because I had hold of her she wasn't able to come back, and I was. I felt so guilty, Stefan, but I couldn't tell you." Tears were running down Lexi's eyes.
Stefan felt like walking away from her, but he didn't. He knew what it was like to make a mistake, so who was he to hold it against her?
"So you see; I have to go back. She brought me from that monstrous place; she gave me what I have wanted for over 300 years: my humanity. Because of her, I can walk in the sun. Because of her, I have a chance to change my life and die the way I should have: human. Because of her, I have a chance to change my fate. I owe her everything and I am not going to sit here while she marries that cruel bastard."
Stefan was lost for words. This whole time the truth of how Lexi had come back had been staring him in the face, and he had been too absorbed in his own little world to see it. Lexi had always liked Elena, but lately she had been tending to her every whim; been there for her; hadn't judged her in her choice of marrying Damon; even though she knew how much she was hurting Stefan. Lexi had been the best friend Elena could hope for because she was grateful. Elena was her saviour, her guardian angel. She had given Lexi everything she ever wanted.
Now Stefan understood her. He couldn't stop her from trying to save Elena, because Lexi owed everything she had to her; she owed her the sacrifice of her life to try and save her, because Elena was the reason she had it.
Stefan nodded in understanding. "Then let's go."
Lexi looked at him in shock. "Do you really think I'm going to let you go without me?"
"Welcome back, brother," Damon said with a small smile.
Stefan turned to Bonnie. "Lexi is right. Elena would do the same for us so we have to try."
Bonnie looked at her grandmother, but she already knew what she was going to do. Like Lexi had said: to be someone's friend is to sacrifice everything for their happiness. She was Elena's best friend; it was about time she started acting like it.
Bonnie's grandmother nodded and whispered, "Be safe," before disappearing.
"Let's go," Bonnie said in a sure and confident voice. They were going to save Elena; this was her one chance to say sorry for all that she had done, so she was going to take it.
Elena POV
"Very nice, my queen," Gabriel said in admiration, whilst his eyes roamed over Elena appreciatively.
She wore a tight fitted purple gown. She loved how it looked on her, but she tried not to show it. It had a tight bodice and a wide flowing skirt. It reminded her of what the women of the late Victorian century wore. She had always loved this style of dress wear and got a frill out of the few dresses she had. She had always wanted to wear dresses like this; she knew they would suit her, and they did. It was as if she wore these types of dresses every day. The time and place around her felt so fitting, but at the same time so wrong.
She knew what the feeling was caused by and she could sum it up in one word.
"Damon."
Damon wasn't here and because he wasn't she shouldn't be here. She knew Gabriel would give her everything: love, support, fine dresses and jewels. Everything she desired, but she would never be happy with any of it because he could never give her him.
Yesterday she felt the frill of excitement; she had an endless, wondrous future stretched out before her, and today it was all gone. Today all she had was loss, grief and a huge hole in her chest that would always belong to Damon.
She thought they had made it; that all of the bad things that had happened to them were finally over. That they were finally getting their happy ever after, but she was wrong. Their happy ever after would never be.
He kissed her softly on her lips and she didn't move away because there was absolutely no point anymore.
"Things will change, my Queen. You will learn to love me." He took her hand and pulled her towards the door.
Elena didn't try and tell him not to call her queen. She had given up on trying to tell Gabriel to do anything. She knew it was going to be like this forever; she would be an obedient wife; she would let him kiss her and make love to her, but she wouldn't return the favour. She was his prisoner forever, and she would never love again. She would never feel the electric touch of a kiss, because Damon was the only person who could make her feel like that. She would never make passionate love, because Damon was never going to make love to her again; and having sex with anyone else would just be meaningless.
"Welcome, my queen, to our kingdom," Gabriel said after they walked down what seemed like hundreds of stairs and walked on to a large balcony.
Elena nearly began to cry as she looked at the scene before her.
Thousands and thousands of people were bowing to them. They were all the same as the women Elena had seen. Their clothes were torn and falling to pieces on their thin, frail body. People were covered in bruises and some shook as they pressed their lips to the ground.
"This is your new Queen; now back to work." Gabriel seemed annoyed that he had to talk to all of them.
He pulled Elena down more stairs and onto a pebbled, smooth, stone walkway. The stones were various different colours; they looked almost watery. Elena wondered how they were kept clean if all of the slaves walked on them. Surely they must be as dirty as the slaves were?
Two slave-women approached them and bowed their heads. Elena noticed they didn't walk on the path. Instead they walked on the crunchy gravel. Elena winced. They had no shoes and the gravel cut into their bony feet, leaving blood in some places. The women stood awaiting Gabriel's instruction, without looking at them. Gabriel didn't seem to have noticed the women or the discomfort they were in. He paused, thinking to himself.
"What should I show you first?" he said, stroking Elena's hand.
"Ahh, I know. I shall show you the statues." He tugged gently on Elena's hand and she walked with him.
She didn't really want to see the rest of this hell hole, but it couldn't get any worse, and she knew Gabriel wouldn't let her sit in the tower all day.
Elena was wondering how far away these statues were as she was already tired from the whip and so many steps. Two more women appeared with what looked like a carriage, though it had no wheels, just four large handles, with two on either side.
They sat the carriage down next to two small steps. Without hesitation Gabriel pulled Elena into the carriage.
There were two purple silk chairs inside the carriage, with a purple carpet on the floor of the carriage to match. The roof of the carriage was a silky white canopy. It looked beautiful but there was no way they were going to move in it because it had no wheels or horse.
Just as Elena was about to voice her thoughts, they were answered. The women stood on either side of the carriage, and together they lifted it on their shoulders. Elena gasped in horror and Gabriel looked at her in concern.
Understanding lit his face as he followed Elena's eyes to the women holding up the carriage.
"Do I really need to go through this again? They are here for punishment, Elena."
She understood, but she still couldn't comprehend why these women were being put through so much torture. Surely not all of the people down here had done so much bad deeds in their lives that they deserved this level of pain and torture?
"Why can't men do it then?" She needed to find some way to make these slaves' suffering less; that would be her mission.
She knew that men were stronger than women so surely if they held the carriage it would be an easier task for them.
"No, men can't do it. I don't want any men near you. Do I make myself clear?" Gabriel said in an angry tone.
Elena nodded in fear. She wanted to ask what was so bad about having men near her, but she didn't because she knew what he would say. She was his property now, so no man other than himself - and possibly his father - could ever be close to her. He was possessive, but not in a good way.
The carriage came to a stop and they were set down next to two steps, on Elena's side of the carriage.
Elena got out quickly; she hated being in close proximity with Gabriel. She turned to thank the women but then thought better of it; she didn't want to deal with Gabriel getting angry again.
The woman looked utterly exhausted; like they could fall dead at any moment. Elena could never get used to the cruelty she saw at every second down here, and she doubted she ever would.
Gabriel pulled her forward on the deserted path and up a few marble steps. They walked onto a large marble balcony that overlooked what looked to Elena like a cross between a construction site and a concentration camp she had read about.
"Isn't it beautiful," Gabriel said, leading her over to two large, comfortable looking thrones. He put his feet up and began eating some grapes from a marble table in the middle of the thrones.
There were three mountain sized rocks; the second one was a complete replica of Gabriel. He had his whip out and a stern look on his face. He was standing on a pile of bodies of men and woman, who looked afraid and in immense pain.
The first one was of a man Elena had never seen before, but presumed was Gabriel's father because of the resemblance he had with his son, he too was standing on a bed of men and women.
"What is the third statue for?" she pointed to the large rock next to Gabriel's statue.
"That is being transformed into the most beautiful creature that ever existed. You my queen." He took her hand and kissed it. Elena wanted to slap him, but she restrained herself.
Elena jumped as she suddenly heard a sharp male voice that sent shivers down her spine. It spoke from beside her.
"Master, your father requests your presence. He says he would like to present you with something before he meets his new daughter." The voice came from a creature, not a man.
It was a large hooded creature. Elena couldn't see the creature's face as its large hood covered the entire head and long body. Only the long, flesh eaten, scabby long hands showed. The hands only had three fingers, which had long, sharp yellow nails on the end. Elena drew back from the creature and into Gabriel in fear.
Gabriel chuckled and gently held her shoulders.
"Elena, you have no need for fear. This is one of my many guards. They help maintain order amongst the slaves and deliver messages, and they are permitted to talk to us, and can be rather helpful. They will fulfil your every request."
Gabriel turned back to the creature. "I shall go straight away. Have the slaves bring a single carriage as I don't want to leave Elena with no transport. Stay with her until I return and take her anywhere she wishes to go. Keep her safe and get me the moment anything happens." He spoke to the creature differently than he spoke to the slaves; it was as if the creature was an employee.
"Of course master." The creature disappeared in a swift movement.
Gabriel stood up and stretched. "I won't be gone for too long; you will be fine with Sid. He will keep you safe so do not fear him. Go and explore, my queen." Gabriel gave her a swift kiss on the cheek and left the room.
Before she had gotten to her feet, the creature named Sid was back.
"Do you wish to remain here mistress? Or do you wish to go elsewhere?" Sid said in the same shrill voice.
Elena looked at the statues, and then back at Sid, who she preferred to think of as 'creature' - it seemed more fitting. She was torn with herself; she didn't want to sit with creature, and she was getting bored of looking at the statues, but she wasn't sure she wanted to see any more cruelty either.
After a few moments she decided that she was going to have to get used to the cruelty, and besides, she needed to start her mission to lessen the slaves' suffering.
"I want to get closer to the statues," Elena said to creature in a small voice.
"Of course mistress. Please follow me to the carriage," creature said nodding his head. He turned and walked slowly down the marble steps.
He gestured for her to get into the carriage and she shook her head. "I can walk." She turned to walk off the path and on to the gravel, when creature was suddenly before her with his arms raised.
"Mistress, the gravel will hurt your feet; I insist you take the carriage."
It was true, Elena was only wearing a pair of thin satin purple slippers, which the hard gravel would probably cut to ribbons, but she didn't care. She would rather endure the pain than get carried by four very tired and in pain slaves again.
"I am aware of that but I want to walk," she said in a strong voice. She wasn't going to give up and she needed to let him know that.
"Then please, if you must walk, may we take the path?" he pointed one of his fingers to the path. Elena had to admit that it was a good compromise. She would look like an idiot walking on the gravel because she wasn't used to it and it looked very painful.
She turned and began walking up the path. The creature glided along beside her. She wondered what his face looked like and then decided that she didn't want to know. If his face was anything like his hands, then it was surely a hideous thing.
As they walked past, slaves, who were carrying heavy tools and large rocks, stopped and pressed their lips to the gravel in a low bow. However, no male slaves stopped; they quickly ran as far away from the path as they could before they bowed. They didn't look at her, and creature walked slightly in front of her, so he could shield her from their view.
When they reached the bottom of the statues, after about an hour of walking, Elena looked up to see. Men and women were chipping away at the rock that was to be transformed into a replica of her. Sweat poured down their red arms and faces as they pushed themselves to the limit.
Elena was about to turn away from the rock, deciding she didn't want to see anymore, when a small stone fell from high up on the rock. Before it hit her, the creature had caught it and thrown it away from her.
Elena watched in horror as she looked up to see a woman around her own age look down in horror. Her hand was outstretched as if she had tried to stop the stone from falling by catching it. For a moment the woman looked relieved to see Elena was ok, but then her face fell to utter terror.
A creature Elena hadn't noticed suddenly grabbed the woman.
"How dare you allow a stone to fall on the queen's head," the creature screamed into the woman's face.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I'm just so tired I stumbled and the stone fell. I tried to catch it but I wasn't fast enough," the woman cried.
He slapped her hard across the face. "I don't want to hear your excuses. You hurt the queen; you know what this means." Before Elena had a chance to stick up for the woman and explain that the stone hadn't even hit her, and that it was clearly an accident, the creature had put her under his cloak and they disappeared.
Damon POV
He growled in frustration; they had been walking around for hours. They hadn't left the graveyard seeing as Lexi had insisted that the place they needed to go was in this very graveyard in mystic falls. At the time Damon hadn't been bothered by this piece of information, but now he seriously doubted whether Lexi really did know where they were going.
"You don't know where you're going, do you?" Damon said, grabbing Lexi's arm and pulling her to a stop. Stefan had grabbed Damon's arm as soon as he had grabbed Lexi, and was applying a large amount of force to it, but Damon didn't care. He would gladly rip Lexi's arm off if it made him feel better about the small hope she had given him being crushed.
"Here," Lexi said, pointing to a large stone archway leading to an old gravestone. The wooden door of the archway looked big and sturdy.
Damon smirked at everyone's hesitation. He threw himself at the door, expecting to come crashing through it on the other side, but instead he collided with the door with a deafening crash.
"What the fuck's this?" Damon said picking himself up off the floor.
"I don't know; that's why it's taken me so long to find it. The last time I saw it, the door opened for me automatically," Lexi said, running her hand over the door.
"It needs a key or something like that. I can sense it," Bonnie said as she too ran her hand over the door.
"Well we don't have a key or time to find it."
"Or know where to find it," Stefan added.
"There must be a way to get through," Damon said, once again slamming himself against the door; but he fell to the ground again, just like the first time.
"I think I know what to do," Bonnie said. She had her eyes closed as she was feeling the door.
Elena POV
"Where did they go?" Elena demanded.
"A place where she will get her just deserts, Mistress," the creature said simply.
"What do you mean, her just deserts? She didn't do anything wrong." The slaves didn't stop in their work when they saw the woman getting taken; it was like they expected it - but why?
"She tried to hurt you, mistress. She must be punished," the creature said in a confused tone.
"She didn't try and hurt me; it was an accident," Elena insisted.
"The master shall be back soon. Would you like to return to the balcony? We should, of course, take the carriage this time," the creature said, trying to change the subject.
"No. I don't want to go back to the balcony. Take me to her," Elena demanded, all but stamping her foot. She couldn't let that poor woman get punished just because of a silly accident.
"Mistress, you will not like it there. It is no place for a queen to be. Please let us return to the balcony."
"Gabriel told you to take me wherever I wanted to go. I want to go to see her. Now take me." Elena realised that this was the only way to get through to him.
"As you wish mistress."
Suddenly Elena had been pulled under the creature's coat. She felt a wave of heat before the cloak was lifted and she was standing in a long, damp, stone corridor. It was freezing and she began to shiver.
"Do you wish to go?" the creature asked in a concerned tone.
"No, no. I'm fine. Where is she?"
The creature pointed down the long corridor. She walked slowly and tried not to cringe when water soaked through her slippers. They came to a locked door at the end of the corridor that had a small hole to see through.
When Elena looked through the hole she saw the woman sitting on the damp floor, rocking back and forth, gently. Elena was about to demand that the door be opened, when the woman began to speak.
"I don't know if you can hear me or if you're even there. I don't know if you would listen to my prayer; they tell me I am just a forgotten slave. I shouldn't speak to you. Still, I picture your face and wonder: were you once a slave too?"
The woman was praying and crying. Elena felt a wave of emotion as she heard her; even after all the suffering she had endured, she still had faith.
The woman continued and Elena didn't interrupt her.
"God help the slaves that stole, they were hungry from birth. Show them the mercy they didn't find on earth. The lost and forgotten; they look to you still."
"God help the slaves or nobody will."
For the first time Elena noticed that there were others in the cell with the woman. They too began to pray with her.
"I asked for wealth."
"I asked for fame."
"I asked for glory to shine on my name."
"I asked for love, I can possess."
"I asked for God and his angels to bless me."
They were speaking as if they were revealing their sins.
They fell silent as the woman continued the prayer.
"I asked for nothing. I could get by, but I knew so many less lucky than I."
"We all asked for favours, and that's why we're here, but please, God, help these people; the poor and downtrodden - I thought we all were the children of God".
"I don't know if there's a reason why some are blessed and some are not. Why there is the few you seem to favour?"
"They feared us. They fled us. They tried not to see us. We have no help but we will always have faith."
"God help the slaves; the tattered; the torn, seeking an answer to why they were born."
"Winds of misfortune have blown them about. You made the slaves; don't cast them out."
"The poor and unlucky. The weak and the odd. I thought we all were the children of God."
Elena began banging her fist on the door.
"Let them out," she screamed, but no one so much as turned their head in her direction. A green gas began leaking into the cell and Elena watched as the slaves began to twitch violently.
Slowly their twitching stopped and so did everything else. They stopped moving, stopped breathing. They became perfectly still corpses.
"What's happened to them?" Elena said to the creature in a solemn voice. Although they looked dead, they couldn't possibly be dead.
"Some call it mummifying; some call it soul stopping. It is the ultimate punishment."
"Are they in pain? Do they feel?"
"No. They feel no pain or any other emotion. Eventually their bodies will crumble to dust."
A small comfort hit Elena from the creature's words.
"At least they have escaped from here. They are at peace now."
"No. They are not at peace. That is the whole point of their punishment. For their crimes they can never find peace. They will never have the chance to redeem themselves and be given the gift of being reborn. They will simply be trapped in their own rotting corpses throughout all of eternity. They are only left with their regrets and memories."
"What the hell happened?" Elena jumped as Gabriel was suddenly next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and she leaned into his embrace willingly. She felt she needed support right now; no matter whom it was off. The creature's voice was still ringing in her head.
Gabriel glanced down at Elena, before turning to glare at the creature.
"I told you to keep her safe and get me if anything happened. What part of those orders did you not understand?" Gabriel's anger was boiling again.
"She is unharmed master; the situation was dealt with. I didn't see any need to get you as it was already dealt with."
"Unharmed? Look at her; she looks as if she is about to pass out. What happened?"
"We went closer to the statues and one of them," he pointed inside the cell, "threw a rock at the mistress. Of course she was unharmed and the slave was put to justice. The mistress wanted to see her put to justice so I brought her here at her request."
Gabriel nodded. "You still should have gotten me straight away."
"I'm sorry master. Please forgive me." The creature turned and then disappeared down the corridor.
Gabriel turned back to Elena. "Would you like to lie down first, before you meet my father?" he asked softly.
Elena shook her head. She needed to forget about what she had seen today. The images would haunt her forever, but she needed to put it into the back of her mind, otherwise she would pass out.
Bonnie POV
She could feel it from behind the door: the raw terror; the pain; the suffering of thousands and thousands of souls. She knew what she needed to do to get in, but she knew that, after going in, there was no getting out.
Lexi escaping had been a pure miracle. She knew the door was the entrance to hell, but she couldn't be sure that there was a exit.
She swallowed deeply. She reminded herself of all of the times Elena had been brave for her. Images of the times Elena had saved her, and of Elena sacrificing herself for her, filled Bonnies mind. The last image she remembered was the look in Elena's eyes as she died in front of her own eyes: the look of love, and forgiveness, and acceptance.
"For Elena," she said as she pulled out a sharp knife—that she carried in her pocket for protection-and cut her palm.
After the blood was flowing freely, Bonnie pressed her hand to the door again and pushed gently. The door swung open and without hesitation she stepped through the threshold of hell.
Elena POV
Meeting the devil himself wasn't at all like Elena would have imagined it - not that she had ever imagined meeting the devil. He embraced her in a tight hug as soon as she walked through the door.
He looked exactly like his statue, except that he had a kind look on his face. She kept thinking of how the devil had been portrayed by everyone. Wasn't he supposed to be big, cruel and scary?
He was, after all, the ruler of the underworld; the most cruel and sadistic person ever in existence.
"Gabriel wasn't exaggerating. You really are a beautiful creature, aren't you? He has chosen well."
"Indeed I have," Gabriel said back to him, whilst patting him on the shoulder in a friendly manner.
Elena was disgusted. They were talking about her as if she was a horse being picked for a race. She had rights; rights that had been cruelly snatched away from her.
She had been ripped away from the man she loved and dumped into hell. And they didn't care. They expected her to just get on with it? Well she wasn't going to.
She turned to Gabriel's father with a look of disgust on her face. "Do you really think that this is going to be easy? That I'm going to just marry your son and live happily ever after?"
He continued to smile at her and didn't try and interrupt her.
"I will do everything to fight this and make things difficult," she spat, and turned to Gabriel.
"I will never be yours. Not really. I will always be Damon's. You can't make me love you and I never will." She was breathing hard; she had put all of her anger into her words, but Gabriel didn't seem at all disheartened by it. He was smiling at her and he turned his smile back to his father.
"She has fire; I love it. She will make a fine wife, my son," his father said approvingly.
Elena was about to argue again, when he interrupted her.
"My dear daughter - well soon to be daughter anyway - everything is in preparation for the wedding, and will go ahead as planned no later than tomorrow." He smiled widely at Elena.
"I would love for us to get to know each other better, but we have a lot of work to do before tomorrow," he said, looking at Elena with a regretful expression on his face.
"Father, you will have plenty of time after the wedding to get to know each other," Gabriel laughed.
"Right you are, son." He took Elena's hand gently in his own. "Until tomorrow, my daughter," he said to her.
Before she could speak she was being led away by Gabriel. She looked back to see Gabriel's father looking after them with an approving expression.
Stefan POV
As they walked down hundreds upon hundreds of steps Stefan began to strategies with Damon. They decided to act as slaves in order to get close to Elena and find out whom or what guarded her. They decided to lay low, and not make themselves known to Elena, as they didn't know what kind of power her captor had, and whether or not she might – unintentionally - give them away.
When Lexi stumbled on a rubbly stair Stefan automatically caught her in his arms. While he was strategizing with Damon, he couldn't help but think about Lexi.
Damon worried that she would be noticed and give them away, but Stefan only worried about her safety. He didn't like to think of the things Lexi had been through down here and he didn't want her to go through any kind of pain and anguish again.
He didn't know why because Lexi was just a convenience for him; he had used her to get back at Elena. He had been pretending to be in love with her and he was beginning to take the pretence too far. He was a good actor, but he had to be careful. He was beginning to believe his own pretence and that was the last thing he needed.
Gabriel POV
He knew as soon as his father laid eyes on Elena that he approved. It seemed she had the same mesmerising effect on him as well.
He was glad that his father approved of her but he hadn't particularly cared either way. Even if his father had totally disapproved of her he would have made Elena his anyway.
From the very moment he saw her he was stunned by her beauty. He couldn't look away from her, and he itched to touch her creamy, soft, perfect skin.
When he had brought her to his home, he fell even more deeply in love when he heard her perfect voice. Her passion made him feel alive again, which was a nice change after over a thousand years of boredom.
When he had watched her sleep, he had been mesmerised by the look on her face. She looked so happy, so peaceful, and so perfect. When she smiled, his heart had nearly jumped out of his chest and he was so enraged when she sighed out another man's name.
He hated to think of another man with his hands and eyes roaming all over her. He made a promise to himself from that moment on: she was going to be his, and no other man would ever speak to her or look at her again - besides his farther. He hoped that, in time, she would forget about this Damon and learn to love him.
He had thought he was making progress until she screamed at him that she would never be his and she would never love him. Her words hurt him deeply; though he didn't show it, and he made another promise to himself: soon he would find this Damon and make sure that she never thought about him again. He would make him look like a fool in front of her. He would get Damon to tell Elena that he didn't love her; then she could finally move on and learn to love him.
While Elena and Gabriel were riding in the carriage - going back to the tower - Gabriel decided to get as much information about Damon as he could, to make it easier to find him and make Elena fall out of love with him.
"My queen, this Damon you spoke of, how long were you with him for before you decided to get married?" he said in a curious tone.
Elena looked at him with wide, shocked eyes. She recovered with a frown and answered.
"Well, it's complicated. I was with Damon's brother Stefan for a while, but I always had feelings for Damon. I thought I hated him - he was cruel and he killed inconspicuously - but the truth is that I didn't hate him; in fact, I felt the complete opposite for him, but I wouldn't admit it to myself. I guess I was scared because the love was so powerful." She shrugged.
"But you did eventually admit it. Tell me how did that happen?"
"Damon always knew how he felt for me and he wasn't afraid to admit it. He tried a countless number of times to get me to see how I felt, but he couldn't because of Stefan. So he had to get rid of Stefan, compel me, and take me somewhere on my own to make me see."
"So he compelled you to confess?"
"No. He compelled me at first, but then he told me the truth, and that's when I realised"
"Realised what?"
"I realised that I didn't need to be compelled to want to be with him. I enjoyed being with him. I liked the way he treated me and made me feel. With Damon I felt like I could be myself because I wasn't expected to be a certain kind of person. With Damon I wasn't getting judged and I was the person I wanted to be. We both changed each other dramatically; we bring out the best in each other. It was fate, and I couldn't ignore fate anymore. I realised that I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him."
Gabriel tried to control his anger, telling himself that soon she would feel this way for him instead.
"So how did you die then? If Damon loved you so much then why didn't he try and protect you?" Gabriel said smugly. Clearly Damon had made a few mistakes, and Gabriel was calling him on them.
"He did try and save me. He tried his best, but Bonnie's magic was too strong for him."
"Bonnie?"
"Bonnie was my best friend. She was in love with Damon; it was part of the reason why I tried to ignore my feelings. When I got with Damon she tried to get with Stefan instead; only Stefan didn't want her so she was mad and killed me in revenge. Bonnie thought I took everything from her and I guess I did. I was always the best at everything and the first choice. And just like she had said: she always lived in my shadow. In the end she had enough and snapped."
Gabriel made a mental note to make this Bonnie suffer for the pain she had caused Elena. He liked that Elena was opening up to him, so carried on the conversation.
"So this Stefan, how did he take you and his brother getting together behind his back?"
Elena sighed. "At first Stefan was furious at Damon; he thought Damon had compelled me to love him, and he tried to fight for me. He wasn't strong enough, so he drank human blood - which makes him lose control. When he lost control, he fed from me and took me all the way to Spain. Damon found us and brought me back. Stefan has since accepted us and he has been trying to redeem himself ever since. I think he has moved on because he's in a new relationship with his oldest and best friend, Lexi. Although sometimes I see him looking at me the way he used to, and I wonder if Lexi isn't just there to make me jealous or something."
They got out the carriage and Gabriel was silent; he was taking in all of this new information. Elena's life had certainly been eventful, but she had been hurt and betrayed by so many people. Gabriel decided that he had to take revenge on all of them for Elena - she deserved to have them all pay.
Damon POV
The stairs were finally coming to an end and Damon could hear the sound of water. After a few more steps they were on even floor and everyone sighed in relief.
They reached the edge of a lake of water and they all looked at each other.
"What do we do now?" Damon said directing his question at Lexi.
"There is supposed to be a boat," she said, whilst looking both ways down the river.
"Well there isn't any boat. Didn't you think to tell us we needed a boat before we walked down all of those steps?" Damon turned as if to walk back up the steps, when Bonnie stopped him.
"You won't be able to get out that way, Damon."
"Then what the fuck do we do?" he growled in frustration. He was so close to her; yet so far away that it was nearly killing him.
Damon rolled up his sleeves and prepared to swim, when Lexi grabbed his arm.
"You can't swim in that."
Damon snorted and pulled her hand away, only for Stefan to grab his other arm.
"Listen to her Damon," he insisted, giving Lexi a chance to speak.
"That water: once you go into it, there's no swimming in it or even moving. It will paralyze you and you will sink to the bottom, and then we will never get to Elena. Damon you have to be careful down here; things aren't what they seem." Damon looked at the water and then back at Lexi. He decided not to risk it and sat down defeated.
"So what do we do then? Because any more time with you lot and drowning in that water is going to start looking more appealing," Damon said with his head in his hands.
"Look. What's that?" Damon's head snapped up as Bonnie whispered franticly.
A boat was coming out of a tunnel in the distance. As the boat got closer, Damon could see that the thing inside the boat wasn't rowing it, but rather, it had a mind of its own.
The boat stopped and the horrible looking black hooded creature looked from them to a piece of paper in his hands.
"Well, well, well; what do we have here? You're not on my list and I'm not due another pick up until tomorrow anyway," the creature laughed at them.
The creature turned its head to look at all of them and they all looked at each other in panic. None of them had been prepared for this. Lexi hadn't said anything about this and now their cover was blown and they were all stuck here.
Damon looked at Lexi through furious eyes.
"I only remembered bits about the last time. It all happened so fast," she said apologetically.
Unfortunately the creature had heard her.
"You've been here before? Are you the girl that escaped?" The fear in Lexi's eyes must have given her away because the creature turned its head back to the tunnel.
"The master will be so pleased that you came back," he said sarcastically. He gestured to inside the boat.
"Come on. I'll take you to him; he will want to know how you escaped."
They had no choice but to get on to the boat. As they were on the boat, Damon decided that now was the best time to find out all he could about where Elena was.
He was wondering how he should start, when the creature did the job for him.
"So how come you brought some friends with you? Liked it that much did you? Or is this a fly-in visit, and you're only here for the wedding?" The creature laughed, directing the question at Lexi.
"What wedding?" Damon asked before Lexi could answer.
"Didn't you hear? Master Gabriel has chosen himself a wife. He intends to marry her tomorrow, and who can blame him? She's the best looking thing I have ever seen, and I've been around for a very long time."
"What time are they getting married and where will the ceremony be held?" Damon said. He was trying his best to maintain his cool and get all of the information out of the creature he could before he did something about him.
"You're nosey aren't you?" he laughed. He was silent then and Damon decided that he wasn't of any more use.
Stefan must have had the same idea because together they threw themselves into the creature and sent him overboard, where he sank beneath the black water, and didn't resurface.
Elena POV
She hated to admit it, but this wedding dress was just as lovely as her first one. Gabriel had told her that it was over a thousand years old and waiting for her arrival. Elena refused to believe him when he told her that she had been born to marry him; that her fate was set in stone and she couldn't change it. Her mind was swayed slightly as she tried the dress on. The dress was gorgeous. It was a sleeveless, white silk; Victorian in style, with a delicate black lace all over in a pattern of black roses and vines – it fitted in with her surroundings well. It clung to her chest, emphasising it, before flowing out in a long skirt that draped all the way to the floor. Dark-red, rose shaped diamonds traced elegant patterns in swirls all over the back of the skirt.
She also had a crystal tiara that sat delicately on top of the soft crown of hair that had been dressed up at the top of her head. Her veil clung to the tiara; it was red to match the flowers. She was also wearing red stiletto heels, which should have been too high and uncomfortable, but with her new vampire-strong skin they felt like slippers.
The dress didn't have to be altered because it fitted her perfectly, much to her dismay.
She looked out at the sky that had changed to a striking orange. She felt more alone now than she had ever felt. Although there were several slaves in the room to help her get ready, she couldn't help but miss everyone who wasn't here - everyone who she would never see again.
A petite red haired girl interrupted her silent crying by softly clearing her throat. Elena had repeatedly told them they could speak to her, but word must have gotten around about the last time so they were all too afraid to.
The girl opened a deep blue velvet box and held it out invitingly to Elena. In the box was a pair of red, diamond-rose shaped earrings, and a simple but beautiful necklace to match.
Elena's hand flew to her throat; she still had Damon's mother's necklace. She bit her lip; she didn't know what to do. She looked out at the sky again and sighed. A part of her wanted to keep a part of Damon with her. She didn't see any way out of this situation; she didn't have a choice and no one was coming to save her. The other part of her wanted to hide the necklace away and hope that one day she could let go of the pain of the loss and maybe be happy that she never saw him again, because it would mean that he had been spared from this place.
She reached up behind her to remove her necklace, deciding it was what she had to do in order to get through today, but then she froze.
The sky had changed to black as quickly as a flash and lightning was streaking across the sky angrily. Something had changed in the atmosphere and Elena felt an odd sense of hope. She didn't know where the hope had come from but she went with it.
She turned around to see that all of the slaves, apart from two, had left the room. They got behind her and picked up the end of her veil. "No," Elena said to them; even though she knew she would get no response. "Not yet." She didn't know what had come over her, but she knew she had to do everything she could to stall this wedding; even if her hope was crazy.
Suddenly two creatures entered the room. They each took one of her arms and began leading her through the door. A feeling deep inside of her changed with the sky as she prepared to fight her way to freedom.
Damon POV
After getting off the boat they had spent all night gathering information off slaves about the wedding. They found out where it was being held and at what time, and the time was drawing dangerously near.
They knew someone must have missed the creature they had thrown overboard by now, so they stayed hidden - thanks to the slaves - from the other creatures that roamed around freely.
They stationed themselves outside the tower, where they knew Elena was being kept, and Damon couldn't stop fidgeting. He longed to see her; to touch her. It was torture having her so near; yet not being able to touch her.
They went through a million different scenarios, trying to determine the best way to get to Elena. Damon was all for going straight to her right away. He didn't care how heavily she was guarded; he would fight to the death if it meant that he could have one more second with her.
However nobody agreed with him. They thought it was best to wait until Elena was less guarded. Reluctantly, Damon agreed to this plan; and so they waited.
The wedding, as they found out, was to take place at precisely 3:00pm. Nobody entered the tower until 12:00am. Damon had kicked himself for not thinking of disguising themselves.
6 slave women all got lined up, and one of the creatures produced a key and allowed them access to the tower. They had missed their opportunity. Bonnie and Lexi could have been part of the group that was allowed into the tower. They could have been in there with her right at this very moment, devising a plan with her. But instead, because of their stupidity, they were still waiting for an opportunity like the one they had just missed.
2 more hours passed with no change at all, and then the sky changed. It was like a signal to Damon that now was the moment they had been waiting for.
Elena POV
Her efforts were futile, as she was swept down the stairs in a flurry of movement. She was out the tower and down the stairs quicker than she could have blinked. She struggled, but the two creatures who were towing her didn't seem to notice her efforts in the slightest.
She felt weird - like someone was watching her - as she was pushed into the carriage that had been decorated with flowers for the occasion. She glanced around and out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw…. no but that was silly; it couldn't possibly be. She was delusional: looking for a miracle when she was in the last place one would happen.
Before she knew it, Elena was standing in a long stone room by herself. She had been told that when the music started she was to walk through the double-doors at the end of the room. The creature had basically given her the option of either walking down the aisle or being dragged down it. She had opted for walking down it, and kindly asked for a few minutes alone while she pulled herself together.
Stefan POV
"So, what's the plan Damon?" Stefan said in a whisper.
They had followed Elena's carriage to where the wedding ceremony was being held - right by the water's edge.
Damon looked like he was thinking as he glanced around to make sure no one could hear him. "This is the only chance I have got. I need to get in and get her out now."
"Ok. So what do we do?" Stefan asked. He knew the answer he would be given, but he still hoped Damon wouldn't ask.
"I need you to cause a diversion; something that will distract the guards long enough for me to get in and get her out."
"Are you crazy? What do you want us to do? Steal the carriage and hope they give chase?" Bonnie said, crossing her arms.
Damon gave her a stern look. "I don't care what you do, but I need to get in. This is the only chance we get, Bonnie. Do you want to save Elena or not?"
"Ok. Fine, then. If this is the best you can come up with, but don't blame me when they don't come after us," Bonnie said, sticking her chin up.
Damon turned back to Stefan and took his hand. He squeezed his hand. "No matter what has happened; we have always been there for each other brother."
"I know, Damon; Salvatore brothers until the end."
They looked at each other and Damon did something he hadn't done since he was human; he hugged his brother.
"If this is the end, I want you to know: I never hated you Stefan. Even when you hurt Elena, I knew I would forgive you; you're my little brother and I will always look out for you. It's been a hell of a ride, hasn't it brother?"
Stefan nodded at him in response. "This isn't the end, Damon; we still have all eternity to screw each other over."
"Guys, we don't have much time here," Lexi whispered frantically, though she was smiling at them both.
"Time to go get our girl back," Damon said with a smirk.
Stefan turned to Bonnie with a smirk.
"We're stealing the carriage, aren't we?" Bonnie said with a sigh. Stefan's grin got wider and together they stood up from their hiding place.
They ran to the carriage at top speed. Stefan picked up the back and Bonnie and Lexi picked up the front. They had the satisfaction of watching the guards turn their heads from themselves to each other before deciding to chase them.
Damon POV
As soon as the guards were far enough away from the door, Damon sprinted to it and flung it open.
"Damon?" Elena whispered.
Her voice nearly made him collapse; he thought he would never hear the perfect sound of it ever again.
Without hesitation they ran to each other. At first they didn't kiss; they just stood and stroked each other's faces, living in their joy and happiness of having finally found each other.
"It really is you," Elena whispered before kissing him ever so softly.
"Of course it's me, princess. Did you really think I wouldn't try and find you?"
"But Damon, you're in danger. He will kill you. You have to go" Elena sobbed. She sank to her knees and Damon fell with her.
"No. I am not going anywhere without you. Elena, I would defy heaven and hell to find you. I love you so much; you are worth more than my own life. Don't you see that one moment with you is worth a million years without you?" Damon tried to stroke away her tears, but they were pouring down her face too fast.
"But what are we going to do, Damon? Wherever we go, he will find us."
"Then we run, and we keep running for as long as we can."
"And then?"
"And then we accept it. No matter what happens, we will always be together." Elena looked at him and nodded.
He pulled her to her feet quickly and pulled her through the door he had come through.
"Quickly Princess. We don't have much time before the guards are back," Damon said, pulling her along beside him.
Damon looked left and right as he pulled Elena into the hiding place he had been in. Luckily, none of the guards were back yet.
He frowned, looking at Elena's dress. It looked good on her, but then, everything did. Even so, he still regretted what he had to do.
He pulled out two sets of ragged, dirty clothes and handed one se to Elena. She looked at him, confused.
"It will be easier to get you out of here if we blend in more. Everyone's going to know who you are if they see you dressed like that," Damon explained, whilst pulling off his black Armani shirt to replace it with the tattered, dirty one.
Elena nodded and together they took off her dress, and were both dressed like slaves. Elena took out her hair and tried to shake it out so it looked messy. Damon laughed at her and a small giggle escaped her. The giggle nearly startled her; she hadn't so much as smiled since she had been here.
Stefan POV
He didn't know how long he could keep this up for. They had been running along the water's edge, back and forth, for a good ten minutes, with no sign of Damon. The guards were still chasing them and they were fast; it wouldn't be long until they caught up with them. He dreaded to think about what would happen after that.
Just when he was about to give up and tell the girls to throw the carriage and make a run for it, Damon and Elena appeared.
Even in rags, Elena looked beautiful, and Stefan felt the full force of how much he had been missing her. It hit him like a ton of bricks.
Working together, they flung the carriage and ran towards Damon and Elena. Stefan was the first to reach them, with Bonnie not far behind; however, Lexi was slower and the guards were gaining on her.
She tripped and one of the guards reached her. She struggled against him as he tried to put her under his cloak. She screamed and Stefan didn't hesitate. He flung himself towards them and came crashing into the guard. He struggled for a moment as he heard everyone behind him scream his name.
After another big push, the creature stumbled backwards and fell over the edge. As he fell, he grabbed a hold of Stefan's foot and began to pull him. He tried to hold on to the edge, but the creature was too strong.
The last thing he saw before he sank beneath the black water was Damon's outstretched hand and his pain sickened face.
Lexi POV
"Stefan, no," she screamed as he collided with the creature. She struggled to her feet in time to see Damon streaking over to his brother like lightening, but he was too late. Stefan let go of the edge and sank beneath the water.
Lexi was too stricken with grief to notice the other creature behind her. He threw his cloak over her and the next thing she knew, she was in some kind of cell. She had heard about this cell, where slaves were brought to when they become too much of a problem.
She knew what was about to happen to her, but she didn't care. Tears rolled down her face as her grief swallowed her. Stefan was gone and it was all her fault.
All she ever wanted was to become human again, and because she got her wish, and had been too weak to keep up, Stefan had tried to save her and been dragged beneath the waves, never to resurface again.
Damon POV
"Stefan," he whispered as he watched his brother - the person who had always been constant throughout all of these years - slip through his fingers. He didn't have time to save him; he could only watch as Stefan sank deeper into the depths.
He didn't know what to do. He thought this day would never come. All those times he had thought about killing Stefan, he had never imagined that Stefan would die by someone else's hands. And he never imagined the pain he would feel from losing his only brother. Wasn't he supposed to be glad? Stefan was gone; Damon had Elena's love, and Stefan would never try and take her from him.
The mourning of his brother was interrupted by the sound of Elena's scream. He turned to see the creature trying to put Elena under his cloak.
"No" he screamed and leaped towards the creature. He managed to grab a hold of Elena's arm just as the cloak surrounded her.
Bonnie POV
She didn't know what to do to save the people she loved she was utterly powerless down hear and she was frightened beyond belief.
She watched-totally frozen as Lexi was grabbed by one of the creatures and Stefan got pulled into the Black ocean trying to save her. She was still frozen as the other creature put Lexi under his cloak and they disappeared as quickly as a flash.
She watched Damon rush to where his brother had gone and stare at the water in utter disbelief. She wanted to go over to him to try and comfort him in some way. Elena must have had the same thought because she began to walk towards Damon with tears streaking down her face.
She didn't make it to Damon though because the creature appeared in the same place he had disappeared from.
The creature grabbed Elena and she screamed. Bonnie ran towards her but Damon was faster, he reached her first and just managed to grab Elena's arm before they all disappeared.
Bonnie didn't have time to be shocked or feel any other emotion. Self-preservation took over and she ran faster than she had ever ran before away from the place where she knew that creature would return any second and take her.
She hoped that Damon, Elena and Lexi could all get out of here and that they would forgive her if they did. But she couldn't stay any longer, she needed to get out, she couldn't risk going back or trying to find them.
As Bonnie ran she didn't look where she was going and she smacked into something solid. What she ran into grabbed her arms tightly and she looked up into a furious face of a man dressed in a blood red suit.
"Where is she?" the man demanded furiously. Bonnie whimpered away from him and he shook her violently.
"Don't make me ask you again. Where is Elena?"
"I don't know she was taken by one of those things" Bonnie said in a small voice while pointing to a creature on the man's left.
The man looked at her in horror for a second and then he threw Bonnie aside where she fell painfully to the floor. The man then turned to the creature quickly.
"Don't let that out of your sight until I return" he pointed at Bonnie.
"Of course sir" the creature nodded.
Gabriel POV
He had to be quick if he had any chance of saving her. He hoped he had time to reach her and he couldn't dispel the amount of anger he felt towards everyone involved in this.
When Sid had come up to him and told him that Elena had gone he had immediately feared the worse and he was right to.
Elena had been taken to the gas chambers were she would be mummified if he didn't reach her in time. He didn't understand how she had been taken there-surely any of the guards would have known who she was when they saw her? It wasn't as if she looked even remotely like a slave.
He knew he had to deal with the incident but his main priority was reaching Elena before it was too late.
He ran down the stone corridor briefly glancing into mostly empty cells until he came across one that was empty accept for one person. He couldn't see properly as the girl was in the far, dark corner of the cell with her head in her hands-crying.
He could see the bottom of her feet and his heart leaped in relief when he saw an elegant pair of white, flat shoes.
Without hesitating he pulled out a small knife and cut his palm. In a rush he pressed his palm to the door which sprung open.
"Elena" he cried in relief.
The girl looked up in shock and Gabriel punched a hole in the wall in anger. The girl was not Elena; she had blonde hair and looked nothing like Elena.
He ran out of the cell without bothering to close the door. "Where is she?" he said to himself almost giving up hope. He didn't watch many slaves come down here but he remembered that the process was quick and he feared he was running out of time.
Lexi POV
She had been crying and waiting for the end when a man in a blood red suit burst into the cell and cried Elena.
She looked up in shock and watched as he realised she wasn't Elena and leave the room. The door was open and Lexi hesitated. She wasn't sure what she wanted now. She knew she didn't want to be gassed but she also knew she didn't want to go out there because there was no escape.
"Stefan" she thought to herself.
He would have known what to do. As she thought about him she was hit with a fresh wave of grief, she feared she would always feel this excruciating pain. It was her fault he was gone. All these years she had wanted nothing more than to be human and have a chance to go to heaven and now she would trade it all for Stefan.
She walked out of the cell silently, she knew what she needed to do and her feet carried her to her destination.
She stood on the cliff and stared at the black water. She saw Stefan's image reflected into the water and she knew that it was ok to let go.
She smiled as she sank under, she pictures Stefan's arms around her and she sank into his embrace.
Damon POV
"Elena" he pulled her into his arms tightly.
Elena began to cry and he rubbed her hair softly. He had expected her to morn Stefan but her crying was beginning to get a bit hysterical.
He glanced around at the surroundings and wondered where they were. They appeared to be in some sort of cell. Damon smiled slightly and continued to rub Elena's hair as she cried.
"it's ok princess, don't worry you won't be punished I will, and I don't care at least I got to be with you one last time" he said soothingly.
Elena pulled away from him and rubbed her eyes. "It's not that Damon you don't understand"
Damon cut her off. "I do understand princess I know how you're feeling, we lost, we got caught and Stefan…."
"It's nothing to do with Stefan, Damon we haven't just been caught, this is much worse" she sobbed.
"Princess do you really think that they are going to punish you? You're royalty down here, you have nothing to fear, and don't you dare cry for me, I knew what I was doing when I came down here for you it was more than I could dream to have you back in my arms once more, no punishment no matter how harsh will ever make me think that it wasn't worth it." he kissed he hands softly and smiled at her.
Elena shook her head and tried to speak but Damon silenced her by holding a finger to her lips.
"I got to see you and say goodbye one last time, that's worth more than my own life so I don't want to hear about it"
"Damon!" she practically shouted.
"Were not going to just get punished, and before you say it no I will not be let off I am here and there's is no way out"
"I don't understand" Damon frowned.
Elena gestured to their cell. "This isn't were they hold prisoners and punish them later, this is where they punish them"
"How" Damon demanded, now she was frightening him, he knew the punishment he faced was going to be severe and he couldn't bear to think of Elena enduring any form of punishment because of him.
"Well after a few moments a gas comes into the room and it mummifies you"
"Mummifies?"
"It makes you a living corpse, unable to move on speak or feel"
"And how long does this last for?"
A new tear escaped and Damon watched it travel down her cheek, dreading he answer.
"Indefinitely"
Damon hugged her and shushed her fresh sobs.
A new thought came to Damon at her words and he pulled her face up so she could look into his eyes.
"But we will be together Elena, together forever and this time nobody will be able to tear us apart it's what we've always wanted"
"But Damon we will only be left with our memories forever, we will never live, never laugh or cry or anything. How is that good?"
"Because I will have you in my arms forever, even if I can't feel you I will know your there. I have kissed you, I have laughed with you. Every happy memory that I have is because of you and I don't mind having them forever, it's better than having no memories at all. Elena I don't regret one moment of my existence because it lead to you." Damon kissed her fiercely.
Elena kissed him back passionately. "Your right I shouldn't be upset because any existence with you is better than one without you"
He cradled her in his arms and they continued to look at each other without moving an inch. They smiled as they both realised that they had silently agreed that this was how they wanted to spend eternity-in each other's arms as close as they could possibly be to each other.
"Any regrets?" Damon whispered
"Just one, I never got to see it?"
"See what?"
"Heaven, I bet it's beautiful" she sighed.
"It is "Damon said simply.
Elena gave him a curious look.
"Elena you are my heaven"
"Your right"
Damon raised his eyebrow.
"I have seen heaven. I see heaven in yours eyes" Elena explained.
"And what does it look like?"
"It's the most beautiful thing in all existence.
The gas began to leak into the room and they didn't move and try to fight it. They held each other and let the gas consume them. It sealed them together in their little piece of heaven, forever.
What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us and within Damon and Elena is a love that will live forever.
Well, that's it. The end. I hope this last chapter was to everyone's liking - even though it has a sad ending. I'm sorry about the time it's taken me to update this chapter but with the length of it, and not wanting to disappoint people, and deciding myself how to end it, it was very time consuming. It's been a great experience writing this fan-fiction and it's given me the confidence to follow my dream - which is to publish my own book. To everyone who has been on this incredible journey with me: thank you so much for all of your support - I couldn't have done this without you all. Please feel free to review this chapter and tell me what you thought about the ending; what you thought about the parings; what you thought about the story as a whole, and any other thoughts you may have.
For those of you who are wondering if I may do another fan-fic: I will, but I don't know when. If, however, you would like to read it when I do, then subscribe to author alert, and this site will send you an email when I do.